TiVo and US satellite TV provider EchoStar return to a Texas court this week in the latest round of a longstanding fight over a TV recording technology patent. The legal dispute dates back to 2004, when TiVo charged that satellite TV provider EchoStar Communications Corp’s Dish network system violated TiVo’s patent for 'Time Warp' software, […]
Online US TV platform Hulu, the NBC Universal and News Corp joint venture, has removed its content from CBS-owned rival TV.com. The move follows the relaunch of TV.com last month with increased partnership deals in a bid to take on the Hulu platform. A Hulu statement read, “Hulu has contractual rights with regards to our […]
UK telco BT has revealed that it has garnered 398,000 subscribers for its IPTV service ‘BT Vision’ in the fourth quarter of 2008, up from 340,000 subscribers at the end of the previous quarter. The group also saw an increasing number of its new customers subscribing to one or more of its on-demand programming packages. […]
From Branislav Pekic in Rome Italian public broadcaster RAI has become a multimedia operator by relaunching its website and offering users access to all content as well as personalized services. Two new web portals are now available which provide access to a total of 22 live channels. Seven of them are RAI's TV channels (Rai […]
French IPTV operator Iliad boosted ARPU for its Free service to E36.90 during the fourth quarter of 2008. The operator said its record ARPU figure to-date was partly down to the launch of new services, including the Multi-TV Freebox in September. It introduced two new high-definition channels, France 2 and M6, and HD content on […]
TeliaSonera had 867,000 TV subscribers, including 477,000 IPTV subscribers, at the end of last year. The IPTV base grew by 99,000 in the course of the year, while its overall TV subscriber base grew by 98,000. The company saw IPTV growth of 27,000 in the fourth quarter, including 4,000 in Sweden. Telia's Swedish IPTV base […]
France had 5.643 million IPTV subscribers by the end of September 2008, according to data published by the telecoms regulator Arcep, up 1.6 million or 39 per cent on the same period of 2007. France Telecom's ‘Orange TV’ service accounted for around 1.5 million of the total uplift ahead of Neuf Cegetel's rival 'neuf TV' […]
Philadelphia has become the latest big city to approve a video franchise for Verizon’s FiOS TV fiber-supported service. The City Council voted unanimously to grant the telco a 15-year franchise with the expectation that Verizon will roll out the service citywide over the next seven years. Verizon said it expects to begin offering FiOS to […]
Lithuanian telco TEO has revealed that the number of subscribers to its IPTV service ‘Interactive GALA’ more than doubled during 2008 to reach 40,400 by year-end. Its DTT service, which launched in March, reached 26,300 customers by the end of 2008, and its broadband subscriber base saw an increase of 15.2 per cent during 2008 […]
Delta Partners consultants says IPTV, mobile TV and multiplay will increasingly form the new battleground for Middle East telcom firms as they see lower fixed line revenues, fixed-mobile substitution and strong mobile competition going into the future. Research Director, Mohsen Malaki, says that broadband sharing and cheap broadband alternatives are becoming a feature of the […]