The European Commission has notified Altice of its decision to impose upon it a €124.5 million fine for gun jumping in connection with Altice’s acquisition of PT Portugal in June 2015. The Commission found that Altice infringed the prior notification obligation of a concentration under Article 4(1) of the EU Merger Regulation, and the stand-still […]
The EC may threaten social media companies with regulation unless they move to tackle fake news and the use of personal data before the European elections in 2019. The EU security commissioner, Julian King, said “short-term, concrete” plans needed to be in place before the elections, when voters in 27 EU member states will elect […]
SVoD operators Amazon and Netflix have joined with Columbia, Disney, Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal City Studios, Universal Cable, Universal Television and Warner Bros to file a lawsuit against OTT service Set Broadcast, claiming it markets and sell subscriptions to Setvnow, a software application that is used as a tool for the mass infringement of […]
Françoise Nyssen, France’s Minister for Culture, has called for the establishment of a blacklist of infringing websites in the fight against audiovisual piracy. Speaking at a reception in honour of French films selected for the Cannes Film Festival, Nyssen noted France’s cinematic cultural heritage, but admitted that this predated the digital revolution, and it was […]
AIM, a not-for-profit trade body that represents the UK’s independent music industry, is partnering with content protection and data-analytics solutions specialist MUSO to give the independent sector access to a bespoke digital piracy protection service. AIM rightsholder members (independent labels and self-releasing artists) will receive access to a new, free-to-member digital piracy protection service, developed […]
Sir David Clementi, Chairman of the BBC, has suggested that serving the 18-to-34 demographic, the so-called ‘smartphone generation’, is the Corporation’s biggest challenge as it responds to changing times and technologies in the broadcast world, needing to be
UK broadcast regulator Ofcom has opened seven new investigations into the due impartiality of news and current affairs programmes on the RT news channel. The investigations form part of an Ofcom update into the licences held by TV Novosti, the company that broadcasts RT. Until recently, TV Novosti’s overall compliance record has not been materially […]
The Trump administration’s proposed tariffs on TVs from China would increase the price Americans pay for TVs, costing US consumers an estimated $711 million (€574m) over the next year, according to a study commissioned by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) and National Retail Federation (NRF). “These proposed tariffs are bad for the economy, businesses and […]
Sky Italia has revealed that a Milan court has suspended the tender for national TV rights to the Italian Serie A for the seasons 2018-2021. The satellite broadcaster requested checks on whether the process that awarded the football rights to Spain’s MediaPro was in line with Italian laws. According to Sky Italia, the tender “rises […]
Gerson Zweifach, group general counsel of 21st Century Fox, has suggested that certain UK politicians have a political agenda in respect of the company’s bid to acquire the 61 per cent of Sky it does not already own, accusing them of seeking to enlist regulators in a political war. Writing an opinion piece in the […]