NEWS
Monday
9th June 2003 to Monday 16th June 2003
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down page or click below for news - latest first
Friday 13th June 2003
Bronfman
wants Universal units back
NTL's
PTV boss quits
Worldwide
DSL up 15 per cent Q1
KPN
hits back at Hutchison
Five
to limit UK shows
New
Telco Industry Council formed
Fox
Kids Europe back into the black
Pakistan
telco to launch broadband distribution
Harmonic:
new IRDs
Bronfman wants Universal
units back
Edgar Bronfman, is said to be planning to regain the entertainment assets of
Vivendi Universal. The US businessman has lined up a team of investors that
includes the Blackstone Group and Thomas H. Lee Partners - which add to Bronfman's
consortium formed by Cablevision Systems, Merrill Lynch and Wachovia Securities,
the NYT reported.
Blackstone Group, already owns 50 per cent of Vivendi's theme park business
(VUE). Thomas H. Lee Partners has previously acquired Vivendi assets that include
the book publisher Houghton Mifflin.
Bronfman, who would be putting up some of his own money, intends to regain the
entertainment properties his family sold to the French conglomerate Vivendi
in 2000. The plan under consideration would call for the consortium to acquire
a controlling stake, or about 70 per cent of the Vivendi entertainment assets,
leaving Vivendi with a small holding. Such a structure would let Vivendi avoid
incurring heavy taxes in the deal.
It is believed that the Bronfman group has already raised enough money - $3
billion to $4 billion - to make a serious offer. Acquiring a 70 per cent stake
might require $14 billion or so, with the Bronfman group borrowing the rest.
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NTL's
PTV boss quits
The CEO of NTL's Premium TV (PTV) subsidiary, Jonathan Sykes, has resigned.
PTV has contracts with Newcastle United and the Football League and the resignation
of its CEO raises concerns about the company's involvement in football.
According to reports Sykes quit because NTL's new owners - bondholders and creditor
banks - refused to give assurances on on-going investment. PTV spent E150m on
stakes in a number of Premiere League clubs and in 2000 went up against Sky
for Premiere League TV rights. It has a number of JV and sponsorship deals with
clubs and the Football League but the collapse in the sports rights market,
the mixed fortunes of the clubs and NTL's restructuring has left the business
stranded.
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Worldwide
DSL up 15 per cent Q1
The global
DSL market continues to expand at a healthy rate. The total of DSL lines in
the world grew by 15.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2003 to 41.4 million,
up from 35.9 million at the end of 2002. According to point-topic.com.
Taking a worldwide view, the installed base of DSL has grown by 90 per cent
in the 12 months to March 2003, maintaining the rate set for 2002. Comparing
the first quarter of 2003 with the last quarter of 2002 there is a slight dip,
down from 17.3 per cent to 15.3 per cent, but we believe this is a seasonal
effect. The first half of the year is generally weaker for sales of DSL services
as for many other technology products.
The absolute number of quarterly additions continues to creep up, from 5 million
in Q3 2002, to 5.3 million in Q4 2002 and 5.5 million in Q1 2003 - the highest
figure ever.
The rate of growth varies greatly between regions and countries. Japan is far
ahead of the rest in terms of absolute numbers, adding almost 1.4 million DSL
lines in the quarter. With 7 million subscribers it has narrowly overtaken the
USA to become the country with the world's biggest DSL market (Figure 1). Japanese
DSL customers generally benefit from a combination of low prices and high speeds,
with 8 or 12 Mbps the norm in major cities. In contrast, European subscribers
pay higher prices for services offering under 1 Mbps.
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KPN
hits back at Hutchison
Dutch telco group KPN Mobile has retaliated Hutchison Whampoa's legal suit by
allegedly saying it would "strenuously resist" Hutchison claims that it has
refused to pay E217 million in additional loans to fund the third-generation
mobile phone operator, '3'. KPN also said that it believed Hutchison was, in
fact, in "material breach" of the shareholders' agreement itself. According
to the FT, KPN is demanding that Hutchison buy it out of '3'.
KPN revealed it had served notice on May 27 requiring the Hong Kong group to
buy its shareholding at "140 per cent of the fair price". The Dutch operator
said it had not yet decided if it would take that claim to court and did not
clarify what "140 per cent of the fair price" meant - whether that was based
on the current price, or the value of its 15 per cent stake at the time that
the shareholders' agreement was signed.
Hutchison contributed E910 million and the venture's other partner, Japan's
NTT DoCoMo, injected E280 million in line with its stake in the company. KPN,
however, did not contribute what Hutchison argues was its E217 million share.
The Hong Kong company made up the shortfall.
In March, '3' requested E1.4 billion in loans from its shareholders as part
of a deal with banks to extend the maturity of financing for the project.
Hutchison is '3' majority shareholder with 65 per cent stake, KPN has a 15 per
cent share and Japan's NTT DoCoMo has a 20 per cent holding. KPN had previously
written E8.4 billion off the value of its third-generation phone licences in
Germany, Belgium and the UK.
