Rising Dawn

Online ads to overtake TV

The internet will overtake TV as the biggest advertising platform in the UK this year with total ad spend of around £3.56bn, according to a report by Enders Analysis.

But does this mean it’s more effective? I think I would still rather have 30 seconds on peak time TV than the equivalent cost on t’internet. I confess I have no idea if I know what that would mean in web exposure, but TV still feels like you’re in lots of living rooms where it matters more than being on the “lean forwards” screen..

BBC - Religion - Programmes: Miracle on the Estate
Miracle on the Estate

For Good Friday, the residents of Harpurhey in North Manchester - once described as the worst place to live in Britain - join forces with a poet, a composer and a director to see if they can produce their very own mediaeval mystery play, based on the story of the Flood. In so doing they uncover a deep-rooted sense of community, untapped talent and breathe 21st century life into an ancient story of sacrifice and salvation.

It’s Good Friday. A special day for all Christians when we remember the death of Jesus on the cross. This morning we watched a truly inspirational BBC programme about the making of a community film based on the Mystery Play Noah’s Flood. The film is on the BBC Religion Website. I’ve not watched the film yet - but I recommend watching the TV programme Miracle on the Estate first.

I’ve now watched the The Harpurhey Mystery Play and it matches the promises made in the TV programme. It is truly inspiring when people who were unsure of their talents discover them and work together to create a play like this one.

David Cameron’s first criticism of the budget speech was that it was delivered with all the enthusiasm of someone reading out the telephone directory. So I assume he thinks the job should be given to a presenter.

Chris Evans

I switched off - that’s the prerogative of a listener - assuming that, as the opposition leader’s prime criticism, there was little to follow.

Presentation over content is the scourge of the modern age. Make your talk glitzy enough and no one will notice you have nothing to say.

So if David Cameron is elected to power and you want to be Chancellor now would be a good time to put in some broadcasting hours to up your game. Or perhaps David Cameron himself should be given a radio show of his own. If he wants even more popularity he should be a gameshow host, “Vote or No Vote“, or “Who wants to be a Millionaire Tax Exile” with a “Giveaway Budget Jackpot“. The audience figures would be a painful gauge of his popularity.

This is not a defence of Alistair Darling’s budget, just another example of how easily David Cameron can get up ones nose, in the same league as Noel Edmunds and Chris Tarrant.

It looks really good too.

BBC Internet Blog - BBC iPlayer On iPhone: Behind The Scenes
Today was a big day for BBC iPlayer: its the day that it first became available on a portable device. BBCiPlayer is now available on iPhone and iPod touch.

If you’re a bit techie like me, it’s worth reading the whole article.

Can news be presented as drama? The editorial team at the BBC must have wrangled over this one. Newsnight is to stage a series of short dramas to raise issues about the decision to go to war against Iraq 5 years ago. This is how the Editor, Peter Barron explained it in his daily email.

Next week on Newsnight we’re making our first foray into drama with a series of films entitled 10 Days to War. This may prove controversial, but we hope it will also open up the debate about the war in Iraq in new and revealing ways. The issue our viewers most often ask us to revisit is - by some distance - the decision to go to war in Iraq.

Over the next two weeks, to mark the fifth anniversary of the invasion, we will look back and examine again the circumstances of the run-up to war: the WMD claims, the question of legality, the diplomatic wrangles and so on.

I’m pleased they’ve decided to present the films as a mini drama series that will screen before Newsnight starts. But it still raises difficulties. (more…)

One to put in your programme planner, Sky+, HD Recorder or whatever you use to make sure you can watch what you want rather than just what’s on.

BBC - Press Office - BBC One presents The Passion for Easter 2008

The Passion will be stripped across Easter week on BBC One, drawing to a dramatic climax on Easter Sunday.
 
Visually arresting and rich in colour, the story is rooted in the tangled and chaotic world in which it took place – the city of Jerusalem during Passover week.
 
Set in the political and religious context of the time, it combines both narrative tension and thematic power to convey the extraordinary events that took place that week in a bold and distinctive way.
 
This production places the audience at the heart of the action by telling the story from three points of view – the religious authorities, the Romans and Jesus.

…… and if you forget - there’s always I>Player

I know it was cheesy and some of the acts were dreadful, but it can’t be right that the contestants in the BBC Show The One and Only were not paid. When I think of that really nice guy, who performed as Frank Sinatra, not being paid - he worked so hard and came in second. He must have lost out on his day job. I just hope he gets lots of bookings now to make up for Endemol’s stinginess.

Endemol has hit back at accusations from actors’ union Equity that it should have paid contestants who took part in BBC1 tribute act show The One and Only. Equity questioned the legality of not paying contestants at least minimum wage, as the show has required acts to waive their protections under working time laws, as well as assign all rights in their performances to Endemol, which makes the show through its subsidiary Initial.The union contrasted this approach with BBC1’s in-house talent shows How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? and Any Dream Will Do, in which all finalists had industry-standard contracts with pay rates well above minimum wage.  

You’re probably asking “Why does he care?” and I’ve probably blown the credibility of this blog - but I read this in Broadcast and thought - this isn’t right. So now I’ve had my say.