In the 'wash up' rush to get laws through parliament before dissolution at the end of this week the government has been heavily trimming its Digital Economy Bill. Most prominent casualty is the £6 (E6.8) pa phone line tax to fund fast broadband. The national rollout of replacement ITV regional news services and giving Ofcom […]
Warner Bros is launching its on-demand WarnerTV branded service for the first time ever in Korea via an agreement with KT’s IPTV provider QOOK TV. WarnerTV will launch as a VOD service within QOOK TV at no extra charge for consumers who purchase QOOK TV’s subscription video-on-demand programming package. Each week, WarnerTV will deliver new […]
ESPN has been awarded the exclusive UK mobile highlights rights to all 380 English Premier League soccer matches per season over the next three seasons, starting with the 2010-11 season from August. The rights will allow ESPN to deliver in-match, post-match and customised highlights, including goals, to football fans in the UK. Lynne Frank, senior […]
Walt Disney will offer applications from all of its businesses on Apple’s new iPad electronic tablet, offering popular TV shows, video games and interactive books. One new application will extend its ABC.com’s full episode player onto the iPad, enabling users to watch ad-supported episodes from 20 popular ABC series through a wi-fi connection. The application […]
Football fans will be able to watch English Premier League games on IPTV under a new three-year agreement between ISP Etisalat and du, and Abu Dhabi Media Company, which owns the screening rights for EPL.
MTV Networks International (MTVNI), a division of Viacom, has confirmed the launch of localised Nickelodeon services on the UPC digital cable platform in the Czech Republic and Romania. For the first time, viewers in the Czech Republic will be able to watch the popular children's channel in their local language with the service going out […]
As expected UK regulator Ofcom's review of pay-TV has concluded that it should regulate BSkyB's wholesale pricing of its sports channels in a bid, it says, to increase competition and thereby lower prices and increase innovation. Six weeks from now Ofcom expects Sky to cut its ratecard for each of Sky Sports 1 and 2 […]
UK pay TV channel Zone Horror is rebranding as the Horror Channel next month. Meanwhile, the channel, which is a joint venture between Chello Zone and CBS Studios International and is available through Sky and Virgin Media, has hired Paul McEvoy to join its programming team.
The sport rights holders, who have benefitted greatly from Sky's determination to dominate pay TV sport, are considering legal action to stop Ofcom regulating the price at which Sky wholesales its channels – a move that will likely lead to lower bids for rights. Sports governing bodies argue that the move will “irreparably damage” investment […]
From Branislav Pekic in Rome Italian commercial broadcaster Mediaset plans to launch three new DTT channels and an on-demand offer via the Internet by the end of 2010. According to Mediaset CFO, Marco Giordani, the three channels will be a “younger version” of the existing Italia 1 channel called Italia 2; a rolling-news channels; and […]