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2006 Chronokey Chronomedia index
Numbers after entries link to the list of references.


links and notes
  Cultural highlights | Predictions made this year  
January 10  Apple introduces the first Mac computers with Intel processors.  
January 17  Greek parliament adopts a new law on electronic communications.  
January 26  Minister of Justice in the Netherlands announces that all satellite transmission by television channels Al Manar and SaharTV1, respectively in Lebanon and Iraq, will be blocked for their tendency to disseminate hatred. Internet reception of the channel is not blocked. [0049]  
January 16  UK's ITV network adopts a new look across all its channels. < 2002
January  UK satellite pay TV operator BSkyB launches a broadband download service for sports programming and films, using a peer-to-peer infrastructure.  
January  UK's Channel Four Television abandons 'red button' interactive television functions for its programmes, preferring to use mobile telephone and broadband cable for viewer responses.  
January  First commercially available data storage unit with a capacity of 1 petabyte (PB) is introduced by EMC Corporation at a cost of around $4m. A petabyte is one million gigabytes.  
January 31  Steven Soderberg's film Bubble is officially released on DVD only four days after its theatrical release. Copies are actually available at the theatrical release.  
February 5  US sports entertainment company ESPN launches Mobile ESPN, a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) service using Sprint's telecom network. The service delivers ESPN content to ESPN-branded mobile phones, available through an exclusive deal with the Best Buy retail chain. Prices range from $34.99 for 100 minutes a month to $224.99 for 4,000 minutes a month  
February 10  Flemish Regulator for the Media (Vlaamse Regulator voor de Media) is established as an autonomous agency responsible for licensing and regulation of broadcast and cable networks in the Flemish part of Belgium. It replaces three previous agencies: Flemish Media Authority, Council for Radio and Television Disputes and Listening and Viewing Council. [0049]  
February 22  The one billionth song is downloaded from Apple's iTunes service.  
February 22  Russia's parliament, the State Duma, passes a new Federal Advertising Statute, which reduces the permitted volume of advertising on television. Commercials may not be shown for tobacco or alcoholic products, except for beer commercials, which are permitted between 22:00 and 07:00. [0049] > July 1
February 23  London's Metropolitan Police and the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) form a joint Film Piracy Unit within the Met's Economic and Specialist Crime Command.  
February  Germany's Premeiere direct-to-home satellite service begins regular high-definition television transmissions of three channels for films, sport and documentaries.  
February  Turkey begins technical trials of digital terrestrial television (DTT).  
March 1  Digital terrestrial television (DTT) licences are awarded by the Radio and Television Commission of Lithuania, granting two channels each to Baltijos TV, Laisvas ir Nepriklausomas Kanalas, Tele-3 and K, and one channel to Spaudos Televizija.  
March 3  UK's largest cable operators, NTL and Telewest, complete a merger. The new company is known as NTL:Telewest.  
March 8  BBC1 achieves its lowest audience share ever (11.9 per cent) in peak time (19:00-22:30). Its main populist programme, Davina, featuring one chat-show presenter interviewing another, is watched by 2.5m. The following current affairs documentary about a police shooting is seen by 2.1m (nine per cent share).  
March 24  Switzerland's new Federal Radio and Television Act is passed by the parliament. Private broadcasters will continue to receive a share of licence fee revenue. Technical aspects will in future be regulated under the Telecommunications Act (Fernmeldegesetz). [0049]  
March 27  Spain's sixth free-to-air terrestrial television channel, La Sexta, launches. It is backed by Mexican broadcaster Televisa and a consortium of Spanish producers.  
March 31  Denmark begins digital terrestrial television (DTT) transmissions.  
April 4  In France, Canal Plus begins to distribute set-top boxes for its high definition satellite television service.  
April 18  HD DVD high definition video disc format is launched in the US. Only six titles are available and hardware supplies are not plentiful.  
April 23  Sony announces that so far it has sold 24,000 HDCAM high definition digital television cameras worldwide, including its CineAlta range, since the format's launch in 1997.  
