Batelco, the leading Internet service provider in Bahrain, has confirmed that IPTV will soon be available for Broadband customers in two newly developed areas. Batelco Bahrain Chief Executive Rashid Abdulla commented: “The delivery of digital television channels via our Broadband lines enables Batelco to offer superb advanced interactive services with a wide range of channels […]
Pace has announced that the company’s HR34 server is the central hub in the DirecTV Home Media Centre, set to launch October 2011. With its unique multiple connectivity capabilities, the HR34 enables the a fully interconnected DVR experience. Pace’s HR34 is a cost-effective, large capacity server that delivers full DVR capabilities, including HD-DVR functionality, for […]
Elisabeth Murdoch’s Shine TV production company has acquired the London-based social gaming startup, Bossa Studios, for an undisclosed fee. The acquisition is Shine Group’s first foray into the nascent social gaming market, and comes just months after News Corporation bought the TV firm for $673 million. Bossa Studios creates games for social networking sites including […]
Netflix has admitted the price hikes announced this summer have hit subs harder than it predicted. It said it now expects to have 24 million domestic subscribers at the end of the third quarter, below its earlier expectation of 25 million and the 24.6 million US customers it had at the end of the second […]
Over-the-top programming could help moderate rising programming costs in the future, Cablevision Systems chief operating officer Tom Rutledge has said. “The rich [channel] package we provide is extremely valuable to customers and there is pricing power in that package,” Rutledge said at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch event. “On the other hand, you have […]
The long-awaited Brazil ‘Bill 116’ which sets out a new broadcasting regime for pay TV has received its final assent. Brazil’s president Dilma Rousseff made only two minor veto amendments, but the rest of the Bill now passes into the rule book. The two minor exceptions cover call center activity, and content classification, which stays […]
GVT, a Brazilian telecoms subsidiary of Vivendi, unveiled a new pay TV network that will inject competition into Latin America’s biggest and most lucrative market. The GVT offer, which will be available to Brazilian subscribers starting next month, will provide up to 140 channels, CEO Amos Genish told reporters in Sao Paulo. GVT’s entry into […]
The UK Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) has expressed irritation at the slow implementation of anti-piracy law the Digital Economy Act, claiming that the delay is costing retailers millions of pounds. It claims that though the Act passed in June 2010 yet the value of lost sales to illegal filesharing since this time has exceeding £250 […]
Tony Cohen, the chief executive of RTL subsidiary Fremantle Media, which co-produces The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent, has accused the BBC’s commercial arm of “distorting the market” for British television producers operating overseas. Cohen told the Royal Television Society that BBC Worldwide pushed up the price of assets and properties for commercial rivals […]
Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has confirmed his plans for yet another Arabic all-news channel. ‘Alarab’ is going to target Arabic viewers in the region and around the world, and will be a joint-venture between his Kingdom Holdings and Rotana group. Bloomberg TV will have a 5 hour financial news block on the channel. […]