Advanced Television

Pay TV

Dish Network Q4 profit rises, subs fall

Dish Network has reported its fourth-quarter profit rose 24 per cent, but the second placed US DTH provider lost more than 100,000 subscribers. Dish Network earned $217 million for the three months ended December 31st, up from $175 million a year earlier. Sales rose 1 per cent to $2.92 billion from $2.89 billion. During the […]

March 3, 2009

Premier League targets pirate sites

The English Premier League has called for tighter laws against IT theft to stop the unauthorised online broadcasting of football matches. One website which links to unauthorised live broadcasts of Premier League and other matches now attracts more traffic than the sites of broadcasters such as ITV, according to a report by a BBC programme. […]

March 3, 2009

Setanta and ITV stall FA payments

Cash-strapped Setanta and ITV are seeking to renegotiate the payment terms of their £425 million (E474m) rights deals with the UK Football Association for coverage of FA Cup and England international football matches. According to reports Setanta has delayed making a payment of £10 million on its £150 million contract while ITV has met its […]

March 3, 2009

Sky is 'recession resistant'

Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch has predicted that the UK trading environment is going to get worse before it gets better. Darroch told a financial conference that Sky's core product remained relevant to customers during the recessionary period and this was common to pay-TV operators around the world. "By focusing on products like Sky+ and our […]

March 3, 2009

Premium programming still 'value purchase'

Nearly 40 percent of U.S. internet-enabled households subscribe to premium entertainment services that offer DVD delivery, music downloads or video games on demand, according to a report released Wednesday by market research firm The NPD Group. The reason, according to NPD, is that consumers today are looking for value. "For just a few dollars a […]

February 24, 2009

Premiere suffers losses

Struggling German pay TV broadcaster Premiere AG said it expects no subscriber growth for at least four months after worse-than-expected 2008 results as it prepares to tap shareholders for fresh funds. The live broadcast rights holder for football games from Germany’s top league posted a wider-than-expected fourth-quarter loss and forecast more losses for the whole […]

February 19, 2009

AirPlus TV to launch Italian pay-TV service

From Branislav Pekic in Rome Swedish AirplusTV Group is launching its digital terrestrial pay-TV platform in Italy in March. Dahlia TV will take the place of La7 Cartapiù, as a result of the December deal between AirplusTV Group and Telecom Italia Media for the transfer of all DTT pay-TV activities to the to the Italian […]

February 19, 2009

Setanta makes deposit, will lobby for more rights

Sky and Setanta have made deposits guaranteeing the packages they won in an auction for live TV rights from 2010. Setanta plans to complain to domestic and European regulators after it managed to win only one package of 23 matches from 2010, halving its live Premier League coverage. Sky will have 115 live games from […]

February 19, 2009

Premiere Bundesliga PPV online.

Premiere is to offer live web-based coverage of individual top-flight football from the Bundesliga and German second division on a pay-per-view basis, including to non subscribers. The company announced it has won the exclusive live online rights to show games in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as well as renewing its cable and satellite TV rights. […]

February 19, 2009

Premiere promo FTA

Germany's Premiere wants a FTA channel, called Premiere Vitrine, to promote its pay TV services, and has applied to the Bavarian media authority for a licence. Premiere has struggled to make premium pay-TV a success in a country with over 30 FTA channels. Premiere closed Giga TV, a previous attempt at a stand-alone FTA channel.

February 19, 2009