April 27  French national audiovisual archives, Institut National de l'Audiovisuel (INA), makes 10,000 hours of television programme material (100,000 items) available online to the general public. The files include 3,000 hours of television news from the past 30 years and amount to about a third of all French public television archives. It is intended that the entire holdings will be available online by 2015.  
April 30  SBS Broadcasting closes its TV Danmark satellite channel.  
April  Luxembourg begins digital terrestrial television (DTT) transmissions. > September 1
May 1  SBS Broadcasting launches Kanal 4 satellite channel to replace its TV Danmark. Kanal 4 is aimed at a female Danish audience. Initially free-to-air, it is intended to become a low-cost pay channel in January 2007.  
May 11 noon  BBC high definition programmes are included for the first time in the electronic programme guide (EPG) on the BSkyB satellite service.  
May 22  In the UK, BSkyB satellite service starts to install subscriber set-top boxes for reception of high definition channels.  
May 26  Ulster Television, the ITV franchise hodler for Northern Ireland, changes its name to UTV. > 2007
May  South Africa begins digital terrestrial television (DTT) transmissions.  
June 9-July 9  Games of the FIFA World Cup football tournament finals, held in Germany, are televised in 214 counties and attract a cumulative total of 26,288.75m viewers. Total transmission time is 73,072 hours. [0065] > Final
June 15  In France, 19 more transmitters begin digital terrestrial television transmissions, bringing coverage to 55 per cent of French households and working towards 85 per cent coverage by the end of 2007.  
July 1  Under the statute on advertising the daily volume of advertising permitted on Russian television is reduced from 20 per cent to 15 per cent, including teleshopping. [0049]  
•  Iceland introduces self-regulation for film classification in place of state-run film censorship.Smáís, a consortium of rights holders, including film, television and video companies, replaces Kvikmyndaskođun as the system administrator.  
July 9  Final of the FIFA World Cup football tournament in Berlin attracts a worldwide television audience of 715.1m. Italy beats France 5-3 on penalties after drawing 1-1 after extra time. [0065]  
July  Russia launches a round-the-clock news channel, Vesti-24 (Russian for News-24).  
July  American Mutoscope & Biograph Company, now the oldest surviving US film company, announces a distribution deal with Stron/Magallon Entertainment to exploit its early silent short films for downloading to mobile phones.  
July  Taiwan begins digital terrestrial television (DTT) transmissions.  
July  Internet search company Google announces that it is to acquire 18-month-old video-sharing service YouTube. > November 13
July 31  US cable operators Comcast and Time Warner Cable conclude a deal to acquire almost all the assets of Adelphia for $17bn. They also swap some of their cable systems in cities where both have been operating.  
September 1  Luxembourg begins to close down analogue television transmissions in favour of DTT.  
September 7  British Telecom launches its wholesale mobile broadcast entertainment service, BT Movio. BBC One, ITV1 and E4 channels are simulcast; Channel Four provides its made-for-mobile channel, Channel Four Short Cuts. All digital (DAB) radio channels are also included. > 2007
September 26  The Lake House, released by Warner Bros, is the first film to be issued on all three DVD formats—standard, Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD—simultaneously.  
September  Portugal and Malaysia begin technical trials of digital terrestrial television (DTT) transmissions.  
October 12  Poland's third direct-to-home (DTH) television service, n [sic], is launched by ITI Neovision via a Eutelsat Hot Bird satellite.  
October 26  Austria begins digital terrestrial television (DTT) transmissions.  
October  Philippines begins technical trials of digital terrestrial television (DTT).  
November 13  Google completes its acquisition of YouTube, paying $1.65bn in an all-share deal.  
November 14  First title released on Blu-ray Disc in the higher capacity BD-50 format is Kingdom of Heaven from Twentieth Century-Fox.  
November 26  First world premiere of a film ever held at the Vatican is for The Nativity Story.  
December 1  UK's National Museum of Photography, Film and Television is renamed the National Museum of the Media.  
December 11  Netherlands switches off its analogue terrestrial television transmitters. These have served a small proportion of the population as 92 per cent of households are connected to cable networks.  
December 15  Estonia begins digital terrestrial television (DTT) transmissions.  
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Page updated 7 April 2009
© David Fisher