An interesting development from the advertising sector now.

The Advertising Standards Authority will expand its remit to cover all forms of online advertising. The ASA, which regulates advertising on TV and radio, in print media, and on billboards, does already oversee some online communications, ie banner and text adverts bought on other people's websites.

However, the new development - which is supported by ad industry trade body the Advertising Association - will see ASA regulation extended to advertising content published on companies' own websites, and on their social media pages, such as Facebook profiles and Twitter feeds.

Such online activity will now have to meet ASA rules regarding all advertising messages being responsible, legal, honest and truthful. Concerns have been raised that consumers, and especially children, may be misled by company websites and social media pages which have not previously been open to active regulation.

It's an interesting development because those communication outputs are sometimes managed by marketing or even PR people, rather than advertising execs, meaning the ASA's remit is extending into other communication sectors.

The move will have to be approved by the Committee For Advertising Practice, which feeds into the ASA, but given the Advertising Association is already a supporter most seem to think that approval will be forthcoming.

The BBC's chief Pepsi expert and radio boss Tim Davie has defended the Beeb's controversial decision to axe the Asian Network and 6music.

Davie, who became head of BBC Audio & Music in 2008 bringing, erm, zero seconds of experience in radio and music to the table, has blogged about the cutback plans amid mounting opposition to the proposals, especially in relation to music service 6. Davie argues that, while he loves the two services that are facing closure, it is right for the Beeb to focus its radio resources into making a smaller number of stations more brilliant, rather than spreading it out to nine national stations, two of which have only small audiences.

He blogged yesterday: "I do not believe that offering the current range of nine stand-alone digital networks is the right way to serve audiences and ensure radio remains strong in a digital world. And, while digital radio has seen growth, my concern is that current development remains slow. So we are proposing to reduce the number of stations and re-invest in our five core networks - Radios 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 Live - and extensions of these services, while maintaining our overall investment in digital radio to use in a range of innovative ways to provide listeners with great digital content".

He continues: "But this strategy of focusing efforts on doing fewer things better also means difficult decisions. Clearly we didn't arrive lightly at the decision to recommend the closure of 6music: it is distinctive, much loved and I too am passionate about its output. But I believe the best way for us to provide that kind of programming is by looking at other ways to find it a bigger audience. While we are re-focussing on fewer networks, we will consider how the range of music played on Radio 1, Radio 2 and Radio 3 should adjust to ensure we continue to offer a diverse spectrum of new and UK music as part of our stronger focus on originality and distinctiveness".

CreativeStudent.net's sister publication CMU, the music business news service, has responded to Davie's remarks thus:

Of course, as someone or other I was reading about the other day said, the BBC is in a very tricky position, because while key players in the political community are constantly calling on the Corporation to make cuts, there will be vocal groups who speak out in support of any service or programmes that are axed in order to streamline the Corporation. And even those of us in the 'save 6' camp must recognise that the high volume of the support being heard for that particular station this week is in part aided by the fact some of its most passionate supporters work in the media, or are active Twitter users.

But then again, my two main problems with the BBC cuts proposals remain, and nothing Davie or his boss Mark 'Tommo' Thompson has said have addressed these two points.

First, both Davie and Tommo justify cutting services like 6 so that they can improve "quality" elsewhere in the Corporation's output. This is a clever rouse, because it's a justification that sounds good but means nothing. It also assumes that you get better quality TV and radio programmes when you spend more money.

While it's true that there is a minimum amount of money you need to spend to get good content (a minimum many commercial radio stations don't provide their programmes any more), the vast majority of BBC Radio's national shows are over-funded and over-staffed, with Radio 1 and Radio 2 the most guilty in this regard. Pumping more money into these stations will just mean they become even more over-funded, not that the quality of programming will improve.

Second, the aim of these cuts is primarily to placate critics in the commercial sector. Those commercial critics complain because Radios 1 and 2 - which compete with their stations - have an unfair competitive advantage because of the vast over-spending and over-staffing that goes on. The proposals of Davie, Tommo and John Tate, who wrote the cuts document, will actually make this imbalance worse and piss off the commercial radio sector even more.

While it can be a good thing to bring in expertise from outside the media into broadcasting companies, to ensure alternative thinking at the top, you get the impression here that the fact Davie, a former fizzy drink seller, and Tate, a former Tory Party twonk, know little about making good radio is in part behind such a misguided strategy being employed. Tommo is a former programme maker, but has his heart in TV not radio, and certainly not music.

So yes, us 6 fans are emotionally attached to a minority interest station, and we are using our media connections to kick up a bigger fuss than our number should probably allow. But CMU's problems with the plans to axe 6 remain unemotional - Davie, Tommo and Tate are just employing bad strategy.

In his weekly column for Creative Student's sister publication Remix Update, Xfm's Eddy TM speaks out in support of the 6music campaign...

OK, so I had a bit of a rant on Twitter last week. More than a bit. I had a proper, balls out spleen-vent, the kind I normally reserve for Christmas with one of my nearest and dearest. Predictably, the object of my anger and frustration was the BBC, and the latest news about their cutbacks, especially with regard to 6music.

I saw red, such a bloody shade of red that some people really got the wrong end of the stick, and I had messages saying things like: "You're not a fan of the BBC but you should be on it..." That's a sweet thing to say and I fully understand it's reasoning, but it starts with a premise that is fundamentally wrong. I LOVE the BBC. All this anger stems from love. It makes the sense of betrayal that I'm feeling run so much deeper.

