Struggling South African pay-TV broadcaster TopTV has been granted permission to start transmitting 3 so-called ‘adult TV’ channels. TopTV, owned by On Digital Media which is facing some financial challenges, was given approval to broadcast Playboy TV, Desire TV and Private Spice by the South African broadcasting regulator (ICASA) provided the broadcasts do not take […]
The European Commission has published a Green Paper inviting stakeholders and the wider public to share their views on the rapidly converging audiovisual world. The Commission notes that millions of Europeans catch up with their favourite TV series on a smartphone on the way to work, watch online content on their living room TV, or […]
A federal judge has thrown out Viacom’s lawsuit accusing Google of posting its programmes on YouTube without permission, a year after a federal appeals court had revived the landmark copyright infringement case. A New York Judge agreed that Google and YouTube were protected from Viacom’s copyright claims by the “safe harbor” provisions of the Digital […]
ASA, the UK advertising watchdog, has banned YouView’s launch ads after agreeing with Virgin Media that claims the service was ‘unique’ and the ‘easiest’ were false. The ads had run on TV and in the Radio Times. The claims objected to included: “YouView is the easiest way to watch catch-up TV, on your TV” and […]
Fox and other broadcasters have filed with a New York appeals court to reconsider the California court decision to give a green light to Aereo, the controversial start-up that uses tiny antennas to retransmit their signals to connected devices for $8 a month. In the new court filing the broadcasters claim the decision “threatens to […]
As revealed by advanced-television.com, the European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of UK quad-play operator Virgin Media in the US, by cable MSO Liberty Global. The EC notes that the transaction, with a value of €17.2 billion, would bring together the second largest pay-TV operator in the UK (Virgin […]
Italy’s Communications Authority (AgCom) has unanimously approved the final version of the regulations for the DTT frequency auction. According to a statement by the regulator, the measure will now be forwarded to the Ministry of Economic Development, which is entrusted with the task of approving the invitation to tender and managing the process. The new […]
Chase Carey, president and COO of News Corp., told NAB Fox will consider scrapping FTA broadcasting if the legal system does not force live streaming outfits such as Aereo to pay to transmit Fox’s signal. The dual revenue stream of retransmission fees and advertising is critical he said. Carey said News Corp. could make Fox […]
In a surprising move given ongoing legal challenges between the respective services, FilmOn.TV founder and CEO Alki David – the billionaire media entrepreneur – has congratulated the legal team at Internet TV streaming service Aereo on what he describes as its “hugely significant” win in court against the Major Networks. “I would like to thank […]
The US’s Second Circuit Court of Appeals has issued a ruling in favour of Barry Diller-backed Internet TV service Aereo, affirming in all respects the District Court’s denial of the motions by the plaintiffs, a group of 17 network broadcasters, for a preliminary injunction against Aereo. The Appeals Court in Wnet et al. v. Aereo, […]