Universal

NBC Universal has unveiled plans to launch 20 new television channels around the world, including local versions of Sci-Fi, in a bid to more than double revenues from its global networks division over the next three years.

The media and entertainment giant said it was rolling out channels in 23 new countries across Europe, Asia and Latin America. The plans form part of a three-pronged strategy by new NBC Universal chief executive Jeff Zucker to focus on international growth alongside producing new programmes and making more of digital.

It echoes moves by a host of American media companies keen to exploit fast-growing markets like India and Eastern Europe as their own market in the US becomes increasingly saturated.

Under the overseas push, existing NBC Universal channel brands, including Sci-Fi, action and suspense channel 13th Street and the crime-focused Universal Channel, will launch into new markets across Asia, eastern Europe, Russia and India. Other countries set to get new channels this year and next include Portugal, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Turkey.

The move will almost double the group's number of local channels to reach a total of 58 countries - from 35 now - beginning with the launch of Sci-Fi in Latin America and Sci-Fi and 13th Street in the Netherlands.

Peter Smith, who runs all the group's non-US operations out of London said the "ambitious growth plan" was tapping into new opportunities from international pay-TV markets.

"We have the experience and resource to begin a targeted launch programme in priority markets, including wider distribution and more local production in the countries where we operate," he said.

"We look to markets with growing digital subscriber bases, emerging pay-television consumption, new platforms and new technologies."

NBC Universal's filmed entertainment, networks and cable television operations generated total international revenues of almost $3bn (£1.51bn) last year.

My Opinion: This will be a good idea, and Universal can pay their staff much more than they are already if they earn atleast twice as much. Also, they will become a bigger company than they already are.

In 'Faulty Towers' - a hugely successful sitcom of the 1970's - the Other (the object that is being stereotyped because of fear about its difference from established norms and its challenge to the dominany ideology) is the Germans, who are ridiculed by John Cleese in his role as Basil Fawlty in his memorable "funny walk" =. However, in 'The Beano' also very successful - one of the longest runnig comics in the uk - and sharing the same funamental purpose as 'Fawlty Towers' (to entertain the audience by making them laugh) it is a 'typical' girl being stereo-typed by 'The Bast Street Kids', derided for being narcissitic. In each case, the Other is determined by the producers' assumption about what will appeal to the target audience, tapping into their core beliefs and values, and these representations ultimately help to reinforce their conservative prejudices - their rascism ans sexism.

At the time of 'Text 1', Britain was still suffering from the painful memory of the Second World War (and perhaps still is today judginf by Richard Desmond's politically incorrect behaviour last week at a meeting between his 'Daily Express' newspaper group and 'The Daily Telegraph') and so it satisfied a generation of British people who were still unsure about our former enemies, even though the programme - makers' intention had been to satirise these attitudes as being outdated.

Similarly, 'Text 2' demonstrates how even in out post - feminist times, the pre-teen boys who make up the primary audience of 'The Beano' have little respect for the girls and will strongly identify with the views f the main characters who assert and 'prove' that traditional femininity is no match for masculine qualities. However, by placing a female 'tomboy' character as one of the cheif proponents of this patriarchal view, it could be argued that 'The Beano' is quite a progressive text because it nevertheless makes it clear that gender identity is not fixed or laid down according to biology. Whether boys will pick up on this message or - like the reactionary sitcom audience of the 1970's - instead take a more alternative reading from the prefferred one, is a matter for debate.

Although both these comics appear to be funny in their context and appeal to their target audience, they both difrentiate in terms of the way they are presented to the audience, how and why, and what values they are teaching their audience as both appeal to very disimilar audiences. Text 1, appears to be appealing to a middle class British audience as the character seems to have an unusual sence of humour as he is mocking the world war, and is seen to be derisive toward the Germans. Therefore, the character is representing the British.

On the other hand, 'The Beano' is innocently representing troublesome children, who do not shed value for anything but themselves. Therefore, portraying them to by jealous. This is shown by the fact that the little girl is constantly unhappy with her friend finding a girlfriend, who we see is taking advantage of him, as she asks him to take her out shopping. This again is representing a female to be selfish. Because, 'The Beano' primarily targets the male audience, and the ages of who they provide for is that of 11 - 14 year old. The new girl at school is also conforming to the 'Male Gaze' theory as she is seen to be beautiful, with long blonde hair, whereas the other female character does not appeal to the gaze. The illustrator of this comic, is representing girls to only find good looking boys attractive, therefore assuming they are shallow.

