Thursday, May 1

Using your wider knowledge of NMT's, discuss how far young people's use of media technology differs from that of their parents

The way parents and their children consume new media technologies is rapidly changing. The vast development of gaming is having a major effect on parents and children consume the technology differently. There are many different gaming consoles on the market which are both targeted at the two categories but mainly towards the children. The Xbox and PS3 have a targeted audience between the age 15 and 30 but that does not stop anyone above 30 from playing these consoles as in fact they are still vastly popular within that age range but not to the extent of under 30's.

The Nintendo Wii however is attempting to change the way that both parents and children consume gaming, the console is targeted at families and Nintendo want parents and their children to enjoy the console together playing fun and entertaining games. The Wii's model for success is that they want families to play with the console with one another, enjoying each other's company and banishing family board games for the new, exiting and unique way to spend valuable and enjoyable time with one another.

Friday, April 25

Kangaroo

A joint venture between BBC Worldwide, Channel 4 and ITV sees the introduction of Project Kangaroo. Kangaroo will offer users the chance to catch up on television programmesfrom the UK's four largest terrestrial channels even after the seven-day iPlayer window closes. It aims to do for online TV what Freeview did for digital. Kangaroo will also carry a library of other, more niche series.

With so many broadcasters involved Kangaroo has the potential to be even bigger than iplayer and will change the way we consume digital television dramatically that for some people they may only use the television for playing computer games and watch televison games. Therefore in the future there may be many people in the United Kingdom whose household may not even own a television.

Summary of Digital Television Expansion

By the end of March 2005 digital TV had reached 61.9% of households in the United Kingdom a growth of 2.5% up from 59.4% at the end of December 2004. In addition 3% of households were subscribing to analogue cable bringing the total figure up to 64.9%. In that quater of the year the total number of digital television households grew by 643,517.

By the end of 2005:
BSkyB’s subscriber numbers in the UK increased by 87,000 to reach 7,349,000 in the UK.

Freeview household numbers where estimated to have grown to around 5,059,350.

There where around 445,000 free-to-view digital satellite homes. This figure includes viewers who are no longer Sky subscribers but still receive the public service channels through their set-top box. Of the viewers that have stopped their Sky subcription service an estimated 300,000 still use their set up box to recieve all of the free-to-view public service channels.

In total there are now over 5.5 million free-to-view digital households. The total number of subscribers to cable television is now just under 3.3 million. Digital cable increased by just over 30,000 and now accounts for just over 2.5 million of the total. Latest estimates suggest that 25% of Freeview boxes are in households that already have digital (either Freeview, Sky or cable) on their main set. There are also a percentage of DTT boxes that are currently inactive mainly due to issues with reception.

Results taken from the ofcom website

Digital Television Statistics


In the first four months of 2006 45% of households recieved a digital television service whilst owning a mobile phone and having access to the internet. However 8% did not have acess to any of the three.
The number of households that receive a digital television service has increased, from 19 per cent in 1996/97 to 65 per cent in 2005/06. Now there is a number of interactive services available on digital television. In 2005, 33 per cent of adults with a television in their home could take part in game shows, although only 7 per cent actually did. While 28 per cent had the facility to buy products through shopping channels, only 5 per cent chose to do so.

Media Magazine - Just Press The Red Button (Key Points)

How technology has made it possible
The main difference to analogue is that the signals are compressed, which means much more information can be transmitted in the same amount of bandwidth. Freeview, cable and digital satellite viewers can all access interactive television content, meaning it is now available to well over half of all households. Some digital television boxes are connected to a telephone line, enabling a two-way transfer of information, similar to an internet connection. This has meant that Internet services such as banking and email have become available even to people without computers in their homes.

What does this mean?
One side effect of the rise of iTV is the potential that has arisen for fictional programming to become truly interactive. Broadcast in December 2005, episodes were available to view not just on Channel 4, but on MTV, E4, and available to download from the PSP website and on 3 mobile phones. The BBC has also begin to look at interactive drama, with viewers of an episode of Holby City having a choice of two characters to kill off.

Imagine a scenario in which the interactive content offers viewers four choices at each key point in the narrative, selectable by using the four coloured keys on the remote control. The number of choices effectively means the viewer is choosing their own programme from one of dozens or even hundreds of potential programmes. The cost of producing such a programme would be much higher and do audiences really want choice.

The trend in recent years has been towards personalisation, with iPods and PVRs letting consumers create, respectively, their own radio stations and television channels. PVRs (Personal Video Recorders) such as Sky+ have already worried advertisers, as they drastically cut down the amount of time people spend watching advertising. As more and more people adopt new technologies, institutions will be forced to find ways to make up for the loss in revenue, and this may mean exploiting iTV more. Ofcom will be keeping a close eye on developments, but there is little doubt that things will change.

Thursday, April 24

TV on iTunes

ITV makes classic shows available on iTunes
By Nicole Martin, Digital and Media Correspondent
Last Updated: 1:01pm BST 22/04/2008

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Millions of iPod owners can now watch their favourite ITV programmes on the go after the broadcaster signed a ground-breaking deal with iTunes.

TV fans want to watch their favourite shows whenever and wherever they want
Fans can download episodes of Cold Feet, Captain Scarlet and other ITV classics onto their computers and then watch them on their iPods or iPhones for just £1.89. Other programmes such as Inspector Morse and the adaptations of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey and Emma will be available to download later this year.
Dawn Airey, the managing director of ITV global content, said: "We want to give our viewers the opportunity to watch their favourite shows wherever they are.
"ITV has thousands of hours of classic content in the archive which we are bringing to a whole new audience via iTunes."
Viewers can already download BBC programmes, including Life on Mars and Torchwood, and Channel 4 favourites, including Shameless and Skins, from the iTunes website.
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The deals reflect the growing demand for television catch-up services and the changing habits of viewers who want to be able to watch their favourite shows whenever and wherever they want.
Last year BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4 announced plans to launch a joint online television service, aiming to provide a "one stop shop" for people who want to catch up on TV shows they have missed.
The service, provisionally called Kangaroo, will launch later this year and will offer more than 10,000 hours of "catch-up" and archived television shows, available for viewers to download for free or buy.
The iPlayer, which allows viewers to watch BBC programmes up to seven days after transmission, has already proved popular, with 2.2 million people using it in its first three months.

Above is an article I took from the Daily Telegraph’s website that was published recently on the 22nd of April 2008. It shows the true extent of the development of how we consume television in the modern era. Ipods only became popular in last five years and not many people five years ago would have predicted the growth and success of this Apple product. It is remarkable that something that had such an introduction on the way we consume music, has converged with other media technologies to offer buyers such a variation and excellent product for their money. Being able to download television programmes of the consumer choice gives them a great way to catch up with their favourite programmes. Many programmes are on such high demand from customers that the times we consume television is dramatic. Nearly gone are the times of prime time television, as people know that if they don’t watch their favourite television programme they can always watch it another time at their own convenience. People now know that they do not have to be watching their television when their favourite programmes come on because they can either watch the repeat, record using Sky+, watch the omnibus, watch it on the internet through services such as iplayer and now on their ipod all made by the companies to improve convenience, improve their reputation and to stay up to date with the constant changes in new media technology.

Tuesday, April 22

Interactive TV

Interactive TV is a mix of teletext/ceefax and the internet. It offers users information on demand as well as two-way services over your phone line, such as e-mail, online shopping and banking. Sky’s equivalent of the red button is sky active and offers users games, news, offers and features whereas the BBC has BBCi, the Beeb’s interactive service.