CABLE CONGRESS – AMSTERDAM. The European Cable Communications Association, Cable Europe, has reported a 53% increase in digital cable penetration. In his opening statement to the Cable Congress, Manuel Cubero, president of Cable Europe and a member of the management board of Kabel Deutschland said that 2006 had been a landmark year with double-digit growth […]
Telenet Digital hits 250,000
Flemish cable operator Telenet announced today that it has reached the milestone of 250,000 subscribers for its digital tv service, following what it describes as a successful year-end campaign. Telenet covers around two-thirds of Flanders. “We’re seeing that interactive tv is about break-through with a mass audience”, explained Jo Van Gorp, the MSO’s Executive Vice […]
Arena to screen English Premiership
German pay-TV platform Arena has secured the rights to English Premiership football. The three-year deal will run from the beginning of the next season. Arena, owned by cable operator Unity Media, already has the rights to Spain’s Primera Division, Italy’s Serie A and the German Bundesliga, in the process dealing a blow to rival Premiere, […]
UPDATE: BBC Prime stays on HOT
Israel’s cable platform HOT has reached a last minute agreement with BBC Prime to keep the entertainment channel on the network. New contracts have also been established with Hallmark, Eurosport News and National Geographic’s Adventure One. The agreements followed a heated period of negotiations after content costs spiralled to NIS800 million (€146m) in 2006. HOT […]
Easy.tv CI module able to receive Arena
Decimus, a subsidiary of Primacom, has announced the discontinuation of its easy.TV programme package with effect from mid-March. But the move does not affect the availability of the Mascom easy.TV Common Interface module, according to the manufacturer. “The easy.TV module is the optimum basic module for German-language Pay-TV”, says MASCOM managing director Heinz Gruber, “It […]
Cablecom continues Swiss switchover
Cablecom has announced details of the channels that will move to digital only broadcasts in German-speaking Switzerland during 2007. The migration process will be carried out in two phases in April and June 2007 and follows last November’s agreement with the price regulator. The capacity will be used for a new standard digital service, beginning […]
HOT drops international channels
Three major international broadcasters are being dropped by the Israeli cable platform HOT from the beginning of February. BBC Prime, Eurosport News and National Geographic’s Adventure One are being replaced by channels from China, Georgia and Ethiopia. HOT has recently added the English language version of international news channel France 24 and plans to add […]
EuroCableLabs issues first 2007 certifications
EuroCableLabs has issued EuroDOCSIS and EuroPacketCable certification to a series of cable modem products manufactured by Motorola, Netgear and Zhondiantong Digital TV. An Arris cable modem that sports an integrated phone adaptor (E-MTA) received both EuroDOCSIS 2.0 and EuroPacketCable 1.5 certification. The equipment will now be able to carry the EuroCableLabs logo, signaling to cable […]
Extended cable carriage for VIVA Telenovelas
Dori Media Group has extended its agreement with the Israeli cable platform HOT for the extended carriage of its two Telenovela channels VIVA and VIVA Platina. VIVA, Dori’s main channel with no connection to the MTV Networks’ owned channel, is carried in HOT’s basic package. VIVA Platina is a premium channel and broadcasts on weekends […]