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Amazon could take on UK broadcasters with a smart TV launch
Cutting the cable cord could soon get a lot easier in the UK, as Amazon is getting set to release smart TVs with Fire TV built in, reports the Telegraph. A smart TV from the online retail giant is currently in testing by DTG, a UK standards body for digital terrestrial broadcast equipment. It's not clear who made the TV that's in for testing, but in the US, Amazon's Fire TV-equipped TVs are manufactured by Element Electronics. Best Buy also sells Fire-TV televisions under its in-house Insignia brand.
Comcast floats 'superior' $65 billion bid for Fox
As expected, a court win for AT&T's attempt to acquire Time Warner has produced another potential mega-acquisition. Seven years after swallowing up NBCUniversal, Comcast announced it's sent a letter to 21 Century Fox's Board of Directors informing them of a $65 billion cash offer for everything that it had agreed in December to sell to Disney for $52 billion in stock. That would cover the Fox movie and TV studios, plus its share of Hulu, the FX cable networks and about $13 billion in debt, and is separate from Comcast's competing bid (against Fox) to acquire UK pay-TV giant Sky. The growth of streaming and shrinking footprint of cable TV has created an atmosphere of companies loading up on media to do battle with Netflix and the rest of the internet. As such, Comcast has improved an offer it discussed with Fox last year by saying it's offering $2.5 billion in case the deal doesn't go through and would reimburse Fox for another $1.5 billion it will owe Disney for breaking their arrangement. Comcast's letter didn't directly mention yesterday's AT&T/Time Warner decision, but it repeatedly cites the belief that this deal will be approved by regulators. According to Comcast, this is because it is not subject to FCC review, and will pass antitrust scrutiny because much of the revenue involved occurs internationally. So far, only Fox has responded, saying it would "carefully review" the proposal.
HBO readies documentary on 'Serial' podcast subject Adnan Syed
The Serial podcast continues to have an effect years after its debut. HBO and Sky are producing a documentary series, The Case Against Adnan Syed, that will cover the allegations against the subject of Serial's first season. The four-hour project will cover the circumstances leading up to Hae Min Lee's murder in 1999, the original trial and, crucially, the decision in the wake of the podcast to vacate his original conviction and grant a retrial.
Sky VR's interactive museum visit deserves a bigger audience
Sir David Attenborough first lent his silky narrator's voice to the medium of VR when he teamed up with London's Natural History Museum for a special exhibit on the earth's prehistoric oceans. And now, several years later, the institution and Sir Dave have collaborated once again on a VR experience commissioned by European media-and-telecommunications company Sky. Hold the World offers an interactive look at a few of the museum's more interesting specimens, from the huge blue whale skeleton that hangs in the building's main entrance hall down to a tiny rat flea. Naturally, there's an educational aspect, with a lifelike hologram of Attenborough telling you all about the artifact as if he were sitting right there. But there's a catch: You'll have to be a Sky customer to try it out when it launches this spring.
Sky to offer Netflix content alongside its own
While Sky continues to wade through multi-billion dollar bids from Fox and Comcast, the UK pay-TV provider has quietly been working behind the scenes to bring new content and services to its platform. Earlier this week, the company announced that it had signed a deal with Spotify to bring a dedicated music app to Sky Q boxes, while adding a whole host of personalisation features. Today, however, Sky has gone one better, confirming a new partnership with streaming giant Netflix to offer the US company's TV and movie content alongside its own across Europe.
Sky Q is getting better personalisation features and Spotify
All of a sudden, Sky has become the prize in a bidding war between US media giants Fox and Comcast, but for now, it's business as usual on the ground. The pay-TV provider has today announced a number of new features coming to its Sky Q service, primarily focused on making the user experience more personalised. Machine learning will begin to play a more important role throughout -- surfacing different TV shows depending on the time of day, for example. The sports tab is also becoming better tailored, assessing your viewing habits and liaising with the Sky Sports app so it knows your favourite events and teams.
