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Industry leaders discuss content discovery in BTN-Media Distillery webinar
Thomas Bichlmeir, Distribution & Commercial Strategy, Discovery Communications Deutschland; Stefan Ties, Product Manager, Content Discovery, Zattoo and Martin Prins, Head of Product, Media Distillery will discuss the issues around content discovery in
Broadband TV NewsOcilion wins Red Dot Award for set-top box design
Austrian IPTV service provider Ocilion has won a Red Dot Award for the design of its P400 set-top box series. Together with technology partner EKT, the range of 4K set-top boxes was created delivering a content everywhere experience with live TV, catch up
WWE Network introduces free version
WWE is introducing a free version of its digital streaming service, featuring some 15,000 titles. Available shows include Raw Talk, streaming Monday nights each week immediately following Raw and recent episodes of Monday Night Raw, Friday Night SmackDown
Peter Simpson named as new Freesat CTO
Free-to-air satellite TV platform Freesat has named Peter Simpson as its new chief technology officer. He’ll oversee the product, engineering and operations teams across Freesat’s technology functions and head product development. Simpson has previously h
TF1 and MediaPro create new football channel
French commercial broadcaster TF1 is creating a new football-focused channel with the rights holder MediaPro. Telefoot will offer live and exclusive coverage of France’s top flight Ligue 1, which is hoped will resume as restrictions surrounding coronaviru
Serbia Broadband to close platform
Serbia Broadband (SBB) has announced it will shut down its D3i platform on July 1. It has provided all users of the platform with a free replacement of the D3i device for the superior Eon Smart Box with Eon packages. Features of the Eon Smart Box include
Discovery inks key CEE partnership
T-Mobile Czech Republic, Slovak Telekom and Digi Slovakia have entered into a strategic partnership with Discovery. It is aimed at bringing viewers special educational content available on demand and Eurosport 4K, in addition to the premium content on Eur
ODMedia makes Polish Netflix move
ODMedia Group has entered into a partnership with Poland’s leading film distributor Kino Swiat. Under the agreement, ODMedia Group’s Poland office will manage all technical aspects regarding materials and local language versions, to deliver over 100 Polis
Vincent Grivet to remain HbbTV Association chair
Vincent Grivet (Salto) has been re-elected the chair of the HbbTV Association by its newly assembled Steering Group (SG). At the same time, Jon Piesing (TP Vision) will remain the HbbTV Association’s vice-chair, with both mandates being for a two-year ter
kabel eins Doku HD and Sport1+ HD join HD Austria
Austrian DTH satellite platform HD Austria has added documentary channel kabel eins Doku HD and sports channel Sport1+ HD to its line-up. Free-TV channel kabel eins Doku HD is available to customers signed up for the HD Austria or HD Austria Kombi subscri
Paramount+ debuts in Russia
Paramount+ has launched in Russia on the Okko OTT platform. According to TelecomDaily, it is being made available as a separate subscription service for R199 (€2.57) a month for the first three months, rising to R299 a month afterwards. It is also being o
A1 Telekom Austria selects Vionlabs for content recommendation
Austrian telco A1 has opted for Vionlabs, a Swedish provider of AI-based content analysis solutions, to establish content recommendations on its streaming service A1now. Through the insight provided by Vionlabs’ content analysis platform, A1now will be ab
HbbTV to launch webinar series on TV and OTT developments
The HbbTV Association will offer a series of webinars covering current issues, solutions and developments in the TV and OTT market. Each of the eight webinars, taking place in the next 12 months, will focus on a specific topic and include a presentation b
Global AVOD spend set to double
AVOD expenditure will more than double between 2019 and 2025 to reach $53 billion across 138 countries. According to the latest report from Digital TV Research, the US became the largest AVOD expenditure country in 2019 as China saw expenditure fall by 8.
