Biographical Information

Articles for Adrian Pennington

Paramount Skydance Favorite for WBD but Don’t Rule Out a Saudi Bid

The fate of Warner Bros. Discovery is complicated by a politically motivated regulator but whatever happens, streaming is about to get shaken up again.

AI helps InterDigital reach beyond VVC in race to develop next-gen codec

Candidates for H.267 already significantly outperform VVC as the hunt for a new video compression standard gets underway

Video entertainment resilient to economic distress

Price inflation and wage squeeze are not putting a dampener on "TV" as consumers ratchet up their spend and their time spent on home video entertainment, according to the latest 2025 Video Trends Report from TiVo. The average number of services used by consumers is up too with the average number of FAST channels watched by viewers almost doubling year on year but SVOD churn has increased.

YouTube, TikTok attacked for control of audience

Social media are essential to monetization but leaves content owners vulnerable, said Candle Media CEO Kevin Mayer; while UK government threatens to force YouTube to promote BBC and ITV news content to prop up social cohesion.

IBC2025: 5G finally winning for live sports

Rewind to last year and 5G was still more proof of concept than real world scenario. Not any more. "5G is here and real," said Brad Cheney, VP, Field Operations & Engineering, Fox Sports at the IBC2025 trade event in the Netherlands.

IBC2025: Creators taking over the industry

"We consider broadcasters as creators," YouTube told an audience of traditional media at IBC in Amsterdam this week but it is far from clear if broadcasters fully understand the implications. At IBC, a trade show for technology that underpins the business of TV, the rise of YouTube, the growing professionalisation of content creators, and the attempts by vendors to court them was a notable trend.

IBC2025: Supply chain efficiencies won’t save sinking legacy media

One word dominated conversations at broadcast equipment show IBC this week - and it wasn't AI. Efficiency is on everyone's lips. With little genuine tech innovation around the legacy media business and the vendors who supply it are battling to survive by stripping cost and speeding processes. Applying artificial intelligence to pretty much everything seems to offer the only hope for broadcasters needing to balance the books before their audience is vaporised by streamers, social media and YouTube.

UK and US media voice political interference and self-censorship concerns

The assault on press freedom on both sides of the Atlantic was a major debate topic at the Edinburgh TV Festival, the premier annual event for the UK TV industry. with key figures like "Have I Got News For You" host Roy Wood Jr. and ex-Hollywood Reporter editorial director Matthew Belloni and others weighing in during a panel on "Trump vs. the Media."

YouTube streaming continues fast track to distribution domination

According to UK regulator Ofcom in its annual report, YouTube has become the UK's second most-watched media service, behind only the BBC. One in five viewers aged four to 15 years go to the video sharing platform first when they turn on their smart TVs, it found, while older generations aged over 55 are watching nearly twice as much YouTube as they did two years ago.

Telestream vs. Encoding.com lawsuit goes public with reputations at stake

Telestream, the veteran digital video software and workflow tech provider, is fighting a lawsuit brought by two former employees which may have salutary lessons for company owners planning a sale to private equity. The suit, brought by Greggory Heil and Jeffrey Malkin, co-founders of Encoding.com, against Telestream claims Unpaid acquisition consideration, wrongful termination, fraudulent transfer, and successor liability.

Netflix makes quietly aggressive aggregation play

Netflix announced at Cannes Lions that it will distribute the channels and on-demand content of French commercial broadcaster TF1 to Netflix members in France, beginning next year. If successful, Netflix will have jumped a start on all its rivals who have so far resisted, or failed to entice, broadcasters anywhere to share their entire schedule and programme output with a third-party streaming platform.

Warner Bros. Discovery drop linear ballast to float HBO Max

Having trailed the move a year ago, Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) chief David Zaslav has followed through on plans to split the company in half. The company is to separate into Streaming & Studios (HBO) and Global Networks (TNT Sports, CNN, B/R, Discovery) by mid-2026 effectively undoing the $43 billion merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery in 2022.

Merzigo Shows Localization as a Fundamental Content Growth Strategy

Originating from Turkey, with bases in London and L.A., Merzigo has become a global business by helping content owners like Warner Bros. Discovery and Walt Disney maximize revenue from program distribution on YouTube and Facebook. It just inked a new deal with Fremantle which extends its reach further across North America, Europe and Asia.

BBC trials low-latency live streams during Glastonbury and Wimbledon

The BBC has taken its trial of Low Latency DASH with chunked CMAF segments to the next stage by assessing how well its approach performs when received by viewers watching marquee sports and music events on iPlayer at home. The trial, which is for select viewers of BBC Two viewed live on iPlayer, will likely include music festival Glastonbury, tennis championship Wimbledon and the Women's soccer Euros which all start by the end of June or beginning of July.

Ad supply is outstripping demand, say JWP Connatix

As streaming ad inventory continues to exceed demand, JWP Connatix see an emerging buyer's market, with biddable CTV and context-driven monetisation for live and VOD expected to define the next phase of programmatic advertising.

BBC making AI deals with Silicon Valley and plotting streaming device for PSBs

Moves to transition the UK's free-to-air broadcasters to an all-streaming future have gathered pace with 2035 a likely tipping point with the BBC leading the charge.

Sport and short-form keys to accelerating Europe’s FAST growth, say Wurl

Sports are an "accelerator" for ad-supported streaming in Europe with short-form sports content emerging as a key driver of engagement, says Keith Bedford, GM EMEA at CTV data company Wurl. "As studios and sports broadcasters struggle to tie in major upfront deals and connect with younger audiences, new models for revenue and content discovery will be required," he says. "Short-form video could be one way we start to see sports content companies garner interest and boost engagement for their long-form and TVOD (transactional video on demand) businesses."

YouTube appeals to UK broadcasters and TV producers to reach audiences of all kinds

With YouTube dominating media consumption and conversation it was perhaps only natural that the UK and Ireland's chief gave the keynote to Creative Cities Convention (CCC), a conference for the UK TV industry. It may have come as a surprise to some in the audience that YouTube is not for kids but is intergenerational, said Alison Lomax, claiming the platform reached over 90 per cent of all age groups each month.

TNT Sports losses reflect broader challenges for sports subscriptions

Losses at TNT Sports, the UK pay TV broadcasting joint-venture between Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) and telco BT, increased to £187 million ($250m) during its first year (to July 2024) after a rebrand from BT Sport.

BBC unveils blueprint for long-term research driven by AI and IP

The BBC has outlined how it will plan future R&D and it is being built around internet-only, intelligent, intermediated, interactive and immersive media.

Relo Metrics gets up to speed with F1 sponsorship

F1 is experiencing explosive commercial growth and attracting 100+ million weekly viewers. Sponsorship spend across F1 and its teams for the 2025 season is projected to reach more than $2.9 billion. Debuting at the Australian Grand Prix, Relo's Census platform enables brands, teams, and agencies to track sponsorship performance instantly and optimise investments mid-season.

Streaming Viewers Are Willing to Accept Ads, But Not If They're Paying for it, Tubi Finds

As more and more streamers pile into advertising led subscription services there are signs of a potential backlash among consumers with nearly 80% agreeing that if they're paying for a streaming service, they expect no ads at all. That's according to a new survey by Tubi, which also found that nearly half of Gen Z viewers found ads that seem misaligned with their own preferences to "significantly disrupt" their enjoyment of the streaming experience.

Streaming Year in Review 2025: Online Video Is Now an Advertising-Led Business

Old Hollywood got Wall Street's memo: "Do whatever it takes to do what Netflix is do­ing." And finally, the studios have begun making money from streaming. With the exception of NBCUniversal, the biggest leg­acy media companies all reported a profit from their direct-to-consumer (DTC) businesses in Q3 2024. They got there by variously writing down or shedding ca­ble assets, slashing jobs, hiking prices, policing pass­word-sharing, improving bundled offerings, and put­ting the full focus of their business strategy into online.

The State of Live Sport Streaming 2025

The sport media sector continues to undergo rapid change, with streaming aggregators attempting to reconsolidate for greater ef­ficiency but still falling short of traditional broadcast models in reach and revenue.

Streamticker: The biggest streaming mergers and acquisitions of 2024

The 2024 edition of Streamticker, recapping the streaming industry's most momentous mergers and acquisitions of 2023, kicked off with Disney's gobbling up the last extant portions of Hulu, as Comcast ceded its re­maining 33% stake. But if the late-2023 deal marked only the quiet conclusion of an already-silent part­nership, the much noisier news of Jan. 6, 2025, found Disney absorbing sports-centric streamer Fubo and merging it with Hulu Live + TV. Here we'll review this and other done (or more nearly done) M&A deals that reshuffled the stream­ing industry in 2024.

Telcos look to capitalise on the AI Revolution

It's been three years since ChatGPT opened people's eyes to the potential of AI yet many telcos and their enterprise customers have struggled with how to get a return on investment. The dial is now switching from proof of concept to deployments at scale, according to executives at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

European telcos cry foul over OTT traffic—again

Telcos have been crying that they are being treated unfairly by Big Tech for at least a decade and the record seems to have stuck. MWC in Barcelona provided another chance for European operators to vent their frustration and this time they are armed with the provisional backing of the European Union.

Trump trade war rewires the geo-political importance of Big Tech

Sweeping tariffs imposed by the US on China, Canada, Mexico and potentially the European Union represent a potential rewiring of the global trade order with technologies like AI at the center of the power struggle.

Netflix revenues to overtake YouTube while Barb announce landmark YouTube measurement

Underlining YouTube's own declaration that "YouTube is the new television," UK TV measurement body Barb is to become the world's first to report YouTube viewing on TV set.

Sustainability Slips Down Industry’s Agenda Says Bitmovin Video Developer Report

The latest Video Developer Report compiled by Bitmovin shows sustainability slipping down the list of priorities, a casualty of the search for short term profit. The report made clear the industry's top priority is monetizing content more effectively with ad tech, which can be attributed to the huge spike in AVOD and FAST business models.

One quarter of video subscriptions will be managed by telcos in 2028

As subscription fatigue appears to be taking hold globally, content providers are turning to telcos as a key intermediary between themselves and the consumer in aggregating subscription services into Super Bundles. The global value of the subscription economy is U$331 billion, per Juniper Research, rising to US $996bn by 2028 of which a quarter will be delivered by telcos according to Omdia.

ISE2025: Use GenAI to unlock ‘unknown unknowns’ to innovate not iterate

AI was the buzzword at professional AV show ISE 2025. Microsoft talked about the AI-powered Workplace, AI postproduction tools were said to be "transforming the industry" and UK firm Synthesia claimed it was building the world's first enterprise AI video platform.

ISE 2025: Broadcast AV fuels Pro AV bonanza

Unveiling fresh data industry data at the ISE show in Barcelona this week, co-organizer AVIXA pointed to the rise of ‘Broadcast AV' and the related boom of the ‘experience economy' as some of the most significant factors impacting this burgeoning side of the business.

