Corbyn plots to establish publicly owned rival to Facebook August 23, 2018 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has outlined plans to build a publicly owned social media platform to rival the likes of Facebook. In a speech at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Corbyn set out his idea to create the British Digital Corporation (BDC), a publicly owned entity that would also create entertainment content to rival streaming giants Netflix [...]
Comcast extends deadline for Sky shareholders to accept £26bn offer August 23, 2018 Comcast has extended the deadline for Sky investors to accept its £26bn offer to buyout the company, a statement revealed last night. Shareholders now have until 12 September to green light the US media company's 14.75 per share offer. It follows 0.2 per cent of Sky investors giving their consent by the previous deadline yesterday. Most [...]
Culture secretary Jeremy Wright outlines plans to safeguard UK broadcasting post-Brexit August 22, 2018 Culture secretary Jeremy Wright will today address fears Brexit could hit the TV broadcasting industry's workforce by outlining the government's ambitions to ensure talent are granted mobility between Europe and the UK. Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival today, Wright will hail the strength of the UK's public service broadcasting sector, while assuring industry figures the government [...]
Vice Media’s online food brand Munchies is to expand its physical presence with a food hall venture August 21, 2018 Munchies, the online food channel owned by Vice Media, is to expand its presence in the physical world. The publisher has agreed to a brand licensing contract for a food hall at American Dream Meadowlands, a retail complex an under construction in New Jersey. Agreed between the online brand and the centre owner, Triple Five [...]
Superdry co-founder Julian Dunkerton gives £1m to anti-Brexit campaign August 19, 2018 Julian Dunkerton, co-founder of the fashion label Superdry, has given £1m to the People's Vote campaign, a group with cross-party support that has called for a second public vote on any Brexit deal. The donation is the largest ever received by the campaign group, and is expected to go towards funding opinion polls to rally [...]
Martin Sorrell vs WPP: The king of adland wages war on the company he founded with his new venture S4 August 8, 2018 When a couple break up, sage advice is that it’s best to part ways amicably. This advice, however, has not been heeded by Martin Sorrell and WPP, the company Sorrell founded in 1985, turned into a global powerhouse, then exited in controversial fashion in April this year. Sorrell and WPP have been engaged in a war of [...]
Silence is golden – someone should tell Thomas Markle July 30, 2018 DENIS THATCHER FAMOUSLY once said, “It’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.” Clearly, this concept is not one that applies to Thomas Markle Senior, father of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. His latest incendiary comments to the Mail on Sunday this weekend have [...]
Private Equity firm Exponent wades in with higher offer for magazine publisher Dennis July 19, 2018 Private equity firm Exponent has beaten a bid from the Daily Mail’s owner to buy the publisher of current affairs magazine The Week. Exponent Private Equity is in talks to buy Dennis Publishing, which makes The Week along with other titles including Viz. Sky News reported the group could pay between £150m and £200m for [...]
Netflix’s share price slumps 14 per cent after reporting a disappointing second quarter July 16, 2018 Wall Street darling Netflix’s share price plummeted by 14 per cent in after-hours trading, thanks to a set of lacklustre results for its second quarter. The site added 5.2m subscribers globally in the three months to June, about a million fewer than it had forecasted. Netflix said in a letter to shareholders that it had [...]
Sky completes sale of remaining Sky Bet stake to PokerStars owner for £635m July 10, 2018 Sky today confirmed it had sold its remaining stake in Sky Bet to Canadian online gambling company The Stars Group. The media giant confirmed it had completed its sell off its 20 per cent stake in Sky Betting & Gaming for a total of £635m. Toronto-based The Stars Group, which owns PokerStars, PokerStars Casino, BetStars [...]