Category: Isle of Media

Isle of Media and Manninvest Sign Cooperation Agreement

Apr 6, 2018 | Isle of Media

Isle of Media and Manninvest Cooperation

Isle of Media and Manninvest have signed a cooperation agreement bringing funders and start-up media ventures locating on the Isle of Man together.

David Butterworth, co-founder of Manninvest said: “We have an experienced team of advisers who broker beneficial relationships between investors and entrepreneurs looking to grow their business. Through our international contacts we have built up a diverse portfolio of opportunities to cater to all investor appetites.”

Dr Richard Arning, Chairman of Isle of Media, said: “This is an exciting new partnership as we are widening our portfolio of financing options to boost jobs and investment in the Isle of Man digital and creative sector.

“Manninvest brings in a complementary type of equity from Tier 1 Entrepreneur or Investor Visa compared to our existing partners offering angel investments and venture capital. This new agreement will help us introduce the best media entrepreneurs to funders from across the world.”

Manninvest has an experienced team of advisers who broker beneficial relationships between investors and entrepreneurs. Through their extensive international contacts they have built up a diverse portfolio of opportunities to cater to all appetites. Their goal is to help all parties make a rewarding and profitable investment.

Isle of Media is the national development agency for the thriving Isle of Man video, television and film sector. Set up as a not-for-profit Public Private Partnership with the Isle of Man Government to drive inward investment in Digital Media and foster the indigenous industry and talent, they provide pro-bono advice to develop media projects on the Isle of Man.

Find out more about Manninvest: https://www.manninvest.com/faqs/

Find out more about Isle of Media: http://34.77.144.24/about/

Isle of Media at MIPTV 2018

Mar 20, 2018 | Isle of Media

Will you be in Cannes for MIPTV 2018 this year? After a successful duo of MIP events in 2017, we’re excited to be hosting our third MIP private evening reception on the 10th of April for Digital Media Ventures and VCs.

A chance to speak to Isle of Man Government representatives and the team at Isle of Media. We have companies and individuals attending whom have already established a business in the Isle of Man, well established Isle of Man companies and also those keen to understand more. We’ll be hosting indoors or outdoors, depending on the weather, with canapes, BBQ food and ample refreshments, a shuttle taxi is provided to and from our location, so you can call in for 10 minutes or stay the entire evening.

This event is of particular interest to companies looking to set up a brand new digital media venture, or locate a new part of an existing business due to expansion in to new territories. Due to venue capacity we have limited spaces, please do email info@18.130.28.237 to request an invitation or to discuss further.

If you are not available to attend the reception, but would like to discuss further our CEO, Michael Wilson, and Business Development Manager, Shelley Langan, will be around for the duration of the TV festival. Please feel free to contact us directly, we’re looking forward to seeing you again or meeting you for the first time!

CEO

Michael Wilson

michael.wilson@18.130.28.237

Business Development Manager

Shelley Langan

shelley.langan@18.130.28.237

Isle of Man Motorsports Media in Pole Position

Feb 27, 2018 | Isle of Media

From the Dakar Rally, to the Shanghai Porsche Carrera Cup and back to the Isle of Man TT – the Island’s Motorsports Media Cluster is poised for growth. Congratulations go to Greenlight Television on their announcement of host broadcaster for the TT Races and Classic TT for the next five years.

Greenlight Image for Isle of Media Article

Greenlight TV, headquartered in the Isle of Man and one of the global leading motorsports video production and distribution companies with offices in America and the UK, have released the following statement:

“We are all delighted to have been awarded the host broadcast contract for the Isle of Man TT Races and Classic TT Races for the next five years. Both are unique and iconic events in their own way and we look forward to working with the organisers, officials and riders to deliver exciting and engaging programming.”

The operation will be supported by Isle of Man based SES Satellite Leasing, the investment arm of global satellite broadcaster SES and sponsor of the TT Zero, along with Duke Marketing, operator of the official IOM TT web & social media coverage and specialised motorsport video distributor. The project has already created further job opportunities within the media industry on the Isle of Man.

“The Isle of Man has a rich history of motorsports media production, fueled by, but not only on, the Isle of Man TT Races forming the road racing capital of the world. The Isle of Man has welcomed filming of BBC ‘Top Gear’ on many occasions as well as CineMANX TT hit 3D Closer to The Edge (2011), and 3 Wheeling (2017). Filming on the roads of the Isle of Man, including the infamous Mountain Road, is ideal due to a restricted speed limit, spectacular swerving landscapes perfect for filming aerial shots with a fast moving vehicle, and also the motorsports and media inclined Isle of Man Government operating flexible regulations to close public roads and offering financial incentives for media ventures.”, Michael Wilson, Chief Executive Officer of Isle of Media explained.

