The Dutch fiscal police and the watchdog of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (FIOD and ECD) have raided the offices of RTL and SBS to gather evidence in criminal proceedings that they are preparing against the broadcasters for breaking the Dutch gambling laws. Also, the offices of production companies 2WayTraffic and Endemol were searched. In [...]
Dutch pubcasters faced with large podcast bills
September 13, 2007 15.27 Europe/London By
Dutch public broadcasters NPS, NOS, KRO and VPRO have received large copyright bills for podcasts that may contain music from the Dutch Association of Record Companies (NVPI) through the rights agency SENA. A number of podcasts have been or are now being taken off-line. Broadcaster KRO said it has received a bill of over €10,000, while [...]
Minister puts TV over internet
September 12, 2007 15.01 Europe/London By
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport James Purnell has stressed the importance of television over the internet. Referring to the recent call TV crisis that has hit UK terrestrial broadcasters, Purnell said that broadcasters forfeited trust at their peril. “The fact that there was such an outrage shows that people care about broadcasting. [...]
Cable ops outline their position to Commissioner Reding
September 12, 2007 09.38 Europe/London By
CEOs from cable operators in Europe have met in Brussels with Commissioner Reding to discuss the main regulatory topics at stake for the European cable industry. The meeting took place in Brussels on the evening of September 11, after which Cable Europe issued the following press release. Cable pleads for a regulatory regime that encourages [...]
Government approval for Portuguese DTT
August 30, 2007 09.45 Europe/London By
The Portuguese government has approved a draft bill that will lead to the launch of a tender to operate digital terrestrial television in the country. According to an official from the ministry of public works two tenders will be launched, one will effectively provide a digital simulcast of the present free-to-air analogue channels, while a [...]
Ofcom: Convergence is here
August 23, 2007 09.26 Europe/London By
Convergence has finally arrived, according to Ofcom’s annual study of the UK Communications market. The regulator reports that in the first half of 2007 some 90% of UK singles sales by volume were through mobile downloads to PCs and mobile handsets – a fact reflected by struggling high street music retailers. Fifteen percent of households [...]
2008 deployment for KPN wireless broadband
August 21, 2007 14.31 Europe/London By
Dutch incumbent telco KPN says it is currently trialling two wireless broadband access technologies in the rural province of Drente. KPN is evaluating a WiMax system from Samsung and an HSPA system produced by its current mobile telephony network vendor Ericsson. According to the operator, results are promising enough to announce it will launch a [...]
Sky faces Irish EPG rules
August 20, 2007 09.26 Europe/London By
The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) is pushing ahead with plans to regulate Electronic Programme Guides for multichannel broadcasters in the country. It means that providers including Sky Digital and UPC Ireland would be required to give priority to Irish broadcasters. In the Irish Republic, Sky gives priority to RTE 1,RTE 2,TV3 and TG4, which [...]
Go-ahead for Geman mobile TV cooperation
August 14, 2007 19.56 Europe/London By
The German competition authority, the Bundeskartelamt, has given the go ahead to three Geman mobile operators, T-Mobile, Vodafone D2 and O2 to launch a joint mobile TV offer. The plan is to launch a 16-channel nationwide DVB-H service sometime next year. The new venture will compete with the recently formed alliance of MFD Mobiles Fernsehen [...]
Green light for RTL acquisition of Talpa assets
August 13, 2007 21.22 Europe/London By
The Dutch competition authority NMa has given the green light for the acquisition of a number of Talpa TV assets by RTL Nederland. These include the rights to Dutch Eredivise football and a number of formats carried by Talpa’s Tien (10) channel. RTL will also take control of Talpa’s Radio 538, the most listened to [...]
