3DTV comes into vision

The UK’s Digital TV Group (DTG) has played host to a day-long conference on the prospects for 3DTV. The January 21 event came just days before Sky’s announcement that it would commence transmissions of its new 3D service in April. There were demonstrations from Sky itself, the technology provider NDS and ITV, although the commercial broadcaster has no immediate plans for a 3D service. Read the story »

Supply chain savings allow Sky to drop SD boxes

Sky is to cease deploying SD satellite receivers, replacing its standard Sky Digiboxes and Sky+ units with a single Sky+ HD receiver and introducing a new 1 terabyte PVR. However, the satcaster has no immediate plans to phase out its 12-year old Sky Digibox receivers for subscribers that choose not to upgrade to the HD format. Read the story »

European TV weathers recession storm

2009 was undoubtedly a difficult year for Europe’s TV industry, though not as bad as many would have us believe.

That, at least, appears to be one of the main findings of the European Audiovisual Observatory’s 2009 Yearbook, created for the DG Communication of the European Commission. It shows that despite the global economic crisis, more than 245 European – defined as EU 27 plus Croatia and Turkey – TV channels were launched last year, with the most popular genres being sport (38) and kids (17). They included over 150 new thematic services distributed by cable, satellite and IPTV. Read the story »

Free to air success on French DTT – premium a problem?

France has an interesting digital TV market served by DTT, DTH, cable and IPTV. DTT is the most widespread, with 61% of all new digital homes choosing at least one terrestrial tuner. Since the launch of TNT (Télévision Numérique Terrestre), the national digital terrestrial service, on March 31, 2005, more than 30 million receivers have been sold. Read the story »

TVP: the death of a platform

If ever there was a golden era for satellite TV in Central and Eastern Europe it has to be today, with the region served by no fewer than 45-50 platforms. Read the story »

Storm over Turkish pay-TV rights

The leading Turkish satellite platform Digiturk has secured the main rights to the country’s premier football league, known as the Türkcell Super League, for the period 2010-2014. However, the amount it bid – $424 million (€39.6 million), including VAT and duties – was over three times the $140 million paid previously per season and has caused considerable controversy in the country. Read the story »

The world of content discovery

Content discovery is likely to be one of the buzz phrases of the next 12 months as operators look to offer their customers the means to find their increasingly broad programming line-up. Read the story »

Consumers describe ‘TV like’ VOD content

It should come as no surprise that the term VOD was not in the least recognised by the participants, but more importantly on demand was not regarded as being a concept significantly different from other means of timeshifting such as Sky Box Office or a PVR recording.

Dutch and German cablers embrace CI Plus

Cable operators in The Netherlands and Germany are now embracing CI Plus. Following the announcement by Kabel Deutschland KDG, Germany’s largest cable operator, that it plans to launch CI Plus in the first half of the year, it looks like becoming the standard for cable tuners. Read the story »