A standards war for mobile TV in the UK became a real possibility with Qualcomm winning the latest Ofcom spectrum auction. Qualcomm UK Spectrum Ltd has been awarded spectrum in the L-band (1452-1492) for a licence fee of £8,334,000 (E1.04bn). Qualcomm has previously conducted UK tests in Cambridge and Manchester. Its proprietary Mediaflo system competes […]
Sir Run Run Shaw, the centenarian founder and chairman of Hong Kong based Television Broadcasts, is in talks to sell his stake in the world's leading Chinese language broadcaster and has attracted interest from private equity groups including Bain Capital and Blackstone. TVB is by far Hong Kong's dominant TV station, with a big presence […]
Sky has overhauled its online VOD service by adding streaming capabilities and rebranding it “Sky Player”. Sky said: “The online service will take on the Sky Player brand in recognition of the public's growing awareness of additional online video 'player' services.” In addition, Sky non-subscribers can now access the same Sky Player interface – Sky […]
A jury in a US District Court in California has exonerated NDS Group companies in the lawsuit brought by satellite operator EchoStar and Nagrastar, the joint venture between EchoStar and Kudelski Group. The level of damages claimed by the plaintiffs, widely reported as amounting to over $1 billion, has ultimately resulted in an award in […]
Chinese conditional access (CA) systems provider China Digital TV Holding has announced its unaudited financial results for Q1 2008, with net revenues reaching $17.4 million, up 65.7 per cent year-on-year but down. Net income for the quarter came to $11.4 million, up 84.1 per cent year on year but down 11.5per cent quarter on quarter. […]
Two years after CBS and Time Warner combined their second-tier networks UPN and WB into the youth-oriented CW to pool young viewers prized by advertisers, the network’s hopes of surviving are looking increasingly bleak, reports the WSJ. The network has lost about 28 per cent of its target audience of 18 to 34 year olds […]
Harris Corporation will introduce the first full mobile digital TV transmission platform to meet the new Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) solution that was proposed by LG Electronics and Samsung. The Harris offering, which will be introduced in November 2008, will enable television broadcasters to quickly begin the transition to mobile digital television (DTV). The […]
Eutelsat, the world’s third-largest satellite operator, reported an 8.9 per cent rise in third-quarter and raised its full-year guidance. Sales rose to E223.9 million euros ($346.2 million), compared with an average forecast for turnover of E217 million. Eutelsat said it had decided to raise its full-year sales target. It was now aiming for sales of […]
Intelsat reported for the three-month period ended March 31, 2008 with revenue of $572.7 million and a net loss of $412.7 million which included $313.1 million in restructuring and transaction costs incurred in connection with the February 4, 2008 acquisition of all of the equity ownership of its parent, Intelsat Holdings Ltd., by Intelsat Global, […]
ITV has predicted that advertising revenue will not grow during the first half of 2008 as the UK economy slows. However, executive chairman Michael Grade said ITV would still beat the rate of growth in the UK ad market as a whole for the first time since 2000. The firm said first-quarter revenues rose, helped […]