Like you I can't believe the news I am hearing this morning from the BBC. 6 Music, one of the BBC's best innovations in recent years, is to go along with the Asian network and half of its website. While I think the culling of the website is long overdue - and largely due to the fact that the BBC team were so arrogant that the site didn't link out to other commercial media for so long - 6 Music going is a disaster. If you are a 6 Music fan then you don't need me to tell you how superb the station is. If you have never heard it you are missing fantastic music, much of it brand new, played by passionate, erudite music lovers.

Can BBC 6 Music be saved? Well we have already heard rumblings from the private sector on how it could be resurrected. However I am very wary of Absolute getting its hands on 6 Music. XFM was an amazing ecclectic station until the Capital Radio group got its hands on it.

What strikes me though is how little joined up thinking is going on. I am sure BBC 6 Music, and other stations like it, could be run by the BBC at a fraction of the cost if someone actually seriously considered it. They wouldn't sacrifice the quality of the content either.

The BBC though seems stuck on old media models - big station, big name presenters etc, which in the case of 6 Music don't really apply. Also we know that the government is hoping to switch off analogue radio transmission sometime soon. There is also a question mark over the future of digital radio too. Bearing all this in mind here's my plan for saving 6 Music.

1 Lose the DAB broadcasts - A fair chunk of 6 Music's budget actually goes on servicing these (£0.4 million a year apparently). They do give the station reach, but aren't worth the investment, not now and especially not in the long term

2 Focus on the internet - I am sure that a very large percentage of BBC 6's audience has broadband at home (and at work too). The internet is a much cheaper and more efficient medium for transmitting audio - which is basically all BBC 6 Music really is. I don't know how much the BBC pays to keep 6 Music on Sky and Virgin Media but I can't imagine it is a great deal. BBC 6 Music doesn't really have to be a live station either. It could be a series of podcasts that users stream which are updated daily.

3 Ditch the wacky presenters - One of the worst aspects of 6 Music was the way in which it aped the commercial sectors with presenters like George Lamb. BBC 6 Music doesn't need need traditional radio presenters, it needs intelligent people talking passionately about music like Steve Lamacq and Marc Riley. It also needs lots of specialist shows like Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone. I may be wrong but I think it is these shows that are most loved by its audience.

4 Cut the presenters's salaries - Sorry guys but playing music on 6 Music would be the dream job of many of the people whom listen to it. I am sure that many of the current presenters would work for 6 Music for minimal salaries, and if they didn't there would be queues of talented people ready to replace them. I can't believe that programming costs can't be massively sliced.

5 Harness the community - There are now huge Facebook groups fighting to save 6 Music. I am sure that people would have great ideas on how it could be developed and restructured. The BBC should continue to give the community some kind of ownership of the station and once again they will become its biggest advocates

I really think this could provide the template for specialists stations that the BBC could run on a minimal budget which would serve small but passionate communities. If only the BBC could stop thinking like an old school media organisation and really try and innovate.

Ultimately I believe that mark Thompson needed a headline story to appease the rest of the media and in particular the Tories. In axeing 6 Music (while continuing to spend huge sums on salaries and buildings) he has once again shown how out of touch he is. can't we get rid of him?

Calling all depressed 6 Music fans! You can put away your Radiohead tunes and prepare for a bit of Walking on Sunshine, for, if as The Times rumoured this morning, the BBC does shut your favourite radio station down, a company is waiting in the wings to buy it.

Inevitably that company is Absolute Radio, the station formerly known as Virgin Radio.
Clive Dickens, the chief operating officer of Absolute, told The Times that he would approach the BBC with a view to buying the station.

He said: "We would buy 6 Music from the BBC, both the brand and the network, and we'd run it more efficiently than they've been doing."

According to the Times Absolute has twice as many listeners as 6 Music but costs half as much to run. The article says that industry pundits reckon that 6 Music is worth £2-3 million which sounds like very little for a radio station with that kind of customer loyalty.

Before getting too excited 6 Music fans should remember what happened to XFM. The initial station, which opened in 1997, had a very similar approach to its content as 6 Music. However it was eventually bought by the group that owned Capital and quickly shed almost all its specialist shows.

Here's an interesting new feature from Guardian.co.uk. They've this week introduced their Zeitgeist page, a collage of popular content from their site organised by "social signals".

Each article to be featured on the Zeitgeist page is first judged by the websites linking to it, how often it has been posted on social networking sites, and the other pages that readers have visited before and after reaching the Guardian site. The stories that attract the most attention by midnight each day are then organised into colour-coded blocks as a visual guide to what the hottest trending stories are.

