Ofcom has awarded licences to run the local TV services in two cities in Scotland. The new licences are for digital terrestrial TV (DTT) channels in Glasgow and Edinburgh. The awards follow new legislation enabling Ofcom to issue local TV licences. The channels will broadcast on a specific ‘multiplex’, a discrete amount of spectrum reserved […]
About 35.3 per cent of TV homes (14.0 million) in Sub-Saharan Africa took digital signals by end-2012, according to a report from Digital TV Research. The Digital TV Sub-Saharan Africa report forecasts that digital TV penetration will rocket to 95.5 per cent by 2018 – with household numbers quadrupling to 49.0 million. Full digital transition […]
The Italian government has suspended a planned DTT frequency auction, in the wake of protests from neighbouring Malta and Croatia who expressed concerned about possible interference from Italy with TV reception in their markets. The countries submitted formal protests to Italy’s Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni (AgCom) regarding the framework of the ongoing public […]
Italy’s Antitrust Authority has given the green light to Italian national broadcaster La7 and Effe 2005, owned by publishing group Feltrinelli, to set up a new company (Newco) that will launch one or more thematic TV channels on DTT and other distribution platforms. In its weekly bulletin, the Authority says it has decided not to […]
DigiTAG, the Digital TV standards body, is relaunching with the new goal of promoting DTT broadcasting and protecting the spectrum it needs on a global basis. Following the organisation’s General Assembly held at the EBU in Geneva, president Lieven Vermaele said that DigiTAG’s mission was now to protect broadcast spectrum whilst promoting and digital terrestrial […]
France’s broadcasting regulator the Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel has launched six new HD DTT channels. HD1, L’Equipe 21, 6ter, Numéro 23, RMC Découverte et Chérie 25 are now available to one in two households in the urban areas. They are available for 29 per cent of households who receive DTT via a terrestrial antenna aerial. To […]
The Supreme Court has overruled the allocation of DTT channels to nationwide TV operators, nullifying the cabinet’s 2010 decision to award an entire multiplex (with a capacity of up to 4 channels) to each national broadcaster: Antena 3, Tele 5, Cuatro, La Sexta, Net TV and Veo 7. The ruling states the Government did not […]
The USA’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved Dish Network’s plan to use 40 MHz of valuable terrestrial spectrum. The FCC also said that the immediately adjacent “H Block” of spectrum, equal to an additional 10 MHz of bandwidth, will now be auctioned off in 2013. Jeff Blum, Dish Network’s SVP/deputy general counsel, said: “The […]
Italy’s Berlusconi-backed commercial broadcasting network Mediaset is having an unexpectedly half-decent December in terms of advertising revenues, says a report from Berenberg Bank. Revenues have been helped by a campaign from new low-cost cellular operator BIP which is screening its commercials only on the Mediaset channels. However, senior analyst Sarah Simon says that this is […]
The European Commission has cleared UK state subsidy for the infrastructure needed for UK local television services. The decision greenlights building the local DTT multiplex for local services that will be shown via Freeview. The multiplex will be built by the winner of the multiplex licence, which Ofcom is expected to award before the end […]