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A new channel launched in New Zealand this week called Jones! that embraces the world of classic television with a modern slant and very upbeat branding.

Created by NZ based Brandspank its a nice spin on the traditional look and feel generally associated with channels filled with Colombo and Cheers reruns.

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After nearly 45 years of bulletins, the BBC signed off from Television Centre for the last time on Sunday evening. As of now the entire BBC news operation is based out of Broadcasting House, billed as The World’s Newsroom and home to over 2,000 journalists the billion dollar revamp of the news division now see’s television, radio and online working alongside for the first time.

Mishal Husain led the final broadcast from Television Centre on March 17th at 10pm, with Sophie Raworth christening the new home for BBC One the next day at 1pm, with the above stories documenting the historic move.

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Australian comedian Adam Hills delivered the latest Channel 4 “Alternative Christmas message” this year focusing on the Paralympics, with reference to the hugely successful Meet The Superhumans campaign. Shot in a single long take it’s a particularly sincere and poetic spin on the annual tradition.

Presenters of previous alternative Christmas messages have ranged from Marge Simpson to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

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Launched earlier this year to highlight the diversity of factual programming on SBS, this trio of promos created by US Sydney and Method Studios are simply stunning.

This award winning campaign creatively integrates programme footage into a unique and compelling spot worthy of its broadcaster.

Full credits here.

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Redfern Now is the first drama series of its kind to be written, performed, directed and produced by Indigenous Australians.

With acclaimed British writer Jimmmy McGovern as Story Producer this bold drama premiered last night in Australia on public broadcaster ABC1.

The title sequence by Sydney based The Solid State is a fitting introduction to this compelling and layered new anthology series.

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For a channel best known for broadcasting runway footage this branding work for Fashion TV in Spain is surprisingly captivating.

Designed by Madrid based Helio Vega its a beautiful execution which will no doubt outshine the programming on its own network.

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Broadcast concurrently across 78 different UK television channels last week “Meet the Superhumans” is a 90 second film produced as part of Channel 4′s campaign to promote their coverage of the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

Accompanied by ‘Harder Than You Think‘ from Public Enemy, it’s a spectacular piece of work from 4Creative and a powerful introduction to the Paralympics.

Full credits here.

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The BBC broadcast the full length trailer for the London 2012 Olympics last night on BBC One. The campaign shows the landscape of the United Kingdom transformed into a giant sporting arena, with music written and performed by Elbow.

Creative agency Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe Y&R developed the concept and the animation was created by Passion Pictures and produced by Red Bee Media.

Continuing a tradition of animated promos, check out previous Olympics trailers for Vancouver 2010 and Beijing 2008.

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Brazil just got itself a new channel with the launch of children’s entertainment network Gloob earlier this month. Designed by the Globosat in-house team, you can get full details of the launch here.

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With the Comcast/NBCU merger complete the newly formed NBC Sports division (which includes a rebranded Versus Network) needed a clear identity.

In steps LA based Troika who created the new branding for the division that would represent everything from the Olympics to Sunday Night Football and Tour de France.

Roll montage..

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Paris based designer Curtis Baigent has re-imagined the sandscapes and dusty cliches surrounding archeology for this new opening title sequence for the France 5 programme “Archéologie”.

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As a follow up to last years toy figurines inspired spot, this year the same team have produced this deconstruction of Belgium broadcaster Prime’s upcoming programming line up.

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British music and entertainment channel 4Music refreshed its on-air branding this month and introduced four new idents based around dance.

I’m reminded of the old BBC One ‘Rhythm and Movement’ idents that still remain a gold standard for television branding. And having recently seen Pina I still think there is plenty of room to further explore dance in idents.

For more info on the 4Music rebrand read this.

(Thanks for the details Nick)

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A simple, funny and beautifully shot promo from Samuel Dunn and Benjamin Jones for the LifeStyle Food Channel once again proves that a well chosen song and a witty premise is all it takes to get my attention.

I particularly appreciated that it took 60 seconds before the voiceover came in, because as someone once told me: a lack of explication makes for..

All I can say is.. bravo NBC.

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This new spot for SBS is not only visually beautifully and perfectly timed, its also surprisingly profound, and layered in meaning that only a broadcaster like this would aim for. Created from a collaboration featuring:

contributions from Animal Logic, playwright Caleb Lewis, Indigenous creative agency Gilimbaa, Jam Sydney and Ghanaian born, Australian performer Dorinda Hafner.

Produced by US Sydney, with full credits here.

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When I was in the states last year I stumbled upon an enjoyable little television programme called Infomania, that was being broadcast on an even littler network called Current TV.

Founded in 2005 by Al Gore, the network felt a bit like what would happen if the Hungry Beast kids were given their own channel (in a good way). The Emmy and Peabody award winning channel was thrust into the spotlight earlier this year with the announcement that Keith Olbermann would join the network.

Along with the arrival of Keith came a refreshed look and a brand new logo. The old logo was pretty ordinary and didn’t really say much. The new look however is simply stunning – and works just as well static or animated. It’s a truly unique channel, now with the branding to match.

Credits: Identity by Wolff Olins and on-air look by Loyalkaspar.

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The excessively clunky “ABC for Kids on 2” brand has been relaunched as “ABC 4 Kids”. Running from 6am-7pm on ABC2, this channel-within-a-channel has long deserved better positioning, if not its own dedicated slice of the airwaves.

Thus concludes the refresh of the ABC’s suite of channels with ABC1 in February and ABC2 in April.

