Considered for Fifty Shades of Grey, Christian Cooke is one of the UK’s hottest new actors March 5, 2015 There’s handsome, and there’s “that guy should star in a soft-core BDSM blockbuster” handsome. Christian Cooke is the latter, to the extent that he was in the running to bag the lead role in Fifty Shades of Grey, before it was given to fellow Brit Jamie Dornan. In person Cooke seems far too nice for [...]
Twitter chatter about BBC One’s Sherlock nets London £11m in free advertising November 13, 2014 Twitter chatter about the BBC One drama Sherlock has generated millions in free advertising spend for London's tourism industry, according to new research by Film London. The study crunched nearly 35 million likes, mentions and tweets from a range of websites such as Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and Pinterest to establish the "screen tourism" effect. Adrian Wootton, [...]
Mercury soars to 44C in Murray’s Aussie warm-up January 5, 2015 BRITAIN’S Andy Murray overcame scorching 44C heat and a shoulder injury to boost his Australian Open preparations with two wins at the Hopman Cup in Perth yesterday. Murray beat Benoit Paire in straight sets and then joined Heather Watson to defeat Paire and Alize Cornet in an epic deciding mixed doubles clash to earn Great [...]
As BT prepares to buy O2 or EE, Sky remains sceptical of need for mobile offering November 24, 2014 Pay TV group Sky, recently rebranded from BSkyB, remained unconvinced by the need for a mobile offering yesterday, after its biggest rival BT looked poised to buy either EE or O2 in a £10bn mobile deal. While Sky’s services include TV, broadband and fixed-line telephone in the UK, the £15.3bn group has yet to offer [...]
Manchester United share price plummets as club announces player spending in “near term” December 9, 2014 Manchester United’s share price plummeted by over nine per cent on the US stock exchange this morning, after Edward Glazer put 3m of his shares up for sale and the club confirmed further spending on players in the “near term”. After markets in the US closed yesterday Edward Glazer, one of Malcolm Glazer’s six [...]
Britain needs an Elon Musk to revolutionise its creaking internet January 21, 2015 Cheap smartphones, discount clothing stores, budget airlines: capitalism may not be perfect, but it excels at making things once considered luxuries affordable. Rocketry startup SpaceX announced yesterday that it plans to do the same for broadband in the developing world. It’s raised $1bn (£660m) from Google and Fidelity, and plans to fill the sky with [...]
BSkyB changes name to Sky as Europe deal for Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia is completed November 13, 2014 BSkyB is dropping “British” and “Broadcasting” from its name, to become just Sky as it announces the completion of a £7bn deal to acquire Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia. The media company, which becomes one of the largest pay TV operators in Europe, said the name change reflected the new international scope of the business. Its [...]
Sky Deutschland changes its mind on BSkyB deal as it encourages shareholders not to sell September 17, 2014 After two-and-a-bit months of rumination, the board of Sky Deutschland has today decided BSkyB's €6.75 (£5.37) a share takeover offer wasn't enough. After a fairness assessment by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Sky Deutschland's supervisory and management boards put out a joint statement today criticising the offer, which is two per cent above the three-month [...]
Sky cuts British part of name in European deal November 13, 2014 BRITISH and Broadcasting has been dropped by Britain’s largest Pay TV operator BSkyB as it adopted Sky as its official name yesterday after completing the £7bn takeover of its European sister companies, Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia. Sky, now Europe’s largest entertainment company, said the change was “to recognise the international scope of the business” [...]
BSkyB share price falls as it prices £3bn bond issue for Sky Europe deal September 10, 2014 Shares in British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSkyB) fell slightly in early trading as it priced £3.25bn of euro and US dollar denominated bonds to help it buy Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland. The deal will create "Sky Europe", a pan-European TV service, described by BSkyB as a "world-class, multinational pay TV business with enhanced headroom [...]