While many in the PR industry have seen their workload winding down this week as the Christmas break approaches, the decidedly wintery weather has made it a particularly demanding few days for communicators at certain travel companies.

Not least Eurostar, who are facing a big 'reputation repair' challenge in the New Year after icy temperatures put their trains out of action for three days. Much of the media coverage of the cancelled trains has focused on disgruntled passengers stranded at St Pancras station in London complaining about the lack of communication on Eurostar’s part.

Typical of the quotes being run by the TV and papers this weekend was one carried in the Financial Times, with one stranded passenger complaining: "The biggest problem is a lack of communication. Yesterday we got a phone number for Eurostar from a member of staff and there was no answer".

With the faltering cross-channel service dominating the headlines in both France and the UK since Saturday, and with the French government calling for action, Eurostar’s PR efforts did seem to be ramped up yesterday, with the all important CEO statement delivered to the cameras in time for the tea time news bulletins.

Of course there was similar chaos at some UK airports, which were also negatively impacted by the snow. Though, while some stranded passengers were complaining about poor communication there as well, no one company has been saddled with the blame, with both airport owners and numerous airlines being involved. Though credit to Manchester Airport for making sure TV cameras saw that their MD was on the ground dealing directly with customer complaints.

It will be interesting to see what measures Eurostar take after the Christmas break in a bid to restore their previously good reputation following the technical faults and much reported customer complaints of poor communications.

Simon Cowell has reportedly offered communications jobs to the couple who managed to beat him and his 'X-Factor' machine to the Christmas number one slot this week. Though I’m not sure they are all that interested in the offer.

As you have surely seen, Essex-based couple Jon and Tracy Morter staged a grass roots Facebook campaign to try and get a 1992 track by shouty rockers Rage Against The Machine into the Christmas number one slot, instead of a cover version by the winner of Cowell’s talent show franchise.

Despite staging their campaign from their living room, while Cowell had a prime time TV show, major record company, high street presence and large marketing budget on his side, it was the Morters who were celebrating when the Christmas chart was announced on Sunday. It was a real victory for organised online communications, and another demonstration of how social networking has really come of age in 2009.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror, Cowell revealed he had called Jon Morter and offered him a job at his record company. He said: "I am genuinely impressed by the campaign they have run. It has been a good campaign with no dirty tricks and without any funding. This is their first attempt at putting out a record and they got a Christmas number one, so they have not done badly at all. [I called them], I wanted them to come and work for me. I was deadly serious, but they haven’t taken me up on the offer".

NME Radio has announced that tomorrow it will start broadcasting on the national digital audio broadcasting network Digital One, which has been rather lacking in channels of late given the number of commercially-owned digital stations that have gone off the air in recent years.

NME join Planet Rock, Absolute and that quirky unsigned-music-only station Amazing Radio on the national digital network, in a move that will greatly increase the reach of the music mag's radio spin off. The station will initially appear on the national DAB network for a trial period of eight months.

Confirming the launch on Digital One, NME Radio top man Sammy Jacob told CMU: "Since launch, NME Radio has strived to increase distribution with constant requests for the station to be made available nationally on DAB. We are therefore delighted with this development as it will significantly increase the opportunity to listen to the station across the country. NME Radio is extremely passionate about the music it plays, especially the promotion of great new acts. Being able to share that passion with a wider audience will make it all the more worthwhile".

Bear this in mind as you're handed yet another chocolate on Christmas day - despite the sector's reputation for excessive partying and boozing, the PR industry is actually one of the healthiest. Which presumably means too much turkey this Christmas and you will stand out among all your healthy colleagues.

The PR sector's good health was declared by cash plan provider Medicash, who conducted an online survey about the lifestyles of people in various different professions. It seems PR professionals, and their colleagues in marketing and advertising, drink less and are less likely to smoke. It's the hospitality industry where people eat the most junk food and indulge in plenty of cigarettes and alcohol.

