Portuguese telecommunications regulator Anacom is to take legal action against Zon Multimedia for the way it has been selling pay-TV services in Alenquer, the region that switches off analogue on May 12th. Anacom director, Luis Eduardo Cardadeira, has judged Zon’s behaviour as “absolutely unacceptable”.  According to Anacom, Zon installed mobile kiosks in Alenquer with signs […]

Russia should introduce an initiative to regulate copyright on the Internet, according to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. At a meeting with the country’s Internet community he stressed the need to optimise the work of the online services and mass-media, saying that protection of the intellectual property, copyright and prevention of cyber crimes were among the […]

India’s information and broadcasting Minister says that 31 new satellite channels are awaiting government approval to start broadcasting. 653 TV channels are already licensed, said the Minister, Mrs Ambica Soni. Perhaps even more of a revolution is the number of new radio stations that are awaiting licences. The Minister said that more than 800 new […]

Leading European telecoms companies want to levy significant charges on Google and other online content providers through an overhaul of the regime governing how data travel over the Internet, reports the Financial Times. The telcos complain that they are contending with an explosion of data on their networks, much of which comes from US sites […]

The National Association of Broadcasters has filed with the FCC a study by former FCC official Uzoma Onyeije questioning the existence of a spectrum crisis. The paper – Solving the Capacity Crunch: Options for Enhancing Data Capacity on Wireless Networks – suggests alternative solutions to auctioning broadcasting spectrum to help alleviate mobile broadband congestion. In […]

ProSiebenSat.1 and RTL have confirmed the launch of a legal appeal against the decision by the country’s competition regulator to block their proposed ‘German Hulu’ video-on-demand service. The platform was blocked because the Bundeskartellamt was concerned it would be closed to smaller content providers and could create a duopoly in the German VoD market. Both […]

The new Egyptian government is making life easier for new privately-owned TV channels to get on air. The new rules are expected to lead to many more privately-financed TV stations emerging. Sixteen new channels have already been permitted. On April 17th, Egypt’s Public Authority for Investment and Free Zones, which overseas broadcasting out of Egypt’s […]

Canada’s leading television companies are targeting Netflix and other online streaming services in an attempt to bring the fast-growing competitive threat to the TV business into the same regulations they must follow. Senior executives for Astral Media said that documents have been filed with regulators seeking a review of the California streaming service’s ability to […]

The European Court of Justice has agreed with British Sky Broadcasting and overturned the UK tax authority’s classification of a PVR and, thereby, exempted it from import duty. The Inland Revenue had classified PVRs as recording devices subject to 13.9 per cent import duty (virtually all PVRs are made in China). However, the ECJ in […]