Rupert Murdoch has vowed not to make a new bid for BSkyB after the division of News Corp, saying he would focus his media empire on the US because “the English” had made him unwilling to invest any further in the UK. The News Corp chairman’s outburst came in an American television interview with Bloomberg after the company confirmed it [...]

BSkyB is raising its prices for its Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2 networks, ESPN and an entertainment content package as of September after a two-year price freeze. Media regulator Ofcom has disclosed the increases, and BSkyB published an advisory on its website, highlighting it has spent more than $600 million more per year on content. Each of the [...]

Telecom Italia has received 15 preliminary expressions of interest for its Telecom Italia Media unit. According to Italian daily “Il Sole 24 Ore”, 60 per cent are foreign groups and investors. Among names being mentioned are Sky Italia, Al Jazeera, Discovery Channel, as well as Italian private equity fund Clessidra. Meanwhile, Italian multimedia group L’Espresso as well as Tunisian-born businessman [...]

The long-running dispute with between Dish Network and the AMC bouquet of film and entertainment channels has spread to AT&T’s U-Verse service. AT&T said that may cease transmissions of AMC’s key channels this weekend if it cannot reach an agreement over carriage fees. AMC is seeking extra cash because of its high-rated shows such as ‘Mad Men’ and ‘Breaking Bad’. [...]

A man has been convicted on conspiracy charges relating to his operation of surfthechannel.com, a website offering links to TV and video content. Newcastle crown court heard Anton Vickerman’s site had up to 400,000 users a day and made about £35,000 (€44,000) a month in revenue. While UK prosecutors did not pursue a case on copyright offences, Vickerman was found [...]

Netflix and Twentieth Century Fox have revealed that Netflix will be the exclusive UK and Ireland home to the Fox cult comedy hit, “Arrested Development” to premiere early 2013. Seasons one through three are currently available to members in the UK and Ireland. “Arrested Development is one of the finest American comedies in TV history and we are incredibly excited [...]

Jiaflix and the China Movie Channel’s streaming movie website M1905 have teamed in venture to stream international feature films, in addition to Chinese movies, using SVOD and TVOD throughout China. Jiaflix has already signed a multi-year licensing deal with Paramount Pictures, whose library titles will be available through the online movie service when it launches in the fourth quarter. M1905, [...]

UPC Ireland’s On Demand service has registered over one million views in its first month of operation The On Demand service is currently available to over one third of all UPC Ireland TV customers, and is set to be expanded to the rest of the country to reach more than 600,000 homes by the end of the year. The service [...]

Osvaldo Nemirovsci, the general coordinator of the Advisory Council of the Argentine Digital Television System, has confirmed that Argentina will meet the original schedule for the implementation of DTT and complete the analogue switch-off in 2019. Argentina has already installed about 50 transmitters adapted to DTT and the government has distributed nearly 1 million sets within the framework of the [...]

Alcatel-Lucent is enabling Swisscom – Switzerland’s leading telco – to give its customers the ability to record TV programmes and store them in the cloud and then watch their recordings on any connected screen wherever they are, whenever they want. The service will help Swisscom further differentiate their IPTV offering and increase revenues by attracting new customers. Bruno Haug, Head [...]

Entertainment One, the film and TV distributor, has joined the consumer education body Industry Trust for IP Awareness, adding support to consumer campaigns on the value of copyright to the UK’s film, TV and video industry. Entertainment One, which reaches a vast range of audiences through its films including The Twilight Saga, now adds itself to the growing 40+ membership [...]