Spanish television channels can apply for licences to broadcast digital pay television programmes, starting immediately, the government has said. Broadcasters applications for licences to offer digital pay TV programmes will be subject to approval by the cabinet, the Industry Ministry said. The Ministry clarified in a subsequent press release that it has not authorised concessions […]

Canal Plus says there have been over 10 million video-on-demand views on its Canal Plus A La Demande service. Canal + issued usage data that revealed 32.6% of all VOD activity related to movies, 23.3% to TV series and 19.8% to magazine and general entertainment shows. Canal Plus launched its VOD service one year ago. […]

Moves by European public sector broadcasters to expand their activities into new areas, such as mobile TV and video on demand, could be subject to more prior scrutiny under revisions to controversial proposals published by Brussels. The European Commission is in the process of revising its 2001 guidelines for applying EU state aid rules to […]

Channel 4 television’s online catch-up service, 4oD Catch-Up, is finally available to Mac and Linux users after the broadcaster introduced a new streaming service. The service offers a selection of shows from Channel 4 and E4 up to 30 days after their original broadcast.

Mobile phone firm Orange has emerged as a potential buyer for the technology behind Project Kangaroo, the defunct broadband TV joint venture between ITV, Channel 4 and the BBC. Project Kangaroo’s partners are understood to have invested about £20 million (E22m) developing the technology behind the proposed video-on-demand service, which is now likely to be […]

Holland’s largest cable operator, Ziggo, has launched on-demand services across its entire network. Viewers will require a new set-top box to access the service, with Samsung and Cisco currently offering devices. Ziggo, currently connected to 3.2 million homes, has signed a number of on-demand deals, including ones with Disney and Warner Bros. Ziggo will offer […]

Brits are happy to watch advertising on the Internet or their mobile phones if this means they will get videos, music or other content for free, a survey has found. About 60 per cent of people polled by KPMG, the professional services group, said they would rather watch advertising on the Internet in return for […]

Almost half of digital television households in the UK are now choosing to pay for access to additional television channels, with satellite and cable services driving growth of digital TV according to research from Ofcom. Its Digital Progress Report for the fourth quarter of 2008 reveals that 49.5 per cent of households have a pay […]

An MPs committee has heavily criticized the BBC's commercial arm for damaging independent company's business with an aggressive sales tactics and a low priority on the bottom line. It was particularly scathing of the recent acquisition of the Lonely Planet guides. The committee was also deeply sceptical about the proposed tie up between BBC Worldwide […]

Irish sports pay broadcaster Setanta has held a fresh round of talks with private equity firms in a bid to raise up to £100 million (E110m) following the pay-television company's failure to retain both its Premier League football rights packages beyond 2010. In February, Setanta won the auction for only one of the six available […]