From David Del Valle in Madrid The Spanish Competition authorities has started legal proceedings against the recent alliance between the Spain’s largest pay-TV group Sogecable and Telefónica to launch a joint triple play offer and joinly negotiate with TV content providers. The National Council of Competition (CNC) argues that there is evidence of an abuse […]
ITV has told the UK Competition Commission it wants Sky off its share register. The broadcaster said Sky’s ability to influence ITV’s decisions on planned investments would lead to a "substantial loosening" of competition, which required a "comprehensive and effective" remedy. In its submission to the Commission, which is currently investigating Sky’s stake, ITV said […]
French telecommunications regulator ARCEP has published a summary of its public consultation- launched July 2007 – aimed at enlightening public authorities in their work on the digital dividend conducted under the aegis of the Comité Stratégique pour le Numérique. Several players, especially from the telecommunications sector, but also a very small number of contributors from […]
Top Up TV has revealed the results of a customer survey that revealed 57 per cent of its customers regularly use their Digital Television Recorder (DTR) to time-shift more than 50 per cent of the programmes they watch. “Our customers are time-shifting more than ever before… People want their TV viewing to fit in with […]
Film and TV writers are to stage their first strike for two decades, after last-minute talks failed. The WGA wants writers to receive a slice of the additional advertising revenue that studios make when TV shows are streamed over the Internet. It also wants an additional reward for creating bespoke digital content for the Internet […]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has prohibited all television service providers from entering into or enforcing exclusive access provisions that block competitors from serving apartments, condominiums or other private real estate developments. “Millions of consumers live in apartments, condos or other private developments, and, until now, many of them have been denied the benefits of […]
The US House of Representatives has voted unanimously to extend a tax moratorium that was first adopted to promote US Internet access in the early days. The ban prevents local authorities from levying a number of potential Internet taxes, and is a victory for technology and telecommunications companies. While short of the permanent ban they […]
In the latest survey of revenue leakage over the last 12 months to the regional pay-TV industry, conducted by the Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) and Standard Chartered Bank, the losses are conservatively estimated to stand at $1.54 billion, (E1.06bn) as compared to $1.13 billion in 2006. While the China market remains […]
Two US Senators have called for a congressional hearing to investigate allegations that phone and cable companies are stifling communications over the Internet and on mobile phones. Sens. Byron Dorgan, and Olympia Snowe, said the incidents involving several companies, including Comcast, Verizon Wireless and AT&T, have raised serious concerns over networks “power to discriminate against […]
The European Commission has decided that plans to finance part of the fees commercial broadcasters pay for the transmission of their programmes on the DVB-T network in North Rhine-Westphalia are not compatible with the EC state aid rules. The Commission said it fully supported the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting, however, the proposed measures […]