Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: After the Charter

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  • Tony Parker,

    Funny that. I just finished watching the Amazing Journey DVD I bought a while back and hadn't got round to watching. Did Paladino fill Entwhistles shoes? I'd imagine it wasn't quite the same. He was a monster of a bass player.

    Napier • Since Nov 2008 • 232 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Ah, so three broadcasting specialists don't have any authority. Strange universe you inhabit there, Craig.

    Oh, quit fucking trolling Sacha. Believe it or not, I don't actually think Paul Norris or Brian Edwards cause solar eclipses when they clench their buttocks. And if you really want to get into why "experts" should be treated with extreme scepticism, perhaps we can have a little chat about the state of financial/economic journalism.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Craig, I was genuinely interested in your opinion about what might have prompted their disagreement with the Minister whose position I have no particular disagreement with. Now, not so much. Calm down.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    I was at the Who too. Notes:

    1. We missed Hello Sailor, but fuck I hate Adam Duritz.
    2. Sad not to hear 'I Can See For Miles'.
    3. I loved some of the films created for the backdrop. The one for 'My Generation' was particularly awesome - lots of clips of different groups of 20th century youths dancing.
    4. I'm not so much of a huge fan of the 70s bombasty Who, but they put some stank on those songs too.
    5. Entwhistle's absence was felt. Although replacement dude was pretty good.
    6. Zac Starkey is an almighty badass. Although I got into a small debate with the guy next to me who felt the need to dis Ringo while complimenting his son. 'Oh, Ringo was never really a drummer, he was always more of a character.' Actually, no. Listen to 'Rain' and hush it up, friend.

    That's all I got. :)

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    Argh. Dear Zak Starkey and the ghost of John Entwistle: I am sorry for misspelling your names.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • ScottY,

    1. We missed Hello Sailor, but fuck I hate Adam Duritz.

    He certainly needs to find a happy place and preferably stay there.

    6. Zac Starkey is an almighty badass. Although I got into a small debate with the guy next to me who felt the need to dis Ringo while complimenting his son. 'Oh, Ringo was never really a drummer, he was always more of a character.' Actually, no. Listen to 'Rain' and hush it up, friend.

    I'm afraid I would agree with the guy next to you. Someone (don't remember who) once quipped that Ringo wasn't even the best drummer in the Beatles. And how can we ever forgive the execrable "Octopus's Garden?"

    His son though did a great job - no, he's no Keith Moon on drums, but then could anyone ever be?

    West • Since Feb 2009 • 794 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    Paul is clearly the best technical musician in The Beatles by a good long stretch (he's a good drummer and some of his guitar solos for the Beatles are really great - 'Taxman', that searing bit at the end of the Abbey Road medley - as well as being a truly innovative bassist). But Ringo is not a *character* FFS. He drummed on most of the songs and again, I urge you to listen to 'Rain' as one example, a track on which he does some very cool fills. It's not he's a member of Milli Vanilli.

    Don't mess with my Ringo, man! :)

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    Oh. There's a 'like' missing from the last sentence of the first paragraph. I am clearly too incensed on Ringo's behalf to write properly.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • ScottY,

    I remember the day Lennon was shot. I remember thinking "God, why couldn't you have taken Ringo instead?"

    Seriously tho, I'll go as far as to agree Ringo has a solid tradesmanlike drumming style. But you aint gettin' more than that from me.

    West • Since Feb 2009 • 794 posts Report Reply

  • andin,

    Has the recession hit yet?
    People forking out to see ageing rockers, debating points of drumming ability.
    Brian Edwards and Paul Norris are considered authorities to be ignored in some circles.

    Hmm no discernable differences in behaviour.
    Not yet it seems.

    raglan • Since Mar 2007 • 1891 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    Dude, I would defend Ringo if I was living in a cardboard box on the street. That is, in fact, just the way I roll.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Brian Edwards and Paul Norris are considered authorities to be ignored in some circles

    I found the guy from Unitec quite impressive, myself. The Minister I guess has authority because, well, he's the Minister. I would like to understand their positions better.

    But it wasn't me who raised "authority". I'm more impressed by expertise. Anyone who has specialised for some time in a certain area is likely to know at least something about it. I don't have to agree with them, but it's certainly a consideration when I'm listening to their views. By comparison I have little respect for rank, but that's just me.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Ana Simkiss,

    I was at the recording, big thanks Russell, we will come again. I too was struck by the resemblance of the minister to Jonkey (does anyone else hear the PM's name as one word?). That's seven dollars, almost a tax cut :)

    Poor old TVNZ could use a bit of stability, it seems to me. Charter/no charter, changes in management and general insecurity does not a happy organisation make. I too despair at the state of news and current affairs, but it does not please me that the people who are about to be laid off are concentrated in that area. In that respect the highly paid products of the celebrity news machine TVNZ created are presumably obvious targets for the boot. One lives in hope.

    Freemans Bay • Since Nov 2006 • 141 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    I found the guy from Unitec quite impressive, myself.

    That is Peter Thompson. He does know his stuff and was responsible for coordinating the review of the TVNZ Charter last year. The kind of academic I like, who gets engaged in public debates. Brian Edward---hmmm?

    I remember the day Lennon was shot. I remember thinking "God, why couldn't you have taken Ringo instead?"

    ..and I was thinking, "Why not Paul instead?"

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    ..and I was thinking, "Why not Paul instead?"

    By hokey, them's fightin' words, Dr Lealand!

