The new additions will be available to customers across all waipu.tv subscription packages and will also be offered on demand via the platform’s waiputhek library.

ZDF kocht! is a 24/7 culinary channel bringing together a selection of popular cooking programmes from German public broadcaster ZDF. The schedule includes established formats such as Die Küchenschlacht, Topfgeldjäger, featuring well-known chefs including Frank Rosin, Steffen Henssler and Cornelia Poletto, as well as Stadt, Land, Lecker. The channel is aimed at viewers looking for recipe ideas, cooking inspiration and practical everyday dishes.

The second new channel, Wheels & Steel, is due to launch in the coming weeks. It will focus on heavy machinery, engineering, industrial equipment and high-performance vehicles, with programming covering construction machinery, trucks, cars, ships and aircraft.

With the two additions, waipu.tv now offers more than 300 channels. The service combines public service and commercial broadcasters with more than 70 pay-TV channels, alongside its waiputhek on-demand library featuring over 40,000 films, series episodes and documentaries.

Operated by Munich-based Exaring, waipu.tv serves around two million customers in Germany via its IP-based television platform. The company was founded in 2013, with Freenet as its largest shareholder.

The Cypriot government has proposed temporarily restoring its previous DVB-T terrestrial television platform after the country’s transition to DVB-T2 left thousands of viewers unable to receive commercial television channels.

Deputy Minister for Research, Innovation and Digital Policy Nicodemos Damianou said the government wants to operate both DVB-T and DVB-T2 in parallel for two months, giving viewers more time to retune their televisions or install compatible equipment.

Cyprus switched to the DVB-T2 transmission standard on 1 July, increasing broadcast capacity and enabling HD services. However, the move generated widespread complaints after many households lost access to private free-to-air broadcasters, including Sigma, which holds the rights to broadcast the FIFA World Cup in Cyprus. Public broadcaster CyBC was unaffected by the change.

Viewers with DVB-T2-compatible televisions need only retune their sets, while older receivers require an external decoder. However, retailers and installers reported that some televisions expected to support DVB-T2 still experienced problems, while some decoder installations also failed to restore reception.

Network operator Hellas Sat attributed many of the issues to ageing antenna systems, outdated signal amplifiers, poor cabling and incompatible decoder boxes. The company said it has received a surge in technical support requests since the switchover.

The disruption highlights the practical challenges still facing countries migrating to DVB-T2. Spain is also preparing a nationwide DVB-T2 transition later this year, while Italy continues its phased migration. Both have focused heavily on consumer information campaigns to minimise disruption as broadcasters move towards UHD and more spectrum-efficient transmission technologies.

Cyprus’s proposal to temporarily reinstate the legacy DVB-T platform is an unusual step, reflecting the scale of the reception problems and the importance of maintaining access to major live sporting events during the transition.

Fubo has appointed former Disney+ president Alisa Bowen as its new chief executive officer, marking the first leadership change since the sports-focused streaming platform combined with Hulu + Live TV last year.

Bowen succeeds Fubo co-founder David Gandler, who has led the company since its launch 11 years ago. She takes up the role immediately and is also expected to join the company’s board following shareholder approval later this month.

The appointment comes as Fubo looks to build on its combination with Hulu + Live TV, creating one of the largest pay TV streaming platforms in the United States and strengthening its ties with Disney’s streaming business.

Fubo chairman Andy Bird said Bowen’s experience in building and scaling Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ made her the right choice to lead the company’s next phase of growth. “Alisa is a proven operator with an established track record of driving global subscriber growth and profitability,” he said.

Bowen spent almost a decade at Disney, most recently as president of Disney+, having previously helped launch and scale Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ as part of Disney’s streaming leadership team. Before joining Disney, she held senior roles at News Corporation, Dow Jones and Thomson Reuters.

She said Fubo would focus on strengthening its position across sports, news and entertainment while accelerating growth and profitability. “I look forward to working closely alongside this talented leadership team to strengthen Fubo as an industry leader and create significant value for all of our shareholders,” she said.

Outgoing CEO David Gandler said the company had evolved from a start-up into one of the largest pay TV providers in the United States, adding that Fubo was now well positioned for its next stage of development.

The appointment is another sign of the increasing convergence between traditional media companies and streaming businesses, with executives experienced in large-scale direct-to-consumer platforms becoming increasingly sought after as streaming services focus on profitability as well as subscriber growth.

Dutch sports broadcasters ESPN Netherlands and VodafoneZiggo have defended their decision not to offer standalone direct-to-consumer subscriptions for their premium sports channels, despite growing demand from cord-cutters and continued growth in illegal IPTV.

