Eurovision limits voting powers

In an effort to limit the increasing power of Eastern European bloc voting in the Eurovision Song Contest, next year there will be two semi-finals instead of one.

In recent years the power of Eastern European countries has enabled smaller nations to dominate the voting system, and long-standing participants have been snubbed missing out on the Final.

Following continued criticism the ESC has opted for two Semi Finals next year. Only the Host Country, France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom, are automatically qualified for the Final.

Meanwhile the stage design for Belgrade has been revealed. The stage design symbolises the two Serbian rivers and their meeting point, Kalegmedan Park, in the center.

The stage, that looks much like a river flowing, has three circular island stages around its main body. The main one is connected by a bridge to the body of the stage.















Source: ESCtoday.com Read more...

Another Chaser stunt under police investigation

The Chaser is again in trouble with NSW Police, this time over a complaint in which a ticking parcel was delivered to the office of Energy Australia. The sketch was designed to see just how far couriers could go delivering crazy items.

The courier routine aired this week on the ABC, but without the offending delivery to Energy Australia. But you can see the same item used elsewhere in the sketch here.

“Police received a complaint from a business regarding an attempt to leave a suspect package at a location in the city and are investigating to determine if a criminal offence occurred,” a NSW Police Force spokesman said.

“In these days of global terrorism the community expects the police to respond to potential threats,” NSW Police Minister David Campbell told the Nine Network.

An ABC statement said, “The Chaser chose the loudest and most deliberately comical ticking to ensure that the people involved in the filming could not think it was any real threat.”

Source: The West
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Nine and Foxtel win 2012 Olympics rights

The Nine Network and Foxtel have jointly won the broadcast rights to the 2012 London Olympics and the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Together they will provide the most comprehensive coverage of the Olympics ever seen in Australia, across a number of media platforms: free to air, subscription, internet and mobile.

The win is part of an aggressive step by the Nine Network to snatch back its position as the leading free-to-air broadcaster. Seven has held the rights since 1992.

“We believe the London Olympics will be a great event – London is a solid cultural fit with our viewing audiences and will achieve strong ratings particularly with the historical links in sporting and cultural terms between Australia and the United Kingdom ", said Nine boss David Gyngell.

“We believe winning the rights to broadcast the Olympics sends a powerful message that Nine is on the way back,” he added.

Foxtel's Kim Williams said, “Not only will Foxtel provide dedicated extra channels, we will broadcast many elements of our coverage in high definition, which together with the Foxtel iQ disc drive set-top units, Foxtel Mobile and Broadband will give our subscribers the ultimate control, choice and personalisation of how they watch, share and celebrate the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics.”

Seven will broadcast the 2008 Beijing Olympics for which it paid $75m. With NBC paying $2.2B in June, an increase of 30%, the Australia bid could have gone as high as $120m sources say.

And yes, that's the official London 2012 logo!

Press Release:

The Nine Network Australia and FOXTEL today announced they had jointly secured the exclusive broadcast rights (terrestrial TV, subscription TV, Mobile and internet) from the International Olympic Committee for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and the 2012 London Summer Olympics.

The landmark deal will see Nine and FOXTEL partner to deliver Australians the most comprehensive coverage of the winter and summer Olympics ever seen on free-to-air and subscription television.

The Nine/FOXTEL deal includes live rights for free-to-air, HD Channel programming and subscription television, as well as internet and mobile rights.

Nine Network Australia Chief Executive Officer David Gyngell said the bid for the Olympic broadcasting was another step in a process to take Nine back to its position as the leading free-to-air broadcaster in Australia.

“The bid for the Olympic rights underscores the longer term commitment to the Network and the preparedness to invest in content.”

Mr Gyngell said the coverage on Nine would be comprehensive and exciting.

“We believe the London Olympics will be a great event – London is a solid cultural fit with our viewing audiences and will achieve strong ratings particularly with the historical links in sporting and cultural terms between Australia and the United Kingdom .

“We believe winning the rights to broadcast the Olympics sends a powerful message that Nine is on the way back,” he added.

PBL Media Chief Executive Officer Ian Law said: “The bid for the Olympics had the strong support of the board as it demonstrated the longer term approach being taken to rebuild Nine across a range of demographic groups.

“It clearly demonstrates a commitment to the business – both in terms of its people and content,” he said.

FOXTEL Chief Executive Kim Williams AM said: “FOXTEL will compliment Nine’s comprehensive free-to air coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics by delivering our subscribers an expanded coverage that will provide an unparalleled choice of whole live strands of Olympic competition and an entirely new viewing experience fitting for the finest of all international sports events.

“Not only will FOXTEL provide dedicated extra channels, we will broadcast many elements of our coverage in high definition, which together with the FOXTEL iQ disc drive set-top units, FOXTEL Mobile and Broadband will give our subscribers the ultimate control, choice and personalisation of how they watch, share and celebrate the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics.”

The bid for the Olympics was lodged in Lausanne by David Gyngell, Jeffrey Browne and Gary Fenton from Nine, and Kim Williams and Peter Campbell from FOXTEL.

Full details on how the Nine/FOXTEL partnership and programming offer will operate will be released progressively leading into the marketing of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010. Read more...

TEN defends Neighbours ratings

Network TEN insists it is happy with the 'new look' Neighbours and how it is performing in the 6:30pm timeslot.

Figures for the soap, are only 3% higher than before the much-publicised, expensive relaunch in July.

"The changes to Neighbours already on-air are the first of many; the most significant will be apparent in the new year and include the upgrade to high definition production," Ten's head of programming Beverley McGarvey told the Daily Telegraph.

"We expected it would take time for the audience to build, are happy with progress so far and are fully committed to Neighbours."

Last week the drama averaged only 686,000 viewers. The week before was 702,000.

It is widely known that the on-going production of Neighbours has continued due to the UK interest in the show. This year the show was the winner in a broadcast tussle between the BBC and Channel Five, which eventually paid handsomely for the rights.

RTE in Ireland has also snapped up the show ina FremantleMedia deal package that includes The Bill and Shortland Street.

But if the show was broadcast earlier than 6pm in Australia it would not attract much-needed local drama quota points for TEN.

Sources: Digital Spy, Daily Telegraph Read more...