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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Italy’s Antitrust Authority is to launch an investigation to see if Sky Italia has abused its dominant position in the acquisition of rights to broadcast the 2010 and 2014 World Cup, in pay-TV mode for all broadcasting platforms. The action is based on a complaint by Mediaset from May 2010 in which it denounced the […]
European copyright rules are out of date and require a major overhaul, European Union Commissioner for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes told the Forum d’Avignon. According to Kroes, those who will prosper in the digital age are those who understand that convergence is one of the keys. “The convergence of media provides an incredible opportunity […]
The Ashes highlights are likely to be screened on terrestrial television after all, after ITV made a late bid to land the rights from Cricket Australia. BBC has consistently declined to place a bid, arguing that the £1 million (E1.14m) price tag was too high. There was also a scheduling issue: the contract for live […]
The carriage fee stand-off between Cablevision and Fox, came to an end at the weekend. Cablevision will pay an increased rate to carry Fox programming – though terms of the new deal were not disclosed. Fox had withheld its three public stations and three cable stations from Cablevision since October 16th, when the deadline for […]
Dish Network and Fox Networks, have confirmed a wide-ranging distribution agreement to provide the third-largest video distributor in the US with continued access to programming from Fox Broadcasting and Fox local television stations in major cities. The agreement also included carriage of FX, National Geographic Channel, and Fox’s 19 regional sports networks, which were restored […]
Youku, China’s largest video hosting site, has partnered with Disney to begin streaming the studio’s TV shows. The videos are subtitled in Chinese. The agreement with Disney comes as Chinese video hosting sites are moving away from showing illegally uploaded content. Chinese users continue to upload pirated popular American TV shows and movies to sites […]