Advanced Television

Policy

Banning Huawei ‘will add €55bn to 5G cost’

A ban on telecoms equipment from Huawei would add about €55 billion to the cost of 5G networks in Europe and cause delay of about 18 months, according to reports seen by Reuters. The US added Huawei to a trade blacklist in May putting pressure on European countries to follow suit. The cost estimate is […]

June 7, 2019

DCA: “YouTube only pulls content in face of public disdain”

YouTube’s plans to take down videos promoting hate speech and extremism – by removing thousands of videos promoting neo-Nazism, white supremacy and bigotry – continues Google’s modus operandi of taking action only when public dissent builds to a boil, according to the Digital Citizens Alliance (DCA), Speaking on the matter, Tom Galvin, executive director of […]

June 6, 2019

Ofcom won’t test BBC/Discovery’s UKTV deal

Media regulator Ofcom has confirmed that it will not conduct a formal competition assessment of the deal between BBC Studios and Discovery on UKTV. In April, BBC Studios and Discovery announced an agreement on the future of their UKTV joint venture. Under the terms, Discovery takes full control of UKTV’s lifestyle channels, while BBC Studios […]

June 5, 2019

TiVo wins Comcast patent spat

A US Trade Commission judge has found that some Comcast receivers infringe TiVo patents, although also determined that another TiVo patent was invalid. Judge MaryJoan McNamara is also studying Comcast for infringing six Rovi/TiVo patents including: X1 Sports App, multi-room DVR features, and set-top box integrations of apps like Netflix. This is the second time […]

June 5, 2019By Chris Forrester

US to regulate Amazon, Apple, Facebook & Google?

The US government is gearing up to investigate whether Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google misuse their market power with what could be an unprecedented, wide-ranging probe. The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice have divided oversight over the four companies, reports Reuters, with Amazon and Facebook under the watch of the FTC, and […]

June 4, 2019

DirecTV in another carriage row

An NBC affiliated station in the US has been blacked out because of a carriage dispute with DirecTV. KMTR (NBC 16) which serves viewers in Oregon, put out a statement on May 31st saying that DirecTV has “unilaterally decided to discontinue the carriage of this station”. KMTR is owned by Roberts Media and the Sinclair […]

June 3, 2019By Chris Forrester

Licensees hit with £30K Sky Sports damages

Following successful legal action taken by Sky, licensees of three Scottish premises – Natalie Coggans, the Designated Premises Manager (DPM) of Woodhead Bar, Andrew Quay, DPM of Darroch Bar and Lorraine Robertson, DPM of The Grange – have each been ordered to pay £10,000 (€111,283) in damages for infringing Sky’s copyright by showing Sky Sports […]

May 31, 2019By Colin Mann

DStv complains to ICASA over Sports proposals

South Africa’s Multichoice, which owns pay-TV operator DStv and controls the SuperSport cluster of channels, has filed a suit in the nation’s High Court against media regulator ICASA. The writ argues that Multichoice could go out of business if ICASA’s proposed regulation over Sports rights goes ahead. Multichoice asks the Court to order ICASA to […]

May 31, 2019By Chris Forrester

Study: Stream-ripping drives music piracy

The latest MusicWatch Annual Music Study estimates that there are 17 million stream-rippers in the US during 2018, up from 15 million in 2017. For context, that’s more people than bought a new vinyl record during 2018. Writing in the company Blog, Russ Crupnick, Managing Partner at MusicWatch, a company dedicated to marketing research and […]

May 31, 2019By Colin Mann

Research: UK digital divide is real

Research by satellite broadband provider bigblu, in partnership with Konnect Europe, reveals that people living in UK rural areas with low quality Internet must travel up to five miles to get connectivity. With more than a quarter of respondents unhappy with the quality of their current Internet provider, nearly three quarters (72 per cent) said […]

May 30, 2019