Advanced Television

FTA

BBC sets Premier League viewing record

Southampton’s 1-0 win over Manchester City at St Mary’s Stadium on the BBC on July 5th has become the Premier League’s most-watched televised match, with an audience of 5.7 million. The peak audience across all platforms saw the Saints record a surprise victory over last season’s champions thanks to Che Adams’ long-range goal. “Having the […]

July 7, 2020

Discovery takes over Germany’s Tele5

Discovery has acquired German FTA entertainment channel Tele5 from media company Leonine and agreed a long-term deal with the former owner for its scripted content. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals. “This enables us to tap new target audience groups and expand our marketing potential with the reach of Tele 5. In addition, the […]

July 3, 2020

Virgin: ‘Leap in UK viewing under lockdown’

UK multiplay operator Virgin Media has revealed how Covid-19 has shifted the nation’s TV viewing habits. In the early stages of lockdown, Virgin Media saw a 10 per cent increase in customers watching TV compared to pre-lockdown, with every customer watching an extra 41 minutes per day on average. Saturday March 28th was the busiest […]

July 3, 2020

The Secrets of La Roja free on Rakuten TV

Rakuten TV has announced the launch of its new original production, The Secrets of La Roja – World Champions 2010, a documentary that follows the path of Spanish national football team, La Roja, through the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The documentary will launch for free on Rakuten TV’s Rakuten Stories channel on July 9th, in […]

June 30, 2020

Report: FTA DTH take-up increases in Sub-Saharan Africa

Along the line of well-established actors such as Freeview in the UK, DTH free-to-air bouquets are spreading around sub-Saharan Africa, reports Dataxis. These offers, which bundle free channels into identifiable packages accessible through the purchase of specific set-top-boxes, are currently received by more than 8 million households in the region – a number to put […]

June 26, 2020

4m watch first live Premier League on BBC

The first ever live Premier League match to air on terrestrial television attracted a peak audience of nearly 4 million on June 20th. The game between Bournemouth and Crystal Palace on BBC One pulled in 3.9 million viewers, making up almost a quarter of the UK’s TV audience. In addition to its live TV audience, […]

June 22, 2020

EBU members meet Covid-19 content challenge

Twenty-five public service media organisations from the EBU Member community have responded to an urgent TV content appeal by providing over 200 TV programmes, amounting to 1,300 hours of content, for use by all public service broadcasters. The EBU-facilitated appeal was launched following the disruption of production schedules and predictions of a crisis for the […]

June 19, 2020

Pittsburgh launch for NextGen TV

Three of Pittsburgh’s leading local network-affiliated television stations – WPGH (FOX), WTAE (ABC) and WPNT (MyNet) – have become among the first in the United States to begin broadcasting with NextGen TV digital broadcast technology based on the ATSC 3.0 standard. The Pittsburgh launch follows a decade of development of the new technology and a […]

June 17, 2020By Colin Mann

Kantar: “Free football will pay off for Amazon”

The Premier League resumes this week and a number of games will be available to stream for free on Amazon, without a Prime subscription. The competition is fiercer than ever in the streaming wars and Mark Inskip, CEO UK & Ireland of Kantar’s Media Division, believes this strategic move from Amazon demonstrates the great lengths […]

June 15, 2020

Lockdown boosts Channel 5 audience

UK commercial PSB Channel 5 has grown its peak time share of viewing more than any other UK commercial terrestrial channel since the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdown. Since lockdown began on March 23rd, the channel was up 17 per cent YOY during peak time hours, taking it from a 3.64 per cent to a […]

June 10, 2020