I see the BBC as family. My lovable but difficult and slightly batty auntie, who is independently wealthy, generous at Christmas, but old fashioned almost to the point of annoyance, and always being taken advantage of by hawkers who knock on her door.

But, despite her awkwardness, I love her, because it was she who turned me onto music, while my dad was disapproving. It was this auntie who taught me to find beauty in everything, from architecture and antiques, to the amazing planet we live on, and in every bit of its flora and fauna. And she taught me about cultural diversity, and about culture itself, in all its forms.

I cut my teeth, as did Chris Evans, Richard Bacon, Gideon Coe and countless others, in BBC local radio. I went on, via an ad in the newspaper, to get a job at Radio 1, in the roaring 90s, where this crazy journey of mine really began.

You'd think that because I work for another station that I'd be celebrating the loss of a major digital rival, but that loses sight of the core of my being: I am, first and foremost, a music fan, and 6music shares its soul with Xfm, as a station for people who really care about music. We are kindred spirits, not rivals. That's how I see it anyway.

I understand the need for cut backs in this climate, but in axing 6music the BBC are overlooking their fundamental raison d'etre. That is NOT to be commercial, but to provide an alternative to the mainstream, to ensure diversity, objectivity and fairness.

Let's face it, 1Xtra is an urban station, and Radio 1, during daylight hours, shares the same urban obsession. Why on Earth would an organisation supposedly committed to diversity then sack off a station just because it hasn't got a huge number of listeners? They're all there for a reason, because their listeners can't get what they want anywhere else. That's the key.

If I'm an R&B loving kid, then I have Radio 1, 1Xtra or any of the myriad independent local radio stations around the country. It doesn't matter where I live, I will have my needs catered for. But if I'm, well, me, or any of my mates, and I live outside London, where do I go for the music I love? I mean, for fuck's sake, I live in Clapham, but I can't get Xfm - or pretty much any non-BBC station - on my DAB radio, the ONLY station I can get, that plays the music I love, is 6music.

All the others are playing, in the words of Steely Dan, "nothing but somebody else's favourite song".

I believe the closing of 6music is against the terms of the BBC's charter. This is something we should fight tooth and nail to keep, even if we don't listen to it. Like The World Service, it HAS to be there, because it is ESSENTIAL to enrich the lives of the people who listen to it, and because these people have NOWHERE ELSE TO GO.

I believe with all my heart that the BBC is the single greatest thing about this country. This statement started an interesting thread on my Facebook page, with quite a few people saying: "What about the NHS?" And I say, as a massive fan and supporter of the NHS, yes, it is wonderful. It's full of overworked, underpaid angels in human form, but is it the best in the world? I can't say that. I've been treated much faster and in a much more modern and cleaner environments overseas.

However, the BBC is absolutely, without question or argument, the greatest broadcasting organisation in the world. It is something every other country is jealous of and wishes they had and it is the yardstick by which all others should be measured.

But this fact doesn't give it licence to fuck us over, and that is what it's doing right now. It's lost sight of what it's there for. We need to remind our auntie what is important, so remind her, write, email, contact your MP, get your outrage on and get the message across. We are a minority, but just because we're not united by the colour of our skin or our religion, we're being screwed. Don't let this happen, my friends, fight for what we believe in: Let's fight for music.

Much love,

eddy X

Read this week's Remix Update here, and sign up to receive it by email each Monday afternoon here.

A company called Frontier Silicon has developed a little flim flam - to use the technical jargon - that will enable radio listeners to access FM and DAB radio services via one electronic programme guide, which would be incorporated into DAB radio sets.

It's an important development because one of the objections to the proposals to switch off most of the FM network in 2015 is that a handful of smaller and community radio stations won't be able to make the switch to the digital network at that time - mainly because of a lack of capacity on DAB - and some fear that that would basically be a deathblow for those stations as the population at large stop tuning into the FM waveband (or, even worse, bin all their FM radio sets).

The combined EPG would mean that those services left on FM after the digital switchover could appear in the same programme guide as the DAB services, even though they are broadcasting on another network. The EPG would even put all the stations in alphabetical order, so it's not like all the FM stations would be stacked at the back.

The new technology is being supported by Digital Radio UK, the body charged with the task of turning us all digital in a radio stylee. The organisation's CEO Ford Ennals told reporters: "It's really exciting to see this project make such rapid and significant progress. Creating a secure and thriving future for all sectors of the radio industry is our primary objective, and ensuring that listeners can navigate with ease between their chosen stations, regardless of platform, is crucial to delivering that".

Frontier Silicon's Anthony Sethill added: "Our engineers have already made great progress in the development of the integrated guide. The prototype that we've demonstrated gives a really good working impression of how we can effectively and simply eliminate the need for a button or switch to navigate between digital and analogue".

The producers of Sony Ericsson's quirky YouTube-based pop show Pocket TV, hosted by Radio 1 gossip man Matt Edmondson, are looking for an aspiring telly person interested in being a runner for the next series of the programme, which will be filmed between 5 Apr and 9 Jul.

It is a paid London-based position, and will basically involve helping the production team as they interview all sorts of bands and music types. It will no doubt involve a lot of lifting flight cases and making coffees, but it will be a great opportunity to learn how TV is made, and to make all sorts of great contacts. The successful candidate will also be asked to keep a video blog of their experience that will be posted on YouTube.

