Save BBC 6music & BBC Asian Network

We can save the BBC Asian Network which has a massive global audience.

Sign the petition at http://www.petition.fm/petitions/6musicasiannet/ and email srconsultation@bbc.co.uk and trust.enquiries@bbc.co.uk to complain about the closures.

If you are on facebook, become a fan of Save The BBC Asian Network!!!

The BBC will listen to public opinion regarding these closures. So, PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! contact the BBC and tell them to save these stations and listen to them via the Internet!

BBC Asian Network
BBC 6Music

More BBC Station closings

It seems that Radio 6 and The BBC Asian network are the two stations up for the axe. It really hit me that The BBC Asian network is getting the axe as a fan of the The BBC Asian network Chart Show. I'm sure a fair amount of tweets came from the announcement of the The BBC Asian network biting the dust.

The BBC Asian network is available online, which means that there is a larger audience than just the UK Desi crowd (and non-Desi fans of Asian music like me). Internet radio has ensured that the Beeb is a world broadcasting source. In fact, internet radio is really where the world service does most of its work. The Beeb no longer broadcasts directly to the US (or so I believe) since the Internet is a much better way to transmit. There are still transmissions to non connected areas, but the Internet is quickly replacing short wave radio broadcasts.

So, I am glad that the word is getting out about the The BBC Asian network's impending closure.

BBC Top Tweet!

It came to my attention that the BBC (yes, THE British Broadcasting Corporation) is one of the top tweets. One source said it was number one and the other at 6th and 8th position. Perhaps source one combined the second sources tweets to give the Beeb number one status. Either way, I had to verify this weird factoid as a lifelong Beeb fan.

Nevermind that the Beeb itself says that Twitter tweets are 40% 'babble'. I also become a true Luddite when it comes to things such as Twitter. I am a quasi-Luddite when it comes to modern technology, grudgingly accepting some things (e.g., computers, blogs, and e-mail). Otherwise going whole hog about things such as the internet, MP3 players, and PVRs (I include iPlayer in that category). Anything which gives me access to "Culture" wherever I may be is more than acceptable to me. The BBC's motto is "Nation Shall Speak Peace Unto Nation" which strikes a chord in me.

Anyway, part of the reason for all the Tweets is that the BBC has announced budget cutbacks. It has proposed closing two radio stations (The closing of Radio 6 causing a fair amount of tweets), half its website, and cut spending heavily on imported American programmes (not much of a loss in my opinion) in an overhaul of services to be announced next month.



Personally, I think the Beeb should introduce external licence fees for all those people who use proxy server to access iPlayer from outside the UK. Sure, there's a get out clause about people who watch delayed programmes which is hinted at in this blurb:

If you watch or record television programmes as they're being shown on TV you must, by law, be covered by a TV Licence, no matter what device you're using.

Go a little further on the licencing fees website and you see:

However, you don’t need to be covered by a licence if you’re only using ‘on-demand’ services to watch programmes after they have been shown on TV. So, you need a licence to watch any channel live online, but you wouldn’t need one to use BBC iPlayer to catch up on an episode of a programme you missed, for example.

Although, I did have a detector van person knock on my door and ask if I had a Television 20 years ago. I told him that I didn't, but I did have a computer. That was before access to the internet was widespread. Britain didn't have much in the ways of dial-up BBSs either at that time. Soooo...

Anyway, The people using iPlayer as more than just a "catch up service", but as their primary source for receiving the Beeb should be able to access the service directly. Of course, that gets in to all those DRM aspects that I personally detest: in particular, region coded DVDs (or other region blocked material). There are so many ways to get around these things that most Blu-Ray discs AREN'T region coded. So, region coding with me is a topic that truly raises my hackles, but it is also very easy to circumvent. Information should be without borders: especially music and other artistic performances.

So, if the good people at the Beeb would listen to me, maybe they may consider making iPlayer a pay service without borders and time limits. How many Americans are going to want to watch Rab C. Nesbitt? Better yet, how many can understand what he's saying? It's idiotic to make Rab C. Nesbitt DVDs (or other shows with "limited appeal") region coded to the UK or Antipodes (DVD regions 2 and 4). And BBC America is a joke (along with being part of the Discovery Network). If the Beeb won't look to other sources of income, they should stop bitching about licence fees.

Or being broke.

Personally, I'd pay to be able to download from iPlayer if they would cut the DRM crap. Otherwise, get-iplayer does the trick quite nicely for me: especially since get_iplayer gets rid of the DRM!

