Sky has reported an operating profit of £679 million (€632m) for its half-year, down 9 per cent as a result of the increase in Premier League costs (up £314 million year on year,) which was “substantially” offset by its strong revenue growth and “excellent” progress in operating efficiency. Jeremy Darroch, Group Chief Executive, commented: “We […]
Verizon Communications is exploring a merger with cable MSO Charter Communications, reports the WSJ. Verizon, America’s biggest mobile operator, has a market capitalisation of $203 billion (€190bn), while Charter is valued at $84 billion, according to Thomson Reuters. Neither company would comment; Charter’s shares were up 10 per cent at $342 in premarket trading. Verizon’s […]
AT&T lost about 27,000 net pay TV subs in Q4 2016 with 262,000 U-verse TV customers leaving while it gained 235,000 DirecTV subs during the period. AT&T, which has been focussing on the lower-cost DirecTV platform, ended 2016 with 21.01 million satellite TV customers and 4.25 million U-verse video subs. It also confirmed that DirecTV […]
Google’s parent holding company Alphabet is edging closer to selling its expensively-bought SkyBox Imaging business, which it renamed Terra Bella after its $473 million (€441m) purchase. The prospects of a sale of the Mountain View, California high-resolution Earth observation business were originally reported on January 11th. The sale is now “essentially done” report sources. What […]
A Brussels conference (Space Strategy for Europe:The Road Ahead) heard senior speakers from Europe’s space businesses urge delegates and industry leaders to “buy European” for their satellite, military and commercial, and satellite launches. Belgium’s deputy prime minister, Didier Reynders spoke for many when he expressed fears that changes in US strategy under the Trump administration […]
Following advanced-television.com’s revelation that UK ISPs were set to issue letters to UK Internet users regarding the use of their broadband connection ‘to share copyrighted material’, the government-backed ‘Get It Right From A Genuine Site’ campaign has added further details of the scheme’s operation to the get-it-right.org website to which ‘infringers’ are directed via the […]
MTG is selling its 50 per cent stake in FTV Prima Holding to Denemo Media. The cash deal values FTV Prima Holding at €237.4 million. Closing is expected in Q1 2017. MTG is considering using the proceeds from the sale to increase its ownership in InnoGames from 21 per cent to 51 per cent, based […]
South Korea’s LG Display is on a revenue and profits roil, helped by the popularity of its OLED technology, and in particular the production of panels for Ultra-HD use. CFO Don Kim told analysts on its Q4 2016 conference call that the company had “solidified the foundation for business expansion in terms of production, customer […]
Charlie Ergen’s Dish Network, and his EchoStar satellite division, are having mixed fortunes. Last week Dish was hit with a massive fine over unwarranted marketing telephone calls, and its EchoStar-21 satellite is stuck in Kazakhstan awaiting a much delayed launch. But Wall Street seemingly loves Ergen, and a Morgan Stanley equity report yesterday prompted a […]
Cisco Systems has agreed to buy US business software company AppDynamics Inc for about $3.7 billion (€3.4bn), making one of its largest deals of recent years. Rob Salvagno, Cisco’s vice president of corporate development, said that the acquisition fits Cisco’s long-term direction and its transition toward software. AppDynamics makes software that manages and analyses apps […]