UK : Internet provider fires shot across bows of music industry on piracy

TalkTalk, the internet service-provider owned by Carphone Warehouse, has flatly rejected demands from the music and film industries that it should "police" the internet and cut off some broadband customers in an attempt to stem the flood of illegal file-sharing. The British Phonographic Industry (BPI), has suggested persistent illegal file-sharers should be warned by their service providers and then be cut off under a "three strikes and you're out" rule. (The Guardian)

Virgin Media in talks to trial three strikes regime against P2P

Virgin Media could soon become the second major ISP to attempt to implement a "three strikes" system against illegal filesharers in partnership with the record industry. The cable company is in talks with the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) to trial a system of warnings, followed by disconnection, for the most persistent copyright infringers. It's the same scheme that Tiscali briefly put in place last summer. That led to 4 customers being disconnected after allegedly ignoring the warnings, but relations between Tiscali and the BPI collapsed in a row over how the costs should be shared. (The Register)

3 UK launches first commercial ad-funded music video service

Mobile operator 3 UK today announced the launch of the first ad supported, commercial mobile music video service in conjunction with Sony BMG Music Entertainment (UK). The service, powered by Rhythm NewMedia, is available to all 3 UK customers and is accessed through 3's music homepage. The new Sony BMG video collection is the latest addition to 3's existing free mobile video service. The service is offered to customers with no data charges and is supported by short, targeted video ads. (PR)

Celestial Jukebox Arrives, But Is It Any Good?

British cellphone carriers are starting to let users enjoy unlimited over-the-air music downloads, and similar services could hit the United States this year. To find out what it will be like when such a service finally rolls out stateside, Wired.com nabbed the only Omnifone MusicStation-equipped review unit given to a U.S. publication. We tested the British version of the service in an expensive roaming configuration -- still the only way to experience it in the states -- to get a taste of the all-you-can-eat music phone. (Wired)

Orange Announces Ad-Funded Content Trial For 800,000 Mobile Users In The UK

Orange announced the launch of a new advertisement-supported content trial on its mobile internet platform, Orange World. The move will see 800,000 of Orange’s 15.6 million mobile customers given the option to download a variety of music content, from four different genres (Urban, Pop, Rock, Dance) to their mobile handsets for free, or a discounted rate, making it the largest trial of its kind in the UK. (PR)

More TV ads allowed under Ofcom plan

Proposals that could see more commercials, broadcast more often, on television were published on Wednesday by Ofcom. The broadcasting regulator was responding to the European Union’s directive “Television Without Frontiers” that relaxed restrictions on advertising minutage – the average number of minutes per hour that advertisements can run on television. (Financial Times)

How to safeguard public service media

Channel 4 on Thursday announced an imaginative self-help programme designed to support the public service end of its output in a changing market. It already helps itself – with new channels such as More Four, with commercial sales and new media activity. It will drive these further, add new partnerships for special interest programming and create links that build intellectual property rights in its output. Will this effort deliver enough ? (Financial Times)

ISPs urged to help combat pirates

The call will be made in a speech, seen by the Financial Times, to be delivered by Feargal Sharkey, chief executive of British Music Rights, at the awards ceremony of the Internet Services Providers' Association. "My key message to you tonight is that the music industry is embracing change," wrote Mr Sharkey, former singer with 1970s punk band The Undertones. "This is the debate we need to get back on track: how to unlock that insatiable demand for music, and in a way that grows both of our businesses. Surely the bright and brilliant minds in this room can help figure this out?" (Financial Times)

Napster and Telefonica's O2 link up to offer 5 mln tracks

Telefonica unit O2 has signed a deal with online music site Napster (NASDAQ:NAPS) that gives the mobile operator's subscribers access to 5 mln tracks for download to both the phone and PC, according to The Independent. (Thomson Financial, The Independent)

Lincs FM Catches Listeners

Lincs FM will becomes the first radio station in the UK to launch an innovative new music download service, called Catch. From tomorrow, listeners can text a five digit number while listening to the station. The station then sends back a text identifying the name of the artist and track currently being played. A personalised web page is created where listeners can access a list of all their favourite music. They can download their chosen songs by entering their mobile phone number on the station's website. (Radio Today)

