A disaster hit a BT exchange in the Paddington area of London this morning, widely disrupting broadband services in the south.

A fire broke out at the exchange, apparently, along with a flood which really did the damage.

There’s no word on whether a plague of locusts descended afterwards, but at any rate, the chaos caused broadband and landlines across London and the home counties to be knocked out of action.

According to a BBC report, tens of thousands of customers are said to be affected, with the majority of those in the north and west of London.

ComputerWeekly quoted BT as saying: “We are currently assessing the impact of the damage but will only know the full extent of the impact once the site has been declared safe and our engineers are able to enter the building.” (Without the aid of scuba diving gear).

No word yet on when everything is expected to be back to normal, but it sounds like this one could take a bit of time to sort out.

Original post:
Fire and flood hits BT broadband

Sagemcom is making the BBC iPlayer available on all its Sagem Freesat HD and Freesat+ HD set-top-boxes, following a successful service trial.

As long as the set-top-box is connected to the internet, users can catch up with BBC programmes and radio stations they have missed in the last seven days.

The iPlayer can be accessed by pressing the red button from most BBC channels and entering the official trial access code 5483.

Sagemcom’s MD, Raphael Fainac, said: “Sagemcom is a leader in set top box technology and we aim to provide our customers with products that they need.

“The BBC iPlayer has gained tremendous support since its launch and with all of the UK having either freeview or freesat the BBC iPlayer service is a great addition to our freesat offering.”

Source:
Sagemcom makes BBC iPlayer available on freesat STBs

Website: Rapid TV News

The International Telecommunications Union, HQ’d in Geneva, has formally written to Iran’s broadcasting authority and coyly asking them to track down the intentional jamming of Eutelsat transmissions.

France’s National Frequency Agency has already determined that the jamming is coming from within Iran, which implies that that the disruption has the tacit approval of the Iranians.

TV channels that have been directly affected include the BBC’s Persian news service, but others including Deutsche Welle and the Voice of America have also suffered.

The ITU’s Radio Regulation Board admits that any such interference is strictly forbidden, but it can do little to penalise the offender.

The ITU letter said it had “urged the administration of Iran to continue its effort in locating the source of interference and to eliminate it as a matter of the highest priority.”

Read more:

Website: Rapid TV News

Four days before Spain’s national analogue switch-off, the government has approved the criteria for assigning digital-terrestrial TV multiplexes and also for the booking of the digital dividend.

By means of a new Royal Decree officially approved last week, the national private broadcasters will each be able to access a complete mux after analogue switch-off.

Public broadcaster RTVE and the regional public broadcasters will access two complete muxes each.

The Decree also determines the procedure for the utilization of the 790-862 MHz band, commonly known as the ‘digital dividend’ before January 2015.

The process established is step-by-step and made up of two phases, guaranteeing a smooth transition because at any given moment the private broadcasters have the same capacity for the transition.

The government has calculated the digital dividend will raise between E12,000 and E16,000 million for the national economy.

Those frequencies within the digital dividend are suitable for the allocation of new mobile broadband services so allowing improved coverage both in urban areas and in rural ones.

This will significantly advance the reduction in the so called ‘digital divide’ for the population so getting a bigger social and economic cohesion across the country.

The Decree establishes two phases: The first will start in June and will be implemented until March next year. The second phase will work on the booking of the frequencies band of between 790 to 862 MHz and will be used for advanced electronic communication services.

Meanwhile, Spain’s broadcasters want more broadband capacity to guarantee the offering of high-definition TV.

Maurizio Carlotti, Antena 3’s vice-president, said: “When the government approved the DTT plan it should have demanded we broadcast in HD such as happened in the US.

“But the government rather allowed many new DTT channels.”

José Miguel Contreras, laSexta’s CEO, thinks the same.

In the next few days the government is to approve another Royal Decree to regulate HDTV.

According to the government this new Decree will allow all broadcasters to officially offer HDTV services.

See more here:
Spain approves criteria for assigning DTT multiplexes

Website: Rapid TV News

Newzbin, a website “that helps subscribers illegally download movies” (according to the London High Court) has been hit by a copyright infringement verdict in London’s High Court of Justice.

For the past couple of months the UK High Court has been hearing the case evolve between the Motion Picture Association (MPA), and lawyers for Newzbin.

Although the precise terms of the Court order will be announced later this week, the judgment is clear that the Court will order Newzbin to stop giving users access to the films and television programmes that belong to the member companies of the MPA.

In the ruling issued March 29, the court found that the UK-based company “engages in copyright infringement even though the protected content does not reside directly on its website.

Rather, Newzbin provides links to unauthorized copies of copyright works, including films, TV programmes, commercial software as well as other illegal content.

Newzbin charges a monthly fee for subscribers to use its services and has built a substantial business based on copyright infringement.”

“We welcome the Court’s decision today,” said Ted Shapiro, the MPA’s general counsel for Europe.

“Newzbin is a source of immense damage to the creative sector in the UK and worldwide.

This is an important decision and it sends a clear message that websites focusing on providing viewers with pirated film and TV programmes infringe copyright and are liable for their actions even where those websites don’t themselves host the content.

This decision will help to support the continued investment in new legal online services and the creation of new films and television shows for enjoyment by audiences both in the UK and around the world.”

The Court ruling clarifies the implementation of European legislation in the UK, finding that the services of internet intermediaries are increasingly being used by third parties to infringe copyright, and that such parties are in the best position to bring such illegal activities to an end.

Shapiro said that the MPA remains committed to its core mission of encouraging and pursuing common-sense solutions that support the creativity of the motion picture industry and offer film fans the widest possible choice of movies and TV programmes to enjoy.

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Newzbin ordered to stop copyright infringement