Sony’s Blu-ray looks set to become the standard for high-definition DVDs after Toshiba signalled it will give up in a long-running format battle, to the relief of investors. Toshiba is reviewing its HD DVD business and “a complete withdrawal is one of the options it is considering.” The demise of HD DVD could spur sales […]

German commercial broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 has opted to halt simulcasting the HD versions of its two main channels, ProSieben and Sat.1, on Astra. No official reason has been given for the termination of the HD broadcasts, but it likely arises from a lack of suitable receivers, the additional costs and the inability to increase advertising revenues […]

The Direct-to-Home (DTH) pay-TV market is expected to continue growing at about 7.6 per cent annually in subscribers from 2006 to 2011, and new services such as HD TV will help increase revenue. Rapid growth in the subscriber base will occur in certain less mature markets like Africa and India, where new DTH providers have […]

Motorola is making up for some of its losses in mobile as it sees a strong boost from sales of set-top boxes for high-definition television services, according to Dan Moloney, head of the company’s set-top box and network equipment unit. “We saw a tremendous increase in demand for set-top boxes in the holiday season and […]

NDS, has announced that Viasat, digital satellite pay-TV operator serving Scandinavia and the Baltic region, has extended its long-standing relationship with NDS for the provision of VideoGuard conditional access. In addition, the companies have made a new agreement whereby NDS is to commence supplying Viasat with MediaHighway middleware, XTV DVR technology, and a customised EPG […]

Filing its response on the deadline for the Ofcom consultation period for upgrading Freeview to HD, the Digital TV Group has said “the regulator's current proposals could seriously compromise DTT's long term viability.” Dermot Nolan, the new director general at the DTG, believes there should be a comprehensive national strategy for HDTV encompassing all TV […]

From David Del Valle in Madrid The largest Spanish pay-TV group, Sogecable, is the first company in the country to distribute nationwide a High Definition channel with the launch of Canal + HD, the HD version of its premium pay-TV service. On trial since last December, the channel will offer a regular HD transmission to […]

More than 40 enterprises will join forces to create the China Terrestrial Digital HDTV IPR Protection Alliance on January 31st. The alliance will have the mandate to manage patents for the Chinese standard for terrestrial digital HDTV, and could potentially become a body like the IGRS (Intelligent Grouping and Resource Sharing) Working Group by setting […]

Swiss based i-concerts has finalised a deal with Numericable, France's largest cable operator, to launch the company's i-concerts HD TV channel as part of its service in Spring 2008. i-concerts HD's launch on Numericable marks the first time it will be available to European cable subscribers.

Modern Times Group has confirmed that Viasat Broadcasting has launched its HDTV offering on its Nordic Satellite pay-TV platform, including two Viasat-branded premium HDTV channels – TV1000 HD and Viasat Sport HD. The initial line up of Viasat's HDTV channels consists of TV1000 HD and National Geographic Channel HD in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland […]