James Grant Hay's blog

Broadcast television is about to be turned on its head. While many media proprietors (including free-to-air, pay-tv, cable and satellite operators) are still breathing a sigh of relief from the costs to switch to digital, the real battle for supremacy has only just begun.

At stake, is control of the entire television advertising business model, worth globally in hundreds of billions of dollars. With it, is control of the global television syndication and distribution business as we know it.

Green light folks, product placement is to be allowed on British TV shows, in a move expected to be announced next week. Independent broadcasters will be allowed to take payments for displaying commercial products in-program. Please see my policy advisory on iTVT and Digital Ministry London last week. The change is intended to bring in extra funds for commercial broadcasters. I believe it could raise up to £100m a year. More is the significance of how this development relates to the future t-commerce model of IPTV and advertiser-funded programming globally.

Why is Britain so buttoned up when it comes to product placement in commercial television? RTL Chief Gerhard Zeiler certainly put the case in Edinburgh this week no sooner did James Murdoch put the boot into the BBC and state regulator Ofcom.