The UK TV licence fee could be extended to cover catch-up services such as the BBC iPlayer as part of an overhaul of the levy being considered by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. British viewers currently pay £145.50 (€166) annually for a licence if they watch or record programmes as they are broadcast, […]
On October 24, UK media regulator Ofcom cancelled the licences of three channels (Babeworld, House of Fun and The Other Side). These channels are perhaps not the most important UK broadcasters, but now Ofcom is looking at the licensing of channels that do have a somewhat higher profile. Ofcom’s concerns revolve around who actually controls […]
DirecTV has complained to the FCC complaining about Fox advertising related to their cable programming dispute. The satellite operator says that Fox is “using misleading advertising informing DirecV customers that ‘soon, in some markets, you may lose your local Fox station,’ even though our retransmission consent agreement does not expire for over two months.” DirecTV […]
A few weeks ago it was widely reported that China had ‘banned’ entertainment-type programming especially that emanating from Taiwan and which frequently employed ‘Western’ presentation styles and fashions. BBC Monitoring reports that speculation has arisen whether the state TV regulator has decided to stop Hong Kong and Taiwan entertainers from participating in mainland China’s […]
A bipartisan group of US House lawmakers has introduced legislation aimed at curbing online piracy and counterfeiting on foreign websites, following the May 2011 introduction of similar legislation by the Senate. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (Republican, Texas) along with ranking member John Conyers (Democrat, Michigan) and Bob Goodlatte (Republican, Virginia), Chairman of […]
BT has been given 14 days to block access to a website accused of promoting illegal filesharing “on a grand scale” by Hollywood studios, in the first high court ruling of its kind under UK copyright law. Justice Arnold handed down a written judgement to BT – which, with about 6 million customers, is the […]
The operators of adult TV services ‘Babeworld’ and ‘House of Fun’ plus ‘The Other Side’ have all had their broadcasting licences revoked by UK regulator Ofcom. Ofcom’s ruling states: “In the course of correspondence and meetings with Ofcom, statements made by Babeworld Television Limited, House of Fun Television Limited and Forenzquick UK Limited about the […]
UK comms regulator Ofcom has invited comments on measuring media plurality, following a request to consider this area by the Secretary of State Jeremy Hunt. At the end of last year, in its report on the public interest test on the proposed acquisition of British Sky Broadcasting Group by News Corporation, Ofcom suggested that possible […]
The DVB announced that its Steering Board approved the Commercial Requirements for a second 3DTV delivery system. Termed ‘Service Compatible’, the second system is a solution required by content deliverers that enables the 2D and 3D versions of a programme to be broadcast within the same video signal, so that new 3D televisions and next-generation […]
Measures to combat illegal accessing and sharing of copyright material online should reflect actual consumer behaviour, rather than impose ‘carrot and stick’ remedies, according to panellists at the Westminster eForum Keynote Seminar on implementing provisions of the the UK’s Digital Economy Act relating to site-blocking and termination of Internet access . Campbell Cowie, Director of […]