UK culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has confirmed the major policy shift in his plan for a new generation local TV services, virtually scrapping plans for a national network spine in favour of “more financially secure” individual stations. Hunt admitted that “a series of individual stations could be more feasible and faster to deliver” than launching […]
New research from trade group the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) suggests consumers are relying less and less on over-the-air TV signals and few US households have interest in cancelling their pay-TV service, leading to a call for incentive auctions for broadcast spectrum. In a phone survey of 1,256 adults conducted in December 2010, CEA found […]
Despite the recent social and political turmoil, rapid conversion to digital TV continues in the Middle East and Africa, according to a new report from Digital TV Research (DTVR). Digital TV penetration for the 18 countries covered in the research firm’s Digital TV Middle East & Africa report is already approaching two-thirds of the total. […]
YouTube has reported a 50 per cent jump in video views, taking the total to 3 billion views a day and it has revealed more than 48 hours of video are uploaded to the site each minute, a 37 per cent rise over the last six months. YouTube attributes the increase in viewing to its […]
The recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to raise FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) ceiling for DTH, IPTV from 49 per cent to 74 per cent have been “accepted” by the I&B Ministry. The recommendations have been accepted to bring parity between DTH and IPTV operators with other service providers said a Ministry […]
Pay-TV revenues in Western Europe will not grow between 2011 and 2016 ($36 billion) according to a new report from Digital TV Research Ltd. Report author Simon Murray described the findings as “extraordinary at first glance considering that nine million pay-TV households with be added over the same period,” reaching 107 million by 2016 and […]
ABC is back on top as the leading ‘must keep’ TV brand in the US and even potential cord-cutters have their list of networks and cable channels they can’t do without, according to the latest edition of Solutions Research Group’s ‘Must Keep TV’ report. The fourth edition of the independent tracking survey is based on […]
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has boosted its stake in Arabic music-to-films broadcaster Rotana Media Group. A year ago, News Corp bought nine per cent of Rotana, which is owned by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed, and with that purchase struck a deal which gave News Corp an option to double its stake within 18 months. News […]
An interim statement from ITV reveals revenues up 11 per cent in Q1 to £500 million (€569m) driven by the strong advertising market with its take up 12 per cent, ahead of the market growth of 10 per cent. Viewing figures were also up, 3 per cent on ITV 1 and 11 per cent across […]
Formula 1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone has warned Grand Prix teams that it would be “suicidal” for them if the sport moved to News Corporation’s subscription channels as part of a takeover deal. According to Ecclestone, who holds the sport’s commercial rights, teams would lose huge sponsorship interest if coverage was no longer on mass […]