Any aspiring telly type over the age of 18 and available in London from April should upload a sixty second clip demonstrating why they'd be a great runner to their own YouTube account, and then send a message to PocketTVshow via the video site with the words RUNNER COMPETITION in the subject line and the vid attached. The deadline to enter is 15 Mar. Three people will be selected to compete for the final job by taking part in a challenge set by the aforementioned Matt Edmondson.

To find out what Pocket TV is all about go to www.youtube.com/pockettvshow

The publisher of both Creative Student and music business news service CMU, Chris Cooke, this weekend wrote an open letter to Conservative Party culture spokesman Ed Vaizey, after the MP was quoted by The Guardian on Friday as referring to the leaked BBC proposal to axe 6music as being "intelligent and sensible". Cooke believes that closing 6music would not achieve either of the aims of the BBC proposals - cutting expenditure and placating the Corporation's commercial critics - but would instead result in a vital non-commercial music service being lost. His letter to Vaizey outlined six reasons why the station should be saved.

Cooke concluded: "I've been to many schmoozing fests where political types from all parties have stood up and told us how proud they are of Britain's music industry, which is one of the most prolific and successful in the world. But take a look at the telly pages in the Radio Times. Try to find the TV programmes representing the British music community on BBC television. If it wasn't for Jools Holland, there wouldn't be any. Now look at the radio listings. Even on the music stations, we all know the daytime shows aren't really about the music. And yes, Radios 1 and 2 have specialist shows, but they squeeze entire alternative genres into tiny time slots, mostly in the middle of the night. Surely the BBC has a duty to represent, showcase and celebrate this great British music industry of ours? Well, it does. Through 6music".

Noting Vaizey's regular appearances on Radio 4's political magazine 'Westminster Hour', he continued: "6music is to the music fan what Radio 4 is to the political community. The place where their passion - good music, new and old - gets the airtime it deserves, where informed and intelligent people can discuss the good, the bad and the ugly, and where the music of today can be put into its historical context. Is it perfect? No. Could costs savings be made? Probably. Should it be better promoted? Definitely. But to tell a music fan that 6music will close is like telling a parliamentarian that all of Radio 4's political output is to be cancelled. Don't worry, GMTV and TalkSport will pick up the slack".

Vaizey responded this morning by stressing that his remark that the leaked proposals seemed "intelligent and sensible" referred to the entire strategy document, written by BBC policy director and former Conservative policy chief John Tate, and not specifically the shutting of 6music.

He writes: "As I have been cast as the man who wants to close 6music, let me put my remarks in context. The BBC has undertaken a strategic review because it recognises that some of [the commercial media's] concerns are legitimate. I had no strong views on 6music on Friday, [but] what struck me as 'intelligent and sensible' was the recognition that the [BBC] website is causing problems for national newspapers; [the proposal to] cap the sports budget, so that competitors like ITV and Channel 4 can get a look in; a reduction in investment in imported American programmes, again so others can bid for successful shows, and so that more money can be spent on UK originated content. I decided to support the general thrust of the proposals in public because there are others who want the BBC to go much further in terms of reducing their service. I thought it would be helpful to the BBC to signal that their efforts - in trying to reduce the scope of some of their services - were recognised".

On 6 more specifically, he adds: "Several things have happened since I spoke out. I am now an avid listener to 6music. I suspect that 6music has doubled its audience. I strongly suspect 6music will be saved. I should emphasise that any decision on 6music is firmly that of the BBC and the BBC Trust. Also, one quote of mine that was not picked up is that this is the beginning of the debate - there is no reason to assume that what is proposed is what will happen. So, to sum up - I had no strong views on 6music on Friday, I now know it is brilliant with a passionate and articulate fan base. [But] its future is not down to me. And I remain firmly committed to the BBC looking carefully at how its services affect its commercial competitors".

CMU Publisher Cooke adds: "As a media owner myself, I agree the BBC should constantly review its operations and consider when it should and should not operate in markets where it goes head to head with commercial operators. But to include proposals to shut 6music as part of such a review just doesn't make sense. I think most people, other than perhaps John Tate, realise this is so and therefore I hope Ed is right when he says he thinks 6 will be saved. I've forwarded my six points to the BBC Trust also, to be added to the grand pile of other 6music support they have surely now received. Let's hope they do the right thing".

You can read Chris and Ed's letters in full here.

Meanwhile, CMU are following this story, and have reported on the various other people who have hit out at the proposals 6music be shut. You can read their coverage here.

A new music recommendation service called mflow has announced a number of media partnerships ahead of its April launch.

mflow is a bit like a music-specific version of Twitter, users can recommend favourite tracks to their followers, who can then stream the recommended track in full once and, if they like it, buy the track, all via the one mflow widget. The recommender then gets 20% of the download fee as a credit to spend on other music recommended to them by the people s/he follows. The service has been in beta for a while, and will properly launch next month.

The media partnerships are with Bauer titles Q, Kerrang! and Mojo plus the NME and Clash, and will see the digital firm profiled across those partners' media. Each media will also start recommending top tunes via mflow. 

mflow marketing man Atan Burrows told Creative Business: "Reaching users through major music titles is a key part of our marketing strategy pre-launch. The titles we are partnering with are all trusted sources and play a vital role in the recommendation of new music. [And] all the titles we will be working with will also have their own profiles on mflow, which will allow them to recommend and share new music with their readers".

So, 6music might close after all, if The Times is to be believed. Well, at least the guys who set up that 'save 6music' Facebook Group (which, actually, was the RATM Xmas number one duo, the Morters) weren't wasting their time.

