Advanced Television

LCD TV sales plummet

In 2009, worldwide revenues for liquid crystal display (LCD) TVs are expected to fall for the first time since the category was launched, market research firm DisplaySearch said. They forecast LCD television revenues would fall 16 percent year-on-year to $64 billion in 2009, with total TV revenues expected to decline 18 percent to $88 billion. […]

December 19, 2008

DAB tipping point by 2015

A UK government commissioned report has backed digital DAB to have a key tipping point for the “migration” from analogue to digital radio by 2015. The Digital Radio Working Group said the UK could not begin to look at a wholesale transfer from analogue radio until at least 50% of all listening was via digital […]

December 19, 2008

YouTube launches HD section

YouTube has begun a push of its new high definition (HD) content with the launch of a dedicated section of the site. Visitors to the site are now also able to watch HD content from publishers including EA and Sega in a new large video player. …..

December 19, 2008

Rainbow shuts Voom's domestic operations

Rainbow Media is closing down the domestic operations of its Voom high-definition programming service. The shutdown follows Dish Network's decision in May to drop Voom's 15 channels. The only other major distributor of the channels is Cablevision Systems, Rainbow's parent company. Rainbow sued EchoStar Communications, which was Dish's parent company before it was spun off, […]

December 19, 2008

Macrovision buy TV Guide Network

Macrovision Solutions Corporation, a digital entertainment specialist, has reached an agreement to sell its TV Guide Network property to Allen Shapiro and One Equity Partners for approximately $255 million, plus up to an additional $45 million payable through earn-out provisions through 2012. The transaction, expected to close no later than April 1st, 2009, includes the […]

December 19, 2008

Frontier Silicon CEO joins Internet Media Device Alliance steering committee

Frontier Silicon has announced its founding membership of the Internet Media Device Alliance (IMDA), to be launched at next month's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Frontier's CEO, Anthony Sethill, has been appointed to serve on the steering committee of the new association. IMDA aims to develop and promote a set of open standards and […]

December 19, 2008

BBC iPlayer Desktop on Adobe AIR

The BBC and Adobe Systems have announced the public beta of the new BBC iPlayer Desktop download manager built on Adobe AIR, a key component of the Adobe Flash Platform. The new BBC iPlayer Desktop beta will enable Windows, Mac and Linux users to download programmes to their desktops. Previously, the ability to download programmes […]

December 19, 2008

kbro selects Nagravision

Nagravision has been chosen by kbro, Taiwan's leading cable multiple system operator (MSO) as the exclusive conditional access (CAS) vendor for its new broadcasting system; the companies have signed a five-year exclusive contract. Leveraging Nagravision, kbro will launch HD services by the end of the year.

December 19, 2008

Digital TV close to 90%

Findings released by UK comms regulator Ofcom indicate that 88.2 per cent of households have digital TV on their main sets, up from 84.8 per cent on the year. Other key findings in Ofcom's Q3 digital television update reveal that the total number of households with digital terrestrial television (DTT) reached 17.2 million, up from […]

December 18, 2008

Cable freezes digital migration

The US cable industry has agreed to halt the transition of nearly all channels from analogue to digital tiers during the first two months of 2009 to minimise potential consumer confusion about the federally mandated switch-off of over-the-air analogue TV signals on February 17, 2009. National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) president Kyle McSlarrow revealed […]

December 18, 2008