Broadcast (Cable TV, DTH Satellite, Terrestrial) News

South Africa will not switch-off analogue TV by June 17th
Mar 8, 2015 – South Africa's Department of Communications has issued a new Broadcasting Digital Migration policy. A set-top box control system will be required only to encourage local manufacturing. The country will not meet the ITU deadline for the switch-off of analogue television.
News categories: Department of Communications, Digital TV, Regulation, Set Top Box, South Africa, Terrestrial

Top US pay TV operators added 101,000 subscribers in 4Q14
Mar 5, 2015 – The top Pay TV operators in the United States added 101,000 new subscribers during the fourth quarter, according to Strategy Analytics. The declining trend in Pay TV subscribers in North America, seen during the second and third quarters, reversed in the fourth quarter.
News categories: Strategy Analytics, Jason Blackwell, Cable TV, Digital TV, IPTV, Market Research, Satellite, Subscribers, USA

Portugal adds 179,300 pay TV subscribers in 2014
Mar 5, 2015 – According to Portugal’s Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (ANACOM), there were 3.35 million subscribers to subscription TV in the country at the end of 2014, 55,800 (+1.7 percent) more than in the previous quarter, and an extra 179,300 (+5.7 percent) compared with the end of 2013.
News categories: ANACOM, Cable TV, Digital TV, Fibre, IPTV, Market Research, Portugal, Satellite, Subscribers

South Africa to provide free STBs to 5 million poor households
Mar 5, 2015 – South Africa's government has said that it will provide free STBs to more than 5 million poor television household owners. The priority will be given to those households in the border region areas of the country.
News categories: Department of Communications, Conditional Access, Digital TV, Set Top Box, South Africa, Terrestrial

Swiss cable TV subscribers down 1.8% in 2014
Mar 5, 2015 – According to figures from Swisscable, the sectoral association for cable TV companies in Switzerland, the number of cable TV subscribers in the country at the end of December 2014 was 2.6428 million, down 1.8%, versus the end of December 2013.
News categories: Swisscable, Cable TV, Digital TV, Market Research, Subscribers, Switzerland

Time Warner Cable TWC TV app comes to Xbox One
Mar 4, 2015 – Time Warner Cable has announced an agreement with Microsoft to bring its TWC TV app to the Xbox One. Time Warner Cable video subscribers who have an Xbox Live account will have access to 7,000 free and subscription On Demand titles within their homes.
News categories: Time Warner Cable, Xbox, Apps, Cable TV, Gaming, USA

U.S. pay-TV providers lost 125,000 subscribers in 2014
Mar 3, 2015 – Leichtman Research Group (LRG) has found that the thirteen largest pay-TV providers in the US -- representing about 95% of the market -- lost about 125,000 net video subscribers in 2014. Annual net pay-TV losses in 2014 were comparable to 2013, when the same top pay-TV providers lost about 95,000 subscribers.
News categories: Leichtman Research, Bruce Leichtman, Cable TV, Digital TV, IPTV, Market Research, Satellite, Subscribers, USA

Greece's Nova chooses Harmonic headend for DTH
Mar 3, 2015 – Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) has announced that Forthnet, the company that owns Nova, the largest pay-TV satellite platform in Greece, has chosen a high-end compression headend with video analytics from Harmonic to support its direct-to-home (DTH) SD/HD service.
News categories: Harmonic, Nova, Forthnet, Ian Graham, Constantinos Moraitis, Content Distribution, Digital TV, Greece, Satellite

Siano launches smallest integrated DVB-T2 receiver chip
Mar 2, 2015 – Siano has announced the launch of SMS4430, a new multi-standard digital TV receiver chip designed for mobile/portable consumer electronics applications. The SMS4430 is a lower-cost, smaller-size, lower power-consumption version of Siano’s SMS4470.
News categories: Siano, Digital TV, DVB-T2, ICs, ISDB-T, Semiconductor, Worldwide