ABS Broadcast Ensures High Street TV Continues

ABS Broadcast stepped in to ensure High Street TV continued broadcasting. During the Covid-19 lockdown, High Street TV’s previous playout provider was no longer able to continue offering it services.

ABS Broadcast ran the High Street TV channels on their behalf, to ensure a smooth transition from the previous provider. The migration process took 30 days from start to finish.

The work took place during full lockdown, with many challenges, including inaccessible third-party buildings and data centres. Despite this, the migration was successful, with no service outages for High Street TV.

High Street TV operate five 24 hour shopping channels on Sky, consisting of the main channel, plus 4 time-shift versions. They also advertise on other channels including ITV and Channel 4, and also supply several high profile retailers.

ABS Broadcast are based in London and provide channel origination and distribution services to several global niche television brands.

Another Sky Rebrand

Sky Two is expected to re-brand on the 3rd September (2020) to Sky Replay. It is unclear what, if any programme changes will be made, but it would appear the channel will be used for repeats of programmes on other Sky owned channels.

Sky Two is currently available on Sky’s satellite platform, and Virgin Media’s cable platform, and is expected to continue on both platforms.

Sky Sports to Launch NFL Channel

Sky and American sports league NFL have agree a new five year rights deal, which will see a new dedicated channel launch.

Sky Sports NFL will launch on 3rd September ahead of the 2020 season, on channel 407 of the Sky satellite platform. The service will be available to viewers in both the UK and Republic of Ireland.

The new agreement marks the 25th anniversary of live NFL coverage on Sky.

New Director for BBC Scotland

Steve Carson has been appointed the new director of BBC Scotland, and will replace Donalda MacKinnon when she steps down later this year.

Steve Carson is currently the Head of Multi-Platform Commissioning for BBC Scotland, and is known for both content making and commissioning.

In his new position which he will take up in the Autumn, he will be responsible for leading 1100 staff who produce content across TV, radio, and digital platforms, in both Gaelic and English.

FA Cup Sets Viewing Record

The final of the FA Cup football tournament on August 1st (2020) between Arsenal and Chelsea was the most watched match of the season.

BARB data shows a peak of 8.2 million viewers watch the BBC’s coverage across all platforms, surpassing the 7.3 million for the semi-final match between Chelsea and Manchester United.

The top five most viewed football matches across the 2019-2020 season were all FA Cup games, and all were shown on the BBC.

Additionally, BT Sport also showed the FA Cup final between Arsenal and Chelsea, and as the viewing figures are only for the BBC’s coverage, the actual number of viewers of the match will be even higher.

Major Businesses Donate Advertisment Airtime

On 31st July (2020) Channel 4 showed an exclusive ad break, during Cats Does Countdown on Channel 4, which saw airtime donated to six independent businesses:

  • Devine Flowers in Maidenhead, supported by Lloyds Bank
  • Jokoto Tailoring in Bristol, supported by American Express
  • Kool Kuts in Brixton, supported by Channel 4
  • Larch Green Alpacas, Glasgow, supported by Bought by Many
  • LV Property in Birmingham, supported by Rightmove
  • Seamus O’Donnells in Bristol, supported by Coca-Cola

American Express, Bought by Many, Coca-Cola, Lloyds Bank, and Rightmove each donated 30 seconds of airtime, with the remainder donated by Channel 4. The ad break was also shown on E4, Film4, More4, 4Music and catch-up service All4.

The aim of the ‘The Great High Street Comeback’ campaign was to help support independent businesses impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, and show that the high street is open for business again

Sky Retains Most Customers

Sky’s owner Comcast has revealed that it has retained 99% of its customers, and 95% of Sky Sports customers, despite the impact of Covid-19.

The Q2 results also reveal that Comcast’s European revenue through its Sky division has dropped by 15.5%. This is partly as a result of allowing customers to pause sports subscriptions whilst live sport was suspended.

Comast’s Sky business comprises its broadcasting business, TV packages, and broadband and mobile services.

Sky Arts to Go Free-to-Air

Sky Arts, an arts and culture channel from broadcaster Sky is to become free-to-air in September.

Not only will the channel become available to more satellite viewers, but the channel will also join the Freeview terrestrial platform, as confirmed by the Ofcom license published this morning (28th July 2020).

The Freeview multiplex is yet to be confirmed, but previous speculation has suggested Sky Arts may replace Challenge on Freeview, which is also owned by Sky.

The move follows the launch of several new Sky branded channels in recent months, as well as the re-branding of Pick to Sky Pick. Challenge is yet to re-brand.

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.