Two separate reports have outlined that advertising spend on free-to-air TV is still – at best – flat, and in some markets local FTA broadcasters are suffering significant shortfalls. According to figures from Kantar Media, broadcast TV in the USA is down 5.2 per cent because of weaker primetime ratings. Broadcast ratings were also hurt […]

Research from GfK Media & Entertainment shows that the estimated number of Americans now relying exclusively on over-the-air (OTA) television broadcasting increased to 59.7 million, up from 54 million just a year ago. The percentage of TV households currently OTA reliant has now grown from 14 per cent in 2010 to 19.3 per cent in […]

Ofcom has commenced the second phase of local TV licensing, inviting applications for new channels in seven locations across the UK. Following the award of 19 licences in the first phase, Ofcom is now opening up applications for local TV channels in Bangor, Cambridge, Middlesbrough, Mold, Scarborough, Swansea and York. These are the initial locations […]

Global pay-tv households will reach nearly 1 billion by 2018, up from 772 million in 2012 and 814 million in 2013. According to the Digital TV World Household Forecasts report, the Asia Pacific region will contribute 59 per cent (587 million) of the global total by 2018. Based on forecasts for 97 countries by Digital […]

ERT, or the Hellenic Broadcasting Corp, went dark late on June 11th. The decision to pull the plug on all state broadcasting was not unexpected, but most locals doubted that the threat would be carried out. Some 3,000 staff are affected, and the government has said that employees can now start re-applying for their jobs […]

Just 5 per cent of Spanish pay TV homes acquires VoD and PPV services – with an average expenditure of €2.50 per home a month. The latest report from the CMT, the Telecommunications Market Commisison, reveals that 95 per cent of pay TV homes does not use VoD and PPV services at all. In Spain, […]

Anne Sweeney, President of Disney-ABC Television Group, has branded the Barry Diller-backed Aereo online TV service as “opportunistic piracy”. Interviewed at the AllThingsDigital conference, Sweeney said: “I think Aereo is wrong, it is illegal, and it is opportunistic piracy, It’s taking advantage of our content, of our creative community, and using it for their own […]

Research carried out by Dataxis has confirmed that 100 per cent of the top 25 free-to-air (FTA) television networks in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru are now broadcasting a digital terrestrial TV (DTT) version of their analogue networks. Pushed by telecoms regulators that are looking to free up radio-frequency space for new wireless […]

Romania’s broadcasting landscape has shifted with the launch of Freesat, a new TV platform available from the Eutelsat 16A satellite. Freesat is a DTH platform of Standard Digital and High Definition channels available for a yearly subscription of only 99 lei (€23) and a one-off investment in a conditional access smartcard. It assembles Romania’s most […]