As previously reported, rumours circulated earlier this month that the popular (within the music community) digital music service was facing the axe. But it seemed those rumours were based on the simple fact the service was being reviewed by the BBC Trust, the body which oversees the running of the Corporation on behalf of the licence fee payer.

But, as we pointed out at the time, that was just a routine review, and 6music ticks lots of boxes that will please the Trust. And, indeed, when the Trustees reported back on its review they said they were happy for 6music to continue to operate in its current form, but urged the station to better market itself, after research showed the majority of licence fee payers didn't even know it exists.

But, it's possible the original rumours stemmed not from the Trust's review, but from insider knowledge of radical proposals being developed by BBC management to dramatically cut costs.

The proposals, which The Times claims to have seen, are clearly designed in part to satisfy commercial media owners and Conservative MPs who say the Corporation has over-expanded in recent years, and is now far too willing to compete with commercial broadcasters and publishers, capitalising on the unfair advantage of an unrivalled content archive, media brand portfolio and financial security, all made possible because of the unique way in which the BBC is funded. The secret proposals also presumably prepare the Corporation for the fact a Tory government is likely to block any licence fee increase.

According to The Times, a BBC report will propose shutting down the Corporation's youth strands Switch and Blast, letting the likes of ITV and Channel 4 target the potentially lucrative teenage market (lucrative as long as regulations regarding what can be advertised to the under 18s don't get any tighter, of course). BBC's online operations would be cut down to size, potentially reducing the size of the Corporation's website by half, and budgets available for buying up foreign imports would be cut by £100 million.

And commercial division BBC Worldwide would be told to concentrate on selling BBC programmes and rights to international broadcasters - originally its core purpose - rather than dabbling in other areas of the media business, a move which would necessitate Worldwide to sell off its publishing assets, and maybe even its music rights business and CD/DVD distribution arm 2entertain.

But the real news for music people will be the report's recommendations regarding BBC radio. Radio 2 would be told to increase the amount of comedy and documentaries it airs in prime time, reducing the amount of music and celebrity content (actually a recommendation of the aforementioned BBC Trust Review), while the Asian Network and 6music would be canned altogether.

The Times says the proposals have been drawn up by the BBC's Director Of Policy & Strategy John Tate, who previously worked for the Conservatives and presumably has an insight into what kind of measures would placate BBC critics within the Tory top guard, who most assume will be in government by June.

Tate's ideas would accommodate a licence fee freeze in 2013, and make available another £600 million to be pumped into "higher-quality content" - the mantra being "quality over quantity", to overcome criticisms that the BBC has used its safe licence fee income and booming BBC Worldwide revenues to grossly over expand in the last two decades.

Of course, even if The Times' report is accurate, it is not known how much credence these proposals will be given by BBC chief Mark Thompson and his closest allies at the top of the Corporation, especially given Tory culture spokesman Jeremy Hunt seemed to be softening his resolve to radically reform the BBC at a Q&A with key media people in London this week, going as far as to admit the Corporation in its current form "sort of worked".

Tate's proposals for 6music and the Asian Network are likely to be most controversial. The proposals to cut back the Beeb's commercial operations, their website and their more mainstream youth output are all things that would directly satisfy the Corporation's commercial critics, not least The Times owner Rupert Murdoch. And an overhaul of Radio 2 would placate, to an extent, the UK commercial radio sector, who see that BBC station as their biggest rival these days.

But 6music and the Asian Network are very much public service-based operations that no commercial player would really have any interest in competing with. The fact only 20% of the people the BBC Trust surveyed had even heard of 6music is sort of the point, it's a niche service, and that's why no one in the commercial sector would ever go there.

However, while niche, 6music plays an important role in British music, given that ('Later' aside) BBC TV has basically shunned music programming completely, and prime time on Radios 1 and 2 is all about the mainstream. And, relatively speaking, 6music performs this role on a relatively modest budget. Plus, on a higher level, the station ensures the BBC has connections into the wider music community, and helps the station build up early-career archive content of tomorrow's big talent, something the Corporation is yet to capitalise on.

It's possible that proposals to axe public service operations like 6music and the Asian Network, in order to fulfil the Tory's cost cutting demands on the BBC, is really a bid to rally opposition against any government-forced downsizing. Though, I suspect that isn't Tate's aim. Rather, he feels there is a need to show the BBC is seriously considering cutting back its radio empire, and shutting the doors completely on two services is easier than downsizing the others.

Though, given the widely acknowledged excesses at both Radios 1 and 2 (who together employ more people to work on their breakfast shows than the entire workforce at a commercial station like Xfm), it would be very easy to free up the kind of money needed to run niche services like 6music and the Asian Network simply by bringing the two big BBC stations into the 21st century staffing-wise.

The BBC are yet to comment on the Times article, so it remains to been how serious these proposals are. I might go and sign up to the aforementioned save 6music Facebook page in the meantime. Just in case.

www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=278123313911&v=info

Spotify has announced the first ever music video to appear on the music streaming service. Not only that, but it's an exclusive, too. And it's for a song by Jimi Hendrix. Oh, and it's directed by Julien Temple. So that's four good things already. Everyone at Spotify, you are hereby allowed to go and have a sit down in the comfiest chair available for the next 20 minutes.

