Convergence, that is. The word’s been around so long it must have been in and out of fashion a good half dozen times.

But it’s still appropriate – audio, video and data coming together and the (in my opinion) commoditisation of delivery, which places more and more value on content.

Digital delivery of TV takes another step forward:

Digital television is now installed in 84% of UK homes, according to the latest research.

It marks a 13% increase since 2006 – the biggest year-on-year increase yet.

The figures were released by media watchdog Ofcom in the run-up to digital switchover, which begins in Whitehaven, Cumbria, in October.

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7005269.stm

Meanwhile, ITN blazes a trail on YouTube:

ITN is to launch a channel on YouTube to deliver a range of entertainment, sport and film programmes.

The deal will also see ITN become one of the first UK media companies to exploit YouTube’s new in-video ad format that runs “transparent” overlays on top of a portion of the videos used by users.

ITN’s multimedia division, ITN On, will put entertainment programming “at the heart” of the online channel, but will also offer sport, film and Bollywood programmes.

From: http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,,2190083,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=4

And the BBC’s iPlayer is coming to a Mac (oh, and Linux as well) near you soon:

Adobe has promised to work with the BBC to offer the broadcaster’s iPlayer service to Macintosh and Linux users by the end of the year.

The two companies announced a partnership in which Adobe will take over the development of a free streaming version of the player for OS X, Linux and Windows.

The iPlayer had been available only to Windows XP users as a video download service. The paid download service will remain, while Adobe will oversee development of the streaming service. 

From: http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2201245/free-cross-platform-iplayer

Big changes for UK TV in October. Blokefest UKTV G2 (around the clock Top Gear – the wife hates it, I reckon it’s genius) is rebranding itself Dave.

Honest, it’s Dave. It’s like they’ve put League of Gentlemen’s Papa Lazarou in charge.

From: http://uktv.co.uk/g2/item/aid/593618

UKTV is strengthening its channel line up by evolving UKTV G2 into Dave, a comedy and factual entertainment channel. Launching on 15th October, the channel is aimed at a young male audience and will be available on all platforms including Freeview (DTT).

And Virgin 1 kicks off as well:

From: http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,,2176944,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=4

Virgin Media Television is aiming to position its new entertainment channel as a destination for “proper telly” in its launch advertising campaign.