Hollywood studios have warned that Spain could become a 'non viable market' for them because of movie piracy. “People are downloading movies in such large quantities that Spain is on the brink of no longer being a viable home entertainment market for us,” Michael Lynton, chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, told the Los Angeles Times. […]

As expected UK regulator Ofcom's review of pay-TV has concluded that it should regulate BSkyB's wholesale pricing of its sports channels in a bid, it says, to increase competition and thereby lower prices and increase innovation. Six weeks from now Ofcom expects Sky to cut its ratecard for each of Sky Sports 1 and 2 […]

ISPs will have to do more to help content owners protect their content online following a High Court ruling. In a case brought by a group of film studios including Disney, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal and Warner Bros, the judge found that Newzbin, a private online forum, was liable for its members' copyright infringement when […]

Net firms must do a better job of telling customers about broadband speeds or face stiffer regulation. Ofcom has warned following research the telecoms watchdog carried out on how ISPs sell broadband. It revealed that 74 per cent of customers were not told that the maximum speed on their line was likely to be higher […]

UK video-on-demand providers must pay a combined £375,000 (E415,000) to two bodies that will regulate their industry. The Association for Television On Demand (ATVOD) which has been confirmed by Ofcom to co-regulate, along with it, the VOD sector, says running costs for December 2009 to March 2011 are £426,388, and that the VOD providers themselves […]

The sport rights holders, who have benefitted greatly from Sky's determination to dominate pay TV sport, are considering legal action to stop Ofcom regulating the price at which Sky wholesales its channels – a move that will likely lead to lower bids for rights. Sports governing bodies argue that the move will “irreparably damage” investment […]

Verimatrix and Widevine Technologies have settled pending litigation involving Widevine’s US Patents. Widevine filed suit in August of 2007 alleging that Verimatrix’s VCAS products infringe both of Widevine’s patents. Under terms of the agreement, Widevine granted Verimatrix a license to the two asserted Widevine patents and the foreign counterparts. Verimatrix makes no admission as to […]

The day after the UK Office of Fair Trading announced a consultation process that may lead to a referral of the project to the Competition Commission – a move that would delay the Canvas launch by up to a year even if it got a clean bill of health – members of the consortium have […]

The UK Office of Fair Trading is to consider a Competition Commission referral for Project Canvas, the video-on-demand service lead by the BBC. Critics including BSkyB and Virgin Media will now be able to formalise their concerns in submissions to the OFT. The outcome of a further review of the project by the BBC Trust […]

From Colin Mann in London UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said that he wants Britain to be the world leader in the digital economy which will create over a quarter of a million skilled jobs by 2020. “Underpinning the digital transformation that we are likely to see over the coming decade is the creation […]