After the BBC’s Global News director Richard Sambrook’s recent exit, the corporation is taking the opportunity to combine about eight executive roles in to four, saving £600,000 in the process, Journalism.co.uk reports. BBC World News’ digital content director James Montgomery, who joined from the FT in 2009, finds his role…

BBC Vision’s head of multiplatform products Lloyd Shepherd is leaving the corporation after nine months, blogging: “It’s probably worth saying this decision has nothing to do with the BBC Strategic Review.” Shepherd held senior directorial positions at Guardian Unlimited and Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) News in the late 90s and early…

By Mark Sweney: Erik Huggers, the BBC digital chief, has promised its closure of 200 websites is not simply an exercise in cutting dead wood and will help rivals. Huggers, in an interview with MediaGuardian, said the BBC expansionist tendencies that had angered commercial rivals were a natural consequence of…

The BBC says it has now plugged the loophole in its online services that has seen third parties develop unauthorized apps to stream iPlayer content. This was the subject of controversy when it emerged that other companies were developing apps to stream iPlayer content on mobile and other platforms. As…

—TalkTalk: The UK ISP has announced it is upgrading its broadband customers to the fastest sync speeds that their lines will support, up to 24Mbps, as a network-wide upgrade of its backhaul network that has seen Gigabit Ethernet fiber installed between all its exchanges. It is also removing peer-to-peer traffic…

Yesterday, the BBC’s director general Mark Thompson launched a new strategy document outlining the future direction of the BBC. Beneath the headlines about the cuts to its digital radio and online activities, what does the BBC’s positioning tell us about not just the corporation’s own priorities, but about the digital…

BBC director general Mark Thompson, speaking Tuesday at the FT’s Digital Media & Broadcasting conference, explains plans to cut a quarter of BBC.co.uk sites, shut two digital radio stations and more, in these two videos I shot… Earlier coverage:-—BBC Downsizing: Websites, Staff Cut By A Quarter, Refocused—BBC’s Thompson: Web Cull…

Closing 6Music and the Asian Network may have grabbed the headlines in the BBC’s plan to reallocate a fifth of its licence fee income - but it’s the web that’s bearing the brunt. “By far the biggest single adjustment is the tightening of focus of the website,” director general Mark…

The leaks were right - the BBC’s website, along with the corporation’s once-grand multiplatform outlook, is about to get a lot smaller, in a radical retreat from several areas of media. Putting Quality First, a strategic review drawn up to redirect £600 million a year and compete less with commercial…

We already knew the BBC will cut back online and other services, when we read the clear tealeaves in the BBC Trust’s announcement of Mark Thompson’s strategic review in November. But, until we see the outcome of Thompson’s review, considering as gospel Times Online’s report that its “web pages are…

—STV mobile: Buoyed by Adobe’s upgrade that makes video more widespread, the Scottish broadcaster is planning an iPhone app for its STVPlayer VOD service in March, as well as a range of new mobile sites. Via STV.tv. —Generation Game: Another iPhone app - this time, the old BBC gameshow is…

The popularity of Auntie’s online broadcast service shows no signs of plateauing. January UK requests doubled from last year to 120.3 million (100.5 million if you ignore its Virgin Media (NSDQ: VMED) implementation)...                     iPlayer’s come a long way since it…

—AOP: The Association of Online Publishers has appointed James Bromley to its executive committee. He has been MD of Mail Online since April 2008. The AOP, which had been a part of the Periodical Publishers Association, became an independent organisation at the beginning of this year. —BBCWW: Sharon Baylay has…

I wondered how long it would be before print media pointed at the BBC’s new smartphone apps plan as another example of expansion in to their commercial territory. The answer: just 24 hours... The Newspaper Publishers Association, in an emailed statement, says its members believe BBC apps “will undermine the…

Now that the BBC is finally due to develop more of its own mobile apps, it looks like it’s starting to put its foot down to third-party developers that have been using its content to make unsanctioned, unofficial versions. Camiloo, the developer that was working on and promoting a BBC…

The BBC unveiled its mobile application strategy today at Mobile World Congress today, saying that it will kick things off with three iPhone applications and then ramp up quickly on all mobile platforms. The news comes as independent developers are already aggregating BBC content into their own Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)…

A company that has built—and is already publicizing—a BBC iPlayer app for the iPhone may get stalled at the gates by the BBC, we have learned. If it goes live, the Rewat.ch app, from Manchester-based developers Camiloo, would be the first iPlayer app for iPhones on the market, according to…

By Mark Sweney: The Digital TV Group, which represents more than 100 companies including Samsung, Sony (NYSE: SNE), Pace and Dixons, has expressed concern that the BBC-led video-on-demand venture Project Canvas is failing in its core promise to create an open, industry-wide technology standard for the service. In a submission…

—Bauer Media: Is anyone left running online at the magazine/radio firm? Group digital MD Tony Kypreos left in November, leaving online staffers reporting instead to other group CEOs or MDs, the company tells NMA. Digital marketing director Carl Lyons has joined restaurant booker TopTable. Richard Phillips replaced Kurt Edwards as…