Samsung Electronics has said the company has reached agreement with BSkyB to supply set-top boxes to the pay-TV operator. The first receivers will be for the Sky HD service, which already boasts close to 300,000 subscribers. “This agreement strengthens Samsung’s position as a technology supplier and we look forward to working closely working with BSkyB [...]
Early EPG placing for Zone Romantica
August 30, 2007 11.30 Europe/London By
Zone Romantica is to make its long awaited debut in the UK market on September 3. The Chellomedia channel is being parachuted into Channel 146 in the Sky EPG, currently occupied by the mixed format channel BEN, and next to Chellomedia’s suite of Zone Reality Channels starting on Channel 147. Zone Romantica screens a mix [...]
Guggenheim quits OpenTV
August 30, 2007 11.18 Europe/London By
OpenTV’s chief executive officer Alan Guggenheim has stepped down as the company’s chief executive officer of the technology company for what is being described as “personal reasons”. The technology company moved quickly to fill the gap, promoting senior vice president Ben Bennett to the new position of chief operating officer and acting chief executive officer. [...]
TV Guide launches on Spanish DTT
August 30, 2007 11.06 Europe/London By
Gemstar-TV Guide is to launch its so-called Interactive Programme Guide (IPG) in the Spanish market. It follows an agreement with local broadcaster Veo Television. Gemstar’s IPG technology has already been incorporated into digital video recorders and television sets manufactured by Panasonic, Philips, Sony, Pioneer, JVC and Sharp for the Spanish market. Lydie Levy, chief operating [...]
Premiere: 80,000 HD subs
August 30, 2007 10.58 Europe/London By
Subscriptions to Premiere HD have reached 80,000, according to the German pay-TV platform. It has been slow going for the two-channel package that comprises Premiere’s own HD premium channel and Discovery HD. At the end of March 2007, subscribers stood at 70,000, while at the end of December 2006 the figure was 60,000. Premiere itself [...]
Spanish football dispute heads to competition authority
August 30, 2007 10.48 Europe/London By
Mediapro is stepping up its football rights dispute with Spanish pay-TV operator Sogecable. The Catalan production company is taking Sogecable and its Audiovisual Sport subsidiary to the competition authority. It claims that Sogecable, which runs the Digital+ platform and the Spanish Canal+, has been broadcasting matches from the Spanish football league for which it does [...]
Subtitles vanish from Finnish cable
August 30, 2007 10.13 Europe/London By
Subtitles on channels operated by the Finnish public broadcaster YLE have disappeared from cable networks. Operators still transmitting analogue signals have been experiencing problems in downconverting YLE’s digital signals to the analogue format. According to YLE, most of the problems concern networks in Tampere, Lappeenranta and Rovaniemi. YLE has admitted that its subtitling system is [...]
Government approval for Portuguese DTT
August 30, 2007 09.45 Europe/London By
The Portuguese government has approved a draft bill that will lead to the launch of a tender to operate digital terrestrial television in the country. According to an official from the ministry of public works two tenders will be launched, one will effectively provide a digital simulcast of the present free-to-air analogue channels, while a [...]
HTTC opts for Invitel name
August 30, 2007 06.52 Europe/London By
The Hungarian Telephone and Cable Corp. (HTTC) has announced that it will market all of its products and services under the brand name Invitel. HTTC lists Denmark’s TDC as a majority (64%) shareholder and is the leading alternative telco, and second largest provider of fixed line broadband services, in Hungary, claiming over 700,000 subscribers. It [...]
Mobile leads Bulgarian telco market
August 30, 2007 06.12 Europe/London By
According to date published by the Bulgarian telecom regulator, the country’s cable industry was worth BGN165.1 million (€84.5 million) in 2006, or 6% more than in the previous year. The value of the datacast and Internet market, on the other hand, rose by 26% over the same period to reach BGN142 million. The telco market [...]
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Digital TV Eastern Europe NEW REPORT by Simon Murray of Digital TV Research. 2012 is a watershed year for Eastern Europe as the number of digital homes for 15 forecast countries will exceed the analogue total for the first time. This electronically-delivered,150-page report comes in three parts, a PDF file and two Excel workbooks. Countries covered include Russia and Ukraine.