The ProSiebenSat.1 Group has completed its US studio majors portfolio for its VOD service maxdome by concluding a new transactional video-on-demand deal with Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. Starting in June 2010 with blockbuster movie Avatar, the long-term licence agreement will grant the Group non-exclusive VOD rights to Fox's numerous new releases, as well as […]
From David Del Valle in Madrid In a move to reduce costs, state-owned group RTVE is revamping its TV line-up, turning its second terrestrial channel, La 2, into a cultural channel and closing down Canal Cultural, whose entire content will be distributed by La 2 from September. RTVE plans to save E7 million this year. […]
ITV has launched a simulcast streaming service of ITV1 and ITV2 for the iPhone. The free, ad-funded web app, accessed via the web browser at www.itv.com/watchITV/iphone, will stream all ITV's content – for which they have the appropriate mobile rights from ITV1 and ITV2, via 3G and WiFi technology, and can be displayed as an […]
German pay-TV group Sky Deutschland is extending its reach via cable, having secured co-distribution deals with two German cable network operators: Tele Columbus and Versatel Telekabel. The deals follow a similar agreement with NetCologne. Sky and the cable operators will jointly market and distribute Sky’s bouquet of pay channels directly to cable subscribers. Sky can […]
ITV’s Managing Director of online and interactive, Ben McOwen-Wilson, is leaving the company along with the Managing Director of brand and commercial Rupert Howell – with former GCap CEO Fru Hazlitt arriving to fill both roles. Hazlitt’s most recent executive post was as CEO of radio giant GCap Media until its sale to Global Radio […]
South Korean telco LG Telecom has confirmed its intent to open its IPTV platform to content from any provider in the country, and has signed a cooperation agreement with Gyeonggido Digital Contents Agency to establish an open IPTV platform. LG Telecom is expected to enable content companies in Gyeonggi Province to directly distribute their self-created […]
The BBC has appointed former Viacom executive Herb Scannell to run its US commercial business, BBC Worldwide America. Scannell, a former president of Viacom-owned Nickelodeon Networks and vice-chairman of MTV Networks, will take up his new job as president of BBC Worldwide America immediately. He will sit on the executive board of the corporation’s commercial […]
Digital TV platform specialist IP Vision has conformed that leading UK supermarket chain Tesco is to retail the UK's first Freeview+ High-Definition (HD) PVR set top box. Users can access HD programming via channels such as BBC HD, ITV1 HD, Channel 4HD and S4/C available in Wales, that are broadcast on the Freeview platform. The […]
Apple TV will remain a “hobby” at his company because the cable industry has “squashed the opportunity for innovation in the TV market,” according to Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Speaking at the opening session of the All Things Digital conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, Jobs told delegates that the TV industry has a subsidised […]
Singapore's media regulator has dismissed industry attacks on plans to force television broadcasters to share content, arguing that the proposals have been misunderstood and will increase competition by attracting new distributors. Toh kai Ling, the Media Development Authority's deputy director of development policy, said that content providers should welcome the new rules because they would […]