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NEWS Monday December 6th to Friday December 10th 2004
Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
| Tuesday | |||||
US President Bush has signed into law a $388 billion (E292 billion) appropriations package which includes provisions regarding satellite reception. The new law, the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act (SHVERA) of 2004, gives the satellite TV industry 18 months to phase out a two-dish solution for reception of a certain set of local services, an item that targets EchoStar and its use of two dishes for receiving a select set of local TV channels for a number of markets.
The act also includes a provision allowing satellite TV to deliver "significantly viewed" stations to consumers who live outside the station's home market. In addition, the new provisions extend for five years the compulsory license that allows DBS services to provide super-stations and distant network signals.
SHVERA also allows
for the creation of a "digital white area," which will allow satellite
TV companies to deliver distant broadcast digital and high-definition signals
to consumers who cannot receive a local digital TV signal.
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European Union
countries currently make up the largest regional DSL population worldwide,
adding more than 9.25 million subscribers in the first three quarters of this
year, to reach 26.5 million, according to figures produced for the DSL Forum
by industry
analyst Point Topic. The EU's subscriber additions represent a growth of 53.5
per cent, and its total accounts for 31.1 per cent of total DSL subscribers
globally.
According to the Forum, more than half a million people each week are choosing DSL around the world. Globally, DSL added another 24 million subscribers in the first nine months of 2004. There are now 85.3 million subscribers - a growth of more than 39 per cent so far in 2004.
Announcing the
figures at the DSL Forum's year-end meeting, its president, Tom Starr, forecast
that DSL subscribers will have passed the 100 million subscriber milestone,
describing the figure as “a major landmark on the way to a global mass
market for this world-leading broadband technology. That will mean 10 per
cent of the world's
phone lines are delivering the very real benefits of the digital society to
people in every region."
In North America, the only region where DSL does not yet dominate the broadband market, it gained almost 3.5 million new subscribers to achieve 15.1 million by the end of September 2004. The USA added 3.2 million to reach a total of 12.6 million DSL-enabled phone lines.
The EU's position as the number one DSL region is reflected in substantial increases in both subscriber numbers and market penetration, with 11 countries in the top 20. The Netherlands achieved 15.52 per cent penetration of phone lines, France 15.45 per cent and Italy 13.41 per cent, with the UK, at 9.49 per cent, moving into the top 20 for the first time. South Korea tops the global rankings with 28.88 per cent.
Commenting on
the figures, Tim Johnson of Point Topic observed that it showed a classic
pattern for the early stages of a dynamic market. “We can now see growth
rates levelling off as leading countries like South Korea, Taiwan and Hong
Kong approach 30 per cent market penetration. But there's another cycle of
growth still to come. We'll see new broadband applications beginning to take
hold, like voice and video that will drive the next cycle and then, in a year
or two, broadband will be going into homes that have no interest in owning
PCs or surfing the Internet."
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International entertainment broadcaster Modern Times Group has submitted what it described as “an indicative offer” for Denmark's largest commercial television broadcaster, TV2/Danmark.
The bid was submitted earlier prior to the official deadline for the current tender process, which is being conducted by the Danish Ministry of Culture. MTG has not submitted the bid as part of a consortium but remains open to the potential inclusion of other partners in its offer.
MTG faces stiff competition from the Nordic region's top media as they seek to expand in the Danish market. Fellow Swedish commercial broadcasters TV4 also entered the race, having announced in November that it had joined forces with Danish publishing house Berlingske Officin, part of Norway's Orkla, in planning a bid for the Denmark's TV2.
Reports suggest that eight Nordic and international bidders have entered the race. The Danish government plans to sell between 51 per cent and 66 per cent of the state-owned channel, one of Denmark's two public broadcasters, which is financed by public funding, licence fees and advertising.
"I'm pleased
to see the high level of interest in the majority shareholding in TV2. Following
a thorough analysis of the incoming bids, negotiations will begin after the
New Year with the most qualified buyers, with a view to a final sale sometime
next spring," commented Culture Minister Brian Mikkelsen.
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Spain's Socialist
Administration has increased the number of local DTT channels that will operate
throughout the country from 2006, in accordance with the law, in response
to demands made by several Regional Governments asking for more local TV stations.
The Government has changed, by Royal Decree, the Local DTT Technical Plan,
which had been approved by the previous Conservative Administration two days
before the elections, drawing a new local DTT picture.
Spain will now be divided into 281 four 4 channels, totalling 1124 TV stations
(against the initially planned (1064).
In addition, the Government has postponed the local analogue switch-over until
January 2008. Local DTT stations are obliged to start digital transmissions
in 2006. Regional Authorities, responsible for inviting public tenders for
the licences, must complete the awarding process by August 2005.
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US digital satellite platform DirecTV and fellow News Corp subsidiary NDS have scored another victory in the battle against the piracy of pay-TV services. Martin Mullen, also known as Martin P Stewart, was sentenced by the US District Court in Florida to seven years in prison and ordered to pay DirecTV and a subsidiary of smart card provider NDS $24 million in restitution.
