Advanced Television

Business

Miller joins News Corp

Jonathan Miller, former chief executive of AOL, is to join News Corp this week to oversee the broad strategic digital initiatives across the group. Miller will have operational control of News Corp's MySpace online social network, the IGN video games media and community service, Photobucket online photos service, Jamba, a mobile phone contents company, and […]

March 30, 2009

Pirate Bay VPN service

Owners of the controversial Swedish BitTorrent website the Pirate Bay – currently embroiled in a copyright trial in Sweden – have announced they’re going to start using VPN (virtual private network) technologies to make its users harder to track. In typical 'pirate style' the unlogged VPN service will be called IPREDator, named after a new […]

March 30, 2009

Digital Britain reactions surface

About 200 reactions to the interim Digital Britain report have been published. Among highlights are Sky's call for Virgin's network to be opened up to third party services, Virgin's caution on Canvas and general skepticism on anti-piracy plans and the Digital Rights Agency. Sky says it is “increasingly anomalous” that the cable network is a […]

March 30, 2009

Portela, new CEO of ONO

From David Del Valle in Madrid Spain’s cable company ONO has named Rosalia Portela, former Telefonica executive, as CEO replacing the Richard Alden as part of a far-reaching management reshuffle and reorganisation of the company. The appointment will be formally made in May at the shareholders meeting. Portela, a former director of Telefonica, was reportedly […]

March 27, 2009

Liberty defers more debt

Liberty Global's European division has restructured E530 million of its E850 million debt, creating two new tranches that will extend its due date from 2012 by two and three years respectively. As a result, around 95% of UPC Holding's debt will now be due in or after 2013. Mike Fries, Liberty Global's president and CEO, […]

March 27, 2009

Whitehead for BBC Asia

Discovery Networks Asia's SVP Mark Whitehead is joining BBC Worldwide as its GM and SVP in the region. He will report to BBC Worldwide Channels MD Darren Childs, overseeing BBC Entertainment, BBC Knowledge, BBC Lifestyle, CBeebies, BBC HD and BBC World News in the region, which includes India.

March 27, 2009

Bertelsmann: "Five needs merger to survive"

Bertelsmann, the German media group that controls Five, has said that the UK broadcaster does not have a sustainable future without a merger with ITV or Channel 4. Thomas Rabe, the chief financial officer of Bertelsmann, which has a 90 per cent stake in Five owner RTL, said that the UK broadcaster’s current business model […]

March 27, 2009

Way ahead 'open'

From IPTV World Forum Christophe Forax, the cabinet member of EU Media Commisioner Viviane Reding responsible for Networks and Convergence, told the plenary session the Commission was operating a policy of "platform neutrality" across all broadband networks. Forax refered to recent controversy on its directive to Dutch cable operators to allow third party access providers […]

March 27, 2009

Docherty appointed Chairman of DTG

The Digital TV Group (DTG), the industry association for digital TV in the UK, has appointed David Docherty as their new Chairman, replacing Professor David Youlton who has stepped down from the post after more than 10 years. David Scott CBE, Chairman of the DTG Appointments Committee said: “With a high-profile background that spans manufacturing, […]

March 27, 2009

Bertelsmann profits down

German media giant Bertelsmann has reported that its 2008 net profit dropped by a third to E270 million after it was forced to make recession-related adjustments to the value of some of its investments. Impairment charges of E502 million — the bulk from television unit RTL and its stake in Five in the UK — […]

March 27, 2009