Advanced Television

Business

Malone plays down DirecTV-Dish merger

The merger rumour surfaced following speculation that federal officials could be inclined to support it, following their approval of the XM-Sirius satellite radio merger. DirecTV and Dish attempted to merge several years ago, but the FCC rejected it in 2002 on competition grounds. In an earnings call following release of the company’s second quarter report, […]

August 14, 2008

France Telecom for Digital Plus?

Speculation is increasingly mounting in Spain about France Telecom’s interest in acquiring Sogecable’s pay-TV unit, Digital Plus. The telco joins names such as Rupert Murdoch, Carlos Slim and Telefónica, among others, as being linked with the operation. Sogecable’s approach to France Telecom-controlled IPTV service Orange TV with the recent launch of a triple play offer, […]

August 14, 2008

US cable: three-quarters of additional broadband subs

Leichtman also reports that the top cable companies added over 670,000 subscribers, representing 76 per cent of the net broadband additions for the quarter versus the top telephone companies; overall, broadband additions in 2Q 2008 amounted to 51 per cent of those in 2Q 2007 – with cable having 85 per cent as many additions […]

August 14, 2008

Record six months for commercial TV

During January to June, the UK watched 2.4 billion broadcast TV ads a day, an average of 42 per person. Within BARB's total figure, commercial impacts are also up for key advertiser audiences. ABC1s are watching nine per cent more TV ads and 16 to 34s are watching three per cent more. The figures, published […]

August 12, 2008

Light at end of tunnel for TMT

Nearly a quarter (23 per cent) of TMT companies are forecasting growth of more than 20 per cent over the next three years, and almost than two-thirds (62 per cent) are forecasting growth of more than 10 per cent. In addition, an overwhelming majority of CFOs (80 per cent) are confident that their companies will […]

August 12, 2008

NXP completes Conexant deal

With this transaction, the first for its Home Business Unit, NXP's existing set-top box (STB) and digital TV (DTV) operations will be combined with Conexant's BMP business. NXP's Home business unit adds high-performance STB system solutions for satellite, cable and IP STB, expanding its existing portfolio in terrestrial STB, IP STB and DTV. The acquisition […]

August 12, 2008

Light at end of tunnel for TMT

Nearly a quarter (23 per cent) of TMT companies are forecasting growth of more than 20 per cent over the next three years, and almost than two-thirds (62 per cent) are forecasting growth of more than 10 per cent. In addition, an overwhelming majority of CFOs (80 per cent) are confident that their companies will […]

August 12, 2008

DirecTV posts solid quarter

The outfit, of which Liberty Media owns a controlling interest, reported earnings of $455 million on second-quarter revenue of $4.8 billion. DirecTV's revenue jumped 16 per cent from the $4.1 billion it recorded in the second quarter of 2007, though quarterly profits grew only 2 per cent from the $448 million from a year ago. […]

August 11, 2008

Dish loses subs

Although the subscriber loss meant lower installation costs for Dish, which helped lift its second-quarter profit above expectations, analysts said that the customer loss boded ill for the company's growth prospects. Dish said it lost a net 25,000 subscribers during the second quarter. A year ago, Dish added 170,000 subscribers in the second quarter. The […]

August 11, 2008

Liberty Global Q2 profits

Controlled by US cable pioneer John Malone, Liberty Global reported net income of $428 million, or $1.11 per share in the second quarter ended June 30th, compared with a net loss of $129.7 million, or 34 cents per share a year earlier. Revenue rose 25 per cent to $2.73 billion, from $2.18 billion a year […]

August 8, 2008