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Monday 16 July 2012, PM

Humax takes YouView to IBC

An Android- based, pure IPTV box for over-the-top content will also be unveiled, alongside a new home media server with multi-tuners that supports content sharing on tablets, smartphone and other set-top boxes. Humax is also a leading supplier of set-tops for European DTT and cable markets. - broadbandtvnews.com

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informitv - Intellect backs HbbTV despite YouView

A week after the unspectacular media launch of YouView, the trade body Intellect has come out in support of a competing standard. The consumer electronics industry has questioned the rationale for YouView since its inception as Project Canvas, preferring the prospect of a less ambitious technical standard that could be deployed across Europe, while allowing scope for differentiation. Although it shares many common features with Freeview and indeed HbbTV, it specifies a particular user interface, which allows potential manufacturers limited scope for differentiation. - informitv.com

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YouView will not get high definition Now TV - News - TechRadar

Sky's Now TV is the company's non-subscription streaming service and it is one of the launch offerings on YouView. Console yourself According to Sky, only the games consoles will offer HD content, with the focus more on consistency of service than high definition quality on other devices. Considering an Xbox retails for 140 significantly cheaper than the 300 for the first standalone YouView boxes it could ask another question of potential buyers. - techradar.com

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MPs question Ed Vaizey regarding 4G s impact on TV viewers - Broadband News

About Us Since 2006 Broadband Expert has been helping UK consumers research and compare home and mobile broadband deals. Our blog is here to keep you up-to-date on all the latest broadband and mobile broadband news and reviews of Internet providers and packages. Well be publishing handy guides and help sheets to help take the confusion out of broadband, laptops and mobile Internet devices dongles. - broadband-expert.co.uk

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Now's the time for NOW TV

NOW TV gives you two ways to watch great movies. Pay play movies on NOW TV range from 99p for classic titles to 3.49 for the latest blockbusters. Each Friday, there are up to five new and exclusive Sky Movies premieres, at least 12 months before they are available on other online subscription services. - corporate.sky.com

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Sunday 15 July 2012, PM

BBC - BBC Internet Blog: What's On BBC Red Button 14th - 21st July

Studio contestants compete to win their Secret Fortune, anything from 100 to 100,000. Press the Red Button during the show to play along at home with the contestants. This has enabled the Red Button team to offer the best games tailored to each system. - bbc.co.uk

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Welcome to the toughest job in broadcasting - TV Radio - Media - The Independent

Just as people get the government they deserve, so Radio 1's breakfast show has a habit of reflecting much of what's happening outside the platinum disc-lined walls of Radio 1. Consider late-70s host Dave Lee Travis, whose open-shirted, hirsute exterior held a mirror ball up to the disco fever sweeping the nation, his no-nonsense straight talk offering a safe pair of hands with which the BBC could keep punk at arm's length. There have been some famous instances where the breakfast show host is woefully out of step. - independent.co.uk

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Clover s Week: YouView – The manufacturers fight back

One week after the launch of YouView Julian Clover examines the sense of disquiet emerging from some aspects of the industry. The peasants are revolting or at least the TV manufacturers are. This week the technology trade body Intellect made clear its feelings on YouView, reiterating what many of its members had said over several years, that Europe needs a single standard for connected TV. - broadbandtvnews.com

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BT 'set to offer YouView pay-monthly option' - uSwitch.com

BT customers are set to be given the opportunity to pay for their YouView box on a subscription basis. Set-top boxes will be priced at 299 for consumers purchasing outright, but sources close to the broadband provider claim this fee may be waived for pay-monthly customers. According to the Telegraph, households will be able to take a YouView box for free providing they pay a 40 installation fee and then 4 per month. - uswitch.com

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http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/channel/DigitalMedia/article/1140478/YouView-caught-trademark-wrangle-brand/

