Canada's largest media company, Canwest Global Communications, has filed for bankruptcy protection as it struggles to unearth itself from a C$4bn (£2.4bn) mountain of debt. The sprawling empire owns a range of broadcasting and print businesses. Canwest’s chief executive, Leonard Asper, said business would carry on as usual despite the legal process: “We are firmly […]

The Technical Committee of the European Broadcasting Union has agreed a set of measures for Hybrid Broadcast Broadband (HBB) services and devices. It says it backs "the exciting opportunity these technologies bring to viewers and the broadcasting world, and the significant work that has already been done in this domain." The committee said that while […]

Virgin Media has published a copy of its prospectus for listing and trading on the main market of the London Stock Exchange by way of a secondary listing. It is expected that admission will become effective, and that dealings on the main market of the London Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ‘VMED’ will commence, […]

Set top boxes for Project Canvas, the IP catch-up TV initiative from the BBC, ITV, Five and BT, are scheduled to be available in shops by December of next year. Richard Halton, IPTV programme director at the BBC, confirmed that, barring regulatory problems, the first Project Canvas set-top products “will be on sale by Christmas […]

Tony Ball, the former Sky chief offered the job of chief executive of ITV almost a month ago, has pulled out of the process. ITV said in a statement that its executive chairman Michael Grade, who was to become non-executive, will leave the company once a new non-executive chairman has been appointed, a process it […]

Lord Mandelson has repeated that illegal filesharing posed a threat to Britain’s creative industries and it was vital for such industries to be allowed to flourish, but emphasised filesharers could have their Internet connections cut off for short periods, but only as a last resort. ISPs had reacted angrily to Mandelson's enthusiastic support for the […]

Wireless carriers shouldn’t be allowed to block certain types of Internet traffic flowing over their networks, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission chairman said in a speech that drew immediate condemnation from providers. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said wireless carriers should be subject to the same “open Internet” rules that the agency has begun […]

Nine of Europe’s leading cable network operators, representing more than 35 million connected homes, have shown their immediate support and declared their intention to exploit the operational potential of DVB-C2. In a signed statement cable network operators YouSee (Denmark), Numericable (France), Kabel Baden Württemberg, Unitymedia, Kabel Deutschland (Germany), Ziggo (The Netherlands), ZON (Portugal), ONO (Spain) […]

The as yet un-named firm will pursue a strategy of investment, development and cross-discipline partnerships aimed at fusing the traditional genre of television production with the reach, power and engagement of social media. The company will additionally drive the online exploitation of Shine Group content.

Virgin Media has named Tesco UK finance director Eamonn O'Hare as its new CFO. O'Hare will join in November after four years with the UK supermarket chain. He replaces Jerry Elliot who left the company in May. O'Hare was involved in the 2002 debt restructuring of the telecommunications provider Energis and was a part of […]