News Corporation Europe and Asia chief calls for tough line on piracy, adding: 'They're not crazy kids. No. Punish them'

James Murdoch today called on governments to get tough on illegal downloading, which he said was no different from "going into a store and stealing Pringles or a handbag".

Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive of News Corporation's European and Asian operations, was joined in calling for tougher piracy measures at the Abu Dhabi Media Summit today by other media executives including Ari Emanuel, co-chief executive of William Morris Endeavor, the biggest Hollywood talent agency.

But Murdoch, who stressed that future growth would come from original content production, took the toughest line on piracy.

"We need enforcement mechanisms and we need governments to play ball … There is no difference with going into a store and stealing Pringles or a handbag and taking this stuff. It's a basic condition for investment and economic growth and there should be the same level of property rights whether it's a house or a movie," he said.

"The idea that there's a new consumer class and you have to be consumer-friendly when they're stealing stuff. No. There should be the same level of sanctity as there is around property. Content is no different. They're not crazy kids. No. Punish them."

The outburst from the man widely tipped to take over when his father, Rupert Murdoch, steps down as News Corporation chairman and chief executive, attracted a round of applause from media executives at the Abu Dhabi summit.

Only Maurice Levy, chief executive of French advertising group Publicis, sounded an alternative note when he said: "My grandchild doesn't believe he's stealing."

Murdoch also reiterated previous threats by his father Rupert that News Corp may take legal action against content aggregators such as Google to protect its copyright.

"We're being very careful legally to protect our rights," he said. "If there's money getting stuck it's getting stuck in an inefficient distribution layer … where Google and Yahoo are suddenly indexing copyright material and then selling bits of it and making money from it. You may have to withdraw access to those things. You may not."

Murdoch also asked for lighter touch regulation for a business that is the largest shareholder in UK pay-TV broadcaster BSkyB and owns the News International stable of national newspapers including the Sun and the Times.

In an earlier point about investment opportunities, Murdoch said: "When we look at different marketplaces ... it's really a question for us about how free a hand we're going to have to operate."

He was echoing comments made by his father, Rupert, at yesterday's keynote speech in Abu Dhabi about the need for less regulation, particularly in the Gulf states.

Emanuel, the brother of US presidential adviser Rahm, said the industry was talking to the US government in a bid to introduce a "three strikes and you're out" law to govern illegal downloading.

"We are in the midst of talking to the president and some attorney generals and [we are] trying to implement a three strikes and you're out rule," he added.

He suggested that there would be a "fight with ISPs" (internet service providers) over the subject. France last year introduced a similar rule which allowed legal action once internet users had downloaded illegally three times.

Earlier today at the Abu Dhabi conference, Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt made an impassioned presentation on the search company's "mobile first" strategy.

But he was perhaps less forthcoming about the flood of questions about Google's dominance and control over its use of our data.

"Would you prefer another government to hold the information that we have?" he said, adding that the company had enough checks and balances to stop information being misused, and it would also not want to lose people's trust.

Schmidt also suggested that location-based social networking services such as Foursquare and Gowalla could become the next Twitter.

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.

• If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

• James Murdoch
• Digital media
• News Corporation
• Aggregators
• File sharing
• Piracy
• Piracy

At the two-day Bloomberg BusinessWeek media summit in New York, CNN president Jon Klein had a Q&A with BusinessWeek editor Josh Tyrangiel. 

Asked about the competition with Fox News, Klein answered: "The competition I'm really afraid of is social nets. We want to be the most trusted source. But on Facebook, people are depending on their friends as news sources.

"I'm more worried about the 500 million or so people on Facebook versus the 2 million on Fox," said the CNN president.

In terms of the cable news wars, though, Klein also pointed out that CNN has just had its most profitable year. Klein rattled off figures that he claimed to show CNN has 10% more viewers than Fox News, though he conceded that Fox News viewers tend to watch longer than CNN viewers do.

Furthermore the CNN president talked about the magic – and often illusory – word "synergy". 

"We're not force feeding, it's not creating foie gras and we're getting better at learning to manage the differences between the cable side and the online side," Klein said. CNN US will be a primary source of its online video, since some stories that might not work on the cable network could get traction online.

He talked about how Time Inc cable news network could use its ties with Time.com to increase its traffic through CNN.com. It also has ties with HBO, which has aired documentaries from host (and Newsweek International Editor) Fareed Zakaria.

"A huge reason we've doubled our profit over the last four years is because we've collaborated with affiliates all over the world."

Looking at the characteristic cable news landscape of the US, Tyrangiel wondered whether a non-partisan outlet, like CNN positions itself to be, can make it in this polarised atmosphere.

Tyrangiel linkened the business of 24-hour cable news to running an umbrella store. "You either have to sell the best umbrellas or you have to convince people it's always raining," he said to Klein.

Klein responded that in his view CNN can attract those who want straight news. "The other guys can have the fringes."

