Advanced Television

Broadcast

Sharp next BBC chairman

Former Goldman Sachs banker Richard Sharp is set to be named the BBC’s next chairman, according to the corporation’s media editor Amol Rajan. Sharp spent 23 years working for the banking giant and was Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s boss. He has recently been acting as an unpaid economic adviser to Sunak during the coronavirus pandemic. His […]

January 6, 2021

Data: UK video sector grows by 26%

Figures from trade body the British Association for Screen Entertainment (BASE) and based on data from the Official Charts Company, Futuresource Consulting and Kantar, show that the UK home entertainment sector grew by 26 per cent in 2020, bringing the total market value to £3.3 billion. In a year that saw UK consumers staying home […]

January 6, 2021

Saudi Arabia, Qatar ‘truce’ should include media

A carefully-orchestrated – and highly public – rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and four other gulf states and Qatar sees the end result as a reopening of trade, contacts and communications. The various announcements do not specifically mention Qatar’s Al Jazeera news channel, or the long-running dispute with Qatar-based beIN Sports. But the agreements, showcased at […]

January 6, 2021By Chris Forrester

Portuguese TV adds 349,000 new daily viewers

The number of daily TV viewers in Portugal increased by 349,000 in 2020, taking the total number of viewers to 2.3 million. According to daily Diário de Notícias, of the total 196,000 relate to new pay-TV viewers (+123,000 year-on-year) and streaming content users (+73,000). The growth is obviously largely due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which, […]

January 6, 2021From Branislav Pekic in Rome

Forecast: Operators ‘weaponise’ customer service

With a rocky road ahead for their core offerings, triple play operators are having to weaponise customer care in order to keep a hold on their revenues, according to research from Rethink TV. Traditional OSS/BSS offerings are not up to the job, which has given rise to a new breed of vendors, focused on improving […]

January 6, 2021

iPlayer sees record-breaking Xmas

The BBC has seen record-breaking year-on-year growth of BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds over the Christmas holidays, as more people consumed its content digitally. On iPlayer, new dramas The Serpent and Black Narcissus, the Christmas antics in EastEnders and Call The Midwife – together with the Spider-Man: Homecoming movie helped smash records for viewing, with […]

January 6, 2021

fuboTV raises guidance on record year

fuboTV, the sports-first US TV streaming platform, has announced preliminary Q4 revenue and subscriber results. Both metrics are expected to exceed previously issued guidance in a record quarter and year for fuboTV. Q4 total revenue is expected to be between $94-$98 million, a 77 per cent to 84 per cent increase year-over-year. Prior guidance was […]

January 6, 2021

Discovery, STARZPLAY to launch discovery+ in MENA

Discovery has announced a strategic partnership with STARZPLAY to launch discovery+ – the non-fiction, real life subscription streaming service – across the Middle East and North Africa. StarzPlay subscribers can now watch discovery+ content within a dedicated branded area across all existing StarzPlay platforms. The partnership was announced at a virtual launch broadcast from Dubai. […]

January 6, 2021

BBC lockdown education initiative

The BBC is to deliver what it says is the biggest education offer in its history across more of its platforms. It will bring together BBC Two, CBBC, BBC Red Button, BBC iPlayer and online to deliver a new education offer to children, teachers and parents as a third national lockdown begins. Reacting quickly to […]

January 6, 2021

Yospace extends ITV Hub ad insertion deal

ITV has extended its relationship with Yospace, the server-side ad insertion (SSAI) pioneer, for targeted advertising on live channels in ITV Hub. The companies have together played a fundamental role in developing SSAI technology, having first collaborated in 2011 and providing its first public demonstration for live streams at IBC 2012. The extension runs until […]

January 6, 2021