noggin's posts, page 121

26th Anniversary of the biggest shake up in ITV

I don't think they were foreseeing DTT in 1990 - but it was already clear that satellite and cable channels were changing the landscape. The IBA had already awarded our national DBS channels to BSB, after the BBC/IBA joint venture didn't work out (Granada/Anglia + others were involved initially)

Similarly the ITV companies (apart from Thames) and Virgin had created SuperChannel (on European satellite and cable), which although not a success for them (they'd sold it by 1990 I think) did demonstrate that it was a new part of the media landscape.

It was clear by 1990 that non-terrestrial broadcasting was going to be a new revenue opportunity for commercial broadcasters - and particularly for ITV franchise holders who produced high-value, popular content.

The new NEW Central West and BBC Midlands thread

I think that was usually only the case if the presenter hadn't turned up? (i.e. there were not major technical issues and the region could still opt-out with a feed from Midlands Today)

However there may have been an oddity due to legacy routing that meant EMT was routed via Pebble Mill (from the sub-opt days) that meant it was possible for Birmingham to opt-out on East Midlands' transmitters without reconfiguring the network distribution hugely.

(There also used to be a network sustaining 'pecking order' with Elstree being the main network source - as they couldn't opt-out themselves - followed by Southampton, then Norwich. You'd quite often see Pauline Brandt at 0630 on a Monday rather than Gargy Patel... ISTR that one day neither Elstree nor Southampton were able to opt-out - neither presenter had managed to get in - and London cancelled the opt as they couldn't arrange how to handle the opt-out with Norwich)

26th Anniversary of the biggest shake up in ITV

Yes - read my second paragraph again. PBS is not the US's most popular TV channel is it? That's the point I was making. The big four US networks (ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox) don't have the same competition from PBS as ITV do from the BBC...

PBS in the US is not a well funded public service broadcaster... It's not like ARD/ZDF, France Television, TVE, RAI, SVT, NRK etc. is it?

The new NEW Central West and BBC Midlands thread

It was usually quite cutting edge with its technology too. (Famously so in terms of its launch show)

It had robot cart machines, and then Quantel non-linear editing far-far-before the BBC (or ITN) had their Quantel systems.

The Sport Thread

I guess now SIS = Sports Information Services (not Satellite Information Services) and the former SISLive division has been sold to NEP, and will soon rebrand as 'NEP Connect' there is no real link between SISLive at Milton Keynes/Salford and horse racing.

NOW Christmas

When shown in its entirety I'd usually chose to leave it in 4:3 - and pillar boxing if it is not possible to broadcast it 4:3 full-width (there is no HD full-width standard)

It's a case by case thing though - if you can upscale using a high quality upscaler in an edit (not just the default NLE scalers which are often lousy) and are only using an excerpt in the midst of other 16:9 full-width content - there is an argument for cropping and zooming to 16:9 full width.

26th Anniversary of the biggest shake up in ITV

The elephants in the room that everyone ignores when comparing the UK TV market to the US market are the BBC and Channel 4.

The US model doesn't have two well-funded, popular, public service broadcasting TV organisations - commanding a 1/3rd of the viewing audience before any of the other networks make a start. Plus BBC One is the most popular channel in the UK.

That does make a significant change to the ecosystem - plus the US has a mix of O&O and Affiliates, plus network production, and syndication - which doesn't really map to any previous UK model does it? (The ITV model never really had separate network production - all non-indie productions were made by individual franchises, which would equate to large US local stations? ITV didn't have a separate 'network' production operation until it became ITV plc)

Blockbusters to be revived by Comedy Central

Was Countdown a game show in the US? Here it always felt far more like a quiz show - where the taking part was far, far more important than any (usually low key) prize.

Loose Women

Yep - and they've made the classic error of dark green Christmas trees. They need a tonne of light (or lights) to avoid them just looking like a dark, dull mess.

Blockbusters to be revived by Comedy Central

Lots of comedians/comedy actors have presented 'straight' game shows though haven't they? Roy Walker, Bob Monkhouse, Alexander Armstrong instantly spring to mind, but I'm sure there are many more. (Paddy McGuinness and Paul O'Grady too)

Comedians often have quick wits which means they can be great choices for hosts, rather than being chained to a prompter or a script.

Dara has a presenting CV as well as a stand-up CV too - Stargazing Live, Robot Wars, Go 8-bit, Dara's School of Hard Sums etc. and use to be a kids presenter in Ireland. He's got a strong academic background - so is a good choice for a more academic quiz like Blockbusters.

Eurovision 2019

I don't know how you know what the thought processes of the people working on EYD are? I think rather than 'don't think about this' you may mean 'aren't able to commission this'...

The costs of staging Melodifestivalen are huge - and AIUI the staging costs for some of the more elaborate numbers are picked up by a record label rather than SVT (who also benefit from sponsorship for the event)

BBC World News | 30th October 2017 Onwards

No you can mate any compatible camera head with a compatible CCU from the same manufacturer. Manufacturers often allow older CCUs to talk to newer camera heads to reduce upgrade costs or aid flexibility in deployment across a fleet ISTR.

The CCU will talk to whichever compatible camera head is at the other end of its cable. (If they were a married pair it would be a nightmare on OBs or shows where camera heads and CCUs are shared between studios, and you need to be able to quickly swap out a faulty camera head without having to also swap out a CCU)

On some shows it's entirely conceivable to re-patch a DIFFERENT camera head to the same CCU during a show - rather than having to repo the camera head (though you may repo the operator) - giving you effectively two different camera 1s or two different camera 4s during a show... This is particularly useful if you have cameras on mountings that are difficult to repo or de-rig and re-rig quickly and can mean a reduction in costs (you don't need 2 full chains of CCU/RCP/HEAD, just 1 chain and an extra head) or allow you to run more cameras into a facility wired for fewer cameras.