From Nick Snow at IPTV World Forum A common question here is "what do you think of Canvas?" or, as often, "what do you think Canvas is?" It's a good question but not one that was entirely answered by Richard Halton, Programme Director IPTV for BBC, when he addressed the plenary session. When the Canvas […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Europe’s top antitrust official Neelie Kroes has said she will update and simplify EU rules on state aid for the information and communications technology sector to help nations roll out next-generation broadband networks. Broadband-for-all and next-generation networks are part of the European economic recovery plan. The new communication will explain in which cases and under […]
Cisco has announced its intent to acquire privately held Pure Digital Technologies. San Francisco-based Pure Digital, creator of the best-selling Flip Video brand is a specialist in developing consumer-friendly video solutions with mass-market appeal. “The acquisition of Pure Digital is key to Cisco's strategy to expand our momentum in the media-enabled home and to capture […]
The UK government's suggestion that the BBC should be part of the drive to make broadband universal in the UK would distort markets and distract the broadcaster from its main purpose in making programmes, BSkyB has suggested in its submission to the Digital Britain review headed by Lord Carter, the communications minister, BSkyB said the […]
From Nick Snow in Berlin The finance panel here at Cable Congress was a frank but fairly upbeat affair. It is no secret that with most MSOs controlled by highly leveraged private equity capex is going to be scarce. John Hahn of Providence (which has major positions in KDG and ONO) confirmed as much, “investment […]
Jupiter Telecommunications (J:COM), the largest multiple system operator in Japan based on the number of customers served, has announced that the total subscribing households as of February 28th, 2009 served by J:COM's 24 consolidated franchises reached approximately 3.18 million, up 478,700, or 17.7 per cent since February 29th, 2008.
From Nick Snow in Berlin Tony Ball, chairman of KDG, got the 50th Cable Congress underway by cheerfully admitting he had spent much of his career (at Sky) trying to make cable fail. Now, of course, he’s changed his mind and is particularly proud KDG has invested over E1bn in its network – with no […]