Cheddar scales back to single network
Next generation news network Cheddar is to revert to a single channel that combines both its business and news streams. The four year old channel that initially launched on Facebook Live is adopting a new tagline “News Worth investing in”. It will continu
Skylink drops Discovery channels
M7 Group’s Czech and Slovak DTH operator Sklink has dropped Discovery channels from its line-up. In a statement, it says that as of June 1 it is no longer offering Discovery, TLC, Discovery Showcase HD, Animal Planet, Eurosport 1 HD and Eurosport 2HD to i
NENT Group restores charges for sports packages
NENT says its Viaplay sports packages will revert to their regular pricing model as of July 1 in Sweden, Denmark and Finland. Norwegian customers will receive a few more weeks grace before they too are charged the full rate. The decision follows the resta
Masmovil up for sale
Three private equity funds have offered a total of €2.96 billion to buy the Spanish telco Masmovil Ibercom. In a statement, the National Stock Market Commission (CNMV) says that the offer by the three funds in question – Cinven, KKR and Providence, each h
TDS Telecom goes live with Velocix for IP video streaming
Customers in Oregon are benefitting from a new IP video service, thanks to Cambridge-based Velocix. TDS Telecom has successfully rolled out IP video streaming and Cloud DVR services to its consumers, completing the first phase of a network-wide project to
Disney+ and Apple TV+ enjoy early success
Research from Parks Associates have found both Disney+ and Apple TV+ have captured a significant market share during their first six months of operation. The Dallas-based analyst’s Market Snapshot show Disney has marched ahead with a 25% adoption among US
Redundancies as SES consolidates at Luxembourg HQ
SES has announced plans to restructure its operations and will consolidate part of its European regional structure into the company’s global headquarters in Betzdorf, Luxembourg. Around 220 employees will go with the changes impacting between 10% and 15%
New milestone for Movistar+
Over 10 million devices are now registered to receive programmes, movies and series from Telefónica’s Movistar+ service. According to El Economista, this represents an increase of 15% compared to the 8.5 million figure registered in October 2019, the firs
United Group buys into Forthnet
BC Partners-Owned United Group has agreed to acquire the debt and a significant minority interest in the Greek telco and pay-TV operator Forthnet. The transaction will see United Group acquire all of the company’s loan obligations, the convertible debt an
Smart TV at centre of new SFR-Bouygues battle
It’s a case of hostilities resumed between French fibre rivals SFR and Bouygues Telecom after the two launched separate connected TV offers within hours of each other. At the centre of both of the offers is a smart TV from the leading manufacturer Samsung
Virgin Media retail stores to close
Virgin Media has no plans to reopen its network of retail stores once lockdown has been lifted. It means the permanent closure of 53 outlets across the UK. The Liberty Global company said it had taken the “difficult decision” as a result of changes in con
WTO to rule pirate TV operator beoutQ is Saudi
A report to be issued by the World Trade Organisation is to name the Saudi government as responsible for pirate TV channel beoutQ. The broadcaster is responsible for the pirating of a string of top flight sports events including Champions League, Bundesli
Free-to-air games at centre of Premier League return
Sky Sports will make 25 of the remaining 92 Premier League matches available free-to-air. The BBC will also screen live Premier League for the first time when the season resumes on 17 June. Premier League shareholders agreed to the resumption at a meeting
Canal+ recruits Michal Kolodziejczyk
Michal Kolodziejczyk has been appointed the editorial sports director at Canal+ in Poland, effective June 1. In what is a newly created position, his tasks will include managing the work of the sports editorial team and developing new editorial formats, b
Mixed fortunes for Slovakia’s Joj
Slovakia’s Joj Media Group had record revenues of over €200 million for its media activities in 2019. This, reports Medialne, was 4.3% higher than a year earlier. At the same time EBITDA amounted to €27.6 million and the group’s total loss was over €8 mil
Chris Dziadul Reports: CEE TV post pandemic
As the coronavirus pandemic begins to ease, what does the future hold for the TV industry in Central and Eastern Europe? Will we see a gradual return to “business as usual” or can we expect a fundamental shift to take place in the months and indeed years