Comcast tops Fox's bid for UK pay-TV giant Sky
An interesting wrinkle in Disney's deal to acquire most of Fox is that Fox is also in the middle of a deal to buy Sky -- a major telecom company and pay-TV service in the UK. Now Comcast (which includes NBCUniversal) has jumped in the middle of that deal with an offer that values Sky at $31 billion -- that's more than Fox's offer to buy out the 61 percent it doesn't already own, which values the company at about $23.2 billion (£18.5 billion). Fox already has an agreement in place, but that's under review from regulators. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said his company's offer of £12.50 in cash for each share it buys in Sky is "a significant premium to the 21CF price currently recommended," and that "We would like to own the whole of Sky and we will be looking to acquire over 50% of the Sky shares." Previously rumored to have an interest in acquiring Fox, Comcast is now in a position to complicate Disney's pending arrangement, which would see Disney take ownership of Sky -- assuming everything goes through as planned. If Comcast successfully bids for Sky, then it could give NBCUniversal a better position in the UK.
Sky's £15 Now TV streaming stick comes with a voice remote
Sky's Now TV hardware hasn't had a refresh in over a year now, the most recent box being a curious clash of aerial and ethernet. The new Now TV box being announced today isn't a box at all, however. Sky call it the Now TV Smart Stick, and as always, we're looking at a rebranded Roku device that serves as a vehicle for Now TV's subscription-free sports, entertainment, movies and children's TV packages. This isn't the 4K streaming stick Roku launched for £80 last October, but a custom-built model similar to one only available in the US. If you're familiar with Now TV hardware or even just the apps, then you pretty much know what you're dealing with already. The Smart Stick does have a few tricks up its sleeve, though.
Murdoch's Sky takeover blocked by UK competition watchdog
Rupert Murdoch has been blocked by the UK's competition watchdog from completing a full buyout of Sky. The media tycoon, which already owns 21st Century Fox and a range of newspapers including The Times, The Sunday Times and The Sun, launched a £11.7 billion ($14.6 billion) takeover bid in December 2016. If successful, it would give the Murdoch family full control of Sky News, as well as the company's extensive TV, internet and phone businesses in the UK. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) rejected the idea, however, due to "media plurality" concerns, or how much power the resulting company would have over public opinion.
Amazon set to bid for Premier League streaming rights
When the English Football Association opens the bidding for Premier League broadcasting rights in February, it may see keen interest from a significant but not-so-unexpected source: Amazon. Bloomberg reports that the online retailer is preparing to bid for matches next month, likely providing traditional UK broadcasters Sky and BT with some much-needed competition over the next three years.
Sky’s restructured TV pricing is simpler and more flexible
As UK consumers have become more confident with streaming services and accessing content via a low monthly subscription, UK broadcasters have been forced to take notice. These days, the all-you-can-eat package is no longer the de-facto option, with companies like Sky choosing to split bigger content bundles into more bitesize options. In July, it broke up Sky Sports into 10 individual channels, allowing sports fans to pay only for the sport they actually wanted to watch and chop and change whenever it suits. Now, it's bringing the same flexibility to traditional TV.
Sky and BT agree to share their top TV channels
After years of "on and off" negotiations, BT and Sky have agreed to share their most popular TV channels. The deal means that Sky's Now TV streaming service will soon be available on BT's set-top box. BT will sell the various passes directly to consumers — so if you subscribe to both, you won't have to worry about separate bills anymore. On the flip-side, BT has agreed to give Sky "wholesale supply" of BT Sport. It will allow Sky to sell these channels standalone or as part of larger Sky TV packages. BT Sport will also be available on Sky Go and Now TV's Roku-in-disguise boxes.
