—Irish music piracy: They warned they would, and now they have. The four major labels are suing Irish ISPs BT (NYSE: BT) and UPC to force them to implement a “three strikes” anti-piracy measure, FT.com reports. It worked against Eircom, which relented and agreed out of court to the practice…

—KCOM-BT: East Yorkshire based telco KCOM is outsourcing the management of its broadband network to BT (NYSE: BT) as part of a five-year partnership. KCOM, which owns Hull’s Kingston Communcations fixed-line operator, will now be able to trim back its costs, extend its reach using BT’s national network and keep…

Ofcom would have to consider whether BT (NYSE: BT) should open its forthcoming higher-speed broadband lines to competitors, under proposed European Commission rules. The commission is recommending that rules governing the emerging next-generation broadband services - specifically, those around competitor access to infrastructure and wholesaling of broadband access - should…

Lastminute.com founder and web 2.0 celebrity Martha Lane Fox has been appointed a “digital champion” by the government to help increase broadband access among the 17 million Britons, mainly the elderly and unemployed, who don’t currently have it. The newly re-branded Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) wouldn’t confirm…

The bandwidth wars are not only back, they’re escalating: BT (NYSE: BT) has told video streaming sites that they will have to contribute to the cost of upgrading its broadband networks if they want consumers to enjoy a good level of video quality in future. BT Retail MD John Petter…

If Gordon Brown and Lord Carter genuinely want to transform British lives and businesses through creating universal broadband access as part of the Digital Britain project, they might need to look at changing the country’s attitudes towards the internet as well. An Ofcom study carried out by Ipsos/Mori has found…

Carphone Warehouse must be hoping that its £237 million acquisition of Tiscali‘s UK assets and the company’s on-going de-merger into separate retail and broadband divisions can improve its fortunes: in its year-end results for the 12 months to March 31 the company announced revenues of £1.38 billion—down from £1.42 billion…

BT (NYSE: BT) has announced that new and existing retail and business customers will receive faster broadband speeds, up to 20Mbps, at no extra cost from this summer as it moves to ADSL 2+ technology. That’s a good improvement on the (up to) 8Mbps maximum for BT retail customers, but…

BBC News is protesting a BT (NYSE: BT) policy which limits video speed on its “up to 8 Mbps” broadband connections to just 896 Kbps every evening, kneecapping iPlayer and other TV services. —The Beeb told BBC News: “While customers listening to audio and lower quality video streams would be…

—Last.fm server meltdown: When it snows, London comes to a standstill; when it shines, servers start melting. Several websites including music-streaming service Lastfm went offline on Sunday after a major data centre in central London collapsed. Temperatures of 50°C were recorded after a chilling unit failed. Via The Reg. —BBCWW:…

—Pre for O2?: O2 has beaten rivals Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) and Orange to win the deal to exclusively carry the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre, unnamed sources told the Guardian.co.uk. It’s good news for O2, which currently stocks the iPhone exclusively, but will reportedly see that deal phased out as Apple…

Despite published reports to the contrary, I am hearing that nothing is set about online video portal Hulu’s plans to launch in the UK—including what form that presence would take. The Telegraph reported Wednesday that Hulu wants to launch in the UK this September with 3,000 hours of U.S. programming…

—IPA on Canvas: The Institute of Pracitioners in Advertisers has voiced its concerns about the opportunities for advertising in the BBC’s upcoming Project Canvas IPTV standard. In its submission to the public consultation on the project, it says it is “mindful of the Corporation’s historical tendency to foreclose new media…

This time, the reports were true: Carphone Warehouse has confirmed a deal to buy Italian telco Tiscali’s UK ISP business for a knock-down price of £236 million. Tiscali’s 1.45 million subscribers will be added to Carphone’s TalkTalk ISP business, making it the UK’s biggest residential broadband provider with 4.25 million…

—NBCU in Greece: NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) has launched its Universal Channel on Greek telco OTE’s Conn-x IPTV service. Series like Flipping Out and Flashpoint will get national premieres on the channel. Via C21. —Geewa games: The Czech Republic-based social casual games provider has partnered with the country’s big Seznam.cz…

—The Filter: Peter Gabriel-backed music recommendation technology developer The Filter is moving into the DVD market. The company has signed up to provide Belgian online DVD home rental service DVDPost with its own movie recommendation widget. DVDPost has been running in France and the Benelux countries since 2002 and has…

Tiscali has confirmed it is yet again in talks to sell off its UK ISP business: Italian newspaper Milano Finanza is reporting that it expects a bid from Carphone Warehouse in the next month (via Reuters.com). MF reports that in response to its story, Tiscali “confirms the existence of negotiations…

It was once a bright future for Italian-owned ISP Tiscali. Back in 2007 It was growing UK market share and had ambitious plans for its IPTV VOD service—but now the company’s auditor Ernst & Young has expressed concerns at “fundamental uncertainties” over the business’ ability to continue. In a statement…

—TV.com: CBS (NYSE: CBS) Interactive’ eponymous US Hulu rival would like to launch in the UK - but it’s not on the horizon. CBSi product manager Geoff Inns (Via NMA): “Naturally we’d like to, but it depends on whether it matches the objectives of the broadcasters. Ideally that content has…