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Pay TV

Australia: SVoD ups data use 51% in six months

The recent boom in SVoD services, driven by the launch of Netflix, Stan and Presto in Australia has been accompanied by a sharp rise in network data traffic according to a report prepared for Australia’s national broadband network (nbn) by consultancy firm Ovum. Average monthly download usage on the nbn network was 73GB in March […]

November 23, 2015

Israel regulator prevents TV price hike

Israel’s television regulator has stopped pay-TV operators ‘Yes’ and ‘Hot’ from implementing their planned price rises. Israel’s Council for Cable TV and Satellite Broadcasting chairperson Yifat Ben Hai Segev also said that she would ask the Antitrust Authority director general to examine the timing of the price rises, which were near-simultaneous. According to Israel’s Globes […]

November 23, 2015By Chris Forrester

Spain: Orange to sell Smart TVs to boost pay-TV

Orange Spain plans to start selling Smart TVs at reduced rates from December 1st in a bid to compete with Telefonica and boost take-up of its convergent services. However, unlike Telefonica, which will give away Smart TVs connected to the company’s Movistar+ service alone, Orange will sell “unlocked” Samsung and LG sets with screen sizes […]

November 20, 2015From David Del Valle in Madrid

TDG: Broadband boomers oft-overlooked segment

Baby Boomers comprise nearly a third of US adult broadband users and are significantly more likely than other segments to subscribe to traditional pay-TV. According to Broadband Boomers: A Consumer Snapshot, TDG’s newest data-driven analysis of this vital but oft-overlooked consumer segment, this makes them excellent candidates for the high-revenue sales of operator value-added services. […]

November 20, 2015

Ofcom drops Sky Sports ‘must offer’ rule

UK regulator Ofcom has ruled that Sky is no longer obliged to offer its all-important Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2 channels on a regulated wholesale basis. Ofcom says: “The ‘wholesale must-offer’ regulation was introduced in 2010 to promote choice and innovation for consumers through greater competition in pay TV. Last year, Ofcom began […]

November 19, 2015By Chris Forrester

Murdoch to re-enter India?

A few weeks ago Rupert and James Murdoch – and other media leaders – met with India’s Prime Minister Narenda Modi in New York. At the time Rupert Murdoch tweeted “Great hour with Indian PM Modi. Best leader with best policies since independence, but massive task to achieve in most complex nation.” Also present with […]

November 19, 2015By Chris Forrester

Sky launches ‘Fluid Viewing’ Sky Q

Describing it as “the biggest reimagining of Sky in its history”, Jeremy Darroch, CEO of the UK pay-TV operator, has launched Sky Q, a family of products which it says are designed to reflect the way people consume content nowadays. It also confirmed that Sky Q would be UltraHD ready in advance of the launch […]

November 18, 2015By Colin Mann

OTT QoE: Who carries the can?

A couple of recent polls have revealed that Quality of Experience is an important factor in satisfaction and subscription renewal with OTT services. You may feel this falls into the ‘You don’t say?’ or even the ‘Do bears use wooded areas as lavatories?’ category of surveys. But behind the obvious are challenging technology questions and […]

November 18, 2015

ASA bans “misleading” BT Sport ads

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a number of BT Sport ads for making misleading price claims. The campaign referred to the telco’s Champions League coverage and said BT Sport was “free” for those signing up to or renewing broadband and TV packages.  But the ads drew 26 complaints, almost all from members of […]

November 18, 2015

US pay-TV Q3 subs loss 190K

Findings from Leichtman Research Group suggest that the thirteen largest pay-TV providers in the US – representing about 95 per cent of the market – lost about 190,000 net video subscribers in 3Q 2015, compared to a loss of about 155,000 subscribers in 3Q 2014. The top pay-TV providers account for 94.0 million subscribers — […]

November 17, 2015