InformITV

The Competition Commission has provisionally concluded that the proposed video on demand joint venture between the BBC, ITV and Channel Four will restrict competition in the supply of video on demand services in the United Kingdom. The UKVOD initiative, also known as Project Kangaroo, is likely to result in a...

British satellite broadcaster Sky plans to offer broadcasters the ability to serve targeted adverts to viewers in Sky+ homes, based on their personal profiles. Television advertisers probably waste at least half of their money. They just do not know which half. Targeting advertising based on viewer preferences could avoid trying...

Joost has released an application for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch that allows users to stream and view any videos in its library over a wireless connection. The iPhone already has the built-in ability to access YouTube. The new Joost application is freely downloadable from Apple iTunes and has...

After closing down its network television recording service of dubious legality, TVCatchup has returned with a web site that will for the first time allow viewers in the United Kingdom to watch all the free-to-air television channels online in one place. It currently offers 18 channels and aims to offer...

A new hybrid bradcast and broadband box will allow the French pay-television broadcaster Canal+ to deliver interactivity and online video to the television through a built-in network port. Exclusively provided by Pace France, formerly the set-top box division of Philips, the first integrated high-definition digital video recorder for Canal+ is...

YouTube has finally expanded its player to support widescreen video and has even been experimenting with video in 1280x720 high-definition format. YouTube also supports subtitles and captions uploaded in simple file formats. As broadcasters and other online services continue to raise the bar in terms of video quality, it may...

All the main BBC television networks will be streamed online for the first time with the addition of the two main channels this week. Officially it is part of a 12-month trial, although it seems likely to become a permanent service. A new survey suggests the BBC iPlayer is incredibly...

People in the United Kingdom are more likely to have a digital video recorder than in any other country, relatively speaking, it seems. A recent Ofcom survey found that 30% of respondents in the UK said they had a DVR. However, informitv suggests the actual number could be lower. With...

In the last decade broadband has become one of the fastest adopted technologies. Our broadband market research provider Point Topic projects that the number of high-speed internet connections will grow by almost 70% to reach 680 lines worldwide over the next five years. This represents a massive market opportunity for...

Amino Communications is to acquire the IPTV set-top box business of Swedish company Tilgin AB for just over £2.5 million. The company offers a range of high-definition devices within its Mood product line which will extend the Amino portfolio, while adding new software features across the entire range....

Streaming video provider Move Networks has announced a strategic partnership with online video platform PermissionTV. Both companies will offer an integrated platform to enable the rapid deployment of interactive online video services using the Move Networks high quality streaming system, as used by networks such as ABC, Fox and ESPN....

A Scottish software company aims to enable smart mobile phones to become remote controls, changing channels or even programming set-top boxes to record a programme that can be streamed or downloaded to the handset. NXVision in Dunfermline is backed by a Wireless Innovation initiative to support Scottish technology development in...

A decade after the launch of digital television in the United Kingdom, Channel 4 is to end 'red button' interactive advertising at the end of the year, saying that there has been a decline in demand. The channel ended interactivity associated with programmes three years ago. It will also give...

A new commercial for Toshiba used 200 camcorders arranged in a ring to create what they call a time sculpture. It is a metaphor for the benefits of upscaling standard definition images to high definition displays. Upscaling is nothing new, but the campaign shows the power of creative television advertising....

Satellite broadcaster BSkyB is planning to offer some of its most popular subscription channels online as a standalone service through its Sky Player platform. Users in the United Kingdom and Ireland will be able to watch a package of channels from Sky on their Windows or Mac computer without having...

Ashley Highfield, the head of Kangaroo, the proposed joint venture video project from the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, has resigned after a matter of months to run the Microsoft Consumer and Online division in the United Kingdom. His departure will be a further set-back to the troubled Kangaroo project,...

British viewers could be wasting up to a week every year choosing what to watch on television. A survey commissioned by Microsoft of nearly 2,000 digital television viewers in the United Kingdom found that over a quarter of them rely on flicking through channels to choose what to watch, apparently...

The American election saw the television networks competing to provide the best interactive electronic graphics to enhance their coverage. Notable among them was CNN which provided what may have been the first ever live three-dimensional two-way, showing a virtual image of a remote correspondent beamed into the election set, for...

Having previously called Google a parasite, Michael Grade, the executive chairman of British broadcaster ITV, has again called on critics of the proposed Kangaroo online video service to contribute to the cost of programme production. Meanwhile ITV has announced the merger of its loss making online operations with its traditional...

Orange is suspending plans to launch a broadband television service in Britain. It seems that the France Télécom brand, which has had some success with internet protocol television in France, could not see a way to compete with a service from British Telecom. The news comes as Sky is reported...