The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has commenced market consultation on the proposed undertaking offered by pay-TV platform Foxtel in respect of its proposed acquisition of Austar, dashing the hopes of those who expected the regulator to give its approval of the deal. “The proposed undertaking has been offered by Foxtel to address the harm […]
The UK government has been given the green light to implement the Digital Economy Act after the final legal challenge by BT and Talk Talk was thrown out at the Court of Appeal. The two ISPs lost their appeal against last year’s judicial review of the government’s anti-piracy legislation on all but one ground. The […]
Eight television networks and local broadcasters in New York have filed a suit against Aereo, a company that recently announced plans to deliver live local television programming online. The lawsuit seeks to block Aereo from launching its service, planned for March 14. Formerly known as Bamboom, Aereo hoped to offer a low-cost alternative to cable […]
The European Commission has released a study showing that, if the internal market for electronic communications were completed, the EU gross domestic product (GDP) could grow by up to €110 billion a year, or more than 0.8 per cent of GDP. The EC sees e-Communications as a critical part of overall efforts to build a […]
Following the stalling of the SOPA and PIPA anti-piracy measures in the US Congress, largely in response to activist claims of Internet censorship, Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), has continued to offer a more conciliatory approach to the technology community, while still stressing the importance of […]
The European Commission has asked the EU’s highest court to rule on the legality of a controversial treaty covering copyright, counterfeiting and Internet freedom. The EU executive said in a statement “[we have]…decided to ask the European Court of Justice for a legal opinion to clarify that the ACTA agreement and its implementation must be […]
The UK advertising regulator has banned a TV ad by BSkyB aimed at users of its Anytime+ service after almost 100 complaints claimed it was misleading and unfair because Sky refused to offer the deal to all customers. The TV ad campaign, which ran with the line “welcome to the world of better offers”, targeted […]
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has welcomed an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) move to allow governments to take “necessary actions” when foreign powers deliberately interfere with satellite transmissions. Member states approved a revision of the ITU regulations that will give governments greater powers to counter the practice. The decision was taken at this year’s ITU […]
Social networking websites cannot be forced to install anti-piracy software in a bid to stop members illegally file-sharing. The ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is in a case between Belgian-based social network Netlog and SABAM, a music royalities collection firm also based in Belgium. “The owner of an online social network cannot […]
Sky is signaling a new hardline approach to pubs using foreign satellite services for Premier League football with ads in the licensing trade press warning of a campaign of prosecutions. The approach follows a court judgment earlier this month in which said use of foreign decoders to show Premier League games does breach Sky’s copyright […]