Investment management body Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) has agreed to terms with Digital 9 Infrastructure (D9) to sell its entire stake in UK broadcast and comms infrastructure provider Arqiva. CPP Investments first acquired an approximate 48 per cent stake in Arqiva in 2009, making this one of the Fund’s longest-standing investments in […]
Actor Idris Elba is reportedly in talks to take part in a bid for Channel 4. Elba is said to be discussing a joint bid with Marc Boyan, a media entrepreneur who is the founder of marketing company Miroma Group, according to a report in The Sunday Times. The UK government announced plans to privatise […]
Research shows that online video subscription numbers continue to grow worldwide at impressive levels. Omdia’s Global: Pay TV & Online Video report finds that the global total increased from 1.14 billion at end-2020 to 1.34 billion at end-2021, up 17.7 per cent year-on-year. Omdia is forecasting a further 10.5 per cent growth in 2022 to […]
TIM, the Italian telco, is testing multicast signal distribution over satellite to offer its customers high quality, live streaming – even in the country’s most remote areas. The testing, delivered through the TimVision Box in Adaptative Bit Rate (ABR) multicast mode, was developed in collaboration with Eutelsat, which owns and operates the Eutelsat Konnect satellite […]
So-called ‘next-generation TV’, AKA ultra-high definition’s ATSC 3.0, is now available to a total of 68 US markets representing more than half of US homes. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in a report, said: “Based on our records, ATSC 3.0 stations have been licensed to operate in 68 markets, though in some cases it may […]
Italy’s Mediaset is expanding its HD offering on the Tivùsat DTH platform as of July 17th. Besides the existing HD versions of Canale 5; Rete 4; Italia 1; and 27, the broadcaster will add eight more TV channels in HD, namely Iris, La5, Cine34, Focus, Top Crime, Tgcom24, Mediaset Extra and Italia2. This will bring […]
Findings from a study of the US broadband market by trade body ACA Connects, which represents smaller and medium-sized, independent triple-play companies, suggest the vast majority of Americans now enjoy the fruits of robust broadband competition, and the competitive market will further expand and intensify in the next several years. Key findings: A substantial majority […]
The numerous delays and excuses affecting the distribution of South Africa’s digital terrestrial TV set-top boxes have been affected by a new excuse: flooding. The recent floods, which severely affected the KwaZulu-Natal region and other parts of the country’s Eastern Cape, have been cited as being responsible for the slow distribution of converter boxes. The […]
Optus Sport has securing the exclusive Australian rights for La Liga, Spain’s top flight football league. The multi-year deal to stream La Liga Santander gives Optus Sport an additional 380 matches per season from La Liga live and on-demand, in full HD, and will also include live select matches from La Liga SmartBank, Spanish football’s […]
Channel 4 has appointed Charlie Perkins as Head of Comedy. She will report directly into Chief Content Officer Ian Katz and will manage a team comprising newly promoted Commissioning Editor Laura Riseam and Commissioning Executive Joe Hullait. Perkins will also oversee the appointment of a new Senior Commissioning Editor. Katz said: “Channel 4 comedy has […]
Virgin Orbit has been rehearsing its launch plans and on June 29th there is a window open to place its client’s satellite into orbit under Virgin’s ‘straight up’ plan. The launch calls for Virgin Orbit to place the US Space Force’s STP-S28A mission and carry payloads for the Department of Defense (DOD) Space Test Programme […]
OneWeb already has some two-thirds of its 648 broadband constellation in orbit while Amazon’s Kuiper has yet to start launching its initial fleet of 3,236 satellites. Elon Musk’s Starlink has launched 2,706 craft into their target low Earth orbits. Some of the Starlinks have failed but OneWeb and Kuiper have agreed a set of planned […]
The funding of TV of all kinds is under the microscope just now. For example; can public broadcasters justify collecting a tax from whole populations? Or, dare SVoDs run ads, or cut-off password sharers? Tricky. The BBC is the most-high profile of PSBs and, therefore, the alternative that does (or does not) emerge to the […]