Advanced Television

Virgin channels for sale?

Newspapers in the UK are speculating that Virgin will try and sell its TV channels and its half stake in UKTV. The forecast is based on the company's declared preferred strategy of focussing on marketing its broadband and VOD services. If true it would mark yet another strategic change for Virgin – the company that […]

March 5, 2008

Canal+ 2007 net subs up

The total of subscribers in France and its overseas departments and territories and Africa, came to 5.3 million at December 31, 2007, representing an annual net increase of 80,000. The Canal+ 'Le Bouqeut' package recorded 715,000 new home and institutional subscriptions, its best performance in 20 years. The cancellation rate for home subscriptions in France […]

March 5, 2008

Kudelski sinks on hacks

Kudelski, the world’s largest supplier of digital pay-television smart cards through its Nagravision unit, said profit halved last year and earnings will decline further in 2008. The shares dropped to a five year low. Net income fell to 67.4 million Swiss francs from 138.5 million francs (E87.4m) a year earlier The Switzerland-based company said sales […]

March 5, 2008

YouTube live streaming

YouTube plans to launch a live streaming service later this year, in a bid to take on internet TV services. The live channels will enable users to create live feeds of news events, entertainment and even 24-hour “lifecasts”. The live streaming channels could also include live music, breaking news stories and other entertainment content. The […]

March 5, 2008

XM, Sirius still hanging on for merger

XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio extended their merger agreement until May 1, agreeing not to exercise their right to terminate the deal. There had been a March 1 trigger for unwinding the proposal if it had not received an OK from the JJustice is expected to come first, but FCC chairman Kevin Martin […]

March 5, 2008

Disney launches Stage 9

Disney-ABC Television Group has launched an experimental new media content studio Stage 9 Digital Media. Stage 9 was designed to “bridge the gap between user-generated content and traditional production,” said Ann Sweeney, co-chair, Disney Media Networks and president of Disney-ABC Television Group, in a release. It will premiere with a comedy series “Squeegees”, that is […]

March 5, 2008

MTV MySpace Chart

Music channel MTV has signed a deal with social networking site MySpace to create a weekly chart show. The show, branded The MySpace Chart, will be shown on the MTV2 channel. It will feature the best music videos as voted for by viewers watching the channel and MySpace users of the MySpace Chart website, due […]

March 5, 2008

DTH satellite TV revenues $50bn in 2009

Europe and North America account for over 80 per cent of the global DTH Satellite TV revenues. However, as the major markets mature, focus is seemingly shifting towards developing markets such as Asia-Pacific and East European countries. Driven by the increasing number of subscribers for DTH services, in Asia, Africa, Middle East, Central and Eastern […]

March 5, 2008

Online content to generate $6.5bn in APAC by 2013

An ABI Research study on online content usage in the Asia Pacific region (APAC) forecasts that online media activities in the region will deliver at least $6.5 billion in annual revenues by the end of 2013. “Telcos now regard media and entertainment as an effective means of replacing their declining voice revenues in a market […]

March 5, 2008

Wegener teams with ViaSat

Wegener Corporation, provider of equipment for television, audio and data distribution networks worldwide, has confirmed the operation of live video broadcasts on a VSAT network from ViaSat, showing compatibility of Wegener ‘s video overlay solution for VSAT networks. VSAT networks provide bandwidth efficient solutions for distributing interactive IP data between thousands of data centres, retail […]

March 4, 2008