Three years ago the subscription channel ArtsWorld was launched with viewers paying £6 a month to access it. It has a small but dedicated audience, but now the channel evolves to a new level, becoming free and available in 7.8 million homes. How will this affect programming?
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Publishing’s Lost Summer
Ho hum. This summer was a snooze in the publishing world. “Maybe it was the heat, the lack of a juicy controversy or an exciting book, for that matter, that made the past few months unmemorable for most readers.”
Warning: Subscription Model Would Kill BBC
A former BBC director fears the broadcaster might some day become a subscriber-based service. “The second we move to a subscriber [TV] model you exclude the people who can’t afford it. All the homes that didn’t subscribe would be deprived of programmes that are important. Children’s programmes would be massively affected. You cut people off – especially the poor people of society. It is possible we will lose public funding and that the BBC will move in a subscriber direction, but that is a sad day I will not cheer.”
BBC To Upload Programming
BBC Director Mark Thompson says the public broadcaster will soon make it possible for users to download TV and radio programs. “The device, with a working title of MyBBCPlayer, would let web users download original radio and TV programming from its website for as long as seven days after it was broadcast. He disclosed that the BBC intended to introduce the measure because it had to extend the means by which the public could reach its programmes if it was to retain the licence fee.
Rushdie: On Life And A New Book
Saklman Rushdie, now 58, is “sometimes cast as the over-indulged boy-child: chubby, cute, aware of his own cuteness, with the reserves of spite and temper that come from the eminence of this position. He has many more female than male friends – “I remember saying to [his wife] Padma last year, I’m going to have to start dating some guys!” – and has some mannerisms usually associated with women; with one hand he tucks his hair behind his ear; he can look as demure as Princess Di. But he can be caustic, too.”
Tracing “David’s” Quarry
Scientists have found the exact spot where marble for Michelangelo’s David was quarried. “Until now, art historians knew only that the large block came from the Carrara quarries in Tuscany, which still produce many types and qualities of marble. Analysts have now used three tiny samples, retrieved from the second toe of the left foot of David when the figure was damaged in act of vandalism in 1991, to track down the marble’s origin. Not only were they able to determine the exact spot of excavation, they also found that Michelangelo’s marble is of mediocre quality, filled with microscopic holes, and likely to degrade faster than many other marbles.”
Gershwin Was Richest Composer
George Gershwin has been named the richest composer of all time. “Gershwin eclipsed such classical greats as Strauss, Verdi and Handel in the poll for Classic FM. The classical music station drew up the rich list based on estimates of earnings accrued in a composer’s lifetime.”
Why Is Local Public TV So Bad?
“Local stations can’t afford to create the ‘wow’ factor. The cost of creating local programming that meets the expectations of mass viewers is prohibitive. The existence of so many public-TV outlets offers great potential for public affairs programming and community involvement, and a counterbalance to the news on commercial stations that often focuses on crime and fluff. But too often precious airtime and local resources are burned up in broadcasting carbon-copy national programs, critics say.”
TV Fails At The Movies
Movie remakes of old TV shows haven’t worked well this summer. “A lot of these shows are badly dated, and though they may have worked in the 1960s or ’70s, when they’re updated they just seem irrelevant. The thing that seems charming today isn’t the plot or the jokes, but the time-capsule quality. Plus, people are used to seeing these shows on the small screen. You have to have something really special to justify transplanting them to the movies.”
What’s Happening To Minority Theatre In Southern California?
Orange County has a huge Hispanic population. For 25 years, South Coast Repertort Theatre’s Hispanic Playwrights Project nurtured writers such as Jose Rivera, Octavio Solis and Pulitzer Prize winner Nilo Cruz. “Then last year, after nearly two decades, the program was cut. A second blow came last spring when the Center Theater Group of Los Angeles dropped several development programs, including the Latino Theatre Initiative. Since HPP’s demise, South Coast Rep has programmed nothing by Latino authors other than its long-running Christmas show, La Posada Magíca.”