NBC Olympics record viewing for prime time coverage
NBC claims to have reached 180 million viewers in America with its recorded coverage of the Olympic Games in Beijing over the first week, 15 million more than for the event in Athens, with an average audience of 30 million in prime time. The online audience is reaching around 7.5 million individuals a day, with over 25 million video streams served in the first week.

Testing the theoretical limits of the telephone network
Existing twisted pair copper telephone wires could provide broadband speeds of up to 50Mbps, while half the homes in the United Kingdom could receive nearly 500Mbps. That is the theoretical limit of the “last mile” of the telephone network according to the results of research commissioned by the communications regulator Ofcom.

BBC iPlayer adopts MPEG-4 and open standards for video
The BBC is finally embracing open standards for its online video, with the addition of MPEG-4 encoding for its iPlayer. It is also increasing the data rate to improve the video quality, following a recent increase in resolution. Ironically, the change is being championed by Erik Huggers, who was previously responsible for promoting proprietary Windows Media formats at Microsoft. Continua a leggere

Virgin Media adds few subscribers in challenging market
British cable company Virgin Media added just 24,800 television subscribers and 54,600 broadband customers in the last quarter, despite its ongoing marketing campaign. It reported an operating loss of £333 million in the last quarter after writing down £366 million goodwill in its mobile division. Virgin Media continues to see broadband as its ‘hero’ product, although is rather more candid with analysts than consumers.

ITV losses reflect reduced value of its own goodwill
ITV, the main commercial broadcaster in Britain, reported a loss of over £1.5 billion for the last half year, after writing down the value of the goodwill in its broadcasting licences as a result of reduced advertising market forecasts. The underlying profits for the last six months were also down by 28%. The broadcaster blames a weak advertising market and warns it is going to get worse.

Cablevision wins appeal for remote video recording
A federal appeals court has overturned a ruling that prevented Cablevision in New York from rolling out a remote storage digital video recorder system or RS-DVR. Cablevision called the ruling “a victory for consumers” but it also represents a significant win for the cable industry. It could lead to a dramatic increase in the number of homes that are able to skip adverts. Continua a leggere

Plans for regulation of video on demand services in the UK
The government has published plans to regulate video-on-demand services in the United Kingdom. The proposals are part of a consultation on the implementation of the European Audio Visual Media Services directive. This introduces common standards for the regulation of video-on-demand, including online and mobile services.

ABC launches iView online video service in Australia
The ABC in Australia is expanding its online service with five new web channels, allowing users to watch television shows on the internet in a full screen player. It includes a catch up channel, showing a selection of programmes from ABC1 and ABC2, as well as news, documentary, arts and children’s channels and an ABC shop which previews programmes available for download.

Sky offers Universal music store and PSP downloads
British satellite broadcaster Sky is teaming up with Universal Music to provide a subscription music service to allow users to stream tracks on demand and download them to a range of devices. Sky and Sony have also launched a digital video download service for PlayStation Portable owners. Continua a leggere

Plans for regulation of video on demand services in the UK
The government has published plans to regulate video-on-demand services in the United Kingdom. The proposals are part of a consultation on the implementation of the European Audio Visual Media Services directive. This introduces common standards for the regulation of video-on-demand, including online and mobile services.

ABC launches iView online video service in Australia
The ABC in Australia is expanding its online service with five new web channels, allowing users to watch television shows on the internet in a full screen player. It includes a catch up channel, showing a selection of programmes from ABC1 and ABC2, as well as news, documentary, arts and children’s channels and an ABC shop which previews programmes available for download.

Sky offers Universal music store and PSP downloads
British satellite broadcaster Sky is teaming up with Universal Music to provide a subscription music service to allow users to stream tracks on demand and download them to a range of devices. Sky and Sony have also launched a digital video download service for PlayStation Portable owners. Continua a leggere

BBC promotes future media and technology replacement
The BBC has promoted Erik Huggers to director of future media and technology, the most senior role in leading the public service broadcaster into the next phase of its digital future. The announcement comes as the BBC Trust published a report that suggests the corporation contributes around twice the value of its annual licence free revenue to the creative economy of the United Kingdom.

Freeview to launch in Australia to promote digital channels
Australian pubic broadcasters and commercial networks have formally announced the establishment of their version of Freeview to help drive take up of free-to-air digital terrestrial television. The consortium is loosely based on the approach adopted by Freeview in the United.

Olympics Games coverage goes broadband and mobile
Every Olympic Games marks a step forward in television technology. For many viewers this year it will be high-definition but it will also be defined by delivery over broadband and mobile networks. NBC is opening up its coverage to AT&T and Verizon for their multiplatform services. Meanwhile a peer-to-peer operator is aiming to reach up to 100 million users over broadband. Continua a leggere

Teletext Extra Juice improves interactive user experience
Teletext Extra is a new interactive service available for Freeview digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom. It has been launched by Teletext and InView Interactive in response to the technical limitations of existing digital text services. Based on new software known as Juice, it is faster, easier to navigate and supports much better graphics.

