UK media regulator Ofcom have fined a religious TV network £25,000 over what they claim is the sum of a number of breaches of conduct, mainly caused by a ‘televangelist’ presenter that stated he could heal people through ‘miracle soap’.

Believe TV, channel #596 on satellite broadcaster Sky’s electronic programme guide (EPG), is rum by broadcast owners ‘The Light Academy’, and airs a line-up of Christian faith-based programming, some of which features  ‘official testimonials’  from churchgoers on how the featured presenters had turned their lives around by offering advice on problems, and more controversially, healed their illnesses.

While much of this content will sound like friendly and harmless offerings, an Ofcom investigation has suggested that some shows on the network from 21 December 2010 to 1 February 2011 included ‘serious’ breaches of the organisation’s broadcasting regulations.

Numerous religous leaders, pastors, and televangelists were found guilty of making exaggerated claims as to the effectiveness of healing techniques featured on the shows.

One programme saw televangelist Paul Lewis ‘directly’ preach to the camera about his ‘Miracle Olive Oil Soap’, which he stated could heal even the most serious of diseases, including cancer. Another offending case saw Bishop Climate Irungu displaying ‘testimonies’ from his congregation that implied serious health problems could be fixed with ‘…being anointed with a product such as olive oil soap, Ribena [a brand of soft drink] or oil’ in what Ofcom decreed to be a ‘clearly encouraging’ manner. Also noted was Paul Lewis himself, reportedly responsible for a number of previous broadcasting and advertising code breaches.

Ofcom gave an official statement on the incidents: “Given that the content was also soliciting a response from viewers and such individuals experiencing serious illnesses may be vulnerable to the healing claims being made, Ofcom found there was a material risk that susceptible members of the audience may be exploited by the material broadcast on Believe TV. The finding also referred to previous decisions by both the Advertising Standards Authority and Ofcom concerning content containing similar claims by Paul Lewis which had been broadcast on other channels. When Ofcom had previously recorded breaches against Paul Lewis content broadcast on other channels in 2007 and 2008, Ofcom stated that the breaches… were very serious because the promotions of the Paul Lewis products improperly exploited the susceptibilities of vulnerable viewers of these religious channels.”

The regulator went on to criticise The Light Academy for allowing the content to air (and not learning from previous mistakes), noting that they offered ‘overall very poor compliance’ that was responsible for placing “…vulnerable viewers directly at risk of harm and exploitation”.

Will the world of religious TV be as forgiving towards Paul Lewis as faith would dictate, or are his days in broadcasting now numbered? While the world of religion-based TV can improve lives and even find ‘miracle success stories’, sometimes it does not go to plan, as this popular online clip demonstrates:

The ban was originally imposed at the suggestion of rival American technology company Motorola, who held various patents in Germany, of which Apple were in violation of. However, the appeals court have temporarily suspended the lock-out of Apple, as they made Motorola a ‘new’ offer at a licencing payment (to become authorised to use the ‘Motorola-registered’ patents in their product) which the latter refused.

Meanwhile, German users of Apple’s products might still lose out on the use of the iCloud online storage system (that allows files and downloads to be shared across a user’s Apple products), as Motorola claimed a current victory in a separate German patent case relating to the format.

An official Apple statement issued the news of the listed suspension on Friday evening, reading: “All iPad and iPhone models will be back on sale through Apple’s online store in Germany shortly. Apple appealed this ruling because Motorola repeatedly refuses to license this patent to Apple on reasonable terms, despite having declared it an industry standard patent seven years ago.”

The Motorola camp are not going to bow down so easily, though, and state that the decision is merely a minor setback in their overall case against Apple. Motorola’s statement read: “We are pleased that the Mannheim court has recognised the importance of our intellectual property and granted an enforceable injunction in Germany against Apple Sales International. Although the enforcement of the injunction has been temporarily suspended, Motorola Mobility will continue to pursue its claims against Apple.”

German courts seem to have become something of a hotbed for high-profile technology patent cases in recent times, as late last year saw Apple file against Motorola, while Motorola are juggling their situations with Apple alongside a similar dispute with Microsoft. Will there ever be a clear dominant force of American companies in Germany, and just how long will these particular disputes carry on for?

As internet TV and movie streaming becomes ever more popular, the ugly side of streaming cannot be ignored. Internet service providers are all introducing bandwidth capping as they struggle coping with the massive data demands that streaming brings.

Can EyeIO answer Netflix bandwidth problems?

In a bid to resolve this issue, Netflix who are the biggest pay streaming company in the world, have teamed up with video encoding company, EyeIO to try and solve the bandwidth meltdown. The company use their expertise to reduce the bandwidth of streaming.

EyeIO co-founder, Rodolfo Vargas said, ”eyeIO provides a straightforward solution for accommodating the rapidly growing demand for video delivery around the world by alleviating the overwhelming bandwidth currently required to stream video.”

Speaking for Netflix, Greg Peters, Vice President, Product Development said, ”Delivering a high quality video experience is top priority for Netflix. EyeIO technology is an important part of the technology we use to improve video quality and overcome bandwidth challenges presented by Internet infrastructure.”

