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Hall: BBC should promote itself

Tony Hall, the BBC director general, has said the it should be more aggressive andabout using its own TV, radio and online services to make the case for the licence fee. Preparing for the BBC’s charter renewal and licence fee in three years’ time, Hall said it was too early to say whether BBC3 or […]

November 28, 2013

Ofcom hands York and Middlesbrough TV licences

Ofcom has awarded licences to run local TV services in York and Middlesbrough on digital terrestrial TV (DTT). The awards follow legislation enabling Ofcom to issue local TV licences. The channels will be broadcast on DTT by the local multiplex, a discrete amount of spectrum reserved for local TV broadcasting on DTT. The licences have […]

November 27, 2013

DCMS’s Miller welcomes local TV launch

Maria Miller, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, has welcomed the November 26th afternoon of launch of the UK’s first local TV channel – Estuary TV- in the northern coastal town of Grimsby. She said that local television was an important part of a connected society. “Viewers consistently say they want local TV […]

November 26, 2013By Colin Mann

Scottish indie broadcaster to replace BBC?

A new Scottish Broadcasting Service funded by the Scottish share of BBC licence fee income could be established if the nation votes for independence in next year’s referendum. The Scottish National party said in its 600+ page independence policy paper  that it would institute the SBS as a joint venture with the BBC, replacing BBC […]

November 26, 2013

BT adds live UEFA clip rights

Two weeks after shaking the pay-TV and free-to-air coverage enjoyed by BSkyB and ITV, BT Sport has cemented its position as the UK home of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League after winning co-exclusive on demand online and mobile clip rights to all 350 matches per season. The clip rights are shared with […]

November 25, 2013By Colin Mann

ITV scores UEFA highlights deal

A week after it lost the rights to live coverage of UEFA Champions League football, UK commercial PSB ITV has revealed that it will show highlights of Champions League and Europa League matches until 2018 after agreeing a new deal with UEFA. The deal guarantees coverage of the two competitions on free-to-air television for three […]

November 25, 2013By Colin Mann

Foxtel seeks sports ‘anti-siphoning’ shake-up

Australian pay-TV operator Foxtel is to lobby the federal government for a number of top sporting fixtures not played on Australian soil to be taken off a list of events which protects live broadcasts of major sporting events on free-to-air TV, seeking a shake-up of the government’s approach to future sports rights deals. Such events […]

November 25, 2013By Colin Mann

FilmOn sues PBS station in pre-emptive lawsuit

Internet TV streaming service FilmOn is suing Chicago-based WWCI, licensee of PBS station WTTW which on November 12th accused the operation of copyright infringement. FilmOn contends that Congress and the courts have always protected an individual’s right to privately perform copyrighted audiovisual works, noting that this right has been challenged countless times by copyright holders […]

November 25, 2013By Colin Mann

Freeview ready for first local TV service

Technical changes to prepare for the first of a new wave of local TV services on Freeview have been completed by Digital UK ahead of its launch on November 26th. Working in conjunction with multiplex operator Comux, Digital UK has successfully integrated the new service into the terrestrial TV network. Programme and scheduling information for […]

November 25, 2013

X-Factor expands global presence

The X-Factor has been renewed by several key free-to-air broadcasters and the show’s distributor, FremantleMedia, has agreed deals for four more local versions of the music competition series. New deals for The X-Factor include recommissions from Seven Network in Australia, DR1 in Denmark, TVN in Poland, Channel One in Russia and TV3 in Lithuania have […]

November 22, 2013