ProSiebenSat.1 and RTL have confirmed the launch of a legal appeal against the decision by the country’s competition regulator to block their proposed ‘German Hulu’ video-on-demand service. The platform was blocked because the Bundeskartellamt was concerned it would be closed to smaller content providers and could create a duopoly in the German VoD market. Both […]
The new Egyptian government is making life easier for new privately-owned TV channels to get on air. The new rules are expected to lead to many more privately-financed TV stations emerging. Sixteen new channels have already been permitted. On April 17th, Egypt’s Public Authority for Investment and Free Zones, which overseas broadcasting out of Egypt’s […]
Canada’s leading television companies are targeting Netflix and other online streaming services in an attempt to bring the fast-growing competitive threat to the TV business into the same regulations they must follow. Senior executives for Astral Media said that documents have been filed with regulators seeking a review of the California streaming service’s ability to […]
The European Court of Justice has agreed with British Sky Broadcasting and overturned the UK tax authority’s classification of a PVR and, thereby, exempted it from import duty. The Inland Revenue had classified PVRs as recording devices subject to 13.9 per cent import duty (virtually all PVRs are made in China). However, the ECJ in […]
The Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill in New Zealand has been passed, despite strong opposition. The law will come into effect on September 1st and repeals Section 92A of the Copyright Act. The legislation seeks to tackle illegal file sharing, with illegal sharers receiving warnings for their first two infringements. A third infringement will […]
Motorola Solutions and Huawei Technologies have entered into an agreement to settle all pending litigation between them on breach of trade secrets. Motorola Solutions has agreed to withdraw its claims and dismiss, with prejudice, Huawei as a defendant in the Motorola v. Lemko litigation pending in the Chicago court. For its part, Huawei has agreed […]
Geo News and Geo Super have seemingly upset Pakistan’s regulator, and not for the first time. Now Pakistan’s media regulator (PEMRA) having taken note of what they say are “perpetual violations” committed by the two channels for “airing false news reports” has issued formal notices and is now blocking the channels distribution in the country. […]
The UK Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has decided not to prosecute BT and Phorm for secretly tracking the online habits of 18,000 Internet users. BT and Phorm sparked controversy in 2006 and 2007 when it emerged that the companies were covertly trialing software tracking users behaviour in order to deliver targeted advertising. BT ditched the […]
A coalition of content owners is working on a detailed proposal for a voluntary scheme which would see Internet Service Providers (ISPs) block dozens of sites facilitating online piracy, following a series of meetings convened by the communications minister Ed Vaizey, reports the Financial Times. The initiative comes amid continuing delays to the implementation of […]
As anticipated, the US House of Representatives has voted to overturn the so-called ‘net neutrality’ rules designed to create an open Internet. A clash with the Senate and President Obama is now certain to follow. The House voted 240 to 179 in favour of a Republican-backed resolution that seeks to block the rules approved by […]