Olympic Achievement - The International Olympic Committee will receive an award at IBC2015 for its work on conserving and managing its audiovisual archives. The award recognises the IOC's positive approach both to conservation and to making the archives available to broadcasters, researchers and other professionals.
Dating back to the first Olympic Games in modern times, in 1896, the audiovisual archives of the Olympic Movement include 2000 hours of film, 33,000 hours of video, 8500 hours of audio and more than 500,000 photographs, as well as 2000 archive documents and 22,000 pictures of Olympic Museum artefacts.
Brighton Rocks - Brighton Hippodrome could once more be used as a live music venue after the derelict theatre was purchased by Academy Music Group. AMG has been the building's leaseholder for the last eight years, but following the purchase of the freehold the company will undertake a feasibility study to identify a future use for the grade II*-listed theatre, which has been closed since 2007.
Over the next six months, AMG will work with organisations including the Theatres Trust and Brighton and Hove City Council to jointly commission the study, which could recommend that the building be restored for cultural use. Theatres Trust director Mhora Samuel said: "We are pleased to be supporting this initiative. The group will be working together over the next six months to find a solution that will protect the historical and cultural significance of this Frank Matcham theatre and identify a beneficial viable use." AMG currently owns 26 music venues across the UK, including O2 Academy venues in Glasgow, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool and London. Last year, the Hippodrome topped the Theatres Trust's Theatre Buildings at Risk Register.
Theatre Sale - Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners is to buy European theatre group Stage Entertainment for an undisclosed sum. CVC, which has investments in more than 60 companies worldwide, will have a 60% controlling stake in Stage Entertainment as part of a deal which is expected to be completed in the second half of this year.
A statement from Stage Entertainment said the move would allow the company to expand into theatre markets in Asia and South America, as well as continuing to grow its business in Europe and the US. Stage Entertainment founder Joop van den Ende said the sale was brought about to "ensure the continuity and success of the international musical business" he founded 17 years ago. He said: "My passion for theatre, especially musical theatre, remains strong, but at my age I have to be realistic, and I don't want to achieve the growth I envisage on my own. I will stay closely involved with Stage Entertainment in the coming years, both personally and as a shareholder."
Opera Figures - Audience numbers and box office receipts boosted the Royal Opera House's income by 12% to £125.7 million, its annual report reveals. The Covent Garden venue - home to the Royal Opera and Royal Ballet companies - saw its total audience swell to more than 1.5m, with 774,000 theatregoers seeing productions in the main house, Linbury Studio and associated spaces, and a further 747,000 watching broadcasts in more than 400 cinemas around the world in th
