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

Accenture Video Solution selected as OTT platform by BT TV
Sep 7, 2016 – BT TV has selected the Accenture Video Solution (AVS) platform to support its BT TV offerings. The Accenture platform supports both live streaming and VOD, delivering a high-quality user experience across multiple devices.
News categories: Accenture, BT plc, Sef Tuma, Greg McCall, Content Distribution, Digital TV, Mobile, Streaming, UK

ETSI publishes HbbTV spec for UK and Italy
Sep 6, 2016 – ETSI has published HbbTV 2.0.1 specification TS 102 796 V1.4.1 that will allow the United Kingdom and Italy to transition from MHEG and MHP to the new standard in 2017.
News categories: ETSI, Digital TV, DVB-MHP, HbbTV, Italy, MHEG-5, Set Top Box, Smart TV, UK

UMC, MStar and SERAPHIC to launch Freeview Play-compliant smart TVs in UK
Aug 19, 2016 – UMC is working with MStar and SERAPHIC to roll out Freeview Play-compliant smart TVs in the UK in Q4, 2016. It is not the first time that the three parties have cooperated having together introduced Sharp and Blaupunkt smart TVs for Europe in 2014.
News categories: SERAPHIC, MStar Semi, UMC, Ye Wang, Bill Hsiung, Aslan Khabliev, Digital TV, HTML5, IFABerlin, Semiconductor, Smart TV, UK

Virgin Media begins update of TiVo STBs
Aug 12, 2016 – Virgin Media has announced a major platform update for its TV customers. A new feature called Series Link+ will allow customers to pull together more of the TV they love into one place - from live TV channels, on demand and online services like Netflix and BBC iPlayer.
News categories: Virgin Media, David Bouchier, Cable TV, Digital TV, Middleware, Set Top Box, UK

Freesat launches live audience measurement service
Aug 11, 2016 – Freesat, the UK’s subscription-free satellite TV service, has announced the launch of a live audience measurement service showing viewing behaviour in real time. The service runs on an audience attribution platform developed by TVbeat.
News categories: Freesat, TVbeat, Alistair Thom, Robert Farazin, Advertising, Digital TV, Satellite, UK

BBC Sport 360 launches for Rio 2016 Olympics
Aug 4, 2016 – The BBC has launched BBC Sport 360, an experimental service bringing Rio 2016 live and on-demand to UK audiences in 360 degree video for the first time. The BBC Sport 360 service starts on Friday 5 August through a dedicated BBC Sport 360 trial app.
News categories: BBC, Justin Barritt, Will Saunders, Apps, Digital TV, Metaverse, Mobile, UK

18% of UK adults watch streamed TV via a smart TV
Aug 4, 2016 – The UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released a Statistical bulletin covering usage of the internet by households and individuals. Watching internet streamed TV via a smart TV was carried out by 18% of adults.
News categories: Office for National Statistics, Digital TV, Market Research, Smart TV, Streaming, UK

Ofcom publishes UK Communications Market report 2016
Aug 4, 2016 – The UK’s communications regulator, Ofcom, has published its annual Communications Market report for 2016. More than half of UK adults (59%) used a video-on-demand (VoD) service during 2015 – up from 57% in 2014.
News categories: Ofcom, Cable TV, Digital TV, IPTV, Market Research, Satellite, Terrestrial, UK

Young UK adults spend more time watching video on laptops than on TV
Jul 27, 2016 – TV sets are still the preferred viewing device for video-based content among the UK adult online population overall, but younger adults show significant deviation from this trend.
News categories: GfK, Julia Lamaison, Digital TV, Market Research, Mobile, UK