Advanced Television

Broadband

Headweb offers legal torrents

Swedish company Headweb believes it may have discovered a lawful solution to the movie industry’s long-running file sharing quandary. By merging peer to peer file sharing methods with advanced watermarking technology, the Stockholm firm hopes to beat the Internet pirates at their own game and offer consumers a legal alternative. Customers will be given the […]

September 17, 2007

Canadian regulator to give TV, cable operators more leeway

Canada’s broadcasting regulator should give more flexibility to cable operators and television stations on advertising, Canadian content and channel packages, according to a report commissioned by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. The study will feed into the federal regulator’s public consultations next year on speciality and pay channels and cable and satellites services. Lawyers […]

September 17, 2007

FCC sets cable requirement for digital switchover

US communications regulators have approved new rules designed to ensure that cable television subscribers who own analogue TV sets will still have access to local broadcast TV channels following the digital switchover in 2009. The FCC voted to endorse rules that require cable operators to continue carrying local broadcast channels that can be viewed on […]

September 13, 2007

Sky uses Entriq to expand choice

Entriq has confirmed that BSkyB will use its services to support the delivery of pay-per-view television content. The EST (electronic sell-through) service will enable Sky to offer pay-per-view content via its online portfolio. With the Entriq service, customers with a 2Mb or greater broadband connection will be able to download a selection of Sky content, […]

September 13, 2007

DoJ blow to Internet neutrality

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has backed US telcos, warning regulators against imposing 'net neutrality' rules that would block carriers from charging content providers premium prices to prioritise some web traffic. While the ultimate decision on new regulations rests with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the DoJ's comments represent a blow to content companies […]

September 10, 2007

US Cable and NAB explain digital

The US cable television industry has launched a $200 million (E146m) advertising campaign to assure customers they will still be able programmes after the transition to digital broadcasting. Ad spots open with a graphic that reads: “By law TV stations will end analogue broadcasts on February 17, 2009, and broadcast exclusively in digital.” That will […]

September 10, 2007

Numericable launches fibre to take on ADSL

From Sotires Eleftheriou in Paris Numericable, now the sole cable operator in France, made a series of announcements at its “back to work” press conference after the summer, to mark the launch of its optical fibre service. Numericable CEO Philippe Besnier said that cable is now better placed than ADSL operators in terms of both […]

August 31, 2007

No TorrentSpy for US

Dutch file-sharing service TorrentSpy has blocked US users from its search engines after a US court made an order requiring the firm to log users’ IP addresses and activity. TorrentSpy said it would rather block users than breach its privacy policy by passing on details.

August 31, 2007

Qualcomm, Maxis and Astro trial MediaFLO in Malaysia

Qualcomm, developer of wireless technologies, mobile communications group Maxis and ASTRO All Asia Networks, have signed an agreement to conduct a technical trial of Qualcomm's MediaFLO technology in Malaysia. The MediaFLO trial is expected to begin in autumn 2007 and will feature 25 live content channels provided by ASTRO delivered in an 8 MHz UHF […]

August 31, 2007

Unitymedia triple play growth

Unitymedia, the Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia cable operator, is recording strong sales for its broadband and TV offerings: Around 550,000 cable customers already watch digital TV, 200,000 take Internet via cable and 120,000 customers make German fixed line calls from Unitymedia. It now claims to be the leading triple play provider in Germany.

August 30, 2007