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 [...]
AOL share price rockets on $4.4bn Verizon deal May 12, 2015 Verizon is buying the sprawling online company AOL in a deal worth $4.4bn (£2.8bn). The US telecoms company has made an offer of $50 a share – a premium of 17.4 per cent on AOL's closing share price yesterday of $42.59. Shares in AOL, the owner of online publications such as Huffington Post and Techcrunch [...]
AOL Verizon deal: This is boss Tim Armstrong’s email to staff in full May 12, 2015 AOL boss Tim Armstrong has emailed staff about Verizon's $4.4bn offer to buy the online company. Here are his words in full. As you have heard me say many times over the last 5 years since we became an independent AOL, we are building toward becoming the largest media technology company in the world. While [...]
David Cameron’s cabinet reshuffle sets new government up for BBC clash as John Whittingdale named secretary for culture, media and sport May 11, 2015 David Cameron set his government on a collision course with the BBC yesterday, appointing John Whittingdale as the new secretary of state for culture, media and sport. Whittingdale, who chaired the culture, media and sport committee in the last parliament, has previously been highly critical of the licence fee system used to fund the public [...]
21st Century Fox revenue falls as Rupert Murdoch deals with falling TV viewership May 6, 2015 The figures 21st Century Fox's share price jumped in after-hours trading after the media conglomerate reported third-quarter earnings that beat analysts' expectations – although revenues missed targets. Revenues fell from $8.2bn to $6.84bn (£4.49bn). However, excluding turnover from the Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia businesses which have since been sold to Sky, revenues actually increased one [...]
Tesco moves £90m media account to WPP’s Mediacom ending 20 years with IPG’s Initiative April 30, 2015 Tesco boss Dave Lewis has done some more kitchen-sinking, ditching the company that has been in charge of placing its advertising for the last 20 years. The beleaguered supermarket has switched its media planning and buying account – worth £90m a year – to WPP's Mediacom from IPG's Initiative after a review, MediaWeek reports. It's [...]
Don’t Look Now remake: Why Hollywood keeps resorting to reboots April 29, 2015 Don't Look Now, the 1976 horror film, is the latest classic film to get a modern makeover. The spooky psychological thriller, directed by Nicolas Roeg and starring Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie, is one of the most critically acclaimed horror films of all time and is widely regarded as a classic of the genre. A [...]
Average Seinfeld episode valued at $1m by Hulu in Sony Pictures deal April 29, 2015 Video streaming site Hulu is believed to have paid $180m for the rights to classic 90s sitcom Seinfeld. The site, which is expected to announce the acquisition at a presentation later today, acquired the rights to all 180 episodes from Sony Pictures Television, valuing each one at $1m on average, according to Variety. Other estimates [...]
eSports streaming site DingIt.tv secures $1.5m seed funding from Black Green Capital April 28, 2015 Money continues to be pumped into the UK eSports market with leading streaming platform DingIt.tv the latest to raise seven-figure sums of capital. DingIt.tv, which offers a HD streaming platform to eSports firms around the world, has secured $1.5m of seed funding from London venture capital firm Black Green Capital. The seed and A-round investment [...]
Broadcasters told by Ofcom to make phone-in charges simpler April 28, 2015 Telecoms regulator Ofcom has forced TV companies to change how they advertise phone-in and mobile voting competitions – because, it says, they're currently too confusing. The watchdog has changed the broadcasting code – the rules which govern TV and radio in the UK – to reflect how they can make pricing clearer. Viewers [...]