Digital TV dubbed game changer

A new digital TV channel for Scotland could be a 'game changer' for the country's creative economy, according to a former Scottish Broadcasting Commission chairman, reveals UKPA.

Blair Jenkins told MSPs that the channel was a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" to make an impact in Scotland's media landscape.

Jenkins, also a former head of BBC Scotland news and current affairs, chaired the Scottish Digital Network Panel, which last month published a report looking at how a Scottish digital network - which would include a TV channel for public service broadcasting - could be set up and funded.

News Corporation's Fox Broadcasting says it will drop affiliate stations that refuse to pay increases in programming fees, in a sign that the media giant is taking a harder line in negotiations with station owners around the country, writes The Wall Street Journal.

The amount of fees demanded by Fox was unknown and may vary between affiliates.

Fox's message comes as national network owners are seeking more compensation from their affiliate stations in return for programming, like prime-time shows and big-ticket sporting events.

A radio station controlled by the UN's mission in Ivory Coast, Onuci FM, was banned from broadcasting by incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo, according to a decree read on state-owned television, reports Bloomberg.

The decision to take the station off the air follows Gbagbo's calls for the UN to leave the West African nation, the decree stated, which was read by Felix Nanihio, general secretary of the National Broadcasting Council, on Radiodiffision Television Ivoirienne.

The radio station has not been officially notified of the ban, said Hamadoun Toure, spokesman for the Abidjan-based UN mission, in an e-mailed statement.