    Look, one day soon Paul will die, and then we will be able to forget what a giant douchey cheeseball he is (although at least *he* didn't totally abandon his first son, start over with a new one, and then nauseatingly pretend to be the world's best father. I'm looking at *you*, John Winston Ono Lennon), and instead we'll just remember that he has written many, many songs worthy of all kinds of superlatives.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    Look, one day soon Paul will die, and then we will be able to forget what a giant douchey cheeseball he is

    Oh no, Danielle. Say it ain't so! It's a very strange phenomenon. I never much liked the Beatles, but I really loved their work as individuals, or in Paul's case, with Wings. Yes, I loved Wings. And how can you not give Ringo props for Thomas the Tank Engine? I could listen to that voice, all day. But my favourite one is George. I loved George.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • ScottY,

    I never much liked the Beatles, but I really loved their work as individuals, or in Paul's case, with Wings. Yes, I loved Wings. And how can you not give Ringo props for Thomas the Tank Engine? I could listen to that voice, all day. But my favourite one is George. I loved George.

    I guess I'll have to disagree with you. Had the Beatles all gone down in a fiery plane crash in 1970 the world might now be a better place. Instead we are left with the Travelling Willburies, Mull of Kintyre and Ebony & Ivory.

    West • Since Feb 2009 • 794 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Ralston on the demise of Te Charter, including:

    Take, for example, the Sunday morning current affairs show Agenda. That was produced by an independent production company on contract to TVNZ using charter funding and cost around $25,600 an episode. TVNZ decided to make the show in-house itself, scrapped Agenda and relaunched Q&A with Paul Holmes instead.

    Q&A appears to be costing $27,200 an episode, even though it employs fewer people and has a cheaper format with no taped items.

    A cynic might suggest TVNZ decided to make Q&A itself so that it could hang on to more of the charter money by eliminating the private production company's profit margin and cranking up the cost of the show so as to put more of the government's cash back on to TVNZ's bottom line.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Brian Rudman shares some Charter history (without offering any solutions):

    Ten years ago, at a broadcasting symposium organised by New Zealand on Air to agonise over the parlous state of public television, broadcaster Ian Fraser - who was later to be TVNZ chief executive from 2002 to 2005 - declared that "television is describing a descending parabola" and that "without getting into an orgy of hand-wringing, it looks as though it's going to get worse".

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • mark taslov,

    Thanks for posting those tracks Russell, I have a feeling it's going to be a good day today. I've a hankering to weigh in on this Ringo debate, but the guy is just too good, the records speak for themselves. Very few drummers touch his 'feel'.

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report Reply

  • mark taslov,

    ..And it was a good day. told my boss i was bored and wanted to go home, and he agreed.

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Coleman characterised in story about TVNZ's TiVo purchase plans:

    It is Broadcasting Minister Jonathan Coleman's laissez-faire approach to the portfolio and the likelihood he will curtail a fundamental review of broadcasting regulation initiated by the last government that is forcing TVNZ to consider high risk strategies.

    Unless TVNZ and fellow free-to-air broadcaster MediaWorks get their share of broadcasting revenues, the fear is they will increasingly lose out to Sky TV when bidding for programming rights from overseas right owners, creating a vicious circle where their viewership and profitability fall inexorably, and Sky's influence expands.

    Dr Coleman appears to have bought into the half-truth put out by Sky that the market for the distribution of television programming is fragmenting, rather than consolidating.

    The imminent repeal of TVNZ's charter and the lack of weight Dr Coleman appears to attach at present to the regulatory implications of converge between the broadcasting and internet industries can only be interpreted as giving TVNZ the green light to address that challenge by tackling Sky TV as any tech-savvy competitor would.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Just back from TVNZ's TiVo announcement: quite impressive.

    TVNZ is a one-third shareholder (with Australia's Channel Seven) in Hybrid Television, which is the exclusive licence-holder for TiVo in Australia and New Zealand. The stake cost $8 million, and TVNZ will provide about $19 million worth of advertising airtime for the platform (which sounds a lot, but they're going to have plenty of spare inventory for the next year).

    The box is:

    - A twin-tuner Freeview DVR
    - An on-demand box via the home broadband connection, with both ad-supported and pay-per-view programming
    - A service-delivery platform via broadband -- so you can order pizza from the lounge (why is it always pizza?)

    It will come with all the TiVo features delivered in the US market -- but will not be a subscription service, but a once-only purchase (retail $A599 in Australia). Add-ons include a 1TB hard drive and home networking.

    To launch at retail here by December, expressions of interest being taken by Dominic Bowden at http://mytivo.co.nz

    On-demand content will be DRM-protected (and you won't be able to fast-forward through ads, although there will be far fewer of them), but you'll be free to transfer off-air recordings to other devices.

    The intention is to build a content delivery network allowing them to have all on-demand content zero-rated (ie: it won't damage your data cap) from participating ISPs. This has begun in Australia.

    The one question I forgot to ask: will Sky's exclusive licences with all the telcos be a problem?

    It seems like a good move for TVNZ -- it's a mature platform and if it works the initial stake will seem like a bargain.

    Mediaworks has been hinting that it might not provide EPG data, but Rick Ellis says they're obliged to as a Freeview stakeholder.

    Paul Campbell might care to come in with some sage observations here ...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    - A service-delivery platform via broadband -- so you can order pizza from the lounge (why is it always pizza?)

    Yes. I demand a "fetch slippers and the paper" facility.

    Add-ons include a 1TB hard drive and home networking.

    Cloppity-cloppity-cloppity (the sound of an Italian thirty-something gallopping to the nearest shop).

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

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