Mobile satellite services receive European approval
The European Commission has selected Inmarsat and Solaris Mobile to provide mobile satellite services across Europe. These could include high-speed internet access, mobile television and radio, and emergency communications. On the day of the announcement, Solaris Mobile revealed that an “anomaly” could affect the S-band payload on the satellite from which it plays to deliver its services.
Blinkx powers Miniweb interactive TV platform
In the convergence of broadcast and broadband, enabling the search and discovery of programming will be critical. The new Miniweb interactive television platform will now integrate the blinkx video search engine. It will allow viewers to search and discover both broadcast television and broadband video from multiple sources indexed by blinkx using Miniweb-enabled, broadband-connected devices.
BBC iPlayer delivers seven petabytes a month
The BBC iPlayer service delivers up to 100 gigabits of data every second, which apparently works out at a total of around 7 petabytes of data transfer a month. That sounds a lot but it is nowhere near the amount of data received from broadcast networks. So how will such streaming services scale if people increasingly consume video on demand?
TalkTalk acquires Tiscali to become broadband leader
TalkTalk, the wholly owned subsidiary of the group still surprisingly known as Carphone Warehouse, is acquiring Tiscali UK for £236 million in cash. It suddenly becomes the largest residential broadband provider in the country, although that is still disputed by BT. It is still not clear what that means for the future of Tiscali TV, the only internet protocol television service in the United Kingdom.
NAB president resigns before final transition
The president and chief executive of the National Association of Broadcasters has announced his resignation. David Rehr is leaving the organisation following the annual NAB convention but before the embarrassingly delayed deadline for the completion of the transition to digital television in the United States.