Leaked Government documents appear to reveal that the 50p levy on fixed lines intended to fund Britain’s access to super-fast broadband could cost consumers more than previously thought. Accordingly, not only will Value Added Tax (VAT) come in the equation, but we also now appear to have confirmation that households with more than one phone line will be charged separately for each one.
Posts Tagged ‘Murdoch’
Bouncing off the paywalls
American video-on-demand service Hulu, hotly tipped to be coming to the UK to partner with ITV, is the latest media outlet to announce it’s considering charging for content. As the amount of money we’re paying for our bandwidth continues to fall, could the cost of what we actually do with our broadband connections be set to rise?
BBC website in the firing line
Now that the Edinburgh Festival proper’s over, it’s the city’s Television Festival that’s hitting the headlines – and, for the BBC at least, it’s no laughing matter. One day James Murdoch, the chair and chief executive of News Corporation in Europe declared the Beeb’s “flooding the market” with its online offerings; the next Five’s chief executive is leading calls for its presence on the Internet to be dramatically stripped back. The gallant Robert Peston’s stepped in to try and save the day, but will anyone else stand up for the BBC?
Micropayments could stop the press being squeezed out online
Following Rupert Murdoch’s announcement that his company’s looking for ways to make readers of The Sun and The Times pay to access their websites, the debate on how newspapers can save themselves in the digital age has been reignited. He says the current business model is “malfunctioning” and the end of the (literally) free Internet press is nigh – others aren’t so sure.
Ireland on the verge of extending TV licence to cover Internet — UPDATED
Ireland’s draft Broadcasting Bill includes provision to extend TV licence fee payments to cover Internet access – and it’s soon set to become law. Even devices capable of picking up YouTube appear to be included in the Broadcasting Act 2009’s definition of “television.”
