Broadcast (Cable TV, DTH Satellite, Terrestrial) News

South Africa begins analogue TV switch-off
Mar 16, 2021 – South Africa has started with the phased switch-off of analogue television transmitters in the Free State. The process, carried out province-by-province, is expected to complete by the end of March 2022.
News categories: Ministry of Communications and Digital Technologies, Content Distribution, Digital TV, South Africa, Terrestrial

Rogers to acquire Shaw in $26 billion transaction
Mar 15, 2021 – Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications have reached an agreement for Rogers to acquire all of Shaw’s issued and outstanding Class A and Class B shares in a transaction valued at around $26 billion.
News categories: Rogers Communications, Shaw Communications, Joe Natale, Edward Rogers, Brad Shaw, Cable TV, Canada, Digital TV, MandA, Satellite

Timetable released for digital switchover in Nigeria
Mar 11, 2021 – Phase 2 of digital switchover in Nigeria will commence with switch on in Lagos, Kano and Rivers states. The first analogue switch off is slated to take place on 28th May, 2021 in Abuja.
News categories: National Broadcasting Commission, Prof. Armstrong Idachaba, Content Distribution, Digital TV, Nigeria, Terrestrial

Cable Club launches Android TV offering in Peru with Viaccess-Orca
Mar 11, 2021 – Cable Club is launching an OTT offering in Peru featuring Android TV STBs, mobile apps for live video streaming, and catch-up TV content, powered by Viaccess-Orca's TVaaS cloud-based TV platform and DRM.
News categories: Viaccess-Orca, Cable Club, Philippe Leonetti, Ana Lucia Gonzales, Android TV, Cable TV, Content Distribution, Digital TV, DRM, Peru, Set Top Box, TV Everywhere

MediaKind delivers 4K UHD content for BTV in China
Mar 10, 2021 – MediaKind is working with NDT on the delivery of recorded 4K content for BTV's winter sports channel. MediaKind has provided encoding and decoding solutions enabling the first provincial 4K UHD channel on satellite in China.
News categories: MediaKind, NDT, Narayanan Rajan, Wang Tong, China, Content Distribution, Digital TV, Satellite

WOWOW licenses AI powered transcoder from Ittiam
Mar 8, 2021 – Ittiam Systems has licensed its cloud based content adaptive media transcoder solution to WOWOW, a satellite TV station in Japan. The Transcoder provides video encoding with an AAC Audio encoder.
News categories: Ittiam, WOWOW, Ichiro Minagawa, Yuichi Sogo, Content Distribution, Digital TV, Japan, Satellite

U.S. pay TV providers lost over 5 million subscribers in 2020
Mar 4, 2021 – Leichtman Research Group (LRG) has found that the largest pay-TV providers in the U.S. lost about 5,120,000 net video subscribers in 2020, compared to a pro forma net loss of about 4,795,000 in 2019.
News categories: Leichtman Research, Bruce Leichtman, Cable TV, Digital TV, IPTV, Satellite, Streaming, Subscribers, USA

Virgin TV 360 now available to all Virgin Media customers
Mar 2, 2021 – Virgin Media has announced that the latest update in its TV line-up, Virgin TV 360, is now available to all its customers. Virgin TV 360 offers modern menus, quick navigation and a host of popular apps and channels all in one place.
News categories: Virgin Media, Annie Brooks, Cable TV, Digital TV, RDK, Set Top Box, UK

TVbeat to provide audience insights for OSN
Mar 2, 2021 – OSN is to use TVbeat's TV SaaS Framework services, in a step that will strengthen OSN’s position as a data-driven network and enable it to better address shifting viewership behaviour and trends in the MENA region.
News categories: TVbeat, OSN, Abbas D. Tahzib, Devrim Melek, Big Data, Digital TV, Middle-East, Satellite, Set Top Box