The BET channel is celebrating American Independence Day this Saturday by screening the BET Awards 2009 in HD. UK viewers will be able to see the ceremony on the BET HD channel, which will be available to all Freesat subscribers from today until after the event (on channel 142), or on the standard BET channel (number 140).

The awards, which honour the best in African-American music, took place on June 28th and were dedicated to the late Michael Jackson. Many acts performed tributes, including the host – actor Jamie Foxx. The show hit the headlines earlier this week as it included the first public appearance from a Jackson since Michael’s death. Little sister Janet gave a heart-felt thank you to her brother’s fans. For those of you that don’t have Freesat or the BET Channel, you can watch a clip here.

Do you like stunts? Motorbikes? How about stunts AND motorbikes? Well then you’ve got to make sure you tune into Dave’s first ever live broadcast. On July 28th, the channel will be joining a 17,000-strong crowd to celebrate the Red Bull X-Fighter World Tour’s English debut. Live from Battersea Power Station in London, you can catch all the flips and crashes in a two-hour special hosted by former mountain biker Rob Warner and sports presenter Ed Leigh. The high-energy, high-speed competition is no stranger to Dave, but the difference this year being that it’s all live action. If you’re not sure what to expect, Dave is showing four highlights shows prior to the event, covering the tour in Canada, Spain, Mexico and the US. Have a look at this impressive array of moves to whet your appetite. It’s awesome – but rather them than me!

Five managed to pull off a surprising time slot win last night, when 3.8million viewers watched the first episode of CSI: Miami Series Seven. Not only is that the highest ever ratings for the show, but it also meant Five was the most-watched channel at the time – gaining a 18% share of the audience. Three million more viewers preferred to find out if Horatio was actually dead than catch Channel 4’s Dispatches special on the Mumbai terror attacks.

Conversely, ITV1 stooped to an all-time low this week, with a measly 16% share – the lowest in its 54-year history. Viewers are deserting the channel in favour of the BBC’s Wimbledon coverage, but it’s not all bad news if you consider the broadcaster gained the highest viewing figures in five years when 17.3million people tuned into the Britain’s Got Talent final.

If you’re still in mourning and fancy a dose of the Jackson family on your telly, then tune into All Star Mr & Mrs this weekend. Michael’s older brother Tito Jackson appears on it with his partner Sonia Galindo. The show was recorded and scheduled to broadcast long before MJ’s death but producers have decided to go ahead with the episode after re-editing it to include a sympathetic statement at the start of the show.

I watched Inside Nature’s Giants on Channel 4 last night. At first, I thought a programme about slicing up large (and cute!) animals wouldn’t really be my thing. However, 20 minutes in and I was glued to the TV.

The programme was a fascinating insight into the anatomy of an elephant. Scientists and vets dissected the dead animal and explained the history behind its evolution and working parts. It was a truly educational experience! For example, they showed how the trunk has a bit of bone that effectively acts like a finger – how cool is that? And elephants flap their ears to stay cool.

At first, the sight of the dead elephant made me slightly concerned – had they killed it for the purpose of dissection? But then they explained that she was put down. She had such bad arthritis in her leg that she would’ve been in enormous pain prior to her death. They even showed the leg bones and how the cartilage had completely worn away. Amazing stuff. If you’re thinking the actual dissection would gross you out, think again. It was actually not that bad (this coming from a seriously squeamish blood-phobe)! The elephant was so huge that when they started slicing it up the whole thing looked almost unreal. During the process, they periodically interjected with rather amusing shots of the audience looking totally disinterested. That made me laugh. But apart from that, I found myself being educated in a much more stimulating and interesting way than any of my school biology lessons back in the day. Every so often an ‘oooohhh’ or ‘aaahhh’ would pop out of my mouth as I sat watching, eager to learn more.

If you missed this episode, I strongly recommend catching up on 4oD. Next week, they’re examining the whale. I never thought there would come a day when I look forward to seeing a whale dissection but there you go, life is full of surprises!

The BBC has commissioned another series of the long-running sitcom Last of the Summer Wine. That brings it to a record-breaking 31 series! But there are signals this could be the last, as the new series will only be six episodes long, as opposed to the usual 10 or 11. Hardly surprising given that viewing figures have dropped from its heyday in the 1980s when it averaged over 18million viewers; now it’s more like 3million. It’s still an impressive record for the programme that brought us comedy characters such as Nora Batty and Compo, played by the late actors Kathy Staff and Bill Owen respectively. The actors that ARE still with us, and will be returning to our screens next year, include Russ Abbot, June Whitfield and Peter Sallis. Nice to see the Beeb is still representing the senior citizens.