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Five
to limit UK shows
Fears about the consequences that a US owner could have in the programme quality
of Channel Five, have rekindled in the UK TV market after a report said that
the channel has signed a secret deal with TV regulators to keep down its quota
of British programmes.
The independent television commission has lowered the baseline of UK and EU
programmes. Instead of increasing the quota of British and EU programmes from
53 per cent last year to 71 per cent this year - as previously envisaged by
the channel's licence - it will go up only slightly, to 55 per cent, according
to the Guardian. After that, it will rise by one percentage point a year, reaching
60 per cent in 2008, where it will remain until a new deal is negotiated.
The ITC says Five will be able to spend its comparatively small E210 million
a-year programme budget more effectively if its British production quota is
less punitive than had originally been planned.
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New
Telco Industry Council formed
RosettaNet, the technology industry's e-business standards consortium, has announced
the formation of a Telecommunications Industry (TC) Council. BT, Cisco, Deutsche
Telekom, Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia and Siemens are among the first major industry
players to join as founding member companies with the goal of promoting RosettaNet
to streamline the exchange of information throughout the global telecommunications
trading network.
Jennifer Hamilton, CEO of RosettaNet said: "Our goal in establishing a formal
Telecommunications Industry Council is to ensure more cohesive relationships
between key players in the respective industry supply chains. On behalf of RosettaNet
and the greater business community, we look forward to the extended collaboration,
leadership and expertise that this esteemed group will bring."
RosettaNet is a non-profit consortium dedicated to the collaborative development
and rapid deployment of open internet-based business standards that align processes
within the global technology trading networks. More than 500 companies, representing
over E86bn in annual information technology, electronic components and semiconductor
manufacturing revenues, currently participate in RosettaNet's standards development,
strategy and implementation activities.
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Fox
Kids Europe back into the black
Fox Kids Europe, the Disney-owned children's entertainment group, announced
a return to the black, posting net income before taxes of $3.3 million for the
six months to March 31, compared with losses of $700,000 at the same stage a
year ago.
Total revenues in the six months to March 31 were up eight per cent to $74.8
million, and despite a tough market across the region, chief executive Bruce
Steinberg said group advertising revenue has bucked the regional slump, ending
up 21 per cent to $15.9 million. Fox Kids also revealed that it has added 2
million subscribers to its network, taking it to 33 million homes across 57
countries. The group operates 12 local-language feeds as well as operates branded
blocks on local terrestrial networks.
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Pakistan
telco to launch broadband distribution
From Shveta Malik in New Delhi
Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has announced it plans to
launch a broadband distribution system to deliver value added services to its
customers by the end of next year.
At the initial stage we have planned to provide 70 channels, high speed Internet
and Virtual Private Network (VPN) services to our customers by end of 2004,
said a spokesperson of PTCL. The upgrades will be launched initially in Karachi,
Lahore and Islamabad by end of 2004.
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Harmonic:
new IRDs
Harmonic's new ProView product line supports a wide range of applications from
programme origination to broadband delivery over cable, satellite, telco and
terrestrial broadcast networks.
The standards-based ProView systems are MPEG-2 and DVB compliant ensuring interoperable
solutions for applications such as digital turnaround; distribution in broadcast,
cable, telecom and satellite networks; and decryption for transport stream re-multiplexing.
The systems support DVB SimulCrypt and Multicrypt, offering multiple channel
decryption up to the full incoming transport stream. The ProView product family
supports a variety of front-end options-QPSK, 8PSK, 16QAM, QAM, G.703, STM-1/OC-3,
DS-3-and support for all of the leading DVB conditional access systems.
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Thursday
12th June 2003
FT to invest E600m to boost broadband
Apax
calls Hollick back to ITV
MTG:
We'll take over TV4
Premier
League must review deal with Sky
ITC
teleshopping seminar
AOL
launches 'Theatre B'
CASBAA:
Asia's broadband industry buoyant
Sci-Atlanta,
new HD set-top over the counter
'3'
to sue KPN
TiVo
and Gemstar settle patent suit
Telewest
customers can 'red-button' on QVC
Dish
adds Spanish 'GOL TV' to English package
FT
to invest E600m to boost broadband
Thierry Breton, France Telecom Chairman and CEO, has announced a series of initiatives
designed to make broadband Internet available to everyone in France who wants
the service.
The French telco said it will equip exchanges to provide ADSL access as rapidly
as possible when service is requested by at least 100 customers in a given local
area. France Telecom is also to equip all exchanges of over 1,000 lines (which
serve areas with about 2,000 inhabitants) with ADSL access equipment by 2005.
To carry out this program France Telecom will invest E600 million over three
years to deploy ADSL technology on the French telephone network.
Satellite broadband Internet solutions are to be available from September 2003
for residential customers, businesses and municipalities in remote areas. In
addition, this summer France Telecom will launch trials of alternative broadband
technologies to meet customer demand throughout the country. France Telecom
regional offices will pursue these initiatives in close liaison with local and
regional authorities to assess customer demand and deliver responses adapted
to broadband Internet needs.