Broadcast news splinters and paywalls in last ditch bid to save “high quality, fair-minded, trustworthy sources”

Cost-cutting combined with transition to streaming and attempts to diversify business models are part of an ongoing response by news organizations, traditional print and TV, to irreversible shifts in the way audiences everywhere consume news. That's the background to a number of incremental and sweeping changes reshaping broadcast news--among them the pending shake-up at European broadcaster Sky News, which includes plans to create a paid model for some content and services.

Plateauing subscriptions push EU streamers to Freemium and consumers like it

Almost all major streamers have launched ad-supported services (Apple being the main exception) as they look to diversify their revenue streams in markets which are already saturated with SVOD. These ad models are succeeding in converting existing subscribers and growing overall subs numbers, as is evidenced in Germany.

Warner Bros. Discovery the Big Loser in Disney’s Fubo Sports Move

The agreement to merge Disney's Hulu + Live TV with Fubo will not only see Fubo dropping its anti-trust lawsuit against Venu but appears to cast Venu's other main partner, Warner Bros Discovery, out in the cold.

Brightcove Sold for $233m, Akamai Swoops in for Edgio, and Harmonic Raises For Sale Sign

Brightcove, the Technical Emmy-winning video platform vendor, has been sold to app developer Bending Spoons for $233 million. After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September select assets of CDN Edgio were picked up by Akamai last week. And a company with a "for sale" sign to watch is Harmonic.

UK Frames Policy to Continue Universal TV Access

Public service access to TV is to remain at the heart of UK government policy as a new report warns that over a million viewers are at risk of being excluded in the longterm transition to streaming.

IBC 2024: Pivot to Streaming Paying Off, Says Paramount Global CTO Wiser

Paramount Global is under the pump and about to be sold but its future is bright because it is successfully transferring systems from production to distribution in the Cloud, according to the company's Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Phil Wiser.

IBC 2024: AI’s Greatest Power in Media is to Make it Seem Normal

It was hard to keep AI out of the headlines at IBC Show 2024, not because there was anything groundbreaking in terms of news or product but because the technology is now part and parcel of every media tech conversation.

IBC2024: Media Vendors Sacrificing Training and Interop for Revenue and Efficiency, IABM Warns

At IBC2024, the IABM has warned media tech vendors that they cannot continue to do business the same way they always have. What's more, they are prioritising investments in products that generate revenue, flexibility, and efficiency at the expense of training and interoperability.

Irreversible Shifts in Tech and Behavior Are Reshaping UK TV

"The centrality of technology" is a major contributory factor in the decline of broadcast, particularly British public service broadcasters, who are struggling to keep pace with the internationalisation of streaming and irreversible, rapid changes in media consumption, BBC News' Analysis Editor Ros Atkins told execs on 21st August at the Edinburgh TV Festival.

WBD Basks in Record Olympic Streaming but the Challenge is Retaining New Subs

The results are in, and the winner by a mile are The Streaming Olympics. Labelled, rightly, ‘the first true Olympiad of the age of perpetual content,' the decision by the Olympic host broadcaster OBS and some key rights holders to embrace the everything everywhere of action from Paris and to stream it online is a triumph - with irreversible implications for the future of live.

Younger British Audiences Gravitate Toward YouTube as SVOD Performance Plateaus

The latest annual Media Nations report into the UK sector covering 2023 by the country's media regulator Ofcom reveals that significantly fewer young people are tuning in to traditional TV than ever, but that the TV set itself is becoming more popular among the same age group--only they tend to be watching YouTube and not BBC One.

Ad Tiers and Original Series Driving UK SVOD Market

Despite a contraction in the number of UK households paying for streaming services, the importance of original content to keeping and attracting subscribers is reinforced in new figures from consultancy and data analyst Kantar.

Media Excel Gains Visibility with AI Reality Check and Innovation

Artificial Intelligence has become a buzzword in streaming video with the promise of revolutionizing how we create, compress, and distribute videos. It's crucial to separate the hype from reality and rare to find a vendor willing to do so. Media Excel CEO Narayanan Rajan is one.

Tubi Returns to Crack the Crowded UK Streaming Market

Fox Corporation's ad-supported streaming service, Tubi, will shortly launch in the UK with more than 20,000 movies and TV episodes available on demand. The FAST service utilises machine learning to deliver personalized user experiences, said the company. Tubi will be available in the UK across every major TV platform, iOS and Android smartphones and on the internet.

IBC Unveils Lineup for 2024 Show, Promises Tweaks to Familiar Formula

Trade show IBC is back on track to almost pre-Covid levels, and will feature Content Everywhere and AI pavilions, according to organisers, in an update given three months before the show on September 13-16 opens in its usual Amsterdam home.

Olympics Rush to Streaming but Sports SVODs Need to Team up to Compete

The Olympics will have a seismic impact on the U.S. streaming market this summer with over a quarter of all SVOD subscribers signing up to a new streaming service just to watch the Games from Paris, according to new research.

UK Broadcasters Plot Managed Transition to Universal Access Streamed TV

UK broadcasters, including the BBC, have said that delivering TV over the air is no longer economically viable and envisage an increased reliance on broadband networks for video streaming in the future. In a comprehensive report submitted to the UK government regarding the future of TV distribution, regulator Ofcom found widespread support across the sector for TV services continuing to be available to all but no shared view about how to achieve this. Adrian Pennington lists the three broad strategies Ofcom outlined instead and the challenges for achieving them.

Netflix, Max, Disney+ Password Policing Is Latest Bid for Streaming Viability

Following in the footsteps of Netflix and Max, Disney+ is the latest streamer to crackdown on account sharing to boost subscriber growth and keep the business viable.

Streamticker: The Biggest Streaming Mergers & Acquisitions of 2023

When it comes to mergers and acquisitions in the streaming industry and M&E marketplace in 2023 and an accounting of the year's most consequential deals, it makes the most sense to open at the close: Disney's early-November announcement that it would fully subsume Hulu into its empire with a buyout that completed an acquisition initiated in pre-pandemic 2019.

The State of Live Sports Streaming 2024

Live content is led by sports, and fan appetite—much like bidding for rights—shows no sign of slowing down as the calendar turns to 2024.

MWC24: While 5G Lags, 6G and Quantum Wait in the Wings

Even while telco operators are scarred by their experience rolling out and paying for 5G, attention is turning to its successor 6G, which will begin to be adopted from 2030.

MWC24: Consumer XR Faces Reality Check

XR technology is forecast to rocket from a market value of $55 billion in 2023 to $490 billion by 2030, which holds both a promise and a puzzle. While business to business use of XR has taken hold, consumer applications have failed to move beyond the hype.

MWC24: Operators Struggle to Make 5G Pay Off

While AI was the future buzz at Mobile World Congress, operators debated how to recoup money from the millions of dollars poured into 5G networks, with repeated better regulation, wider cooperation, and promises not to repeat the mistakes of 5G.

MWC24: AI Has Telcos Thinking About the Future of Networks

AI is set to turbocharge the mobile phone industry making sweeping changes to internal processes and customer applications from telemedicine to personalised live sports broadcasts, according to executives at the Mobile World Congress, Barcelona.

UK Broadcasters Put Free TV at the Centre of the Streaming Age

Britain's major free to air public broadcasters BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5 have given more details of their collaborative new free TV service that will deliver live TV over broadband.

EBU's New Global Sports Platform Includes America's Cup Coverage

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), owned by a consortia of public free-to-air broadcasters, has launched a new global sports DTC streaming platform that will include coverage of the America's Cup from Spain later this year.

Entertainment Industry Enters Age of Austerity

More than 260,000 global technology-sector employees were laid off in 2023 from 1186 companies, some 100,000 more than in 2022. The most recent is Amazon, which has announced job cuts in Prime Video and MGM Studios divisions together with 500 staff, a third of the total, from gaming platform Twitch. 

Spotify Remains Number 1 Music Streamer

Launches CTV ad business with Roku, expands audiobook inventory and doubles down on AI with huge room for growth identified by researchers Kantar

AI at IBC 2023: The GenAI Is Out of the Bottle

AI dominates IBC discussion but application remains thin on the ground

Update from IBC 2023 – Warner Bros. Discovery Eyes “Massive Opportunity” for Ad-Lite VOD

Adrian Pennington reports from IBC about Warner Bros. Discovery's new "ad-lite" VOD approach, with its launch of an ad-lite version of Discovery+ in Germany and its new TNT Sports venture. He also reports on the recent YouTube Primetime European launch.

Enter CNN Max: News, Then Sports the Differentiators for WBD’s Max Überplan

WBD hopes CNN Max, its latest attempt to solve news streaming, will finally crack the code. But it has its work cut out since the platform, launching September 27, is behind the curve of its competitors.

UK proposes ‘Video-on-demand Code’

The UK government has published proposals which it says will enable public service broadcasters (PSBs) to compete better with foreign streamers.

Streamticker: The Biggest Streaming Media Mergers & Acquisitions of 2022

A look at the streaming industry's most notable mergers and acquisitions of 2022, from WarnerBros-Discovery to Microsoft/Activision to Limelight/Edgecast to Dolby/Millicast to Telestream/Encoding.com and more

The State of OTT 2023

Netflix may have pioneered online pay TV on-demand with a model that every other SVOD chased. From April 2022, a pivot was required of every player, Netflix included.

The State of Live Streaming 2023

2022 was the year in which sports, the appointment-to-view genre with massive audiences and revenues, moved to the centre of major streaming provider strategies.

MWC2023: The Metaverse will be user-generated

Almost every major stand at MWC2023 in Barcelona features some version of the metaverse whether that's a digital twin or volumetric capture studio. Day 3 keynotes at MWC2023 focused on current challenges to building the metaverse and growing the metavers economy.

European Telcos Bark that Netflix and Big Tech Must Pay Fair Share–But Their Bark Lacks Bite

Speaker after speaker at Mobile World Congress heralded a new era of cooperation and openness with US-based big tech at the same time as pleading for the heaviest data traffic streamers to pay their way—and urging regulators to step in if they do not.

MWC 2023: AWS, Microsoft, and Google partner with mobile operators to scale Web3 from cloud to edge

Mobile telecoms operators are uniting with major cloud providers in a bid to make it easier to unlock the full potential of the edge compute revolution. The aim is to enable greater interoperability between carrier networks and between networks and the cloud via APIs to accelerate development of applications such as immersive mixed reality experiences and Web3.

Netflix Steadies the Ship with a Smaller Piece of the Pie

With Netflix' new ad-supported service included for the first time in its earnings results, there were encouraging signs that the streamer has stemmed the crisis that had seemed to engulf it after losing customers in the first half of 2022.

BBC’s Internet-Only TV Is a Threat, Not a Promise

The BBC is preparing to shut down its traditional television and radio broadcasts and shift everything online, but will do so only if the principal of universal affordable access is maintained.

Gambling on Sports Is a Sure Bet for Streamers

The travails of FuboTV aside, streamers are advancing on incorporating Sportsbooks into their live product

Netflix Reports Q3 Bounceback, Follows Broadcast-Centric Business Models with New Ad Tier

Netflix reported a strong third quarter after the market closed on Tuesday, with more growth anticipated in Q4 after its Basic with Ads tier launches November 1 in twelve countries as part of a wider development in the streaming ecosystem that will see streaming platforms engage with the metrics of linear broadcast for the first time.

