The planned video-on-demand joint venture service from the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, is set for a June launch. The news leaked after the BBC asked DoubleClick, the online advertising technology provider, to ask its aency clients to attend a briefing. ITV or Channel 4 will sell the ads for the venture that will act […]
BBC iPlayer is already looking dominant in the UK download market. Traffic for ITV’s broadband TV service has remained flat over the past two months, while the BBC’s rival iPlayer offering has seen massive growth following a major marketing push. ITV.com’s video traffic hit a peak in November but has dropped off slightly since then. […]
Sirius Satellite Radio says a surge in subs helped it narrow losses in Q4 to $166m down from $245m a year ago. It ended the quarter with 8.3m subs, up 2.3m on a year ago. This pushed revenue higher to $249.8m. The company is still waiting for a regulatory ruling on its bid to buy […]
NBC is running tests to see what viewers remember even when they watch ads speeded up on their DVR. The bottom line seems to be viewers still remember the spots — or at least some elements of them — even when they’re watching at up to six times the speed of live TV. Tracking biometric […]
Disney-ABC Television Group announced a deal with its Affiliate Association that expands the network’s ability to make content available on an on-demand basis through cable, DBS and Telco distributors. The agreement allows local affiliates to participate in the “fast-forwarding disabled” VOD offering through local advertising sales opportunities. Additionally, this landmark agreement lifts ABC’s re-purposing restrictions, […]
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced an agreement with SKY Italia for the broadcast rights within Italy for the Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 Olympic Games. SKY Italia acquired the rights across all broadcast platforms, including free-to-air television, subscription television, internet and mobile phone.
Intelsat announced that Russian TV Times (RTVT) has signed a multi-year, multi-transponder agreement on the Intelsat system, expanding its programme offering into Europe. Through its contract on the Intelsat 12 satellite located at 45 degrees East, RTVT will provide up to 30 channels of Russian news, film and sports programming to the estimated six million […]
Days after Sky appealed that the UK Competition Commission has gone too far in telling it to reduce its 18 per cent stake to below 7.5 per cent, Virgin has appealed on the grounds it doesn't go far enough. Virgin want Sky out of ITV altogether saying it believes Sky's motivation in the deal was […]
The Federal Communications Commission is set to finally OK Liberty Media’s purchase of a controlling stake in DirecTV. The Justice Department is also reviewing the deal. The deal, which was announced in December of 2006, has Liberty taking a majority stake in the satellite TV provider through a $12 billion asset swap with News Corp. […]
SES Astra and French pay-TV group CANAL+ have revealed that the digital terrestrial free-TV offer TNTSAT has sold 350,000 receivers to French households. TNTSAT is a service for French TV viewers offering the whole range of terrestrial digital free-TV channels over the Astra satellites, and allowing a 100 per cent-coverage of the French territory.