Arqiva is set to move into the VOD market with a deal to buy Kangaroo technology developed for the proposed joint venture between ITV, Channel 4 and BBC Worldwide. The company is said to be in the final stages of negotiations to purchase the technology which was developed for the proposed joint venture VOD service, which was blocked by the [...]
Independent web and mobile content platform Babelgum and comedy video portal Funny or Die have signed an exclusive, wireless licensing agreement to bring Funny or Die videos to mobile platforms. The agreement will bring new and library Funny or Die content to mobile users everywhere over the next two years. Plans include offering mobile users a stand-alone Funny or Die-branded [...]
Motive Television has secured the global rights from Adecq Digital SL to distribute the patented BesTV digital terrestrial technology to broadcasters worldwide. BesTV technology enables broadcasters using their existing DTT digital broadcasting signal to broadcast programmes to a DTT set-top box, offering viewers not only the complete range of available DTT channels, but also catch-up television, video-on-demand including movies and [...]
Virgin Media has confirmed that Channel 4's high definition channel, 4HD, will join its HD line-up. The channel will be available to Virgin Media's 3.5 million digital TV customers and joins the BBC HD channel, ESPN HD, LIVING HD, FX HD, MTV Networks International's HD channel, MTVNHD, and National Geographic HD in Virgin Media's linear HD line-up.
ITN, the commercial news provider, is to complain to the BBC's governing body after the publicly funded broadcaster said that it would give away video clips to newspaper websites. John Hardie, the chief executive of ITN, warned that the BBC initiative risked "undermining the demand for content from independent news providers" at a time when "the pressure on commercial news [...]
Microsoft has unveiled a new UK service that will stream full-length videos of television shows for free. The advertising-funded MSN Video Player will be available from the beginning of August and will include over 300 hours of shows. Microsoft said it will continue to extend the service, adding content by working with broadcasters and studios. The “beta”, or trial, service [...]
The share of online adults who watch videos on video-sharing sites has nearly doubled since 2006, according to a survey by the Pew Research Centre’s Internet & American Life Project. Audiences for Web sites like YouTube and Google Video continue to grow swiftly across all demographic groups, far outpacing the adoption rates of many other Internet activities. Fully, 62 per [...]
Almost a fifth of UK consumers are set to reduce what they spend on pay TV because of the recession, according to a study by YouGov for Callcredit Marketing Solutions. The survey of 2,500 consumers found that 18 per cent are planning to cut back on pay-TV services provided by broadcasters such BSkyB and Virgin Media, with a further 18 [...]
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) released new details about the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES), scheduled for January 7-10 2010 in Las Vegas. Instead of the 110,000 CE industry delegates and 2,700 exhibitors that signed on for CES last year, CEA is predicting just 100,000 attendees and 2,000 exhibitors will make the trip in 2010. That’s even more markedly down [...]
UK telco BT has reported a sharp drop in quarterly profits, with pre-tax profit dropped 45 per cent to £272 million (E317m) in the three months to June 30th from £497 million in the same period a year earlier. The company cut 2,300 jobs from the global IT services division during the quarter, as it tried to reduce costs. BT [...]
