According to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, global smartphone shipments increased 6.5 per cent year over year to 285.4 million units in the second quarter of 2024 (2Q24). Although this marks the fourth consecutive quarter of shipment growth and builds the momentum towards the expected recovery this year,…

Amazon’s Project Kuiper broadband-by-satellite system is said to expect to receive a licence to operate over India shortly. India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is currently evaluating the application documents submitted by the Amazon-owned company. Kuiper, once licensed, will join Eutelsat’s OneWeb and Reliance Jio’s satellite partner SES, as well as Elon Musk’s Starlink, in bidding…

Satellite operator SES and major German-language broadcaster RTL Deutschland have renewed and extended their transmission contracts. Their long-running relationship, serving Germany and Austria, will now run to the end of the decade. RTL Deutschland’s TV broadcasts will also continue to be available on HD+, SES’s high-definition satellite TV platform in Germany. The new agreement, which covers…

July 16th  marks the launch of multichannel provider UKTV’s new Masterbrand ‘U’, which sees its free streaming service transition to U and its free-to-air channels become U&Dave, U&W, U&DRAMA and U&YESTERDAY.  Viewers will see the changes on air and across platforms, with all assets reflecting the new brand design system. To kick off the launch, UKTV has teamed up with legendary singer Cher for an advert that…

‘500 channels and nothing to watch’ is the familiar refrain of customers frustrated with expensive cable packages. In today’s streaming world, a similar question remains: with so many platforms and abundance of content from which to choose, what’s worth paying for? Hub Entertainment Research’s annual Monetization of Video study reveals that even with consumers feeling…

EFL club Carlisle United has partnered with Endeavor Streaming to launch its global streaming service, CUTV. The EFL League Two club will stream every league game live internationally to reach new audiences around the world and drive deeper engagement with its fans. Powered by Endeavor Streaming’s Vesper platform, CUTV will also offer viewers in the…

Comms equipment manufacturer Nokia is partnering with Telecom Egypt to bring 5G technology to Egypt for the first time. The collaboration aims to revolutionise the country’s telecom landscape by introducing the transformative power of 5G to cities including Alexandria, Aswan, Cairo, Giza, and Luxor. Nokia will provide its comprehensive AirScale portfolio aiming to deliver an…

Video recognition specialist WebKyte has become the newest member of the British Association for Screen Entertainment (BASE). It joins the ever-growing and thriving BASE community, eighty-five-plus organisations united in supporting the Home Entertainment industry, and, through BASE’s dedicated unit, the Industry Trust for IP Awareness, a collective dedicated to tackling the issue of copyright infringement…

BBC Studios and Samsung TV Plus are to expand two BBC FAST channel brands in EMEA. BBC Drama will make its debut in MENA on Samsung TV Plus whilst Top Gear launches on Samsung TV Plus across MENA, Italy, Spain, France, Germany,  Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Already available in Spain, Italy and France on Samsung…

It wasn’t the best of weeks for the rocket launch industry. An Ariane 6 suffered a final stage engine failure which ruined its debut test flight. Then, on Friday July 12, (02.25 UTC), SpaceX lost a key second stage on its Falcon 9 which resulted in its cargo of 20 Starlink satellites in orbits that…