• Digital media
• Television
• CNN
• Facebook
• Social networking

BBC1's recession-themed life swap show wins 9pm slot on debut with a 16.9% share

The latest celebrities-slumming-it life swap format, BBC1's Famous, Rich and Jobless, launched with just over 4 million viewers last night, Tuesday, 9 March.

The show, in which Larry Lamb, Diarmuid Gavin, Meg Mathews and Emma Parker Bowles sample life on the dole, was the most-watched show in the 9pm hour with 4.01 million viewers and a 16.9% share, according to unofficial overnights.

Later in the evening on BBC1, Brian Woods's more conventional observational documentary, Jobless, following several families with both parents out of work, attracted 1.76 million (14.2%) over 60 minutes from 10.35pm.

In the 9pm hour Channel 4's maternity ward documentary series, One Born Every Minute, drew 2.81 million (11.9%). Another 390,000 (2.2%) watched an hour later on Channel 4 +1.

Channel Five's CSI: Miami had 2.44 million (10.3%), while a Law & Order: UK repeat on ITV1 attracted 2.35 million (9.9%).

Also in the 9pm slot, BBC2's Horizon documentary Is Everything We Know about the Universe Wrong? drew 1.85 million (7.8%).

Lambing Live continued on BBC2 in the 8pm hour with 2.55 million (10.6%), against ITV1's Cops with Cameras, which attracted 2.64 million (10.9%), and Five's Ice Road Truckers, with 1.31 million (5.4%).

Holby City won the 8pm hour, as usual, with 5.74 million (23.8%), while on Channel 4 Jo Frost: Extreme Parental Guidance had 1.99 million (8.2%). A further 209,000 (0.9%) watched Frost's show on Channel 4 +1.

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.

• If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

• TV ratings
• Television industry

Formula One world champion and ex-Baywatch star to appear in crisps TV advert alongside regular frontman Gary Lineker

Walkers will tonight launch a new TV campaign featuring stars including Formula One world champion Jenson Button, boy band JLS and ex-Baywatch star Pamela Anderson, alongside the crisp brand's regular frontman, Gary Lineker.

The TV campaign sees the celebrities descending on the town of Sandwich, with Button driving a cab, JLS performing at a school assembly and Anderson working as a barmaid. The ad also features Chelsea and England footballer Frank Lampard, chef Marco Pierre White and comedian Al Murray.

"We believe that Walkers can make any sandwich that little bit more exciting – even this one," said Lineker, who is seen parading round the town in a giant sandwich costume.

Miranda Sambles, marketing director for Walkers, added: "The new Walkers ad is all about taking the ordinary and making it extraordinary."

The ad, created by agency AMV BBDO, breaks tonight on ITV1.

• Advertising
• Marketing & PR

Web giant takes on Microsoft with Google Apps Marketplace offering cloud-based applications

Google has announced that it has opened the Google Apps Marketplace to developers.

More than 50 companies wil be involved in the Apps Marketplace, which will offer business software such as a project management application, a tax and a payroll program, an electronic fax program, an e-signature service, and a design tool for Google Docs.

The third-party cloud-based applications will be integrated within Google to work like native Google apps. It will charge developers 20% of the revenue from sales on the marketplace site, apart from a one-off fee of $100.

"The Google Apps Marketplace eliminates the worry about software updates, keeping track of different passwords and manual syncing and sharing of data, thereby increasing business productivity and lessening frustrations for users and IT administrators alike," said product manager Chris Vander Mey in a blogpost that announced the move.

Google is challenging Microsoft with the aim of becoming the operating system of the web. Up till now the search engine offered users and businesses several web applications such as Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Docs. It already has 25 million Google Apps users, with 2 million of them businesses.

"More than 2 million businesses have adopted Google Apps over the last three years, eliminating the hassles associated with purchasing, installing and maintaining hardware and software themselves," says Vander Mey.

Cloud computing applications, which are internet-based rather than desktop-based, were looked upon as promising but have been slow to take off. Computer users tend to choose names they already trust, and seemed to be confused about cloud-based applications. For a long time the market position of Microsoft seemed secure.

But Google might now be changing the game. It might also have found a new revenue stream – 97% of its income currently comes from advertising. As it already has released the Google Chrome browser and is working on a Google Chrome OS, the App Marketplace is the next logical step towards becoming a software company.

• Google
• Microsoft
• Software
• Cloud computing
• Digital media

TV marketing push for search engine will run for three months and aims to end Google's popularity

Microsoft will today launch its first TV ad campaign to promote Bing, the search engine the software giant is backing to be a Google killer.

The TV campaign, created by JWT, forms part of a multi-million marketing push that will run for the next three months.

The first of three TV ads launches today. The second ad will launch next week and the third the week after. Microsoft, which is also launching an major digital campaign to support Bing, is running a concentrated marketing push for the first month to be followed by two-week bursts until mid-June.

