Sky Sports News, not Sky Sports news

I found myself telling someone the other that Freeview is actually quite good nowadays, which is a far cry from my (justified) initial view that it was shite. It had only about 15 different TV channels, and about half of them were news, or sports. Now there is a wide variety of stations, helped no end by the Channel 4 stable of channels.

I still have a bug to bear - Sky Sports News. Now, for me, the idea of a rolling news channel dedicated to sports would be quite enjoyable to switch over to for a half an hour or so at a time. Except that's not what it is - it is simply a rolling infomercial for Sky Sports - the chief breadwinner for Rupert Murdoch. If a sport isn't broadcast on SS, it barely warrants a mention (except, of course, football - The Champions League being the only competition they don't have a stranghold over, although that's no doubt changing). Take as a prime example, the Six Nations, which the Beeb has exclusive rights for, only the England results were spoken about in any significant detail, and that France won the competition outright. They have hardly even acknowledged that the World Snooker Championships has been on for the last two weeks.
Now considering that a 24 hour advert for a format that Freeview don't show, attracting custom to the direct competition, couldn't their bosses tell the SS broadcasters to shape up, and provied details on the full range of the sporting spectrum?

Technorati Tags: SkySports, BBC Freeview, RupertMurdoch, Rugby, Football, SixNations, ChampionsLeague, Snooker

Powered by ScribeFire.

A landmark day for feminism

And so, Match of the Day has got its first woman commentator, Jacqui Oatley. And the world alights with equality. Not much of a hoo-haa was made really, just Gary Lineker making a sly aside in his cost-the-BBC-the-FA-Cup-coverage manner. Which was justified, she was only alright - no Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh or Jim Ross and that's for dang!

Powered by ScribeFire.

The recording industry is intent on isolating music buyers

News broke on Tuesday that the High Court in London has ruled that CD-wow was in breach of European Laws regarding import and sales... To you and me that means the only place to legitimately get CDs for a reasonable price is now illegitimate. It makes you not want to even bother trying to abide by anti-piracy laws.
When Oasis' latest album came out, I remember doing a quick price check for comparison. Most outlets (online and off...) were offering the new release at around £12. HMV was the scummiest, offering a disgraceful £16 (I can't remember the exact price - it may have been 15.95, but definately the far side of £15) for a single CD. CD-wow had it for £8.99, as they do for all their new releases.
iTunes has recently announced the triumphant decision that if you are willing to pay an extra 25% for your songs, (which are already nearly 15% more expensive in the UK than in Europe) you get the benefit of being the actual owner if the file - which can be used any which way you please. Of course, the recording industry has served an injunction against allofmp3.com from trading for daring to have a more efficient business model. Rather than charge by song, it charges by the amount of data - for the average consumer this means that a regular three-and-a-half minute song costs roughly 12-14 pence - with the artist and the record company still getting royalties.
But since the record industry is intent on enslaving the record-buying public into paying extortionate fees for a piece of plastic that costs roughly £3 to produce, or a unit of computer data that is probably immeasurably minute in fiscal value. And the reward for this loyalty?? Maximo Park and My Chemical Romance.

Powered by ScribeFire.

The Sun goes beyond the nicknaming bandwagon

Today's (28th March, 2007) back page in the Sun, there is a 'hilarious' feature calling for Steve McLaren to be blasted into space, and calling him Steve McDonut!
My issue is not with the jocular manner with which they discuss ending a man's life, but the fact that the paper feel the need to spearhead the nickname frenzy. He has only been on the scene for about 6 matches - but The Scum has been itching to become the nicknamers - after Sven Goran Er-ection! and Graham 'Turnip-head' Taylor.
Because it's becoming obvious they have been sitting on that nickname for weeks, it shows that they are basically writing the stories before they become news - doesn't that sound ridiculously like a stupid James Bond movie??

Powered by ScribeFire.

Give China the keys

So China, one of the few remaining Communist outposts in the 21st century, now knows it holds the hammer over the western economies.
It appears from today and yesterday's markets that if the Chinese threaten to stop imports/exports then the major indexes plummet - the DOW Jones, the FTSE, the NASDAQ all slumped by huge differences because China has indicated it may limit imports and exports.
So now, should China want to flex its muscles to show that it really is the next superpower - all it has to do is threaten the world economies by calling an end to imports?? Scary, no?