Advanced Television

Business

Siano raises $20m for mobile TV

Siano Mobile Silicon, a supplier of mobile digital TV receiver chips, has completed a $20 million expansion capital financing round. The round was led by leading Israeli venture capital fund, Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP). The proceeds of the current round will be used for expanding the Company’s innovative product line as it extends its geographic […]

May 24, 2011

EC sets out IP blueprint

As part of a drive to boost creativity and innovation, the European Commission (EC) has adopted a comprehensive strategy to revamp the legal framework in which IPR operate. Its objective is to enable inventors, creators, users and consumers to adapt to the new circumstances and to enhance new business opportunities. The new rules aim to […]

May 24, 2011By Colin Mann

Sony slides to $3.2bn loss

Sony says it expects an annual loss of $3.2 billion after previously predicting a $860 million profit return to profit in the financial year to the end of March. The firm has been hit recently by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, and a series of computing hacking attacks. The earthquake and tsunami hit plants in […]

May 23, 2011

Sky Italia: ‘We’re cutting everyone’s fees’

Sky Italia says Current isn’t being singled out – it is requesting that all channels whose deals are up for renewal settle for lower fees, its chief executive said, as he rejected claims that Sky had dropped Current TV for political reasons. “Every deal we are going into, we are trying to cut rates. The […]

May 23, 2011

DLNA boosts playback of commercial video on certified devices

Interoperability standards group the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) has released new Interoperability Guidelines for the playback of high-quality, premium commercial video. The new standard addresses the increasing demand for simplified access to premium commercial content throughout the home, including movies and network television programming. Developed in conjunction with global cable, satellite and telecommunications service […]

May 23, 2011

NAB backs rogue sites bill

The National Association of Broadcasters has come out in support of legislation aimed specifically at controlling ‘pirate’ and ‘rogue’ websites, especially those registered outside the US, which traffic in unauthorised distribution of licensed content or counterfeit goods. The legislation from Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and his committee would allow the Justice Department to file […]

May 23, 2011By Colin Mann

Hunt: News Corp/Sky review has taken longer than expected

Jeremy Hunt, the UK Culture Secretary, whose Department for Culture, Media, Olympics and Sport is assessing the News Corp bid for the 61 per cent of BSkyB it doesn’t already own, has admitted that the process is taking longer than anticipated to conclude. He told the Broadcasting Press Guild that the Department was going to […]

May 20, 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

MPAA: ‘Is Google going to ignore copyright law?’

Google has moved swiftly to deny comments by its executive chairman (see below) were not a signal it is ready to violate content protection laws it does not agree with. Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said in London “if there is a law that requires DNS, to do X and it’s passed by both houses of […]

May 19, 2011

Google: Blocking file-sharing endangers Freedom of Speech

Eric Schmidt, Google’s executive chairman, has said that proposals from the US and British governments to block Internet access to file-sharing websites would endanger freedom of speech and push both countries toward being more like China. “I would be very, very careful if I were a government about arbitrarily [implementing] simple solutions to complex problems,” […]

May 19, 2011By Colin Mann