Copyright holders should back off attempts to make Internet service providers (ISPs) across the globe enforce copyright on their behalf, according to network vendor Ericsson. As New Zealand begins enforcing its three-strikes copyright-infringement policy, with ISPs dishing out the first warning notices to customers, Ericsson has this week released a discussion paper on copyright-enforcement approaches […]
The US House of Representatives is backing new regulations which, if passed, would make it easier for satellite operators to launch their satellites free of restrictions currently in place on certain components. The USA’s ITAR rules treat satellite components as ‘munitions’ (the International Traffic in Arms Regulations) and which mean that non-US satellites cannot use […]
BSkyB has succeeded in getting a Virgin Media direct mail campaign banned for potentially tricking consumers into thinking it was an official offer of a TV upgrade from its pay-TV rival – but lost a bid to stop Virgin being able to claim it offered a “better TV experience”. Sky lodged a complaint with the […]
Texas Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has said that a Senate vote to overturn the FCC’s net neutrality rules might come as early as next week. The vote would happen just days ahead of November 20th, when the rules are scheduled to take effect. Hutchison said the necessary number of senators‚ signatures have been obtained […]
The UK TV licence fee could be extended to cover catch-up services such as the BBC iPlayer as part of an overhaul of the levy being considered by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. British viewers currently pay £145.50 (€166) annually for a licence if they watch or record programmes as they are broadcast, […]
On October 24, UK media regulator Ofcom cancelled the licences of three channels (Babeworld, House of Fun and The Other Side). These channels are perhaps not the most important UK broadcasters, but now Ofcom is looking at the licensing of channels that do have a somewhat higher profile. Ofcom’s concerns revolve around who actually controls […]
DirecTV has complained to the FCC complaining about Fox advertising related to their cable programming dispute. The satellite operator says that Fox is “using misleading advertising informing DirecV customers that ‘soon, in some markets, you may lose your local Fox station,’ even though our retransmission consent agreement does not expire for over two months.” DirecTV […]
A few weeks ago it was widely reported that China had ‘banned’ entertainment-type programming especially that emanating from Taiwan and which frequently employed ‘Western’ presentation styles and fashions. BBC Monitoring reports that speculation has arisen whether the state TV regulator has decided to stop Hong Kong and Taiwan entertainers from participating in mainland China’s […]
A bipartisan group of US House lawmakers has introduced legislation aimed at curbing online piracy and counterfeiting on foreign websites, following the May 2011 introduction of similar legislation by the Senate. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (Republican, Texas) along with ranking member John Conyers (Democrat, Michigan) and Bob Goodlatte (Republican, Virginia), Chairman of […]
BT has been given 14 days to block access to a website accused of promoting illegal filesharing “on a grand scale” by Hollywood studios, in the first high court ruling of its kind under UK copyright law. Justice Arnold handed down a written judgement to BT – which, with about 6 million customers, is the […]