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Entertainment coalition lends weight to Viacom vs. YouTube

An entertainment industry coalition representing the major studios and the independent motion picture and television programming industry has filed an amicus (interested party) brief in the case of Viacom versus YouTube. The brief filed by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA) urges the Court of Appeals […]

December 14, 2010

French football channel scores DTT win

Following its invitation for expressions of interest to run a pay-TV channel on France’s R3 digital television multiplex, the Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel (CSA) has selected the ‘Cfoot’ proposal from the Ligue de football professionnel (Professional Football League). The CSA considers that the proposal contributes to the diversity of operators and is in line with […]

December 14, 2010

UEFA to centralise rights sales

UEFA, the European ruling body for football, is moving ahead with plans to centralise the sale of broadcast rights for European Championship and World Cup qualifiers. It means national associations – in particular England’s FA – may suffer a drop in revenue, the FA currently makes over €200 million selling these rights. If the move […]

December 10, 2010

Comcast content for Asia Pacific

Comcast International Media Group (CIMG) has signed a number of multi-platform deals in Asia Pacific, making content available to E!, Style, G4 and Golf Channel fans via such distribution systems as on demand, mobile and DVD, as well as TV. “We’re pleased to make some of the most loved titles from CIMG’s catalogue, available everywhere […]

December 8, 2010

Google ramps up online piracy fight

Google is to make major changes to the way it deals with copyright infringement on its search engine in the coming months, aimed at making it tougher for websites that flaunt the law and making it harder to find pirated content. Noting that there are more than one trillion unique URLs on the Web and […]

December 3, 2010

US Olympics want their own TV channels

Reuters annual Global Media Summit heard plans from the US Olympic Committee (USOC) to launch their own cable channels for Olympic Games coverage. Currently NBC has the sole US television rights for the Games, but the 2014 Winter Games and 2016 Summer Olympics have yet to be offered to broadcasters. Scott Blackmun, Chief Executive of […]

December 1, 2010By Chris Forrester

Barclays underwrites Premiership for UAE

The UK’s Export Credit scheme has secured cover from Barclays Bank to guarantee the supply of the English soccer Premiership for 3 years to Abu Dhabi Media Co. The insurance cover values the soccer deal at just over $100m per season, a record for the oil-rich Gulf states. The English Premier League insists on such […]

November 25, 2010

Major sporting events to stay on free TV in Oz

The Australian federal government is to create a two-tier anti-siphoning list with major iconic sporting events going into the first tier with the requirement that they be broadcast on free-to-air TV. Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said no Australian events shown on free-to-air television had been removed. He said the major change would be creation of […]

November 25, 2010

Content King only if you own it

ITV’s revenues and profits are resurgent, proving again that it has the world’s simplest business model and that you are just unlucky if you end up running it (or any other FTA commercial channel) in an advertising down turn. But the new management team says it doesn’t want to ride its luck and has set […]

November 16, 2010

Demand Five on Virgin Media

Virgin Media has confirmed a multiscreen deal with Channel 5 to bring programming from all of Five’s linear TV channels to its TV, online and mobile video on demand platforms from November. The addition of Demand Five to its TV On Demand service at no extra cost to customers makes Virgin Media the only TV […]

November 11, 2010