Big Finish Productions has announced the launch of a new download service launching on February 1st. With this service, listeners will be able to purchase and instantly download the audio of their choice as an mp3 file to their computer.
This includes the Doctor Who, Bernice Summerfield, Sapphire and Steel, and the forthcomingStargate series.

"Listening habits have changed dramatically over the last ten years," says Company Director, Jason Haigh-Ellery. "More and more people are choosing to buy their music and audio online and listen to it either on their computer or on mp3 players like the iPod. We are delighted to be able to make Big Finish's productions available in this new way."

Jason also addressed the impact that this change will have on foreign fans. "We have always done our best to keep the prices as low as possible for foreign customers," continues Haigh-Ellery. "Unfortunately though, the poor exchange rate with America, Australia and other countries has made this difficult. Now though, by offering downloadable versions of our plays, we can dramatically reduce the price as there is no extra expenditure on postage, packing and materials. We're sure that this will be good news for our foreign customers."

With the launch of the new website at BigFinish.com on February 1st, fans will be able to sample individual episodes for a small cost. The remainder of the play will be available for simply paying the remainder of the balance. Although not available at launch, a subscription service will be introduced where customers can purchase several plays in advance of their release at a discounted rate. In addition to the plays themselves, music suites, behind-the-scenes features and copies of the scripts will also be made available for download.

Fans who prefer to continue buying their Big Finish plays on CD need not worry that online downloads will herald the end of the CD versions. All new Big Finish plays will continue to be released on CD simultaneously with the download version. The download versions will be cheaper than the CDs in all territories but CD purchasers will also be entitled to acquire the download version at no extra charge.

"The new download service is a major step forward for Big Finish," says Jason Haigh-Ellery.

US digital on-demand network Illusion on Demand has announced that they will be adding classic Doctor Who stories to their offerings, beginning with the 1967 Patrick Troughton story Tomb of the Cybermen. Their press release is below.

The BBC's Doctor Who website has released a new trailer for the upcoming Christmas special, "Voyage of the Damned". It can be viewed by clicking on "14" in the site's Advent(ure) Calendar. UK viewers can also see the trailer on the BBC's YouTube page.

The same trailer has been playing in Odeon cinemas in the UK, before the film trailers. (DEC 15 UPDATE: A 40-second version of the cinema trailer has been added to the official website.)

Meanwhile, the current issue of the Radio Times (15-21 December 2007,not the Christmas double issue) lists Doctor Who: Voyage of the Damned Christmas Preview to be broadcast tomorrow, Saturday 15 December, at the end of the 5.40-to-6pm BBC News.

In addition Saturday's edition of The Times features a behind the scenes article on the making of the Christmas Episode. Thanks to Dan Martin.

As we enter the last month of the year, the official Doctor Who site has announced the return of the Adventure Calendar, which once again promises a new surprise each day leading up to Christmas.

The 1st December kicks us off with a nautical theme ...

As part of the celebrations of 10 years since the launch of BBC.co.uk, Martin Belam, a former Senior Development Producer at the BBC has written a BBC blog looking back at 10 years of the BBC promoting Doctor Who on the web.

Meanwhile the magazine SFX is asking for fans help in spotting all references to Doctor Who on Television over the next few weeks. In particular they want details of Trailers, interviews and features and mentions of Doctor Who in other dramas, comedies and light entertainment shows. The magazine promises a name check for all who participate. For details follow the link.

The BBC's Doctor Who website has announced that the writers of Doctor Who Series 3have won the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for Best Soap or Series (TV). (The other nominated series were New Tricks Series 4 and Life on Mars Series 2.)

All the writers of Series 3 (Chris Chibnall, Paul Cornell, Russell T. Davies, Stephen Greenhorn, Steven Moffat, Helen Raynor and Gareth Roberts) were honored. Cornell, Greenhorn, Moffat and Roberts were in attendance at the ceremony, which was held at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).

Further details of the award ceremony are available at the Writers' Guild blog.

A new Video On Demand Channel dedicated to science fiction and fantasy,Illusion On-Demand, has launched in North America. Currently available in twenty states and is free to all digital subscribers. Illusion has announced that the Classic Doctor Who series is slated to be on the channel starting in January 2008. November sees the updated release ofThe Quatermass Experiment starring Mark Gatiss and David Tennant.

CBBC has updated the official website of The Sarah Jane Adventures, in anticipation of the series' debut on September 24. The website contains a teaser clip from Revenge of the Slitheen, a "data matrix" for interfacing with Sarah Jane's computer "Mr. Smith", a tour of Sarah Jane's attic and more.

At the moment, the site is not restricted to UK IP addresses (as it had been previously). Thanks to the CBBC web designers for allowing fans from outside the UK to use the website.

After Elton, a popular gay-themed blog hosted by the Logo network, has invited SyFyPortal.com founderMichael Hinman and the popular former science-fiction radio personality Meredith Hogan to host a series of Vlogs (video logs) that will highlight each episode of "Torchwood's" first season.

The Vlogs will run between 10 to 15 minutes, and will talk about different aspects of each episodes, as well as some of the gay themes present in each show.

Each Vlog will appear on the After Elton Web site by the Monday following each episode's broadcast. Hinman is already a fan of the series, and will be giving a perspective from someone who is watching the show for the second time as it airs on BBC America. Hogan, however, will be a newcomer to the show (and practically to the 'Doctor Who' universe), so she will provide a fresh, "new fan" perspective to the show.

"We've always been true practitioners of Gene Roddenberry's philosophy of infinite diversity in infinite combinations," Hinman said. "I know that has become almost a cliche in science-fiction, but up until shows like 'Torchwood,' that cliche didn't seem to exist when it came to our friends in the gay and lesbian community."

The BBC have issued a statement reminding fans to be alert and watch out for online imposters. "There have been several recent cases of people posing as David Tennant in internet chat rooms and forums - as well as setting up social networking profiles in his name. David would like to point out that neither he, nor Catherine Tate use these kinds of sites, chatrooms or forums, and wouldn't want fans to be disappointed or misled if they thought they were talking to the real actors. We would strongly advise all Doctor Who fans for their own safety to ignore any such postings and not be fooled by impersonators - it will never be David or Catherine online."


Follow-up statement from the Outpost Gallifrey site editor: "We support this statement by the BBC. While David Tennant has indeed visited Outpost Gallifrey in the past -- he has stated so several times in interviews with Doctor Who Magazine and other sources -- he has not posted in our Forum, nor is he likely to, and anyone attempting to post in his name would be immediately removed."