“2018 has already been a good year so far for the Isle of Man’s motorsport media industry. In January this year Bloom Creative joined forces with Lydon Poskitt Racing to film the 2018 Dakar Rally and the announcement of investment into the Isle of Man by Motorsport Network, the world largest independent motorsports media platform which also operates motorsport.tv, was seen earlier in February.”

The TT may be the world’s oldest, and still deadliest motorbike race, longer and faster than any MotoGP, on an unsecured street course over the highlands and through towns, the race defies any description like Formula 1 with cliffs, MotoGP on steroids, or the Mecca of motorbike racing. Deeply rooted in the DNA of the Isle of Man, the ultimate Friday’s Senior TT Race creates a bank holiday.

Isle of Media SES Satellites Isle of Man TT

TT race week broadcasts are reaching around 600,000 viewers on ITV4 in the UK alone, while the global viewer figures for YouTube videos currently peak around 2 million, just on the official channel. Yet, it is not the only motorsport on the Isle of Man, there are a swathe of other motorsports on the Isle of Man, including Drag Racing, Rallying, historic Bentley Racing, Hill Climbs, Drifting, Stockcars and Motorcycle Trials, even the recent Drone Racing, DR1 Champion Series was filmed along Marine Drive in 2017.

Aside from the sports men and women themselves, the motorsports bring their very own famous faces to the Isle of Man, DJ Carl Cox, The Prodigy front man Keith Flint are regular visitors to the TT and Matt LeBlanc has been seen filming on the Island. After a visit to the Isle of Man TT in 2017 former CEO of the Discovery Channel and President of Emerging Networks US, including Velocity – the Car & Motorsports channel, Clark Bunting described the Isle of Man:

“I found this place to be remarkable – the variety of landscape and, of course, the adrenaline thrills of the TT. It is a secret jewel – and I’ll be back for business and pleasure. I can’t recall ever visiting a place with such warm and welcoming people.”

Isle of Man Investment by Motorsport Network in Duke Video Archive

Feb 7, 2018 | Isle of Media

Isle of Media Article for Isle of Man TT It’s just been announced that the world-leading Duke Video Archive from Duke Marketing has been acquired by Motorsport Network. The investment is expected to bring additional employment to the Isle of Man digital and media cluster.

Duke Marketing are one of the world’s foremost publishers, distributors and rights holders for motor racing content. This agreement will provide a significant enhancement of Motorsport.tv, which is part of the Motorsport Network Group, with back catalogue in premier series such as MotoGP and the World Rally Championship.

The Duke Video catalogue includes over 1,500 titles and more than 2,500 hours of content including rally, sports cars and touring cars, as well as an unmatched pedigree in bike racing, with Isle of Man TT films dating back to 1948 and World Championship motorcycle sports from the 1980s at the heart of the collection.

Duke Video was founded in the Isle of Man and launched in 1981 by Peter Duke, son of six-time Isle of Man TT winner and six-time World Champion, Geoff Duke OBE and the business is known internationally for its season review videos. Peter will become CEO of the newest partner in the Motorsport Network.

Commenting on the agreement that will see investment and jobs created on the Isle of Man, Peter Duke said:

“There is great strategic alignment between our content and Motorsport Network’s capacity to put our rich archive of content in front of millions more fans. We’re also delighted as a company that Motorsport Network will give us a massive marketing boost to expand the volume, range and breadth of content that we produce. We look forward to exciting opportunities to bring new products – including motorsport travel packages as well as collectable videos – to the market and dealing with new customers across the globe. ”

Motorsport Network’s Chairman, Zak Brown poured praise on the Isle of Man company and the growth in his own business:

“Duke has been a staple of the sport for four decades and we’re really excited to expand the availability of this treasury of content to our audiences through Motorsport.tv’s broadcast and OTT capability. This is the second significant announcement in as many weeks that will bring a universe of exclusive motorsport content to our worldwide audience via the Network and most particularly, Motorsport.tv.”

Motorsport Network has over 160 million-page views per month, websites in 17 languages, publications in 8 languages, a massive commitment to OTT TV.

The strategic pairing with Motorsport.tv’s extensive audiences will bring the Duke catalogue to a global audience of motorsport enthusiasts to the benefit of both organisations.

All of Motorsport.tv’s content, including the Duke catalogue, will be available online and on-demand on both Motorsport.tv’s OTT web platform and iOS and Android mobile devices, with new distribution via Apple TV and Roku coming shortly.

Motorsport Network is also available on cable, satellite across much of western Europe and Russia, and via OTT globally.

