Advanced Television

Broadcast

Freesat to offer BBC Red Button Olympics

UK subscription-free satellite TV service Freesat is to carry the BBC broadcast of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games live, across eight channels in HD and SD. Available via the BBC Red Button and accessible via the Freesat EPG, viewers will be able to watch the world’s greatest athletes achieve sporting success live from Rio de […]

August 1, 2016

Nielsen: Pay-TV losing 2.3% subs in 2016

The number of US pay-TV subscribers is down 2.3 per cent from last year according to estimates for August from Nielsen. The biggest losses are in cable networks.  Most impacted are networks owned by Discovery, Disney, Comcast’s NBCUniversal unit, Time Warner and Viacom.  Fox networks fared the best, while AMC and Scripps Networks cable channels […]

August 1, 2016

Montenegro gets DTT pay-TV platform

Montenegrin operator Crnogorski Telekom (part of Deutsche Telekom) and national DTT multiplex operator Radiodifuzni Centar have launched a new DTT platform, with 18 TV channels (5 free-to-air and 13 encrypted). The FTA offer includes national broadcasters – public channels RTCG 1 and RTCG 2, as well as commercial channels TV Vijesti, TV Prva (owned by […]

August 1, 2016By Branislav Pekic in Rome

UKTV outpaces broadcast market

The UK’s biggest multichannel broadcaster, UKTV, is outpacing the British broadcast market, as the first half (H1) of 2016 delivered record-breaking share of commercial impacts (SOCI); with audience share and on demand views also showing significant growth. Reaching an all-time high, UKTV’s consolidated SOCI, averaged at 9.74 per cent for H1 2016. The broadcaster grew […]

August 1, 2016

9 operators dominate MEA pay-TV

Pay-TV subscriptions in the Middle East and Africa region will increase by 67 per cent between 2015 and 2021 – from 32.37 million to 54.09 million. The top nine pay-TV operators [Multichoice (DStv and GOtv), StarTimes/StarSat, Canal Plus, OSN, beIN, DigiTurk, D-Smart, Yes and HOT], accounted for 70 per cent of these subscribers by end-2015, […]

August 1, 2016

Iran accused of stealing TV content

Qatar’s beIN Sports held the exclusive TV broadcast rights for the Middle East to last month’s UEFA European Football Championships.  beIN Sports is accusing Iran’s state-backed broadcaster IRIB of deliberately pirating the signals and ignoring the established protocols over use of rights. UEFA has separately said that broadcasters which violated its rules would face fines. […]

August 1, 2016By Chris Forrester

UK students will need a licence for iPlayer

The start of the UK academic year will bring many changes for students, including, for the first time, the need to be covered by a TV Licence to download or watch BBC programmes on demand on iPlayer. A change in the law means as of September 1st, a licence will be needed to download or […]

August 1, 2016By Colin Mann

SpaceX test fires ‘pre-flown’ rocket

A returned SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket has undergone a thorough test firing at the company’s McGregor, Texas, engineering facility, on July 28th. The rocket, officially F9-S1-0024, was the unit used to successfully launch Japan’s JCSAT-14 satellite back on May 5th. The rocket’s important – and valuable – first stage complete with its 9 Merlin 1D engines […]

August 1, 2016By Chris Forrester

A+E Networks UK outsources to TVT London

TVT, the independent media services and post-production house, has announced that A+E Networks UK has contracted TVT for the provision of compliance, reversioning and media management services for its channels. TVT has deployed its ContentSelect platform to orchestrate and track all media workflows including TVT’s specialist compliance viewing and editing service. A+E Networks UK is […]

August 1, 2016

UK quad-play revenues set to triple

UK service providers will reap the benefits of consolidation and multiplay strategies in the coming years, with bundled subscriptions growing by 20 per cent, according to Strategy Analytics. From 2015 to 2020, Quad-play revenues will triple, while total multiplay market revenues grow by 34 per cent. Double-play subscriptions will peak in 2016 and begin to […]

July 29, 2016