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NEWS Monday July 5th to Friday July 9th 2004
Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
| Tuesday | |||||
Siemens Business Services, part of the Siemens Information & Communications group, has emerged as the Single Preferred Bidder for a new Technology Framework Contract (TFC) for the BBC, and as the new owner of BBC Technology.
The initiative to procure a new technology contract followed an internal strategic review of the BBC's technology requirements, which identified potential annual savings in the order of £20 million (E30 million) to £30million if its technology services were outsourced. An EU Procurement Process then followed.
The sale is subject to the approval of the BBC Governors, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and clearance by the European Commission under the terms of the EC Merger Regulation. Subject to the necessary approvals – expected by autumn 2004 - the contract is for 10 years and is worth up to £2 billion.
BBC Technology
– which reported a turnover of £230 million - provides products
and services for the BBC, other broadcasters, platform owners, content owners
and government organisations. Its internal and external clients include BBC
News, BSkyB, DirecTV, ESPN, Hutchison 3G, SABC and Scottish Enterprise.
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The Spanish Telecommunications
Market Commission (CMT) has encouraged two of the country's largest cable
operators, Spaincom-controlled ONO and Auna, to merge to create a giant group
capable of competing with the dominant operator Telefonica.
The President of CMT, Carlos Bustelo, said that "this (merger) operation
would not be difficult" as each company currently operates in a different
region throughout Spain. "The stronger these alternative operators are,
the better, in order to compete with the incumbent", he pointed out.
On several occasions, both companies have engaged in merger conversations
that so far have not borne fruit. Many point to 2005 as the year of their
possible merger.
Both cable companies have already made some consolidation moves by acquiring
local cable networks. Recently, ONO bought Retecal, while AUNA acquired Tenaria.
Combined, they have more than 1.4 million clients.
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The UK government is to announce a switch-off date for analogue radio this year, meaning that eventually 100 million radios will become obsolete.
Culture secretary Tessa Jowell said she was going to review digital radio take-up in a foreword to a report published by the Digital Radio Development Bureau. Jowell said that she would be "considering how long it would be appropriate for sound digital broadcasting services to be provided in analogue form".
DAB digital radios came second only to the MP3 players in the consumer electronics market last year, with a 444 per cent annual sales growth rate. So far in 2004, 600,000 digital radios were sold.
However, only
about half, or 385, of the total number of radio stations broadcasting in
the UK are currently available on a digital signal.
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Five's former CEO David Elstein, has reportedly confirmed his interest to buy the Hallmark Channel in a bid believed to worth £500 million (E750 million).
If the bid is successful, it will give Elstein control of the UK Hallmark Channel and its operations in more than 120 countries. The deal will also include a library of films owned by the channel, worth millions of pounds.
The Hallmark Channel, owned by Hallmark Entertainment but run by Crown Media, has reportedly received bids from Sony and interest from media giants News Corporation, Disney, Turner, Time Warner, Saban, MGM and Liberty Media.
Initial bidding
is set to finish at the end of the month, but the final deal will not be closed
until autumn.
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After a prolonged deliberation and years of protracted disputes, the Korean government has adopted the US transmission system of digital television broadcasting in the country.
The Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) announced that the government and the broadcasting industry have finally agreed to adopt the US format instead of the alternative European one. Under the agreement, terrestrial broadcasters of KBS and MBC will expand their high-definition services to five provincial cities this month.
"Provincial residents will be able to enjoy the upcoming Athens Olympics via digital TV. Furthermore, we plan to expand digital TV coverage across the nation by the end of next year," said an official from MIC. It was also stated that the traditional analogue broadcasting will be suspended in 2010, when it is expected that 95 percent of households will own digital TV sets.
The pro-European-standard
groups argued that the US standard does not support mobile transmission of
digital broadcasts.
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The Teletext on 4 service includes: programme information, news, finance, sport, weather and travel, racing, lottery results, plus a dating service for viewers to post and reply to personal ads.
The new Teletext
Games‚ service offers viewers multi-screen video-based and console-style
games, and includes fruit-machine type games and virtual horse-racing, all
provided by DITG. Participants will be encouraged to register and play via
cross-promotion from Teletext's other platforms including analogue TV, DTT
and Internet.
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Richard Branson's Virgin Mobile has set a range of 235 to 285 pence per share for its market debut, valuing Britain's fifth-largest mobile phone firm at £588 million to £713 million (E882 million to E1,070 million).
The company,
the first virtual mobile network operator to go public, set its enterprise
value at between £900 million and £1.025 billion, including £311
million in debt.
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TeliaSonera,
the Nordic region's largest telecom group, said it would buy the Danish operations
of Orange, the mobile operator owned by France Telecom, for E600 million,
according to a report on the FT.
