German financial regulators have ruled that Sky Deutschland, the German pay-TV company now controlled by News Corp, had misstated its 2007 accounts. Germany’s Bafin regulator found Premiere – Sky Deutschland’s name before the News Corp full takeover – had inflated the number of subscribers, overstated its value and failed to inform investors of risks connected […]
The Church of England has joined calles for News Corp’s proposal to take full control of satellite broadcaster BSkyB to be stopped. In its submission to Ofcom, the Church said that a takeover might lead to a harmful concentration of media power. News Corp would dominate UK television and newspapers it said. The Church’s spokesman […]
BSkyB’s independent directors have written to Ofcom, warning the regulator that it risks generating a “perverse outcome” if Ofcom found in its investigation of a potential bid by News Corp that a deal would curtail diversity for British viewers. The directors reminded Ofcom that Sky News, the focus of some allegations of media domination in […]
The US Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would give US law enforcement more tools to crack down on websites abroad engaged in piracy of movies, television shows and music. The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act, which has the support of the entertainment industry but has been strongly criticised by digital rights and […]
James Murdoch has made his toughest statement yet on what could happen should British media regulators refuse News Corp’s bid to acquire the 61 per cent of BSkyB it does not own. He told delegates at Morgan Stanley’s annual media and telecoms conference in Barcelona that the UK government must decide whether it wants to […]
The proposed legislation to combat Internet counterfeiting that has pitted Hollywood and television networks against Web giants Amazon, Google and Yahoo over how law enforcement authorities should prevent digital theft. The bill, sponsored by Senator Patrick Leahy with the backing of 17 senators, would allow law enforcement to scrap infringing sites by taking down the […]
UK broadband minister Ed Vaizey has declared ISPs should be free to favour traffic from one content provider over another as long as they inform customers. Speaking to the FT Conference this morning Vaizey says the market will decide how far ISPs can go in charging for preferential or guaranteed content delivery and QoS. The […]
Vivendi’s Canal Plus pay- television unit faces a continued probe by France’s competition authority into exclusive deals, the regulator has confirmed. The investigation focuses on Canal Plus’s distribution practices for its ‘in house’ channels, certain deals for linked channels, and contracts between Canal Plus and independent channels, the regulator said in a statement on its […]
Neelie Kroes the European Commission’s Vice president for the Digital Agenda says the EU won’t pass laws for net neutrality. Speaking at a Net Neutrality Summit in Brussels, Kroes said: “In general, providers have upheld the principle of open access and end users may access most of the applications and services of their choice.” She […]
Federal regulators in the US have told Comcast and NBC Universal that they have concerns the proposed merger will harm competition. The Justice Department’s antitrust division and Federal Communications Commission are expected to approve the merger on the condition the companies agree to allow competitors – such as Time Warner Cable, Dish Network and even […]