Virgin Media, the UK’s second-largest broadband provider, has become the first to block access to The Pirate Bay file sharing website after a High Court order. Virgin Media was one of five major broadband firms ordered to block the website on Monday after an application to the High Court by the BPI, a record industry […]
Adelphia Communications was once the USA’s fifth-largest cable MSO. Its founder, John Rigas along with son Tim Rigas, were convicted back in 2004 of securities fraud. The company itself went bankrupt in 2006 and its assets split between Comcast and Time Warner. Now the Southern District of New York has confirmed to the 8,500 claimants […]
The UK Digital Economy Act, has again been delayed until at least 2014, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has admitted. The Act was rushed through at the end of the Labour administration in 2010 but has been stalled by legal challenges. ISPs have criticised aspects of the Act, suggesting it would unfairly force […]
The European Commission has launched an investigation into the Spanish DTT migration plan over a possible violation of the European rules by granting financial aid to broadcasters to simultaneously maintain their analogue and digital broadcasts until the digital switch-off completed in April 2010. The EC will probe into whether the aid is “necessary and proportionate” […]
The US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is holding a full committee hearing April 24 on ‘The Emergence of Online Video: Is It The Future?’. The hearing will consider the future of online video. It will explore the migration of viewing from traditional television to Internet and broadband-enabled video content. It will examine […]
IAC Chairman Barry Diller has told the Senate that he thought the same rules and obligations that apply to traditional broadcasters should be applied to online video services, though he also said he believed that should be light-touch regulation. He says that a level playing field was crucial. Diller says that online video was a […]
India’s media regulator, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), has been robustly told that it does not have a mandate to regulate TV advertising. The responses have come as a result of a consultation process organised by TRAI ahead of possible new regulations which would limit the amount of time available for commercial breaks. […]
Ofcom has recommended that the UK’s Competition Commission maintain its original stance, which provisionally found that Sky’s control over pay-TV movie rights in was restricting competition between pay-TV providers, leading to higher prices and reduced choice and innovation for subscribers. Ofcom contends that the arrival of video-on-demand services such as Netflix and LOVEFiLM has not […]
In an attempt to tackle the public deficit, the Spanish government has passed a bill to allow Regional Administrations to sell or privatise their Regional public broadcasters. Regions will be able to choose how to run their public broadcasters, and if they keep them, the channels won’t be allowed to run deficits. The 13 existing […]
E! Entertainment TV can expect to have its broadcasting knuckles rapped for showing racy scenes from Girls of the Playboy Mansion when children might have been watching. Ofcom, the UK’s broadcasting regulator, in its latest set of rulings, says that the NBC Universal-owned E! Entertainment channel is being considered for a “clear breach” of its […]