The Commercial Broadcasters Association (COBA) – the voice for commercial broadcasters in the UK – has stressed the need for urgent clarity on whether a transition period will happen following the Government’s Chequers meeting over the weekend. COBA reserves judgement on the Government long-term plan for broadcasting until the expected White Paper is published this […]
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Media has rejected as “baseless” accusations made by The Championships, Wimbledon regarding the broadcast pirate entity known as beoutQ. “Wimbledon’s press release baselessly claims that beoutQ is based in Saudi Arabia and suggests that Saudi Arabia is somehow complicit in beoutQ’s broadcasts,” says the Ministry. The response follows a call from […]
Members of the European Parliament, gathered in plenary session in Strasbourg, have rejected the negotiation mandate on the copyright directive. This mandate was to bring the text proposal (as drafted by the relevant committee (JURI ) at a final negotiation stage. French-speaking authors’ society LaScam, along with the whole creative industry throughout Europe, it claims, […]
Altice Portugal’s Meo unit will have to reduce the prices it charges to national broadcasters RTP, SIC and TVI for the distribution of their channels on the DTT network. This follows a ruling by Portugal’s National Communications Authority (Anacom) that imposed a 15.16 per cent cut per Mbps on the annual fee charged by Meo. […]
A report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the UK House of Commons on the BBC’s commercial activities has concluded that the BBC must strike a balance between serving UK audiences and seeking to grow revenue in a challenging global market. According to the Committee, the BBC is facing increasing challenges from commercial competitors […]
Figures published by the UK’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) show that UK consumers are more willing to pay for online content through subscription services. While overall levels of piracy remain the same compared to 2017, there has been a drop in illegal activity by some groups. This is especially true amongst young consumers, with over […]
India’s Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) has brought into play its new rules and regulations, which are effective as of July 3rd. In essence the new suite of rules cover tariffs, interconnection regulations and quality of service minimum standards. The rules set out how addressable systems must be used. Also covered are 60-day reporting rules where […]
The introduction of 5G in Portugal will lead to changes in the frequency spectrum now used for DTT broadcasts, starting from the fourth quarter of 2019. This follows the presentation of a roadmap by Portugal’s National Communications Authority for the release of the 700 MHz frequency band, which will no longer be used for DTT […]
Consultancy firm EY has published the second edition of its study on online content piracy in France (Piratage en France), which aims to assess the shortfall related to the illegal consumption of audiovisual content in France. The study quantifies the impacts of piracy on the state budget, direct jobs, the financing of creativity and lastly […]
South Africa’s media regulator Icasa says that despite objections from dominant incumbent pay-TV operator MultiChoice, it will open up the pay-TV market in the country. Icasa held hearings during May into the nation’s pay-TV services, and ICASA is known to want to ease the entry of rival operators to MultiChoice. Icasa spokesman Paseka Maleka says […]