Advanced Television

Pay TV

Global home video spend $251.5bn

Futuresource Consulting’s annual evaluation of the health and shape of global home video entertainment, detailing the macro trends of 2016, in addition to insights for 2017 and beyond, indicates that households are spending more than ever before on video entertainment, and in 2016, the combined home video and pay-TV market totalled $251.5 billion (€234bn), up […]

February 2, 2017

Spain: TV and FTTH spur Vodafone growth

The rapid take-up of FTTH along with the success of new TV services like HBO and Netflix have seen Vodafone significantly increase its subscriber basis in the last quarter of 206. The company captured 115,000 new FTTH customers reaching a total of 2.2 million of users with the highest Internet speed. At the end of […]

February 2, 2017From David Del Valle in Madrid

Sky, Discovery agree carriage deal

Although not quite taking it to the 11th hour, with news emerging mid-evening UK time, pay-TV platform Sky and multi-channel programmer Discovery have agreed a carriage deal which means Discovery’s portfolio of 12 channels will continue to be available on Sky and Discovery Channel will continue to be available on NOW TV in the UK […]

February 1, 2017By Colin Mann

TalkTalk mixed TV growth; CEO departing

TalkTalk says its customers are reaping the rewards of the value for money provider’s radical changes to its business. Revealing its Q3 results, the UK telco said it made “an unquestionable return to its challenger roots last year by offering a new range of plans, which guarantee no broadband price increases for the entirety of […]

February 1, 2017

More damaging fallout from Sky’s OTT promise

Last week Sky announced that in 2018 it would introduce an OTT broadband service which would include its SkyQ set-top box, and targeting the 2 million homes in the UK (and 6 million in Europe) which had no possibility of satellite dish reception. The news went down very badly with investors holding stock in Luxembourg-based […]

February 1, 2017

Sky v Discovery deadline talks

Sky and Discovery are said to be close to agreeing a last-gasp deal to keep the likes of Eurosport and Animal Planet on Sky’s pay-TV platform and NOW TV OTT service – following their well-publicised spat. Both companies are said to have agreed to halt publicly confrontational messages, and there is renewed hope a deal […]

January 31, 2017

Movistar offers free iPlus STB

Telefónica’s IPTV platform Movistar Plus is offering free iPlus set-top-boxes in an attempt to boost subscriptions to the pay-TV platform by satellite, which currently has 800,000 subscribers (versus 3.7 million via IP). The device will allow new and current subscribers to have access to HD channels, VoD and online box office content. Recording services are […]

January 31, 2017From David Del Valle in Madrid

Sky: ‘Discovery demanded £1bn’

Sky has hit back in its carriage dispute with Discovery, which threatens to see the removal of 12 of the programmer’s channels from its pay-TV and NOW TV services, accusing it of “misleading claims and aggressive actions”. In a Statement posted on its website, Sky says it has worked “really hard” for more than a […]

January 30, 2017By Colin Mann

Kwesé TV launches in Africa

Kwesé TV, Africa’s newest satellite network, has gone live. The Kwesé Network’s Pay-TV satellite service has started broadcasting with a full suite of entertainment and sports programming to households in Ghana, Rwanda and Zambia – which make up the initial phase of the Kwesé TV rollout across Africa. Viewers in these countries can now access […]

January 30, 2017

Discovery: Outcry over channel axe threat

Multi-channel broadcaster Discovery is ramping up its public relations campaign in support of its retransmission dispute with Sky, which has seen Discovery threaten to axe its 12 channels from Sky and NOW TV after January 31st, by reporting widespread public and celebrity support. According to Discovery, the Internet has been set alight by a social […]

January 27, 2017By Colin Mann