German pay-TV operator Premiere has decided its new DTH service will be known as Premiere Star. Although the name Premiere Sky was initially preferred, it had to be abandoned following a court order preventing the use of the word Sky. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. has protected the Sky name Europe-wide with regards to television. However, [...]

The EC has ruled that the tax deductions granted by Italy as subsidies for the reception of digital TV services were legal. In its view, the subsidies – which effectively reduced the cost of set-top boxes by 20% and amounted to almost €40 million – were effectively technology neutral. Moreover, they were justified on the [...]

Rather than deny access to peer-to-peer networks, operators are looking to embrace individual providers. Julian Clover reports from the C-Cor Global IP Summit There’s an interesting side plot to the rollout of digital cable and IPTV services. One of the key planks of the triple play proposition is broadband, and by offering high-speed internet access, [...]

Chris Dziadul looks at the SBS takeover ProSiebenSat.1’s €3.3 billion acquisition of SBS Broadcasting is likely to have far-reaching consequences on the TV industry in Central and Eastern Europe. A merger between the two groups, which should be completed at the beginning of July, will lead to the creation of a new media empire spanning [...]

Eutelsat has launched its new orbital position of 9 degrees East with the Portuguese digital bouquet TVTel. The following channels are now available on Eurobird 9: RTPN, RTP 1, RTP 2, SIC, Panda, Discovery Channel, People and Arts, TVI, Odisseia, Historia, MTV Portugal, VH1, Travel, MGM, VIVA TV, Fashion TV, NASN, ESPN, Hollywood and The [...]

Intelsat and Live Earth have today announced the satellite provider will be the official satellite capacity sponsor. When the largest HD music event in history takes place on July 7, Live Earth will use Intelsat to beam global entertainment headliners such as Madonna, Akon, Missy Higgins, Kumi Koda, UB40, The Police, Shakira, Joss Stone and [...]

The Polish alternative telco MNI Telecom has acquired an 87.8% stake in Telestar, the operator of the interactive TV channel iTV, for a reported PLN21.02 million (€5.56 million). Earlier this month MNI Telecom, which is based in Radom, formed a MVNO joint venture with Telestar. ITV is one of the longest established interactive TV channels [...]