Tesco has bought the digital music service We7 for £10.8m (€13.3m). The supermarket has taken a 91 per cent stake in London-based digital music service, with the remaining shares to be purchased within weeks. The purchase of We7 comes as the supermarket moves increasingly into digital entertainment, after its acquisition of the online movie rentals […]
Smart TV specialist Inview and AUPEO! Personal Radio, a provider of personalised audio streams for Internet-connected devices, have teamed up to turn Smart TVs into next generation radios. Following a global content deal, the free online music service AUPEO! will feature as standard on all Connected TVs and STBs that incorporate Inview’s technology. Inview’s Connected […]
European consumer electronic producers, cable and satellite reception equipment industry, the live performance, content making manufacturers and cable operators are announcing the formation of a forum aimed at preserving the coexistence between devices and services when new radio services are introduced. The European Forum for Spectrum Coexistence (EFSC) calls for EU spectrum policy to ensure […]
WorldSpace, a would-be global pay-radio broadcaster which filed for Chapter 11 reorganisation and protection from creditors back in 2008, has finally asked the US Delaware bankruptcy court to move its case into Chapter 7, which is a full bankruptcy. A statement from WorldSpace, as part of its bankruptcy court filing, said: “The Debtors do not […]
Nearly 30 per cent of radio listening is now digital but digital audio broadcasting (DAB) radio slipped back in the first three months of the year. Digital platforms accounted for 29.2 per cent of all listening in the first quarter of 2012, marginally up from 29.1 per cent in the previous quarter and 26.5 per […]
On May 1st, speaking at the Sirius-XM results, CEO Mel Karmazin suggested that main shareholder Liberty Media’s 40 per cent holding in Sirius-XM “wasn’t the new 50!” It was light-hearted throw-away comment on Liberty’s attempt to persuade the FCC to permit Sirius-XM’s valuable transmission licences to be re-allocated to Liberty. Perhaps Karmazin spoke just a […]
A French-backed scheme to launch satellite-based pay-radio is getting closer to operation. Last November, the French broadcasting regulator (Le Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel, CSA) announced its own beauty contest for national L-band frequencies. Onde Numerique (ON) last week formally declared that it will participate in the tender, and is planning an IPO probably in October. […]
Liberty Media owns 40 per cent of Sirius-XM and has made no secret that despite its shareholding influence over the pay-radio broadcaster, it would like to formally take ownership of the Sirius and XM operating licences. It applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in March for the FCC’s approval. On May 4, the FCC […]
There’s money in pay radio, implies Sirius-XM’s latest numbers. The broadcaster reported an extremely successful Q1 adding subscribers and boosting profits – although the bottom line was also helped by a price rise. Sirius-XM’s net income grew from last year’s Q1 of $78.1 million to this period’s $107.8 million. Overall revenues grew 11 per cent […]
While the BBC Trust is agonising over whether to pay its next Director General anything more than about £400,000 (c. $620,000) in annual salary and bonus, US pay-radio operator Sirius-XM has rewarded Mel Karmazin, its CEO, a $1.5 million salary plus $9.2 million in bonuses. His rewards (up 13 per cent) reflect the growth in […]