- On-demand set to change European TV biz
model.
Although European rollout of on-demand services (such as VOD and SVOD) has been slowed by the high costs associated with upgrading the infrastructure, it is still widely seen as the next big thing in interactive application. In the U.S., home video companies, such as Blockbuster, are investing in VOD movies ......
- SBC’s Set-Top Brings DBS, DSL Together
For years, the cable industry has had the ability to deploy a cable modem inside a set-top box that would allow consumers to peruse the Internet using their TV sets. But the industry has never deployed the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification-based technology, because executives don’t think many consumers ......
- Ops Battle Patent Claims
It’s been a busy month for cable patent attorneys, as two little-known firms, Acacia Research Corp. and Broadcast Innovation LLC, have been pushing operators to pay them license fees for technology used for products such as digital cable and Internet-delivered streaming video. While Charter Communications Inc. won a small victory ......
- ‘Cable Cowboy’ Now Slinging Via Satellite
John Malone is one of cable’s fabled original cowboys, an entrepreneur, visionary and deal-maker who built up a cable company farsightedly called Tele-Communications Inc. into the largest system operator in the business. Now, the former engineer will use his intimate industry knowledge and experience to compete against his former colleagues....
- NTL Builds Arsenal Via $6B Deal for Telewest
NTL Inc. has agreed to purchase Telewest Global Inc. in a $6 billion deal that will solidify its position as the No. 1 cable operator in the United Kingdom and give it more firepower in its competitive duel with the largest pay-TV provider in the country, British Sky Broadcasting Group ......
- A Plan for Broadband Battle
DirecTV Inc. and EchoStar Communications Corp.'s Dish Network are now two of the four largest “multiple-system operators.” Telephone companies are spending billions to build their own broadband video networks. Internet services are putting up as many hours of video as they can put their hands on. But only cable has ......
- Is Japan open for takeovers? Some, yes. But not the
hostile variety.
Day in and day out, headlines in respected Japanese newspapers scream: "Livedoor buys another 3 percent of Nippon Broadcasting Systems (NBS) shares." Or, about NBS's parent company: "Fuji Television will do 50 billion yen new share offerings to fend off Livedoor's hostile bid." And the most extreme: "Foreign capital will ......