Google and Paramount at IBC 2022: Use Data for Personalization, Storytelling, and Customer Retention

Data is worth it's weight in gold to digital service providers who can mine it effectively. Power that data extraction with AI and ML and it will drive personalised content recommendations, and improved search and discovery to help differentiate a service and stem churn. This was a major topic across the IBC showfloor in Amsterdam this week. 

ITV Preps ITVX Streamer for ‘Digital Acceleration’

Later this year British commercial broadcaster ITV plans to launch a new streaming service combining SVOD and AVOD in two tiers.  

Warner Bros. Discovery Talks Synergies, Scale, and Live in IBC Keynote

"We want to be whatever we wish to be in the content landscape," said Warner Bros. Discovery CIO Dave Duvall in a keynote at the IBC media and entertainment technology trade show in Amsterdam. "Our ambition is not limited by resource. Now it's about product market fit with our D2C business and scale is a big driver." 

Encoding.com Talks Telestream Acquisition and Powering M&E VOD and Broadcast Workflows

"Now the same tools that power Vantage on prem are being incorporated into Encoding.com cloud," says Telestream VP Cloud Revenue Jeff Malkin (formerly president of Encoding.com). "We will leverage the framework to add new tools and make an unrivaled cloud solution." 

Comcast Urges Advertisers to Buy into FAST

In a report designed to focus advertiser attention on its own FAST service Xumo, Comcast finds that FAST penetration has more than doubled year-over-year. 

Netflix and Microsoft Team for Ads as Wider Consolidation Looms 

Having signalled its intent to launch an ad-supported service earlier this year, Netflix' announcement of Microsoft as its partner in the venture prompted immediate speculation about Redmond's intent to buy the streamer wholesale.

SVODs Target Growth in Central and Eastern Europe

As more OTT services begin to look to the region as an expansion point, CEE's SVOD subscriber base is projected to grow over 60% from 2020 to 2022, primarily driven by Netflix. This strong growth is forecast to continue into the future, supported by the launch of new services including SkyShowtime and the steady improvement of broadband availability.

M&A in Media and Telecoms Hits Record $469 Billion in Teeth of Recession

Despite increasing interest rates, the stock market decline in the tech sector and a potential recession, M&A business among media and telcos is heating up.

Live Streaming Carbon Cuts Are Working, But There's More to Be Done: Blackbird Report

TV production's carbon output in the UK dropped by more than half in 2021, and though some of that is due to production shutdowns, there are clear signs that industry efforts to become more sustainable are working. Still, there's a long way to go, according to a new report from Blackbird.

BT Sport Moves Further Towards 8K Broadcasts

BT Sport delivers first live 8K broadcast of a top-tier sporting event into the home, a broadcast of the Saracens v Bristol Bears Gallagher Premiership Rugby Match on March 26.

The Building Blocks of the Metaverse

The most important aspects of the entire metaverse project are the interchange standards and the tools, protocols, formats, and services that enable persistent and ubiquitous virtual simulations. Without them, there will be no metaverse.

Blockchain and NFTs: Power to the Creators

Some say NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are a novelty, a status symbol for the crypto rich, and a bubble that's bound to burst. Others argue that NFTs will fundamentally change business models in the creative industries. It's early days, but there's plenty of momentum behind NFTs and blockchain. Here's what you need to know.

IBC: We've Been Apart for Too Long

The international focus of events like IBC generate a sense of excitement and a critical mass of activity that drives the whole industry forward. That momentum has been noticeably lacking in 2021, and it's time to get the ball rolling again.

VR? AR? Today, It's All About XR

Interest in VR has waned, even as the technology has improved. But combine it with augmented reality and mixed reality to form extended reality (XR), and things get interesting.

id3as: Streaming Tech Designed for When Things Go Wrong

With clients and partners like Nasdaq, Arqiva, and Limelight Networks, id3as has made a name for itself as providing technology that's "good on a bad day."

Cloud Native Production: The Next Level of Carbon Reduction

While many media organizations are starting to use the cloud for editing and post-production workflows—in part because of its merits to sustainability—they can go further by using fully cloud-native solutions, according to a new report commissioned by Blackbird and carried out by Green Element.

Mozark Improves QoE by Tightening App Performance

OTT platforms with greater control over third-party infrastructure perform better, says measurement platform Mozark

Verizon Preps 5G Edge for 8K Live with AWS and Zixi

Zixi's Software-Defined Video Platform and live protocol are being used to deliver the 8K stream with AWS and Verizon for a major global broadcaster

AWS Takes SDI in the Cloud to Next Level

Proof of concept of uncompressed live video workflow in the cloud demonstrates future production possibilities and opens up interop can of worms

Netflix Goes 'Direct' to Older Viewers

The new live linear channel being trialled in France could be rolled out internationally, including in the U.S.

5G's Future Is Broken. Here's Why We Need 6G

InterDigital, one of the chief architects of generational telecoms developments, says true immersive video experiences are a bust at 5G

8K: History Repeats Itself

With production challenge solved, smarter AI upscaling and enhanced codec technologies will enable 8K streaming to the home—inevitably.

Moving Picture, Audio, and Data Coding by Artificial Intelligence: "A New Way to Make Money"

New standards body MPAI plans to develop new specifications for data coding, using AI to bridge the gap between technology and licensing.

IBC: 5G Live Broadcast Demo Shows Work Needs To Be Done

An ambitious demo for IBC's Showcase brought together multiple broadcasters and vendors to demonstrate 5G's potential for remote production, but showed that it's a long way from ready for primetime

Sky: "It's All Digital Now"

It's time to get beyond the notion that it's pay TV vs OTT, argued executives from Sky, ViacomCBS, YouTube, and Roku at a "virtual IBC" event hosted by Bitmovin

The State of SVOD in Europe

Already wilting under the Death Star orbit of Netflix and forewarned of further competition landing from US studios, Europe's broadcasters have drawn up plans to defend their position.

Sisvel Announces AV1 Patent Pool

Royalties for 2,000 patents in AV1 from at least 12 companies will be charged via Video Coding Licensing Platform administrator Sisvel, which promises "reasonable and transparent" cost

BT Sport Brings 8K Broadcast Closer to Home

Last night's 8K demo at Emirates Stadium was more than just proof of concept. It could herald a commercial 8K service sooner than anyone thought possible.

Ericsson Claims to Beat Huawei's 5G Streaming Record

Speeds of 4.3Gbps could download an hour-long 4K episode in just 14 seconds; the old record was 2.92Gbps

Is Linear On Demand the Future? 3SS Is Betting on It

Super-aggregation requires a user experience capable of understanding individual taste and serving content from all of a viewer's video services. 3SS believes it has the solution.

Huawei 5G Decision Prioritises Highway to Silicon UK

In a move that angered the opposition at home and allies in the US, Boris Johnson's Conservative government has decided to allow Huawei into non-core elements of the 5G network in the UK

InterDigital: Building the Mirror World

Wireless and HEVC patent holder InterDigital is engaged in long term research into next-generation codecs driven by artificial intelligence, lightfield video distribution, digital humans, and 6G connectivity.

Liberty Global Boosts Video Delivery with Teltoo P2P

First rollout will be in The Netherlands, with plans to deploy in all territories Liberty Global serves

Walking with Daemons: BBC Imagines Interactive His Dark Materials

Latest BBC research into object-based media takes its cue from low-latency game streaming and puts data and compute as close as possible to the user device; uses BBC/HBO drama as example

Amazon's Premier League Live Stream Kicks Off with Qualified Success

Amazon delivers solid debut with room for improvement; EPL will watch with an eye to launching its own "Netflix for football"

BBC and Sky Collaborate to Fend off Common Foe

iPlayer gets more prominent position in front of Sky subscribers; Sky increases momentum for addressable TV tech AdSmart

IBC '19: Deploy IP or Be Left Behind, Says Cisco

"Find your network wizard and keep them," BBC's Mark Patrick urges broadcasters

IBC '19: CMAF Ready for Wider Stage

Apple, Microsoft, and the industry bodies backing the interop standard feel the time is right to take it to the next stage

IBC '19: Imagine Refocuses on Ad Tech

As conversations turn to monetizing OTT, Imagine Communications says it is morphing from hardware manufacturer to software and services

IBC '19: Red Bee Aim to Solve 'D2C Dilemma'

Linear playout specialist adds OTT to its armoury and shows off capability in live remote production

IBC 2019: Codecs Top the Agenda

Also trending: 8K TV, data-driven personalised content, and automated production solutions

Bitmovin: Codec Complexity is a 'Nuclear Bomb'

Video streamers want "broadcast-like" latency but device and codec complexity is holding back the entire industry, finds a new report from the company. Among other findings: 20% of respondents don't use any video analytics.

CDN G-Core Labs Plots U.S. and Global Expansion

Luxembourg company claims its CDN and media streaming product has unrivalled performance, protection and coverage

iSize Claims Massive Performance Savings for its Debut AI Codec

BitSave promises 70% bitrate savings via machine learning, and currently works with H.264, with H.264, H.265, and VP9 on the way

BBC Uses Cloud Gaming Techniques To Test Object-Based Broadcasting at Scale

BBC R&D sees the future of video delivery as a 'many to many, Twitch or YouTube-style of media.'

BritBox Launch Will Pile More Pressure on Netflix

The "Best of British" SVOD launches domestically soon with content pulled from rivals including Netflix. But with BBC keeping content on iPlayer for 12 months, will it offer enough to get people to pay?

Blackbird Plans Launch into Video Distribution

The firm is best known for postproduction, but its underlying compression technology is being commercialised to solve latency and buffering in live streaming

Amino Acquires UX Specialist 24i Media for €21.4 Million

The acquisition will allow Amino to offer pay TV operators a better-integrated user experience solution; 24i will retain its brand

DVB-I Promises Sub-Second Latency for Broadcast and IP

DVB will release the first DVB-I specifications at IBC in September, promising low latency as well as the ability to deploy standalone or as a broadcast-OTT hybrid

BARB Rolls Out Meters to Improve SVOD Viewing Measurement

New routers will measure panel members' viewing on smartphones for the first time

Tokyo Olympics 2020 to be “The Most Digital Ever” and Put Cameras in Orbit

International Olympic Committee broadcaster Olympic Broadcasting Services plans for rocketing increase in digital viewing and remote cloud production for next Olympics

VVC and AV1 Show Efficiency Gains; MPEG Announces Third Next-Gen Codec

BBC R&D finds that AV1 produces better low-bitrate quality than HEVC, but the codec picture will get even muddier in 2020 as MPEG fast tracks VVC, MPEG-5 EVC, and LCEVC

Mainstreaming Targets New Lows in Encoding and Latency

Fresh funding expected to take MainStreaming's video delivery network into new territories

Rugby League PRO14 Goes OTT With StreamAMG

Guinness PRO14's new OTT service launches after test streaming to social media in selected territories

Online Second Behind Pay TV as Europe’s Preferred Watch

New study by Gracenote and nScreenMedia reveals insights into consumer behavior and attitudes in UK, Germany, and Sweden and finds that nearly half of viewers are multi-source television households/

Sky and ITV Make Major Ad Tech Moves

British broadcasters have made separate moves to advance ad-tech in a further defence against online competition but questions of scale, cost and measurement remain.

