Advanced Television

Ex Ofcom man calls for Comms reform

Former Ofcom partner and ITN CEO, Stewart Purvis, has called for quick action on ITV, a reversal of European regulation, and relaxation of advertising and impartiality rules, in a speech delivered for the RTS (Royal Television Society) Fleming Memorial Lecture 2010. Entitled ‘Calling Time on Analogue Regulation – an agenda for the next Communications Act,’ […]

November 12, 2010From Colin Mann in London

ABC and 3D movies lift Disney

An advertising rebound at its ABC television network, as well as the strong box-office performance of Toy Story 3, has lifted Walt Disney’s full-year earnings. However, the media group missed expectations for the fourth quarter due to a timing shift in the recognition of revenues at its ESPN sports channel. Net income for the 12 […]

November 12, 2010

Netflix signs with Level 3 CDN

Level 3 Communications has been selected to serve as a primary content delivery network (CDN) provider for Netflix to support the company’s streaming functionality and to support storage for the entire Netflix library of content. As a result of the deal, Level 3 has accelerated plans to further invest in its CDN capacity. Level 3 […]

November 12, 2010

TiVo price slashed in Australia

In an effort to increase downloads on its relatively new Caspa service in Australia, TiVo has confirmed a 35 per cent reduction in price, including a $50 cashback promotion. Hybrid TV, the licensees of TiVo in Australia, has announced a new RRP for its media storage and content delivery device. Formerly $699, the TiVo is […]

November 12, 2010

Accedo brings Viasat VOD to LG’s conTV

Accedo Broadband, provider of app stores and applications for IPTV and Connected TV, has revealed that Viasat, the leading free-TV and pay-TV operator in Scandinavia, has selected Accedo to help develop, test and launch its Viasat OnDemand application for the LG NetCast platform. Viasat OnDemand is already available for consumers to watch via the Internet […]

November 12, 2010

22% of Americans cut back their cable

Almost one in five Americans cancelled or scaled back their cable TV service in the last six months to save money, according to a poll from research firm Harris Interactive. About 22 per cent of respondents said they downgraded or eliminated their cable TV service, and another 21 per cent considered it over that time, […]

November 12, 2010

50,000 take Sky Sport on BT Vision

BT profits have beaten expectations thanks to strong growth in both broadband and its BT Vision television service. Pre-tax profits at the telecoms giant rose 13 per cent to £496 million in the three months to the end of September, compared with the same period last year. BT said its full-year earnings were likely to […]

November 11, 2010

iPlayer for BT Vision

The BBC and BT have revealed plans to bring BBC iPlayer, the public service broadcaster’s video-on-demand service, to the telco’s IPTV platform, BT Vision. BT Vision will introduce BBC iPlayer over the next five months, in a phased release starting in early December. All BT Vision customers will be able to access the service by […]

November 11, 2010From Colin Mann in London

No votes wins Digital Plus approval

Mediaset’s Tele 5 and Telefonica have been cleared to take a 22 per cent stake each in the digital DTH platform Digital Plus but with limited voting rights in the management of the company. Media group Prisa will retain a 56 per cent stake. Spain’s competition watchdog the CNC has shelved the legal proceedings, giving […]

November 11, 2010From David Del Valle in Madrid

Sky Deutschland ups subs

Sky Deutschland has added 45,000 new subscribers in Q3 to reach 2.52 million. However losses continue; turnover was E243.2 million with a loss of E89.3 million, down, at least from E116.7 million last time. Brian Sullivan, CEO said: “In the past quarter we continued our focus on content and innovation, launching Germany’s and Austria’s first […]

November 11, 2010