Advanced Television

Pay TV

Viaccess for NTV-PLUS

Viaccess is providing its scalable and flexible advanced content protection and rights management solution to NTV-PLUS as the satellite provider enters the IPTV market. NTV-PLUS, the first DTH provider and leader of pay TV market in Russia will deliver IPTV services aimed at Russian broadband operators. Partnering with Viaccess, NTV-PLUS will address both IPTV and […]

March 16, 2011

ESPN study shows zero loss to cord cutters

Just 0.18 per cent of US households “cut the cord” between the fourth quarter 2010 and first quarter 2011, according to ESPN analysis of Nielsen households. This study defines “cord-cutters” as multichannel homes with a high-speed Internet connection that drop their cable/telco/satellite subscriptions, but retain their broadband connection to watch television. The current rate of […]

March 15, 2011

MSOs are most profitable media companies

In a study on the growth and profitability of the media and entertainment industry released by Ernst & Young, cable operators showed the highest profitability among all media and entertainment sectors, and interactive media was the fastest growing sector within the industry. The report also reveals that, despite current perceptions, the media and entertainment industry […]

March 15, 2011

Sky Deutschland and Tele Columbus triple play

Sky Deutschland and Tele Columbus have agreed to expand their existing cooperation and make the Sky packages available in an attractive Triple Play offering. With this, the Tele Columbus customers have easy access to Sky programming: the joint offer comprises a 6 MBit Internet-and telephone flat rate, Tele Columbus basic digital TV package and the […]

March 15, 2011

Pay-TV grows 15.2% in Venezuela

At the end of 2010, pay-TV, either via cable or satellite, grew 15.2 per cent (333,000) over the year in Venezuela and reached a total of 2.52 million homes. Some 37 per cent of all Venezuelan homes now subscribe to pay-TV. The subscriber base grew from 2,192,519 in December 2009 to 2,526,050 in 2010. In […]

March 11, 2011By Chris Forrester

News Corp: “We don’t have to do [Sky] deal”

In the opening skirmish of the ‘spin wars’ that will characterise negotiations, Chase Carey, Rupert Murdoch’s right-hand man at News Corp, told delegates at Deutsche Bank’s Media & Telecoms conference that while News Corp wanted to do the deal to buy the remaining 61 per cent in BSkyB that it did not already own, but […]

March 8, 2011By Chris Forrester

BSkyB: “Fair price is £9.50”

Fidelity Investments, one of the smaller investors in BSkyB, says a fair price for its holdings would be 950p (€1.1) a share, and letting it be known that News Corp should dig deeper into its pockets and pay a big premium over the offer price of 700p already on the table. BSkyB’s share price was […]

March 7, 2011By Chris Forrester

News Corp: Sky takeover cleared

As expected, Jeremy Hunt, culture secretary, has cleared the News Corp takeover of the 61 per cent of Sky it doesn’t already own. In a compromise to avert concerns on plurality in the UK news market, Sky News will be spun off as a separate UK PLC with shares distributed to BSkyB stockholders on their […]

March 3, 2011

Darroch: Sky beyond the TV set

BSkyB intends to connect with its viewers in ways other than via the TV, according to CEO Jeremy Darroch. He told delegates at the FT Digital Media and Broadcasting Conference in London that advances in technology were creating new possibilities in the content the broadcaster could offer, with Sky’s future success being based on content […]

March 3, 2011By Colin Mann

Spain’s ONO subs up, revenue down

Spain’s largest cable company ONO increased its subscribers in 2010 but total revenues and profits dropped by 2.7 per cent to €1.472 billion and 7.1 per cent to €47 million, respectively, with an EBITDA decreasing 0.8 per cent to €725 million. The company ended the year with 4.31 million residential subs (triple play), up 2.3 […]

March 2, 2011From David Del Valle in Madrid