Isle of Media Networking

Jan 22, 2018 | Isle of Media

Our first Isle of Man after work networking event of 2018 was held at the the bath&bottle. Kindly and generously sponsored by Duke Video.

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend, we hope you enjoyed the event and made some new connections, as well as seeing people already in your network. Not only did we have representatives from lots of Isle of Man businesses and organisations, but also those who traveled from further afield – UK, Italy and our new CEO Michael Wilson from Switzerland.

Thanks to the bath&bottle for letting us take over the place and hearty thanks of course our event sponsor, Duke Video, without which the event would not be able to take place.

There are some wonderful pictures on the link below, please have a look and see if you can spot yourself. If you would like to use any of the pictures, feel free to do so, but please give www.isleofmedia.org a little mention if you will!

Isle of Media Announces Michael Wilson as New CEO

Jan 12, 2018 | Isle of Media

We’re pleased to announce today that former Sky and ITV senior executive Michael Wilson has joined Isle of Man as the new Chief Executive Officer. Wilson, 48, was until recently the Managing Director of Northern Ireland based ITV division, UTV.

Isle of Media, which markets the Isle of Man Digital Media Cluster as a private public partnership, acts as the national development agency for the thriving Isle of Man video, television and film sector.

Dr Richard K. Arning, Chairman of Isle of Media said:

“Michael, who is a very senior figurehead in industry, will further strengthen our offering, benefiting media entrepreneurs and investors. With his experience of more than two decades in commercial broadcasting in the UK, US and Ireland, ranging from programming, news gathering, government and regulatory relations, to launching various channels and digital platforms like apps and players, we are excited to take Isle of Media to the next level with him as the driving force behind our digital and creative strategy for the Island. We also would like to thank our former CEO Stuart Semark for his efforts supporting the launch of Isle of Media.”

Wilson, who joined UTV in 2005 after 10 year at Sky News, oversaw UTV’s expansion, the launch in Ireland and the final transition of its television arm to ITV. The high quality programming – he was responsible for more than 1000 hours of content a year – consistently earned multiple awards punching well above the weight of UTV.

Michael Wilson stated:

“Isle of Media is at a hugely exciting time in its development with global ambitions. I look forward to developing industry links and encouraging those with entrepreneurial ideas and businesses across the whole supply change of content creation, distribution and commissioning to news, channel operation and digital platforms to look at the Isle of Man as an ideal location to grow. For me it is the right time to move with Isle of Media into new ventures, I look forward to leveraging my experience in content creation and digital industries for the Isle of Man.

The Island is uniquely positioned as Europe’s only offshore Digital Media cluster as it is blessed not only as a picturesque filming location and its own culture but with substantial advantages of a wide creative and techy talent base in film, video and IT, an extraordinary telecommunication infrastructure, financial incentive schemes and a Digital Media sector inclined government.”

TV Trends for 2018

Jan 9, 2018 | Isle of Media

As the new year has arrived, it’s time to have a look at the global TV trends in 2018. With the rise of streaming media like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, (as well as others we’ll see popping up this year) and as celebrities rush over to OTT TV to be our next binge watching addiction; it’s been a while since TV has seen so much disruption. We’ve compiled a top ten of TV trends we think will impact the television industry in 2018:

Bifurcation of the TV Industry

With more ways to view content than ever, what does that mean for content makers? We’re already seeing the shift to TV splitting into two: live, event based content and high end dramas and documentaries on the other. Amol Rajan discusses in his media trends article for the BBC.

Monetisation beyond Netflix and Amazon

Wendy Bernfield, founder of Rights Stuff, advised content makers to focus on new digital and hybrid players. The prized Netflix deal is becoming more and more of a mythical beast, reports Screendaily.

The Future of Television 2018 - Top TV Trends

Scale, Scale, Scale

2018 sees further ramp up of original content and bigger than ever budgets, a super-merger of giants and Disney’s movie streaming platform nearing launch. Andreas Wiseman shares his own top nine storylines thought to dominate the year ahead.

Targeted Advertising

With the digital nature of OTT TV a large amount of customisation comes with ad products, going some way to solving the problem of having an age where consumers have only a small amount of patience for what is seen as interruptive advertising. Alan Wolk, contributor for Forbes, discusses the crossroads the TV world currently finds itself in.

Niche goes Mainstream

Not only is advertising becoming more tailored to the user, long and short form content itself is looking to be going the same way, sitting above the production value of YouTube, but not at the GOT level.

