Samira Ahmed reaches settlement with BBC over equal pay case February 24, 2020 The BBC has reached a settlement with Samira Ahmed after the presenter won her equal pay case against the broadcaster. An employment tribunal last month ruled that Ahmed was underpaid for hosting Newswatch in comparison to Jeremy Vine, who hosts Points of View. The BBC had argued that the two presenters fulfilled “very different roles”, [...]
Disney Plus UK: Everything you need to know (and why The Simpsons is missing) February 24, 2020 Eager film and TV fans can today get their hands on a discounted Disney Plus subscription ahead of the streaming service’s UK launch next month, while the media giant has given subscribers a taste of its content slate. How much does it cost? Disney Plus today announced that customers can sign up for an introductory [...]
Murdoch’s media empire hit by phone hacking charges as Sun suffers hefty loss February 23, 2020 Rupert Murdoch’s Sun newspapers have posted another year of deep losses after the publisher was forced to pay out millions of pounds to settle phone hacking cases. News Group Newspapers (NGN), which publishes the Sun and the Sun on Sunday, reported a pre-tax loss of £68m in the year to the end of June 2019. [...]
Pearson profit falters as US courseware business drags it down February 21, 2020 Education publisher Pearson posted underlying profit at the top end of a reduced guidance range for 2019 today, and warned its ongoing transition to digital will drag profits even lower in 2020. Pearson’s share price sank 4.4 per cent to 558.2p as traders digested the figures. The figures Operating profit halved to £275m in 2019, [...]
London media hub Outernet signs video production deal with Ridley Scott February 20, 2020 London entertainment hub Outernet Global today said it has inked a deal with veteran filmmaker Ridley Scott to launch a new development and production platform for branded content. Outernet, which is due to open in December, has teamed up with the Ridley Scott Creative Group to provide early-stage funding for visual content producers. The initiative, [...]
WH Smith removes Telegraph from railway station stores February 19, 2020 WH Smith has stopped selling the Telegraph in some of its branches following a dispute over prices. The decision to stop selling the newspaper in its railway station shops comes after the Telegraph increased the price of its daily, Saturday and Sunday editions earlier this month. However, the newspaper publisher has not yet increased the [...]
US film company plots launch of UK’s largest studio complex February 19, 2020 A US-based film company has today unveiled plans to create the UK’s largest purpose-built studio complex as the British film industry’s gold rush shows no signs of slowing down. Blackhall Studios has inked a £150m deal with the University of Reading to build 1m square feet of sound stages and digital production facilities in a [...]
Tiktok launches family mode in latest bid to improve user safety February 19, 2020 Tiktok today unveiled a new feature aimed at helping parents and guardians keep their children safe, marking the social media platform’s latest effort to fight off concerns about harmful material. The video-sharing app’s family safety mode will link a parent’s Tiktok account to their teenager’s, allowing them to control a range of features remotely. Parents [...]
UK live entertainment sector poised for £2.3bn 5G boost February 19, 2020 The UK’s live entertainment industry could be given a boost of as much as £2.3bn over the next 10 years thanks to a raft of benefits brought by 5G, new research has revealed. Figures compiled by O2, seen exclusively by City A.M., showed consumer spending on live music and sports events could surge in the [...]
Hamilton promoter Reach 4 Entertainment jumps on higher forecasts February 18, 2020 Shares in Reach 4 Entertainment (R4E) jumped as much as 17 per cent this morning after the theatre marketing firm upped its forecasts for full-year trading. R4E, which runs marketing campaigns for West Ends shows such as Hamilton and The Lion King, said it expected to report revenue and profit “significantly” ahead of market expectations. [...]