French pay-TV channel Paris Première, despite having been on air since December 1986, is struggling to stay solvent. Unfortunately it is not alone. A slew of similarly well-established premium pay channels are either about to close or have something of a death sentence hanging over their heads. Paris Première is now owned by giant commercial […]
Sky Sports offered viewers nearly 11,000 hours of football in 2014, part of a record-breaking year of sport across its channels and digital outlets. Over 59,000 hours of sport – more than ever before – were scheduled across seven channels during the last twelve months. Sky Sports offered 29 per cent more football in 2014 […]
Communications technology specialist Huawei and China Telecom Sichuan have launched the first commercial 4K ultra-HD iTV network service in China. They have also jointly released a 4K ultra-HD intelligent smart set-top box (STB), making China Telecom Sichuan the first telecommunications company in China to use 4K STBs for carrying video services. Huawei and China Telecom […]
Uruguay has placed unexpected limits on the amount of potential market share and the number of licences any operator can hold. The rules come within a new Audiovisual Communication Services Law announced just before the holiday, and reported on December 29. The net effect is that no pay-TV operator can grow beyond a market share […]
Rostelecom, Russia’s national telecommunications operator, is to create a media joint venture with the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK), Russia’s leading producer of pay-TV channels for cable and satellite broadcast. The JV will be made up of VGTRK’s Digital Television and Rostelecom’s subsidiary NKS-Media. The main aim of the JV is to […]
Reports have emerged in Turkey that a prominent Qatari businessman has agreed to pay $820 million for a 53 per cent stake in Turkish pay-TV platform Digiturk. Nasser Al Khelaifi, the chairman and CEO of beIN Media Group, which runs beIN Sports, is understood to have acquired the stake from Turkey’s Savings Deposit Insurance Fund, […]
Opponents of the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger have submitted just under 600,000 public comments to the Federal Communications Commission in recent months urging it to reject the proposed deal. The announcement was made just days before the FCC’s December 23rd deadline for submitting reply comments on the merger. The comments calling on the FCC to […]
Elemental Technologies, a specialist in software-defined video solutions for multiscreen content delivery, has secured $14.5 million in series D financing led by Telstra, Australia’s largest telecommunications and information services company. Telstra is joined in the round by Sky, Europe’s largest entertainment company, and existing investors General Catalyst Partners, Norwest Venture Partners and Voyager Capital. Elemental […]
21st Century Fox has blocked DISH customer access to Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network, with the satellite operator accusing the media conglomerate of introducing other channels into negotiations, despite those channels not being included in the contract up for renewal. “It’s like we’re about to close on a house and the realtor is […]
UK regulator Ofcom has published a consultation as part of its review of the pay-TV ‘wholesale must-offer’ remedy. Ofcom’s initial assessment indicates that Premier League and Champions League football are key content likely to be capable of influencing consumers’ choice of pay-TV retailer. The review will determine whether regulation requiring Sky to offer its Sky […]