Category: media

Australia’s ABC network wants a $250 million increase in its $675 million budget. ABC is supposed to serve television to all of Australia, but “at present it’s not doing it very well. Yes, its share of the television and radio audiences has risen. But in the overall scheme of things, it remains a distant fourth in the TV ratings – although its metropolitan radio stations are doing better.” Maybe it ought to drop plans for its digital service?

“TV Commercials may be crass, loud, an insult to our intelligence. They may even be a colossal waste of money. But they’re also the one brand of big-budget filmmaking that regularly makes room for artistic risks, especially when compared with most of the programs that surround them. I’d rather watch a beer ad than any episode of ‘Friends,’ and not just because the commercial is shorter.”

A museum dedicated to the work of film producer Federico Fellini is being planned for the town of Rimini. “The five-room museum will display Fellini memorabilia including the director’s personal library, story-boards, sketches and photographs.”

Are our public airwaves and media choices being compromised as consolidation reduces the number of companies controlling media? “Should we totally deregulate the public airwaves and permit the dwindling of major media down to a precious few? Should we reduce choices available to cantankerous individualists who do not want their information and entertainment limited by increasingly massive mass media? ‘Luddite nonsense,’ answer many merging movie mogul and media magnates, as they point to the seemingly fierce competition from the Internet and the proliferation of cable channels.”

Last week’s truce between big music and tech companies concerning digital copying is a marriage of convenience. “Government intervention in product design is every tech company’s worst nightmare, and the specter of septuagenarian senators struggling to understand (let alone legislate) application program interfaces and watermarks was a frightening thought indeed. But the truce actually highlights the fact that a power shift has taken place between the media moguls and big tech. And guess what. Tech won.”

“Chicago” picks up two awards, “Adaptation” and “Gangs of New York” also win. “In a harbinger of what is likely to be a closely fought Oscar race, the Globes split its trophies among a variety of critically praised films ranging from late-life crises to historical drama to a sendup of Hollywood screenwriting.”

“While it’s true that many a perfectly serviceable film score goes largely unnoticed, the best take their movies and their audiences to new heights, underscoring – but never overemphasizing, and certainly not obfuscating – the emotion of the film. Music is a poor substitute for cinematic artistry, but it works great as a sort of Hi-Liter.”

Ah, television had such promise when it first came on. But years later, that promise is largely unfulfilled. “The main problem with television is its continual belief that what’s next is better, not what’s happening now. Look at any programming on any network and the number of trailers, promotions and other self-justifying shreds and patches dominate the shows they surround. It’s rather like watching nothing but opening and closing credits.”

The BBC will undergo a thorough review of its programming before license renewal in 2006. “The BBC has been told its programmes must justify the licence fee it charges viewers if its charter is to be renewed. Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell said the corporation would face a ‘tough review’ of the level of funding it receives and the choice of programming it puts out.”

The mood is not positive as this year’s Sundance Festival opens. “Though Sundance continues to be the most important platform for American independent film and the one place where the entire indie world comes together to make deals and to take stock, there is a widespread sense that the market for independent film financing is depressed.”