Rising sports-rights costs caught up to ESPN in Q3, providing a setback in an otherwise strong quarter for The Walt Disney Company. Hit by a combination of higher costs for World Cup football and MLB , as well as a shrinking subscriber base for ESPN and certain timing issues, operating income at Disney’s cable networks […]
DISH Network has reported revenue totaling $3.69 billion for the quarter ending June 30th 2014, compared to $3.49 billion for the corresponding period in 2013. Subscriber-related revenue increased 5.6 per cent to $3.65 billion from $3.45 billion in the year-ago period. Net income attributable to the US pay-TV network totalled $213 million for the second […]
Despite being officially licensed by South Africa’s broadcasting regulator ICASA, three so-called ‘Adult TV’ channels are again facing court action. The channels are broadcast by On Digital Media (ODM, and which operates as TopTV), itself being taken over by StarGroup. ODM has faced multiple court actions demanding that the channels be taken down from its […]
Kurt Sutter, executive producer and showrunner of the FX drama series Sons of Anarchy, has accused Google of systematically destroying the artistic future, suggesting it is eroding creative copyright laws. In an impassioned and strongly-worded Open Letter to the Creative Community published in the August 5th 2014 issue of Variety, Sutter writes: Dear Family, Friends […]
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) had to delay the launch of AsiaSat-8 when an unexplained issue emerged with the rocket’s first stage. That was fixed and it then carried out a flawless launch of its Falcon-9 rocket carrying AsiaSat-8 into a successful geostationary transfer orbit. AsiaSat said the satellite is healthy and sending telemetry signals back […]
upc cablecom has reported that the number of television customers dropped slightly in H1: as of June 30th 2014 the Swiss cableco had 1,415,300 active digital basic connections (- 6,400 in the second quarter) and thus remains the biggest television provider in Switzerland by a clear margin. The multimedia platform Horizon, combining TV, Internet and […]
Freeview UK is expanding its on-screen programme guide to allow for even more free entertainment. Children’s and News services will move to new numbers on September 3rd, increasing capacity for up to 99 general entertainment channels. Channels 70-76 in the Children’s genre will move to 120-126, and News channels 80-85 will move to 130-135 on […]
Originally scheduled for launch in the first half of 2014, but delayed as a result of technical issues, Australian DTT platform Freeview has confirmed that its FreeviewPlus HbbTV service will now launch September 2, and will be backed by a TV teaser campaign, featuring some of Australia’s best-loved TV personalities. The campaign, carrying the tagline […]
FremantleMedia International (FMI) has confirmed a distribution deal with Foxtel Australia. The multi-genre package deal will see Foxtel acquire over 450 hours of FMI content for its Bio, History, CI, Lifestyle and Arena channels. Paul Ridley, SEVP Sales & Distribution, Asia Pacific, FremantleMedia International said, “We have a long-standing, established relationship with Foxtel and are […]
STMicroelectronics, a global semiconductor company and serving supplier of set-top box ICs globally, is supporting the digital switchover and the transition to richer TV services in Brazil with a complete ready-to-produce digital set-top box platform developed in close cooperation with Brazilian digital-TV software specialist EiTV and digital-communications chipmaker MaxLinear. The highly integrated platform is optimised […]