Advanced Television

Catch Up

EU agrees content portability

With Andrus Ansip, EC Vice-President in charge of the Digital Single Market, describing it as “a new important step” in breaking down barriers in the Digital Single Market, Europeans will soon be able fully to use their online subscriptions to films, sports events, e-books, video games or music services when travelling within the EU, following […]

February 8, 2017By Colin Mann

YouGov: BBC treads water, Amazon & Netflix make waves

The battle of on-demand streaming television services continues to intensify. In the past couple of weeks, Netflix announced a big increase in subscribers and the BBC has unveiled ambitious plans for iPlayer in a bid to make sure it doesn’t fall behind its commercial rivals. Premium on-demand services are making inroads into the BBC’s territory. […]

January 31, 2017

Simplestream powers Sony Kids catch-up service

Simplestream, a provider of video services for the media and entertainment industry, has revealed that its Hybrid TV solution was chosen by Sony Pictures Television to power its new catch-up service on YouView. Launched on January 10th, the service hosts shows from Sony’s popular kids channels Tiny Pop, POP and KIX. “Kids are spending more […]

January 23, 2017

iPlayer leaves Wii U

Owners of the Nintendo Wii U in the UK are no longer be able to use the BBC iPlayer app through their games console. The Wii U version of the streaming app was removed from the console’s eShop in August when Nintendo chose not to renew its licence agreement with the BBC, but was still […]

January 17, 2017

iPlayer sees best ever week and month

The week of New Year (December 26th – January 1st) saw 69.3 million requests, more than any other week in BBC iPlayer’s history. December was also BBC iPlayer’s best month ever, seeing 281 million requests across the month. Half of the top 20 most popular shows on BBC iPlayer during the festive season were episodes […]

January 13, 2017

Altice: Live viewing steady; time-shifted, DVR rise

From a nail-biter World Series matchup and breathtaking Summer Olympics Games to some of the highest-rated political debates in history, 2016 provided no shortage of must-watch television. To provide insights about consumer television viewing activity, cable MSO Altice USA has released its first Altice USA Data Flash Review, which analysed 2016 viewing trends of its […]

January 12, 2017

BBC to revamp iPlayer

BBC Director-General Tony Hall has said the corporation needs to reinvent its on-demand iPlayer service to make the leap from a catch-up service to a “must-visit” destination in its own right in the face of rapid growth by its competitors such as Netflix. In a wide-ranging New Year message to BBC staff on ‘Reinventing the […]

January 11, 2017By Colin Mann

UKTV predicts record audiences

Multichannel broadcaster UKTV is predicting it will register record-breaking growth in share of commercial impacts (SOCI) across the last 12 months. UKTV is projecting 7.7 per cent growth of its SOCI to a record year-end high of 9.87 per cent, putting it ahead of Channel 5’s full portfolio and all of Sky’s wholly-owned channels (including movies […]

January 5, 2017

Hulu adds CBS nets to live TV service

Premium entertainment streaming service Hulu has agreed a comprehensive deal with CBS Corporation to carry America’s most-watched broadcast network, CBS, as well as popular sports and entertainment channels CBS Sports Network and POP, with the potential to add additional networks in the future. All networks in the deal will be available to stream live, with […]

January 5, 2017

Report: 29% favour scrapping BBC licence fee

A study conducted ahead of the Parliamentary debate about the BBC’s Royal Charter reveals the British public’s attitude towards the BBC, particularly the licence fee. The study, by research and consulting firm Strategy Analytics, shows that 71 per cent of people feel the BBC is important to them personally and 71 per cent are satisfied […]

December 16, 2016