Premiership rights may spark bid war March 11, 2012 PREMIER league football clubs could rake in three times as much if “a real bidding war between broadcasting giants” breaks out when the sale of the broadcast rights to the football premiership kicks off next month. Having already entered the French market, Al Jazeera has been touted as a serious challenger to the supremacy of [...]
Murdoch probe intensifies March 8, 2012 OFCOM has stepped up its probe into the propriety of James Murdoch’s position as BSkyB chairman by creating a dedicated team to monitor evidence emerging from police investigations, parliamentary committees and the Leveson inquiry. The question of whether James Murdoch and News Corp are “fit and proper” persons to own a broadcast licence was discussed [...]
Ofcom confirms BT’s price caps March 7, 2012 THE EUROPEAN Commission has given the green light to Ofcom’s proposed price caps for Openreach, BT’s wholesale broadband division. Ofcom, which regulates BT Openreach due to its “significant market power”, will lower annual charges by five to 20 per cent, with further reductions each year until March 2014. BT said it disagrees with some assumptions and will [...]
ITV renews deal with Scotland March 5, 2012 ITV has agreed to sell its Channel 3 programming schedule to Scottish broadcaster STV and Northern Irish network UTV for a fixed income regardless of how many shows they broadcast – rather than a revenue proportion – in a deal that sees ITV retain control of the rights to its shows. Although the move is [...]
4G rollout expected this year February 22, 2012 EVERYTHING Everywhere could roll out the next generation of mobile network (4G) later this year despite expectations that Ofcom’s auction of the coveted 800MHz spectrum “will not see any real action” until early 2013. The UK hybrid of Orange and T-Mobile is running an ongoing 4G trial in Cornwall on the 800MHz spectrum and is [...]
TalkTalk takings up despite user exodus February 7, 2012 TALKTALK upped its full-year profit guidance and raised its expected earnings per share yesterday despite continuing to haemorrhage customers throughout its third quarter. The former Carphone Warehouse subsidiary shed 43,000 net broadband accounts in the period, leaving TalkTalk with around 4m customers. This year has seen the telecoms group fined £3m and ordered to pay [...]
BT Openreach cost could be capped further by Ofcom February 6, 2012 BT HAS spoken out against regulations suggested to the European Commission by media watchdog Ofcom which would see the wholesale broadband provider’s prices further capped. This marks the third time Ofcom has regulated rental costs for BT Openreach, which dominates the wholesale broadband line rental market. As they currently stand in draft form, the changes [...]
Everything Everywhere could thrash rivals in bringing 4G to British shores January 15, 2012 ORANGE and T-Mobile customers could be the first to welcome the next generation of mobile network to the UK, despite Ofcom’s recent refusal to guarantee the service providers a section of the new 4G airwaves. Everything Everywhere, the combined Orange and T-Mobile networks, has applied to communications regulator Ofcom for permission to upgrade its current [...]
Ofcom plans to auction off 4G airwaves January 12, 2012 EVERYTHING Everywhere may lose out when 4G mobile bandwidth comes to the UK later this year due to Ofcom proposals set out yesterday, which would see the next generation of mobile coverage reach 98 per cent of the population. Ofcom will auction off the new airwaves in late 2012 for an expected figure of £3bn, [...]
CBI: Comms sector is key for UK January 11, 2012 The government must ensure that Britain’s communications sector continues to expand both at home and abroad, the CBI will urge today. Ofcom should “promote the UK communications sector in international markets”, the CBI will state, while suggesting that BBC Worldwide becomes “a key facilitator and partner of smaller content providers seeking opportunities abroad.” The communications [...]