Serafina Holdings, an entity formed by BC Partners, Silver Lake and other equity investors, has closed its acquisition of commercial satellite operator Intelsat. Through the transaction, the equity of Intelsat Holdings was valued at about $5 billion. As part of the deal, funds associated with Apax Partners Worldwide, Apollo Management, Madison Dearborn Partners and Permira […]
Babelgum, has appointed BT Vision’s director of business affairs Mark Cranwell its first director of content strategy. Cranwell will report to Simon Kenny, head of content strategy and advertising at Babelgum. In his previous role, Cranwell was responsible for negotiating broadband video-on-demand deals.
David Elstein, an independent director of Virgin Media, has resigned from the company’s Board. Elstein has been a Director of first ntl and then Virgin Media since January 2003, he is a former programme director of BSkyB and CEO of Channel 5.
NDS, has announced that Viasat, digital satellite pay-TV operator serving Scandinavia and the Baltic region, has extended its long-standing relationship with NDS for the provision of VideoGuard conditional access. In addition, the companies have made a new agreement whereby NDS is to commence supplying Viasat with MediaHighway middleware, XTV DVR technology, and a customised EPG […]
Security solutions outfit Discretix, multimedia application provider VisualOn, and mobile TV middleware developer Axel Technologies, have partnered to provide a pre-integrated Mobile TV solution for handset OEMs. The DVB-H-based solution, which supports both the OMA BCAST Smartcard and DRM Security Profiles, delivers an ultra-reliable, out of the box strategy for mobile TV. The partnership gives […]
Abilis Systems has unveiled what it claims is the world's smallest digital mobile TV receiver for DVB-H/T applications, produced in a 5mm x 5mm CSP package. The new AS-101 integrates multi-band RF tuner, advanced OFDM demodulator, memory and interfaces onto a single 90nm CMOS die, with the receiver performance surpassing the MBRAI 2 and Nordig […]
Sales of set-top boxes (STBs) for IPTV video services will show strong growth through 2010 in North America and Europe, fuelled by increased deployment of consumer video services by telephone companies, with STB revenues for the two regions peaking at about $765 million in 2010, according to a report from Light Reading. “The North American […]
Mobile television signals broadcast over the Digital One national multiplex has ceased. The move means more space is now available where the BT Movio service once transmitted live pictures in conjunction with Virgin Mobile. Quentin Howard, chief executive of Digital One said: “BT’s innovative use of DAB digital radio to broadcast mobile TV confirmed that […]
Ofcom has unveiled a consultation on plans to allow public bodies to share, trade or release radio spectrum they currently hold. The watchdog said studies show spectrum below 15GHz, which is about 50 per cent held by public bodies, could have a market value of £3 billion-£20 billion, and CEO Ed Richards added the initiative […]
The French football authorities have extended the time for bidding on the TV rights to top football. The bidding, run by the Ligue de Football Professionnel, has been subject to court actions by the current rights holder Canal+. The new contract will run from the start of the 2008/09 season through until 2011/12.