Advanced Television

OTT

Telstra IPTV network

Telstra will reportedly be taking on Foxtel, TiVo, and any nascent IPTV plays from the broadcast sector in launching a service that will provide a combination of digital FTA, a full PVR, a range of BigPond (its ISP brand) content services via IP, customised web sites like YouTube and Flickr and open access to high […]

May 5, 2009

Consumers will demand web TV

More than 40% of U.S. adults under 35 are already viewing Internet video on the TV at least once per month, according to research firm In-Stat, which predicts that revenue from Web-to-TV streaming services will grow to $2.9 billion in 2013. Within five years, the number of U.S. broadband households viewing Web-to-TV content will grow […]

May 5, 2009

Disney buys stake in Hulu

Disney has joined News Corp and NBC Universal as a partner in Hulu.com. Disney did not reveal the stake it had purchased in Hulu but reports suggest it had bought a 30 per cent share of the venture launched in 2007. The addition of Disney, which owns US TV network ABC, to the Hulu line-up […]

May 1, 2009

Internet-enabled TVs in demand

Demand for Internet-enabled televisions is growing rapidly, according to a study by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). The study "Net-Enabled Video: Early Adopters Only?" found that about half of prospective TV buyers say they are likely to purchase an Internet-connected TV. The study reveals numerous ways consumers would use an Internet-enabled TV. Nearly half (48 […]

May 1, 2009

Hulu breaks into Top 3 video sites

ComScore has released March 2009 data from the comScore Video Metrix service, showing that US Internet users viewed 14.5 billion online videos during the month, representing an increase of 11 per cent versus February. Google Sites once again ranked as the top US video property with 5.9 billion videos viewed (40.9 per cent online video […]

May 1, 2009

Korea’s IPTV firms sign $173m Peruvian deal

Korea Digital Media Industry Association has revealed that Korea’s consortium of IPTV firms had signed a $173 million contract with its Peruvian counterpart to establish an education system utilising IPTV technology in Peru. Korea will be paid in minerals, including copper, zinc and molybdenum. In the first phase of the project by 2010, the Korean […]

April 29, 2009

NDS licenses Macrovision EPGs

NDS Group has entered into a multiyear licensing agreement for Macrovision Solutions’ electronic programme guide patents. Under the agreement, NDS will be able to offer licensed EPGs to its pay-TV platform operator customers in specified countries. “We believe operators will benefit from having the option to license Gemstar’s EPG patents alongside NDS’ own leading technology […]

April 28, 2009

Pirate Bay demands retrial

The defense lawyer in the Pirate Bay file-sharing case says he will demand a retrial after the judge admitted he was a member of copyright-protection organizations.A Stockholm court last week convicted four men behind the Web site of helping others commit copyright violations and gave them one-year prison sentences. They also were ordered to pay […]

April 24, 2009

Li gives up on PCCW

Richard Li has thrown in the towel on a proposed $2bn buyout of PCCW, his Hong Kong telecommunications company after a protracted legal battle, saying the saga has been "unnecessarily divisive to society". Li and state-owned China Unicom, PCCW's second-largest shareholder, said they would let the controversial HK$4.50 a share offer lapse and pay investors […]

April 24, 2009

Cable and IPTV resistant to recession

With US households reluctant to cancel home services despite the down economy, growth in cable and IPTV VoD services will remain strong, with revenues exceeding $11 billion by 2013, according to Parks Associates. “Currently 37 per cent of US digital cable customers use premium VoD regularly, up from 21 per cent in late 2004,” said […]

April 24, 2009