Advanced Television

Broadband

Virgin rethinks TV sale, again

Virgin Media's attempt to sell its wholly-owned television channels has been called to a halt following an initial review in October and it now seems certain Virgin will try and package up a deal to sell its owned stations and its half of the UKTV joint venture. The company's advisors have valued its channels – […]

November 16, 2009

Online ad spend to climb 7 per cent in 2010

Online ad spend is set to buck the trend of the wider advertising recession in 2010 with a predicted 7.6 per cent year-on-year increase across Europe, according to a new report by The Marketers’ Internet Ad Barometer. The report forecasts that online ad spend across Europe will grow even more rapidly in 2011 with budgets […]

November 16, 2009

Telstra to start T-box movie trials for TV

Telstra will begin a live trial of its new digital set-top “T-box” this week, ahead of its release in Australia. Several hundred customers will begin using the device in a trial that will enable them to start watching movies downloaded from the Internet on their TV sets. The T-box will make it possible for Telstra […]

November 16, 2009

Liberty Global scoops Unitymedia

International cable operator Liberty Global is to acquire Germany's second largest cable company Unitymedia in a E2 billion deal. Unitymedia has systems in the German federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse, which are among the most prosperous and densely populated regions in Europe. Unity Media's cable footprint passes some 8.8 million homes, including ten […]

November 13, 2009

Canvas not needed, say Sky and Virgin

BSkyB and Virgin Media had a rare show of unity when they agreed that the Project Canvas open IPTV platform should not be cleared by the BBC Trust because it isn't providing anything the market isn't already. Griff Parry, director of on demand for Sky, told the C21Media's FutureMedia conference "there's no evidence of market […]

November 13, 2009

India: digital cable TV approved

The Indian cabinet has approved a policy that would help digitise cable TV operations across the country. Under the so-called headend-in-the-sky (HITS) policy, cable operators will have to lease transponders on a dedicated satellite, acquire TV channels from broadcasters, uplink these to the satellite, then download and beam the signals to households in digital format.

November 13, 2009

Motorola to sell Connected Home Division

Motorola is to sell its Connected Home Division, including the world's biggest STB business, according to the NY Times. The newspapers says sources at Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, hired to advise on strategic options, are now recommending a three-way split with networks being sold off and the remaining company separated between the mobile phone […]

November 13, 2009

ITV and Hulu content and equity deal?

ITV and Hulu are to sign a deal allowing the platform to distribute full-length ITV shows- some exclusively. As part of the deal ITV will gain an equity stake in Hulu UK, understood to be about 25%. Hulu’s parent company is owned equally by Disney, NBC Universal, Providence Equity and News Corp. ITV is the […]

November 13, 2009

Comcast homes in on NBC stake

Comcast may seal a deal to buy a controlling stake in NBC Universal from General Electric within the next week say US reports. The deal, which values NBC Universal at about $30 billion, would give Comcast, the top US cable operator, a 51 per cent stake in a joint venture that would combine its small […]

November 12, 2009

Comcast homes in on NBC stake

Comcast may seal a deal to buy a controlling stake in NBC Universal from General Electric within the next week say US reports. The deal, which values NBC Universal at about $30 billion, would give Comcast, the top US cable operator, a 51 per cent stake in a joint venture that would combine its small […]

November 9, 2009