The on demand service iPlayer from the BBC is now available on Freesat high definition set-top boxes manufactured by Bush, Grundig and Goodmans. Electricpig has confirmed that most models will have received a download application, providing that the box is connected to the internet. Give the red button a click, and after about 40 minutes you should be ready to start demanding your favourite BBC radio and TV programmes.
Sky and Virgin Media subscribers will be able to tune into ITV1 HD from April 2nd. ITV1 HD will give viewers the opportunity to enjoy ITV’s coverage of the 2010 World Cup games in high definition, as well as popular shows such as Coronation Street, Dancing on Ice and Wire In The Blood.
Sky will be increasing the number of its HD channels to 40, having also added Sky Sports HD 4 and Hallmark HD, which will debut on June 28th and April 29th respectively.
Virgin Media’s acquisition of ITV1 HD follows hot on the heels of the announcement that it will exclusively broadcast Film4 HD and E4 HD. Non-subscription digital satellite TV platform Freesat will also broadcast the ITV1 HD channel, which was originally exclusive to Freeview HD.
Pace is now the world’s second largest developer of set-top boxes for cable, satellite and IPTV, with a client list that includes UK digital TV providers Sky, Virgin Media and BT Vision. Pace has recorded profits of £69.9 million for 2009, according to BroadbandTVNews.com, which equates to a massive 405% increase on 2008.
Pace saw their set-top box volume shipments smash the 15 million mark, achieving 17.2 million; an increase of almost a third on its 2008 results. The US market was responsible for just under half of the total shipments, whilst new European contracts have been finalised with the likes of Sky Germany and Swedish broadcaster Viasat.
You might have seen something about SeeSaw her on this blog before. SeeSaw is a forthcoming online video on-demand platform a la YouTube and BBC iPlayer which will feature content from the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. According to a pice in yesterday’s Guardian, trials of the new software begin today. SeeSaw’s website says that the trial is “currently invitation-only. We’d like to see what people think of our service then make it even better.”
The SeeSaw website found here features a very Freesat-esque design and comes with the tagline “Just wait until you SeeSaw”. From here you can register your details and apply for an invitation. Don’t expect an immediate reply though, SeeSaw will be sending out invites on a gradual basis in order for them to perfect the service for launch.
Just to clarify: SeeSaw is a video on demand enterprise owned by Arqiva, which bought the technology from Project Kangaroo - the multi platform venture started by the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 which was ultimately sidelined by the Competition Commission. It is not related to Project Canvas, which offers a similar service. SeeSaw is an online on-demand venture whereas Project Canvas is thought to offer a similar service accessed on TV sets connected to the internet.
Got Freesat? Got a Humax-branded Freesat+ or Freesat HD set top box receiver? Got broadband speeds of over 1Mbps? Then you should already be aware of the fact that you can now access BBC iPlayer content on your TV.
This rollout is part of a beta of the service which went live just before Christmas and will be eventually rolled out across the nation. Freesat will eventually roll out the BBC iPlayer to all existing makes of Freesat+ and HD boxes as well as integrated TV sets “in the following weeks and months” as Freesat’s website says. Additionally the ITV Player is due to be rolled out on Freesat “in the first half of 2010″.
Unfortunately it doesn’t look like the BBC iPlayer will be coming to standard defintion Freesat boxes “at any point,” according to the BBC’s Andrew Bowden.
Want some on-demand action with your non-subscription digital satellite TV package? From the 7th of December onwards, Freesat will be launching the beta of a BBC iPlayer channel.
Initially the channel won’t be available to the general public, but if the trial of the beta goes according to plan then this could be out before Christmas, which is a pretty nice present we think you’ll agree.
Tech site T3 quotes a Freesat spokesperson saying “during the initial stage of Beta, selected journalists and partners will be able to access the service using a code.” Hopefully “as many Freesat viewers as possible will be able to use the service by Christmas.”
A bona fide 80’s revival has been well underway for some time now. Calvin Harris is probably responsible for kick staring the whole sorry affair with his anthem ‘Acceptable in the 80s’. La Roux zips around in a Toyota MR2 in the video for ‘In With the Kill’ and Lady GaGa, who started out playing in New York clubs and is arguably more famous for her dress sense than her music, has been touted as a new Madonna. All of this is set to a backdrop of recession, political scandals, industrial action… sound familiar?
Getting in with the times, Freesat has just announced that from November the 16th onwards three new CBS channels will arrive, all bustling with classic 80’s hits, such as Dynasty and Moonlighting.
The three channels are CBS Drama, CBS Reality and CBS Action and they will replace the current three ‘Zone’ channels, Zone Romantica, Zone Reality and Zone Thriller respectively. Zone Horror will remain for the time being, and Zone Reality +1 will be replaced by CBS Reality +1.
US broadcaster CBS is to launch a range of branded digital channels in the UK.
The broadcasting network will work in conjunction with channel provider Chellomedia, the European content division of Liberty Global, which will rebrand six of its 26 services - Zone Romantica, Zone Thriller, Zone Horror and Zone Reality, Zone Horror +1 and Zone Reality +1 - under the CBS banner. The channels have not yet been given new names.
CBS’s new UK themed channels, which will launch later this year, will feature programming from the network’s 70,000 hour back catalogue, including the 1980s soap opera Dynasty and the remastered version of the original series of Star Trek. In addition, the broadcaster will continue to acquire programming from third party suppliers.
The commercially funded Chello Zone channels are currently broadcast to over 13 million homes through Sky, Virgin Media and FreeSat. The rebranded CBS channels will continue to be operated by Chellomedia, but representatives from CBS will contribute to the shaping and day-to-day running of the channels.
American networks ABC, NBC and Fox have all run channels on British television, but this is the first time that CBS has launched such a venture, although its CBS Evening News programme already airs on Sky News.
“The CBS brand is recognised around the world for quality, both as a production studio and as a network,” said Armando Nuñez, president of CBS Studios International.
Martin Freeman and Alexander Armstrong will star in a new BBC Four comedy drama celebrating the classic years of British computing in the 1980s.
Going under the working title Syntax Era, the show documents the on-going rivalry between maverick visionary Sir Clive Sinclair, played by Armstrong, and his former colleague Chris Curry (Freeman) as they go head to head to achieve domination of the growing home computer market.
“Those of us that lived through the eighties will remember the sense of excitement when gadgets and technology started to appear in our homes,” says Controller of BBC Four, Richard Klein.
“But not many of us will know the fascinating stories behind their arrival. Alexander Armstrong and Martin Freeman are excellent choices to portray Sir Clive Sinclair and Chris Curry at a time when battling to have the UK’s most loved home computer was their number one priority.”
The 90-minute drama was written by Tony Saint and uses archive footage from programme’s such as John Craven’s Newsround to illustrate the buzz around Sinclair and Curry’s inventions, as well as the infamous Sinclair C5 battery-powered tricycle.
MPs have rejected a Tory motion to freeze the BBC licence fee this year at £139.50 rather than raising it to £142.50 as planned.
After a heated debate in the Commons lasting almost two hours, 334 MPs rejected the motion, while 156 voted in favour.
During the debate, the Conservative chairman of the Commons culture, media and sport select committee, John Whittingdale, said that he had been “profoundly disturbed” by a speech made on Tuesday evening by Sir Michael Lyons in which the BBC Trust chairman criticised Tory plans to block a £3 raise to the licence fee, which currently brings the BBC £3.6 billion a year.
