The BBC Trust and S4C have agreed a fundamental change in the Welsh language public-service broadcaster’s funding, which from April 1st will be primarily provided by the licence fee rather than direct government grant. The agreement will run for four years and sets out the degree of BBC Trust oversight – including annual performance assessments […]
Netflix has announced that it intends to offer, subject to market considerations, $400 million from the issue senior notes due 2021 through an offering to qualified institutional buyers. Netflix will use approximately $225 million of the net proceeds from this offering to redeem its outstanding 8.5 per cent senior notes due 2017, and intends to […]
PVR supplier TiVo has won support from another pair of hedge fund investors. The market speculation is that while TiVo is on a financial roll, winning new subscribers and a steady stream of patent litigation battles, the two new backers are hedging their bets and anticipating a buyout from a richer player. The names, billionaire […]
Investor BlackRock has lifted its stake in the company above 10 per cent as shares rose on the launch of its new web site. Nonetheless , at 65p, shares in the advanced video search engine are still short of last year’s 80p high. Weakness in the online advertising market, on which blinkx’s revenues depend, have […]
The past 10 days have been busy for Munich-based Sky Deutschland. They have restructured their debt, issued extra shares to backer News Corp, declared record subscriber numbers and organised fresh working capital. All in all, says Sarah Simon, an analyst at Berenberg Bank, “Sky Deutschland continues to be the best structural growth story within our […]
Arris Group is selling approximately 10.6 million shares of its common stock, valued at $150 million, to Comcast Corporation. The sale of the shares to Comcast is part of the previously announced Arris acquisition agreement for the Motorola Home business from Google. As provided for in the Motorola Home business acquisition agreement, the shares issued […]
Shareholders in Arqiva are set to invest £400 million of fresh equity into the company as part of an agreement to refinance its £3.7 billion debt pile. The TV broadcast business, whose existing debt facility is due to expire in 2014, has struck an agreement to borrow around £2.5 billion from a group of 20 […]
OTT video supplier Hulu is asking its key shareholders for an additional $200 million in order to fund overseas expansion and to secure more programming rights. Hulu’s three shareholders, Disney, News Corp and Comcast are being asked to fund around $200 million, according to the Wall Street Journal, despite the five-year venture remaining unprofitable to […]
Billionaire media entrepreneur Alki David, who runs the FilmOn Internet streaming service, is among investors providing A$5 million (€3.95m) for Australian TV and movie streaming company Quickflix. The funds will be provided through a convertible loan and bond agreement and used by the company to support its restructuring plans and pursuit of subscriber growth. David […]
Hot on the heels of announcing that it would make faster broadband its top digital priority in 2013, the European Commission has adopted revised guidelines for the application of EU state aid rules to the broadband sector. These guidelines will help Member States achieve the objectives of the EU Digital Agenda. Taking into account the […]