Mullen admitted
to involvement in a scheme involving more than 100 sub-dealers and the distribution
of thousands of illegal smart cards in Canada and the United States. According
to evidence presented in court, Mullen had been manufacturing and distributing
satellite TV hacking technology since the 1980s, first attacking C-Band technology
and then hacking DirecTV access cards in the 1990s and through 2001, DirecTV
said.
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Walt Disney president and chief operating officer Robert Iger has suggested that the company may allow cable MSO Comcast to place certain Disney content on the cabler's free video-on-demand service as part of a wider programming deal.
Comcast contends that it would only pay for new VOD content, and not repurposed programming that it already pays for, with Disney suggesting that it would want to be paid for all of its content, no matter the format. Iger's comments to investors at the Credit Suisse First Boston Media and Telecom Week conference may be a sign that a compromise could be reached.
“We are
engaged in discussions with Comcast about the distribution of all of our services,”
said Iger. “As part of that discussion, Comcast has expressed a great
interest in content for their video-on-demand platform. It's likely that if
we do a deal, it will include some video-on-demand component. How much has
yet to be determined.”
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DirectTV Vice Chairman Eddy Hartenstein, whose retirement at the end of the year was announced last week, is to receive $12 million under an agreement with the company.
In an SEC filing, the satellite platform said that amount will settle his rights to an annual bonus for 2004, severance, reimbursement of outplacement and payments for long-term achievement plan awards and restricted stock units awarded under the company's stock incentive plans.
Hartenstein was
chairman and chief executive of DirecTV until its takeover by News Corp a
year ago.
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Irish service provider Magnet Networks is to launch Ireland's first IPTV deployment using solutions from broadband video-on-demand specialist BitBand and middleware applications developer Orca Interactive. Magnet's triple play services will be delivered through a single fibre-optic cable to homes in Dublin, will offer subscribers telephony services, broadband Internet access, multi-channel TV and VOD, with additional new services to be introduced in early 2005.
Magnet Networks - owned by US investment company Columbia Ventures Corporation, and supported by Nordic total broadband solutions provider Industria - is initially investing some E5 million in bringing the services to new home owners in the Dublin area. The company has suggested that this amount could triple based on interest demonstrated by the Irish market in the first deployment.
Ervin Leibovici, BitBand CEO, said the VOD offering was designed to support Magnet Networks' “dynamic business model and growth scenarios, thus supplying a comprehensive entertainment paradigm to Irish subscribers.”
“In order to provide the best digital living experience to our subscribers in Ireland, we have built a flexible IPTV solution that will allow us to rapidly introduce new entertainment packages and maximise customer satisfaction,” said Ingvar Gardarsson, CEO of Magnet Networks.
Orca Interactive
will provide the video server, encoder and content protection for the deployment.
“Orca looks forward to being a part of this deployment in Ireland and
others around the globe,” said Alon Laor, VP Sales of Orca Interactive.
“Broadband has become necessary for the global company and fibber is
the emerging choice for its last mile architecture. Ireland is one of the
countries that is a true early adopter of these technologies and is creating
a model for other installations.”
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Jean-René Fourtou, the president of Vivendi Universal, is to give up his operational functions from next April, after two years of clearing up the work of his predecessor, Jean-Marie Messier.
If the shareholders' general meeting, planned for 28 April, approves the new structure of the group, the operational head will be the group's current number two, Jean-Bernard Lévy. Fourtou, the former CEO of chemical industries group Rhone-Poulenc, replaced Messier in July 2002 in a high profile appointment as a man capable of reassuring the financial circles.
Under his leadership,
Vivendi Universal announced net consolidated profits of E776 million in November
for the third quarter of 2004, compared to E131 million the same period the
previous year.
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Atlas Interactive (India) has awarded a US$22.5 million deal to ZTE Corporation (China) to supply broadband equipment worth for the National Capital Region (NCR) of New Delhi.
Atlas Interactive, a subsidiary of Atlas Group of Companies, and state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) had earlier announced a US$200 million initiative to use IP technology to deliver entertainment and information services over existing copper networks and through televisions in India. The project will be initially rolled out in Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Noida. New Delhi was also part of the initial plan, but now the roll-out will only take place in the NCR area in the first phase.
BSNL and Atlas have dubbed the project ‘netTV'. ZTE's equipment will allow the Indian unit of the Atlas group to deliver video-on-demand, broadcast TV, music and data access at speeds of more than 256 Kbps.
The two companies,
which have entered into a 15-year revenue sharing deal, will partner to deploy
TV over IP, time-shifted TV, interactive TV, video-on-demand, videoconferencing,
broadband, and a range of commercial and information support services to be
developed in collaboration with the private and public sectors. netTV will
use set-top boxes linked to televisions and phone lines to deliver high quality
television services in addition to music, broadband access, SMS, email, web
and Intranet access and data - all at broadband speeds of up to 3 Mbps.
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Finnish broadband specialist Teleste is to provide a comprehensive end-to-end cable access network solution to cable operator in ShuoZhou, China. In a E1 million-plus deal, Teleste will upgrade the existing network for providing interactive broadband data services and for launching digital TV applications. Delivery will take place during the first quarter of 2005.
