UK broadcast regulator Ofcom has published final conclusions on the relationship between BritBox – a proposed new streaming service from ITV and the BBC – and the BBC’s publicly-funded (or ‘Public Service’) activities. As required under the Corporation’s Charter and Agreement, Ofcom has assessed whether the BBC’s involvement in Britbox represents a ‘material change’ to […]
A Report – An Update on Rural Connectivity – from the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee of the UK Parliament has highlighted the continuing digital divide between urban and rural areas, suggesting that this, together with that between rural towns and sparser rural settlements, continues to marginalise communities and be the cause of frustration. […]
The licensees of the Red Bull public house in the Kentish village of Eccles, Jared Macdonnchadha, Richard Rodal and Karen Turner, have been convicted in their absence of three offences each of dishonest reception of a television transmission, in this case, Sky televised football matches, with the intent to avoid payment of the applicable charge. […]
A potentially devastating dispute has broken out between two former “cooperation” joint-venture partners: Intelsat has filed a lawsuit against OneWeb and its financial backer Japan’s SoftBank. The writ alleges that the OneWeb and SoftBank conspired together in stealing confidential information, because – the writ states – SoftBank no longer believed in the OneWeb project and was […]
The UK’s television industry is strongly skewed towards people from privately-educated backgrounds, according to research on the sector’s diversity from regulator Ofcom . Ofcom’s annual Diversity and Equal Opportunities in Television report examines the social and economic background of the television industry for the first time this year. It also reports on companies’ progress in […]
AT&T shareholders, complaining that telco giant AT&T artificially “faked” inflated subscriber numbers, have filed a class Action. Also named in the Action is Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner’s CEO. The action was filed in the Southern District of New York with various individual plaintiffs and pension funds, and demanding a jury trial. The Action centres on […]
South Africa’s media regulator ICASA wants certain key sporting events to be classified as of significant public interest and made available to free-to-air broadcasters. However, the sporting rights-holders are not happy, arguing that the proposals extend beyond the current situation – where the national teams are involved – to non-international league games and perhaps to […]
Satisfying the rapid demand growth for additional commercial spectrum presents challenges the Federal Communications Commission, according to public policy issue think tank Phoenix Center. While the Federal Communications Commission has conducted numerous spectrum auctions in recent years, it lacks a ready source for the much-needed spectrum in the low- and mid-bands. By far, the largest, […]
The negative impacts of high spectrum prices on consumers can no longer be disputed, according to a new report by trade body the GSMA, which represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide. The report, The Impact of Spectrum Prices on Consumers, confirms that countries with poor spectrum policies – which either inflate spectrum or delay […]
The US Government has returned equipment to Huawei which it seized two years ago. In return Huawei Technologies USA (HT USA) has dropped a lawsuit against the US Commerce Department and several other US government agencies that it filed back in June. Huawei said it views the decision to return the technology as a tacit […]