Latest Headlines

• Take 1 appoints industry expert, Stephen Stewart, as COO (Take 1)

  Published December 10, 2019

  Broadcast metadata and transcription service provider, Take 1, has hired Stephen Stewart to fill the newly created position of chief operating officer.  The appointment is part of a broader restructure of the company’s senior management team to support their ambitious service and technology expansion plans. With previous roles as the vice president of global content […]

• Lego goes OTT with new streaming service (TBI Vision)

  Published December 10, 2019

  Children’s toy brand Lego has partnered up with multi-platform video distribution company Future Today to launch a streaming service. The Lego Channel is a free content app aimed at kids that will be available across all major OTT streaming platforms including Roku, Fire TV and Apple TV. It will feature more than 1,000 videos, which […]

• Telecom Italia strikes deal with DAZN (Digital TV Europe)

  Published December 10, 2019

  Telecom Italia (TIM) and sports streaming outfit DAZN have struck an agreement that will give TIM customers access to DAZN’s content through dedicated offers. The partnership builds on TIM’s strategy of establishing itself as a leading aggregator of content in Italy, with a sports offering that includes national and international football alongside other sports. From […]

• Amazon scores Champions League rights in Germany (Advanced Television)

  Published December 10, 2019

  On the heels of its Premier League streaming success, Amazon has acquired the rights to show selected matches from the Champions League to its subscribers in Germany, as the online giant continues to make strides into sports broadcasting in Europe. Amazon Prime Video will show ‘first-pick’ matches on Tuesday evenings of each game-week from the […]

• MovieLabs Publishes White Paper on the Future of Security for Production Workflows (MovieLabs)

  Published December 10, 2019

  Motion Pictures Laboratories, Inc. (MovieLabs), together with member studios, has published a new white paper that lays out security principles for the future of production where all assets will be stored in the cloud and all processing of those assets will run in the cloud. The paper, titled “Securing the 10-year Vision for the Evolution […]

• UK government contemplating decriminalisation of licence fee non-payment (Digital TV Europe)

  Published December 10, 2019

  The British government is considering decriminalising non-payment of the BBC’s licence fee. Speaking to the broadcaster’s radio network, justice secretary Robert Buckland said that “we are talking about… the decriminalisation of failing to pay the TV licence.” It currently is a criminal offence to watch live TV or use the BBC’s iPlayer catch-up service without […]

• Legacy to lose out as TV models to undergo more disruption in 2020 (Rapid TV News)

  Published December 10, 2019

  As consumer adoption of online alternatives grows the degree of disruption felt by traditional distribution models is accelerating and this will carry on right through 2020 says research from Strategy Analytics. In its Media & Entertainment Predictions for 2020 report, the analyst notes that a result of the proliferation of broadband and connected devices consumers […]

• Canal+ and beIN Sports in Ligue1 talks (Broadband TV News)

  Published December 10, 2019

  Canal+ and beIN Sports have entered into exclusive discussions with the aim of concluding a major distribution and sub-licensing agreement, the two groups announced. This partnership would enable Canal+ to offer access to the beIN Sports channels as part of its various offers, as of June 1, 2020, and to become their exclusive distributor. Canal […]

• China: Manchester United content deal with Alibaba (Advanced Television)

  Published December 9, 2019

  Manchester United FC has formed a new partnership with Alibaba Group will bring exclusive rights to club content in China to Alibaba’s ecosystem for the first time, further extending the club’s engagement with its massive Chinese fanbase. The partnership will see Manchester United content presented and localised on multiple Alibaba platforms, giving fans access to […]

• TVkey Cloud, developed by NAGRA and Samsung, wins Pay-TV Service Innovation of the Year at the VideoTech Innovation Awards (NAGRA)

  Published December 9, 2019

  NAGRA, a Kudelski Group (SIX:KUD.S) company and the world’s leading independent provider of content protection and multiscreen television solutions, today announced that TVkey Cloud, the cloud-based direct-to-TV security solution developed together with Samsung Electronics, won the Pay-TV Service Innovation of the Year award at the VideoTech Innovation Awards ceremony, held alongside the Video Exchange Streaming […]

• Plex launches global AVOD service (CSI Magazine)

  Published December 9, 2019

  Plex has launched a new ad-supported video on-demand service that lets users stream content for free. While consumers complain about video app fatigue and Plex is just one of many AVOD services to launch recently, the company behind it hopes its wide reach and programming will differentiate it from the competition. The service is available […]

• Report: Short-form streaming originals to boom (Advanced Television)

  Published December 9, 2019

  Snapchat, Facebook Watch and Quibi are driving a boom in short-form content according to a report by Ampere Analysis. Already making up 9 per cent of all VoD series globally, 11 per cent of upcoming VoD commissions are short-form. Initially driven by Comedy, upcoming short-form series are shifting towards factual content, with a focus on […]

• Pantaflix strikes AVOD deal with Sony Pictures (Digital TV Europe)

  Published December 5, 2019

  Munich-based video-on-demand service Pantaflix has struck a deal with Sony Pictures that it says will significantly expand its advertising-supported VOD proposition. The deal will bring a range of blockbuster movies and all series of Lost Girl, XIII – The Series and Charlie’s Angels to Pantaflix’s AVOD offering. From December, new content will be available for […]