Tag: OFCOM
Ofcom: the BBC should not fund ISP's network upgrades
Our faith in all that is just and fair was restored by Ofcom today when the battle between content providers, most notably the BBC’s iPlayer, and UK Internet Service Providers reached Parliament…
Opinion: Super fast broadband via the sewers is fine, but ISPs need incentives to improve
Ofcom has decided to conduct a survey of Britain’s pipework to test its suitability for carrying fibre-optic cabling for use in high speed broadband networks.
Bournemouth Council has already tested broadband via the sewers, so it’s possible, but the main problem is that most ISPs don’t have a real incentive to roll out faster services.
Two issues — the growing use of mobile Internet, and Internet users’ skyrocketing demand for Video on Demand and other bandwidth-intensive multimedia — were never envisaged when the Internet was born.
Confused about in-flight mobile use? Key details below…
One of our brother blogs here at Shiny Media, Lost Weekend, has put together a brilliant piece detailing the allowance of mobile phones on planes.
According to the travel site, some airlines such as Ryanair claim they’ll be offering the service as early as summer, with Air France and Emirates offering in-flight calls later in the year. The cost of calls mid-flight are due to be extremely expensive, priced…
Ofcom slaps O2's wrists for slow 3G rollout
O2 has been publicly criticised by telecoms regulator Ofcom for not rolling out its 3G network fast enough. According to Ofcom, O2’s 3G network currently only covers 75.69% of the UK population, when it was obliged to have reached the 80% mark by December.
Sony applauds Ofcom, extols BRAVIA TV's built-in Audio Description technology
If you’ve watched any TV over the past few weeks, you’ve probably already seen the new push for awareness of Audio Description (AD) technology. AD is, effectively, the aural equivalent of subtitles / signing, allowing partially-sighted and blind people to access TV shows through a descriptive commentary.
The UK leads Europe in adoption of AD, with legislation that requires broadcasters to make a certain proportion of their programmes AD-compliant. The BBC must audio describe at least eight per cent of its programmes.
Both Ofcom and Sony believe that the rest of Europe should be catching up, and have called for similar legislation to be imposed that requires broadcasters to invest in the technology.
OFCOM upgrading the digital TV system – HD could be here by 2009
Telly bosses at OFCOM have announced proposals to change the digital TV broadcast standard – which could allow HD channels to arrive well before the analogue switch-off is done.
The new digital TV broadcast standard includes a change to the more efficient MPEG4 picture encoding system, which along with a few…
Opinion: Mobile phone deals aren't call for cash
They’ve always said you don’t get anything for free in this life, but flick towards the back of any of the tabloid newspapers in this country and you’d have to question that view.
FREE Xbox 360, FREE iPod, FREE laptop, FREE Wii, FREE PSP, FREE HDTV, FREE money – and all you have to do is sign up for a FREE mobile phone. In fact, some of the deals even give you a FREE handset with your FREE handset. Please, tell me, where do I sign…
Five out of six UK homes now digital TV ready
According to the latest report from Ofcom, 84% of UK households have at least one TV now capable of receiving digital terrestrial TV signals. That's a 13% increase on last year, the largest to date, and probably reflects the…
Ofcom survey: overall TV watching down, digital and HD up
The latest Communications Market Report from Ofcom shows that, overall, Britons are watching slightly less TV than last year, down 4% to 3 hours and 36 minutes per day, but that viewers are watching more digital terrestrial, satellite, and high definition content.
Digital TV of some kind is now in four out of five UK households, while for those 450,000 homes who have access to some kind of high definition content, 33% of their viewing time is spent watching it.
Echoing similar studies in the US, it seems that a significant proportion (43%) of those who do have high definition TV are viewing more as a result , particularly premium content such as films and sport.
Half of UK homes now ready for digital switchover
Half of all UK households have switched all of their TV sets over to digital, according to new research from Ofcom and Digital UK.
Nearly nine out of ten respondents were aware of digital switchover – the highest number to date – while two out of three understood how to prepare for the switchover.
