The European Court of Justice has dismissed the appeal brought by broadcaster Mediaset and confirmed that the Italian contributions for the purchase of digital terrestrial decoders, granted in 2004 and 2005 and totalling €220 million, constitute state aid incompatible with the common market. After the 2004 budget, which had introduced the incentive, rival broadcasters Europe […]
Irish telco eircom has announced Phase 1 of a plan to upgrade significantly Ireland’s telecommunications infrastructure by rolling out fibre-based access technologies delivering superfast broadband to customers. Separately, the company also announced it will launch television services in 2012. The company intends to serve 100,000 premises by summer 2012 in Phase 1 of a planned […]
Following comments made July 27 by UK commercial broadcaster ITV as it reported its Interim Results that it was seeking to drive new revenue streams by exploiting its content across multiple platforms, free and pay, satellite operator SES Astra has revealed that ITV has signed a long-term agreement for satellite capacity. The agreement provides for […]
BT has surpassed 600,000 subscribers for its BT Vision hybrid DTT/IPTV service it confirmed in its Q2 results – up from 575,000 customers three months previously. The UK telco also added 71,000 customers to its superfast broadband service ‘BT Infinity’ in the second quarter of 2011, bringing the total to over 200,000, and its superfast […]
In the latest DisplaySearch – Quarterly Advanced Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report – the total global TV shipment outlook for 2011 has been reduced by about 3 per cent to 252 million units, as demand in many developed countries continues to be very soft. TV shipments in North America are only expected to grow […]
Orange reached 4.6 million subscribers for its pay-TV services in Europe by the end of the first half of 2011, having added 977,000 customers in the preceding 12 months, mostly in France and Poland. The France Telecom unit saw the TV customer base in its native country rise 28 per cent year-on-year to reach 3.9 […]
With the giant IBC broadcast technology show barely 40 days away, this report from the International Association of Broadcasting Manufacturers (IABM) is welcome news. The IABM’s 4th edition of its Global Market Valuation and Strategy to 2015, commissioned from IHS Screen Digest, says there will be an average 6 per cent growth within the global […]
Liberty Global president and chief executive Mike Fries has criticised the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) over its preliminary view that Foxtel’s proposed A$1.9 billion acquisition of regional pay-TV group Austar is anti-competitive Fries, who is also Chairman of Austar, noted that Australia is the only market that does not consider pay and free-to-air […]
Petra Buchanan, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association (ASTRA) has revealed that advertising revenues for subscription television grew by 7.4 per cent from financial years 2010 to 2011. The Ernst & Young report compiled for Astra found net ad revenues of A$180,076,820 from January 1st 2011 to June 30th 2011, which is […]
PacketVideo has filed patent infringement lawsuits against digital music service Spotify in the US and Europe. The lawsuits come after PacketVideo made attempts to resolve amicably its concerns with Spotify’s patent infringement outside of court. PacketVideo said Spotify knowingly infringed and continues to infringe on a number of PacketVideo patents that were originally filed in […]