Celebs must clearly identify sponsored tweets, UK body says
Nike falls foul of UK advertising regulators because sponsored tweets for which it paid two top footballers were not obviously marked out as marketing. Read more at paidContent »
Netflix gives itself a year to out-bid Sky for top UK movies
If it can’t beat Sky Movies for UK movie subscription rights within a year, Netflix says it may have to consider ‘other routes’, including calling for a new competition case. Read more at paidContent »
Spotify targets Pandora with its own mobile ‘radio’ service
photo: Spotify
Spotify prepares a free mobile “radio” service that will take on Pandora, sell advertising and aim to drive more users to pay a subscription. Read more at paidContent »
Cable networks blocking BBC’s U.S. iPlayer aims
The BBC is extending the 12-month trial of its pay-for overseas iPlayer, having not yet cracked the big nut of U.S. roll-out. Read more at paidContent »
Lagardère buying shopping site LeGuide.com for €98.2 million
photo: Corbis
French magazine and book publisher and broadcaster Lagardère, which underperforms in digital media, has succeeded in acquiring a majority of shopping site LeGuide.com to bolster its efforts. Read more at paidContent »
Down-sizing Down Under, Fairfax Media cuts and charges to survive
photo: Shutterstock / Jo Chambers
Metered digital payments, 1,900 job losses and ‘digital-first’ integration – the publisher of Australia’s biggest news website has announced sweeping strategy changes. But, after years of inaction, is it too little, too late? Read more at paidContent »
Mobile cloud DVR app BooxTV snapped up by Finnish telco
The idea of third-party services that allow online TV recording may have proved controversial in some quarters, but now a Finnish telco is acquiring just such a thing. Read more at paidContent »
YouView racing to be in homes for Olympics
photo: YouView
For what its worth at this point, the much delayed big UK IPTV joint venture YouView may finally be ready to meet a version of its revised and somewhat arbitrary target of launching in time for the London 2012 Olympics. Read more at paidContent »
Could Olympics dent, not boost, VOD ad prospects?
photo: Cape Town, Western Cape Province, South Africa
In this summer Olympic host country, online ad sellers have mounting concerns that the Games would suck away ad spending, rather than boost it. Read more at paidContent »
Content with your groceries?: Tesco buys music streamer We7
photo: Corbis
Turns out, supermarkets want to rule the UK’s digital media roost.
Tesco is buying up plucky online music service We7 as the latest plank of its digital ambitions. Read more at paidContent »
News Corp’s IGN games site going to Asia-Pacific
News Corp’s video gaming news and reviews site IGN is launching in to China, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Hong Kong, as part of its ambition to be a global games media brand. Read more at paidContent »
Premier League’s technology-neutral soccer auction: how online rights shake out
photo: Shutterstock / creativedoxfoto
English soccer viewers will get to watch live games in new ways from next summer, as winners emerge from the Premier League’s first ever “technology-neutral” rights auction. Read more at paidContent »
Pinterest investor Rakuten buys its way in to European VOD
It seems the world has a new digital media M&A power player. Fresh from buying Play.com, Kobo and a piece of Pinterest, Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten is acquiring Spanish TV and movie streaming service Wuaki.tv. Read more at paidContent »
Angry data watchdog wants full Street View snooping story from Google
photo: flickr / freefotouk
If Google thought its StreetView data collection controversy was over, it can think again. The UK’s data watchdog is re-opening its investigation, maddened that it apparently wasn’t told the full story earlier. Read more »
End of the road? AA aims to navigate travel books to digital
photo: Giorgio Montersino
The UK’s Automobile Association is pulling back from publishing some printed destination guides, as it searches for digital outlets to air its wares. Read more at paidContent »
Sainsbury supermarket buys HMV’s aNobii stake to enter e-books
photo: Corbis
Social book discovery startup was left divorced from its intended book retail partner after HMV jettisoned Waterstones. Now its future lays with a supermarket, not a traditional book store. Read more at paidContent »
Dailymotion buy-out could boost Orange’s IPTV efforts
Orange could benefit from a set of relationships with content owners in its revised approach to digital content distribution if it buys the remaining stake in video service Dailymotion as French reports suggest. Read more at paidContent »
Research: Olympics online viewing may be low
photo: Corbis / A.Chederros
Viewers may not watch this summer’s London 2012 Olympic Games online as much as some broadcasters hope, according to research. Read more at paidContent »
Thomson Reuters acquires Apsmart for mobile product development
photo: Corbis / Noel Hendrickson
Thomson Reuters is acquiring London-based mobile development outfit Apsmart to build more of its apps for business professionals in-house. Read more at paidContent »
iPad magazine bundler LeKiosk tries to crack UK, Italy
To Zinio and iTunes Newsstand, now add another iPad magazine aggregator. LeKiosk, which launched in France in January 2011, is now launching in the UK on Monday, and is seeking funding for further internationalisation. Read more at paidContent »
Viva Hispania: HuffPo, Deezer, Yahoo court Latin dollars
photo: AP Images
Economic growth has created a new middle-class ‘digital Latino’, observers say. Now three big internet brands are embracing Spanish and Latin American audiences with local launches this week. Read more at paidContent »
Phorm taking even more money for ad targeting dream, now in China
Heard this one before? Controversial ISP-level web ads targeter Phorm is taking on more money to seek riches in another new country. But can it succeed in Asia where it has failed before? Read more at paidContent »
Germany’s Springer buys stake in Poland’s top web portal
German news publisher and multimedia conglomerate Axel Springer is laying down an increasing amount of cash to re-invent itself as a digital player. Now it is buying a position in one of Poland’s most popular web portals, Onet.pl. Read more at paidContent »
Meredith’s Schimel: Now moms are early tech adopters, too
EVP and chief digital officer Liz Schimel of lifestyle magazine publisher Meredith talks with me about Pinterest, unlimited magazines and the end of tech gender stereotypes in a backstage video at paidContent 2012 . Read more at paidContent »
FT’s Grimshaw: Digital subs will soon beat print circulation
Rob Grimshaw runs The Financial Times’ digital operations. He talked to me about HTML5, premium digital content and digital overtaking print in this short video on the fringes of last week’s paidContent 2012 conference. Read more at paidContent »
Sold for £87 million, but can MoneySavingExpert.com keep savers sweet?
