A merged Comcast and NBC would have to abide by tailored ‘net neutrality conditions’ for at least seven years, according to leaked details from the FCC’s proposed terms for approval of the deal. Regardless of what happens with national neutrality rules, the newco would be banned from blocking or throttling rival content as well as […]
Portugal’s third largest cable operator Cabovis_o has filed a complaint in Brussels against the Portuguese State’s role in a €800 million credit line for investment in Next Generation Networks (NGN). According to a company spokesperson, Cabovis_o formally requested that the European Commission examine whether there was “undue favouritism” to companies for the construction of fibre […]
A group comprising members of the House of Lords, academics, campaigners and trade unionists has written an open letter to the Financial Times urging Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary, to refer News Corp’s bid to acquire the 61 per cent of BSkyB that it does not already own to the Competition Commission. The letter’s signatories […]
A report from the European Commission (EC) has suggested that rates of intellectual property infringement in the EU are “alarming”, and accepts that while an EU law on IP rights has had some effect, the legal measure was not designed to deal with online piracy. According to the EC, current laws are not strong enough […]
Video-sharing sites such as YouTube could be subject to the same regulations as traditional broadcast television, according to controversial rulings by the Italian Communications Authority (AGCOM). Two rulings published by the Communications Authority state that some streaming and on-demand video sites would require a government licence to operate and be subject to similar editorial controls […]
Spain’s Supreme Court has come down in favour of the tax imposed on telcos to finance national public broadcaster RTVE a year after it was stopped from selling commercial advertising. Telefónica, Vodafone and Ono had petitioned the Supreme Court to stop the telco tax – 0.9 per cent of turnover – on the basis it […]
The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has revealed that he will vote to approve the proposed merger of Comcast and NBC Universal as long as certain conditions are met. Julius Genachowski December 23 issued a draft order of approval for the merger on the condition that the companies promise to share TV shows not […]
A Spanish parliamentary panel has rejected a bill that would let courts shut down websites offering peer-to-peer file sharing of copyrighted music and films. The 20-18 vote was a surprising defeat for Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s government. It came after frantic negotiations in which the ruling Socialists failed to win support from opposition […]
As expected the party-line 3 to 2 vote in favour of the FCC’s new Net Neutrality rules got mixed reviews. President Obama congratulated the FCC and said that the government would “remain vigilant and see to it that innovation is allowed to flourish, that consumers are protected from abuse, and that the democratic spirit of […]
French anti-Internet piracy body Hadopi is reportedly sending only a fifth of the warning emails expected. The body, which has been operational since October, is meant to warn people found to have illegally downloaded copyright music and videos on the Internet, by email and then recorded delivery letter. In theory, if there are further offences […]