BBC Worldwide – the commercial arm of the Corporation – has revealed its financial results for 2016/17, showing an increase in both headline sales and headline profits, and sustaining cash returns to the BBC above £200 million (€226m) for a third successive year. Tim Davie, CEO of BBC Worldwide and Director, Global, said: “By concentrating […]
A nervous BBC struck a hurried deal with then Culture Secretary John Whitingdale (remember him?), because it would rather get a frozen licence fee than risk trying to justify legally obliging the public to handover their money in the teeth of austerity. Alongside the freeze, Whittingdale also made them sign up to publishing all the […]
Rocket company SpaceX wants to build a super-constellation of 4425 mini-satellites to girdle the planet and provide extra broadband bandwidth for billions of new, or under-served, consumers. But the company, led by billionaire Elon Musk, is hitting some powerful opposition, not least from aerospace giant Boeing, SES-backed O3b and would-be satellite rival OneWeb each of […]
In tandem with publishing its Annual Report for 2016/17, the BBC has disclosed the amounts paid to staff and talent over £150,000 (€170,000) from the licence fee in the last financial year. Under the terms of its new Charter, the BBC is required to publish an annual report for each financial year from the Remuneration […]
Croatia is planning to switch free-to-air terrestrial TV broadcasting from the DVB-T to the DVB-T2 standard in 2019. According to the Croatian Agency for Postal and Electronic Communications (Hakom), the switch to the more efficient DVB-T2 system with H.265/HEVC video encoding is necessary to enable a more economical transmission of HDTV content on terrestrial networks […]
On July 28th, both of Europe’s major satellite operators unveil their results. SES will reveal its half-year numbers and Eutelsat its full-year figures. The event has prompted equity analyst Sami Kassab at Exane/BNP-Paribas to examine the prospects for the two companies. Kassab makes it clear that he currently favours Eutelsat over SES. He says: “We see […]
Sony Interactive Entertainment and HBO Spain have reached an agreement to launch the HBO app on the Sony PlayStation 4 games console. All HBO series and cinema will be available for €7.99 a month through up to five different devices with simultaneous access to the app via two different devices. The app can be downloaded […]
Google has unveiled a revamped version of its smart glasses, more than two years after the original version of the product failed to take flight and was cancelled. The Internet giant said Glass Enterprise Edition had improved battery life and the general comfortability of the glasses. It will face competition from Microsoft’s HoloLens among others. […]
Amazon is boosting its international production roster, adding a series of adaptations from Agatha Christie Limited to its lineup of dramatic Amazon Original Series in the US. The first adaptation of Christie’s classic stories, Ordeal By Innocence, began production earlier this month in the UK. Amazon’s deal with Agatha Christie Limited continues its partnership with […]
Intelsat, the specialist in integrated satellite communications, has announced three new leadership appointments expected to drive product development, innovation and growth for the organisation and its customers. Under the new structure, Jean-Philippe Gillet will lead the Broadband business, Mark Rasmussen will head the Mobility business and Robert Cerbone joins the company as the head of […]