2.25pm UPDATE. Finnish public broadcaster YLE has cleared the so-called central digital boxes for use in the country’s digital TV switchover. The ministry of transport and communications requested a urgent report from YLE following a report in the national daily Helsingin Sanomat. The devices have been installed in smatv or dish sharing apartment which distribute […]
Le Figaro joins regional licence bid
The French daily Le Figaro has lent its support to NextRadioTV, one of a number of smaller French broadcasters, which are bidding for a DTT licence in the Ile-de-France region. Le Figaro is taking a 10% stake in NextRadioTV’s BFM Paris TV channel. The remainder of the shares will stay with NextRadioTV. The channel is […]
Malaysia chooses DVB-T
Malaysia will start to roll out DTT transmissions using the DVB-T standard from 2009. The decision by the country’s government, which was announced during the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union Digital TV Symposium in Kuala Lumpur, comes as result of a trial involving 1,000 users in the city. It began last November, with one multiplex operating on […]
Top Up TV reduces DVR price
Top Up TV had reduced the price of its digital video recorder and DTT receiver from £180 to £149.99. The price includes the first month’s subscription to the pay-TV service that centres around a video download service delivered over the DTT system. By comparison the electrical retailer Currys has a number of boxes for sale […]
Gentiloni says DTT frequencies will be released
Italy’s minister of communications Paolo Gentiloni has said the digital switchover process will include the advertising of released spectrum to new operators. The minister was speaking in response to a question from Mediaset, which has announced plans to use capacity in the Cagliari region currently used by Raidue and Rete 4 for test transmissions in […]
Dutch launch for Comedy Central
Viacom’s Comedy Central will launch in The Netherlands on April 30. The channel will broadcast in the evenings only in a channel share with the Dutch version of Nickelodeon and will be available on cable, satellite, DTT and IPTV. Following Germany and Poland this is the third localised version of Comedy Central in Continental Europe. […]
Hungary prepares for digital licences
Daniel Pataki, the president of the National Communications Authority of Hungary (NHH), has said that the country will start to sell digital TV licences next year. However, this will only happen if legislation governing digital frequencies is passed by its parliament beforehand. Hungary currently operates only a limited DTT service in Budapest and Kabhegy and […]
CT looks for earlier mux launch
The Czech public broadcaster CT has asked the country’s Telecom Office (CTU) if it can bring the launch of its DTT multiplex forward to later this year. The roll out of DTT services began in the Czech Republic in Q4 2005 and they are currently available – albeit in limited form – in Prague, Brno, […]
US CableLabs plans hybrid boxes
US CableLabs, the cable television industry’s technology development consortium, announced that it is working on hybrid cable boxes, which will receive both off-air digital broadcasts as well as tune in to digital cable. Such hybrid boxes would help solve a major problem for US cablers, who are faced with carriage bills from broadcasters. By combining […]
US Cable loses out to competition
Although cable television remains the dominant means of distribution for television in the United States penetration is slowly decreasing because of increasing competition. More American households are receiving video programming via an alternate delivery system (ADS) than ever before while MSOs lost 2.3 million subscribers and wired cable’s penetration percentage hit a 17-year low, according […]