The broadcasters argue that distributing ESPN Compleet and Ziggo Sport Totaal through broadband and television providers remains the best way to fund premium sports rights and maintain investment in Dutch sport.

ESPN said a standalone subscription is “not expected in the short term”, adding that its wholesale model provides “a solid financial foundation” for Dutch football while ensuring the country’s top men’s and women’s competitions remain widely available.

VodafoneZiggo also ruled out reintroducing a direct subscription for Ziggo Sport Totaal, saying the operator model allows it to continue investing in premium rights, new programming and innovation while keeping prices competitive.

The comments come as illegal IPTV continues to expand across the Netherlands. RTL Nieuws cites estimates ranging from around 650,000 households using pirate services, according to anti-piracy organisation Stichting BREIN, to as many as two million households, according to media analyst Jarco Kriek of Totaal TV.

Kriek argues the current distribution model leaves many consumers with few legal options. As more viewers cancel traditional television packages, sports fans wanting access only to ESPN or Ziggo Sport increasingly find they cannot subscribe without also taking a broadband or TV bundle from an operator.

Both broadcasters rejected suggestions that this was driving piracy. ESPN said consumers still have “plenty of legal options” through service providers, while VodafoneZiggo described illegal IPTV as “a form of theft” that diverts money away from sport and helps sustain criminal networks.

The debate reflects a broader challenge facing the European television industry. While broadcasters continue to rely on wholesale distribution agreements with telecoms operators to maximise rights revenues, growing numbers of consumers are seeking flexible, streaming-only access to premium sports.

The issue has become increasingly significant as rights fragment across multiple services, raising the overall cost of legal viewing and creating opportunities for illegal IPTV providers offering comprehensive sports and entertainment packages at a fraction of the price.

MFE-MediaForEurope will launch a single streaming platform across its European markets from January 2027, combining technology from its Italian and German businesses as it looks to strengthen its position against global streaming and advertising giants.

Speaking at the company’s headquarters near Milan, CEO Pier Silvio Berlusconi said the new service will combine the user interface developed in Italy with the technology platform used by Germany’s Joyn streaming service, following MFE’s acquisition of control of ProSiebenSat.1.

Despite sharing a common technology platform, Berlusconi stressed that programming would remain locally focused.

“We are not an international fast-food chain,” he said. “We produce live programmes designed for individual countries. We must do so with products that originate on television and then move to digital platforms.”

The announcement marks another step in MFE’s strategy to build a pan-European commercial media group. The company, which already operates television businesses in Italy and Spain, expanded into Germany through ProSiebenSat.1 and has also increased its presence in Portugal through a stake in Impresa.

Berlusconi said integration benefits from ProSiebenSat.1 had already reached €160 million this year, well ahead of the company’s four-year synergy target of €261 million to €315 million. He added that ProSiebenSat.1 would continue reducing its portfolio of non-core digital investments while retaining profitable assets such as online beauty retailer Flaconi.

Although MFE expects advertising revenues in Italy to recover in the second half of the year, Berlusconi said the group’s immediate priority is executing its integration strategy rather than pursuing further acquisitions.

The UK’s Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy will appear before MPs next week in the final evidence session of Parliament’s inquiry into the future of the BBC ahead of the renewal of its Royal Charter.

The Culture, Media and Sport Committee is expected to question Nandy on Monday about the future of the licence fee, alternative funding models and how the BBC should be governed when the next Charter comes into force in 2028.

MPs are also expected to ask about the BBC’s role as a public service broadcaster in the digital era, its independence from government, its responsibilities in tackling misinformation and disinformation, and whether there is a case for introducing a permanent Royal Charter.

The hearing follows this week’s appearance by new BBC Director-General Matt Brittin and BBC Chair Samir Shah, during which Brittin called the current licence fee enforcement system “a busted flush” and revealed the BBC is in discussions with Channel 4 about closer collaboration on streaming as the UK’s public service broadcasters respond to increasing competition from global platforms.

The committee is expected to publish its recommendations to the Government after Parliament’s summer recess.

Video enhancement specialist Pixop has joined the Greening of Streaming initiative, with the companies planning to measure whether AI-powered video enhancement can reduce the environmental impact of UHD streaming.

Pixop uses machine learning to restore and upscale HD video to UHD quality, allowing broadcasters to continue producing and storing content in HD while delivering UHD output. The company says the approach could reduce the need for native UHD production infrastructure, although it acknowledges the environmental benefits have yet to be proven.

