UK Health minister Ben Bradshaw has been appointed as the new culture secretary, replacing Andy Burnham, in a move that comes at a crucial time in the final run up to the Digital Britain report. Bradshaw, a former BBC journalist, is to take over as secretary for culture, media and sport after Burnham was moved […]
The board of UK and Ireland football broadcaster Setanta is meeting this week to assess whether it has any options other than placing the business in administration. Last week the company failed to pay the Scottish Premier League £3m (E3.4m). The SPL has had to find £3m from its own funds to distribute to the […]
Kudelski Group has been talking about its bid for the share in Open TV it doesn't already own which Open rejected as inadequate. “Based on Kudelski’s discussions with [OpenTV’s] Special Committee, Kudelski has concluded that continued discussions will not be fruitful and has therefore decided to withdraw its proposal and terminate discussions with the Special […]
The DirecTV Group's President and CEO Chase Carey is joining News Corp as Peter Chernin's replacement as COO. DirectTV has recently switched from News Corp to Liberty ownership. The move means James Murdoch will have to wait a little longer for his expected elevation to the top table. DirecTV named Executive Vice President Larry Hunter […]
An important stake in one of Taiwan's leading cable operators has been put up for sale by some of the company's foreign owners. Taiwan Broadband Communications is owned by a consortium made up of two investment funds linked to Australia's Macquarie Group and Intermediate Capital Group, a London-based provider of debt finance. According to reports, […]
OpenTV’s board of directors has rejected the bid by Kudelski SA to acquire it as “inadequate.” Kudelski, which owns a 26.7 per cent stake and holds 74.7 per cent of the voting rights in OpenTV, in February offered to buy the rest of OpenTV’s share at $1.35 per share in cash. Stock closed at $1.74 […]
beeTV, the inventors of the PCC (Personal Content Channel), have announced the completion of a Series B Fund acquisition of $8 million. The funding was led by Innogest, the largest venture capital firm operating in Italy. beeTV targets becoming the default entry system for television viewers into their world of TV entertainment. Additionally, beeTV plans […]
Virgin Media has confirmed that its chief technology officer Howard Watson has left the company to pursue other business interests. Watson joined Telewest in 1993. When Telewest merged with NTL to form Virgin Media, he took on responsibility for technical and IT strategy, architecture, development and day-to-day operations of the company's television and broadband platforms.
From David Del Valle in Madrid The Cabinet has approved a law that will oblige pay TV and commercial TV channels and telco operators to finance the state-owned group RTVE with a great amount of their annual revenues. All those players will have to dedicate 1.5 per cent, 3 per cent and 0.9 per cent […]
BSkyB' rivals are urging Ofcom to loosen the satellite broadcaster's grip on top sports events so that Premier League football, Test cricket and first-run Hollywood movies become more widely available. The broadcasting regulator meets this week to approve a ruling on the UK pay-TV market that BSkyB's rivals believe will oblige it to sell them […]