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Rovi to power Sainsbury’s digital video service

UK supermarket retailer Sainsbury’s has licensed digital entertainment technologist Rovi Corporation to power a new digital video service for Sainsbury’s Entertainment. This puts in competition with market leader Tesco, and follows electronics group Dixons Retail’s KnowHow Movies service, which also relies on Rovi. Expected to launch later this year, the new service will offer video […]

August 23, 2012By Colin Mann

Netflix launches ‘Post-play’ experience

Netflix has launched a new ‘post-play’ experience which makes viewing multiple TV episodes easier, by minimising the credits post show and cueing up the next episode. The next episode will start to play in 15 seconds if nothing is done. Users can also stop it to get more information or select another episode. The experience […]

August 16, 2012

Sky unveils Sky+ enhancements

UK digital broadcaster Sky has unveiled an update to the Sky+ app for iPad which allows Sky TV customers to use their iPad as a remote control. Sky customers will be able to take even more control of their main TV experience through the app, using it to change channels as well as pause, play […]

August 15, 2012

EC OKs Cisco’s NDS purchase

The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of pay-TV technology specialist NDS Group by Cisco Systems. The Commission’s investigation confirmed that the merged entity would continue to face competition from a number of strong competitors and that customers, namely pay-TV providers, would continue to have alternative suppliers in all […]

July 24, 2012By Colin Mann

Pay-TV struggling against Netflix UI

Pay-TV companies are struggling to keep up with video experiences enabled by connected TVs and iPads, according to analyst firm ABI Resesarch. Their situation, caused by a slow-moving business model, as well as serving less technically savvy consumers, is exacerbated by suffering a hardware disadvantage as they rely on set-top boxes that are typically a […]

July 12, 2012

Jinni and Swisscom team for personalised TV

Jinni, the mood based discovery engine for movies and TV shows, announced its partnership with Swisscom for integration into On Demand and live TV. The Swisscom service will offer its customers an intuitive, user-centric guide to seamlessly integrate discovery, content recommendations and viewing. “We believe that integrating Jinni’s semantic engine into our content platforms, in […]

July 11, 2012

Telefonica TV recommendation app

Telefonica in an attempt to boost pay TV consumption, has launched a new mobile application that will inform viewers about just released films available on Movistar Imagenio, its VoD service Videoclub or on DTT. Called POPCHA!, the app is accessible free of charge through Apple Store to be used initially in iphones but with plans […]

July 2, 2012From David Del Valle in Madrid

Viaccess, Orca combine under one brand

Positioning themselves better to meet technological and business challenges faced by the content consumption market, France Telecom Group companies Viaccess and Orca Interactive are to merge their management structures. This new organisation will allow customers to benefit from the strength and expertise of legacy telecommunications combined with the innovative edge of an agile technology company […]

June 13, 2012By Colin Mann

Conax powers OTT and multi-screen

Multi-screen digital TV content security solutions specialist Conax has unveiled Conax Xtend Multiscreen, a new pre-integrated solution for enabling easy migration to advanced multiscreen services. The solution is a high performance, cost-efficient ecosystem for multiscreen hybrid-broadband-broadcast content delivery and consumption. The solution has been developed together with middleware provider, Cubiware, and content management system provider, […]

June 13, 2012Colin Mann @ ANGA Cable

blinkx revenues soar

Global video search engine blinkx has reported full year revenues increased 73 per cent to $114.4 million year-over year. Chief executive and founder Suranga Chandratillake said the proliferation of powerful connected devices and high-speed broadband networks had catalysed consumer appetite for web video. During the year, the company acquired Burst Media, an online media and […]

May 18, 2012