Advanced Television

Pay TV

Coalition suspects Google/FCC collusion

Without making specific allegations, the Future of TV Coalition – a diverse group of US programmers, content creators, civic groups and television providers formed to celebrate and promote the thriving innovation that is revolutionising the video viewing experience – has intimated that Google may well have had advanced warning of the FCC’s plans to introduce […]

February 1, 2016By Colin Mann

NCTA: Consumers will pay for STB reform

Michael Powell, President and CEO of US trade body the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) and a former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission himself, has hit out at plans by current incumbent Tom Wheeler to introduce regulation that he says would pave the way for software, devices and other innovative solutions to compete […]

February 1, 2016By Colin Mann

James Murdoch to chair Sky

James Murdoch is to become Chairman of Sky, succeeding Nick Ferguson, Chairman since 2012, who will step down from the Sky Board at the end of April after 12 years as a Director. Murdoch previously served as Chairman of the former BSkyB from 2007 to 2012, but resigned in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal […]

January 29, 2016By Colin Mann

Sky confirms £99 Sky Q

Sky Q, which the broadcaster describes as the next generation of TV, will go on sale in February with Sky’s lowest ever set-up cost for a brand new premium product launch. Set-up costs for Sky Q will be from just £99 (€130). The typical monthly cost for existing Sky+ customers will be around £12 extra […]

January 29, 2016

Sky numbers grow

In its half-year results (to December 31st), Sky says that an overall 337,000 new customers joined Sky in Q2 and helping “the highest UK and Ireland customer growth for 10 years”. Sky’s customers bought 1.1 million new products. UK & Ireland growth during Q2 was 205,000, with 146,000 new TV customers jhoining in the pre-Christmas […]

January 29, 2016By Chris Forrester

Spain: Jazztel to offer Orange TV service

Customers of Spanish operator Jazztel, acquired by Orange Spain in July last year, will finally be able to access Orange’s pay-TV service this weekend following Orange completing the integration process of both platforms. All Jazztel ADSL and fibre-optic subscribers will be able to access Orange’s pay-TV offer in full, with the football package including La […]

January 29, 2016From David Del Valle in Madrid

Consumers spend $6+ per month on SVoD

Research from Parks Associates suggests that average monthly spending on Internet-based subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) services among US broadband households increased from $3.71 per month in 2012 to $6.19 per month in 2015. Content Strategies: Survival in the New Video World examines new business models emerging from the increasing consumption of OTT content, including new experiments […]

January 29, 2016

Millennials master the second screen

More than three-quarters (88 per cent) of millennials engage in second screen behaviours when watching video content, the highest percentage of any demographic, according to a study from US trade body the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), formerly the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). The report,

January 29, 2016

SES HD+ subs up 11.3%

SES’ German HD platform HD+ recorded an 11.3 per cent increase in subscribers in 2015. HD+ had 1.84 million subscribers at year-end 2015, compared to 1.65 million at year-end 2014. In addition, HD+ had over 1.1 million customers in their six-month free-trial period. Users of HD+ have access to more than 50 HD channels, comprised […]

January 29, 2016

Global pay TV cord-cutting still trending up

Based on Q3 2015 figures for pay-TV globally, you’d be forgiven for thinking pay-TV players were halting the decline. However, an Ampere Analysis report looks behind the top lines to unearth the long term trend that suggests the picture is not as rosy as the headline statistics suggest. Report highlights:

January 28, 2016