FOX Channels has released its 2007 year-end ratings results for Italy, a market that saw continued growth in pay TV last year. FOX's 12-channel strong entertainment and factual bouquet continued to be one of Sky Italia's key drivers. The group topped all other comparable networks with its growth contribution reaching 36 per cent of Sky's […]

The head of the Federal Communications Commission expressed concern that the credit crunch could hinder bidders in an upcoming government auction of wireless airwaves. Chairman Kevin Martin said that he was “concerned that the overall economic conditions could end up impacting the auction.” Martin’s comments came less than a week after a key potential bidder […]

More than a third of British viewers regularly watch programmes on-demand instead of relying on traditional TV schedules, according to research. The report from Tiscali shows that 37 per cent, twice last year’s figure of 17 per cent, are now used to creating their own TV schedules. More than three-quarters (79 per cent) of British […]

Sky is to launch its first TV ad promoting Sky Anytime on-demand service as part of a multimillion-pound campaign for Sky Movies. The TV ad for the Sky Anytime PC service, which uses the tagline “Nobody likes watching the clock”, features the Billie Holiday song Any Old Time. BSkyB has created a series of three […]

The Independent Film Channel is launching a new video-on-demand platform for independent films on some major cable systems. Festival Direct will be an on-demand service on Cablevision Systems, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable, Comcast and Charter Communications. Viewers will get to choose from films that have premiered at film festivals around the world, including Cannes, […]

From David Del Valle in Madrid One out of every four households in Spain are already connected to DTT, reaching a total of 10 million viewers. However, only 4.6 million people daily watch DTT in the country, representing an average share of 9.5 per cent, according to the latest figures released by the Pro DTT […]

From Branislav Pekic Rome Portugal's Minister for Parliamentary Issues, responsible for the Social Communications Portfolio, has rejected subsidising DTT decoders, pointing out that the Government does not have the obligation of paying for digital TVs or decoding devices. “The incentives that the Government has already made available are for the improvement of the offer via […]

From David Del Valle in Madrid Spain has failed to switch off Local TV analogue transmissions breaking the law that stated that from January 1st all 1,000 existing local TV stations should be migrating to digital. Two years before the complete migration to digital, scheduled for April 2010 for nation wide TV channels, the road […]

Sony Pictures has signed a Video-On-Demand agreement with incumbent telecom operator, Belgacom, in Belgium. Through the deal Sony is providing an extensive range of movie content from the Sony Pictures current slate along with titles from the Studio's library. The service enables Belgacom TV customers to view movies on their TVs through their set top […]

From Sotires Eleftheriou in Paris In a surprise announcement President Sarkozy said that the government is looking to drop ads from the public sector television and radio channels. These are currently financed by a licence fee of E116 a year, with advertising bringing in an extra E800 million, providing France 2 with 40 per cent […]