The Swedish-Finnish group has struggled for many years to reach profitability
in the highly fragmented Danish mobile market where it has been unable to
grow its subscriber base quickly enough. Following the acquisition, TeliaSonera
will have around 1.1 million customers and be Denmark's third biggest operator
after TDC and Sonofon.
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IMS Research expects there to be over 100 million home networks worldwide by the end of 2009, according to a recent study. The growth of this market is primarily driven by consumer desire to share broadband Internet access and digital TV content within the home.
In 2003, it was
estimated that 90 per cent of home networks were just used for data networking.
As the technology to provide true A/V networking becomes more available, reliable
and affordable the majority of consumers with a home network are likely to
want to connect their CE equipment to it. IMS Research forecasts that by 2009,
56 per cent of home networks will combine both data and A/V elements.
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Greg Dyke, former DG of the BBC, received a severance package worth more than £450,000 (E680,000) after resigning this year in the wake of the damning Hutton report.
The pay-off,
due to be revealed next week in the corporation's annual report and accounts,
means that Dyke received total remuneration of £809,000 for the financial
year ending March 31.
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The transaction valued Noos at approximately E615 million, or 7.25 times 2004 estimated EBITDA. The final purchase price is subject to a 90-day audit of Noos' financial information. Consideration to Suez consisted of approximately E530 million of cash.
As a result of the transaction, UPC Broadband France claims it now serves approximately 2.3 million RGUs (revenue generating units). The combined French businesses generated revenue of approximately E400 million based on the 2003 results of Noos and UPC France.
In addition to
the disposal of Noos, Suez has also sold its equity stake (50 per cent) in
Worldcom in Belgium to MCI. The company had previously held shares on Coditel,
Belgium's largest cable operator; Codenet, the Belgian national fibre optic
network; M6, and Paris Premiere.
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After touching 100-channel mark for its bouquet offering and signing 150,000 subscribers, India's first DTH platform DishTV is eyeing the overseas market for the expansion of its service.
ASC Enterprises, which operates DishTV, is setting up an international broadcast teleport at Noida, near New Delhi, for targeting foreign markets with its bouquet of channels. First in the pipeline are European and North American DTH and cable services. The services will also be extended in phases to include Africa and the Far East in the future. The company has signed a deal with BT Broadcast Services for space segment and teleports services.
"We are also planning a domestic marketing blitz, which will start next week, to promote the DTH service in metros and mini metros (in India). The campaign includes television commercials and outdoor publicity," said the the company.
The state-run Prasar Bharti's channels will also be available on the DishTV platform from mid-August. Though STAR India is yet to join the bouquet, it was recently announced that SET Discovery Private, a joint venture distribution company of Sony Entertainment Television India (SET India) and Discovery Networks India (DNI), has been negotiation with Dish TV for the same.
The total number
of channels is expected to touch 150-mark by next month.
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French broadcast transmission company Towercast demonstrated mobile DVB-T radio in Paristhis week. It used a DTT multiplex that the CSA has authorised it to use for test purposes, to broadcast 50 radio channels.
The test is continuing until the end of the month. Towercast used QPSK modulation, because this is more robust, along with standard models of UK Freeview receivers installed in a car, and drove journalists around the streets in Paris. QPSK modulation is better adapted for the moving vehicles; it also enables a larger coverage than the 16 QAM and 64 QAM used by TV services.
Christophe Cornillet, Towercast's technical manager, explained that the purpose of the demo was to prove feasibility. It comes just three weeks after DAB (which the BBC has been trying to push for several years in the UK) has been finally wound up in France.
Some industry observers have said that there were still more transmitters than receivers in use. "In the UK, 4 million homes can get radio via DTT," said Cornillet, "less than a tenth that figure have DAB, even though DAB has been going on for much longer".
The Towercast demo showed that using DTT technology is a very cost effective way of bringing digital radio to a wide public, including those in cars.
The French DTT
plan is to launch next year, beginning in March with free to air channels.
No radio channels are currently planned although one multiplex still remains
to be attributed.
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After postponing its premier date, Zip TV Channel said it will launch this week with a new campaign for Honda. The campaign, linked to TV spots on Channel 4, is an eight-minute video especially shot for the interactive advert.
The video has been divided into chapters to allow viewers to enter the video loop at multiple entry points. The overall iTV creative is designed to communicate the personal and human brand associations of Honda, said Zip.
One of the core
services that Zip TV provides will allow the data collected from campaigns
to be analysed. Donna Barradale , Managing Partner at Zip TV, explains: "What
makes this so exciting is that we will be able to collate information from
viewers that press the red button. The subsequent data is collated in one
place and pooled: allowing us to benchmark, analyse in detail, and provide
qualitative and quantitative feedback that advertisers have never before received.
For the first time, TV advertising will be truly accountable".