Breton said: "Broadband is a compelling challenge for France Telecom, both as
a key to enhancing the competitiveness of our business customers, and also as
a means of facilitating access to knowledge and information for everyone. France
is currently number two in Europe in the number of broadband connections. We
need to go further and accelerate initiatives. This is why I have asked everyone
throughout the France Telecom group to mobilise to meet the needs of our customers,
whether residential or business, as well as public authorities in regions and
municipalities of all sizes. Broadband figures at the centre of France Telecom's
future - this is our new frontier. Our objective is very clear: make broadband
Internet available to everyone."
To carry out this program France Telecom will invest E600 million over three
years to deploy ADSL technology on the French telephone network.
At the end of 2002, 1.4 million people in France had broadband Internet connections.
This figure will exceed 3 million by the end of 2003, as the customer base will
have more than doubled in one year. ADSL technology was available to 74 per
cent of the population at the beginning of 2003, and France Telecom estimates
that coverage will reach 90 per cent of the country's population by 2005.
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Apax
calls Hollick back to ITV
Apax Partners, the venture capital group said to be putting together a bid for
ITV, has apparently tried to persuade Lord Hollick to buy back into the network,
three years after he sold his interest to Granada for E2.48 billion.
Apax Partners, linked to US billionaire Haim Saban in the bid, is understood
to have raised the subject of a possible bid for ITV at a recent meeting with
senior executives at Hollick's United Business Media.
Labour peer Lord Hollick sold his Meridian, Anglia and HTV franchises to Granada
in July 2000. At the time the deal was seen as a coup for the Granada chairman,
Charles Allen, putting the company in pole position as ITV consolidated from
15 owners to two.
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MTG:
We'll take over TV4
Modern Times Group has written to Sweden's Ministry of Culture, offering to
take over TV4's national analogue commercial TV broadcasting license for Sweden.
MTG says accepting its offer could net the government SEK1bn.
This follows the Swedish government's enquiry into the annual fee that TV4 has
to pay for its licence that recommended a 20 per cent reduction in the license
fee per annum over the next five years. MTG's letter to the Swedish Minister
of Culture, Marita Ulvskog, states: "Modern Times Group MTG AB considers the
current conditions of the licence - including the original concession fee -
to be favourable to the extent that the company would be prepared to take up
the license to broadcast commercial TV in the terrestrial network, without any
changes to the existing agreement. The reason for introducing a license fee
together with the terrestrial license was that the TV broadcaster controlling
the terrestrial commercial license has a significant competitive advantage in
terms of penetration over the channels distributed via satellite." Hans-Holger
Albrecht, President and CEO of MTG, commented: "The terms and conditions of
the concession are fair and the competitive advantage for the licence holder
is considerable for the foreseeable future, so we would be more than happy to
take over the license and all of its existing commitments".
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Premier
League must review deal with Sky
Mark Oliver, a former head of strategy at the BBC, has warned the Premier League
it must stand up to BSkyB in its forthcoming talks over TV rights or face a
fall income for its already debt-ridden clubs. BSkyB paid E1.5 billion over
three seasons for its existing package of 66 live matches a year, but has threatened
to significantly reduce the amount it pays if it loses exclusive rights.
Oliver, speaking at the FT Business of Sport conference, said league executives
were in danger of conceding too much power to Sky. The league, according to
Oliver, should view the current European investigation into the way it sells
its rights as "an opportunity rather than a threat", and use it to give more
rights to clubs for their own channels and exploit services through the internet
and mobile phones.
The Premier League is currently in negotiations with Brussels competition watchdogs
in an effort to retain the right to sell its main live package of games exclusively
to a single broadcaster.
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ITC
teleshopping seminar
The UK's TV regulator, the Independent Television Commission (ITC), is organising
a teleshopping seminar on 30 June to discuss the future of the industry and
the shape of its regulation. Five years ago, there were only five teleshopping
channels licensed by the ITC, now it licenses more than 40.
At the seminar, delegates, including industry and consumer bodies, will be able
to take stock of the current regulatory position and the future outlook under
the UK's new 'super regulator' Ofcom. Speakers include Mark Cullen, Chief Executive
of Interaction TV, who will talk about new retailing models and how to achieve
a more targeted future approach, and Paul Lavers (freelance Presenter), reflecting
on his experience in setting up and running teleshopping channels.
The day will also include a panel discussion led by Sarah Thane (Director of
Programmes and Advertising, ITC and Advisor, Content and Standards, Ofcom),
Brian Farrelly (Director of Broadcasting, QVC), Paul Marks (Chief Executive,
Best Direct and Chairman of the British Television Shopping Association) and
Laura Simons (Member of the ITC's Advertising Advisory Committee).
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AOL
launches 'Theatre B'
AOL Movies, part of AOL Time Warner, has teamed up with broadband movie provider
MovieFlix.com, to offer its broadband customers free broadband-enhanced movies
on demand. With this new feature called "Theatre B," movies are instantly streamed
on AOL for Broadband.
