Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. has stepped up its presence in Poland by launching the women’s channel Fox Life and announcing plans to open an office. It has also hinted at launching two further channels – Fox Crime and FX – and is widely expected to build on its existing media interests in the country. These […]
Chris Dziadul Reports: Acting by instinct
Central and Eastern Europe was until recently quite low down in News Corp.’s list of priorities. Russia, certainly, wetted the appetite, and a foothold of sorts had been established in the Balkans through the Bulgarian national commercial station bTV. But for the region as a whole, investing in the TV industry was largely out of […]
Franco-German DTT launch in tune
German and French broadcasters will launch their respective DTT services along the Franco-German border in tune with each other, so viewers will have maximum benefit of the new services. On the German side this concerns DTT introduction in the states of Saarland and Baden, in France the departments of Alsace and Lorraine. The plan is […]
Gilat secures Serbian deal
The incumbent Serbian telco Telekom Serbia has chosen Gilat satellite Networks’s SkyEdge broadband satellite hub and several hundred VSats to serve its customers. They will be deployed at remote community centres throughout the country to provide reliable telephony, fax and Internet access, as well as used in the TV re-broadcasting and enterprise networking sectors. Telekom […]
Macedonian licensing change
Licences for electronic media are to be issued by the Broadcasting Council of Macedonia from May 2007, replacing a system of concessions provided by the government. The change is in line with the current broadcasting law, which came into effect in November 2005, and effectively grants the Council independence. A new law currently being drafted […]
GfK secures Romanian contract
According to Media Express (www.mediaexpres.ro), GfK Romania has been chosen to measure Romanian TV audiences for four years starting from January 2008. The deal, which is worth €7.9 million, follows an auction in which the German-backed company beat off competition from TNS AGB International and Czech-owned Media Research. Separately, the Romanian cable company RCS/RDS has […]
De Mol’s Talpa signs Ondas agreement
Europe’s planned mobile satellite radio service Ondas has signed an agreement with John de Mol’s Talpa Radio. The two companies plan to jointly develop content for Ondas’ advertising free radio service when it commences in 2009. The Talpa agreement follows a similar deal with Club DAB Italia, the largest consortium of private radio broadcasters in […]
History Channel expands into Europe
The History Channel has received a new Television Broadcast Licence from the UK regulator Ofcom for a new European service. It comes as the A&E-owned network develops new services in continental Europe and beyond. Local channels have recently been put in place with local partners in Africa, Greece and Malta. The channel is currently working […]
New Moldovan satellite channel
The Moldovan public broadcaster Teleradio-Moldova has launched the country’s first satellite channel. Initially offering news bulletins, Moldova International TV Channel (MITV) is distributed by Eutelsat W2 at 16 degrees East and targets viewers in Europe, Western Russia, the Middle East, North Africa and Madagascar. Its start up costs, which are provided by the government, have […]
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 […]