BBC Three is expanding its commissioning remit, with an additional £10 million (€11.17m) investment to launch a new editorial pillar, two years after going online. “This is an exciting creative moment for the channel and the production community as we are broadening the scope of our commissioning,” commented Damian Kavanagh, Controller BBC Three. “We have […]
UK Prime Minister Theresa May has called for “creative options” to address the licensing problems likely to be faced by UK-based broadcasters following the UK’s departure from the European Union. In a detailed speech setting out her vision for the future economic partnership between the United Kingdom and the European Union, May noted that broadcasting […]
The Swiss public have voted overwhelmingly in favour of retaining the licence fee in a national vote held on March 4th 2018. The ‘No Billag’ initiative was filed in Switzerland in late 2015, calling for the abolition of the TV and radio licence fee. Billag is the name of the private company responsible for collecting […]
Billionaire investor Marc Andreessen, co-inventor of web-browser Mosaic and co-founder of Netscape, is putting cash into a new venture which intends building small geostationary satellites to provide a global broadband service. His investment, made by his Silicon Valley venture capital fund, Andreesson Horowitz, is going to satellite start-up Astranis and the projects second-round of financing. […]
The last 12 months look set to be the Welsh Government’s busiest yet for supporting TV and film production, Economy Secretary Ken Skates has said, with high profile feature film and TV programmes such as Journey’s End, Requiem, Britannia, Kiri and Keeping Faith all cementing Wales’ reputation as a first-class place to film. Speaking on […]
The UK’s annual television licence fee is to rise to £150.50 (€171) from £147, the government has announced. The increase, which will come into effect on April 1st, follows last year’s rise to £147 from £145.50. Last year the government announced that the licence fee would rise in line with inflation for the next five […]
Alchemiya Media has launched a £1 million investment round on UK based equity crowdfunding platform CrowdCube – a public equity investment platform. The VoD service offers inspirational content about the arts, heritage, music, food, travel, and culture of the Muslim world and has been dubbed ‘the Netflix of Islam’. “Our content celebrates the very best […]
A grouping of some 150 filmmakers writing under the auspices of the Société civile des Auteurs Réalisateurs Producteurs have signed an open letter in support for European films. They are asking European institutions and EU member states to make the fight against piracy “an absolute and common priority” and have also requested the application of […]
International broadcasters invested a record £1.02 billion (€1.15bn) in the UK in 2017, an increase of more than 50 per cent on the comparable figure (£679m) in 2011, according to independent research commissioned by UK trade body the Commercial Broadcasters Association, who warns that this investment is at risk unless the Government secures access to […]
President Trump has returned to promoting zero funding for public broadcasting it became clear as the President’s proposed 2019 budget was revealed. The budget cuts all but $15 million for public media in 2019 and 2020. The allocation has been $445 million per year. Reported in B&C, PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger commented: “Public […]