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TV hacking: News Corp strength is its weakness

In terms of revelations, Panorama provided not much that wasn’t already known, or assumed, in the NDS hacking saga: Criminals allege criminal behaviour in the inevitably very murky world of encryption, hacking and counter measures. NDS admit hacking – to test its rival’s technology – and it is accepted as standard practice. NDS strenuously denies […]

March 27, 2012 Nick Snow

Hybrid answer to the bandwidth question

It’s time for IP&TV World Forum once again and hybrid solutions will be to the fore. The hybrid nature of the sector is reflected in the name of the event, shifting subtly from IPTV to IP&TV, reflecting the fact IP is now part of the normal scenery of the TV landscape and not a feature […]

March 15, 2012 Nick Snow

Payment by results?

By common consent, two types of employee in the modern world are vastly overpaid: bankers and footballers. The difference, again by common consent, is that if footballers don’t perform, it is obvious and they are got rid of – the Darwinism of the market. Whereas, bankers continue to earn vast sums despite their banks making […]

February 23, 2012 Nick Snow

One winner in neutrality game of chicken

It is ironic that the frontline in the net neutrality conflict has shifted to a country where broadband speed is more abundant than anywhere on earth. KT Telecom of Korea has announced it will ‘manage’ the broadband capacity it claims is being soaked up by Smart TV users. It says it must do so to […]

February 14, 2012 Nick Snow

Sky just upped the online stakes

And so it comes to pass: Sky on the Internet and available to all UK broadband subscribers. Dishes have been in Sky’s DNA from day one and they will be around for a long time, but making Sky open to all is a major evolutionary moment for Sky, for pay-TV and for broadcasting as a […]

January 31, 2012 Nick Snow

IP lobby v liberty?

A line in America’s national anthem claims the country as ‘the home of the free.’ Not for the first time, some Americans are claiming there must be a certain irony in the phrase. These are citizens who believe any restriction on the Internet is an enemy of innovation and, more importantly, their First Amendment rights […]

January 19, 2012 Nick Snow

The law of the land grab

Putting the word oblivion in the name of your business is a bit of a hostage to fortune. So it has proved for Beyond Oblivion, the music start up that was meant to take on the likes of Spotify and iTunes. Over two years, the company raised $87 million from backers including News Corp as […]

January 4, 2012 Nick Snow

Fearful Virgin over-protects modesty

This not a story about a nervous and excessively prudish maiden. It is about the mildly amusing consequences of trying to make your software just a little bit too clever for its own good, and aiming to be the blandest on the block. Virgin Media has, along with most media outlets, decided to try and […]

December 21, 2011 Nick Snow

BS and basics in Set Top Boxes

To make the point that if you are in the STB business you are in the ‘box business’, I was going to headline this piece ‘BS and basics in the brown goods business’, but I figured there were probably too few people out there who now remember that’s what we used to call all the […]

December 14, 2011 Nick Snow

Power without responsibility?

Power without responsibility is an accusation traditionally levelled at the British Press: it makes and breaks governments and destroys innocent people’s lives without fear of the consequences. Some argue this is the price you pay for a free press. Certainly the press in the UK is relatively economically robust compared to other European countries and […]

December 5, 2011 Nick Snow