Broadband subscription growth took an upswing during the first quarter of 2010, supported in part by healthy DSL growth in every region, strong fibre rollouts in Asia and aggressive IPTV service offerings. Figures from the Broadband Forum show that global broadband lines now top 484 million lines (484,788,597), representing a 3.12 per cent growth in […]

The European Union’s court has thrown out an appeal from a digital-TV company owned by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, ordering it and other broadcasters to pay back possibly millions of Euros in illegal state aid. The ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) orders his government to claim money back from his family’s […]

France’s Autorité de la Concurrence has removed restrictions which previously barred France Telecom (FT) selling 'quadruple-play' bundles of fixed and mobile services. The conditions were originally placed on the state company more than ten years ago when the market was being opened up to competition. As a result of the relaxation of rules, FT will […]

News Corp has made its latest move in digital content exploitation by acquiring e-reader platform Skiff and investing in a company that develops paid content models for publishers. News Corporation, which is close to charging customers for access to the Times and Sunday Times online, said that the two deals represented “key building blocks” in […]

Singapore's fully-integrated info-communications provider StarHub has deployed SeaChange International's Intelligent Video Platform in support of its mobile TV service. Providing a unified and open back office software solution for high-quality streaming over StarHub's mobile network to any mobile device, the Intelligent Video Platform was implemented on the “StarHub TV on Mobile” service this month. StarHub […]

Ofcom has agreed to allow the BBC to restrict access to the EPG for Freeview HD programming. The BBC plans to restrict access to manufacturers of STBs and integrated Freeview HD TV’s that include copy protection technology. This technology will allow broadcasters to control the multiple copying of HD content and its retransmission over the […]

From David Del Valle in Madrid The Spanish media group that controls Digital Plus and Cuatro TV is investing E31.5 million to acquire a 51 per cent of the US Spanish-speaking US TV channel V-me Media. Initially, Prisa will invest E3.3 million to control a 23 per cent stake; another investment of E8.2 will be […]

Cablevision Systems has bought Bresnan Communications, which is majority owned by Providence Equity Partners, for $1.365 billion. Bresnan is the thirteenth largest MSO in the US with cable operating systems in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and Utah that pass more than 630,000 homes and serve more than 300,000 basic subscribers.

Motorola may well target more acquisitions in the broadcast technology sector. The company's Motorola Home division –due to be split from the mobile business later this year – has already purchased a digital rights management developer and a content management systems firm. BitBand was bought in November 2009 with DRM specialist SecureMedia following soon after […]

UK cable operator has appointed former Verizon chief financial officer Doreen Toben as an independent non-executive director. She will join Virgin Media’s board this month and will become a member of the company’s audit committee. Toben currently serves as a director on the boards of The New York Times Co and fashion company Liz Claiborne.