Foxtel chief Kim Williams has hit back at claims made May 31 by telco Optus that the pay-TV group’s proposed A$1.9 billion merger with Austar could threaten competitive access to content. Optus CEO Paul O’Sullivan used a keynote speech at a the CeBIT conference to call on the competition regulator to consider creating “must-share provisions” […]
HBO Central Europe has launched HBO GO in Romania. HBO GO is the Internet streaming service available to HBO subscribers with a broadband connection. The service in Romania will be accessible to customers that have broadband Internet and an HBO Maxpak subscription. In Romania HBO GO will be available initially to iNES IPTV clients. iNES […]
Italian commercial broadcaster Mediaset has confirmed a July 2nd launch date for its new free-to-air digital terrestrial TV channel Italia 2. Directed by Luca Tiraboschi, the new channel will have a target audience of young males aged 15 to 35 years, with a programme schedule relying heavily on American TV series. In the afternoon, Italia […]
YouTube has reported a 50 per cent jump in video views, taking the total to 3 billion views a day and it has revealed more than 48 hours of video are uploaded to the site each minute, a 37 per cent rise over the last six months. YouTube attributes the increase in viewing to its […]
Modern Times Group (MTG), the international entertainment broadcasting group, has announced that Viasat Broadcasting has signed an exclusive four year pan-Scandinavian distribution agreement with Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution. The deal is the first of its kind in Scandinavia as it covers the broadcasting of a range of movies and TV series on Viasat’s Scandinavian […]
Arab Digital Distribution (ADD), the largest pay-TV platform management company in the Middle East and North Africa, has launched two new regional packages – Pehla Spice and Pehla Spice Plus. Targeted at the large South Indian diaspora across the region, the two new packages will be distributed exclusively through Pehla – Premium Asian Entertainment. Majed […]
SES Astra has signed a capacity agreement with Penthouse Digital Media Productions for a second Penthouse 3D channel on ASTRA 23.5 degrees East for the encrypted distribution to TV platform providers across Europe. Penthouse 3D is the first worldwide 3D adult channel, broadcasting 100 per cent native 3D content. A first 3D channel from Penthouse […]
Netflix and Miramax have confirmed a multi-year agreement under which Netflix members in the US will be able to instantly watch motion pictures from the Miramax film library. It is the first time Miramax titles have become available through a digital subscription service. Beginning in June, Netflix members will be able to instantly watch several […]
World soccer’s governing bodies FIFA and UEFA have appealed against a European ruling that the World Cup and European Championships must be on free-to-air TV in the UK. In February, the European Court ruled the UK could keep the events on a of “a protected list” of events shown for free. It means the two […]
The launch of a new national TV network, a key plank of culture secretary Jeremy Hunt’s plan for new local TV services, is to be delayed and may even be scrapped. Licensing of a new network to provide a national “spine” for the local TV services was due to commence next month, to be followed […]