Advanced Television

VOD

Kabel BW VOD with SeaChange/eventIS

Kabel Baden-Württemberg, one of Germany’s largest cable television operators, has rolled out on-demand television services based on video back office software and systems integration from SeaChange/eventIS, a subsidiary of SeaChange International.  Dubbed “Videothek”, the on-demand service is now live to 2.3 million Kabel BW subscribers across Southwestern Germany, offering hundreds of films and series with […]

January 19, 2011

PCCW launches PPV service

Hong Kong telco PCCW has launched its new pay-per-view movie on-demand service branded ‘now Video Express’. The service is available on its IPTV platform ‘now TV’ and offers the movies from major Hollywood studios including Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros.  Titles will be offered both in high-definition and in standard-definition, with some to […]

January 18, 2011

LOVEFiLM and Ocado partner for 2011

LOVEFiLM and Ocado kick start 2011 with a 12-month contract that will see the supermarket giant direct marketing to LOVEFiLM’s sizeable and well-suited customer base. LOVEFiLM, Europe’s largest subscription service streaming movies and TV episodes over the internet and sending DVDs by post, will distribute uniquely branded inserts direct to customers’ doorsteps via rental titles […]

January 18, 2011

YouView delay?

BT’S pay-TV ambitions have been dealt a blow with the delay of a new and potentially ground-breaking service to bring VOD to Freeview. The launch of the YouView service will be delayed six months beyond the summer according to reports in the Daily Mail. The paper says technical problems and discord between the partners mean […]

January 17, 2011

Premium VOD tops theatrical challenges

Premium VOD and piracy rank the two biggest challenges facing movie theatre owners in 2011, according to John Fithian, CEO of National Association of Theatre Owners. Speaking in a conference call hosted by MKM Partners, Fithian said studio efforts to bolster declining home entertainment disc sales through premium VOD presents a greater risk to the […]

January 17, 2011

Orange CineHome for Switzerland

Orange Switzerland will launch its ‘Orange CineHome’ service on January 17th, enabling its mobile customers to access a range of films and TV shows on their television through a dedicated set-top box with broadband connection. The service will offer unlimited access to the Warner Bros TV film and TV series catalogue as well as unlimited […]

January 14, 2011

BBC Trust: On-demand should be syndicated via iPlayer

The BBC Trust has concluded provisionally that on-demand BBC programmes should only be made available to TV platform operators through the BBC iPlayer, and should not be made available on a programme-by-programme basis. The BBC iPlayer should be made available in standard formats that the great majority of other TV operators can readily adopt, the […]

January 13, 2011by Colin Mann

US digital entertainment spend up $19bn in 2010

Spending on home entertainment reached $18.8 billion in the US during 2010, down slightly from $19.4 billion in 2009, according to a report from the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG). The US home entertainment market continued to benefit from the steady growth of Blu-ray, which reached sales of $1.8 billion, while consumer spending on digital distribution […]

January 12, 2011

Online certificates from BBFC

In the latest move to bring its widely recognised and trusted classifications to the world of digitally distributed content, every VHS, DVD and Blu-Ray title classified by film classification body the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) since 1985 has been given a digital certificate. Since 2008, the BBFC has been working with the UK […]

January 10, 2011

Technology and device partnerships for MCV

Mobile Content Venture (MCV), a joint-venture comprising 12 major US broadcast groups dedicated to developing a national mobile content service that delivers live television and on-demand video content, has revealed technology agreements in the mobile TV space with MobiTV and Nagra-Kudelski, as well as commitments from several manufacturers to create MCV-compatible devices. Value-added content protection […]

January 6, 2011by Colin Mann