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Microsoft online TV plan

Microsoft is in talks with media companies to license TV networks for a new online pay-television subscription service through its Xbox and other devices reports the US press. Apparently Microsoft envisages a “virtual cable operator” delivered online for a monthly subscription. However some reports reference an alternate plan that sees the company cooperate with cablecos […]

November 29, 2010

Gol TV cuts off 10,000 venues

Spain’s first pay DTT channel Gol TV is launching a full-frontal assault on TV piracy with its decision to cut its TV signal in almost 10,000 public places (most of them, bars, restaurants, hotels) where its broadcasts are allegedly being hacked. Mediapro, owner of Gol TV, has reported the case to the police and urged […]

November 23, 2010From David Del Valle in Madrid

BSkyB directors warn Ofcom on plurality

BSkyB’s independent directors have written to Ofcom, warning the regulator that it risks generating a “perverse outcome” if Ofcom found in its investigation of a potential bid by News Corp that a deal would curtail diversity for British viewers. The directors reminded Ofcom that Sky News, the focus of some allegations of media domination in […]

November 22, 2010By Chris Forrester

Lagardere predicts Canal Plus IPO

French media group Lagardere will sell its stake in pay-TV group Canal+ France in an initial public offering (IPO) in spring 2011, its Chief Financial Officer Dominique d’Hinnin has stated. D’Hinnin told investors that Canal+’s majority owner Vivendi had never responded to a price proposal Lagardere had sent early this year, and there had been […]

November 19, 2010

Huggers: BBC won’t pay for preferential Internet

Erik Huggers, Director of Future Media and Technology at the BBC has described maintaining an open and neutral Internet as “absolutely crucial” to the Corporation’s ability to deliver services. He told delegates at the FT Conference that certain ISPs had at one stage implemented traffic management that had severely affected the quality of users’ iPlayer […]

November 17, 2010From Colin Mann in London

ONO: Profits up, subscribers down

Spain’s largest cable company ONO ended the third quarter of the year with 948,000 TV subs, down 1.9 per cent against the previous quarter and 3 per cent lower than last year with a loss of 29,000 in a year. The fall in its TV subscribers (TV customers represent 52.4 per cent of its total […]

November 16, 2010From David Del Valle in Madrid

EU: No to Net Neutrality laws

Neelie Kroes the European Commission’s Vice president for the Digital Agenda says the EU won’t pass laws for net neutrality. Speaking at a Net Neutrality Summit in Brussels, Kroes said: “In general, providers have upheld the principle of open access and end users may access most of the applications and services of their choice.” She […]

November 15, 2010

Spain’s HD DTT ‘very poor’

TV makers have condemned the poor quality of the present HD TV that the commercial (private) DTT channels -Antena 3, Tele 5 and La Sexta- are offering inadequate bandwidth for the channels in their respective multiplexes. The broadcasters are dedicating only 6 to 7 Megabits per second to their HD TV channels, out of the […]

November 15, 2010From David Del Valle in Madrid

Hulu: Revenue will double this year

Hulu should more than double revenue this year to $240 million, its chief executive Jason Kilar has said, as rumours of an IPO grow. Kilar said Hulu delivered videos to 30 million viewers in the past month and has more than 235 content partners. Launched three years ago, Hulu is now the second-largest Web video […]

November 11, 2010

BT, Talk Talk win judicial review of Digital Economy Act

BT and TalkTalk have won a judicial review of the Digital Economy Act that paved the way for content owners to police online piracy via ISPs – the so-called ‘3 strikes’ solution. BT and TalkTalk, two of the UK’s biggest ISPs, mounted their legal challenge to the Digital Economy Act in July, warning that it […]

November 10, 2010