Your Noon Briefing: Strathaven Echoes for sale, the TV ‘watershed’, etc

A NEWSPAPER serving the South Lanarkshire town of Strathaven and surrounding villages is up for sale.

Comprising also of a print works (and, curiously, an ice cream retail outlet), Strathaven Echoes has been put up for sale by owner, Bill Howatt, who is retiring, aged 71.

The newspaper is published fortnightly and is a paid-for, priced 40p. Its circulation ranges between 2,000 and 3,000, depending on likely demand.

The business is on offer for £99,950, ono.

For more details, click here.

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STV programmes can be watched now, live on a mobile telephone or tablet, following what is being described by the broadcaster as an ‘UK first’.

Says STV in a media announcement, here: “STV Watch Live allows users in STV’s licence areas in Scotland to watch STV programmes live online, including top entertainment shows, comprehensive news and current affairs, and matches from the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

“STV Watch Live is available online via STV Player and on iOS and Android mobile and tablet device. STV Glasgow, STV’s new city TV channel, is also streamed live.”

The adverts appearing on the streamed content will be different to those being shown on TV, to reflect the different technology and user-experience.

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A MASSIVE 98 per cent of adults in the UK are estimated to watch TV, of whom 94 per cent are aware that broadcasters can only show programmes unsuitable for children after a certain ‘watershed’ time (9pm).

These are among the findings of research published today by the broadcasting regulators, Ofcom, on UK audience attitudes to broadcast media.

Says Ofcom: “Today, more TV viewers believe the watershed is at about the right time (78 per cent last year compared to 70 per cent in 2008).”

It continues: “When asking parents who watch TV whether the watershed is at about the right time, this increases to 80 per cent, compared to 72 per cent in 2008.

“Similar proportions of adults who watch TV believe that it should be the responsibility of ‘both broadcasters and parents equally’ (49 per cent) and ‘mainly parents’ (46 per cent) to ensure children do not see unsuitable programming.

“With over a third (37 per cent) of children aged 5-15 with internet at home now watching ‘on-demand’ content, Ofcom is working with Government and industry to examine how TV protections will continue to apply in a digital world.”

Over the coming days, allmediascotland will be featuring – in its The Media in Figures section – the findings of ‘UK audience attitudes to broadcast media’, including attitudes towards the impartiality of television news.

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YOU trying to build a ‘personal brand’ in radio?

Former Clyde 1 and BBC Radio Scotland presenter, Colin Kelly, offers a few tips, here.

Kelly now runs his own communications consultancy, in Glasgow.

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BEGINS The Guardian (here): “Whether or not news providers actually shape the public’s views, they are a crucial determinant of the agenda for public discourse in a democratic society. But how balanced can that agenda be when one half of the population is heavily absent from it?

“At City University London in April, Dame Tessa Jowell described this phenomenon as ‘a major challenge’ when she opened the Women on Air conference, at which the latest results of Broadcast Magazine’s Expert Women survey were discussed.”

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THERE are exactly two weeks remaining before the closing date for entries to Scotland-based awards being run by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).

The BAFTA Scotland Awards comprise 15 category prizes, including for current affairs, game and short film.

Read more, here.

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