Spotify shuts Russian offices ‘indefinitely’ March 3, 2022 Spotify said it has closed its Russian office “indefinitely” following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. However, in contrast to many tech firms, including Google and YouTube, Spotify has not restricted its services in the country. A Spotify representative confirmed the news to Variety, and commented: “We think it’s critically important to try to keep our service operational [...]
BBC kicks off 10-point impartiality review March 3, 2022 The BBC have announced that Sir Andrew Dilnot and Michael Blastland will chair and author the BBC’s editorial review into its taxation and public spending output.
CNN set to launch new streaming platform despite imminent Discovery takeover March 3, 2022 Cable giant CNN has confirmed it will be launching a news and entertainment streaming service, CNN+ in the spring, seemingly sidetracking Discovery’s imminent takeover. Following the lead of other media giants, CNN will launch with a promotional price of $2.99 a month, which will then be hiked to $5.99, the same price as Fox Nation, [...]
End of an era: Australian soap hit Neighbours axed after 37 years on screens around the world March 3, 2022 The Australian soap series Neighbours has announced it will cease production of the long-running Australian soap in June. The future of the show had been in doubt after Channel 5 last month confirmed it would stop airing the show. And on Thursday morning the show’s Twitter account said: “We are so sorry to say that [...]
Prime Video pumps £10m into UK TV and film career training as industry flourishes March 2, 2022 Amazon Prime Video have announced today that it will be investing £10m into a new training initiative to open up opportunities for TV and film across the UK. Under Prime Video Pathway , the streaming giant will partner with the National Film and Television School (NFTS) to establish a UK-wide academy programme as well as funding and supporting two [...]
BBC bombarded by almost 400,000 spam emails and attacks every day March 1, 2022 The BBC were the target of nearly 50 million email attacks between October 1 2021 and the end of January 2022. This is according to official figures obtained via a Freedom of Information act (FOI) request, and analysed by a Parliament Street think tank. This means the BBC is facing an average of 383,278 email [...]
Warner Bros, Walt Disney and Sony pull out as Hollywood studios cancel movie releases in Russia March 1, 2022 Warner Bros, Sony Pictures and The Walt Disney Company all said they are pausing, cancelling or delaying the release of films in Russia in response to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. The entertainment giants all announced the decisions on Monday evening as Russian military forces continued their attacks on Ukrainian cities. Violence continues to rage [...]
Mirror and Daily Star publisher on track to double digital revenue by 2024 amid inflation concerns March 1, 2022 Shares in the publisher behind the Daily Mirror and Daily Star tanked as much as 25 per cent today, wiping about £180m from the company’s market value, after it warned that inflation would hit its 2022 profits hard. Despite digital revenue up over 25 per cent to £148.3m and 10m sign-ups across its titles, investors [...]
Liz Truss says ban on Russia Today risks Kremlin crackdown on the BBC February 28, 2022 Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has warned that if the UK bans Russia Today then the BBC could be banned from Russia amid fears of a Kremlin crackdown. She said: “We want the Russian population to hear the truth about what Vladimir Putin is doing”. It comes after calls in the UK that the state-controlled Russian [...]
Good times never seemed so good for Neil Diamond as he sells entire music catalogue to Universal Music February 28, 2022 Neil Diamond has sold his entire music catalogue to Universal Music, as well as 110 unreleased tracks, an unreleased album and archival long form videos, making him the latest musical icon to cash in on his hits.