“Facebook is looking to find niche content communities with sizable user bases and create shows that are attractive to those audiences, using the Facebook platform to drive tune-in and create awareness.” Alan Wolk, Co-Founder/Lead Analyst at TV[R]EV

Longevity in eSports

It looks like eSports is here to stay. 2018 sees large and long-term investments being made in the eSports sector and the investment bug seems to be catching with some big players committing some serious money. Is this the next big shift in the (lucrative) entertainment industry? Brian Chang discusses for Dot Esports.

Skinny TV and Social Media on Steroids

Where does social media fit in to the TV picture? The race is on for social giants to be the first to get it right. And will Google’s Youtube TV be one to watch in 2018? Jennifer Van Grove reports.

License to Broadcast – Brexit Skyfall

Brexit has many far and wide implications for many industries, the TV, film and media industries also have to brace themselves for what may come in 2018. “Over 1,000 exported TV channels will find themselves exposed”, explains Robert Briel for Broadband TV News.

The Future of Television 2018 - Top TV Trends - Smart TV

What happened to UK local TV?

And, what is the future of it? Why does Birmingham, Alabhama have eight local television stations and Birmingham, West Midlands a grand total of zero? Mike Manning from a516digital looks at the 34 available licenses in the UK and what the future holds for UK local TV.

Viking proposal for the future of Public Broadcasting

Looking globally, Denmark’s governing Liberal party is planning a new platform for Danish- produced content, Danflix. Paid for by television licensing and promising a shake-up in the way Danish viewers access public service content.

Merry Christmas – Nollick Ghennal 2017

Dec 18, 2017 | Isle of Media

Isle of Media Merry Christmas

It has been an exciting 2017 for Isle of Media and we do hope for you as well!

You might have spotted us at Prolific North Live, Century Club, IBC Amsterdam, MIPCOM & MipTV Cannes, FOCUS London, RAPA UHD Conference Seoul … to name a few of our roadshows. The Isle of Man events Celtic Media Festival and ISLEXPO were a great homerun.

We published the first national strategy for the Island’s Digital Media Industry and we are looking forward to contributing as a Public-Private-Partnership to the upcoming Digital Agency of the new Isle of Man Department for Enterprise. Consequently, we have refreshed our branding and moved to our new digital domain www.isleofmedia.org, expressing our not-for-profit character more clearly.

Our sector grew organically and attracted the first new venture with more to come in 2018. If you would like to attend our Isle of Man After Work Networking event in January, sponsored by Duke Video please click here.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2018!
Nollick ghennal as blein vie noa 2018!

Focus on Isle of Media at FOCUS 2017

Dec 11, 2017 | Isle of Media

This December a few members of the Isle of Media team headed to FOCUS 2017.

FOCUS brings together media professionals from all sectors of the creative screen industries. Designed as a knowledge-sharing and peer-networking platform, FOCUS aims to help filmmakers and producers discover incentives and production solutions to maximise screen value for all budgets. Over two days the conference will include industry leaders sharing their expertise, inspiration and insight through a programme of panel discussions, workshops and presentations.

We were joined by current colleagues and made new connections from other countries and jurisdictions. The Isle of Media was representing the Isle of Man, discussing with producers, directors and location mangers as to how the Isle of Man can facilitate their projects. From locations and talent to company formation and tax benefits, the Isle of Media was showcasing the Isle of Man’s offering for film and TV production, with the team at Isle of Media offering a helping hand to anyone looking to setup their media ventures. With our strong film heritage, the Isle of Man was already well known as a diverse set of locations, supported by a helpful talented community.

Isle of Media at FOCUS 2017

Nov 30, 2017 | Isle of Media

Winter blues? Not with us, we’re refreshing our look.

We look forward launching our www.isleofmedia.org brand refresh at FOCUS 2017 on the 5th and 6th of December. FOCUS 2017 brings together media professionals from all sectors of the creative screen industries. Designed as a knowledge-sharing and peer-networking platform, FOCUS aims to help filmmakers and producers discover incentives and production solutions to maximise screen value for all budgets. Over two days the conference will include industry leaders sharing their expertise, inspiration and insight through a programme of panel discussions, workshops and presentations.

If you’ve been following our progress you will have seen, or even attended, the launch of the new Isle of Media Strategy document on our first anniversary in September 2017. Following your feedback on this and transitioning to the next phase of our development, we’ve moved to www.isleofmedia.org and have a fresh and vibrant new look too. It also expresses our not-for-profit character much better. You can view our most recent December 2017 version of our updated Strategy Document here. This is a live document, so please do email us at info@18.130.28.237, or give us a call, as always we’d love to hear your comments or suggestions.

If you’re also going to be at FOCUS come and say hi or organise a time to meet. We’re located at stand Stand S13.

View and Download the Strategy Paper here

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