Microsoft's TV ads aim to show that Bing simplifies the "information overload" that accompanies the results of many searches. The ads feature ordinary people asking for information and receiving nonsensical, "speaking-in-tongues" answers; one early spot has a woman seeking directions to Euston station.

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.
• If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

• Advertising
• Bing
• Google
• Search engines
• Digital media

paidContent: Former ITV chief to replace Elio Leoni-Sceti at troubled music group. By Robert Andrews

Outdoor advertising firm beats analyst expectations, but warns that signs of recovery may not be sustained

JCDecaux, the world's second largest outdoor advertising company, has today reported a 77% slump in profits in 2009 to €24.5m (£22m) and warned that it sees no firm signs of a sustained recovery this year.

Operating profit fell by 28.7% year on year to €392m (£357m) and revenue by 11.5% to €1.9bn (£1.7bn). The fall in organic revenue, which excludes the impact of acquisitions and currency effects, was 10.9%. Operating margin fell from 25.4% in 2008 to 20.4% last year. The figures nevertheless beat most analyst expectations.

JCDecaux said that it expects organic revenue growth of 5% in the first quarter this year as the market has shown signs of recovery.

"The more positive advertiser sentiment we reported in January 2010 has continued during the first quarter of this year," said Jean-Francois Decaux, chairman of JCDecaux. "However the market continues to be characterized by reduced visibility and it remains unclear whether this is the beginning of a sustained advertising recovery."

Operating profits at JC Decaux's billboard operation were the hardest hit, down 46.1% year on year, with its transport ads division down 32.6% and the street furniture division, which includes sites such as bus stops, down 24.8%.

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.

• If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

• Advertising
• Media business

Former ITV boss to become executive chairman as troubled firm prepares last-ditch bid to raise £100m from investors

Former ITV boss Charles Allen is taking control of EMI's music business, home to acts including Coldplay and Robbie Williams, after the surprise departure of chief executive Elio Leoni-Sceti.

Leoni-Sceti will be leaving the troubled company at the end of March after just 18 months with the firm. His departure comes at a critical time for EMI, as the cash-strapped business puts the finishing touches to a new business plan which its private equity owners can present to investors.

Allen, who joined EMI as a non-executive director in January 2009, will become executive chairman of the music company. EMI Music Publishing will continue to be run by chairman and chief executive Roger Faxon. Allen's previous experience at ITV, which he created by merging Granada with Carlton Communications, is likely to increase speculation that EMI is being lined up for a merger with Warner Music.

EMI was bought by Terra Firma, run by City financier Guy Hands, for £4.2bn in 2007 but has run into severe problems, with key acts defecting and profits crashing. The company has suffered turbulent relations with some of its top acts, most recently ending up in court with Pink Floyd and plunged £1.75bn into the red last year. Crucially, unless Terra Firma can find more than £100m from investors to satisfy the terms of its loan from Citigroup, the bank which advised the private equity firm on the buyout and provided the lion's share of the funding, EMI will end up in the hands of its banks.

Leoni-Sceti, a former executive with consumer products group Reckitt Benckiser, was asked to come up with a plan that would persuade investors to get involved. That business plan is due to be presented and new money raised by the end of June. But Leoni-Sceti said today: "My job here is now done and it is time for me to move on."

Allen said he had been closely involved in the creation of the company's new business plan. "Elio and I have worked together for the last 14 months and he has decided that he has done what he came to do," he said.

He said that new business plan would be "very much an extension of things we have been doing", adding: "If you look at what Terra Firma did, they came in and rationalised the cost base and we have continued to tighten the business. But more importantly what you have now got is a real focus on how do we drive new music, a focus on hits. These things do not happen overnight, you have to nurture new talent but the early signs are pretty positive."

"The problem, the issue, is getting our message through. This is a good company with good people, we have got more to do but we are on track to deliver. We have a challenged cost structure."

But the storm clouds keep gathering over the business. Terra Firma is currently locked in a bitter legal fight with Citigroup, claiming the bank tricked it into offering too much for EMI by failing to inform it that other potential buyers had pulled out. A US judge will rule by the end of the month whether the case will be heard in the US or UK.

Allen said: "Would it be better if that wasn't there? Yes, but the team have got their heads down and just got on with it."

Hands made headlines when he bought the business, as a result of his at times heavy-handed dealings with artists. Since then the new management at EMI has been building bridges. Asked whether he would be involved in dealing with EMI's artists, Allen said he had already been meeting them. "I have spent a lot of time with the talent and the management," he said. "It's like ITV. Would you deal with Simon Cowell or Ant and Dec as chief executive? Yes you would. Here you would be dealing with Robbie Williams or Lily Allen or whoever."

One of the key acts that Allen will have to charm is Coldplay. The band's next album is rumoured to be the last under the existing deal with EMI, although last month the band's frontman, Chris Martin, said the band was "signed for a lot".

