Advanced Television

PVR

Dish to pay TiVo $500m

Dish Network and its owner EchoStar have agreed to pay $500 million to TiVo in order to settle all of their patent disputes with TiVo. $300 million will be paid immediately, and a total of a further $200 million paid in six annual payments spread between next year and 2017. TiVo shares rocketed 25 per […]

May 2, 2011By Chris Forrester

Beem.TV goes live

Beem, an online video service, announced the public launch of its Web site, Beem.TV in Australia. Users can now record their choice of television programming to watch back at a more convenient time. On Beem.TV, consumers can enjoy selecting from TV Shows and Movies from Australia’s Digital Free To Air Television channels, which can be […]

April 28, 2011

EchoStar: ‘Win some, lose some’

EchoStar and sister company Dish Network on April 20 lost the latest round of its long-running litigation with DVR-technology company TiVo. The US Court of Appeals said that EchoStar continued to infringe TiVo’s patents, and found the company in contempt. TiVo’s stock price rocketed by more than 32 per cent, and most analysts agree that […]

April 21, 2011By Chris Forrester

Verizon upgrades FiOS TV

Verizon has unveiled the next generation of its all-fibre-optic FiOS TV The company used customer feedback gained from its product development labs, field trials and social media forums to create many of the more than 25 upgrades to FiOS TV’s advanced Interactive Media Guide. The enhancements include 3D content software, which automatically detects when a […]

April 15, 2011

Sky wins ECJ case to exempt PVRs from tax

The European Court of Justice has agreed with British Sky Broadcasting and overturned the UK tax authority’s classification of a PVR and, thereby, exempted it from import duty. The Inland Revenue had classified PVRs as recording devices subject to 13.9 per cent import duty (virtually all PVRs are made in China). However, the ECJ in […]

April 14, 2011

EchoStar Freesat+ DVR with SlingLoaded TV anywhere

EchoStar Europe have unveilled their SlingLoaded HDS-600RS, a HD digital video recorder (DVR) to combine Freesat+ features with Sling Media’s place-shifting ability, enabling TV anywhere, on all popular smartphones and tablets. The SlingLoaded feature enables users to watch and manage their live and recorded TV remotely anytime, anywhere, via 3G or Wi-Fi, with no additional […]

March 23, 2011

TiVo needs cash injection

TiVo shares fell back 3.4 per cent (to $8.75) after telling shareholders that it was offering $120 million in convertible senior notes to investment institutions. The notes are due 2016. Worryingly for shareholders, TiVo said it would use the fresh cash for R&D but also to fund its ongoing litigation and challenges to its intellectual […]

March 9, 2011

TiVo discounting decimates profit

TiVo has revealed that its Q4 net loss more than tripled after the company dumped deep-discount digital video recorder boxes during the holiday season and racked up legal fees in a series of patent disputes. TiVo reduced its entry-level box price from $300 to $100, and the top-tier Premiere XL box from $500 to $300 […]

March 2, 2011By Chris Forrester

Eurostar and Pace win Etisalat deal

Eurostar and Pace have been appointed by Etisalat to enable delivery of digital TV services to its customers. To enable the rollout of Etisalat’s eLife triple play services through the fibre-optic network, Pace has developed HD PVR STBs and Advanced Residential Gateway solutions. Etisalat’s eLife triple play services give customers the opportunity to experience value […]

February 25, 2011

New services boost Digital Plus

The addition of HDTV channels and PVR capabilities are giving a new boost to Spain’s digital satellite platform Digital Plus. As a whole, the company added 29,468 new clients in January in comparison with a loss of over 15,000 subscribers the same period last year. Out of the total growth, 10,662 new subs are to […]

February 24, 2011From David Del Valle in Madrid