Advanced Television

OTT

World Cup traffic crashes ITV Player

The ITV Player was hit by problems during the opening game of the World Cup. Viewers complained that the online service crashed during the opening game between Brazil and Croatia on June 12th. Following a barrage of complaints on social media, ITV responded on its Twitter feed saying: “We’re seeing unprecedented numbers of users during […]

June 13, 2014

TalkTalk rolls out new TV player

TalkTalk has launched a new TV player to bring better functionality to its one million plus YouView TV customers. The new TalkTalk Player will be the home of on-demand movies and entertainment. It will house TalkTalk’s movie rental service, TalkTalk Box Office, which has been improved to include more of the latest blockbusters to rent […]

June 13, 2014

3TS invests $7.2m in Visual Unity

OTT platform and multiscreen solution provider Visual Unity announces an investment of $7.2 million from 3TS Capital Partners, the growth capital technology fund. This investment will strengthen Visual Unity’s delivery of end-to-end OTT solutions on a global scale. The investment of 3TS, into Visual Unity is from their Cisco, EBRD, EIF and OTP backed growth […]

June 13, 2014

Italian media drops €3.4bn in 5 years

Italy’s media industry lost €3.4 billion over the past five years, representing a 35 per cent drop compared to 2008, according to Rodolfo de Laurentiis, the president of Confindustria Radio TV. Speaking at the annual assembly of the industry group, he pointed out that leading broadcasters RAI and Mediaset lost more than €200 million per […]

June 12, 2014From Branislav Pekic in Rome

TVPlayer offers World Cup one-stop viewing

With the nation gearing up to watch the most exciting global football event of the year, free-to-air live TV streaming service TVPlayer is offering consumers the opportunity to watch the live matches in one place – completely free! A survey recently conducted by TVPlayer reveals that that 81 per cent of its respondents will be […]

June 12, 2014By Colin Mann

US World Cup fans watch TV Everywhere

World Cup fans in the US will be watching the 2014 tournament across multiple devices, often simultaneously, according to an analysis from Experian Marketing Services, a global provider of integrated consumer insight. Specifically, World Cup fans are 31 per cent more likely than average to watch online video across multiple devices, with 64 per cent […]

June 12, 2014

Google Chromecast in decline

Research from Parks Associates reports that usage of Google Chromecast appears to be declining while adoption of streaming media players has increased to nearly 20 per cent of US broadband households, up from 14 per cent in 2012. The research, which includes data and analysis of a Q1 2014 consumer survey of

June 11, 2014

CNMC says free Movistar TV is fair

The Spanish Competition watchdog CNMC has ruled that Telefonica’s bundling of free TV content within its Fusion TV offer is not in breach of any competition rule, rejecting a complaint filed by Orange Spain. Orange argued that the incumbent operator was abusing its position in Spain to reduce competition in the telecoms sector by offering […]

June 11, 2014From David Del Valle in Madrid

Telefonica copies Netflix model

Telefonica, through Movistar TV, is emulating the Netflix model by launching a flat fee access to a wide range of films and TV series on demand, excluding premieres. The price is yet to be confirmed, although it is likely to be similar to Netflix´s €6.60 charged in other countries. With the move, Telefonica aims to […]

June 10, 2014From David Del Valle in Madrid

Netflix’s Hastings a billionaire

Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings is now officially a billionaire, according to a report by Forbes. Hastings started Netflix with Marc Randolph in 1997 and saw the company through its IPO in 2002. Hastings is also a board member at Facebook and spent five years on the board at Microsoft. During his tenure at […]

June 10, 2014