The History and Biography Channels are building audiences through effective use of the EPG and VOD services. Julian Clover reports The use of electronic programme guides is a vital tool for programmers trying to encourage viewers to watch new shows. Titles have to encapsulate what a programme is about and to catch the viewer’s eye [...]

Customer Care is the lifeblood of cable operators and CTAM Europe, according to outgoing chairman Dennis Hodges. He spoke to Julian Clover. After two years as chairman of the European arm of cable marketing association CTAM, Dennis Hodges is handing over to his successor Chad Raube, chief commercial officer of Hungary’s FiberNet. For his first [...]

FTA platform Freesat has taken satellite capacity to link its channels to a dedicated EPG. Julian Clover reports. One of this week’s more interesting announcements concerns Arqiva’s contract to provide a satellite distribution contract for the free-to-air satellite platform Freesat. In itself Arqiva’s win is not that great a surprise as the company has contracts [...]

Julian Clover gives his thoughts on IBC 2007 There was something of an anti-climax to this year’s IBC. For most of August the Broadband TV News team has been fielding phone calls from company representative anxious that we should pay them a visit during our extended weekend in Amsterdam. The halls were buzzing and the [...]

Julian Clover looks forward to an extended weekend in Amsterdam at the 40th anniversary of the IBC conference and exhibition. On the advice of the former technical director of the European Broadcasting Union I’ve gone mobile. My personal possessions, including a DVB USB stick for the Mac, a year’s supply of business cards and a [...]

Osmosys, developer of MHP middleware, is looking to improve the performance of set-top graphics. Julian Clover reports Last year at IBC I was suitably impressed by OpenTV’s demo of what an EPG might look like in a few years time. The image-led guide had more than a nod to the interface found on Apple’s iTunes [...]

Julian Clover on the departure of Virgin Media CEO Steve Burch. Being the head of a UK cable is a little bit like being the minister for Northern Ireland during the 1970s. You know that this difficult period of office is not likely to last for long and that that funding from the US looms [...]

Is Vivendi looking again at building a network of European pay-TV operations. Julian Clover goes back to the future. One of the delights of being a hack in the television sector is that if you wait long enough, then sooner or later events begin to repeat themselves. For example, it’s normally possible to gauge how [...]

BSkyB has purchased set-top manufacturer Amstrad in a £125 million (€171m) deal. Julian Clover assesses what might happen next It should not be the company that causes the surprise, Amstrad had after all been a key player in the development of Sky Television, but more that BSkyB feels it necessary to get into the receiver [...]

Setanta is looking to displace Sky Sports in Virgin Media homes. Julian Clover looks at the new alliance Sport, particularly football, has always been a key driver for pay-TV in most of Europe – even more so than movies. It took the retrenchment of Canal+ from most of its interests outside of France before dedicated [...]