TV Services (Pay TV, OTT, Broadcasting) News

South African government provides update on analogue switch-off
Nov 25, 2021 – South Africa managed to conclude analogue Switch-off in the Free-State province at the end of October and on 26th November 2021 the switch-off of the last SABC analogue site in the Northern-Cape in Upington will be completed.
News categories: Communications and Digital Technologies, Digital TV, South Africa, Terrestrial

Megacable selects STB management solution from Axiros
Nov 22, 2021 – Axiros has announced that Megacable has selected its Axiros AXESS.ACS Platform to support the daily operations of its Android TV Set Top Box (STB) devices utilizing the Broadband Forum-compliant TR-069 protocol.
News categories: Axiros, Megacable, Michael Shaw, Android TV, Cable TV, Digital TV, Mexico, Set Top Box

Orange Belgium in negotiations with Nethys to acquire 75% of VOO SA
Nov 23, 2021 – Orange Belgium has entered into exclusive negotiations with Nethys for the acquisition of 75% of the capital less one share of VOO. VOO SA is a telecoms operator that owns the cable network in the Walloon region and part of the Brussels region.
News categories: Orange Belgium, Nethys, VOO, Belgium, Cable TV, Digital TV, MandA

CommScope selected to provide Foxtel's iQ5 streaming STB
Nov 22, 2021 – CommScope has been selected by Foxtel to provide its iQ5 streaming set top box. Through the iQ5, viewers can access streaming apps from Foxtel including Netflix, YouTube, ABC iView, SBS On Demand, Amazon Prime, Vevo, and coming soon, Paramount+ and 10Play.
News categories: CommScope, Foxtel, Phil Cardy, Nick Dandy, Australia, Digital TV, Set Top Box, Streaming

Prime Video now available to Movistar+ customers
Nov 18, 2021 – Movistar+ and Amazon have consolidated their partnership to include Prime Video in the user experience of the Movistar+ platform. The new proposition is being rolled out in Spain in a progressive deployment to be completed on November 24th.
News categories: Movistar, Prime Video, Cristina Burzako, Barry Furlong, Apps, Digital TV, IPTV, Satellite, Set Top Box, Spain

Crackle Plus improves content discoverability with Gracenote
Nov 18, 2021 – Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment (Nasdaq: CSSE) has announced that Crackle Plus will use Gracenote (NYSE: NLSN) entertainment metadata and Gracenote IDs to make Crackle, Popcornflix and Chicken Soup for the Soul streaming service titles more searchable and discoverable.
News categories: Crackle, Gracenote, Philippe Guelton, Simon Adams, Big Data, Digital TV, Streaming, USA, UX

Major U.S. pay TV providers lost around 650,000 subscribers in 3Q 2021
Nov 18, 2021 – Leichtman Research Group (LRG) has found that the largest pay-TV providers in the U.S. – representing about 93% of the market – lost about 650,000 net video subscribers in 3Q 2021, compared to a pro forma net loss of about 90,000 in 3Q 2020.
News categories: Leichtman Research, Bruce Leichtman, Cable TV, Digital TV, IPTV, Satellite, Streaming, Subscribers, USA

24i powers launch of Cinessance in North America
Nov 18, 2021 – Aferian has announced that 24i has supported the launch of OTT service Cinessance in the US and Canada on iOS and Android. The service is built on cloud-based infrastructure from 24i, including video backend, apps, and content and app management.
News categories: 24i, Cinessance, Joachim Bergman, Clément Monnet, Apps, Content Distribution, Digital TV, North America, Streaming

M3 selects XroadMedia for personalized OTT service in Russia
Nov 22, 2021 – M3 has selected XroadMedia to enable advanced content discovery, recommendations and personalization in their more.tv service. M3's OTT service more.tv is a relatively recent entrant to the streaming VOD market in Russia.
News categories: XroadMedia, National Media Group, Adolf Proidl, Sergey Bakaev, Big Data, Digital TV, Russia, Streaming, UX