Advanced Television

Pay TV

Foxtel drops Xbox data charges

Australian pay-TV provider Foxtel has confirmed that Telstra BigPond broadband customers will not be charged for any data when using Foxtel on Xbox 360, and six BigPond TV channels are to be added to the service. This means all video content will be unmetered for Telstra BigPond customers when viewing the Foxtel on Xbox 360 […]

May 31, 2011

Telmex thwarted in TV bid

Teléfonos de México’s (Telmex) request for a licence to offer pay-TV service has been rejected by the Mexican government, which cited deficiencies in the quality of the company’s connections with rivals’ networks. The Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes (Communications and Transportation Ministry) said that Telmex hadn’t provided required information to the government. The ministry will […]

May 31, 2011By Colin Mann

Research: Rapid MEA digital conversion, but hands stay in pockets

Despite the recent social and political turmoil, rapid conversion to digital TV continues in the Middle East and Africa, according to a new report from Digital TV Research (DTVR). Digital TV penetration for the 18 countries covered in the research firm’s Digital TV Middle East & Africa report is already approaching two-thirds of the total. […]

May 30, 2011

Canal Plus, Orange change pay TV plan

French pay TV operator Canal Plus and French telco Orange have dropped their plan to form a 50/50 joint venture between Canal Plus’s TPS Star service and Orange’s film and TV series channels, according to reports in French newspapers. A new plan to see Canal Plus buy a minority stake in Orange’s channels has been […]

May 27, 2011

MTG Fox distribution deal

Modern Times Group (MTG), the international entertainment broadcasting group, has announced that Viasat Broadcasting has signed an exclusive four year pan-Scandinavian distribution agreement with Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution. The deal is the first of its kind in Scandinavia as it covers the broadcasting of a range of movies and TV series on Viasat’s Scandinavian […]

May 26, 2011

TV entertainment spend up 70% over decade

Consumer expenditures on entertainment media in the US and Europe grew 69 per cent between 2000 and 2010 to reach $234.8 billion, with cable and satellite TV retaining top spot as the leading form of entertainment media during the preceding ten years, according to IHS Screen Digest. Cable and satellite TV accounted for 59 per […]

May 23, 2011

Western European pay-TV revenues to plateau

Pay-TV revenues in Western Europe will not grow between 2011 and 2016 ($36 billion) according to a new report from Digital TV Research Ltd. Report author Simon Murray described the findings as “extraordinary at first glance considering that nine million pay-TV households with be added over the same period,” reaching 107 million by 2016 and […]

May 23, 2011

ADD launches anti-piracy packages

Arab Digital Distribution (ADD), the largest pay-TV platform management company in the Middle East and North Africa, has launched two new regional packages – Pehla Spice and Pehla Spice Plus. Targeted at the large South Indian diaspora across the region, the two new packages will be distributed exclusively through Pehla – Premium Asian Entertainment. Majed […]

May 23, 2011By Colin Mann

Sky Italia v Gore spat over Current

Former US Vice President Al Gore’s Current TV cable network has claimed Rupert Murdoch’s Italian satellite TV company dropped the network in Italy because it hired liberal politics news anchor Keith Olbermann. News Corp, which controls Sky Italia, has said its dispute with Current Italy had nothing to with politics and is purely about money. […]

May 20, 2011

Research: Satellite TV to overtake cable by 2015 in Western Europe

By 2015, satellite TV will overtake cable TV in terms of TV households, with IPTV expected to grow 10 per cent a year, suggests research consultancy Infocom. Western Europe posted over 182 million TV households at end-2010, 40 per cent of which are watching TV via terrestrial platforms, 27 per cent via Cable TV, and […]

May 20, 2011