In addition Teleste
and designated contractor Ekpac have agreed to continue the co-operation in
creating financial opportunities into China market in the field of cable and
video surveillance network projects.
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According to The Guardian, American owners in both companies have said they expect negotiations to begin in earnest to as soon as Telewest completes its £1.7 billion (E2.4bn) refinancing and NTL closes the £1.2 billion sale of its transmitter business.
Senior executives at both companies were gathered for the investor conference organised by UBS in New York this week. Officially they stonewalled merger questions with Simon Duffy, the chief executive of NTL, making no comment. But behind the scenes investors were, apparently, confident the merger was – finally - inevitable. The key will be the largest investing hedge fund controlled by Bill Huff; it owns 18 per cent of Telewest and 9 per cent ofNTL.
Analysts say
that with little overlap between them, the operators should not have a big
problem satisfying UK regulators. A merger would create a group that could
more effectively compete against BSkyB, the pay-television market leader,
and the growing threat from Freeview.
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It seems if John Malone ever did want to take a tilt at News Corp, he's changed his mind and is in talks to explore unwinding its position, a Liberty executive says. "There have been some conversations," Robert Bennett, CEO of Liberty told investors at the UBS Media conference. A News Corp spokesman declined to comment.
In November Liberty Media said it planned to raise its voting stake in News Corp to 17 percent from 9 percent, but it said it had no intentions of launching a takeover battle and has publicly endorsed the Murdoch management approach. But Rupert Murdoch was taking no chances and within days invented a poison pill measure that makes a hostile takeover prohibitively costly.
Analysts say
it now seems Liberty may be persuaded to reduce its holding again in return
for cash and a business or two. Liberty has made similar transactions before,
in July it swapped its 10 percent stake in E! Entertainment Television, its
ownership of the International Channel Networks and $545 million in cash for
4 percent of Liberty stock owned by Comcast.
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New DG Mark Thompson's announcement of nearly 3,000 job losses and a major move to Manchester, all in aid of more money for programmes, has received a mixed reaction.
Thompson said the over all aim is to save £320m (E463m) a year that will be put into the schedules. While many commended the move as shifting the argument over the value of the BBC forward, others were unimpressed with the lack of detail.
Critics claim the major announcement was notable for what it didn't say. There will be no wholesale move out of commercial activities, just vague pledges on more partnerships and more awareness of when the BBC was damaging a free market rather than compensating for it. No figures were put on the cost of the Manchester move or what benefits it will really deliver.
Most significantly the Governors, chaired by Michael Grade, raised only two cheers, commenting that they would need to see the details and the figures before deciding whether to give their approval.
The big announcement
overshadowed news of a new global children's channel to cash in on the success
of the likes of Teletubbies. The channel could be set up in partnership with
another company. BBC chief operating officer John Smith said: “We think
the brand will sell.”
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Vivendi Universal and its former chief executive Jean-Marie Messier have each been fined E1m by French regulators. The fines follow a 15-month probe into whether the group misled investors after a costly acquisition programme went wrong.
Market watchdog
the AMF decided Messier had "deceived the public". The AMF cleared
former Vivendi finance director Guillaume Hannezo of any wrongdoing. Messier
immediately said he would appeal. Vivendi said that it was reviewing its options
and that it took issue with some details of the 24-page finding.
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Digital satellite pay TV platforms continue to grow in many areas of the world, and are expected to enjoy higher profitability over the next several years, according to In-Stat/MDR However, growth in some mature regional markets is slowing or stagnating, the high-tech research firm says.
"We expect 40 million worldwide DTH pay-TV subscribers to be added through 2008 as compared to the 61 million digital DTH pay-TV subscribers that were active at the end of 2003," said In-Stat/MDR analyst Michelle Abraham. "In addition to an increasing subscriber base, the industry's profits are on the rise due to reductions in equipment costs, increases in package pricing, and new revenues from new services and features."
A recent In-Stat/MDR
report also found: Worldwide subscription revenues are projected to grow to
$70 billion in 2008. In Europe, Italy has been a growing market in 2004, but
subscriber growth in most other countries has been slow. One of the fastest
growing countries will be Japan due to the conversion of a large number of
analog satellite subscribers to the digital broadcast satellite service. India
is also expected to experience fast growth as the country's first satellite
pay-TV service was launched in 2003 and a second one is expected in 2005.
(http://www.instat.com)
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Granada Sky
Broadcasting has released 23 staff following ITV's takeover. It is believed
that with the launch of ITV2 and ITV3 the former JV is likely to be closed.
The future of the remaining 29 employees remains uncertain, says trade paper
Broadcast.
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Digital agencies don't enjoy a strong a relationship with clients as their above-the-line counterparts, according to Agency Assessments International's advertisers and agencies survey.
A report in newmediazero
says the survey revealed that just 24 per cent of advertisers have a formal
contract with their digital agency. This compares to 81 per cent for creative
agencies and 81 per cent for media buying agencies. An even lower proportion,
14 per cent, of companies formally evaluate the performance of their relationship
with digital agencies, as opposed to 86 per cent for media buying agencies,
76 per cent for creatives and 57 per cent for media planning.