In May this year, the Intellectual Property Office sided with Total in certain, but not all, categories in its ruling on the application. YouView has been prevented from registering its brand as a trademark in categories including broadcasting communications transmission, broadcast and reception and other dissemination of audio, video, still and moving images television screen-based information broadcasting, and retrieval services and interactive broadcasting services. The IPO has allowed YouView to register its brand in some less relevant categories including mouse mats, computer, electronic and video games programmes, and the rental of radio and television broadcasting equipment. - marketingmagazine.co.uk

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Government pledges additional funds for Freeview 4G filters - July - 2012 - Which? News

In February an Ofcom consultation revealed up to a million homes could have their Freeview TV reception interrupted by the launch of next-generation 4G mobile networks, due to launch early next year. The government had planned to provide free filters for people to install themselves, but it made no provision for those with more complicated setups where self installation wasn't feasible. The additional funds announced will, says the government, solve this issue. - which.co.uk

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Don t Root for Aereo, the World s Most Ridiculous Start-up - PandoDaily

Webvan squandered 1.2 billion, but at least it was trying to create something useful. In the past few months, after Aereo was hit by insane lawsuits from the television industry, it has become something of a cause clbre for people fighting for more progressive copyright laws. No doubt it was good to see Aereo win its first legal test this week, when a federal judge denied TV companies request to have the firm immediately shut down. - pandodaily.com

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Friday 13 July 2012, PM

Ariel - Commercial news to form new business

The two platforms will share one management structure which may result in job losses where overlap occurs. It is hoped that a single organisation will promote simple and effective decision making. BBC Worldwide will continue to manage advertising sales and distribution deals for the services. - bbc.co.uk

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YouView has it all to play for - Comment - Broadcast

12 July, 2012 Critical issue now is how to make it stand out, says Kate Bulkley It takes just 2 minutes and offers full, instant access to the Broadcast website along with a copy of the magazine delivered every week. - broadcastnow.co.uk

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S4C to close HD channel - News - Broadcast

It takes just 2 minutes and offers full, instant access to the Broadcast website along with a copy of the magazine delivered every week. - broadcastnow.co.uk

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DTG :: News :: Minister sets out terms of scheme to tackle 4G interference

The letter says help will be available for the 900,000 digital terrestrial television DTT homes which Ofcom estimate will be affected when 4G is introduced next year. To prevent any interference problems filters will be provided free of charge by the help scheme. Mr Vaizey confirmed in the letter to Ofcom that vouchers will be provided to eligible households to pay for the installation of a filter to a rooftop aerial, if required. - dtg.org.uk

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Minister of Fun bends Ofcom's ear on Freeview-4G knockout • The Register

Culture minister Ed Vaizey has published an open letter to Ofcom broadly supporting the regulator's efforts to mitigate disruption to Freeview by next-gen mobile broadband. When LTE 4G telephony kicks in there's likely to be some interference in the neighbouring TV channels, so 180m of the money raised from selling the spectrum will go into stopping telly screens from going blank. The real problem is that no one knows how many people fall into that category, so deciding what to do about it is tough. - theregister.co.uk

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BBC News - S4C: Welsh broadcaster to axe high definition service

The announcement came as the Welsh language broadcaster said it made a loss of more than 6m last year. S4C Authority chairman Huw Jones said the figure, published in its annual report, reflected an 11m reduction in its public funding. He said the channel had used some of its reserves rather than implement the whole cut in its programme budget in the short term. - bbc.co.uk

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BBC Sport - BBC Sport launches Olympics app for smartphones

The app will provide up to 24 streams of live coverage, detailed schedule and results pages, and daily news stories. Alongside full live streaming, catch-up coverage and highlights, the app will offer facts, statistics and information for every athlete, country and sport. Extra functionality of the app allows stories to be saved for offline reading, ensuring the latest information is accessible even when mobile reception is unavailable. - bbc.co.uk

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BBC News - BBC director general bids farewell to Bush House

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets CSS enabled. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets CSS if you are able to do so. - bbc.co.uk

