UPDATED. NBC Universal has confirmed it intends to buy Sparrowhawk Media whose interests include 18 regional versions of The Hallmark Channel. NBC is reportedly paying $350 million (€256m) for the company acquired by a private equity consortium comprising Providence Equity Partners and 3i for $242 million in 2005. The business that has extended to cover [...]
Warner launches ‘day-and-date VOD’ in Benelux
August 28, 2007 11.24 Europe/London By
Warner Bros will offer a number of its main movie titles under the new ‘day-and-date VOD’ concept with a number of operators. KPN Interactieve TV and UPC in The Netherlands and Belgacom TV and Telenet in Belgium will now offer selected titles on VOD at the same time of the DVD release. Warner Bros will [...]
Jalipo adds CNN International
August 28, 2007 10.27 Europe/London By
Jalipo, the online TV and video provider, today announced it would distribute CNN International’s 24-hour news and feature programming to its subscribers across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The content deal sees the channel becoming part of Jalipo’s growing portfolio of Web-TV programming. CNN International will be broadcast over Jalipo’s three streams, using its [...]
BCE to launch Music Media channels
August 28, 2007 10.24 Europe/London By
BCE (Broadcasting Center Europe) and Music Media Enterprises have announced the signing of a services supply agreement to launch Music Media’s 12 current and future thematic TV channels in order to deliver these to the European market. Music Media Enterprises will present the following channels: Financial News Television; Eurochannel 1 TV; Eurochannel 2 TV; Comedy [...]
MTV debuts in Ukraine
August 28, 2007 10.07 Europe/London By
MTV has launched a localised service in Ukraine. According to reports, it began test transmissions earlier this month and is now operational. MTV Ukraine is backed by Horizon Capital’s Emerging Europe Growth Fund (EEFG) and is likely to be followed by VH1, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, as well as digital media products for broadband and [...]
Sports betting channel for Bulgaria
August 28, 2007 05.55 Europe/London By
According to local reports, the Bulgarian sports betting company Eurofootball is about to launch its own TV channel. Eurofootball was established in Sofia in 1993 and in the same year obtained a licence from the Bulgarian government to organise bets on football matches. It introduced online betting in 2003 and earlier this year was awarded [...]
Austrian ORF wants to launch thematic channels
August 28, 2007 05.14 Europe/London By
Austrian public broadcaster ORF wants to launch thematic channels in order to better fight the competion, said director general Alexander Wrabetz. This will include a new German language news channel, and nationwide DTT distribution of 3Sat, the channel made in cooperation with German public broadcasters ARD, ZDF and SRG (Switzerland). Wrabetz also said ORF will [...]
Canal not ready for EUR600m football costs
August 27, 2007 11.00 Europe/London By
Canal+ is looking for a reduction in the amount of money it pays to transmit coverage of top flight French football. The pay-TV company is due to negotiate the rights for the next three seasons in November with the French football league LFP. The previous three-year deal costs Canal €600 million per year, but subsequent [...]
Telia squeezes movie windows
August 27, 2007 10.48 Europe/London By
Subscribers to Telia’s IPTV service in Sweden will be able to enjoy video on demand movies at the same time as they are distributed to the country’s video stores. Telia, its on demand supplier SF Anytime and the film studio Warner are to trial the earlier window on a number of video releases this autumn. [...]
End of the line for Top TV
August 27, 2007 07.22 Europe/London By
The Czech leisure and shopping channel Top TV is reported to have returned its licence to country’s Radio and TV Council (RRTV) and gone into liquidation. The service, which was backed by KKCG Investments, went off the air at the end of July and was expected to remain so for a month while its future [...]
