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NEWS Monday August 2nd to Friday August 6th 2004
Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
| Tuesday | |||||
Continues from front page.........
NTL, said its net loss widened from a year-ago after adding 60,500 net new residential customers for its television, telephone and Internet services in the second quarter.
Britain's largest cable company reported a loss of £249.8 million (E375 million) in the quarter ended June 30 compared with a £160 million in the year-ago period. Revenues increased to £584.4 million from £551.3 million in the second quarter of 2003. Simon Duffy, CEO, said he was pleased with the results but acknowledged 2004 was a year of "heavy lifting" for the cable group, which is in the process of downsizing its call centres and revamping its billing system.
Duffy also claimed that as Britain's cablecos emerge from years of debt-stricken paralysis the cable industry posed an increasing threat to satellite television operator BSkyB. NTL and Telewest had their best quarter to date for digital TV subscribers in the three months to June. "If you look at the overall number of digital TV additions then the share that went to cable as a whole was at an all-time high".
Duffy said he expected NTL's digital TV customer base to grow faster once the company signs off a new deal with BSkyB to carry the pay-TV group's premium sports and movie channels. The new arrangement is also expected to be examined by the Office of Fair Trading after it is signed.
According to
reports, the CEO declined to comment on the prospects of a merger with Telewest,
the industry's number-two operator, which recently completed its debt refinancing
and, following NTL's lead, listed its shares on Nasdaq.
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PVR pioneer TiVo, has received official approval for technology that would
permit users to send copies of digital broadcast shows over the Internet to
a limited number of friends.
The US Federal Communications Commission voted to certify digital protections on TiVoToGo which is not yet available, but would enable a user to record and send a digital broadcast television show to up to nine others who have been registered on that person's service and have been given a key to see it.
The approval came despite concerns by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the National Football League about the risks of unfettered distribution of copyrighted shows and the airing of regional games outside of their market.
"Each of these technologies has been exhaustively reviewed to ensure contention protection systems prevent the mass indiscriminate redistribution of digital television programming," said FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein.
A version of TiVoToGo, planned to be launched this autumn, would allow users to transfer recorded shows to a home computer, but it has not said when it would launch its version allowing shows to be shared outside the home.
The FCC last year adopted rules to limit distribution of digital, over-the-air television programs over the Internet in an effort to prevent mass illegal copying and sharing, a problem plaguing the music industry. It required companies to develop measures to prevent consumers from indiscriminately distributing the higher quality digital television shows over the Web.
In addition to approving TiVo's application, the FCC certified 12 other technologies proposed, including from Microsoft, Sony, and RealNetworks for protecting distribution of digital television broadcasts. The FCC did not add restrictions on where the recorded shows could be sent, disappointing the MPAA.
TiVo is also
reportedly building alternative products and features into its service as
trys to diversify from digital recording boxes, especially as cable and satellite
TV providers develop their own recording systems.
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Sweden's Modern Times Group posted a six per cent rise on its first half revenues to SwK3.34 billion (€360 million) while profits soared 72 per cent to SwK141 million.
MTG – the largest free-to-air and pay-TV operator in the Nordic and Baltic regions, and northern Europe's largest commercial radio operator – said revenues from its 26-channel Viasat TV unit rose nine per cent to SwK2.54bn, but operating profits fell from SwK313m to SwK304m.
Chief executive
Hans-Holger Albrecht said 2004 was "a year of investment for MTG"
but warned that the outlook in the Nordic advertising market "remains
uncertain in the short term".
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News Corp shares fell as much as 4.3 per cent to AU$11.64 in Sydney after BSkyB, said it will boost spending to spur growth, hurting profit for three years. News Corp is BSkyB's largest shareholder.
Shares in Sky
fell almost 20 per cent on Wednesday, hitting the lowest since October 2002,
and wiping more than £2 billion (E3 billion) off the company's value.
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Walt Disney is set to launch a version of its ABC television network in the UK next month. The ABC1 network will initially be available only on Freeview, but there are plans to expand onto pay-TV platforms aswell.
Launching ahead of ITV's new digital entertainment channel, ITV3, there will be no advertisements during the first few months of the schedule, but eventually Disney plans to sell air time. This will be Disney's first advertising-only funded channel in the UK.
ABC1 will be
broadcast from 6 am until 6 pm starting September 27, and plans to eventually
expand to a 24-hour schedule. "In its first phase, ABC1 will champion
an under-served British audience -- people who are busy at home during the
day," commented John Hardie, the Disney television executive who will
oversee the launch.
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The broadcaster debated for months on whether to launch the new channel on a free-to-air basis like ITV2 or to restrict it to pay-TV. It is understood that Sky approached ITV with a number of incentives to make ITV3 a pay-TV only offering but would have wanted a stake in the channel.
Talks on the
future of Granada Plus, a joint venture with Sky, and ITV's satellite carriage
deal, due for renewal later this year, were linked with the negotiations but
nothing has yet been decided.
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Turner Broadcasting System Europe (TBS) has unveiled an initiative to digitise its assets and bring transmission in house. The move – which follows a thorough review of all strategic options for the future of the playout of its entertainment channels - will involve building a new facility and hiring around 40 additional staff at its Great Marlborough Street, London headquarters.
