Inside Digital TV articles from October 2003

Inside Digital TV archives from October 2003

Industry Leaders Map Out Bright Future For Interactive Services.(a discussion of interactive television services, including Mecca Bingo's 'Fancy a Flutter' service)
October 1, 2003... Mark Holmes Senior Editor When Interactive TV services work, they work spectacularly. That was one of the main messages to come out of the IBC show this year. While some services have failed to capture the public's imagination, the ones...

NDS Spends Cash Reserves On MediaHighway.
October 1, 2003... Mark Holmes Senior Editor NDS will spend around one-third of its cash reserves to acquire MediaHighway middleware business from Thomson. The deal, which was announced on Sept. 13, will cost NDS around 60 million euros ($53 million) in...

BBC Head Outlines Dramatic Digital TV Vision.
October 1, 2003... Mark Holmes Senior Editor BBC Director of New Media & Technology Ashley Highfield spelled out a dramatic vision of digital TV's future at IBC where the message was for broadcasters to ignore changing consumer behaviour at their peril....

DTT Country Profile: Czech Republic.(Czech Digital Group)(Ceske Telecom)
October 1, 2003... By Chris Dziadul The momentum to introduce DTT in the Czech Republic has until now been provided by a body known as the Czech Digital Group (CDG). Wholly owned by FTV Premiera, the licence holder of the national commercial station Prima...

DTT Country Profile: Poland.(Digital Terrestrial Television)
October 1, 2003... By Chris Dziadul Poland has adopted a cautious and at times confusing approach to the introduction of digital terrestrial broadcasting. Hampered by the lack of a legislative framework, the country has nevertheless made steady progress and...

IFA 2003 - The Strong Arm Of Public TV.(International Fair of Broadcasting Services)
October 1, 2003... By Bertold Heil Industry veterans, making their seasonal trips to Las Vegas in the spring and Amsterdam in the summer, will find Berlin's bi-annual IFA a very different show. Business takes place in fortified booths, built to keep out the...

Briefly.(information about broadcasting industry)
October 1, 2003... Canada * Canada's second largest cable operator Shaw Cablesystems has taken a blast from one of its main rivals in terms of its pricing for DSL Internet services. Shaw has asked the CRTC to order Telus to stop its anti-competitive pricing...

Premiere and BSkyB Lead The Way in Europe.
October 15, 2003... Mark Holmes senior editor Between June 2002 and June 2003, most satellite pay-TV operators showed encouraging signs of subscriber growth. While consolidation has now taken place in Italy and Spain, the outlook for satellite pay-TV...

Microsoft Gears Up For Telco Push.(Microsoft Corp.)
October 15, 2003... Mark Holmes senior editor Microsoft has stepped up its TV plans by announcing deals with telcos in India and Canada to trial its IPTV (Internet Protocol) solutions and hopes to work with between five to eight operators over the next 12...

Irdeto Targets Technology Acquisitions.
October 15, 2003... Mark Holmes senior editor Irdeto Access CEO Graham Kill revealed to Inside Digital TV that the operator was in the exploratory stages of looking at one or two technology acquisition targets for the company. With NDS and Kudelski making...

Multichannel TV Penetration Ready To Blow Through 50 Per Cent Barrier.
October 15, 2003... Mark Holmes senior editor Multichannel TV is close to breaking through the 50 per cent barrier in the UK. In the latest ITC (Independent Television Commission) report, multichannel TV penetration was 49.8 per cent at the end of June. At...

Pay-TV Revenues Set To Double In Five Years.(Television broadcasting industry)
October 15, 2003... By Simon Rines Despite the current gloomy trading conditions for many operators, European pay-television revenues will more than double in the next five years, from 20 billion euros to 46 billion euros, according to a new report. "European...

DTT Country Profile: Russia.(Digital Terrestrial Television )
October 15, 2003... By Chris Dziadul Russia is the first - and still as yet only - country in Central and Eastern Europe with a commercial DTT service. Soft launched in July 2002 and fully operational from February this year, TeleMedium targets up to 2...

Briefly.(Cable television broadcasting industry)
October 15, 2003... France * The Canal+ Premium channel saw a slight fall in revenue in the first half of 2003 compared to the first half of 2002. In the first six months of 2003, the channel derived revenues of 766 million euros compared to 741 million euros...

BT Aims For "Major Player" Status In Digital Home.
October 29, 2003... Mark Holmes Senior Editor British Telecom's deal to include Freeview as part of its competitive offering is an indication that the telecoms operator is ready to play a "major role" in the digital home. Fergus Crockett, managing...

Interactive TV Show Offers Mixed Messages.
October 29, 2003... Mark Holmes Senior Editor The annual Interactive TV Show held in Barcelona last week depicted an industry in a cautiously optimistic mood. What was perhaps surprising was the number of forceful statements made at the show. One of the...

UK Breaks Through 50 Per Cent Internet Barrier.(Brief Article)
October 29, 2003... Mark Holmes Senior Editor The UK has passed through the 50 per cent milestone in terms of homes having Internet access. These were the findings of a recent Oftel (the UK telecoms regulator) consumer research report released Oct. 27. In the...

BSkyB Confident It Can Hit New Sky+ Targets.
October 29, 2003... Mark Holmes Senior Editor With over seven million DTH subscribers, BSkyB continues to set the standards in European pay-TV. Now, the operator is looking to make a big impact in the PVR/DVR (personal/digital video recorder) market with its...

From Discs To Downloads: The On-Demand Revolution.
October 29, 2003... By Josh Bernoff, Principal Analyst, Forrester Research Broadband, widespread storage, and digital rights protection will make on-demand music and movie services possible. Music and movie companies will embrace them as the best defences...

Panel Divided On MHP Future.
October 29, 2003... Mark Holmes Senior Editor The interactive TV industry does not appear to have made up its mind about whether the MHP (multimedia home platform) standard will be a major factor, or play a bit role going forward. A panel debating the merits...

Consumer Behaviour Focus: Turner.
October 29, 2003... Mark Holmes Senior Editor The children's TV market is one of the most competitive around. With children having larger disposable incomes, content providers are continually looking for new ways to tap into this market, which is also a...

SES Astra CEO Confident Of HDTV Future.
October 29, 2003... Mark Holmes Senior Editor SES Astra has announced a deal with Belgium-based TV facilities based provider Alfacam to bring the first high-definition TV (HDTV) channels to audiences across Europe. The deal was announced on Oct. 23. Euro1080,...