Israel's Antitrust Authority is said to be concerned that Bezeq – the national carrier in Israel – would close YES if it is allowed to purchase control in the DTH platform. The Authority believes Bezeq would prefer to concentrate on the development of its IPTV service. However, the Restrictive Trade Practices Tribunal has judged that […]
The decision to refer Kangaroo to competition authorities – a move much welcomed by Sky – has seen ITV's share price hit a new low of around 45p bringing Sky's loss on its 17.9 per cent stake close to £650 million (E866m).
Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific in Australia, a unit of media company Discovery Communications, has confirmed that Discovery HD has launched as one of the five dedicated 24/7 HD channels offered by FOXTEL's new service, FOXTEL HD +. Discovery HD first launched in the Asia-Pacific region in 2005 and is now available in 17 international markets.
DISH Network, the US satellite television provider, said it has received notice that phone operator AT&T is ending their agreement at the end of the year to sell TV, phone and Internet packages. AT&T and DISH have had a joint marketing agreement since July 2003 to sell the “triple-play” package in AT&T regions. AT&T said […]
French cable company Numericable has added HD content from CinePlay, TF1 Vision and I-Concerts o its Video Club VOD service. Prices for HD titles are E4.99 for brand new titles, E3.99 for library titles and E2.99 for individual programmes from TF1. Viewers need to have Numericable's Cablebox HD in order to view the VOD programmes […]
From Branislav Pekic in Rome The Italian Government and the country's Communications Authority (AgCom) is aiming to bring forward the complete switchover from analogue to digital, which is currently planned for the end of 2012. Announcing plans to present a plan for the complete national switchover by September 9, Italy's Undersecretary for Economic Development responsible […]
Blockbuster has withdrawn its offer to buy US electronics retailer Circuit City, citing difficult market conditions. Blockbuster said the bid, which valued the retailer at more than $1 billion was no longer in its best interests. Last month, Circuit City said its sales had fallen by 11 per cent in the three months to the […]
Microsoft has turned up the heat on its rivalry with Google with the purchase of a private Silicon Valley company that has developed one of the most promising Internet search tools of recent years. The acquisition of Powerset, reportedly for about $100 million, comes in the wake of Microsoft's failure to challenge Google either by […]
The Open IPTV Forum has added eleven new members at a recent meeting held at the headquarters of Telefónica in Madrid, and reports that the first release of its new specifications are close to completion. The new members are Fastweb, Swisscom, Access Company, BeeTV, Digital Fountain, Intel, InterTrust Technologies Corporation, Motorola, Opera Software, Thomson and […]
From Branislav Pekic in Rome Portugal Telecom has been placed first by the commission that evaluated the bids for the DTT platform for pay-TV channels. Portuguese telecommunications sector regulator Anacom announced on June 27th that Portugal Telecom obtained 85 out of a total of 100 points, while Sweden's Airplus TV was awarded 57 points. The […]