ASA, the UK advertising watchdog, has made its first ruling against a VOD ad, banning a zombie film trailer that ran in The X Factor final on the ITV Player. The Advertising Standards Authority received a complaint that the ad was frightening and inappropriate for display during a family programme because it had distressed young […]

Ofcom has confirmed that only fixed line ISPs with more than 400,000 subscribers will be forced to comply with the Digital Economy Act’s controversial anti-file sharing provisions. The communications regulator has informed the Internet Service Providers’ Association of the benchmark, and said it intends to publish rules within the next two weeks. It means mobile […]

Tektronix, supplier of test, measurement, and monitoring products and solutions, have acquired Mixed Signals. The details of the transaction have not yet been disclosed. “The acquisition of Mixed Signals brings to Tektronix a strong team that has delivered leading innovation to the video monitoring market,” said Eben Jenkins, General Manager of the Tektronix Video Business. […]

Cisco has confirmed its intent to acquire privately held MOTO Development Group, a design consulting firm that develops products and product strategies for the consumer industry. Based in San Francisco, MOTO’s talent base will enable Cisco to rapidly enhance its consumer product development road map. “Consumers have embraced our Flip VideoValet and Linksys product lines […]

A federal appeals court has granted Dish Network a rare, full-court (so-called 'en banc'”) review of a ruling it had earlier lost to TiVo, that could have resulted in the satellite TV company disabling millions of digital video recorders. However, the US Court of Appeals review is a last straw effort as damages mounted. TiVo […]

Harmonic's planned $274 million acquisition of media server and storage specialist Omneon confirms forecasts that the recovery in the professional media industry is under way, according to a report published by Strategy Analytics and D. I. S. Consulting. The report also concludes that further deals should be expected from Harmonic as it seeks to add […]

Telefonica has reported its first quarter net profit rose 2 per cent to E1.65 billion as revenue increased in Europe and Latin America. Overall revenue rose 1.7 per cent to E13.93 billion from E13.69 billion. The Spanish telco reported a total of 2.6 million customers worldwide for its pay-TV services by the end of the […]

Online TV viewing has increased by 54 per cent since last year, with 55 per cent of 18-24-year-olds watching TV on their PCs at least once a week, according to YouGov research. YouGov's media consulting team found 36 per cent of 18-24s and 30 per cent of 25-34s said they expect to watch more TV […]

BT has confirmed that it will expand its roll-out of next-generation broadband to bring super-fast services to two-thirds of the UK. Originally its fibre services, offering speeds of up to 40 megabits per second (Mbps), were due to reach around 40 per cent of the population by 2012. Another £1 billion (E1.16 billion) (on top […]

From Colin Mann in London As anticipated, Jeremy Hunt has been named Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport in the new Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government. Having shadowed the role in opposition, Hunt retains his existing brief in the new cabinet, but also gets specific responsibility for the smooth running of the 2012 […]