Advanced Television

FTA

Channel 4 VoD gets personal

Channel 4 is to relaunch its on-demand service at the end of the month, with 4oD getting a significant makeover. It has rebuilt 4oD, adding more personalisation and much-needed features like predictive search and recommendations. At the heart of the changes is My 4oD, a section of the service that allows users, once registered, to […]

August 25, 2011

Iran launches Spanish global TV

Iran has launched ‘Hispan TV’, a global satellite news channel that is initially beaming its content to Latin America and in particular to Venezuela and the other Latino countries some of which have close political ties with Iran.   BBC Monitoring is reporting that Hispan TV is part of the state-funded Press TV operation which […]

August 23, 2011By Chris Forrester

Pakistan: $4bn broadcasting market

The electronic media has emerged as one of the fastest-growing and most competitive sectors in Pakistan, according to the Chairman of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory (PEMRA). Presenting the watchdog’s report for the year 2010-11 to President Asif Ali Zardari, Dr Abdul Jabbar advised that PEMRA, by the end of the 2010-11 financial year, had […]

August 22, 2011By Colin Mann

Vibrant TV, a new network for USA

Vibrant TV is claimed to be a new type of channel. Backed in part by Chicago-based media buying agency Zephyr Media, the FTA channel says it will showcase internationally produced lifestyle, series, sports and kids programming. The channel will be available on satellite and terrestrially. Dan Zifkin, CEO of Zephyr, says the network will launch […]

August 18, 2011By Chris Forrester

Bad news is good news

The recent slew of bad financial news on TV has seen a major surge in television ratings, especially in the US.  All three US financial networks (Bloomberg, Fox Business and CNBC) have gained significant numbers of viewers during the working day, always a sure sign that Wall Street’s financial types – and those at home […]

August 16, 2011By Chris Forrester

Scripps scoops Virgin Media’s UKTV stake

As widely expected, Scripps Networks is to acquire Virgin Media’s stake in UKTV, the joint-venture multi-platform channel operator with BBC Worldwide. Scripps Networks Interactive will pay approximately £239 million to purchase Virgin Media’s 50 per cent common equity interest in the UKTV partnership and also will pay about £100 million to acquire the outstanding preferred […]

August 15, 2011By Colin Mann

Linear TV lives on

New figures released by Thinkbox, the marketing body for commercial TV in the UK, suggest that despite the advent of time-shifted TV, the vast majority of TV viewing is to live TV, with the amount of time spent watching linear commercial TV channels in the UK during January to June 2011 increasing to a new […]

August 15, 2011By Colin Mann

Poland’s TVP1 adds Dolby Digital

Poland’s national public broadcaster Telewizja Polska (TVP) has become the first major broadcaster in eastern Europe to implement Dolby Digital Plus audio streams on a national broadcast channel. TVP1, Poland’s most popular terrestrial TV channel, has begun transmissions using Dolby Digital Plus audio for viewers on the DVB-T platform. While TVP1 is the oldest TV […]

August 4, 2011By Chris Forrester

AMOS launches DTH service in Ukraine

Spacecom, the operator of the AMOS satellite fleet, has signed an agreement with a European company to provide satellite services to a new DTH platform for the Ukrainian market under the ‘Xtra TV’ Brand. Spacecom’s AMOS-3 satellite at 4°W will provide the services. The multi-year deal is valued up to $19 million. Xtra TV, the […]

August 2, 2011

BBC, Sky to share live F1 rights

BBC TV and Sky Sports have been awarded the live rights to Formula 1 between 2012 and 2018. The BBC currently screens the sport on an exclusive basis in the UK. The broadcasting partnership will include: – All races, qualifying and practice sessions live on Sky Sports across TV, Online and Mobile and Tablet devices. […]

July 29, 2011By Colin Mann