Comcast has made a formal £22 billion bid for Sky, valuing the broadcaster and TV platform at £12.50 per share. … [Read More...]
Newsline
RTL to launch Ultra HD channel in Germany
German commercial broadcaster Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland will launch a linear Ultra HD test channel on April 28, 2018. … [Read More...]
CEO Mattheisen resigns at Magyar Telekom
Magyar Telekom’s CEO Christopher Mattheisen has resigned and will leave the company on July 1. … [Read More...]
Also in the News
Smart TV on the rise in Germany
A total of 1.6 million TV sets were sold in Germany in Q1 2018. Of these, 1.2 million (75%) are equipped with smart functions, reports German industry association Deutsche TV-Plattform with reference to figures from GfK Retail & Technology. … [Read More...]
FRK calls for open access after Liberty Global/Vodafone deal
German cable operator association FRK has called for open access to be imposed as one of the concessions for regulatory approval of the rumoured acquisition of Liberty Global's German cable subsidiary Unitymedia by Vodafone. … [Read More...]
Unitymedia to launch DOCSIS 3.1 service on May 7
German cable operator Unitymedia will launch its first commercial Gigabit internet service based on DOCSIS 3.1 on May 7, 2018 in the city Bochum. … [Read More...]
Mediaset restores profitability
Mediaset is back in profit after last year’s ill-fated deal with Canal+ put the Italian broadcaster in the red. … [Read More...]
Agreement between TF1 and Free
A settlement has been reached between operator Free and the TF1 group of channels. … [Read More...]
TVP launches SVOD service
The Polish public broadcaster TVP has launched an SVOD service as part of its on demand offer TVP VOD. … [Read More...]
Lithuania maintains pressure on Russian channels
Lithuania’s Radio and Television Commission (LRTK) is set to fine the cable operator Init for violating its ruling on the retransmission of the Russian channel RTR Planeta. … [Read More...]
Czech online video content measurement: the first findings
HbbTV is a subset of time shift on TV when consumed on the internet and accounts for only five minutes of viewing per person each month in the Czech Republic. … [Read More...]
Central & East Europe
Czech DTT and HbbTV future outlined
Not enough time has been devoted in the Czech Republic to debating the freeing up of the 700MHz band and related transition to DVB-T2 broadcasting, according to Pavel Dvorak of the Federal Statistic Office, Ministry of Industry and Trade. … [Read More...]
Funding boost for Romania’s Netcity
Netcity Telecom has secured an additional €10 million to continue developing the fibre-optic network in the Romanian capital, Bucharest. … [Read More...]
Russian pay-TV market slows
Rostelecom was the only pay-TV operator in Russia to see its subscriber base significantly grow in the first quarter of this year. … [Read More...]
Channels
Travelxp is launching on Freeview
Travel channel Travelxp is launching on Freeview UK platform from Monday, 30 April 2018, to reach close to 16mn TV Freeview homes. … [Read More...]
Intelsat General renews global service to American Forces Network
Intelsat General, a wholly owned subsidiary of Intelsat, o will distribute television and radio programming to US servicemen and women stationed around the world, working with the support of three other satellite and ground service providers. … [Read More...]
9.5mi French watch online and catch-up
9.5 million French people are watching live and catch-up viewing on internet screens and catch-up viewing on a TV set, according to the Global TV survey from Mediametrie. … [Read More...]
Editors’ Choice
iflix: succeeding with VOD in emerging markets
The on-demand service iflix plans to have up to 30 million users within the next six months, by which time its funding situation will have significantly improved. … [Read More...]
YouTube reveals it took down 8 million videos in 3 months
YouTube has revealed its removed over 8 million videos in the last three months of 2017. … [Read More...]
BBC streams live UHD rugby
The BBC has streamed its first live content in the Ultra-High Definition (UHD) format. … [Read More...]