China holds a narrow lead in overall 5G readiness ahead of South Korea and the US, according to a report from global telecommunications research firm, Analysys Mason for US mobile industry trade body the CTIA. Underscoring the importance of America maintaining its global wireless leadership, additional research by Recon Analytics found that US 4G leadership […]
iQIYI, an online entertainment service in China, has joined the Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia) as a Promoter member. AOMedia is a non-profit organisation formed by global lplayers in the video industry with the aim to define and develop media technologies that address the need for an open standard for video compression and delivery over […]
UK comms regulator Ofcom has published the final outcome of its auction to release more airwaves for 4G mobile and future 5G services. On April 5th, Ofcom announced which companies had won the right to use spectrum in two bands through the ‘principal’ stage of the auction, and the amounts they would pay. It has […]
Streaming music service Spotify has acquired music licensing body Loudr. The company was founded in 2013 to build products and services that make it easy for content creators, aggregators and digital music services to identify, track and pay royalties to music publishers. No financial terms were revealed. The Loudr team of publishing specialists and technologists […]
The UK’s Panel on Takeovers and Mergers has informed each of Disney, Fox and Sky of its ruling that, following completion of the acquisition by Disney of Fox (after a spin-off of certain businesses), Disney will be required to make a mandatory offer to the holders of ordinary shares in Sky pursuant to Note 8 […]
Italy’s Competition and Market Authority (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato) has given its go-ahead for plans by TIM and Fastweb to build a FTTH fibre-optic network covering 29 biggest Italian cities via the joint company Flash Fiber. In a statement, the antitrust body said it accepted the binding commitments presented by the two […]
In the past, India’s broadcasters could depend on rules issued by the Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) which, in the event of a dispute between programmers and the main DTH broadcast platforms, could permit transmissions to continue without disconnection as an interim measure while negotiations continued. The protections have been applied in the […]
21st Century Fox says it is cooperating with the European Commission after officials raided its Fox Network offices in London. Competition authorities are said to have seized documents relating to sport media rights. Other companies involved in sports rights have also received what the EC called “unannounced inspections”. “The commission has concerns that the companies […]
The advent of global non-linear platforms have disrupted the traditional TV market and drive new viewing habits. To local regulators, the new issues raise questions about their capacity to maintain equal rules and incentives in favour of content creativity without preventing digital-native kids to consume contents across all platforms. Mip’s industry spotlight “regulators: catching up […]
The first next-generation TV signal in the Phoenix Model Market is ‘on the air’, with KFPH-CD Channel 35, owned by Univision Communications Inc., now transmitting UniMás network programming using the new ATSC 3.0 standard. “Today’s announcement is just the first Phoenix station to transition to ATSC 3.0, with additional partner stations to be added soon. […]