Discovery Communications has expanded its web presence with the acquisition of online knowledge repository HowStuffWorks for an estimated $250 million (E176m). Discovery will use HowStuffWorks to showcase its existing footage, uploading programme clips into entries on the site. It also plans to create a HowStuffWorks-branded series to air daily on Discovery Channel from next summer. […]
Eagle Broadband, a national provider of IP products and services, has completed an asset purchase agreement with Nighthawk Systems whereby Nighthawk purchased all rights, title, and interest in Eagle Broadband’s set-top box business. As part of this sale, the team of set-top box engineers and support staff formerly with Eagle has now become employees of […]
Peter Chernin, president and chief operating officer of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, has warned British broadcasters to adapt their output to the new media world or face extinction. He told delegates at the Royal Television Society (RTS) convention in Cambridge that if they were not “innovating and coming up with new ideas,” they were “toast”. […]
ComScore, which measures consumer Internet habits, has reported that 75 per cent of Internet users in the US watch an average of three hours of online video a month. The average online video duration was 2.7 minutes. ComScore reports that Google video sites are the most seen; a hefty 2.5 billion videos were viewed on […]
Access to broadband has increased in the European Union to 90 million lines, but it should act to increase competition and tackle EU states that are lagging behind, the Commission says. Broadband access in the EU’s 25 oldest member states — excluding Romania and Bulgaria — increased by 28.7 per cent from July 2006 to […]
Google unveiled new software to fight video piracy on YouTube and ease the concerns of critical media content providers. Google has begun offering what it’s calling “YouTube Video Identification,” which will make it easier for the likes of to identify their content and to manage how it is made available on the site, it is […]
US broadcasters promised to air more than $327 million (E231m) worth of television spots as part of a campaign to alert consumers about the approaching switch-over to digital television. The major television networks, as well as 95 station-owning broadcast companies, pledged to run the ads as part of a $697 million campaign designed to keep […]
From Sotires Eleftheriou in Paris The French Consultative Commission for Telecommunications has asked the government to use part of the digital bonus – the spectrum liberated after analogue switch-off – to be used to improve internet access to the population. Guy Roussel, head of Ericsson France and chairman of the commission, said that the freed […]
From David Del Valle in Madrid The Spanish police has disbanded a network of pay-TV hackers by arresting 27 people across the country who would have defrauded the pay-TV companies of E10 million. Amonsgt the detainees there are 10 distributors of keys and codes through the Internet, nine sellers of manipulated set-top-boxes and eight responsible […]
The Dolan family's effort to take Cablevision Systems private is being opposed by a large shareholder and a major proxy advisory firm. Mario Gabelli, a longtime media investor, said that the funds he controls would vote against the proposed transaction at a special shareholders' meeting scheduled for October 24th. Gabelli said he believed his clients […]