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Germany's PrimaCom has launched 'primatime,' time based broadband cable internet tariffs.
Primatime comes in three different flavours: 'start' (E14,50 for 10 hours) 'easy' (E22,50 for 30 hours) and 'pro' (E29,90 for 50 hours). They all provide independence from the local telephone provider, full security, and download speeds between 128 Kbps and 1024 Kbps, the company said. Additional online time costs E0.99 per minute.
A special marketing
promotion is planned in over 100,000 homes to promote the new tariffs which
will provide users who have been using standard analogue or ISDN modems, to
get broadband connections at a low cost.
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Satellite operator SES Global has named Mark Rigolle, a senior executive of Belgacom, as its new Chief Financial Officer.
Rigolle, who
led the recent E8.6 billion IPO of the Belgian telecoms company, will replace
Jürgen Schulte, Finance Director of SES for the past 13 years, who is
retiring.
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Deutsche Telekom's T-Systems, is linking together 10,000 locations for wireless computer access and aims to connect half of the world's public hotspots to a seamless network.
The company, who says it has 10,000 hotspots signed or under negotiation, began to connect wireless LAN (WLAN) hotspots from different providers across all continents in February. Its roaming service has been set up for business travellers who want fast wireless access to the Internet on their laptop computers, but who do not want to sign up and pay separately every time they log on.
Hotspots connected by T-Systems allow subscribers of one service to log onto any of the other 120 participating services and pay one bill at the end of the month, similar to the international roaming agreements between cellular operators.
The number of
public hotspots worldwide is expected to grow to 135,000 by late 2006 from
some 35,000 at end-2003, according to estimates by Datamonitor.
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The BBC is planning is most extensive Olympic coverage ever, scheduling 250 hours of coverage of the Athens Games, plus over 1,000 hours via the first ever interactive Summer Olympics TV service offering a complementary schedule. Viewers with digital satellite TV can access four additional streams to see extended coverage of the 37 events. Freeview users will be able to access two additional events.
Announcing the corporation's initiatives, newly-appointed Director General Mark Thompson described sport as "the lifeblood of the BBC," adding that televising such events was "the BBC at its purest."
In addition, at bbc.co.uk/olympics, for the first time ever, UK broadband users can access high-quality live coverage of the Olympics direct to their desktop. The service includes live simulcast coverage from BBC TV's five streams, as well as comprehensive daily round-ups. For people on the move, bbc.co.uk will provide an Olympics update service to WAP-enabled mobile telephones, plus a highlights service for mobiles that can receive it.
Andrew Thompson,
Head of Development, New Media and Sports News, BBC Sport, "This is the
first ever interactive Summer Olympics. Our broadband service
complements our interactive TV offering – allowing us to offer a variety
of platforms for licence-fee payers to access the world's greatest sporting
event. Broadband take-up is growing rapidly in the UK and I am delighted we
are able to offer such a comprehensive service."
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Vodafone is barring its customers from logging onto adult websites through their handsets. Vodafone users will need to prove they are over 18 before firewalls are lifted on pornographic websites or chat rooms dealing with adult themes. To remove the electronic filter, Vodafone customers will have to provide their credit card details either online, over the phone or by visiting a high street outlet.
It claims to
be the first mobile phone operator in the world to launch a system to control
internet access.
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Telewest
targets Sky price hike
Ahead of a price rise for Sky customers this September, Telewest Broadband
is set to re-vamp its digital TV packages in July, in a bid to win over disillusioned
satellite viewers.
The cable company is also revealing a new marketing campaign, which, for the
first time, will specifically target Sky premium channel subscribers.
The campaign will highlight the fact that consumers who sign-up to Telewest
Broadband's Essential TV pack with either Sky Sports or Movies, together
with one of its unlimited phone services, can save 25 per cent compared to
the equivalent services from Sky.
Telewest Broadband's other digital TV packages will also get a makeover.
Its entry-level Starter pack will expand to incorporate the five most popular
digital TV channels in the UK and its mid-tier Essential pack will now include
the top fifteen.
Philip Snalune, director of TV at Telewest Broadband, said: "This is
the first time we have directly targeted Sky subscribers, who are getting
uneasy about the money they have to stump up each month."
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British Sky Broadcasting
Group plc confirmed that Jeremy
Darroch will take up the position of Chief Financial Officer on 16 August
2004. He will join the BSkyB Board upon taking up the post.
Darroch, who is currently Group Finance Director of Dixons Group plc, was
named as BSkyB's new Chief Financial Officer on 23 June 2004. He will
replace Martin Stewart, who will continue in his post until 4th August 2004.
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New
HD forum in France
From Sotires Eleftherious in Paris
The French industry minister, Patrick Devedjian, announced on Friday the creation of a High Definition Forum. This will comprise public and private sector players in the industry, with the purpose of promoting high definition TV via all platforms: cable, satellite, DTT and ADSL.