"I think there is a good relationship with Coldplay," Allen added. "They are really talented and really focused and great to work with. The team they deal with on a day-to-day basis is the team that's there delivering for them."

• EMI
• Music industry
• Private equity
• Citigroup
• Charles Allen
• Guy Hands
• Coldplay

Ad agency's diversification policy bears fruit with Aim flotation of brand making fashionable attack alarms for women

Bartle Bogle Hegarty has taken to heart the advice about diversifying beyond advertising agencies' traditional creative work, with the stock market floatation of a subsidiary company that produces fashionable assault alarms for women.

BBH, which in many ways is the archetypal traditional ad agency with a reputation built on TV commercials for brands such as Levi's, Audi and British Airways, has nevertheless been trying to develop new revenue streams for the past four years by inventing and developing new brands through a division called Zag.

Zag's goal has been to concentrate on what BBH has termed "brandlag" – areas of the market where consumer activity is ahead of the products so far launched.

Now one of the businesses developed by Zag, Ila Security, has been floated on the Alternative Investment Market (Aim).

Ila, which produces a personal alarm that looks like a mobile phone and produces a piercing scream at 120 decibels to help protect women from assault, has already been selling in stores such as Marks & Spencer and Next.

The business, which currently only produces the Ila Dusk alarm for women "who want security without compromising on style", floated on Aim on Friday with a market value of more than £4.5m following a reverse takeover of Baylon Holdings.

For BBH, the success of Zag, which was launched in 2006 and greeted with some scepticism by peers in the ad industry, could not have come at a better time. Last summer, at arguably the height of the advertising slump, BBH was forced to make 10% of its UK staff redundant.

"The Ila listing represents a significant validation of our business model," said Neil Munn, the former Unilever global brand director who joined BBH to set up the Zag venture in early 2006.

Ila is now aiming to launch five more products – Ila Sport, Ila Hook, Ila Wedge, Ila Pebble and Ila Leash – in the coming months. Last year BBH produced a major campaign for the Ila Dusk.

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.

• If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

• Advertising
• Marketing & PR

Claim that Conservatives attacking BBC to fit in with a 'Sky agenda' is 'completely laughable', says shadow culture minister

The shadow culture minister, Ed Vaizey, has denied that Conservative media policy is dictated by Rupert Murdoch and executives at his News Corporation media empire, dismissing the suggestion as "completely laughable".

Vaizey told delegates at a Westminster Media Forum event in London that Tory policy on the BBC, in particular, has been "wilfully misrepresented".

He singled out a column in the Guardian last week by Jonathan Freedland, which argued that the BBC director general, Mark Thompson, had decided to axe services in an attempt to prevent the Tories from making more swingeing cuts if they form the next government. Freedland also said Thompson was right to fear the Conservatives would do this because of "two words: Rupert Murdoch".

Vaizey responded today: "If a Conservative has any kind of critique of the BBC then somehow this a 'Sky agenda'. I noticed that in Monday's Media Guardian James Purnell, a former BBC employee, said BBC2 should only broadcast in the evenings. Nobody has written that to understand where James Purnell is coming from you just have to understand two words: Rupert Murdoch."

He added: "There is a legitimate debate to be had about the [size] of the BBC." The culture secretary, Ben Bradshaw, had conceded as much, Vaizey argued.

Conservative opposition to the BBC Trust's decision to close educational service BBC Jam demonstrated that the party did not have the corporation in its sights, he said.

"You shouldn't lose sight of the fact the BBC has massive public support," Vaizey said. "The idea that somehow there is any agenda to do down the BBC is completely laughable."

Tory policy on the BBC was straightforward, he added. A Conservative government would replace the BBC Trust with an independent regulator and force it to be "more transparent about its finances".

He said news organisations need to know how much the corporation spends on its news website in order to make judgments on how best to run their own online businesses.

Vaizey reiterated that Tory media policy is dictated by a "de-regulatory approach" but insisted he "liked Ofcom".

The Conservative leader, David Cameron, last year set out plans to reduce Ofcom's size and strip it of its policy-making powers.

"We felt there was a leadership vacuum from DCMS [the department of culture, media and sport] so Ofcom was driving policy. With a new and energetic Conservative government you would get leadership on media policy and Ofcom would return to its regulatory role," Vaizey said.

He also said the Conservatives have no plans to privatise Channel 4 and defended the party's proposals to fund rollout of high-speed broadband to rural areas with licence-fee money currently earmarked to meet the cost of digital switchover as "a perfectly sensible and intellectually coherent proposal".

Vaizey added that the principle of using licence-fee money to fund other projects was now well-established.

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.

• If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

• BBC
• Rupert Murdoch
• Television industry
• Ofcom
• Conservatives
• BBC licence fee
• BBC Trust

Rock show with Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson goes from 6 Music while Radio 2's Radcliffe and Maconie cut to three nights

Bruce Dickinson's BBC 6 Music rock show is to be axed and Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie's Radio 2 show cut to three nights a week in the latest changes to the two stations.

