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Quote:The satirist Victor Lewis-Smith who compiled the Funny Old World column in Private Eye for almost 30 years has died aged 65 after a short illness.

Mark Borkowski, the publicist and Lewis-Smith’s agent who announced the news of his death in Bruges at the weekend, tweeted: “I am in deep shock … Struggling to come to terms with the loss of a unique and irreplaceable talent.”

Lewis-Smith starred in TV comedy sketch series, including Inside Victor Lewis-Smith on BBC2 in the 1990s, and was known for making hoax calls.

www.theguardian.com 

Quote:Actress Ruth Madoc, who starred in the BBC sitcom Hi-de-Hi!, has died aged 79, her agent says.

Her agent said she died in hospital on Friday afternoon after surgery for a fall she had earlier in the week.

Phil Belfield of talent agency Belfield & Ward Ltd described her as a "unique talent loved by many".

BBC News

I'm not sure if this is the most appropriate forum for this thread. If not, can Admin please move it to the most suitable forum.

iNews is reporting this today. I'm not sure whether to take it seriously or not. It mentions Tim Davie talking about completely switching off the Freeview platform in the 2030s.
inews.co.uk 

Quote:BBC plans to switch off broadcast TV and move to internet-only programmes, director-general says

Broadcast switch-off means BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three and BBC Four could be found under a single internet-only BBC ‘brand’

The BBC is planning to close its broadcast channels, including BBC One, and move to an internet-only distribution of programmes, director-general Tim Davie has revealed.

The BBC could close more linear channels in the near future as it “consolidates activity under one simple, single brand,” he told the Royal Television Society.

BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three and BBC Four could be united under a single brand, which he described as “the BBC”.

The corporation is planning to switch off its broadcast services, such as the Freeview digital terrestrial platform.

“The BBC will focus its effort on the digital world and over time this will mean fewer linear broadcast services and a more tailored joined up online offer,” Mr Davie said.

“For the BBC, internet-only distribution is an opportunity to connect more deeply with our audiences and to provide them with better services and choice than broadcast allows.”

“It provides significant editorial opportunities. A switch off of broadcast will and should happen over time, and we should be active in planning for it.”

Mr Davie promised that “we must work together to ensure that everyone is connected, and can get their TV and radio via the internet. This isn’t something to resist. A fully connected UK has very significant benefits for society and our economy. It would unleash huge opportunities for innovation”.

He added: “Of course, there’s a bad way it could happen. Where access to content is no longer universal. Or is unaffordable for too many. Where the gateway to content is owned by well capitalised overseas companies.”

BBC sources said they expect linear TV, which was still widely valued, to continue into the 2030s but it was wise for the BBC to begin preparations now for a future digital transition.

The plan did not mean BBC One, Two, Three and Four would close, sources said – although some have suggested that BBC shows could increasingly be grouped under categories such as Knowledge, Entertainment or Sport, as live viewing on scheduled TV channels wanes.

Mr Davie said the BBC cannot fund the national broadband and 5G infrastructure upgrades required to move towards broadcast “switch-off”. But it “can collaborate with others to make a move to online attractive to all, and play a big part in educating people about the transition”.

A 30 per cent real-terms cut in the licence fee over a decade meant the BBC would need to reduce its “brands” – the merger of BBC World News and domestic news channel, due to take place next spring, was an example of the direction the broadcaster will follow.

Following the Culture Secretary, Michelle Donelan’s assertion that the licence fee in its current form is unsustainable, due to an increasing number of households declining to pay, Mr Davie said: “We are open minded about future funding mechanics, but we are clear that it is critical we have a universal solution that fuels UK public service growth – not stifles it – while offering audiences outstanding value for money.”

Couldn't find a thread for EastEnders and not sure if this post constitutes a new thread...

On Monday, look out for special end credits and a lovely rendition of the EE theme tune, with the iconic whistles at the end.

For the last 4 years, BBC one and itv1 have been dismal for Christmas day listings. Not much effort is being put into it. Feels like the writing is on the wall for the channels as streaming takes over.

Probably going watch catch up or stream on Crunchyroll on Christmas day

According to our Australian friends, FOX8 (basically their version of Sky One) is losing the rights to The Simpsons at the end of this month:

bacco007 on Media Spy Wrote:Foxtel’s access to The Simpsons expires after December 31st - FOX8 are having a 25-day Simpsons marathon to celebrate

Coupled with the Seven Network losing the FTA rights, this means that after 32 years, it will be leaving linear TV in Australia completely - in the future, it will only be available there on Disney+.

I mention this because it makes me wonder how much longer Sky will hold the rights for. I believe Channel 4 have FTA rights for as long as the show is in production, but I don't know about Sky. I think for many people - certainly me - for many, many years, The Simpsons was Sky One. In fact, I remember there were rumours last year, when Sky One closed, that the reason behind it was that they knew they would eventually lose The Simpsons (and presumably wanted to ditch the Sky One brand as the two were so closely intertwined). So - interesting times ahead.

Half of Radio 3 is to move to MediaCity - the other half will remain in London:

https://radiotoday.co.uk/2022/12/06/bbc-radio-3-confirms-eight-programmes-moving-to-salford/

www.ofcom.org.uk 

Now responses from many commercial broadcasters and beyond have been added to the website, regarding changes to the OFCOM's COSTA advertising laws for public broadcasters.

Unlike some people said, all public broadcasters are OK with some minutage changes and harmonization with "digital" channels, nowadays
Channel 4 states clearly that their plan would be to remove the end break and add 0.30 mins to most internal ad breaks (up to 4 minutes, most of the time), as seen on digital 4 channels nowadays.
Any change would mostly be visible during current programmes.

This didn't used to be the case, before 2008-09 apparently on digital 4 channels and beyond, internal breaks used to be 3'30 long even on E4.
But eventually on 60 mins slots in particular, broadcasters started removing end breaks completely

After watching some 80s closedown clips on YouTube this is on quite a few of them.

I'm sure this has been asked before but why did they used to do this?

Warner Bros. Discovery looks like is trying to stop making its content exclusive to HBO Max/Discovery+. This week, on C21Media's Content London event, Channing Dungey announced that some of the DC animations planned for HBO Max are finding a new home on Prime Video. Additionally, Amazon Studios will co-produce new projects with Warner Bros. Television.

www.theverge.com