MTV owner Viacom has signed a $500 million advertising and content deal with Microsoft in a move that will see the entertainment company drop Google’s DoubleClick. The five-year deal will see Microsoft’s Atlas system replace DoubleClick to deliver ads across Viacom’s extensive range of US websites. Microsoft will also have the right to sell unsold […]

Vivendi's telecoms arm SFR aims to complete the offer for the entire share capital of alternative operator Neuf Cegetel by the end of 2008, said the unit’s chief executive Frank Esser. SFR, which already owns 40.5 per cent of Neuf, announced a draft deal to acquire the entire 19.5 per cent stake held by French […]

An increasing number of television viewers are turning to the Internet to watch videos, films and TV episodes, according to a new survey conducted by Harris Interactive. In the past year, YouTube has extended its lead as the top site for online videos, with search engines and television networks gaining ground. Some 65 per cent […]

Digital channel Rapture TV has claimed that Ofcom did not fully investigate its complaint that BSkyB overcharged for its electronic programme guide listing in an appeal against the regulator’s ruling. Rapture, which airs a mix of entertainment and extreme sports programming, originally complained to Ofcom that its annual EPG bill of £76,500 from Sky was […]

Ericsson has acquired HyC Group, a leading Spanish company in TV consultancy and systems integration. The acquisition further strengthens Ericsson’s position in the services and multimedia domains as a systems integrator of IPTV solutions. The HyC acquisition follows Ericsson’s acquisition of Tandberg Television, provider of advanced video compression technologies, at the beginning of the year. […]

Channel Four has been fined £1.5 million by media watchdog Ofcom for misconduct involving phone-in competitions on popular programmes Richard and Judy and Deal or No Deal. Viewers were urged to call a premium number after contestants had already been chosen on Richard and Judy. Deal or No Deal selected competition finalists in a way […]

Media enterprise the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) will begin featuring select full-length programming on Joost, the Internet television service. At launch, the PBS offering will include popular series, such as History Detectives and Scientific American Frontiers, as well as specials from PBS' award-winning 'Empires' collection. Separately, satellite operator DirecTV revealed a deal to carry Public […]

Envivio, technology provider of IP video convergence encoding solutions, is providing a Convergence Generation video headend to Norwegian ISP RingNett AS to enable the roll out of its Digital-TV IPTV service across its ADSL2+ infrastructure. RingNett's Digital-TV service is already available to test customers subscribing to its optical fibre-based GPON high speed Internet delivery service. […]

Manufacturers of high-definition DVD players are slashing prices in the US in an urgent pre-Christmas attempt to break the deadlock between two rival formats. The cost of key manufacturing components for the Sony-supported Blu-ray players and Toshiba's rival HD-DVD hardware will fall below $150 early in 2008, according to analysts at Understanding & Solutions entertainment […]

Philips Electronics has reached an agreement in principle to sell its Set-Top Boxes (STB) and Connectivity Solutions (CS) businesses to UK-based technology provider Pace Micro Technology. Philips will sell the businesses to Pace in exchange for 70 million Pace shares. Philips will retain 22.5 per cent of the enlarged share capital of Pace. The deal […]