A large percentage of the BBC’s £130 million-a-year (E141m) digital switchover surplus licence fee money is expected to be taken by comms minister Lord Carter to help achieve his goal of getting broadband in every UK home by 2012. It has been reported that the outline of a deal has been reached, although the full […]

From David Del Valle in Madrid A Spanish consortium formed by Net2, ITA, SABIA, Inves and Mapfre have launched the first Tele domestic help service through DTT across the country. Called T-Asisto and using MHP technology, the service provides remote help to all those users who need any assistance at home. The application allows the […]

Thomson group has warned it is likely to breach certain debt covenants and needed to bolster its balance sheet, notably by selling more non-core activities. The loss-making company said it would sell businesses which contributed around E1 billion to 2008 sales, including Grass Valley and PRN, for which it has already received expressions of interest, […]

A study into the state of Video-on-Demand (VOD) in the UK, from the perspective of the viewer, has revealed that fragmented delivery technologies, confusing rights restrictions and expensive download charges risk driving viewers away from legitimate VOD services. Many viewers are keeping their use of VOD to a minimum, while others are turning to illegal […]

Comcast together with Disney-ABC Domestic Television, has announced the launch of the subscription video on demand service, Disney Family Movies. The service, which showcases classic and contemporary Disney family movies from one of the world's largest film libraries, is now available to Comcast digital customers. Disney Family Movies gives customers unlimited access to approximately 20 […]

Full year figures for TV viewing in 2008 from the Broadcasters‚ Audience Research Board (BARB) reveal that the average person in the UK watched 26 hours, 18 minutes of broadcast TV a week, up 48 minutes on 2007. This matches the previous highest broadcast viewing figure on record, reached in 2003. The growth across all […]

The theory that home-entertainment wins out in a recession is proved again with the latest results from BSkyB. Europe's biggest pay-TV operation announced net customer growth of 171,000 for the second quarter (to December 31, 2008), up from 167,000 for the like period a year earlier. Total base is now 9.24m. Like for like operating […]

Freeview has revealed that sales of Freeview+ (PVR) boxes have reached over 900,000, up 118 per cent compared to December last year with 26 per cent of all sales were achieved in a record final quarter. More than 17.2 million homes are now enjoying the benefits of Freeview. This growth is expected to continue as […]

The US Senate has approved a bill that would delay until June the date when television stations must broadcast in an all-digital format. Without congressional action, all TV stations by law must stop broadcasting their programmes in analogue format on February 17th. After President Obama voiced support for a delay to the transition, congressional Democrats […]

Live international cricket could be among sports to return to terrestrial television in some form following the completion of a ¬government-commissioned review into which events should be protected for ¬free-to-air broadcasters. As the former FA executive director David Davies and a panel of former sports¬persons, broadcasters and academics begins an independent review into the so-called […]