Sky+ HD Half price until the end of October

For a limited time, you can get a top-of-the-range Sky+ High Definition box for £75 (normally £150).

Offer open to existing and new Sky customers until 31st October 2008.

Order online to get a half price HD box and access to over 20 HD channels at packages.sky.com/see/EquipmentSkyHD.aspx.

Long, Dark Teatime of the Soul on Radio 4

The second Dirk Gently novel, The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul, will be airing on BBC Radio 4 from 11pm on Thursday 2nd October. Douglas Adams fans - don't miss it.

More at www.radioandtelly.co.uk/dirkgently.html

Jack Bauer's back for another day on Sky

News just in of Sky's plans to show the next series of 24.

24 will be back in January 2009, with Day 7. Before that, Sky1 and Sky1 HD are exclusively screening a two-hour real-time prequel to Day 7, 24: REDEMPTION.

Jack's been lying low in the African town of Sangala, but his hopes of settling are short lived, as he finds himself caught up in a coup d?état against a powerful African warlord. Back in the United States, it is Inauguration Day for the first female president.

24: REDEMPTION will be aired in late November, exclusively on Sky1 and Sky1 HD.

24 Day 7 begins in early January on Sky1 and Sky1 HD with the return of a vengeful Tony Almeida and the introduction of new characters including FBI Agent Janis Gold . Jack will be standing trial for war crimes, CTU is no more and Jonas Hodges will be continuing his villainous actions.

Prior to the brand new season, Sky2 will be giving viewers a chance to catch up on all the action by screening all episodes of Day 6 back to back.

More on Sky 1 at: www.sky.com/sky1

Local radio stations lose identity

The UK commercial radio industry's set for something of a shake-up. Global Radio's the largest player in British commercial radio after acquiring GCap Media and Chrysalis Radio earlier this year. Over the next 12 to 18 months, they're set to re-brand 29 of their local radio stations to either Heart or Galaxy, according to Radio Today.

Names such as Invicta, Fox, 2 Ten FM, Chiltern, Essex FM, GWR, Hereward and SGR will be swept away and replaced by the Heart brand. Stations Beacon, BRMB, Mercia and Wyvern will reportedly be sold.

Gervais, Merchant and Pilkington Series 5

Ricky Gervais is back for a fifth round of downloadable nonsense. Join Ricky, Steve and the round-headed Karl Pilkington as they explore such concerns as dead owls as objets d'art, gay weddings, juvenile weight problems, annexing arachnids and Karl's restless legs.

The whole of Series 5 is available for £2.95 at Audible, or £3.95 at iTunes. Here are the links:

Ricky Gervais on iTunes and Ricky Gervais Show on Audible.co.uk

HD movies now available on BT Vision

BT Vision has now started their HD Movies service.

At the start of September 2008, BT began selling High Definition films for download over the net to the free BT Vision set-top box. At launch, films included: The Other Boleyn Girl, The Hulk and Babe. New HD releases cost £4.95 per download, with older titles for £2.95

More on BT Vision at http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/btvision.html

More TV and Radio for Freesat

Some new channels now available on FreeSat:

• TV channels: Plus 1 timeshifts for E4, More4 and Film4
• Radio stations: three Absolute radio channels, NME Radio, and the RTE Ireland channels

More on Freesat at www.radioandtelly.co.uk/freesat.html

Virgin Radio to become Absolute Radio

Virgin Radio was taken over by The Times of India recently, and a condition of sale was that the Virgin Radio name had to be dropped.

The new owners have opted for the name Absolute Radio, and the rebrand will be complete by 1st October 2008.

FrequencyCast Show 30 now online

Show 30 of FrequencyCast, our audio podcast that covers Digital TV and Tech, is now online.

In this show, we look at how much your gadgets cost to run, the latest High Definition news from Freeview, Sky and BT Vision, plus a smartphone roundup.

Got an iPhone, iPod or MP3 player? Instead of listening to music on your player, try our podcast. In each show, we cover technology and digital TV, plus look at UK tech news headlines.

You can download the latest show direct to your MP3 player, or listen online at www.frequencycast.co.uk/latest.html

Got iTunes? Add us to to get new shows as soon as they're created. Our iTunes page is at phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=142899029

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