Advanced Television

Broadcast

Orange triple-play get Canal+ satellite

Orange and Canal+ have signed a multi-year agreement to allow Orange triple play customers who are not eligible for TV by ADSL to subscribe to Canal+ and/or Canalsat, as well as Foot+ by satellite. In 2009, Orange triple play customers with satellite TV will be able to receive these offers directly on a single ADSL/satellite […]

January 7, 2009

Netflix, LG movies direct

Netflix and LG Electronics will soon introduce TV sets that can screen Netflix movies directly from the Web without an external box. Netflix, which is seeking to equip all home-entertainment screens with instant movie-viewing capability, also announced other partnerships, including one with Microsoft’s Xbox 360 to embed the movie software in its game consoles. Netflix […]

January 2, 2009

Enensys and GoldSpot accelerate mass market Mobile TV

Enensys Technologies and GoldSpot Media have successfully integrated their solution to enable Mobile TV service providers to deploy targeted and interactive advertising in DVB-H. Enensys DVB-H head-end technology and GoldSpot's Cue Zones ad solution help Mobile TV service providers develop predictable and profitable advertising business cases to supplement subscription revenues. ………….

January 2, 2009

Sky moves towards 3D broadcasts

Sky says it has successfully tested the delivery of 3D programming to a domestic television via a high-definition set-top box. Sky has been filming a number of events using 3D cameras over recent months. Such broadcasts would require the use of 3D televisions, not yet available in UK stores, and viewers would need to wear […]

December 19, 2008

Spanish Courts 'disallow' Regional DTT

From David Del Valle in Madrid The allocation of Regional DTT licences is coming under fire across the country following the decision of two Spanish Courts to overrule two DTT public tenders in Madrid and Canaries on the grounds that the licences were arbitrarily given in a process full of "irregularities". Madrid's Regional DTT map […]

December 19, 2008

C4 in talks with BBC Worldwide

Channel 4 is reportedly in talks with BBC Worldwide over a possible rescue plan that would involve injecting up to £500 million (E634m) into a new media company. Under the plan, parts of BBC Worldwide would be split off, rebranded and combined with Channel 4, which would pay to take a share in the new […]

December 19, 2008

RAI launches HDTV trials on DTT

From Branislav Pekic in Rome Italian public broadcaster RAI has initiated the first Super High Definition transmissions in the new DVB-T2 standard for DTT from its Eremo Broadcasting Centre in Turin. The DVB-T2 standard increases the transmission capacity by around 40 per cent (up to 34-40 Mb/s), enabling the transmission of 3-4 HDTV programs encrypted […]

December 19, 2008

Commission: updating TV rules slow and too much red tape

The European Commission says one year after the entry into force of a new EU Directive meant to liberalise TV rules and remove outdated and bureaucratic restrictions on the provision of digital TV over the Internet, video on demand and mobile TV in Europe, EU Member States have made little progress in adapting national rules. […]

December 19, 2008

MTV cuts 80 UK jobs

MTV in the UK is to cut up to 80 jobs – around 10% of its workforce – as part of Viacom’s global plan to save $250m in 2009. MTV UK, which encompasses channels such as MTV One, VH1 and TMF, told staff last Thursday that it would begin a 30-day consultation on the cuts, […]

December 19, 2008

Digital TV close to 90%

Findings released by UK comms regulator Ofcom indicate that 88.2 per cent of households have digital TV on their main sets, up from 84.8 per cent on the year. Other key findings in Ofcom's Q3 digital television update reveal that the total number of households with digital terrestrial television (DTT) reached 17.2 million, up from […]

December 18, 2008