Advanced Television

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RTVE claims €47m loss down to levy avoidance

State-owned broadcaster RTVE ended its first year without ad revenue with a deficit of €47.1 million – a sum roughly the same as the amount it claims the telecos and private broadcasters are side stepping in the levy system set up to compensate it for the loss of airtime sales. RTVE has accused commercial broadcasters […]

March 31, 2011From David Del Valle in Spain

Panasonic proposes 3DTV standard

Not all 3D glasses are the same, much to viewers’ chagrin. Panasonic is linking with active shutter glasses specialists Xpand3D to come up with a universal standard for 3D viewing. The idea is that the proposed standard would be good for cinemas, TV, computers and home TV projectors. The standard, dubbed M-3DI, is hoped to […]

March 29, 2011By Chris Forrester

Samsung: ‘No glasses-free 3D for 10 years’

Korean CE manufacturer Samsung has admitted that production and commercialisation of glasses-free 3D TV is unlikely to occur in the next 10 years. Although Samsung unveiled a 55-inch glasses-free 3DTV prototype in mid-March and even said it was possible to see such a product on store shelves in about three years, the company is now […]

March 28, 2011By Colin Mann

Showtime and Starz delay Netflix supply

Two of the OTT and DVD service’s most important content providers have changed their distribution agreements with the company, reflecting growing anxiety about the pace of growth at the DVD subscription and movie streaming company. Showtime, the pay-TV service owned by CBS, this said it would remove all of its first-run programming from Netflix’s streaming […]

March 25, 2011

Motorola scoops Dreampark

Motorola Mobility has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Swedish IPTV software provider Dreampark. The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2011. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Dreampark’s software portfolio maximises operator flexibility and performance by taking advantage of the powers of open standards, such as HTML and scalable […]

March 23, 2011By Colin Mann

Liberty Global ups KBW bid

The future of German cable MSO KBW – put up for sale by its Swedish private equity firm owner EQT – is in the balance as Liberty Global raises its bid to $4.5 billion in an effort to beat off CVC Capital Partners who are said to have tabled $4.17 billion. A third bid had […]

March 21, 2011By Colin Mann

iPad: Sky News fee, BBC 2m streams, Time Warner overwhelmed

The iPad, and the PC tablets that follow in its wake, are hitting the top of broadcaster agendas. Sky News has announced the launch of its first iPad app. For now it is free but will be restricted to Sky subscribers later in the year. “Sky subscribers will get it as part of their package, […]

March 17, 2011

Netflix $100m for original content

Netflix has upped its stalking of pay-TV operators by bidding as much as $100 million for exclusive US rights to a new political series starring Kevin Spacey. House of Cards, a remake of the BBC political drama, is directed by The Social Network’s David Fincher and is being auctioned by Media Rights Capital. The bidding […]

March 16, 2011

ESPN study shows zero loss to cord cutters

Just 0.18 per cent of US households “cut the cord” between the fourth quarter 2010 and first quarter 2011, according to ESPN analysis of Nielsen households. This study defines “cord-cutters” as multichannel homes with a high-speed Internet connection that drop their cable/telco/satellite subscriptions, but retain their broadband connection to watch television. The current rate of […]

March 15, 2011

RTL to enter India

Luxembourg-based TV giant RTL has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with India’s Reliance Broadcast. The plan is to form a Joint Venture to launch entertainment channels in India. Reliance already has a similar deal in place with US-based CBS Studios which resulted in three planned channels, one of which (BIG-CBS Prime) is already on air. […]

March 11, 2011By Chris Forrester