The BBC’s director of new media and technology Erik Huggers says that the future for free-to-air digital platforms like Freesat and Freeview is ‘unclear’ – suggesting that only IPTV and Project Canvas venture will give consumers the services and features that they need. Huggers said that, despite work on adding HD to Freeview and continued […]
French independent labels collecting society SPPF has filed a lawsuit against YouTube for copyright infringement. The producers’ body said that more than 100 music videos from its catalogue, which had been taken down by YouTube in 2008 following SPPF’s request, were again available on the service in some form. SPPF is now seeking E10 million […]
The 'round robin' on the OpenTV non-takeover by its biggest shareholder continues. The Kudelski Group, has commented on Discovery Group's recommendation that OpenTV buys out Kudelski Group's stake in OpenTV: "The Kudelski Group confirms that it is not interested in selling its shares of OpenTV…Kudelski Group reiterates its commitment to remain OpenTV's controlling shareholder and […]
Broadband content – including the deluge of made-for-the Web videos – will need “content aggregators” to package programming for viewers, Liberty Media Chairman John Malone said. “We’d love to be the aggregator; so would the cable industry,” he said, citing the historic parallel of Home Box Office assembling a roster of films to create the […]
BBC Worldwide and YouTube have renewed their global partnership for BBC Worldwide YouTube channels and short-form videos. In addition, BBC Worldwide has debuted its new YouTube channel Explore with clips from BBC factual shows. In the coming weeks, BBC Worldwide will unveil dedicated channels for comedy and natural history clips and a US only channel […]
ABC News has launched its branded channel on YouTube, featuring short-form news content. The channel will include breaking news as it happens, highlights from newsmaker interviews, as well as ABC News programming from morning to night – including Good Morning America, Nightline, 20/20 and Primetime limited series.
Bezeq Israel Telecom has said it would merge with satellite TV unit YES. Bezeq, Israel’s largest telco, said it will raise its stake in YES to 58 per cent from 49.8 per cent after agreeing to a number of conditions set by Israel’s antitrust court. Final approval is dependent on Israel’s Supreme Court, which is […]
The defense lawyer in the Pirate Bay file-sharing case says he will demand a retrial after the judge admitted he was a member of copyright-protection organizations.A Stockholm court last week convicted four men behind the Web site of helping others commit copyright violations and gave them one-year prison sentences. They also were ordered to pay […]
Walt Disney Co. CEO Robert Iger has told NCTA that cable must find an online model that works for both programmers and distributors, appearing to dismiss a subscription model proposal, TV Everywhere, made earlier this year by Time Warner. "Cable television is vitally important to our company. It provides us with a crucial connection with […]
Ignoring Bob Iger's dismissal of the online subscription model, Time Warner chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes unveiled HBO Go, a broadband complement to the premium network only for subscribers to the linear service. “We’re all being too slow,” Bewkes said. “We should put up all our networks on the Internet, out on broadband right now. […]