The inventory of titles to AOL for Broadband members can be accessed with AOL
Keyword: Theatre B. Each month, Theatre B will offer a new movie theme with
a new film available for on-demand viewing each week.
Meanwhile this month Time Warner Cable is introducing a new premium cable box
that automatically records and stores up to 50 hours of TV. Similar to TiVo
and ReplayTV systems, the box has no tape and allows viewers to pause live TV,
record two programmes at once and play back two programmes at once using the
picture-in-picture feature. For $9.95 a month, any Time Warner subscriber can
swap out an existing digital cable box for this one, called the Explorer 8000.
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CASBAA:
Asia's broadband industry buoyant
Asia's Cable TV system operators, satellite platform operators, equipment suppliers
and content providers have reason to take an optimistic view of 2003, according
to the Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA).
Marcel Fenez, Chairman of CASBAA says, "this year we have seen cable operators
and satellite platform providers ramping up the subscriber base and continuing
their strong moves into profit; the pay-TV channels, too, are reporting increased
penetration and healthy revenues as they either consolidate years of hard work
or launch new services. And the broadband penetration figures continue to rise
inexorably."
He goes on to quote some examples of the good performance of the cable and satellite
industry in Asia:
In Hong Kong, dominant cable operator I-Cable Communications has signed 10,000
new cable subscribers in the first three months of this year, taking its total
subscriber base to 620,000 with a target of 650,000 by year-end. I-Cable also
has 250,000 broadband subscribers. EBITA for 2002 was $80.6 million with an
operating profit of $42.6 million. In 2002, I-Cable's subscriber based rose
by eight per cent. I-Cable, meanwhile, has announced a new carriage agreement
in China for its Horizon entertainment and cultural channel in three-star and
above hotels and foreign compounds via the SinoSat platform.
TVB, a Hong Kong based satellite operator, will be launching on November 2003.
The launch package will comprise 24 channels with at least four channels supplied
by 49 per cent investor TVB. The Galaxy package should increase to 40 channels
within 18 months of the launch and will be distributed via satellite capacity
leased from TVB Galaxy partner and Intelsat. In Taiwan TVB International, the
overseas arm of TVB, recently revealed that its Taiwan-based cable network TVBS
posted US$8.08 million in operating profits for 2002. TVBI's syndication arm
produced $62.05 million in revenues for 2002.
Also in Hong Kong, ADSL-based VOD platform operator Yes Television continues
to sign new content deals recently adding a Playboy adult service to its line-up
alongside Channel NewsAsia, The Soundtrack Channel and soccer service MUTV (Manchester
United Television). Yes has also announced a deal to deliver content to broadband
companies Hutchison Global Communications and Powercom.
In Japan, satellite platform operator SkyPerfect TV reports that it will move
into profit next year and now has 3.4 million subscribers (with 3 million DTH
subs) and has exceeded its break even point with taxable profits set to begin
rolling in March 2004.
Also in Japan, cable operator Jupiter Telecommunications (J-Com Broadband) increased
its subscriber base by 271,000 to 1.6 million subscribers as of the end of March,
an increase of 20 per cent over the previous 12 months. "The cable industry
in Japan is experiencing the same dynamics as other parts of the world," said
Tomoyuki Moriizumi, President and CEO of J-COM Broadband, which is 45.2 per
cent held by Liberty Media.
Singapore's StarHub CableVision has announced that it had attracted 362,000
cable subscribers as of the end of April along with 110,000 cable modem subscribers.
StarHub says it should hit the 400,000 subscriber mark by the end of 2003.
In Malaysia, local DTH platform operator Astro, which is controlled by Measat
Broadcast Network Systems (MBNS), announced that it now has one million subscribers
to its package of 40 television channels.
On the channel performance front the Indian focussed STAR Plus channel contribution
to the quarterly results of parent company News Corp. STAR Group Advertising
revenues increased by 12 per cent.
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Sci-Atlanta,
new HD set-top over the counter
Scientific-Atlanta has revealed a new Explorer set-top, which will be available
to consumers through retail outlets in the US. The Explorer 3270HD(tm), will
provide High Definition Television (HDTV) viewers with simple installation,
more audio options, as well as new stretch and zoom capabilities for HDTVs,
to enhance their television viewing experience.
Beth Denning, Director of sales and distribution, Cox Communications said: "Making
our High Definition TV service, which includes Scientific-Atlanta's Explorer
3270HD, available in retail stores will provide consumers with another choice
for where and how they purchase HDTV service and products."
With the Explorer 3270HD, HDTV viewers will be able to use either the on-screen
menu or a button on the set-top's remote control to stretch and zoom video for
full-screen viewing. The set-top's interactive program guide will intelligently
scale the video for the program in progress to allow the viewer to continue
watching the current program in a small window on the screen while reviewing
additional program choices.
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'3'
to sue KPN
Hutchison Whampoa is suing Dutch telco KPN over its' refusal to stump up E217m
in additional loans to fund its '3' network launch. The cash call to shareholders
in '3' earlier this year, was to cover shortfalls caused by delays in launching
the service in the UK. It provided its own E870m share, while Japanese telco
NTT delivered its E289m. But KPN and Hutchison Whampoa had to bridge the gap.