Dickinson, the lead singer of Iron Maiden, has presented a rock show on the digital station since it launched in 2002. It is the first 6 Music show to be axed since the BBC announced plans to close the station at the end of next year.

Radcliffe and Maconie's award-winning weeknight show, which has been running on Radio 2 since 2007, will be cut from four to three nights a week.

Their Thursday night outing will be replaced with a new live music strand, In Concert, which previously aired on Radio 1.

The Radcliffe and Maconie Show will switch to three nights a week from 12 April. Dickinson's 6 Music show, which currently airs on a Friday evening, will finish at the end of April.

6 Music is one of two BBC digital stations, along with the Asian Network, which will be closed following BBC director general Mark Thompson's strategy review last week.

Radio 2 is also undergoing a transformation, having been instructed by the BBC Trust to put more speech content and social action programming in its daytime schedule and to reverse a drop among its older listeners.

Breakfast show host Chris Evans has been the target of listeners' ire since he replaced Sir Terry Wogan. The first official Rajar figures for Evans's new slot will not be released until May.

But the Radcliffe and Maconie Show and Dickinson's 6 Music show are made by the Manchester-based independent production company Smooth Operations, which is run by John Leonard. Part of UBC Media, it also makes Radio 2's Mike Harding Folk Show and long-running comedy Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show on BBC Radio 4.

"I'm hugely disappointed but we are looking forward to other opportunities when the BBC moves [BBC Radio 5 Live] to Salford," said Leonard.

Radcliffe was named music broadcaster of the year at last year's Sony Radio Academy Awards.

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.

• If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

• 6 Music
• Radio 2
• BBC
• Radio industry

Press Gazette has confirmation from the Newspaper Society that it isn't doing its Circulation, Editorial and Promotions awards this year – despite the cancellation of the Regional Press Awards. So regional media are going to be missing a day out on the commercial side, as well as editorial. They also give details of the kind of fees that the regional groups now consider it impossible to pay: £39 for an entry (which is significantly cheaper than I remember being told a couple of years ago) and £130 for a ticket (which still seems relatively steep).

Update: Hold the Front Page tell me that Press Gazette were following up their earlier story, which I hadn't seen, and that two other sets of Newspaper Society awards, for advertising and digital departments, are also remaining on the back burner.

For now, at least, it appears you can still win awards for how well your regional newspaper is printed.

• Regional & local newspapers
• Newspapers
• Newspapers & magazines
• Media downturn

Charging might work with specialist content, says Google's chief economist – but engaging readers with online content during their leisure hours is a more promising strategy

The key to most newspapers' survival online is engaging more with readers, rather than seeking to charge them directly, Google argues.

The case was put by its chief economist, Hal Varian, yesterday at a workshop of the Federal Trade Commission in Washington on "The Future of Journalism".

Google denies any responsibility for the problems newspapers face. "The news industry's financial problems started well before the web came along," Varian said in his speech, which he also published as a blogpost.

Google estimates that charging for access is only a solution for news organisations with specialised content, since competition for generic news is too high.

A more promising approach, Varian argues, is to increase the involvement of readers with news during leisure hours, when they have more time to look at content and advertisements. Google recently introduced several experiments in displaying news differently, such as Fast Flip and the open source project Living Stories.

According to Google, declining print circulation hadn't been offset online because news readers tend to look at a disproportionate amount of online content during working hours, when people have little spare time. "The average amount of time looking at online news is about 70 seconds a day, while the average amount of time spent reading the physical newspaper is about 25 minutes a day," Varian says.

Furthermore, analysing search clicks, Google finds that the traditional cross-subsidization model of newspapers is broken. While before, in print, advertisements in special interest sections such as motoring, travel, or home & garden helped finance the general news production, now most of the search clicks are in categories such as sports, news and current events, and local.

According to Google, which doesn't display any advertising with its overview page Google News, there is money to be made in the sectors of travel, health, shopping and computers and electronics while news is hard to monetize, despite being frequently accessed.

In general, Google's outlook for newspapers isn't too good. "The transition to a fully online news will be difficult, but there's a good chance that we will emerge with a significantly more compelling user experience," Varian says.

Newspapers don't exploit fully the information they have and use their analysis and statistic tools, Google argues. A more direct measure of what users seek and read such as reviews, video and local news would improve online news, as would better advertisement measurement and a more intense contextual targeting.

Google, which wants the world to know that it is "keen on working with the news industry", sees some hope in new devices – such as the iPad – that could make online reading more attractive in leisure hours.

Therefore, Google's strong advice for newspapers is to increase user engagement, summed up clearly in one of Varian's bullet points: "Engagement is currently low, need to increase it".

