A report suggests that online television subscribers in the United States could outnumber traditional pay television homes in 2024. The research, commissioned by online video player and service provider Roku, forecasts that around 60 million television homes will access video on their television exclusively online within five years. We take a closer look at this claim.
Read more…

There have been renewed suggestions of a possible merger between the DIRECTV and Dish Network satellite services in the United States. It remains far from clear whether either party is in favour of such a deal or whether it would receive regulatory approval.
Read more…

The BBC is to switch off its news and sports text services on the television red button, twenty years after they launched as the successor to Ceefax, the teletext information service it began in 1974. It means that viewers will no longer be able to read news sports headlines, together with weather and other information, on their television. The red button will still be used to access occasional multiscreen services and to promote the BBC iPlayer.
Read more…

The quest for higher quality images is as apparent as ever at the IBC show in Amsterdam, with 4K now prevalent and 8K ultra-high-definition images becoming more evident. So it is surprising to see so many pictures compromised by being over compressed. IBC presents a contradiction. Half the halls are filled with people that appear passionate about achieving the highest technical quality. The other half are apparently indifferent to the result.
Read more…

With so much talk about voice, it may seem surprising that there is still an important role in the living room for the humble handheld remote control. Yet the remote control specialists at Ruwido have come up with a device that can identify a user within a few seconds, just by the way they hold and handle it, opening up interesting opportunities for personalisation.
Read more…

Apple TV+ will launch in over 100 markets at $4.99 a month, undercutting rival subscription video services, and will be free for a year with any iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Mac or Apple TV purchase. It will offer a limited range of original productions that appear to aim for an upmarket audience. There are approaching 1.5 billion active installed Apple devices worldwide, including over 900 million iPhones. If Apple converts even a fraction of them to become loyal subscribers, it will become a major media player.
Read more…