Chuck Silverman Represents has added three shops to its roster–production companies Rogue Agent, Los Angeles, and Sherpa Pictures, Las Vegas, and production/VFX/3D/design and motion graphics house Studio Cassis in Portland, Ore. Silverman is handling national representation for all three. Rogue Agent is headed by exec producers John Thorpe and Jesse Felsot and has a directorial roster that includes Simon Brand, Gustavo Garzon, Trip Gruver, Vladimir Jedlicka, Farhad Mann, Peter Manus, Scott McCullough, Charley Randazzo and Matt Simon. Under the aegis of exec producer Don Turley, Sherpa has a lineup of directors consisting of Ali Akbarzadeh, Bodega Boys, Jamal Dedeaux, Cam McHarg, Michael Rainin, Kurt Rauf, Lance Tracy and Kevin T Wilson…. Production designer David Skinner is now repped exclusively by WME for commercials and features….TidalTV, a video advertising, optimization and yield management solutions provider, has further expanded its New York sales team with the addition of Kevin Gannon and Matthew Jamison who will each serve as director of platform sales. They will report to Steven Sackey, VP of national sales. Gannon and Jamison will be responsible for driving revenue for TitalTV's technology offering as well as agency sales. Gannon previously was VP, director of new business at Varick Media Management. Before joining TidalTV, Jamison was sr. director of national sales at [x+1] and an account executive at IAC Advertising Solutions/Ask.com…..Marketing associate Kimberly Jacobson has joined the corporate marketing department of Grace & Wild Inc., which offers a wide variety of creative and technical services within the audio, video, film and interactive production industry via its operating divisions Grace & Wild Studios, Postique, and STS-Griot. Prior to joining Grace & Wild, Jacobson served as social media manager for Orange Creative Solutions where she managed corporate identity and brand development; implemented a public relations and social media marketing plan; and analyzed and reported on social media metrics….
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