Freeview in New Zealand has welcomed two major developments that have taken place in NZ Digital Television. The first is the news yesterday that TVNZ 6 and TVNZ 7 are set to become available to all Sky TV viewers on a subscription free basis. The second development is the news that TVNZ has acquired a […]
Bertelsmann, the German media group that controls Five, has said that the UK broadcaster does not have a sustainable future without a merger with ITV or Channel 4. Thomas Rabe, the chief financial officer of Bertelsmann, which has a 90 per cent stake in Five owner RTL, said that the UK broadcaster’s current business model […]
From Colin Mann at IPTV World Forum Marking Hulu's first UK deal, the online video service has signed with Digital Rights Group (DRG) to roll out titles from its catalogue. Hulu's US service, launched publicly in March 2008 now offers content from more than 1,200 shows, series and movie titles from more than 130 providers. […]
Hulu has further signaled its international intent with the hiring of a dedicated international SVP to acquire TV rights. Johannes Larcher had previously been search firm overture's international GM, the international VP for Friendster and most recently co-founded now-defunct social betting site Pikum. There had been much speculation about a Hulu UK launch but the […]
Netflix is the latest media company to integrate with social networking website Facebook. Starting this week, Netflix users can use Facebook Connect – software that links individual Facebook pages to third-party Web sites – to share their ratings of Netflix rentals with their Facebook friends. Movie ratings will appear on Netflix subscribers Facebook pages if […]
From Colin Mann in London Satellite operator SES Astra has significantly increased its reach in Europe, particularly in France, Ukraine and the UK, and is now broadcasting to 122 million analogue and digital TV homes across Europe. At the heart of the increase in reach was the increase of Astra's digital satellite penetration across Europe. […]
Video on demand services have now been used by half the population of Britain, with millions of viewers claiming to use the service every month, according to a survey, commissioned by industry regulator ATVOD, which shows that 50 per cent of the population have used on-demand services, with 20 per cent using them every week. […]
Seven Britons have been arrested in the Spanish coastal area of Orihuela for allegedly distributing pirated television signals to more than 15,000 clients, most of them also British. The Guardia Civil made the arrests in several urbanisations on March 17, with telecommunications and computer material also being seized. The group allegedly distributed the signal from […]
According to Strategy Analytics Digital Media Strategies (DMS) research, the top 27 digital media companies in the world increased earnings by more than 20 per cent, to $74 billion in 2008 up from $61.5 billion in 2007. Among the top five digital media companies in the world, Apple's 'Other Music Related Products and Services' segment, […]
A Knowledge Networks study offers clear evidence that streamers and downloaders of TV network video have embraced – or at least accepted – advertising as an alternative to for-pay models. Eighty per cent of network video downloaders favour watching ads in exchange for free video, up from 67 per cent in 2006; and 69 per […]