Russia’s media and communications watchdog Roskomnadzor (Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications) has permanently blocked 234 digital piracy websites, according to Alexander Zharov, head of the body. Zharov declared that the fight against digital piracy is successful. According to Zharov, the Moscow City Court blocked 3,700 websites […]
Over one million illegal set-top boxes with add-ons that allow consumers to stream content illegally have been sold in the UK in the last two years, putting the public at significant risk, according to a new report, Cracking Down on Digital Piracy, which collates expert insights from the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), FACT, City of […]
India’s former chairman of its Space Research Organisation (ISRO), G. Madhavan Nair appeared in court on September 16th in connection with the ISRO-owned Antrix and corruption allegations. Special Judge Virender Kumar Goyal also directed that Nair, plus Bhaskar Narayana Rao, the then Director in ISRO, K R Sridhar Murthy, the then Executive Director of Antrix, […]
Snapchat has blocked access to Al Jazeera content in Saudi Arabia. The social media platform reports that it was asked by the Saudi authorities to remove the Qatari-backed broadcaster’s Discover Publisher Channel because it violated local laws. Qatar is in an ongoing dispute with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the UAE. The four countries cut […]
UK Culture Secretary Karen Bradley has suggested there would be regional economic benefits from relocating commercial Public Service Broadcaster Channel 4 and from increasing commissioning. Delivering a keynote address at the Royal Television Society’s (RTS) annual event in Cambridge, Bradley told delegates that she felt that TV production was excessively concentrated in London, noting that […]
Culture Secretary Karen Bradley has confirmed that 21st Century Fox’s proposed bid to acquire the remaining shares in Sky that it does not already own will be referred to competition regulators in the “coming days”. Bradley said the deal would be examined “on media plurality and genuine commitment to broadcasting standards grounds”. The Competition and […]
The Virtual Reality Industry Forum (VRIF) – formed to further the widespread availability of high quality audiovisual VR experiences for the benefit of consumers – has announced it will be presenting a draft of its guidelines at IBC 2017. The initial release of the VRIF guidelines focus on the delivery ecosystem of 360° video with […]
Karen Bradley, the UK’s Culture Secretary has said she is minded to refer the bid by 21st Century Fox for the remainder of the shares in Sky to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on the grounds of media plurality and commitments to broadcasting standards. In a statement to Parliament, Bradley updated MPs on the […]
That sounds like some kind of fairy tale – and maybe that’s right; an old media magician tries to weave one last spell with a company named after a wild rural animal. Just as it looks like he’s going to succeed, along come the politicians and regulators with their ‘non-fanciful’ concerns over his commitment to […]
India’s Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) cancelled 19 television licences in the 5-week period between August 1st and September 5th. The cancellations take this year’s total to 216, AS AT September 5th. Most of the cancelled channels were for services that were not taken up by the licence-holders and were non-operational. Typical were 3 […]