Sky beefs up content slate with Entertainment One film deal November 25, 2020 Sky today said it has inked a multi-million-pound film deal with Entertainment One as it looks to ramp up its content offering for the escalating streaming wars. The long-term deal covers almost 200 movies from eOne’s library, including the Twilight franchise and Dallas Buyers Club, which will now be available to Sky Cinema customers at [...]
Magazine publisher Future to buy Go Compare in £600m deal November 25, 2020 Publishing firm Future has agreed to buy Go Compare in a deal that values the price comparison website at almost £600m. The media group, which owns titles including Country Life, Four Four Two and Tech Radar, said the tie-up would allow it to tap into “growing consumer demand for informed and value driven purchasing decisions”. [...]
Labour’s bid to ban anti-vax content from the internet is well-meaning — but misguided November 24, 2020 How to combat anti-vaxxers spreading misinformation online and hampering the government’s efforts for UK-wide immunisation? The answer, according to the Labour party, is for an emergency law to be brought in introducing financial and criminal penalties for social media platforms who repeatedly fail to remove anti-vaccination content. Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth suggested the law [...]
Cineworld secures $750m funding lifeline amid Covid-19 closures November 23, 2020 Cineworld has secured $750m (£561m) in additional cash to help bolster its balance sheet amid coronavirus closures. The FTSE 100 group, which is the world’s second largest cinema chain, said it has agreed a new $450m debt facility and a waiver on all banks covenants on its debt until June 2022. Other measures include an [...]
MPs to grill social media platforms over anti-vax conspiracies November 23, 2020 Social media firms are set to be hauled in front of MPs to answer questions about what they are doing to remove online misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines. The DCMS sub-committee on online harms and disinformation will next month grill executives from Google, Facebook and Twitter amid concerns over the rise of so-called anti-vax conspiracy theories. [...]
Daily Mail publisher lifts dividend despite Covid-19 profit hit November 23, 2020 The publishing group behind the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday today said it will hike its full-year dividend, despite seeing its profit slashed in half due to the coronavirus pandemic. The figures Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) posted revenue of £1.2bn in the year to the end of September, down 14 per [...]
Boom or bust: Radio veterans take on BBC with new baby boomer station November 23, 2020 Two radio industry heavyweights are launching a new station aimed at baby boomers as they look to tap into a generation of older listeners “left behind” by the BBC. Boom Radio will launch across the UK early next year, bringing a mix of music and conversation to the country’s roughly 14m boomers aged 55 and [...]
Radio listening surges in second lockdown as Brits work from home November 20, 2020 Radio listening was given a fresh boost during the second coronavirus lockdown this month as Brits went back to working at home. More than a third of commercial radio listeners are tuning in for an extra one hour and 53 minutes per day in November, compared to the period before the first lockdown in April. [...]
Screenshot: How books became the new media battleground November 20, 2020 A weekly column from Morning Wire bringing you all the biggest stories and trends in technology, media and telecoms This week **Media Moment of the Week: French radio kills the Queen **Publish and be damned: How books became the new media battleground **Could Pearson become the Netflix of education? Media Moment of the Week If [...]
From drill music to Baby Shark: The record label plumbing profits from subculture hits November 19, 2020 There is, on the face of it, very little to connect Baby Shark with Headie One. The first is an infuriatingly catchy children’s song that is now the most-watched Youtube video in history. The other is a drill rapper from Tottenham who was jailed in January for carrying a knife before releasing a chart-topping debut [...]