Inside Digital TV articles from August 2001

Inside Digital TV archives from August 2001

Quiero in financial meltdown as shareholders revolt.(Brief Article)
August 10, 2001... Spanish DTT platform Quiero has been left peering into a financial abyss following a rift amongst its major shareholders, writes David del Valle. The crisis was triggered by publishing house Planeta, which has a 15 per cent stake in the...

41 bids for Swedish DTT muxes.(Brief Article)
August 10, 2001... Goran Sellgren Stockholm There were 41 declared bidders for Sweden's spare DTT multiplexes by the deadline - midnight on August 7. TV4, Sweden[acute accent]s biggest commercial station, and also its most popular network, was behind...

One-horse race for Irish DTT?(Brief Article)
August 10, 2001... Hugh Oram Dublin The competition to find a company to run the Irish Republic's planned DTT service has begun, but it looks as if it will be a one-horse race. Bids for the licence had to be submitted to the Department of Arts,...

DVB attacks ISDB-T - and SET/ABERT.(Brief Article)
August 10, 2001... Barry Flynn Editor Europe's digital TV standards creation body, the DVB, has issued a robust attack on the US and Japanese DTT systems as part of its comments on submissions to Brazilian telecoms regulator Anatel about the country's...

Sogecable loses digital battle in courts.(Brief Article)
August 10, 2001... David del Valle Madrid The Spanish courts have again thrown out challenges by pay-TV group Sogecable, owner of Canal+ and Canal Satelite Digital (CSD), over current digital TV legislation. The latest ruling is from the Audiencia...

DVB anger over ATSC advertisment.(Taiwanese press advertisement)(Brief Article)
August 10, 2001... Barry Flynn Editor The European DVB group has reacted angrily to an advertisement placed in the Taiwanese press by the US ATSC group following a recent decision by the Taiwanese government to let industry choose which digital terrestrial...

NTL Broadcast sale in doubt.(Brief Article)
August 10, 2001... Toby Marshall Assistant Editor Documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have cast doubts over NTL's proposed divestment of NTL Broadcast, its broadcast distribution business, due to a site sharing agreement with...

Astra return-path set for autumn launch.(Broadband Interactive System)(Brief Article)
August 10, 2001... Barry Flynn Editor Service provider DC-SAT.NET became the first UK company to demonstrate the capabilities of the Astra DTH platform's IP-based Broadband Interactive System (BBI) on August 2, ahead of its commercial rollout over the...

UPC and Canal+ on verge of deal in Poland.(Brief Article)
August 10, 2001... Chris Dziadul Contributing Editor Poland's television industry is due to undergo a massive shake-up when UPC and Canal+ finally sign a long-awaited agreement to merge their Wizja TV and Cyfra+ digital platforms. According to agency...

K-World merges with Swiss rival.(e-learning program)(Brief Article)
August 10, 2001... Swedish e-learning pioneer K-World is announcing a merger with Swiss rival Viviance New Education, following many months of loss-making activities. K-World was one of the first licensees in the Swedish DTT project and launched its television...

Yes picks up KIT.(Brief Article)
August 10, 2001... Barry Flynn Editor Yes Television has added Hull-based Kingston Communications to its VOD distribution roster. Currently, its service is running on BT's experimental ADSL-based VOD platform in London, in Australia through Total...

UK cable's steady progress.(Brief Article)
August 10, 2001... Barry Flynn scans the latest financials from UK cable MSOs NTL and Telewest for clues about the future of interactive TV on digital cable. Two recent sets of results from the UK's major MSOs - NTL and Telewest - are beginning to clarify...

Date set for brightBlue launch.(Brief Article)
August 10, 2001... Energis Interactive's brightBlue platform will launch some time in September - although Energis is not too happy that the cat is out of the bag. Two Way TV let slip the news in an announcement that it had become "lead games channel" on the...

Telewest and Media Logic joint venture.(Brief Article)
August 10, 2001... Telewest and Media Logic have announced a joint venture, iSee Ventures Limited, to roll out Media Logic's iSeeTV product. Initially this will be on Telewest's broadband cable network in the UK, although in due course it could extend to ADSL....

Briefly...(Brief Article)
August 10, 2001... * Asian telco SingTel has deployed Pace Micro Technology's internet protocol television (IPTV) set-top boxes for interactive TV services (iTV) on its ADSL copper wire network in Singapore. The deployment is part of an extensive trial of...

DANES WAIT FOR DTT D-DAY.(digital terrestrial television in Denmark)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2001... A political decision on the launch of digital terrestrial television (DTT) services in Denmark is moving closer - a final meeting of interested parties was scheduled to take place as Inside Digital TV went to press (August 23), under the...

