NEWS
Monday 26th
May -
Monday
2nd June 2003
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Monday
26th/Tuesday27th May 2003*
Telewest
cuts digital TV prices
Freeview,
new games channel
Lidcom
claims £60 DTT box
Kingston
could pull KIT plug
Spanish
court rejects DTH merger appeal
CSA
writes to Canal Plus, TPS and cable operators
TiVo,
subscriptions growth helps Q1 results
Mediacast
upbeat
Hutchison
sells Vodafone and DT stakes
RealNetworks
provides hosting and billing for niche services
EchoStar
reaches agreement on legal dispute
JSAT to lease satellite to NTT
DoCoMo
Telewest cuts digital TV prices
UK operator Telewest Broadband is set to launch a new digital TV service offering
popular channels and the interactive features of cable, at a price to rival
both Freeview and Sky.
Available from 1 June, the digital TV Starter Pack will cost £3.50 (E5) a month
when taken with a Telewest phone line. The service offers 30 channels including
Sky One, BBC Three and Cbeebies. The Starter Pack will also enable access to
Telewest's range of digital services including interactive red button features,
free TV email and access to pay-per-movies.
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Freeview,
new games channel
Freeview, the UK's free DTT platform, is to launch its first interactive games
channel, Free2Play, after a carriage deal with YooMedia. The channel, launched
last Friday, includes a quiz game based on Channel 4's Big Brother to coincide
with the start of fourth season of Channel 4 reality show. By pressing red during
the show's 10-week run, viewers will be able to take part in a quiz.
The agreement with Freeview partner Crown Castle was negotiated by MIETV, 33
per cent of which is now owned by YooMedia. As well as games, the channel will
also feature a "magazine" section offering news, satirical jokes and quizzes.
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Lidcom
claims £60 DTT box
UK electronic design specialist Lidcom says it is going into production with
a DTT 'side car' adaptor that will retail for £60 (E87). The company says manufacture
will start in July and it is close to signing deals for the box to be badged
by major manufacturers.
The company says that in volume production the simple box's price should rapidly
fall to nearer to £50 (E72).
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Kingston
could pull KIT plug
UK telco Kingston Communications has reported pre-tax losses of E40.3 million
this week for the year ended 31 March 2003. One venture dragging down results
is Kingston Interactive Television (KIT). KIT offers the residents of Hull (UK)
interactive television on which they can do banking, shop and order video on
demand.
The company said: "We are currently evaluating a number of options to eliminate
the losses from our interactive television service, KIT. If these options are
unsuccessful, we will close the service by October." Only 7,000 customers have
signed up to the service. Kingston is looking for co-investors but admits it
has had no luck so far.
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Spanish
court rejects DTH merger appeal
From David Del Valle in Madrid
Spanish cable operators have experienced their first legal defeat in their fight
to against the impending digital DTH merger between Canal Satelite Digital and
Via Digital. The Spanish Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by five cable
operators -R, Retecal, Tenaria, Telecable and Euskaltel- which asked the Court
to suspend the merger on the grounds that it would create a pay-TV monopoly
and that Telefonica would benefit from it strengthening its dominant position
in the cable market.
The operator's case followed the Government's go-ahead to the merger - with
34 conditions - in November 2002. Despite losing this first battle, cable operators
have announced that their legal fight is to be continued.
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CSA
writes to Canal Plus, TPS and cable operators
From Sotires Eleftheriou in Paris
The French broadcasting regulator, the CSA, has written to premium channel Canal
Plus to ask about what measures are being taken to enable analogue subscribers
to block access to Category V (violent or pornographic) programmes. The CSA
also asked Canal Plus to inform it every six months of the number of subscribers
who opt to block this category. This figure will make interesting reading, in
view of the fact that X-rated programmes are known to have been one of the factors
driving subscriptions.
The CSA has also sent a letter to the cable operators UPC France, NC Numericable,
Noos and France Telecom Cable, reminding them of their obligation to carry the
parliamentary channel. In particular, it must be carried on the basic analogue
service. Most of the cable operators carry it on the basic digital service,
which is only available to a proportion of subscribers.
Finally, the CSA has written to digital satellite platform TPS reminding it
that it is not allowed to carry channels before they have received their authorisation,
as in the case of the Tfou channel (see Advanced Television archives) which
incited small children to use pay interactive services.