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TiVo
and Gemstar settle patent suit
Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc, maker of an interactive television program
guide, and digital video recorder producer TiVo Inc have reportedly settled
their patent dispute, and TiVo will offer Gemstar content on its system. As
part of the agreement, TiVo will take a patent license from Gemstar-TV Guide,
while Gemstar will provide TV Guide-branded content to the TiVo system. The
content will appear on the front page of TiVo's showcase section.
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Telewest
customers can 'red-button' on QVC
Shopping channel QVC has upgraded its interactive TV service on Telewest bringing
its digital cable offering in line with that on Sky digital satellite.
Telewest customers watching QVC can now place orders using the red button. QVC
Active on Telewest should now benefit in the same way that the service did on
Sky when 'buy button' capabilities were introduced on the digital satellite
platform in September 2001. Red button purchases now account for around a third
of all QVC purchases made through Sky.
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Dish
adds Spanish 'GOL TV' to English package
Dish Network, EchoStar's satellite TV arm, added Spanish-language channel GOL
TV to its America's Top 150 programming package. Customers won't have to pay
any additional charges.
GOL TV is currently available in Dish Network's Spanish-language Dish Latino
programming packages in Spanish, and it will now be available in English in
America's Top 150 package. GOL TV will also be available in Secondary Audio
Programming (SAP) in Spanish. GOL TV is a 24-hour, Spanish-language channel
dedicated strictly to soccer.
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Wednesday
11th June 2003
Telewest
to postpone restructure
Parsons,
Karmazin: security demand
100k
a month for Freeview
ITV
merger report could be delayed
CableLabs
supports integrated DTVs
Canal
Satellite tests Plurimedia for the summer
Pace
unveils low-cost digital cable adapter plans
New
intelligent video gateway for Cable
Two
Way TV launches new games formats
BTBS
into Asia Pacific region
Telewest
to postpone restructure
UK cableco Telewest is to delay its E5 billion rescue plan by several weeks.
The company hoped to put its restructuring proposal before the company's annual
meeting on Thursday but the group said that bondholders were demanding last-minute
changes to the terms of the planned debt-for-equity swap which would have left
shareholders with just three per cent of the business.
The Company has been notified by the Bondholder Committee that, in order to
obtain the support of certain of the Company's bondholders, the Committee is
requesting changes to the Preliminary Restructuring Agreement. It is thought
that US investor and bondholder Bill Huff headed the objection to the terms
of the deal.
MD Charles Burdick said: "While we are disappointed with this development, we
are in the final stages of these discussions and therefore the restructuring
process."
Huff's rebel group, who are thought to speak for between 10 per cent and 20
per cent of the group's bonds, believe shareholders should not receive three
per cent. Telewest has invited all the company's bondholders, including Huff's
group, to agree on a proportion, which is unlikely to be higher than one per
cent.
Huff is also the biggest single investor in Telewest's rival NTL. His fund,
WR Huff asset management, holds about 11 per cent of NTL, and he and two colleagues
sit on the company's board.
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Parsons,
Karmazin: security demand
Two of the US's most powerful media execs joined together at the NCTA yesterday
to call for more security for digital content.
Dick Parsons, CEO of AOLTW warned that failure to develop standards for protection
was preventing media groups from investing online or making more of their content
available. And Mel Karmazin, COO of Viacom, went so far as to call for government
to implement standards.
It was another sign of the growing cooperation between rivals in this area and
follows on from the end of the 'browser wars' standards dispute between AOLTW
and Microsoft.
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100k
a month for Freeview
More than 100,000 people a month are signing up to Freeview, says the BBC, making
it the fastest growing new consumer technology.
The BBC claimed 1.6m homes now have Freeview, split equally between those with
legacy ITV Digital boxes and those who have bought new STBs since the service
launched last October. Around 74 per cent of Freeview viewers are over 35, while 40
per cent are over 55. Most have no interest in pay-TV and were attracted by
the simplicity of the technical set-up and the low cost according to the BBC's
report.
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ITV
merger report could be delayed
The UK Competition Commission, which was due to give the government its opinion
and recommended remedy about the proposed merger between ITV companies Carlton
and Granada by June 25, might seek to delay its report, according to the FT.
The main concern of the Commission is the impact the merger will have on the
UK's TV advertising market if the deal goes ahead - given that the two companies
combined would account for more than half of it. Last week Carlton and Granada
offered alternative, more transparent mechanism for setting TV advertising rates.
The Commission said there would be a delay if it decided to consult opponents
of the merger, such as advertisers and rival TV channels, over the new proposals:
"We have received a number of proposals for remedies which we are currently
considering. If we find it necessary to consult on these further remedies, we
would clearly need more time."
The body is only allowed to apply to the government for one extension during
the course of an investigation. This can be for a maximum of three months.
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CableLabs
supports integrated DTVs
CableLabs, has signalled its support for the roll out of integrated DTVs in
line with the consumer electronics industry's autumn 2003 target. The US cable
standards body, has given Scientific Atlanta qualified status for its Point
of Deployment (POD) module.
