media and technology
the lowdown
a" .", -v‘ I. Ag... "v, l ‘1". ‘o‘ 11‘. " -‘. ,. .v“.‘ '..“l: a.» are .:._. r- I
FL. 3 g...» SV . ic'mm.
-.: ' i A .h 3.x. ' »._,..\..__-_._3..‘..,, e“. v It" ‘ .f $fiHM,.»flig=glossierivemron'oijpaqwi.
g M." {gigmrettx-wnenirhe lead topiciofia ~‘ ifliflsfistt’mwis;tCssheBilfis?3$ . Whitfbért‘itcltysulre not infer, manta . ‘ zvflsiiiiififsefirtnwsti‘ve;irdVGLICK».1? » tIiBREEORi’A‘cLoSeoemanner.
Le" "sho'fl'J'V‘t .-" ’;‘ ~" ~. x. u ,s sitetakésallthe.sexy.brts from 3e: .5
"addé‘a fell-{none i¥9P€§3¥¢ileslbh§tjt0like-minded‘ ~ tiplék§.;§btoad talesfof sexual _ g. anagrams 9r» smarter-“ton. Surprisingly. I. ~ EWQZSRQ mention of the, fact. that » §10Ke$.l9iéht‘¢tijoy.a less virtual '~ gill? eraekcqmmcmc: “ "Item "waif -’t.-.---¢.xr,,;
2tfia$¢~s"'«:’ ,, .r
co ROM . ' 2’ ‘y up?»
..5~
i‘ *4-‘(991993 M.W.99)
é.;?ii§iih¢';$ttahe€itiifial offering from I. ER‘obert'i de‘NirO’s Tribeca Interactive, :99“! talents of. »- flanks-Belushi.Chen-Christopher ‘ :igeette and Steve Tyler. Inspired by EAeros'mith's music and lyrics. the. landscape to this adventure 5 was created by the man ;:reSponsible.for_the cover of Michael :tf‘J'aicksoii’s Dangerous album. Your \ Ef‘tfi'sli’lsilb trill)th #9“. ToxichwiIis... ' the Muse Machine. j: '_ ;~£Ari15.§t;islttlxmis?.¢ontraption used to. . if.“ {fifeiélséhfiéufiifofsrcativlely ' towed“daswr.rorre..1¢ftw.7- _ assemblawenoi, .. .. tgfaileditofitgtioe .theiiroh‘y. 9 is, weird! ' iltut;‘$tillittt¢fitsa.loqkix‘" : ~r v A -
y g. . 3.3“: q. 'I @WIIMII‘ZQQZKPlaystatiOn£44.99) :‘gWipeout the coolest 0f t;él_995;i‘aridi'now it’ssequel time. The "' “mi-shes! to‘follswi 1' ;at;_he;art.'20973 is thefsame game: : ‘ ‘ ’5F0Iiilfiélt51y; “'3 tirade mdfegic’. .- : "i‘giyinghodgeiisiéréto'get-into; There
-‘$“’7'V‘I\‘ .‘r'ns . r .,, , _» . H, .. i‘ afielémfiotns}?.tseturesihkspit -.: t: .Itt‘i‘sttdstllswsmnsnov caret-.2. ‘ . ....§!4?:7?ekkThship‘and... i-
beYided.bY-.si ‘1‘
trikejgeftfigtag'ntejcheifiiearg. ,
Trier? al.- .~. ~ M Te. : KS3“ -S_ r 3th.; . fl". ’ . . .. .-: .*¢sleué.Evcn§tf-You hove 4:: ~- ‘ - I f £1“. (.3: 5‘ :' n x ‘s , = a ameseantbetculturalégegg L c . '4‘” EV)“. J, 3“} gears. U4”??? r; .. chorflendgmon a T“ S’:r"l*vs;“;‘*i.fi'i‘wrésifif iiiifih-s £33“ H333"? $§MJT > "-3qu ‘ QM“: “A M §‘ “‘2’: a"”"~‘; "
2.: 97.91.3333"..sém'i'.’
