UK comms regulator Ofcom believes that complete deregulation of the UK TV production sector would be uncertain and risky, having undertaken a review of the regulatory framework following a request from the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in August 2015. Ofcom’s review recognises that the independent TV production industry has seen significant […]
A New Zealand court has ruled that Kim Dotcom, founder of closed-down file-sharing site Megaupload, can be extradited to the United States to face online piracy charges. After a nine-week hearing, Judge Nevin Dawson found there was “overwhelming” evidence to support extradition. The decision comes almost four years after NZ police raided Dotcom’s mansion at […]
Following the successful 2013 raid of five homes in The Netherlands cities of Apeldoorn, Enschede, Vlagtwedde and The Hague, content pirates arrested during these raids have been sentenced at the Zutphen courthouse. Two defendants received 100 hours of community service, two months of conditional imprisonment and two years’ probation. This followed an extensive collaborative effort […]
Following the recent awarding of a DTT channel, TV group Atresmedia has launched Atreseries, a new DTT channel dedicated to TV series. The channel is Atresmedia’s sixth network on Spanish DTT and is the first of the recently-awarded licences to go live. Atreseries is the Spanish-market version of Atres Series, which operates across Latin America and the US […]
Disney has felt a great financial disturbance in the Force, as thousands of people downloaded the latest Star Wars film for free instead of paying to see it at the cinema. Star Wars: The Force Awakens opened in cinemas worldwide last week and a copy of it has now somewhat inevitably landed on the major […]
Italian thematic channel producer Giglio Group has signed a distribution agreement with leading Lebanese platform Cablevision for the Nautical Channel. Cablevision offers its subscribers more than 134 channels both free and pay-per-view that air documentaries, news, TV series, music, fashion and sports. The deal comes only three months after the launch of the Nautical Channel […]
From January 1st 2016, AMC is joining three major operators’ line-ups in Central and Eastern European territories. The new launches include Telenor, a major telecom operator in Hungary; Invitel, a prominent service provider on the Hungarian telecommunications market; and Vivacom, a leader in offering modern telecommunications services in Bulgaria. “AMC has a raft of exclusive […]
BT TV is claiming a UK first following the announcement that it is to offer Netflix in Ultra HD. BT TV customers will be able to view some of the world’s biggest TV shows via the new Ultra HD YouView+ set-top box and adding Netflix’s Ultra HD plan for £8.99 (€12.33) a month. BT TV […]
Channel 4 will be the UK terrestrial home of the FIA Formula One World Championship from 2016-2018 in a new deal agreed with Formula One World Championship Limited. ITV had been rumoured to be in pole position to take over the deal from the BBC as it sought to reduce costs. Writing in a BBC […]
Netflix has made the first episode of its new series Making a Murderer available for free on YouTube. The true crime series follows the real-life story of Steven Avery, who was convicted and later exonerated of assault, but later arrested again as the prime suspect in a new crime. The series features 10 episodes, and […]