Humber Delta

In the Humber estuary area we have a long history of innovation within the media industry from the early development radio broadcasts in 1924 - to the creation of the UK's first broadband cable network.

With humberMUD we continue our proud story.

humberMUD exists to promote the work and profile of new media and design innovators within the Humber estuary.

Here is a taste of the companies and organisations with current innovation at their heart - all operating in the humberMUD area.

Serco - Through innovation Serco helps governments improve services across many areas of public life, from justice and healthcare, to education and defence. Serco is an international company that provides facilities management and systems engineering through wide ranging experience combined with commercial know-how with a deep public service ethos.

Trident - Their digital brand management is known across the globe (examples in every western home!) A leading name in the international print and packaging industry, innovation is at the heart of the success of the company.
The KCOM Group PLC - A global telecommunications giant, Kingston Communications is a leading provider of communications solutions to businesses and public sector organisations throughout the UK and to consumers within East Yorkshire.

Karoo - A global ISP brand particularly known as the portal for Kingston Upon Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire.

Propeller - The first digital satellite TV channel in Europe to screen 100% new and original stuff and & the UK's leading film showcase. Propeller's programming has become widely regarded as among the most creative on the Sky platform showcasing raw, edgy and challenging television.

http://www.hull-college.ac.uk - the best attended FE college in UK - established for 150 years and now one of the largest FE providers in the region, Hull College is proud of its new £11 million learning complex.

The Hull School of Art and Design, founded in 1861, offers a wide range of exciting programmes of study ranging from traditional drawing through to digital and interactive new media.  Award-winning students graduate each year, feeding our region and beyond with top quality digital producers.

on2nite.com - The world's first audience engine combining internet and text - developed in Hull.

Medi+Vend - The world's first & only touch-screen condom machine with biometric patient records for health services

www.bestfrontseat.com - enables high-quality video material to be streamed across the internet using a world-beating compression technology. Delivers video on demand and broadcast live events such as concerts, company announcements and sports events.

Blue Storm Design - Industry-first national award-winning UGC site offering integrated marketing campaigns through design, digital media and public relations.

The Drugs Box - UK's original & leading interactive kiosk for drugs & alcohol info exporting across the world from Hull.

If we have missed something please let us know, if you have any background information regarding anything in the list please contact us  so we can fill in the gaps. Thank you.

Great products from the Humber delta over the centuries of drift and debris - the site will record the long history of media innovation and pioneering work from the area.

Historical innovations from the Humber delta

What follows is an incomplete list (in no particular order) of past Humber innovations.

Council-Owned Phones

Hull Council owned its own phone company right into the 80s. Hull is still the only city in the UK with its own independent telephone network company, Kingston Communications. Kingston Communications were one of the first telecoms operators in Europe to offer ADSL to business users, and the first in the world to run an interactive television service using ADSL, known as Kingston Interactive TV (Or KiT).

Premium Phone Calls

This amazing idea was first developed here in Hull. The municipal phone company came up with the idea of Dial-A-Santa!  Each Christmas local children would call Santa and tell him what they wanted on the big day. What a great idea... which has led to a whole industry!

Earliest development broadcasts of radio, 1924 - 1931

Hull was part of the first phase of the BBC's pioneering radio broadcasts, going to air on 15 August 1924 - a global first for the region.

"As the first true broadcasting company in the world, the BBC had tough decisions to make in the choice of direction for establishing a service.

Radio broadcasting was still a very young science in 1922, and the possible strength of transmissions was limited by technology and power consumption rather than frequency allocations as is now the case.

Additionally, the BBC needed to cover the widest population in order to make the service profitable for the Company's shareholders - who made their money from selling sets rather than charging for programmes. Potential revenues had to be high enough to provide a profit whilst allowing for the lack of Simultaneous Broadcasting - the ability to network one programme from several transmitters.

Thus each BBC service at first had to be self-sustaining. Programmes captured on disc or on sound-only cine could be transmitted, but only after a delay of several days.

The system chosen to allow maximum coverage with low power transmitters resulted in city-wide coverage for most areas but little or no rural coverage, and allowed for just one choice of programme - the locally originated one - and no other.

For all of these problems, BBC services spread very quickly..."

©2003 Russ J Graham. See the original article at www.transdiffusion.org

Largest cable TV network in Europe

The Rediffusion network http://www.rediffusion.info/hull/ 

Invention of LCD screens

University of Hull has been a huge pioneer in this field since the 70s.

UK's first interactive TV services into schools

The BBC developed a purpose-built facility to deliver and monitor in-home services through the Kingston braodband network. This was a completely unique facility in the early 90s and attracted attention from all over the world. From this BBC brought CeBeebies to life.

UK's first installation of HD video editing

Immage 2000 studios in Immingham housed superb facilities as a test-bed for Sony equipment. The studios are now a major part of Channel 7s brilliant local TV network. Channel 7

If we have missed something please let us know, if you have any background information regarding anything in the list please contact contact us so we can fill in the gaps. Thank you.