The digitisation project covers 12,000 hours worth of the company's entertainment content including films and cartoons for Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Toonami and TCM and will enable Turner's network of channels throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa to be broadcast from video servers under automated control.
The new facility is scheduled to launch on January 1st 2006. The digitisation project will allow the electronic delivery of films, cartoons and advertisements, facilitate the addition of new channels and ultimately enable staff to browse assets on their desktops.
"Digitising
the library will put Turner in a strong position to take advantage of emerging
revenue streams and new work flows such as VOD, Broadband, Mobile and Integrated
Playout and Production," said Tina McCann, Senior Vice President and
General Manager of Turner Entertainment Networks, who added that bringing
the system in-house would giver Turner total control and flexibility over
the entire channel creation process.
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BellSouth improves triple play offer
The trend for US telcos to bundle satellite TV packages to counter cable offers continues.
BellSouth has started reselling the satellite TV service from DirecTV in discounted bundles of telephone service and TV service. The total cost of a BellSouth-DirecTV package would be just less than $211 per month for unlimited local and long-distance phone service - with voice mail, caller ID, etc. - 3 MB/sec Internet service, Cingular Wireless service with 450 "roll-over" minutes monthly, and 210 channels of digital TV.
BellSouth has
about 1.2 million customers in South Carolina and about 21.8 million customers
in the Southeast.
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Microsoft/Thomson JV for MSN TV STB
Microsoft's MSN
TV service and Thomson have entered into an agreement to develop a broadband
home-network-enabled version of Microsoft's MSN TV Internet receiver. The
new system is a complete overhaul of the existing device and service based
on standard Microsoft technologies and incorporates new advanced technology
from Thomson. The product will be available through major retailers in time
for the 2004 holiday shopping season.
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Australia's Telstra has signed an agreement to buy half of the 3G network built by Hutchison 3G, and form a joint venture to share the infrastructure. Under the agreement, the H3GA radio access network will become the core asset of the joint enterprise. In return for the 50 per cent ownership of the asset, Telstra will pay Hutchison $318 million.
Telstra will launch its 3G services to customers in 2005, utilising the entire H3GA network footprint of more than 2000 base stations covering Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. Telstra and Hutchison expect to significantly increase the size of the network over the next three years, expanding into Canberra and other regional centres.
Telstra and Hutchison
will each continue to own separate core networks, application and service
platforms, and will conduct their retail 3G businesses independently and in
competition with each other.
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UKTV and DITG release new red button features
UKTV and DITG unveiled a series of new developments designed to allow audiences to plan their TV viewing over the coming week with searchable listings via the red button.
By selecting the search option, viewers can enter keywords to find out when their favourite shows are on, or find shows with their favourite actors, for example, to ensure the maximum satisfaction from their viewing of the UKTV channels. Key words are typed in using the remote control and viewers will pay 15p per minute to maintain an online connection while they search.
Viewers can then
opt to receive a text message 30 minutes before a programme begins. This service
is provided by Broadsystem.
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Playboy
TV launches NVoD in Australia
Playboy TV, is set to launch a two-hour block on Foxtel Digital and New Austar
Digital's 24-hour Adults Only Select Channels, beginning August 6th.
The Adults Only Select Channels are part of the Foxtel Box Office NVoD service
which was launched in March as part of Foxtel's new digital cable and satellite
platform, and in May on the New Austar Digital service.
Playboy TV NVoD
programming will be available 24/7, with customers able to purchase in two-hour
blocks. Each week, two hours of premier programming will be added on the channel.
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James Murdoch, CEO of Sky, admitted the company needed a makeover as its current strategies were delivering "diminishing returns". Speaking as the group's results were posted, Murdoch said Sky had to become a more inclusive brand and begin a "conversation" with those yet to be turned on to pay-television. In Q4 Sky added just 81,000 subs, compared to 133,000 for the same period a year ago. Many analysts had been hoping for a return to 100,000+ growth after the disappointing 66,000 addition Q3 was followed by a heavy marketing campaign. Shares crashed over 15 per cent in early trading.
Murdoch admitted Sky had misjudged how to win more subs and said he no longer wanted to go with the "Free" and "cheap" approach as this simply brought forward willing converts. This rethink also seems to have clouded the attitude to Freesat; originally spun as an answer to Freeview and a key marketing tool to spin people up to pay-TV, it was now more low key and will only be launched as a trial in areas where Freeview has poor reception (Sky says this means 52 per cent of the UK compared to Freeview's figure of 27 per cent).
Although the financial results were up to expectations, (turnover up 14 per cent at £3.656 billion (E5.53 billion), operating profit £600 million against £364 million last time), the company said it was rethinking its approach and was confident it could still chase down the lion's share of the further 10 million UK homes it believes will eventually be pay-TV.
Murdoch said he believes "equilibrium" will be reached in 2010-2012 with 80 per cent of homes having pay-TV, this will follow a surge in FTA digital as switch-off is approached but with many then converting to pay. But he does accept that the proposition of top tier movies and sport, that has built the market so far, can't take it any further.
