Advanced Television

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Hulu pitches original content

US VoD service Hulu has made its first ever TV network-style programming presentation to US advertisers, unveiling original commissions from documentary film-maker Morgan Spurlock, Entourage’s Adrian Grenier and the creator of the popular video game franchise Assassin’s Creed. Hulu, the joint venture whose partners include News Corporation, Disney and NBC Universal, has built its video […]

April 20, 2012

Court bans ‘German Hulu’

Germany’s ProSiebenSat.1 and RTL have suffered a further blow to plans to launch their own Hulu-like platform for watching TV shows soon after they air. The plan to aggregate their content on an ad-supported site was already opposed by regulators, on grounds of market dominance and now a German court has agreed with that assessment. […]

April 19, 2012

ODG and Power SVOD deal

On Demand Group (ODG) and Power, the independent TV Producer, have signed a multi-screen deal to provide the latest Power TV movies and mini-series to ODG Subscription Video-On-Demand (SVOD) services in Latin America. Under the terms of the deal, consumers of ODG’s operator clients in the territories with SVOD access will be able to watch […]

April 19, 2012

Quickflix hits 100,000 subs

Quickflix achieved new growth milestones during the last quarter and made significant strides as first-mover in Australia & New Zealand’s emerging IPTV movie and TV streaming sectors. Paying subscribers grew by 14 per cent finishing the quarter at 107,520. Revenue was up 15 per cent and in March exceeded a run rate of A$20 million […]

April 19, 2012

Hulu to increase content-spend by 67%

US television streaming service Hulu will ramp up its spending to create and acquire content to $500 million this year, a 67 per cent increase, Chief Executive Jason Kilar has said. The service has grown to two million subscribers, from 1.5 million subscribers at the start of the year, Kilar told an advertising industry conference. […]

April 18, 2012

ShopTo.net buys FetchTV

UK independent online entertainment retailer ShopTo.net has acquired VoD streaming service FetchTV. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in May 2012. FetchTV brings SmartBox set-top box technology and the FetchTV streaming and movies on demand expertise. FetchTV boxes are sold by the likes of Tesco, Currys and PC […]

April 16, 2012By Colin Mann

Liberty Global carriage deal for ESPN

Liberty Global’s European cable operations  in Germany (Unitymedia and Kabel BW), Netherlands (UPC), Austria (UPC) and Switzerland (upc cablecom) have reached agreements with ESPN for carriage of sports channels. With a combination of renewals and new launches, ESPN America HD, ESPN America and ESPN Classic will be available to European households that get their television […]

April 12, 2012

Sky: Licensed to show 007

Marking the 50th anniversary of the franchise, the entire James Bond film catalogue, from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, will be available on Sky Movies from October 2012. Customers will be able to enjoy all of the titles from the iconic franchise, as well as upcoming releases, in HD and without commercial interruption. The twenty-two official Bond titles […]

April 12, 2012

First sports event for Global iPlayer

The Global BBC iPlayer has secured the rights to its first ever sporting event – the Xchanging Boat Race. Subscribers around the world can share in the drama of the one of world’s oldest sporting rivalries, the annual race on the River Thames between the crews of Oxford and Cambridge Universities. This year’s event – […]

April 11, 2012

Disney TVOD on Google

Disney studios have made transactional video-on-demand deals with online video services YouTube and Google Play in the UK. These first deals in Europe mean that users can buy or rent movies. “This launch will offer UK viewers further choice and flexibility in how they enjoy our must-see films at home or on the move – […]

March 28, 2012