Disney could soon own Sky
Today, Disney announced its intention to buy 21st Century Fox for $52 billion. It's a colossal deal that gives the House of Mouse control over the X-Men, a number of TV channels and a majority stake in Hulu. For Brits, the acquisition has another implication: Disney could soon own Sky. That's because 21st Century Fox is trying to buy the TV provider for roughly £18.5 billion at the moment. The deal is in limbo, however, as the UK's Culture Secretary Karen Bradley mulls its potential impact on the media industry. Back in September, she referred the case to the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which is expected to give a report in mid-2018.
Disney buys Fox's studios and cable TV channels for $52 billion
After weeks of rumors, the deal is done -- Disney will buy up large chunks of Rupert Murdoch's Fox media empire for $52 billion. The list of what it won't take is shorter: the Fox News cable channel, broadcast networks and Fox Sports, which are expected to spin off as their own business. The Disney conglomerate adds the Fox movie and TV studios (including big-name franchises like X-Men, Avatar, Alien and The Simpsons), majority control of Hulu, FX cable networks and $13.7 billion in debt. On top of that, Fox is attempting to acquire the parts of UK's Sky that it doesn't already own, and if that's successful then Disney will get it too.
Comcast is also interested in buying most of Fox's assets
It's not just Disney interested in snapping up a large chunk of 21st Century Fox. Wall Street Journal tipsters claim not just that Disney has resumed "active talks" to buy most of Fox's movie and TV assets, but that Comcast has entered discussions as well. Apparently, the initial leak of Disney-Fox negotiations prompted a frenzy of interest. Sony and Verizon have reportedly shown interest at the same time, but it's not certain that they're as deeply involved as Comcast and Disney.
UK ISPs will automatically compensate customers for shoddy service
A poor level of customer service shown by your broadband or landline provider is like a late train. You know you could probably argue your way into some nominal refund, but it just seems more trouble than it's worth. The issue with that is there's no incentive to ensure the train runs on time, so earlier this year, Ofcom floated the idea that telecoms providers should compensate customers for poor service automatically, no complaints necessary. Today the regulator announced that BT, Sky, TalkTalk, Virgin Media and Zen Internet -- which cover 90 percent of broadband and landline customers between them -- have "agreed" to be part of such a scheme.
Sky could sacrifice Sky News to ensure Fox merger
While the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigates the potential merger with Fox, Sky has warned that it may be forced to close down Sky News if it obstructs the approval of the deal. In a submission to the CMA last month, which was released this week, Sky told the regulator that it would "would likely be prompted to review" its position "in the event that the continued provision of Sky News in its current form unduly impeded merger and/or other corporate opportunities available in relation to Sky's broader business".
21st Century Fox held talks to sell most of its assets to Disney
Like it or not, the trend toward media consolidation isn't slowing down any time soon: CNBC sources understand that 21st Century Fox recently held talks to sell most of the company to Disney. The media giant would offload its movie studios, TV production business, entertainment channels (like FX and National Geographic) and international properties like Sky. This would theoretically create a "more tightly focused" company that revolves around news and sports -- reportedly, Fox believes it doesn't have the kind of scale needed to compete with the assets it currently has, while Disney does.
Fox News impartiality breaches could threaten Sky merger
As Fox waits to find out whether it will be allowed to complete its merger with broadcasting giant Sky, UK media regulator Ofcom today delivered a fresh blow to proceedings. The watchdog confirmed that two Fox News shows, hosted separately by Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson, breached a number of broadcasting regulations, before the channel was removed from British TV screens in August.
Sky Store lets you scrap the DVD for a cheaper digital download
When the Sky Store's "Buy & Keep" option first launched in 2014, it offered the best of both worlds: A digital copy of a film (and later, TV box sets) to download and watch immediately, followed by a physical DVD copy to add to your collection when it eventually turned up in the post. Times have changed since then, though, and these days physical disc sales are dwindling as streaming and downloads become ever more popular. Embracing this shift, Sky is changing how Buy & Keep works this week, allowing you to sack off the DVD or Blu-ray copy for a cheaper, digital-only purchase.