Part of the problem is an old Sky sore; the product is liked by those who get it, but the brand is often not liked by customers and reviled by non-customers. Murdoch's answer is to "reintroduce" the brand and there will be a 40 per cent + increase in above the line promotion in 2005. There will also be new "access points" with packages priced between £10 and £20 and a big increase in the budget of Sky One for "must see" programming. This spending would be partly funded by a 10 per cent saving in sport and movie costs.
Of course, this strategy is bound to lead to a decline in ARPU which Murdoch says will still climb to the magic £400 annually by the end of 2005 (currently £380) but will decline thereafter while the acquisition cost per subscriber is set to increase from £200 to £220. He said Sky would drop ARPU as a performance indicator and replace it with profitability per subscriber.
As well as marketing, packaging and pricing, Sky is looking to new technology to boost the business. Much focus is on Sky + which now has 397,000 users. In October a new box, the Sky+ 160, with a 160 Gb drive and USB ports for home networking will be introduced. Murdoch said he sees the PVR as delivering virtual VOD and being at the heart of in home connectivity. He denied Sky was actively looking into DSLTV and said, so far, the picture quality wasn't good enough.
To support the
new products, marketing and ultimately 10 million subscribers, Murdoch also
announced a £450 million of infrastructure spend, including revamps
of the HQ and the call centres.
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The Canal Plus group announced sales for the first half of this year of E1.8 billion, a fall of 17 per cent compared to the same period last year. However, when the results are adjusted to take account of the disposal of Telepiu, sales increased five per cent.
The number of
subscribers to the Canal Plus premium channel increased for the first time
in three years. As of 30 June 2004, the channel had 4.88 million subscribers,
compared to 4.867 million a year earlier. The number of new subscriptions
has increased by 17 per cent over the year and the number of terminations
has fallen. Meanwhile, the number of subscribers to Canal Satellite has reached
2.83 million, an increase of 80,000 since the beginning of the year.
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After years of difficulties in a deep advertising recession, Spanish private television is in good financial health again while public TV is quite the opposite.
Both Mediaset-controlled Tele 5 and Planeta-owned Antena 3 are making profits while state-owned group RTVE is breaking its own records on losses.
In the first six months of the year, Tele 5 has declared a net profit of E111.31 million, 72 per cent more than the same period last year. A cost-cutting policy and a rise in its ad revenues reaching E 402.82 million are behind its good financial performance.
Antena 3 TV has declared profit of E62 million, against a loss of E98 million the same period last year. The company had a turnover of E411 million until June, 20 per cent up.
By contrast,
RTVE is deeply in the red. The company now plans to end the year with a loss
of E757 million, E134 more than was initially budgeted for, raising its accumulated
debt to more than E7 billion. This comes at a time when RTVE´s La Primera
has been relegated from the first to the third place in the audience ratings
battle, with Tele 5 leading with an average share in July of 23 per cent,
followed by Antena 3 with 21 per cent and La Primera, 20 per cent.
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InterActiveCorp posts lower profit
InterActiveCorp, Barry Diller's Internet business posted a 25 per cent drop in second-quarter net profit, citing acquisition costs, and cut its 2004 forecast to the bottom of its previous range.
The parent company of Expedia.com and Hotels.com, said growth in its US hotel business, one of its most profitable areas, has slowed and that the trend would continue amid rising competition from hotel companies and Web rivals. The New York-based company, which also owns Ticketmaster, Match.com, Citysearch and other sites, said net profit fell to $69.9 million, from $92.9 million, a year earlier.
IAC said it expected
full-year operating income before amortisation of about $1 billion, the low
end of its previous range of $1 billion to $1.2 billion. On that basis, which
chiefly excludes acquisition costs, second-quarter profit rose 23 per cent
to $250 million from $203 million, topping IAC's forecast for the quarter.
Revenue fell 2 percent to $1.50 billion from $1.53 billion, driven down by
an accounting change, but analysts had expected revenue of $1.57 billion.
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The European Commission has reiterated its support for open and interoperable standards, but says implementation should not be made legally binding.
Member States should continue to promote open and interoperable standards for interactive digital TV - including the Multimedia Home Platform standard – on a voluntary basis, says the EC in a new Communication on the interoperability of interactive digital TV. There is no clear case for imposing technical standards at present, but the issue should be reviewed again in 2005. Proposals made by the Commission include setting up a Member State group on MHP implementation, confirming that Member States can offer consumer subsidies for interactive TV receivers - subject to state aid rules - and monitoring access to proprietary digital interactive TV applications.
The Commission proposes a range of actions to promote the deployment of interactive digital services using the MHP standard. These include the creation of a Member State group on MHP implementation, confirmation that Member States can offer consumer subsidies for interactive television receiver equipment, subject to conformity with state aid rules, and monitoring of access to proprietary technologies.
The Communication
sets out the Commission's position on interoperability of digital interactive
television services as required under Article 18 of Directive 2002/21/EC,
on a common regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and
services. Article 18 requires Member States to encourage the use of open standards,
and transparency of information on proprietary standards. If Article 18 fails
to have the desired effect, then the Directive empowers the Commission to
take steps to impose a standard.
