Advanced Television

RTVE and Telefonica in multimedia deal

From David Del Valle in Madrid The Spanish state-owned group, RTVE -that operates the terrestrial TVE 1 and La 2- and the incumbent telco Telefonica have signed a 3-year strategic agreement to promote and develop joint multimedia projects through all existing distribution platforms. The agreement, signed by the presidents of the companies, Luis Fernández and […]

February 19, 2008

Blu-ray wins HD-DVD war

Sony’s Blu-ray looks set to become the standard for high-definition DVDs after Toshiba signalled it will give up in a long-running format battle, to the relief of investors. Toshiba is reviewing its HD DVD business and “a complete withdrawal is one of the options it is considering.” The demise of HD DVD could spur sales […]

February 19, 2008

Zee contests Trai’s mobile TV regulation

Zee Network has written to the Information & Broadcasting ministry, stating that the Trai (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) regulation for mobile TV is discriminatory. Zee has demanded that any broadcasting company should be allowed to provide mobile TV services. Zee says that cross holding caps are not appropriate in these scenarios, and has warned […]

February 19, 2008

SES falls

SES Global reported profit and turnover down but declared it was still in the market for small add on acquisitions despite its failed offer for Spacecom of Israel. Net profit fell by 7 per cent to E404 million from the previous year's E435.8 million, mainly on interest charges related to the debt incurred in the […]

February 19, 2008

TVCatchup suspended

The TV recording site TVCatchup.com has had its service suspended after complaints from the BBC, Channel 4, ITV and Channel Five. TVCatchup launched in trial last year, allowing users to record offline TV shows, watch them online and share copies with other members. The UK-focused site immediately attracted the concern of broadcasters, which have invested […]

February 19, 2008

Q4 in Latin America for DirecTV

DirecTV Latin America achieved net subscriber additions of 199,000 in the quarter, a jump the company attributed to strong customer growth in Brazil, Venezuela and Argentina. The total number of DirecTV subscribers in Latin America as of December 31 increased 21 percent to 3.28 million, compared to 2.71 million as of December 2006. Revenues for […]

February 19, 2008

Digital conduct code

AOL, the BBC, Bebo, Channel 4, Google, ITV and Yahoo! have signed up to a new code of conduct designed to protect children from unsuitable digital content. The media companies have agreed to follow guidelines set out by the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG) and supported by Ofcom to emulate the standards used in existing media. […]

February 19, 2008

Australia consider 3 strike rule

The Australian Government is considering a three-strikes policy against computer users who download illegally. The Government will examine new legislative proposals being unveiled in Britain this week to target people who download films and music illegally. Under the three-strikes policy, a warning would be first issued to offenders who illegally share files using peer-to-peer technology […]

February 19, 2008

Samsung See'N'Search

CE maker Samsung has introduced its first set-top box, the Internet-powered See’N’Search device designed to allow users to integrate web functionality into their TV viewing experience. According to Samsung, the See’N’Search set-top trolls a virtual channel guide to catalogue what’s on and when. It then uses that information to suggest video or web sites to […]

February 19, 2008

DK for mobile

Dorling Kindersley, the world's leading non-fiction publisher, has agreed terms with Mobifusion Inc. to deliver branded mobile content products to consumers around the world. Mobifusion develops, publishes and distributes mobile technologies and value-added services and is considered one of the foremost mobile media content companies in their field. The global deal will see content coming […]

February 19, 2008