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 […]
Covid-19 severely disrupted football at all levels in 2020, with the cancellation or postponement of leagues and FIFA’s football tournaments around the world. Despite the impact of the pandemic on the international match calendar and global economy, FIFA says that its revenue in 2020 exceeded its revised budget. In addition, preparations for its flagship tournament, […]
More than one million hard to reach homes and businesses in the UK will have next generation gigabit broadband built to them in the first phase of a £5 billion (€5.84bn) government infrastructure project. Up to 510,000 homes and businesses in Cambridgeshire, Cornwall, Cumbria, Dorset, Durham, Essex, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Tees Valley will be […]
A hearing on March 17th before Judge Keith Phillips at his Intelsat bankruptcy court decided to deny certain stockholders any official voice in the upcoming Intelsat financial restructuring. The ad hoc group also wanted the court to determine which of the dozens of Intelsat businesses should receive the FCC’s C-band incentive payments. The group of […]