That Was The Year That Was – 2007 In Review
As we ease tentatively into 2008, it’s easy to forget what a mammoth year for media 2007 actually was. Television’s dirty laundry was hung out after numerous TV phone-in scandals; on-demand services gave consumers the control they were after, and online social networking exploded. Print circulations dropped while digital radio blossomed, and the launch of the Apple iPhone unmistakably altered the humble mobile telephone market.
The year began with Channel 4’s behemoth reality franchise, Big Brother, thrust into the spotlight following tens of thousands of complaints about racist abuse on Celebrity Big Brother (see Big Brother Racism Complaints Reach An Estimated 20,000).
Carphone Warehouse pulled its sponsorship, and complaints soared past the 30,000 mark, making it the most complained about television programme in UK broadcasting history (see Big Bro Finale Crashes Out To Top Gear).
By May, Ofcom announced there had been a serious failure within Channel 4’s compliance procedures for the series.
The regulator ruled that the broadcaster had contravened the broadcasting code, with an airing of apologies at the beginning of the launch episode of the next series of Big Brother, the following day’s repeat and the first eviction show as punishment (see Ofcom Announces Celebrity Big Brother Ruling).
Later in the month, Ofcom published its discussion document on a new Public Service Publisher (see Ofcom Set To Pave The Way For New Media Entity), saying it would act as a commissioner of new media content focused on meeting public purposes, and could offer a rich new media experience for users (see Ofcom Publishes PSP Discussion Document).
February saw the launch of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Media brand (see Virgin Media Launches Today), before the eruption of an ongoing feud between the company and rival, BSkyB.
Sky asked Virgin to sign a new channel carriage deal for its basic channels, which Virgin claimed was ‘incredibly overpriced’. This lead to Sky withdrawing the channels (see Sky Anytime? Not For Virgin Media Cable Homes), and sparked a very public war between Branson and Murdoch.
By May, BSkyB’s 17.9% stake in ITV was referred to the Competition Commission by the Department of Trade and Industry (see Sky’s Stake In ITV Referred To Competition Commission).
By August, Virgin Media had lost 70,300 subscribers across its four cable and mobile services in the three months to the end of June.
The cable operator added 2,200 new cable TV subscribers during the quarter, saying that the removal of Sky’s basic channels in March resulted in it losing 40,000 customers across its range of services (see Virgin Media Loses 70,300 Subscribers In Q2).
By the end of 2007, the Competition Commission had recommended that Sky be forced to sell down its 17.9% stake in ITV to under 7.5%.
The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform published the Competition Commission report, which found that the acquisition could be “expected to operate against the public interest” (see Competition Commission Recommends Sky Sell Down ITV Stake).
2007 saw Ofcom complete its review on television advertising of junk food to kids, and the regulator began phasing in the scheduling restrictions for all channels (see Ofcom To Phase In HFSS Restrictions).
The IPA, amongst other bodies, expressed disappointed at Ofcom’s decision to extend the restrictions for HFSS advertising aimed at children (see IPA Claims New Ofcom HFSS Rules Are Flawed), whilst numerous debates regarding advertising restrictions kept the issue in the headlines.
Dwindling viewer trust in television also reared its head in ’07, with premium rate phone-in scandals affecting all of the major terrestrial broadcasters.
By March, ITV had suspended all premium rate phone-ins and interactive services, and had taken digital quiz channel ITV Play off air. This came after the commercial broadcaster admitted to overcharging red-button users by a combined total of £200,000 on eviction votes for The X Factor.
This followed hot on the heels of phone-in problems with BBC One show Saturday Kitchen and Richard & Judy‘s ‘You Say, We Pay’ quiz on Channel 4 (see ITV Suspends Premium Rate Phone-Ins).
Five then suspended programming involving premium rate phone-ins, after Endemol UK told the channel about issues surrounding its quiz show Brainteaser, whilst Blue Peter faked competition winners.
Towards the end of the month, Ofcom officially announced an inquiry into the use of premium-rate telecoms services in television programmes (see Ofcom Announces Phone-In Investigation), and by July, premium-rate phone regulator, Icstis, had imposed its highest ever fine of £150,000 on Eckoh, the service provider on ‘You Say, We Pay’ (see Record Fine For Richard & Judy Phone Quiz Operator).
By December, Ofcom fined Channel 4 a total of £1.5 million for misconduct in viewer competitions in Richard & Judy and Deal or No Deal (see Ofcom Fines Channel 4 £1.5m Over Phone In Quizzes).
