Advanced Television

OTT

You Tube 'knew' of Viacom breech

According to reports in the US internal YouTube e-mails, handed over in the preliminary discovery phase of the pending court action brought by Viacom, indicate that YouTube managers were aware of unauthorized content on the site and chose not to remove it. If true this would harm You Tube's defence that it cannot be responsible […]

October 7, 2009

Veoh not liable for pirated video

A federal judge in the US has ruled that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s safe harbour provisions protected Veoh, the video-sharing site – from liability for hosting pirated clips uploaded by users. “The DMCA does not place the burden of ferreting out infringement on the service provider,” the judge said. Universal Music had sued Veoh […]

September 16, 2009

Hulu to go part-pay?

Two of the partners in Hulu — News Corp. and NBC Universal hinted at an investor conference that they are investigating the possibility of further monetizing the online video venture, including charging a subscription for the service. “Are we looking at it with a view toward adding subscription services and pay per view? Yes we […]

September 16, 2009

AT&T video portal

AT&T has publicly launched the beta version of a video portal — which serves up free TV shows and movies to any Internet user, and promises even more to U-verse TV customers — with content from more than a dozen programming partners. The site, http://entertainment.att.net/tv, promises U-verse TV customers “bonus content” if they log in […]

September 8, 2009

YouTube to offer pay movies?

YouTube is reportedly in negotiations with major Hollywood studios for a deal that would see full-length movies on the service. It would put YouTube, owned by Google, in direct competition with services from Netflix, Amazon and Apple, which allow users to buy or rent movies online. YouTube, which already offers some older movies on its […]

September 8, 2009

Ten Sports Launches India's First, Streaming Cricket Portal

Ten Sports, the most watched sports channel in Indian and NBC Universal Digital Solutions (NBCUDS), have an agreed to develop and launch a free, cricket-focused multiplatform sports portal targeting the region's fast growing digital audience. The site will debut with live Webcast coverage of the much anticipated Compaq Cup, the tri-angular cricket series between India, […]

September 5, 2009

Microsoft: TV faces ‘iTunes moment’

The TV industry has as little as two years to create viable digital businesses or face a version of the “iTunes moment” that saw the music business cede the online future to Apple, according to Ashley Highfield. Highfield, the former BBC future technology chief who is now managing director of consumer and online at Microsoft […]

September 3, 2009

Judge dismisses some EPL claims against You Tube

A U.S. judge dismissed some damages claims in a copyright infringement lawsuit against Google and YouTube.com but left open the possibility that non-U.S. based rights owners could seek damages for live broadcasts, if they prevail. A group of sports and music copyright holders, led by the UK Premier League, had argued that foreign works were […]

July 18, 2009

Kudelski committed to OpenTV

From Colin Mann in Geneva Senior executives from the Kudelski Group have reiterated the company's commitment to OpenTV, despite its failure to take control of convergent media solutions provider. Kudelski has made a non-binding proposal to acquire all of the Class A ordinary shares of OpenTV not currently owned by Kudelski or its affiliates, for […]

July 16, 2009

Verizon opens Widget Bazaar on FiOS TV

US telco Verizon has launched the Widget Bazaar applications store as part of its ‘FiOS TV’ service – which includes a Facebook and Twitter widgets, and Internet Video on TV. The company also plans to offer an open development platform to permit developers to write interactive FiOS TV applications that will be available through the […]

July 15, 2009