Freeview Play enabled LG Smart TVs will launch in the first half of 2016, combining the webOS platform and catch-up services with a backwards EPG – providing what LG says is the most advanced and seamless Smart TV experience ever. LG is the latest manufacturer to offer the subscription-free service, which launched in October 2015, […]

Sky is using Cisco video software solutions to power its next-generation home entertainment system, Sky Q. Available in 2016, Sky Q is a family of advanced products, connecting wirelessly to create a new ecosystem that makes it easier than ever for customers to access their favourite TV. Sky is using the Cisco VideoGuard Everywhere security […]

The duopoly in the Spanish FTA TV market is intensifying with the two largest private TV groups Mediaset and Atresmedia taking 58 per cent of the audience ratings and 86 per cent of ad revenues. Operating six TV channels (Tele 5, Cuatro, FDF, Divinity, Energy and Boing), Mediaset has a TV share of 31 per […]

Multichannel programmer UKTV is celebrating its most successful year after record-breaking viewing puts it neck and neck with terrestrial FTA pubcaster Channel 5’s full portfolio and all of Sky’s wholly-owned channels, including movies and sport, for the first time. In 2015 UKTV grew its share to 5.27 per cent (from 5.08 per cent in 2014) […]

Turner Broadcasting has moved its key DTH channels from Dubai-based pay-TV operator OSN to rival beIN Media Group. Rani Raad, Turner’s MD for MENA and Turkey, in a statement, said: “Together with beIN Media Group, we’re expanding our reach to cater to the needs of audiences across the region. Subscribers to the network can enjoy […]

2015 was yet another momentous year for television in Sub-Saharan Africa. Most countries missed the ITU’s analogue switch-off deadline of June, but DTT, especially pay DTT, made huge gains. And there is much more to come, partly as Canal Plus unveils its TNT Afrique DTT platform in Francophone countries. However, the number of pay satellite […]

A satellite consortium comprising Intelsat, SES and Japan’s SkyPerfect JSat has gained support from the USA’s Government Accountability Office over a dispute with rivals Inmarsat. The dispute concerns a US Defense Department contract that was awarded to Inmarsat and covers an all-embracing multi-year agreement to supply bandwidth to the US Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), […]

Belarus is settiing up a government-approved single monopoly for the distribution of TV channels. BBC Monitoring is quoting Russia’s Gazeta as a source for the new rules which are said to be specifically targeting Russian TV channels. “The introduction of a single state distributor of foreign channels will, first, establish a monopoly on the market […]