Ofcom encourages investment in next generation networks
The chief executive of the communications regulator in the United Kingdom has underlined the importance of developing next generation high-speed broadband networks. Ed Richards said that Ofcom favoured a regulatory environment that allows and encourages operators to make risky investments for the potential benefit of their shareholders.

TiVo and Seven prepare for launch in Australia
TiVo is due to launch in Australia through a partnership with Seven Media Group. All the digital channels of the free-to-air television networks in Australia will be available through the new platform, which will provide the usual digital video recording features as well as integration with broadcast services and interactive advertising capabilities. Continua a leggere

Interactive standards debate promotes war of words
A leading advocate of the DVB-MHP platform for interactive television has said that claims by promoters of the rival MHEG-5 standard are “absurd and outdated”. He said that MHEG-5 is an old technology that is “not designed for next generation services,” urging broadcasters to thing about future services that would benefit from MHP.

Microsoft Fiji project upsets military regime
The military regime in Fiji has made a formal complaint to Microsoft over the use of the name Fiji in connection with its products. A Microsoft project currently codenamed Fiji aims to update its media centre offering to enhance support for digital television standards and interactive television.

BBC iPlayer update improves online access to programmes
The BBC has unveiled the latest version of its iPlayer online media service which now includes radio and television in a single interface. The size of the video window has also been increased by more than 50% and the audio quality of radio programmes has also been improved. Now the BBC is exploring new ways to bring the iPlayer to the television screen. Continua a leggere

Interactive Wimbledon delivers ace service for viewers
Wimbledon will once again be interactive this year on the BBC, with the addition of live streams on the web and highlights available through the BBC iPlayer. DirecTV is also doubling up with ESPN to provide interactive Wimbledon coverage. Viewing figures suggest that those using such interactive services tend to watch longer and more often as a result.

IPTV numbers rise in America without affecting satellite
The number of subscribers to IPTV services in North America quadrupled last year, but still reached only 1.2 million homes. These mainly seem to be net additions to the pay-television market, rather than at the expense of satellite, which gained 1.5 million customers.

Microsoft acquires Navic Networks for addressable adverts
Microsoft is buying interactive television company Navic Networks to gain an addressable advertising system. Navic Networks is a pioneer of interactive television and has developed an advertising management system known as Admira. Meanwhile Microsoft says its Mediaroom platform is now powering over two million television sets worldwide. Continua a leggere

MHP licence fees dropped for free-to-air broadcasters
Free-to-air broadcasters will no longer have to pay patent licence fees for using MHP interactive television middleware. The fees set by the patent pool administrator Via Licensing have been controversial and have partly accounted for the lack of widespread adoption of the DVB standard.

Win for Digisoft middleware in Thailand and China markets
Win Multimedia in Thailand has selected Digisoft TV from Ireland to provide its service delivery platform and middleware for IPTV services in the Thai and Chinese markets. Win Media is a subsidiary of Win Win Net Corporation based in Bankok. It plans to launch its service across 10,000 retail outlets in Thailand and China over the next year.

Broadband Britain remains a pipe dream rather than a vision
Britain risks its economic competitiveness as a result of lack of investment in next generation networks, but there is no clear business case to build new broadband infrastructure. That was the message from a conference of the self-appointed industry advisory body the Broadband Stakeholder Group held in London. Continua a leggere

Ofcom proposals for spectrum from digital dividend review
Ofcom, the communications regulator for the United Kingdom, has set out proposals for how it will release the spectrum that will be freed up as a result of the switch to digital television. It says the aim is not to raise revenue for the government but to enable innovative services that will deliver significant benefits to citizens and consumers.

DirecTV and Thomson upgrade digital distribution system
American satellite broadcaster DirecTV and technology provider Thomson have upgraded their digital distribution system for multi-home developments. The system receives a satellite feeds through a private head-end and distributes signals using internet protocols to multiple homes in apartment blocks or gated communities. The platform enables bundles of video, voice, data and interactive services to be delivered over a single connection.

Inuk Networks receives further funding for Freewire platform
Inuk Networks has received £9.5 million in a second round of funding to develop its Freewire broadband platform. The investment is led by a subsidiary of Welsh channel S4C from its commercial revenues, together with initial investor the venture capital firm Wesley Clover. Freewire is already the largest true IPTV service in Britain and is planning international expansion.

BT Vision begins charging for repeats of BBC programmes
BT has started charging for replays of BBC programmes on its BT Vision broadband video service. They were previously available for free and can still be freely downloaded or streamed online through the BBC iPlayer. Plans have now been announced to make the entire BBC One channel available online. Viewers will still apparently need a television licence but it is unclear how this will be enforced.

New standard enables applications in smart card modules
A new standard could enable more advanced interactive applications to run in plug-in conditional access modules for televisions and set-top boxes. The Common Interface Plus or CI+ standard has the backing of several leading consumer electronics companies. Ocean Blue and SmarDTV have produced the first CI+ application, previewed at the Anga Cable show in Cologne.