Mark Byford, the BBC’s deputy director general, has been made redundant, as the corporation looks to deliver on a promise to cut back senior management numbers and rein in its much-criticised executive salary bill. Byford, who has always worked with the BBC, will reportedly receive £800-900,000 pay-off . Mark Thompson, the director general, is expected […]
Veebeam has raised the first of a two-tranche, $6 million second funding round from Amadeus Capital Partners, Intel, Capital and Oak Investment Partners, Bay Partners, Formative Ventures, Khosla Ventures and Vision Capital. Veebeam’s $99/£99 system sends images from a computer, through a USB dongle, wirelessly to a receiver plugged in to the back of a […]
RGB Networks, an expert in network video processing, has announced the hiring of Simone Sassoli as Vice President, International. In this position he will be responsible for RGB’s sales throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. “As video service providers around the world begin their trials and deployments of multi-screen services, we […]
Here in the UK a band of rival media owners have written to the Business Secretary, the Lib Dem Vince Cable, urging him to intervene to stop News Corp taking full control of BSkyB should it proceed with its bid. The letter says News Corp ownership of Sky alongside its existing ownership of The […]
Turkish DTH broadcaster DigiTurk is 47 per cent held by private equity company Providence Equity Partners. Reports suggest that Providence is looking to exit the business and is having preliminary meetings with a number of potential buyers of its stake. Other private equity companies are reportedly conducting due diligence examinations of the business, while Time […]
Sonic Solutions has completed the acquisition of DivX. The addition of DivX brings widely deployed digital media technologies, an embedded CE footprint of over 300 million devices, a strong consumer brand, and a global market presence to Sonic’s expanding position as a supplier of services and technologies for the distribution of video content over the […]
The BBC’s director general, Mark Thompson, has warned of the potential for “abuse of power” if News Corp is allowed to take full control of BSkyB. In an interview on a US TV channel in New York, the DG claimed the takeover of BSkyB by News Corp could lead to “a significant loss of plurality […]
UK broadcast and satellite services company Arqiva is making some significant management and structural changes. CEO Tom Bennie is to leave once a replacement is appointed. The current somewhat complex divisional structure is being overhauled. “There are changes afoot,” said an Arqiva spokesman. “Tom stays for the moment, although will step down eventually and finding […]
The media producers organisation in France, SACD, has insisted the sector must be protected and not be ‘held hostage’ to European harmonisation. It spoke out in criticising the CSA’s opposition to the Government’s plan to make content quotas part of the price of attaining a VOD operating licence. The CSA thinks national and European quotas […]
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) has proposed a pre-packaged bankruptcy plan that would wipe out $4 billion in debt and put the founders of Spyglass Entertainment at the helm. The plan provides for MGM’s secured lenders to exchange more than $4 billion in outstanding debt for 95.3 per cent of equity in the company upon its emergence from […]