Advanced Television

Telco

Telenet fined €250,000

Belgium’s Telenet cable operator has been fined €250,000 by the country’s regulator for not being clear in its advice as to how consumers could change suppliers. Telenet changed its operating terms and conditions on October 1st 2010 but failed to be clear and transparent in giving obligatory advice as to how subscribers could switch to […]

December 1, 2011By Chris Forrester

Virgin Media customers ‘most dissatisfied’

Virgin Media has the biggest proportion of dissatisfied customers for landline, broadband and pay-TV services, according to Ofcom’s latest customer satisfaction tables. In September, the media regulator conducted 3,000 interviews and various online surveys of customers of landline, mobile, fixed broadband and pay-TV operators with a market share of 4 per cent or more. Virgin […]

November 25, 2011

Cabovisao up for sale

Canada’s Cogeco Cable has reportedly decided to sell its Portuguese cable TV and broadband/telephone operation, Cabovisao. The cable operator, according to the Lusa news agency has invited “expressions of interest” from other international operators and private equity investors. Lusa says some conversations have already started and are well advanced. Cogeco has controlled the business since […]

November 24, 2011By Chris Forrester

BT poaches Virgin Media’s Green for future TV development

BT has hired Virgin Media’s Executive Director, Commercial, TV and Online Alex Green to help drive the telco’s next-generation TV offering. He will be focused on building on the success of BT Vision and developing the company’s involvement in the YouView IPTV service, which is scheduled for launch in 2012. At Virgin Media, Green was […]

November 15, 2011By Colin Mann

TalkTalk YouView trials in early 2012

Broadband provider TalkTalk is to launch an in-house trial of YouView in early 2012. The broadband provider said it will launch a “friends and family” trial of the service in the first quarter next year, although the proposed launch date will likely be in January. TalkTalk will give around 3,000 of its YouView STBs, made […]

November 15, 2011

Portugal Telecom nears 1m pay-TV subs

Portugal Telecom has reported 55,000 new subscribers to its pay-TV service ‘Meo’ in the third quarter of 2011 to reach 974,000 customers – adding that it expects to surpass the 1 million milestone before the end of the year. September was reported to be its best-ever month for Meo net additions, The company now holds […]

November 4, 2011

AT&T surpasses 3.5m IPTV subs

AT&T, the largest US telecommunications group by revenues, reported third-quarter earnings in line with most expectations. Net income fell to $3.62 billion for the July to September period, down from $12.3 billion a year ago when the figures were boosted by a $8.3 billion one-time gain related to the sale of a subsidiary and a […]

October 21, 2011

Carlyle scoops Telecable

Global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group has reached an agreement to acquire an 85 per cent share of Spanish triple-play cable operator Telecable de Asturias. Liberbank will retain a minority stake after the transaction, which is expected to close by year-end. The transaction values the company at €400 million; equity for this investment will […]

October 19, 2011By Colin Mann

Verizon sues to overturn ‘net neutrality’ rules

US telco Verizon Communications is suing to overturn regulations governing the flow of Internet traffic. The lawsuit filed in Washington’s US Court of Appeals contends the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) overstepped its authority in setting its so-called ‘net neutrality’ rules in 2010. The regulations are scheduled to go into effect November 20. They prohibit Internet […]

October 1, 2011By Colin Mann

Google: Less regulation = faster net

Although governments are keen to reap the benefits of high-speed Internet access, they need to reform regulations to help those building networks to provide it, according to a senior Google executive. Delivering a keynote address at the Broadband World Forum in Paris, Kevin Lo, Google’s general manager of access, told delegates: “Regulation can get in […]

September 27, 2011Nick Snow @ Broadband World Forum