International TV and broadband company Liberty Global has reached an agreement to sell its Austrian operations, UPC Austria, to Deutsche Telekom unit T-Mobile Austria. At September 30th, 2017, UPC Austria’s network passed 1.4 million homes and served 654,000 customers who subscribed to 513,000 broadband, 450,000 voice and 468,000 video services. Liberty Global will sell UPC […]
Facebook and Universal Music Group (UMG) have agreed what they describe as an “unprecedented” global, multi-year deal under which UMG becomes the first major music company to license its recorded music and publishing catalogues for video and other social experiences across Facebook, Instagram and Oculus. The pair say the partnership will facilitate deeper engagement between […]
Amazon’s feud with Google could soon escalate, as reports say it is planning to launch a rival to YouTube. Amazon, it is said, has filed two trademark requests with the US Patent and Trademark Office for the terms ‘AmazonTube’ and ‘OpenTube.’ The applications make no mention of YouTube, but the descriptions sound very similar to […]
Amazon Prime Video has reached agreements with Spanish pubcaster RTVE and the country’s largest private TV groups Mediaset and Atresmedia to distribute popular Spanish TV series through its VoD platform. Some 34 TV series will be available on Prime Video as part of the deal, as well as additional programming from the channels. Amazon Prime […]
The African National Congress (ANC) conference has given government until June 2019 to complete the migration from analogue to digital broadcast technology. The initial deadline, as determined by the International Telecommunication Union, which was June 2015 was missed, largely as the result of a legal dispute between government and broadcasters and government over whether the […]
Visual technology and 3D specialist RealD has filed complaints in Germany’s District Court (Landgericht) in Düsseldorf, alleging that Volfoni SAS, Volfoni GmbH and CinemaNext Deutschland have infringed three of RealD’s European patents by the importation, sale, or offer for sale of the Volfoni SmartCrystal Diamond cinema systems in Germany. In the complaint, RealD requests an […]
Despite unabated network usage, global telecom revenue is on track to grow just 1.1 per cent in 2017 over the prior year, according to a report by business information provider IHS Markit. Global economic growth prospects, meanwhile, are looking up. IHS Markit macroeconomic indicators point to moderate global economic growth of 3.2 per cent for […]
Entertainment technology and audience insights specialist TiVo has confirmed that broadband communications and video service provider Altice USA has selected TiVo services to support its service offerings under an expanded six-year agreement. Altice USA has broadened its licence to the TiVo patent portfolios used to build customisable, next-generation services. As part of the agreement, Altice […]
Viewers across Europe with a capable TV set and able to receive signals from Eutelsat’s Hotbird can watch the Vatican City’s broadcast of Midnight Mass in 4K from St Peter’s in Rome. The free-to-air signal will be available via the Hotbird satellites at 13° East, on December 24th from 21:30 CET (20:30 UTC) via TivuSat […]
Amazon has confirmed that Amazon Fire TV customers are now able to browse the web on their TV. With Fire TV, customers already have access to more than 500,000 movies and TV episodes, and tens of thousands of apps, channels and Alexa skills. Now with the Firefox and Silk browsers, customers can access the World […]