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Thomson has announced that it is acquiring a major stake in Nokia/CITIC Digital Technology (NCDT), a cable set-top-boxes company in China. NCDT is a joint venture formed by Nokia, CITIC Technology, a technology investor which is fully owned by financial and industrial conglomerate CITIC group, and the Academy of Broadcasting Sciences , a research and development organisation reporting to SARFT (State Administration for Radio, Film and Television).
The joint venture will be renamed Thomson/CITIC Digital Technology (TCDT) subject to the transaction's approval by the Chinese regulatory authorities.
TCDT aims to
tap the cable TV operators with technologies and delivering end-to-end solutions.
Thomson's DCI1000 platform was recently customised for the Chinese market.
Thomson has also established a research and development laboratory in Beijing.
This laboratory will be fully operational at the end of August and will help
develop broadband access products both for the Chinese and the international
market and conduct long-term projects for the corporate technology group.
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Rick Medlock is leaving his position as CFO of NDS Group, in order to take
the role of CFO at Inmarsat with effect from the end of September. He is replacing
Ramin Khadem, who retired in July. He joins Inmarsat as the company is undergoing
changes following its acquisition by Apax Partners and Permira last year.
The company, which has recently undergone a strategic review, has cut jobs
to reduce costs and is keen to return to the black after slipping into a post-tax
loss of $13.3 million in the first quarter.
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Chyron Corporation, a US-based developer of broadcast television graphics software and hardware, announced an agreement with Global Interactive Solutions' Cool TV to offer interactive television services to North American broadcasters and advertisers using mobile phone text messaging and Chyron graphics hardware.
John Remmler, Vice President of Media Solutions for Chyron commented: "We plan to become the dominant player in what we see as a very exciting and emerging market opportunity while helping our broadcast customers find new sources of revenue."
By utilising
Cool TV's proprietary platform based on SMS mobile phone text messaging and
Chyron's CAL API graphics engine run by Duet LEXs that allow for dynamic,
data-driven updates, this model bypasses gatekeeper cable and satellite providers.
In past years, interactive TV commerce had been slowed by demands from service
providers that all interactive content be generated through their equipment.
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Intelsat at 40: revenues up, staff down
Global satellite communications provider Intelsat reported a seven per cent increase in revenues to $261.7 million and net income of $18.5 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2004. The company also reported EBITDA of $174.7 million for the quarter. Total revenue rose $17.2 million, primarily attributable to a net increase in lease services revenue of $17.9 million. The results were revealed shortly before the operator marks its 40th anniversary.
"Intelsat
got off to a good start in our first full quarter with the Intelsat Americas
satellites, generating improved revenue performance as compared to 2003,"
commented Intelsat chief executive officer Conny Kullman. "Our enhanced
North American reach is resulting in expanded opportunities with our international
customer base."
Intelsat also reported that the integration of the Intelsat Americas satellites,
acquired from Loral in March 2004, is ahead of schedule. Intelsat is leveraging
the enhanced North American coverage provided by the Intelsat Americas satellites
to expand relationships with existing customers.
In late June, Intelsat completed a staff reduction exercise "to align its cost structure in response to continued competitive pressure." According to the company, the reduction of approximately 50 full-time employees is expected to reduce costs in certain operations and marketing and sales functions.
The second quarter
also saw the withdrawal of Intelsat's previously planned IPO, and confirmation
that it is exploring the possibility of third party investment in or acquisition
of the company. According to Intelsat, discussions are proceeding. Until Intelsat
has completed an IPO in accordance with the requirements of the ORBIT Act,
the FCC has restricted Intelsat's ability to sell capacity on the Intelsat
Americas satellites that would be used for the provision of DTH or direct
broadcast satellite video or Ka- or V-band services.
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NDS Group plc
a News Corporation company, announced its results for the fourth quarter and
year ended 30 June 2004, with Rick Medlock, Chief Financial Officer, saying
"We characterised this year as a year of transition. With the win-back
of DIRECTV and the strong business pipeline, we enter the next financial year
with
great revenue and earnings momentum."
NDS has continued to benefit from the growth in digital pay-TV penetration around the world and now has 44 million active digital TV smart cards, an increase of 28 per cent over the year. In Q4 sales hit £64 million (E96 million) generating an EBITDA of £10 million. Full year profitability exceeded forecasts with an EBITDA of £45 million.
Operationally, the company reported that in June NDS completed the transitional
arrangements with DIRECTV and resumed shipments of smart cards under the new
contract. The initial integration of the MediaHighway business with the rest
of the NDS organisation is now substantially complete and the operations in
Paris moved to new premises.
New contracts
won in the quarter include: CJ CableNet – one of the largest MSOs in
Korea is to deploy OpenCable TV. Cablevision – one of the US's leading
entertainment and telecommunications companies which serves 3 million households
in New York area has deployed seven interactive TV games from NDS. Euro I
AG – the interactive and digital TV service provider in Bremen, Germany
has selected NDS's
MediaHighway Advanced interactive TV platform which combines a DVB-MHP-certified
middleware with PVR capabilities. NDS is to provide the mobile video service
MOBSVIDEO.COM with an OMA compliant end to end mobile DRM solution. The NDS
solution will protect video content to mobile customers.
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DirecTV has agreed to purchase the primary DBS assets of Pegasus, the rural sales agent, including rights to all DirecTV subscribers activated through the company.