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Media and entertainment conglomerate Zee Telefilms Limited has announced the appointment of Pradeep Guha as its chief executive officer. Guha, who moves from The Times Group, is slated to join Zee from mid-January. Guha was previously the president of the Times Group, the media company with which he has been associated for three decades.
Subhash Chandra,
chairman, Zee Telefilms Limited said, “Our numerous channels spanning
several languages and genres will be the perfect foil to his skills as a media
and entertainment expert.”
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Skylogic, the broadband affiliate of Eutelsat and the Chinese telecommunications operator ChinaSatcom signed a partnership agreement for two-way satellite communications between China and Italy for businesses, government agencies and other users in both countries.
More than one
thousand Italian businesses with offices, joint ventures and production units
in China, as well as Chinese companies operating in Europe, will benefit from
this new satellite partnership. The agreement will be implemented immediately
after receiving the relevant approvals of the Chinese and Italian authorities.
It is scheduled to begin in January 2005 with a period of training for ChinaSatcom
engineers at Skylogic's teleport in Turin.
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Jetix Europe (formerly Fox Kids), announced its financial results for the year ended September 30, 2004. Revenues (adjusted to include our share of non-consolidated joint ventures) increased by 12 per cent to $170.7 million and net income increased by 52 per cent to $5.8 million. After adjusting for the non-recurring costs of relocating our UK and French operations, net income increased by 255 per cent to $13.6 million.
Subscribers increased
by 3.5 million to 38.3 million households in 58 countries. Consistent with
prior years, EBITDA is stated before programme amortisation, impairment and
depreciation.
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America's two satellite radio services have announced deals with Toyota. Sirius said the automaker will offer its service as both a post production and dealer installed option in nine models beginning in February 2005.
Toyota joins the ranks of other automotive partners offering Sirius including Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Dodge, Ford, Infiniti, Jeep, Lincoln-Mercury, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, MINI, Nissan, Porsche and Volkswagen.
The other satellite
radio player, XM Satellite Radio said Toyota has selected the company for
satellite delivered data services. In addition, XM said Toyota will offer
its radios as a factory-installed option in Toyota and Lexus vehicles. The
first vehicles factory-installed with XM radios will be available in 2006.
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Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer James A. (Jim) Chiddix announced today the appointment
of widely respected cable industry veteran Tim Evard to the newly created
position of senior vice president and general manager, marketing and applications
products. Evard will lead OpenTV's applications business and oversee all marketing
efforts for the company. Evard most recently served as president and chief
executive officer for Broadband iTV (BBiTV), an interactive television company.
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BBC
unveils transformation plans
From
Colin Mann in London
Mark Thompson, the BBC's Director-General, has outlined a new vision for programmes and content focused on 'excellence', plus radical plans for funding and transforming the BBC into a simpler, more agile and creative digital broadcaster.
Thompson confirmed
to staff that an initial 2,900 jobs could be lost and extra resource to invest
in programmes would also be released through new ways of working, productivity
gains, new technology and efficiencies, as well as overhead cuts. The target
is an annual £320 million (E463 million) savings within three years,
all of which will be redirected into programme making.
Following a review of the BBC’s commercial activities, Thompson said
that it was “not essential that all businesses are fully-owned by the
BBC. We will actively start to explore options, including those of partnering,
joint venturing or sale with the management teams of BBC Broadcast and BBC
Resources, and with the market." He confirmed that the BBC would be inviting
bids for BBC Broadcast in the New Year.
Despite strong
rumours suggesting that BBC Worldwide could be subject to a sale, Thompson
said that the BBC should be the long-term owner of Worldwide's TV channels
business, and that there were opportunities for growth in global channels
and sales with other UK broadcasters. He also wants to keep magazines. But
it was recognised that Worldwide's books, learning and other businesses lack
scale so JVs, partnering or sale would be considered. BBC Worldwide would
have the challenge of doubling profits over the next 24 months.
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During what has
been dubbed '31 Days of Great TV', viewers will be able to sample programs
as they choose. The four weekends will see all participating channels programmed
according to themes: Exclusive (marquee programming); Family Time; Adrenalin
(action) and I.Q. (thought-provoking). Viewers must have a digital set top
box to enjoy the programming event.
Digital channels participating are from: Alliance Atlantis Communications,
Astral Media, CanWest MediaWorks, CBC, CHUM Television, Corus Entertainment,
Craig Media, CTV Inc., Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, Rogers Media,
Stornoway Communications and Channel Zero.
Participating carriers include DTH distributors Bell ExpressVu and Star Choice
along with cable companies Cogeco, Rogers, Shaw, Videotron and many other
television service providers.
Canada's digital channels' average audience had a 14% increase in the 2003-04
season over the previous year.
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US: $8.8bn spent on line in November
Online consumers
in the United States spent $8.8 billion, excluding travel purchases, in November,
a 19 percent jump over the $7.4 billion spent online a year earlier, a report
released on Monday said.
