Advanced Television

EuroMedia Dec 2009

EuroMedia at 10 In our last issue we asked industry friends and colleagues to share their highlights of the last 10 years in the converged broadcast and communications industries. We now bring our readers their predictions for the next decade. Download EuroMedia at 10 article

December 27, 2009

News Corp raises stake in Sky Deutschland

News Corp has said it will raise its stake in German pay TV operator Sky Deutschland AG to 45.4 per cent. News Corp will pay between E110 million E120 million for up to 49 million newly issued shares in the company in January. Its previous stake was just under 40 per cent.

December 23, 2009

India Task Force to tackle piracy

A Task Force to recommend measures to combat film, video, cable and video piracy in India has been set up in the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. The Task Force will be under the chairmanship of Special Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. The Task Force shall hold consultations with State Governments as well as […]

December 23, 2009

Netflix sued over recommendation contest

Netflix has been sued in a class-action claim because of what plaintiffs say were privacy violations stemming from a contest that used customers’ ratings to help improve the movie-rental service’s recommendation system. The company also tweaked its website to make its videostreaming service slightly more prominent. Claimants are seeking $2,500 each for the estimated 2.5 […]

December 23, 2009

Belden acquires Telecast

Telecast Fiber Systems has been acquired by Belden. Both companies make cable and wiring products with a focus on the broadcast industry. Telecast specialises in fibre-optic systems. Belden has global manufacturing, sales and marketing locations.

December 23, 2009

BBC Trust provisional approval for Canvas, denies Fetch

The BBC Trust has given its provisional approval to the BBC’s involvement in Project Canvas, saying that the likely public value of the proposal justifies any potential negative market impact. There were more than 800 written consultation responses from individuals and industry stakeholders, and the Trust also spoke to more than 60 industry stakeholders and […]

December 23, 2009

MPEGIF launches “3D over MPEG” campaign

The MPEG Industry Forum (MPEGIF) has announced the formation of the 3DTV Working Group and launch of the “3D over MPEG” campaign. The new working group continues MPEGIF's successful work in furthering the widespread adoption and deployment of MPEG-related standards including MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, the Emmy-Award winning video compression technology. “3DTV is of keen interest to […]

December 23, 2009

Equity firms eye Motorola’s STB unit

Motorola’s sell off its set top box unit has ignited serious interest from major private equity firms. Motorola is reported to be selling the unit that had $10.1 billion in sales in 2008. Reuters reports that Bain Capital, TPG Capital, Blackstone Group and Silver Lake Partners have put in bids for the unit. There’s also […]

December 23, 2009

Irdeto acquires Philips White Box

Irdeto, the CA/DRM specialist, has acquired Philips Electronics’ full suite of white-box cryptology patents, patent applications, software and knowledge, to significantly booster its existing IP portfolio for its Irdeto Cloakware solution.

December 23, 2009

Disney for Apple TV online subscriptions?

ABC and CBS networks are considering joining a the proposed Apple TV online subscription venture first floated last month. ABC is a unit of the Walt Disney Company, which could also make two of its cable channels, ABC Family and the Disney Channel, available through the proposed service. The CBS Corporation owns half of the […]

December 23, 2009