SeeSaw hopes to tip online scales
SeeSaw, the first high profile on demand service not attached to one of the principal public or commercial channels, has launched in London. Read the story »
CME looks to the future
2010 is likely to be another tough year for Central European Media Enterprises (CME), the leading operator of commercial TV stations in the CEE region. Read the story »
Virgin ready for 100 Mbps rollout
Virgin Media has announced plans to ramp up its top broadband speed to 100 Mbps, at the same time extending a 200 Mbps speed trial and revealing the mix of customers that take its top speeds. Read the story »
Liberty stems video losses
Liberty Global ended 2009 on a high, with Q4 revenues for its UPC Broadband Division being 11.6% up year-on-year at $1,111.3 million (€820.2 million). For the year as a whole, however, they fell by 6.3% to $4,117.3 million. Read the story »
Freeview HD launch is new challenge for DTT
Howling: “By the time switchover was announced, Freeview had played a huge part in taking digital growth from under 40% when we launched to 66% in 2005 and it’s Freeview in that period that largely drove the growth of digital television”.
Jump-start for Dutch HD
The Dutch Monitor Digital Television shows bright prospects for HD. Following a period of lukewarm consumer interest, HD is now set to take off in the country. Read the story »
MTG enters Russian DTH market
The acquisition of a 50% stake in the Russian DTH platform Raduga TV by MTG could prove to be one of the most inspired deals of the year. Read the story »
The promise of targeted advertising – will it happen?
With advertising income for free-to-air broadcasters dropping worldwide, is there a future for more targeted, personalised as well as on demand interactive advertising? In the UK, there is the Red Button, but so far the results have been marginal. In the US, the cable industry has now embraced EBIF (Electronic Binary Interchange Format) and the operator Comcast says the majority of the homes it serves are now interactive. Read the story »
Impact of multiple cable providers
The regulator OPTA plans to open up cable systems to third party resellers in The Netherlands. The country’s two largest operators, Ziggo and UPC, have to give third party resellers access to their analogue tier and most operators will have to open up their digital tiers to third parties. Read the story »
More News and Analysis»Market Analysis
DTT East: a tough road ahead
The transition to digital broadcasting is now under way in Russia and most of the CIS, though with ASO target dates – typically 2015 – three years later than in most CEE countries. Read the story »
The battle for the on-screen guide
It is not hard to see that Electronic Programme Guides (EPGs) will be one of the more important tools for people to help find their favourite programmes in the ever-increasing avalanche of content, from linear channels to on-demand sources. Read the story »
Final phase of French ASO
France has started the final phase of its analogue switchover process. In early February, all analogue transmitters were switched off in the Alsace region with few problems. Read the story »
Data
European VOD services grow to over 700
There were 696 VOD services available in Europe at the end of 2008, according to research from The European Audiovisual Observatory and the Direction du développement des médias (France). Read the story »
France: digital penetration tops 70%
As of Q1 this year, 70.3% of all French households had at least one digital receiver for cable, IPTV, satellite or DTT, according to research published by the media authority CSA. Read the story »
Sky+ HD to drive technological growth
Sky is putting increasing store in its Sky+ HD receiver, not just for the delivery of HD channels, but also or future technologies including 3D TV, push-VOD and targeted advertising. Read the story »