The State of Mobile Video 2019

Mobile viewing is already on the rise even before mobile operators prepare for 5G to skyrocket data demand. But monetisation remains up in the air.

The State of Video Monetisation 2019

Ad revenues are up, but challenges with measurement and subscriber churn remain

Brexit: A Disaster in Waiting or Y2K All Over?

The British streaming media community will be largely unaffected by the UK's (eventual) departure from the EU but the damage may already be done, and the effect on the associated creative industries could be significant.

The State of the Streaming Market 2019

Our annual big-picture look at the numbers that tell where the online video market is today and where it's headed in the next year

Live Sports Streamers Want Sub-10 Second Latency

M2A Media explains how it orchestrates live streaming worldwide for DAZN, at the Vortech.by conference; Amazon talks AI and the Royal Wedding

UK TV Looks Inward for Brexit BritBox

ITV and BBC announce belated SVOD plans—with Channel 4 and Channel 5 to join down the road—but will UK viewers pay for a 'Made in Blighty' streamer?

British Pathé TV Reboots SVOD with StreamAMG

Looking for full analytics and greater in-house control, the legendary British media company is partnering with StreamAMG and its MediaPlatform and Cloud Pay as it continues to build its niche SVOD service

BARB Fingers SVOD for Rise in 'Unidentified Viewing'

BARB's best guess of growing SVOD viewing habits is that Netflix, Amazon, and Sky Now are the cause, accounting for 19% of total activity in 2018

Deutsche Telekom Presents World-First 6K VR Live Stream

A behind-the-scenes look at the demonstration in Bonn of another attempt to get VR off the ground at higher resolution and lower bitrates

Telestream Tells IBC of Plans to Track Live Stream Latency

With help from Unified Streaming, Telestream has diverted all of its R&D into Project Orchid, which is designed to offer one-click live channel origination that supports real-time self-optimisation

At IBC, an AI Startup Hacks the Brain for Audience Insights

Can technology scan viewers' brains to understand how they emotionally respond to stories? One startup searches deeper for the future of recommendations.

Netflix Focusses its Growth on Broadcast Carriage, Not Sports

Let's get this out of the way: Netflix won't be carrying live sports. But, one Netflix exec said at IBC, "We never say never."

Amazon Alexa Voice Control Becomes a Concern for Broadcasters

As Amazon pushes into the living room with TV voice control, broadcasters push back. Channel 4 is worried that niche programming will be hidden from the viewer.

Arqiva Urges the Industry to Join a Blockchain TV Pilot Project

The pilot begins next month, and its success could lead to longer-term explorations of ultra-local peer-to-peer video distribution.

At IBC, an Investment in IP Begins to Take Hold for Imagine

As its broadcaster customers make the difficult switch to online distribution, Imagine is struggling to go with them. The new CEO outlines the path ahead.

UK Media Regulator Calls for British Netflix

In a marked shift from almost a decade ago, a consolidated UK broadcaster VOD service is on the cards after the UK media regulator appeared to greenlight such a development.

As Brexit Looms, UK Creative and Media Tech Industries at Risk

The UK's position as the leading international hub for global media groups is under threat as the prospect of a no-deal Brexit grows

UK Broadcasters Hope Netflix-style App Will Stop the Rot

ITV, BBC, and Channel 4 plan to launch a joint live and on-demand app via Freeview Play this year in an effort to compete with Netflix and Amazon

BBC Streams FIFA World Cup in UHD HDR, But Not to All Viewers

Live UHD streams of World Cup football over iPlayer are a BBC first, but HDR is not under the corporation's full control

HQ Trivia and the Race to Ultra-Low Latency Live Streaming

Live video is getting interactive requiring bidirectional communication with low latency. Companies like Ex Machina, Haivision, nanocosmos, and Wowza—as well as the SRT Alliance—are working on solutions.

The State of Video Advertising 2018

The power and reach of digital video advertising is on the rise, but solving challenges with cross-media measurement and quality metrics top the agenda for the coming year.

The State of Live Video 2018

Live keeps pay TV in the game; piracy and scalability issues dog streaming; remote production comes of age; and the battle over sports rights has barely begun.

The State of Mobile Video 2018

Vodafone and Liberty play chess over a megamerger, 5G hunts for business, and AR makes ground over VR. Small devices will make big moves in the year ahead.

BARB Delays Launch of Dovetail

The eagerly anticipated cross-platform audience monitoring is on hold until BARB can combine two existing metrics into a single measurement

Cable Congress: The Multi-Gigabit Home Needs Multi-Gig WiFi

For service providers to deliver VR, 8K, and other next-gen video services to the home, they'll need to offer gigabit or higher wi-fi. Also, Ben Keen looks at Netflix's dominance in Europe with an eye towards China.

MWC 2018: The Internet's Interface Will Be AR/VR Thanks to 5G

"AI will be woven into every aspect of our lives" as the 5G-enabled cloud takes prominence and phones diminish in importance.

MWC 2018: With 5G, World Is 'On the Cusp of Hyper Connectivity'

After years of demos and trials, 2018 is the year when 5G finally becomes commercialized. Look for a dramatic impact on the internet of things—but only if security problems are conquered.

Sky and BT Sport Retain EPL Rights; Amazon to Pick up the Rest?

Pay TV operators pay £4.464 billion for the majority of English Premier League rights through 2022, with two more packages yet to be awarded

Eurosport Grounds Ambitious Olympics in IP Connectivity and the Cloud

Discovery Communications' sports division spent €1.3 billion on pan-European digital and linear rights to Olympic Games until 2024, and aims to make every second of every event from PyeongChang available on multiple platforms.

Sky Moves to All-Streaming Era

Pay TV operator, soon likely to be owned by Disney, details plans to ditch the dish and continues drive to go beyond its traditional long-term subscription with streaming services.

Eutelsat: CDNs More Expensive than Satellite for Pay TV

Satellite provider tables plans to enable multiscreen at home and TV everywhere, says content delivery networks are too costly at high volume

BBC "Reinvents" Free-to-Air Sports Online

The BBC will produce and distribute an additional 1,000 hours a year of sports online, including rugby, tennis, swimming, and basketball

Sales of 4K Playback Devices Belie the Lack of Content

4K was always a format pushed onto the market by consumer electronics vendors, and the relative lack of consumer interest in the higher resolution along with distribution bottlenecks are restricting adoption

Discovery and Eurosport Unveil Digital First Winter Olympics

European rightsholder marks first Olympics coverage with major social media, mobile and interactive overhaul.

Can Better Monitoring Prevent a Replay of Class Action Against Showtime?

Showtime faces a class action after problems with the Mayweather-McGregor fight stream. Continual and complete testing might mitigate future brand damage if the issue was not with the content provider.

Facebook Primes Watch for Video Explosion in IBC Keynote

The social network pitches its new video service as the community-based OTT platform broadcasters have been waiting for.

IBC '17: ITV and Channel 4 Tout Value of OTT

UK commercial broadcasters emphasized the value of an OTT offering that hews closely to the traditional TV experience

IBC '17: Kantar Offers Facebook Video Metrics

Comparisons between video performance on Twitter and Facebook offer advertisers and broadcasters a new layer of understanding audience behaviour

Screens Everywhere and Intelligence in the Network: Nokia’s TV Vision 2025

Nokia urges operators to move delivery and UX to the cloud as screens become dumber and ubiquitous

BBC Moves To Deliver Object-Based Media at Scale

Object-based audio advances to the next stage in nonlinear content creation delivery

Ericsson Unveils MediaFirst Content Processing

Firm's media unit continues to innovate while looking for a buyer; MediaFirst Content Processing promises low latency via distributed cloud infrastructure

Live Social Video is the Future, says Streaming Tank

Streaming Tank uses Chinese investment to build its own video player and expand East, and continues to push ahead in live VR and 360° streaming

360° Video Is No Gateway to VR, says BBC

BBC R&D is not convinced of the case for producing news in VR, and warns against the perils of relying too heavily on tech company sponsorship of branded 360° or VR news content

Beware the Android TV Revolution

The pluses of Google's platform should be approached eyes wide open by operators, says 3 Screen Solutions MD Kai-Christian Borchers

Hyperreality and the Urgent Need to Scale Content

The demand for realistic CG content to fuel immersive media applications requires new production methods and a new codec

Nagra Declares the "Post-OTT Era"

Content security and UX specialist also says the industry's TV everywhere experience is too complex—which is why pirates are scoring big hits

Sky Takes Stake in V-Nova

The compression specialist hopes Sky's profile will lift not only the attributes of its Perseus technology but an outcome similar to Amazon's swoop for Elemental

Getting Ready for Video Over 5G: How Should the Industry Prepare?

With operators at risk of a ‘build it and they will come' approach, can a converged video contribution and delivery network monetize 5G?

Why Mixed Reality Is the Future of Immersive Broadcasting

Intel and Microsoft are among those building tools for a merged reality video experience that could be streamed directly to the home.

The State of Mobile Video 2017

Mobile video traffic keeps rising at a rapid rate, leaving operators struggling to keep up with demand. Meanwhile, the U.K. is falling behind on broadband connectivity.

Streaming Forum: TVPlayer Plans an International Expansion

The online video aggregator is fielding an offer from a European telco while preparing to launch a global SVOD service from a European broadcaster.

Streaming Forum Keynote: BT Brings OTT and Broadcast Together

The war between over-the-top and broadcast video is over, and both sides won. In its Streaming Forum opening day keynote, BT explains the strategy and challenges of creating a multi-screen experience.

Streaming Forum: IPTV Companies Poised to Win the Pay TV Battle

Launching direct-to-consumer video services is increasingly easy, but gaining a mass audience requires getting access, warns IHS Markit.

The State of 4K and HDR 2017

4K video is gaining traction and changing production workflows, but viewers aren't dazzled by higher resolutions, anymore: Look for HDR to have a bigger impact on consumers.

The State of Live Video 2017

Sport leads the way as live video continues to grow. Will this be the year it overcomes problems delivering quality results at scale, conquering latency, and securing monetization?

Virtual Voice Assistants Are Set to Disrupt the TV Value Chain

Netgem launches SoundBox with Alexa for telco operators as the battle to control the end user's smart home takes off. It's not just about the TV.

The State of Advertising 2017

Video advertising revenues are on the rise, along with AI, even as industry players argue over metrics. The current buzzwords are mobile, viewability, and programmatic.

Sky Paves the Way for OTT Future

The broadband-based service will be rolled out first in the UK, then in Italy, Germany, and Austria. There's no word yet on whether it would offer 4K content or include bandwidth to the home for 4K streaming.

Lost in Time: The Future of Immersive Media

A high-concept game show devised by members of The Matrix visual effects team, produced in Norway, and being sold by the makers of The X Factor could herald the future of multi-screen entertainment.

