Face the music: Universal Music Group and Warner Media pull out of Russia March 9, 2022 Universal Music Group has suspended all operations in Russia and closed its offices in the country, the company announced last night. In a statement, the music giant said: “Effective immediately, we are suspending all operations in Russia and closing our offices there.” “We urge an end to the violence in Ukraine as soon as possible. [...]
ITV teams up with European car seller carwow in advertising tie-up March 9, 2022 ITV has announced it is investing in a partnership with Europe’s biggest new car marketplace carwow, in return for advertising inventory across ITV’s channels and the ITV Hub.
Record-breaking year for TV advertising with investment hitting £5.46bn March 9, 2022 Investment in TV advertising hit a record high last year, up £1bn to £5.46bn and exceeded pre-pandemic levels by 11 per cent. According to data from Nielsen Ad Intel, all major advertising categories increased their TV investment in 2021, with the largest increase coming from ‘online-born businesses’ – businesses that began online, with no prior [...]
Keeping up with the BBC: GB News invests £14m since launch March 7, 2022 GB News have invested nearly £14m in the last year as the news channel attempts to go head-to-head with the likes of Sky News and the BBC for viewer eyeballs. The latest accounts show how the owner of GB News All Perspectives has been drawing down £46.5m worth of cash since last spring to aid the [...]
Anonymous hack Russian TV urging public to oppose Ukraine invasion March 7, 2022 The notorious hacker group Anonymous hacked Russian streaming services last night, including the live TV channels Russia 24, Channel One, and Moscow 24. Taking control of the channels, the group showed clips of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “The hacking collective #Anonymous hacked into the Russian streaming services Wink and Ivi (like Netflix) and live [...]
Shape Of You: Ed Sheeran defends hit song in copyright legal battle March 7, 2022 British pop singer Ed Sheeran has given evidence at the High Court this morning as his three-week copyright case over the hit song Shape of You continues. Sheeran is involved in a dispute with two songwriters Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue who claim that the 2017 tune rips off parts of their song Oh Why. [...]
Batman returns with a bang: Box office debut hits £97m March 6, 2022 Batman well and truly returns this weekend, with “The Batman” raking in $128.5m (£97.1m) in its box office debut. The blockbuster has not only had the best opening weekend of 2022 so far, but it has also followed in the footsteps of Sony’s superhero hit “Spider-Man: No Way Home”, which broke records with its $260m (£197m) [...]
Russia takes BBC World News off air March 6, 2022 BBC World News has been taken off air in Russia as Putin’s government retaliates to Western boycotting. As the global news channel for the broadcaster, Russians will no longer be able to access the channel or the BBC content. It comes after media watchdog Ofcom said that it had opened a further 12 investigations into [...]
Hallelujah: Hipgnosis buys all Leonard Cohen’s hits March 6, 2022 Hipgnosis continues its domination of the music publishing space, snapping up the entire music catalogue of the late music icon Leonard Cohen.
Shape of You: Ed Sheeran at London’s High Court for legal battle over copyright of his biggest hit March 4, 2022 Music star Ed Sheeran has arrived at the High Court for the start of a three-week legal battle over the copyright of his hit song Shape of You. The singer-songwriter, wearing dark suit and tie, appeared in Court 15 of the Rolls Building in central London. Sheeran is involved in a dispute with two songwriters [...]