Advanced Television

Supplier confidence strengthens through 2007

Broadcast and media technology suppliers are upbeat about the global market. Confidence levels have improved through 2007 based on the latest International Association of Broadcast Manufacturers (IABM )Industry Trends Survey undertaken by Ernst & Young LLP. The IABM represents broadcast and media technology suppliers worldwide. Respondents seeing increased or significantly increased confidence outnumbered those seeing […]

January 8, 2008

Youth prefer MySpace to TV

MySpace, the social networking giant, claims to be drawing young people away from television and video games as they use its web pages to make friends and money. A group of 18- to 24-year-olds drawn from 1,000 people surveyed by Future Laboratory said it would rather spend 15 minutes visiting social networking sites than watching […]

January 8, 2008

Weather Channel for sale

Landmark Communications, the privately owned US media company that owns The Weather Channel, said it was considering a sale. According to US reports the company could be worth more than $5 billion (E3.4bn), although moves are under way to split the business in two. “Landmark's weather, publishing, broadcasting, interactive and information businesses all have leading […]

January 7, 2008

US cable operators continue investing

The increasing competitiveness of the US pay-TV market continues to drive cable TV operators in the US to invest in their networks and roll out new services, reports In-Stat. For example, 90 per cent of US cable TV systems now offer HD video service, the research firm says. This is one of the findings of […]

January 7, 2008

YouTube ban in China

In a move aimed at YouTube and other smaller rivals, the Chinese authorities announced that all video-sharing websites must have official government approval before they can be accessed by Chinese surfers. New rules governing online content announced by the state administration of radio, film and television also stipulate that from the end of January only […]

January 7, 2008

Portugal gets fifth free channel

Portugal will auction a free-to-air TV licence for a national channel to compete with the four existing ones. The new channel will be carried on a DTT platform, along with simulcasts from pubcaster channels RTP1 and RTP2 plus commercial webs TVI and SIC. The announcement of a new general entertainment channel is likely to spark […]

January 7, 2008

NBC takes stake In India's NDTV

NBC Universal has taken a major stake of around 30 per cent in NDTV's UK arm in a deal rumoured to be worth $100 million. The stake is in NDTV Networks Plc, the UK-registered company which owns five subsidiaries of NDTV: NDTV Imagine Limited, NDTV Lifestyle Limited, NDTV Convergence Limited and NDTV Labs Limited and […]

January 7, 2008

Gracenote, Philips fingerprinting combine

Gracenote and Philips announced they have deepened their existing relationship by combining their respective content fingerprinting technologies to provide advanced solutions for video and audio content filtering and monetisation. The technology partnership combines Philips video fingerprinting and Gracenote's audio fingerprinting technologies, and results in a viable system for content owners and service providers looking to […]

January 7, 2008

STMicroelectronics HD STB decoder

STMicroelectronics, supplier of integrated circuits for digital set-top boxes (STBs), has released a new single-chip high-definition STBbox decoder combining both the demodulation and decoding functions on a single device. The STi7111, which has been designed to meet the requirements of major satellite operators worldwide, including DirecTV, will allow OEMs to target the high-volume market for […]

January 7, 2008

DTV penetration 43% in 2012

The proportion of digital TV subscribers worldwide is predicted to exceed 40 per cent by 2012 according to a report by the Korea Information Society Development Institute. The report said the current rate is 22 per cent with 239 million subscribers and the number will exceed 43 per cent with 540 million by 2012. North […]

January 7, 2008