• Digital media
• Google
• Newspapers
• Charging for content

Caroline Thomson, the BBC chief operating officer, defends 'tough' decision to close digital radio station 6 Music

Steve Lamacq: Stop 'public flogging' of 6 Music

Caroline Thomson, the BBC's chief operating officer, has defended the decision unveiled in the corporation's strategy review last week to close BBC 6 Music.

Thomson told an audience of media executives in London that the digital radio station, which is now the subject of a high-profile public campaign to save it, competed directly with commercial radio.

"The average age of its listeners – 37 – is at the heart of the demographic targeted by commercial radio", she told delegates at a Westminster Media Forum event.

There were also questions, she said, about whether the BBC should run three popular music stations – Radio 1, Radio 2 and 6 Music.

Thomson described the recommendation to axe 6 Music, which will now be considered by the BBC Trust following public consultation, as "tough". But she added: "There just isn't the luxury of closing something that no one cares about ... all the BBC services are loved by some."

She added that the money saved by the closure would be reinvested in radio, with a particular focus on digital services. Digital station BBC Radio 7 will "move towards [becoming] Radio 4 extra... with all the extra investment that implies".

Thomson conceded that some of the BBC's critics "have a point" when they complain that it was encroaching on markets that were previously off limits. "We must be prepared to define the boundaries of our public service. We must be prepared to know our limits," she said.

Some competitors had legitimate concerns about the corporation's "existing boundaries and its future ambition", Thomson added. "We are in a world where we can't do everything. We need to move to the world of 'either/or'."

In a thinly disguised attack on Rupert Murdoch's media empire, she also said there was a "small but influential group of critics with vested interests" who want to see a smaller BBC.

"Their underlying objective is death by a thousand cuts," Thomson added, and the BBC "ought to stand up to" them.

Echoing the words of the BBC director general, Mark Thompson, who some believe she may eventually replace, Thomson said that the corporation exists in a "public space" alongside libraries, museums galleries and other public institutions, "without which Britain would just not be Britain".

The BBC "has remained remarkably relevant, perhaps even more relevant", she added. "[The idea that] it would lose relevance amongst a ubiquity of content has proved false."

Thomson repeated the BBC's pledge to cut back on overseas acquisitions, but made clear that did not mean that popular US imports would be banned altogether.

BBC2 recently screened all five series of US drama The Wire and BBC4 shows Mad Men, another series that has won critical acclaim, but relatively small audiences.

She also said the BBC reserved the right to screen big Hollywood films at Christmas, because licence-fee payers demand it.

She praised "marvellous American series" and said: "We do need to be able to keep that as well as the capacity to have the central film on Christmas Day, like Harry Potter."

Thomson confirmed that the cap on the money spent on sports rights, which was also announced in the strategy review, commits the corporation to spend at "roughly the same level as we are now" and does not reduce it.

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.

• If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

• 6 Music
• BBC
• Radio industry
• Commercial radio
• Radio

ISPs, Google, Facebook, eBay and Yahoo sign letter saying clause threatens free speech and could lead to blocking of sites

Amendments made to the digital economy bill by the House of Lords threaten freedom of speech and will lead to British websites being blocked without due judicial process, the chief executives of leading technology companies said today.

The heads of the four largest UK internet service providers – BT, Orange, Virgin Media and TalkTalk – as well as Google, Facebook, eBay and Yahoo have all co-signed the letter, along with consumer groups, academics and the technophile television host Stephen Fry, objecting to amendment 120A to the bill, which was added to the bill last week with support from Liberal Democrat and Conservative peers.

Ministers had been seeking powers to amend copyright law and impose conditions or fees where infringements were taking place.

But the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats succeeded in removing the measures from the bill last week, replacing them with a more specific amendment handing courts the power to force internet service providers (ISPs) to block certain websites.

In a letter to the Financial Times , the online giants argue that the rules, if they become law, would fail to tackle copyright infringement as intended. The amendment has "obvious shortcomings", the 16 signatories say.

The letter says: "Endorsing a policy that would encourage the blocking of websites by UK broadband providers or other internet companies is a very serious step for the UK to take.

"There are myriad legal, technical and practical issues to reconcile before this can be considered a proportionate and necessary public policy option."

The amendment had been roundly criticised last week when it was added, as critics pointed out that it could be used to block sites such as YouTube.

But Lord Tim Clement-Jones, one of the backers of the amendment, said last week that the intention was to deal with "cyberlockers" – a system that allows individuals to swap large files directly, rather than sending them by email or storing them on websites.

The House of Lords passed the amendment last week, replacing a clause that would have given broad powers to ministers to change the Copyright Act to respond to new forms of online infringement without the need for primary legislation.

But the letter's signatories called the amendment "bitterly disappointing", and explained: "Put simply, blocking access as envisaged by this clause would both widely disrupt the internet in the UK and elsewhere and threaten freedom of speech and the open internet, without reducing copyright infringement as intended. To rush through such a controversial proposal at the tail end of a parliament, without any kind of consultation with consumers or industry, is very poor law-making."

