Advanced Television

DTH/Satellite

BSkyB ITV appeal – they should sell more

In more bad news for BSkyB, the company may have to sell even more of its stake in ITV than it was expecting after the Competition Appeal said an original antitrust ruling may not have been tough enough.With ITV's share price at record lows this would crystallize yet more losses on the deal for BSkyB. […]

October 1, 2008

First Freesat figures

Freesat, the free-to-air digital satellite TV service from the BBC and ITV, has sold 100,000 set-top boxes during its first five months. Free high definition (HD) services has enabled Freesat to achieve sales described as strong and steady throughout a tough period for most high street retailers. Emma Scott, managing director of Freesat, said she […]

September 29, 2008

DirecTV takes over AT&T partnership

DirecTV Group has confirmed that AT&T has picked it to offer a co-branded package of video, home telephone, wireless phone and Internet service from February 1st, 2009.The news mean AT&T will not be renewing its five-year partnership with DISH Network raising new concern about future of the second largest satellite TV provider. DirecTV will begin […]

September 29, 2008

GlobeCast to provide pay TV network Showtime Arabia

In a five-year deal with Showtime Arabia Globecast is to provide content management and delivery services for 13 of its global channels, with services provided ranging from multiplexing, uplink, and aggregation to playout from GlobeCast's central London Technical Operations Centre. Dubai-based Showtime Arabia, the leading Pay TV network in the Middle East and North Africa, […]

September 26, 2008

Satellites to complete Spain DTT coverage

From David Del Valle in Madrid The Ministry of Industry is studying the use of satellites to extend DTT to all the Spanish population and complete the digital migration as planned in April 2010. Geographical problems and signal interference from illegal TV channels are the main reasons why the Government and the Regional Administrations are looking […]

September 23, 2008

BskyB unlimited broadband

BSkyB is preparing to launch an ad campaign claiming it is the only company to offer truly unlimited broadband usage. The company is preparing the campaign after deciding to remove its fair usage policy, which caps heavy downloaders, from its top-tier Sky Broadband Max product.It also said that because it does not ';traffic shape' – […]

September 23, 2008

Bank will sell UK spectrum

Morgan Stanley has won the contract to market the prime broadcast spectrum that will become available for sale once all television stations switch from analogue The auction, which could raise up to £5bn (E6.3bn) for the Treasury, will make available up to eight packages of wavelength in a "sweet spot" on the spectrum. About 128Mhz […]

September 15, 2008

News man for Premiere

News Corp has moved to replace outgoing Premiere CEO Michael Börnicke with Mark Williams, a senior News man and one of the company's recent appointments Börnicke is said to have resigned for personal reasons. Earlier this week News Corp COO Peter Chernin said the company was looking to further increase its holding in Premiere, but […]

September 15, 2008

Sat radio first guidance

Sirius XM has provided its first performance guidance. On the customer side, the company said it expects to end 2008 with about 19.5 million subscribers Sirius XM said it expects to post pro forma revenue of about $2.4 billion in 2008 and revenue of approximately $2.7 billion in 2009. Also, it said it could incur […]

September 10, 2008

Brent for Sky

BSkyB has appointed former Burger King executive Andy Brent as its group brand marketing director. Brent will report to BSkyB chief executive Jeremy Darroch and “The Sky brand is a critical factor in our growth,” Darroch said. “Its strength has allowed us to reach out to new customers and to enter new product categories and […]

September 10, 2008