Last Saturday at midnight (March 30) ought to have seen a large cluster of major Indian cities switch off their analogue TV signals. 36 towns and cities were affected. Unfortunately, not all went to plan. India’s Information & Broadcasting Ministry admits that the conversion to digital TV is – at best – complete only in […]
A report from a Committee of the UK’s House of Lords (the upper legislative chamber) looking at the issue of media convergence, and how public policy may need to do more to adapt and reform in its wake, has recommended that in advance of the next BBC Charter Review, the Government should conduct a comprehensive […]
Johannesburg-based TopTV has been trying to introduce ‘adult’ programming into its late-night schedule for a year or more. However, its conservative subscribers (and other interested parties) are objecting to the plans. TopTV is applying for a transmission licence for 3 adult channels, and the process is currently before regulator ICASA. This past weekend saw a […]
BSkyB and BT have teamed up to force rival Virgin Media to drop an advert that claimed that its broadband is “unlimited”, after the advertising watchdog found that heavy users could find their download speeds cut by up to 50 per cent. Virgin Media, which claims it can outpace rivals by offering customers superfast Internet […]
The FTTH Council Europe has welcomed the proposed cost reduction regulation to reduce the roll out of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) in Europe. The FTTH Council Europe has pledged to review the proposed text and to work with legislators to provide information, support and advice as deliberations of the Regulation begin. The FTTH Council Europe believes that […]
The European Commission has proposed new rules to cut by 30 per cent the cost of rolling out high-speed Internet. Civil engineering, such as the digging up of roads to lay fibre, accounts for up to 80 per cent of the cost of deploying high-speed networks. The proposal may save companies €40 to 60 billion. […]
India’s Information & Broadcasting Ministry (I&B) says cable MSOs, now beginning to make progress with digitisation of its signals, must also fully embrace the obligatory encryption of signals (via Conditional Access). I&B is setting up a centralised monitoring system to check that MSOs are keeping their word. This is a major step forward in a […]
Egypt’s government has agreed to reconsider its 2011 ban on permitting new privately owned satellite channels in the country, officials announced in Cairo. The government has been under extreme local pressure over its on-going ban on certain channels. The Egyptian Cabinet decided last week to re-assess the ban on new private satellite channels, the country’s […]
Echostar subsidiary Slingmedia, best known for its innovative Slingbox place-shifting product, is ramping up its dispute with Belkin International and Monsoon Multimedia. On March 12th Slingmedia involved the US International Trade Commission (ITC), calling on the organisation to investigate Belkin, Monsoon and another company C2 Microsystems, and alleging that the trio are importing products that […]
Foxtel chief executive Richard Freudenstein has called on Australia’s federal government to intervene in online piracy negotiations, suggesting that failure to fight illegal downloading before the national broadband network is rolled out could “devastate traditional content creation industries”. He made his comments at the ASTRA 2013 Conference in Sydney. He nevertheless argued that governments should […]