Hit international TV formats such as Big Brother and Who Wants to be a Millionaire? are being protected by the laws of copyright, unfair competition, passing off and breach of confidence, according to a report launched at MIPCOM by FRAPA — the Format Recognition and Protection Association. The FRAPA Report 2011: Protecting Format Rights, […]
The Board of Telecom Italia has cancelled the supply agreement with Telecom Italia Media, putting a question mark on the future of the IPTV service and, especially, the Cubovision business model. Under the terms of the 2007 agreement, Telecom Italia was responsible for “the conception, designing of schedules, research and purchase of Media Content” for […]
“Fifty per cent and sometimes sixty per cent of viewing is TV episodes now,” said Netflix’s chief content officer Ted Sarandos, at MIPCOM. Referring to a slew of recent TV deals he said “this can be mis-perceived as Netflix giving up on movies, which it’s not. It’s just consumers saying what they want.” Sarandos […]
The UK Digital TV Group (DTG) has approved HbbTV-based connected TV specifications in the latest version of the D-Book, D-Book 7. D-Book 7 – published for consultation earlier in the year – defines the critical interoperable coexistence of broadcast and broadband services and devices and has been formally approved by DTG Council and DTG Technical […]
Luxembourg’s M7 Group has acquired Czech and Slovak satellite pay TV platform Skylink. M7 Group, which acquired Dutch service Canal Digitaal, Flemish service TV Vlaanderen and Wallonia operator Télé Sat, is said to have paid around CZK2 billion (€80 million) for Skylink, owned by local investment group J&T. The acquisition gives M7 Group a total […]
Scripps Interactive has completed the acquisition of Virgin Media’s stake in UKTV. In completing the acquisition, Scripps Networks Interactive has acquired a 50 per cent common equity interest in the UKTV partnership and the outstanding preferred stock and debt owed by the partnership to Virgin Media. BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm and wholly owned […]
PlayJam has partnered with casual games developers Slingo, to exclusively deliver an exciting combination of Bingo and Slots to Smart TV via their global gaming platform. The tenth stickiest brand on the internet with over 3 billion downloads to date, Slingo is the latest games developer to join PlayJam’s extensive TV network, following Relentess […]
On Demand Group (ODG), a SeaChange company, today announced the appointment of Stephen Riome as Managing Director. In his new role, Riome will take on the responsibility for day-to-day operations and profitability of all aspects of ODG’s existing global business. Along with ODG’s fully managed transactional service business, Riome will also be responsible for […]
Red Bee Media has announced an exclusive multi-year deal with UPC Broadband, Liberty Global’s European cable division, to provide rich metadata for Liberty Global’s next-generation TV platform, Horizon. Under the terms of the deal, Red Bee Media will create and deliver rich metadata services for the Horizon platform, which is scheduled to launch in […]
Discovery Access, the footage licensing division of Discovery Communications, has revealed the addition of Stereoscopic 3D sequences to its range of content offerings. Discovery Access will work with CGI leader Pixeldust Studios to provide first of its kind, Stereoscopic 3D animations that burst off the screen. Discovery Communications library of high quality footage is already […]