From Branislav Pekic in Rome From April 3rd, only TV sets with integrated digital terrestrial television decoders will be on sale in Italy. The move is the result of the law passed in October 2007 which represents one of the key steps in the switchover from analogue to digital terrestrial. For its part, DGTVi, the […]

Viewers should see the same commercials during television shows on the Web as they do on traditional TV, Time Warner Cable Chief Operating Officer Landel Hobbs said. At sites like Hulu and others, shows are seen with limited, short commercial breaks, compared with more frequent and lengthier groups of ads on TV. Time Warner Cable […]

The joint-venture of Telefónica and Vivendi has tabled another bid for Sogecable’s satellite pay-TV operator Digital+ in the long running sale saga. The amount eventually paid will reflect Digital's future EBITDA performance. For last year Digital+ had EBITDA of E367 million, 10% up on the previous year. At the same time it lost 35,000 subscribers. […]

From Colin Mann in Cannes Attaining global, multiplatform reach will prove to be essential if companies hope to see their way through the current economic difficulties intact, WWP Group chief executive Martin Sorrell warned delegates in his keynote address at MIPTV yesterday. “This recession changes our industry forever. If I was a media owner, and […]

Dawn Airey chairman and chief executive of Channel Five, has claimed that the government “has begun to recognise” the potential value of a merger between her organisation and Channel 4. She said that in Five’s view the financial benefits of a merger go well beyond just plugging Channel 4’s funding gap and will guarantee national […]

Recent data from the MAVISE TV database, developed for the DG Communication of the European Commission by the European Audiovisual Observatory, shows the continued expansion of television channels in the European (EU 27 + Croatia and Turkey) television market. More than 200 new TV channels were launched in 2008. There are now a total of […]

ActiveVideo Networks has declared that measurement of audience viewing and usage habits from field deployments shows how interactive television is finally generating new revenue for cable system operators and programmers. The data, which has been collected from announced and unannounced ActiveVideo markets in the US, indicates that reach, frequency and engagement are increasing at ActiveVideo-enabled […]

From Colin Mann in Cannes Al Jazeera Network, the Middle East-headquartered international broadcaster, is significantly stepping-up the distribution of its feature programmes. It will be offering a range of its factual and documentary programming from Al Jazeera English, the Al Jazeera Documentary Channel and the Al Jazeera Satellite Channel. The library available from Al Jazeera […]

Blockbuster, global film rental outfit and TiVo, are joining forces to deliver Blockbuster's library of digital movie titles directly to the television set via TiVo DVRs. Blockbuster OnDemand, featuring content to both buy and rent, will be integrated into TiVo Series2, Series3, TiVo HD, and TiVo HD XL DVRs. The move will allow broadband connected […]

According to a study released by the Council for Research Excellence and funded by Nielsen, TV watching has not waned in the US despite the emergence of mobile phones, iPods, and Internet media. Researchers followed 476 people for two 14-hours days and recorded how much they used media along with other daily activities. The research […]