Advanced Television

Policy

Court orders O2 to name ‘porn pirates’

The UK High Court has ordered O2 to hand over the personal details of more than 9,000 O2 broadband subscribers to Golden Eye International and the adult programme producer Ben Dover Productions. Ben Dover is a pseudonym of Lindsay Honey, a British performer, director and producer of pornography, who set up Golden Eye International in […]

March 27, 2012

3 threatens legal action over 4G auction

UK Mobile network 3 has warned is ready to take legal action against Ofcom and derail the already long-delayed 4G spectrum auction. The sell-off, which could raise as much as £4 billion (€4.8bn) for the Treasury, is scheduled for early 2013. 3, the newest and smallest mobile network in the UK with a 10 per […]

March 26, 2012

Netflix: No need for Sky movies regulation

Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings has made the surprising admission that he believes arch-rival BSkyB should not have its movie channels regulated by the UK competition authorities. Hastings said that he was looking for a “fair fight” with Sky over content rights but that immediate regulatory intervention was not right. “Sky is a fearsome competitor, […]

March 23, 2012

O2 blasts Ofcom 4G plans

O2 has voiced its anger at Ofcom for giving Everything Everywhere provisional approval to rollout a 4G network. O2 has said that Ofcom is contradicting itself by allowing Everything Everywhere to rollout 4G using its 1800MHz spectrum before its rivals. O2 believes this gives Everything Everywhere an unfair advantage which goes against Ofcom’s aim to […]

March 23, 2012

Peace breaks out between TiVo and Microsoft

TiVo has announced an SEC filing that they and Microsoft had reached a settlement of all their patent litigation actions with each other. TiVo had filed suit alleging patent violations. Microsoft had counter-sued. TiVo stated that “no patent rights were granted to Microsoft” as a result of this agreement. The settlement, despite the vagueness of […]

March 22, 2012By Chris Forrester

UK tax credit for TV drama

Chancellor George Osborne has announced a  tax credit scheme for TV production and animation firms is to be introduced, in a bid to keep creative talent in Britain. Osborne said it was the government’s “determined policy” to keep Wallace and Gromit animators Aardman in Britain. Last month, Aardman bosses admitted they had been considering moving […]

March 21, 2012

India’s TRAI reviews ad-minutes

India’s media regulator TRAI is looking at the altering the number of advertising minutes sold on Indian TV. A consultation paper (“Issues Related to Advertisements in TV Channels”) has been supplied to pay-TV and FTA channel operators asking for their comments. TRAI is proposing – for discussion – that FTA channels should be limited to […]

March 21, 2012By Chris Forrester

Filmmaker Puttnam: “We need pan-Euro licensing and more enforcement”

Lord David Puttnam, President of the UK’s Film Distributors’ Association (FDA), has stressed the importance of continued support and public investment in UK film distribution during this Olympic year and beyond, to allow UK cinema admissions and box-office to continue to flourish. He also used his keynote speech to the UK film industry to call […]

March 20, 2012By Colin Mann

Rovi appeals Ziggo EPG patent ruling

Digital entertainment products provider Rovi has appealed a court ruling in favour of Ziggo. Rovi originally took Dutch cable operator Ziggo to court in 2011, claiming breach of patents. The judge rejected the claims and Rovi is now appealing that decision. Rovi became, via companies Gemstar and Starsight, the owner of a number of EPG […]

March 20, 2012

RapidShare ordered to filter pirate material

A court in Germany has instructed file sharing website RapidShare to find a way to filter pirated content from its servers. This ruling came after a number of parties complained about the site, which allows users to upload and share content for download. The court indicated that RapidShare has a part to play in the […]

March 19, 2012