Setanta’s founders and MCD boss Denis Desmond are expected to take full control of the sports giant’s Irish business after agreeing a buyout with original investors, including Doughty Hanson and Goldman Sachs. The deal comes as secured debt holders, who are owed E220 million by Setanta, consider fresh “commercial terms” offered by the Irish team. […]
Virgin Media and Universal Pictures are teaming up to launch PictureBox, a movies-on-demand TV subscription service. From July, the PictureBox service will be available to Virgin Media’s 3.6 million TV subscribers for £5 (E5.87) per month, and will provide a selection of recent and library feature films. Subscribers will be able to view films from […]
Eutelsat has confirmed the full commercial launch of Fransat, the new service giving satellite access in metropolitan France to all French free DTT channels. To receive Fransat, households can buy a labelled Pack comprising a decoder and a Fransat conditional-access smartcard. Packs are already available at typical points of sale for satellite TV (individual suppliers […]
Microsoft and VivaKi, the digital arm of Publicis, have unveiled a broad cooperation deal spanning the fast-growing digital advertising sector to targeted television advertising. The deal will lead to the creation of a customised VivaKi advertisement exchange for television advertising delivered via Microsoft’s Admira software. As part of the agreement, VivaKi’s units Starcom MediaVest Group, […]
enableTV is offering a tru2way deployment solution including its royalty-free, commercial version of CableLabs tru2way Reference Implementation. The enableTV OCAP middleware package includes full source for the Java middleware, and is the sole source of example porting layers, porting layer test suites, porting and testing documentation, technical product support and optional porting services. enableTV will […]
Mark Thompson, the BBC's director general, has accused a small group of "ideologically focused" people within the UK government of trying to undermine his organisation's financial security. The BBC chief directed particular attack on the government and Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, listing a series of causes – including the funding of Channel 4 and the […]
Disney-owned ESPN is to broadcast live English Premier League football action in the UK for the first time after securing the rights to show 46 games for the 2009/2010 season and 23 games in each of the three following seasons until May 2013. The rights were made available by the EPL after the holder, Setanta, […]
From Branislav Pekic in Rome Italian public broadcaster RAI will launch a new free-to-air satellite TV channel for international audiences on June 28th. Yes Italia will promote Italy's cultural and historical heritage, with four-hour blocks of programmes dedicated to cuisine, travel, Italian design and cultural events. It will target both international viewers and foreign tourists […]
Wetpaint have released the TV Fandex, the first measurement tool that gauges online engagement with popular TV programmes rather than just measuring size of viewing audience. Measured from sources including Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Wetpaint fansites, the rankings are generated through an algorithm that tracks consumption and creation of content and fan buzz. The TV […]
The French pay-TV operator Canal+ will test a special 'weekend subscription' this autumn. CEO Bertrand Méheut said the subscription will cost around E15 a month, about half the usual price for a package from Friday evening to late Sunday night. Méheut also said there are 6.2 million households subscribing to either the Canal+ or the […]