Lord Mandelson has repeated that illegal filesharing posed a threat to Britain’s creative industries and it was vital for such industries to be allowed to flourish, but emphasised filesharers could have their Internet connections cut off for short periods, but only as a last resort. ISPs had reacted angrily to Mandelson's enthusiastic support for the […]
Wireless carriers shouldn’t be allowed to block certain types of Internet traffic flowing over their networks, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission chairman said in a speech that drew immediate condemnation from providers. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said wireless carriers should be subject to the same “open Internet” rules that the agency has begun […]
Nine of Europe’s leading cable network operators, representing more than 35 million connected homes, have shown their immediate support and declared their intention to exploit the operational potential of DVB-C2. In a signed statement cable network operators YouSee (Denmark), Numericable (France), Kabel Baden Württemberg, Unitymedia, Kabel Deutschland (Germany), Ziggo (The Netherlands), ZON (Portugal), ONO (Spain) […]
Inverto Digital Labs has confirmed it is becoming a supporting member of the HbbTV standard and that the HD+ hybrid set-top-box platform Scena 6, planned for the German market in Q1 2010, will support the Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) standard. The hybrid STB platform will incorporate a CE-HTML browser from Pleyo that is working […]
Contract Rights Renewal, the rules which dictate how much ITV1 can charge advertisers, will stay for now says the Competition Commission. In its provisional report into CRR the watchdog has proposed “variations” which, for example, could allow ITV1 to capture more commercial impacts, such as rolling in high-definition and time-shifted channels into the definition of […]
A federal judge in the US has ruled that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s safe harbour provisions protected Veoh, the video-sharing site – from liability for hosting pirated clips uploaded by users. “The DMCA does not place the burden of ferreting out infringement on the service provider,” the judge said. Universal Music had sued Veoh […]
The results of an extensive study titled "Exploiting the digital dividend: a European approach" led by Hogan & Hartson LLP, media consulting firm Analysys Mason, and economics consultancy DotEcon, have been published. The consortium was tasked by the European Commission with ascertaining what coordinated action is needed at the EU level in order to maximise […]
From David Del Valle in Madrid The Spanish Telecommunications Market Commission (CMT) is proposing to open up the TV market and, at the same time, impose tougher fines to avoid breaking the legislation. In a report on the new Audiovisual Law Bill, the CMT recommends to raise up to E20 million (20 times the current […]
France’s lower house of parliament has approved the '3 strikes' bill allowing authorities to cut off Internet access to people who download illegally. The measure passed in the National Assembly following approval by the Senate in July. It must clear another hurdle to become law, gaining approval from a small committee from both houses of […]
From Branislav Pekic in Rome Italy's Communications Authority has opened its investigation into the satellite distribution of RAI channels, although it has has no objections to the launch of the TivùSat platform, set up jointly with Mediaset and Telecom Italia Media. According to the Authority, the inquiry “will determine the distribution mode for the smart […]