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TiVo,
subscriptions growth helps Q1 results
DVR vendor TiVo announced its financial results for Q1 ended April 30, 2003,
reporting an 88 per cent subscription growth compared to Q1 last year. TiVo
added 79,000 new subscriptions in the first quarter, compared to 42,000 subscriptions
in the first quarter of last year, bringing the total subscription base to approximately
703,000 as of April 30, 2003.
Total service and technology revenues were $16.1 million in the first quarter,
a 63 per cent increase over the $9.9 million of total service and technology
revenues reported in the first quarter of last year. Net revenues were $28.5
million, more than double the $13.0 million of net revenues reported in the
first quarter of last year. TiVo's net loss for the quarter was $7.9 million,
less than one quarter of the $35.2 million, net loss recorded in the same period
last year.
Earlier this month, TiVo announced it will offer a new introductory service
level, TiVo Basic service, which provides licensees the opportunity to include
entry-level DVR functionality. TiVo licensee Toshiba is the first to announce
an integrated product with the TiVo Basic service included. Toshiba's SD-H400
integrated DVD with TiVo is expected to be available in retail later this year.
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Mediacast
upbeat
Mediacast 2003, which took place from 20-22 May at ExCel in London, attracted
5368 visitors, about 10% down on last year but the feel from exhibitors was
the quality was good and business was being done. Mediacast claims approximately
90 per cent of exhibitors at the 2003 event have already booked their stands
for next year. Mediacast 2004 will take place from 25- 27 May at ExCel
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Hutchison
sells Vodafone and DT stakes
Hutchison Whampoa has sold more than half of its holdings in telecommunications
giants Vodafone Group and Deutsche Telekom for just over E2.17 billion.
"We didn't make a loss on the sale," chairman Li Ka-shing said after the announcement.
"We disposed of the shares because it's an investment and not part of our core
business." The company, half of which is controlled by Li's flagship Cheung
Kong Holdings, recorded a E3 billion provision in June 2001 to account for the
sharp decline in the value of its 3.47 per cent holding in Vodafone and a 4.9
per cent stake in Deutsche Telekom.
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RealNetworks
provides hosting and billing for niche services
Digital media software maker RealNetworks Inc said it would provide hosting
and billing services for companies that want to offer niche online audio and
video services, including Playboy TV Club and a channel devoted to the Kennedy
assassination.
US-based RealNetworks, said the new OpenPass would let companies with content
that appeals to smaller audiences generate revenue without having to build their
own distribution platforms. A total of 23 channels are already available on
OpenPass.
Dan Sheeran, Real's Vice President of marketing, told Reuters: "What we wanted
was to create a marketplace where any content owner can build a subscription
business." RealNetworks will make money on OpenPass by collecting a portion
of each channel's monthly subscription fees, Sheeran said.
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EchoStar
reaches agreement on legal dispute
US-based EchoStar Communications announced that its subsidiary, EchoStar Satellite
Corporation, has entered into an agreement with 13 state attorneys general resolving
a dispute about the processes used in advertising disclosures, customer relationship
and similar issues relating to EchoStar and its independent retailers.
EchoStar said that it is "confident its practices have at all times complied
with applicable law and entered into the settlement in order to avoid costly
and potentially protracted litigation." There was no finding of any violation
or wrongdoing by the company and each state released EchoStar from all matters
investigated.
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JSAT to lease satellite to NTT DoCoMo
JSAT Corporation and NTT DoCoMo concluded an agreement whereby NTT DoCoMo
will partially lease transponder capacity on the JCSAT-9 satellite from JSAT
for the duration of the satellite's design life. JSAT will purchase the JCSAT-9
satellite to succeed the N-STARa satellite, which is jointly owned with NTT
DoCoMo. N-STARa is currently positioned in a 132 degrees east orbit.
NTT DoCoMo also announced that, together with its eight regional subsidiaries,
it will launch an on-line payments service, named ÄDoCommerce,' at 9:00 am
on May 26, 2003, enabling both 2G and 3G SSL-compatible handset users to enjoy
mobile shopping and pay online with their VISA, or JCB credit cards.
An account aggregation feature enables DoCommerce users to check simultaneously,
and on one single screen, the balances of their various accounts with banks,
credit card companies, etc. Initially, 15 financial institutions will participate.
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to public holidays in the UK, advanced-television.com's daily service will
return on Wednesday 28th.
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