Content piracy is often cited as the biggest threat to pay-TV and, by extension, the creative industries. Stopping it is the job of content security technologists and law enforcement. Comparisons are sometimes drawn with the drug trade – indeed, rights organisations sometimes claim the same organised criminals are involved and that by infringing an owner’s […]
It is a story that simply won’t go away, and is trotted out regularly. But perennial gossip about a possible merger between arch pay-TV rivals DirecTV and Dish Network was given added fuel by a comment made at Friday’s Goldman Sachs’ Communicopia Conference by DirecTV’s CEO Michael White deserve attention. White told analysts that consolidation […]
BSkyB may be just a few weeks away from launching its all-James Bond movie channel but one investment banker is marking down its longer-term view of BSkyB’s share price, saying that it is dropping its previous 650p target to 630p, as it “believes the [higher] valuation fails to reflect the challenges ahead”. Berenberg Capital Markets, […]
e.tv, a South African free-to-air broadcaster, has issued a writ against the country’s minister of communications, Mrs Dina Pule, arguing that the minister’s decision to award a set-top box control system contract for DTT reception is “unlawful, procedurally unfair, irrational and unreasonable”. The contract was awarded in May to the nation’s signal distribution company, Sentech. […]
Acclaimed movie director James Cameron admitted he was amazed by the quality of 3D-TV displayed at IBC last week. Speaking at a demo on the Dolby booth of the Dolby/Philips 3D joint-venture (which uses Dutch company Dimenco’s technology), he said “There is room for improvement but this already good enough for the consumer market, you […]
For some European pay-TV broadcasters their growth patterns are slowing as subscriber numbers reach maturity levels. A new report from investment bankers Morgan Stanley says this is not a major worry for the likes of BSkyB, given that their recent financial numbers show that there’s plenty of cash still to be extracted from the viewers’ […]
IBC saw much discussion on the likely prospects for 4K transmission, how the technology might be implemented, possible costs for broadcasters, timetable of likely events that might trigger early adoption and how low prices of 4K flat panels might need to fall to gain consumer acceptance. In other words, the assorted Plus and Minus points […]
Dr Abe Peled, former president and CEO at NDS, insists he is now an ordinary member of Cisco Systems’ 72,000 employees and as such he needed to go through the new staff ‘onboard’ induction system. Now, six weeks into his new job as Cisco’s SVP/Strategy Video & Collaboration Group, was in good humour at his […]
The top men at News Corporation have had their ‘qualitative bonuses’ cut by half because of the phone hacking scandal in the UK. The quantitative element remained intact, though, as the share price has risen 23 per cent. The businesses have certainly done well but, clearly, the main spur to the stock boost was the […]
NileSat and Arabsat have removed the state-backed Syrian TV channels from its satellites. Instructions were given to the two Arab satellite operators by the Arab States foreign ministries. However, the action received immediate condemnation from Damascus. BBC Monitoring reports that the Syria’s Information Ministry the ban “contradicts principles of media work in an unacceptable and […]