Real Madrid football club channel starts in UK
Spanish football club Real Madrid is set to launch its own channel on Sky Digital at the end of August. Real Madrid TV is already testing at 11.681GHz/V (under the ident '51147') and can be manually added via the 'Add channels' feature on Sky. It is expected to officially launch on Sky Digital on August 29th. [Aug 24]

UKTV G2 scores basketball TV rights win
UKTV has won exclusive rights to basketball coverage from the FIBA World Championship 2006 for its UKTV G2 channel. The broadcasts will also be supported by red button applications to drive take-up of uktvslam.tv, where highlights of every game will be broadcast free on a trial basis along with one full game every day of the tournament, with a view to a full subscription service being launched later this year. [Aug 24]

Channel Five unveils boss for its digital channels
Channel Five has hired Nick Thorogood, the former head of ITV daytime, as controller of its soon-to-launch Five US and Five Life digital channels, which are set to debut this autumn. Initially available on Freeview, followed by satellite and cable, Five Life and Five US are the first extensions to the terrestrial channel, which will celebrate its 10th birthday next March. Five US will extend the US programming familiar to Five viewers from shows such as 'CSI'. It has acquired dramas 'Shark', 'Vanished' and 'The Nine'. Five Life is skewed towards a female audience and will offer drama, films, soaps and the pre-school strand Milkshake!. [Aug 23]

ITV2 and ITV4 to show new US comedies
ITV has bought the rights to two US comedy series from the LA Screenings earlier this year. Sony's Big Day, which is to debut on ABC next year, is a comedy about the preparations for a wedding, while Fox's The Winner centres on a 32-year-old who has yet to leave home. ITV said it had not yet decided which channels the comedies would air on, although the broadcaster is likely to show them initially on ITV2 and ITV4 and transfer them to ITV1 if they become hits. [Aug 23]

London Tonight presenter joins Al-Jazeera
Former London Tonight presenter Nick Clark is to join Al-Jazeera International, the Arabic network's 24-hour English-language satellite channel that is expected to launch in September. He will present weekend news from the network's London broadcast centre alongside Barbara Serra, who has also joined from Channel Five. Sir David Frost will also present a one hour show on the channel. The channel will be the first completely HD news and current affairs channel. [Aug 24]

New music channel starts on Sky
A brand new music channel has started on Sky Digital channel 374. Called Bubble Hits, the free-to-air station is unique because it broadcasts non-stop music without adverts. [Aug 20]

Living TV buys rights to new Danson comedy
Living TV has acquired the rights to Help Me Help You, a comedy from 20th Century Fox Television Distribution starring Ted Danson. Living gets first-run rights to the show in the UK for terrestrial and cable and satellite. Danson stars as self-obsessed and dysfunctional therapist Dr Bill, who hides behind his celebrity image as a bestselling author of successful self-help books. The 13-part series explores the comical side of group therapy. [Aug 23]

Three Sky Digital channels get the chop
Several TV channels have been removed from the Sky line-up. They are Sport Nation on 440, treasures.tv on 674, We Deliver TV on 665 and One TV on 667. Meanwhile, the audio channel crossrhythm on channel 0126 has also been removed. There's a new name for another station - on channel 886 Majestic TV is now called Psychic TV. [Aug 23]

More of this week's digital TV news in brief...
Cartoon Network is destined for Orange mobile TV in six more European countries after parent Turner Broadcasting agreed a distribution deal with owner France Telecom... Channel 4's chief executive Andy Duncan has ruled himself out of the running to replace outgoing ITV chief executive Charles Allen... The National Geographic Channel has commissioned a third season of Seconds From Disaster, a high-definition series... German studio EM.Entertainment has signed a deal for its sci-fi series Farscape to be aired on NBC Universal's Sci-Fi Channel in Germany... A lack of decent and available US comedies has forced the UK's Channel 4 to overhaul its Friday nights, which will feature "no Americana after 9pm" this autumn, said director of TV Kevin Lygo... ITV has made an official request to Ofcom to reduce its commitment to children's programming on ITV1... Sky announced that Extreme Sports joined its Sky Mobile TV service... Overseas Property TV has launched on Sky channel 287.

