In today’s edition of Todbits:

• NPR to launch news show aimed at younger listeners
• An audio mixing board for your iPod?!
• Neilson introduces the 27-hour ratings day
• BBC facing nearly $4 billion funding gap
• No merger for Sirius and XM
• …and will Jim Shaw’s temper tantrum kill the CTF?

NPR to launch news show aimed at younger listeners

NPR, whose Morning Edition newsmagazine is the top-rated morning radio program in the U.S. with 13 million listeners weekly, will launch a new morning news and information service aimed at adults 25 to 44. Starting in March, the concept will be introduced publicly through a digital media “open piloting” process NPR recently launched to test-drive show and segment ideas and solicit listener feedback.

An audio mixing board for your… iPod?!

A new device called TuneStudio puts a four-track mixer with two XLR inputs around your iPod and lets you record to the built-in CD-quality (16-bit, 44.1 kHz) WAV recorder. It will also interface via USB to your computer, and includes a hardware compressor. It should be out in the summer for $180 USD.

BBC facing nearly $4 billion funding gap

BBC director general Mark Thomson said Thursday that the BBC faces a £2 billion ($3.9 billion) funding gap over the next six years under the long-awaited license fee settlement announced by the British government. The BBC says it is “too soon” to give details of where the pubcaster will have to make cutbacks. The cut severs the traditional relationship between the BBC’s income and the annual rate of inflation, effectively amounting to a net cut in income.

No merger coming between Sirius and XM

Investors hoping to profit from a potential merger of North America’s two satellite radio giants have been dealt a significant blow after U.S. regulators indicated yesterday that such a deal would likely be blocked. Speculation about an alliance has been rampant since last summer, with executives at both companies stating publicly that a deal would save billions in costs.

Jim Shaw’s funding threat could kill TV fund

If Shaw Communications’ head Jim Shaw goes through with his threat to hold back his company’s legislated funding to the Canadian Television Fund, other distributors may follow. That could mean that independent producers of programs such as Degrassi: The Next Generation, Trailer Park Boys, Little Mosque on the Prairie and most documentaries won’t have the financing they need. But, argues Shaw, Canadian channels that buy their programs should pay out of their own revenues.

Introducing the 27-hour day

Nielsen Media Research is changing the way it measures TV viewing in the U.S. The changes, which are not expected to be implemented in Canada, use six different data streams to account for PVR playback. Nielsen will measure “one day” as 27 hours, “because of a strong feeling among clients that a 24-hour window would not capture people playing back their 8 p.m. Sunday shows at 8 p.m. on Monday, which is the most likely viewer behavior.” <small>Hat tip to Paul Gorbould</small>

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	Production Gear, Sirius Satellite, The Media Landscape, Todbits: Notes from the Outside