Top Stories

LOS ANGELES, October 10: Male-focused, on-demand television provider Ripe Digital Entertainment (RDE) has received $32 million in financing from Hearst-Argyle, Time Warner Investments, Columbia Capital and Rho Ventures. RDE says it plans to use the infusion of capital to launch …

LONDON, October 10: Inking a deal with Top Up TV, Setanta Sports will be available on the British digital terrestrial platform Freeview next year as a stand-alone subscription offering. Freeview customers with a Top Up TV-compatible digital box or digital …

LONDON, October 10: Dean Possenniskie is joining BBC Worldwide from MTV Networks Europe as senior VP of global channels for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Possenniskie will be responsible for the strategic development and implementation of BBC Worldwide's new …

LONDON, October 10: Content from The History Channel in the U.K. will be made available on an on-demand basis on BT Vision, BT’s next-generation TV service that launches later this fall. The channel, a joint venture of BSkyB and A&E …

EL SEGUNDO, October 10: DIRECTV will offer local HD broadcast networks in 67 markets, representing approximately 74 percent of U.S. TV households, by year-end when it rolls out 25 more local HD markets in the fourth quarter. Local news, sports …

LONDON, October 10: BBC World Service will launch a television news service for Iran in early 2008 that will be funded by the British government to the tune of £15m a year. The channel, based in London, will broadcast in …

LONDON, October 10: Disney Channel has signed its first pan-European deal to provide content to mobile phones, entering into an agreement with Orange that covers the U.K., Belgium, Switzerland, Portugal, Poland, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia and eventually France. The service …

MOUNTAIN VIEW/SAN MATEO, October 10: Validating a rumor that has been circulating since last Friday, Internet search and advertising giant Google is set to purchase YouTube, the web’s most popular viral video destination, in a deal valued at a whopping …

LONDON, October 10: NASN, which offers up coverage of North American sports in Europe, has secured carriage with Canal Digital, bringing it to Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway beginning October 27. The agreement grants NASN access to 1.1 million Nordic …

CANNES, October 9: Buena Vista International Television’s slate of first-day announcements at MIPCOM includes a new deal with TF1 for a range of Disney releases to be made available on demand on the TF1 Vision website. Almost 100 titles are …