The video for 'Bleeding Heart', a song which appears on new Hendrix rarities compilation 'Valleys Of Neptune', depicts Jimi performing at Glastonbury. Temple used some kind of black magic to create the video, as Hendrix never actually performed at that particular festival. How is it done? No one knows.

As well as the video, which is available now to all users, Spotify Premium subscribers will be able to listen to 'Valleys Of Neptune' from 4 Mar, ahead of its release on 8 Mar.

MUZU this week launched a new jukebox service which makes it easier to navigate, playlist and play music from the video service's vast catalogue. In particular, the new service recommends videos based around your initial artist choice (in a Pandora stylee), and then allows users to search the MUZU catalogue and add tracks to their playlist while concurrently enjoying the recommended vids, and all within one browser window. I've only had a little play, but it looks kinda cool, and I intend to have a proper delve this weekend.

The service is a bit like a "video version of Spotify", though it is worth noting that, although free to use, no ads will play in the mix on the jukebox service. The MUZU release launching the new service notes: "While MUZU.TV is an advertising-funded free music website, it has been careful to leverage more innovative ad formats such as 'skinning' the outside of the video player with premium entertainment-related advertisement, which don't interrupt the viewing experience in any way".

Lad mags like Zoo and Nuts should be stored with the porn on the top shelves of newsagents around the world, and should have movie style age ratings applied to them so no horny fifteen year olds can get their hands on them. Or at least that's what a Home Office commissioned report says. More or less.

The report says the weekly mags are basically "soft porn at pocket-money prices", and have a role to play in the sexualisation of boys and girls at an increasingly early age. Explicit video games, too-easy-to-access internet porn and the increased use of sexual imagery in advertising are all also blamed for that phenomenon.

The report's author, Dr Linda Papadopoulos from London Metropolitan University, said at a seminar previewing the report: "It is a drip, drip effect. Look at porn stars, and look how an average girl now looks. It's seeped into every day: fake breasts, fuck-me shoes ... we are hypersexualising girls, telling them that their desirability relies on being desired. They want to please at any cost. And we are masculinising boys - many feel they can't live up to the porn ideal, sleeping with lots of women".

The report makes 36 recommendations about how to combat this here sexualisation of young people, including the aforementioned age restrictions on the sale of magazines like Zoo and Nuts. I'm pretty sure some newsagent chains already operate such a system already, but this would force all magazine sellers to comply

If ministers give the recommendation any serious consideration it remains to be seen how the publishers of Zoo and Nuts respond. In the past they have argued they are no more explicit than The Star or Daily Sport and that any rules applied to them should be applied to the red tops too.

Scotland's third channel operator STV is threatening a new batch of legal action against ITV, this time over the plugging of programmes aired on ITV2 during ITV1 shows which STV airs North of the border. If that makes sense.

STV operates the two third channel 'ITV licences' in Scotland, though buys a lot of programming off ITV plc, the company which operates the same channel in England and Wales. That said, in recent years STV has been trying build a stronger identity as a broadcaster in its own, so it isn't just "the Scottish version of England's ITV".

As part of that bid they have started putting Scotland-made programming into prime time slots where previously they would have always simply syndicated whatever shows were airing on ITV1 in England. The decision led to the first batch of legal wrangling between STV and ITVplc, because the former announced it was pulling various English shows, and therefore wouldn't be contributing to the cost of their production, with relatively short notice. Too short notice as far as ITVplc was concerned.

The latest squabble is caused by the fact that while ITVplc's ITV1 channel does not air North of the broader, its other channels - ITVs 2, 3 and 4 - do (an attempt by STV to operate a second Scotland-only channel in place of ITV2 failed). Obviously ITV1 shows with a spin off programme on ITV2 - STV specifically mention 'X-Factor' and its spin off 'Xtra Factor' - use the main show to heavily plug the spin off. STV's objection is that that, because they air 'X-Factor' in Scotland, all the in-programme plugging takes viewers away from the STV channel, where they earn advertising revenue, to ITV2, where they earn nothing. So ITVplc are getting free advertising for their second channel on STV.

Or in the words of an STV statement: "As a shareholder in the Network, STV invests in building network brands such as 'The X Factor', from which ITV develops spinoff programmes, such as 'The Xtra Factor'. These spinoff programmes, which target key premium audiences, are prejudicially and aggressively scheduled on other ITV channels in which STV has no economic interest".

STV bosses say they have written to ITV about this issue and if they don't receive a "satisfactory response" will be consulting their lawyers. Which is all good fun.

The Daily Telegraph has the most nominations for this year's British Press Awards, which perhaps isn't surprising given its MP expenses scoop was surely the biggest event in the British newspaper industry in the last twelve months.

The broadsheet gets nineteen mentions on the newspaper industry's flagship awards shortlists, published this week. The Guardian actually has the same number of nominations, though two of its nominees also work on its sister title The Observer, confusing the overall nom count somewhat.

The newspaper industry's big night out is on 23 Mar in London.

British Press Awards nominations in full:

Reporter: News of the World - Mazher Mahmood, The Daily Telegraph - Robert Winnett, The Guardian - Paul Lewis, The Mail on Sunday - David Rose, The Mail on Sunday - Jason Lewis, The Times - Andrew Norfolk.

Foreign Reporter: The Daily Mail - Richard Pendlebury, The Guardian - Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, The Independent - Robert Fisk, The Sunday Times - Marie Colvin, The Sunday Times - Dan McDougall, The Times - Martin Fletcher.

