Advanced Television

FTA

Passion TV returns to Freeview

Arqiva has confirmed the relaunch of the Afro-Caribbean channel, Passion TV, which is now available to Internet-enabled Freeview devices via a combined hybrid TV-Internet solution. Passion TV airs on Freeview channel and YouView channel 253, 24 hours a day. First established in 2004, the channel was founded by Mike Makinde in response to an existing […]

August 10, 2015

Australia: Rugby League agrees new FTA deal

Rugby League fans in Australia will be able to watch four live matches each week on free to air television as part of a new broadcast rights agreement reached with the Nine Network. NRL CEO Dave Smith said Channel 9 has secured the rights to screen matches on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays during prime time […]

August 10, 2015

“Solid” H1 for Freesat; Freetime up 200%

UK subscription-free satellite TV service Freesat has continued its positive start to the year with strong take-up of Freetime, its connected TV service, which has seen a 200 per cent year-on-year increase in new connected customers. Increased awareness and understanding of the Freetime service has resulted in Freetime sales growing by 48 per cent year-on-year […]

August 6, 2015

Magine TV goes beta in UK

OTT TV platform Magine TV has launched its beta service in the UK, offering ‘TV For Me’: a subscription-based, personalised live TV experience, streamed directly with no cables, hardware or contracts. Its launch follows that of TVPlayer, Simplestream’s OTT streaming platform, which in addition to a range of free-to-air services, recently announced the launch of […]

August 4, 2015By Colin Mann

BBC: ‘Red Alert’ on funding

The BBC’s licence fee will be under severe pressure come 2020/2021, according to an analysis of the UK government’s ‘Green Paper’ proposals for funding the public broadcaster. Enders Analysis’s Toby Syfret and Gill Hind, in a report published August 1 by the ‘Our Beeb’ website and which originated as a study by Enders, are blunt […]

August 4, 2015By Chris Forrester

Sky acquires Viacom’s MTV Italia

Italian pay-TV operator Sky Italia has signed an agreement with Viacom International Media Networks for the acquisition of Nuova Società Televisiva Italiana, a company that operates the MTV Italia channel. Financial aspects of the transaction were not disclosed. The free-to-air TV channel is available on position 8 on the national DTT netork in Italy. The […]

August 3, 2015From Branislav Pekic in Rome

Motive set for Siyaya revenue boost

Broadcast and pay-TV technology specialist Motive Television has revealed that Motive Television Services Ltd, its fully-owned subsidiary, has been appointed Prime Contractor and System Integrator for the upcoming launch and continued operations of South Africa’s Siyaya Free To Air TV (PTY) Ltd. television services. Motive is responsible for ensuring that the major international vendor/suppliers selected […]

August 3, 2015

Liberty Global increases ITV stake to 9.9%

Cable MSO Liberty Global has acquired 138.7 million shares in UK commercial broadcaster ITV plc, thereby increasing its existing stake to a total of 398.5 million shares in ITV or approximately 9.9 per cent of ITV’s ordinary shares outstanding. Liberty Global has at the same time nentered into a hedging transaction with respect to the […]

July 31, 2015

Pay-TV in 21% of East African TV households

The five countries of the East African Community (EAC) had a total population of 146.89 million end-2014, with 33.61 million households and a TV household penetration rate of 23 per cent, acccording to research firm Dataxis. Kenya is the most developed market in the region with 12.04 million households and a TV household penetration rate […]

July 31, 2015

Mediaset seeks retransmission fees from Sky Italia

Italian commercial broadcaster Mediaset will seek retransmission fees from pay-TV operator Sky Italia for the broadcasting of its free-to-air channels on the satellite TV platform. Mediaset executive director, Gina Nieri, said they have been seeking an agreement with Sky Italia, but will now exercise their rights with formal acts in the coming weeks, as this […]

July 29, 2015From Branislav Pekic in Rome