Advanced Television

Broadcast

Spain wants to revoke Hispasat bid

Madrid-based satellite operator Hispasat is in the middle of a dispute between the Spanish government and infrastructure business Abertis. Abertis, which builds and runs some of Europe’s key pay-motorways is in the process of being bought by Italian rival Atlantia. The problem is that Hispasat, included in the deal, is considered by the Spanish government […]

December 11, 2017By Chris Forrester

BBC launches full voice service for smart speakers

The BBC has launched its first full voice app for voice-controlled smart speakers, an Amazon Alexa skill for Echo devices, with other smart speakers coming in future. It brings the BBC’s full range of live radio stations – including all local, national and international radio – to Echo and Alexa users for the first time, […]

December 11, 2017

Blue Planet II most watched iPlayer show of 2017

Natural history programme Blue Planet II has become BBC iPlayer’s most popular programme of the year so far, with 4.2 million requests for the first episode. This overtakes the first episode of Tom Hardy’s Georgian-era drama Taboo by 133,000 requests to become the new frontrunner. The return of Doctor Foster proved popular with BBC iPlayer […]

December 11, 2017

Revelation TV selects Globecast

Globecast, the global solutions provider for media, has built upon its existing relationship with the UK-based Christian broadcaster Revelation TV to provide full playout capabilities including daily live feeds and schedule-driven recordings of the feeds, exception-based QC of content and metadata supply to Revelation’s scheduling systems. Revelation TV and Globecast have been working together since […]

December 11, 2017

TV viewing on social media to triple by 2027

A report from UK TV Licensing shows a rising trend in people watching live TV via social media, as audiences predict a sharp increase in how many of them will be viewing live TV on sites like Facebook and Twitter in the next 10 years. At present, around

December 8, 2017

DVB plans Targeted Advertising spec

Digital television standards body DVB is working on a specification to enable broadcasters to offer Targeted Advertising, with a view to having it operational in 2020. Speaking at the Future TV Advertising Forum in London, Vincent Grivet, Co-Chair, DVB Targeted Advertising Study Mission Group, said that the DVB was establishing the DVB-CM-TA (Commercial Module – […]

December 8, 2017By Colin Mann

DNA’s Discovery/Eurosport distribution at risk

Finnish multiplay telco DNA is preparing to discontinue the distribution of the Discovery and Eurosport pay-TV channels starting from January 1st 2018, citing what it describes as “the unreasonably high” distribution fee increase demands that Discovery has presented during the agreement negotiations, and the fact that the risk of discontinued distribution has already occurred with […]

December 8, 2017By Colin Mann

1m subs for Disney Channel France

Pay-TV channel Disney Channel France has passed 1 million subscribers – the first channel to reach the milestone in France – and more than double the number of its closest competitor. Disney Channel France, which launched 20 years ago, has also become the most followed channel on social media in France. Its YouTube videos average […]

December 8, 2017From Pascale Paoli-Lebailly in Paris

YouTube launching subscription music service

YouTube will launch a new subscription music streaming service in March 2018, according to reports. Record label Warner Music Group has already signed on while Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Merlin, a consortium of independent labels, are said to be in talks with the online video portal. The service, tentatively branded as ‘Remix’, […]

December 8, 2017

Study: TAG certification cuts ad fraud by 83%

According to the Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG), an advertising industry initiative to fight criminal activity in the digital advertising supply chain, the use of TAG Certified distribution channels for digital advertising reduced the level of fraud by more than 83 per cent from the broader industry average. Among the findings of the study conducted by […]

December 8, 2017