The eyeIO video encoding details are not fully known, but the method of encoding is said to be fully compliant to stream on all devices without custom players.

The only problem with this story and any kind of compression, is that it will result in a loss of quality. There is no way to transfer all that HD quality imagery without the size. Using lower bandwidth mwill result in lower video quality, unless EyeIO know something we dont?

Later today, when the Super Bowl XLVI kicks off, it will be good news for online viewers as the game gets streamed on both computers and mobile devices. Viewers can catch PC streaming at NBCsports.com and also Verizon mobile phone action using the NFL Mobile app.

Catch super bowl streaming online

The idea of streaming the game for NBC is that it will increase it’s share of Americans who no longer have or use cable TV.It will also make the game the most profitable ever.

For cord cutting subscribers, live sports is one of the hardest programs to replace when leaving cable.

The Super Bowl may have found the Internet, but why has it taken so long? Streaming movies and television is complicated, most sports broadcasters have embraced the Internet. NFL has a lot more at stake than your average broadcaster, its television rights are very expensive.

Many games from the New York Knicks (NBA), Rangers, and Islanders (NHL), for example, are exclusive to MSG network. They get away with this stunt by purchasing the rights from the sports franchises, they then sell the licensing to DirecTV, Cablevision, Time Warner Cable, Comcast, RCN, and Verizon FiOS TV. MSG and Time Warner have been locked in a contract feud since New Year’s Day over the fees to carry the MSG channel and air these teams games on TV.

Regional broadcast licenses are a bit different with the NFL, due to the league’s blackout provision. To keep momentum, if a stadium doesn’t sell out within 72 hours of game day, the regional broadcasters cannot air the game.

For anyone looking for illegal streaming, you may be out of luck as the authorities have shut down several websites. To see all online options for watching Superbowl, check out the NFL official page.

If you own a Sony Google powered device then you may be in for a pleasant surprise. According to a Google TV tweet, Sony devices running Google TV should be getting an update very soon. This latest version of Google’s OS will enable the TV version of Chrome run somewhat faster. There is also now support for Blu-ray 3D.

Google TV has confirmed that this update is in the pipeline through their Google TV Twitter account.

They are promising to have the new firmware ready “this week.” this update will only apply to Sony Internet TV’s from about a year ago, and that 3D part only applies to a small amount of Sony Blu-ray players that has Google TV as well.

It will not include Logitech Revue which was abandoned due to poor sales. Google TV are hoping that a major comeback in 2012 will happen, as support has finally been confirmed from some of the other highend TV manufacturers.

But the question stays as whether consumers will see any value in having a computer built into their TV sets, that still is a largely passive consumer electronic device. The main thing it lacks is a collection of apps and content that can add to the TV experience.

Several illegal online sports streaming websites hoping to collect plenty of hits during this weekend’s Super Bowl have been dealt a big blow, after US authorities (alongside ‘US Attorney for Southern District of New York’ Preet Bharara) shut down 16 of them in the build-up to the big game.

The federal authorities in the Immigration & Customs Enforcement seized 16 ’unauthorised sports broadcasting’ websites during a recent investigation (9 of which were owned by the same person), although their warning against video piracy did not come before the methods were given a seal of approval by one of the NFL’s finest players.

Hours before the crackdown on Thursday (which was part of a mission called ‘Operation Fake Sweep’), New England Patriots star quarterback Tom Brady has casually mentioned in an interview (in the build-up to his team taking on the New York Giants on Sunday) to reporters in Indianapolis (USA) that he viewed Super Bowl XLV (last year’s event) via an illegal site.

34-year-old Brady (who will be playing his fifth Super Bowl on Sunday) explained the activity, seemingly giving it a ringing endorsement: “Last year I was rehabbing my foot in Costa Rica, watching the game on an illegal Super Bowl website. And now I’m actually playing in the game. So, it’s pretty cool.”

One of the key offenders discovered in the Fake Sweep investigation was Comstock Park (USA)-based site operator Yonjo Quiroa, who on Wednesday faced criminal charges of copyright infringement, with prosecutors claiming that his 9 websites in the state of Michigan covered unauthorised distribution of events in the NFL (american football), NHL (ice hockey), WWE (wrestling), and NBA (basketball) matches.

Court papers claim that Quiroa had registered his nine domain names between 2010 -2011, going on to operate the websites as streaming platforms, having collected ‘at least’ $13,000 in profits from online advertisers.

Meanwhile, Bharara issued a press release urging sports fans to refrain from using such websites, stating the perhaps unconvincing reason that it costs the leagues and broadcasters ‘millions of dollars’ (fairly small change for the NFL, who last year temporarily shut down over internal money disputes), while a fact closer to home claimed that losing that money resulted in the leagues increasing their prices for tickets and merchandise. In the meantime, Tom Brady will most likely not face any problems for his admission, having been viewing from a foreign country.

In related news, authorities in Indianapolis have announced that around $4.8m worth of fake NFL merchandise has been seized ahead of the Super Bowl (along with $1.6m from America’s other major sports leagues), as a further part of Operation Fake Sweep. While the mission is unlikely to be seen as a  direct relation to the SOPA bill, will those that are either for or against it use this case as a reason in their respective causes?