Existing law would prevent Comcast from denying satellite TV providers and other rivals access to NBC Universal programming on reasonable terms once the cable TV operator takes control of the media company, Comcast’s chief executive Brian Roberts has said. Satellite companies such as DirecTV and smaller cable companies fear that if regulators approve Comcast’s plan […]

The Indian government has accepted the recommendations made by telecom regulator TRAI to hold a bidding process for issuing licences for offering mobile TV services. It has also been decided to allow operators to decide on the technology to be deployed for offering the service. “The methodology for grant of licence through closed tender system […]

ASSOCHAM (The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India) has urged Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to withdraw five per cent Customs Duty on STBs in Budget proposals for 2010-11 to provide support to the DTH industry. Customs Duty on STBs had been exempted in 2006 to provide impetus to industries involved in digitisation […]

BSkyB has won a five-year legal action against Electronic Data Systems (EDS) for deceit, negligent misrepresentation and breach of contract. The UK Courts found that EDS had lied to Sky in order to secure a contract as part of the company's investment in a new customer relationship management system. In summer 2000, Sky appointed EDS […]

Responding to civil liberties concerns, the European Commission has said it will “closely monitor” a planned UK trial of deep packet inspection technology by Virgin Media. In November Virgin announced plans to look at the traffic of 40 per cent, or 1.6 million, of its subscribers, to gauge the level of illegal file-sharing on its […]

The German state media office will decide by mid-March if mobile TV via the DVB-H standard gets a second chance. An important requirement for a possible re-tender of a 10-year licence is that interested parties confirm their interest in deploying DVB-H to the approval and oversight commission of the media offices (ZAK) before the end […]

The Federal Communications Commission has voted to stop cable operators from withholding local sports channels from rivals in the US, potentially giving consumers more choice of pay-TV providers. Federal law requires cable operators to offer access to channels they partially or wholly own to rivals at reasonable rates. But the law includes a loophole that […]

Microsoft is suing TiVo alleging infringement of patents for a system that displays programme information and a secure method for buying and delivering video programmes. TiVo, which has 2.7 million direct DVR subscribers, is using portions of the two Microsoft patents in its products or components, including set-top box products, subscription services and software, without […]

The Indian government has suspended permission for the launch of new television channels in the country, citing scarcity of spectrum. The ministry of information and broadcasting has suspended fresh permissions for new television channels, affecting the roll out plans of up to 170 channels, applications for which are pending with the ministry. In a communication […]

A board meeting at Ofcom is set to approve the regulator obliging Sky to cut its wholesale prices on its sports channels. In choreographed weekend interviews BT set the ground claiming it would definitely significantly undercut Sky with its retail price if it gets access to the channels at the kind of prices put forward […]