Advanced Television

Pay TV

Zon can bid for DTT pay-TV channels

Zon Multimedia SGPS will be allowed to bid to operate pay-TV channels in Portugal’s digital terrestrial television (DTT) tender if it does so as a minority stakeholder in a consortium, according to a director at telecoms regulator Anacom. According to the Anacom director, Zon has been excluded from bidding on its own for the pay-TV […]

February 28, 2008

TNTSAT reaches 350,000 households

SES Astra and French pay-TV group CANAL+ have revealed that the digital terrestrial free-TV offer TNTSAT has sold 350,000 receivers to French households. TNTSAT is a service for French TV viewers offering the whole range of terrestrial digital free-TV channels over the Astra satellites, and allowing a 100 per cent-coverage of the French territory.

February 26, 2008

News Corp raises stake in Premiere

News Corp has increased its stake in German pay television operator Premiere to nearly 20 per cent. The company acquired an initial stake of 14.6 per cent in January from German cable operator Unity Media for $422.5 million in cash. Premiere has more than 4 million subscribers in Germany and Austria.

February 25, 2008

Big uplift predicted for broadcast

Researcher Datamonitor expects the global broadcast market to experience significant revenue growth from $284.1 billion in 2007 to $326.2 billion by 2010. However, it is expected that growth will only be secured through revenue diversification from value-add and bundled services including Internet service provision, HD content, on-demand solutions, interactive applications and multi-platform distribution.Consumers are faced […]

February 18, 2008

TBS and VTR to launch CNN Chile

Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) and VTR, a division of Liberty Global, will partner to launch CNN Chile, the first 24-hour, pay television news network specifically programmed for the Chilean market. The channel is scheduled to debut this year. TBS Latin America and VTR are equal partners in CNN Chile, which represents the first joint-venture of […]

February 15, 2008

Nagravision steers in-car TV

From Colin Mann in Barcelona Content protection specialist Nagravision has joined forces with mobile multimedia device developer Quantum and automotive component manufacturer Magneti Marelli to launch QTM TV, a DVB-H and DVB-T pay-TV mobile set top box dedicated to in-car entertainment'. The QTM TV is thought to be the first automotive grade set-top box providing […]

February 13, 2008

Takeover rumours circle Setanta

Pay-TV sports broadcaster Setanta Sports was at the centre of takeover speculation after reports of a £1 billion-plus (E1.4bn) offer for the business. The Irish company received the unsolicited approach from a unnamed European media company and the interest could spark a flood of rival offers, reported the Sunday Telegraph. BT, Virgin Media and US […]

February 12, 2008

Sogecable launches Canal+HD

From David Del Valle in Madrid The largest Spanish pay-TV group, Sogecable, is the first company in the country to distribute nationwide a High Definition channel with the launch of Canal + HD, the HD version of its premium pay-TV service. On trial since last December, the channel will offer a regular HD transmission to […]

February 1, 2008

CSA calls for HD DTT bids

France's broadcasting regulator, the Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel (CSA), has issued a call for bids to broadcast a High Definition pay-TV service on one of the country's digital terrestrial multiplexes. The opportunity is available to all pay-TV services currently authorised on DTT who wish to replace their current Standard Definition broadcast with HD. Bids will […]

February 1, 2008

Pay-TV content war

From David Del Valle in Madrid The main Spanish pay-TV operators Digital Plus (DTH), ONO (cable) and Imagenio (IPTV) are strengthening their programming line-up in a tough fight for capturing new subscribers. They are upgrading their TV packages with the addition of new TV channels and services. Digital Plus is launching the local TV channel […]

January 9, 2008