Responding to the letter, the chief executive of UK music industry body the BPI, Geoff Taylor, said that the amendment provided a "clear and sensible" way of dealing with illegal downloading.

Taylor added that the signatories to the FT's letter have acknowledged that illegal downloading has to be dealt with.

"The amendment adopted by the House of Lords provides a clear and sensible mechanism to deal with illegal websites," he said.

"Contrary to the claims in the letter, service providers would in every case be able to ensure that the decision as to whether a site should be blocked is made by the high court. The court would be required to consider the extent of legal content on a website, any impact on human rights, and whether the website removes infringing content when requested. So the suggestion that the clause would lead to widespread disruption to the internet or threaten freedom of speech is pure scaremongering.

"The signatories to the letter recognise that dealing with illegal websites is a legitimate concern, and have argued in the past that action against illegal downloading should focus on commercial operators. Removing unfair competition from clearly illegal websites will encourage investment in legal online services and improve the legal internet experience for everyone."

The digital economy bill is expected to be pushed through before parliament is dissolved for the general election, widely expected to happen on 6 May. If it reaches a second reading by early April, when an election would be called, it could go into the "wash up" – the process at the end of a parliament when bills that have not been passed are hurried through. The government would need cooperation from the opposition to achieve that with the bill – but it is not clear whether the Tories, who have objected to elements of the bill, as the "landline tax" of £6 a year to help pay for next-generation broadband, would support it.

Lord Clement-Jones had said the provisions, approved by 165 votes to 140, would protect the creative industries by preventing access to websites where films and music were being provided illegally.

He told peers: "I believe this is going to send a powerful message to our creative industries that we value what they do, that we want to protect what they do, that we do not believe in censoring the internet but we are responding to genuine concerns from the creative industries about providing a process whereby their material can be satisfactorily accessed legally."

Lord Clement-Jones said the "blanket nature" of the government's original intention was "objectionable". He argued the new proposals were "more proportionate, specific and appropriate".

The bill extends the role of media regulator Ofcom to include communications infrastructure and media content, and to appoint providers of local news in ITV regions.

It also includes powers to stop under-age children getting hold of violent computer games and contains measures to help the switchover to digital radio.

• Piracy
• Internet
• Digital Britain
• Digital media
• Media business
• Technology sector
• Downloads

Marketing services group Chime Communications reports 'best ever' performance in face of recession year

Chime Communications, the marketing services group run by Lord Bell, has reported its "best ever" performance in the face of the recession, with its profit before tax for 2009 up 14% year on year to £18.8m.

Chime, which has subsidiaries including the ad agency VCCP and the sports firm Fast Track, reported organic revenue growth up 8% year on year and operating profits up 10% to £20.1m. Group revenue was up 10% to £123m.

"We outperformed the market and our competitors in 2008 and we have done so again in 2009," said a bullish Lord Bell. "These are our best results ever and we are very pleased and delighted. 2010 has started well and we are cautiously optimistic for the outcome of the full year."

Chime said 46% of its income came from overseas work, up from 37% in 2008. The company's two largest clients, which it did not name, represented 22.3% of operating income – up from 18.4% in 2008.

The public relations division, which includes Bell Pottinger and Harvard PR, was the biggest revenue-generator, accounting for 54% of operating income. Operating income rose 9% year on year to £66.8m with operating profit up 15% to £13.9m. Operating profit margin was a healthy 20.8%.

Advertising and marketing services, which includes O2's agency VCCP, saw a 10% year-on-year increase in operating income to £33.3m and operating profit up 14% to £4m. Operating profit margin was 12%. This division accounted for 27% of operating income.

The sports marketing division, which includes Fast Track and last September's acquisition, Essentially Group, saw a 26% year-on-year surge in operating income to £17.2m and a 27% boost in operating profits to £3.5m. Operating profit margin was 20.6%. Sports marketing accounted for 14% of operating income.

"These are high-margin businesses in a marketplace that we believe will continue to grow despite the economic uncertainty," the company said.

Despite the downturn, Chime's average fee income per client was up £8,000 from 2008, from £81,000 to £89,000, and average income per employee rose from £111,000 in 2008 to £118,000 last year.

"We will continue our policy of controlling our costs, increasing the proportion of our costs that are variable and we are targeting an improvement in our margin," the company said looking forward to the rest of 2010.

"We will continue our policy of considering earnings enhancing acquisitions that expand our range of services and starting up new businesses to service our existing client list. All in all we are cautiously optimistic for the outcome of 2010."

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.

• If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

• Marketing & PR
• Advertising

Jonathan Miller argues dual revenue streams – whether through subscription or other methods – can work alongside each other

Jonathan Miller, head of digital media at News Corporation, said today that "dual revenue streams" are likely to co-exist as media organisations try ways of making money online.

Miller claimed the media industry had to return to charging whether through subscription or some other method. "The choice between paywall or free is not mutually exclusive. They can co-exist based on quality of content and geography," he said today.

