Los Angeles, U.S.A. — On November 15, ITV announced the launch of the world’s first animated storytelling app with British and American Sign Language. The Signed Stories app is designed to make reading fun for all children.

“ITV is proud to be creating a digital product which every child can enjoy. Anytime, anyplace viewing is becoming the norm and we believe that all children should be able to enjoy the mobile digital world,” said Adam Crozier, Chief Executive Officer at ITV.

The Signed Stories app is fully accessible in sign language, subtitles, narration, animation and music. It aims to make books easier to read for children with deafness and those with special educational needs including autism, Asperger’s, dyslexia and Down Syndrome.

“This project is near and dear to my heart because my niece Gabriela is hearing impaired,” said Paul Buccieri, Managing Director of ITV Studios International and President and CEO ITV Studios America. “We are proud to have the app available in North America with Keith Wann and Peter Cook presenting the stories. Signed Stories helps serve those who have serious hearing and special needs and this is a wonderful initiative for me personally, and for ITV Studios America to be associated with.”

As part of the app, ITV is creating digital versions of a wide range of award-winning picture books in partnership with leading children’s publishers. On its first release, the app will feature books suitable for early years and primary school children, including contemporary stories, updated folktales and fairytales exclusively from international book publisher, Child’s Play.

“In 2008, we embraced wholeheartedly the opportunity to work with the Signed Stories website, and we’re delighted and honored to be chosen by ITV as their launch partner for this exciting new venture,” said Neil Burden, publisher and CEO at Child’s Play.

“These apps continue and further our attempts to make our publishing as accessible and inclusive as possible.  They stand out from the myriad of book-based apps currently published for children in that they have manifestly useful and engaging content, outstanding production values and, perhaps most of all, genuine purpose.”

Two of the leading American Sign Language (ASL) storytellers - Keith Wann and Peter Cook - present the stories for the North American market, which includes the United States and English-speaking regions ofCanada.

“The mixture of sign language and technology is incredible and opens the door for more access to learning. As a native user and advocate of ASL literacy I was honored to be a part of ITV’s Signed Stories app and to give back to the community I grew up in,” said Keith Wann, ASL Storyteller.  “My 2 and 4 year old hearing children love sharing the signed stories app with their deaf grandmother and in return they share laughter and learning together!”

The Signed Stories app will initially be available on iOS devices including the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. The app will be available through Apple’s App store from October 16, 2012 - it will be free to download and includes a free version of The Three Billy Goats Gruff. All books featured within the app will be individually priced. To download the App, search “Signed Stories” in the iTunes App Store or follow this link, http://bit.ly/PxHtJc.

Users are able to customize the app to suits their individual needs. Parents, caregivers and teachers can benefit from the app’s guidance notes on how to get the most out of each book. The app also comes with a free British Sign Language or American Sign Language video dictionary, which grows each time a new book is downloaded. The iPad app also carries free games inside each story download.

The app was user tested by deaf children, children with special educational needs and parents before its launch. It was produced by ITV SignPost, the company’s specialist sign language production house in Gateshead, UK, and designed by Newcastle-based media company Komodo Digital.

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When many think of the continent of Africa, words such as famine, disease, poverty, short life spans and little to no healthcare and poor technological advancement come to mind. However, as of recently, Africa, and Uganda in particular has made great strides toward better living for its citizens as technology in Uganda is growing at a rapidly fast pace.

“Uganda has been ranked among the top three countries with advanced technological and innovation capabilities in Africa,” according to a study conducted by Martin Prosperity Institute of the U.S. And, as Uganda has been known for decades for its high infant and maternal mortality rates, an advanced ultrasound has finally made it’s way to the country in order to help pregnant women and their newborns survive in addition to a healthy pregnancy and safe delivery.

An expanding project known as ‘Imagining the World’ (ITV), based at the Kamuli Mission Hospital, is helping to get ultrasound technology into the country’s health centers.

Andrew Green, a reporter for the ‘Voice of Africa,’ stated, “Until two years ago, health workers at Kamuli Mission Hospital could not even tell a woman if she was carrying twins because there were no ultrasound machines. As a result, women and their families would not know they needed to be near health facilities that can handle complicated pregnancies when it came time to give birth.”

The project is providing ultrasound equipment to the hospital at low costs, so even those who are below the poverty level can still receive basic image scans. “Then the images are compressed and distributed via text message or e-mail to district-level health workers, who examine the images and identify potential problems.

Specialists in the United States provide backup opinions. Health workers are informed early enough that a woman facing a difficult birth can be directed to a higher-level health facility,” according to Dr. Alphonsus Matovu, the medical director of the Kamuli hospital. But before the women can come to Kamuli to receive an ultrasound, they must be screened for a series of health tests, including, HIV, malaria, and anemia, which could affect the outcome of a woman’s pregnancy.