"This is an alternative way of exploring things on the Guardian site which are currently getting attention from our readers. Front pages and section fronts, curated by editors, are traditionally a great way of seeing what's important - in terms of news agenda, recency or big themes. Zeitgeist provides an alternative, emerging, community-curated view on what's currently interesting on our site," Meg Pickard and Dan Catt, who have been working on the project, told Journalism.co.uk.

The page is still in the early development stages, but it's looking promising already. Check it out here.

You've had Netflix, you've had iTunes; the next contestant in the great "Battle of the Online Movie Services" is Sony's Qriocity.

Heading to anything with a Xross Media Bar on it (be it your PS3 or soon-to-be-released web-connected Sony sets) in February, you'll be able to stream video in standard-definition or 720p straight to your screen.

Theres already a load of film publishers backing the service, and Sony promise "hundreds" of films ready to go at launch.

Inspired use of the letter "Q" aside, it's a pretty dumb name for a rather important service. Here's hoping more thought went into the service than the moniker it wears heavily around its neck.

Via: Engadget

ASUS are set to launch their Eee Box 1501 mini desktop PC.

Featuring a slot loading optical disk drive, the Eee Box 1501 is small enough to be mounted on the back of a monitor or flatscreen TV.

Completely compatible with 1080p high definition content, the mini PC features an Intel® Atom™ 330 Dual Core processor, NVIDIA® ION™ graphics platform and 5.1 surround sound support.

Not content with being just a media centre, the Eee Box 1501 features many connectivity options including wireless (802.11b/g/n), 10/100/1000 Ethernet, HDMI and S/PDIF outputs, 6 USB ports and a card reader, shipping with a copy of Windows 7 to make it a fully functional desktop.

Priced at £339, the ASUS Eee Box 1501 looks set to be a pretty compact solution to your media centre woes.

Here is a list of key features:

_ Tiny size - only 1.5L and 193 x 193 x 39mm
_ 50% quieter than traditional desktops (26db)
_ 70% less power consumption to traditional desktops
_ HDMI Output for full 1080p high definition playback
_ SimHD™ scales standard definition to high definition
_ Intel® Atom™ 330 Dual Core processor
_ NVIDIA® ION™ graphics platform
_ 2GB memory (2 slots for maximum of 4GB)
_ 250GB hard drive
_ 5.1 Surround Sound speaker support
_ Slot-load optical disc drive
_ Elegant 'diamond' stand design
_ Option for VESA mounting on back of monitor
_ Easy to use Total Media Center software
_ Remote Control for enhanced user comfort
_ Built in IPTV player
_ Wireless 802.11b/g/n and 10/100/1000 Ethernet
_ Host of I/O ports for connectivity (including Kensington Security Slot)
_ Windows 7 Home Premium Operating System
_ £339 inc VAT SRP

LaCie are set to launch the LaCinema Classic HD media player and server.

Acting as a DLNA server to sync up all your media collections from PCs and games consoles, the LaCinema Classic HD lets you hook up your media content to any HD ready TV around the house via HDMI.

Boasting a 2TB hard-drive, the LaCinema HD has plenty of storage available to house 1080p video content, which is fully compatible with the player. USB support makes shifting content from one device to another simple too.

If you're looking to use the LaCinema Classic predominately for video, LaCie have you covered. All the most popular file formats and plug-ins will be supported, from DivX to high-quality MKV H.264.

Salem Tirane, Digital Home Product Manager said of the product, "LaCinema Classic HD is all you need to store, play and share your movies, music and photos at home. We believe organising and playing should be simple for everyone, without concern for media compatibility or how to access media, no matter where it's stored in your home".

The LaCinema Classic HD is set to feature some pretty attractive functions by the looks of things. Giving change back out of £200, it's not too badly priced either.

For more information, visit www.lacie.com/uk

Last week it was David Cameron who took a pot shot at the BBC claiming that it had overextended itself. This week his views are echoed not by some media baron keen to push their own online agenda but from within the corporation itself.

Sir Michael Lyons, chairman of the BBC Trust which acts as a watchdog for the BBC, has called on the corporation to look again at its online offering and "narrow the focus on distinctive content and help to create a more open BBC". Lyons has also asked the corporation to re-evaluate the activities of its commercial wing BBC Worldwide, which many in the media have criticised for having an unfair advantage because of its huge financial backing and ability to use other BBC media to market its products.

Against a background of criticism of the BBC by commercial media rivals which have struggled to monetise online content, Lyons has told the corporation it needs to restructure its online content or face the consequences. The alternative could see a radical restructure forced on the BBC by a future government which may have close links to media owners.

"Beyond the core offer of news, sport, education, children's and the iPlayer, which parts of the online service are essential to the BBC's mission and which could be stopped?" asks Lyons inthe report. He also questioned the future of content not tethered to specific BBC programmes.