DirecTV said it will pay bankrupt Pegasus $875 million in cash, subject to certain adjustments. The payment reflects the dismissal of all claims between the parties, including a $63 million judgement entered in May in favour of DirecTV against Pegasus, the satellite TV company said. Taking into account the judgement, the aggregate purchase price is about $938 million.
The agreement has been approved by the creditors' committee in Pegasus' Chapter 11 proceedings. The transaction is expected to be completed within the next four to six weeks, subject to approval from the US Bankruptcy Court in Maine and applicable antitrust filings and approvals.
In addition,
DirecTV also said it expects to complete the migration of Pegasus customers
to its subscriber rolls within 30 to 45 days. Pegasus had about 1.08 million
customers as of June.
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NDS unveiled plans to ship DVR technology to US satellite group DirecTV in the first quarter of 2005, entering in direct competition with TiVo. NDS and DirecTV, are subsidiaries of News Corp.
DirecTV is TiVo's biggest source of new customers, and the news about the increasing partnership between NDS and DirecTV further shook investors' confidence in TiVo's relationship with the satellite company. Previously DirecTV sold its stake in TiVo and its' Chairman resigned from TiVo's board.
TiVo has a contract to supply DVRs to DirecTV through 2007, but investors fear that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp might push DirecTV to dump TiVo altogether. However, analysts reportedly commented that since nearly one million DirecTV subscribers use TiVo's devices, it would not be smart for the satellite company to drop TiVo.
DirecTV said
the satellite service provider plans to offer TiVo machines alongside "a
new DVR product."
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French commercial
network TF1 unveiled first-half revenues of E1.48 billion, up five per cent.
Advertising income grew 6.5 per cent to E889.5 million. TF1 – which owns
66 per cent of French satellite broadcaster TPS – increased its share
of the French television advertising market in the first half to 54.2 per
cent, up from 53.9 per cent for the whole of 2003. Revenues from TF1's other
activities were up three per cent to E591.2 million, boosted by a 7.6 per
cent increase in revenues at TPS.
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China Central Television is set to launch six digital channels on August 9. The channels, to be introduced for $7 a month, include Fengyun Olympics 1 and Fengyun Olympics 2 for the forthcoming Athens Olympic Games.
The new channels will be launched in Shanghai, Guizhou, Chongqing and Sichuan initially. Following the first phase of the launch, another 33 cities are also reportedly making technological preparation to connect with the network.
According the
company, two other channels, First Theatre and Fengyun Theatre, will show
TV series from ancient martial art dramas to romantic love stories. The channel
World Geography will feature classic documentaries.
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Continuing with its expansion of operations for Animax in Asia, Sony Pictures Entertainment has launched its animation channel Animax on Hong Kong Cable, a pay television service provider, which has subscription base of 540,000 subscribers.
The launch in Hong Kong follows Animax's recently introduced South Asian feed. Apart from India, the launch of the Animax South Asia service will also make the channel available in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. In January, Animax Asia was launched with three dedicated services for Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia.
In a separate
development, Hong Kong Cable Television has signed carriage agreements for
two Pakistan channels, infotainment channel I-Plus and general entertainment
channel Indus Vision - from Pakistan's three-year-old independent satellite
operator, Indus TV Network. The channels will be carried as premium services
from 15 August 2004.
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Soundtrack
Channel set for September overture
Already available in 40 countries around the world, cable and satellite service
Soundtrack Channel (STC) has partnered with London-based mobile and TV interactivity
company Amplefuture to launch a UK-customised STC channel on Sky Digital.
The new channel, scheduled to launch September 1, will be based upon STC's existing channels featuring music videos from movie and television soundtracks, as well as entertainment news, behind-the-scenes of the movie-making process and celebrity interviews. Amplefuture – whose previous interactive initiatives include the UK's first interactive TV channel to use mobile devices for chat, competitions and voting - will add mobile interactive services.
STC will originate
in the UK and feature news and information on local movie premieres, DVD releases,
what's on pay-per-view and premium movie channels. The channel will also feature
interactive components which will allow viewers to answer trivia questions
and interact with the programming via text messaging services on their mobile
phones.
"The launch of STC on Sky will mark the channel's first European distribution
deal," commented Bill Lee, CEO of STC, who added that by working with
Amplefuture, it was possible to tailor the channel to the UK. Derek Bryne,
Managing Director, Amplefuture, said that adding the interactive component
was "responding to the text messaging explosion in this country and providing
a real community for soundtrack and movie lovers."
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Rio to launch Apple's iPod rival
Apple's iPod has a new competitor on the market, the Rio Carbon. The new devise, created by the company that helped to establish MP3 players as a replacement for personal CD players six years ago, is smaller than the iPod Mini, has 20 per cent more memory and costs the same. It goes on sale at the end of the month.
The Carbon, which also has a voice-recording option, will hold about 1,250 songs in MP3 format compared with the Mini's 1,000.
The new player will work with any computer platform - Windows or Apple Mac - without the need for music transfer software such as iTunes, which iPods need. Instead, users will be able to drag songs from any computer desktop and play them instantly.
The launch of
Rio's player coincides with production problems at Apple, which have left
thousands unable to get hold of the iPod Mini since it went on sale on July
24 with great fanfare and promptly sold out in all stores.
