Advanced Television

Capablue develops Karaoke Superstar app for Smart TVs

Capablue, the UK’s VoD and Connected TV solutions provider, has developed an interactive Karaoke App on Smart TVs for DigiTop Ltd. Karaoke Superstar will give  consumers instant access to an extensive playlist of tracks from favourite classic artists to the latest chart hits. Users will be able to select tracks from a playlist of over […]

November 8, 2011

Disney partners YouTube for original content

Disney Interactive Media and YouTube are to co-invest $10 million to $15 million on original video series. These video shorts will be produced by Disney and distributed on a co-branded channel on Disney.com and YouTube. The channel will also include some UGC uploaded to YouTube daily. In a reversal of Disney’s go-it-alone Internet strategy, Disney […]

November 7, 2011

Sky Movies app for iPad

BSkyB has launched a free Sky Movies app for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. The app provides up-to-date information about Sky Movies, Sky Movies Box Office and the latest cinema releases. Each page of films currently available on Sky Movies includes a review of the film and an option to Remote Record the movie on […]

November 7, 2011

Dish drops subs but sales up 30%

Dish Network’s third-quarter earnings rose 30 per cent as increased equipment, merchandise and rental revenue supported a double-digit jump in sales. Meanwhile its former unit EchoStar swung to a loss amid sharply higher costs. The satellite-television operator has been working to diversify its business in the face of a maturing US subscription television market and […]

November 7, 2011

Not so Best Buy

Carphone Warehouse is giving up on its Best Buy chain of electrical goods megastores in the UK. The chain was a joint venture with the US parent – America’s biggest seller of consumer electronics – and came about as part of the deal where Best Buy US paid £1.1 billion to take a 50 per […]

November 7, 2011

Major satellite squabble escalates

A dispute over satellite frequencies between Eutelsat and Arabsat over Iranian–claimed broadcasting rights has not been settled by the ITU, and is now to be presented to the global ITU conference of telecom authorities in January. The argument also concerns the wealthy Gulf state of Qatar. The argument concerns the so-called Zohreh-2 ‘satellite’ which never […]

November 7, 2011

Netflix UK boosted by exclusive MGM deal

Following the October revelation that it would be launching a subscription streaming service in the UK and Ireland in early 2012, Netflix has inked a new multi-year licensing agreement with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios that will make Netflix the exclusive subscription streaming service in for most first-run feature films from MGM. MGM titles will be available for […]

November 7, 2011By Colin Mann

Piracy scuppers home entertainment sales

According to independent retail analyst Verdict Research, piracy will continue to impact on the home entertainment market and slow its recovery. Consumer reluctance to spend with entertainment retailers is also a contributory factor, suggests the firm’s Global Home Entertainment market report. A combination of piracy, free access to streaming services such as Spotify, Grooveshark, YouTube […]

November 7, 2011

CME plans SVoD business model

Media and entertainment company Central European Media Enterprises (CME) is moving towards a subscription model of its video on demand service in all of its regions. Following the roll out of the VOD brand Voyo in six central and eastern European countries during 2011, the next step, says the company, is to monetise the service […]

November 7, 2011By Colin Mann

Mobile data traffic to grow tenfold by 2016

Findings from Ericsson’s latest Traffic and Market Data report forecast a tenfold increase in mobile data traffic by 2016. The report is based on measurements the company recorded over several years in live networks covering all regions of the world. According to Johan Wibergh, Head of Ericsson Business Unit Networks, Ericsson performs a broad range […]

November 7, 2011