These new DTVs will be able to receive and decrypt digital cable programming
using a POD instead of a stand-alone set-top.
The new Scientific-Atlanta product will be a small plug-in card that looks much
like PC cards used to add modems or memory to laptops. When consumers purchase
a TV with a POD slot, they will be able to sign up for cable service and receive
the POD to authorise their DTV to receive digital video services.
CableLabs also announced that Microsoft has signed an agreement under which
it has agreed to contribute pertinent intellectual property rights to the OpenCable's
project, including the OpenCable Application Platform (OCAP) software project.
OCAP is a middleware specification that enables the developers of interactive
television services and applications to design products to run successfully
on any cable television system in North America, independent of set-top or television
receiver hardware or operating system software choices.
In addition, Microsoft and CableLabs have agreed to work together to explore
the potential of adding .NET common language infrastructure (CLI) to a future
version of OCAP.
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Canal
Satellite tests Plurimedia for the summer
From Sotires Eleftherious in Paris
French digital satellite platform Canal Satellite will carry Live 1, a new temporary
channel from Plurimedia, a subsidiary of Lagardere Active Broadband. Canal Satellite
will air the channel from June 12 until the end of August.
The main concept of Live 1 is interacting with viewers, whether via the Internet,
mobile phone text messages, or voicemail. Viewers will be able to chat with
each other and with the presenters on screen, with interactive talk shows and
personal pages.
The channel was devised in record time - just eight weeks. The aim is to test,
in partnership with Canal Satellite, the idea of a text-message based TV station.
This is a low-cost channel. It will derive its revenue from the premium rate
texts and phone lines, as well as advertising.
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Pace
unveils low-cost digital cable adapter plans
Set-top-box vendor, Pace Micro Technology Americas revealed at the NCTA its
plans for a low-cost Digital Cable Adapter (DCA) for cable operators throughout
North America. This DCA converts digital video signals for viewing on analogue
television sets.
"Cable operator technologists are discussing the benefits of having an all-digital
network, and the FCC is champing at the bit to regain the analogue spectrum
for other uses," said Neil Gaydon, President of Pace Micro Technology Americas.
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New
intelligent video gateway for Cable
Scopus Network Technologies, a supplier of digital TV platforms to the cable
and satellite industries, introduced the Intelligent Video Gateway (IVG) for
Cable TV applications, the IVG-7300 series. The IVG-7300 is the first element
for the implementation of Scopus' IVN (Intelligent Video Network) concept to
enhance video routing, processing and management over broadband networks.
Aimed at the high-end cable TV market, Scopus developed the Intelligent Video
Gateway to enable cable operators to offer "Triple Play" video, data and voice
- applications to their customers. A scalable head-end in a box residing at
the master head-end, the IVG is housed in a 1RU chassis and encompasses state-of-the-art
technologies to provide 'Everything on Demand' solutions.
The IVG's capabilities include video routing and processing, advanced video
processing for MPEG protocol conversion, Dynamic Session Allocation, seamless
Digital Program Insertion (DPI) and bit-rate reduction and Joint Rate Allocation
(JRA) for optimal bandwidth allocation using rate reduced digital turn around
services that simultaneously control local encoders in the same statistical
multiplexing group.
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Two
Way TV launches new games formats
Two Way TV has created games formats especially for the new Microsoft TV Foundation
digital TV software platform. The initial games - "Spaceballs" and "Buzzwords"
- are "based on brand new game concepts developed by Two Way TV's creative team,"
the company said.
Andrew Adamyk, Content Business Development Manager at Microsoft TV said: "Microsoft
TV Foundation Edition is designed to let cable operators get more from digital
TV today. That means enabling cable operators to deliver compelling content
such as Two Way TV's games on thin-client set-top boxes. Two Way TV has produced
a set of games formats that show off the capabilities of our new platform. We
believe this type of compelling content is another way cable operators can prove
the value of digital TV to their subscribers."
Guy Templer, Head of Business Development at Two Way TV, said: "Games have universal
appeal and have always been one of the most popular forms of interactive TV
content. This has been a great opportunity for us to work hand in hand with
the Microsoft engineering team as they roll out their new platform. Our creative
team have been in their element starting from a clean sheet and coming up with
game concepts from scratch that really drive the platform."
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BTBS
into Asia Pacific region
From Shveta Malik in New Delhi
BT Broadcast Services (BTBS), a supplier of global broadcast solutions, has
entered the Asia Pacific region through a new base in Singapore.
BTBS Asia Pacific, which provides terrestrial and satellite based multimedia
transmission solutions as well as systems integration, content and customer
management services, has already completed its first project with Celcom, Malaysian
telecommunications service provider, to carry content for the recent Formula
One 2003 in Malaysia.
BTBS managing director Mark Smith said: "The Asia Pacific region covers 29 countries,
stretching from Australia to Korea and Taiwan to Pakistan, and is becoming an
increasingly important area for broadcasters. The demand for European programming,
such as sporting events and soap operas, is growing, whilst there is a greater
need than ever before for Asian content to be transported globally. The Celcom
Formula One deal is a significant client win, and a great step towards our aim
of developing the region into a broadcast hotspot and further strengthening
our presence worldwide.
