A new president appointed at Japan’s public broadcaster NHK. Masayuki Matsumoto succeeded Shigeo Fukuchi, whose three-year term has now ended. Matsumoto referred to the impending digital switch-over, scheduled for July, in his opening address, saying: “As an organisation supported by viewers receiving fee, we must always stand firmly by the principle of public broadcaster and […]
A patent holding company called Pragmatus is suing six of the largest MSOs for infringing two patents that describe storage-retrieval-playback systems that sufficiently generic they can describe any VOD system. Named in the suit are Bright House Networks, Cablevision Systems, Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable, along with various other associated organisations […]
CASBAA’s Thailand in View forum concluded with an endorsement of the power of pay-TV by H.E. Abhisit Vejjajiva, Prime Minister of Thailand. The Prime Minister championed regulatory change to support the growth of the cable and satellite broadcast industry as a constructive and ethical medium in Thailand. “We were greatly encouraged to hear H.E. Abhisit […]
MediaCorp will be introducing a new interactive service in the second half of 2011, delivered over broadband connection and available on TV sets, PCs, tablet devices and mobile phones. The Asian service will offer content leveraging on MediaCorp’s TV, radio, print and online offerings as well as third party content. Premium content includes ‘LIVE’ TV […]
Cable Europe Labs has introduced new product certification for equipment instrumental in helping to keep cable at the head of the network speed race. The products that have successfully passed the Cable Europe Labs certification process are the following EuroDOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modems: AVM FRITZ Box 6320 Cisco EPC3008 “Pushing the speed envelope requires ensuring […]
Microsoft has filed a US trade complaint seeking to prevent TiVo from importing television set-top boxes. The complaint submitted to the US International Trade Commission in Washington accuses TiVo of infringing four patents. Microsoft is asking that TiVo be barred from importing the digital-video recorders, which are primarily made in Mexico and sold in the […]
In a rebuttal of Ofcom’s recommendation to Department of Culture Media Sport to refer to the Competition Commission its bid for BSkB, News Corporation has accused the regulator of producing a biased, seriously flawed and ‘tainted’ report. The Ofcom report and News Corporation’s submission to DCMS have been published today as the Secretary of State, […]
Confirming Ofcom’s recommendation of a referral, Hunt said that in accordance with his duties to meet relevant parties, he met with News Corporation on 6 January to set out the process that he would follow and briefly explain Ofcom’s conclusions. “Having informed them of the process I then wrote to News Corporation and BSkyB on […]
The lawyer taking hundreds of UK citizens to court for alleged illegal downloading has dramatically withdrawn from all cases. The patent court in London was currently scrutinising 26 cases brought by ACS: Law on behalf of its client MediaCAT. The law firm had sent thousands of letters to alleged file-sharers. In a statement read to […]
Nearly half of people in France download film and music illegally, according to a study by the anti-internet piracy body, Hadopi. The study found that only one third of users were prepared to change and migrate to legal sites but piracy was not slowing down and methods were diversifying, the report found. It believes piracy […]