Advanced Television

Connected TV

BBC plan to save 20%

Digital channel BBC4 is set to concentrate on arts programming dropping drama and comedy from the low rating channel as the BBC aims to save £700 million (€785m), or 20 per cent of its budget. The cuts are revealed in the latest Work Plan for 2010-11 – the Plans are part of the Trust’s commitment […]

June 6, 2011

Spain backs HbbTV standard

Electronics manufacturers, TV broadcasters and the Government have lined up to support the HbbTV standard as a way to introduce hybrid TV following the model in France and Germany. Manufacturers believe the market will grow strongly over the next few years. Panasonic forecasts that in 2012 there will be 2 million Internet-ready TV sets in […]

June 3, 2011From David Del Valle in Madrid

Connected now the norm for new TV devices

According to The Diffusion Group (TDG), the number of households that will be using over-the-top (OTT) video services will grow from 106 million in 2010 to 250 million in 2016. While impressive, this is but 51 per cent of the households that will be capable of receiving OTT TV services in 2016. In other words, […]

June 3, 2011

Telecom Italia, Samsung offer free movies on demand

Telecom Italia and Samsung Electronics have teamed up to offer over 60 movie titles, which can be viewed free of charge and in 3D. With the purchase of new Samsung LED Smart TVs (starting from 32 inch models), 60 movies are included in the price, which can be viewed free of charge via the Telecom […]

June 2, 2011From Branislav Pekic in Rome

Cisco: 15bn connected devices by 2015

 The number of connected devices will reach over 15 billion – twice the world’s population – by 2015 predicts Cisco. It predicts the proliferation of tablets, mobile phones, connected appliances and other smart devices will drive this growth and consumer video will continue to dominate Internet traffic; that by 2015 one million minutes of video […]

June 1, 2011

Apple iCloud TV

In an unusual preview of next week’s annual developer conference, Apple has revealed it will announce an new ‘iCloud’ service that will include Internet TV. The company gave few details but analysts said it is likely it would allow people access to music, photos and videos on multiple Apple devices, without needing to sync those […]

June 1, 2011

Foxtel drops Xbox data charges

Australian pay-TV provider Foxtel has confirmed that Telstra BigPond broadband customers will not be charged for any data when using Foxtel on Xbox 360, and six BigPond TV channels are to be added to the service. This means all video content will be unmetered for Telstra BigPond customers when viewing the Foxtel on Xbox 360 […]

May 31, 2011

Arqiva abandons SeeSaw online TV

Arqiva is to close online TV venture SeeSaw after failing to find an investment partner or buyer. The company, which is a partner in the BBC-backed YouView video-on-demand venture, will pull the plug on SeeSaw next month. The shutdown comes five months after Arqiva appointed Ingenious Media to find an investment partner or buyer for […]

May 27, 2011

PrimoItalia launches 150 online TV channels in Italy

PrimoItalia has launched what it claims is the biggest Italian Internet TV offer, distributed via connected TVs, computers, Blu-ray players, smart phones and tablets. PrimoItalia provides access to over 150 TV channels from the Streamit TV Internet TV platform, available in HD, with over 3 million unique users per month. Channels aired by the platform […]

May 26, 2011From Branislav Pekic in Rome

Catch up powers European OTT

An analysis of Europe’s largest OTT markets by SNL Kagan finds the UK and France leading Europe’s emerging deployments. The analysis – focused on France, Germany, Italy, the UK and Spain – notes an increase in OTT service launches in recent months, driven by broadcaster-led catch-up services that are significantly impacting how content is distributed […]

May 25, 2011