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Friday 13 July 2012, AM

DTG :: News :: Digital TV Group Council's Statement on Intellect's Consultation on HbbTV

The DTG looks forward to working with others in the digital industry to continue to develop the D-Book. The DTG consistently works to harmonise international standards, while ensuring the UK maintains its reputation as a leader in digital television. The DTG is committed to ensuring a highly stable, open and innovative digital television market in the UK and will work with industry partners across the sector to enable the continuing success of that market. - dtg.org.uk

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DTG :: News :: Food Network goes 24/7 on Freeview

Food Network UK has announced its expansion from a four-hour programming block to all day, every day on Freeview. DTG Staff 12.07.2012 Links open in a new window. - dtg.org.uk

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Tuesday 10 July 2012, PM

Ariel - Unions urge BBC to scrap licence fee settlement

In the proposals the group of unions ask Entwistle, who takes over from Mark Thompson as director general in September, to 'rip up' the agreement from 2010 where Thompson agreed to freeze the licence fee until 2017. The subsequent Delivering Quality First plan devised how the BBC can save 700m a year. Criticising the licence fee being used for what it calls the government's 'pet projects' it says 'the BBC should not be used as a piggy bank which the government can dip into whenever the money runs low'. - bbc.co.uk

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Channel 4's 4seven attracts 45,000 viewers a night in first week - Media - guardian.co.uk

The most popular show on launch night was a repeat of the first episode of the new series Gordon Behind Bars which managed 150,000 viewers. The channel, which launched on 4 July, aims to give viewers the chance to catch repeats of Channel 4's most popular shows. A number of shows on the channel, which is available on satellite and cable services, will be selected on the basis of having created a critical buzz in newspapers as well as chatter on Twitter and Facebook. - guardian.co.uk

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Monday 09 July 2012, PM

Google TV will not fail again

It took just about six months for the first generation of Google TV to be declared a failure. Logitech launched its Revue set top box in October 2010, and by July 2011, they couldn't even give them away. The company subsequently took a 30 million writedown on the venture, and Intel, who provided chips for Google TV, quietly divorced itself from the product. - betanews.com

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YouView review - hands on (Humax DTR-T1000 review - hands on) - Expert Reviews

Officially announced at the end of December 2008 with a planned launch for 2010, it's fair to say that the YouView TV-on-demand platform has been a rather long time coming. Now, YouView has officially been launched and products are due out by the end of month. The first version to go on sale will have a 500GB hard disk and will cost 299. - expertreviews.co.uk

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Intellect launches UK trial HbbTV spec

Technology trade body Intellect has released a specification that would enable the deployment of HbbTV over the UK terrestrial system and made a test stream available. There has long been disquiet among the manufacturers many of whom run their own connected TV platforms over the island mentality of the UK broadcasters. Intellect wants to open up a discussion with broadcasters and plans to run a roadshow that demonstrates how HbbTV is already being used. - broadbandtvnews.com

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Monday 09 July 2012, AM

Ed Richards: what next for the Ofcom chief? - Media - The Guardian

Richards was the only one of the five candidates confirmed as being interviewed to replace Mark Thompson who was not a BBC staffer. However, it has been claimed there were several external candidates on the interview list drawn up by executive search firm Egon Zehnder.There are those who believe he was enticed into entering the race to give credibility to a process that would have been heavily criticised without some heavyweight external candidates in the public domain. Ed must have been given certain assurances he would be treated seriously and was unwise to believe them. - guardian.co.uk

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Saturday 07 July 2012, PM

BBC - BBC Internet Blog: What's on BBC Red Button 7th - 14th July

First Night of the Proms begins the world's greatest classical music festival in 2012 on BBC Two. Join in the conversation during the First Night of the Proms by including bbcproms in your message. We'll be featuring some of your Tweets on Red Button throughout the programme. - bbc.co.uk

