ITV has confirmed Archie Norman, the former chief executive of supermarket group Asda, as its new chairman. The appointment of Norman, 55, a former Tory MP, will bring to an end a seven-month search for the commercial broadcaster as it sought to replace Michael Grade, its executive chairman. ITV is expected to see its fortunes […]
Rural areas of the UK could gain access to broadband Internet services by using spare television spectrum after Ofcom gave the green light to the technology’s development. The communications regulator published a discussion paper on use of so-called 'white space' spectrum – the buffer radio spectrum between television channels, inviting the industry to push forward […]
Italy’s Mediaset has filed a complaint with antitrust officials against Sky Italia over its Digital Key that allows Sky Italia subscribers to view free DTT channels. The pay-TV market is dominated by Sky Italia on DTH but Mediaset has been trying to challenge Sky’s position with low-cost pay-TV on DTT. “The distribution by Sky of […]
Targeted ad firm Phorm has lost its UK managing director Nick Barnett. With none of Phorm's initially-announced three interested UK ISPs having gone ahead with rollout it seems the company has chosen to focus on international opportunities. South Korea's KT has begun a trial. European potential customers have been put off by privacy concerns and […]
From David Del Valle in Madrid For the nine month period to September Spain’s largest cable company declared a net profit of E41 million, up 144.7 per cent, with an EBITDA of E541 million, up 3.5 per cent year on year. But revenues fell by 5.1 per cent to E1,140 million, with subscriptions also dropping […]
Scottish ITV franchise owner STV is counter-suing ITV over the VOD rights to ITV shows it airs. STV was already being sued by ITV for £38 million (E42.7m) it claims it's losing by STV not screening its programmes in Scotland. STV's claim is that, though STV acquires rights for linear ITV television shows, ITV Network […]
The government is delaying until after the next election the decision on whether to force the BBC to share part of its £3.6bn (E4bn) licence fee income with producers of independent regional news programming. In publishing the results of a short consultation of the proposals, originally laid out in the Digital Britain white paper in […]
A ruling stating that sporting events may be aired live online without violating copyrights undermines the legal basis for managing broadcasting rights, representatives of the English soccer Premier League have stated in their appeal to the Israeli High Court of Justice. The earlier ruling was handed down by the Tel Aviv District Court. The English […]
While AEPOC praises increasing effectiveness in law enforcement activities in many EU countries to counteract audio-visual piracy, several EU states show little involvement. Eight EU countries have still not yet named a delegate for the EU's High Level Expert group. AEPOC calls on Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands and Slovenia to join […]
Jupiter Telecommunications (J:COM) has announced that the total subscribing households as of October 31st 2009 served by J:COM's 23 consolidated franchises reached approximately 3.26 million, up 343,100, or 11.8 per cent since October 31st 2008. Combined revenue generating units (RGUs) for cable television, high-speed Internet access and telephony services reached 5.89 million, up 655,100 or […]