Advanced Television

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Virgin Media adds 6000+ subs

Virgin Media has won back 6,300 cable customers in the third quarter of 2011, partly making up for losses of 36,000 over the summer after students disconnected for the holidays. Financial results showed that revenues grew 2.2 per cent to £1 billion year on year, marking a 3.3 per cent rise for the first nine […]

October 27, 2011

Fitch: Netflix subs loss evidence of low OTT threat

Subscriber losses at Netflix in third quarter 2011 support international ratings agency Fitch Ratings’ view that OTT television will remain largely incremental to traditional pay-television. Fitch continues to believe that the cable and broadcast television models, and their subscriber bases, will not be significantly negatively affected through at least the medium term. Netflix reported a […]

October 27, 2011

Canal+ Group to partner with ITI and TVN in Poland

France’s leading pay-TV platform Canal+, ITI and TVN Groups are entering into exclusive negotiations to create a strategic partnership in Poland.   TVN Group, the leading media group in Poland, is also the leading free-to-air TV company in the country. It is also one of the main pay-TV players through ‘n’, a fully owned subsidiary, […]

October 27, 2011

Orange nears 5m TV subs

French telco Orange has reported it now has 4.8 million subscribers for its European pay-TV services – with 1 million new additions coming in the last 12 months, mainly in France and Poland. In its native market, the telco saw its pay-TV customer base in Q3 rise 28 per cent year-on-year to reach 4.1 million […]

October 27, 2011

China denies ‘entertainment ban’

A few weeks ago it was widely reported that China had ‘banned’ entertainment-type programming especially that emanating from Taiwan and which frequently employed ‘Western’ presentation styles and fashions.   BBC Monitoring reports that speculation has arisen whether the state TV regulator has decided to stop Hong Kong and Taiwan entertainers from participating in mainland China’s […]

October 27, 2011By Chris Forrester

House Judiciary leaders introduce online piracy bill

A bipartisan group of US House lawmakers has introduced legislation aimed at curbing online piracy and counterfeiting on foreign websites, following the May 2011 introduction of similar legislation by the Senate.   House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (Republican, Texas) along with ranking member John Conyers (Democrat, Michigan) and Bob Goodlatte (Republican, Virginia), Chairman of […]

October 27, 2011By Colin Mann

Technicolor box sales profits tumble

French set-top box maker Technicolor, (which used to trade as Thomson) saw revenues fall back significantly in Q3, at €837 million, down nine per cent y-o-y. Technicolor’s technology-based revenues slumped 25 per cent when compared to last year’s same quarter. Its Entertainment division, which includes elements such as digital cinema, grew 6.2 per cent, helped […]

October 27, 2011By Chris Forrester

Sony to acquire Ericsson’s share of Sony Ericsson

Sony and Ericsson have revealed that Sony will acquire Ericsson’s 50 per cent stake in Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, making the mobile handset business a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony. The transaction gives Sony an opportunity rapidly to integrate smartphones into its broad array of network-connected consumer electronics devices – including tablets, televisions and personal […]

October 27, 2011

BT ordered to block filesharing site within 2 weeks

BT has been given 14 days to block access to a website accused of promoting illegal filesharing “on a grand scale” by Hollywood studios, in the first high court ruling of its kind under UK copyright law. Justice Arnold handed down a written judgement to BT – which, with about 6 million customers, is the […]

October 26, 2011

Netflix hammered as subs tumble

Online streaming company Netflix saw its share price fall back more than 25 per cent in late trading October 24th. Netflix revealed that its subscriber cancellations were greater than expected, and that launching in the UK would take it into losses. CEO Reed Hastings, in a letter to shareholders that accompanied its Q3 results, admitted […]

October 25, 2011By Chris Forrester