PR Week quote Medicash Sales & Marketing Director Peter Lauris, presumably fresh from a very healthy booze-free lunch, as saying: "The survey showed that stress and unsociable hours can have a negative effect on people's ability to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The fact that employees in this sector find work demanding but still manage to limit the effect this has on their lifestyle is testimony to their resilience".

So this is exciting. The European version of the always rather good MUSExpo music business conference will this year take place in Liverpool rather than London, as part of the Liverpool Sound City convention and festival in May.

MUSExpo chief Sat Bisla helped programme the conference components of both Liverpool SoundCity and spin-off event Dubai SoundCity this year, but this time MUSExpo Europe itself - which launched in London last year - will form the main industry component of the Liverpool event.

The Liverpool Daily Post quote Bisla as saying: "This event will help enhance the global profile of Liverpool as being a true international music destination and a place to do business. It will raise the profile of Liverpool not just as a music hotspot, but an industry hotspot".

LSC chief Dave Pichilingi added: "By bringing Liverpool SoundCity and MUSExpo together, we have the opportunity to attract people who had never considered coming to Liverpool or the North of England before. It's a huge step up in terms of industry presence. It's a true coup for us to attract MUSExpo."

Liverpool SoundCity 2010 takes place from 19-22 May. We've got some other exciting news about the event to tell you in January. So, stay tuned people.

US streaming music service Pandora says it has doubled its user base in the last year, and now has 40 million people signed up. New subscribers, it says, have been coming in at 600,000 a week. It seems the Pandora mobile app has played a big part in the new boost in users, with 10 million Pandora users accessing the service via their iPhones.

Whether they are making any money I don't know. Like Spotify the service has two models - a free to use ad-funded system, and a subscription service. Like all other streaming music services, they have struggled to negotiate workable royalty rates with the record companies and collecting societies, a fact that led them to have to block the service to anyone outside the US.

If Spotify ever does get round to launching in the US it will be interesting to see what impact it has on services like Pandora. The latter does not offer anything like the on-demand flexibility of Spotify, though arguably has the "set me up and I'll play you music you like without you having to bother doing anything" thing better cracked than anyone else.

Stephen Gately's civil partner, Andrew Coyles has issued a formal complaint to the Press Complaints Commission, through his solicitors, about that article written by Jan Moir and published in The Daily Mail following the Boyzone star's death in October, and the day before his funeral.

The article noted that there were some unanswered questions about Gately's sudden demise, before basically suggested that aspects of the Boyzoner's lifestyle led to his death, and that that lifestyle was basically a result of his homosexuality. This despite her previously listing a number of heterosexual celebrities who, she claimed, also lived "dangerous lifestyles" in the spotlight - some of whom have, or have had, drug dependencies on a whole different level to the dope smoking it was revealed Gately was partial to.

Many concluded Moir was really participating in some casual homophobia, a theory strengthened by the Mail hack's conclusion that Gately's death "strikes another blow to the happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships". As if civil partnerships had somehow been positioned to the Mail-reading faithful as being fairy tale unions in a society where most straight marriages ultimately fail. The conclusion seemed to be that because a man in a civil partnership had died, the whole concept should be abolished.

On the Friday the piece appeared on the Mail's website, the PCC received 1000 complaints, thanks largely to people expressing outrage on Twitter, and by the following Monday afternoon the complaint count had reached 22,000, meaning the article generated more complaints in one weekend than the whole body had received in the previous five years.

Moir responded to all the outrage about her piece, saying that the article - or at least its homophobic undertones - were simply misunderstood, and accused pressure groups of orchestrating a campaign against her which, she said, explains the sheer scale of the formal complaints made about the piece. She failed to point out the reason she had been misunderstood was that she is an atrocious writer.

Boyzone's record label, Universal/Polydor, were among the complainants, but the PCC only usually steps in when an individual personally connected to an offending article complains. Although it did previously ask the Mail to respond regarding the piece, that key complaint was not submitted until now.

