Advanced Television

Off Message

Don’t follow me

In the latest issue of Euromedia we publish our annual STB Survey taking the temperature of the segment. Casual observers might think ‘cooling’ would be the obvious answer as Smart TVs become the norm in the replacement market and more and more Apps developers and content companies make provision deals with the various manufacturers. Nonetheless, […]

July 18, 2012 Nick Snow

The Facebook Post Worth $779 Million

Netflix shares jumped 20.6 per cent this past week after a July 3rd Facebook post by company founder and CEO Reed Hastings congratulating chief content officer Ted Sarandos and his team with helping Netflix exceed 1 billion hours for the first time ever in June. The stock had closed at $67.85 on July 2nd and […]

July 11, 2012 GuestBlogger

Can reluctant split save the news?

Rupert Murdoch said in evidence to the Leveson Inquiry that an unhinged Gordon Brown phoned him and said he would make war on News Corp. Brown, in evidence, claimed the call never took place. Whose relationship with the truth is closer? My guess is both have only had a nodding acquaintance with veracity for some […]

June 29, 2012 Nick Snow

Plurality: regulation for its own sake

Ofcom has come out in favour of ‘plurality checks’ of the UK news media every four or five years. And it believes the reviews should include the BBC and online news. So far, so interesting. But Ofcom doesn’t regulate the BBC – it would like to as this policy suggestion indicates – and certainly someone […]

June 20, 2012 Nick Snow

Lose The Empire, Gain The World?

The rise of international markets and the global reach of the Internet and broadband connectivity are forcing US content creators and distributors to confront several difficult challenges.   The BBC World Service radio broadcasts have a knack for making almost any issue appear to take on great gravitas, no matter how arcane. I recently caught […]

June 15, 2012 GuestBlogger

The world HAS gone MAD

Is it a Mad World? It seems so. Four examples from the last couple of weeks: One. BT has joined in the mad house of Premier League rights. Fair enough, this means BSkyB has to pay more than otherwise and it satisfies the politician’s need for Sky not to have a monopoly. I don’t want […]

June 14, 2012 Nick Snow

Hunt survives, but what’s the point?

Jeremy Hunt, the beleaguered Culture Secretary, is hanging on after his day-long appearance before Leveson. There have been many descriptions of Hunt, none flattering, as he seeks to dig himself out of the many holes he so thoughtlessly jumped into. The most accurate one is that he is PM David Cameron’s human shield; given Cameron […]

June 1, 2012 Nick Snow

Hunt’s smoking gun points at Cameron

I can truthfully testify that trying to listen to the Leveson Inquiry while doing anything else is a recipe for doing both things poorly. The testimony and, more disappointingly, the questioning is soporific in the extreme. Mr Jay QC, counsel for the Inquiry, has mostly been given the benefit of the doubt – surely he’s […]

May 25, 2012 Nick Snow

Yes, Facebook was Muppet bait

So, a few days in and Facebook shares have fallen almost 20 per cent from their bloated debut. It now emerges that Morgan Stanley, lead book runner on the IPO, issued a downgraded forecast following Facebook’s own revised filing noting the shift to mobile use would slow down its revenue growth. However, accusations are flying […]

May 23, 2012 Nick Snow

Facebook: The future or muppet bait?

None of the scepticism surrounding the Nasdaq IPO of Facebook, including mine, has diluted the market’s enthusiasm and now the price range has been lifted – valuing the business at about $105 billion – and the amount of stock for sale has been increased 25 per cent, so the company will raise about $17 billion. […]

May 17, 2012 Nick Snow