The Parliamentary Media Committee has stopped short of accusing James Murdoch of lying to them – something that would certainly have cost his place on the BSkyB board – but has concluded that Rupert Murdoch “is not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company”, something that may have wider ramifications […]
The UK High Court has ruled that Pirate Bay must be blocked by UK Internet service providers. Sky, Everything Everywhere, TalkTalk, O2 and Virgin Media must all prevent their users from accessing the Swedish download directory site. “Sites like The Pirate Bay destroy jobs in the UK and undermine investment in new British artists,” BPI’s […]
According to broadband analyst firm Point Topic, global IPTV subscriptions closed in on 60 million at the end of 2011, with the last yearly quarter witnessing the biggest three-month increase in subscribers yet. “The year end is often the strong quarter but in combination with the global recovery in consumer spending and the will and […]
The conflicted loyalties of Hulu shareholders – they are all major content players reliant on pay-TV distributors – may result in it becoming a ‘TV Everywhere’ service only available to those with an existing pay-TV account. The New York Post reports that the plan lays behind Providence Equity’s decision to sell up its 10 per […]
The global TV games console market will drop by 19 per cent in 2012, according to research from the Strategy Analytics. The report projects a decline in global Xbox 360 sales 13.8 million units in 2012; and PS3 sales will also fall, to 13 million units. Nintendo is fully focused on preparing for the upcoming […]
LG Electronics (LG) has announced the beta opening of LG Cloud service from the beginning of May with the aim of providing seamless connectivity and streaming access to all digital content across various electronic devices. LG claims the new service is the first that allows users to manage and consume all types of content on […]
Findings from the US’s Digital Entertainment Group’s First Quarter 2012 Home Entertainment Report indicate a continued stabilisation of the industry, underscored by promising gains in Blu-ray Disc, with steady increases in electronic sell-through (EST) and VoD spending, and modest growth in sell-through. Overall consumer spending was up 2.5 per cent compared to the first quarter […]
The office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has released its annual Special 301 report, which evaluates the state of intellectual property rights protection worldwide. The report highlights the ongoing challenge that online content theft poses to the continued growth of American creative industries. Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture […]
Launching just in time for the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, ESPN is introducing ESPNFC, a new multi-language and multi-country brand for football fans around the world across TV, radio, print, online, print and mobile. The new offering will bring together all of ESPN’s football properties and house them under one universally recognised name. Over […]
French public broadcaster France Televisions has launched a VoD service branded Pluzz VaD, and kicking off with a choice of 3,000 titles. Pluzz VaD will first be distributed by the ISP Free, and will be extended to other service providers by the end of the year. It will eventually be part of the connected TV […]