Advanced Television

Articles

Spain heads for pre-paid TV services on DTT

From David Del Valle in Madrid Telco operator Abertis is leading a project to develop a single DTT box and pre-paid cards to allow DTT broadcasters to offer certain pay TV services, such as cinema or football or music events following the Italian example. The company plans to set up a centre or a factory […]

October 16, 2007

Italian digital TV channels create association

From Branislav Pekic in Rome Eight Italian satellite TV companies have set up the Association of Independent Digital Television Channels (ADTI) in Rome. The association is open to all independent Italian media groups that transmit at least one channel in Italy on any distribution platform. The founding members operate a total of 25 digital TV […]

October 16, 2007

Bumpy start for digital TV switchover

Thousands of people are still not ready for the first phase of Britain’s digital switchover in the northern town of Whitehaven, despite a huge publicity campaign. Digital UK, the body overseeing the switch-off of the analogue TV signal, said that up to 20 per cent of local households – around 5,000 – had not yet […]

October 16, 2007

Cable Europe: 2m new digital subs; ad revenue targeted

From Colin Mann in Cannes European cable industry trade body Cable Europe, has revealed that cable TV operators in Europe added more than two million digital TV customers in the first half of 2007. The cable industry is expected to count more than 16 million digital TV customers by year-end 2007, that would be a […]

October 15, 2007

FT objects to CanalSat distribution rules

France Telecom has threatened to lodge a complaint against Vivendi’s Canal+ over its requirement that the operator distributes its CanalSat channels together, while cable operators are able to distribute them individually. “If (the situation) does not change, we will have no choice but to lodge a complaint to seek equitable access to CanalSat channels,” said […]

October 15, 2007

AT&T to pay $2.5bn for Aloha frequencies

US telco AT&T will pay $2.5 billion (E1.76bn) to Aloha Partners LP for a prized chunk of unused television frequencies, in a deal that sets the stage for a major upgrade of its nationwide broadband network. The deal demonstrates the telecom industry’s interest in a large and valuable segment of broadcast frequencies known as the […]

October 15, 2007

Lin puts YouTube in TV

Lin, a multiple station owner in the US, is partnering with YouTube to launch dedicated YouTube channels for its 31 stations. The sites will feature a mix of news content from the station and user-generated video. Sixteen Hearst-Argyle stations already feature YouTube channels.

October 15, 2007

Comcast roles out TiVo

Comcast and TiVo have started rolling out TiVo-enabled Comcast digital video recorders. The companies said in a joint statement that the service will be rolled out to customers over the next few months. TiVo, which makes its own branded digital video recorders, first signed an agreement with Comcast in March 2005 to enable the cable […]

October 15, 2007

Paramount funds D Cinema

Paramount Pictures International has agreed to help fund European cinemas which are installing new generation projectors. Hollywood studios and exhibitors have tussled over who should bear the cost of the upgrade, with cinema owners arguing that studios should pay a “virtual print fee” as it will be cheaper for them to distribute their films electronically […]

October 15, 2007

Brightcove Internet TV

Brightcove has revealed a new service for delivering broadcast-quality Internet TV. Extending their Internet TV platform, the new service, Brightcove Show, will give content publishers the ability to deliver instant-on, broadcast-quality streaming video to their viewers. Brightcove Show takes advantage of new advances in the Adobe Flash Player technology, high-quality video encoding, and content delivery […]

October 15, 2007