DirecTV has reported that first-quarter earnings fell 46 per cent even as subscriber growth hit a four-year high. Chief Executive Chase Carey said he expects intense competition to continue in the pay-TV business, as providers fight for consumers who have become more sensitive to price. Still, he predicted that customers will cut their spending to […]
Dish Network has launched its Dish Remote Access service to customers across the US. The service – free to Dish Network customers with a broadband-connected ViP Series DVR – gives customers total access to all the features of their DVR from any Internet connected device, allowing them to manage their programming from anywhere in the […]
The Channel 4 chief executive, Andy Duncan, has told MPs that he expects to have an agreement on a partnership with BBC Worldwide signed within weeks. Duncan told the culture, media and sport committee that a memorandum of understanding with the corporation’s commercial arm would be signed before the government publishes its final Digital Britain […]
The UK Conservative Party is planning to force a Commons vote to halt a planned £3 (E3.4) rise in the BBC licence fee. The Tory leader wants to freeze the fee at £139.50 and has formally challenged plans to raise it to £142.50. Ministers have agreed to debate the matter on 20 May, when Cameron […]
Video search engine blinkx has struck a deal with interactive TV company Miniweb that will see its services become available on digital set-top boxes in the UK. The deal will significantly widen the audience for blinkx’s search offering, which indexes a range of online video content, including content from YouTube and the various web TV […]
US satellite TV provider Dish Network Corp has posted better than expected quarterly profit, despite losing 94,000 subscribers. Net income rose to $312.7 million from $258.6 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 2.1 per cent to $2.91 billion. Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen, attributed the subscriber loss to the weak economic environment, as well as […]
European broadcaster RTL said sales dropped 11 per cent in the first quarter due to a continued TV advertising slump and core profit shrunk more than 50 per cent on restructuring and start up costs. RTL, owned by media giant Bertelsmann, reported that revenue in the first three months of the year fell to E1.188 […]
The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) has awarded the digital terrestrial television (DTT) licence that was recently abandoned by Boxer to the One Vision consortium, made up of TV3, Setanta, Arqiva and Eircom. The consortium was the second-placed applicant for the DTT contracts, which were awarded last year. In April it emerged that the Boxer […]
German pay-TV station Premiere will change its brand name to Sky despite heavy write-downs on the Premiere brand name. Premiere will trade under the Sky name as do other pay-TV stations partly or fully owned by News Corp. News Corp. has a 30.5 per cent stake in Premiere, and it fully owns Sky Italia and […]
From Branislav Pekic in Rome Italy's Communications Authority (AgCom) has initiated an investigation on the number of digital terrestrial TV channels operated by the broadcasters in respect of the quota of 20 per cent per group. According to an initial inquiry, it emerges that commercial broadcaster Mediaset accounts for 14 out of the 42 national […]