Spanish media giant Prisa has taken its holding in Sogecable to over 95%. The company says it will now study potential joint operations and the merger of the two companies.
UPC rolls out Polish digital service
May 12, 2008 05.59 Europe/London By
UPC will shortly begin to roll out its new digital cable offer in Poland outside the capital, Warsaw.
Naxoo unveils HD offer
May 9, 2008 12.27 Europe/London By
Geneva-based Naxoo has revealed a six-channel HD package in time for Switzerland’s co-hosting of the Euro 2008 football championship. The package comprises public channel HD Suisse alongside Arte HD, Luxe TV, HD1 and sister channel I-Concert, based on the Belgian channel Exqui; and National Geographic Channel.
Sky Italia reaches 4.5 million subs
May 8, 2008 08.29 Europe/London By
Sky Italia reached 4.5 million subscribers at the end of the first quarter. An increase of 70,000 net households on the quarter and 342,000 net households year on year.
ITV HD to be Freesat Red Button exclusive
May 6, 2008 19.58 Europe/London By
ITV is to launch its new high definition channel exclusively on the Freesat platform it jointly runs with the BBC. It has emerged that ITV HD will only be a part time channel and will initially broadcast only when there is an HD simulcast available.
Court gives Premiere victory over illegal viewing
May 5, 2008 13.54 Europe/London By
Premiere has won a major victory in its fight to stamp out illegal viewing of the German pay-TV platform. A Hamburg court has issued an injunction on behalf of the operator against Zehnder, an importer of the so-called “patchable receivers”, under penalty of a €250,000 fine or a six-month prison sentence.
CanalSat to expand catch-up TV service
May 2, 2008 09.29 Europe/London By
Following the successful launch of the Canal + le Bouquet catch-up TV service in March (See Broadband TV News passim) CanalSat now plans to introduce a similar application for subscribers to the various other channels of the Francophone DTH pack.
Channel 4 launches 7-day catch-up
May 1, 2008 12.53 Europe/London By
Channel 4 has launched a new online catch-up service that allows viewers to view shows from the past seven days. The new service, found at channel4.com, is separate to the existing 4oD that already offers a selection of free and paid for content from the UK broadcaster.
NDS nudging 90m active smart cards
May 1, 2008 09.02 Europe/London By
NDS has announced an increase in third quarter revenues of 20% bringing in $213.3 million to the News Corp technology division. Nine-month revenues were up 25% to $633.1 million.
BBC iPlayer makes Virgin debut
April 30, 2008 08.27 Europe/London By
Virgin Media today announced the introduction of the BBC iPlayer for its 3.5 million cable customers. It’s the first time the on demand service has been made available on a TV platform.
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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.