The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has released the 2017 ‘Special 301’ Report, reviewing global developments on trade and intellectual property (IP) and identifying trading partners with harmful records on protection, enforcement, or market
US satellite pay-TV broadcaster Dish Network has reported revenue totaling $3.68 billion (€3.37bn) for the quarter ending March 31st 2017, compared to $3.83 billion for the corresponding period in 2016. Subscriber-related revenue for the quarter totaled $3.64 billion, compared to $3.78 billion in subscriber-related revenue for the year-ago period. DISH includes all of its Sling […]
Elon Musk-backed rocket company SpaceX successfully launched a satellite on May 1st, and a few minutes later saw the rocket’s valuable first stage land precisely onto its landing area at the centre of Musk’s designated Zone 1 concrete pad at Cape Canaveral. The launch, of a classified US ‘spy’ satellite, was flawless although the process […]
Bloomberg Media and Twitter are partnering to create the first-ever 24/7 breaking news network that will be global, live, social and streaming. The new live streaming news network will combine the vast global editorial and newsgathering capabilities of Bloomberg with the digital power of Twitter, which has become one of the world’s fastest and primary […]
Paris-based “Millennial” channel #C4K360 used NAB to launch its Ultra-HD service over North America, using SES as its capacity provider. It has secured an initial pair of specific carriage deals with cable operators, and is now potentially available to some 8.5 million homes in the US. Tailored to young audiences, #C4K360 offers Ultra HD content […]
MTG has increased its ownership in InnoGames, the developer of browser and mobile games, to 51 per cent. MTG announced its initial 21 per cent investment in Hamburg-based InnoGames in October 2016. InnoGames is the creator of six successful online games including Forge of Empires, Tribal Wars and Elvenar. MTG has invested €82.6 million for […]
The MENA Broadcast Satellite Anti-Piracy Coalition, at a meeting in Dubai last week, said it would remove offending pirate channels this week, by May 4th. These channels are frequent offenders, both in the piracy of ‘live’ content including sports content and the screening of unlicensed movies and programmes. MBC CEO, Sam Barnett, quoted by trade magazine […]
Former US Senator Christopher Dodd, Chairman & CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), is to step down from his position as CEO on September 4th and from his position as Chairman at the end of the year. The MPAA board has named Charles Rivkin, former US Assistant Secretary of State for Economic […]
Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA) has issued two satellite TV broadcasting licences. The recipients are Mediacore and Star Times Satellite. The decision means that both new licence holders will be competing directly with South Africa’s DStv. BOCRA’s CEO Thari Pheko said under the Subscription Management Service licence the broadcasters do not need to be operating […]
The increasingly Islamic nature of the Turkish government under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has banned all TV stations from showing hugely popular TV dating shows. In March the deputy prime minister said such shows did not fit in with Turkish customs and traditions. In a related action the Turkish state barred access to Wikipedia because […]