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Friday 06 July 2012, PM

Major YouView marketing push for autumn - News - Marketing Week

YouView is planning a major above the line marketing push this autumn, positioning the service as extraordinary TV for everyone. The service is being aimed at the 13 to 15 million people who are either Freeview customers or those who are not subscribed to a paid-for TV package. YouView chairman Lord Alan Sugar hopes it will replace the Freeview box. - marketingweek.co.uk

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MP: act now to tackle 4G threat to Freeview - News - Broadcast

6 July, 2012 An opposition MP has demanded urgent government action over fears that Freeview services will be disrupted by 4G mobile signals. It takes just 2 minutes and offers full, instant access to the Broadcast website along with a copy of the magazine delivered every week. - broadcastnow.co.uk

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YouView: a marketer’s guide - News - Marketing Week

Marketing Week answers marketers questions on how they might leverage YouView following its consumer launch this month. YouView is an internet-connected TV service that consumers can access via a set-top box, priced at 299 and available from a variety of retailers from the end of July. Broadband partners BT and TalkTalk are set to announce pricing for their YouView-linked phone and broadband packages later this month. - marketingweek.co.uk

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I wanted to love YouView, but I don't. Yet. - Pocket-lint

The development of YouView has been a long and arduous affair, not just because of the technical hurdles, but because of other broadcasters and rights-holders. The service started as a brilliant notion that IP TV was quickly becoming a reality, and that there should be a Freeview-like service to capitalise on it. Like the BBC or not, it gets things right more often than not. - pocket-lint.com

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Thursday 05 July 2012, PM

BitTorrent usage increases in Europe, following the blockade of The Pirate Bay - ExtremeTech

Yet again, this is strong proof that trying to force a change in behavior simply doesnt work especially on the internet, where its denizens value freedom above all else. The sad truth, though, is that its actually easier to persecute file sharers than to navigate the insane morass of rights holders and licensees on any given TV show, movie, game, or song. If it was easy to create an official, legal version of The Pirate Bay, then the entertainment industry wouldve done it already theyre not that stupid. - extremetech.com

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Lord Sugars YouView service gets thumbs down from analysts - IT PRO

Launch of free digital and on-demand TV service gets picked over by onlookers. Sugar, whose Amstrad computer company supplied satellite dishes for the launch of Rupert Murdoch's Sky TV in the late 1980s, said cheaper set-top boxes would follow. YouView will also be packaged in broadband subscriptions from BT and TalkTalk, but software glitches meant no launch dates were unveiled at Wednesday's event. - itpro.co.uk

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George Entwistle: A good chap in the trenches who can command respect - TV Radio - Media - The Independent

Other than that, he has been a relatively low-key figure, slowly but surely climbing the rungs of the BBC for the past 23 years after joining the organisation as a trainee. Married with two children, he celebrates his 50th birthday on Sunday. Although he was quickly among the front-runners for the top job when Thompson announced he was stepping down in April, Entwistle has until recently been a relatively anonymous BBC executive. - independent.co.uk

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Locus Online Perspectives Cory Doctorow: Music: The Internet s Original Sin

In a recent Search Engine podcast, host Jesse Brown wondered about musics ongoing centrality to the debate over file-sharing and freedom. After all, the music industry has all but abandoned lawsuits against fans, and services from Last.fm to the Amazon MP3 store present a robust set of legit ways of hearing and acquiring music. So why is the music industry the enduring bogeyman of Internet policy fights - locusmag.com

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Can we reimagine TV news (please)? BuzzMachine

- buzzmachine.com

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New report reveals the economic impact of Sky

It also shows how the company has stimulated economic activity in a wide range of associated companies and industries, through relationships with thousands of UK suppliers and business partners. In that year, Sky generated sales of 6.4 billion and over 75 of this revenue was retained in the UK. For every 1 billon Sky contributes directly to GDP itself, it generates another 1.4 billion in the rest of the economy through its purchase of goods and services and staff spending their wages. - corporate.sky.com

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NOW TV to be available on YouView