Showbiz Reporter: Daily Mirror - Tom Bryant, Daily Mirror - Fiona Cummins, Daily Mirror - Sarah Tetteh, Daily Mirror - Clemmie Moodie, News of the World - Dan Wootton, Sunday Mirror - Dean Piper, The People - Katie Hind, The Sun - Gordon Smart, The Sun - Colin Robertson.

Business & Finance Journalist: The Daily Mail - Alex Brummer, The Daily Telegraph - Jeremy Warner, The Guardian and The Observer - Jill Treanor, The Independent - Hamish McRae, The Observer - Larry Elliott, The Sunday Times - Iain Dey.

Political Journalist: The Daily Telegraph - Benedict Brogan, The Daily Telegraph - Robert Winnett, The Financial Times - George Parker, The Guardian - Patrick Wintour, The Observer - Andrew Rawnsley, The Sunday Telegraph - Matthew D'Ancona, The Times - Daniel Finkelstein.

Sports Journalist: The Daily Mail - Martin Samuel, The Daily Telegraph - Ian Chadband, The Guardian - David Conn, The Guardian - Donald McRae, The Mail on Sunday - Rob Draper, The Mail on Sunday - Patrick Collins, The Sunday Times - Paul Kimmage, The Times - Matthew Syed, The Times - Mike Atherton.

Specialist Journalist: Financial Times - Martin Wolf, The Daily Mail - Michael Hanlon, The Daily Telegraph - David Millward, The Guardian and The Observer - John Vidal, The Independent - Terri Judd, The Mail on Sunday - Jason Lewis.

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Feature Writer: The Daily Mail - Richard Pendlebury, The Daily Telegraph - Mick Brown, The Guardian - Tanya Gold, The Independent - Johann Hari, The Sunday Times - John Arlidge, The Sunday Times - AA Gill.

Columnist: Daily Mirror - Brian Reade, Financial Times - Martin Wolf, The Guardian - Tanya Gold,
The Guardian - Marina Hyde, The Guardian - Charlie Brooker, The Independent - Ian Birrell, The Sun - Kelvin MacKenzie, The Times - Caitlin Moran.

Critic: The Daily Mail - Quentin Letts, The Daily Telegraph - Charles Spencer, The Evening Standard - Brian Sewell, The Mail on Sunday - Craig Brown, The Sunday Times - AA Gill, The Sunday Times - Waldemar Januszczak.

Interviewer: The Daily Telegraph - Elizabeth Grice, The Daily Telegraph - Mick Brown, The Observer - Carole Cadwalladr, The Sunday Times - Ariel Leve, The Sunday Times - Camilla Long, The Times - Ginny Dougary.

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Young Journalist: The Daily Mirror - Andrew Gregory, The Daily Telegraph - Holly Watt, The Daily Telegraph - Jon Swaine, The Financial Times - Tom Burgis, The News of The World - Guy Basnett, The Observer - Tom Lamont, The Sunday Times - Miles Amoore, The Times - Sheera Frankel.

International Journalist: Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman - Egypt, Ahmad Zeydabadi - Iran, Asos Hardi - Iraq, Dawit Isaac - Eritrea, Dhondup Wangchen - China, Eynulla Fatullayev - Azerbaijan, Gustavo Azócar - Venezuela, Hanevy Ould Dehah - Mauritania, Hla Hla Win - Burma, Ismail Cihan Hayirsevener - Turkey, J. S. Tissainayagam - Sri Lanka, Kim Seong-Min - North Korea, Mashallah Shamsolvaezin - Iran, Maziar Bahari - Iran, Olga Kotovskaya - Russia, Ricardo González Alfonso - Cuba.

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Photographer: Getty Images - Peter Macdiarmid, Press Association Images - Lewis Whyld, Press Association Images - Owen Humphreys, Press Association Images - Stefan Rousseau, The Daily Mail - Jamie Wiseman, The Times - Peter Nicholls.

Sports Photographer: Freelance - Bradley Ormesher, Press Association Images - Owen Humphreys, Reuters - Eddie Keogh, The Daily Mail - Andy Hooper, The Guardian - Tom Jenkins, The Sun - Richard Pelham.

Cartoon: The Daily Mail - Stanley McMurtry, The Daily Telegraph - Nick Garland, The Daily Telegraph - Matt Pritchett, The Independent - Dave Brown, The Mail on Sunday - Michael Heath, The Observer - Chris Riddell, The Times - Peter Brookes.

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Scoop: The Mail on Sunday - Jason Lewis for "Mi6 chief blows his cover on Facebook"; The Sunday Express - Marco Giannangeli and Jason Groves for "Jacqui Smith put adult film on expenses"; The Daily Mail - Dan Newling for "Cabinet minister's cleaner is alleged illegal immigrant"; The Guardian - For revelations about the death of Ian Tomlinson; The Sunday Times - Claire Newell and Jonathan Calvert for "Cash for Amendments"; The Daily Telegraph - MPs' Expenses.

Campaign: Daily Mirror - Fair Tips Campaign, The Guardian - The Tax Gap Series, The Sunday Telegraph - Robert Mendick, The Guardian - Climate Change Campaign, The Sunday Times Insight - Lords Investigation, The Daily Telegraph - MPs' Expenses.

Cudlipp Award - for outstanding tabloid journalism: The Daily Mail - Richard Pendlebury and Jamie Wiseman: Afghanistan boy soldiers; The Daily Mirror - Andrew Penman and Nick Sommerlad Investigate; The Daily Mirror - Hillsborough: Justice for 96; The Independent - Baltimore Crime Exchange; The Sun - Sunemployment; The Sunday Mirror - Christmas salute to war heroes.

