Advanced Television

Articles

Global pay TV subs up 6% in 2010

The total number of pay TV subscribers at year-end 2010 were up by a little over 6 per cent on 2009, according to In-Stat. “Nearly every region showed gains or held their own in 2010. However, cable providers were impacted, to at least some degree, by a migration to satellite and/or IPTV in virtually every […]

April 14, 2011

Sky wins ECJ case to exempt PVRs from tax

The European Court of Justice has agreed with British Sky Broadcasting and overturned the UK tax authority’s classification of a PVR and, thereby, exempted it from import duty. The Inland Revenue had classified PVRs as recording devices subject to 13.9 per cent import duty (virtually all PVRs are made in China). However, the ECJ in […]

April 14, 2011

TV advertising worries re-surface

There are signs that the resurgence of commercial TV’s advertising may be much weaker than anticipated. A report from analysts at investment bank Morgan Stanley says that while the media sector continues to outperform, and the bank continues to rate Media as ‘attractive’, European advertising is looking most likely to be squeezed. “Southern Europe, particularly […]

April 14, 2011By Chris Forrester

Online ads up 15% in 2010

Internet advertising revenue continues to rise, according to a report by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Advertising revenue for the full year reached a record high of $26 billion, a 15 per cent increase over 2009. Revenue for the fourth quarter increased 16 per cent to $7.45 billion from the same period last year […]

April 14, 2011

YouTube €0.5m digital talent fund

YouTube is to invest €500,000 in a scheme to support UK digital talent. The YouTube NextUp fund will allow up to 25 people to win a €20,000 grant to develop their content on the video-sharing website, as well as a place on a “creator camp” that will give training in production techniques. To apply, creators […]

April 14, 2011

Tablets change how consumers engage with content

With more than 165 million tablets expected to ship over the next two years, tablets are growing in popularity and changing the way that we consume content. People are spending considerable time with tablet devices and using them to play games, browse the web and search for information. Growth in the tablet market is only […]

April 14, 2011

Sky mobile apps will have ads

Sky’s mobile apps are to include video advertising slots following a deal with US video server company FreeWheel. Sky will use FreeWheel’s Monetisation Rights Management product to serve video advertising across a number of its platforms and services, including mobile. Tim Hussain, Sky’s head of platform development and partnerships said that the deal was struck […]

April 14, 2011

NZ: 3 strike law passed

The Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill in New Zealand has been passed, despite strong opposition.  The law will come into effect on September 1st and repeals Section 92A of the Copyright Act. The legislation seeks to tackle illegal file sharing, with illegal sharers receiving warnings for their first two infringements. A third infringement will […]

April 14, 2011

Accenture turnkey OTT

The global consulting firm is producing a turnkey solution: OTT TV, aimed at letting service providers, content companies or retailers deliver both linear and on-demand content to TV sets and a range of other platforms including PCs, mobile, gaming consoles and broadband-connected TVs. Unveiled at NAB, the Accenture Over-The-Top TV solution is “based on a […]

April 14, 2011

US VP: ‘Piracy is outright theft’

US Vice President Joseph Biden has followed up robust comments made at a news conference in the summer of 2010 about copyright theft by once again stressing the criminality of such activities. Having previously compared it to “smashing the window at Tiffany’s and reaching in and grabbing what’s in” the store. Biden told Variety magazine, […]

April 14, 2011By Colin Mann