Advanced Television

Broadcast

DirecTV shows subs gains

DirecTV Group was one of the few pay-TV companies to gain subscribers in the third quarter, though earnings stayed steady because of the higher costs it incurred attracting and serving those new customers. DirecTV said that a marketing partnership with AT&T accounted for most of the increase in US subscribers. DirecTV said that net income […]

November 6, 2009

Majority of Netflix subs use streaming

Nearly two-thirds of Netflix subscribers have tried out the company’s 'Watch Instantly' streaming service, and more than half use it at least once a month, according to a survey released by research firm One Touch Intelligence. The survey findings suggest that usage of the streaming service has moved beyond the early adopter stage and into […]

November 6, 2009

CBS lifts advertising rates

US broadcaster CBS has said it is managing to charge advertisers double the rates of a year ago for short-notice bookings, adding that it was cancelling promotions for its own shows to squeeze more ads on to the US broadcast network behind CSI and David Letterman. Advertisers were "knocking down the door", Les Moonves, CBS […]

November 6, 2009

File sharers also biggest content spenders

People who download music illegally also spend an average of £77 (E85)a year buying it legitimately, a survey has found, while those who claimed not to use peer-to-peer filesharing sites spent a yearly average of just £44. Almost one in 10 of those questioned aged between 16 and 50 said they downloaded music illegally. However, […]

November 5, 2009

Lord Burns named C4 chairman

Ofcom has confirmed that Lord Burns will be the next chairman of Channel 4, and will join the broadcaster’s board immediately for a handover period before Luke Johnson’s departure in January. He will join Channel 4 immediately as chairman-designate, working with Johnson to find a new chief executive to replace Andy Duncan. Duncan is expected […]

November 5, 2009

ITV sees ads strengthening

Signs of an improvement in Britain's television advertising market emerged after ITV forecast that it would end the year with the best rate of advertising growth since 2007, and reported the early repayment of £75 million (E83.5m) in debt. The group said there had been an unexpected improvement in advertising since it last updated the […]

November 5, 2009

Eutelsat sees growth

Eutelsat has reported that it's Q3 profits grew 11.6 per cent to E226.7 million. Video Applications registered sustained increases in revenue (+8.5 per cent) to E180.8 million. TV channels broadcast by Eutelsat’s fleet grew by 4.7 per cent), as Eutelsat further consolidated the commercial strength of its nine video neighbourhoods. In total, the number of […]

November 5, 2009

BBC iPlayer on Freesat this month

The BBC has confirmed that it will start beta testing its popular iPlayer service on Freesat from the end of this month. BBC's iPlayer debuted on Virgin Media's cable service last year, but this will be the first subscription-free platform to get the fully-fledged version of iPlayer. ….

November 5, 2009

Telecom Italia Media gives up on sale of digital multiplexes

From Branislav Pekic in Rome The Board of Directors of Telecom Italia Media has decided to suspend the process of selling TIMB (Telecom Italia Media Broadcasting) which operates two national digital terrestrial TV multiplexes in Italy. The reasons cited for the move are the lack of adequate bids and the recent regulatory changes that could […]

November 5, 2009

Thomson iDTV for Canal+ VOD

Canal+ and TV set manufacturer TCL have unveiled the first Thomson TV set allowing direct access to the CanalPlay video on demand platform. The partnership, unprecedented in France, represents a breakthrough in access to content on demand among the next generation of connected televisions. Available as of November, the new Thomson mywishTV LCD TVs are […]

November 5, 2009