More videos from the recent Cable Congress in Amsterdam have now been added to the Resources section of the Broadband TV News website. Included are George Stromeyer, Vice-President & Managing Director, Scientific Atlanta Europe; Koen Swings, managing partner, Zappware; Paul Entwhistle, chief technologist, intellectual property, Pace Micro Technology; and Ramin Farassat, vice president, product marketing […]
EC approves Liberty Global control of Telenet
The European Commission has approved Liberty Global’s recently increased and controlling ownership position in Telenet Group Holding NV. As previously announced on November 13, 2006, Liberty Global exercised options that increased the Company’s ownership in Telenet to 28.07%. With today’s regulatory approval, Telenet will be consolidated for financial reporting purposes beginning January 1, 2007 and […]
Virgin secures non-exclusive rights to Lost
Virgin Media has agreed to non-exclusive rights to Buena Vista International Television’s Lost. The extension to an existing agreement with BVITV means that Series 1 and 2 of Lost, screened last year by Channel 4, will be available from the end of August. The third series will be available later this year following the completion […]
Can Virgin drop Sky Three when it’s not being carried?
Virgin Media’s dispute with Sky over the carriage of its basic channels has focused on the flagship channels of Sky One and Sky News. However, there are other Sky branded channels that were not offered even before the current dispute erupted, and these include Sky Three and Sky Arts (the recently rebranded Artsworld). Sky Three […]
BSkyB: “Real possibility of no agreement” in Virgin dispute
BSkyB has issued a robust defence of its negotiations with Virgin Media over the carriage of channels on Virgin Media. “Despite the constructive approach adopted by Sky throughout these negotiations, the recent behaviour of Virgin Media appears at odds with a genuine desire to conclude a commercial agreement and at this time there exists the […]
Cable Congress Video Interviews: Margot Daly
In the second of the Broadband TV News interviews recorded at the recent Cable Congress in Amsterdam, Margot Daly, chief executive, Music Choice talks about European copyright law and the launch of a new VOD service. View Video A player that supports the Windows Media player is required. Mac users are recommended to download the […]
Virgin puts Sky carriage complaint into print
Virgin Media has taken out a series of full page advertisements in the national press giving consumers its side of the story in the increasingly acrimonious dispute over the carriage of Sky’s basic channels. Under the headline ‘Sky don’t want you to see the whole picture’, the advertisement takes the form of a letter, and […]
Virgin prepares to offer Sky discounts
Virgin Media is planning to offer its subscribers discounts of up to £9.75 in compensation for the loss of Sky-branded channels from its basic packages following the breakdown of carriage talks. The cable operator confirmed today (February 23) that Sky would be withdrawing Sky One, Sky Two, Sky Three, Sky News and Sky Sports News […]
‘Free’ Sky Sports for Virgin VIPs
Virgin Media has added ‘free’ Sky Sports to its so-called VIP as the company continues its marketing blitz following the integration of NTL Telewest with Virgin mobile. The ‘Very Impressive Package’ – presumably aimed at the type of air travelers who fly in Virgin’s Premium Economy – bundles 120 channels of digital TV with the […]
Numericable picks OpenTV
France’s principal cable operator Numericable has opted for OpenTV as its new middleware system as it prepares to rollout advanced digital TV services. The MSO is planning to introduce high definition and digital video recorders. Last week Numericable, which also has operations in Belgium and Luxembourg, announced that it was to use Nagravision as its […]