UKTV removes classic ‘Don’t mention the war’ Fawlty Towers episode June 12, 2020 BBC-owned streaming service UKTV has removed the ‘Don’t mention the war’ episode of sitcom classic Fawlty Towers, as broadcasters continue to cull content perceived to be insensitive from their platforms. The episode of the 1970s sitcom in which hotel proprietor Basil Fawlty, played by John Cleese, goose-steps while shouting “Don’t mention the war!” has been [...]
Pearson shares rocket as Cevian Capital snaps up stake June 12, 2020 Pearson shares surged almost 10 per cent this morning after activist investor Cevian Capital unmasked a 5.4 per cent stake in the firm. A regulatory filing in the US yesterday showed Stockholm-based investor Cevian Capital has taken a stake of 40.6m shares in Pearson. Shares in the educational publisher were up 9.7 per cent to [...]
WPP appoints former Burberry chief June 11, 2020 Media giant WPP has appointed the former chief executive of Burberry and ex-head of retail at Apple to its board. Angela Ahrendts will become a non-executive board member at WPP after ending a five-year run as one of the most senior figures at Apple. Ahrendts led British fashion brand Burberry from 2006 to 2013, during [...]
News UK set to cut jobs in radio and newspaper June 11, 2020 News UK is set to cut jobs in its radio and newspaper operations, as coronavirus continues to hammer print advertising and sales. Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News UK, yesterday wrote to employees from The Sun and The Times to announce that “in the coming months, we will need to streamline the business and take [...]
HBO pulls Gone With The Wind over ‘racist’ depiction of slave era June 10, 2020 HBO has removed Gone With The Wind from its streaming platform over its “racist” depiction of the American south during slavery. HBO Max, the broadcaster’s streaming service launched last month, announced that it has temporarily dropped the 1939 film. HBO said it would return the film to its platform at an unspecified date with a [...]
BBC appoints Tim Davie as new director general June 5, 2020 The BBC has named Tim Davie as its new director general, bringing to an end months of speculation over the successor to outgoing boss Tony Hall. Davie, who is currently chief executive of BBC Studios, will take up the role in September. Davie is one of the corporation’s longest-serving executives and stepped in as acting [...]
Coronavirus: BBC calls for right to publish news directly on Whatsapp June 4, 2020 The BBC should be allowed to publish directly on chat platforms such as Whatsapp to help counter fake news about the Covid-19 crisis, one of the broadcaster’s top bosses has said. Jamie Angus, director of the BBC World Service Group, urged tech giants to open their platforms to trusted news providers as part of their [...]
Bafta Awards: Sky production push pays off as Chernobyl leads nominations June 4, 2020 Hit Sky series Chernobyl has picked up 14 nominations at the Bafta Television Awards 2020 as the media giant reaps the rewards of its production push. The critically-acclaimed miniseries, which is based on the 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, led the field at this year’s awards. It is now one of the [...]
Channel 4 to air Hollyoaks on Snapchat as it targets young viewers June 4, 2020 Channel 4 today said it will air Hollyoaks on Snapchat as part of a fresh deal to bring more than 300 episodes of its TV programmes to the social media app over the next year. From today the broadcaster will show short-form edits of the soap opera favourite on Snapchat’s Discover section. The Undateables, The [...]
Hipgnosis shares jump as lockdown streaming boosts music catalogue June 3, 2020 Shares in Hipgnosis rose sharply today after the music royalties investment firm said the continued growth of streaming had pushed up the value of its song portfolio. The London-listed company reported better-than-expected revenue of £64.7m in the year to the end of March, while net asset value grew 17.7 per cent. Shares in Hipgnosis jumped [...]