As of last week, ITV has set up new ultrasound equipment in eight more health care facilities, which is estimated to cost 10,000 dollars per facility. Prior to Uganda having access to ultrasound technology equipment, the United Nations Children’s Fund reported that, “for every 1,000 live births, at least 63 infants die before their first birthday in Uganda.

Many of those deaths come from complications that could have been predicted by ultrasound technology. The situation also contributes to the country’s high infant mortality rate, with 310 out of every 100,000 women dying in childbirth.” Because of the great success of this project, ITV is looking into providing prenatal care in other impoverished areas of the world including South America and Asia.

Image Courtesy of  uusc4all

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Silver Spring, U.SA. – Investigation Discovery’s new series Reel Crime/Real Story, hosted by legal champion and biopic subject Erin Brockovich, uncovers the true facts and real personalities behind iconic crime-and-justice movies that have become a part of our pop culture.

Featuring the headline-stealing homicides that inspired Hollywood hits, Reel Crime/Real Story reveals the true tales on which award-winning films Selena, Monster, and To Die For were based, with never-before-seen interviews, crime scene reconstructions, and footage gathered from the actual investigations. Reel Crime/Real Story premieres as a three-part series on Tuesday, May 29 at 10 PM E/P on Investigation Discovery.

“Box office numbers and industry accolades are a testament to the fact that Hollywood continues to be fascinated by true-life crimes,” said Henry Schleiff, president and general manager of Investigation Discovery. “Our new series, Reel Crime/Real Story is further evidence of what Investigation Discovery’s growing audience already knows: truth is often stranger and more interesting than fiction!”
Each episode of Reel Crime/Real Story reveals how art imitated life in some of the world’s most notorious cases:

Monster premieres Tuesday, May 29 at 10 PM E/P
The media dubbed her the “Damsel of Death” and Hollywood immortalized her as “Monster.” This episode explores the life and crimes of Aileen Wuornos, America’s first female serial killer. Though executed in 2002, her story was immortalized by actress Charlize Theron, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of the prostitute turned femme fatale in 2003′s Monster.

In a never-before-seen interview shot before Wuornos became one of only 11 women executed in the past two decades, she comes clean and reveals intimate details of the lesbian love affair that led her to kill seven men. This episode also includes the first ever on-screen interview with the undercover detective who brought Wuornos into custody.

Selena premieres Tuesday, June 5 at 10 PM E/P
Latin music sensation Selena Quintanilla Perez found new life in a posthumous biopic starring Jennifer Lopez in her career-launching role. Lovingly nicknamed the “Mexican Madonna,” Selena was just 23 years old when her personal assistant and the president of her fan club, Yolanda Saldivar, gunned her down in a cheap motel room in Corpus Christi, Texas.

The 1997 film, Selena, tracks the star’s meteoric rise to chart-topping stardom and her whirlwind romance with band member and husband Chris Perez. Through interviews with Perez, law enforcement, and the hotel manager in whose arms Selena died, Reel Crime/Real Story explores the story beyond the movie: a shocking and senseless crime that snuffed out a bright young star’s life and career.

To Die For premieres Tuesday, June 12 at 10 PM E/P
Pamela Smart lives on in Hollywood history as the woman whose salacious story inspired Nicole Kidman to win her first Golden Globe. The real-life scandal of a teacher who used sex to entice her 15-year-old student boyfriend to murder her husband rocked the small town of Derry, N.H. before exploding into a national media frenzy.

The 1995 film To Die For parodies Smart as an ambitious, cold-hearted seductress out for her husband’s blood, but who is the real Pamela Smart? Family members, local law enforcement, lawyers, and media who followed the case from day one attempt to piece together the profile of a woman who thought murder was the only answer to an unhappy marriage.

Reel Crime/Real Story is produced by ITV Studios America for Investigation Discovery. For ITV Studios, John X. Kim is executive producer. For Investigation Discovery, Eugenie Vink is executive producer, Sara Kozak is senior vice president of production, and Henry Schleiff is president and general manager.

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The hotly-anticipated miniseries from the mind of Julian Fellowes (‘Downton Abbey’) was expected to be one of the highlights of the centennial anniversary of the RMS Titanic’s sinking, however, a bloated cast, flawed set-up and overload of social commentary amounted to one massive disappointment.

‘Titanic’ is a 4-part miniseries which will document the experiences of various passengers aboard the infamous ship which sank on its maiden voyage on April 12 1912. The ship’s sinking has been depicted onscreen many times before, most successfully with the eponymous 1997 theatrical release grossing almost $2 billion, and soon to be re-released into cinemas in 3D. But this miniseries, penned by the same man who turned ‘Downton Abbey’ into a worldwide hit, does not seem likely to follow in the footsteps of Fellowes’ award-winning series.

