Wizzard's Blog » Television

Dispelling the UK TV Licence myth…

admin — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 18:30:54 +0000

Okay twitter isn’t long enough to have a debate about the TV Licence in the UK, so I’m going to do it here

As quite a few of you are aware of the furore caused over the BBC going into a deal with SKY to cover the Formula 1 Grand prix season between 2012-2018.

Many people say they’re going to cancel their TV Licence fee because of this.

Big mistake, the TV Licence isn’t there because of the BBC, it is there because of the “Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949″. Where any equipment that is capable of receiving a broadcast has to be licenced, irrespective of what channel you maybe watching.

Yes there are situations where you don’t need a licence.

For example:

The on demand services that stream programs AFTER the broadcast has taken place.

For example if I wanted to watch Top Gear on the BBC iplayer at the SAME time it is broadcast on BBC2 then you need a TV licence. That’s why you get a warning pop up before hitting the play button.

If it is true that the deal is now evolving into a delayed transmission of the race. Even though we are not watching a live as it happens race, we would still have to wait for the BBC to finish broadcasting the race, before we could watch it on the iplayer, if you didn’t have a TV licence.

Yes there are certain circumstances where you don’t need one, but not many people will meet all of the criteria for not having a TV licence.

So would you listen to the man on the street and risk a £1,000 fine or err on the side of caution and pay a fraction of that amount?

As I said in the beginning, the TV licence covers ALL channels not just the BBC. Just that the BBC takes the lion’s share of the fee as they are not allowed to carry advertisements as they are state owned.

Channel 5 lack of communication

wizzardsblog — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 09:18:33 +0000

Why is there a lack of communication from you when for whatever reason a show that is normally available on your on demand service isn’t available?

A quick update on the site would be enough. Allow the moderators to reply to the comments on the site, instead of them just removing the ones that break the terms and conditions of the site.

On the flip side, the commenters need to stop being lazy and use the links provided to report problems with the availability and stop relying upon others like myself to report them.

Do you have a twitter account, if not, get one asap and start communicating with your users. I’m aware you have facebook like buttons, but why not a twitter account?

Start communicating it isn’t rocket science!!!

The Walking Dead – Channel 5 – Sundays 10pm

wizzardsblog — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 10:20:53 +0000

I started this twitter conversation off not long ago:

http://twitter.com/#!/R_Arblaster/status/57365455555399680

Without going into much detail. I enjoyed it even though it reminds me of 28 Days Later.

Andrew Lincoln in the lead role to me is an interesting choice, a well made choice. I would definitely be freaked out if I discovered that everything I had known had been taken over by zombies. Really looking forward to episode 2.

Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Outcasts

wizzardsblog — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 14:03:17 +0000

Just sent out this tweet:

http://twitter.com/#!/R_Arblaster/status/37147871186911232

I think the series is great so far. Very confused as to what the first episode was all about in the beginning as I hadn’t read any pre broadcast info on the series. I had seen a BBC compilation trailer at the beginning of the year.

Still not sure why people were leaving earth to travel 5 years to a new planet? All I can gather is they’ve left not because we’ve screwed up the environment it is because of global war.

I hope this is resolved later in the series.

Don’t forget to catch Episode 3 on BBC One tonight at 9pm and Episode 4 tomorrow same time.

Move over ambulance chasers…

wizzardsblog — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 19:51:36 +0000

The new craze has now hit our TV screens. A company called 5R1 Limited setup in 2007 has now started advertising on television asking you to call them if you’ve been a victim of medical negligence.

So if you can’t sue the people you believe caused your accident whether it be in the workplace, out walking, or out driving, you can now have a pop at your doctor if your care isn’t up to scratch.

I’m bracing myself for what will pop up next.

Sherlock

wizzardsblog — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 14:36:35 +0000

Anyone else watch Sherlock last week? What are your thoughts?

I thought it was brilliant. It does really bring Sherlock Holmes into the 21st Century. The touches with the mobile phone texts on the screen did annoy me the first time they appeared but soon got used to them and in the end fitted quite well.

I admit that I’d never heard of Benedict Cumberbatch so I had an open mind about his acting ability. I really enjoyed his acting in the first episode.

I was wondering how well Tim Freeman would handle being John Watson and was really delighted how well he played him. They seemed to have a good chemistry together can’t wait to see how their relationship develops over the next 2 episodes.

I really enjoyed the scene with the Taxi Driver and Sherlock, a sort of battle of the minds. I’d seen the actor who played the taxi driver in other dramas and was as ever a joy to watch. His name escapes me at the moment.

I hope the next 2 episodes are as good.

Good work from Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss.

CSI:NY losing Melinda Kanakaredes

wizzardsblog — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 09:41:42 +0000

Just read a couple of articles that Melinda Kanakaredes who plays Detective Stella Bonasera, has decided not to renew her contract for the up coming season (7).

There seems to be one actress in the frame to replace her, Sela Ward. That’s not a problem, the problem is possibly lining her up for the same character!!!

Please producers do not go soap on us and start putting new actors into established parts. Write the character out of the series completely and bring a new one in. It worked perfectly well when Anna Belknap came in to replace Vanessa Ferlito as a completely new character.

Kanakaredes closing `CSI: NY’ case after 6 years (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
Melina Kanakaredes Announces CSI: NY Departure (eonline.com)
Kanakaredes to depart ‘CSI: NY’ (variety.com)
“CSI: NY” star Melina Kanakaredes to leave series (reuters.com)
Money A Factor In Melina Kanakaredes’ CSI:NY Exit (blogs.forbes.com)
Melina Kanakaredes Leaving “CSI: NY” (popcrunch.com)
Melina Kanakaredes LEAVING ‘CSI: NY’ (huffingtonpost.com)

This is the kind of reality TV I like

wizzardsblog — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 11:46:15 +0000

As the title says this is the kind of reality TV I like. According to digitalspy Five are commisioning a series called “Business Inspector”. It will use the same premise as “Hotel Inspector”, where an expert will go in and try to turn the business around.

I have been fascinated by how businesses are run from an early age. It’s great to bring in an outsider, they can see with fresh eyes where businesses are going wrong and hopefully save them from financial ruin.

Flash Forward

wizzardsblog — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:33:03 +0000

Now that we’ve hit the mid season finale, what are you thoughts on the series so far?

It seems as per Lost there seem to be more questions than answers, which keep you tuning in every week to see if those questions have been answered.

Now with a neat little twist half way through the episode, who do you think is really responsible for the blackout?

Spooks BBC3 – Fridays 9pm

wizzardsblog — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 09:46:52 +0000

I’ve started watching spooks on BBC3, so I’m a step ahead of the game.

What do you think of the series so far? I think it’s great as ever, seems to be even darker this year especially with the Lucas North character, nice twist to last weeks episode.

Seeing as we are getting close to the end of the series already. I’ll do a round up of what I though, that’s if I can remember some of the finer plot points.