UK (United Kingdom, Great Britain & Northern Ireland) Digital TV News

BBC iPlayer receives more than 75 million requests to view since launch
May 20, 2008 – BBC research has revealed that BBC iPlayer has now received more than 75 million requests to stream or download programmes. The total number of requests for downloads and streams of BBC programmes in April was 21 million.
News categories: BBC iPlayer, Digital TV, Streaming, Subscribers, UK

Humax licenses S&T's Redkey™ 2 MHEG Engine for UK Freesat Launch
May 19, 2008 – Strategy & Technology (S&T) Client Systems has licensed its RedKey™ 2 MHEG-5 interactive TV middleware to Humax. Humax is using the software engine within its new FOXSAT-HD digital set-top box.
News categories: Strategy & Technology, Humax, Freesat, Digital TV, MHEG-5, Middleware, Satellite, Set Top Box, UK

Ofcom awards spectrum licence to Qualcomm UK Spectrum Ltd
May 16, 2008 – Ofcom has announced the outcome of its fifth auction of radio spectrum. This auction was for spectrum in the 1452-1492 MHz band. A licence to use the spectrum has been awarded to a subsidiary of Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) - Qualcomm UK Spectrum Ltd.
News categories: Ofcom, Qualcomm, Digital TV, Mobile, Regulation, Smart TV, UK

BT preliminary results - year to March 31, 2008
May 15, 2008 – BT (LSE: BT.A)(NYSE: BT) continued the roll out of BT Vision with customer numbers reaching 214,000. Of the 94,000 net additions in the quarter, the subscription attachment rate at point of sale averaged 68 per cent.
News categories: BT Vision, Broadband, Digital TV, IPTV, Results, Subscribers, UK

Eutelsat Communications reports 8.9% revenue increase
May 15, 2008 – Eutelsat (Euronext Paris: ETL) has reported financial information for the third quarter ended March 31, 2008. The markets of Russia, Africa, Turkey and the Middle East account for almost 60% of new video channels.
News categories: Eutelsat, Africa, Digital TV, Germany, Middle-East, Poland, Results, Russia, Satellite, Turkey, UK

BT awards set-top box contract to Pace
May 13, 2008 – Pace (LSE:PIC) has been awarded a new contract by BT (LSE: BT.A)(NYSE: BT) for its next-generation V-box. This contract follows BT's previous contract with the set-top box division of Royal Philips Electronics, recently acquired by Pace.
News categories: Pace plc, BT Vision, Neil Gaydon, Dan Marks, Conditional Access, Digital TV, DVR, IPTV, Middleware, Set Top Box, Terrestrial, UK

Ofcom announces update on its Pay TV market investigation and its assessment of Sky's pay DTT proposal
May 13, 2008 – Ofcom has published all of the non-confidential responses to its consultation on its market investigation into pay TV in the UK, following receipt of a number of late responses.
News categories: Ofcom, Digital TV, Regulation, Terrestrial, UK

IPTV to drive take-up of pay TV in Western Europe, says Analysys Mason
May 8, 2008 – The pay-TV market in Western Europe is generally considered to be mature, but the increasing deployment of IPTV services will see the market enjoy a modest rate of growth in the number of households subscribing to pay-TV services.
News categories: Analysys, Cable TV, Digital TV, Europe, France, Germany, IPTV, Ireland, Italy, Market Research, Satellite, Spain, Subscribers, UK

Virgin Media Reports First Quarter 2008 Results
May 8, 2008 – Virgin Media (Nasdaq:VMED) digital TV net additions were 57,900 in the quarter. During the quarter, Virgin added a record 101,800 V+ DVR subscribers to reach an installed base of 364,200.
News categories: Virgin Media, Broadband, Cable TV, Digital TV, DVR, Results, Subscribers, UK