From Branislav Pekic from Rome Mediaset's digital terrestrial PPV service, Mediaset Premium, had 2.42m active subscribers on March 5, a net addition of 353.00 new clients compared to the 2.067m subscribers at the end of December 2007. The strong growth of active smart cards was mainly due to the launch of the Premium Gallery offer, […]
Interactive television won’t succeed until cable companies reach agreement on measurement standards, according to Starcom MediaVest executives. The initiative undertaken by six major cable companies, called Canoe, is a step in the right direction, said Jen Soch, MediaVest USA’s VP and director of advanced TV. Tracey L. Scheppach, vice president/video innovation director at Starcom USA, […]
Neuf Cegetel is building on its successful experience and acquiring direct broadcasting rights to become a publisher of its own video-on-demand service, Neuf VOD. Neuf Cegetel signed with the main French cinema studios to offer some of the biggest box-office hits of the year, along with cartoons, documentaries, concerts, comedy shows and TV series. The […]
From Colin Mann at the IPTV World Forum in London Media, entertainment and communications technologist Thomson has launched new modules to its Smartvision video service platform designed to deliver video on demand over hybrid broadcast networks (Digital Terrestrial Television and IP or Satellite and IP). The platform now comprises a push video mechanism which allows […]
The No. 1 satellite-TV provider is testing its own version of an on-demand movies and television service that it plans to launch in the second quarter. DirecTV On Demand uses a combination of DVR broadband connections in a Sky Active look-a-like service. DirecTV’s satellites will automatically transmit a limited number of popular movie titles to […]
The BBC says it has plugged a loophole that let viewers download shows from its iPlayer without any copy protection. The web-based iPhone edition of the TV catch-up service downloads shows in the handset's preferred, QuickTime-friendly H.264 video format, minus the Windows DRM layer. Some users spoofed the site by getting their desktop browser to […]
From Colin Mann at the IPTV World Forum in London Edgeware, supplier of server systems for on-demand TV, has revealed that triple-play service provider Inuk Networks has selected the Orbit 2x streaming platform to add video on-demand (VOD) functionality to its Freewire IPTV service in the UK, Ireland and Canada. Edgeware’s server solution enables Inuk […]
Nielsen will offer a new service that uses cable set-top boxes to shed light on people’s TV-viewing habits. Under the deal with Charter Communications, Nielsen receives information from 320,000 households in Los Angeles and then develops second-by-second data that it can sell to clients like media agencies and advertisers. Nielsen has worked for years with […]
The Ofcom chief executive, Ed Richards, has confirmed the UK regulator is to abandon plans for a “public service publisher”. He said the idea had “served its purpose” in shifting the debate on the future of public service broadcasting by emphasising the importance of digital media. It is understood that Ofcom no longer envisages recommending […]
Astra says it has added 1.72 million households in Germany to bring the total number of DTH homes reached to 9.75 million. In total, Germany had 36.98 million analogue and digital TV homes last year. The number of satellite households remains stable at 16.7 million or 45 per cent of all TV households while cable […]