German pay-TV operator Premiere's shareholders have approved an E412m capital increase despite minority shareholders' reluctance and dissatisfaction with the company's previous management. Premiere, where News Corp is the largest shareholder, held an extraordinary general meeting on February 25 and small shareholders complained that previous management had wrongly inflated subscriber numbers the discovery of which had […]
Just as Comcast and other Pay TV operators have announced plans to push high-value cable network programming to the PC, research from TDG suggests that their intention to not charge for this content could be a major strategic error and leave hundreds of millions in additional fees on the table. "Cable operators are working aggressively […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]