Advanced Television

J:COM high-spec STB

Jupiter Telecommunications has announced that it will start offering a new HDR Plus service, delivered via an advanced STB across all service areas from December 17th. The new STB model "TZ-DCH8000" features an enhanced DVD drive with high-definition video recording capability as well as an expanded 500 gigabyte hard disk. HDR Plus will allow users […]

December 4, 2008

Olympic broadcast rights row

Talks between the International Olympic Committee and the European Broadcasting Union over the rights to cover the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, and the as-yet-to-be-awarded 2016 Summer Olympics have broken down with the broadcasters accusing the Olympic chiefs of "high financial expectations". "As far as we are concerned the bid has been rejected and […]

December 4, 2008

Miniweb earns first page slot on Sky IMM

Miniweb, the Interactive Service Provider, has confirmed that its TV Key service can now be accessed through the first page of the Interactive menu on Sky Digital, operated by BSkyB. The Miniweb service shares the Sky Interactive Main Menu (Sky IMM) with Sky's own interactive content and the move further strengthens Miniweb's TV Key and […]

December 4, 2008

Home entertainment is countercyclical…

A national survey, commissioned by Verizon, of 1,026 American adults has found that a majority (57 per cent) plan to spend more time at home turning to their television instead of events outside the home during the economic crisis. And while this would seem to indicate that American families are stinting on entertainment, in fact, […]

December 3, 2008

Fox signs BT Vision deal

Twentieth Century Fox has signed an agreement giving BT video-on-demand rights to a range of new and classic movie titles for BT's digital TV service, BT Vision. From 15th December 2008, BT Vision customers can enjoy, on demand, hit movies from the Twentieth Century Fox library. All Twentieth Century Fox movies on BT Vision will […]

December 3, 2008

American football drives HDTV sales

HDTV manufacturer Samsung has revealed that a survey found American football to be the most popular sport to influence HDTV purchases among sports fans in America. The survey from Kelton Research revealed that more than half (54 per cent) of all football fans would most likely purchase a new HDTV for the start of football […]

December 3, 2008

France broadband figures

ARCEP has published the figures for the 3rd quarter of broadband in France. At 30th September, France has 17.125 million broadband subscribers, including 16.3 million in ADSL. The park is increasing by 16 per cent over the year (2.3 million subscribers).

December 3, 2008

UKTV hires Porritt

UKTV has hired Keith Porritt as executive director for commercial operations. Porritt, who will start his job in the new year, will have responsibility for managing UKTV’s relationships with programme suppliers, handle legal and business affairs and lead all commercial activity outside advertising sales. This will include handling the relationship with BBC Worldwide, the corporation’s […]

December 3, 2008

Sony's AXN expands reach in Russia

Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI), announced that AXN Sci-Fi, its dedicated science fiction channel which launched in Russia early this year is now available in over two million households across the CIS. The announcement follows the signing of recent distribution agreements with digital satellite TV provider NTV Plus and with IPTV provider, Stream.

December 3, 2008

Visible World and Ensequence expand advertising solutions

Visible World and Ensequence have revealed a solution that offers media companies and advertisers a comprehensive advertising product that provides addressability, measurement and interactivity through a single platform using the ETV/EBIF standard. By leveraging the ETV/EBIF industry standard, interactive television advertising content can now be delivered to a specific target audience through Ensequence’s interactive television […]

December 3, 2008