Advanced Television

Digital Radio

Gen Z discovering music on YouTube, but not listening

Sweety High, a digital media company for Gen Z girls, has released its first Gen Z Music Consumption & Spending Report, which reveals research around the preferences of the powerhouse cohort. According to the report, while YouTube ranks as the top platform for music discovery (75 per cent), more than half of respondents also cite Radio […]

March 8, 2018

Streaming music market thriving

Apple Music says it has reached 36 million subs globally (which is up on the “over 30 million” mentioned at the end of September by the company). A report from equity analysts at investment bank Exane/BNPP says that this equates to roughly 12+ million net new subs in a full year. Although still well down […]

February 6, 2018By Chris Forrester

SiriusXM to buy back $2bn of shares

In a growing sign of fiscal health at pay-radio broadcasters SiriusXM, its Board has approved a $2 billion boost to its existing share buy-back programme.  The programme has been in place since early 2013 and the total spent or available now tops $12 billion. SiriusXM in an SEC filing says the commitment reflects the board’s […]

January 25, 2018By Chris Forrester

Apple HomePod arrives Feb 9

HomePod, the wireless speaker from Apple, arrives in stores from February 9th and is available to order online this from January 26th in the US, UK and Australia. HomePod will arrive in France and Germany in the spring. Apple says its HomePod delivers “stunning audio quality wherever it’s placed — in any room in the […]

January 23, 2018

SiriusXM targets 185m vehicles

David Frear, CFO and SEVP at pay-radio operator SiriusXM, says the business now has more than 100 million vehicles on the road, and is targeting 185 million within the next 8 years.  “We’re just a cashflow machine,” he said. SiriusXM had earlier reported that it added 1.56 million gross subs last year (net additions of […]

January 12, 2018By Chris Forrester

Greece adds digital radio

Greek public broadcaster ERT has started test digital radio transmissions. ERT has added transmitters to its broadcast towers on Mt Ymittos which overlooks Athens. Test transmissions will use DAB+ technology in frequency block 12C, although various bit-rates will be trialled. A bill regulating future digital radio frequencies has been recently introduced in the Greek parliament. […]

January 11, 2018By Chris Forrester

SiriusXM dumps Bannon

Steve Bannon, formerly Donald Trump’s chief strategist, didn’t have the best of days on January 9th.  He lost his job as executive chairman of the controversial Breitbart News when its backers pulled their funding, reportedly extremely unhappy at his disparaging comments about the president and his family. Then, pay-radio operator SiriusXM dropped him from their […]

January 10, 2018By Chris Forrester

Spotify tops 70m subs; boosts Vivendi

Music Business Worldwide (MBW) is reporting that music streaming service has added some 20 million paying subscribers since March last year. MBW says Spotify now counts 70 million subscribers. Equity analysts at investment bank Exane/BNPP say this is clearly good news for Spotify, but also helps Vivendi-backed Universal Music Group (UMG). “Spotify is the largest […]

January 9, 2018By Chris Forrester

BBC launches full voice service for smart speakers

The BBC has launched its first full voice app for voice-controlled smart speakers, an Amazon Alexa skill for Echo devices, with other smart speakers coming in future. It brings the BBC’s full range of live radio stations – including all local, national and international radio – to Echo and Alexa users for the first time, […]

December 11, 2017

YouTube launching subscription music service

YouTube will launch a new subscription music streaming service in March 2018, according to reports. Record label Warner Music Group has already signed on while Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Merlin, a consortium of independent labels, are said to be in talks with the online video portal. The service, tentatively branded as ‘Remix’, […]

December 8, 2017