Malaysia will start to roll out DTT transmissions using the DVB-T standard from 2009. The decision by the country’s government, which was announced during the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union Digital TV Symposium in Kuala Lumpur, comes as result of a trial involving 1,000 users in the city. It began last November, with one multiplex operating on [...]
Top Up TV reduces DVR price
March 27, 2007 12.56 Europe/London By
Top Up TV had reduced the price of its digital video recorder and DTT receiver from £180 to £149.99. The price includes the first month’s subscription to the pay-TV service that centres around a video download service delivered over the DTT system. By comparison the electrical retailer Currys has a number of boxes for sale [...]
Gentiloni says DTT frequencies will be released
March 27, 2007 11.26 Europe/London By
Italy’s minister of communications Paolo Gentiloni has said the digital switchover process will include the advertising of released spectrum to new operators. The minister was speaking in response to a question from Mediaset, which has announced plans to use capacity in the Cagliari region currently used by Raidue and Rete 4 for test transmissions in [...]
Dutch launch for Comedy Central
March 23, 2007 16.06 Europe/London By
Viacom’s Comedy Central will launch in The Netherlands on April 30. The channel will broadcast in the evenings only in a channel share with the Dutch version of Nickelodeon and will be available on cable, satellite, DTT and IPTV. Following Germany and Poland this is the third localised version of Comedy Central in Continental Europe. [...]
Hungary prepares for digital licences
March 22, 2007 09.45 Europe/London By
Daniel Pataki, the president of the National Communications Authority of Hungary (NHH), has said that the country will start to sell digital TV licences next year. However, this will only happen if legislation governing digital frequencies is passed by its parliament beforehand. Hungary currently operates only a limited DTT service in Budapest and Kabhegy and [...]
CT looks for earlier mux launch
March 21, 2007 17.03 Europe/London By
The Czech public broadcaster CT has asked the country’s Telecom Office (CTU) if it can bring the launch of its DTT multiplex forward to later this year. The roll out of DTT services began in the Czech Republic in Q4 2005 and they are currently available – albeit in limited form – in Prague, Brno, [...]
US CableLabs plans hybrid boxes
March 20, 2007 15.21 Europe/London By
US CableLabs, the cable television industry’s technology development consortium, announced that it is working on hybrid cable boxes, which will receive both off-air digital broadcasts as well as tune in to digital cable. Such hybrid boxes would help solve a major problem for US cablers, who are faced with carriage bills from broadcasters. By combining [...]
US Cable loses out to competition
March 20, 2007 08.31 Europe/London By
Although cable television remains the dominant means of distribution for television in the United States penetration is slowly decreasing because of increasing competition. More American households are receiving video programming via an alternate delivery system (ADS) than ever before while MSOs lost 2.3 million subscribers and wired cable’s penetration percentage hit a 17-year low, according [...]
MHP stays mainly on the plain
March 19, 2007 16.44 Europe/London By
Just 514 DTT receivers out of 437,000 sold in the Spanish market during the last quarter of 2006 were MHP-enabled. The figures from the DTT association Impulsa TDT said that 2.7 million receivers were installed during 2006 bringing the installed base to 3.3 million. The figures deal another blow to the MHP market that has [...]
Liberty seeks Irish DTT assurances
March 19, 2007 12.22 Europe/London By
Liberty Global has approached the Irish government to seek assurances that RTE will not be allowed to carry commercial digital television services as part of the analogue switch off process. Liberty, which as UPC Ireland is the country’s principal cable operator, says that it will level a complaint with the European Commission should the public [...]
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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.