Ending months of rumors and speculation, it has been announced that the Rank Group Plc, the international gaming and leisure group, has reached an agreement to sell Deluxe Film to DX III Holdings Corp., a subsidiary of MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, whose chairman and CEO is businessman Ron Perelman. The deal is valued at $750 million and is expected to be completed in early ’06. Deluxe, with operations in Hollywood, Toronto, London, Barcelona and Rome, is among the world’s largest processors of 35mm film for the motion picture industry and physical distributors of release and trailer prints for motion pictures. Perelman is also the principal shareholder in Panavision….Director Samuel Bayer and bicoastal/international RSA Films have parted ways…..Director Larry Frey has signed with bicoastal Chelsea Pictures. He brings an agency creative pedigree to Chelsea and previously was repped as a director by such houses as Uncle, Santa Monica, and bicoastal Villains….Sharon Lew, national head of sales for Crossroads Films, bicoastal and Chicago, has additionally assumed the role of executive producer on the East Coast for the company. In this latter capacity, she succeeds Charlie Curran who has moved on to head up a new live-action company, Nola, based in New York….Director Mark Brozel, known for his dramatic work, including BBC One’s contemporary version of Macbeth which debuted last November, has joined London house New Moon for commercials….Executive producer John Ficalora and director Christopher Yurkow have launched Bridge Street Films in Ardsley, N.Y. The new shop opens with a directorial roster that includes Yurkow and Marilyn Agrelo. The latter helmed the feature film Mad Hot Ballroom and is repped exclusively by Bridge Street for spots. Chris Miller, Bridge Street’s director of sales and marketing, will also represent the company on the East Coast. Indie reps Tim Harwood of Tim Harwood & Associates will cover the Midwest, and Rachel Finn and Mary Saxon of Finn Saxon Represents will handle the West Coast….David Lubars, chairman/chief creative officer of BBDO North America, will serve as jury president for the Titanium Lions at the 2006 Cannes International Advertising Festival….
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More