BBC will "Reinvent" iPlayer to maintain relevance

Facing competition from the likes of Now TV, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video, the BBC is setting out to make iPlayer the top OTT service in the UK

Live OTT Warrants Advertising Premium, Says Massive CTO

Massive CTO Max Ramsay discusses Facebook Live, 4K, 360° video and more in this look at the trends in OTT and live video as 2016 comes to a close

Streaming Forum Preview: OTT An "Unstoppable" Force

Dan Finch of TVPlayer and Simplestream will present one of the Streaming Forum keynotes, and here he offers his take on the state of OTT as we head into 2017

SVOD Is the Clear OTT Winner

Amazon Prime Instant Video's expansion and the introduction of BritBox drive home the point: SVOD will be the leading OTT business model for the foreseeable future.

YouView Takes Service to the Cloud

YouView claims to be the first large-scale UK broadcaster to embrace the cloud; changes include a redesigned UI and a move from Flash to HTML5

Virgin Goes Mobile First With Revamped TiVo and TellyTablet Launch

The Virgin-branded Telly Tablet allows viewers to watch content anywhere in a house; company also introduced revamped Virgin TV Anywhere app and new TiVo-powered V6 box

Sky Launches Into VR

Sky is committed to seeing VR succeed where 3D failed, and has established the 10-person Sky VR Studio to spearhead innovation and content creation

VR's Two-Tiered Takeoff

Despite a year of content and production experimentation by studios and broadcasters, poor quality experiences could yet impede VR take-off

An Object Lesson in Personalized Streaming Video Experiences

What custom content does each viewer want to see? As broadcast and broadband converge, object-based media is showing the way to the future, and the BBC is taking the lead.

Nanocosmos' H5Live Player Offers Reduced Latency in Live Streaming

The Berlin-based company developed H5Live in response to customers that requested live end-to-end streaming services including a server environment

Unified Remix Combats Ad Blockers

Unified Remix is a software engine that creates a single stream from a playlist created by a call to an ad network, a rule set, or by CMS generation, preventing ad blockers from identifying ad server URLs

IBC Wrap: IP Lifts Media Into a Phase of Experimentation

IP and IT are transforming the broadcast industry, causing seismic shifts in both technological and business strategies, say execs from EBU, ITV, IABM, and Ericsson in this look at the most important trends coming out of IBC 2016

IBC '16: Google Says Nobody Owes Publishers a Living

Google blames some publishers' ineffective digital strategies for "waterfalls of intrusive ads" but says technology offers opportunities to innovate out of the impasse

Nagra: TV Is Now a Connected Play

Company releases findings from its Pay-TV report and introduces TVkey USB device, which enables users to sign up for pay-TV services directly on selected Samsung TVs

IBC '16: Sony Stresses Open IP Systems

The firm also trials cloud switching with Swisscom and IP production with Euromedia

IBC '16: Google Tells Broadcasters to Wake Up to Mobile

Broadcasters are in the midst of an unprecedented revolution, and according to Google it's not IP

IBC '16: Imagine Communications Says IP-Based Production is Ready for Primetime

A well-architected IP-based production facility can provide the same robustness, reliability, and performance as SDI-based infrastructures, says Imagine Communications CEO Charlie Vogt

IBC '16: Netflix Re-Engineers as a Premium Play to Drive Growth

The SVOD service is overhauling its program library to move from a longtail warehouse to a premium platform

Nokia Debuts Predictive Optimisation and Multiscreen Ad Solutions

Nokia claims the technology will allow operators to reduce video buffering times by up to 40 percent.

Harmonic Claims 50% OTT Performance Improvements with EyeQ

Unveiled at IBC 2016, EyeQ is the product of eight years' research and several filed patents, and will be released in the fourth quarter.

DDVTech Updates MistServer, Claims Load Balancing Lead

The Dutch developer releases research which promotes claimed industry leading load-balancing and latency improvements for MistServer

NewTek To Debut IP Switcher at IBC

NewTek set to debut the NewTek IP Series production system at IBC, while other vendors will get behind the Alliance for IP Media Solution in Amsterdam

Voddler To Launch Live Streaming Solution

The Swedish group is also targeting emerging markets in APAC and MEA with its VoddlerNet peer-assisted delivery platform

Electrifying OTT Services With the Cloud: Going Beyond the Box

Though fraught with challenges, the move to the cloud for DVR, UI-UX, and ad insertion is helping service providers and operators maximize revenue and deliver a better experience to their subscribers.

5G Momentum is Building

4G will eventually be unable to cope with the growth in video data. Multiple 5G network launches are predicted by 2020, but experts warn rollout will take far longer, as business model questions remain.

Net Insight's Sye Claims to Solve OTT Latency and Sync

Swedish software developer says its new technology offers frame-accurate sync with broadcast, making it ideal for second-screen sports viewing, and is currently in commercial tests with customers including Tata Communications

Sky Confirms August UHD Launch

UHD service will go live on Sky Q Silver box with movies, drama, and Premier League, and could find traction where BT Sport has lagged

Live VR/360° Video Gets Social

NextVR, LiveLikeVR, Greenfish Labs, and others are pushing to make live sports VR/360°viewing more social with avatars, spatial audio, and more

Brexit Could Be Devastating for UK Tech and Creative Industries

Tech powerhouses like Google and Facebook have embraced London, but following the stunning referendum results, Britain's film, TV, and OTT industries could see talent and funding dry up

For the Win! Live Sports Are Driving Streaming Video Innovation

The desire to keep sports relevant to the younger audience and connect with mobile media consumption habits is driving innovation online.

Euro 2016, Then Olympics, Set to Break Live Streaming Records

Official streams may reach peaks of 15-18 terabits per second for the Rio Olympics, but the IOC is banning social streaming from the games, without saying how it plans to police or punish fans who use Periscope, Facebook Live to share the games

MCNs Grow Up

MCNs have gone from being aggregated networks of channels to sophisticated organizations that encompass the entire range of content creation and distribution, says Digiflare co-founder Mano Kulasingam

The State of Mobile Video 2016

UHD over mobile, 5G trials, and LTE Broadcast top the trends in mobile video

Sky Goes After Millennials With Live Streaming on Facebook

In a continuing effort to reach younger viewers on mobile devices, the pay TV powerhouse will start delivering sports coverage and live news on Facebook Live

Axonista Introduces Object-Based Broadcasting Platform

By bringing interactivity to the screen on mobile devices, set-top boxes, and VR headsets, Axonista opens new avenues to monetisation

BBC and ITV Revive Paid VOD Streaming Plans

Joined by NBC Universal, broadcasters BBC and ITV are working on a UK competitor to Netflix and Amazon Prime

Sky Spreads its Bet in Online Futures With FubuTV and iFlix

The broadcaster is preparing for a time beyond traditional TV viewing by making investments in sports and entertainment streamers around the globe.

NFL: TV Has Flatlined, Online Is the Future: Streaming Forum 2016

The NFL looks to a post-TV future as it builds a digital portfolio of superior viewing options that will soon be worth over $1 billion per year.

Engineering a TV-Like Streaming Experience: Streaming Forum 2016

ITV's director of broadcast and distribution technology shared the broadcaster's strategy for merging catch-up and live linear TV into a universal consumer experience during the Streaming Forum 2016 keynote address.

Taking IP to the Wire: NewTek's Boss Talks Tough on Transport

Standardizing an industry move to video-over-IP is generating considerable confusion, but NewTek claims its approach is the only one focused on IP's real-world capabilities.

Sky Readies UHD, Mobile, and Streaming Services

Sky puts mobile and streaming at heart of its strategy to combat Netflix and local payTV rivals BT and Virgin.

Programmatic TV Advertising Will Make Strides in the UK in 2016

The United Kingdom may lead the world in the adoption of programmatic advertising, but significant barriers still remain before it takes over.

Resistance Is Futile: How Broadcast and Cable Are Embracing IP

Broadcast is moving to an IP-first, software-defined video infrastructure, and in the process reducing costs and creating new editorial opportunities.

Future Sports Media Offers Sports Clip Action at the Speed of Twitter

Swedish company Future Sports Media aims to usurp the lock-in that hardware vendors like EVS have on the fast-turnaround sports market with a software only product that works over IP

Encoding Vendors Jockey For Licensing Post-HEVC

HEVC is barely out of the gate, but the race to achieve better quality and lower bandwidth might soon leave H.265 in the dust, according to speakers at a panel at this year's IBC

Sports Viewers Stream Their Teams, Changing the Game for Pay TV

Young sports fans are going to sites like Whistle Sports and Copa90 to catch the action, supporting a new style of sports coverage that invites fans into the conversation.

Cinegy Looks to 16K Streaming with "World's Fastest Codec"

Designed as a mezzanine codec like Avid DnxHR, Apple ProRes, and SonyXAVC, the DANIEL2 codec decodes HD at 17,000 fps in HD, all the way up to 16K at 280 fps, Cinegy claims

BBC Turning Into a "Datacaster," Says CTO

In a move to compete with OTT services such as Netflix and make the organisation more nimble, BBC is embracing digital-first, including an "object-based" approach to its video workflows

EE Leads Validation For Perseus, But Questions Remain: IBC 2015

While announcing trials with EE, IRT, and NTT, V-NOVA is keeping internal testing results private after indicating they would be shared at IBC

Will BBC Open Up iPlayer to Compete on Global Stage?

BBC Director General Tony Hall proposed a Netflix-style business model for iPlayer as part of sweeping changes that include children's version of iPlayer and online BBC Newstream to replace 24-hour news channel

Alcatel-Lucent and Oregan Networks Offer First Perseus IP video solution

Alcatel-Lucent plans to use Perseus in both new deployments and existing infrastructures; Oregan will facilitate adoption across set-top boxes and other OTT devices

Ericsson Plans 5G Showcase at 2018 Winter Olympics

As the Next Generation Mobile Networks consortium works on 5G standards, with wide availability projected for a decade from now, Ericsson says it will highlight the technology at the PyeongChang games in three years.

V-Nova Gains Traction; Will Publish Performance Tests at IBC

Perseus technology is in use for contribution feeds for Sky Italia; company says it accommodates greater color depth and higher dynamic range in addition to offering efficiency gains

Is Lean Back 2.0 the Future of Multiscreen Viewing?

Software developer 3 Screen Solutions thinks so as it attempts to broaden its market outside of German-speaking Europe

Telstra Acquires Cloud Asset Management Specialist Nativ

As part of a strategy to create a comprehensive personalized TV and video platform, Telstra's Ooyala acquires U.K.-based Nativ for an undisclosed amount.

BT Announces First 4K Live Channel

Telco giant BT will launch BT Sport Ultra HD in August, along with Netflix in 4K, but the bigger picture is the UK's burgeoning ultrafast broadband landscape

Counting Viewers: The Search for Cross-Platform Measurement

The industry is challenged to find a single trusted trading currency that can look at both linear and nonlinear viewing in a unified way.

Liberty Global: Wi-Fi is the Delivery Network of the Future

At Arris' Video Leadership Forum in Dublin, the cable operator discussed the challenges facing the multiscreen, nonlinear future—and argued that operators are best-suited to meet them.

Freeview Plots Mass-Market Connected TV

Freeview Play will combine catch-up TV from Freeview shareholders—BBC iPlayer, Channel 4's All 4, and ITV Player—with on-demand and live content when it launches later this year

BBC iPlayer Viewing Figures Fall; Is it Time For a Rethink?