The report, sponsored by Goldman Sachs & Co., Harris Interactive and Nielsen//NetRatings
and based on weekly surveys of more than 1,000 respondents, showed adult consumers
spent the most on apparel, totaling $1.5 billion in November 2004. The toys/video
games category, including hardware and software, came in second at $1 billion,
while the video/DVD category followed at $882 million, the report showed.
Books and music sold $621 million and $481 million, respectively.
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ASA steps in on shopping channels
The UK advertising
watchdog is to crack down on home shopping channels exaggerating their price
cuts in the wake of the collapse of Auctionworld. The Advertising Standards
Authority is to establish new rules banning channels from displaying a recommended
retail price for a product if it is the only outlet selling the product.
The rules will oblige home shopping channels to provide proof of claims that
a rival is selling a product at a more expensive price. Operators will also
have to state that any previous price can only be shown if it has been used
for 28 days in the past six months. "Clearer pricing guides will lead
to fewer disappointed customers, which is good for the both the industry and
consumers," said Andrew Brown of ASA.
Auctionworld went bust with debts of £14m (E20m) after Ofcom imposed
a £450,000 fine for repeated breaches of the television standards advertising
code.
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Time Warner chief Richard Parsons said at the UBS Media Week conference said he’d ‘be sick’ if he heard once more how the phone companies were ‘coming to get’ TW’s cable business. He said plenty of others talked about high quality video services and triple play, but they were only people providing them.
Deutsche Bank’s Doug Mitchelson agreed, up to a point. He forecast by 2010 phone companies would have grabbed 7.5m homes or 24% of homes able to receive such services, a pay TV market share of 7.3%.
Meanwhile Parsons
heavily backed the new HD-DVD standard mainly as an anti-piracy tool as it
will make downloads much longer. Nonetheless, he said TW would press ahead
with plans for paid downloads of its own.
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Orange has launched its 3G services in the UK with the aim of attracting between 1.5m and 2m customers by the end of 2006. The France Telecom-owned network claims 70% coverage of the UK population – more than rival Vodafone’s – and is also “integrated” with the existing 2G network, meaning no loss of signal if users travel outside of a 3G area while making a voice call.
The services will cost from £30 (E43) a month for contract customers who sign up before the end of January, with pay-as-you-go services to launch next year to nothing depending on the package
In France the
service launches on December 9 as Orange Intense, the first commercial 3G
service. Customers who sign up for the service before January 19, 2005 will
be able to make video calls at the same rates as voice calls.
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UK regulator
Ofcom has been received 192 applications for five-year licences to run community
radio stations. The watchdog’s chief executive Stephen Carter said the
response showed “a considerable enthusiasm for community radio”.
Ofcom will now look more closely at applications in areas where there has
been only one bid or where there is sufficient capacity to cater for all bids.
It will then sift through applications in the areas where it is likely to
have to choose between bids. There is no limit to the number of licences up
for grabs, nor guidelines on where they must be allocated. Applications will
be considered on the basis of potential benefit to the local community, and
potential threat to commercial stations.
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HNS JV completed
The DirecTV Group and Apollo Management affiliate SkyTerra Communications
announced completeion of their JV in which SkyTerra will acquire 50 percent
of a new entity that will contain the assets of Hughes Network Systems, with
DirecTV keeping the other 50 percent.
The transaction values HNS at about $360 million, the companies said. HNS
is a wholly owned subsidiary of The DirecTV Group, but has seen some of its
assets sold off by its parent, including its set-top box business to Thomson.
All HNS assets and liabilities will be contributed to a new company and, upon
closing, 50 percent of the ownership of the new company will be purchased
by SkyTerra. The DirecTV Group will receive about $251 million in cash, and
300,000 shares of SkyTerra common stock, and will retain a 50 percent interest
in the new company. SkyTerra will acquire its interest in the new company
for $50 million in cash and the 300,000 shares of its common stock.
The transaction does not include rights to the first two satellites designed
for the Spaceway program, Spaceway 1 and 2, which have been redeployed to
support DirecTV and are scheduled for launch next year. However, the transaction
does include rights related to a third Spaceway satellite under construction.
as well as rights to a planned fourth Spaceway satellite.
"This transaction provides the best alternative for The DIRECTV Group
to realize value for these assets while permitting us and our shareholders
to participate in the potential increase in value of the joint venture with
SkyTerra and Apollo," said Chase Carey, president and CEO of The DIRECTV
Group.
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Irdeto protects mobile TV in China
Irdeto Access,
announced that the conditional access solution Irdeto M-Crypt has been selected
by Guangdong Radio & Television New Technology Development to protect
TV programs broadcast to cars equipped with video receiving devices in the
province of Guangdong. Guangdong Radio & Television New Technology Development
will launch a DVB-T platform that transmits TV programs to automobiles with
Digital Multimedia
Broadcasting (DMB) terminals installed. The initial trial will take place
with approximately 1,000 cars and may be expanded to a commercial deployment
with a potential of 3 million automobiles. The network will cover the Pearl
River Delta surrounding Guangzhou, the capital city of the province of
Guangdong. In 2005 the network will be extended to cover the whole province.
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Vodafone has
launched its first iTV ad campaign, to promote the launch of Vodafone Live!
