Advanced Television

Broadcast

ITV double income by 2012

Michael Grade, executive chairman of ITV outlined a five-year, self-funding strategy to increase revenue, improve programming and expand its online audience. Grade's plan – envisaging a doubling of income from ITV Productions to £1.2 billion (E1.71bn) by 2012 and a quintupling of Internet revenue to £150 million within three years – hinged on self-sufficiency. “We […]

September 14, 2007

TV Cabo to add 15 new TV channels

From Branislav Pekic in Rome Portuguese pay-TV operator TV Cabo will launch 15 new channels by the end of the year, taking the total number to 103. Currently, TV Cabo offers its subscribers a total of 87 channels (65 basic, 9 Premium and 13 radio stations) and all of the new channels. Among the new […]

September 14, 2007

TN to produce Setanta Sports News

UK commercial TV news provider ITN is to produce Setanta Sports News when it goes on air later this year. The channel, backed by Setanta Sports and Virgin Media, will be made available to the its three million digital TV subscribers. ITN was brought on board after sports production house TWI pulled out of the […]

September 14, 2007

Sky uses Entriq to expand choice

Entriq has confirmed that BSkyB will use its services to support the delivery of pay-per-view television content. The EST (electronic sell-through) service will enable Sky to offer pay-per-view content via its online portfolio. With the Entriq service, customers with a 2Mb or greater broadband connection will be able to download a selection of Sky content, […]

September 13, 2007

Spain: pay-TV on DTT?

From David Del Valle in Madrid The Spanish TV networks are considering launching pay-TV services and content on the free-to-air digital terrestrial platform following the Italy’s example. They have been making a technical trial in Extremadura, west of Spain, aimed at knowing what type of content the consumer would be interested in and testing technology. […]

September 13, 2007

4oD expands download window

Channel 4’s video-on-demand service 4oD will now allow users to download shows up to 30 days after transmission, an increase from the seven-day cut-off point. Users will be able to store episodes on a PC for a further 30 days.

September 12, 2007

Sony VOD deal with ITI

Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) has signed a video on demand (VOD) agreement with ITI Neovision, part of the ITI Group, the Polish media and television entertainment company. The deal brings many of Sony Pictures recent movies to subscribers of ITI's digital satellite entertainment service, n. The service, to be branded nVOD, downloads the movies […]

September 12, 2007

UPC says hello Moto, Tandberg

From Colin Mann in Amsterdam Triple play operator UPC Broadband has selected solutions from Motorola and Tandberg Television, to power its Video on Demand (VOD) services in The Netherlands. Already deployed in several locations across The Netherlands, the Motorola and Tandberg Television solutions power the delivery of on-demand content that is expected to reach over […]

September 11, 2007

Spain approves analogue switch-off timetable

From David Del Valle in Madrid The Spanish cabinet has approved a digital migration plan to progressively carry out the analogue switch-off from next year to April 2010. The analogue switch-off in Spain will be progressively implemented in four phases. In 2008 the analogue switch-off will cover one per cent of the population (switching off […]

September 11, 2007

BBC on Xbox?

Xbox Live users could soon be watching BBC programmes via their console after Microsoft revealed it is in discussions with the broadcaster. Senior director for media at Microsoft Ross Honey confirmed the firm has spoken with the BBC and several other European media companies. “We are working diligently on multiple fronts to make it happen,” […]

September 11, 2007