BBC release: BBC, ITV and Sky submit joint letter calling for three live televised election debates

The BBC has made the following announcement on its site:

“BBC, ITV and Sky have today written to the leaders of the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties with a joint proposal for three live televised debates during the next general election campaign.

“The individual broadcasters would be responsible for producing and broadcasting one debate each between all three party leaders.

“Each of the three debates would be transmitted live by the originating broadcaster in peak time and made available to all other British broadcasters subsequently.

“The broadcasters have formed a joint team to discuss detailed plans with the political parties.

“Each of the broadcasters will seek to make suitable arrangements for ensuring due impartiality across the UK.”

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That DEC Gaza Crisis appeal video the BBC would not show…

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DigitalSpy: Sky launches an online-only subscription TV service

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Sky News on Georgia – let’s start with a geography lesson…

Sky News’ online section ‘Georgia In Depth’ is an aggregation of pictures, articles and info about the eastern European country, which borders with Russia, as part of coverage of the current conflict in the region

So that’s the Georgia between sandwiched between Europe and Asia and not the US state then?

If you’re going to use Wikipedia, at least get the right entry. Thank goodness for the disclaimer… it’s no one’s fault!

(Also, why does the site publish Wikipedia excerpts at all if, as the disclaimer suggests, Sky News has little faith in their accuracy?)

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Sky ramps up ads in online video

Sky is to increase advertising on its video content across its sports, news, showbiz, travel, motoring and style sections.

The deal with in-video advertising firm Adjustables will see a range of new ad formats featured in the content.

Sky Sports has already recorded 14 million video ad impressions online and Sky News 3.5 million, according to a release from Adjustables.

The partnership underlines Sky’s commitment to online video, Tom Bevan, operations manager at Sky Digital Media, said.

“Within our growing portfolio, video is clearly something that differentiates Sky’s online offering. We’re particularly well served by a wide variety of unique video content, be that from Sky’s core content business or web exclusive material,” he said.

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MediaGuardian: Sky Arts’ John Cassy to head up Wall Street Journal’s online video

Channel director Cassy will take a six-month secondment to develop the WSJ’s online video strategy.

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Sky News new beta site

Sky News has launched a beta version of its new website, to run in parallel with its existing news site.

It has adopted a top story carousel for the homepage that displays the latest breaking news in video and pictures.

It has also added a story tracker in the right column, which lets you follow a story as it develops, and in the left column a See Your News personalisation feature.

“What you are visiting is very much work in progress. We are testing and trialling new features and a very different design,” Steve Bennedik, editor of Sky News Networked Media, wrote on his blog.

“At the same time we are still offering our existing site. When we are ready, we will switch off the old site and this will be our public face.”

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Sky News uses CoveritLive for Crewe by-election debate

Sky News yesterday used live blogging service CoveritLive to host a debate between candidates standing in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election (thanks to Simon Dickson and his Puffbox blog for the tip).

Candidates Tamsin Dunwoody (Labour), Elizabeth Shenton (Lib Dem) and Edward Timpson (Conservatives) responded to questions directly from readers of the blog and Sky News’ host Martin Stanford.

The service is becoming increasingly popular with news sites: today the Lancashire Evening Post is liveblogging an afternoon from a local pub, while US newspaper the Grand Island Independent used the tool as a feedback channel during the redesign of its website.

Elsewhere Farmers’ Weekly is liveblogging ‘an afternoon in the life of the newsroom’ – a similar experiment to that conducted by the Liverpool Daily Post.

Read Journalism.co.uk’s interview with CoveritLive president Keith McSpurren.

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A plug for Sky News Unplugged

From tomorrow Sky News will air its new online programme Sky News Unplugged.

The show, which promises ‘a sideways look at the week’s news’, will be available only on the channel’s website and through interactive services on TV.

The programme will later be available on demand through the site’s video channel.

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Guardian: Times website seeks Sky News link-up

The Times website wants to carry more video content from Sky News.

Times Online editor-in-chief, Anne Spackman, told MediaGuardian.co.uk that negotiations to make this happen were at an early stage on the newspaper website carrying breaking news videos from Sky.

Any deal is likely to improve the online video offering from the Times.

Despite being one of the first national newspapers to adopt a TV service the Times offering has fallen behind other nationals – in terms of quality – and seems to be due an overhaul.

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