US communications regulators have approved new rules designed to ensure that cable television subscribers who own analogue TV sets will still have access to local broadcast TV channels following the digital switchover in 2009. The FCC voted to endorse rules that require cable operators to continue carrying local broadcast channels that can be viewed on […]

Du Baichuan, former CTO of China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has confirmed that “China will have two mobile TV standards by the end of this year: CMMB and TDBM”. CMMB (China Mobile Multimedia Broadcasting) is based on a hybrid satellite and terrestrial network, originally developed by China’s Academy of Broadcast Science and […]

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has backed US telcos, warning regulators against imposing 'net neutrality' rules that would block carriers from charging content providers premium prices to prioritise some web traffic. While the ultimate decision on new regulations rests with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the DoJ's comments represent a blow to content companies […]

Dutch file-sharing service TorrentSpy has blocked US users from its search engines after a US court made an order requiring the firm to log users’ IP addresses and activity. TorrentSpy said it would rather block users than breach its privacy policy by passing on details.

From David Del Valle in Madrid The Spanish football TV war between Sogecable and Mediapro, main shareholder in commercial channel La Sexta, prevented viewers outside of Spain from watching the Madrid derby game live on Saturday evening. The opening weekend of the season was in chaos as several games were embroiled in the dispute. As […]

From David Del Valle in Madrid With TV football broadcasts in the air, Sogecable and Mediapro are intensifying their respective attacks. Sogecable has accused Mediapro of pirating the TV signal to offer football matches with no legal TV rights to them. Mediapro has soon reacted by offering for free the commercial channel La Sexta, in […]

The Office of Fair Trading will make its decision on whether to review contracts rights renewal by the end of summer. With the start of the TV trading season – which will see advertising deals struck between broadcasters and media agencies for 2008 – starting next month, any decision to review CRR is unlikely to […]

An association of computer and communication companies, including Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, accused several professional sports leagues, book publishers and other media companies of misleading and threatening consumers with overstated copyright warnings. In a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission, the group, the Computer and Communications Industry Association, said that the National Football League, Major […]

Widevine has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Verimatrix for unspecified damages. The lawsuit comes following attempts by Widevine to openly license its intellectual property to Verimatrix. Widevine claims it has important intellectual property in the field of content protection with a robust patent portfolio of 8 issued patents and approximately 45 domestic and international […]