Even after a restructure the BBC's online news output could still make it very tricky for commercial media companies to make money from their online content. It would be very hard for companies to put their content behind pay walls, when UK users could still access the BBC services for free.

Imagine next time you put a search into Google and although you found lots of information from blogs and websites there was nothing at all from major newspapers like The Times, the Telegraph and The Sun?

Well that might well be a real scenario if Rupert Murdoch and Microsoft get their way, for as reported earlier the owners of the Bing search engine are attempting to woo publishers into an exclusive deal with the search engine which would leave Google out in the cold.

In theory it sounds like a winner. Microsoft, in Bing News, becomes the number one place for users to search for news, while media organisations get money from Microsoft for cataloguing their stories.

However before messrs Murdoch and Bullmer get carried away there are few things worth bearing in mind

1 It only works if most news organisations follow News International's lead and dump Google

2 However even if every media organisation in the world moves to Bing you can bet your last quid that the BBC will still be delivering an excellent and comprehensive selection of stories to Google, which will probably be enough for most Brits.

3 People might still use Google anyhow. After all it will increasingly be incorporating live searches from the likes of Twitter, so maybe searchers won't miss news and will stick with the search engine they love

4 Bing has a long way to catch up, According to Comscore, as quoted by Paid Content, Google has 87.5 percent of UK searches against Yahoo's 4.3 percent and Bing's mere 3.6 percent.

Anyhow what do you think? Would you move from Google to Bing to get the news? Tell us in the poll and in the comments sections.

Microsoft is apparently reaching out to top online publishers and trying to get them to agree an exclusive deal that their content is only indexed on Bing and not any other search engines.

The FT today comfirms this by saying

'Financial Times has learnt that Microsoft has also approached other big online publishers to persuade them to remove their sites from Google's search engine.'

So Microsoft has approached the FT then. The interesting part is which other companies Microsoft has approached. Even if it knows the FT isn't saying.

The move comes off the back of Rupert Murdoch's plans for Google to deindex all News International's online content. The agreement with Microsoft could mean that for the first time a search engine company has paid to index news stories.

For Microsoft it could give the company a much needed unique feature for its Bing search engine in that it could become a hub for news. The key for the company though is whether other publishers will follow News International.

If Microsoft pulls this off it could prove to be a very effective strategy, but it is likely to be a very expensive one too.

As Murdoch himself says

"If they were to pay everybody for everything they took, from every newspaper in the world and every magazine they wouldn't have any profits left," he said.

Fingertips is a new free news service which allows its users to build a customised newspaper, delivering only the stories they are interested in.

It's a pretty simple set-up. Create a few log-in details, select a few categories and columnists you are interested in and Fingertips presents the latest news based on your preferences. It's a clean and uncluttered site and is certainly easy to navigate.

Fingertips gathers its news from over 300 sources, and delivers updated content to its users in real time.

Fingertips also features the News Buddies platform, the social element of the site where users can share opinions on the latest stories and open up discussions.

Similar in practice to news sites such as NetVibes and Meehive, Fingertips hope that its simpler interface will find favour with news readers worldwide.

"Fingertips is the most accessible site for people to enjoy their own personal mix of news and information", says Ian Hambleton, founder of Fingertips. "So many personalised news sites are unnecessarily complicated and don't have the everyday web user in mind. We really wanted to change that and appeal to a wider audience whatever their interest. And we're really excited to deliver this to consumers for free."

For more on Fingertips, check out www.fingertips.net .

There's a fantastic story breaking via Twitter - we'll give the credit to @smartamatt but others might have picked it up before him.

Yesterday the BBC announced the appointment of its first social media editor. Now it goes without saying that to understand social media it is best to be a practitioner - you know get involved with the medium. So it is kind of surprising that the guy the beeb has appointed, a fella called Alex Gubbay is a bit of a social media nomad.

He may have great credentials at working in the corporation - he has been Sports News Editor for BBC Sport - but given that his new role is all about managing the User Generated Content hub within BBC Newswire you would have thought that he would have been a hard core blogger or at least have a Twitter account.

Well I can't find a blog and as for a Twitter account - well there's this - http://twitter.com/AlexGubbay - which has one post saying that:

Excited about taking on Social Media Editor role for BBC News from January. Lots to build on and open to suggestions and ideas...

Is this another example of a state funded broadcaster with no real intention of engaging with social media except for its own ends giving jobs for the boys?

You decide...

The big issue in UK media at the moment is how to make money out of online content. Currently most sites rely on advertising to generate income, but it is now clear that the money from those banner and flash things just isn't enough to fund most newspapers. Plan B, as outlined by Rupert Murdoch, is to charge readers to look at the sites. So the Sunday Times will go subscription only very soon and other newspapers may follow. There's also talk of a micro payment system being created whereby you pay a small amount for each bit of newspaper content you read.

