Advanced Television

IPTV

Free adds Vietnamese and Telekidz bundles

French IPTV platform Free is adding two new channel bundles to its service for €2.99 each per month. The first is a Vietnamese bundle of four channels including pubcasters VTV1 (news and documentaries), VTV3 (entertainment), HTV9 (general entertainment) and NetViet/VTC10 (dedicated to ex-pats). The second is Arabic kids bouquet Telekidz that comprises of preschool networks […]

February 7, 2017From Pascale Paoli-Lebailly in Paris

ProSiebenSat.1, Vodafone distribution agreement

ProSiebenSat.1 Media has signed a long-term agreement with Vodafone for the distribution of its free, paid, HD, and VoD content. Starting at the end of February, Vodafone customers in Germany will be able to directly order and use maxdome via Vodafone’s new GigaTV entertainment platform. With this agreement, maxdome will be distributed via all major […]

February 3, 2017

More damaging fallout from Sky’s OTT promise

Last week Sky announced that in 2018 it would introduce an OTT broadband service which would include its SkyQ set-top box, and targeting the 2 million homes in the UK (and 6 million in Europe) which had no possibility of satellite dish reception. The news went down very badly with investors holding stock in Luxembourg-based […]

February 1, 2017

Movistar offers free iPlus STB

Telefónica’s IPTV platform Movistar Plus is offering free iPlus set-top-boxes in an attempt to boost subscriptions to the pay-TV platform by satellite, which currently has 800,000 subscribers (versus 3.7 million via IP). The device will allow new and current subscribers to have access to HD channels, VoD and online box office content. Recording services are […]

January 31, 2017From David Del Valle in Madrid

Nielsen, AT&T STB viewing data deal

Global performance management company Nielsen has agreed a multi-year deal with multiplay telco AT&T to include anonymised set-top box data from connected homes subscribed to AT&T’s DirecTV and U-Verse services into Nielsen’s local and national TV currency ratings services. According to Nielsen, further enhancing the Nielsen Total Audience strategy, the data from the AT&T set-top […]

January 19, 2017

Canada: STB energy efficiency agreement

Canadian pay-TV service providers (specifically, cable, direct-to-home satellite and IPTV providers) along with set-top box manufacturers have finalised a voluntary agreement, committing themselves to improving the energy efficiency of set-top boxes from coast-to-coast-to-coast. With this voluntary agreement, reached in consultation with federal and provincial governments, utilities and supporting organisations, it is expected that total annual […]

January 18, 2017

HbbTV issues online video streaming RfP

The HbbTV Association, a global initiative dedicated to providing an open standard for the delivery of broadcast and broadband services through connected TVs and set-top boxes, has issued a Request for Proposals (RfP) for the creation of a reference application for online streaming of DRM-protected video to HbbTV televisions and set-top boxes. HbbTV aims to […]

January 17, 2017

Verimatrix bulk decryption from WISI

WISI has announced new features that enable video operators using Verimatrix scrambling to securely deliver video across their network, decode entire channel line-ups at the network edge and convert them to a variety of IP or legacy RF video formats. This flexible product enables operators to pursue opportunities in hospitality, MDU, school campus, nursing home, […]

January 12, 2017

Sony kids’ catch-up on YouView

Sony Pictures Television’s portfolio of kids’ channels is launching a catch-up service on UK Internet TV platform YouView from January 10th. Following YouView’s recent announcement of a re-engineering and redesign of the entire platform, Sony Kids is the first player to launch since the roll out of the new software. Sony Kids brings together Sony’s […]

January 10, 2017

South Korea deregulates pay-TV

The South Korean government is planning to deregulate the domestic pay-TV industry to facilitate mergers and acquisitions among cable TV, satellite broadcasting and IPTV service providers with the intention of enhancing their competitiveness in the global market. The Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning said that it would apply the same regulation to the […]

January 3, 2017By Colin Mann