ITV

Tag: Vivendi Universal

  • Film, music industries offer cyber copyright guide

    Film, music industries offer cyber copyright guide

    LOS ANGELES : The US movie and the music industries have published a guide to help companies prevent copyright abuse on their computers and plan to distribute it to Fortune 1000 companies.
     

    “A Corporate Policy Guide to Copyright Use and Security on the Internet,” requests that companies take steps to ensure their computer and Internet systems are not being utilised for film and music piracy.

    The groups – the Recording Industry Association of America and The Motion Picture Association of America, represent the film and music arms of the world’s biggest media conglomerates, including Bertelsmann AG , EMI Group, AOL Time Warner, Vivendi Universal, Sony, News Corp. and Walt Disney.

    A Reuters report indicates that the movie and music industries have been aggressive in pursuing copyright infringement litigation against renegade services like Napster.

    The groups said they issued the guide to raise awareness at the corporate level of illegal activities that may be taking place on company networks. The guide requests that companies advise employees against copyright abuse on computer systems in the workplace and warned that such unauthorized copying is illegal, can tarnish corporate reputations and increase security risks for computer systems and put organisations at risk of legal liability.

    The International Federation of Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the trade body for the record industry worldwide, drafted the brochure for top European companies and is spearheading the effort overseas.

  • News Corp,Telecom Italia to acquire Telepiu

    News Corp,Telecom Italia to acquire Telepiu

    NEW YORK, PARIS: News Corporation and Telecom Italia have signed a definitive agreement with Vivendi Universal and the Canal+ Group to acquire Telepiu, the Italian pay-TV business.

    The transaction consideration at signing is 920 million, consisting of the assumption of up to 450 million in debt and a cash payment of 470 million for the shares of Telepiu. This cash payment will be adjusted downward by the amount of outstanding accounts payable at closing. As of today, the accounts payable stand at approximately 200 million. It is anticipated that at closing, total consideration before the accounts payable adjustment will be 893 million, reflecting continuing debt reduction at Telepiu between the signing of today’s agreement and the anticipated closing.

    The acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to be completed by the end of the calendar year, whereupon Telepiu will be combined with Stream, the Italian pay-TV platform jointly owned by News Corporation and Telecom Italia, and renamed Sky Italia. News Corporation will hold an 80.1 per cent equity interest in Sky Italia, and Telecom Italia will hold a 19.9 percent equity interest.

    The acquisition consideration includes the various rights to telecast certain future Italian soccer matches, which have previously been paid for by Telepiu, as well as the rights to two terrestrial television licenses. The combined platform will be required to sell the terrestrial television station licenses. As part of the acquisition agreement, all litigation between the parties, including Streams litigation against Telepiu and Canal+s litigation against NDS, will be suspended immediately and permanently withdrawn when the transaction closes.

    J.P. Morgan and Mediobanca have acted as financial advisers to News Corporation in connection with this transaction. Lehman Brothers have acted as financial advisers to Vivendi Universal.

  • Reports say Vivendi chief Messier has quit

    Reports say Vivendi chief Messier has quit

    Jean-Marie Messier, chairman and CEO of beleaguered French media major Vivendi Universal, has agreed to quit after the company’s board members withdrew support to him, reports say.

    The first indication that Messier had indeed thrown in the towel was provided by French newspaper Le Monde which reported in today’s edition that Messier had agreed to resign. This ends a week-long effort by Messier to cling onto his post in the face of growing pressure to step down over mounting debts and a share price that has fallen 64 per cent since the turn of the year.

  • Judge sets discovery period in Canal Plus vs NDS case

    The battle being played out by media giants Vivendi Universal and News Corp through their respective television security units in a district court in San Francisco has entered a critical juncture. At issue is a $ 1 billion piracy suit filed last month by Vivendi’s Canal Plus alleging that engineers at NDS Group broke Canal Plus’ security systems for its digital pay-television service and made the codes available on the Web for free. NDS is 80 per cent owned by News Corp.

    Both sides said the judge had agreed to an accelerated discovery period, and that their lawyers will immediately begin working out a schedule for each to review the other’s documents and other relevant materials.

    They said their lawyers would report back to the judge on any difficulties, and the judge would arbitrate the disputes.

    Canal Plus’ suit asks for damages of $1 billion, the amount it alleges it has lost from the supposed piracy. Both NDS and Canal Plus’ Canal Plus Technologies unit make “conditional access” systems that allow digital television providers to restrict, usually through a special card that plugs into the set-top box, what programs a customer receives.

    Last week, Canal Plus filed an affidavit with the court from an engineer whose consulting firm is partly owned by NDS and who claims to have exact details on how NDS allegedly pirated Canal Plus’s codes.

    In an official release, NDS said “the judge approved NDS’s suggestion that the parties work out a comprehensive discovery plan.”

    ” As NDS explained to the judge, NDS intends to show that Canal+’s claims have no basis and needs discovery from Canal+, in part to determine whether Canal+ is improperly using NDS technology. NDS and Canal+ were instructed to work out a discovery plan and report to the court if they are unable to agree,” the statement says.