Jeff Smith, director of UK and international programming at Napster, has been named as the new head of music at Radio 2.He will take over from Colin Martin on March 26 this year, following the announcemt of Martin’s retirement in December 2006.Smith joined Napster in 2004 where he was responsible for sourcing all content and… Continue reading Radio 2 Names New Head Of Music

Sky will be launching the TV version of its Anytime package in March, allowing customers to watch a selection of the week’s best programming on-demand.Anytime on TV will be available to more than one million customers, making use of the additional capacity available on more recent Sky+ and Sky HD boxes.Launched next month, the service… Continue reading Sky Anytime Moves To TV In March

Virgin Media has signed a major content agreement with Warner Bros which will see US shows like Friends and ER made available to subscribers via its on-demand service.Over three million cable customers will be able to access more than 500 episodes of top-rating US shows such as Nip/Tuck and The OC.This agreement follows recent content… Continue reading Virgin Media Signs Warner Bros Content Deal

BBC Worldwide’s TV sales are set to reach around £190 million for this financial year due to strong growth in traditional programme sales and an increasing number of deals with digital media platforms. This figure is up from last year’s £171 million and was announced by BBC Worldwide prior to the BBC Showcase event being… Continue reading BBC Worldwide’s TV Sales Grow

The US companies Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio have agreed a merger, which will create a company valued at $13 billion. The deal will see Sirius acquire XM in a $4.6 billion deal, although the merger could face problems. It is believed that US terrestrial radio companies are likely to make objections and… Continue reading US Satellite Radio Companies To Merge

The BBC is to begin a research trial on the Freeview platform of a video on demand (VOD) service which will utilise the platform’s interactive capabilities.Ashley Highfield, the BBC’s director of future media and technology, said that the BBC is currently working with a manufacturer of set-top boxes in order to segment a section of… Continue reading BBC Begins Research On Freeview VOD Service

An alliance of online publishers has called on the BBC Trust to reject the proposals to put advertisements on the Corporation’s overseas internet service.The British Internet Publishers’ Alliance (BIPA) says that whilst such revenues might seem superficially attractive as a means of ‘augmenting’ the licence fee, the collateral damage to the private sector would far… Continue reading Publishers Call On BBC Trust To Reject Online Ads

MediaTel Group is to commemorate its 25th year with a special seminar, ‘Media 25’, where an esteemed panel will look back over the past 25 years of the media industry, as well as looking forward to future developments.Under the chairmanship of BBC media corespondent Torin Douglas, a selection of highly respected panellists from a cross-section… Continue reading MediaTel Group Commemorates 25th Year With Special Seminar

Tiscali’s revenues for 2006 stood at €678.5 million, up 28% year on year, which Tiscali says is broadly in line with its business plan. As of 31st December 2006, Tiscali had around 3,5 million active users, of which 1,9 million were broadband customers (up 50% compared to 2005), in line with the targets of the… Continue reading Tiscali Revenues Grow

BT has announced that Sir Christopher Bland’s successor as chairman will be Sir Michael Rake, the current chairman of KPMG International. KPMG is one of the world’s leading accountancy firms and has a global fee income of $17 billion. It is represented in 148 countries and employs 113,000 people. Welcoming the appointment, Bland said: “On… Continue reading BT Announces Next Chairman