Advanced Television

Regulation

Openreach consults on ‘full-fibre’ broadband

UK broadband infrastructure provider Openreach has launched a consultation for the country’s leading broadband and telephone providers asking for their views on how it can upgrade consumers and businesses throughout the country onto next generation ‘full fibre’ broadband connections. Unlike the move to digital TV, the process of upgrading broadband connections to ‘full fibre’ will […]

March 22, 2019By Colin Mann

FCC to US cable: “C-band Concerns will be addressed”

FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly has told US cable operators that their concerns over the potential reallocation of C-band satellite spectrum over the US are being listened to. However, he also warned: “The entire government oversight model for video services needs a complete overhaul from top to bottom.” O’Rielly told delegates to a cable-sponsored conference (ACA […]

March 22, 2019By Chris Forrester

Jail terms for Premier League fraudsters

The operators of a pirate streaming organisation have today been jailed for a total of 17 years for conspiracy to defraud; some of the longest sentences ever issued for piracy-related crimes. Steven King, who masterminded the fraud, has been sentenced to seven years and four months’ imprisonment. Paul Rolston received a sentence of six years […]

March 21, 2019By Colin Mann

EC fines Google €1.5bn for abusing ad dominance

The European Commission has fined Google €1.49 billion for breaching EU antitrust rules accusing it of abuse by imposing restrictive clauses on clients preventing them placing their search adverts on rival websites. Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: “Today the Commission has fined Google €1.49 billion for illegal misuse of its dominant […]

March 20, 2019

File-sharing fraudsters sentenced

Four UK men who ran a file-sharing website which leaked films online – sometimes before they were released in cinemas – have received custodial or suspended sentences. Steven Pegram, Mark Rollin, Paul Taylor and Alan Stephenson were part of a group which uploaded films online for others to download via BitTorrent on their website ‘thefoundary.name’. […]

March 19, 2019By Colin Mann

Salisbury Openreach full fibre first

Salisbury will become the first entire city in the UK to gain access to Openreach’s new, future-proof Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband technology, in what is expected to be the fastest city-wide network build in the UK. The UK’s digital infrastructure company is aiming for its ‘Fibre First’ build programme in Salisbury to be completed within a […]

March 19, 2019

C-Band “positive” for major satellite players

There’s positive feedback from Deutsche Bank following a series on US media and broadcasting interviews over the past few days, and including a Regulatory Panel which included Andrew Lipman, a partner with major law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. Deutsche Bank, in a report, says that the panel pointed to a high likelihood of […]

March 19, 2019

BBC chair: ‘Broadcast regulation not fit for digital’

The chair of the BBC suggests that the system of media regulation is no longer fit for the modern age, after the corporation was forced to delay plans to make more programmes available for up to a year on iPlayer. Sir David Clementi says that iPlayer’s 30-day catchup window is one of the main complaints […]

March 18, 2019

Japan: Mobile viewers must pay licence fee

Japan’s Supreme Court has ruled that people who use a mobile phone to watch TV programmes must pay a subscription fee to the country’s public broadcaster, NHK. The ruling confirms the existing Broadcasting Law can be extended to cellular phone users with suitable equipment. Judge Toshimitsu Yamasaki rejected two appeals challenging that the law applies […]

March 15, 2019By Chris Forrester

Euro Publishers back Spotify complaint against Apple

In the week that Spotify has launched an EU competition case against Apple for imposing unfair and discriminatory conditions on competing services in its app-store, European Publishers Council Chairman and CEO of de Persgroep, Christian Van Thillo, highlights that this same challenge is also faced by news publishers offering apps for media consumers. Van Thillo […]

March 15, 2019