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Entertainment-at-home services on the up

Parks Associates has reported that almost 66 per cent of US consumers have altered their spending habits in the fourth quarter of 2008 as a result of the country’s deteriorating economic conditions. These changes have the greatest impact on entertainment spending outside the home, according to Digital Media Evolution, a consumer survey from Parks Associates, […]

December 15, 2008

UEFA Cup rights in Spain

UEFA has announced deals with two leading Spanish broadcasters – Telecinco and Canal Satelite Digital (Digital+) – for the 2009-12 UEFA Europa League media rights. Free-to-air commercial broadcaster Telecinco has secured a package of rights which include the exclusive broadcast of the first-choice live match (including the final and the UEFA Super Cup) every matchweek, […]

December 11, 2008

EU Conditional Access expert group

The European Commission is to set a high-level expert group to advise it on the detail of the revised Conditional Access Directive, with members drawn from all twenty-seven member states. The announcement was made by Jean Bergevin, head of electronic services in DG3 part of the Information and Society Directorate, speaking at the Aepoc board […]

December 10, 2008

Rai and Sky Italia score Champions League rights

Rai and Sky Italia have been awarded major UEFA Champions League media rights packages in Italy for the period between 2009 and 2012. Italian public broadcaster Rai has won a package of rights which include the exclusive free-to-air broadcast of the first choice live match on a Wednesday (including the final and the UEFA Super […]

December 10, 2008

Kangaroo bounced by Competition Commission

From Colin Mann in London The Competition Commission (CC) has provisionally concluded that the proposed VOD joint venture between the BBC through BBC Worldwide ITV and C4, 'Project Kangaroo', will restrict competition in the supply of VOD services in the UK. In a summary of the provisional findings, the CC has concluded that the joint […]

December 4, 2008

Fox signs BT Vision deal

Twentieth Century Fox has signed an agreement giving BT video-on-demand rights to a range of new and classic movie titles for BT's digital TV service, BT Vision. From 15th December 2008, BT Vision customers can enjoy, on demand, hit movies from the Twentieth Century Fox library. All Twentieth Century Fox movies on BT Vision will […]

December 3, 2008

Home entertainment is countercyclical…

A national survey, commissioned by Verizon, of 1,026 American adults has found that a majority (57 per cent) plan to spend more time at home turning to their television instead of events outside the home during the economic crisis. And while this would seem to indicate that American families are stinting on entertainment, in fact, […]

December 3, 2008

UPC Ireland and Nagravision settle court proceedings

UPC Ireland and Nagravision have reached a settlement of court proceedings against an illegal distributor. This brings to a conclusion a prolonged investigation which originally commenced in November 2006. Operation Gaelic, a covert investigation, revealed an extensive distribution network in Ireland managed by Thomas Roddy which involved the sale of illegal digital boxes and distribution […]

December 3, 2008

MTVHND goes global

Viacom's MTV Networks International has announced the second wave of countries to launch its first ever international high definition service dedicated to music and kids, MTVNHD (MTV Networks High Definition). The 24-hour, English language channel will premiere before the end of 2008 in ten new countries including the UK (through Sky) and Israel (HOT) and […]

December 2, 2008

Al Jazeera expands Turkish presence

The Al Jazeera Network has launched its English and Arabic news channels on Turksat’s new digital cable platform. The launch of the Al Jazeera channels on Turksat will substantially increase Al Jazeera's presence in this important market where the Network already broadcasts to over eight million households. "The continued expansion of our reach in Turkey […]

December 2, 2008