Viacom cut its full-year profit forecast on Friday as the softening economy has clouded its ability to make accurate advertising projections. CBS also expects full year profit to fall in the mid-teens range and it will write down the value of its licenses by $14bn. Later, National Amusements, an entity that controls executive chairman Sumner […]
Silicon Valley's most successful VC Sequoia Capital called an emergency meeting for its portfolio companies and is bringing back messages it sent to entrepreneurs in 2000. Sequoia partners presented a long analysis of how the United States economy got to this point. It is not a "normal crisis," they warned, and it will take a […]
Ofcom has reiterated it will consider relaxing UK rules governing how many advertisements can be shown in peak time. In its most recent directive on the subject, the European Commission said countries could relax restrictions on advertising "minutage" to permit a maximum of 12 minutes an hour. Ofcom currently allows the PSBs to run seven […]
In a changing market, it remains essential for the roll-out of pay-TV services that conditional-access systems be protected at European level against piracy. This is the verdict of a new report published from the European Commission. Such protection is also a vital precondition for the growth of new content distribution services like video on demand, […]
Espial, specialist in the delivery of IPTV middleware and applications, is to acquire all of the outstanding shares of IP video delivery outfit Kasenna in exchange for an aggregate of 4,722,224 Espial common shares.
German pay-TV broadcaster Premiere's shares fell 60% as it announced losses, a subscriber number re-statement and revealed it is trying to restructure bank debt.Premiere said its chief financial officer, Alexander Teschner, had stepped down as it restated its customer numbers to be in line with other pay-TV companies, resulting in a 940,000 drop in the […]
Former Ofcom and NTL chief executive Stephen Carter has been named as minister for communications, technology and broadcasting in the House of Lords, as part of Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s reshuffle.Carter, who has been handed a peerage to take up his role in the House, said: “Given the global financial challenges, the communications sector has […]
Virgin Media Television (VMtv) has confirmed two senior appointments to strengthen and develop its commercial strategy for the multi-screen digital future. David Cuff joins VMtv as its new Commercial Director, responsible for commercial strategy across the full range of VMtv's business. Cuff has previously held positions with Flextech Television and Initiative Media, and runs his […]
Aim-listed Phorm, the internet advertising group that announced a tie up with BT this week, made an pre-tax loss of £13.7m (E17.2m) for the first half of 2008, an increase of 52 per cent from the loss of £9.1m in the same period in 2007. However, in spite of the losses, Phorm still has a […]
The Cloud, the UK-based European wireless broadband provider, has secured its future with a E15m investment via a third round of venture funding. Ferd Ventures, the Norwegian investor, became the latest backer of the privately owned group, joining 3i, Accel and Provider Venture Partners, the Swedish fund.While turnover at The Cloud rose from £6.7m (E8.4m) […]