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STBs seized during fraud raid

Dozens of electronic items including suspected illegal set-top boxes have been seized from an apartment in the UK West Midlands town of Walsall. The items were located after a joint investigation by the Metropolitan Police and the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) into the sales of illegal set-top boxes that allow free access to subscription […]

July 1, 2015By Colin Mann

HGI to conclude its work by 2016

The Home Gateway Initiative (HGI) has revealed its plan to complete its current work by mid-2016 and bring the organisation to a close. In order to achieve this, HGI will accelerate and finish the important work still underway. Following the end of the organisation, the requirements documents created by HGI will remain available to the […]

June 30, 2015

Analyst: STB market contracts for first time in 12 years

Pay-TV operators purchased $15.3 billion worth of set-top boxes (STBs) in 2014, down from $15.9 billion in 2013. This decline represents the first contraction in the market since 2002, according analysis and insight firm IHS. Shipments of pay-TV STBs grew slightly in 2014 to 204.7 million units, an increase of just under 1 per cent […]

June 29, 2015

South African broadcaster loses STB encryption case

South African pay-TV operator e.TV has been unsuccessful in its court challenge to the state’s digital migration policy, where it argued that an amendment governing encrypted broadcasts effectively barred it from ever being able to encrypt its broadcasts, because the cost of doing it at a later stage was prohibitive. The High Court ruled that […]

June 26, 2015By Colin Mann

Manhattan to support Freeview Play

Digital UK and Freeview have confirmed that set-top box manufacturer Manhattan TV will launch a range of Freeview Play products early next year. The UK-owned company will offer a standalone receiver (T3) and two digital recorders (T3-R), providing 500GB and 1TB hard drive options. All products will include Wi-fi connectivity as standard and be available […]

June 23, 2015

Lebara goes OTT with Lebara Play for migrants

Telecoms provider Lebara, best known for calling plans to enable migrant communities to connect, has launched Lebara Play, which aims to bridge the content gap by providing a new entertainment service for migrants. The service claims to be the only multi-ethnic entertainment service bringing together free and premium, fully-licensed content in 13 languages in one […]

June 19, 2015By Colin Mann

Analyst: STB market consolidation not over

ARRIS’s acquisition of Pace created the largest set-top manufacturer, with 22 per cent worldwide market share of the set-top box market. ARRIS is about three times larger than most competitors including EchoStar, Technicolor, Cisco, and Humax. Set-top semiconductor leader

June 19, 2015

Sky: NOW TV broadening pay-TV market

The launch and enhancement of NOW TV, Sky’s subscription-free OTT streaming service, has enabled the operator to tap into new pockets of demand, according to Stephen Van Rooyen, Chief Marketing and Digital Officer. Speaking at the Future of Broadcasting Conference in London, Van Rooyen said that the broadcaster has long since moved away from being […]

June 16, 2015By Colin Mann

Telefonica converged Home Gateway

Telefonica is launching its Home Gateway that includes router ONT unit and videobridge to have converged access for all the company’s services. With a 20x20cm size, the device has six internal antennas for WiFi (5GHz and 2.4GHz), four fixed blue LEDs, one FXS port for VoIP, four Ethernet ports and the latest Broadcom GPON chip. […]

June 11, 2015From David Del Valle in Madrid

Zappware and EKT new partnership

EKT (Eagle Kingdom Technologies), a company specialised in the design and manufacturing of A-Grade Set Top Box solution, and Zappware, an end-to-end DVB/IPTV/OTT platform provider, have announced the availability of the Zappware Platform on EKT’s latest range of STB solutions. Built on top of EKT’s solidTV and its integrated browser, Zappware’s HTML5 client operates completely […]

June 11, 2015