The UK's television switchover starts today when thousands of homes in Whitehaven, Cumbria, receive digital channels for the first time. The two-stage switchover starts at approximately 2am when analogue BBC Two is replaced with the first group of digital services.
Discovery Communications has expanded its web presence with the acquisition of online knowledge repository HowStuffWorks for an estimated $250 million (E176m). Discovery will use HowStuffWorks to showcase its existing footage, uploading programme clips into entries on the site. It also plans to create a HowStuffWorks-branded series to air daily on Discovery Channel from next summer. […]
Eagle Broadband, a national provider of IP products and services, has completed an asset purchase agreement with Nighthawk Systems whereby Nighthawk purchased all rights, title, and interest in Eagle Broadband’s set-top box business. As part of this sale, the team of set-top box engineers and support staff formerly with Eagle has now become employees of […]
Peter Chernin, president and chief operating officer of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, has warned British broadcasters to adapt their output to the new media world or face extinction. He told delegates at the Royal Television Society (RTS) convention in Cambridge that if they were not “innovating and coming up with new ideas,” they were “toast”. […]
ComScore, which measures consumer Internet habits, has reported that 75 per cent of Internet users in the US watch an average of three hours of online video a month. The average online video duration was 2.7 minutes. ComScore reports that Google video sites are the most seen; a hefty 2.5 billion videos were viewed on […]
Close to 16 per cent of US households who use the Internet watch television broadcasts online, The Conference Board and TNS reported. The number of consumers viewing entire episodes/shows on the Internet has doubled from a year ago. Nearly 73 per cent of online households use the internet for entertainment purposes on a daily basis […]
From David Del Valle in Madrid Telco operator Abertis is leading a project to develop a single DTT box and pre-paid cards to allow DTT broadcasters to offer certain pay TV services, such as cinema or football or music events following the Italian example. The company plans to set up a centre or a factory […]
From Branislav Pekic in Rome Eight Italian satellite TV companies have set up the Association of Independent Digital Television Channels (ADTI) in Rome. The association is open to all independent Italian media groups that transmit at least one channel in Italy on any distribution platform. The founding members operate a total of 25 digital TV […]
Thousands of people are still not ready for the first phase of Britain’s digital switchover in the northern town of Whitehaven, despite a huge publicity campaign. Digital UK, the body overseeing the switch-off of the analogue TV signal, said that up to 20 per cent of local households – around 5,000 – had not yet […]
Channel 4 has held talks with Emap about taking full control of Box Television – owner of seven music channels on digital television platforms such as Freeview, including Kerrang!, Kiss, Q and The Hits, the UK's most popular music channel. The broadcaster, which bought half of Emap's music television division in July for £28 million, […]