The Polish national commercial broadcaster Polsat has launched a new adult channel named Playboy Polska. According to local reports, the Hotbird-delivered service is unencrypted, though not available to viewers. However, it will shortly make its debut on Cyfrowy Polsat and is also expected to secure carriage on several cable networks. Playboy Polska was granted a [...]
Cumbrian crawling captions spell the end of analogue
May 7, 2007 14.01 Europe/London By
If they weren’t aware of digital switchover already, viewers in the town of Whitehaven in Cumbria will this week see crawling captions on the four analogue terrestrial channels available in the area. The messages, lasting for about one minute, will appear intermittently on BBC One, BBC Two, ITV1 and Channel 4 from May 8. They [...]
Russian platform expands offer
May 7, 2007 12.06 Europe/London By
The Russian digital platform Tricolor TV, which is delivered by Eutelsat’s W4 to 800,000 homes, has added 12 new channels to its line-up. Operated by the National Broadcasting Company, the platform made its debut in November 2005 as a subscription-free service, initially offering a digital package of 15 Russian national and regional channels for only [...]
Continued growth forecast for STB market
May 7, 2007 09.48 Europe/London By
Pay-TV services are fuelling a global demand for set-top boxes that is expected to reach an annual 120 million units by 2011, according to new research from Understanding & Solutions. The figures exclude digital terrestrial adaptors and free-to-air satellite receivers. Understanding & Solutions is predicting that the market will be sustained by the maturing digital [...]
European VOD services take off
May 7, 2007 06.58 Europe/London By
According to a study published by the French Directorate for the Development of the Media and European Audiovisual Observatory, there were 142 VOD services – excluding ones devoted solely to music and adult content – operating in 24 European markets as of the end of last year. When free access services, those launched this year [...]
Akado revenues rise sharply
May 7, 2007 05.37 Europe/London By
Moscow CableCom Corp has posted total revenues of $23,866,000 (€17,656,966) for 2006, or 125.1% more than for the previous year. Those for Q4 2006 were meanwhile up by 144.3% year-on-year to $8,696,000. The company, which provides broadband services in the Russian capital under the brand name Akado and is backed by Renova Media, puts its [...]
Austria claims digital success
May 6, 2007 20.03 Europe/London By
One third of the 3.3 million Austrian television homes now watch digital television, according to the regulatory body RTR (Rundfunk und Telekom Regulierungs-GmbH). The introduction of DTT only began last October, but has enjoyed a fast take-up with about 40% of people buying an MHP enabled receiver. At the moment some 150,000 DTT sets have [...]
One million digital homes for KDG
May 6, 2007 19.48 Europe/London By
German cable operator Kabel Deutschland KDG is claiming one million digital homes connected out of the total of 9.5 million customers the company serves. The basic digital bouquet, which is offered free of charge, includes all the German public and commercial broadcasters as well as a choice of international channels, both public and private, up [...]
New Skies plans NSS-8 replacement
May 6, 2007 14.14 Europe/London By
The board of SES Global has approved funding for the direct replacement of NSS-8, which was lost as a result of the January 30 failure of the Sea Launch rocket, potentially caused by a loose bolt in the LOX tank. Technical specifications for the new satellite have already been completed and New Skies intends to [...]
Premier League sues YouTube
May 6, 2007 09.24 Europe/London By
After Viacom now also the English Premier League has filed a federal class action copyright lawsuit in New York against Google’s YouTube. The lead plaintiffs in the suit filed Friday in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York: the Football Association Premier League Limited (the English Premier League), and music publisher [...]
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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.