RULE BRITANNIA… with more than a little help from the Swiss February 3, 2011 ONE of the most striking timepieces produced by a watch company in the past year hasn’t been a watch at all, but a mechanical ship’s clock. Nor was it just the advanced technology behind the clock or the £40,000 price-tag that grabbed the attention. It was the fact that every inch of it, down to [...]
Resurgent Chelsea to notch another big win February 3, 2011 CHELSEA vs LIVERPOOL SUNDAY – 4.00PM SKY SPORTS 1 THE sale of Fernando Torres has added some spice to Sunday’s fixture between Chelsea and Liverpool and it will be interesting to see if he gets a place in the starting line-up. The champions looked like their old selves in the 4-2 win against Sunderland on [...]
HMV investor mulls break-up February 3, 2011 A major investor in struggling retailer HMV Group has hired Credit Suisse to advise on the options for the firm, which could include a break-up of its HMV and Waterstone’s brands, according to Sky News. Alexander Mamut, a Russian billionaire with a 6.1 per cent stake in HMV, is in the first stages of assessing [...]
Sky may lose out in Pub TV football case February 3, 2011 THE Premier League’s battle with a Portsmouth-based publican suffered a major setback yesterday. A senior advocate from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) threw her weight behind landlady Karen Murphy in a landmark case, paving the way for a decision that could change the landscape of sports distribution rights in Europe and cost Sky £70m [...]
Pace in talks to launch digital service in India February 3, 2011 UK set-top box maker Pace is in talks with a satellite provider to launch a new digital service in India. The discussions are believed to be with pay-TV operator Tata Sky, a joint venture between Indian conglomerate Tata and News International-owned Star TV. Analysts say the deal will not lead to a rush of sales [...]
Moulton’s Better Capital buys parts of Connaught February 1, 2011 VENTURE capitalist Jon Moulton has bought parts of collapsed housing repair group Connaught, as administrator KPMG nears the end of dismantling the firm. Moulton’s private equity group Better Capital said yesterday is will pay £15m to buy and restructure Connaught’s risk management subsidiary, which did not collapse but was held by KPMG as one of [...]
How the sexism row hurt Sky’s brand February 1, 2011 FOLLOWING last week’s sexism scandal that saw Andy Gray and Richard Keys leave Sky Sports we’ve taken a look at how the controversy has impacted on perceptions of their former employer’s brand. On the Friday before the Wolves versus Liverpool match Sky Sports had a buzz score of -3.2. The initial story barely impacted on [...]
Arm beats forecasts with 47pc profit jump February 1, 2011 Chip designer ARM beat expectations with a 47 per cent rise in fourth-quarter profit on , helped by booming growth in smartphones and tablet computers, and said it was well placed for 2011. The company, whose architecture is licensed to chipmakers like Infineon , Qualcomm and Samsung, reported pre-tax profit of 47.6 million pounds on [...]
Square Mile to get 15 mins of free Wi-fi a day January 30, 2011 WI-FI hotspot provider The Cloud will launch a program tomorrow offering everyone in the Square Mile 15 minutes of free wi-fi a day. The move is the first major announcement by the firm since it was snapped up by Sky last week for almost £50m. Sky plans to use The Cloud, which has around 22,000 [...]
Sky profits soar despite distractions January 27, 2011 BSKYB proved yesterday that behind the media sideshow surrounding its potential new owner and its wayward sports presenters lies a powerful profit-making machine. The broadcaster saw its profits soar 40 per cent year-on-year for its second fiscal quarter as it added an extra 140,000 new customers. Revenue for the period was up 15 per cent [...]