Canal+ to acquire Occade Sport
December 27, 2007 by Robert Briel
The Canal+ Group has announced that it will acquire Occade Sport, a company specialising in the organisation of sports events. The rationale is to strengthen the group’s position in the French sports market by buying one of the best known organisations in the country from its owner, Gones & Sports. Read the story »
Premiere to close down International bouquets
December 27, 2007 by Robert Briel
The German pay-TV operator Premiere is to close down its international DTH bouquets at the end of the year, according to German news reports. At the moment, there are two packages available on the Astra satellite at 23.5 degrees East, namely Premiere Turkish-XL and Premiere Turkish. Read the story »
Time for new Russian DTH platform
December 27, 2007 by Chris Dziadul
Russia has begun trialling a new DTH platform, according to several local reports. Known as Russian TV Time, it is aimed at viewers outside the country and is being distributed by Intelsat 12 at 45 degrees East. Read the story »
@Home reaches 500,000 digital subscribers
December 24, 2007 by Robert Briel
The Dutch cable operator @Home, part of the Zesko Holding, has connected 500,000 digital homes, the company announced today. Last week, the operator also welcomed its 300,000th cable telephony subscriber. Out of about 1.7 million subscribers, digital penetration now stands at just over 29%; telephony take-up is around 17%. Read the story »
Golden Telecom takeover deal struck
December 23, 2007 by Chris Dziadul
Golden Telecom is set to be bought by VimpelCom Finance and Lillian Acquisition, two subsidiaries of VimpelCom, for around $4.3 billion (€3.0 billion). Read the story »
Euro1080 to end MPEG2 distribution
December 23, 2007 by Robert Briel
From January 1, 2008, the Belgian HD channel provider Euro1080 will broadcast its HD channels solely in MPEG4 on the Eutelsat W3 satellite on 7 degrees East and on the Astra satellite at 23.5 degrees East.HD1 will cease transmissions on the Astra satellite in MPEG2 23.5 degrees. All three channels, HD1, HD5 and Exqi, will only be available in MPEG-4.HD1 was recently also removed from the Sirius satellite at 5 degrees East as part of what has been a gradual scaling back of Europe’s first HD foray.Viewers, who are still using an old MPEG2 decoder, can trade it in for a new MPEG4 set top box (MPEG4 decoder + CAM-module for 220€).
KabelBW starts Videoguard; to launch VOD services
December 23, 2007 by Robert Briel
Starting in January, the German cable operator KabelBW will start to use the VideoGuard encryption system. It will be the first operator in Germany to use the NDS solution, which will allow it to to also launch VOD and other interactive services over the network. Read the story »
Telenor wins Danish football rights
December 21, 2007 by Julian Clover
Telenor Broadcast has acquired the TV rights to the SAS-ligaen, Denmarks top flight football league, in an agreement that will run for three years from 2009. The rights were sold in three different packages, which could not be acquired by the same company. Read the story »
Discovery joins Sky Picnic
December 21, 2007 by Julian Clover
Discovery Networks UK has been signed as the factual channel partner on Picnic TV, Sky’s proposed DTT pay service, currently under regulatory consideration. Discovery Channel would broadcast a 12-hour service between 06.00 and 18.00 daily. Read the story »
Landlady loses Sky pub appeal
December 21, 2007 by Julian Clover
The High Court has ruled against the pub landlady who had been screening Premier League matches from the Greek DTH platform Nova. Karen Murphy, landlady of the Red, White and Blue pub in Southsea, Hampshire, had been using the Eutelsat-delivered transmissions rather than pay for the Sky Retail package. Read the story »
