Germany’s federal cartel office has confirmed it won't be changing its mind on banning the merger of the main three MSOs KDG, Unity and Kabel BW. It also made it clear it would also disallow a merger between any two of them. In a swipe at the companies now struggling investors, the president of the […]
UK communications minister Lord Carter has defended plans to levy a £6-a-year tax (E7.1) on every phone line to raise up to £1.5 billion to help pay for the next generation of super-fast internet networks, as the most transparent way of investing in a critical part of Britain’s infrastructure. Having looked at the investment plans […]
Sci Fi has been found to be in "serious and significant" breach of its licence conditions after the channel failed to produce a recording of its output. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received a viewer complaint over the volume levels of commercials on Virgin Media feed. The ASA brought in Ofcom when Sci Fi admitted […]
From Branislav Pekic in Rome Italian commercial broadcaster Mediaset has requested that the European Court in Luxembourg annuls the decision of the European Commission regarding the illegality of state subsidies for the acquisition of DTT decoders. At question is the European Commission's decision of 2007, that subsidies awarded by Italy for the years 2004 and […]
Boxer, the Teracom-owned DTT platform has acquired a majority stake in its Finnish equivalent PlusTV. Existing backers Baker Capital and IT Provider Funds will remain minority shareholders. "PlusTV has established itself as a leading Finnish pay-TV operator and has great continued potential. We count on developing synergies between our businesses in Sweden, Denmark and Finland […]
Vevo, the planned online music video service announced by Universal Music and YouTube in April, is seeking outside investment from advertisers after signing up its second large record label. Sony Music Entertainment announced that it would join Vevo, highlighting the proposed site's "attractive, clean and intuitive environment that appeals to fans and advertisers alike". Sony […]
SeaChange International, provider of software and hardware solutions for VOD television, has announced financial results for its fiscal 2010 first quarter ended April 30th, 2009. Total revenues for the quarter were $48.9 million, which was $3.5 million or 8per cent higher than total revenues of $45.4 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2009. Net […]
Sky1 has appointed the BBC’s Lucy Lumsden as the satellite channel’s first head of comedy. Lumsden worked with Stuart Murphy, programme director of Sky 1, on many of BBC3’s early comedy successes. ….
Despite receiving some money against the £35m (E41m) it is owed, the English Premier League has told Setanta if it does not pay the balance by Friday, 19 June, it will put its remaining games – 46 live matches in the 09-10 season – out to tender. “In view of the shortage of time before […]
Phorm, the ad technology company, posted a pre-tax loss of $49.8m in 2008, up from $32.8m in 2007. However, the company insisted the launch of its controversial behavioural ad targeting technology in the UK is on track. The company said that as at 31 December 2008, the company had net assets of $22.4m, with cash […]