Advanced Television

Broadband

Tektronix: Triple Play Testing

Unique to the test and monitoring industry, we speak the language of both broadcasters and service providers. Nearly every television show that airs in the world today passes through Tektronix video testing and monitoring equipment. We’ve won six Emmy awards for our technical contribution to the industry. We also have 30% of the world’s communications […]

January 19, 2009

UK will hand out spectrum in return for bandwidth

In further leaks of Ofcom's forthcoming 'Digital Britain' report, The Sunday Times says the auction of further UHF spectrum freed by switchover could be ditched – instead companies will be given spectrum in return for commitments to invest in broadband access. Dropping the long-planned auction might sacrifice £5bn (E6.3bn) of public income in favour of […]

January 19, 2009

Time Warner writes down $25bn

Time Warner announced it will record some $25 billion in write-downs for the fourth quarter, with nearly $15 billion of it coming from Time Warner Cable. Time Warner, which owns 85% of the cable company but has been planning to spin off the stake to shareholders, said beyond the cable business, the write-downs will involve […]

January 8, 2009

Blockbuster wants broadband deals

Blockbuster, the largest U.S. movie rental chain, is open to collaboration with telecom companies such as Verizon and AT&T as it expands into the video-on-demand business, chief executive officer Jim Keyes said. “As we move toward video-on-demand and pay-per-view, Blockbuster is well positioned not only to compete on our own, but also to partner with […]

January 8, 2009

Poland DTH overtakes cable

The number of DTH subscribers in Poland has exceeded the number of cable subscribers for the first time. According to figures from Wirtualne Media, there were a total of 4.7 million subscribers to DTH services as the end of December, over 40 per cent more than a year earlier. The number cable homes in the […]

January 8, 2009

Broadband speeds slower than advertised

The average UK broadband speed for consumers is 3.6 Megabits per second (Mbit/s), sufficient for many applications but well below advertised speeds, regulator Ofcom has reported. According to research based on 10 million separate tests of a range of suppliers’ services, broadband speeds via DSL and cable vary by time of day due to the […]

January 8, 2009

Zon Multimedia to launch 100 Mbps service

From Branislav Pekic in Rome Portugal's Zon Multimedia is launching the Zon Net Wideband service, offering connection speeds of 100 Mbps by using a hybrid technology which combines coaxial cable and fibre optics. Following a successful pilot in Lisbon, the service will be commercially launched for 200,000 households in Lisbon and Porto. Zon plans to […]

January 7, 2009

Orange triple-play get Canal+ satellite

Orange and Canal+ have signed a multi-year agreement to allow Orange triple play customers who are not eligible for TV by ADSL to subscribe to Canal+ and/or Canalsat, as well as Foot+ by satellite. In 2009, Orange triple play customers with satellite TV will be able to receive these offers directly on a single ADSL/satellite […]

January 7, 2009

Viacom channels off TW Cable in dispute

Time Warner Cable subscribers may not have Viacom channels, including Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, VH1 and 15 other networks for the New Year as they are set to go dark as part of a license agreement renewal dispute between the two companies. Viacom asked Time Warner Cable for an increase of just under 25 cents […]

January 2, 2009

Tiscali TV over in Italy

Tiscali TV IPTV service will cease at the end of the year. The company has told subscribers the December fee be waived. The company has struggled to attract more than 50,000 subs since it failed to strike a pay-TV deal with Sky Italia. Instead it offered themed channels and 'personalised' or self-scheduled TV. The network […]

January 2, 2009