Video views via BBC iPlayer have fallen for the first time. Is this inevitable or does it signify a more profound issue with one of the world's best known online brands?

Europe's Digital Single Market: Goldmine or Minefield?

The European Commission wants to introduce rules that will result in all European citizens being able to buy online content and services from any country. But do the proposals add up?

LTE Broadcast "Ready for Prime Time"

Mobile solutions provider QuickPlay and video optimization solution Roundbox—which QuickPlay just acquired—say it will replace cable TV in some areas

The State of Mobile Video 2015

The smartphone has overtaken the tablet as the go-to device for TV Everywhere consumption; the U.K. is poised to lead the world in mobile connectivity; telcos will gain more spectrum, but not quickly enough; and LTE-Broadcast is coming to market.

Nokia: LTE Broadcast is Win-Win for Mobile Operators and Broadcasters

Early results of a pioneering trial into TV broadcast to mobile promise to end the wars over spectrum resource, Nokia says

Transcoding Trends for 2015

What are operators and MVPDs looking for from today's transcoding solutions? Automation, flexibility, and future-proofing are high on the list, and the old hardware vs. software debate continues.

BBC Gets Audience Involved in Taster

The Corporation's latest move to combat Netflix and YouTube is to fly experimental content ideas online, letting audiences direct which will go further in development

Telstra and Sky Buy Into Elemental Technologies

Two global giants take minority stakes in the software-based video processing developer as Elemental predicts a tipping point for video over IP in 2015

3xScreen Media: Live Streaming Is No Longer Optional for Major Events

From the Vans x Crossfire Halloween Massacre to Ted Baker's fashion shows, the London-based streaming services provider is coming up with innovative ways to deliver live events online and compete with broadcast

Video Platform Nideo Targets B2B

UK-based start up claims its platform, based on Microsoft Azure, offers analytics and tracking capabilities that are better suited to B2B video than YouTube, Vimeo, or Brightcove.

BSkyB Funds Whistle Sport, Its Latest Video Start-Up Investment

The U.K. pay TV operator has made serial investments in several young online video companies to safeguard its future. Here's a look at BSkyB's start-up portfolio.

BSkyB: Cloud, IP and Virtual Playout Are Not Ready for Primetime

IT Director Colin McQuade says Sky uses the cloud heavily for OTT and on-demand, but that it isn't yet ready to deliver the "holy grail"—offloading everything that currently sits in a data centre or broadcast facility.

Startup Newstag Launches Crowd-Curated Video News Service

"The business of news is broken," says Newstag CEO, but the company claims to have the answer in its approach to news sharing through social media.

Bambuser Widens Audience for Mobile Live Video

User-generated live mobile video service is introducing an SDK to allow organizations to more easily embed content on third-party sites

BBC Pioneers Live IP Production in Ultra HD: The Workflow

Building on a research trial during the World Cup, the BBC will use the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow to trial what it calls the world's first live Ultra HD production and transmission entirely in IP

BBC Will Trial Live 4K IP and DTT Delivery With 3 World Cup Matches

In a closed research project, the BBC will deliver the FIFA final and two other matches in ultra-high definition. The project should pave the way for a 4K channel launch in the future.

U.K. Online Video Ad Market Will Be Worth £4.3 Billion in 2018

A PricewaterhouseCoopers report says online video is the fastest growing ad market, and predicts strong growth in U.K. online advertising.

Germany's Mediakraft Thrives on Local Content

Mediakraft is the biggest online TV network in Central Europe and expanding fast. Streaming Media talked with CEO Spartacus Ollson to find out how they've grown, and what they have in store for the future.

2014 World Cup: HBS, Deltatre Stream to a Worldwide Audience

Multiscreen viewing has finally hit the mass market. Viewers around the globe will be able to view every angle of play on any connected device.

Worldwide, Viewers Prefer Pay TV Services to SVOD, Says Informitv

Informitv's first Multiscreen Index suggests that a rise in pay TV subscriptions worldwide is a long-term trend

BBC Revamps iPlayer

Changes in the world's leading catch-up service highlight the switch from "TV online" to "online TV"

Pay TV Rules While Digital Comes of Age

While OTT VOD and electronic sell-through services continue to explode in popularity across Europe, live programming still gives pay TV services the edge

BBC Spin Puts Onus on BBC3 to Reinvent Online TV

With the BBC planning to axe BBC3 in its linear form, the corporation promises to "reinvent a space for young people" on the iPlayer, exploring different formats and content

The State of OTT Services 2014

2013 saw OTT video services extend the overall market for pay TV, a definite shift to networked PVR, and a rapid move toward HbbTV.

HDMI Dongles Are a Boon to Pay TV Operators

Smart sticks like Google's Chromecast provide another route for pay TV providers to deliver multi-screen content with implications for software in the TV and hardware under the screen

Arkena Outlines Plans to Grow European Footprint

Goal is to "be the trusted partner of European broadcasters and telcos in managing their linear and nonlinear content to all screens," says CEO Julien Seligmann.

Sochi Games to Set Record for Live and VOD Streaming

Adobe, NBCU, Elemental, Deltatre, LiveU, and more are readying streaming platforms that will deliver coverage to desktops and mobile devices around the globe.

BBC Launches Universal Live Streaming Platform

Set to launch for the Sochi Olympics but destined for use on all future BBC live events, the new platform incorporates editorial curation and social media across TV, PC, and mobile

Elemental Demonstrates 4K HEVC Video at 60 fps in London

Real-time video at 60 fps and on-demand video at 120 fps are practical today, says Elemental. One challenge is getting high-quality content.

Red Bull Streams 31 Live Music Events on YouTube Simultaneously

A record-breaking live music webcast could be the swan song for SIS Live's outside broadcast capability.

Kaltura Releases MediaGo, a Netflix-Like Experience for Any Site

Calling it the killer app for media, Kaltura says MediaGo is an out-of-the-box solution with flexible sales models.

Google Glass and the Future of Second Screening and TV News

Beginning next week CNN is to expand its Google Glass experiment by integrating citizen journalist service iReport with its existing Google Glass News Alerts. In Europe, TDF Media Services sees potential in the device for second second TV apps.

Videology Brings In-Video Contextual Targeting to Europe

VivaKi, the Publicis Groupe's digital ad division, has signed up for the product which allows brands to identify and place ads within specific video content

BBC Reinvents iPlayer, Funds Original Content Budget

The corporation's new digital strategy aims to create communal experiences around live events on the second screen.

MPEG-DASH: Why it Matters, Where it Goes From Here

DASH will play a huge part in the future of online video delivery. Learn how the standard was developed and the obstacles it still faces.

Amazon CTO: Devices are a Window to Content in the Cloud

A Q&A with Amazon.com CTO Werner Vogels addressing a future where both broadcast professionals and consumers are connected to the cloud.

Streaming Forum: Inconsistent Measurement Slowing Investment

The lack of consistent metrics is blamed as a key factor hindering greater ad investment in online video. Plus, is Google really the Death Star?

Streaming Forum: When Second Screen Becomes Second Nature

Wowza's Chris Knowlton discusses how content producers can cultivate second-screen activity without distracting from the first-screen experience

Streaming Forum: Addressing DASH and HEVC Benefits and Roadbumps

An expert panel sees big advantages in the combination of HEVC and MPEG-DASH, although some issues still need to be resolved.

Streaming Forum: Geo Targets Media Owners with Leased Fiber

Leased fiber offers a quick, less expensive to the traditional telco model of buying bandwidth as you go

Streaming Forum: Captioning for Streaming Video Still a "Wild West"

At Streaming Forum, Telestream's Kevin Louden attempted to bring some clarity to the messy technical and legal issues surrounding captioning and subtitling streaming video

Streaming Forum: Video for Education Needs a Change in Mindset

There's no better time to be in education video, but new opportunities come with new challenges, such as competing with social media and video captured on and delivered to multiple devices

Viewster Says it's Striking Gold by Offering 'Free TV 2.0'

Ad-supported VOD service Viewster strikes further distribution deals with TV producers and declares that young audiences don't want to pay for content

The Rise of the Second Screen and the Future of Television

Tablets and mobile devices are playing a central role in the age-old battle to own the consumer, but technical and behavioural challenges remain.

BBC Stagebox Points Way for Broadcast Production over IP

Stagebox combines broadcast feeds and cabling—including HD video, audio, talkback, timecode, and more—and distributes them over standard IP protocol. BBC will begin deploying with next month's local elections.

NAB Preview: HEVC Is the Next Big Thing

Encoding and video processing specialists are highlighting their H.265/HEVC solutions at next week's NAB show in Las Vegas

RGB Networks Launches Next-Gen MPEG-2/H.264 Transcoder

Company says Video Multiprocessing Gateway Gen 2 increases video quality and operational efficiency by doubling the capacity of each transcoding module

Videoplaza Releases Karbon 2, Arming Media Owners with Data

Advertisers often have more information about online video metrics than the content owners. Videoplaza aims to change that.

MPEG-DASH: Struggling for Adoption?

MPEG-DASH, and particularly the DASH264 spec, will help standardize and unify online video delivery, but the move to embrace has been slower going than the hype might suggest

Deltatre and Elemental Target Multi-Screen Sports Delivery

Companies partner to offer a turnkey digital video solution for sports rights holders and broadcasters

The State of Multiscreen Delivery 2013

TiVo and Liberty Global battle for the home; BBC readies VOD store; ITV bets on micropayments; Sky's pre-emptive VOD strike; and European indies embrace YouTube.

ITV Is Learning to Make Online Video Pay

The U.K. commercial broadcaster plans to roll out a micropayment platform for mobile devices.

ATEME Outlines HEVC Plans

French encoding company predicts quick uptake in multi-screen scenarios due to shorter equipment renewal cycles for viewing devices

Orange Looks for U.S Investors to Grow Dailymotion

While Orange is now the sole owner of Dailymotion, it doesn't intend to stay that way for long and is looking to the U.S.

Thinkbox Shows Growth in U.K. Viewing on TVs and Mobile Devices

New figures show that on-demand viewing is on the rise, but that live linear viewing on living room TVs continues to dominate.

Liberty Global Acquires Virgin Media

As Liberty Global swoops to buy U.K. cable company Virgin Media for $23.3 billion (£15B), the move has implications for DVR-maker TiVo.

BBC iPlayer Breaks Own Records as Viewing Shifts to Tablets

iPlayer had a standout year, thanks in part to new features like the ability to download programmes for offline viewing.

