TV3's breakfast show, Ireland AM, is to get its duration extended by half an hour from April 2nd. The extra half hour will be presented by reporters Alan Hughes and Sinead Chaomhanach. This section of the programme is set to feature a high level of interactivity with the audience. TV3 bosses say the move is due to popular demand, with the show recording its highest ratings last month. But some insiders feel the surge in ratings had more to do with people being snowed in their homes than any upswing in popularity for Ireland AM. The new show times will be from 7 a.m. to 9.30 a.m. Monday to Friday.
The production team on the popular farming and environmental series, Ear to the Ground, has had a busy time since the foot-and-mouth threat manifested itself. As well as its usual half-hour weekly show, the Agtel team have also been providing twice daily public service broadcasts for RTE, outlining the latest information for the farming community and the general population.
The bulletins, which range between five minutes and 20 minutes, are aired before the One O'Clock News and after the late news on RTE 1. As Ear to the Ground is almost at the end of its run, the travel restrictions imposed by the Department of Agriculture didn't have too much of an impact on Agtel's shooting schedule. With the last episode due to go out on April 2nd, most of the location filming had already taken place before the restrictions were imposed.
The recently appointed new media chief for the BBC, Ashley Highfield, has announced that, from now on, the Beeb will only commission shows with interactive and online elements attached. He told programme makers at the Production Show in London this week that it was no longer viable to take programme pitches without interactive elements, such as SMS, Internet or interactive TV. Highfield said his department would concentrate on the advancement of interactive TV over the next year. The BBC spent over £70 million sterling on new media last year.
Irish comedian Graham Norton picked up the TV Personality of the Year award at the Television and Radio Industries club awards in London this week. At the beginning of the current series of his latenight Channel 4 chat show, So Graham Norton, the comedian vowed to take the show in a new direction and cut back on its overtly sexual content. The move found favour with the critics and helped mark the camp comedian's move from cult stardom to the mainstream.
Other winners included Coronation Street, which took a special award for an outstanding contribution to broadcasting, and Weakest Link, which was named Entertainment Programme of the Year. The BBC's Peter Sissons won the award for Newscaster of the Year, and Jonathan Ross was named Radio Personality of the Year for his show on BBC Radio 2.
In yet another example of the seemingly endless fascination with reality TV, Britain's Channel 5 has announced details of a sponsorship deal which will allow viewers to witness the life of a gerbil from birth to death - on their screens. Yahoo is sponsoring the station's nightly movie slot in a £2 million sterling, year-long deal. Over 12 months, updates on the life of the gerbil will be shown before and after the movies. The birth of the as-yet-unnamed rodent was broadcast this week, and as the life span of a gerbil is just a year, it is expected that the animal's death will also be captured live on TV. There will be a vote to name the unfortunate creature on the Yahoo website, and his life and times will be featured on the site 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
mkearney@irish-times.com