Raiding the BBC Archives: DRM, iPlayer, and other things

Anyone familiar with UK TV knows that the powers that be were terrible about archiving shows. It was common UK television practice up until the late 1970s to destroy videotapes because of agreements with actors' and musicians' unions that limited the number of repeats. Fortunately, the policy of wiping recordings ceased in 1978. When Peter Cook learned the series Not Only... But Also was to be destroyed, he offered to buy the tapes from the BBC but was refused because of copyright issues. He then suggested that he purchase new tapes, so that the BBC would have no need to erase the originals, but inexplicably this was also turned down. We are fortunate that some series managed to survive this dark period of ignorance. I believe that some programmes, such as Doctor Who and the Goon Show managed to survive because the tapes were shipped to other countries that were more enlightened regarding archiving (e.g., Canada and Australia).

This wasn't just a UK problem since Lathe of Heaven had various issues regarding its rebroadcast, this was despite it being the most requested PBS programme of all time. Even the remake had to have the Beatles "A Little help from My Friends" redone to enable the show's rerelease. WNET has not said how much it cost to re-release Lathe of Heaven, stating simply that it "wasn't cheap," and that hopefully royalties would help recoup the expense.

Anyway, This comes from one issue I have with iPlayer: they don't archive the shows for very long. The 7 day limit is annoying: especially when they rebroadcast the show. Also, the rebroadcast of Hamlet was in standard def rather than hi-def. The good folks at the Beeb have said that they are making the quality of standard programmes better, which they are. But, hi-def is indeed much clearer, which is important when you are watching the programme on a 1080p 37" LCD-TV! Also, some of the later archived versions of iPlayer vids are signed.

Being signed is acceptable if you are deaf, but it's a bit like watching someone playing charades for those who do not sign. This is especially true since the interpreters tend to emote whilst signing. It could be worse, the described programmes for the blind are a bit annoying as well. The Goons used to point out the advantage of the radio for using your imagination. As they would say "try doing that on Television" after some bizarre description of their activities.

You can find Goon Show Scripts here:
http://www.thegoonshow.net/scripts_alpha.asp
If you are too cheap to buy the books.

The next annoyance is DRM, which isn't limited to iPlayer. Neither is it really relevant since there are ways to get around that nonsense. It seems to me that these people could make more money by allowing people to subscribe to the iPlayer service and download away. Better yet, get rid of the geographic restrictions on this material anyway since that can be circumvented as well.

It's a bit like the cartoon where the person is saying "Not many people pirate CDs of Buxtehude" (although I did hear that Tallis's Spem in Alium was pirated as Spam in Allium, or Spam in Garlic in translation--not sure if that was a joke or not after this reference). How many people are going to pirate Michael Portillo's Great British Railway Journeys? Anyway, it seems that regional encoding has gone the way of the Dodo with blu-ray since people who want to watch programmes such as Michael Portillo's Great British Railway Journeys will do so.

Never underestimate a determined Anorak!

The New Survivors

I've Mentioned the original Terry Nation Series before along with the remake. The original version is one of my fav programmes of all time since I fantasise about living in that world in my more misanthropic moments.

Anyway, the Beeb has begun to run the Second Series of the remake. I have to admit a curiousity since they left the first series as a cliff hanger. Not that it was a really exciting cliff hanger, but it did have me curious as to what was happening. I would have been screaming at Tom Price for wasting ammo as he shot in Derek's direction ("you don't have a good shot, dimbo"). But this Tom Price is supposed to be sociopathic.

Anyway.

I like how the site boasts an interview with the creator of Survivors: No, not Terry Nation--Adrian Hodges.

Hodges didn't create Survivors, he made a crappy remake of the series. Series two is total crap with no continuity between the two seasons (what happened to Derek?). And, yes, it is an evil pharmceutical firm that caused the "plague".

Give me a break.

Christmas TV offerings

One of the fun things about British TV are the Christmas Specials:

The Grow Your Own Drugs Christmas Special: That would get the religious right in the US freaking out especially after reading about the American Decency Association targeting "American Dad" and "Family Guy" at Stupid Right Wingers. I can just imagine them blowing a fuse or two when they see this programme.

Too bad it's about actual organic medicines, not psychoactive ones. Like the type of medicinial plants you find in Physic Gardens.

The ads for this show are a scream. I should post one.

