Advanced Television

DTT/DSO

D-Book EPG enhancements

The Digital TV Group (DTG), the industry association for digital television in the UK, has published an updated version of the seventh edition of the D-Book, the technical specification for Freeview HD and Connected TV products and services, to its members. New features in Part A (the Freeview HD specification) of the D-Book include: Enhanced […]

April 2, 2012

Italy confirms DTT auction

Italy will present plans for selling digital television frequencies by April 20th and will stick by its decision to drop the previous “beauty contest” formula according to industry minister Corrado Passera. Plans by the government of former premier Silvio Berlusconi to assign the frequencies free of charge to operators were abandoned earlier this year by […]

March 29, 2012

Miramax, UKTV in carriage deal

Global film and television studio Miramax and multichannel broadcaster UKTV have reached a licensing agreement under which a number of the studio’s hit films will be made available to UKTV subscribers across its basic pay and DTT channels in the UK and Ireland. “UKTV has a proven record of delivering high-quality feature films to its […]

March 29, 2012

Spain to cut half of DTT?

The current Spanish DTT offer of up to 45 TV channels may be reduced to half if the Government’s plan to reshuffle the TV map goes ahead. The Ministry of Industry is proposing TV broadcasters give up half of their DTT channels to make the TV business more sustainable and save the €800 million cost […]

March 26, 2012From David Del Valle in Madrid

DA: South Africa must rethink DTT framework

The South African government must rethink its Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) rollout strategy and “misguided” decision to opt for locally manufactured set-top boxes (STBs), according to the Democratic Alliance. Last week, Cabinet approved the ownership support rollout framework for television STBs to poor households. “The aerials will add at least another R750 million to the […]

March 26, 2012

Serbia launches DTT with 11 channels

The Initial network of DTT transmitters will be switched on in Serbia on March 21, thus marking the official start of the transition from analogue to digital TV broadcasting. The adopted broadcasting standard for Serbia is DVB-T2 with MPEG-4.10 (H264/AVC) compression. The DTT signal of the Initial network will be distributed via 15 transmitters.  A […]

March 20, 2012From Branislav Pekic in Rome

Competition to boost MENA pay-TV

The social and political turmoil that has rocked the Middle East and North Africa region has resulted in liberalisation measures which will open up the pay-TV sector, according to research firm Digital TV Research. Digital TV penetration for the 16 countries covered in its Digital TV Middle East & North Africa report is already approaching […]

March 20, 2012

Spain brings forward digital dividend

In an attempt to stimulate the economy with the introduction of 4G technology, the Government has decided to bring forward to January 2014, one year earlier than expected, the allocation of the so-called digital dividend frequencies. By that time, January 2014, all current DTT channels should have completed their migration to other digital frequencies to […]

March 14, 2012From David Del Valle in Madrid

Candidates pull bids for French HD DTT

Two of the 32 candidates bidding for six HD DTT channels in France have pulled out before broadcasting regulator CSA holds a series of meetings with bidders. Le Figaro managing director Marc Feuillee said that cable, satellite and ADSL channel La Chaine Meteo’s project was too risky economically and uncertain with regard to advertising, and […]

March 5, 2012

Paramount Channel on Spain’s FTA DTT

Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) and Spanish media group Vocento have reached an agreement to launch in April Paramount Channel on Spain’s DTT platform as an FTA channel on frequency previously used by the former TV channel La 10. Paramount Channel will offer movies from the archives of Paramount Pictures with genres including drama, comedy, action, […]

March 5, 2012From David Del Valle in Madrid