Advanced Television

Broadcast

Premier League TV audiences down for Sky, BT

Sky has suffered its biggest drop in viewers for live Premier League games since records began in 2010. The Premier League sold broadcasting rights to Sky Sports and BT Sport for a record £5.136 billion (€5.76bn)  in the latest three-year deal in February 2015, – £10 million per televised game. But Sky has recorded their steepest […]

June 12, 2017

Altice and Netflix agree content deal

Telecoms, content and advertising group Altice has agreed a multi-year partnership with Netflix which will lead to Netflix’s content being made available to Altice customers into all eligible devices in France, Portugal, Israel and Dominican Republic. According to Altice, the launch of the Netflix service on its platforms will seamlessly bring critically-acclaimed original Netflix series, […]

June 12, 2017

Qatar: World Cup in jeopardy

Last week’s ending of diplomatic relations between Qatar and almost all of the other Gulf States, not least Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – and which provoked a series of ‘cyber-threats’ to be carried out on Qatar-based news channel Al Jazeera – but it is now clear that there is now far more […]

June 12, 2017

Bradley remains Culture Secretary

Karen Bradley has retained her job as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport following UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s reshuffling of portfolios following the UK General Election which saw her Conservative Party secure the most parliamentary seats, but not an overall majority. One of the most significant items requiring Bradley’s attention when she returns […]

June 12, 2017By Colin Mann

MasMovil, Huawei partner for Spain pay-TV

The fourth ranked mobile operator in Spain, MasMovil, is reportedly finalising an agreement with China’s Huawei and several TV content providers to launch a pay-TV service this summer. The company aims to compete with the country’s largest operators -Telefónica, Vodafone and Orange – with a similar convergent offer including TV. MasMovil is partnering with Huawei […]

June 9, 2017From David Del Valle in Madrid

Majors establish European Broadcaster Exchange

Germany’s ProSiebenSat.1, TF1 Group (France) and Mediaset (Italy and Spain), are establishing in equal shares the European Broadcaster Exchange (EBX) to address the demand for brand-safe environments and high-quality pan-European video campaigns at scale. Initially, the focus will be on programmatic video campaigns, which involves the automated and data-based management of digital advertising purchases and […]

June 9, 2017

SiriusXM invests $480m in Pandora

Further to advanced-television.com’s revelation on June 8th that pay-radio operator SiriusXM had renewed its interest in investing in streaming music service Pandora, the pair have announced that SiriusXM will make a $480 million (€430m) strategic cash investment in Pandora. Under the terms of the agreement, a subsidiary of SiriusXM will purchase an aggregate of $480 […]

June 9, 2017

Fibre boosts pay-TV subs in Portugal to 3.7m

The number of pay-TV subscribers in Portugal reached 3.7 million in the first quarter of 2017, a growth of 135,000 subscribers (3.8 per cent) year-on-year. According to the National Communications Authority (Anacom), the growth is mainly due to the increased popularity of fibre optic-based offers, which saw subscriber numbers rise by 6.3 per cent on […]

June 9, 2017From Branislav Pekic in Rome

Astro looks to buy Reliance Digital TV

Malaysia’s DTH pay-TV broadcaster Astro is reportedly looking to acquire India’s Reliance Digital TV. The Times of India is quoting sources saying that the plan is part of Anil Ambani’s wish to reduce debt in his Reliance Communications telco. The newspaper is reporting that Astro Malaysia Holdings is currently undertaking due diligence examinations of Reliance […]

June 9, 2017By Chris Forrester

Al Jazeera fends off hackers

Al-Jazeera is said to be fighting a large-scale cyber-attack but remains operational, according to reports. Qatar’s state-run television announced that it had shut down its website temporarily “for security reasons” after hacking attempts. Qatar is in a political standoff with fellow Arab states over alleged ties to terrorism. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain […]

June 9, 2017