On Digital Media has selected NDS as technology provider and prime integrator to support the launch of its direct-to-home DTH platform in South Africa. The new service, TopTV, will go live in Q2 2010. On Digital Media will secure their MPEG4 DVB-S2-based service using NDS' VideoGuard conditional access technology. To enable the platform and provide […]

“Telco TV market growth was strong in 2009. As a result, service revenue for the global telco TV market increased to nearly $12 billion in 2009 and will increase to nearly $17 billion by the end of 2010,” says Serene Fong, industry analyst at ABI Research. Western Europe generates the largest share of global revenue […]

France Telecom's Orange is in discussions with a number of pay-DTT channels with a view to offering them to its subscribers via ADSL and satellite, the operator has confirmed. Talks go back as far as 2007, but Orange has expressed the hope that the offer will be made available by the end of the first […]

News Corp returned to profit with $254 million for the three months to December, compared with a $6.4 billion loss a year ago – down to major asset write-downs. “Content is not just king, it is the emperor of all things digital,” said chairman Rupert Murdoch. “We’re on the cusp of a digital revolution from […]

Over two-thirds of American pay television subscribers would be willing to switch providers if offered a price discount of 20 per cent, according to a report just published by Strategy Analytics. While Cable customers were the most likely to churn, only half as many (33 per cent) of Telco TV/IPTV subscribers would switch. The report, […]

Plan for ITV to introduce a pay-per-view service for ITV2, 3 and 4 under new chief executive Adam Crozier seem to be firming up. ITV has said it will undergo a thorough strategic review which will rule nothing out, including a move away from the free-to-air advertising model to a much broader media platform by […]

Satellite broadcaster BSkyB has reported strong second quarter results and confirmed that it will launch Sky 3D, Europe's first dedicated 3D TV channel, this April. As part of the final preparations for the launch, and to preview the service, Sky will become the first TV company anywhere to broadcast a live 3D TV sports event […]

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's move to lower advertising ceilings for pay TV will hurt Sky Italia unit and curtail growth at the other networks it says. New Italian regulations would gradually limit the maximum amount of advertising per hour of pay television to 12 per cent in 2012 from 18 per cent now. Free-to-air […]

The Federal Communications Commission has voted to stop cable operators from withholding local sports channels from rivals in the US, potentially giving consumers more choice of pay-TV providers. Federal law requires cable operators to offer access to channels they partially or wholly own to rivals at reasonable rates. But the law includes a loophole that […]

A board meeting at Ofcom is set to approve the regulator obliging Sky to cut its wholesale prices on its sports channels. In choreographed weekend interviews BT set the ground claiming it would definitely significantly undercut Sky with its retail price if it gets access to the channels at the kind of prices put forward […]