IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 11 August
11-08-2010
by Sylvia Leatham
Vodafone shareholders missing out on dividends | Google's South Korea offices raided
The Irish Times reports that plans for the long-promised Oireachtas TV channel could be shelved as "alternative low-cost options such as webcasting or sharing existing channels" are being explored because of the financial downturn. A "wait and see" approach should now be taken to the idea of setting up a public service channel which would cover Dail and Seanad debates, according to the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission.
The Irish Independent reports that social networking business Ammado racked up a EUR4.8 million loss in 2008, according to accounts just filed. Ammado had a shareholder deficit of nearly EUR8.9 million at the end of 2008 and the firm's auditors said the financial statements indicated the existence of a "material uncertainty" which may cast doubt over the company's ability to continue as a going concern.
The paper also notes that thousands of Irish shareholders are not receiving dividend payments from Vodafone because they didn't return a form with their bank details, the mobile operator has said. The shareholders have lost out since Vodafone became the first British company last year to require that people have dividend payments paid directly into their bank accounts, rather than by cheque. About 70,000 shareholders worldwide have failed to sign up for the payments but the majority of these are Irish, spokeswoman Christine Heffernan said. Vodafone contacted shareholders on four occasions in 2009 and this year to advise that they needed to provide details of their bank accounts. The dividends not paid to shareholders are being kept in a special account.
The Financial Times reports that South Korean police have raided Google's offices in Seoul as part of an investigation into possible privacy violations. The probe was related to the company's collection of data for its Street View mapping service, the police said. Google might have illegally collected private internet data from late last year to May this year as it prepared to launch the service, the cyber division of the Korean National Policy Agency said. A group of police officers searched Google's South Korean offices and seized computer files and documents to see if personal information had been collected without prior consent.
The paper also says that US DVD home rental service Netflix has struck a digital streaming deal with Epix, a new pay-TV service. Epix is owned by Paramount Pictures, Lions Gate Entertainment and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The channel has agreed to make films released by those studios available to Netflix's 15 million subscribers in the US three months after they have aired on pay-TV channels. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Digital streaming direct to the home via internet-connected TV sets and Blu-ray players is seen as Hollywood's next area of growth.
According to the Wall Street Journal, PC maker Dell's new Streak tablet will go on sale in the US this week. Dell said orders for the touchscreen device will open for US pre-sales on Thursday, with shipments to follow a day later. The Streak will be available for USD299.99 with a new two-year contract with AT&T and for USD549.99 without a contract. The device is the first major competitor to Apple's iPad tablet. The Streak is nearly half the size of the iPad, can make and receive phone calls, and runs on Google's Android smartphone operating system. Like the iPad, it does not support Adobe Systems' Flash software, which powers most internet video and advertising.
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Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 