Cineworld secures $750m funding lifeline amid Covid-19 closures November 23, 2020 Cineworld has secured $750m (£561m) in additional cash to help bolster its balance sheet amid coronavirus closures. The FTSE 100 group, which is the world’s second largest cinema chain, said it has agreed a new $450m debt facility and a waiver on all banks covenants on its debt until June 2022. Other measures include an [...]
MPs to grill social media platforms over anti-vax conspiracies November 23, 2020 Social media firms are set to be hauled in front of MPs to answer questions about what they are doing to remove online misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines. The DCMS sub-committee on online harms and disinformation will next month grill executives from Google, Facebook and Twitter amid concerns over the rise of so-called anti-vax conspiracy theories. [...]
Daily Mail publisher lifts dividend despite Covid-19 profit hit November 23, 2020 The publishing group behind the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday today said it will hike its full-year dividend, despite seeing its profit slashed in half due to the coronavirus pandemic. The figures Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) posted revenue of £1.2bn in the year to the end of September, down 14 per [...]
Boom or bust: Radio veterans take on BBC with new baby boomer station November 23, 2020 Two radio industry heavyweights are launching a new station aimed at baby boomers as they look to tap into a generation of older listeners “left behind” by the BBC. Boom Radio will launch across the UK early next year, bringing a mix of music and conversation to the country’s roughly 14m boomers aged 55 and [...]
Radio listening surges in second lockdown as Brits work from home November 20, 2020 Radio listening was given a fresh boost during the second coronavirus lockdown this month as Brits went back to working at home. More than a third of commercial radio listeners are tuning in for an extra one hour and 53 minutes per day in November, compared to the period before the first lockdown in April. [...]
Screenshot: How books became the new media battleground November 20, 2020 A weekly column from City A.M. bringing you all the biggest stories and trends in technology, media and telecoms This week **Media Moment of the Week: French radio kills the Queen **Publish and be damned: How books became the new media battleground **Could Pearson become the Netflix of education? Media Moment of the Week If [...]
From drill music to Baby Shark: The record label plumbing profits from subculture hits November 19, 2020 There is, on the face of it, very little to connect Baby Shark with Headie One. The first is an infuriatingly catchy children’s song that is now the most-watched Youtube video in history. The other is a drill rapper from Tottenham who was jailed in January for carrying a knife before releasing a chart-topping debut [...]
Pearson launches new consumer division in bid to harness Netflix model November 18, 2020 Pearson has unveiled a new division that will deliver products directly to consumers as it looks to harness the power of streaming models used by companies such as Netflix. The FTSE 100 education giant said its new direct-to-consumer unit will help to accelerate its shift to digital services and allow it to “meet consumers where [...]
UK music industry value set to halve as pandemic derails growth November 18, 2020 The value of the UK music industry is set to almost halve in size this year due to the “catastrophic blow” of the coronavirus pandemic. Figures published today by industry body UK Music showed the sector contributed a bumper £5.8bn to the economy in 2019 — up 11 per cent on the previous year. Employment [...]
Balancing the books: Murdoch’s News Corp tables bid for Simon & Schuster November 17, 2020 Rupert Murdoch’s media empire is said to have tabled a bid for Simon & Schuster, the publishing giant behind best-selling authors including Stephen King and Dan Brown. Simon & Schuster was put up for sale by its owner, US media conglomerate Viacom CBS, following a strategic review in March. Murdoch’s News Corp has now entered [...]