BBC building TV download store
The BBC is preparing to test what one of its executives said "could just be the iTunes for the broadcast industry."
Ashley Highfield, the BBC's director of new media and technology, says the broadcaster plans to offer 5,000 paying customers TV and radio programs on demand for download, according to Reuters.
The library will include 190 hours of TV, 310 radio programs and some feature films, the report said. The venture will use an interactive media player, which will include digital rights management protection. A September start is planned, according to MarketWatch. Kontiki Inc. of Sunnyvale, CA, is supplying technology for delivering the programming.
Wireless industry adding Amber Alerts
The Amber Alert system used by police to let the public know when a child is missing is being expanded to cell phones. The wireless industry announced subscribers can now receive text messages on their phones when an Amber Alert is issued. The service is available in every state and is free to subscribers of most major cellular carriers.
Cell phone users who want such information so they can aid in searches can designate up to five zip codes and would receive alerts if a child is reported missing in any of them. Subscribers would also be notified of alerts issued for their state or metropolitan area.
Subscribers with phones capable of receiving text messages can register at www.wirelessamberalerts.org or through participating carriers' websites. A typical message would include details about the missing child and contact information for reporting a sighting.
Smut finds its way to financial management confab
You might not expect indecency to be a major topic for the annual convention of Broadcast Cable Financial Management Association (BCFM) and its Broadcast Cable
Credit Association (BCAA) subsidiary, but sure enough, smut was on the agenda at the opening session in New Orleans. Radio One founder and Chair Cathy Hughes kicked it off as she received BCFM's Lifetime Achievement award. Citing the examples of Will Smith and Queen Latifah, whom Hughes interviewed for her series on TV One, Hughes described hip hop artists as poets of their communities. But newcomers are encouraged to be vulgar in order to get the support of the record companies, she noted, and she encouraged the industry to put some pressure on the record labels. Hughes still applies her oversight to music and advertising content decisions at Radio One. "We insert so many bleeps in some of these songs that my PD's decide to take them off their local playlists," she said. That was a tough act to follow, as FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein readily admitted. "Your business isn't the same as finance for a company that produces widgets. Don't let your focus on the bottom line obscure your public service. Your public service standard makes you special; and it comes with an extra responsibility to your extended family, your employees and your communities," he said.
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