104 The List l-l4 Nov [996
Earnest web Sites . Ctr-Rom.
,..fishedéitsfsivn.Cpmpuseaes; 'v ‘fiiteiihélpedalong by a bevy of; ‘
The Sirst lithe Emit
Scottish Television is looking Skywards as it launches into satelliteland. Eddie Gibb reports.
n the half-hour introductory show
This Is Sky Scottish. Dr Finlay star
David Rintoul sports a rather unfortunate moustache which suggests a channel devoted to back-to-back 70s reruns. But don’t be fooled — when Sky Scottish launches at the start of November it will feature new shows. OK, some new shows and quite a lot of repeats.
Formed as a joint venture by — can you guess? — Scottish Television and BSkyB. Sky Scottish will be the first UK-wide channel broadcasting from Scotland. albeit initially for two hours a day. Satellite subscribers will receive the channel automatically and station boss Scott Ferguson says he expects to ink a deal with cable operators in central Scotland either before blast-off. or shortly after.
Though Sky Scottish has been described as an ex-pats‘ channel. the reality is that it is most likely to attract viewers from the existing [TV station. The channel‘s character will be similar to Scottish Television‘s local output. with programmes like the fashion magazine Get It On and travel show
\ . _\":. a;\\\\\'
Scott Ferguson: puttlng the Scottish lnto Sky
St‘ollisll Passport receiving a second airing. New lifestyle programming is also planned with music and arts shows in development. with Ferguson planning to broadcast T in the Park live nextyear
But don’t expect another 'Iaggart. The first specially commissioned entertainment programme is called The Dirt Detective and involves comedian
Sky Scottish is majoring on sport in an attempt to attract the young, male audiences that advertisers just love.
Craig Ferguson (spot the family connection). who finds himself on
Scottish soil. literally. in a valiant attempt to make geology interesting. We‘re not talking big bucks television here. but Scott Ferguson insists exactly the same production values will apply to Sky Scottish programmes as its terrestrial big brother. ‘lt’s not a wee message from granny‘s heilan hame.‘ he says. No figures on programme
budgets are available, however.
Running between 6—8pm every evening, Sky Scottish is majoring on sport in an attempt to attract the young. male audiences that advertisers just love. Around 60 per cent of output will be sport-orientated. according to Ferguson, including coverage of under- 18s Old Firm matches. ice hockey and a new pool toumament featuring snooker stars.
Add to that a football trivia quiz and commentator Jim Delahunt's weekly The Football Show, and you've got a pretty blokish channel. It‘s no surprise to discover that as former head of news and sport at Scottish. Ferguson was the man responsible for bringing the laddish A Game Of Two Halves and Late [Edition to the screen.
So why switch to a channel which will command only a fraction of Scottish's audience for the foreseeable future? ‘lt’s exciting to start up something new.‘ he says. ‘The most interesting jobs in broadcasting at the moment are coping with cxpansion.‘
BSkyB says it has put money into the venture to create a viable station now, but the expansion Ferguson refers to is digital television which will give Sky capacity for 200 channels by this time next year. The company has not yet announced its plans for all this spare capacity. but clearly tie-ups with lTV companies like Scottish and a similar deal with Granada launched earlier this month. increase its ability to source programmes to fill up all those vacant channels. Ferguson expects Sky Scottish to extend its airtime in the future.
The fact that Scottish and BSkyB are prepared to back channels which compete with their existing channels is an illustration of how broadcasters are scrambling for a slice of this multi- channel future. Anyone who can make half-decent programmes on a shoestring will be in a strong position. and that looks like the direction Ferguson is heading.
Sky Scottish launches on Fri I Nov at 6pm.
Scanner covers the latest developments in media and technology. Address comments and queries to mediaList@aol.com