France’s Canal+ Group and HBO have confirmed the signing of a licensing agreement covering all new HBO series for the next five years. The agreement covers all Canal+ Group channels, including premium channels, themed networks and free TV channels Canal+ subscribers and D8 and D17 channels viewers will be able to watch top HBO series, […]
Scripps Networks Interactive’s Travel Channel has launched on UK free-to-air digital satellite service Freesat. Travel Channel is currently available on the Sky platform (channels 251/252) to more than 10.3 million subscribers. The move expands its reach, with Freesat recently announcing its three millionth sale. Travel Channel will be available to watch on Freesat’s Channel 405. […]
A report from a Committee of the UK’s House of Lords (the upper legislative chamber) looking at the issue of media convergence, and how public policy may need to do more to adapt and reform in its wake, has recommended that in advance of the next BBC Charter Review, the Government should conduct a comprehensive […]
Alex Green, Director of TV at BT Vision, has described the telco’s involvement in and support for open IPTV platform YouView as the ‘first step’ in making linear channel content available to BT customers and subscribers to its BT Vision hybrid on-demand/DTT platform. Noting that BT was approaching the question of linear TV from the […]
The number of pay TV homes in the Middle East and North Africa will double between 2011 and 2018 to 16.0 million, according to a report from Digital TV Research. The report forecasts that fewer than 15 per cent of TV households (analogue and digital) legitimately paid for TV signals by end-2012. This proportion will […]
Things were already bad at YouView, the UK’s struggling on-demand TV service, but there was complete meltdown on February 28th when the operation’s Chairman, Lord Alan Sugar (who fronts the UK’s version of The Apprentice reality TV show) and the owner of Channel 5, Richard Desmond reportedly came to near fisticuffs during a regular board […]
Lord Sugar is to step down from his role as non-executive chairman of YouView in the next few weeks. During his two-year tenure, Sugar was credited with being instrumental in the successful launch of the open IPTV service, with YouView now claiming to be the fastest growing TV platform in the UK. He took over […]
Senior managers at UK free-to-air digital satellite platform Freesat have confirmed the service’s support for the HTML5 multimedia Internet standard. The move follows Freesat’s successful launch of YouTube built on HTML 5, offering a TV-optimised, visually stunning and fully interactive viewing experience. James Strickland, Chief Technology Officer, noted that previous standards such as MHEG, which […]
Product Placement could significantly alter the way UK TV programming is produced, financed and consumed over the next few years, according to a KPMG report published ahead of the two year anniversary of an Ofcom ruling which allowed product placement for the first time on UK TV. The report – Taking a subtle approach: How […]
The US television and film industries have revealed plans to roll out a national multimedia campaign to inform parents about the many tools that can help them manage what their children see on television and at the movies. The industries will make a positive contribution to the national conversation on violent behaviour by launching a […]