photo: DECC
One of the poster boys for online specialist entrepreneurial journalism is selling to a price comparison website. But can independent personal finance guru Martin Lewis keep his legion followers happy? Read more at paidContent »
Wires become books, paid becomes free for Queen’s Jubilee
photo: NASA
Some UK publishers are trying their hands at new digital experiences to milk the sixtieth anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne this weekend. Read more at paidContent »
Digital music sales and the role of the post-holiday surge
UK music sales reached the milestone of digital music revenues exceeding physical for the first time – but it’s mostly the effect of Christmas iPod sales. Read more at paidContent »
Dragons, bulls and bears: How are China’s digital media faring on Wall Street?
photo: Sina Weibo
Wall Street is replete with Chinese digital media stocks. But, as the Nasdaq welcomes yet another amid Facebook’s slump, how is the Chinese internet faring in New York? Read more at paidContent »
Playfish co-founders take on more VC to fund learning games
An interactive education and books crossover started by some of the founders of Zynga’s main social gaming rival is taking on $4 million in venture funding. Read more at paidContent »
Google wants greater French acceptance after winning TF1 copyright case
Google is waving its victory in front of French culture makers, after emerging winner from a copyright infringement case brought by France’s largest TV network. Read more at paidContent »
RIP Yellow Pages? Phone books re-shape themselves for life after listings
photo: Yell Group
Time was, only strong man competition entrants would exert themselves to tear up phone directories for expectant crowds.
Now publishers themselves are this month twisting their books and businesses in to new shapes, to find relevance amid ongoing digital disruption… Read more at paidContent »
Slovakia’s news payment system going large in July
photo: Shutterstock / Leoco
Piano Media, the joint web news payment system operating in Slovakia and Slovenia, is preparing to launch in a third, larger market this summer, after recently taking funding for globalisation. Read more at paidContent »
Where now for Nook’s global ambition? Apps and Windows
Barnes & Noble’s hopes of entering the UK e-books market may rest on Windows 8 and other apps, after a key retailer opted to sell Amazon’s Kindle e-reader instead of Nook. Read more at paidContent »
BSkyB can thank internet TV rivals for escaping anti-trust charge
UK regulators have changed their mind – new over-the-top internet movie services means BSkyB no longer has a restrictive position in pay-TV movie subscriptions. Read more at paidContent »
photo: Sirian Soosay
Murdoch’s Times could soon be read mostly digitally
Growing online subscriptions and still-falling print circulation mean the 227-year-old newspaper nicknamed ‘The Thunderer’ could soon be consumed more in pixels than in ink. Read more »
Sunnyvale to Bangalore, Dhingana rides India’s music cloud
Music servlces like Spotify and Rdio are expanding around the world, but they should take heed in India – a slick, Silicon Valley-built service is already proving a draw with Bollywood fans. Read more at paidContent »
Facebook’s foreign foes: five countries to conquer for new growth
photo: Jason McELweenie/Flickr
After growth slowed just in time for its IPO, Facebook must look overseas for a jump-start. Here are the only five remaining countries where Zuckerberg is not top dog – and the rivals that stand in his way. Read more at paidContent »
‘Russia’s Facebook’ loses: court confirms it breaks copyright
Russia’s leading social network, Facebook copycat vKontakte, loses an appeal against a copyright conviction – is that an opportunity for Mark Zuckerberg in Moscow? Read more at paidContent »
Russia’s state piracy monitor could empower copyright owners
photo: Flickr / yeowatzup
Russia’s government has commissioned the building of a system which would let copyright owners identify unauthorised use of their works online. Read more at paidContent »
