Philip Hunter

With Netflix, the U.S. made the early running on OTT, but Europeans are faster to embrace smart TVs.

The BBC wants to make high-quality Olympic content widely available on catch up via its iPlayer.

The European Broadcast Union and Advanced Media Workflow Association will unveil the new Framework for Interoperability of Media Services in TV Production at IBC 2011 in Amsterdam next month.

Sustainability and green issues will feature prominently at the upcoming IBC conference.

Metadata will figure more prominently than last year at IBC, reflecting its growing importance for search and discovery in a multiscreen world.

With public funding across the European Union under severe pressure during the current debt crisis, telcos and cable operators are being urged to seek private funding for building out fiber networks.

In the UK, BARB (Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board) has set up a new forum to work out how to measure online TV audiences and integrate the information with linear viewing figures.

The gap between OTT and IPTV services is narrowing as each moves into the other’s space, but so far convergence is largely confined to the home.

UK cable operator Virgin Media has gone beyond many other TV service providers by becoming a provider of cloud services.

The Satellite Interference Reduction Group (sIRG) made two important announcements at IBC 2011 relating to use of carrier ID for identifying sources of interference.

Unlike the U.S., France has a rule forbidding mention of commercial products in news programmes, but that has run into problems with Facebook and Twitter.

Both the UK's leading pay TV operators BSkyB and Virgin Media have recently announced expansion plans for Wi-Fi that could end up delivering TV to homes as well as public places.

The European Broadcast Union (EBU) is urging its member countries to extend the current pan-cointinental rights regime for satellite and cable services to all forms of broadcast.

Click to purchase, advertising, betting and voting are key applications for companion screens.

Monaco Telecom is moving into the cloud with help of French IPTV STB maker Netgem.

French pay TV operator Canal Plus has been fined €30 million by the country’s competition authority for failing to comply with requirements relating to its acquisition of TPS in 2006.

UK culture secretary Jeremy Hunt has promised that the government will be bold both in building infrastructure and easing regulations to promote universal access to premium TV services.

The BBC aims to make up for declining state funding from the licence fee by earning more exporting both its own content and other providers’ via Global iPlayer.

The Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA)’s announcement of support for premium video streaming between devices within the home was one of the significant announcements at IBC 2011.

Europe must revise its copyright laws and establish extended collective licensing as part of its move towards a single digital market.

Reallocation of terrestrial spectrum to mobile services brings risk of interference as well as loss of bandwidth.