Shopping channel had licence removed
Sky Digital shopping channel One TV has had its licence removed and is no longer able to broadcast the service 'One TV'. Ofcom has revoked the broadcast licence of the station after it failed to pay its £2,000 licence fee. After many reminders, on July 7th One TV was given a final opportunity to pay the outstanding fees which it did not, according to media reports. [Aug 22]

MTV set to start new video sharing TV channel
MTV is poised to cash in on the Internet craze for video swapping by launching a 'community channel' on Sky Digital this week where viewers will contribute the content. MTV, which celebrates its 25 anniversary next month, says the new TV channel will concentrate on footage supplied by viewers and they will dictate much of what appears on it. Matthew Kershaw, head of interactive at MTV, said: "We are like the Madonna of TV, always re-inventing ourselves. We have got a long history of using users in programmes and we are trying to inject as much user-generated stuff as we can." [July 23]

Pride TV announces November launch
An entertainment TV channel catering for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders is set to launch on Sky Digital this winter. Called Pride TV, it launch in November and will broadcast entertainment and hard-hitting documentaries alongside drama, lifestyle, music, film and late night erotic shows. A third of its programming will be produced in-house and the channel will be on air 10 hours a day. [July 22]

ITV Play launches on Sky Digital this week
ITV Play is set to launch on Sky Digital channel 856 this week. The new gaming channel launched on other TV platforms in April and is now ready for its satellite launch. Charles Allen, Chief Executive of ITV said: "We believe that ITV Play has enormous potential to lead the market for participation TV with higher production values, better programmes and bigger prizes." [July 21]

Sky launches free broadband service
Sky has unveiled details of its new broadband internet access service, Sky Broadband, which provides free broadband with up to 2Mb download speed for Sky TV customers, whatever TV package they take. The service offers three different broadband products, Sky Broadband Base, Mid and Max. The products range from a free service offering download speeds of up to 2Mb to a connection of up to 16Mb for £10 a month. [July 21]

PIN-protected films hours set to be extended
ASky has announced that the broadcast hours of its PIN-protected film channels will be extended from this autumn. The new hours, which will be introduced on September 1st, will be 11am until 3am covering Sky Movies 9 and Sky Movies 10, Sky Movies 9 HD and Sky Movies 10 HD. Currently, the protected hours are daily between 5pm and 3am. [July 20]

Castaway set to return to BBC screens
Castaway, the reality series that made it on to BBC screens before the phenomenon of Channel 4's Big Brother, is set to return five years after its first broadcast. The new series will follow a group of people as they establish a new community in a remote location but with added twists this time. Each episode will be broadcast live from an undisclosed exotic location. The new series will be screened on BBC1 and BBC3 plus on interactive services. [July 23]

More of this week's digital TV news in brief...
Film4 Weekly has been removed from Sky Digital channel 317... On Sky channel 844, the Poker Channel is now called All in Sport... Five has acquired both digital and free TV rights to Warner Bros hostage thriller The Nine.

TV regulator publishes probe into Sky One ad
TV regulators at Ofcom have just published the findings of their investigation into four complaints from viewers who felt the trails for Sky One's Project Catwalk series, which showed a pair of scissors flying through the air towards a tailor’s dummy and becoming lodged in it, were inappropriate. Some felt children could be encouraged to imitate the scenario, said the viewers. Sky said that it did not believe the trail amounted to dangerous behaviour which could be easily imitable by children. It was clearly a promotion for a programme and was filmed against a stark white background, it said. There was no suggestion that the scissors had been thrown by anyone and the scissors were much larger than normal and this, together with the stylised nature of the sequence, would have made it evident that this was a fantastical scenario. Ofcom said: "We noted and accepted Sky's contentions that the scissors are not seen being thrown, and that their flight is not always consistent with having been thrown. They may also at times seem to be unrealistically large (though they are seen to be normal size by the time they pierce the tailor's dummy). As with stylisation, these points are relevant to how the trailer will have been interpreted by adults and older children. However, we did not think that younger children, in the 4-9 year range, will have made these kinds of relatively sophisticated judgement, and concluded that the portrayal was of a potentially dangerous act, with this age group. Transmission at times when they will have been viewing in large numbers - as between Malcolm in the Middle and The Simpsons - therefore contravened the Code." [July 17]

