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Sling adds HBO in time for Game of Thrones

Sling TV and HBO have confirmed that Sling TV will be the first live Internet TV service to offer linear and VoD content from HBO in the US. HBO will be available in time for the Game of Thrones and Silicon Valley season premieres on April 12th. Sling TV with HBO will be available on […]

April 2, 2015

Starz launches MENA SVoD service

Global media and entertainment company Starz has confirmed details of the Starz Play Arabia launch on April 2nd in 17 countries. The first international Starz Play is a new, premium content, direct-to-consumer multiplatform subscription video service developed in conjunction with the Parsifal Entertainment Group for select markets in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). […]

April 2, 2015

Netflix button on European remotes

Remote controls that come bundled with smart TVs in Europe will soon feature a dedicated Netflix shortcut button. Smart TVs from Panasonic, Philips, Sony, Toshiba and Vestel going into retail this year will come with a Netflix button providing a direct shortcut to the online streaming service. Bill Holmes, head of business development for Netflix […]

April 1, 2015

iPlayer sets weekly request record in Feb

BBC iPlayer had its biggest week ever beginning on February 16th, when audiences wanted to catch up on the 30th anniversary episodes of EastEnders, with 75 million requests. Total requests for the month were at 299 million, making it a successful month given that February is three days shorter than January (which saw 343 million […]

April 1, 2015

Lord Puttnam urges windowing rethink

Renowned film-maker Lord Puttnam has called for a European digital single market that retains scope for territorial licensing to boost cultural diversity and consumer choice and warned against an inflexible approach to release windows. Puttnam, President of Film Distributors’ Association (FDA), made his comments during a keynote address at an FDA event for the UK […]

April 1, 2015By Colin Mann

Netflix mulls anti-VPN global content

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has suggested that introducing global content will disincentivise would-be subscribers from using virtual private networks (VPNs) to access different versions of the service. Speaking to Gizmodo Australia – in a territory where it has been suggested there are are as many as 200,000 ‘subscribers’, despite there being no operation there prior […]

April 1, 2015By Colin Mann

Digital pay-TV revenues rocket in Eastern Europe

Despite the incessant gloomy economic and political news from the region, pay-TV revenues in Eastern Europe will be 45 per cent higher in 2020 ($7,269 million) than in 2010 ($5,029 million), according to Digital TV Research. However, the fifth edition of the Digital TV Eastern Europe Forecasts report states that increase will only be 17 […]

March 31, 2015

EchoStar, Nagra join forces in SmarDTV

Kudelski and EchoStar have confirmed EchoStar will become a shareholder in SmarDTV, the subsidiary of Kudelski that offers advanced set-top boxes and conditional access modules. As part of the transaction, EchoStar’s operations in the UK and Spain will be transferred to SmarDTV. SmarDTV will build on the heritage of Nagra, Conax and OpenTV, as well […]

March 31, 2015

Accusations fly as Netflix slows Australia Internet

ISP iiNet has blamed Telstra – Australia’s main telco – for the slower Internet connection speeds that have hit some of its customers since the arrival of Netflix in the country. The online streaming service launched its Australian service last week and proved to be a hit with iiNet customers, accounting for 15 per cent […]

March 31, 2015

Convergence clash as Voda-ONO launches

Vodafone-Ono is finalising its first combined convergent package in with unconfirmed plans for very discounted prices. The group plans a heavy marketing campaign to promote the service in direct competition with Telefonica. In the last quarter of 2014, Vodafone-ONO mobile phone users amounted to a total of 5,549,000 with the company gaining 70,000 subs in […]

March 30, 2015From David Del Valle in Madrid