A supplier of illicit streaming devices that are pre-loaded to enable the viewing of pirate broadcasts of Premier League football has had to pay thousands of pounds, and cease all future trading of the illegal devices. Nayanesh Patel, from Harrow in Greater London, sold Kodi-type boxes on several platforms including eBay and Facebook. In doing […]
The Spanish regulator CNMC has opened an investigation into Mediaset and Atresmedia over an alleged deal between them to agree on TV ad prices thereby distorting the TV ad market to the detriment of smaller TV operators. The companies lead the TV ad market with a share of 84.2 per cent, 43.3 per cent controlled […]
Discovery Communications has confirmed that the European Commission (EC) has cleared Discovery’s proposed $14.6 billion (€12.4bn) acquisition of Scripps Networks Interactive, subject to conditions. This regulatory milestone is an important step towards closing the transaction. The EC’s approval is conditional on Discovery’s commitment to offer third party distributors the right, on a non-exclusive and unbundled […]
Pro-copyright education body The Industry Trust for IP Awareness, in partnership with film education charity Into Film, has launched Staying Safe Online – Meet the Malwares, a short animation and educational resource aimed at teachers and young people, ahead of UK Safer Internet Day 2018. The educational resource is intended for use in schools to […]
Buyers will be able to shop online in the EU without being blocked or automatically re-routed following a vote in the European Parliament, although digital copyrighted content, such as e-books, downloadable music or online games, will not be covered by the new rules for the time being. The new rules will ban the ‘geo-blocking’ of […]
Despite judicial rulings saying that a ban on independent TV broadcasters in Kenya must be lifted, the prohibitions on three stations are staying in place. The unprecedented shutdown started on January 30th when Kenya’s president Uhuru Kenyatta ordered three extremely popular TV stations (Citizen TV, KTN and NTV) to be closed because of their alleged […]
In response to the Egyptian Cairo Economic Court’s judgement, beIN Media Group says it categorically rejects – and is shocked and appalled by – the decision, which is says sends a deeply troubling message to any international entity seeking to do business in Egypt. The judgement is based on unfounded and politically motivated allegations by […]
Openreach, the infrastructure subsidiary of BT, has launched a ‘fibre first programme’ – which it says starts a potentially huge upgrade of critical UK infrastructure. ‘Potentially’ as it seems to be making its commitment conditional on ‘a supportive public policy and regulatory environment that encourages infrastructure investment.’ It also called for the support of broadband […]
Egypt is one of the countries aligned with Saudi Arabia which as broken off diplomatic and commercial relations with Qatar. January 30th saw an Egyptian court order Nasser Al Khelaifi, CEO of the Qatari beIN Media Group, to pay a fine of 400 million Egyptian pounds (€18.2m) on charges of the network’s “involvement in monopolistic […]
Serbia’s Commission for the Protection of Competition has initiated an inquiry to establish whether leading cable TV operator SBB abused its dominant position. According to local media reports, the Antitrust launched the procedure after SBB announced it will increase the monthly subscription from 1 January 2018. The inquiry will analyse the conditions of competition in […]