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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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’, […]
Arqiva, the UK communications infrastructure company, has announcd that phase 4 of the BBC National DAB roll out has now completed, with the switching on of a new transmitter at Fakenham in North Norfolk. Phase 4 has seen an additional 163 sites deployed across the UK to deliver the BBC’s national radio services, including those […]
Global consumer media usage & exposure, including all digital and traditional media combined, is on pace to grow an estimated 1.9 per cent to an average of 50 hours per week (HPW) in 2017, according to research from PQ Media. Consumer time spent with media worldwide is projected to increase another 2.5 per cent in 2018, […]
Immedia Group has announced its DreamStream X radio platform which allow brands to combine live audio and visual streaming through its own in-house entertainment platform direct to customer’s mobile phones. DreamStream X works by streaming live broadcasts from Immedia’s own studios onto an app integrated within a brand’s platform and delivered to people’s mobile phones. […]
Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket company has raised $100 million in fresh funding, according to a regulatory filing made on November 27th. An earlier cash-raising exercise this summer for the privately-held company raised $350 million. The amended (to include the new $100 million) Series H financing round includes 25 unnamed investors and values SpaceX at $21.5 […]
On the heels of price hikes from Netflix, US pay-radio operator SiriusXM is upping some of its prices, typically by about $1 a month. SiriusXM’s pricing structure is somewhat complex, with a total of almost 30 packages (including special military bundles) plus add-ons. Generally, prices have risen by 5 per cent (its ‘All Access’ comprehensive […]
Canadians are increasingly turning to platforms and devices connected to the Internet for their video and audio content, according to the 2017 Communications Monitoring Report from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Canadians aged 18-34 years old are leading the trend with 23 per cent watching TV exclusively online. Nationally, 13 per cent of […]