Philip Hunter

BSkyB, the UK’s largest pay TV operator, is using the UK launch of Netflix and other online rivals as evidence that it does not have a monopoly position in the country’s Internet VOD market.

The UK business lobbying group, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), has called on the BBC and government to help the country’s TV and media sectors expand internationally.

Netflix has duly launched its subscription VOD service in the UK with the prospect of disrupting the premium content market there and in the rest of Europe.

Germany is harmonizing audio levels in line with the European Broadcast Union’s Recommendation 128.

Shane O’Neill, SVP and chief strategy officer at Europe’s largest broadband and pay TV operator Liberty Global, resigned from his posts Dec. 30, 2011.

Carnage continues in the boardroom of PACE, the world’s largest set top maker, with the departure of chief operating officer David McKinney.

The decision by French pay TV operator Canal Plus to close its 3D channel reflects low interest in 3D across Europe, and lack of content.

The EBU has published a new specification for subtitling, based on the XML for file-based HGD content, to replace the existing EBU STL format.

Polish public service broadcasting in disarray over DTT as well as funding.

IPTV is only about half the pay TV story for the world’s Telcos, with cable and now OTT providing additional outlets.

The UK’s communications regulator Ofcom has exonerated cable operator Virgin Media from responsibility for content of programs provided by external broadcasters or other providers.

The EU has come out openly against SOPA and PIPA while still legislating itself to combat online piracy.

Dutch video watermarking specialist Civolution is benefiting from a Hollywood mandate.

Questions are being raised again by some home networking system vendors over power line's ability to scale up to HD

The Satellite Interference Reduction Group (sIRG) and the Global VSAT Forum (GVF) confirm they are working in partnership to combat satellite interference.

Belgian satellite comms company Newtec is encouraging operators to speed up their migration to IP at Broadcast Asia 2011.

Recent partnerships announced by Cisco and Alcatel-Lucent around multiscreen platforms add to choice, but also to confusion.

The DVB anticipates DVB-T2-Lite filling in holes in terrestrial coverage in Europe, but doubts remain after flop of earlier DVB-H standard for mobile.

The Broadcasters' Audience Research Board has completed field tests of online audience measurement using metering software from Kantar Media.

The rush to Internet-delivered multiscreen services is driving innovation and boom in tools for boosting network performance.

The European Broadcast Union (EBU) is urging its member countries to create a single market for digital broadcasting and cinema.