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Ofcom cuts 170 posts

Ofcom will have to cut 170 jobs, almost 20 per cent of its workforce, and reduce its £143 million (E160m) budget by 28.2 per cent in real terms over the next four years to meet the government’s costing savings targets. The regulator will see its budget fall by £30 million in nominal terms to £112.7 […]

October 21, 2010

Netflix moving online only, net up 26%

After building a successful business by shipping millions of DVDs every month in the mail, Netflix expects by the end of this year to start letting subscribers give up discs. Chief Executive Reed Hastings has said Netflix is looking to offer a new lower-cost plan through which subscribers could access movies and TV shows solely […]

October 21, 2010

BBC appoints new digital head

The BBC has finally appointed a new digital media director to run BBC Online, BBC iPlayer, BBC Mobile and BBC Red Button . Ralph Rivera moves from New York and from being online president of Major League Gaming, previously he had been head of games at AOL for 10 years. He will report to the […]

October 21, 2010

BBC Trust bargains for life

The future of the BBC Trust appears to have been safeguarded by agreeing  the new licence fee settlement agreed as part of the spending review. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is expected to reveal more detail about the new settlement before the weekend, but it is being reported that it protects the Trust […]

October 21, 2010

Verivue acquires CoBlitz

Verivue has completed the acquisition of CoBlitz, a provider of Content Delivery Network (CDN) infrastructure solutions for wireline and wireless service providers. The addition of CoBlitz products further extends Verivue’s portfolio of content delivery solutions, providing operators with a broad range of choices for both managed video networks and OTT video services.

October 20, 2010

Ofcom’s YouView light is amber, not green

There have been plenty of headlines in the UK suggesting that Ofcom has “approved” YouView, the BBC-backed video-on-demand service. “Not so,” implies Tony Ballard, a media lawyer at Harbottle & Lewis. Ofcom has said that any investigation now would be “premature” because it was part of an emerging sector, its impact too unclear at this […]

October 19, 2010

Apple coming to the crunch?

Seems a weird thing to wonder when Apple recently became the second biggest company on the Dow by stock value, but could this be the high water mark? Apple has out powered all contenders by repeating its trick of game-changing UI’s (remember the Apple Mac GUI that started the whole thing) and allying it with […]

October 19, 2010

Ofcom OKs YouView

Ofcom has confirmed that it will not open an investigation into YouView (formerly known as ‘Project Canvas’) under the Competition Act following complaints made by Virgin Media and IPVision. Chief Executive, Ed Richards, said: “Ofcom’s view is that consumers’ interests will not be served by opening an investigation. It would be premature at the current […]

October 19, 2010

BBC: EU must resist traffic management

Erik Huggers, BBC director of future media and technology, says ISPs shouldn’t traffic manage but if they do it must be transparent. He summarised key points made by the BBC in its submission to the European Commission review on net neutrality (being conducted in conjunction with Ofcom) which says the EC’s three targets should be […]

October 19, 2010

Media legacy future for Olympic Centres

Senior officials responsible for the post-2012 utilisation of the Press and Broadcast Centres at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London have confirmed their strong commitment to ensuring that the locations form part of a new centre for creative industries. Andrew Altman, Chief Executive of the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) said the body “was […]

October 19, 2010From Colin Mann in London