Second HD sports channel to launch on July 31
A second high definition version of Sky Sports will launch later this month, the broadcaster has confirmed. Called Sky Sports HD2, the channel will launch on Sky Digital channel 409 on July 31 and will "simulcast one Sky Sports channel’s schedule each day." The channel will operate alongside Sky Sports HD1, which is available on channel 405. [July 16]

Trio of new channels debut on Sky Digital
Several new channels have launched on the Sky Digital platform in recent days. They include adult entertainment channel Honey TV on 959, music channel 'Justfabulous' on channel 372, and crime-themed station 'Crime' on 531. [July 16]

Sky wins mobile rights to Premier League games
Sky has snapped up mobile rights to Premier League soccer matches over the next three years in a joint deal with The Sun and the News of the World that will see all three parties market and promote the services. Sky already has the bulk of TV rights as well as the online and pay-per-view rights to soccer from 2007-10. The broadcaster beat off a consortium of mobile phone operators including 3, O2, Orange, T Mobile and Vodafone to win the deal. It will now open negotiations with the phone companies about offering customers access to next season's soccer matches. Financial details were not disclosed. Under the terms of the deal, Sky will be able to offer mobile rights to all 380 Premiership matches played each season beginning in 2007. [July 16]

Consumer groups warn of digital switch fears
Consumer groups have warned of their 'serious concerns' about the digital switchover process, calling for fundamental changes in how the process is being managed for elderly, disabled and isolated viewers. A consumer panel set up by media watchdog Ofcom said the process - which aims to see analogue signals switched off on a region-by-region basis between 2008-2012 - has ignored the needs of socially isolated, elderly and vulnerable households. It is calling on the government and the regulator to target more support to such households and says the current provisions are "inadequate." [July 15]

UKTV Gold to air holiday comedy special
UKTV Gold has commissioned a comedy extravaganza headed by comic Julian Clary to air over the UK's August Bank Holiday. Julian Clary's Britcom Weekend, spanning three days from August 26, will consist of a series of classic archive themes: Rule Britannia, Miserable Gits and Camp Comedy. Clary will present introductions to te weekends, interview actors from the original series and impart his own ideas on typically British humour. [July 15]

Sky boss lands new job in Australia
Outgoing Sky chief operating officer Richard Freudenstein has been handed a new job within News Corp, as head of the company's new digital division in its News Limited business in Australia. Freudenstein, who announced earlier this year that he was leaving the bradcaster to return to his homeland, will become chief executive of News Digital Media. [July 14]

Freesat launch 'delayed until autumn 2007'
The BBC and ITV's planned free-to-view satellite TV service Freesat will not be launched before autumn 2007, according to media reports. Director general Mark Thompson told MPs on the Culture Select Committee this week: "It's the issue of garnering broad support that's caused the delay." Negotiations with other broadcasters had been protracted due to efforts to fix a common standard, he continued. Freesat will let people access all BBC and ITV channels via a satellite dish without paying a subscription. BBC chairman Michael Grade said the service, which will cater for the quarter of TV viewers who live outside the Freeview coverage area, would be "ready as soon as possible." Currently people who cannot recieve Freeview or cable TV can only access BBC and ITV digital services via a satellite dish provided by Sky. [July 14]

More digital TV news in brief...
Several Sky Digital TV channels have been removed from the line-up. These include Star Bazaar TV on channel 671 and 2Shop TV on 673... ITV1 is facing an advertising downturn, according to press reports, with media buyers estimating advance advertising bookings for September are down as much as 12% year-on-year... Shopping channel Gems TV raised £92,149.31 for Cancer Research during a marathon shopping feature in which the channel hopes to have set the world record for the "Longest Television Shopping Presenting Marathon."