Finally, both these texts are very diverse, as they are targeting different audiences, they appear to be comedys in their own context and therefore, for different audiences they are interpreted differently. therefore i would find Text 1 more funny, than Text 2, as i am past that age and so i am more likely to respond positivley to one which fits my age range.

Sir Richard Branson, Sponsoring Big Brother.

At the press conference to announce the merger of Virgin Mobile with NTL last year, Sir Richard Branson brandished a red pen and scrawled on the rather dull presentation that the deal was all about 4-play. While on the surface his graffiti was an attempt to inject a bit of spice into an otherwise dull meeting of suits, it also underlined the idea behind the deal: that Virgin Media would be a one-stop content provider across TV, the web and mobile.

Until now, however, there has been little evidence that 4-play has got anyone excited. Virgin's customer growth has stagnated while the cable TV operation has become bogged down in a spat with Sky over the provision of the satellite broadcaster's basic channels.

But confirmation that Virgin Media is taking up the sponsorship of Big Brother, dropped by Carphone Warehouse after the Celebrity race row, offers the company the perfect opportunity to prove that multi-platform content can work.

When mobile phone company O2 sponsored the first few Big Brother series it produced a host of mobile content such as wallpapers and news from the house.

Since then, mobile handsets have evolved: many can deal with video and access the internet, paving the way for similar content to be accessed through both mobiles and PCs.

Virgin also has a mobile phone in the market which can receive live TV transmissions, and plans to launch more TV handsets later this year.

The question is, however, whether Channel 4 and Endemol will allow Virgin Media to use Big Brother as a showcase or just pocket Branson's cash while they continue to work on their own digital plans for the show.

My Opinion:

I'm not too sure this is a good idea. This is because, if another insident like what has already happend with Jade Goody and Shilpa Shetty, the bad publicity will be rubbed off onto Virgin. It's a risk that Virgin will want to take. Also, BB aims for a younger audience, where as Virgin aim for more of a middle aged audience. For example, Carphone Warehouse advertise phones that are appealing to a younger audience, like something flashy, new and with different gadgets, whereas Virgin Mobile advertise business, simple phones with can only usually make calls. This will not work as both organisations are very disimilar. Also, recently, BB has become really divisive and plenty of people don't like it!..Therefore Richard Branson is taking a risk of sponsoring them!

Sir Richard Branson, Sponsoring Big Brother.

At the press conference to announce the merger of Virgin Mobile with NTL last year, Sir Richard Branson brandished a red pen and scrawled on the rather dull presentation that the deal was all about 4-play. While on the surface his graffiti was an attempt to inject a bit of spice into an otherwise dull meeting of suits, it also underlined the idea behind the deal: that Virgin Media would be a one-stop content provider across TV, the web and mobile.

Until now, however, there has been little evidence that 4-play has got anyone excited. Virgin's customer growth has stagnated while the cable TV operation has become bogged down in a spat with Sky over the provision of the satellite broadcaster's basic channels.

But confirmation that Virgin Media is taking up the sponsorship of Big Brother, dropped by Carphone Warehouse after the Celebrity race row, offers the company the perfect opportunity to prove that multi-platform content can work.

When mobile phone company O2 sponsored the first few Big Brother series it produced a host of mobile content such as wallpapers and news from the house.

Since then, mobile handsets have evolved: many can deal with video and access the internet, paving the way for similar content to be accessed through both mobiles and PCs.

Virgin also has a mobile phone in the market which can receive live TV transmissions, and plans to launch more TV handsets later this year.

The question is, however, whether Channel 4 and Endemol will allow Virgin Media to use Big Brother as a showcase or just pocket Branson's cash while they continue to work on their own digital plans for the show.

My Opinion:

I'm not too sure this is a good idea. This is because, if another insident like what has already happend with Jade Goody and Shilpa Shetty, the bad publicity will be rubbed off onto Virgin. It's a risk that Virgin will want to take. Also, BB aims for a younger audience, where as Virgin aim for more of a middle aged audience. This will not work as both organisations are very disimilar. Also, recently, BB has become really divisive and plenty of people don't like it!..Therefore Richard Branson is taking a risk of sponsoring them!

Blue Peter legend Biddy Baxter said she was "appalled" by the revelation of a fake phone-in competition result on the BBC kids' show.

