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“Sell CNN” says US Dept. of Justice

The proposed sale of Time Warner to AT&T was thrown an unexpected curve ball November 8th when the US Department of Justice (DoJ), in its report on the deal, said that it would block the $85 billion scheme unless it sells off CNN. The DoJ is understood to have said that AT&T would either have […]

November 9, 2017By Chris Forrester

Ericsson Broadcast and Media Services becomes Red Bee Media

Ericsson is renaming its Broadcast and Media Services business to Red Bee Media, the former name of the one-time BBC Broadcast unit, effective immediately. The Red Bee Media name and brand identity will apply to all of Ericsson’s Broadcast and Media Services businesses worldwide. As part of this change Red Bee Media is now an […]

November 9, 2017By Colin Mann

O’Reilly was protected from claims in Fox contract

Bill O’Reilly, the former Fox News presenter, had a clause in his last contract that meant he could not be fired over harassment allegations unless they were proved in court. Jacques Nasser, an independent director of Fox talked about the clause during a hearing with the Competition and Markets Authority in its investigation into 21st […]

November 9, 2017

RTL’s German and French businesses drive record Q3

RTL Group has published its results for the nine months ending September 30th 2017. In the third quarter of 2017, reported Group revenue was up 1.5 per cent to €1,372 million (Q3/2016: €1,352 million), mostly due to higher revenue from Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland (Germany) and Groupe M6 (France). EBITDA was up strongly by 17.4 per […]

November 9, 2017

Hurricane Maria impacts DISH Network Q3

US pay-TV operator DISH Network has reported revenue totaling $3.58 billion (€3.08bn) for the quarter ending September 30th 2017, compared to $3.77 billion for the corresponding period in 2016. Subscriber-related revenue for the quarter totaled $3.55 billion, compared to $3.73 billion in subscriber-related revenue for the year-ago period. Net income attributable to DISH Network totaled […]

November 9, 2017

New directors appointed to Eutelsat board

The Ordinary and Extraordinary Shareholders’ Meeting of Eutelsat Communications has approved the appointment of four new directors: Dominique D’Hinnin, Paul-François Fournier, Esther Gaide and Didier Leroy. Their mandates will be for a term of four years up to the date of the Ordinary General Meeting to approve the financial statements for the Financial Year ending […]

November 9, 2017

AMC UK appoints Florea, Rowden in new roles

AMC Networks International – UK (AMCNI UK) has announced the appointment of Alina Florea and Sam Rowden to newly created roles. Florea will become Director of Acquisitions and Content Partnerships, while Rowden will assume the new role of Director of Programming, CBS Channels. They will continue to report to Kevin Dickie, SVP, Channels Group, UK, […]

November 9, 2017

Sky News closure risk

Sky is warning UK competition regulators that it could shut down Sky News if 21st Century Fox’s proposed takeover of the broadcaster is not approved. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is undertaking a six-month investigation into 21st Century Fox’s proposed takeover of Sky. Karen Bradley, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media […]

November 8, 2017

Shooting Foxes

There is an old English saying derived from hunting: ‘You’ve shot my fox’. It means one’s whole plan, or whole story, has been undercut by one or more unexpected action. The Murdochs, as owners of 21st Century Fox, have been busy shooting everyone’s foxes this week. The narrative was that after exhaustive tracking, and several […]

November 8, 2017

Mediaset back in the black

Italian commercial broadcaster Mediaset ended the first nine months of 2017 with a net profit of €35.9 million, a turnaround on the loss of €118 million a year earlier. The positive performance was achieved thanks to both the increase in the advertising market share and the fall in operating costs. Net revenues amounted to €2.53 […]

November 8, 2017From Branislav Pekic in Rome