Advanced Television

Business

12-month sentence for music pirate

A man from the northwest England city of Liverpool has been sentenced to 12 months in custody after pleading guilty to illegally distributing chart hits online, potentially costing the music industry millions of pounds and depriving the creators of the content fair remuneration for their work. In what they describe as a milestone case, the […]

December 19, 2016By Colin Mann

Eutelsat: “SELL” note advice from bank

Equity analysts at Deutsche Bank put out their major end-of-year report on the media sector on December 16th, but Paris-based Eutelsat did not come out well. In particular, analyst Laurie Davison is worried. He says SES (which is also rated down to ‘Hold’ on his recommendation) has done “far more to differentiate its model from […]

December 19, 2016By Chris Forrester

Akamai acquires Cyberfend

Akamai has acquired Cyberfend, a specialist in bot and automation detection solutions for web and mobile environments, in an all cash transaction. “With the introduction of Bot Manager earlier this year, Akamai helped change the way online businesses deal with the bots and other automated agents that visit their sites,” explained Stuart Scholly, senior vice […]

December 19, 2016

V-Nova joins SMPTE

V-Nova, a provider of video compression solutions, has joined the Society of Motion Pictures & Television Engineers (SMPTE), the organisation whose standards work has supported a century of technological advances in entertainment technology, to join fellow industry leaders in devising standards for software solutions enabling high-quality video experiences. V-Nova will participate with the SMPTE UK […]

December 19, 2016

European agreement on 700 MHz usage

The European Parliament, the Council and the Commission have agreed on how to coordinate the use of the 700 MHz band to bring mobile Internet services to all Europeans and new applications across borders, thus facilitating the introduction of 5G as of 2020. Frequencies in the sub-700 MHz band will remain available, as a priority, […]

December 16, 2016

Ofcom: 1.4m in UK have poor broadband

The number of UK properties unable to get a decent broadband connection has fallen by one million over the past year, new research by UK comms regulator Ofcom has found. But 1.4 million UK homes and offices – or 5 per cent of properties – remain unable to sign up for broadband speeds over 10 […]

December 16, 2016

Report: 29% favour scrapping BBC licence fee

A study conducted ahead of the Parliamentary debate about the BBC’s Royal Charter reveals the British public’s attitude towards the BBC, particularly the licence fee. The study, by research and consulting firm Strategy Analytics, shows that 71 per cent of people feel the BBC is important to them personally and 71 per cent are satisfied […]

December 16, 2016

FCC Chairman Wheeler to step down

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has announced his intention to leave the Federal Communications Commission on January 20th 2017 – effectively coinciding with President-elect Trump’s inauguration. Wheeler, an appointee of President Obama, has been at the helm of the agency for more than three years. In announcing his decision, Wheeler said that serving as Chairman during […]

December 16, 2016By Colin Mann

Vivendi: “Make war, not love”

One equity analyst has called the speedy Vivendi acquisition of Mediaset stock (at 20 per cent, and perhaps counting) represents “a rapid invasion” and asks whether Vivendi’s move will hold steady or advance further. Cheekily, Sarah Simon, equity analyst at Berenberg Bank, in a report (‘Bollore vs Berlusconi’), said “France has not invaded Italy since […]

December 16, 2016

IOC, USOC, NBCU team for US Olympic Channel

In a collaboration designed to connect fans to the Olympic Movement all year round, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and NBCUniversal have created a comprehensive Olympic Channel content and distribution partnership in the US. During the second half of 2017, the partnership will launch a new US television network […]

December 16, 2016