Further BBC News Job Cuts

The BBC is to make a further 70 job cuts in its news service, increasing to 520 from the 450 job losses announced earlier this year.

The increase in the job losses are a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has increased the financial pressures on the BBC. The jobs cuts include senior management positions.

Most of the BBC News output is being retained, but more content is to be shared amongst programmes both locally and nationally.

However, some high profile shows including the Victoria Derbyshire programme have been axed, although Victoria does remain as a BBC News presenter.

MTV Slims Portfolio, Offshoots to Close

ViacomCBS is slimming down its MTV portfolio, and is to close Club MTV, MTV OMG, and MTV Rocks on the 20th July 2020.

In addition to the main MTV channel, which is now more entertainment focused, five music channels will remain:

  • MTV Music
  • MTV Hits
  • MTV Classic
  • MTV Base
  • MTV Live HD

MTV Base is to gain a new Club music chart show, whilst MTV Music will gain a similar show for rock music.

MTV channels are subscription channels currently available on Sky and Virgin Media.

Arqiva Plans Mass Reduncies

A name which may be unfamiliar to some, Arqiva is the largest UK broadcast transmission company, and they are planning to make 500 staff (around a third of their workforce) redundant.

This forms part of a wider restructuring plan at the company, owned by a consortium of foreign investors.

Arqiva operate most of the TV and radio masts in the UK, as well as operating in other areas of transmission.

Some radio stations, including Rathergood Radio and Love Sport have complained about the high costs of Arqiva’s services in recent years.

Pluto TV Joins Virgin Media

Pluto TV has joined Virgin Media, allowing users to access the on demand service through a dedicated app on the V6 box. It has not been confirmed if the service is available on the previous generation Tivo boxes.

Pluto TV is owned by ViacomCBS, and is a series of thematically created streamed TV channels, many created around a particular series. The service can be accessed on a wide variety of platforms.

Full details of the Pluto service can be found on the dedicated page here.

BBC Resumes Scrapping of Free TV Licenses

The BBC is resuming its plan to end free TV licenses for most over 75s from the 1st August.

From this date, only those on pension credit will get a free TV license, meaning 3 million households will now have to pay the charge.

Free TV licenses had previously been funded by central government, but this responsibility has more recently bee transferred to the BBC.

The new scheme will still cost the BBC £250 million a year, but this is considerably less than the previous scheme at £745 million a year. Continuing the previous scheme would have caused considerable cutbacks, damaging the wider BBC as a whole.

New Codec to Cut Streaming Data Use

A new video encoding standard, H.266, has be unveiled, and promises to cut data use by at least a half. Negotiations and development have taken 3 years.

The codec, also known as Versatile Video Coding (VVC), should make it possible for slower internet connections to stream in higher quality, as well as paving the way for streaming services to offer even higher quality 8K content.

The longer term aim us that cameras and smartphones will be able to automatically play and record footage in the new format. However, this will require new chips to be developed.

H.266 has been designed to half the bit rate required, when compared to the current H.265 standard. H.265 uses half the bit rate of its predecessor H.264, with the latter still widely used.

Upcoming Sky Q Updates

Sky have unveiled a series of upcoming updates to the Sky Q platform, the flagship receiver which allows access to online and catch up content alongside the usual range of channels.

Among the improvements are:

  • Revised user interfaces, replacing the static user bar with a collapse-able one
  • Improvements to voice control, allowing the user to search by genre.
  • Additional HDR (high-dynamic range) content, including from Disney Plus.

The first update is expected in the next few weeks.

Delays to DAB Multiplex Launches

Ofcom is allowing an additional year for the licensees of three new local DAB multiplexes to launch, as detailed in the table.

Multiplex Original Launch Deadline New Deadline
Channel Islands October 2020 October 2021
Morecambe Bay December 2020 December 2021
North and West Cumbria December 2020 December 2021

All three multiplex license holders are aiming to launch the services ahead of the deadline.

Merit Launch Triggers Reshuffle, Now 70s Returns

ITV are launching a new part time channel tomorrow (8th July), triggering a channel number reshuffle.

Merit will broadcast from 9pm to midnight on Freeview channel number 34. ITV3 +1, currently on channel 34, will move to channel 58,  in turn forcing ITV Be +1 down to channel 97. Both ITV3 +1 and ITV Be +1 are part time channels, which are likely to reduce hours to accommodate Merit.

The exact programme line-up is currently unknown, but Merit will specialise on cookery and gardening programmes. It is also unclear if the channel will join other platforms.

Additionally, Now 70s is returning to Freeview, still on channel 78, but coverage is limited to the Manchester area.

DAZN Enters Beta Test Phase

Pay per view service DAZN has resumed plans for an international roll out, which has been delayed since 2nd May 2020 due to the current worldwide circumstances.

The first stage of the roll out is a beta testing stage, which is to begin with the boxing match between Vergil Ortiz Jr and Samuel Vargas on the 24th July. Access is being made free of charge to registered users.

As yet, no full launch date for the service has been announced.