In July, Ofcom fined the BBC £50,000 for breaches of its broadcasting code after a studio guest posed as the winner of a phone-in competition on Blue Peter. It was the first time that Ofcom had imposed a financial penalty against the BBC (see £50,000 Fine For BBC).
In the same month, the regulator found “systemic failures” in PRS on TV, with the outcome of the watchdog’s inquiry into the sector saying some broadcasters “appeared to be in denial about their responsibilities to ensure programmes delivered on the transactions they offered to viewers” and that there was a “lack of transparency through the supply chain” (see Ofcom Finds ‘Systemic Failures’ In Premium Rate Phone-In Services).
2007 was a landmark year for digital television, with the digital switchover starting in October (see Digital Switchover Begins Today), and household take-up of digital television rising steadily.
Ofcom said that household take-up, via Freeview, digital satellite or cable TV, had risen to almost 85% to the end of June 2007 (see Digital TV Penetration Reaches Almost 85%).
In November, Ford Ennals, the chief executive of Digital UK, the body overseeing the digital switchover, stepped down – just weeks after the process began (see Digital UK Chief Quits As Switchover Gets Underway), whilst in December, Ofcom’s Consumer Panel raised “urgent, practical issues” about how digital switchover was being publicised (see More Publicity Needed Around Switchover To Help Consumers).
During the year, Freeview reported to be the most popular way to watch multichannel television in the UK, overtaking Sky. By November, the company reported that it was in 14 million UK homes (see Freeview In 14 Million UK Homes).
Developments came for television over the internet in 2007, with the launch of multiple IPTV services, including Tiscali TV (see Tiscali Turns Homechoice Into Tiscali TV), Joost (see Joost Ready For Lift Off), Hulu (see Hulu Could Launch In The UK), and a relaunch of ITV.com following a £20 million investment (see ITV’s Online Portal Is Go).
Latterly, BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4 announced they were joining together to launch an on-demand service, with the working title of ‘Kangaroo’ (see Feature: Content-Rich Kangaroo Looks To Dominate VoD Market).
Last year was also a stellar 12 months for digital radio. In June, the Digital Radio Development Bureau announced that more than five million DAB digital radios had been sold in the UK, equating to almost 10 million listeners tuning in to DAB around Britain.
The 10 million listeners figure married well with RAJAR’s figure of 19.5% of the adult population living in a DAB household. DAB set penetration stood at 18% of all UK homes and was well on track to meet the 20.6% penetration forecast by the DRDB for the end of 2007 (see DAB Radio Sales Reach Record Five Million).
July saw the 4 Digital Group, a consortium led by Channel 4 Radio, awarded the new DAB national multiplex licence by Ofcom. Other members of the consortium included Emap, UTV, Chrysalis/Sky, Carphone Warehouse and UBC Media Group (see Channel 4 Consortium Wins Radio Multiplex Licence).
Online was a big winner throughout the year, with social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace seeing their popularity mushroom.
The IAB reported that UK internet advertising had recorded above-expectation 41.3% year on year growth in the first half of 2007.
This took the sector to a half-year high of £1,334.3 million – compared to £917.2 million a year ago – lifting online advertising’s market share to 14.7%.
The total UK advertising market grew by 3.1% during the first half of the year to £9.1 billion. However, the IAB says that without online’s contribution, UK media expenditure would have fallen by 1.9% (or £147 million) (see UK Internet Advertising Records 41.3% Year On Year Growth).
Several notable appointments and senior departures also peppered the past year. In April, Sir Michael Lyons, a former market trader and council chief executive, was named the new BBC chairman, replacing Michael Grade who left for ITV in late 2006 (see Lyons Confirmed As New BBC Chairman).
Peter Fincham, the controller of BBC One, fell on his sword in October, following claims there were “misjudgements, poor practice and ineffective systems” in the production of the documentary A Year With The Queen (see Fincham Quits Following Queen Doco Shocker), whilst November saw GCap Media’s chief executive, Ralph Bernard, step down from his role (see Ralph Bernard Steps Down As GCap Chief Exec).
So what does 2008 have in store for the ever mutable media landscape? Nobody can be sure, but convergence looks to take a greater role in the following months, with growth in device mutli-functionality and increased user control a certainty.
Whether some of the technologies will be developed for the sake of it remains to be seen, and the future of traditional media as we know it remains in doubt. But what we can be confident of, is when we reflect on another eventful 12 months in our hectic business this time next year, the picture will have once again changed dramatically.