For starters, there are too many characters. Plain and simple. Featuring 89 main characters in total, each episode will focus on a select group before ending with their efforts to escape from the sinking ship. Episode 4 will presumably tie all of the storylines together and then show which of the characters managed to survive.

Unfortunately, Fellowes has tried to do too much with too many characters, barely giving the audience a chance to learn their names or backstories before one is suddenly thrust onto the deck where hundreds of inter-changeable characters are running around, spewing out stock dialogue of  a dozen other disaster dramas.

Clearly trying to emulate the appeal of ‘Downton Abbey’, Fellowes depicts the servants and the first-class passengers, and every other group in between. However, unlike ‘Downton Abbey’, Fellowes does not have 7 episodes to tease out the nuances of their relationships, nor is there the opportunity to create compelling or surprising encounters between characters of different social status. Certainly, a variety of characters do interact in this first episode, but it is to no dramatic pay-off.

The most glaring and irritating aspect of the first episode is undoubtedly the inclusion of a social issue in every other line of dialogue. The very first scene, which lasted no more than 60 seconds, referenced: the judicial system, political protests, women’s right to vote, class bias, and even an allusion to homosexuality.

Moving beyond that, not an act break could go by without one nationality criticising another, with one American character awkwardly commenting, “I can’t see the English wanting to drop the class system anytime soon. It’s woven into their heritage.” Excuse me, but what was this character’s name? Who was he addressing?

Why should the audience care? The most laughable, and again awkward, piece of dialogue had to be when an upper-class American character told a man from an opposing political party that he could sit next to him – all while outside on the deck hundreds of passengers were clamouring onto lifeboats. It was ridiculous, and simply ineffective on any thematic level.

All in all, Fellowes is clearly eager to explore class, sex, politics, nationality, and countless other hot-topic issues. And who could blame him? The RMS Titanic was a melting pot of different cultures and classes, with the accounts of survivors offering up various threads for a story-teller to pursue in this type of series.

It must have been incredibly tempting to produce a big-budget series, guaranteed to be given a massive promotional push, scheduled in the exact same time-slot as ‘Downton Abbey’, and sure to attract interest from the U.S. and beyond. But all those lavish production values amount to nothing when you have bland characters, forced dialogue, predictable interactions, and an badly-executed premise made all the more frustrating by the possibilities for provocative storylines which it had to offer in the first place.

With three episodes still to go, one can only hope that things improve. If not, Fellowes won’t be worried. After all, ‘Downton Abbey’ isn’t going anywhere.

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The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has revealed that over half of its television schedule is comprised of repeat programming, sparking concerns over the efforts made by the Corporation to develop new and original material.

The Daily Mail first reported on this topic and showed that while the percentage of repeat programming is less on the BBC’s main television channel, BBC One, there is still data which proves that the percentage is growing during peak viewing hours. At present, 61% of the BBC television schedule consists of repeats, encompassing such classic shows as ‘Only Fools and Horses’ and ‘Dad’s Army’ as well as nightly repeats of the cult animated series ‘Family Guy’ and ‘American Dad.’

These figures were commissioned by Freedom of Information who made a claim suggesting that the BBC is failing in its duty to provide ‘original programming,’ an obligation which is a clear part of the Corportation’s Royal Charter – an agreement which establishes its duties in detail.

It is thought that increasing budget cuts are a part the reason for the number of repeats currently offered on any one of the BBC’s networks (at present this consists of: BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC Four, BBC HD and BBC CBeebies). However, with recent additions to the corporation’s broadcasting services, namely BBC iPlayer, it is difficult to ascertain the exact number of viewers who have taken issue with this ‘repeat’ situation.

Regardless, this is not the first time that the BBC has come under fire for its failure to focus on developing new comedies and dramas. David Jason, the star of the long-running and frequently-repeated BBC sitcom ‘Only Fools & Horses’ publicly lambasted the BBC back in 2005 over its constant showings of past programmes:

“If I were in charge I’d not allow Only Fools and Horses to be repeated so often … British TV is too safe and too cheap these days. We’ve got to be careful not to dumb down for the audience. They shouldn’t be sitting at home on the sofa vegetating.”

In the seven years since Jason first made his feelings known, it would appear that the problem has only become more severe. According to the BBC’s figures released to Freedom of Information, “just 15.8 per cent of programming on BBC3 and only 21.2 per cent on BBC4 was new” over the last 12 months. While these two networks have significantly shorter broadcasting hours than the two main BBC networks, the fact remains that there is a clear imbalance at work in the way that the BBC creates its schedule.

Rival network ITV has already made one move towards addressing similar scheduling concerns by removing the Saturday omnibus edition of its flagship series ‘Coronation Street.’ Such a move has surprised audiences and those involved with the series, according to The Sun, but it is possible that the move towards digital viewing services has eliminated ITV’s need to re-broadcast an entire week’s work of episodes on its schedule.

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