Former Endemol, Maker Studios and Fox Kids Europe boss Ynon Kreiz has been named non-executive chairman of kids TV and entertainment company Mattel. Kreiz (pictured) has been a director at the Califonia-based toy giant since June last year, and will now succeed executive chairman Christopher Sinclair, who is retiring. “Over the past several months, the […]
ProSiebenSat.1 and Discovery Communications have named Google executive Alexandar Vassilev as CEO of their recently launched German streaming service 7TV. Vassilev starts with immediate effect and joins from Google in the US where he has worked for the past ten years, most recently as product manager for Google Search. Vassilev will report to the 7TV […]
Netflix and other web giants have lashed out after US legislators voted to repeal net neutrality laws in the US, in a move that was welcomed by internet service providers (ISPs). The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted three to two in favour of rolling back rules that were introduced during the Obama administration, with the […]
The Walt Disney Company has reportedly reopened talks with Rupert Murdoch and 21st Century Fox over the latter’s entertainment assets. News Disney had first gone in for Fox’s TV and film businesses emerged early last month, but those negotiations led to nothing. Disney is known to be in acquisitive mood ahead of the launch of […]
Google’s European president Matt Brittin has said it is “appropriate” that YouTube is not subject to the same regulations as broadcasters and newspapers. Speaking at an RTS event in London this week, Google’s president of EMEA business and operations rejected the idea that YouTube is essentially broadcaster and should be treated as such in the […]
Research by Creative Skillset (CS), the industry skills body for the screen-based creative industries in the UK, shows that the boom in quality television caused by FAANG (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google) may lead to a production talent shortage. While the UK production sector is enjoying a boom, driven by recent SVOD demand and […]
Amazon could be getting in on the free VOD space in order to build out its advertising business. Ad Age has reported that Amazon is developing a free-advertising-supported offering to complement its Prime Video subscription video-on-demand service. According to the report, Amazon is in talks with TV network, movie studios and other media companies about […]
Growing older no longer increases television viewing time, according to GroupM’s ‘The State of Video’ report. The WPP-owned advertising media giant calculated that Generation Y (those born between the early 1980s and mid-90s) and Generation Z (birthdates roughly between 1995-2014) will “erode viewing” to the equivalent of about one percentage point a year over the […]
Yesterday, it emerged 21st Century Fox had held talks to sell much of its business to The Walt Disney Company. The questions are why, and why now. According to CNBC, the negotiations took place over the past few weeks, but have stopped for the time being. They could resume at any point, as the discussions […]
A veteran British producer has warned cosy coproduction arrangements between American SVOD services and UK broadcasters will soon end, comments that come as Amazon Prime Video snaps up rights to a new ITV drama. Sister Pictures founder and former Shine UK chairman Jane Featherstone (pictured) used her BAFTA Television Lecture in London on Monday to […]
