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UK pledges £400m for ultra-fast broadband

The UK government has launched a £400 million (€455m) infrastructure fund to further investment in ‘full-fibre’ broadband. The aim is to offer speeds of up to one gigabit per second (Gbps) or more to households and businesses by having fibre optic cables run right up to their properties, rather than relying on copper cables to […]

July 3, 2017

Canada’s PSP leads charge to buy Arqiva

Canada’s PSP Investments, with around C$136 billion (€92bn) of assets under management, is reportedly leading a handful of potential buyers for the UK’s Arqiva, which holds a near monopoly on broadcast and transmissions for British terrestrial TV companies. Arqiva is also a major player in the supply of connectivity for many of the UK’s cellular […]

July 3, 2017By Chris Forrester

Foxtel KOs big fight Facebook pirates

Australian pay-TV operator Foxtel has acted quickly to shut down Facebook users who attempted to broadcast pirated versions of the world-title welterweight boxing bout between Australia’s Jeff Horn and Filipino title-holder Manny Pacquiao. Foxtel’s Main Event channel held the broadcasting rights to the fight, charging customers A$59.95 to watch it, but shortly after the final […]

July 3, 2017By Colin Mann

Sky invests in Circle Media Labs

Sky has made a $2 million (€1.75m) equity investment in Circle Media Labs, an early-stage technology company specialising in connected devices. Sky said the investment would provide it with additional insight into developments within the field.

July 3, 2017

UK Media department in Digital rebrand

In a move that acknowledges the way the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s remit has evolved, the Prime Minister and Culture Secretary Karen Bradley have agreed a departmental name change. The Department will continue to be referred to as DCMS in all communications, but is now the department for Digital, Culture, Media and […]

July 3, 2017By Colin Mann

Intelsat appoints Toscano

Intelsat has announced that José Manuel do Rosário Toscano will be joining the company to lead its efforts in International Government Affairs and Asset Management, effective September 4th 2017. Toscano will join the Luxembourg global headquarters office. In this newly created role, Toscano will be responsible for Intelsat’s international government relations and other international advocacy […]

June 30, 2017

Fox Sky bid set for further competition scrutiny

Karen Bradley, the UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, has said she is minded to refer the bid by Fox to acquire the remaining shares in Sky that it does not already own to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), but will take representations until July 14th before making her final decision. […]

June 29, 2017By Colin Mann

Sky, Fox… no big deal

The UK Culture Secretary Karen Bradley has made her pronouncement on the Fox bid for Sky. It didn’t include the words grass, or long, or kick. But that was what it meant. The May government (otherwise known as ‘Maybe it’s a government, Maybe it isn’t’) has enough problems right now without dealing with this particularly […]

June 29, 2017

UN backs Al Jazeera

David Kaye, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, has come out firmly in support of Qatar-based (and funded) news channel Al Jazeera. Kaye, in a statement, says that demands to close the channel “represents a serious threat to media freedom if states, under the pretext of a diplomatic crisis, take measures to force […]

June 29, 2017By Chris Forrester

Mixed messages for SES

SES held its annual ‘investors day’ in London, June 28th, although some investors seemingly took a less than optimistic view of the satellite operator’s prospects. Some negative comments prompted a fall in SES’ share price of some 3 per cent, down from €21.88 to €21.50 on the day. But it might be that the market […]

June 29, 2017