Advanced Television

Regulation

Sky Italia DTT go ahead

The Italian State Council has ruled that Sky Italia can take part in the tender for DTT frequencies in Italy. The government had originally tried to thwart the News Corp owned broadcaster’s attempt at obtaining terrestrial frequencies. There are currently 21 multiplexes available in the country, of which 16 have already been awarded.

March 2, 2011

ANT bemoans lack of convergence specifications

Simon Woodward, CEO of digital TV software provider ANT, has implied that delays in agreeing product specifications that deliver the benefit of merged linear and Internet TV has affected the company’s revenues. Woodward’s comments came as ANT reported a seven per cent drop in full year revenue to £4.35million (€5.14m) last year from £4.70 million […]

March 1, 2011By Colin Mann

Police hit Mid-East TV pirates

The police in Dubai have raided “dozens” of buildings in the UAE targeting alleged signal distribution pirates in the region. Dubai Police’s economic crime department co-ordinated the raids having been given details of the alleged pirates by Arab Digital Distribution (ADD), a pay-TV broadcaster which specialises in supplying content for Asian viewers. “Piracy is not […]

March 1, 2011By Chris Forrester

Canada court: Broadcasters can claim carriage fees

The Canadian Federal Court of Appeal has cleared the way for broadcasters to charge cable and satellite providers for carrying their programmes. The CRTC had asked the court to rule on whether it had the right to establish a regime whereby broadcasters could attach a value to their signals. In a 2-1 ruling, the court […]

March 1, 2011

UK Govt backs off site blocking

A UK Government working group is to be formed to try to find a “plan B” to avoid potential litigation arising from the blocking of websites accused of illegal filesharing. The group will comprise rights holders, ISPs and search engines, is being formed after culture secretary Jeremy Hunt referred the Digital Economy Act’s section 17 […]

February 25, 2011

Court drops BitTorrent piracy case

Prosecutors have dealt a blow to anti-piracy initiatives by dropping their case against two men accused of pirating films online. Two administrators of FileSoup – the longest standing BitTorrent community – had their case dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). George Cartledge, from Glasgow, and Stephen Lanning, from Somerset, faced charges of conspiracy to […]

February 25, 2011By Colin Mann

TV3 blasts RTE launch free channels

Ireland’s TV3 has condemned Communications Minister Pat Carey’s decision to approve RTE’s proposed five “free to air” channels as part of the Digital Terrestrial Television roll-out. TV3 said it was “shocked” that the state broadcaster would be allowed to run the new TV channels. Carey approved the roll-out of high definition RTE Two HD Select, […]

February 24, 2011

Studios lose iiNet appeal

A group of 34 movie studios has lost its appeal against an Australian Federal Court judgment involving Internet Service Provider iiNet. A 2010 ruling found it was impossible to hold iiNet responsible for its users illegally downloading movies and television shows. The studios had tried to prove iiNet not only failed to take steps to […]

February 24, 2011By Colin Mann

Mid East TV told: “Uphold media ethics”

The past few weeks have been testing for Arabic broadcasters. Now Jordan’s Audiovisual Media Commission (AMC) has stepped in, urging those broadcasters operating in Jordan to abide by media ethical standards. AMC’s director general Amjad al-Qadi stressed that the TV stations should steer away from all forms of abuse or insult through the talk shows, […]

February 23, 2011By Chris Forrester

ivi streaming ‘illegal’

A US District judge has ruled that Internet TV service ivi is breaking the law by offering live streams of network and cable television. ivi, which offers online broadcasts of 55 stations in the Los Angeles, Chicago and New York area for under $5 a month, was ordered to cease operations immediately as a result […]

February 23, 2011By Colin Mann