As part of the collaboration, Pixop’s technology has been integrated into Greening of Streaming’s Online WattLab (OWL) energy measurement platform, allowing researchers to measure the energy consumed by AI enhancement and compare it with the potential energy savings from avoiding UHD production and device-side upscaling.

Pixop CEO and co-founder Morten Kolle Christensen said: “Our mission is to deliver the best possible video quality from any source at the lowest infrastructure cost. Greening of Streaming aligns directly with that.”

Greening of Streaming President Ben Schwarz said the partnership aims to replace assumptions with real-world data. “How much of that device-side energy is genuinely avoidable, rather than already being spent, is exactly what we want to turn into real data.”

The collaboration reflects the industry’s growing focus on measuring the environmental impact of streaming technologies rather than relying on theoretical estimates.

Netflix is reportedly exploring a range of new product and distribution strategies as it looks to increase viewer engagement, despite remaining the world’s largest subscription streaming service.

According to the Wall Street Journal, executives have become increasingly focused on the amount of time subscribers spend watching content and completing series, with engagement emerging as a key internal performance measure.

Among the ideas said to be under consideration are expanding live television offerings, increasing content bundles and introducing new ways to keep viewers returning to the platform more frequently.

So-called Live TV as FAST channels have begun to be branded to consumers have become a staple of streaming services including Amazon Prime Video and ITVX. It is already offering content from broadcast outlets such as France’s TF1.

Pluto TV and Tubi have already built successful businesses on casual viewing.

The reported discussions come despite Netflix continuing to lead the streaming market with low subscriber churn and a number of successful original franchises. However, the company is said to be looking beyond subscriber numbers as it seeks to drive long-term growth, particularly as advertising becomes a more significant part of its business.

The report follows a series of recent moves by Netflix aimed at broadening its role as an entertainment platform. Earlier this week, the company announced it will begin carrying short-form programming from publishers including Condé Nast, Hearst, BuzzFeed and Tastemade. It has also continued to expand into live sport, live events and gaming as it looks to increase the amount of time subscribers spend on the service.

Netflix has not publicly commented on the reported plans.

Italy’s local radio and television industry has celebrated 50 years since the Constitutional Court ruling that ended the state broadcasting monopoly, with calls to complete the country’s transition to next-generation television and strengthen the future of local media.

Speaking at the RadioTV Forum in Rome, organised by Aeranti-Corallo, national coordinator Marco Rossignoli said completing the move to DVB-T2 was now an urgent priority to enable HD broadcasting. He also called for greater prominence for local broadcasters on smart TVs through HbbTV and for radio to be included in all connected vehicles.

Rossignoli said FM radio remains the country’s primary platform because of its universal coverage, while arguing that future DAB+ network planning should allow local content splitting to support regional programming and advertising.

He also called for stable public funding and incentives for technological innovation, noting that Italy’s local broadcasting sector employs around 2,000 journalists and continues to play an important democratic role.

The forum also unveiled a commemorative postage stamp marking the 50th anniversary of local radio and television. The stamp, due to be issued on 28 July, features an antenna radiating electromagnetic waves around the number 50 and has been described by Rossignoli as “a prestigious institutional recognition for the entire local broadcasting sector.”

The event concluded with awards for around 100 local radio and television stations that have been broadcasting continuously for half a century.

The European Broadcasting Union has urged governments to give public service media a central role in AI regulation, warning that artificial intelligence companies are becoming gatekeepers between news organisations and their audiences.

Speaking at the UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance in Geneva, the EBU called for stronger accountability from AI developers over the accuracy of AI-generated news, transparency around how trust is determined online, and greater protections for children using AI systems.

Luis Jiménez, Head of Business Development and Partnerships for Eurovision News at the EBU, said: “AI companies are inserting themselves between newsrooms and audiences, making journalism accountability methods such as bylines and editorial principles invisible to audiences.”

The EBU cited research showing trust in news has fallen to 37%, while use of AI chatbots for news continues to grow. It also highlighted an EBU and BBC study which found almost half of AI-generated news responses contained significant errors or sourcing problems.

Alongside the 5Rights Foundation and Fondation Abeona, the EBU urged the UN to recognise public service media as trusted sources within national AI governance frameworks, require AI systems aimed at children to prove they are safe before launch, and develop open standards for AI rather than allowing technology companies to set the rules alone.

The intervention comes as regulators around the world consider how AI should be governed while maintaining trust in journalism and protecting vulnerable users.