Music industry rights licensing body PRS for Music has revealed what it describes as “encouraging” figures demonstrating the continued success of its Member Anti-Piracy System (MAPS) in the battle against digital music piracy, five years on from its launch. Since 2016, the bespoke automated notice and takedown tool, which tracks PRS for Music repertoire on […]
Canada’s MDA, the satellite builder formerly known as MacDonald, Dettwiler & Assoc – but perhaps better known as the builders of the Space Shuttle’s sophisticated ‘Canadarm’ robotic crane and still used on the International Space Station – is mounting an IPO. MDA, founded in 1969 (by Dr John MacDonald and Vern Dettwiler) also helped build […]
Content protection services provider Friend MTS has launched 4th Generation ASiD, an enhanced and extended set of subscriber-level watermarking solutions designed to address a wide range of content protection scenarios to secure high-value content and revenue across all types of broadcast and OTT devices, clients and apps. With an increasing need for content owners, broadcasters […]
ViacomCBS plans to sell $3 billion (€2.5bn) in stock to invest in streaming. The group launched its D2C streaming service Paramount+ earlier this month, and in 2019 it bought Pluto TV, an ad supported streaming platform. A year ago, after Viacom and CBS were re-combined, ViacomCBS shares traded at $11.28. They were $36 in December […]
Channel 4 has appointed Sacha Khari to the newly created role of Head of Digital Commissioning, reporting into Head of Youth and Digital, Karl Warner. Khari will take on responsibility for all digital content commissioning and acquisition across social and digital platforms, working closely with the Leeds-based 4Studio. He will oversee a team of digital […]
Investment bank analysts at Morgan Stanley believe that the news that Elon Musk has asked the FCC for permission to expand its Starlink broadband-by-satellite system to moving vehicles (trucks/RVs, aircraft and ships) has not only major implications for the auto industry, but the “topic appears to be moving even faster than we had anticipated”. Last […]
Vikas Grover has joined Avanti Communications Group as its new Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Grover was recently the founding Chief Information Officer at OneWeb, where he led Global Networks, IT Platforms and Security. Before OneWeb, he was the CIO and EVP Technology Planning at Vodafone India. Avanti CEO Kyle Whitehill, “I am delighted to welcome […]
The French National Assembly has adopted legislation that gives rights-holders and broadcasters major new powers to tackle the worsening piracy pandemic in the country. The Bill, Démocratiser le sport, was adopted in a plenary session of the National Assembly, the lower house of the French Parliament, and contains a key new legal provision (Article 10) […]
Private Equity outfit Apax Partners owns Marlink, a supplier of satellite communications, and is widely reported to be looking to sell. Reportedly it has hired bankers to advise on a sale. However, on January 13th Marlink announced plans to buy satellite solutions provider ITC Global. Nevertheless, there are reports that two normally potential buyers, Speedcast […]
Charlie Ergen, who is a major shareholder in Dish Network and EchoStar, has enjoyed a bump in his overall salary and compensation. Ergen is not quite in the same league as Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk, but this past year his total compensation has rocketed from $2.36 million to $94.7 million although a large portion […]