The New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) has announced a new digital piracy campaign and consumer awareness initiative. The ‘Create the Next Spot Contest’ asks creative students in New York City to design the next public service announcement to address digital piracy and encourage teens and young adults to consider the […]
A Jewish news network is to begin broadcasting from September 21st. Jewish News 1 (JN1) will act as an alternative to the world’s leading news networks – CNN, Fox News and Sky News. According to the Makor Rishon site, the channel will broadcast from Israel via satellite to Europe, north America and the Middle East. […]
The value of imported drama series for 120 European broadcasters across 21 territories was $5.92 billion in 2010, according to a report by Madigan Cluff. The Imported Drama Series in Europe report states that this figure was similar to 2009, but was well down on the $6.623 billion recorded in 2008. Michael Cluff, co-report author […]
DVD rental and streaming business Netflix is rebranding its DVD by mail service and adding the option of game rentals to its existing services. Netflix Co-Founder and CEO Reed Hastings announced the changes in a blog post which aimed to appease customers who had been left with a bitter taste in their mouth after the […]
Microsoft is still hopeful of releasing Xbox Live TV before the year is through, Steve Ballmer, the company’s CEO has said. Balmer told a developer’s conference that, although the service continues to be in the planning stages, hopes are still high for a 2011 launch. He said: “Having all of that content is right on, […]
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to unveil an initiative to get users behind sharing TV and movie content at the forthcoming F8 developer conference, according to the New York Post. Sources suggest the conference will focus on a new music service but will also see Facebook unveil a deeper partnership with online video service, […]
Private equity fund Permira has cancelled its plans to sell All3Media. UBS had been appointed last March to find a buyer. All3Media is best known for producing hit shows such as Shameless and Skins. Permira had reportedly been looking for about £750 million to £800 million for All3Media, and while plenty of would-be buyers conducted […]
Elisabeth Murdoch’s Shine TV production company has acquired the London-based social gaming startup, Bossa Studios, for an undisclosed fee. The acquisition is Shine Group’s first foray into the nascent social gaming market, and comes just months after News Corporation bought the TV firm for $673 million. Bossa Studios creates games for social networking sites including […]
Over-the-top programming could help moderate rising programming costs in the future, Cablevision Systems chief operating officer Tom Rutledge has said. “The rich [channel] package we provide is extremely valuable to customers and there is pricing power in that package,” Rutledge said at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch event. “On the other hand, you have […]
The UK Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) has expressed irritation at the slow implementation of anti-piracy law the Digital Economy Act, claiming that the delay is costing retailers millions of pounds. It claims that though the Act passed in June 2010 yet the value of lost sales to illegal filesharing since this time has exceeding £250 […]