Advanced Television

BBC Worldwide sells Top Gear format to Sky Italia

Top Gear UK may be out of production but is continuing to sell around the world, as BBC Worldwide announces that Italy is the latest country to license the format. Produced by Toro Media (a Sony Picture Television Company) for SKY Italia, Top Gear Italia will air in 2016 on Sky Uno, the pay-TV platform’s […]

July 27, 2015

Scripps expands HD content in Poland

Scripps Networks UK & EMEA has announced the switch to MPEG4 compression that will follow with the launch of Polsat Food Network HD, the global food, entertainment and lifestyle brand, and Travel Channel HD, the global travel broadcaster, on Cyfrowy Polsat, the largest provider of pay-TV and integrated multimedia services in Poland. The Polsat Food […]

July 27, 2015

Analyst: ‘Ultra HD investment hitting new highs’

Ultra HD programming is expected to see strong take-up rates globally, with failure to invest now will mean a failure to tap into its growing premium revenues, according to Alan Crisp, Analyst at satellite industry market research and consulting services firm NSR. Writing in NSR’s ‘Bottom Line’ Blog, Crisp says

July 24, 2015

Studios, Sky respond to EC competition probe

A number of the six major film studios named by the European Commission as having licensing agreements with Sky UK that may be in breach of EU competition rules have responded to the EC’s ‘Statement of Objections’, with Disney saying the impact of the Commission’s analysis was “destructive of consumer value”, and confirming it would […]

July 24, 2015By Colin Mann

Italian Football League launches Serie A TV

Italian football fans are set to get an Internet TV channel dedicated to the Serie A professional football league. Serie A TV will commence broadcasting on August 22nd, with the start of the new football season in Italy, reports daily Il Fatto Quotidiano. The channel will be operated by the Lega Calcio (Football League), through […]

July 24, 2015From Branislav Pekic in Rome

U-verse drops 22,000 subs

AT&T lost 22,000 U-verse TV subscribers in Q2, compared to 190,000 net adds in the same quarter a year ago. The US telco, which ended Q2 with 5.97 million video subs, blamed typical “seasonality” over cord-cutting, alongside the decision to target promotions to more profitable, higher-value subscribers. “On the U-verse video side, the first point […]

July 24, 2015

Arris set to lead video market

As reported yesterday, Cisco has agreed to sell its set-top box and cable modem business to Technicolor. Three months ago Arris announced that it was to acquire Pace. If both deals are approved and go ahead, there will be a change in the leadership of the video infrastructure market, with Arris taking over from Cisco […]

July 24, 2015

SES has 5 UHD channels signed up

SES has signed agreements for a further three UHD channels to be launched by the end of the year, and these are in addition to the 4K service already announced for Sky Deutschland and a shopping channel (pearl.tv) scheduled to launch in September. CEO Karim Michel Sabbagh, in the SES half-year financial statement, said that […]

July 24, 2015By Chris Forrester

Euskaltel buys R Cable

In a further consolidation of the Spanish cable market, Basque Country-based operator Euskaltel has bought Galician R Cable for €1.155 billion to create a large regional cable group in the north of Spain – with the companies retaining their own brands – with a network of 725,000 km and over 715,000 subscribers. Euskaltel has offered […]

July 24, 2015From David Del Valle in Madrid

Intelsat still suffering

It seems investor confidence in satellite operator Intelsat is evaporating. There has been a steady fall in the company’s Common stock share price, and Thursday (July 23rd) was no better with a fall of 3.34 per cent to an all-time historic low point of just $7.82.  A week ago it stood at $8.70.  On October […]

July 24, 2015By Chris Forrester