Cowles cited inaccuracy, intrusion into grief and discrimination as reasons for the complaint, meaning the Press Complaints Commission will now formally investigate whether or not Moir's column breached its code of practice.

Johnny Ross has reportedly agreed to a pay cut of 50% as he renegotiates his contract with the BBC.

Given all the pressure on the Beeb to cut the pay packages of its big stars and senior execs, as the commercial media are forced to do the same (well, in some cases) as a result of the economic down-turn, it was always likely that the chat show host - whose record breaking (reportedly) £6 million a year previous contract has become the standard complaint for BBC haters - would have to accept a much lesser pay deal this time round, oblivious of how well his shows are doing. Though Sachsgate presumably also reduced his power at the negotiating table.

And, with that in mind, while a £3 million a year deal will be quite a cut back, most BBC haters will probably rightly argue that's still far too much for any presenter, and certainly one who - while still good at what he does - is hardly the hottest talent on the block.

If the TV producers of Britain want to make a telly talent show I'll watch (and I read somewhere that's the main aim of the TV industry next year) then they could do worse than following the lead of NBC and recruiting Ben Folds as a judge. Hey, how about that, a telly talent show judge who can actually provide proper musical feedback to contenders, rather than slurring "you're loverly you are" or snapping "that was shit".

Folds is judging on NBC's four night Idol competitor 'The Sing Off'. And the competitors on this show really can sing. I mean, it's all a bit jazz hands, but I'm a sucker for some quality close harmony a cappella singing. This is how the first edition of the show kicked off: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw04_m1ZBcQ

A leading online media monitoring company will test the legality of those previously reported attempts by the UK newspaper industry to earn a licence fee from companies who commercially provide links to specific stories on newspaper websites.

As previously reported, the move to charge licence fees to the growing link provider industry is being led by the Newspaper Licensing Agency. They currently licence companies, including PR agencies and traditional media monitors, who regularly make photocopies of specific stories from newspapers, normally stories relating or of interest to their clients. Under UK copyright law, said companies are obligated to pay a licence fee for making commercial copies of newspaper articles.

However, an increasing number of companies in the media relations industry now provide clients or senior executives with lists of links to relevant articles on newspaper websites, instead of actual photocopies of articles from print editions. Aware that this will have a negative impact on their income, as more and more agencies decide to go without a traditional press cuttings licence, earlier this year the NLA announced it would require the PR industry to pay a new licence fee for commercial link provision, which it sees as simply a digital version of the provision of press cuttings.

However, most people in the PR and media monitoring industries disagree. They say that because no copying is done when mere links are provided to a client, there are no obligations under copyright law to pay a royalty. Now the Meltwater Group is planning to put that argument to the test by taking the NLA to the Copyright Tribunal, the British court that adjudicates on copyright disputes.

Meltwater CEO Jorn Lyseggen told esPResso: "Media monitoring services create value for internet users similar to search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. We use sophisticated search algorithms to help our clients find content they otherwise would have difficulties locating. The NLA's attempt to license our clients is essentially a tax on receiving these internet links. This fee is not only unjust and unreasonable, it is contrary to the very spirit of the internet".

Francis Ingham of the Public Relations Consultants Association, who are also opposed to the NLA's proposals, added: "This is an absurd tax which we believe has no legal justification. We are delighted Meltwater is taking a stand against the NLA and will examine whether we can intervene to strengthen their case in the interest of our members. It is ludicrous for organisations to need a licence to receive links to coverage that is freely available to view online".

The NLA's proposals are backed by many, though not all, of the UK newspaper publishers. How the Agency's new licence claims will stand up in court remains to be seen. Presumably the fact a number of British newspapers plan to start putting a lot of their content behind 'virtual walls' in 2010, charging a subscription fee for access, will make the NLA's claim even harder to justify, given the link providers' clients will have to pay to access the content they are directed to anyway, paying via a subscription to each newspaper's website rather than an NLA licencing system.

US Vice President Joe Biden yesterday convened a meeting in the White House involving the leaders of various American government agencies and top music, movie, TV and publishing industry bods to discuss intellectual property issues.

