From IPTV World Forum Cisco has confirmed that Numericable, France’s leading cable operator, is delivering highly advanced, on-demand entertainment services to French consumers using the Cisco Content Delivery System (CDS). Numericable can now offer its customers advanced video services, including catch-up TV services, access to a catalogue of more than 7,000 programmes and movies, high-definition […]
From Colin Mann at IPTV World Forum Marking Hulu's first UK deal, the online video service has signed with Digital Rights Group (DRG) to roll out titles from its catalogue. Hulu's US service, launched publicly in March 2008 now offers content from more than 1,200 shows, series and movie titles from more than 130 providers. […]
Hulu has further signaled its international intent with the hiring of a dedicated international SVP to acquire TV rights. Johannes Larcher had previously been search firm overture's international GM, the international VP for Friendster and most recently co-founded now-defunct social betting site Pikum. There had been much speculation about a Hulu UK launch but the […]
From IPTV World Forum Christophe Forax, the cabinet member of EU Media Commisioner Viviane Reding responsible for Networks and Convergence, told the plenary session the Commission was operating a policy of "platform neutrality" across all broadband networks. Forax refered to recent controversy on its directive to Dutch cable operators to allow third party access providers […]
German media giant Bertelsmann has reported that its 2008 net profit dropped by a third to E270 million after it was forced to make recession-related adjustments to the value of some of its investments. Impairment charges of E502 million — the bulk from television unit RTL and its stake in Five in the UK — […]
From David Del Valle in Madrid Spain’s cable company ONO has named Rosalia Portela, former Telefonica executive, as CEO replacing the Richard Alden as part of a far-reaching management reshuffle and reorganisation of the company. The appointment will be formally made in May at the shareholders meeting. Portela, a former director of Telefonica, was reportedly […]
From Sotires Eleftheriou in Paris Orange has held a hastily organised press conference in Paris to respond to the recent attacks by other operators Vivendi and Iliad (Free). "The aim is to set the record straight", said Louis-Pierre Wenes, Orange France Deputy General Manager. "We have been subject to attacks for several weeks now, hardly […]
BT has revealed the first set of locations where, from early 2010, customers will have access to fibre-based super-fast broadband via BT's network. BT's Openreach will deploy fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) technology at 29 exchanges across the UK. This will bring speeds of up to 40Mb/s – and potentially 60Mb/s – within reach of […]
Liberty Global's European division has restructured E530 million of its E850 million debt, creating two new tranches that will extend its due date from 2012 by two and three years respectively. As a result, around 95% of UPC Holding's debt will now be due in or after 2013. Mike Fries, Liberty Global's president and CEO, […]
The Digital TV Group (DTG), the industry association for digital TV in the UK, has appointed David Docherty as their new Chairman, replacing Professor David Youlton who has stepped down from the post after more than 10 years. David Scott CBE, Chairman of the DTG Appointments Committee said: “With a high-profile background that spans manufacturing, […]