3G 'With 3G there's just so much more there and iTV allows customers to understand
the service more,' said a Vodafone spokesman.
When viewers press red, they're taken through to a range of pages that explain,
with video, what services are available on Vodafone Live! 3G, including full
track music downloads.
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Channel 4 is
planning to launch a new broadband TV channel next spring dedicated to documentaries
that will only be available over the Internet. CEO Andy Duncan said it planned
to launch the channel to demonstrate that the Internet was becoming an increasingly
important channel for public service broadcasting. He said the broadcaster
would double the amount it spends on "public service" Internet sites,
currently in the "low millions", next year and would continue to
increase its online spend in the coming years.
"We've got a broadband documentary channel launching next spring, featuring
archive documentaries and original commissions," Duncan said. C4 has
yet to decide whether the broadband-only channel would be available free of
charge or for a small subscription fee. Channel 4 has already announced the
launch of More 4, a new free-to-air digital channel featuring new and archive
factual programmes and documentaries.
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Intelsat
regains control of 07 satellite
Intelsat says it is pursuing a recovery mission of the Intelsat Americas 7
satellite, which experienced a sudden and unusual electrical distribution
anomaly on November 28. “Contact and control of the satellite has been
regained. Service restoration is underway,” commented the organisation.
The recovery
could be particularly important as its failure jeopardised the sale of Intelsat
to a private equity consortium. “We are keeping Zeus Holdings Limited,
Intelsat's prospective acquirer, fully apprised of developments as they occur
with respect to the IA-7 satellite and we understand Zeus is continuing its
evaluation of the Situation,” said Intelsat.
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BT
in 3G?
BT is set to enter a second multi-billion-pound auction of 3G licences. BT
says it is “very interested” in the new slice of spectrum that is
about to be freed up and auctioned off by Ofcom. The group is looking to so-called
“new wave” services to offset the decline in revenue from its traditional
fixed-line business. The loss of revenues has been caused by a surge in mobile
use and an increasing number of competitors. The other attraction of the 2.5
gigahertz spectrum is that it could enable it to provide broadband services
to parts of the country it is at present unable to reach. Ofcom has yet to
announce who will be allowed access to the spectrum, or how it will be sold
off. Details are expected in a consultation paper released within the next
few weeks.
But the mobile operators are already lining up to bid for the spectrum —
which would help them to extend their 3G services — with mmO2 and Virgin
Mobile both expressing an interest. Having paid so much for their licences
in 2000, they will be likely to fight off any moves by other companies —
including BT — to snap up the extra capacity.
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There will be
more than 1.2m Digital Audio t The Digital Radio Development Bureau. It also
forecasts more than 28 per cent of British homes will have DAB by 2008, compared
to 4 per cent by the end of this year.
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Pan-European triple-play operator UnitedGlobalCom has completed a partial refinancing of its European bank deal, with a new E537 million seven year institutional tranche, increasing the Company's average debt maturity, increasing available liquidity and reducing the average interest margin.
Mike Fries, President
and Chief Executive Officer of UGC, said that the partial refinancing of its
European debt facilities demonstrated UGC's success in broadening investor
appetite for UGC debt securities. “We are particularly pleased to be
able to improve the terms of Facility F at advantageous swapped equivalent
pricing and at the same time increase the overall size of this financing due
to over subscription.”
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NDS Group has licensed Expway's Binary XML solution, BinXML. NDS plans to integrate and deploy BinXML(tm) into its range of head-end systems and receiver middleware solutions.
The integration
of BinXML into NDS headend and set-top box middleware will enable data to
be compressed, offering broadcasters and operators the opportunity to deliver
faster, richer and more bandwidth efficient applications. Data intensive applications,
such as the Electronic Program Guide (EPG), will, with the integration of
BinXML, be able to support the delivery of enhanced information to the customer
using less bandwidth, potentially reducing costs for broadcasters and operators.
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TV interface software specialist ANT's Fresco browser is to used by Pace Micro Technology in its latest high-specification DB220S Internet protocol TV (IPTV) set-top box. The DB220S has been chosen by SaskTel, a full-service communications company in Canada. The SaskTel IPTV offering is the largest deployment of TV over ADSL broadband in North America.
SaskTel began its first deployment of video-on-demand (VoD) and interactive TV services in October 2003 and has rolled-out services to a customer base of approximately 225,000 homes passed. "IPTV services have proved very popular with our residential customers," noted Mike Anderson, SaskTel Vice President of Marketing.
"IPTV is
now considered a mainstream rather than niche technology with more companies
working to provide broadcast TV and VoD services over DSL networks,"
commented Paul Jensen, VP Sales for The Americas, ANT Limited.
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StarHub, the Singapore-based telecommunication and digital cable TV company, has formed a partnership with Media Development Authority (MDA) of Singapore for 'The Digital TV (DTV) Applications Initiative'. The move will serve as a digital cable platform for local companies to deploy applications, developed to support interactive services such as games, advertising and enhanced information for TV shows on digital cable TV.