Possible BBC strike action is postponed
Possible strike action at the BBC has been postponed for a week after a meeting with director general Mark Thompson led to possible new concessions, union officials said. Notice of a strike ballot was issued last week after a breakdown in talks over wages and pension rights. Following a seven-hour meeting with BBC brass, however, representatives of broadcasting union BECTU and the National Union of Journalists said they will now wait for a letter from BBC management outlining a potential change in the terms of a salary settlement offer and access to BBC pension plans. [July 16]

Shopping channel set to shut down soon
Shopping channel Treasures TV will soon be shutting down, according to a spokesman at the station. The channel launched in November 2005 and has offered porcelain, famous signatures and collectables among its product range, but it has lost the financial backing of a key investor and is struggling to continue. [July 14]

BBC Three to show Neighbours before BBC1?
The BBC has confirmed media reports that it is considering screening Neighbours on digital channel BBC Three before it is shown on BBC One. The Australian soap is currently aired on BBC One at 1:40pm and 5:35pm on weekdays. A BBC spokeswoman said no decision had been reached, but confirmed the idea was being considered. "There are lots of ideas being bounced around," she said. "We can't comment on any specifics that may or may not being considered." [July 15]

Sky News launches new interactive news show
Sky News presenter Martin Stanford is to host a new weekday evening show that will replace the axed World News Tonight with James Rubin. The 8pm-9pm show launches on Monday (July 10), and will take Sky News in a new direction by inviting contributors to send in video or webcam clips. Sky News is also launching a blog, News Brief, looking at the day's news agenda, with versions aimed at the media, skynews/publicity, and the general public, sky.com/news. Stanford is a 16-year Sky News veteran who currently co-presents the channel's Sky News Today morning programme. [June 9]

Film Four gets new name as it goes free
Channel 4's film channel, Film4, will relaunch as a free service on July 23 with the premiere of the Oscar-winning comedy Lost in Translation. The channel will then become the UK's largest free film channel, available to 18m homes, claims the broadcaster. A quarter of the films shown on the channel will come from the UK, but they will be broken up with ads. Currently branded as FilmFour, it has only been available to cable and satellite viewers. Its new name and look will see it join the Freeview service. The decision to make the channel free-to-air comes a year after Channel 4 did the same for E4, which resulted in a large increase in viewing figures. Film4 will screen six films a day. [July 8]

Big audience increase for Disney channel
The Disney Channel claims to have become the UK's most popular commercial kids channel following its move away from premium subscription to join Sky's basic pay-TV package. The channel has seen its viewing figures reach a record level, with share up by 48% since it moved from Sky and NTL's premium package six weeks ago. [July 8]

BBC TV viewing figures sink as Net usage grows
The BBC's share of the national TV audience slipped last year with teenagers switching off in "disproportionately large numbers", the corporation said in its annual report for 2005-06. The percentage of people watching at least 15 minutes of BBC television programming a week - the BBC's measure of 'audience reach' - fell last year to 85.3%, down from 86.6%. Radio audiences remained stable, with weekly reach down just 0.1% at 66.5%. [July 7]

BBC plans to offer personalised radio
BBC director general Mark Thompson has announced plans to allow audiences to create personal radio stations from its content. The planned service, provisionally called MyBBCRadio, was revealed by Thompson at the Radio Festival in Cambridge. It aims to give audiences more control by combining existing services such as podcasts and the BBC Radio Player. It will be part of the BBC's iPlayer, a free service which will also offer seven days of BBC TV on demand. Thompson said MyBBCRadio would use peer-to-peer technology to provide "thousands, ultimately millions, of individual radio services created by audiences themselves". [July 7]

More Digital TV news in brief...
On Sky Digital, Look4Less TV has launched on channel 680... Quiz TV has been removed from the Sky line-up on channel 852... The BBC has committed to halve the number of repeats on BBC1 by 2009, as part of the corporation's annual report... The Apple FM audio channel has been removed from channel 0163... The HorrorChannel on Sky channel 321 is now called Zone Horror... On Sky channel 146 You TV has been renamed Sumo TV... Porn channel LIVE XXX TV on channel 943 has been removed fro Sky's EPG... New channels that have just joined the Sky line-up include 322 Zone Thriller, 681 Price Busters and 918 Look4Love2 TV... ITV is to launch a '+1' time-shifted version of its popular ITV2 channel later this year on Sky Digital.