Baxter, who was in charge of Blue Peter from the 60s to the 80s, put the mistake down to "human frailty" and said that she did not think that anyone should be sacked over the incident.
Last night, Blue Peter presenters issued an on-air apology to viewers after 14,000 children entered the contest to win a toy - but due to technical problems the programme asked a girl visiting the studio to pose as the winner.

Speaking on a host of BBC radio and TV programmes this morning, Ms Baxter said she was "absolutely dumbstruck and then very annoyed".

"What one has to remember is we have to differentiate between the phone scams which are deliberate and premeditated and this ghastly thing that happened on Blue Peter," she said.
"Really it was a mixture of panic and inexperience because what happened was the person in charge of the item was on the floor. Phone lines went down, live transmission - panic, panic, panic.

"The irony was up in the gallery was the editor and the assistant editor completely oblivious of what was going on, and this member of the production team picked out one of the children in the studio and took them into the make-up area and that's how it happened."
She said that she hoped that the programme recovered from the scandal.

"I do hope Blue Peter will win back the trust of the viewers because it was human frailty. We are all liable to do something stupid and unfortunately that's what happened."

Mona Zahoor, who was at the Blue Peter studio with her son, Ali, on the day of the phone-in competition, told BBC Breakfast she had inadvertently revealed that the programme had faked the winner.

"On the day we were just visiting the Blue Peter studios and they had a phone-in competition," Ms Zahoor said.

"Towards the end of it, surprisingly, rather than a genuine caller calling, one of the children who was behind the set at the time was plucked out and asked to pretend to be a caller.
"I happened to be on the BBC message board on Friday and, while people had written these things had happened on various programmes, I added that it had happened on Blue Peter as well, just assuming people must have known this was just something I was adding to a message board."

TV standards campaigners said faking a winner on a children's TV show marked a new low in the phone-in scandal which has affected the likes of Richard and Judy, Saturday Kitchen and The X Factor. "This is a clear breach of audience trust and is made so much worse because this is a long-running programme for children. The BBC ought to know better," said Dave Turtle of pressure group Mediawatch UK.

My View:

Personally, being a fan of blue peter myself, i was appalled at the fact that blue peter felt they had to lie about the winner of the phone in competition, and the amount of money which they had raised. Blue Peter have the audience of ages between 6 - 11, and what Blue Peter did set a poor example for these children, Blue Peter should be very apolagetic towards the situation.

"I do hope Blue Peter will win back the trust of the viewers because it was human frailty. We are all liable to do something stupid and unfortunately that's what happened."

Homework: Feedback on your blog buddies essay! My Blog Buddie is Prascilla...

Prascilla..ur essay is realy good! wel done!

you showed a lot of confidence when it came to talking about the male gaze, and other theries too! for example, the effects theory..however, you could have also included the uses and gretification theory. never mind dont think i included that either :)
the essay seemed slightly rushed, because maybe you spoke a lot about the revolution will not be televised and only a bit towards the end did you speak about your revolution. never mind it was still good.

thirdly, i really like the way u included historical context, whilst talking aobut civil rights, and you mentioned that the black people were oppressed by the white people. that is a very strong point should have elaborated :)

i like that fact where you mentioned the title being repeaTed constantly. not too sure if it makes the song seem more political..but it definatly stresses a point and constantly conveys the message of the song, reinforcing the fact that the revolution wil not be televised. with thisb you could have said something like "similar to this, Sarah Jones constantly is reinforcing the idea that women are not objects of the male gaze, and they cannot jus use ur for our pleasure, and this is shown by the way she also uses the technique of constantly repeating 'your revolution will not happen between these thighs' suggesting that a guys revolution is sexual pleasures".
anyway..i beta not go on!! but overal ur work is very good! wel dun! Sonal :)

Using the comparison of these two texts as your starting point, explore the media issues and debates, which they raise.

In your answer you will need to address:
Key Concepts.
Contextual factors – Wider Context.
Media Theory.

[Text 1] “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” by Gil Scott Heron (1972) and [Text 2] “Your Revolution” by Sarah Jones (1998), both seem similar to one another in terms of what the text is actually about, however they both differ from one another excessively.

To begin with, both happen to be similar by the fact that they both are of the same text, a music song. Also the names of the songs make them seem as if they were about the same sort of issue. However, after listening to them both, we see that in many ways although they contain powerful messages and have a strong point, neither of the songs are similar to one another, only briefly.

