A five-second pre-roll combined with a ten-second lower 1/3 ad unit takes top prize as both the most effective and the most audience-friendly ad product for short-form online video, according to “Project Inform,” a study by MTV Networks. The first large-scale study to survey real consumers through millions of short-form online video streams, “Project Inform” […]
C4's VOD strand has is testing Test Tube Telly – a combo of 4oD with Facebook Connect that tells Facebook friends which C4 shows you're watching. Aggregators Joost and Boxee have broadcaster-wide social viewing feeds.
Bahrain-based Orbit and Dubai's Showtime Arabia are merging between the two rival pay-TV businesses. The new company is an "equal partnership" between Orbit, up until now a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Saudi Arabia-based Mawarid Group, and Showtime Arabia/Gulf-DTH which was owned by Kuwait's KIPCO and Viacom. The new business will offer new packages to viewers […]
From Branislav Pekic in Rome The introduction of Digital Terrestrial Television by 2012 will require between E87 million and E115 million, according to the Strategy for the Switchover from Analogue to Digital Broadcasting which has been adopted by the Serbian Government. Digital broadcasting equipment alone will require some E75 million, a sum which Serbia hopes […]
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has said the DTH subscriber base has swelled to more than 13 million in the country, indicating an increased penetration of the service. TRAI said “total number of reported registered Direct to Home (DTH) subscribers served by five private DTH operators, offering paid service, had gone up to […]
Charles Dunstone, chief executive of Carphone Warehouse (owner of Talk Talk and Tiscali UK) is studying whether its Talk Talk phone and broadband business should expand Tiscali's TV service and whether that would be via Canvas or the existing platform. Carphone completed its deal to buy Tiscali's UK assets for £236m (E275m) last week, including […]
From David Del Valle in Madrid The Spanish Competition Authorities have proposed to limit to three years (until 2012) the current contracts for football TV rights in a move to avoid dominant positions in the a market that generates around E1 billon a year. The measure would directly affect Mediapro, shareholder in La Sexta, that […]
The BBC Worldwide chief executive, John Smith, is confident a deal to form a joint venture with Channel 4 will be signed within weeks following the tabling of a new streamlined proposal that he claims has gained traction with both parties. Smith said the new proposition would pull in parts of Channel 4’s operation, including […]
CBS has become the first network to sign up to trials of an online VOD in the US. The broadcaster's alliance with Comcast, the cable group which unveiled plans for its On Demand Online service last month, could help CBS build up an alternative to Hulu, the fast-growing online video site backed by three rival […]
ESOA (the European Satellite Operator's Association) has elected Romain Bausch, CEO of SES as Chairman of the Board. Bausch, a satellite industry veteran, joined SES in 1995 as CEO and has been President and CEO since 2001. He also serves as Chairman of the SES Executive Committee, Chairman of the Board of Directors of SES […]