Sky has today announced a huge step forward in its second screen activity, with the launch of an update to its Sky+ app which lets Sky customers transform their iPad into a remote control.

On-demand TV revenues from movies and TV programmes (and excluding revenues from other sources such as sports and adult and also excluding SVOD packages) will reach US$6.0 billion in 2017, up from US$3.9 billion in 2011 and US$2.3 billion in 2007, according to a new report from Digital TV Research.

Shazam has revealed that there were several million interactions with its Shazam-enabled NBC Olympics broadcast in the US and more than a million from the Closing Ceremony alone.

HBO in the US has teamed up with UK’s blinkbox service to allow their portfolio of programming to be available on the service.

Net US subscriber additions for pay-TV operators fell by nearly 350,000 in Q2 2012, the largest subscriber drop in history, as weakening economic conditions and strengthening competition from over-the-top (OTT) players like Netflix continue to work against cable operators and even against the satellite segment, according to recent research from IHS Screen Digest.

FreeWheel, the video technology company that manages the economics of content for the enterprise-class world of entertainment, today announced its ad management technology, Monetization Rights Management (MRM), will be powering the video and display advertising operations of Channel 4.The multi-year agreement with FreeWheel enables Channel 4 to consolidate their ad operations for Channel 4, E4… Continue reading FreeWheel expands UK footprint with Channel 4 deal

The number of homes paying for IPTV will rocket to 165 million by end-2017, up from 51 million at end-2011 and from only 7.5 million at end-2007, according to a new report from Digital TV Research. The Global IPTV Forecasts report estimates that China will supply 77 million (47%) of the 2017 total, up from only 14 million (28%) in 2011 and only 350,000 (5%) at end-2007.

A new report from Juniper Research forecasts that the number of residential TVs, connected to the Internet via different platforms such as Blu-ray players, set-top boxes and consoles, and also via built in wireless or Ethernet connectivity, will reach almost 650 million by 2017.

Connected TV penetration in North America and Western Europe will surge from just over 10% in 2011 to over 50% by 2017, according to ABI Research.

New market research from Parks Associates finds the percentages of US smart-TV owners who use this Internet-connected device to watch online video increased by over 30% in six months.