English Entertainment
All-new series from animal planet and the dodo – “Dodo Heroes”’ 0 spotlights powerful bonds between animals and people
MUMBAI: Animal Planet and DODO, the #1 animal brand on digital, will premiere a new series ‘DODO HEROES’ which will feature inspiring stories of animals in need from around the world, and the compassionate humans who go to unimaginable lengths to give them hope. With each episode focusing on one inspiring and moving story of people who go to any lengths to help animals, the series will explore the personalities and emotions of both humans and animals, while highlighting their unique connection. DODO HEROES marks Animal Planet’s first-ever global series launch which will premiere on Friday, June 15 at 9 PM in India and in over 220 countries and territories worldwide.
In India, Animal Planet is launching a campaign ‘Be Kind to All Kind’ in its endeavor to raise support for select NGOS dedicated to the welfare of stray animals. The channel has roped in celebrities Soha Ali Khan and Kunal Kapoor to create awareness about this sensitive issue.
“The situation of stray animals in India is a matter of concern, and we will all have to come together to help these lovely beings. I have personally met many people who would like to support stray animals but can’t because they don’t know how to. The campaign ‘Be Kind to All Kind’ aims to reach out to people, and provide access so that they can support the cause they believe in,” said, Soha Ali Khan. “Animals are surprisingly human in the way they emote, they express. Infact, I don’t pamper my dogs (3 pets), they pamper me with unending selfless love. I enjoy each moment that I spend with them. It is amazing how much satisfaction one can gain by just being ‘natural’ with the most adorable creatures God has created.”
Kunal Kapoor, added, “It is our responsibility to stand up for all living beings especially animals. We can’t just look the other way when the situation demands help…infact we need to take a decisive action. There are NGOs who work towards the rescue and rehabilitation of needy animals who run shelters, ambulance services, sterilization programs, treatment camps and disaster rescue missions. If we cannot personally go and help these animals then least we can do is support the NGOs dedicated to animal welfare. I hope more and more people joins hands contribute to this genuine cause, and help make India a better place to live for all animals.”
As a part of Be Kind to All Kind campaign, Animal Planet will urge people to directly support NGOs including ‘World For All’ to raise funds to run their monthly rescue and treatment programme and fostering first aid to the needy strays, ‘The Feline Foundation’ to help control the population of stray cats and dogs in Mumbai and ‘Wild Life Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre’ to help them feed and care for 5 elephants rescued from a life in chains. To donate, visit www.animalplanet.in and lend a helping hand!
UK: The aerial is losing its grip. As broadband becomes the default way Britons watch television, the UK is edging towards a decisive, and divisive, question: should Freeview be switched off by 2034? The issue, highlighted in reporting by The Guardian, has exposed deep fault lines over access, affordability and the future of public service broadcasting.
For nearly 25 years, Freeview has delivered free-to-air television from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 to almost every corner of the country. Even now, it remains the UK’s largest TV platform, used in more than 16m homes and on around 10m main household sets. Yet the same broadcasters that built it are now pressing for its closure within eight years.
Their case rests on a structural shift in viewing. Smart TVs, superfast broadband and the Netflix-led streaming boom have pulled audiences online. Advertising economics have followed. By 2034, the number of homes using Freeview as their main TV set is forecast to fall from a peak of almost 12m in 2012 to fewer than 2m, making digital terrestrial television, or DTT, increasingly costly to sustain.
But critics say the rush to switch off risks abandoning those least able, or least willing, to move online.
“I don’t want to be choosing apps and making new accounts,” says Lynette, 80, from Kent. “It is time-consuming and irritating trying to work out where I want to be, to remember the sequence of clicks, with hieroglyphics instead of words. If I make a mistake I have to start again.”
Lynette is among nearly 100,000 people who have signed a “save Freeview” petition launched by campaign group Silver Voices. She fears the government is about to “take [Freeview] away from me and others who either don’t like, can’t afford, or can’t use online versions”.
Official figures underline the fault lines. A report commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport estimates that by 2035, 1.8m homes will still depend on Freeview. Ofcom’s analysis shows those households are more likely to be disabled, older, living alone, female, and based in the north of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Freeview is owned by the public service broadcasters through Everyone TV, which also operates Freesat and the newer streaming platform Freely. After two years of review, DCMS is expected to set out its position soon, drawing on three options proposed by Ofcom: a costly upgrade of Freeview’s ageing technology; maintaining a bare-bones service with only core PSB channels; or a full switch-off during the 2030s.
The broadcasters have rallied behind the third option. They argue that 2034 is the logical cut-off, when transmission contracts with network operator Arqiva expire. By then, they say, the cost of broadcasting to a dwindling audience will far outweigh the returns from TV advertising.
Ofcom agrees a crunch point is approaching. In July, the regulator warned of a “tipping point” within the next few years, after which it will no longer be commercially viable for broadcasters to carry the costs of DTT.
Others see risks beyond economics. Questions remain over whether internet TV can reliably deliver emergency broadcasts, such as the daily Covid updates, in the way that universally available DTT can. The UK radio industry has also warned that an internet-only future for TV could push up distribution costs and force some radio stations off air if PSBs no longer share Arqiva’s mast network.
“It is a political hot potato,” says Dennis Reed, founder of Silver Voices, who says he has “dissociated” his organisation from the government’s stakeholder forum, which he believes is “heavily biased” towards streaming.
The Future TV Taskforce, representing the PSBs, counters that moving online could “close the digital divide once and for all”. “We want to be able to plan to ensure that no one is left behind,” a spokesperson says, adding that rising DTT costs could otherwise mean cuts to programme budgets.
The numbers show the scale of the challenge. Of the 1.8m Freeview-dependent homes projected for 2035, around 1.1m are expected to have broadband but not use it for TV. The remaining 700,000 are forecast to lack a broadband connection altogether.
Veterans of the analogue switch-off, completed in 2012 after 76 years, recall similar fears of “TV blackout chaos”. Around 6 per cent of households were labelled “digital refuseniks”, yet a targeted help scheme and a national campaign, fronted by a robot called Digit Al voiced by Matt Lucas, delivered a largely smooth transition.
This time, the BBC is less keen to foot the bill. Tim Davie, the outgoing director general, has said the corporation should not fund a comparable support programme for a Freeview switch-off.
Research for Sky by Oliver & Ohlbaum suggests that with early awareness campaigns and digital inclusion measures, only about 330,000 households would ultimately need hands-on help ahead of a 2034 shutdown.
Meanwhile, viewing habits continue to fragment. Audience body Barb says 7 per cent of UK households no longer own a TV set, choosing to watch on other devices. In December, YouTube overtook the BBC’s combined channels in total UK viewing across TVs, smartphones and tablets, albeit measured at a minimum of three minutes.
That shift may accelerate. YouTube has recently blocked Barb and its partner Kantar from accessing viewing session data, limiting transparency just as online platforms consolidate power.
“When the government chose British Satellite Broadcasting as the ‘winner’ in satellite TV it was Rupert Murdoch’s Sky instead that came out on top,” says a senior TV executive quoted by The Guardian. “There already is such an outsider ready to be the winner in the transition to internet TV; it is YouTube.”
Freeview’s future now hangs on a familiar British dilemma: modernise fast and risk exclusion, or protect universality and pay the price. Either way, the aerial’s days as king of the living room look numbered.
