RTS CAMBRIDGE. BSkyB CEO James Murdoch has spoken out against the possibility of gifted terrestrial spectrum designed to allow the Big Five channels to launch HD services. “You have people paying for this and to suddenly say it has crossed the threshold of public necessity is preposterous,” Murdoch told delegates at the Royal Television Society […]
Think tank to advise on UK media
RTS CAMBRIDGE. Culture Secretary James Purnell has revealed plans to create a media think tank to advise government on media policy. The group would work in partnership with the business secretary John Hutton and would bring in people from both inside and outside the media. In his first major speech since taking up the post, […]
Digital birthday channel for RTL-TVi
The Belgian commercial French language broadcaster RTL-TVi will launch a special digital birthday channel on September 20 to mark the 20th anniversary of the broadcaster. Called RTL-TVi 20 ans the temporary Walloon channel will show highlights from the past 20 years as well as a daily talk show and new movies and series before they […]
Gital looks to Slovakia
According to local reports, the Czech company Gital has applied to the country’s Radio and TV Broadcasting Council (RRTV) for permission to distribute a number of channels in neighbouring Slovakia. Among the services it would like to offer are HBO, Galaxie Sport, CS Film and XXX Xtreme and those of the public broadcaster Czech Television […]
Tele 5 takes more Astra capacity
SES Astra and the German television channel Tele 5 have signed an agreement to increase the satellite capacity for the channel to improve and optimise the picture quality in Standard Definition (SD) transmissions. The agreement on additional capacity is effective immediately. “This new agreement with Tele 5 shows that TV channels and viewers are benefiting […]
Television bound by channels
RTS CAMBRIDGE. Television is obsessed with channels and still fighting the last war, according to Anthony Lilley chief executive, Magic Lantern Productions. Delivering the Huw Wheldon Memorial Lecture to the bi-annual gathering of the Royal Television Society in Cambridge, Lilley said that in many cases individual programmes were gaining more significance than the channels on […]
RTL and SBS6 offices raided over call-in game shows
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
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 […]
NLKabel: Dutch Central Antenna Association rebranded
Following the rebranding of ECCA into Cable Europe and the Belgian Association of Cable Operators into Cable Belgium a year ago, the VECAI or Dutch association of Central Antenna System Operators, has changed its name into NLKabel. The old name represented the past and not today’s modern character of the industry, which offers services like […]
ArenaSat steps up marketing efforts
ArenaSat, the DTH platform run by German cable operator Unitymedia, has stepped up its marketing efforts in order to increase the number of DTH subscribers. The number of channels in the Family bouquet has also been increased from 12 to 15 with the addition of three MTV channels, MTV Hits, MTV Base and VH1 Classic. […]