Episode 19 of the TARDISblend crashes into Geeks of Doom, as we wait impatiently for the upcoming seasons of Doctor Who, Torchwood, and the Sarah Jane Adventures. For this edition, we review some of the recent news and rumors about everyone’s favorite Time Lord, and look forward to the new developments coming in Torchwood: Miracle Day.

We kick off the show discussing the news of Tenth Doctor David Tennant getting engaged to The Doctor’s Daughter Georgia Moffett, in addition to the news that the couple are expecting a baby. We also take a look at the new Classic Doctor Who Channel at YouTube set up by the BBC, which is a wonderful experience for fans old and new.

Additionally, we dive into the recent developments for the upcoming Torchwood season, taking a look at the new American cast lined up to join forces either with or against Captain Jack and Gwen (John Barrowman and Eve Myles respectively), as well as speculating about what Miracle Day may hold for the show’s heroes while we review the official plot synopsis.

All this and more on the latest TARDISblend!

The BBC will cut its online budget by a quarter as part of a new restructuring plan to make its online presence more distinctive and reduce competition with commercial sites.

The organization, which made the announcement earlier in the week, stated that part of the restructuring means closing down community-themed sites, less blog coverage, and replacing forums with social networking tools. Overall they plan to focus efforts into very specific and defined categories — more or less indicating that there was plenty of fat to be cut.

“A refocusing on our editorial priorities, a commitment to the highest quality standards, and a more streamlined and collegiate way of working will help us transform BBC Online for the future,” said BBC director general Mark Thompson.

The BBC announced that it has plans to create a subscription-based service to access content currently only available through iPlayer — an on-demand video service available for free to citizens within the UK.

This means shows like Doctor Who, Torchwood, Merlin, and many others will be available worldwide the same time it’s released in Britain.

The service will get ported over to the iPad first in a subscription-based business model, although iPlayer on mediums will likely be a combination of advertisement and paid subscription moving forward, according to the BBC.

Why only offer iPlayer on an iPad? My personal assumption is because of the proven track record that iOS has for getting its customers to pay for content. Also, since so many fans have been forced to stream or pirate BBC content that they couldn’t find available anywhere else, this offers a solid first step into making money off of something that essentially has been “free” (albeit, stolen).