Channel 4, Time Warner and BSkyB have been shortlisted as potential buyers of Virgin Media’s wholly owned VMtv channels Virgin 1, Bravo and Living. Virgin Media intends to sell the channels separately from its joint venture with BBC Worldwide, UKTV, which will be sold at a later stage. The BBC has denied interest in purchasing […]

The Channel 4 chief executive, Andy Duncan, has told MPs that he expects to have an agreement on a partnership with BBC Worldwide signed within weeks. Duncan told the culture, media and sport committee that a memorandum of understanding with the corporation’s commercial arm would be signed before the government publishes its final Digital Britain […]

DirecTV will merge with John Malone's Liberty Entertainment to simplify its ownership structure and improve its ability to pursue deals; specifically making itself a more attractive target for one of the big telcos. Liberty Entertainment will be spun off from Liberty Media as previously announced, and will now include 54 per cent of the stock […]

Richard Li has thrown in the towel on a proposed $2bn buyout of PCCW, his Hong Kong telecommunications company after a protracted legal battle, saying the saga has been "unnecessarily divisive to society". Li and state-owned China Unicom, PCCW's second-largest shareholder, said they would let the controversial HK$4.50 a share offer lapse and pay investors […]

German pay-TV group Premiere has completed a E450 million capital increase, which saw Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp raise its stake from 25 per cent to 30.5 per cent. The company announced the two-step rights issue in December in order to fund last autumn’s purchase of rights to show live Bundesliga soccer. ….

Reports in the US say online video platform Joost is actively seeking a buyer and has told cable and satellite providers that it could be their online video solution. Time Warner Cable is one of the companies that has expressed interest in Joost say the reports. In the online video sector, Joost has fallen far […]

From Colin Mann in Las Vegas Despite its impending separation from parent company Thomson, Grass Valley is upholding its intentions to be active across a range of platforms by revealing a complete ATSC-M/H broadcasting solution, designed to give broadcasters and service providers a one-stop shop for test and evaluation solutions which can go on to […]

Inuk, the IPTV service for students, has been bought by Move Networks for an undisclosed fee. Move Networks says the combination of Inuk's IPTV platform and its virtual set-top box technology would be able to offer viewers an internet television experience with no skipping or buffering. "Inuk's IPTV platform is well positioned to deliver these […]

KIT digital, a global provider of IP-based video enablement technologies, has acquired the assets and assumed certain current liabilities of London-based Narrowstep , an Internet TV platform company supporting content providers, broadcasters, telcos and other corporations. The acquisition expands KIT digital's client delivery capabilities – particularly in live-streaming, long-form delivery and delivery using the Microsoft […]

Virgin Media has bought a 9.9 percent stake in AIM-listed interactive gaming company NetPlay TV as part of a deal that gives NetPlay the rights to produce VMED's Challenge Jackpot gaming website, TV channel and online games until 2013. The TV channel is currently available on Virgin On Demand, Sky and for three hours a […]