Digital Innovation: Telegraph.co.uk - 2009 Flower Show; The Guardian G20 Coverage; The Guardian on the iPhone; The Sun - SunTalk; The Times - Times Labs; The Wall Street Journal - Berlin Wall Interactive.

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Regular Supplement: The Daily Telegraph - Telegraph Magazine, The Guardian - Guardian Weekend Magazine, The Mail on Sunday - Live Magazine, The Mail on Sunday - You Magazine, The Sunday Times - Culture, The Times - Eureka.

Special Supplement: Daily Mirror - Hillsborough Campaign, Evening Standard Ltd - The 1000, Financial Times - The Future of Capitalism, The Daily Telegraph - The Complete Expenses Files, The Guardian - 100 Years of Great Press Photographs, The Sunday Times - Climate Change

The BBC's commercial division Worldwide has confirmed a long-term deal with Universal Music to distribute video content owned by major music company. The same bit of BBC Worldwide that sells the Beeb's own music archives to international broadcasters will now represent a stack of Universal content too.

Worldwide music man Stephen Davies says this: "We are proud to become distribution partner with the world's biggest record label and are delighted to be representing such a great roster of artists. This deal further strengthens our relationship with Universal and, with its promise of more great programming, will take BBC Worldwide Music to a new level as a major music distributor".

Muse bassist Chris Wolstenholme has said he is disappointed by those previously reported plans put forward by Warner Music CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr to back away from free streaming services, especially in the US market. Muse, of course, are signed to Warner.

Wolstenholme told BBC Newsbeat: "It's like taking your song off the radio, isn't it? You're instantly taking your song away from a group of potential listeners. The corporations are setting the rules on these things because they're clutching at straws. They've lost so much money on record sales because of the internet. I do sometimes feel that this whole restriction that's been set on how your music can get out there these days, that doesn't ever really come from the bands. It's coming from the corporations behind everything. As far as bands are concerned, you just want people to hear your music whichever way they can".

An Italian court has given three Google execs six month suspended sentences for allowing a video of a teenager with Down's Syndrome being bullied to appear on the search firm's Google Video website.

It's a landmark ruling that could totally change the liabilities of internet companies which allow third parties to publish content via their websites, in Italy anyway. If it did, the logistical demands it might put on such companies could make YouTube-style operations impossible to run.

The three Google men were accused of breaking Italian defamation and privacy laws for allowing the video to be streamed on their website, even though they weren't involved in making the video, or even aware it was on their system. An Italian judge knocked back the defamation claims, but upheld the privacy law charges.

Needless to say, Google did not welcome the ruling. An angry Chief Legal Officer, David Drummond, told the BBC: "I intend to vigorously appeal this dangerous ruling. It sets a chilling precedent. If individuals like myself and my Google colleagues who had nothing to do with the harassing incident, its filming or its uploading onto Google Video can be held criminally liable solely by virtue of our position at Google, every employee of any internet hosting service faces similar liability".

There are parallels between this case and civil cases being fought elsewhere in the world around copyright issues against Google's principle video sharing service, YouTube. MTV owners Viacom in the US, and various indie music firms in Germany, are suing Google claiming that, although YouTube removes copyright infringing content its users upload as soon as it is made aware of said infringing content's existence, it should still be liable for any infringement that occurs between upload and takedown.

Such liabilities - if a court ruled they existed - would mean YouTube would have to be much more careful in policing content as it is uploaded and before it puts said content live. But Google insists that, because it has a takedown system in place to remove infringing content once it is alerted of its presence on the YouTube website, it is not liable for that temporary infringement. Case law in the US seems to suggest Google is right in that jurisdiction, though an interpretation of German copyright law on this matter is pending.

Nevertheless, Google has been developing increasingly sophisticated technology to spot content that copyright owners have specifically asked not to be streamed on YouTube, which in theory can block any third parties from uploading that content. However, it is unlikely any technology could ever be clever enough to block unsavoury content like that which was uploaded in the Italian case.

If Google, or, even worse, individual Google execs, can be held liable for such content going live on their sites, then every upload might need to go before a human being before going live, which just isn't realistic for a global free-to-use service where millions of videos are uploaded every month.

The good news for Google is that most legal experts reckon this Italian judge's interpretation of privacy laws in this regard is unusual, and would not be repeated by judges in other jurisdictions. According to the BBC, the UK's former Information Commissioner Richard Thomas said the case gave privacy laws a "bad name".

The pressure is mounting on Rupert Murdoch's UK newspaper business News International after MPs on parliament's Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee accused execs at the company of "collective amnesia" and "deliberate obfuscation" when it came to the accusations of illegal phone hacking levelled against the newspaper firm's News Of The World.

This is the latest stage in a long running story, of course, which began when the NOTW's royal scribbler Clive Goodman was jailed in early 2007 after he admitted being involved in illegally intercepting mobile phone messages of the royal household in an endless bid to get a regal scoop.

Many inside the media said such hacking of individuals' voicemail boxes was common practice, not only at the News Of The World, but across Fleet Street. But bosses at NOTW owners News International insisted Goodman was a rotten apple, and that his illegal methods of story sourcing were not common practice at the company. Meanwhile, the Met Police, who had investigated Goodman, said there wasn't enough evidence to suggest a wider phone hacking scandal, while a new investigation by the Press Complaints Commission backed News International's official line.

