IBC 2007 – AMSTERDAM. Cabot Communications has announced that it has become the first DVB middleware provider to achieve Playback Group 1 & 2 compliance. Its Aurora XT, Cabot’s DVB middleware suite has helped the Bristol-based company to become achieve the accreditation. The middleware has already been validated on multiple platforms and chipsets. The Playback [...]
BT Vision fails to keep on the ball
September 9, 2007 08.35 Europe/London By
BT Vision’s proposition of Saturday night delayed coverage of matches from the Premier League has come unstuck by the demands of other TV companies. The combination of six weekly live games and clubs involved in the Uefa Cup means that on October 6 only one scheduled match – Aston Villa versus West Ham United – [...]
UPC in Dutch DOCSIS 3 test
September 8, 2007 07.20 Europe/London By
IBC 2007 – AMSTERDAM. UPC is testing the DOCSIS 3 cable modem technology in the Amsterdam district of IJburg in the Netherlands. IJburg is the core of CityNet the FTTH deplyment fiercely fought by UPC, that is scheduled to complete its first phase of 40K homes in May 2008. It is believed to be the [...]
Spanish confirm April 2008 switchover
September 8, 2007 07.18 Europe/London By
The Spanish government has set a cut-off date of April 2, 2008, by which time it is anticipated the country’s broadcasters will have made the move to digital broadcasting. The plan was approved at a meeting of the Spanish cabinet and will take place in four stages. Although an early mover in digital terrestrial television, [...]
Five playground launch for Kids Co
September 8, 2007 07.17 Europe/London By
Kids Co, the joint venture channel led by Sparrowhawk Media launched yesterday (September 7) across five territories. Sparrowhawk and partners DIC Entertainment (DIC) and Nelvana Enterprises have initially launched the channel in Romania, Hungary, Russia, Turkey and Poland having secured a series of deals with local cable operators. There are also plans to launch the [...]
DTG to put Freesat to the test
September 7, 2007 12.53 Europe/London By
IBC 2007 – AMSTERDAM The Digital TV Group (DTG) is to provide test and conformance for the Freesat platform scheduled to launch early in 2008. Representatives from the BBC-ITV free-to-air satellite venture are in Amsterdam for discussions with both receiver manufacturers and content providers. Richard Lindsay-Davies, DG of the DTG, told Broadband TV News that [...]
Harmonic sounds new structure
September 7, 2007 12.28 Europe/London By
IBC 2007 – AMSTERDAM. Harmonic has unveiled a new look that has been designed to reflect the company’s evolution from an encoder supplier to broader based video technologies. “We think that over time the growth opportunities around file base technologies is greater than for traditional broadcast encoding. These change not just high def but mobile [...]
Entriq to support Sky downloads
September 7, 2007 08.40 Europe/London By
IBC 2007 – AMSTERDAM (UPDATE) Entriq has said that BSkyB will use the company’s services for its online delivery platform. Entriq says that customers with a connection of 2 Mbps or greater will be able to download movie content in as little as 15 minutes. An entertainment show can be ready in between 10 and [...]
S4C extends Digital Text to Freeview
September 6, 2007 12.46 Europe/London By
Welsh language broadcaster S4C is launching its Digital Text service on the Freeview platform. The service, developed for the DTT MHEG-5 middleware by emuse absolutely, closely resembles the version already available to satellite viewers. “Working with S4C always allows us to put our technology to great use,” said Patrick Rainsford, CEO emuse absolutely. “There was [...]
Proton failure threatens Nordic satellites
September 6, 2007 11.06 Europe/London By
Last night’s failure of the Proton launch of the JCSAT II satellite from Baikonur could have a serious impact on the two Nordic satellite companies. SES has two satellites scheduled to launch on Proton this year including Sirius 4 for its Swedish subsidiary and Americom 14 in December. Meanwhile, Norwegian rival Telenor is scheduled to [...]