But will the British public cough up for something that has been free since the dawn of the web? Well according to a survey commissioned by Paid Content UK and run by Harris Interactive, apparently not

Asked if their favourite news site were to charge three quarters of people would simply switch to an alternative free news source with just five percent of readers prepared to commit to paying for the site.

The survey also concludes that younger, poorer and lower class readers are more likely to pay the subs than older, richer and posher ones. There's a regional bias too with people in London and the south east more likely to pay a subscription than those in the north and west.

"This does not look like good news for a pay model in a competitive environment," Andrew Freeman, Harris' senior media research consultant told Paid Content. "As long as free alternatives exist, consumers will turn to them for their daily news information, meaning heavy losses in terms of audience figures for those that charge. "

Media for free

British consumers do have a point too, for even if every major British newspaper charges for content they will still have places to go.

The two things that will make it very tricky for media organisations to charge for content are -

1 Blogs. Walled content gardens could actually spark a renaissance in blogging, especially when coupled with tools like Posterous (which works incredibly well with Twitter), as bloggers simply cut and paste (either physically or intellectually) subscription content from media sources and publish it freely.

2 The BBC. At the time of writing the corp is still going to offer all its content for free, so readers can still access one of the world's premium news sources for nothing. It makes paying that few quid each month to The Guardian looks a lot less appealing.

There is some debate about whether the next government will curtail the BBC's online ambition, but this remains to be seen.

But we pay for TV...

It should be noted that many Britons who were very opposed to the idea of paying for subscription TV quite happily now pay for Sky and Virgin Media. Also 5% may sounds like s small figure, but it would generate a substantial amount of income, probably much more than the media companies are getting via advertising.

So what about you? Would you pay for The Guardian? The Mirror? Or even the Sport?

There has been a lot of talk over the past few days about how media companies are going to charge for online content. We might soon have to pay a subscription for our favourite sites or just a few pence each time we read a story.
What is certain though is that paying for news content in the UK is coming and once one site starts charging well, they will all have to.
There are however a few problems the collective British commercial media will have to overcome in the meantime. Namely...

1 Blogs. Walled content gardens could actually spark a reniassance in blogging, especially when coupled with tools like Posterous (which works incredibly well with Twitter), as bloggers simply cut and paste (either physically or intellectually) subscription content from media sources and publish it freely.
2 The BBC. The corp is still going to offer all its content for free, so readers can still access one of the world's premium news sources for nothing. It makes paying that few quid each month to The Guardian look a lot less appealing.

Of these two issues the BBC is obviously the one that is concentrating the minds of media barons the most. How can they possibly charge readers for online stories when a first rate news organisations is offering their content for free?
The key to this lies with the relationship between the Conservatives and the media owners, specifically Rupert Murdoch. The Tories have certainly been taking an interest in the future of the BBC. Some see it as being anti Conservative; others recognise that the way in which the BBC works, in other words what it actually does and how it needs to be funded has to change. A BBC insider told me that Conservative MPs touring the BBC and asking difficult questions have become a weekly occurrence

So here's how the scenario could play out

Cameron needs the backing of Murdoch's papers, especially The Sun, to secure an election victory. If the economy picks up, as it seems it might do by next May, the two main parties could be very close.
As a quid pro quo for The Sun's support Murdoch could then insist that Cameron undertake a review of the BBC's online activities and the impact they have on other UK media players. Pretty quickly it would find that the BBC is stifling growth in mainstream media and the corp would be forced to make changes.
In theory the government could then limit the BBC's news activities online and even force the corporation into closing the news website.
Ok, so this all sounds a bit dramatic but there are two reasons why I think it could happen.

1 The media companies need to make money from online or else they will have to severely curtail their activities, the ad market is dire and there is no way online advertising will ever be able to fund the media organisations as they are. They have to find a new way of monetising their content. If they don't they could die.
2 Leading Conservatives are already starting to think the unthinkable when it comes to the BBC. Ed Vaizey, the Tories' arts and media spokesperson, has already made some suggestions about Radio 1 being spun off into the private sector. Vaizey isn't some barking mad backbencher either, he has worked in the media for many years and is the MP for a neighbouring constituency to, you guessed it, David Cameron. The pair are apparently very close personally and politically.
Ultimately dismantling the news website of public service broadcaster sounds a very draconian and extreme thing to do. So maybe there will be a compromise. My suggestion would be for the BBC to charge for its news content just like its rivals. So a subscription or a micro payment that's in addition to the licence fee. That would at least ensure a level playing field and bring money into the corporation. Hey the Beeb could even reduce the licence fee- which the Tories would absolutely love
Just a thought...