A bipartisan group of US House and Senate lawmakers has released a draft proposal to address their concerns over controversial House and Senate bills that would crack down on piracy and counterfeit products on foreign websites. Their draft proposes an alternative to a Senate bill known as the Protect IP Act, authored by Senate Judiciary […]
IP Vision, the UK’s hybrid DTT/IPTV over-the-top TV specialist, has unveiled the first two FetchTV apps for smart TVs. The FetchTV app for Panasonic Smart VIERA TVs went live this week; the app for Samsung’s Smart TV platform will launch during Q1 2012. Customised versions of the FetchTV content portal for other smart TV platforms […]
UK supermarket giant Tesco and its online video-on-demand subsidiary blinkbox have announced a new service where customers who purchase a DVD or Blu-ray will also own the movie online. The new service will be exclusive to customers enrolled in the store’s Clubcard loyalty scheme. Beginning on 2 December, with the launch of Harry Potter and […]
Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt has suggested that it would be a mistake for Congress to approve Hollywood-backed legislation aimed at combating online piracy because it would be ineffective and could fundamentally alter the way the Internet works. Companion bills before the House and Senate would allow copyright holders to go to court to compel […]
Telefonica’s IPTV service Movistar Imagenio (with over 800,000 subs) will be available from next week through Microsoft’s console Xbox 360 to the 160,000 existing users of the Xbox Live Gold (with a current potential reach of 1 million Xbox-equipped customers). The service is free of charge the first three months. Xbox 360 users will be […]
The Dutch government is to proceed with legislation to introduce a ban on the downloading of music and films via illegal websites, despite widespread opposition in parliament. The legislation would give people whose copyright has been infringed the right to go to court to claim compensation. This is already the case for games and software […]
BBC Worldwide (BBCWW) is launching the international version of the iPlayer video-on-demand service in Canada, via a subscription iPad app, which features titles from the broadcaster’s library such as Walking with Dinosaurs and Top Gear. Initially, the Global iPlayer will be only available to Canadians via the iPad, and can be downloaded for free from […]
Spotify, the digital music service, is seeking to emulate the success of Apple and Facebook by opening its platform to outside developers. Daniel Ek, Spotify founder and chief executive, said that new applications from Rolling Stone, Last.fm and others would run inside Spotify, offering users a richer experience. The Rolling Stone app, for example, will […]
China’s first 3D television channel will air on a trial basis on January 1, 2012 and go into full operation during the upcoming Lunar New Year Festival in late January, according to government authorities. “We have officially started preparations for the country’s first experimental 3D TV channel and have issued two technical guidelines on the […]
US and Australian movie and television studios have challenged a landmark court ruling in Australia that an Internet Service Provider (ISP) cannot be held accountable for illegal video downloads by its customers. The studios want Internet providers to be punished if they don’t take “reasonable steps” to stop customers from downloading free copies of pirated […]