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Viacom has agreed to acquire the rest of Internet sports news provider SportsLine.com for $1.75 a share. The offer represents a 13 per cent premium over SportsLine's Friday closing stock price of $1.55. The deal, valued at about $47 million, is expected to be completed by year-end.
SportsLine shares have risen almost 50 per cent in the month since Viacom made its original bid.
SportsLine operates
Web site CBS SportsLine.com for CBS Broadcasting, a unit of Viacom, and publishes
official sites for the NFL and PGA Tour. It also runs the largest fantasy-league
subscription business, according to Nielsen Media Research.
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The BBC and Pact have agreed on the new Terms of Trade for commissioning television programmes from independent producers, which will give independent producers the ownership and control of the programmes they create.
Andrew Zein,
Chairman of Pact and Managing Director of Tiger Aspect Productions, commented:
"The significant benefits of these new terms will be felt by producers
large and small."
The Terms of Trade agreement provides detailed business terms and complements
the principles outlined in the BBC's Code of Practice which was approved by
Ofcom earlier this year. "The Terms of Trade herald a new era in our
relationship with the independent sector," says Jana Bennett, the BBC's
Director of Television.
Independents will own all rights in the programmes they produce. The BBC will
take a licence to use programming across its portfolio of channels for a period
of five years and to exercise public service new media rights.
The BBC can extend its licence once for a period of two years and extend on
a rolling two year basis for returning series whilst it continues to re-commission
the programme.
The BBC will pay independent production companies repeat fees for uses of
programming during the licence period not covered by the initial licence fee.
Independent Producers of regional programmes transmitted on network will now
receive an enhanced payment.
Independents will control all distribution, including international rights,
format rights, commercial new media rights, videos and DVD rights and merchandising,
subject to certain protections required to protect the BBC's licence.
The BBC will be entitled to a share in net profit from the exploitation of
all rights in the programming.
The Terms of Trade agreement applies to all independent television production
deals retrospectively from 6 January 2004, for all public service channels,
regional and network (with some limited exceptions).
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Despite a three-year head start, US satellite TV providers will lose their DVR edge over cable companies by 2006, according to Internet-Based Video Services, a new white paper from research firm Parks Associates.
Although satellite companies began offering DVRs as early as 1999, they will not be able to overcome the advantages cable companies have in offering a complete bundle of fully integrated services. Parks Associates forecasts that, as a result, over one-half of all DVRs deployed by service providers in 2006 will come from the cable MSOs.
"Cable providers will increasingly dominate the DVR market," said John Barrett, director of research for Parks Associates. "Their networks have a huge advantage – they can already offer telephone services, video-on-demand, TV, and Internet access. Satellite players and telcos have to combine their capabilities to do so, which makes it much more challenging in terms of bundling, billing, marketing, and overall execution of their business strategy."
Satellite TV
providers dominate this market now because cable companies were initially
hesitant to deploy DVRs, according to Parks Associates.
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The family that controls a majority of Cox Communications offered $7.9 billion in cash to take the No 4 US cable television provider private.
In a statement, Cox Enterprises offered to buy the 38 per cent equity stake it does not already own for $32 per share, a 16 per cent premium over Cox Communications shares' Friday closing price of $27.58. Following the transaction, Cox Communications would become a wholly owned unit of Cox Enterprises, which also owns newspaper, television and radio stations.
"This is
a chance to make a substantial additional investment in an asset we know well,"
said James Kennedy, CEO of Cox Enterprises. "An increasingly competitive
environment convinces us that future investments in the cable industry are
best made through a private company structure."
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Consumer spending last year overtook advertising as the primary source of revenue for the US media industry, according to a study published by Veronis Suhler Stevenson, a media merchant bank.
Consumer spending on media last year rose 6.5 per cent to $178.4 billion, surpassing advertising, which grew by 3.2 per cent to $175.8 billion.
The report shows a willingness by US consumers to pay for information and entertainment that matches their interests rather than relying on advertising-supported media designed to appeal to a broader audience.
James Rutherfurd, executive vice-president and managing director of VSS, said: "Consumers are voting with their pocketbooks. One of the things they seem to want to do is avoid or minimise advertising."
The report says consumer spending on media accounted for 27.5 per cent of media revenues last year, ahead of advertising, speciality marketing and spending by businesses. Consumer spending has grown at a compound rate of 7.9 per cent a year since 1998, reflecting the rising cost of cable and satellite television and the growth of premium services. It also reflects the growth of the video game industry, the rise of DVDs and consumers' embrace of the internet.
By comparison, the amount of time and money people are devoting to advertising-supported media such as broadcast television, radio, magazines and newspapers has remained broadly flat in recent years.
US consumers
seem to have responded to the expanding choice by increasing overall spending
rather than switching between different media. According to VSS, US consumers
spent 2.25 per cent of their disposable income on communications last year,
almost double what they were spending 25 years ago.
By 2008, VSS predicts, the average American consumer will be spending more
than $1,000 and on more than 4,000 hours a year of media.
The recent growth,
combined with the recovery from the advertising recession, was reflected in
the results of publicly listed US media companies, which saw their adjusted
revenues rise by 9.7 per cent last year to $361.2 billion, according to VSS.
