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UK Chancellor: Full-fibre network by 2033

Philip Hammond, the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, has targeted seeing full-fibre to the premises connections being available to 15 million premises by 2025 and committed to delivering a nationwide full-fibre to the premises network by 2033. Delivering a speech at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) Annual Dinner 2018, Hammond said that the government […]

May 24, 2018By Colin Mann

Spotify to pay royalty settlement

Spotify, the popular music streaming app, will pay out $112 million (€96m) in a settlement agreement, following two lawsuits that claimed songwriters hadn’t been paid enough in exchange for their music appearing on the service. The class action originally came from David Lowery, a musicians’ rights advocate from the band Camper Van Beethoven, and Melissa […]

May 24, 2018

Data: Nearly 5m illegal Champions League streams

As the football world gears up for the showdown between Liverpool and Real Madrid in this weekend’s UEFA Champions League Final, data from digital platform security specialist Irdeto reveals that a total of 5,100 unique illegal streams were detected redistributing games over the Internet during this year’s Champions League knockout stages. Of this total, 2,093 […]

May 23, 2018By Colin Mann

BPI calls for illegal site blocking

The BPI, the UK record labels association, has welcomed the announcement from the Government that it will bring forward legislation in the autumn to improve safety and reduce harm online. The BPI will press the Government to use the opportunity to bring in new measures to boost the UK’s fast-growing creative industries, which now contribute […]

May 23, 2018By Colin Mann

Hancock: ‘No Comcast Sky public interest concerns’

Matthew Hancock, the UK’s Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, has indicated that Comcast’s $31 billion (€25.4bn) bid for Sky does not raise the same concerns as the initial, rival bid by Fox for the 61 per cent of the broadcaster it does not already own. In a Statement, Hancock said: “On […]

May 21, 2018By Colin Mann

Social media policing in “next couple of years”

The launch of a campaign to clamp down on social media firms has got off to a rocky start, as the culture secretary, Matt Hancock, admitted it was likely to be two years before there was any new law. In a round of media interviews, Hancock said there was no date for legislation, but it […]

May 21, 2018

Analysis: UK broadband 51% slower than advertised

British households are paying for broadband services that are, on average, 51 per cent slower than advertised, according to analysis from consumer body Which?. Results generated from 235,000 uses of the Which? broadband speed-checker tool show that, on average, customers are paying for speeds of up to 38 megabits per second, but actually only receiving […]

May 18, 2018

US Senate overturns Restoring Internet Freedom Order

The US Senate has voted to overturn the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Restoring Internet Freedom Order which replaced previous net neutrality legislation, passing a bill that has little chance of advancing in the House but offers net neutrality supporters and Democrats a political rallying point for the midterm elections. Democrats forced the May 16th vote […]

May 17, 2018By Colin Mann

Mediaset, Atresmedia face €5bn compensation claims

Spain’s two largest TV groups, Mediaset and Atresmedia, could face €5 billion compensation demands if the CNMC (Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia) probe into their allegedly-illegal ad practices that distort the market finds that they are indeed guilty. Regional public broadcasters and smaller DTT operators could ask for sky-high compensation of up […]

May 16, 2018From David Del Valle in Madrid

South Africa urged to tax Netflix and Amazon

Calvo Mawela, the CEO of South Africa’s MultiChoice pay-TV service, is arguing that OTT newcomers such as Netflix and Amazon Prime should have value-added tax added to their subscription costs, as well as being forced to contribute to other South African media-related services, and pay licence fees.

May 14, 2018By Chris Forrester