A board meeting at Ofcom is set to approve the regulator obliging Sky to cut its wholesale prices on its sports channels. In choreographed weekend interviews BT set the ground claiming it would definitely significantly undercut Sky with its retail price if it gets access to the channels at the kind of prices put forward […]
From David Del Valle in Madrid The European Commission (EC) has urged Spain to put on hold the new RTVE’s new financial regime until its probe into the new Spanish legislation to determine whether it is compatible or not with the EU Treaty has concluded. Until then, RTVE, which ceased broadcasting advertising from on January […]
Ofcom is considering further relaxing the TV advertising rules, Chief Executive Ed Richards commented: “Ofcom is committed to reducing its regulatory burdens. In the last few years the TV sector has moved on with substantial increases in the take-up of digital services and in the number of available channels, and consolidation in the advertising buying […]
New rules to be introduced by government decree will require Italians who upload videos onto the Internet to obtain authorisation from the Communications Ministry similar to that required by television broadcasters, drastically reducing freedom to communicate over the Web. The decree is ostensibly an enactment of a European Union (EU) directive on product placement and […]
The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) has unsurprisingly supported the Federal Communications Commission's recognition that its Internet policies should be subject to 'reasonable network management' and urged the Commission to continue to allow the industry to establish appropriate management techniques to meet evolving consumer needs. ATIS cited the ongoing work of its Next Generation […]
Taiwan’s National Communications Commission (NCC) plans to issue Taiwan’s first two mobile TV licences by the end of 2010, one to operate on Channel 35 (596-602MHz) and the other on Channel 36 (602-608MHz). The two licensees will be allowed to choose a mobile TV standard between the Qualcomm's MediaFLO and DVB-H. NCC issued five trial […]
A Florida federal court issued a $51 million judgment against Robert Ward, who posted software on the Internet that allowed individuals to illegally receive Dish Network programming using Free-To-Air receivers. In the summary judgement decision, the court made two significant holdings that will strengthen the companies’ ability to pursue pirates in the future. The court […]
Compact Media Group, the world's leading independent rights administrator and distributor of royalties, has published a report, Missing Opportunities in Digital Britain, calling for changes to the UK's current policy on secondary rights collection. The report argues that UK producers are missing out on valuable revenue streams, which are needed to maintain investment in the […]
Trial regulations in France, shortening release windows, have helped the territory to show growth in the home-entertainment sector for 2009, bucking the trend across much of Europe. Analyst Screen Digest suggests that volume business will be up by as much as 17 per cent for 2009, while market value could grow by up to 3 […]
Spain’s Cabinet has approved an Internet anti-piracy plan under which websites offering illegal entertainment downloads will be urged to stop or face being shut down. Justice Minister Francisco Caamano said the plan, which will close offending sites under a fast-track judicial process, will create a panel of experts to hear complaints against suspect sites. The […]