The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has outlined its concerns on the proposed merger of Liberty Global’s Virgin Media and Telefónica’s O2. Its focus is on the possible impact of the merger on the supply of wholesale mobile services to MVNOs and other MNOs. The CMA is worried that the combined company could potentially […]
UK government has shelved its plans to decriminalise non-payment of the TV licence fee but will keep the issue under “active consideration”. DCMS secretary, Oliver Dowden, has been persuaded said switching to a civil enforcement risked being seen as an invitation to evade the fee and could reward those who declined to pay. But he […]
The BBC has disclosed it paid more than £1 million (€1.29m) to external barristers and solicitors to deal with tribunal claims brought by staff in equal pay and race discrimination cases. The BBC was unable to put a figure on additional costs of using in-house lawyers to deal with staff allegations concerning equal pay or […]
Netflix paid £3.2 million (€4.1m) in UK corporation tax in 2019. It billed an estimated £940 million (according to Ampere Analysis) to British subscribers in the period. It reported £120 million of revenue and pre-tax profit of £13 million on its operations here; the Netflix services for Europe and production. Subscriber fees from its 11 […]
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai used his departing comments to issue a warning about China’s role in potential espionage and threats to networks. Pai stepped down from his role just hours before new US President Joe Biden was sworn in. In his final statement he told the Reuters press agency that there is a wide array […]
As anticipated following his election victory, US President Biden has designated FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel as Acting Chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission following the resignation of Ajit Pai. “I am honoured to be designated as the Acting Chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission by President Biden,” said Rosenworcel. “I thank the President for the […]
The Federal Communications Commission has released its annual Broadband Deployment Report, which it says shows that significant progress has been made to bridge the digital divide. For example, the gap between urban and rural Americans with access to 25/3 Mbps fixed broadband service has been nearly halved, falling from 30 percentage points at the end […]
The Pearl TV group of US broadcast companies has welcomed the decision by the Federal Communications Commission to give broadcasters more flexibility when using a Distributed Television System (DTS) for NEXTGEN TV broadcasts using hybrid broadcast and broadband standard ATSC 3.0. Public and commercial broadcasters had sought the refinement of Commission rules, in order to […]
Reports out of Moscow state that Russia’s lower house of parliament (Duma) has legislated penalties for any citizen using Elon Musk’s Starlink or the UK/India-backed OneWeb low Earth orbiting satellite systems. Neither company currently has users in Russia. Russia is reportedly working on ‘Sphere’ (Сфера, in Russian), its own mega-constellation of satellites. But the probable […]
The UK government has removed TV and film production from its list of jobs that qualify for exemptions from overseas travel restrictions. Previously, cast and production talent were exempt from self-isolating upon arrival from a different country as long as they stayed within a bubble. Now, all talent will not be able to begin work […]