Advanced Television

Regulation

DAB 2015 switchover too soon?

A government advisory group is criticising the British government’s plans for the digital radio switchover, saying 2015 is too soon for making the switch. The Consumer Expert Group said in a report to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport that it is concerned about the inadequacy of research into consumer preferences regarding buying digital […]

September 15, 2010

MoCA joins CEDIA

    MoCA, the worldwide standard for home entertainment networking, has confirmed its membership in CEDIA, the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association. Membership is part of the Alliance’s strategy of educating electronic system contractors about the technological and economic benefits of MoCA technology for moving HD content around the home using already existing coaxial […]

September 15, 2010

Lobbying starts on News takeover of Sky

The Government has received the first salvo in what will be a long lobbying war over News Corp’s proposed takeover of Sky. Claire Enders of Enders Analysis, has bestowed a 20-page submission on Mr Business Secretary Vince Cable (assumed to be instinctively against the deal), urging him to step in or face media plurality in […]

September 14, 2010

Lyons U Turns at BBC Trust

  The BBC Trust chairman, Sir Michael Lyons, has reversed an earlier decision to seek a second term and is to step down in May next year. The former local government executive was the first chairman of the BBC Trust, which replaced the board of governors as the corporation’s governance and regulatory body in 2007 […]

September 14, 2010

Canvas draws more fire

  The fifth complaint to Ofcom about Project Canvas has arrived from The Open Source Consortium (OSC), a group made up of comprising SME providers of services and support based on open standards.  The OSC, which represent 25 or so mainly consultants, is unhappy  that Canvas isn’t “open” in the same way Linux is  regarded […]

September 13, 2010

One stop shop from DTG

  The Digital TV Group (DTG), the industry association for digital TV in the UK, has announced that DTG Testing, the digital television industry’s test and conformance centre, is to provide manufacturers with a single facility for Connected TV, HbbTV, Freeview, Freesat and Digital Tick test and conformance. Additionally, DTG Testing is working with Project […]

September 12, 2010From Colin Mann in Amsterdam

OIPF publishes release 2 IPTV specs

  The OIPF (Open IPTV Forum) has confirmed the publication of Release 2 of its global end-to-end specifications for IPTV. This is a major step forward for end-to-end interoperability within the IPTV ecosystem. Release 2 includes an evolution of functionality across many areas of the Release 1 Specifications, with notable enhancements of major functional areas. […]

September 9, 2010

Police coordinate Euro pirate raids

Police have conducted a series of raids across Europe in the biggest crackdown yet on file-sharing. 48 sites were targeted in countries including the Netherlands, Czech Republic and Hungary. In Sweden, seven premises were raided including PRQ, which is believed to host Pirate Bay and the revelatory website WikiLeaks. Co-ordinated by Belgian police, the operation […]

September 9, 2010

Nothing neutral about Net Neutrality

Net Neutrality is, ironically, a matter on which nearly no one is neutral. When the Web was young the idea of equal access for all content and service providers was logical and easily accommodated. Then came video, which was magnitudes more bandwidth hungry than what had gone before. But there was still no question of […]

August 27, 2010

Ofcom wants to regulate movies too; refers to Competition Commission

The hail of regulator references and appeals continues in the UK as Ofcom asks the Competition Commission to investigate its concerns regarding the sale and distribution of pay TV movies. Ofcom thinks the way in which first-run Hollywood movies are sold and distributed creates a situation in which Sky has the incentive and ability to […]

August 13, 2010