Media News - Friday, April 04, 2008

Sweden’s public broadcaster to cut 400 jobs

Swedish Television plans to slash about 400 jobs in a move aimed at saving money, the public service broadcaster said Thursday. About half of the layoffs will be made in Stockholm, with about one-third affecting administration and management posts, the broadcaster said in a statement. SVT also will streamline its operations into three new units from the current eight, it said. The plan is aimed at reducing SVT's sustainable cost level by SEK 250m (EUR 25m) within the next two years. SVT was founded in 1956 and is a noncommercial public service television company. It is financed by a compulsory license fee paid by about 90 percent of Sweden's 3.4 million households. (International Herald Tribune)

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MySpace forms music joint venture with big labels

News Corp's Social network Web site MySpace has formed a joint venture with three major music companies called MySpace Music, it said on Thursday, in a challenge to Apple Inc's dominant iTunes Music store. The joint venture includes Vivendi's Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group as minority stake holders in the new company. MySpace Music will offer free music audio and video streaming supported by advertising, paid-for MP3 downloads, ringtones, artist ticket sales and merchandise. Chris De Wolfe, chief executive of MySpace, said MySpace is in talks with more music industry partners to offer their services on MySpace Music. MySpace Music is seen as a potential rival to Apple Inc's iTunes Music Store, which takes more than 70 percent of digital download sales and is the No. 2 music retailer in the United States behind Wal-Mart Stores Inc. The music industry has been concerned about a lack of competition for iTunes in the digital music market. (Reuters)

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NHK employees to be fired for insider trading

NHK will dismiss three employees for engaging in insider stock trading, NHK sources said Thursday. They are a reporter at NHK's news bureau in Tokyo, a reporter at its Gifu station and a director at its Mito station. The three allegedly gained about JPY 100,000 (EUR 624) to JPY 500,000 (EUR 3,120) each in March 2007 through trading shares based on information that NHK had exclusively obtained. They admitted during an in-house investigation that they conducted the trading and have been suspended from duties since March 5. Later in March, the Financial Services Agency ordered the three to pay fines ranging from JPY 60,000 (EUR 374) to JPY 260,000 (EUR 1,622) in response to a proposal by the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission. NHK President Genichi Hashimoto resigned Jan. 25 to take responsibility for the scandal. (Kyodo News via Japan Times)

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Cuba to open TV channel with foreign content

Cuba's state-run television broadcaster will start a 24-hour channel with mostly foreign content in a move to provide Cuban audiences with more variety. The Cuban Institute of Radio and Television, ICRT, made the announcement on Wednesday at a conference of the Cuban writers and artists guild, where intellectuals have criticized the poor television programming in the socialist state. The opening up to additional foreign content on television comes at a time when Cuba's new President Raul Castro, who succeed his ailing brother Fidel Castro, has begun lifting what he has called ‘excessive prohibitions’ in the country. Since becoming Cuba's first new leader in almost half a century, his government has allowed Cubans to buy cellular phones, DVD players and computers, and stay at tourist hotels reserved for foreigners. ICRT vice president Luis Acosta said the new channel will have content from a dozen countries, but he did not give details. (Reuters)

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World’s press to support Chinese journalists on World Press Freedom Day

The World Association of Newspapers is asking newspapers world-wide to show their support for press freedom in China by publishing editorials, advertisements, political cartoons and other materials on 3 May, World Press Freedom Day. WAN, which has dedicated its World Press Freedom Day initiative to ‘The Olympic Challenge: Free the Press in China!’, is making the materials available at www.worldpressfreedomday.org. More than 30 journalists and 50 cyber-dissidents are in Chinese prisons, making China the world’s biggest jailer of journalists. The materials, which newspapers can use without charge, are available in English, French, Spanish, German, Russian and Chinese. For full details, go to www.worldpressfreedomday.org. (WAN)

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Yahoo creates fund for Chinese ‘cyber dissidents’

Blasted for allegedly helping Chinese authorities identify ‘cyber dissidents,’ Yahoo said it was launching a new fund to help Chinese people imprisoned for voicing their opinions on internet. A fund set up by Yahoo to atone for revealing ‘cyber dissidents’ to Chinese officials is aiding people jailed there for human rights views posted on the Internet, its overseer said Wednesday. Harry Wu, a widely-known Chinese dissident who spent 19 years in labor camps for voicing his opinions, declined to say how much money is in the Yahoo Human Rights Fund he is administering with the help of a board of directors. The fund is intended to pay for legal aid and family support for dissidents jailed for human rights views expressed on the Internet, especially using Yahoo services, according to Wu. Money from the fund will also pay to educate people inside and outside China about human rights conditions in that country, Wu said. (AFP via France 24)

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