Last week’s Vivendi results were close to the market’s expectations, although there was subsequently some changes to guidance during the post-results analysts’ calls. For example, Vivendi’s Activision-Blizzard games division saw its guidance raised substantially, with the potential of even further progress. Vivendi is a much diversified business, especially in the telecoms sector, and while the […]
The race to buy the US online TV site Hulu has narrowed to three bidders according to reports: Amazon, Yahoo and Dish Network. Satellite TV operator DirecTV was ruled out of the auction for submitting too low a bid, the FT reported. Bids range from $1.5 billion to $2 billion. Hulu is being sold by […]
Following its December announcement of four initiatives to tackle the problem of copyright infringement online, Google has issued an update on its ongoing efforts. In a Public Policy blog post, Kent Walker, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, reported that the company had made considerable progress on each front, and would continue to evolve its […]
BBC Worldwide has confirmed the appointment of a regional Executive Vice-President (EVP) for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Joerg Bachmaier. Bachmaier will be responsible for BBC Worldwide’s strategic development in EMEA (excluding the UK) and delivering new brands, products and services initiatives to drive future revenue growth across the region. Bachmaier comes aboard from […]
Gracenote has opened a European Development Centre in Munich following the acquisition of German-based TVTV Services, an Electronic Programming Guide (EPG) and Smart TV service provider in Europe. Formerly a branch of Sony UK, TVTV has been integrated into Gracenote to enable Gracenote to expand its portfolio of products and technology to Smart TV manufacturers, […]
Michael Jackson, the former chief executive of Channel 4, has reportedly walked away from his role as chairman designate of SeeSaw, as a dispute over financing threatens the online TV venture’s future. Criterion Capital Partners, which bought SeeSaw from broadcast transmission firm Arqiva in early July, intended to bring in Jackson to lead a turnaround […]
South Korea’s LG Electronics has tied up with Dutch giant Philips and Japan’s Sharp to ramp up production of applications for Internet-powered televisions. The three TV vendors will jointly create software development kits, which will be distributed to third-party developers to write TV applications, LG said in a statement. It is the first such collaboration […]
In an almost perfect case of ‘putting his money where his mouth is’, BSkyB CEO Jeremy Darroch has put all of his annual salary into a share-buying spree. He has bought £384,670-worth of BSkyB shares (at £6.41 a share) which accounts for almost all of his net salary after tax and statutory deductions. But Darroch […]
Channel 4’s catch-up service 4oD drew 3.4 million viewers in July, according to figures released for the first time by the broadcaster. Channel 4 shows also drove an unspecified increase in 4oD programme views, to 29 million in July. The broadcaster reported 242 million 4oD views in last 12 months, a 20.9 per cent increase […]
Video-on-demand supplier Netflix has alerted analysts that it expects lower service adoption rates out of its Latin American markets “than those achieved in Canada” (its debut international market). Canada saw Netflix launch in September 2010 and now has 967,000 subscribers as at June 31st. “But still, we are very optimistic about what we can […]