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UK's Channel 4, is planning to launch a radio station as part of efforts to diversify its income stream. The talk-based digital radio station will rival BBC's Radio 4 and is likely to be one of the first projects to emerge from a £90 million (E 130 million) investment fund for new ventures recently set up by Channel 4.
Luke Johnson, Chairman of Channel 4, told the Sunday Telegraph: "There would be the potential for cross-marketing, promoting radio on TV as the BBC has done. We may even market the station through our sales arm."
It is thought the broadcaster is in talks with UBC Media, the radio group behind the Classic Gold Digital network and owner of the only commercial national digital radio licence for a speech-based station.
The digital radio
platform has allowed a proliferation of new national stations but they are
not allowed to change formats under the terms of their original licences.
Any radio alliance between Channel 4 and UBC would be likely to sell air time
to advertisers in conjunction with Channel 4's TV air time sales operation.
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Cablevision detailed investment requirements for its Rainbow DBS and VOOM satellite TV venture in a filing sent to the Securities a and Exchange Commission, according to Sky Report.
The company said funding needs for Rainbow DBS in 2004, which reflect capital investment, operating losses and funds required to develop programming, are expected to total $482 million. The amount includes about $85 million invested in DTV Norwich, an entity that acquired licenses from the Federal Communications Commission to provide terrestrial MVDDS service.
The filing stated that $237 million is coming from Cablevision as an equity investment on or prior to the date of the upcoming spin-off of the Rainbow DBS/VOOM business. In addition, Rainbow Media Holdings has the ability to borrow up to $100 million under a credit agreement and use proceeds of those borrowings to make equity investments in Rainbow DBS. And a bank has committed to purchase $250 million of Rainbow Media Holdings senior subordinated debentures, proceeds of which can be invested in Rainbow DBS, the company said.
Cablevision said
it believes the investments will be sufficient to fund cash requirements for
Rainbow DBS during the next 12 months.
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NTT DoCoMo reported an 18 per cent fall on its operating profit to Y276.6 billion ($2.5 billion) on the first quarter, while its nearest rival KDDI's rose five per cent to Y89.6 billion.
DoCoMo, Japan's top mobile phone operator, had slightly better than expected results but profits remained hampered by the introduction of service discounts and other incentives as it continued to migrate subscribers to its FOMA third-generation service. It said FOMA subscribers had grown to five million in July from three million in March, according to a report on the FT.
KDDI's mobile division put in a strong performance, taking a 53 per cent share of net new subscribers in the first quarter with its aggressively priced services and fashionable handsets.
The KDDI group as a whole, however, was held back by weakness in its fixed-line operations, which suffered a sharp decline in voice revenues. Coupled with higher access charges paid to NTT, the dominant carrier, the fixed-line division saw a big drop in operating profit.
KDDI said it would raise its stake in Tu-Ka, its PDC mobile phone business, and make it a 100 per cent subsidiary. PDC is a second- generation technology that is only used in Japan.
Japan's telecoms
sector is expected to see further realignment after Ripplewood sold Japan
Telecom, the fixed-line operator, to Softbank, which is keen to enter the
mobile business.
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The Indian GSM network operator, Hutch has became the first telecom operator in the country to roll out EDGE coverage.
Speaking about
the introduction of EDGE in India, Harit Nagpal, Chief Marketing Officer,
said, "Mobile users in India are demanding rich, multimedia applications.
We were the first to provide multimedia services like 'live' video replays
on GPRS phones, Click & Print MMS, push2talk and Microsoft Outlook on
mobile phones. With an EDGE-enabled national network, we will be able to provide
the next generation of multimedia mobile services to our users. The EDGE-enabled
Hutch network now has the capability to provide services such as video streaming
on mobile phones."
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The site www.ipo.google.com
has gone live, where bidders can apply to get an identification number to
participate in the IPO. Earlier this week, Google estimated its stock would
sell for between $108 and $135 a share, a price that would value the firm
at as much as $36 billion.
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Starting from
a centrally held pool of digital assets, programming for each remote TV channel
is created and scheduled directly from a desktop. Content is delivered in
non-real time via satellite multicast or the Internet to remote playout servers
for onward local distribution to a targeted audience.
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Terra bought Lycos in an all-stock deal worth $12.5 billion in May 2000. The operation does not include Terra Networks USA, or Terra's stake in Lycos Europe. Terra will retain these and other financial assets that Lycos will be transferring prior to the sale while Lehman Brothers is acting as financial advisor for Terra.
In a statement
Daum said: "The buyout will provide a springboard for our company to
venture into the US Internet market and become a global player."
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Australia's telecommunications giant, Telstra, will use Scopus Network Technologies digital video transmission equipment to broadcast coverage of this summer's Olympic Games from Athens, August 13 - 29.
The Seven Network
will transmit the signals from the International Broadcast Centre in Athens
to Melbourne for broadcast to all Australian States on Channel 7. Telstra
and the Seven Network chose Comsyst, Scopus' Australian agent, to provide
system integration and around-the-clock on-site engineering staff support
during the Games.