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The on-air look of ABC2 has ranged from the interesting to the ordinary. While easily the most intriguing channel on free to air television, ABC2 has always struggled with its identity.

Thankfully this new lime-and-pink design is the most mature branding to grace the network, even if the execution of the new idents is a little sporadic (the fish look great, the knitting.. not so much).

The good folks at Motionographer and the F5 Festival have given me 2 tickets to the aforementioned creativity festival being held in New York on April 15-16.

As I’m stuck in Sydney though I thought I’d offer them up to any of my readers who will be able to attend.

The tickets are valued at $480 each, and include:

- Two full days of inspiration, learning and networking
- Re:Play Festival – An international showcase of cutting-edge film and design
- Drink tickets
- Admittance to the Official F5 After Party

So if you’re able to attend, and want two free tickets, send me an email.

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Apparently product placement (in literature at least) dates back to the 19th century, but for British television programmes its been a strict no-no.. until now.

February 28th this year was the first day of new laws allowing for commercial broadcasters to accept payment to use or display certain products. Part of the new laws require programmes that accept product placement to display a special symbol on-screen, which is what this promo is about.

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Update: More about the who, what, why of the rebrand here.

Australia’s national broadcaster has relaunched the branding of its flagship ABC1 with a focus on elevating the entertainment value of the channel.

ABC1 has had a number of looks since this site first started some six years ago. Starting with the Everyone’s ABC look, followed by There’s More To.. in 2005 and It Begins with 1 in 2008, and now this…

Keep reading for more videos from the new look.

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Inbetween Magic have created this excellent promo for Belgium based channel Prime. Set to the sounds of American folk music, this dramatic spot uses the innocence of toy figurines to distill the drama of the networks programming slate.

A great idea well executed, and with a heap of spin-off potential.

- Thanks for the tip Marc.

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The wit of David Mitchell and the profundity of Charlie Brooker have joined forces along with Jimmy Carr and Lauren Laverne for a new topical comedy programme on Channel 4 called 10 O’Clock Live.

In a similar vein to local productions Hungry Beast or the 7pm Project the show is a tight hour or news, chat and comedy. Visually the programmes colour palette and set design are decidedly un-newsy, and the use of Steadicam makes for a (quite literally) smooth viewing experience.

Something that’s meant to make us laugh, is somehow also making us smarter. The rise of comedy in the delivery of news is challenging new audiences to have a greater understanding of the world around them, and hopefully that’s a good thing.

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Launching on January 1st 2011, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network is a natural extension of the hyper-popular daytime talk show, and surely one of the few networks in the world built around a single figure.

With Oprah’s recent visit to Australia, the nation has grown even more enamored with the women and her message, and despite my gender-and-age I’ll happily admit that she produces an incredible show with a relentless message of personal growth, interwoven with philosophy aligned with the likes of Jung or Frankl.

Two years in the making, Philadelphia based BIGSMACK designed the new on-air look through “the numerous branding twists and turns” taken prior to the channel launch. On the technical side, the largely animated look of the network is complimented by a number of organic touches:

To create the on-air look BIGSMACK shot an array of natural elements — including light reflected through a variety of objects like crystal and Plexiglas, as well as water, glitter and particle dust — on a soundstage using a Canon 5D camera. That organic basis was then composited with digital elements animated using Cinema 4D and Adobe After Effects.

The montage gives a taste of the IDs, menus, bumpers and lower thirds created for the network, along with the colour coding of the various dayparts (orange mornings, green afternoons and purple evenings).

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Australia’s newest television station is on the air. Check out the launch and opening minutes of the new channel in this video. Now what’s launching next..

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January 11th, 2011 will see the launch of a new free to air Australian television channel aptly enough called Eleven. The new channel will be the last (for now) of the free to air multichannels and the first general entertainment offering from Ten, who currently only offer a sports channel to compliment their main offering.

A joint venture between CBS and Channel Ten the new channel is aimed at the 13-29 year old crowd, and will become the new home of The Simpsons and long suffering soap Neighbours. Eleven is part of a larger strategic change within Ten that includes extending nightly news through primetime slots previously occupied by The Simpsons and Neighbours.

As with all things the Ten Network do, this new channel has fairly spot on branding and targeting along with the programming to back it up. Something that can’t entirely be said for 7mate or GEM.

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Last year it was the Doctor and his TARDIS, this year the BBC gets homely with some Christmas lights to celebrate the festive season. Meanwhile ITV1 and Five deliver some slightly less ambitious holiday idents.

- Big thanks to Craig for the videos.

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Earlier this year British soap opera Coronation Street made the switch to HD and debuted a new look title sequence. A much larger milestone for the programme is just around the corner, on December 9th the soap will celebrate 50 years on-air.

Along with a live episode and the usual dramatic storylines the anniversary is being celebrated right across British television. Even if you’re not a fan of the show I have to recommend the fantastic BBC Four telemovie “Road to Coronation Street” that details the tumultuous birth of the programme and its 23 year old creator.

I can’t help but further be enamored by the soap opera format and its clearly enormous cultural impact on British society, alas I’m not sure Home and Away lives up the same standard.

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Channel 4 have been producing some of the most beautifully executed and conceptually coherent idents on television for nearly six years now.

Yesterday they introduced three new spots (well two if you don’t count the 3D spot) with the clear stand out being the epic airplane graveyard ident.

Again, an absolute triumph in branding and incomparable to local offerings. For the full set of Channel 4 idents stretching back to the beginning look here.