"Dual revenue streams got lost in the early days of the internet," Miller told delegates at the Abu Dhabi Media Summit.

Miller's boss Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corp, has spoken out against content providers that continue to give away media content for free and is planning to start charging for his company's websites later this year.

Speaking in Abu Dhabi yesterday, Murdoch called on Gulf states to open up their markets to global competition by cutting regulation and ending censorship.

Miller's fellow panellists today included Tim Armstrong, chairman and chief executive of AOL, the company Miller left after it scrapped its subscription model for a free, ad-supported one.

Armstrong, a former Google executive, said the first wave of internet media companies had been stymied by "problematic plumbing". AOL had scaled back internationally to fix its own "plumbing", he added, but intended to return to expansion mode as soon as next year.

The audience was also told that in an RTL experiment in the Netherlands, 92% of people chose to watch six minutes of pre-roll advertising rather than pay €1.20 (£1.09) to watch a video.

Miller is also appearing in a BBC World News debate about paywalls in Abu Dhabi later today along with Chris Ahearn, president of Reuters Media and Amra Tareen, the founder of All Voices. The session will ask News: who pays in the digital age?.

• News Corporation
• Media business
• Digital media
• Paywalls

Adam Singer will take up new role at digital radio switchover body and will work with current chief executive Ford Ennals

Former Telewest chief executive Adam Singer has been appointed chairman of digital radio switchover body, Digital Radio UK.

Singer, deputy chair of media regulator Ofcom's content board, will work alongside Digital Radio UK chief executive Ford Ennals to oversee radio's switch to digital.

He joins at a crucial time for the industry, with the BBC proposing to close two of its national digital stations, BBC 6 Music and the Asian Network, and the digital economy bill set to become law before parliament is dissolved for the general election.

The government has set 2015 as a target date for digital radio switchover, but the current pace of take-up has led some industry executives to predict it will be closer to 2020.

"Radio goes on forever – it's only the transmission platforms that change, and digital gives radio and its listeners a future beyond analogue imaginings," said Singer.

"There is much to do so that all can enjoy digital radio and I look forward to working with Ford and the Digital Radio UK Board as we give radio its rightful place as the digital belle at the broadcasters' ball."

Singer left Telewest in 2002, four years before it merged with NTL and later became Virgin Media. He previously worked for US cable baron John Malone and was chairman and chief executive of Flextech – now Virgin Media Television.

Digital Radio UK represents the interests of the entire industry, including the BBC, commercial radio, and multiplex and transmitter operator Arqiva. Ennals, who began the process of digital TV switchover, is its first chief executive.

Tim Davie, the BBC's director of audio and music, said Singer was a "top-flight individual".

Andrew Harrison, chief executive of commercial radio trade body, the Radio Centre, added that his "vast breadth of experience in the broadcasting world and his valuable knowledge will be of huge benefit to the radio sector as we move towards digital switchover".

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.

• If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

• Digital media
• Digital radio
• Digital switchover
• Radio industry
• Ofcom
• 6 Music
• Asian Network

A Downing Street request was denied after the BBC decided it would be inappropriate this close to a general election

Gordon Brown is a sports fanatic whose passion for Raith Rovers, the football team he has supported since childhood, is a matter of public record. But the BBC has barred the prime minister from appearing on its Sunday night Premier League highlights programme Match of the Day 2, saying it is too close to an election to have him on as a guest.

Downing Street asked if Brown could appear in the MOTD2 studio alongside the presenter, Adrian Chiles, and pundits, who include Lee Dixon, towards the end of last year. The prime minister's advisors wanted him to talk about England's bid for the 2018 World Cup, but after taking advice, the show's production team declined.

A BBC spokeswoman said: "We made the judgment it wouldn't be appropriate in the run-up to the election".

The BBC must adhere to strict guidelines about impartiality in the months before a general election, giving equal airtime to representatives of the main political parties. Brown's appearance was part of a No 10 campaign to soften his image in recent months by encouraging him to extend his media appearances beyond the news bulletins. Brown's confessional ITV1 interview with Piers Morgan last month was regarded as a success by his advisers.

Tony Blair was the first prime minister to appear regularly on TV outside news and current affairs programmes, agreeing to be a guest on ITV's This Morning on several occasions.

That approach has since been aped by the Conservative leader, David Cameron, who regularly appears on breakfast TV and has given ITV unprecedented access to his private life for a Sir Trevor McDonald documentary to be shown on Sunday.

In November 2005, Blair was a guest on Football Focus, BBC1's Saturday lunchtime show.

A BBC insider said Football Focus is regarded as a lifestyle show with a wide range of guests and pointed out it is highly unusual for anyone who is not a pundit to be invited on Match of the Day or its Sunday spin-off show.

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.

• If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

• BBC
• Television industry
• Sport TV
• Gordon Brown
• General election 2010