The venture
is the latest of the MDA's efforts to introduce and develop new technologies
to support the growth of the Singapore media industry. Under the programme,
companies can seek funding support from the MDA through its Digital Technology
Development Scheme. At the same time, StarHub will assess the technical and
commercial viability of the applications to run on StarHub CableTV's digital
platform. According to StarHub - which has introduced its digital cable services
in May this year - successful applicants will enjoy the assurance of a confirmed
customer-platform for their final product right from the very start of its
development.
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Decode
cracks interactive challenge
Children's and family entertainment specialist Decode Entertainment is breaking
new ground in content for handheld platforms, interactive television, PC and
web. Decode is producing an interactive television extension of its family
factual show Be The Creature in conjunction with The Kratt Brothers and TeleQuebec.
The interactive enhancement functions on the illicos set top box system and
provides users with the ability to read through the Kratt Brothers' journals,
play trivia games and access additional images related to the broadcast of
the show.
This interactive television application is one component of a large multimedia
offering for Be The Creature developed by Decode Interactive that includes
a web project, an extensive education resource and an immersive role playing
game for PC. The web content has been developed with assistance of The National
Geographic Channel (US), TeleQuebec and CBC. Dan Fill, VP Interactive at Decode
Entertainment said that the company had “a very exciting slate of interactive
projects for this year. We are expanding into new and emerging entertainment
platforms such as handheld gaming and application development. This original
development illustrates once again a solid commitment to offering broadcasters
multi-platform licensing and partnership opportunities.”
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Triple-play platform provider BigBand Networks has been selected by Netherlands cable operator Casema for an end-to-end digital cable infrastructure deployment. This multi-vendor solution is led by BigBand Networks' European professional services organisation, and is based on the company's digital video platforms.
The deployment links 13 regional headends in the southwestern and central parts of The Netherlands to a primary headend in The Hague. Programming is sourced on the BigBand BMR® (Broadband Multimedia-Service Router) which controls channel line-ups, video quality and bandwidth efficiency. It enables Casema to directly provide more than one million out of its 1.3 million analogue cable subscribers with digital television services at the highest levels of reliability, quality and cost effectiveness
Sam Kershaw,
BigBand Networks director EMEA, suggested that Casema was establishing itself
as a forward-thinking operator with the deployment that optimised network
and resource efficiencies today, and provided flexibility for further introductions
of advanced multimedia services. “BigBand Networks' integrated turn-key
solutions, featuring our multi-service platforms, position us to partner with
leading European operators such as Casema as they expand their digital offerings
to subscribers.”
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Semiconductor solutions provider Broadcom has introduced an advanced video decoder/audio processor chip that supports H.264 advanced video compression technology, which significantly reduces the bandwidth required to deliver high definition (HD) and digital video content over service operator networks and to store HD media on conventional DVDs and system hard disks.
Daniel Marotta,
Group Vice President of Broadcom's Broadband Communications Group, said that
the new BCM7411 chip "opened the door for new market opportunities that
have been crippled by the lack of bandwidth necessary to support them over
existing network infrastructures."
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Sogecable
subs losses and reduced forecasts
From David Del Valle in Madrid
The stagnant pay-TV market in Spain is making it difficult for pay-TV giant Sogecable, owner of digital DTH platform Digital Plus and terrestrial pay-TV channel Canal Plus, to balance its books.
Capturing subscribers has become expensive and keeping them on board is also proving difficult. As of September 30, the pay-TV group counted 2,084,000 subscribers, down 328,000 in comparison with the same period last year. Digital Plus, with 1,605,000 clients, has lost 210,000 against September 03 (many of them, according to the company, are due to the migration from Via Digital to Digital Plus), and a further 33,000 over the last three months.
The decline in subscriptions has forced the company to adjust its growth forecasts downwards. Digital Plus now expects to reach 2.5 million subscribers in 2008, with a penetration rate of 16 per cent. Initially, the platform had estimated that it would reach between 2.3 and 2.4 million clients in 2005 and between 2.7 and 2.8 million in 2008.
Sogecable now
expects that in 2008 the EBITDA will represent 32 to 34 per cent of its revenues
against its initial forecast of 34 to 38 per cent. The group, however, hopes
that the ARPU will be E 48 to E 50 in 2008 against its initial forecast of
E 45 to E 47.5.
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European HDTV pioneer Euro1080 is to launch a second service, HD-2, in June 2005, with the emphasis on pay-per-event. Gabriel Fehervari, General Manager of Euro1080 also revealed that the operator would be using MPEG-4 encoding from that time.
Speaking at the Sony ‘High Definition – The Vision for Europe’ Forum in London, Fehervari also admitted that Euro1080 may, in the future, work more closely with other platforms. “If you can’t beat them, join them,” was his appraisal of the situation.
In addition to
Euro1080’s involvement with SES-Astra, Fehervari confirmed that he had
secured distribution deals on alternative satellites such as Sirius, Hellas
Sat and Turksat, as well as some 20 cable networks.
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Video Networks Ltd. (VNL) announced the launch of its broadband and digital TV entertainment service, HomeChoice, to more than 33,000 additional homes in Stevenage from 8th December 2004.
