Entertainment One share price rises as Peppa Pig helps profit grow despite film struggles May 19, 2015 The figures Entertainment One's share price jumped by two per cent in early trading as the group delivered a 13 per cent rise in full year profit before tax to £44m as sales of pre-school Peppa Pig properties hit $1bn (£640m) worldwide. Revenue at the group fell by five per cent from £823m to £785.8m – [...]
UKTV to show record-breaking results after big investment programmes May 18, 2015 UKTV will today announce results that show record-breaking revenue, profits and ratings on the back of its major investment in exclusive and original programmes. The company’s 2014 revenue will be £283m, up from £278m in 2013. It will also announce £74.1m of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda), which is up 10 per [...]
Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs: First trailer for Danny Boyle biopic unveiled May 18, 2015 The first trailer for British director Danny Boyle's biopic of Steve Jobs has landed, with Michael Fassbender appearing in Jobs' trademark black turtleneck. Read more: Steve Jobs was an amazing businessman – but Einstein’s the genius behind the iPod Steve Jobs, the second feature film on the Apple founder's life, is written by Aaron Sorkin, the Academy-award [...]
English football clubs’ shortage of success in Europe is a risk for BT May 14, 2015 Gavin Patterson’s BT, which bid a sky-high £897m for the live rights to Champions League football for the next three years, could see the attractiveness of its package diminished if English clubs continue to perform badly in the prestigious competition next year. Four Premier League teams qualify for the competition but there are fears [...]
ITV a takeover target after Adam Crozier oversees dramatic turnaround May 14, 2015 Charlotte Henry watches a positive programme at ITV, unlike a few years ago. No wonder that takeover talk persists. In a conference centre in Westminster, some of ITV’s shareholders have assembled for the company’s annual general meeting (AGM). They broadly welcomed the progress of the share price, their positivity no doubt boosted by a [...]
Meet Britain’s biggest film buff who has seen over 7,000 films in the last 70 years visiting Swiss Cottage Odeon every week May 14, 2015 A London man can lay claim to the title of being Britain's biggest film buff, having gone to the cinema every single week for the last 70 years. John Gale has taken in more than 7,000 films at the Odeon in Swiss Cottage, which he calls a second home after visiting at least every week, [...]
Facebook launches new Instant Articles for speed reading online May 13, 2015 Tech giant Facebook made a leap into the publishing space yesterday, introducing Instant Articles, with big names signed up to launch it. The new product allows outlets to publish multimedia articles direct to Facebook, instead of them sharing links on the social network to drive users to their own website. News organisations can [...]
Trinity Mirror prepares for staff cuts in print and digital: Ampp3d and UsVsTh3m websites at risk May 13, 2015 Trinity Mirror, the media group that publishes the Daily Mirror as well as many local titles, is preparing to lay off 27 staff across both print and digital. Fourteen staff on the new formats team, which produce the website Row Zed on football, the data journalism site Ampp3d, and the virals based site UsVsTh3m, have [...]
Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May and Netflix could team up with ‘House of Cars’ May 13, 2015 The former Top Gear presenting team of Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond are reportedly in talks with Netflix to launch a spin-off of the popular show called House of Cars. The trio are currently out of action after Clarkson was sacked from the successful BBC show, prompting May and Hammond to leave too. Clarkson, [...]
Ricky Gervais agrees The Office feature film and will return as David Brent May 13, 2015 David Brent is coming to the big screen. Ricky Gervais has secured financing for a feature film spin-off of The Office, the classic sitcom which launched him to fame in 2001. According to Variety, Life on the Road will see Gervais reprise his role as David Brent, the excruciatingly awkward boss now be working as [...]