On Demand Group has formed a joint venture with Tele München Group to launch a series of on demand an pay-per-view services in the German market. On Demand Deutschland will be based in Münich and cater for the 45 million German-speaking television households in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. “We have the perfect combination of content […]
Virgin Media gives Sky 30-day deadline
Virgin Media has told BSkyB that it will take its carriage fee dispute to the High Court if it is not resolved within 30 days. The cablenet intends to challenge BSkyB for its “abuse of dominance”. “We are not interested in prolonging this dispute any longer than necessary but we will not allow Virgin Media […]
ITV Play suspends broadcasts
ITV Play has been taken off the air as the broadcaster suspended premium interactive services. ITV has appointed Deloitte to conduct an audit of all of the interactive services after the premium rate phone line regulator launched an inquiry into Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway. It is alleged that the programme encouraged viewers to […]
Dublin DTT trial enters second phase
Several thousand people in the greater Dublin area are to be given free digital set-top boxes as part of the second phase of Ireland’s digital TV trial. Iniitally 500 participants, drawn from the Dublin and Louth areas will receive specially adapted DTT set-top boxes, later rising to 1,000. The trial is being designed to provide […]
Czech O2 ups the ante
The incumbent Czech telco Telefónica O2 is to launch a new triple play offer. Known as O2 Trio, it will compete directly with one provided by UPC and Mattes, a company based in the town of Frydek-Mistek. The entry-level cost of receiving the O2 Trio basic package will be CZK999 (€35.5) for the first three […]
Comstar opts for Tandberg
The Russian broadband company Comstar-Direct has signed a deal with Tandberg Television to assist in the expansion of its IPTV network. Under it, Sistema-owned Comstar-Direct will be supplied with Tandberg Television’s control and monitoring software nCompass 5.0. Comstar-Direct already employs Tandberg Television’s IPTV head-end solutions for its ADSL broadband offer. Its future plans include the […]
Premiere pulls foreign bouquets
German pay TV operator Premiere has pulled the plug on a number of its international bouquets aimed at foreigners living in Germany. Affected are a Russian and an Italian bouquet with Kanäle Perviy, RTVi, Nashe Kino, RTR Planeta, RAI Uno, RAI Due, RAI Tre and Video Italia. Premiere will continue to sell and market a […]
MediaFLO technical trial in Taiwan
China Network Systems (CNS) and Taiwan Television Enterprise (TTV) have chosen Qualcomm’s MediaFlo system to conduct a technical trial in Taipei, Taiwan. The trial is scheduled to begin this month and will feature four live channels of CNS content and three live channels of TTV content. The trial will allow CNS and TTV to evaluate […]
16 channels for nationwide DVB-H pilot for Germany
LfK, the media authority of the German state of Baden-Würtenberg, has today announced the start of a new nationwide DVB-H pilot project. The authority takes responisbilty for the whole of the country and applications can be submitted until mid-April. The launch of the new project is foreseen in the spring of 2008 and should offer […]
Cablecom signs RTL and NBC low-pay channels
Swiss cable operator Cablecom has signed an agreement to carry the three low-pay channels from RTL, RTL Crime, Passion TV and RTL Living from April 1st, 2007. The channels will be made available to the operator’s 1.37 million homes that are capable of receiving the digital service. At the moment Cabelcom has 138,500 digital subscribers. […]