Advanced Television

VOD

Xbox UK VOD service

Microsoft will allow UK gamers to purchase films through its Xbox 360 console from next week, as the console moves to compete with online download stores. The Xbox Live Marketplace Video Store will initially offer 40 popular film titles in standard and high definition. Users will pay between £2 (E2.9) and £4.50 for each film […]

December 5, 2007

Virgin VoD more viewers than Five?

Virgin Media's Malcolm Wall has claimed that its VOD service has grown to the point that its audience is larger than that for Channel Five. He said Virgin’s VoD service had clocked up 30 million individual clips viewed last month, from 3.5 million subscribers. Wall added that this “put it past” Channel Five’s consolidated viewing […]

November 30, 2007

TV rivals band together for on-demand service

From Colin Mann in London The BBC, ITV and Channel 4 are to launch a joint on-demand service, which will bring together hundreds of hours of television programmes in one place. The service is set to go live in 2008 and will offer viewers access to current shows and archive material. Plans will have to […]

November 28, 2007

Warner channels go global

Warner Bros has announced it will be launching a number of branded, video-on-demand, non-linear channels on a subscription- and advertiser-supported basis over a variety of global delivery platforms. The on-demand and broadband models make financial sense, says Jeffrey Schlesinger, Warner Bros International's president. “The costs here are much lower than creating a linear channel. You […]

November 27, 2007

Private continues aggressive IPTV/VOD rollout

Private Media Group is set to launch its content with additional European IPTV operators in Poland, the Netherlands, Italy, Greece and Portugal before the end of the year. The platform operators in these countries include leading telecoms which all offer Triple-Play featuring IPTV based Video-On-Demand. Berth Milton, CEO of Private Media Group commented: “With launches […]

November 15, 2007

NBC chief: 'take a stand on iTunes'

Jeff Zucker, NBC Universal's chief executive, has warned that Apple's iTunes digital media store was undermining the ability of traditional media companies to sell their content online at profitable rates, and he urged them to take a stand. “We know that Apple has destroyed the music business – in terms of pricing – and if […]

October 31, 2007

TV DVD in the Coolroom

ITV DVD has signed an agreement to make more than 300 features from its movie library available for download to own and download to rent via the British online retailer Coolroom. Films from ITV DVD's library will be available to consumers from £0.99 (E1.4) both on Coolroom's download store on www.coolroom.com and on Coolroom's IPTV […]

October 31, 2007

EchoStar Push/Pull VOD

EchoStar is offering a 'push and pull' video on demand (VOD) service as part of its recently launched IPTV platform, ViP-TV. The launch of ViP-TV was announced earlier this week. The VOD content for ViP-TV is based on EchoStar’s existing VOD service, which is currently offered to DISH Network satellite TV subscribers. Because it is […]

October 29, 2007

4oD strikes FX deal

Channel 4's On-Demand service 4oD has inked a deal with FX, the Fox-owned entertainment channel. The deal, only the second third-party deal Channel 4 has struck after its agreement with National Geographic, will see a range of programming available to download and watch from November 26 via a dedicated FX-branded area on 4oD. FX has […]

October 29, 2007

Five VOD to go free

UK broadcaster Five is set to expand its online TV download offering in the new year. Five intends to move away from making paid for content viewable in a 14-day window and to instead offer an ad-suppoorted VOD service. The broadcaster is also reportedly looking into gaining carriage on a pay-TV platform such as Virgin […]

October 26, 2007