HomeChoice is currently available to more than 1.25 million homes in London but Video Network’s latest round of network expansion will allow the company to deliver the service beyond London for the very first time. The launch marks the latest phase of VNL’s continued growth, which also includes plans to cover a further 1.2m homes in London by mid-2005.
Roger Lynch, Chairman & CEO of Video Networks Ltd. said: “Video Network’s latest step demonstrates our continued commitment to delivering our service across London and beyond. We are delighted to be able to introduce Stevenage to the most advanced and best value home entertainment and communications service on the market.”
HomeChoice engineers
have installed local loop unbundling equipment in the Stevenage telephone
exchange using DSLAMs supplied by Alcatel.
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BskyB has topped
a poll of the most admired media companies, beating WPP Group into second
place.
BSkyB won the vote in a poll of media industry peers, part of the Management
Today Most Admired Company Awards.
The company, which has seen pre-tax profits rise by £480m (E695m) over
the 2003/04 period, was also voted as having the most admired marketing, a
fact that will cheer CEO James Murdoch, who is under pressure to increase
subscriber numbers to 10m subscribers by 2010.
It was not all good news for the satellite broadcaster, which saw its position
in the overall ranking slip from eighth place last year to 22nd this year,
meaning that no media company made the top 20.
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BT has reached
agreement to buy the remaining 74% of Italian telecoms company Albacom that
it does not already own, in a deal worth at least £80m. Albacom is the
second largest telecoms operator in the Italian business market, behind Telecom
Italia, and reported ebitda of E39m from revenues of E655m.
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The world's largest
record company Universal Music is reportedly planning to launch a 24-hour
music channel to take on MTV and showcase its roster of artists including
Eminem, U2 and Lloyd Cole. If given the green light, the channel will initially
be launched in the US with EchoStar whose Dish network reaches 10.5m subscribers.
The channel would be timed to debut in the first or second quarter of 2005
and would allow Universal to draw on a massive array of artists, who also
include 50 Cent, Shania Twain, Guns 'N Roses and Queens of the Stone Age.
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The CASBAA Media
College is supported by CASBAA and the Media Development Authority of Singapore
(MDA). Mr Seto Lok Yin, Director of Industry Development of the MDA, formally
awarded the Certificates of Completion to Christopher Pattinson of ESPN Star
Sports, Yvonne Tay of STAR Group, Jasmin Wong of Turner International Asia
Pacific, Lawrence Ng of Sony Pictures Entertainment and Peter Giakoumelos
and Daniel Joseph of Discovery Networks Asia at an official ceremony at the
Four Seasons Hotel.
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MediaCorp
plans drama series for mobile
From Shveta Malik in New Delhi
MediaCorp Studios is planning to produce Asia’s first Chinese drama for 3G phones, which stars idols from the entire region, as streaming of drama series is being planned for mobile phones in various countries in Asia. The service is expected to be launched next year.
Chang Long Jong, chief executive officer, MediaCorp Studios, said: “We thought of this 3G drama because we think that there is a lot of interest among the young viewers today, not just as passive viewers looking at programmes involving their idols but also to actively look at how they could, for example, download different forms of contents, music, drama, pictures and so forth.”
Earlier this
year, Nokia, together with MediaCorp Technologies, M1 and the Media Development
Authority of Singapore piloted Asia-Pacific’s first live end-to-end mobile
phone TV broadcast over digital video broadcast - handheld (DVB-H) standard,
based on Internet protocol (IP) datacasting technology.
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Ninemsn
streams TV programmes in Australia
From Shveta Malik in New Delhi
Ninemsn, Australian web site (www.ninemsn.com.au), has introduced ninemsn Video, the country's first dedicated streaming service for television programmes. The service is a free, high-resolution, broadband video player featuring content based on TV programs from the Nine Network. Built on Microsoft Windows Media 9 Series technology, ninemsn Video delivers an instant, always-on streaming experience for broadband consumers.
"Ninemsn Video is the first product of its kind in Australia. It offers the 3.3 million Australians now using broadband at home a high quality video experience that allows them to cherry pick Nine Network programme segments they want to watch at their convenience," says Ninemsn chief executive Martin Hoffman.
Seven-year old ninemsn is visited by over 6.6 million people each month or 73 percent of all Australians online use ninemsn regularly to get the news, information and communication services, as per data available for August 2004.
Ninemsn Video allows viewers to select and play a series of video clips from Ninemsn's news and entertainment content, effectively creating their own news program online, supported by 15-second video commercials that appear before the first clip plays and after any further two clips are viewed.
ninemsn is a
50:50 joint venture between the Microsoft Corporation and Nine owner Australian
media company, Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL).
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Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer Jim Chiddix has appointed former Time Warner veteran
Mazin S. Jadallah to the newly created post of senior vice president of strategic
development. In his new role, Jadallah will work closely with Chiddix and
other members of the senior management team to identify and map OpenTV’s
strategic direction and will oversee business development opportunities for
the company's market leading iTV products and services.
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Dene B. Stratton
has been named Chief Financial Officer, Jetix Europe it was announced today
by Paul D. Taylor, Chief Executive Officer. Stratton, who is currently Senior
Vice President, Planning & Control, ABC Inc will also join the Management
Board for Jetix Europe.
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