Advanced Television

Policy

TiVo battle with Time Warner to go to trial

A Texas federal judge has refused to throw out TiVo’s patent claims against Time Warner Cable.  The claim centres on Time Warner’s distribution of Motorola Mobility’s set-top boxes where TiVo argues its patents have been violated. Time Warner had counter-sued, and it was this action which the Texas judge declined. The core case has been […]

December 3, 2012By Chris Forrester

US: Copyright Alert System delayed to 2013

The US’s Center for Copyright Information (CCI) – a collaborative effort between content creators in the movie and music industries and leading IPSs to help educate the public and deter copyright infringement – has announced that alerts under its Copyright Alert System (CAS) – a system through which ISPs will pass on to their subscribers […]

November 29, 2012By Colin Mann

Kroes: Digital infrastructure supports EC’s creative sector

A strong digital infrastructure is a key factor in supporting Europe’s cultural and creative sector, according to Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda. Speaking at the European Parliament in Brussels to update Culture Committee on the Commission’s work, Kroes said that with Europe facing difficult times, the creative industries […]

November 27, 2012By Colin Mann

NileSat blames “institution” for sat-jamming

NileSat’s MD Salah Hamza is blaming a “major institution”, and not individuals, for the heavy bout of satellite jamming being suffered by Middle East and European satellite operators. Speaking on Egypt’s ‘Good Morning Egypt’ TV show on Channel 1 on November 26th, Hamza said the jamming was being tackled and analysed in order to locate […]

November 27, 2012By Chris Forrester

Egypt: Government demands Dream TV removal

Egypt’s privately-owned Dream TV channel suffered an interruption to its service for a week, restoring transmissions on November 24th. Now, state-backed broadcaster Egyptian Radio & Television Union (ERTU) is demanding that the broadcasts again cease. Cairo’s Administrative Court granted Dream TV permission to resume broadcasts on November 24th pending a full hearing by the court. […]

November 27, 2012By Chris Forrester

Abu Dhabi removes “illegal” sat-dishes

Abu Dhabi is spending millions to build itself up as a major broadcasting hub, and is home to broadcasters such as Sky News Arabia and CNN’s Middle East service. At the same time it has started removing what its Town Hall has described as “illegal dish installations”. On November 25th city workers started removing dishes. […]

November 26, 2012By Chris Forrester

Australian TV urges tax on Internet giants

Australia’s commercial free-to-air networks have lobbied the government to impose tougher tax rules on global online giants – such as Google and Facebook – in an attempt to create a “level playing field” beyond the media reforms set to go before cabinet this week. The main priority of the free-to-air lobby is to have licence […]

November 26, 2012

China: Xiaomi STB delayed by regulator

Xiaomi Technology has delayed the launch of its television set-top box, after the country’s broadcast regulator opened an investigation into the device. Xiaomi, a maker of  popular smartphonesin China, revealed last month it was to launch its “Xiaomi Box” that would stream shows from Chinese online video sites as well as games, music and other […]

November 23, 2012

BBC the Big British Compromise

There has been a consensus since the hapless George Entwistle was assisted onto his sword point a couple of weeks ago that the BBC should appoint an outsider as the new DG. All senior insiders were, to some extent or other, either tainted by the events that brought poor George down, or had no editorial […]

November 22, 2012

Murdoch still excluded from ITV

The UK’s cross-media ownership rules currently forbids any newspaper group which has more than 20 per cent share of the British newspaper market from owning either a “Channel 3/ITV” licence or a stake in a Channel 3 broadcaster greater than 20 per cent.  It was these rules that scuppered News Corp’s plans to acquire a […]

November 22, 2012By Chris Forrester