Powered by Sky and launching this summer, it will offer access to some of Skys most popular programming. Sky Movies will be available from launch and the service will later expand to offer sport and entertainment. With no minimum contract, customers will be able to choose from a variety of pricing options - for example, paying monthly for unlimited access to Sky Movies, or renting a single movie on a simple, pay-as-you-go basis. - corporate.sky.com

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ITV online restructure puts 40 jobs at risk - Media - guardian.co.uk

Pembrooke joined ITV in 2010 and will leave the broadcaster at the end of the summer. Pembrooke's job title was managing director of ITV online and on-demand. ITV staff were told on Thursday that cost-cutting changes could put 40 jobs at risk in the 100-strong office. - guardian.co.uk

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Wednesday 04 July 2012, PM

George Entwistle named as new BBC director general - Media - guardian.co.uk

Currently the corporation's director of vision and a former editor of Newsnight, Entwistle will take over from Mark Thompson in the autumn on a salary of 450,000 a year. Entwistle beat his BBC colleague and the corporation's chief operating officer Caroline Thomson to the role. He has a formidable track record as a programme maker and in recent years has also shown his calibre as a leader. - guardian.co.uk

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Vaisey gets Commons grilling over 4G interference with Freeview - News - TechRadar

Culture Secretary Ed Vaisey has come under fire for the potential costs Freeview user may be saddled with in order to remedy expected interference from 4G masts. The masts, which are scheduled to go up around Britain next year we'll believe it when we see it, will help bring the next generation of mobile internet to gadget users across the nation. However, it is expected that the activity of the structures will negatively impact the Freeview reception in 900,000 homes. - techradar.com

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Wednesday 04 July 2012, AM

YouView digital supplier launched - ITV News

The 'on-demand' version of Freeview, the free-to-air digital service, will allow customers access to third-party content using a set-top box connected with an internet connection. YouView was launched by Lord Sugar in London today. about 1 hour ago Quiet and dull start to 2013 A calm and quiet start to the year but how long will it last - itv.com

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Tuesday 03 July 2012, PM

4seven

With so much choice out there, viewers are increasingly telling us that they sometimes just miss the best stuff, despite their PVR and VOD. The new channel gives you more chances to see the programmes that everyone's talking about, the programmes that you can't afford to miss. - channel4.com

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What Saorview will really cost you - National News - Independent.ie

WHEN the analogue signal is switched off on October 24, television viewers will need to access a digital signal via one of these options 60 to 100 once-off fee, plus aerial installation if required, which will cost 120 to 160. Combi box for both the Irish stations and the British freeview stations. - independent.ie

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The future of YouView depends on ease of use - Business - The Guardian

The broadcast industry is waiting to see whether the results will resemble an Apprentice task gone wrong or the future of budget pay-TV in the UK. Some have argued that YouView is too little, too late. Sugar has been working on the project since last year, when he took over as chairman, but it was originally due to launch in time for Christmas 2010. - guardian.co.uk

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BBC says MNOs must pay for Freeview filters - Advanced Television - Advanced Television

A BBC director has called on mobile network operators to pay for the costs of filters to stop 4G mobile services interfering with Freeview. Freeview managing director Ilse Howling said that government plans to force households to pay for the filters was wrong and really unfair. - advanced-television.com

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BBC - Research and Development: What is Perceptive Media?

Perceptive Media has not been formally explained, only mentioned in passing here. However, outside the formal channels of BBC RD, theres been much talk about the concept of Perceptive media. What it is, what it enables and its potential impact on traditional broadcasting. - bbc.co.uk

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DAB agreement is a complete shambles : Radio Today

The much awaited Memorandum of Understanding just published by the Government has been branded a total waste of time and energy by at least one radio group CEO. Multiplex operator MuxCo says they intend to launch very much towards the beginning of the 18 month period. Rogers, who is usually vocal on all things digital, said This is tantamount to kicking the can down the road and does absolutely nothing to end the uncertainties around the local DAB situation. - radiotoday.co.uk

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