According to consultancy firm Arthur D. Little (ADL), markets will continue to see a rush of consolidation and vertical integration among traditional media companies as offline advertising revenues and consumer spending stagnate while online advertising and consumer spend rises. The findings of its five-year forecast of the financial flows within the global media marketplace also […]
Karen Bradley, the UK Culture Secretary, has expressed concerns about corporate governance at News Corp and breaches of broadcasting standards by 21st Century Fox. Speaking in the House of Commons, Bradley who had previously said that she was “minded” to refer 21st Century Fox’s proposed takeover of Sky to media regulator Ofcom, saying that she […]
Global satellite giant Intelsat used the Satellite 2017 show to announce it had taken an equity stake in specialist antenna manufacturer Kymeta. Intelsat’s CEO Steven Spengler will take a seat on Kymeta’s board. Terms and the amount of the stake were not revealed. However, Intelsat has been working closely with Kymeta for a number of […]
Last December, SES, which now owns the former playout and facilities company RR Media, commenced litigation against three former senior executives at RR Media, including the CFO, and alleging that the trio deliberately set out to steal its customers and had stolen commercial secrets. SES paid $242 million (€280m) for RR Media and incorporated the […]
Last week Japanese telco giant SoftBank and Intelsat and OneWeb announced a merger scheme that would boost Intelsat’s existing geostationary satellite fleet by adding around 650 low Earth orbiting (LEO) satellites. The first of these additional satellites could be in use by 2019. It also means that Intelsat+OneWeb would be the world’s second major geostationary […]
James Murdoch, chief executive of 21st Century Fox and chairman of Sky, has suggested that 21st Century Fox’s £11.7 billion (€13.6bn) takeover of Sky would benefit the UK creative sector and beyond, proving to be “a significant driver of the UK creative industry’s long-term success in the global market.” Speaking at the Deloitte Enders Media […]
With 21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch extolling the creative benefits of Fox’s proposed takeover of Sky, the next stage in the process has been triggered now that the European Commission (EC) has formally been notified of the bid. This triggers a 10-day countdown for culture secretary Karen Bradley to decide whether to refer the […]
Channel 4 has taken a minority stake in new British virtual reality (VR) business Parable, focussing on innovative content creation with storytelling at its heart. Launched this month, Parable will create VR and 360° content across the entertainment, brand marketing and training sectors. Parable is co-founded by former director of programmes at The Garden Productions, […]
The post-announcement comments of the SoftBank-engineered merger between Intelsat and OneWeb are coming in, and they are not all favourable. For example, Sami Kassab, an equity analyst at investment bank Exane/BNP-Paribas, while praising Intelsat’s results said there are still major risks to the deal, not least Intelsat’s existing bondholders agreeing to a severe financial haircut […]
Japan’s telco giant SoftBank is the catalyst in bringing together old-established Intelsat and embryonic satellite operator OneWeb, into a merger. In essence, the agreement sees SoftBank inject $1.7 billion (€1.6bn) of new equity into debt-heavy Intelsat. At the end of 2016, SoftBank invested $1 billion into Jersey, Channel Islands-based OneWeb. Intelsat was already a minor investor […]