UTV PUTS THE BRAKES ON ITV SPORT.(Ulster Television, ITV Digital)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2001... Toby Marshall Assistant Editor ITV Digital remains at odds with one of the smallest ITV franchise holders following the refusal of Ulster Television (UTV) to allow the transmission of the ITV Sport Channel within its gifted digital...

TELEWEST DEVELOPS VIRTUAL HORSE RACING.(Brief Article)
August 24, 2001... Barry Flynn Editor UK MSO Telewest plans to launch a virtual horse racing application in 2002 called iRace. The announcement was made by Jett Loe, creative director of Broadband at Telewest, at a recent 'State of the Nation' discussion...

SKY TEMPTS ANALOGUE LAGGARDS.(Sky Digital)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2001... Julian Clover Managing Editor Sky Digital is doing its utmost to squeeze out the remaining analogue subscribers ahead of the closure of its three remaining analogue channels at midnight on September 27. While industry wags suggest the only...

EBU BACKS MHP.(European Broadcasting Union, Multimedia Home Platform)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2001... European Broadcasting Union president Arne Wessberg along with the European Commissioner for the Information Society, Erkki Liikanen, and the chairman German public broadcaster ARD Fritz Pleitgen have declared their support for the Multimedia...

TELE+ RELAUNCHES PREMIUM OFFER.(Brief Article)
August 24, 2001... Branislav Pekic Rome In expectation that the relevant authorities approve its merger with rival Stream, Italian pay-TV operator Tele+ is preparing significant innovations regarding programming and channel packaging. As of August 24,...

MEDIASET BETS ON INTERACTIVE DTT.(Brief Article)
August 24, 2001... Italian commercial broadcaster Mediaset is betting on interactivity to give it the edge over rivals when Italian DTT officially launches in 2006. Speaking at the Images and Words in the Digital Era convention, Mediaset representative Gina...

DISCOVERY TAKES MASTERMIND INTERACTIVE.(Discovery Networks Europe)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2001... Demonstrating that there's more to the channel's programming than just Shark Week, Discovery Networks Europe has unveiled its Autumn/Winter schedule, which includes the resurrection of the much-missed BBC cerebral quiz show Mastermind. ...

SPANISH ANALOGUE SWITCH-OFF QUESTIONED.(Brief Article)
August 24, 2001... David Del Valle Madrid Spain's analogue switch-off, currently scheduled for 2012, is being called into question from all sides. While some parties believe that the date should be brought forward; others think that the Spaniards are not...

RETE 4 AND TELE+ NERO TO SWITCH TO DIGITAL SATELLITE BY 2003.(Brief Article)
August 24, 2001... Branislav Pekic Rome Italy's Communications Authority ruled on August 7 that the Rete 4 and Tele+ Nero TV channels will have to switch to digital satellite while RAI Tre will have to stop airing commercials by December 31, 2003. ...

MAPPING A MYTHICAL JOURNEY WITHOUT A COMPASS.(Statistical Data Included)
August 24, 2001... Guest writer Chris Marsden of consultants Re:Think! argues the case for an entrant-based competition policy in broadband communications. Based on his recently published policy paper 'Reinventing Broadband Regulation' Let's believe the...

ADVERTISING IN A NEW DIGITAL AGE.
August 24, 2001... Media Logic's commercial director, Glyn Radcliffe-Brine, examines some of the impending, key changes to television advertising that are emerging in the digital interactive television age Since its conception, television advertising has...

LA RIOJA LICENCES REMAIN CORKED.(Brief Article)
August 24, 2001... The award of two digital licences in the Spanish region of La Rioja has been put on ice for three months so that the bidders can prove they are willing to comply with the new commercial TV law. The licences will allow the holders access to...

GO DIGITAL GOES.(digital television in the UK)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2001... The UK Government's digital neighbourhood pilot project, dubbed Go Digital, has confirmed that the trial locations are in Sutton Coldfield, Tamworth and Lichfield in the West Midlands, and that it has signed 17 partners in the project. These...

FOOTBALL AND CINEMA TO TEMPT VIA DIGITAL SUBS.(Via Digital subscribers)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2001... Football and Spanish cinema will be the main offerings from Via Digital in the new TV season. The digital satellite platform plans to launch a channel dedicated to the 2002 football World Cup. The platform will also will also rely on Spanish...

BRIEFLY...(Brief Article)
August 24, 2001... * Sweden's Telia is increasingly relying on a combination of football and interactivity to recruit new subscribers to its cable TV division Com hem, which recently announced the introduction of a number of new interactive services featuring...