ITV

Tag: satellite service

  • BSkyB hits eight million subscriber mark

    BSkyB hits eight million subscriber mark

    MUMBAI: Leading British satellite platform BSkyB has crossed its target of achieving eight million subscribers by the end of this year, 2005.

    In a media statement BSkyB chief executive James Murdoch stated, Sky is achieving strong growth. Nearly one in three homes have chosen Sky and we are especially well placed to broaden Sky’s appeal as entertainment and communications come together.

    BSkyB, in which Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. owns 36.6 per cent, has also set a target of achieving 10 million subscribers by 2010, with 2.5 million of those taking its Sky+ personal video recorder service. The company is also aiming to have at least 3 million subscribers using its multiroom service, which allows more than one TV set in a home to be hooked up to Sky’s services.

    Launched in 1999, the company provides free to air channels as well as pay TV channels. Murdoch noted that the company provides access to a number of free to air channels on the Freeview service as a way of promoting the pay-TV services available through its satellite service.

  • NDTV 24×7 to launch in Canada via ATN on 19 December

    NDTV 24×7 to launch in Canada via ATN on 19 December

    MUMBAI: NDTV 24×7 will be launching on Canada’s Asian Television Network International Limited on 19 December, 2005 on the Bell ExpressVu satellite service.      

    The Canadian Radio Television and Telecommunication Commission (CRTC) on 8 April, 2005 awarded to ATN a broadcast license for a South Asian English news channel. ATN has formed a strategic programming alliance with NDTV 24×7 to bring the channel to Canadian viewers. ATN will add its Canadian perspective on business, health, sports and entertainment.

    Following the launch of NDTV 24×7, the total number of channels operated by ATN in Canada will increase to 12.

    ATN, a publicly listed company, has programming alliances with leading international broadcasters. ATN has been awarded additional digital television licenses by the CRTC.

  • MGM launches second Korean channel

    MGM launches second Korean channel

    LOS ANGELES: MGM Networks has announced that it has signed a distribution agreement for the MGM Plus channel. This is a second branded network which will be carried on South Korea’s Skylife DTH satellite service.

    In India the broadcaster has a JV with Zee. MGM Plus will complement the existing MGM Channel with a different mix of programming from MGM’s storied film library and select local Korean productions. An official release informs that both networks will be carried on Skylife, the country’s first direct-to-home satellite TV service. Skylife will air the MGM networks 24*7 in Korean.

    MGM Networks’ executive VP Bruce Tuchman said, “Since the launch of our first Korean channel last year, we have seen impressive subscriber growth and developed a strong connection with viewers. In launching a second localised channel in South Korea, we will build on those accomplishments. We’re particularly excited about our progress so far because MGM has earmarked Asia as a key growth region.”

    The launch of a second South Korean channel is the latest of several recent MGM Networks announcements, including the MGM Channel’s Hong Kong launch and a strategic alliance with CNBC Asia Pacific. MGM Networks has been expanding quickly worldwide, its channel interests more than quadrupling the past two years to about 100 countries on six continents.