The Technical Committee of the European Broadcasting Union has agreed a set of measures for Hybrid Broadcast Broadband (HBB) services and devices. It says it backs "the exciting opportunity these technologies bring to viewers and the broadcasting world, and the significant work that has already been done in this domain." The committee said that while […]
Virgin Media and BT have attacked BSkyB's pricing mechanism for its premium channels in a joint submission to Ofcom's pay-TV inquiry. The companies say Sky's "near monopoly" restricts consumer choice and keeps prices high. Ofcom has already recommended it should regulate the wholesale price of Sky's premium channels. The two companies, plus Freeview provider Top-Up […]
BT Group has criticised a government proposal that would allow UK authorities to suspend Internet access temporarily for those who engage repeatedly in copyright-infringing file sharing. BT said the 'summary justice' proposal undermines rights to due process and raise costs for consumers by requiring expensive network interventions on the part of ISPs. BT also said […]
Lord Mandelson has repeated that illegal filesharing posed a threat to Britain’s creative industries and it was vital for such industries to be allowed to flourish, but emphasised filesharers could have their Internet connections cut off for short periods, but only as a last resort. ISPs had reacted angrily to Mandelson's enthusiastic support for the […]
Set top boxes for Project Canvas, the IP catch-up TV initiative from the BBC, ITV, Five and BT, are scheduled to be available in shops by December of next year. Richard Halton, IPTV programme director at the BBC, confirmed that, barring regulatory problems, the first Project Canvas set-top products “will be on sale by Christmas […]
Wireless carriers shouldn’t be allowed to block certain types of Internet traffic flowing over their networks, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission chairman said in a speech that drew immediate condemnation from providers. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said wireless carriers should be subject to the same “open Internet” rules that the agency has begun […]
Nine of Europe’s leading cable network operators, representing more than 35 million connected homes, have shown their immediate support and declared their intention to exploit the operational potential of DVB-C2. In a signed statement cable network operators YouSee (Denmark), Numericable (France), Kabel Baden Württemberg, Unitymedia, Kabel Deutschland (Germany), Ziggo (The Netherlands), ZON (Portugal), ONO (Spain) […]
Inverto Digital Labs has confirmed it is becoming a supporting member of the HbbTV standard and that the HD+ hybrid set-top-box platform Scena 6, planned for the German market in Q1 2010, will support the Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) standard. The hybrid STB platform will incorporate a CE-HTML browser from Pleyo that is working […]
Contract Rights Renewal, the rules which dictate how much ITV1 can charge advertisers, will stay for now says the Competition Commission. In its provisional report into CRR the watchdog has proposed “variations” which, for example, could allow ITV1 to capture more commercial impacts, such as rolling in high-definition and time-shifted channels into the definition of […]
A federal judge in the US has ruled that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s safe harbour provisions protected Veoh, the video-sharing site – from liability for hosting pirated clips uploaded by users. “The DMCA does not place the burden of ferreting out infringement on the service provider,” the judge said. Universal Music had sued Veoh […]