So the good ol' BBC is set to show all World Cup matches online, or at least that's the plan. And surprise surprise, the network vendors are already coming out in force with various words of wisdom and fearful warnings of downtime and productivity losses. There's usually about a half-day window when an announcement like this is made before interested vendors wade-in with over-reactive comments – even basic decency did not stop certain parties trying to spin the events of 7 July 2005 for commercial gain.

Apparently the BBC announcement could cause IT managers big headaches over bandwidth if employees decide to make use of the service while at work. Personally, I reckon it may never get to that stage... considering that most large media firms still seem incapable of coping with surges in demand for their online services at the busiest times. Try getting anything out of the BBC or Sky News online the next time there has been a major "news event" and you'll know what I mean.

But just supposing the BBC has sorted out these reliability issues, we'll probably see a fair number of firms limiting or banning streaming broadcasts over their networks. Not content with working the longest and hardest hours in Europe, no doubt we will deny our workforce the chance to see their team play in the greatest sporting event on the planet – quelle surprise.

They might as well put a chain around our necks and be done with it.

June 5, 2006 in Television | Permalink | Comments (0)

Some people think we’ve got a problem with celebrity in this country, making nobodies into superstars overnight just because they can’t keep their underwear on, or are unbelievably stupid, or are blonde... or all three come to think of it. We seem intent on filling our newspapers, TV screens and web sites with ‘dalendless shids’, as Alan Partridge would have it.

In a way, blogging is the perfect extension to this phenomena – it’s a level playing field where anyone can become famous, or infamous. Forget the faceless execs droning on about the business benefits of their wonderful products, toeing the corporate line, there are now hundreds of blog awards for the cream of the crop, with the prospect of fame and fortune for us nobodies a real possibility.

But when you think it’s gone as far as it can, Japan cranks it up another notch. It is of course a country where celebrities aren’t so much loved as worshipped, adored with religious fervour, but also one in which you could become a celebrity by walking down the street in slightly unusual clothes, as I once discovered.

The new rising star in the Far East is one Nakagawa Shoko, or Shoko-tan to her adoring fans, a young lassie whose blog notched up a whopping 100 million visits last month, and has seen as many as 600,000 in one day. Now Shoko-tan is not actually a nobody, oh no… She’s an ex-bikini model to be precise, which may have given her something of a running start, and now the money-making machine has picked her up and launched her on what could be the start of a glittering career in pop.

I’d like to see the analytics of her site, but I’d be prepared to wager a few yen that a fair proportion are otakus: single, socially inept men who live with their mothers and usually have a fondness for computers, staying in their bedrooms most of the day and, well, blogging. And judging from the content of Shoko-tan’s blog – pictures of her cats, assorted pastries and, mostly, her own impossibly manga-beautiful face – they are after one thing only. And it ain't snaps of her pussy-cat.

But good luck to her. In many ways blogging is the perfect technology for Japanese to exploit because – without wanting to cast any stereotypes, but aware that I’m about to do just that – it’s anonymous, socially cohesive and can allow for hero worship on a grand scale.

But while Shoko-tan may get carried away with her newly found fame, I hope someone is feeding her words of caution, because the attrition rate for celebrities in the land of the rising sun is brutal. There are not enough second-rate satellite channels on the planet to house all the former men and women of the moment who have been chewed up and spat out by Japanese media.

May 19, 2006 in Television | Permalink | Comments (1)