Thirty-nine people are under investigation for computer fraud and violations of copyright law, following an operation to combat piracy against Italian pay-TV operators Mediaset Premium and Sky Italia, as well as conditional access provider Nagravision, performed by the Communications Police. The suspects, 28 of them residents in the Lazio region, 7 in Sicily, 3 in […]
Taiwanese chip designer Via is suing Apple over infringed patents. Via said the disputed functions were used in Apple TV, the iPod, iPad and iPhone and the software they run on. The patents involve the ways chips in these products use, transfer and manipulate data. The legal action is believed to be connected to an […]
As US broadcasters prepare to launch robust mobile DTV programming, the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC) has developed a set of comprehensive Device Profile guidelines to assist consumer electronics manufacturers in developing Mobile DTV products. The Profiles are baseline technical guidelines that give manufacturers details about how broadcasters will implement new services and the details […]
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has announced a new framework for large integrated companies that will allow them to innovate and respond to new opportunities in a fast-changing environment. The CRTC is also establishing measures to eliminate the potential for these companies to harm their competitors or restrict consumer choice. “Given the size […]
France’s Autorité de la concurrence (Competition Authority) has declared that the Canal Plus Group has not complied with a number of commitments – some deemed essential – made at the acquisition of rival pay-TV platform TPS in 2006. It has withdrawn the decision to authorise the transaction, obliging the parties to notify the operation again […]
A coalition of US film and television companies has written to every member of the Senate, urging them to pass online piracy measure the PROTECT IP Act (short for Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011). The letter was signed by the Motion Picture Association of America […]
Mexico’s Federal Telecommunications Commission has decided to modify its Digital TV broadcasting transition policy first established in 2004, and is now backing a gradual analogue blackout programme, which is expected to be completed in 2016. The Commission estimates that about US$1.3 billion should be assigned to subsidise the transition to digital broadcasting. According to its […]
The long-awaited Brazil ‘Bill 116’ which sets out a new broadcasting regime for pay TV has received its final assent. Brazil’s president Dilma Rousseff made only two minor veto amendments, but the rest of the Bill now passes into the rule book. The two minor exceptions cover call center activity, and content classification, which stays […]
Optus chief executive, Paul O’Sullivan, has urged the Australian government to create sharing provisions for digital content services provided over the National Broadband Network (NBN). He said that it was essential that rules were put in place so that “the guys with the biggest wallet” could not lock up content that allows telecommunication companies to […]
DTH broadcasters beaming programming over the state of Tamul Nadu must pay a 30 per cent entertainment tax, local reports state. The idea is said to ensure continued support for State-backed Arasu Cable. The tax will directly hit Sun Direct, the local DTH player, with a 17 per cent market share. Other media-related taxes levied […]