According to Billboard the content business types were told the US Justice Department has a "reinvigorated" task force charged with the job of tackling IP crime, while the Feds will be given more money to crack down on major level counterfeiting. Biden also committed the US government to harder lobbying on international copyright and IP agreements.

I don't think many specifics were discussed, except for one specific operation to stop people taping films at the cinema on a camcorder, which is apparently more of a problem than I realised. The content industry men also had a chance to air their IP concerns. It's not clear whether online piracy was discussed in any major way, though assuming it was some of those interested parties outside the content industries expressed their disappointment at not being invited to the table.

The boss of US Consumer Electronics Association, Gary Shapiro told reporters yesterday: "We urge that other stakeholders be consulted and brought to the White House to continue this important dialogue and to ensure that American consumers are not treated like criminals. Too often the Recording Industry Association Of America and other groups advocate an overly aggressive vision of intellectual property that discourages innovation and limits lawful consumer conduct. The resulting environment of excess litigation and disproportionately high statutory damages and other penalties discourages entrepreneurism and burdens America's innovation future".

Meanwhile, Ars Technica quote Gigi Sohn of consumer rights group Public Knowledge thus: "Although the meeting with Vice President Biden purports to bring together 'all of the stakeholders to discuss ways to combat piracy in this rapidly changing technological age,' some stakeholders are noticeably missing. Many representatives of media companies will be there. No consumer or public-interest groups, technology companies, technology associations or internet service providers are on the guest list. No one who questions the need for draconian governmental policies on behalf of the privileged special interest group for whom this meeting is being held is on the guest list".

Google may consider a subscription model for YouTube. The once mainly user-generated (or user-stolen) content website has, of course, been busy signing deals with various content owners over the last few years so to become the home of official video content online, as well as the hub for all videos involving people falling down stairs or dancing in an amusing way. In the UK deals have been done with both Channel 4 and Five in this regard.

The specifics of the deals between YouTube and the broadcasters are not known, though to date Google has planned to cover any content licensing costs with advertising revenue. But, as YouTube's dabblings in the music space has demonstrated, ad revenues rarely get close to covering the sorts of licensing fees the content owners want to charge, even those content owners willing to slash the prices they were demanding eighteen months ago.

Which is presumably why Google are now considering charging a subscription fee for users who want to access full-length properly-licensed TV programmes on demand. Such an arrangement would put YouTube into more direct competition with US web-TV platform Hulu, which has global expansion plans.

Google exec David Eun admitted subscriptions were being considered in an interview with Reuters, in which he said: "We're making some interesting bets on long-form content; not all content is accessible to us with the advertising model".

Channel 4 and internet firm TalkTalk have joined Project Canvas, the collaboration of TV and net firms aiming to standardise the way TV-over-the-internet set top box type contraptions work. That means that the BBC, BT, ITV, C4, Five and TalkTalk are now all on board. Just watch Sky come along with something totally different and completely takeover the market.

Canvas bosses reckon the project will cost £115 million over four years, so obviously the more companies there are to share the cost the better. The project aims to facilitate the introduction of video-on-demand and internet-based services to Freeview-style set top boxes, providing something similar to what BT Vision are already doing.

Confirming C4 and TalkTalk's involvement, Canvas boss Richard Halton told reporters: "The potential for innovation [here actually] goes far beyond bringing video on-demand to the TV set and there's a huge opportunity for a wide range of new commercial models to thrive. We always wanted all the UK's public service broadcasters and at least two ISPs to be involved in the venture at launch, so we're delighted that Channel 4 and TalkTalk have joined the project".

The BBC's involvement is still reliant on the venture getting BBC Trust approval. Some - well Sky mainly - feel that the BBC throwing its weight behind one standard is a misuse of its privileged position. Presumably they'd think differently if they threw their weight behind a standard that Sky endorsed.

