Advanced Television

Business

Virgin rethinks TV sale, again

Virgin Media's attempt to sell its wholly-owned television channels has been called to a halt following an initial review in October and it now seems certain Virgin will try and package up a deal to sell its owned stations and its half of the UKTV joint venture. The company's advisors have valued its channels – […]

November 16, 2009

OneVision told to get on with DTT plans

The consortium chosen to develop digital terrestrial television (DTT) in Ireland has been told by the The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) to make progress with its plans as a matter of urgency. It has written to the OneVision consortium, requesting that contracts for DTT be signed within the next couple of weeks. It was […]

November 16, 2009

Widevine raises cash

Widevine Technologies has raised a fresh round of capital. Chief Executive Brian Baker said he plans to announce the financing and details of a strategic partnership with a large customer in the coming weeks. A Securities and Exchange Filing indicated that Widevine had raised over $7 million.

November 16, 2009

Liberty Global scoops Unitymedia

International cable operator Liberty Global is to acquire Germany's second largest cable company Unitymedia in a E2 billion deal. Unitymedia has systems in the German federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse, which are among the most prosperous and densely populated regions in Europe. Unity Media's cable footprint passes some 8.8 million homes, including ten […]

November 13, 2009

Canvas not needed, say Sky and Virgin

BSkyB and Virgin Media had a rare show of unity when they agreed that the Project Canvas open IPTV platform should not be cleared by the BBC Trust because it isn't providing anything the market isn't already. Griff Parry, director of on demand for Sky, told the C21Media's FutureMedia conference "there's no evidence of market […]

November 13, 2009

Kudelski completes takeover of OpenTV

Digital TV company Kudelski has purchased approximately 60 per cent of the shares in OpenTV Corp it had not already owned for $1.55 a share, taking its voting rights to 91 per cent. In February, Kudelski had proposed buying the remainder of OpenTV’s shares for $1.35 per share, but withdrew that bid in June after […]

November 13, 2009

India: digital cable TV approved

The Indian cabinet has approved a policy that would help digitise cable TV operations across the country. Under the so-called headend-in-the-sky (HITS) policy, cable operators will have to lease transponders on a dedicated satellite, acquire TV channels from broadcasters, uplink these to the satellite, then download and beam the signals to households in digital format.

November 13, 2009

Motorola to sell Connected Home Division

Motorola is to sell its Connected Home Division, including the world's biggest STB business, according to the NY Times. The newspapers says sources at Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, hired to advise on strategic options, are now recommending a three-way split with networks being sold off and the remaining company separated between the mobile phone […]

November 13, 2009

Motorola Israel buys BitBand

Whoever buys Motorola's connected home business is now also going to acquire BitBand Networks, just bought by Motorola Israel for $10 million. The company’s solutions enable the provision of IP VOD. BitBand had raised $18 million from investors, and has been on the market since 2006. BitBand was founded in 2000, and currently has 80 […]

November 13, 2009

RTL reports 6.4% fall in revenue – ads improve

RTL, owner of Channel Five, has reported that revenue declined 6.4 per cent to E1.1 billion in the three months to the end of September. Despite the decline, the pan-European broadcaster and producer – which is majority-owned by German media group Bertelsmann – said that the TV advertising outlook has been improving since late summer. […]

November 13, 2009