It certainly was a weekend jam-packed full of music, wasn’t it? Whilst you were enjoying the beginnings of a heat-wave (woo!), TV channels churned out documentaries and news specials on Michael Jackson. Meanwhile, the BBC treated us to some great live music from Glastonbury.

First of all I just want to say, as much as the Beeb has been criticised for its coverage of Glastonbury in the press, it was bloomin’ good this year. Some old faves such as ‘The Boss’ Springsteen, Blur and Neil Young headlined. Tabloid fodder Lily Allen and Lady GaGa (told you she would be weird!) put in some seriously impressive performances; minus the smoking on stage – tut, tut Lily! What I particularly liked about the BBC’s coverage was its red button features. They included great sets from new talent like Little Boots and Florence and the Machine. So critics, as much as I appreciate it was a burden on the licence-payers’ money, lighten up! It was a mighty fine weekend of music!

And as for Jacko. My, my. He’s certainly got you guys talking on the TVGuide.co.uk forums. Opinion is split. Some see the passing of a legend, while others are quick to remind us of his chequered past. On TV however, tributes featured on virtually all channels, with ITV1’s The Michael Jackson Story gaining the most viewers – 4.5million. With several Jacko singles set to re-enter the Top 40 this weekend, and the compilation CD ‘Number Ones’ already topping the albums charts, it’s clear we have witnessed a historic chapter in music. Instead of leaving you with an MJ classic, I’ll treat you to footage of a tribute from former US 80s boy-band New Edition. The group, who have now reformed, performed this live on the BET Awards this weekend. Watch out for a glimpse of Bobby Brown busting out his Jackson moves. Cha mon!

I feel like I’m constantly blogging about how low reality TV has stooped. News of the X Factor auditionee who was rejected by all four judges and then threatened to commit suicide doesn’t help the issue!

My fear is that this is the future of reality TV. We have started a sort of snowball effect that can only get worse from here. Look at poor Susan Boyle. Harrowed by the sudden media attention, she checked into rehab straight after Britain’s Got Talent ended. Now, we have contestants who face suicidal depression at the audition stage of the process – they aren’t even on TV yet! What’s next? Merely walking through the doors will send them into panic attack mode and running for a brown paper bag! And you just know that this latest incident will spur on copycat behaviour. Soon enough, every audition will feature an emotionally unstable hopeful that can’t take rejection. I can’t help but think: if these people find failing to get through on the X Factor suicide-inducing then how do they cope with…well…life?? Relationship break-ups, divorce, bereavement, financial instability – these are things that bring people down, not rejection at the hands of Cheryl Cole, surely?

Brace yourselves, more and more of these fragile oddities will probably end up being put through to face the judges, simply for entertainment purposes and not for talent. Then, when they have to face the fact that they were just put through to be a laughing stock, that’s when it will all come tumbling down. Such is the reality of reality TV.

Five has launched a website dedicated to UK soaps. Holy Soap features gossip, spoilers and catch up for all soaps, not just Five’s Neighbours and Home and Away. Aired episodes can be downloaded from the website and there are even previews of upcoming storylines. Sounds like soap heaven to me. The launch of the website follows on from the launch of Five Fwd, a website aimed at men and dedicated to gadgets and cars. Watch out for the launch of a sports website very soon too, dedicated to The Ashes Test series.

It’s all change in the world of sports broadcasting. It looks like ESPN could be real contenders to BSkyB now, given that they’re already the main competitor in the US and other countries worldwide. The Disney-owned company has just bought the rights to our Premier League after Setanta Sports announced it couldn’t make payment in time. This means ESPN will not only bring us 46 games in next season’s English Premier League, but also 23 games per season from 2010-2013. This will cover Saturday tea-time matches and Monday evening ones. It looks like these games will now be available on Sky instead of Setanta, as well as Virgin and BT if discussions are successful. Poor old Setanta. The Irish broadcaster is currently making an estimated £100million loss a year and will also lose its rights to other sporting events. The Scottish Premier League is looking for a new broadcaster and several other contracts will be up for grabs too, including the FA Cup, the PGA Golf tour and several cricket matches. It’s just a waiting game to see who will pick up all the sporting events and where you’ll be able to watch them. Meanwhile, Deloitte is poised ready to take Setanta into administration, and ESPN is now available on Sky and digital terrestrial TV.