If Team Cowell do lose the race for Christmas number one, the Si-ster can nevertheless sleep at night knowing that he still leads the way when it comes to British television, with his two shows topping the telly ratings charts for 2009.

It seems unlikely that any of the big Christmas shows will beat the 15 million who tuned into the 'X-Factor' results show in the middle of November when Jedward-mania was at its height, and certainly not the 18 million rating scored by the final of this year's 'Britain's Got Talent' when we all tuned in to see whether Susan Boyle would have a nervous breakdown live on air. The only new show not to appear in this list likely to compete with either of them is last weekend's 'X-Factor' final.

The list of the ten most watched TV shows of the year will make for pretty depressing reading if you hate soap operas and reality/talent shows. It seems that if you want to compete with that lot you either need a doctor or deprived children, and arguably the doctors should be looking after the kids rather than competing for TV viewers.

Anyway, here's the most watched ten TV shows of the year, with channel, ratings and audience share. I should add the usual proviso that the margin of error in the way TV Ratings are calculated is significant, we never really know who watches what.

1. Britain's Got Talent Final Result (ITV1) 18,294,000 (68.1%)
2. The X-Factor Results on 15 Nov (ITV1) 15,019,000 (48.4%)
3. EastEnders on 2 Apr (BBC1) 11,457000 (49.2%)
4. Coronation Street on 2 Feb (ITV1) 11,456,000 (41.0%)
5. Dancing On Ice Final (ITV1) 11,313,000 (43.8%)
6. I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! on 21 Nov (ITV1) 10,861,000 (41.7)
7. Doc Martin on 8 Nov (ITV1) 10,285,000 (33.6%)
8. Strictly Come Dancing on 14 Nov 10,101,000 (37.1%)
9. Children In Need (BBC1) 10,085,000 (38.8%)
10. Doctor Who 'Waters Of Mars' (BBC1) 9,942,000 ( 35.3%)

The other Simon, Idol-creator Simon Fuller, who is arguably to blame for the domination of talent shows in the telly ratings these days (though to be fair 'Popstars' wasn't his), has a new plan for the next generation of reality TV. He is launching a new programme in the US, though a big chunk of it will happen online, so presumably this is international.

Called 'If I Can Dream', it will see five wannabes - an aspiring musician, model and three actors - plonked into a Big Brother-style house in Hollywood. Viewers will then be able to watch as all five try to make it big in their chosen industry, sharing thoughts and advice with the wannabes via the web interface. Or something like that.

Footage from the venture will be available via web-based, mobile and radio formats, and MySpace, Hulu and US radio giant Clear Channel are all on board as partners. Twitter and Facebook will also be part of the mix, obviously. If any wannabe drops out - presumably due to either success or failure - another one will be shipped in, maybe picked from the online community watching the show. No TV output is planned just yet, though it seems that might be a future spin off.

Look, here's the man Fuller speaking about it all: "I am determined to continue challenging convention and pushing the boundaries of mainstream entertainment. The next frontier is the video world of authentic real-time interaction. It is time the public got to see the truth behind what it takes to launch the careers of young artists who have a dream that one day on pure merit they can be professional entertainers and gain the recognition they crave. This is the dawning of a new age".

UTV Radio is shutting its Preston-based radio station Central Radio and handing the licence back to media regulator OfCom. It only won the licence three years ago, and launched the station in September last year. The station will go off air on 24 Dec, which is a nice Christmas present for its staff and presenters. It's the third licence UTV have handed back to OfCom in the last year.

Other smaller radio firms have done the same, some arguing that excessive OfCom regulations stop smaller stations from succeeding in the ever more competitive world of regional media. Until a few years ago radio companies handing back FM licences to OfCom was unheard of. Though arguably that was because there were less to be had overall.

Commenting on Central Radio's demise, UTV's local radio chief Calum Macaulay told reporters: "We won the licence against strong competition, but unfortunately had to launch the station in the middle of the worst recession in memory. We have been looking closely at the station's viability and unfortunately given the economic climate we have taken the difficult decision to close the station".

