Advanced Television

Broadcast

Freesat launches

From Colin Mann in London The digital satellite television service from ITV and the BBC has launched across Britain offering high definition programming and more than 80 channels for no monthly fee. Freesat, will be available in 98 per cent of households, the broadcasters also hope the addition of high definition channels on a free-to-air […]

May 7, 2008

DirecTV up 10%

DirecTV's first-quarter net income rose 10 per cent amid higher net subscriber additions and a lower subscriber cancellation rate. The company reported net income of $371 million, up from $336 million, a year earlier. Revenue rose 17 per cent to $4.59 billion. DirecTV said US net subscriber additions rose 17 per cent to 275,000, putting […]

May 6, 2008

Spain’s ONO and Antena 3 VOD deal

From David Del Valle in Madrid The Spanish broadcaster Antena 3 TV and the largest cable operator in the country ONO has reached an agreement to distribute on VoD the main and most successful Antena 3’s TV series through ONO’s Ojo Videoclub service. ONO’s 1 million pay-TV subscribers will be able to enjoy TV series […]

May 6, 2008

Astra bales on Entavio

SES-Astra looks certain to give up on marketing the Entavio 'platform' direct to the German public. Instead it will work more closely with Premiere. “The offer was not attractive enough, there is too much overlap with Premiere Star,” said CFO Mark Rigolle. The introduction of the Entavio platform has always been controversial, politicians and consumer […]

May 5, 2008

Ad-supported free mobile TV for Oz

Australia is set to receive its first live free-to-air mobile TV network with the launch of Bluetooth broadcaster YoMo. Starting this month, the service, which will feature a video news and entertainment feed updated throughout the day, will be broadcast, using Bluetooth technology, to a network of transmission points in the eastern states. Anyone with […]

May 2, 2008

Airey quits ITV for Five

Britain’s biggest commercial broadcaster ITV has revealed the shock news that its managing director of global content, Dawn Airey, had resigned with immediate effect, less than a year after she joined the company. She will be taking an extended period of gardening leave prior to joining pan-European broadcaster RTL Group in a senior position, including […]

May 1, 2008

Private content for Neuf VOD

Private Media Group has launched its content for Video-on-Demand on the Neuf Cegetel IPTV platform in France as part of Neuf's Triple-Play offer. Neuf VOD will provide access to hundreds of titles from Private's extensive proprietary movie library.

March 31, 2008

Kangaroo target ads

Kangaroo, the on-demand service from BBC Worldwide, Channel 4 and ITV, aims to offer targeted advertising, targeting users by location, age or demographic profile. The service’s backers are considering introducing a registration process on the service’s homepage, which would help track how users access video content and ensure effective advertising. Users would initially be asked […]

March 28, 2008

Portugal to launch tender for 5th TV channel

From Branislav Pekic in Rome The tender for Portugal's fifth national free-to-air TV channel will be launched in October or 180 days after the submitting of the bids on the Digital Terrestrial Television tender. Portugal's Minister for Parliamentary Issues, Augusto Santos Silva, announced that the bids for the two DTT tenders can be submitted up […]

March 28, 2008

Boxer wins DTT for Denmark

Swedish DTT platform Boxer has won the right to operate the DTT platform in Denmark. The media authority announced Boxer will run the three multiplex service that opens in November 2009 after switchover. Boxer won out over bids from the Norwegian Telenor and the Swedish Modern Times Group.

March 28, 2008