CES Report: Technicolor Bids to Unify the Connected Universe

New Qeo product offers a challenge to the DLNA approach to connecting everything from smartphones to smart fridges

Content Industry Back to Pre-2008 Levels, Thanks to OTT Innovation

A report issued today at the Forum d'Avignon finds that music, movies, and video games still face uncertainty in the marketplace, but that all are on the upswing

Telegraph Media Group Expands Video Coverage

With equipment from LiveU and Teracue, Telegraph Media Group reporters are capturing vide in the field; newspaper publisher is also delivering Associated Press video alongside original content

Thomson Integrates ViBE with Anevia

ViBE VS7000 will join Anevia's ViaMotion system for catch-up TV, OTT streaming, and on-demand video delivery

Mixmoov Showcases New API at Streaming Media Europe

API allows customers to use use their own interfaces with Mixmoov's cloud video editing backend

Cast Time to Open CDN in London

Israel-based company will offer free trial period to new customers upon launch

Kaltura: "MediaSpace is to YouTube what Yammer is to Facebook"

Targeting organizations looking to launch a "Corporate Tube" or "Campus Tube," MediaSpace 4.0 is on display at Streaming Media Europe in London

Ipercast Heads to the Cloud

Customers will be able to use APIs or web interface to access Ipercast's new cloud services

Streaming Media Europe: The Buzz from the Expo Floor

A look at some of the highlights on the Streaming Media Europe Expo floor, including StreamUK, Haivision, Mobile Viewpoint, 1080 Media, Connected Home Academy, CasterStats, Make.tv, Xtstream, Vision247, and Telestream

Vision247 Expands IPTV and CDN Business

On the verge of making its first business acquisition, internet TV solutions provider Vision247 discusses marrying the failsafe approach of traditional playout with the huge opportunity in OTT delivery.

A Buyers' Guide to Cloud Video Services

Cloud services are perfectly suited for processor-intensive jobs, although bandwidth constraints can present a challenge. Discover 12 cloud video specialists that can save companies time and money.

Even Heavy TV Ad Campaigns Get Additional Reach Online

Videology finds that campaigns that mix television and online video advertising gain an extra four percent reach.

IBC Report: Samsung Talks Platform Building During Keynote

Samsung is already the world's largest TV set maker. Now, it wants to get those sets talking to each other.

IBC Report: BBC and NBC Offer London Olympic Highlights

Broadcasting and streaming the 2012 London Olympic Games was 'extraordinarily successful,' says BBC.

IBC Report: Sony Says 4K Ultra-HD Video Is Coming to the Home

Sony and partner SES declare that Ultra-HD is close to becoming a reality; others says its 20 years away from going mainstream.

IBC Report: Will.i.am Looks for Creativity Enhanced by Technology

The Black Eyed Peas frontman inspires at IBC with calls for innovation, smarter homes and cars, and bold visions of the future.

KIT Digital Launches 2Si, Second Screen App for T-Commerce

In an effort to create 'sticky' mobile apps, KIT offers broadcasters a better way to sell products and prevent viewer distraction.

IBC Report: Pay TV Will Thrive in the Online Video Era

While the major studios are diving into online distribution, they remain cautious -- and they're sticking with current pay TV models.

German Device Owners are Media "Super Consumers"

New study from Rovi and Decipher Research finds connected device owners in Germany view more content on faster connections

YouView Is in Shops and Has Major Backing; Now, Will it Succeed?

YouView's CEO is happy with the device's reception; combines access to broadcast and on-demand content for non-pay TV customers.

China’s CTV Launches HD Subscription Service for the Olympics

The national broadcaster selects NeuLion to stream all 5600 hours live in HD.

Streamworks Targets Live News and International Expansion

The U.K. outfit adds the United Nations to its streaming media roster and seeks VC backing to control the online live news market.

Haivision and iStreamPlanet Go Live for Olympics Streaming

Created specifically for the Olympics, Haivision and iStreamPlanet's GoLive service offers an end-to-end solution from signal acquisition to player

YouView Is on the Starting Line; Has it Already Lost?

By missing the Olympic window for its broad consumer release, YouView is losing out on a marketing bonanza.

Kaltura Takes on Brightcove and KIT Digital in Europe

After finding success in North America, the open source online video platform is expanding to the European enterprise and education markets.

ATEME Claims 4K and 8K Over IP with New EAVC4 Codec

While ATEME and others work on HEVC, the company says its new codec can deliver 4K and 8K video over IP using existing MPEG-4 compression

Tremor Video Launches VideoHub in UK and Germany

Tremor says it wants to focus conversation on quality and metrics, not just pricing

London Olympics Could Reach One Billion Digital Viewers

Deltatre, the company supplying data services to the BBC and NBCOlympics.com for the London games, says online viewership will almost certainly pass a half billion, and may approach one billion.

U.K. Retailers Watch Walmart’s UltraViolet Campaign

UltraViolet will require mass studio and consumer electronics support to succeed, but some are reluctant to take the first step.

Sky Unveils NOW TV, But No Pricing

New service from Sky will offer on-demand, pay-per-view access to hundreds of films and other content.

UK Regulator Turns Focus on Netflix, Lovefilm

Competition Commission's investigation into BSkyB's subscription services will now take into account the impact of Netflix and Lovefilm's entrance into the online movie delivery service in the UK

Dov Moran Launches Comigo, New Smart TV Platform

Inventor of USB turns his attention to platform that bridges mobiles, set-top boxes, and server with interactive and social functions

StreamUK Scores a Goal with Liverpool, Expands in Sport Market

After helping the Liverpool FC create a successful subscription service, StreamUK is moving into new European territory.

Thinkbox Study Finds Second Screen Activity Boosts TV Viewing

Using social networks or shopping during linear broadcasts helps viewers feel like they're part of the conversation.

Connected Home 2011: It's About People, Not Kit

At the Streaming Media Europe summit featuring heavyweights such as Virgin Media, Google TV, Samsung, and the BBC, the focus was not on technology but on the consumer experience.

Videoplaza Gains $12M Investment to Fund International Growth

The ad management platform expects half its traffic to come from non-PC devices by 2012.

Sky Offers Subscription and On-Demand Netflix Alternatives

Netflix has landed in the U.K., and Sky has the most to lose. Its fighting back with its own streaming entertainment services.

BBC iPlayer Moves to Sky, Now on All Major U.K. Platforms

Additionally, Sky makes Sky Anytime+ available to customers using any Internet provider.

Red Bee Launches RedDiscover, for Social TV Content Discovery

The company has also created the U.K.'s first digital audio watermarking app, enabling interactive second-screen viewing.

CES 2012: Amazon Joins DECE, Backs UltraViolet

Amazon says it has signed a deal with a major Hollywood studio for UltraViolet rights; Netflix pulls out of DECE

UltraViolet Lands in the U.K., but With Questions

Can a unified cloud-based system succeed across Europe? And do consumers still want to own their movies?

Facebook Not Getting into Content Creation, says IBC Keynote

The social networking giant wants to connect its members with video creators, rather than making its own programs.

Blinkbox CEO: We're Unconcerned by Netflix

While Netflix has swept across the U.S, it will struggle for profitability in the U.K, says CEO.

Ex-YouView CTO Rose Lines Up tBone TV for IBC Launch

Start-up aims to make TV-viewing social, and works across a variety of screens.

Red Bee Media Launches RedPlayer Online Video Platform

Broadcast services company fills in the missing piece with its first consumer-facing service.

Onwave Launches Into Europe with Tooway

Following the launch of Eutelsat's Tooway satellite-delivered broadband service across Europe, broadband service provider Onwave has launched a triple-play package across Ireland the UK.

SeeSaw Dips Into History

Arqiva shuts down SeeSaw after failing to garner significant investment, content, and traffic

Connected TV Market Taking Off in Europe

Irdeto's Christopher Schouten tells Connected TV Summit in London that operators need to convert casual users to a predictable revenue stream

Tesco Acquires Blinkbox to Push VOD Mainstream

The supermarket giant moves into the video on-demand space, following in the footsteps of Amazon and Walmart.

Royal Wedding Coverage Will Marry Online and Broadcast

KIT Digital is handling many of the video feeds for online outlets, and the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton is expected to draw 400 million viewers online

IPTV World Forum Examines Rise of OTT and Multi-Screen Viewing

With over-the-top devices growing in popularity, IPTV operators look for ways of working with the new competitor.

Hulu Eyes a Bright Future at IPTV World Forum Keynote

Company SVP offers attendees four key strategies for increasing an audience and staying competitive.

ANT CEO Lays Out Hybrid TV Design Challenges at IPTV World Forum

HbbTV offers most seamless hybrid TV experience, says ANT's Simon Woodward

The State of Media and Entertainment Streaming Video

A survey of the current state of streaming media in Europe.

7 Reasons Why Google Will Launch YouTube Streaming in Europe

Despite Google's denials, there's plenty of reason to believe that the company is indeed planning to launch a YouTube movie and TV streaming service in Europe

NewTek Releases New Hardware Interface for TriCaster

NewTek TriCaster TCXD850 CS provides a physical connection including a three-axis joystick controller

Connected TV Confusion

Brightcove's Eric Elia addresses the fragmentation in the connected TV landscape at Broadcast Video Expo in London

Broadcast Video Expo Brings the Best Out of London's Soho

Broadcast heavyweights rub shoulders with the likes of i2i to explore the next steps in user-generated content and 3D

YouView Launch Reset to 2012

YouView, the BBC-backed IPTV project, has been delayed again, and won't reach consumers until at least early 2012.

SeeSaw Seeks Investment Partner

Arqiva-owned SeeSaw says it sees "massive potential for growth," but needs financial boosting to stay competitive

YouView and iPlayer Architects Leave BBC

Two of the main architects behind the BBC iPlayer and planned VOD service YouView have left the corporation, following each other in a matter of weeks

Woomi Begins Worldwide Rollout at CES 2011

Miniweb aims to provide an alternative to both Google TV and other connected devices by offering a marketplace between content providers and CE manufacturers

Sony Looks to Redefine TV

Sony announces at CES that all of its new TVs are now connected, and that Time Warner will begin to deliver all its content directly to Bravia HDTVs, without a set-top box

Rovi Opens to the Cloud

The program guide and metadata company announces Rovi Media Cloud, a new suite of web services for CE manufacturers and service providers

Smart TVs Take Center Stage at CES

LG, Samsung, and Sharp all emphasized market strategies based on internet-connected televisions and other smart devices

Cisco Puts TV in the Cloud with Videoscape

At CES 2011, Cisco said its new Videoscape suite will integrate voice, linear and online video, high-speed data, Wi-Fi, and network traffic routing

Skype Adds Qik to Go Mobile Ahead of IPO

Skype CEO Tony Bates talked about the acquisition this morning at CES 2011; reports suggest deal worth $100 million

Global Consumer Electronics Market Rebounds to $873 Billion; Tablet and Connected TV Sales Expected to Skyrocket

Worldwide sales up 13% from 2009; CEA also predicts 30 million tablet device sales in 2011 and that more than half of TVs shipped by 2014 will be internet-connected

YouView Opens Engagement with Content Providers

UK internet TV project formally invites content providers to work with its technical team

Social Graph is Key to Engaging Audiences Online

SAY Media is intent on addressing the implications for advertisers of consumer propensity to create and move content across devices and social platforms

Connected TV to Saturate Western Europe by 2015

The installed base of connected TVs is expected to reach 174 million in Western Europe by 2015, according to Futuresource

Akamai Talks Up Video Packaging Ahead of Next Month's Launch

CDN strives to take the burden of formatting for multiple platforms off of the content provider

Perform Launches ePlayer in the U.S. with Sports Coup

Having succeeded in the U.K., video service brings aggregated sports content to the U.S.