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In the last set of results as Telewest plc the UK cableco posted a loss of £126 million (E190m) in the second quarter of the year on sales up slightly at £326 million. The losses between April and June formed the bulk of a £130 million loss recorded in the first half of the year, and compared with net income of £5 million in the second quarter of last year. The company said the losses were mainly on exchange rates and interest payments, which will be cancelled as the company emerges from restructure as Telewest Global.
Operating income
increased year on year to £20m from £3m.Telewest said it had added
72,000 broadband customers in April, May and June, making it a record quarter
for take-up of the service. At the end of June the company had 538,000 broadband
subscribers, 71per cent of whom are "triple-play" customers who
also subscribe to telephony and television services. The number of TV subscribers
rose by 2,000 in the second quarter, while telephone customers also increased
by 9,000. Telewest now has 1.29 million television subscribers, 82 per cent
of them digital.
Earlier this month Telewest completed its financial restructuring process
and last week was listed as a new company, Telewest Global, on the Nasdaq
exchange in the US. Under the restructuring, Telewest bondholders now own
98.5 per cent of the new company in exchange for cancelling nearly £4
billion of debt.
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Rupert Murdoch's right-hand man Peter Chernin has finally signed a new five year contract to stay at News Corporation, ending speculation that he may defect to Disney.
Chernin, News
Corp's president and COO, signed the new deal to replace his current agreement,
due to expire in November. The announcement will end rumours that the 53 year-old
was a front-runner to succeed Michael Eisner as chief executive of Disney.
Chernin's position as Murdoch's right-hand man pays well. It is believed the
new contact could earn him more than $20m a year, but disclosure laws in Australia
- where News Corp is based - state that companies do not have to publish details
of employee contracts.
Chernin joined News Corp in 1989 as president of entertainment at the Fox
broadcast TV network and went on to run the company's film business. He became
president and chief operating officer of News Corp in 1996, and is credited
with bringing stability and consistency to the company's financial performance.
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The cost of switching
off analogue television signals could be £1bn. The figure is quotedin
Uk trade press from an un-named source within the BBC. They said culture secretary
Tessa Jowell had been given the estimate, which included £100m for converting
analogue transmitters, while most of the remainder would need to be spent
on marketing and box subsidies. Broadcast quoted a senior government source
saying the cost of switchover depended on a number of variables. "The
costs are still in flux at the moment with many going down rather than up,"
said the un-named source.
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Apple says it
is looking closely at software firm RealNetworks' claim that it has found
a way for tunes from its online store to be played on iPods.
Real said it had created a program to mimic Apple's protection software which
allows tracks downloaded from iTunes stores to be played only on iPods. Apple
said it was "stunned" at Real's "hacker tactics".
Real has hit back by saying that consumers and not Apple should decide what
music goes on their iPod. The media software firm maintains it has not infringed
Apple's intellectual property rights.
But Apple says "We are investigating the implications of their actions
under the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) and other laws.We strongly
caution Real and their customers that when we update our iPod software from
time to time it is highly likely that Real's Harmony technology will cease
to work with current and future iPods."
Real said its engineers used publicly-available information in order to work
out how to make files compatible with Apple's digital rights management (DRM)
software, called FairPlay.
Meanwhile, the online music battle will hot up even further next month with
Microsoft poised to launch its long-awaited online music store, which promises
to be an à la carte service. It has been developed by Microsoft's internet
arm, MSN, and will directly challenge market leader, Apple's iTunes
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It is being reported new Channel 4 chief executive Andy Duncan has raised the prospect that some of the broadcaster's operations might be merged with those of his previous employer, the BBC. Duncan allegedly told senior staff that collaboration between Channel 4 and the BBC could help ensure Channel 4's survival.
Meanwhile, United Business Media, said talks between Five – in which UBM has a 35% stake – and Channel 4 over a possible merger were continuing. "Both the teams at Channel 4 and Five share the view that the combination would be very attractive in terms of what we can offer our viewers and advertisers," said Lord Hollick, CEO. "The merger would be their preferred option, but that's just one of the many options we are looking at.
It seems the
momentum behind C4 losing its independence is becoming unstoppable, particularly
if the new CEO chooses merger with his old employer as the topic for his first
conversation with senior staff.
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A new Freeview
STB from Fusion includes a PVR type playback facility. The FRT 101 can receive
30 TV channels and 20 radio stations and can give a 30 sec instant playback.
The Digifusion FRT101 includes seven day onscreen TV listings for the week
ahead through the Multi Guide. This graphical user interface is unique to
Fusion's products, creating quick and easy navigation through weekly electronic
TV programme listings and synopses.
The unique 'Rewind TV' feature enables users to re-watch the last 30 seconds
of the programme the box has been tuned to. The receiver has twin scarts on
the rear panel creating easy connections to TV and VCR, as well as twin phono
sockets allowing high quality audio to be fed to a home cinema system. Being
DVB-T compliant, the FRT101 receiver meets digital broadcasting standards.
Barry Rubery,
CEO of Fusion Digital Technology commented, "Providing products with
unique features such as 'Rewind TV' further enhances the viewing experience,
especially for sporting events such as the Olympics, clearly differentiating
us from the competition. By keeping this set top box at the same entry level
price, it will be the obvious choice for consumers wanting Freeview channels."
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