BigShinyThing

Psyop have created six 15 second station idents for MTV’s high definition channel which will feature exclusively HD work and 5.1 surround sound from MTV, VH1 and CMT. The idents are extracts from a 90-second film which will also be aired in its entirety on MTV HD. According to Justin Booth Clibborn, Pysop’s executive producer:

MTV asked us to “do our thing” and create a spot that would really push the limits of the format. They gave us their complete trust and support to come up with something very different and unexpected. What we gave them can best be described as a ‘visual haiku,’ a spot that is all the more detailed and effective because of its seeming minimalism.

For those of us old enough to remember MTV’s heyday of allowing experimental filmmakers to do its idents, this is a nice return to form. It is also for our money the first truly interesting bit of HD promo work (if you exclude the BBC’s pushing of Planet Earth) that also gets the possibilities of the medium. Co-creator Marco Spier says:

We’ve done HD work before, but always with the knowledge that the work would also be viewed in NTSC. This time, viewers will only be seeing this in HD. We had the unique opportunity to take advantage of the technology and include detailed elements that would be very problematic to accomplish in NTSC. That’s how this spot ended up with so many thin, high-contrast lines that would buzz like crazy on regular television. We were able to actively work with those kinds of elements, knowing the resolution would support it.

Via lovely Proteinos. Watch the full film via the Dexigner site.

Following Sky’s purchase of EasyNet, which will see the broadcaster muscle in on the lucrative broadband market, BT has come back with its own TV on demand service. BT’s ‘catch up TV’ will offer a similiar (but limited) capability to Sky’s PVR, Sky+, enabling internet customers to watch programmes shown during the previous week without needing to record them. From next summer, customers will be able to buy boxes and then pay for certain shows, with others being free. Head of retail Ian Livingston said: “No longer will BT customers be reliant on TV schedules.”

The BBC has the full story.

Earlier this week when the story was at the rumour stage, a Sky spokesman hinted the company was looking at other ways of connecting with its viewers.

“Sky intends to continue to set the pace of change in media content and distribution,” he said.

Many analysts predict that in the future most TV will be watched via computers. Instead of programmes being received via a traditional TV aerial, satellite dish or cable connection, they will instead be sent via broadband internet. This would imply that Digital Video Records are merely a phase in the digitisation of home entertainment.

Easynet has its own equipment in 250 local BT exchanges, giving it direct access to 4.4 million homes and 850,000 businesses in the UK, mainly in the bigger metropolitan areas.

More on this story is available from the BBC site.

Such a provider is up for sale in the shape of OneTel, yours for a mere £300 million from current owners Centrica PLC. Rumours of Sky’s interest in the telecoms industry were sparked with speculation that the firm’s decision to raise £1 billion through a bond issue stems from a desire to engage more aggressively with cable and internet providers. The purchase of a telecoms company could also lead to Sky offering a truly on-demand TV experience. Further investment of between £100-200 million is reportedly planned by the company to develop an ultra-speedy internet service through local loop unbundling, potentially offering video on demand and IPTV capabilities.

These moves would further bolster Sky’s position in the UK against the newly merged cable providers NTL and Telewest as well as the Freeview consortium, which ITV and Channel 4 have finally confirmed their intention to join.