The UK Government has announced plans to support economic growth by modernising UK intellectual property laws. Ministers have accepted the recommendations made in an independent review which estimate a potential benefit to the UK economy of up to £7.9 billion. It has also set out the next steps in the illegal content sharing notification system […]
ActiveVideo Networks, maker of the CloudTV Platform, has been awarded damages totalling $115 million in the jury trial of the company’s patent infringement suit against Verizon Communications. The decision upholds ActiveVideo’s rights as the inventor of technology in the delivery of advanced television applications such as VoD and interactive TV. Following three weeks of proceedings, […]
BBC TV and Sky Sports have been awarded the live rights to Formula 1 between 2012 and 2018. The BBC currently screens the sport on an exclusive basis in the UK. The broadcasting partnership will include: – All races, qualifying and practice sessions live on Sky Sports across TV, Online and Mobile and Tablet devices. […]
PacketVideo has filed patent infringement lawsuits against digital music service Spotify in the US and Europe. The lawsuits come after PacketVideo made attempts to resolve amicably its concerns with Spotify’s patent infringement outside of court. PacketVideo said Spotify knowingly infringed and continues to infringe on a number of PacketVideo patents that were originally filed in […]
Eurosport and Ziggo have extended and expanded their distribution agreement for Eurosport and Eurosport HD in the Netherlands, as well as the new Dutch language version of Eurosport 2, Eurosport 2 HD and Eurosport’s catch-up TV service. Eurosport 2, which includes the recently acquired exclusive rights for Bundesliga football, will now be one of the […]
Discovery Networks has signed its first 3D deals outside the US with its biggest UK distribution partners Sky and Virgin Media, to provide their customers with access to a range of 3D content. The content deals cover a number of key genres including Natural History, Engineering, Extreme Sports and Crime documentary. The deal includes several […]
After the failure of Gioco Calcio and Dahlia TV, a third pay-TV operator could challenge the dominance of Sky Italia and Mediaset Premium in the field of Serie A football TV rights. Lega Calcio, the governing body of Italy’s professional football leagues, is seriously considering the possibility of setting up its own pay-TV operation and […]
India multi-system cable operator Asianet has reportedly switched off transmissions from ESPN’s local channel in an argument over carriage fees. Asianet says it is being asked for “unjustifiable commercial terms”. ESPN’s Star Sports channel is directly affected, and is currently the source for the England vs India cricket contest. ESPN’s contract expired back in May […]
Croatian telco T-Hrvatski Telekom (T-HT) has won the rights to show 100 games from the country’s premier football league live and exclusive on its IPTV service ‘MAXtv’. Under the terms of the agreement signed with the Croatian football league, T-HT will offer over 100 live games during the season to its subscribers. The telco will […]
Spanish actor Javier Bardem has joined with film-makers in urging Internet users to support creative industries struggling to survive in an age of digital piracy by shunning illegal downloading of free films and music. British film director Iain Smith, Egyptian producer Esaad Younis and Indian producer and director Bobby Bedi joined Bardem in appealing for […]