iWorld
DISH deploys TiVO metadata to enable seamless entertainment discovery
MUMBAI: After taking some good strides worldwide, TiVO Corporation is adding another feather to its cap. After partnering Panama Cable Onda, Turner, Japan’s KDDI and renewing its licence with Foxtel, it’s now working with DISH.
TiVo, a leader in entertainment technology and audience insights, announced that leading pay-TV provider, DISH Network Corp., has completed its migration to TiVo Metadata. DISH is utilising TiVo’s rich metadata, such as program information and image-based content, across its product platforms, including linear TV, video on demand (VOD) and DVR.
TiVo completed the metadata migration process in just under five months, bringing rich and robust metadata to DISH’s product platforms. The deployment was also rolled out in a way to minimize impact across DISH’s entertainment ecosystem.
“Today’s consumers want a visually-rich entertainment experience that makes it easy for them to quickly identify and access the content they want in real-time,” said Niraj Desai, vice president of product management, DISH. “Through our long-standing collaboration with TiVo, we were able to integrate their enhanced metadata offerings and provide a cohesive and seamless entertainment experience across our product platforms.”
TiVo completed the metadata migration process in just under five months, bringing rich and robust metadata to DISH’s product platforms. The deployment was also rolled out in a way to minimize impact across DISH’s entertainment ecosystem.
“Working against a compressed timeline, TiVo delivered a comprehensive metadata solution that enabled DISH to continue to deliver rich entertainment experiences that its customers expect. We deeply value our relationship with DISH and look forward to continuing to innovate with them,” said Roz Ho, senior vice president and general manager, Consumer and Metadata, TiVo. “With our industry-leading metadata catalog and innovative discovery solutions, TiVo is helping companies like DISH power the ultimate entertainment experience.”
TiVo’s metadata is a leading metadata resource for international TV shows, movies and sporting events, delivering the best quality, localized international metadata that is consistent across 70 countries.
TiVo has already introduced its new fully-integrated Personalized Content Discovery platform. The new platform provides video operators with the most comprehensive suite of content discovery features that combine the power of TiVo’s renowned conversational voice search with personalized search and recommendations. The platform also features powerful analytics capabilities that enable operators to conduct A/B testing; thus, giving operators the ability to optimize their operations in real-time.
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iWorld
Bill Ackman makes a $64bn bid for Universal Music Group
The hedge fund boss wants to list the world’s biggest record label in New York and thinks he knows exactly what ails it
NEW YORK: Bill Ackman wants to buy the world’s biggest record label. Pershing Square Capital Management, the hedge fund run by the billionaire investor, submitted a non-binding proposal on Tuesday to acquire all outstanding shares of Universal Music Group in a business combination transaction worth roughly $64.4 billion (around 55.8 billion euros).
Under the terms of the offer, UMG shareholders would receive 9.4 billion euros in cash, equivalent to 5.05 euros per share, plus 0.77 shares of a newly created company, dubbed New UMG, for each share held. Pershing Square values the total package at 30.40 euros per share, a 78 per cent premium to UMG’s closing price on April 2.
The deal would see UMG merge with Pershing Square SPARC Holdings, with the combined entity incorporating as a Nevada corporation and listing on the New York Stock Exchange. New UMG would publish financial statements under US GAAP and become eligible for S&P 500 index inclusion. Pershing Square says the transaction is expected to close by year-end, with all equity financing backstopped by Ackman’s firm and its affiliates, and all debt financing committed at signing. The transaction would cancel 17 per cent of UMG’s outstanding shares, leaving New UMG with 1.541 billion shares outstanding.
Ackman has a long history with UMG. Pershing Square first bought approximately 10 per cent of the company from Vivendi in the summer of 2021 for around $4 billion, around the time of UMG’s listing on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange. He has since trimmed that position, raising around $1.4 billion from the sale of a 2.7 per cent stake in March 2025, and resigned from UMG’s board in May 2025, citing new executive and board obligations arising from recent investments.
His diagnosis of UMG’s troubles is blunt. The company’s stock has fallen around 33 per cent over the past twelve months on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange, and Ackman lays out six reasons why. These include uncertainty around the Bolloré Group’s 18 per cent stake in the company, the postponement of UMG’s US listing, the underutilisation of UMG’s balance sheet, the absence of a publicly disclosed capital allocation plan and earnings algorithm, a failure to reflect UMG’s 2.7 billion euro stake in Spotify in its valuation, and what Ackman calls suboptimal shareholder investor relations, communications and engagement.
The Bolloré stake has long cast a shadow over the company. Cyrille Bolloré stepped down from UMG’s board in July 2025 as the Bolloré Group battled the French financial markets regulator over its stake in Vivendi, which holds a further capital interest in UMG. UMG had confidentially filed a draft registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in July 2025 for a proposed secondary listing in America, but put those plans on hold in March 2026, citing market conditions.
Ackman has kind words for UMG’s management, at least. “Since UMG’s listing, Lucian Grainge and the company’s management have done an excellent job nurturing and continuing to build a world-class artist roster and generating strong business performance,” he said. But he made his diagnosis plain: “UMG’s stock price has languished due to a combination of issues that are unrelated to the performance of its music business and importantly, all of them can be addressed with this transaction.”
In other words, Ackman believes UMG is a great business trapped inside a broken structure. If the board agrees, he intends to fix that, loudly and in New York.