Oz and Hugh Drink to Christmas: Wine Experts Oz Clarke and Hugh Dennis decide to try seasonal drinks. This will get your Christmas spirits up. Stuff like Dickens's smoking bishop. If you've actually read "A Christmas Carol" rather than watched the numerous versions out there, you know that a reformed Ebenezer Scrooge and Bob Cratchit share a glass (or more) at the end of the story. Oz and Hugh may not drink actual smoking bishop, but they do plow through whisky, winter ales, wassail (horrid stuff), sloe gin, port, sherry and snowballs along with each drink's traditions. Oz and Hugh may not get wrecked, but I am sure someone watching it would if they drink each libation along with Oz and Hugh. Although it does take a heck of a lot of mulled wine to get drunk.

I'm downloading this to iPlayer as I write.

Since we mentioned it in the last bit, Dickens' A Christmas Carol on Radio 7 (I remember when there were only 4 of them): Michael Gough and Freddie Jones. It is without regional boundaries since it's a radio programme. SO, you are set if you don't like seeing:

Currently BBC iPlayer TV programmes are available to play in the UK only, but all BBC iPlayer Radio programmes are available to you.

The Truth About Christmas Carols: That one should have the Christ in Christmas crowd worrying as well since I mentioned it. I'll cop out and just cut and paste the Beeb's description:

There could be nothing more sweet and sentimental than the sound of traditional carols performed by a velvet-voiced choir at Christmas. Or so you would think. Composer Howard Goodall uncovers the surprising and often secret history of the Christmas carol.

Far from being accepted as part of the celebrations of Jesus' birth, over the centuries carols have been banned by both church and state. The carols we sing seem set in stone and yet they can have up to 400 regional variations. Individual carols have caused controversy - While Shepherds Watched had to be cleaned up by the Victorians for being too crude and there's a suspicion that O Come All Ye Faithful was a call to 18th century Jacobites to rebel.

History Zone - Christmas Zone: Sounds interesting. It looks like clips from previous years' programmes. Something to listen to whilst cleaning the house.

I'll add in Victorian Farm Christmas after catching a bit of the first episode. The last few minutes had folkie John Kirkpatrick playing some trad Christmas songs. That was worth the price of admission.

There are quite a few cookery programmes: Nigella's Christmas Kitchen with Nigella Lawson, Rick Stein's Christmas Odyssey, and The Hairy Bakers' Christmas Special. So, if you don't know what to cook for Christmas, these will confuse you even more. Of course, foodies love this stuff even if they never actually cook it.

And who can forget Casualty? That one's been around for 24 seasons and yet another CV builder for British Actors.

BBC iPlayer

I really like iPlayer since it allows me to catch BBC programmes and watch them when I want. Although I have some frustrations with the player not always downloading correctly, especially through the actual iPlayer desktop. My hardwired connection can download faster than my wireless, but I can't transfer shows since they tend to stop midway. A programme called get_iplayer is much better for downloading and doesn't have some of the associated iPlayer drawbacks.

Get_iplayer finds the "portable device" version of the show. I find that version is less buggy than the actual iPlayer version. I blame the DRM for a lot of iPlayer's issues. In particular crappy download quality. It seems that programmes either are jumpy as heck or can stop. I am frustrated as heck that I was only able to download half of an episode of the New tricks episode "Mad Dogs". Frustration has cause me to buy a copy of season 5 from a Dutch vendor and the sucker is taking forever to come.

On the other hand, it is a great advantage to catch some of the programmes such as Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton's Madison Square Garden Concert. It doesn't bother me that they're a couple of OAPs. And it seems that QI series 7 is up and running. That means I have to download that!

Why have cable or satellite when you can have iPlayer?

I love taking quizzes

And I love it even more when I get 100%!



This sucker was a bit tough since there were a couple of questions which had a couple of really good possibilities (La Bûche de Noël).

Knowledge of languages helps in this quiz!

I've always said I'd be a lousy Nazi.

It seems that not only is talking head Zeinab Badawi a day older than me, but she is also Sudanese.

I had her pegged for being Pakistani just because it seemed more likely to me. I mean how many people are there from Sudan in the UK anyway?

I'd never have guessed her ethnic origins, or really cared about them either.

I kind of like her name, but would prefer it if she were something like Zowie Badawi. That would have been really cool. It was looking up her name that brought about this post.

I have to admit more of being a Beeb fan than ITN. And Trevor McDonald is my fav ITN newscaster, but...

Screw it, I like Mishal Husain and Daljit Dhaliwal a whole lot more than Zeinab. Daljit being the hotter of those three. Not that I would toss Zeinab out of bed. It's just that I think Daljit is the sexiest of the lot (Badawi 7.5, Dhaliwal 9, and Husain 8).

Yeah, well, I have always said I would have been the Nazi people went to to get papers saying they were Aryan