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 […]
CSA extends mobile TV consultation
The French media regulator CSA has put back the date for the completion of its consultation into mobile TV by two weeks. The second phase of the consultation including a call for candidates began on January 17, 2007, following a plenary meeting of the regulator, and ahead of the National Assembly’s revision of French broadcasting […]
Ukrtelecom sell off delayed
The part privatisation of the incumbent Ukrainian telco Ukrtelecom, which was scheduled for Q1 2007, is now unlikely to take place before the end of the year. Ukrtelecom, which is currently 92.86% state owned, has already attracted the interest of Russia’s Comstar UTS, and the local holding company System Capital Management (SMS) is also expected […]
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 […]
VideoGuard to deploy on Kabel BW
NDS has secured its first deployment of the VideoGuard content protection system in Germany. Kabel BW will deploy the system later this year in the southwestern state of Baden Würtemberg. The migration to the NDS system is expected to be complete by the end of the third quarter. Later, Kabel BW will introduce a series […]
Ericsson makes Tandberg counterbid
Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson has announced a counterbid for Tandberg Television valuing the company at SKr9.8 billion (€1.05bn). The cash offer puts a mark up of 10.4% on the previous bid for the company made in January by Arris. Ericsson has already accrued a holding of 11.7% of Tandberg’s share capital and has irrevocable acceptances […]
ADB/Osmosys strike ITI deal
ADB and its sister company Osmosys have begun delivering a single chip, MHP-based HD set-top box to Poland’s ITI Group. It will help the group offer a range of additional services, such as the ability to record and store content, to subscribers of its DTH platform n. Launched in October 2006, n was the first […]
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 […]