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

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

US viewers with digital video recorders (DVRs) still watch, on average, two thirds of advertisements, according to new research from the Nielsen Company. In a presentation to US TV networks on the way in which viewers use personal video recorders, Nielsen revealed that 20% of US households own a DVR or similar device, with this… Continue reading US DVR Users Still Watch Two Thirds Of Ads

Mobile TV stands in next to last place, in terms of popularity, among all existing mobile services, according to the Chief Marketing Officer’s Council (CMO). In a forum at last week’s 3GSM World Congress, the CMO revealed that global market penetration for mobile TV currently stands at 7%, behind gambling at 8% but ahead of… Continue reading Lack Of Consumer Interest In Mobile TV

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

The return of BBC One’s camp fun-fest, Hotel Babylon, attracted a peak of 5.4 million adult viewers last night, a 26.7% share of the audience.The show, starring Tamzin Outhwaite and Max Beesley, had an average audience of 5.1 million across its hour-long running time and was easily the most watched programme on at 9pm.As one… Continue reading Triumphant Return For Hotel Babylon

Ofcom could impose restrictions on the conditional access services provided by Top Up TV, the television subscription via digital terrestrial television service.A conditional access service enables a broadcaster to restrict access to content via a digital platform so that it is viewed only by customers with authorisation.Previously the rules requiring a platform operator to provide… Continue reading Ofcom To Impose Conditions On Top Up TV