Xfm have announced they are swapping their London drive time and breakfast shows, so that Dave Berry will move to breakfast and Ian Camfield to the late afternoon slot. Although Xfm have been positioning their prime time morning programme as a "no nonsense" more music breakfast show since Alex Zane left the station back in April, Berry is a more conventional choice for that slot.

The swap will happen in the middle of January at the same time as a rejig of the station's overall schedule, which will see a switch back from four hour daytime show slots to three hour ones. Between the breakfast and drive time slots there will be two presenters, Dan O'Connoll in early afternoon and the continuing Xfm anomaly that is Richard Skinner, who will continue to confuse the station's listeners between 10am and 1pm.

Confirming the rejig, Paul Jackson of Xfm owners Global Radio said this: "Dave's consistent listening figures clearly demonstrate how well he connects with his rapidly growing audience. With Dave's cheeky wit, great sense of humour and love for Xfm's music, together with Ian Camfield on Drive-time, we'll certainly have the best combination to continue to push the station forward with our goal of music that matters in the London market!"

I'm assuming Pete Mitchell and Clint Boon will continue to present the prime time slots on the Manchester version of Xfm, Manchester-based programming airing at those times. And presumably the Manchester outpost will also rejig its daytime programme timings between breakfast and drive, given it carries London-based programming in those slots.

Yeah, this story might not live up to the headline. Chris Evans, nearing the end of his stint in the Radio 2 drive time slot, had to apologise for guest George Michael yesterday when the singer said, after being asked if he'd ever guest on 'Top Gear' in the Star In A Reasonably Priced Card segment, "I'd be afraid of coming last on that fucking [programme]".

The druggy pop man claimed he thought there was a delay on the show whereby producers could bleep out his swearing. It's all been captured on Radio Fail (radiofail.wordpress.com), though Evans being the pro he is it's not as funny as it could be - these things are always more amusing when the presenter crumbles as a result of the swear.

Evans takes over from Terry Wogan on Radio 2 breakfast in the New Year, of course.

The new ad-funded download store based in Australia - Guvera - is set to launch in its home territory in time for Christmas. McDonald's, Mountain Dew, Domino's Pizza, Bacardi, Slush Puppie, Activision, Schweppes and Johnson & Johnson are reportedly on board as brand sponsors.

Ads won't be attached to songs, rather each brand will have their own channel on the Guvera website. Apparently you'll fill out a quick form, and be directed to a relevant brand's page where you can download a certain number of tracks. When you reach your quota of, say, Maccy D-funded downloads, you can opt for a different brand's channel. Presumably the brands hope to buy some consumer love by giving you some free tunes.

The brands will cover the royalty costs associated with the free downloads. Both Universal and EMI will be providing tracks at launch.

MySpace Music has done a deal with TuneCore, providing unsigned bands with a way to earn from their music being played on the streaming music service. Perhaps they are feeling guilty about previously telling unsigned bands to sell their music through the Snocap download widget, only to then play a role in the closure of said widget before all artists had had their royalties paid (more on that here).

Anyway, TuneCore is a service that enables unsigned artists to get their music on a whole string of download stores around the world with relatively little hassle. Unlike most aggregators, TuneCore charge a set fee (from 99 cents) for using their service but then pass on 100% of revenue from any downloads sold. It's actually quite a good service, especially for artists with only a few songs to distribute.

TuneCore's tie up with MySpace Music is significant because most of the other platforms they service are a la carte download stores, whereas with MySpace TuneCore artists will, of course, be receiving a nominal royalty for each time their songs get streamed.

There were reports that TuneCore's deal with MySpace included some sort of exclusivity arrangement, but that doesn't seem to be true and the social networking flim flam has said that, in due course, it expects to set up arrangements with other services that enable unsigned bands to get royalties from their expanded music service. However, for the time being the only way for bands not represented by a major, Merlin or an aggregator like IODA or The Orchard to get royalties from MySpace Music is by hiring the services of TuneCore.