But many reckoned News International were covering up for senior execs who - unless they were incredibly stupid - must have known Goodman and other journalists were busy hacking voicemail boxes on a regular basis. The same people considered the PCC's investigation into the matter to be one big whitewash, on a level that would be deemed scandalous by News International's newspapers if it were a government report on the activities of senior ministers or civil servants.

More recently The Guardian unearthed new evidence of other cases of phone hacking at the News Of The World. They also claimed that the Met Police had always had more than enough evidence that the illegal activities at News International went beyond Goodman, but that they had chosen to ignore it.

Said new evidence was considered by the Media Select Committee as part of its review of press standards, and, in a report published yesterday, the MP-team say that not only do they believe The Guardian's story, but that they have additional evidence to back the broadsheet's claims about their rival publishers.

With the committee's report pretty unwavering in its criticism of News International, and the Met and PCC's investigations of the NOTW's conduct, both the Liberal Democrats and key people within the Labour government last night called for a judicial inquiry into the affair.

News International maintain there is no affair beyond the Goodman case, and accuse the parliamentary committee of political bias. Certainly it is in both Labour and the Liberal's interest for the Murdoch newspaper group to be caught up in a scandal of its own in the run up to a General Election, given their flagship tabloid The Sun is fully backing David Cameron's Tories. Anything that would make hacks at The Sun and NOTW seem like a bunch of dodgy wannabe crooks would be helpful to all of the Tories' opponents.

And, of course, this whole story has an extra level of political intrigue, in that the editor of the NOTW during the Goodman scandal - Andy Coulson - is now communications chief for the Conservative Party. Coulson has always denied any knowledge of Goodman's phone hacking ways, though he did resign from the NOTW editorship for letting such things happen "on his watch".

Those who claim phone hacking was widely used on Fleet Street prior to 2007 say that Coulson's constant claims of ignorance of Goodman's actions means he is either a liar or a clueless fool. Neither labels - if proven true - would say much for David Cameron's recruitment skills.

The under fire Press Complaints Commission has responded to criticism that is contained within the previously reported parliamentary report on the conduct of the British press, which was published last night.

Although, as expected, the report by parliament's Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee said the newspaper industry should continue to be self-regulated by a PCC-like body, it was very critical of the Commission in its current form. It called on the body to be more proactive, and not to simply respond to complaints by individuals who felt they had been badly treated by one paper or another.

They were also specifically critical of how the PCC had dealt with some recent big issues, such as the allegations of illegal phone hacking made against the News Of The World, and general newspaper coverage of the Madeleine McCann and Bridgend suicide stories. The Commission had been far too slack in investigating complaints in these areas, the select committee said, and in doing so had damaged their credibility as a regulatory force within the British news media.

Although ignoring the criticism regarding those specific issues, the PCC said that it agreed with the select committee's overall conclusion that the Commission needed to be more proactive in policing the press moving forward.

Though, PCC bosses say, the parliamentarians didn't seem to appreciate the more proactive work the Commission is already doing as a result of its own ongoing internal reviews. However, PCC director Stephen Abell concluded by saying: "The PCC accepts that the report contains criticisms of some of its structures and practices, which will need to be given due consideration".

Chewy gum people Trident are looking for someone willing to take in thirty music festivals over thirty weeks in return for thirty grand, which, I think it's fair to say, wouldn't be the hardest job in the world. All you'd have to do in return is document the experience via Trident's festival website, through tweets, blogs, photos and videos, with reviews, gossip and celebrity interviews.

The festival trek would take in every kind of music fest in every corner of the world most are tbc, but already in the schedule are Bestival, Sonisphere and Creamfields, though the latter is the Buenos Aires edition of Creamfields, so that's already taking you someway beyond the British Isles.

If this all sounds like a very easy deal, it is. But the challenge is getting the job, which will involve an online application, a face to face interview and, if you make it down to the final ten, an all-day assessment in front of a celebrity panel including 6music irritant George Lamb and Bestival supremo Rob da Bank.

More info and application details at www.tridentgum.co.uk

Warner Music US publicist Liz Rosenberg, probably best known as the frequent American spokeswoman for Madonna, is leaving the major to set up her own PR agency. Rosenberg has handled press relations for Warner Bros artists in the US since 1971, which is an incredibly long time to be with one company in this business.

The move will enable Rosenberg to continue to represent Madonna, who is currently winding down her career-long relationship with Warner following her mega-bucks 360 degree deal with Live Nation. The publicist will also continue to represent a number of other high profile Warner artists in the US via her new agency, including Michael Bublé, Cher, Stevie Nicks and Katherine Jenkins.

Confirming Rosenberg's departure from the Warner division, Warner Bros US boss Tom Whalley told reporters: "Over the course of her remarkable tenure, Liz Rosenberg's contribution to the company has been immeasurable. We are delighted that as she begins her own enterprise, we will continue our association with her on behalf of several of our key artists. We wish Liz all the best and are confident that she will succeed beyond all expectations and have the opportunity to work in other realms of the entertainment business".

Rosenburg herself added: "No one has had a more thrilling ride than I have had during my decades at Warner Bros Records where I grew up and learned my craft. I was given the opportunity to work with the most talented artists in music history. I'm grateful that I will continue to represent some of these artists, in addition to several new artists. I am grateful to Tom Whalley for his tremendous support. I will miss him and my entire Warner Bros family".