| 2008 |
 Chronomedia index
Numbers after entries link to the list of references. |
links and notes |
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Cultural highlights | Predictions made this year |
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| January 1 |
From today the amount of advertising allowed per hour on Russian television is reduced from 20 per cent to 15 per cent under the statute on advertising passed in 2006.
[0049] |
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| January 1 |
Estonian media regulation is re-organised into two organisations: Tehnilise Järelevalve Amet, the Technical Surveillance Authority, which regulates technology, telecoms and spectrum management, and Konkurentsiamet, the Competition Authority, which takes over the former National Communications Board and regulates markets and services. |
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| January |
Announcement by Warner Home Video that it will support only Blu-ray Disc (BD) sets off a chain reaction in favour of the format. |
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| February 19 |
Toshiba announces that it is to cease manufacturing and shipping HD DVD players immediately, thus effectively killing off the high-definition format completely. Three days later Onkyo Corporation follows suit. |
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| February 25 |
Microsoft announces it is to cease making add-on HD DVD players for its Xbox 360 games console. |
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| March 3 |
The first Bollywood film title released on Blu-ray Disc is Eros International's Heyy Babyy. |
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| March 17 |
The European Commission adopts DVB-H as the official standard for mobile television throughout the European Union. |
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| March 19 |
Leading Japanese video store chain Tsutaya introduces Blu-ray Disc (BD) rental in 10 stores in Tokyo and Osaka. |
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| March 19 |
Disney Channel begins to be simulcast as Disney Channel HD in a 720p high-definition version. |
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| March 20 |
HBO HD becomes the second high-definition television channel launched on satellite in Poland. |
< 2007 |
| March |
Scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California play back a recording made on 9 April 1860 on a phonautograph machine. The 10-second recording of someone singing Au Claire de la Lune is thus the oldest known sound recording ever played back. Until now phonautogram recordings could not be played back. [0026b] |
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| April 14 |
New Zealand's Freeview HD high-definition digital terrestrial television service begins. |
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| April |
Swiss Video Association (SVV) introduces a voluntary code for classification of videos. Unlike theatrical film classifications, which vary between cantons, the video code applies nationwide. |
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| May 6 |
Freesat free-to-view satellite digital television service is launched in the UK. |
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| May 26, 3:30am |
IBM's latest supercomputer, Roadrunner, achieves a processing rate of one million billion calculations a second—known as a petaflop. |
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| June 9 |
Apple introduces the third-generation (3G) iPhone. |
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| June 11 |
New Zealand pay broadcaster Sky TV launches My Sky HDi, a five-channel high-definition television service. |
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| June 22 |
Australian pay TV network Foxtel launches HD+, a five-channel high-definition television service broadcast in the MPEG4 standard. |
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| July 1 |
Ukrainian satellite television platform Poverkhnost Plus is launched via the Eutelsat W4 satellite. The service has a particular emphasis on sports and high-definition channels. |
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| July 3 |
France's Orange TV service, already available via ADSL cable, goes onto Eutelsat Hot Bird and Atlantic Bird 3 satellites. |
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| July |
The number of UK channels with measurable viewing figures included in the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB) reports have now risen to 245. |
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| August 29 |
Eredivisie, the Dutch football league, launches its own television service, Eredivisie Live, in collaboration with production company Endemol. Live football matches are available on cable, digital terrestrial television (DTT) and IPTV channels on subscription at €9.95 a month. (Terrestrial rights are held by NOS.) |
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| August |
Video rental firm Blockbuster acquires the Movielink online download service. |
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| September end |
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment closes its operations in South Korea because of the effects of rampant video piracy on the market. |
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| October 1 |
Matsushita Electric Industrial Company changes its name to Panasonic Corporation. |
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| October 28 |
Victor Company of Japan (JVC) ends production of standalone VHS recorders, just over 32 years since it introduced the format. It was the last company still making production models, having sold 50m of the 900m units sold worldwide. |
< 1976 |
| November 5 |
SES Astra launches its 1M satellite, carrying 36 transponders, from Baikonur, Kazakhstan or orbit at 19.2° East. |
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| November 21 |
Sony Pictures releases 30 Blu-ray Discs in China, the first major studio to do so, coinciding with the launch of a new standalone Sony BD player. |
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| December 1 |
Antenna Hungária and Nokia launch mobile television in Budapest using DVB-H technology. The platform carries two channels, Duna TV and Duna II Autonómia, but has capacity for up to 20 channels. |
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| December 19 |
Max Manus, a Norwegian-German co-production based on the true story of a Second World War saboteur, is released. Despite coming so late in the year, it achieves the fourth place in the 2008 box office rankings and quickly becomes the most successful Norwegian film of all time, with over 750,000 admissions (from a population of 4.7m) by mid 2009. Four Norwegian productions are in the national top 10 films of the year |
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| December 19 |
Panasonic Corporation agrees to acquire a majority shareholding in Sanyo Electric Company. |
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| • |
Top film of the year at Danish cinemas is a local production, Flammen & Citronen (Flame and Citron), a film about the Danish resistance during the Second World War. |
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| December 24 |
UK entertainment retailer Zavvi goes into administration. |
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| December end |
Warner Home Video closes its operations in South Korea because of the effects of rampant piracy on the market. |
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| • |
French films take the largest share of the country's cinema admissions, selling 86.2m tickets—the highest total since 1984 and second highest overall admissions total (188.82m) since then. One film, Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis, becomes the most popular French film ever at the nation's cinemas (20.3m admissions after its release in February, overtaking the 1966 film La Grande Vadrouille. |
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| • |
In the UK, 15 per cent of television viewing is time-shifted, half of it until later the same day. |
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