BTBS enabled footage to be taken directly from the Formula One circuit itself
and beamed via satellite to the BT ISDN port in the UK.
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Tuesday
10th June 2003
Saban
now stalking ITV?
1m
broadband for BT
Burdick
next victim at Telewest?
Microsoft
makes cable play, again
China:
national network stumbles
Samsung
new ‘Freeview’ STB
Bank
drops mobile and TV
NTT:
super fast downloads
Saban
now stalking ITV?
Within hours
of admitting defeat in the long-running bid for ProSieben Sat1, it emerges
Haim Saban has turned his attention to ITV.
According to
clearly orchestrated leaks in the weekend press, Saban has linked up with
private equity firm Apax and, possibly, David Elstein the former Sky and Channel
5 executive. Elstein was previously linked with another proposed bid involving
German investment bank West LB.
The plan -
as before - is essentially to take Carlton and Granada private and wring
profits from cost savings and shape-shifting as far as possible to a broadcaster
as publisher model.
Apax’s head
of media, Stephen Grabiner, and Neil Blackley, previously a leading analyst
at Merrill Lynch, are said to have been planning a bid for the two ITV broadcasters
for months. Grabiner was CEO of On Digital the predecessor to the disastrous
ITV Digital.
It is likely
a bid will only materialize if the E4bn merger of the two ITV companies is
blocked by the Competition Commission. The Commission is due to report to
the minister on June 25th.
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1m
broadband for BT
BT has ‘signed’
1m broadband customers. Chief executive Ben Verwaayen says: "In February
last year I set the challenging target of 1m DSL broadband connections by
summer 2003. Well, we are there by early summer and it is a great achievement."
In fact many of these customers will be subscribers to other ISPs that have
bought BT’s wholesale broadband product.
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Burdick
next victim at Telewest?
Some UK Sunday papers reported that Charles Burdick, CEO of Telewest since the
ousting of Adam Singer, will himself be axed once the E5bn financial restructuring
is complete. Apparently while the former Finance Director was seen as the right
man to deal with negotiations with the banks, the bondholders want a fresh face
to prepare the company for its long expected merger with NTL.
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to top
Microsoft
makes cable play, again
Bill Gates, was expected to use last nights personal appearance at the NCTA
to introduce a new cable TV software package. Called Microsoft TV Foundation,
it is designed to make it easier for cable customers to access videos and other
services on demand. "We're hoping this is an announcement that gets the
industry excited," said the company.
This is not the first time Microsoft has tried to make an impact in cable TV
but its policy of buying into cable groups at the top of the market in the hope
that would guarantee sales of its expansive operating system, backfired with
Gates himself calling it an unmitigated disaster. Microsoft made no sales and
lost billions of dollars as the value of its network investments cratered.
Microsoft said its new software tools were designed to run on lower-priced cable
boxes. They could also eventually run on set-top boxes manufactured by different
companies, which is not possible today.
Meanwhile, in the computer sector Microsoft does dominate, The European Commission
has delayed the decision in its four year probe of the company as it seeks to
strengthen its case.
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to top
China:
national network stumbles
From Owen Hughes
Chinese plans
to roll out a national cable TV network are being hampered by a series of
barriers including protests by western channel providers against Beijing’s
insistence that they remove their logos from programmes in order to gain carriage.
The national
cable network is owned by the State Administration for Radio, Film and Television
(Sarft) and it plans to reach 30 million subscribers by 2005 using a network
separate to the hundreds of provincial and urban systems.
Sarft wants to
use high-class programming to draw subscribers, but at the same time it does
not want to allow foreigners to gain too much presence in the market. That’s
why it has told prospective content suppliers that they will have to remove
logos if they want carriage.
The content providers
have baulked at the demand, saying that it will handicap their opportunity
to build a brand in the largest market in the world. A further problem for
Sarft is that it does not control the last mile to homes and the smaller cable
operators are only required to carry the state-run TV’s flagship channel
CCTV-1.
With China’s
cable TV sector experiencing an advertising boom, the provincial and urban
systems have refused to sell stakes in their networks to Sarft because they
feel it will not pay enough money to recoup their investments in upgrades
over the last five years.
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Samsung
new ‘Freeview’ STB
Samsung has launched
a new digital terrestrial receiver for the UK market. The SIR-U200I is the
first in a range of digital terrestrial TV products for the UK market which
Samsung will be launching during 2003.
Samsung’s optimised software design makes full use of SIR-U200I’s
embedded IBM PowerPC processor to deliver all the benefits of multi channel
digital TV in a package that is fun to use for the consumer.
Rob Shaw, product manager for the SIR-U200I at Samsung, comments: "The
UK is leading the world in the deployment of digital TV and the recent success
of FreeView is only accelerating the momentum. Samsung is fully committed
to supporting and developing this emerging market with an exciting new range
of digital media products The SIR-U200I is the first step towards this in
the UK."
