South Africa’s Competition Commission has levied a Rand 180 million (€11.4m) penalty on pay-TV operator DStv. The case has been rumbling on for some years following a 2011 examination by the Commission into how DStv, via Multichoice, which handled its advertising sales, admitted colluding with certain media groups on how ads were sold, the discounts […]
Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has inaugurated the Anti-Piracy Committee, charged with tackling the piracy of creative works in the country. The inauguration followed last week’s visit to the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, by the Minister to solicit the support of the Police in the fight against piracy. Members […]
Sony Pictures Television Networks has reached an agreement to acquire a substantial majority stake in Japanese anime distributor Funimation, subject to regulatory approvals and certain other closing conditions, valuing the company at approximately $150 million. Gen Fukunaga, CEO of Funimation, will retain a minority stake in the business and remain CEO. With a catalogue that […]
Mobibase, a TV channel and VoD provider that distributes content globally to any connected device, has signed a new distribution agreement with FNL Network, a fashion and lifestyle 24/7 news channel. With the addition of this fashion-centric channel to its assorted catalogue of TV and VoD offerings, Mobibase will be able to deliver even more […]
Suggesting that the combination will accelerate growth across linear, digital and short-form platforms around the world and create a global leader in real life entertainment, Discovery Communications and Scripps Networks Interactive, have signed a definitive agreement for Discovery to acquire Scripps in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at $14.6 billion (€12.44bn) or $90 per share, based on Discovery’s July 21st closing price. The purchase price […]
Freeview has revealed that Freeview Play TVs account for more than half of all Smart HD TV sales in the UK. In June, 55 per cent of Smart HD TVs sold were Freeview Play enabled, a rise of 20 per cent since January 2017. Launched less than two years ago, Freeview Play brings UK consumers […]
SpaceX has just raised $351 million (in its Series H fund-raising operation) and this values the rocket business at an impressive $21.2 billion (€18.06bn), a significant 76 per cent increase in value since its previous round of cash-raising, back in 2015 when the business was valued at “just” $12 billion. The details were published by […]
The British Infrastructure Group of MPs (BIG) has called for UK Government to introduce legislation setting the terms for a broadband Universal Service Obligation, and for comms regulator Ofcom to consider fixed broadband speeds in a new system of automatic compensation. The recommendations are contained in Broadbad 2.0, a comprehensive investigation into broadband customer services […]
BT has proposed to provide universal broadband across the UK by 2020 in an attempt to stave off the spin-off of Openreach and /or a universal service obligation (see above). BT has made a voluntary commitment to offer 10MBps download and 1MBps upload speeds to 99 percent of premises by the end of 2020 expected […]
The launch of new convergent packages on Movistar Plus is reversing the downward trend in subscribers to Telefónica’s IPTV service. In the second quarter of the year, its pay-TV gained 51,000 subs versus a loss of 41,000 the previous quarter, reaching 3.666 million subscribers at the end of June. The growth was boosted by new […]