Britain’s biggest broadband supplier has been accused by the BBC of 'shaping download speeds' on its cheapest package without giving users a clear warning. A customer who has signed on to an up to the 8MB package can have speed cut to below 1Mbps says the public broadcaster. BT confirmed it managed bandwidth “in order […]

ITV has held talks with BSkyB about switching its advertiser-funded free-to-air digital channels such as ITV2 to subscription, meaning they would no longer be available to Freeview viewers. The commercial broadcaster has been forced to consider the option in the face of the worst advertising downturn in its history. The move comes despite the free-to-air […]

Pay TV broadcaster Setanta, currently losing an estimated £100 million (E115m) a year, is considering a radical switch of its business model that would mean ditching its subscribers in order to become a wholesale supplier of programmes, including Premier League football, to broadcasters such as British Sky Broadcasting and BT Vision. Setanta, with 1.2 million […]

The US Solicitor General Elena Kagan has sided with Cablevision in the cable operator’s long-running dispute with several programme-makers over the roll-out of its network-based video recorder. Kagan denied plaintiffs including News Corp, CBS Corp and Walt Disney Co, their petition for a Supreme Court hearing. The media companies have argued that Cablevision’s proposed service […]

EchoStar Corporation, provider of end-to-end pay TV delivery systems and equipment for satellite, IPTV, cable, terrestrial and consumer electronics markets, and AsiaSat Asia’s leading satellite operator, have formed a joint venture for the delivery of a direct-to-home (DTH) satellite television service to Taiwan and other targeted regions in Asia. The satellite TV service will broadcast […]

3 Ireland has introduced the country's first VoD service for mobile handsets that will be fully funded by advertisers. The free service is available to both pre- and post-pay 3 subscribers and is supported by mobile enabler Gorillabox. It comprises of a range of mobile videos and games funded through advertising in the form of […]

Sony has licensed interactive programme guide (IPG) technology and patents from Macrovision. The multi-year agreement will allow Sony to continue to use Macrovision's IPG technology and patents, under the company's Gemstar patent portfolio, for its products.

Virgin Media has confirmed that its chief technology officer Howard Watson has left the company to pursue other business interests. Watson joined Telewest in 1993. When Telewest merged with NTL to form Virgin Media, he took on responsibility for technical and IT strategy, architecture, development and day-to-day operations of the company's television and broadband platforms.

Advertising budgets for mobile channels are expected to buck the downward trend and exhibit strong growth over the next five years, according to a report from Juniper Research. The report found that constraints on budgets, imposed in the wake of the global economic downturn, had resulted in an increasing migration of adspend from above the […]

The current fragmented approach to 3DTV is harming the progress of the format, according to the Digital TV Group. Members consulted said they feared that proprietary non-open standards would emerge from technology decisions being made by the first providers, most likely pay-TV operators, which would impact on later free-to-air broadcasts. "Members have expressed their concerns […]