“Democracy is the worst way to run a country, except all the others,’” said Winston Churchill. The same may well be true of a licence fee and a PSB national broadcaster. But that doesn’t stop every new Tory government concerning itself with scrapping it, no matter how many much more urgent things they have to […]
The UK Government has opened a public consultation on whether it should proceed with the decriminalisation of TV licence evasion by replacing the criminal sanction with an alternative civil enforcement scheme. The Government believes that it is right to look again at decriminalising TV licence evasion in order to ensure a proportionate and fair approach […]
A spin-off business from France’s national space agency (CNES) has raised €100 million in funding in order to launch a constellation of 25 ‘nano-satellites’ to serve the growing Internet of Things market. Kinéis was created last July with the support of CNES and CLS (Collecte Localisation Satellites) and it aims to become a major player […]
BBC News has outlined plans to modernise its newsroom to respond to changing audience needs, ensure it is providing a truly universal service, and complete its £80 million (€95m) savings target, suggesting the changes will lead to some 450 job losses. The BBC remains the UK’s most trusted and most consumed news service – but […]
Julian Knight, the Conservative MP for Solihull in the UK Midlands, has been elected Chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, which monitors the policy, administration and expenditure of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and its associated bodies, including the BBC, on behalf of the House of Commons and the […]
ETL Systems, a global designer and manufacturer of RF distribution equipment used in the ground segment of the satellite communications market, has received significant investment from CBPE Capital, to support its management’s ambitious growth plans. The business is embarking on further expansion, designed to take advantage of positive market drivers in the satellite industry and […]
The EU Commission, via the European Investment Bank, is making a €100 million investment into Arianespace. The funding is good for 10 years and the cash is designed to help Europe maintain its strong place in supplying launch facilities to commercial, government and scientific missions. Repayment is tied into the anticipated commercial success of Arianespace’s […]
Skylo has just raised a total of $103 million (€92.9m) in Series B funding for its proposed Internet of Things satellite-based service. Skylo had been in ‘stealth’ mode and according to Skylo, the company will bring instant, affordable and ubiquitous Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity to millions of machines, sensors and devices, even in the […]
Multiplay telco Vodafone has revealed plans to accelerate the roll out of full-fibre broadband in the UK by restructuring its existing deal with broadband infrastructure provider CityFibre to encourage it to build its fibre infrastructure more quickly and to more places. With full-fibre broadband still only available to around 11 per cent of UK premises, […]
In what was another record-breaking year, investments in the UK tech sector soared to £10.1 billion (€11.8bn) in 2019 – a £3.1 billion increase on 2018’s very strong figures and the highest level in UK history. Research prepared by technology entrepreneur network Tech Nation with Dealroom for the Digital Economy Council shows that between January […]