This may have an impact on the time in which the songs were actually released. Stuart Hall sings about representation on black individuals, and the fact that black men in particular were represented as bad people by the public, and by saying “the public” I propose, the white hegemony, taking place in Britain at the time. White people over powered opposed to the blacks, who were bought to be slaves and owned by whites. Gill Scott Heron argued that this under representation of black people will be fought against and cannot go on any longer. He talks about the society being unrighteous towards black individuals. By naming the song “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”, he is referring to the fact that the civil disobedience that it going on will no longer continue, and there will be a change in society, the rising of the black people will continue to grow. He is standing up for his right as a black human being, having to put up with the pain and suffering that is going on.

Similar to this, Sarah Jones talks about the mistreatment of women, in the late 1990’s. She directly is talking to the listeners, by using words like “your”, intending to catch their attention and willing to make some sort of change by saying “your revolution will not happen between theses thighs”, intentionally talking to the male gender and assuming all men are some what the same. Women were and still now to this day being treated like sex objects and therefore objectified to a males preference. Sarah Jones is standing up to women’s rights saying that this cannot go on any longer. She says “The real revolution ain’t about booty size” and by this she means that a revolution is not just about how big the backside of a women is, and by using colloquial language she is seen to be active. This is suggested because normally women do not use words such as “ain’t” and would be preferably seen saying ‘isn’t’ as a substitution. Furthermore, she is putting across the message that women are not objects and they should not be used for what features they have. However, she is not saying that it is about the inside of a woman that counts. Therefore, we as an audience cannot relate to her real message, and whether she is trying to say that they shouldn’t be used as sex objects or that their personality counts.

In addition to these points, therefore both of the songs are similar in that way that they are both argumentative about the situation they are being put in. Sarah Jones’s situation is more contemporary however we see that both arguments have a strong point. Moreover, the fact that a woman happens to be singing in the more contemporary song suggest a change in society as women have become more open and are not playing passive domestic roles in society. Also the woman is black, which suggests that the society has started to accepted minority ethnicities. The fact that Sarah Jones is talking about women’s sexuality, suggest her ideologies and values lie respectful towards herself.

Both these texts are rap genre, which is ironic because a typical rap genre song would be based upon gun crime, violence and gang wars. However these two texts are both strictly contradicting these stereotypical views. Instead they talk about real life social issues that are taking place in the current media of the time the songs were released. This shows that they are aiming to provide music for an educated audience who regularly consume different types of the media and pay attention to world affairs.

In conclusion, both texts are similar according to what they are arguing or protesting against, however they differ in many ways, which is reflected back on the time in society they were written in.

hmmm fink i did that wrong :S so neways..heres the utha one :S

Frequency -

The time span of an event and the extent to which it fits the frequency of the newspaper's or news broadcast's schedule.

"Suicide Bomb hits US Afghan base during Cheney Visit" - the headline suggests that it wasan accident. It's an issue that is re-occuring at the time as bombings and suicidal bombing are constantly happening.

Thereshold -

How big is an event? Is it big enough to make it into the news?

"The Oscar Awards Ceremony" - this was huge in America yet it affected all countries. The Best director went to Martin Scorsese for The Departed.

Unambiguity -

"Ante and postnatal depression affects 1 in 7 women"

The message is clear just in the title of the article. although the article is only small the message is still given in brief in the title.

Meaningfulness –

How meaningful will the event appear to the receivers of the news? Hartley stresses in this context what he refers to as “cultural proximity”. Events happening in cultures very different from ours will not be seen as being inherently meaningful to audiences here.



Unexpectednes-

"Baby brought back to life after heart attack"

This is unexpected because you dont expect a baby especially to die and then come back alive.



Consonance –

Does this event match the audience’s expectations? Journalists have a pretty good idea of the angle from which they want to report an event, even before they get there.


Continuity –

Once an event has been covered, it is convenient to continue to cover it – the running story.


Composition –

This is a matter of the balance of the news. It is a master of the editors’ judgement, more than anything else. A different news broadcast will have a different agenda in terms of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ news, for example, usually dependant on the perceived target audience.

The story that is usually printed are based on the editors point of views.

Reference to elite nations –

This again relates to ‘cultural proximity’. Those nations which are culturally closest to our own will receive most of the courage.


Reference to elite person –

The media pay attention to important people. Anyone the media pay attention to must be important (cult of the celebrity).


Personalisation –

Events being seen as actions of individuals.

"husband of special constable arrested over her murder"

this suggests that the personality of the person has been exploitedd..

Negativity –

Bad news is good news in terms of what is reported.