From Branislav Pekic in Rome In order to boost the transition to digital terrestrial, Italy's Communications Ministry passed a new decree linked to the 2008 Budget. It establishes that the last analogue TV set in Italy will be sold in June 2009, although manufacturers will have to stop supplying analogue TV sets to distributers by […]
BSkyB could take legal action if it is forced into a loss-making sale of its 17.9 per cent stake in ITV after the Competition Commission said the shareholding was anti-competitive. Although it will be up to the business and regulatory reform minister to decide on what remedy to prescribe when he receives the final report, […]
From David del Valle in Madrid The Spanish football TV war is intensifying with regional TV channel TV3 suing Sogecable for having prevented it from broadcasting free to air a recent match between the teams Real Madrid and Betis. TV3 is a shareholder of Audiovisual Sport, the company controlled by Sogecable that manages and operates […]
As IPTV services emerge, telecom companies face a fairly saturated pay-TV market in the U.S, as 82 per cent of all US households reported having a pay-TV subscription in 2006. According to a recent survey by Gartner, this is forecast to increase to 84 per cent by the end of 2011. While there are a […]
Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) says Damian Newton has joined the company as vice president of digital initiatives. In his new role, Newton, who joins SPTI from Disney ABC International Television, is responsible for leading SPTI's digital strategy for Europe; building on existing product lines across video on demand (VOD), subscription VOD (sVOD) and electronic […]
The Digital TV Group, the industry association for digital television in the UK, has appointed Keith Wilkinson as Commercial Director and Chief Operating Officer. Keith joins the Group from the BBC where he held the position of Project Director.
RawFlow, peer-to-peer technology provider and the company behind the user-generated broadcast platform Selfcast, has revealed that former CEO and co-founder of Babelgum, Erik Lumer, has been appointed Chief Executive. Lumer will lead the company into a new phase of development with the launch of Selfcast as a disruptive free Web TV platform that lets anybody […]
BBC Worldwide has bought a majority stake in travel guide company Lonely Planet. The corporation’s commercial arm has acquired a 75 per cent stake in the privately owned company. The Lonely Planet operation will boost BBC Worldwide’s travel output, which includes over 500 hours of travel programming such as Michael Palin’s New Europe and Planet […]
Germany’s Deutsche Telekom has concluded a deal to buy Dutch mobile phone and broadband Internet operator Orange Netherlands from France Telecom for E1.3 billion. Deutsche Telekom said it expects the combination to result in savings of about E1 billion over the next few years. About half of those savings would be generated in the first […]
The Motion Picture Assn. of America has filed suit against two Web sites that it claims are allowing Internet users to view pirated films, many of which are still in theatres. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the major studios, seeks to shut cinematube.net and ssupload.com from further infringing on the copyrights of the MPAA […]