BT footy prices to be revealed June 29, 2010 BT will tomorrow unveil the pricing for Premier League matches snapped up from Sky. Customers signed up to BT Vision will be able to watch Premier league games for a knock-down price after communications watchdog Ofcom ruled Sky must slash its wholesale prices for Sky Sports 1 and 2. Speculation has been building that BT [...]
BT strikes up a footy deal with BSkyB June 28, 2010 BT HAS finalised a deal with BSkyB to offer its subscribers top-flight football next season. The move, which means football fans can watch their teams on BT Vision for the first time, could rock Sky’s dominance of the pay TV market after decades controlling the lion’s share of subscribers. It follows a controversial Ofcom ruling [...]
Product placement rules are laid out June 28, 2010 OFCOM yesterday published a series of proposals for new rules to allow product placement on radio and TV. Ofcom says it plans to restrict the types of products that can be placed. Companies advertising gambling, tobacco, alcohol, baby milk and medicines will be banned from product placement, as will sellers of salty and sugary food. [...]
Cable to refresh Royal Mail privatisation plans June 24, 2010 VINCE Cable has asked the man behind plans to part-privatise the Royal Mail to see whether a full stock market flotation or sale to a trade buyer could unlock more value in current market conditions. In his first report, former deputy chairman of Ofcom Richard Hooper recommended a strategic partnership with a private player, essentially a part-privatisation. [...]
Virgin and BSkyB appeal ruling June 9, 2010 Virgin Media has appealed against an Ofcom decision forcing BSkyB to charge competitors less for its football coverage, saying the ruling doesn’t go far enough. BSkyB has also appealed the communication watchdog’s decision, saying the regulator “acted unlawfully” in imposing conditions on its programme packages. Virgin said the methods used by Ofcom to calculate the [...]
ISPs slam Ofcom’s piracy rules June 1, 2010 OFCOM yesterday confirmed it will apply tough new anti-piracy laws only to internet service providers (ISP) with over 400,000 subscribers. The controversial Digital Economy Bill (DEB), passed after Gordon Brown had dissolved his government, will force ISPs to write to users suspected of piracy and could eventually force them to cut the users off. The [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 25, 2010 Electra Private Equity Electra has appointed Colette Bowe as chairman after three years on the board. Bowe, an economist, began her career at the Department of Trade and Industry and then became chief executive of the Personal Investment Authority and chairman of European asset management at Robert Fleming. She is currently a board member at [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 23, 2010 Ofcom Stewart Purvis will quit media regulator Ofcom after a two-and-a-half year stint at the quango. He will leave his post in the autumn. He was responsible for content regulation and standards. He was previously chief executive at ITN and has over 30 years of broadcast experience, including working for the BBC and ITN. At [...]
Canvas gets the all clear from the OFT May 19, 2010 THE Office of Fair Trading (OFT) will not investigate Project Canvas, a tie-up between large media players, over fears it will stifle competition. The proposed joint venture by firms including BBC, BT, TalkTalk and ITV will offer video-on-demand content through a viewer’s Freeview box. The scheme has come under fire from rivals Sky and Virgin [...]
Cut-price Sky Sports moves a step closer April 29, 2010 SKY’S stranglehold over subscription TV took a hit yesterday as a court refused to postpone a ruling forcing it to slash the price it can charge rivals for Premier League football. The ruling guarantees top flight games will be available across four platforms by the start of next season. Sky, led by chief executive Jeremy [...]