South Africa’s public broadcaster SABC is asking the country’s government to provide it with a Rand 3.2 billion (€1.9bn) guarantee to help stop a blackout of broadcasts. The guarantee is needed to permit SABC to secure commercial borrowings. The country’s Sunday Times newspaper reported that SABC is “saddled” with debts to local authorities, signal distributors […]
Last week, a French Tribunal found – apparently decisively – that Saudi Arabia-based Arabsat is distributing pirated signals from beoutQ. The legal action had been brought by Qatar’s BeIN Media Group which has suffered badly at the hands of the pirates. beIN’s case was brought before the President of the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris […]
Just one month until age verification for adult content is launched in the UK, the digital rights and freedom campaigner Open Rights Group has warned that the Government is failing to protect the privacy and security of adults who watch such content online. Open Rights Group has analysed the BBFC’s Age-verification Certificate Standard, which outlines […]
Vimeo, the online video platform, has announced support for a new royalty-free video codec, AV1. The AV1 codec enables HD and UHD video content to be streamed to audiences at a reduced bitrate without compromising visual quality. “AV1 is setting a new standard for video compression and delivery over the web, and will greatly improve […]
La Liga, Spain’s top flight football league, has been fined €250,000 for using its mobile phone app to spy on millions of fans as part of a ploy to catch venues showing unlicensed broadcasts of matches. The country’s data protection agency said the league’s app, which was marketed as a tool to track game scores, schedules […]
Ajit Pai, the Chairman of the FCC, along with two of his key Commissioners, met with the FCC oversight committee on June 12th at the US Senate on Capitol Hill, and were specifically questioned on the C-Band Alliance’s scheme to reassign 180 MHz of spectrum for 5G over the US. What followed were very timely […]
£40 million is to be invested in 5G testbed and trial projects across UK industry as part of Government plans to improve mobile connectivity. Previous investment in the 5G testbeds and trials programme has driven work in the healthcare, tourism, transport and broadcasting sectors. The latest investment will support similar work in the logistics and […]
UK broadcast regulator Ofcom has provisionally concluded that the BBC can go ahead with planned changes to BBC iPlayer, subject to certain conditions and guidance. The BBC wants to change BBC iPlayer from a 30-day catch up service, to one where programmes are available for 12 months as standard, with some available for longer. As […]
The C-Band Alliance (CBA) has submitted its FUEL (Flexible Use and Efficient Licensing) auction plan to the Federal Communications Commission on June 11th to cover the proposed reallocation of 180 MHz of satellite spectrum for 5G use. The comprehensive White Paper has been issued following extensive meetings with the FCC on June 6th-7th, and the […]
Fifty breakthrough UK businesses and projects harnessing creativity and technology are featured in a report published at the Createch 2019 conference, part of London Technology Week. The Ones to Watch report was launched at the annual Createch event, hosted by the Creative Industries Council (CIC) to bring together industry leaders, international delegations and attendees from […]