Advanced Television

Business

DMC appoints Beard as Commercial Director

Digital Media Centre, part of AMC Networks International, has appointed Mark Beard as Commercial Director. In this role, he will be leading the Sales, Marketing and Account Management activities, as part of the growth strategy of Digital Media Centre (DMC). Beard has an extensive media and broadcasting background. Working within the broadcast industry for more […]

December 22, 2016

Mediaset calls for AGCom intervention

Italian broadcaster Mediaset has said that in light of French media group Vivendi’s conduct in respect of its acquisition of shares in the company and failed cooperation agreement, it has submitted a complaint to the Italian communications authority the Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni (AGCom) calling for urgent, even provisional, intervention the body. In […]

December 21, 2016By Colin Mann

Broadcasters welcome European spectrum commitments

Broadcast Networks Europe (BNE) – the trade organisation for terrestrial broadcast network operators for radio and TV in Europe – has welcomed the key commitments in favour of terrestrial broadcasting from the Parliament, the Council and the Commission in the political agreement announced ahead of the final UHF Band decision: TV broadcasting will retain priority […]

December 21, 2016By Colin Mann

Avanti’s contracted backlog vanishes

London-based specialist satellite operator Avanti Communications revealed on December 20th that it had abandoned plans to sell itself and instead opted to borrow more cash, at expensive rates of interest. However, an examination of Avanti’s all-important contracted orders for capacity, referred to as ‘backlog’, shows that its backlog is evaporating faster than new business is […]

December 21, 2016By Chris Forrester

Israel’s space industry in “severe crisis”

The fallout of the September 1st destruction of the Amos-6 satellite in a catastrophic fire atop a Falcon 9 rocket continues to reverberate in Israel. Let alone the question of whether the Amos-6 operator, Spacecom, is being sold to a Chinese investor (confirmed by Israeli press but then denied by Spacecom) a report from Science, […]

December 21, 2016

China Digital TV wraps management buy-out

Nasdaq-registered China Digital TV has sold its Conditional Access division, Network Broadcasting platform and VoD business. An EGM has approved the sale to existing senior management. In a somewhat complex reverse takeover restructuring China Digital through the sale of all of the Company’s indirectly-held equity interests in Beijing Super TV Co., Ltd., (“Super TV”), which […]

December 21, 2016By Chris Forrester

British IP Minister changes departments

Baroness Lucy Neville-Rolfe has been appointed Commercial Secretary (Minister of State) at Her Majesty’s Treasury, having previously been a Minister of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy since July 2016 following the reallocation of ministerial briefs by new Prime Minister Theresa May. She served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at […]

December 21, 2016By Colin Mann

Nielsen acquires Gracenote

Audience measurement specialist Nielsen is buying media and entertainment metadata provider Gracenote from the Tribune Media Company for around $560 million (€539.5m). Nielsen says the deal means it acquires the data and technology that underpins the programming guides and personalised user experience for major video, music, audio and sports content. The acquisition extends Nielsen’s footprint […]

December 20, 2016

Opera sells majority stake in Opera TV

Opera Software ASA has sold a controlling stake in Opera TV for to Moore Frères & Company, an investment run by former Viacom execs and  focused exclusively on the tech, media, and telecom industries. Opera TV is an independent developer of cloud and embedded software for OTT deployment and major customers are companies such as Sony, Samsung, TiVo, Verizon, […]

December 20, 2016

Sony takes 5% of Chili VoD

Sony Pictures Entertainment has acquired 5 per cent of Milan-based VoD platform Chili for €3 million, according to a report by Italian news agency Adnkronos. Sony thus becomes the third US majors to become a shareholder of the Italian VoD platform after Warner Bros Pictures and Paramount/Viacom. After launching in Italy in 2012, the platform […]

December 20, 2016From Branislav Pekic in Rome