Advanced Television

Mediapro to launch football TV channel in France

Following its acquisition of the football TV rights for France, Spanish TV group Mediapro is to launch a channel dedicated to La Ligue 1. The channel will air the live games as well as highlights of the football competition every week. The channel will be 24/7 with distribution available to all TV operators in France. […]

May 31, 2018From David Del Valle in Madrid

Sadusky for Univision

Univision Communications has announced that Vincent Sadusky will be its next chief executive officer, taking over the Hispanic media giant as it grapples with difficult times. Sadusky is a veteran of the Hispanic-media world, having previously worked for Telemundo, Univision’s main rival.  “Vince is distinctly qualified to lead UCI through the next phase of its […]

May 31, 2018

EC (re-)approves Liberty Global Ziggo acquisition

The European Commission has once more approved, with conditions under the EU Merger Regulation, the acquisition of Ziggo by Liberty Global. The merger was first approved in 2014. Following the annulment of this approval by the General Court in 2017, the Commission has reassessed the merger. Before the transaction, Ziggo and Liberty Global were separate […]

May 31, 2018

eMarketer: UK watching more video on smartphones

Consumers in the UK are watching more digital video content than ever before with mobile viewing on the rise, according to eMarketer’s latest time spent with video forecast. The forecast, which is included in eMarketer’s UK Digital Video and TV forecast report, shows that adults in the UK will spend just under an hour (59 […]

May 31, 2018

Altice launching SVoD sport service

Altice France has revealed that SFR Sport will be rebranded as RMC Sport from July 3rd, with the aim of becoming “the Netflix of Sport” according to CEO Alain Weill. Composed of five premium channels (RMC Sport 1 for European football; RMC Sport 2 for basketball, athletics and rugby; RMC Sport 3 for equestrian and […]

May 31, 2018From Pascale Paoli-Lebailly in Paris

Portugal: World Cup in 4K on RTP

Portugese public broadcaster RTP and telco NOS have reached an agreement to broadcast the upcoming World Cup tournament in Russia in 4K through a specific channel, branded ‘RTP 4’, which will use 4K HDR technology. The channel will be on air from June 14th to July 15th and will be distributed on NOS, Meo and […]

May 31, 2018From David Del Valle in Madrid

Marriage lines; what the Royal Wedding says about TV

The recent Royal Wedding can teach us some valuable lessons about the future of television suggests Larry Gerbrandt.   The US viewership numbers are in for the recent telecast of the wedding of Britain’s Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle and they tell a fascinating story on how viewers are still using traditional linear […]

May 31, 2018

India’s Dish/Videocon DTH forecasts growth

India’s giant DTH broadcaster Dish TV, now with the merged Videocon d2h under its belt, says that during the upcoming year it will expand its 450 company-owned service centres throughout the country and 5500 company technicians, and use the staff to make around 1 million home visits every month. The combined businesses now have a […]

May 31, 2018By Chris Forrester

605 launches Impact Index to measure TV ad success

605, an advanced data and analytics company focused on the media and entertainment industries, has launched The 605 Impact Index, a new, scientifically-based approach for measuring the impact of TV advertising on both branding and sales, also known as the ‘top and bottom of the marketing funnel.’ Building on its pioneering TV analytics work with […]

May 31, 2018

Bestwick leaves Avanti

It is ‘all change’ at struggling satellite operator Avanti Communications. Technical director and co-founder Dave Bestwick steps down at the end of June. The CEO left the company last year. The company managed to convert $557 million of debt into equity last month, and new shares were issued on April 26th. A trading statement from […]

May 31, 2018By Chris Forrester