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5 arrested in Kodi box swoop

Five people have been arrested in a crackdown on the sale and distribution of illegal TV set-top devices in the North West of England and Wales. The multi-agency day of action on February 8th saw the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), Greater Manchester Police, City of London Police’s Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) and the […]

February 8, 2017By Colin Mann

ProSiebenSat.1 acquires Austria’s ATV

ProSiebenSat.1, via its subsidiary PULS 4, has acquired Austrian TV group ATV from Tele München. Markus Breitenecker, MD at ProSiebenSat.1 PULS 4, said: “The objective of the acquisition is to integrate ATV into ProSiebenSat.1 PULS 4 Group and thus to strengthen ATV’s position on the Austrian TV market sustainably.” Dr. Herbert G. Kloiber, the chairman […]

February 8, 2017

TF1’s Newen buys Dutch producer

TF1-owned producer and distributor Newen has taken a majority stake in Dutch indie production company Tuvalu Media Group, concluding its first international acquisition. Newen said is looking to “become a European leader in the production and distribution of audiovisual content.” The  TFI Group has already concluded commercial partnerships with companies in Germany, Spain and Canada […]

February 8, 2017From Pascale Paoli-Lebailly in Paris

Shinawatra suffers TV news ban from Thailand

  Voice TV, a TV channel owned by the controversial Shinawatra family, has been banned from broadcasting its popular evening news programme for 7 days. BBC Monitoring is reporting that the broadcasting committee of Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission passed a resolution on February 7th ordering the channel to suspend The Daily Dose programme […]

February 8, 2017By Chris Forrester

VIZIO fined $2.2m in Smart TV privacy case

Smart TV manufacturer VIZIO has agreed to pay $2.2 million (€2.06m) to settle charges by the US Federal Trade Commission and the Office of the New Jersey Attorney General that it installed software on its TVs to collect viewing data on 11 million consumer TVs without consumers’ knowledge or consent. The stipulated federal court order […]

February 7, 2017By Colin Mann

Murdoch: ‘OTT an option’

21st Century Fox has posted Q2 revenues of $7.68 billion (€7.18bn), up 4 per cent, and operating income of $1.99 billion, up 15 per cent, in part on the US election. CEO James Murdoch took the opportunity to speculate the company could go it alone in  OTT – direct to the consumer – and already […]

February 7, 2017

Viacom boss addresses “points of pain”

The past year or so has not been kind to Viacom, with highly public squabbles between lawyers for founder Sumner Redstone, and bloodletting between certain key executives, and far too much dirty washing aired in the world’s business and tabloid press. The share price had certainly suffered from a wonderful ‘high’ of $88 back in […]

February 7, 2017

Amino FY results “ahead of expectations”

Amino Technologies, a specialist the development and delivery of IPTV/OTT solutions, saw full year revenues (to November 30th) rise by 80 per cent to £75.2 million (€87.2m) in the year to the end of November with adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation also up 80 per cent at £13.5 million. Non-executive chairman Keith […]

February 7, 2017

O’Sullivan joins Piksel Board

Piksel has confirmed that global media and entertainment executive Gerry O’Sullivan has been elected to Piksel’s board of directors. “Gerry has worked with some of the most senior people in entertainment, news and sports worldwide and offers a unique perspective on how digital content and new technologies can support and create new revenue streams for […]

February 7, 2017

Analyst: Sky/Discovery dispute sign of market trends

According to John Bird, Principal Consultant at Futuresource Consulting, the impact of on-demand on linear viewing and the rising cost of sports rights are two of the main reasons behind the well-publicised and highly acrimonious pricing row between Sky and Discovery Communications which was settled shortly before the broadcaster’s 12 thematic genre channels were set […]

February 6, 2017By Colin Mann