Vodafone Spain recently carried out an LTE broadcast eMBMS (Evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services) trial for the first time in Spain, allowing distribution of multimedia content to an unlimited number of users by reusing the existing 4G network. This eMBMS solution in Vodafone’s network is one of the first in Europe and the most ambitious […]
Elon Musk’s SpaceX suffered an embarrassing failure on June 28th when its high-profile Falcon-9 rocket exploded some 2 minutes after liftoff. The rocket was carrying a routine delivery of cargo to the International Space Station. Musk later Tweeted that there was an “over-pressurisation event” in the liquid oxygen tank in the rocket’s 2nd stage. “We […]
Sky has revealed plans to develop a new dedicated kids app. This follows the recent expansion of the kids’ shows available in Sky’s on demand library from 700 to 4,000 episodes. Development of the app for mobile devices is already underway and it is expected to launch in early 2016. To build it, Sky is […]
Reuters is reporting that Japan’s two TV electronic giants Sony and Panasonic are staying firmly committed to their TV businesses, despite in both cases having lost serious amounts of cash over the past few years. The report says that both parties see benefits coming from a wider range of related products, audio systems, for example, […]
Pay-TV operators purchased $15.3 billion worth of set-top boxes (STBs) in 2014, down from $15.9 billion in 2013. This decline represents the first contraction in the market since 2002, according analysis and insight firm IHS. Shipments of pay-TV STBs grew slightly in 2014 to 204.7 million units, an increase of just under 1 per cent […]
Al Jazeera America (AJA) seems to lurch from one crisis to another and is making far too much news itself, with executive staff changes and internal conflict as well as a long-running dispute with former Vice President Al Gore. Al Jazeera America’s latest problem is with pay-TV DTH broadcaster DirecTV. In a June 11th court […]
The launch of the first non-native subscription online video service in the Middle East heralds a new phase in the evolution of the premium OTT video market in the region, according to global technology research and advisory firm Ovum. Traditional cultural barriers that previously made outside companies hesitant about launching in the region, the core […]
BBC Monitoring is confirming that Russian president Vladimir Putin has ordered the government to work with a number of organisations in order to set up a new free-to-air sports channel. Putin’s instructions include media giant Gazprom, All-Russia State TV & Radio (VGTRK), Sportivnoye Veshchaniye, and the Russian Olympic Committee, to establish a “mandatory sports-oriented TV […]
Pay-radio operator Sirius-XM has been facing the music, in more ways than one. A legal action against the company – majority owned by John Malone’s Liberty operation – to pay millions of dollars for the rights to play music recorded prior to 1972. SoundExchange, a music rights royalty collector, said June 26th that Sirius-XM and […]
During April and May 2015, the Arab Advisors Group examined 724 fully operational FTA satellite TV channels targeting the Arab World to research their online presence. Of the analysed stations, 70 per cent (505 channels) have an online presence. Spurred by the increasing uptake of the Internet service in the Arab World, many channels in […]