Sky Report producer signs off
Sky News executive producer Nick Phipps has sent out a farewell email to viewers of the Sky Report, which ended last week as part of the channel's return to rolling news. The show was launched lasrt autumn as an investigative programme and despite breaking some big stories did not attract large audience figures. [July 7]

Setanta Sports to launch golf channel in 2007
Setanta Sports have been granted exclusive live rights to cover The PGA Tour, the biggest competition in the golf calendar. The six-year deal starts on 1 January 2007 and gives Setanta the rights to all PGA Tour events and programming including The Players’ Championship, which annually features the deepest field of the TOUR schedule. Setanta will also showcase the 24 events in the Champions Tour for champions aged 50 and over, and also show extensive coverage of the Nationwide Tour in which an international roster of players battle for a place on the PGA Tour. These events will form the cornerstone of a new 24-hour Setanta Golf Channel which will launch on New Year's Day 2007. Setanta's Director of Sports, Trevor East, said: "We are privileged to be associated with an organisation as prestigious as the PGA TOUR. Following quickly of the heels of our recent English and Scottish Premier League successes, this is a major coup for Setanta. A dedicated golf channel featuring the game's biggest names in peak viewing time alongside our major football content provides a compelling proposition for subscribers." [June 30]

New equestrian channel starts filming shows
Horse & Country TV, the channel for equestrian and country enthusiasts that is due to launch on Sky this autumn, has started filming its programmes. The new channel, which is to be run in partnership with British Eventing, British Dressage and the British Show Jumping Association, has been filming the British Eventing team in training ahead of the forthcoming World Equestrian Games at Aachen. [July 7]

Huge BBC pay rises anger trade union officials
Mark Thompson and other BBC chiefs shared £3.73 million last year, during a period in which audience share declined and the proportion of licence payers’ money spent on programmes fell. Thompson, the Director General, earned £609,000, 10 per cent ahead of his £562,000 salary last year, while four other top executives received pay increases of between 6 and 15 per cent — well ahead of the 2.6 per cent offered to BBC staff. Trade union officials warned that they would consider holding a strike ballot, after learning of the above-inflation pay increases, which were published in the Corporation’s annual report. [June 7]

BBC restructuring set to be unveiled in July
A major restructure of the BBC's creative divisions is set to be unveiled on July 19, network director general Mark Thompson said at a press conference. The move is expected to see director of television Jana Bennett head a newly merged broadcasting and production division and see BBC creative director Alan Yentob step down to focus more closely on his on-camera role, according to insiders. Announcing reports and accounts for 2005-06, Thompson said the BBC's total income topped £4.2 billion last year and a record £3.1 billion contribution came from the license fee, an increase of £160 million from the previous year. [July 6]

Sky News clinches award for 7/7 coverage
Sky News won a top award at the prestigious 46th Monte-Carlo Television Festival. The station picked up the 'Best 24-hour News Programme' for its coverage of the July 7th London Bombings, beating off competition from CNN and BBC News 24. [July 5]

NTL cable TV services to get Virgin makeover
NTL will re-brand its cable, Internet and telecoms businesses under the Virgin banner from 2007, the company announced as it completed its £962 million acquisition of mobile phone group Virgin Mobile. Shares in Virgin Mobile were de-listed from the London Stock Exchange after NTL received the necessary court approvals for the deal. The combined group will launch a "quadruple" play offer of cable television, broadband Internet, home phone calls and mobile telephony from next year. "It is anticipated that the company will start marketing a single portfolio of services under the Virgin brand some time early in 2007, if not sooner," said the company. [July 6]

Huge TV audience figures for World Cup
The 2006 soccer World Cup has generated huge TV audiences. The quarter final games scored huge audiences in Europe, with World Cup host Germany leading the way. An average of 24.8 million Germans, representing a staggering 86.1% market share, watched their team beat Argentina in a nail-biting game. That figure jumped to a peak of 28.7 million and 90% of the overall audience in the final minutes as Germany beat the South Americans in a penalty shoot-out. [June 7]

Eurosport to launch in Serbia on July 12
Pan-European sports channel Eurosport has announced it is expanding its Eastern European operations and will launch into Serbia on July 12. The channel will be produced in the capital of Belgrade, broadcast in Serbian on a representative number of cable networks, with sports commentary delivered by a team of local sports reporters. With the addition of Serbia, Eurosport now broadcasts in 20 languages to a daily average of 22 million viewers in 54 countries. [July 9]