TV Sets a High Bar for Streaming Media to Match

Online video needs to solve the problem of too many choices, says Ben Schofield of Red Bee Media.

Turning Online Video Complexity into Opportunity

As the online video world grows more fractured, solutions are needed to streamline publishing, says David Mendels of Brightcove.

Without Standards, Beware the Connected TV Car Crash

A panel discussion looks at the challenges facing the growing market for set-top boxes and connected TVs.

MGt Launches Online Video Micropayments Platform

UK-based payment and billing services provider MGt—whose customers include Freeview, BT, Digital UK, and Sony—introduces micropayments for video across multiple devices

SeeSaw to go International

Arqiva announces that it will begin licensing the VOD technology behind SeeSaw to third parties, and boasts that SeeSaw has received more than 3 million unique visitors in its first eight months

KIT Digital Continues Acquisitions Spree with Megahertz and Accela

Megahertz and Accela bring the number of KIT acquisitions to five in the past 11 months

Canvas Sets Out to Meet the Connected Content Challenge

There's no shortage of connected TV initiatives in the works. Richard Halton, likely CEO of the UK's Project Canvas, argues that what makes the initiative different is that it's owned not by technology companies, but content companies

Digital Media on an Olympic Scale

Alex Balfour, head of new media for the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, plans to make the 2012 games the first truly social summer Olympics

Streaming Spotlight: Luxembourg’s Bid for European Data Gateway

IBC 2010 Preview

In addition to the buzz surrounding 3D and augmented reality, expect to see more exhibitors and conference content focusing on IPTV, mobile TV, and digital signage at this year's IBC in Amsterdam.

UK Online TV Measurement Put to the Test

Online ad spend in the UK last year exceeded both TV and print. So now the challenge is how to get accurate measurement of online TV viewing. BARB thinks it has the answer, but others aren't so sure.

The Impact of OTT on the Walled Garden

With Google TV on the way, broadcasters and service providers alike are debating the value of the gatekeeper vs. the value of unfettered online access via the TV. We asked several industry leaders for their take on the challenge ahead.

Skylab Launches Video Publishing Platform

UK-based digital agency introduces MediaTank, an online video platform with simplicity in mind

New Competitors in UK’s VoD Arms Race

Portals, aggregators, platforms, and broadcasters are working—in concert and in competition—to claim audience share and advertiser commitment in the UK

Stream UK Introduces Updates to Stream Connect, Crowdsourcer

Stream UK has added a dedicated encoder option to its Stream Connect platform, and Crowdsourcer now integrates with Facebook and YouTube APIs, among others

Streaming Spotlight: Going Dutch

Forget wooden shoes, windmills, and tulips. Forget Rotterdam Harbour, the world's busiest port for 40 years until it was surpassed by Shanghai in 2004. The Netherlands wants you to understand that it has a new business—as a major accelerator for digital media services on a global scale.

Case Study: Sony Music Turns to IPTV for Business TV

Amid all the hyperbole surrounding cloudbased video hosting, the ability to distribute broadcast-quality live TV on closed wide area networks (WANs) or local area networks (LANs) seems to get a little overlooked.

ITV Chooses Platforms Over Online Aggregators

Broadcaster passes over SeeSaw and Hulu to focus on move to consoles, integrated TVs, set-top boxes, and mobiles

Flumotion Allies with NTT Europe

Flumotion is powering NTT Europe's Smart Media Delivery offering with its WebTV service

Broadband Battleground Ahead of UK Election

Prime Minister Gordon Brown sets universal broadband as the goal by 2020, paid with phone line tax, while the Conservative Party proposes alternative funding

Bestfrontseat Comes Out of Stealth Mode With Advanced Compression

The live event distribution service applies a compression technology derived from medical imaging to reduce infrastructure load.

Red Bee Makes Play for Europe's Digital Gateway

A leader in the UK—where it supplies playout for the BBC, Channel 4, Five, and Virgin Media—Red Bee is expanding across Europe.

Kontiki And BT Conferencing Tackle The Enterprise

Kontiki has gone from less than a dozen customers a year ago to more than 60 today, with BT Conferencing as the latest.
Mon., Feb. 22, by Adrian Pennington

Forbidden Technologies Brings Cloud Editing To Brightcove Users

Users of Brightcove’s online video platform are now able to edit video using Forbidden Technologies’ web-based application FORscene.

SeeSaw Debuts To Tap $62m Annual UK Online VOD Market

The UK’s SeeSaw video-on-demand service launches on Wednesday, initially as an online ad-supported service but with a second phase introduction of pay per view content, mainly from the U.S., to follow shortly.
Tues., Feb. 16, by Adrian Pennington

Company Profile: KIT digital

Headquartered in Prague, KIT digital has crept under the radar over the last couple of years to become a leading player with grand ambitions in the IP video management space.

Go-Ahead Imminent for Project Canvas, But 2010 Release Unlikely

While connected TV services from consumer electronics vendors take root, the BBC is reigning back on the original Christmas 2010 target for Canvas's release.
Tues., Jan. 26, by Adrian Pennington

KIT Digital Lining Up Another Acquisition

KIT digital, a provider of IP-based asset management solutions to enterprise customers, is lining up a new multi-million dollar acquisition by the end of March after raising $31.3 million through a share offering.
Tues., Jan. 26, by Adrian Pennington

UK's SeeSaw Set For March Launch

Online UK TV aggregator SeeSaw has set a March launch date and is reportedly close to announcing deals with broadcasters Channel 4 and Five.
Mon., Jan 24, by Adrian Pennington

CES 2010: Apps Flock To The Connected TV

Samsung, LG, Sharp, and Sony are all pushing their connected TVs, home theaters, and Blu-ray players at this year's CES in Las Vegas.
Fri., Jan. 8, by Adrian Pennington

CES 2010: NVIDIA Powers Touch-Screen Tablet Video Revolution

NVIDIA's new Tegra 2 chip features a dual-core CPU for mobile applications and eight independent processors, and is featured in more than 50 tablets in development.
Thurs., Jan. 7, by Adrian Pennington

BBC's Project Canvas Finally Gets The Go-Ahead

After months of delay and mounting speculation that VOD venture Project Canvas would be quashed, the BBC is to push ahead with the initiative after being given the nod by its own governing body BBC Trust.
Mon., Dec. 21, by Adrian Pennington

Flumotion Devises Video-Rich Interface for Cuatro

Spanish commercial broadcaster Cuatro recently launched a live and on-demand WebTV, designed by streaming software company Flumotion.
Fri., Dec. 18, by Adrian Pennington

Review: Quick.TV

Aiming to breathe new life into the online advertising space, startup Quick.TV has developed a browser-based, off-the-shelf video platform with which it claims users can add interactivity to any video and publish it within minutes.

Video Advertising Network Smartclip Breaks Into U.S. Market

The German-based interactive video advertising network has set up shop in New York, and already boasts Viacom, Last.fm, and blinkx as clients.
Mon., Nov. 16, by Adrian Pennington

Facebook First For UK Online Video Use

Facebook is the number one site for video uploading in the UK, and the number two site after YouTube for video viewing. Facebook also ranks at the top in France and Italy.
Fri., Nov. 13, by Adrian Pennington

Doubts Cast On BBC's $180m Project Canvas

The BBC's highly publicized broadband-to-TV project still hasn't received approval from the broadcaster's governing body, and may never see the light of day.
Thurs., Nov. 5, by Adrian Pennington

BBC Trust Puts Kibosh on Open iPlayer Federation Plans

Proposals to allow the BBC to share or licence the technology and expertise behind catch-up service iPlayer have been axed as unexpectedly as they were announced in September, but the BBC still plans on international expansion.
Tues., Oct. 27, by Adrian Pennington

Streaming Media Europe Keynote #1: The Online Video Experience—Viewing Into The Future

Dr. William Cooper of informitv says that, while the internet is still playing catch-up with TV, broadcast will be no more immune from online video than radio was from TV.
Thurs., Oct. 15, by Adrian Pennington

Streaming Media Europe Keynote #2: Video Advertising: Setting Standards For Success

The spend on online video pre-rolls is up 195% over last year. That's just one bit of the good news Guy Phillipson of the IAB shared about the UK online video ad market in his Streaming Media Europe keynote.
Thurs., Oct. 15, by Adrian Pennington

Twofour's MEDIAFREEDOM Brings Smooth Streaming to Europe

With a major deal to be announced soon, Twofour Digital's MEDIAFREEDOM will be behind the first major European project to support live DRM for a VOD HD store using Microsoft PlayReady and Smooth Streaming.
Thurs., Oct. 8, by Adrian Pennington

KIT digital Acquires Nunet and The Feedroom for $21 Million

Acquisitions expand KIT digital's presence in both the mobile and enterprise markets, while also giving the company a foothold in North America.
Mon., Oct. 5, by Adrian Pennington

Regulation Coming for UK VoD

Proposed Ofcom regulations would subject online "TV-like" video-on-demand providers in order to comply with EU's Audiovisual Media Services Directive.
Mon, Sept. 14, by Adrian Pennington

BBC Plans To Open iPlayer Technology To Other Broadcasters

The proposal, which still awaits approval from the BBC Trust, is part of the BBC's initiative to form partnerships and establish standards for online video delivery.
Sat., Sept. 12, by Adrian Pennington

Convergence Is A Major Theme At IBC 2009

Announcements from Vidiator, ADB, and Active Video show how companies are looking to break down barriers between TV, web, and mobile

HbbTV: A New Play for a European Broadband-to-TV Standard

The consortia behind Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) is looking to establish a pan-European standard for the delivery of broadband-to-TV content.
Thurs., Sept. 3, by Adrian Pennington

Livestation To Expand Live News Over Mobile

UK-based Livestation has already rolled out apps for Al Jazeera and BBC Worldwide, and is in talks with CNN, Deutsche Welle, and Russia Today. Delivery is via Akamai Media Delivery, and so bypasses operators.
Wed., Aug. 5, by Adrian Pennington

Yahoo-Intel Widget Engine Gives Broadcasters Pause for Thought

With Yahoo-Intel widgets now shipping on TVs, traditional pay and ad-supported TV broadcasters are working on strategies to keep the focus on their programming, while in the UK the BBC's Project Canvas may give web-connected TVs a short lifespan.
Fri., July 31, by Adrian Pennington

Arqiva Buys Technology Behind Kangaroo

Arqiva, the UK's largest transmission provider, will launch a VOD service based on the Kangaroo technology, in the hopes of preempting Hulu from taking hold.
Fri., July 24, by Adrian Pennington

Quick.tv Off The Launchpad To Monetise Online Video

New start-up Quick.tv offers a simple-to-use, yet feature-rich, way to integrate interactive adverts into online video for both the self-serve and enterprise markets.
Mon., July 20, by Adrian Pennington

Webcasting the G20 London Summit

A joint effort among FlyOnTheWall, Akamai, Feltech, and Arqiva brought live online coverage of the historic G20 London Summit to news organisations and the general public this week.
Fri., 3 April, by Adrian Pennington