Advanced Television

OTT

WebTView launches OverCast

WebTView, a specialist in OTT video content delivery to connected devices, has unveiled its new mobile-based disruptive innovation called OverCast, an extension to the WebTView Video Platform. OverCast splits user experience into two screens – personalised video content search and sharing done on a smartphone or a tablet, selecting a TV show or a movie […]

February 24, 2011

MTG goes TV Everywhere with Viaplay

Entertainment broadcasting group Modern Times Group (MTG) is to launch a multi-screen on-demand pay-TV service in Scandinavia in March. The new service – Viaplay – will enable a Viasat subscriber to use a single ID and password to access Viasat pay-TV content on any Internet-connected device. The OTT portable solution is claimed to be the […]

February 23, 2011

ivi streaming ‘illegal’

A US District judge has ruled that Internet TV service ivi is breaking the law by offering live streams of network and cable television. ivi, which offers online broadcasts of 55 stations in the Los Angeles, Chicago and New York area for under $5 a month, was ordered to cease operations immediately as a result […]

February 23, 2011By Colin Mann

Canada broadcasters plot OTT defence

Canadian Broadcast industry groups have met in Ottawa to plan strategy for dealing with online content providers such as Netflix. Cable companies, broadcasters and union representatives were all represented, said Norm Bolen, the president of the Canadian Media Production Association, which arranged the meeting.  The session was about understanding the impact of online services “competing […]

February 21, 2011

Sony help RAI set up first Italian “Catch-up TV”

Italian public broadcaster RAI has signed an agreement with Sony, the first of its type in Italy, for the deployment of Web content within the Bravia Internet Video platform. This will open the doors for the creation of the first Italian “Catch-up TV”, allowing viewers to view a selection of programmes available on RAI’s website […]

February 18, 2011From Branislav Pekic in Rome

iPlayer links with VOD partners

Users of the BBC’s iPlayer service are now able to search for shows from a range of other broadcasters and other on-demand content providers. Through metadata-sharing partnerships, users can now find programmes from ITV, Channel 4, S4C, Five, SeeSaw.com and new partner MSN Video Player, directly from the BBC iPlayer website. The initiative comes some […]

February 18, 2011By Colin Mann

ESPN everywhere with FiOS

ESPN has unit launched authenticated online streaming for a number of its properties with Verizon. The accord follows a far-reaching agreement the parties reached last October for continued carriage of ABC Family, Disney Channel, Disney XD and the 2012 launch of Disney Junior and the online streaming of ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN Buzzer Beater. […]

February 18, 2011

76% of online users will watch TV by 2015

eMarketer estimates that in 2011, 68.2 per cent of US Internet users, or 158.1 million people, will be watching video content online each month. By 2015, that figure will increase to 76 per cent of Internet users, or 195.5 million people. In the same period, online video advertising spending will surge from $1.97 billion to […]

February 17, 2011

Google TV: We are not about cord cutting!

In a ‘read my lips’ moment here at Cable Congress, Donagh O’Mally, Head of Partnerships UK, Ireland and Benelux for YouTube, declared: “Google TV is not about cord cutting. Anyone who cancels pay-TV to get Google TV is going to be disappointed.” That promise didn’t entirely convince all members of the following panel on ‘How […]

February 16, 2011From Nick Snow @ Cable Congress

TV industry must focus on monetising, enhancing content

In a multiplatform world, where the consumer is king, keeping viewers satisfied while finding a way to monetise content is the biggest challenge facing programmers today. That was the verdict from the ‘State of the TV Industry’ panel at the 2011 TV Summit hosted by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Foundation and Variety. […]

February 16, 2011