Who’s switching jobs November 28, 2012 Aviva Phil Pavitt has been appointed to the role of IT transformation director at the insurance group. He joins from HMRC, where he was general director of change. Pavitt has also held chief information officer positions at Centrica, Virgin Media and BT. MasterCard Will Judge has been appointed vice president for travel and transit. He [...]
BT makes plans to appeal Sky’s controversial sports pricing win November 27, 2012 BT has announced plans to appeal a controversial competition ruling over the price Sky is able to charge other broadcasters for its sports channels. The telecoms company said it had asked permission to challenge August’s decision from the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), which stopped Ofcom from forcing Sky to lower the prices it can charge [...]
Superfast network keeps Hull internet provider KCOM in line November 27, 2012 YORKSHIRE-BASED telecoms company KCOM said “strong demand” for its superfast “fibre” broadband service had enabled profits to remain steady despite a fall in revenues. The company, which announced plans to treble its fibre network, posted a 4.7 per cent reduction in revenues to £188.7m in the half-year to October, which it blamed on “challenging conditions”. [...]
YouView sued by Yorkshire telecoms group in trademark name dispute November 26, 2012 YOUVIEW, the internet-connected set top TV box company backed by BT and the BBC, has been sued in the High Court for trademark infringement, and may have to face a hefty payout or change its name. The lawsuit, from Yorkshire-based telecoms firm Total, comes after YouView lost an appeal to have its name trademarked. Two [...]
Ofcom announces proposals for white space mobile broadband November 22, 2012 CITY-WIDE Wi-Fi networks could be launched by the end of next year, the communications regulator said yesterday, as it published proposals to free up unused parts of the airwaves for internet signals. Ofcom said that it was opening a consultation on “white spaces” – the gaps in between bands of spectrum used to broadcast TV. [...]
Tablets that don’t cost the earth November 21, 2012 AMAZON KINDLE FIRE HD Amazon.co.uk, £129 (seven inch) The Kindle Fire was hailed as the first serious challenger to Apple’s domination of the tablet market – a colour e-reader with access to the web that seamlessly integrated with your Amazon account. In reality it was too heavy and too ugly to ever set the tablet [...]
After years of setbacks it is time for YouView to face up to its rivals November 18, 2012 RICHARD Halton has not had an easy couple of years. Having taken the reins at YouView in September 2010 – the same year the internet-connected TV box was originally pencilled in to go on sale – he has had to deal with questions about project delays, criticism over the price of the hardware, and, last [...]
BT buys legal tech firm Tikit in biggest acquisition for years November 14, 2012 BT yesterday announced its biggest acquisition in more than four years, agreeing to buy legal IT services firm Tikit for £64.2m in cash. The deal, made through the telecoms giant’s retail division, will allow BT to sell its own IT communications services to Tikit’s clients, which include more than 90 of the UK’s top 100 [...]
TalkTalk gains despite falls November 13, 2012 TELECOMS operator TalkTalk said yesterday it expected to reverse a decline in revenue growth in this financial year as it expands its product range and adds more customers onto its own network. Although the company said first-half revenue slipped two per cent to £828m and its broadband customer base fell slightly in the second quarter [...]
Universal movie deal keeps Sky in the front row November 5, 2012 BSKYB has signed an exclusivity deal with the company behind Hollywood giant Universal Studios, maintaining its lead in movie channels as it fends off increasing competition from the likes of Netflix and BT. The renewed agreement with NBCUniversal (NBCU), due to be announced today, allows Sky’s movie channels to screen films including recent hits Anna [...]