ONE of the two partners in Gaelic language TV channel, BBC ALBA, is to receive an additional £2.1 million of Scottish Government funding over a two-year period.
The Government-funded Gaelic media service, MG ALBA, will receive £1 million in 2014-15 and £1 million in 2015-16. It will also receive £100,000 for programming.
Added a Scottish Government media release announcing the funding: “The First Minister also opened a new £2.5 million Creative Industries and Media Centre at the site of a former Harris Tweed mill near Stornoway.”
Read more, here, in the media releases column on allmediascotland.com.
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A SPORTS radio station set to serve Central Scotland has announced its team of presenters.
The line-up at Eklipse Sports Radio is to include established broadcasting names such as Alex Horsburgh and Bill Young.
The station – to be launched in early next month, say its operators – will be available online, on DAB and on FM.
Read more, here.
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BEGINS the announcement on the BBC website: “A new series of the acclaimed crime drama, Shetland, was today [yesterday] recommissioned by BBC One, highlighting BBC Scotland’s commitment to original British drama.
“Produced by ITV Studios through BBC Scotland for BBC One, Shetland returns for a new six-part series (six x 60-minutes) following the success of the recent second series which received 29.5 per cent audience share in Scotland for the first four episodes (consolidated).”
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SKILLS training – ranging from public relations to e-publishing, plus several other topics in between – is being offered by the National Union of Journalists in Scotland.
The courses are as follows: Friday, May 16 Media law and ethics (being led by Fiona Davidson); Monday, May 19 Public relations (James Doherty); Thursday, May 22 E-publishing (Kirsty Scott); Tuesday, May 27 Filming and editing for iDevices (Mike Higgins); and Thursday, May 29 Sub-editing (Philip Short).
For more details, click here or email here.
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A MEDIA training facility in Scotland run by the owners of several Scots commercial radio stations has been expanded in an UK-wide one.
The Scottish Media Academy is now part of the UK-wide Bauer Academy, which will operate between Radio Forth in Edinburgh (home to the SMA) and Manchester, with plans to expand into London and Belfast.
The head of the SMA – allmediascotland blogger, Courtnay McLeod – is to head the Bauer Academy, with a media release announcing its launch stating, among other things, a partnership with Glasgow City Council to deliver a customised journalism course for young people and teacher-training events and a research project with Edinburgh Napier University “to explore how the Bauer Academy model can enhance, innovate and strengthen links between industry and education”.
Read more, here.
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HEADS up: There will be no Noon Briefing tomorrow or Monday. Ditto, Daily Feature. But there will be a Friday Column.
So, the next on will be on Tuesday. Ditto, Daily Feature.
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A SURVEY of marketing budget trends has registered what it describes as the ‘record largest single upwards revision to marketing budgets in 14 years of data collection’.
Says the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising – about its quarterly Bellwether report, first launched in 2000: “The survey comes amid reports that sustained sales growth and rising incomes have continued to support financial prospects, both within companies and across industries. The latest survey also marks the sixth successive quarter that marketing budgets have been revised up and rounds off a positive 2013/14 financial year which saw budgets increased to the greatest degree for seven years.
“The report, which has been conducted on a quarterly basis since Q1 2000, revealed a net balance* of +20.4 per cent of companies registering an increase in budgets during Q1 2014, up sharply from Q4 2013’s +11 per cent and the previous survey record of +12.3 per cent in Q3 2013. (* the net balance is calculated by subtracting the percentage reporting a downward revision from the percentage reporting an upward revision).”
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SCOTS digital firms are being challenged to improve the experience of spectators at the Commonwealth Games taking place this Summer in Glasgow.
Reports The Scotsman, a prize of £30,000 is up for grabs.
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