Advanced Television

Pay TV

Zap platform on Eutelast

Eutelsat Communications has signed a major contract with Upstar Comunicações for satellite capacity for the broadcasting of Zap pay-TV platform, expected to launch shortly in Angola. Upstar Comunicações is a joint venture between Zon Multimedia, one of the leading Portuguese media groups ,and the Angolan group SOCIP. The five-year contract covers the lease of five […]

March 3, 2010

Portuguese pay-TV subs top 2.5m

From Branislav Pekic in Rome The number of pay-TV subscribers in Portugal increased 10.6 per cent in the 4Q 2009 to over 2.5 million or 45 per cent of total households, according to data released by the country's telecommunications regulator Anacom. The figure includes all platforms (cable, DTH, fibre and other technologies) and represents a […]

March 2, 2010

Dish subs and revenues rise

Dish Network Corp, the number 2 US satellite television operator, posted better-than-expected quarterly revenue as its subscriber base expanded in the face of a weak economy. Fourth-quarter revenue rose 1.4 per cent to $2.96 billion. Net income came in at $179 million compared with $217 million, the year-ago quarter. Dish, which is controlled by Chief […]

March 2, 2010

Belgacom TV reports strong growth

Convergence and innovation were the keys to success and record sales of Packs, Belgacom TV has stated. In 2009, the Belgacom Group reported a net profit of E904 million. Didier Bellens, CEO of the Belgacom Group said “Not only did we obtain many new customers, but existing customers remained loyal to us, despite the fierce […]

March 1, 2010

Telefonica pay subs grow

Telefónica Spain's Imagenio service added 48,725 pay-TV subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2009, taking its customer base to 702,980, up 14.8 per cent year-on-year. It said that the now had a pay-TV market share of 17 per cent, based on coverage that was limited to only 60 per cent of Spanish households. Telefónica said […]

March 1, 2010

Orange TV up 45%

Orange TV subscribers grew by 53 per cent to a 3.22 million total in 2009 and by 45 per cent in France to 2.76 million, where it is available via IPTV and satellite. In France there were 8.5 million VOD purchases in 209, a year-on-year increase of 67 per cent.

February 26, 2010

NDS aids launch of South African pay-TV platform

On Digital Media has selected NDS as technology provider and prime integrator to support the launch of its direct-to-home DTH platform in South Africa. The new service, TopTV, will go live in Q2 2010. On Digital Media will secure their MPEG4 DVB-S2-based service using NDS' VideoGuard conditional access technology. To enable the platform and provide […]

February 23, 2010

Global telco TV revenue to hit $17bn in 2010

“Telco TV market growth was strong in 2009. As a result, service revenue for the global telco TV market increased to nearly $12 billion in 2009 and will increase to nearly $17 billion by the end of 2010,” says Serene Fong, industry analyst at ABI Research. Western Europe generates the largest share of global revenue […]

February 12, 2010

Orange takes pay-DTT online

France Telecom's Orange is in discussions with a number of pay-DTT channels with a view to offering them to its subscribers via ADSL and satellite, the operator has confirmed. Talks go back as far as 2007, but Orange has expressed the hope that the offer will be made available by the end of the first […]

February 10, 2010

Sky Italia and Deutschland cloud News Corp results

News Corp returned to profit with $254 million for the three months to December, compared with a $6.4 billion loss a year ago – down to major asset write-downs. “Content is not just king, it is the emperor of all things digital,” said chairman Rupert Murdoch. “We’re on the cusp of a digital revolution from […]

February 4, 2010