Advanced Television

FTA

Real Madrid TV goes FTA DTT

Real Madrid TV channel is to make its debut on the FTA DTT in August following the agreement between Real Madrid football team and the Spanish production company Mediapro, shareholder in the commercial TV channel La Sexta. Real Madrid TV will take the place in the DTT line-up of the current Marca TV channel, a […]

June 12, 2012From David Del Valle in Madrid

France’s CSA reveals FTA HD DTT channels

France’s Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel (CSA) has carried out a draw to select six new free-to-air channels in HD on one of the two DTT multiplexes allocated for the purpose (R7 and R8). The draw was held in the presence of representatives from the channels The CSA had previously split these channels into two groups […]

June 6, 2012By Colin Mann

Arab League asks for Syrian TV ban

The Arab League has asked Arabsat and Nilesat to remove the various Syrian TV channels they are carrying. The request was made on June 2 at an extraordinary meeting of the League’s foreign ministers in Qatar. Syria’s National media Council immediately called the decision as a “flagrant interference in Syrian internal affairs, and unprecedented violation […]

June 4, 2012By Chris Forrester

Non-real-time Content Delivery standard from ATSC

The US’s Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) has confirmed the approval of the ATSC NRT (Non-Real-Time) Content Delivery standard, a backwards-compatible enhancement to digital TV broadcasting that provides a framework for new capability for feature-rich receivers, including ‘on demand’ broadcast TV channels, more detailed programme information for the delivery of a broad range of exciting […]

May 30, 2012

DISH AutoHop legal showdown

DISH and the TV networks ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC are going to court on the legality of the introduction of a user-enabled commercial skipping technology branded AutoHop. DISH wants a declaratory judgment (for which it has filed in New York) while the networks are claiming (in the California court) that the device breaches their […]

May 25, 2012

APAC to add 440m DTV homes

According to a new report from Digital TV Research (DTVR), Asia Pacific is undergoing a digital TV boom that will see penetration increase from 36 per cent in 2011 to 83 per cent in 2017 – or up by 440 million homes. The report – Digital TV Asia Pacific – forecasts that China alone will […]

May 18, 2012

Online boosts AMC shows

Channel operator AMC Networks, which counts hit series The Walking Dead and Mad Men among its programming, is benefiting from the online availability of such shows, according to President and Chief Executive Officer Josh Sapan. “New viewers are finding these shows on a digital service, catching up on prior seasons and then tuning into AMC […]

May 14, 2012By Colin Mann

NBCU: Aereo threatens broadcast business model

Barry-Diller-backed TV platform Aereo, which allows paying customers to record and watch over-the-air television stations online, could destroy the economic model behind television, according to a court filing from NBCUniversal The Internet TV service is being sued by all of the major television broadcasters in federal court in New York, where the service was launched […]

May 14, 2012By Colin Mann

Ofcom invites local TV channel bids

Comms regulator Ofcom has invited applications for 21 local TV channels across the UK. This follows new duties given to the regulator by Parliament to license local TV. The local TV channels will broadcast on a specially-reserved ‘multiplex’; this is a discrete amount of spectrum used for broadcasting over digital terrestrial TV (DTT). In addition […]

May 10, 2012

Optus to contest TV copyright ruling

Australian telco Optus has confirmed that it will appeal against a landmark decision that prevents its customers from streaming delayed sports matches on their mobile phones. Optus’s TV Now service allows customers to record free-to-air television – including AFL and NRL matches – from their smartphone or computer and watch it with a delay of […]

May 10, 2012By Colin Mann