Charlatans Claim Success For ‘Giveaway’ Model

U.K. alternative rock band the Charlatans is claiming success for the “giveaway” approach taken with its new album, “You Cross My Path,” which the act says has been downloaded in its entirety more than 60,000 times since it was made available last Monday (March 3). The album is currently exclusively available free on the Web site of U.K. modern rock station Xfm’s website (www.xfm.co.uk). (Billboard)

Tiscali expands IPTV service

Tiscali has launched a new PVR (personal video recorder) for its ‘Tiscali TV’ IPTV service in the UK. The Tiscali+ has a 160 GB hard drive and three TV tuners, allowing users to record two channels while watching a third. The PVR supports high-definition content and is compatible with the BBC’s iPlayer, and Channel 4’s 4oD, on demand services.

YouTube most popular networking site in the UK

YouTube is now the most popular social networking website in the UK, overtaking the user-edited encyclopedia Wikipedia with 10.4 million unique users during January. The Google-owned video-sharing site saw a 56% increase in traffic from January the previous year. Nielsen Online estimates that nearly two-thirds of UK web users - or 20.8 million people - visited at least one of the top 10 social networking sites. (The Guardian)

U.K. pirates would heed ISP warning

Piracy would be massively reduced if offenders in the U.K. received a warning from their Internet service provider. A report undertaken by Entertainment Media Research, suggests 70% of people would cease piracy if they received a warning. Percentage of those who would stop downloading unauthorized content if contacted by their ISP rises to a whopping 78% among male teens. (Variety, Ars Technica)

Tiscali powers up music with Audio Network

Tiscali is beefing up the music content offered via its online and IPTV services, through a licensing deal with music provider Audio Network. Tiscali has secured an unlimited use deal to supply Tiscali UK with a catalogue of more than 13,000 tracks for use across its different platforms, allowing it to mirror its campaigns across different services. (Brand Republic)

Facebook suffers from social networking slowdown

Facebook has suffered its first monthly drop in UK users for 17 months, falling by five per cent to 8.4 million unique users between December 2007 and January 2008. Despite this, the social networking phenomenon has grown by 712 per cent in the UK over the past 12 months according to the latest stats from web intelligence group Nielsen Online. In contrast MySpace has seen a nine per cent fall in the number of unique visitors year on year with around five million users. (Silicon.com)

Ticketmaster’s fee structure questioned

A motion has been filed in the UK House of Commons that would ask the company to more clearly advertise the fee structure, because some members of Parliament said some customers complained of not being aware some of the fees Ticketmaster charges. Separately, some theaters in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region in Minnesota are reportedly balking at a move by discount ticketer TC Tix to merge with Ticketmaster. (Ticket News)

U.K. Downloads To Soar In 2008, Says ERA

British consumers will likely spend more than £160 million ($312 million) on digital downloads this year, up by roughly 50% from the previous year, according to new figures published by ERA Digital, a division of the Entertainment Retailers Association trade body. A spike in interest for full album downloads is one of the catalysts for growth, ERA reports, a format which is forecast to account for £69.4 million ($135 million) in sales this year. Single track downloads will be worth an estimated £96.4 million ($188 million). (Billboard)

Paul Young: Wherever he lays his hat, that's his internet home

Eighties star Paul Young has teamed up with Ricky Simmonds, founder of the dance music label and download store Audio- jelly, to create a site designed to showcase raw talent as well as established acts. Beside unknown bands such as The Teapot Tribe, his Etopia Music (etopia-music.com) offers subscribers new music from the likes of Paul Weller, Peter Gabriel, Bjork and pre-Simon Cowell recordings of Leona Lewis. (The Independent)

Play.com beats Amazon to unrestricted music

Play.com yesterday beat Amazon to become the first big online entertainment retailer in Britain to offer unrestricted digital music downloads. The Jersey-based group is seeking to challenge the dominance of Apple with its PlayDigital service, which offers 1.3 million tracks free of the digital rights management (DRM) technology that limits the devices on which legitimately downloaded tracks can be played. (Times Online, Reuters)