UK ISPs and the entertainment industry are said to be near to agreeing a deal to combat piracy. After four years of negotiations, Virgin Media have said they will send “educational” letters to people who illegally download copyrighted music, television or films. Under the voluntary copyright alert programme (Vcap), the music and movie industry bodies […]
Virgin Media has moved back into revenue growth, adding 15,000 pay-TV customers and more than 40,000 broadband subscribers in Q1 2014. The results mark a return to form for Virgin Media, acquired by John Malone’s Liberty Global last year. Revenues had dipped 1.1 per cent during its traditionally prosperous Christmas quarter after a slump at […]
Virgin Media has unveiled its new ‘Big Bundles’. For the first time, the UK’s fastest widely available broadband can now be combined with a mobile SIM as well as pay-TV and home phone services. Each Big Bundle can be tailored to suit a customer’s individual or family needs. This includes the flexibility to take more […]
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told The Cable Show that the FCC is not likely to tolerate paid prioritisation if its impact is to disadvantage edge providers, saying that “If someone acts to divide the Internet between ‘haves’ and ‘have nots,’ we will use every power at our disposal to stop it. I consider that to […]
Millions of UK homes will be able to watch BT Sport for free for another season following BT’s decision to continue offering the channels for free to new and re-contracting BT Broadband customers. BT has revealed that around five million homes now take BT Sport, just nine months after the channels went live last August. […]
Netflix may not like its peering deal with Comcast, but now it is entering a similar partnership with Verizon. Netflix said: ‘We have reached an interconnect arrangement with Verizon that we hope will improve performance for our joint customers over the coming months.’ Netflix entered a paid peering deal with Comcast in February after subscribers […]
The Federal Communications Commission has said it will propose new rules to allow content companies such as Disney, Google or Netflix to pay ISPs like Comcast and Verizon for faster lanes to send video to their subscribers. The proposed changes effectively end the guarantee on net neutrality — the principle that no providers of legal […]
Comcast customers in the US are seeing a significant boost in streaming video speed after a deal between Netflix and the broadband provider. The news emerged as Netflix revealed its Netflix ISP Speed Index for March 2014. “This month’s rankings are a great illustration of how performance can improve when ISPs work to connect directly […]
Telecom Italia’s new NGAN (Next Generation Access Network) fibre-optic network, which provides speeds of at least 30 Mbps, is already available in 54 Italian cities, with more to be added in the coming months. According to Telecom Italia’s director of technology, Roberto Opilio, the goal is to cover over 50 per cent of the population […]
The European Court of Justice has ruled that ISPs in Europe can legally block piracy sites illegally distributing copyright material. The Court was ruling on a case from June 2012 before the Austrian Supreme Court, which asked the ECJ to interpret European copyright law. A distributor filed suit against Austrian cable operator UPC Telekabel Wien […]