Round-Up: RBI Bids, Virgin iPlayer, HMV Kiosks
By Robert Andrews - Mon 21 Jul 2008 12:55 AM PST
-- RBI bids: Telegraph reports BusinessWeek publisher McGraw-Hill (NYSE: MHP) is among two dozen companies that have expressed an interest in acquiring Reed Elsevier’s trade magazine and information division, which includes titles such as Variety, New Scientist and others. For MGH, if it decides to move froward, this will be a big move into the trade magazine and online sector… certainly anyone owning Variety and other RBI media titles will be under intense spotlight, at least from the media trades. More at paidContent.org…
-- Virgin iPlayer: Virgin Media (NSDQ: VMED) subscribers have watched BBC shows 10.5 million times via the cable provider’s version of iPlayer, since its June launch. Pro rata, that’s about 15 million views per quarter. In the three months to May, prior to the improved BBC service, Virgin had got 36 million total VOD views, up 10 percent, and VOD is used by 48 percent of subscribers.
-- HMV (LSE: HMV) kiosks: HMV plans to extend to the high street a tax loop hole that lets it discount entertainment it sells on its HMV.com website. HMV ducks VAT because it mails discs from Guernsey. Now it will also offer the practice from the kiosks it is rolling out in next-gen store. HMV said this will be a “very marginal channel” in the kiosks which are primarily designed for digital music downloading. Via Guardian.
Meanwhile, despite promising in January to bring down its UK iTunes Store in line with those in the Eurozone, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) said yesterday it would not do that after all, arguing the falling pound and rising euro has done that job for it.
