It looks as if the much anticipated IPO from Dubai-based pay-TV operator OSN is on hold for the time being. Instead OSN is borrowing $400 million for the next 5 years, partly to fund general business and partly to refinance existing debt. Reuters is saying that the debt will take two forms: a US$255 million […]
Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos is backing ‘Blue Origin’ a company which intends to enter the commercial rocket business. Bezos says he will visit Florida in September to make a “significant announcement” in regard to the company’s plans to build rockets in Florida and then launch them from Cape Canaveral. The Bezos scheme, code-named […]
iflix, the Southeast Asian streaming service, has announced that Hollywood studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) has become an investor in the business. The investment represents a significant deepening of the relationship between iflix and MGM, which includes the appointment of MGM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Gary Barber, to iflix’s Advisory Board and the companies’ extensive multi-year […]
London-based satellite operator Avanti Communications has issued an £80 million (€113m) financial bond (Senior Secured Notes) to help fund future satellite activity. Avanti specialises in providing bandwidth over Europe and Africa. Avanti stated some months ago that it would be raising extra cash in order to pay for a new satellite, Hylas-4. The satellite is […]
Most UK university students fail to understand the difference between recorded TV and catch-up services, according to research from TV Licensing. Almost 60 per cent of current university students are unsure about TV terminology which has evolved in recent years to describe advancements in technology and TV viewing habits, including streaming, downloading, on demand and […]
Proclaiming a “golden age of television”, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has suggested the planned motoring show to be presented on its Prime Instant Video TV streaming service by the ex-Top Gear trio of Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond will be loved by viewers in the UK and around the world. Interviewed by UK […]
NBCUniversal is making a $200 million equity investment in Vox Media, one of the world’s largest and fastest growing digital media companies. The eight Vox Media brands are SB Nation, Polygon, The Verge, Vox.com, Eater, Racked, Curbed, and Re/code. “Vox Media has a great portfolio of premium digital brands that deeply engage broad audiences,” said […]
Spain’s public broadcaster RTVE – operator of La 1 and La 2, among other channels – will get €331.5 million in state subsidies in 2016 against this year’s €292.7 million. It means an increase of €50 million in subsidies frozen over the last three years by the government. Similarly, RTVE will get an additional €50 […]
The BBC’s licence fee will be under severe pressure come 2020/2021, according to an analysis of the UK government’s ‘Green Paper’ proposals for funding the public broadcaster. Enders Analysis’s Toby Syfret and Gill Hind, in a report published August 1 by the ‘Our Beeb’ website and which originated as a study by Enders, are blunt […]
NBCU poised to make investments in BuzzFeed and Vox, seeking to appeal to younger viewers who are abandoning traditional media, according to the NYT. NBCU, owned by Comcast, is reported to be close to investing $250 million in BuzzFeed, known for its trending quizzes and lists, with recent forays into news reporting. The deal would […]