Rival media owners have told Jeremy Hunt, the UK culture secretary, he must ignore offers from News Corp to separate off Sky News. Reacting to reports the company has said it will separate or even sell Sky News the newspaper groups wrote to Hunt warning this pre-condition offer should not stop him referring the bid […]
News Corp has told the UK government that it may be prepared to ‘separate’ Sky News from BSkyB if the concession meant avoiding a lengthy investigation into its takeover of the broadcaster. According to the FT, talks between Rupert Murdoch’s media group and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have cited this as a […]
In a long-expected deal Amazon acquired all of Lovefilm, the online video rental service for around £200 million (€237m). The move bolsters Amazon’s DVD business and puts it in a straight fight with Netflix as both progressively shift their business online. Lovefilm has 1.6 million subscribers, Amazon already held a 42 per cent stake acquired […]
On January 19th, the UK government’s Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, told the Oxford Media Convention that he would be formulating new regulations covering online programming. “I do want to look at what can be done to strengthen child protection on the internet and whether the structures we have in place are the best way to […]
Formerly fierce competitors for premium pay-TV subscribers, Bertrand Meheut, Chairman of the Canal+ Group, and Stéphane Richard, Chief Executive Officer of Orange, have announced a strategic partnership plan to bring the Orange cinema series package and TPS Star together under one joint venture. The business will be owned 50-50 by the two partners and managed […]
Arqiva wants an investment partner for its online TV aggregator SeeSaw. The service, built on the legacy Project Kangaroo platform bought from the BBC, provides content from BBC, C4, Five and independents. Arqiva wants a partner to accelerate development of the service that has made little impact in the face of BBC iPlayer and ITV […]
UK Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has invited companies to run local TV stations. At the Oxford Media Convention, he said the initial schemes will be focused on “ten to twelve” major cities and will challenge bidders to register their interest by March 1st. He said: “To make this vision a reality I am today inviting […]
The Spanish Government is planning to set up a single regulatory body that would oversee the TV and telecoms markets under the umbrella of the current Telecommunications Market Commission (CMT). Initially, the Administration announced the creation, later in 2011, of an Audiovisual Council (CEMA) to oversee the TV market, separately from the CMT, with an […]
As expected , American regulators cleared Comcast’s $13.8 billion takeover of NBC Universal. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 4-1 to approve Comcast’s purchase of 51 per cent of NBC. The takeover has fought off opposition from compeititors and concerns on plurality but not without accepting conditions including making NBC’s output available to rival cable […]
The BBC’s Director of Future Media & Technology, Erik Huggers, is to leave the corporation at the end of February to become Corporate Vice President and General Manager of Intel’s Digital Home Group, based at its Silicon Valley headquarters in California. He replaces interim General Manager Brad Daniels. BBC Director General Mark Thompson said that […]