Advanced Television

Regulation

BT: Independent Openreach nearing completion

The creation of a more independent Openreach Limited is nearing completion, after BT Group announced significant progress by starting formal consultation on the transfer of around 31,000 employees to the new legally-separate infrastructure business. As reported by industry regulator Ofcom in June 2018, BT has been taking positive action since March 2017, creating the separate […]

July 24, 2018By Colin Mann

C4 reveals 6 cities for HQ and Hubs

UK public service broadcaster Channel 4 has confirmed that it is to progress with advanced negotiations with six cities across the UK as part of the process to select its new National HQ and two new Creative Hubs. The announcement follows the second stage of the pitch process over June and July 2018 in which […]

July 24, 2018

Uber driver suspended for Twitch-streaming

An Uber and Lyft driver who streamed videos of his passengers online has been suspended from both car-sharing services. Jason Gargac, of Missouri, USA,  live-streamed passengers’ journeys – unbeknownst to them on most occasions – on video-sharing site Twitch, encouraging viewers to comment on their behaviour and appearance. Local newspaper reports said passengers were seen […]

July 24, 2018

UK switches to full-fibre policy

In a major policy U-turn, the UK government now says FTTH should be fitted as standard in all new homes. The proposal comes as part of a new national telecoms strategy drawn up by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). It targets all of the UK will have full-fibre broadband coverage by […]

July 23, 2018

Premier League awarded High Court blocking order

The English Premier League has been granted what it describes as a “significant” High Court Order that will enable it to disrupt and block illegal streams of its content across the whole of the next football season. On July 19th 2018, Justice Arnold granted an Order that will require the UK’s major Internet Service Providers […]

July 23, 2018By Colin Mann

EMP: Top 5 EU jurisdictions for broadcasters post-Brexit

There is growing industry concern about the nature of any transitional deal between the UK and the EU, and what that deal will mean for Ofcom-licensed broadcasters whose channels are exported to the EU. Television companies face challenging decisions about where, when or if to re-license in order to continue broadcasting to the EU, possibly […]

July 23, 2018By Colin Mann

Bahrain bans legitimate beIN Sports decoders

Bahrain, which is engaged in a bitter diplomatic rift with near-neighbour Qatar, has confirmed it is banning satellite decoders and receivers capable of receiving beIN Sports, which is based in Qatar. Moreover, Bahrain is to forbid the sale or renewal of subscriptions to beIN Sports. Bahrain’s Ministry of Information, which once had the reputation of […]

July 23, 2018By Chris Forrester

HbbTV releases Version 2018-2 of conformance test suite

The HbbTV Association, a global initiative dedicated to providing an open standard for the delivery of broadcast and broadband services through connected TVs and set-top boxes, has announced that its new version of the HbbTV conformance test suite has been published. This is the second and most relevant release out of the three annual releases. […]

July 23, 2018

Spain: Masmovil acquires spectrum from Eurona

Masmovil has confirmed the acquisition of 40MHz in the 3,4-3,8GHz (“3,5 GHz”) band from Eurona Wireless Telecom. The consideration for the acquisition amounts to €30 million. With this new acquisition of spectrum, added with the one recently obtained after the purchase of Neutra, Masmovil Group already has 80MHz in the 3.5GHz band. Masmovil says the […]

July 20, 2018

India: Government seeks to ban “unpermitted” channels

India’s Jammu & Kashmir regional government is asking local cable MSOs and cable operators to immediately drop at least 30 “banned private satellite channels” in order to maintain “peace and tranquility” in the Northern India region, which borders the Himalaya mountains and Pakistan. The Times of India newspaper is reporting that last week cable operators […]

July 20, 2018By Chris Forrester