Advanced Television

Canal+ Group to acquire M7

In a move that will see it expand into seven new European countries, the Canal+ Group is to acquire pay-TV operator M7 for a purchase price of just over €1 billion. M7, one of the largest independent pay-TV companies in Europe operating in Benelux and Central Europe, is owned by Astorg, a leading European private […]

May 28, 2019

Survey: 72% deem advertising on SVoD unacceptable

A survey conducted by research consultancy Differentology reveals that almost three quarters (72 per cent) of UK SVoD subscribers do not consider any form of sponsorship or advertising on their services as acceptable. The study, called VODyssey, surveyed over 2,000 UK consumers to explore consumer sentiment on SVoD services. Over a fifth (23 per cent) of […]

May 28, 2019

BBC, ITV tension over Britbox

The BBC and ITV are reportedly falling out as they plan to launch Britbox, their joint streaming service. Each broadcaster is said to have different priorities for the service, and negotiations have become tense according to the FT. ITV is said to be more committed to the subscription service – and has pledged some £65 […]

May 28, 2019

M6 acquires Lagardère’s TV business for €215m

French commercial TV group M6 has acquired Lagardère’s FTA and pay-TV Networks – with the exception of classical music and ballet channel Mezzo – for €215 million. The groups have been in talks since January and it was anticipated that the deal would involve the full takeover of FTA DTT kids channel Gulli, along with […]

May 28, 2019From Pascale Paoli-Lebailly in Paris

Analysis: Over half of Nordic homes have SVoD

Streaming video continues to grow rapidly in the Nordics. Recent analysis by Mediavision on the Nordic TV and video market shows a year-on-year increase on households with an SVoD service. Mediavision reports there is currently approximately 10 million streaming subscriptions in the Nordics, spread out over 5.8 million households (52 per cent of all homes […]

May 28, 2019

netgem.tv launches membership offer with Three UK

netgem.tv has partnered with Three UK to give Three UK’s Wuntu loyalty app customers access to netgem.tv’s Internet TV service. This offer gives Wuntu customers who subscribe to netgem.tv membership, access to over 50,000 hours of VoD personalised streaming content for a full year, available on a netgem.tv provided device. It provides an alternative to […]

May 28, 2019

Orange supports French Open innovation

The first live broadcast of matches in 8K thanks to 5G, a mixed reality experience to get into the thick of the sporting action, access to all the useful information about the Grand Slam competition thanks to artificial intelligence, French telco Orange is working with the French Tennis Federation to make the French Open one […]

May 28, 2019

Musk raises $1bn for Starlink

Elon Musk’s Starlink mega-constellation achieved a staggering success on May 23rd when one of his Falcon 9 rockets placed 60 of the small satellites into orbit. It also built on the success by saying it had raised more than $1 billion in fresh funding to help complete the constellation. Within a few hours it was […]

May 28, 2019

Virgin Media claims UK broadcast HDR first

Virgin Media has become the first UK TV platform to broadcast an event in 4K Ultra HD (UHD) with High Dynamic Range (HDR) with its retransmission of Eurosport’s coverage of the Roland-Garros tennis tournament which began Sunday 26th May. In a UK first, Virgin Media is utilising Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG) technology to broadcast all […]

May 28, 2019

Fraud allegations at Infront Sport

Switzerland-based marketing company Infront Sport & Media has revealed in a statement that it has discovered fraudulent activities that are presumed to have been committed by one of its former senior employees. Infront first became aware of certain of these activities following notification by the public prosecutor in Thurgau, Switzerland, of a pending criminal investigation […]

May 28, 2019By Chris Forrester