French technology and media services company Technicolor has received a binding offer from Parter Capital Group, a private equity investment consultancy firm based in Germany, to acquire its transmission business, operating under the Thomson Broadcast brand. The offer values the Transmission business for a non-material amount. As announced early 2010, a range of former Grass […]
Sony announced it would add music to its cloud-based entertainment service Qriocity, to be available on a variety of connected Sony devices, from Bravia TVs to Android-based handsets. Qriocity launched earlier this year with video and movie-based content, in April in the U.S. and then extending that to Europe in November. This new music service […]
The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has revealed that he will vote to approve the proposed merger of Comcast and NBC Universal as long as certain conditions are met. Julius Genachowski December 23 issued a draft order of approval for the merger on the condition that the companies promise to share TV shows not […]
Digital entertainment technology specialist Rovi Corporation is to acquire digital video processing, playback and distribution technologies provider Sonic Solutions in a stock and cash transaction valued at some $720 million and the per share value of Sonic common stock at signing of the agreement is $14.17, a 38.2 per cent premium to Sonic’s 30 […]
The proposed deal to merge NBCU and Comcast is now no longer expected to close before the end of the year. NBCU head Jeffrey Zucker distributed a holiday-greetings memo to employees saying that the companies expect a “green light” for the deal in January, and Comcast confirmed the new timetable Wednesday 22 December. Both companies […]
Apple says this week it will surpass one million sales of Apple TV and added that iTunes users are now renting and buying more than 400,000 TV shows and more than 150,000 movies per day. In September, Apple introduced a less expensive, smaller version of Apple TV for $99. It says: “Now with AirPlay, recently […]
A Spanish parliamentary panel has rejected a bill that would let courts shut down websites offering peer-to-peer file sharing of copyrighted music and films. The 20-18 vote was a surprising defeat for Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s government. It came after frantic negotiations in which the ruling Socialists failed to win support from opposition […]
As expected the party-line 3 to 2 vote in favour of the FCC’s new Net Neutrality rules got mixed reviews. President Obama congratulated the FCC and said that the government would “remain vigilant and see to it that innovation is allowed to flourish, that consumers are protected from abuse, and that the democratic spirit of […]
UK Business Secretary Vince Cable has been stripped of the power to decide the fate of the News Corp bid for the outstanding shares in Sky after he was secretly recorded saying he had “declared war on Mr Murdoch and I think we are going to win.” Cable thought he was talking, or rather bragging, […]
French anti-Internet piracy body Hadopi is reportedly sending only a fifth of the warning emails expected. The body, which has been operational since October, is meant to warn people found to have illegally downloaded copyright music and videos on the Internet, by email and then recorded delivery letter. In theory, if there are further offences […]