From Branislav Pekic in Rome Five foreign companies have so far expressed interest in the DTT multiplex operator licence for the Brazilian publicly-owned TV channels. Marubeni (Japan), Next Generation Broadcasting (Sweden), Screen Service (Italy), TDF (France) and Abertis Telecom (Spain) are all likely to take part in the public consultation which will define the obligations […]

From David Del Valle in Madrid The Spanish Government looks likely to approve a new tax on private networks to finance national public broadcaster RTVE to compensate the total abolition of advertising on the channel, possibly from next July. The new tax would represent around 3 per cent of their revenues, around E140 million, and […]

Screen Digest forecasts that the global pay TV set-top box (STB) market will peak within the next four years, reaching annual shipments of 127 million units in 2012, before the market declines in 2013. The continuing thrust by pay TV operators to convert their customers from analogue to digital and upgrade them to high definition […]

NDS Group has entered into a multiyear licensing agreement for Macrovision Solutions’ electronic programme guide patents. Under the agreement, NDS will be able to offer licensed EPGs to its pay-TV platform operator customers in specified countries. “We believe operators will benefit from having the option to license Gemstar’s EPG patents alongside NDS’ own leading technology […]

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has said to expect more Internet streaming deals to come from the movie rental company – both for content and for gadgets that help play back streaming videos onto TVs. In terms of content, Hastings said the company would continue to invest in new movies and TV series, especially via deals […]

German pay-TV group Premiere has completed a E450 million capital increase, which saw Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp raise its stake from 25 per cent to 30.5 per cent. The company announced the two-step rights issue in December in order to fund last autumn’s purchase of rights to show live Bundesliga soccer. ….

SES has reported a 12.2 per cent rise in its first-quarter core profit, maintained its full-year forecast and said it signed a E2 billion credit facility. SES, the world’s second-largest satellite operator, said that EBITDA rose to E308.9 million. SES repeated its forecast of revenue growth between 3 per cent and 4 per cent on […]

From David Del Valle in Madrid Sogecable, owner of Canal Plus and digital DTH platform, Digital Plus, has accused commercial TV channel La Sexta of pirating the signal of its premium channel Canal Plus, by broadcasting a review of the football match between Real Madrid and Getafe, offered by the pay-TV channel. The pay-TV company […]

UK regulator Ofcom has said Project Canvas, the broadband TV joint venture between BBC, ITV and BT, could face a competition investigation. Ofcom, in its submission to the BBC Trust, has warned that the venture could find itself the subject of the same regulatory scrutiny that earlier this year spelled the end for Project Kangaroo. […]

Boxer DTT, the Swedish consortium that is 50 per cent owned by Denis O'Brien's Communicorp group, has abandoned its plans to provide DTT under the contracts it was awarded by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland last July. Its decision to pull out means that a consortium comprising TV3, Eircom and Setanta Sports will be offered […]