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to top
Bank
drops mobile and TV
Major UK bank
Abbey National has dropped its WAP mobile banking channel and its digitial
TV channel due to insufficient demand, reports The Register. The bank has
sent letters to customers announcing its decision, saying that as of the end
of this month, they will no longer provide e-banking through the digital TV
(via Sky, Telewest and NTL) and WAP channels (Orange and O2), and will instead
focus on improvements to its more popular internet e-banking channel.
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NTT:
super fast downloads
Japan's Nippon
Telegraph and Telephone says it has developed technology that drastically
increases fibre optic communication speeds for homes and offices.
The new technology will increase speeds tenfold to one gigabyte per second
and NTT hopes to have the new technology ready for mass production within
two years.
The technology will make the downloading of movies and games from the Internet
easier, two hours of video footage will be able to be downloaded in around
30 seconds, compared to seven minutes using existing technology. Increasing
capacity is at the heart of NTT'sbattle to win back customers to fibre optic
fixed-line. Revenues have been under pressure as users switch to mobiles and
cut-price Internet protocol phones, but the telecom giant has said it aims
to win five million new fixed line users by 2005/6.
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to top
Monday
9th June 2003
3 slashes prices again
Spain's
Sogecable wins UEFA pay TV rights
Viacom
plays down interest in Vivendi
AOL
T W cancels book auction
3
slashes prices again
The UK 3G mobile
phone operator '3' has slashed the prices for its third generation mobile
phone service in a desperate bid to kick-start sales.
The company,
controlled by Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa, is launching two new pricing
plans on today which, it says, will undercut rivals by 50 per cent.
Two new packages,
VideoTalk 500 and VideoTalk 750, give customers 500 and 750 voice minutes
to any network at any time for E36 and E50 a month respectively. The move
is designed to try and ignite interest in '3' - the UK's first commercial
3G service.
"For customers
on plans with comparable amounts of voice calls on other networks, 3 is offering
savings of as much as 50 per cent on the monthly charge," said the company.
With the first
package, customers also get a E14 a month allowance for making video calls,
sending video messages and downloading video clips for the first three months.
The allowance is E30 a month on the second package.
Bob Fuller, recently
recruited as CEO from '3's better-performing Italian operation, said: "By
any measure VideoTalk 500 and VideoTalk 750 offer unbelievable value to mobile
customers in the UK. With these two packages our customers can make up to
50 per cent savings on comparable bundles from other networks."
Having attracted
just 25,000 users in the UK so far, it seems very unlikely the '3' will get
close to its target of having 1 million customers in the UK by the end of
the year.
Last week, '3'
announced the appointment of chief operating officer Gareth Jones who will
look after sales and marketing in the UK. He said: "We are offering incredible
services, at incredible value for money and we now have something to appeal
to every customer."
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Spain's
Sogecable wins UEFA pay TV rights
From David Del Valle in Madrid
The leading pay-TV
group Sogecable has won the
contract to exclusively broadcast UEFA Champions League matches for the coming
three seasons on pay-TV.
Sogecable will
exclusively transmit the first pick of
Tuesday live games and second pick of Wednesday live
games. The agreement also includes the second pick of
Tuesday live matches and highlights on both Tuesday
and Wednesday.
The first pick
package of live UEFA Champions League
games on Wednesdays is reserved exclusively for a free
TV broadcaster.
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Viacom
plays down interest in Vivendi
Viacom, has played
down its interest in the auction of Vivendi Universal's US entertainment assets.
Mel Karmazin, Viacom president and chief operating officer, said the group
was interested only in the cable TV networks operated by Vivendi Universal:
"If the assets are being sold together we are very much at the back of
the line."
Preliminary
bids, due this month, are expected from two rival financial consortia, including
one led by Edgar Bronfman Jr, former Seagram chief executive and a Vivendi
board member. Other groups such as Viacom, General Electric and MGM, the studios
business, have expressed interest in some of the individual entertainment
assets.
Meanwhile Karmazin's
boss Sumner Redstone, said there will be no dynasty at Viacom, currently the
world's largest media company by capitaliazation. The veteran media mogul
said his daughter Shari - currently head of the company's cinema chain - would
not take over the top spot if he left.
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AOL
T W cancels book auction
AOL TW has cancelled
the auction of its book publishing division because it could not attract a
high enough price.
AOL Time Warner
initially tried to sell the division, which includes Warner Books and Little
Brown, to reduce its debt. A few months ago the company pledged to lower its
debt to $24 billion from $28 billion by the end of this year and to $20 billion
by the end of next year.
Since then, AOL
Time Warner has sold its 50 percent stake in the Comedy Central cable channel
for about $1.2 billion and its investment in the satellite television company
Hughes Electronics for about $800 million. It has also raised $750 million
from the settlement of a lawsuit against Microsoft. Still pending are sales
of its CD and DVD manufacturing business, which is expected to raise more
than $1 billion, and the sale of its three sports teams in Atlanta, which
is expected to raise more than $700 million.
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