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The BBC Trust has refused permission for the BBC to introduce its own local video service to cover local events in 60 parts of the UK, arguing that it wouldn’t be beneficial enough for the public and that it would have a “negative impact on commercial media”.

Sir Michael Lyons, Chairman of the BBC Trust, said: “It is clear from the evidence that, although licence fee payers want better regional and local services from the BBC, this proposal is unlikely to achieve what they want.

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Apple last night released an update for its Apple TV set-top box introducing some handy new features, at the cost of support for popular third-party software, Boxee.

Notes introduced with the release say the updated software lets Apple TV users stream music from the device to Airport Express speakers or other Apple TVs in your house using AirTunes.

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BBC shows including EastEnders, Heroes and Never Mind The Buzzcocks will be available to watch live online from next week, the BBC has announced.

Programming from BBC One and BBC Two will be made available to watch live online simultaneously with their live broadcast from 27 November, Jana Bennett, Director of BBC Vision, announced today.
 
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Futurist Gerd Leonhard talks about how the broadband-enabled, always-on world of digital natives equipped with 4.5 billion mobile devices impacts on emerging cultural practice.

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There’s been a whole hoo-hah about the BBC making it possible to download its TV shows to Mac and Linux computers - now it seems the broadcaster may be moving to launch the service, which is already available on Windows, and the launch could come this month, if a report’s to be believed.

The broadcaster has frequently gone on the record to say that it wants to make it possible to download shows from iPlayer to the Mac, but has castigated Apple for refusing to license FairPlay to the corporation in order to easily achieve this.

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Following on from our predictions for the Apple TV earlier this week and yesterday’s insightful presentation by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, Netflix today announced of Linux and open source boffin Greg Peters as vice president of partner development.

In making the move, Netflix also confirmed its interest in helping push for services and hardware to let consumers access streaming content on their TVs, showing Apple to have some competition in the den.

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Sony Pictures Television International and Warner Bros. have signed up as launch partners for UK supermarket Tesco’s plan to offer digital downloads of film and TV content through its own online service.

Hollywood Reporter claims titles on offer will include ‘Superman 3′, and ‘Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles’ through the service.

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Apple’s iTunes Store has introduced a range of limited-time discount price offers in the US and UK, with different offers in each territory.

US iTunes users are being offered a bargain basement of film releases sold at under $5. The selection of films on offer change on a weekly basis and currently includes ‘Terminator 2: Judgement Day’, ‘Total Recall’ and ‘Karate Kid’, among others.

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Sky plans to offer its online video content to a much wider range of viewers, making shows available online through its Sky Player service to viewers who aren’t subscribed to its TV shows for the first time, the company said this week.

Sky will launch its subscription TV service via its online Sky Player platform meaning UK and Irish customers will be able subscribe to watch a package of channels from Sky on their PC or Mac without the need to install a TV-based service as well. 

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i.TV today announced the integration of Netflix, into its TV and movie guide for the iPhone and iPod touch.

“We are very pleased to offer i.TV users a new way to discover and rent their favorite DVDs from Netflix using an iPhone or iPod touch,” said Brad Pelo, i.TV founder and chief executive officer. “Many i.TV users are already Netflix customers and those who are not yet with Netflix will want to sign up after they see how easy it is use Netflix on our iPhone application. This integration is the first of several major third party integrations that will be announced through the end of this year and into 2009.”

Netflix on i.TV allows people to discover media from a catalogue of over 100,000 DVDs, complete with detailed information and recommendations concerning the titles. Users can sign up for a Netflix account or link an existing Netflix account using an iPhone or iPod touch.

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