Its official launch will be held in Paris on Thursday 8 July, in the presence of heads of companies involved as well as production organisations. The first initiatives in favour of HDTV as well as a preliminary calendar for its deployment, should be announced.
According to Satellifax, the members of the forum should include representatives from France Televisions, TF1, M6, TPS, Noos, Panasonic, Sagem, Sharp, ST Micro, Eutelsat, TDF, Darty and Fnac.
Last week, the
French Prime Minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, announced that he had handed
the task of looking at ways of introducing HDTV to Daniel Boudet de Montplaisir,
who chairs the DTT commission.
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Mexico has released a plan to make the new technology available to the entire population by 2021.
Communications
and Transport Ministry said Mexico was officially adopting the DTV technological
standard and detailed steps to bring better television service to the country's
population of more than 100 million. Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey
along with six border cities will be the first locations where there should
be at least two commercial digital channels by 2006.
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UK Culture secretary Tessa Jowell has given the BBC just under four months to redefine its online remit. The order coincides with the long-awaited publication of independent reviewer Phil Graf's report into the BBC's online spending.
Graf recommends
the strategic objectives guiding BBC Online should be clearly defined around
public purposes, and that a "precautionary" approach be adopted
to online investment. The report calls for the appointment of two new BBC
governors, one with new media experience and the other with competition law
expertise. Graf also calls for the introduction of an independent quota for
online content, excluding news. By the end of 2006 he wants 25 per cent of
online content to be supplied by external or independent producers.
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Modern Times Group announced the sale of SDI Media to private equity group Warburg Pincus for $60 million in cash. The disposal is in line with MTG's focus on its core broadcasting and directly related assets in Scandinavia and Central and Eastern Europe.
SDI, which provides
dubbing and translation services to broadcasters and TV channels, will continue
to provide its services to MTG's Viasat Broadcasting channels in Scandinavia
and Central and Eastern Europe. SDI has a 60 per cent share of the global
market for the subtitling of Hollywood studio DVD feature releases.
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News Corp's STAR Group, which is planning to launch the direct-to-home (DTH) service Space TV in India through a joint venture with conglomerate Tata Group, has sought relaxation on foreign direct investment rules that currently restrict it to 20 per cent in such ventures.
This was revealed following a meeting between STAR Group CEO Michelle Guthrie, Peter Mukherjea, CEO of STAR India, and the information and broadcasting minister S. Jaipal Reddy. Peter Mukherjea is. The Tata-STAR JV is scheduled for roll out later this year. While both the STAR executives refused to talk about the meeting, it is reported that executives have requested for a speedy clearance for Space TV and pointed out that the 20 per cent cap on foreign direct investment (FDI) would not be feasible in the long run in a high capital investment sector like DTH.
The norms issued by the government for DTH operations allow up to 49 per cent foreign equity participation but foreign direct investment has been limited to 20 per cent. The guidelines further state that foreign broadcasting companies can hold only 20 per cent of the equity in the JV.
The company is
expecting about one million subscribers in the first year of operation.
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BBC is marking the 50th anniversary of the BBC television news bulletin by unveiling new interactive services on digital TV.
BBCi has commissioned Two Way TV to build an interactive platform across all digital cable satellite and terrestrial services for the BBC Ten O'Clock News. Starting this autumn it will offer viewers longer interviews, extra footage and background on the day's stories by pressing the red button on their remote controls.
Richard Sambrook, Director of BBC News, said: "The BBC News audience consistently tell us that they want even more information on the day's events. 'Ten O'Clock News Extra' will provide that platform for added depth and context to the bulletin and will help drive a new audience towards our interactive services."
BBC News also
announced it will set up a corrections website and a weekly feedback programme
on which editors will be forced to justify their decisions.
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NTL Chairman James Mooney has in recent months sold more than 85 per cent of his vested stock options in the cable operator, as well as a separate block of restricted shares, creating a personal fortune of more than $12 million since he joined the company 16 months ago, according to a report on the FT.
Mooney's windfall illustrates NTL's striking recovery since it emerged from bankruptcy at the beginning of last year. Shares in the cable operator, which trade on Nasdaq, have risen from $17 in January 2003 to a peak of more than $70 this year, though they have since fallen back to stand at $56.89 on Friday.
Mooney, an International
Business Machines veteran who was chief operating officer of Nextel, the US
telecommunications group, before joining NTL, was granted 400,000 share options
last year on top of 200,000 restricted shares and a salary and bonus of $1.5
million.
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UK-based SysMedia and the Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Media and Communications,
have announced a cooperation and licensing agreement for their products in
the Multimedia Home Platform, digital interactive TV and teletext markets.
The agreement enables SysMedia to provide a complete end-to-end MHP digital teletext solution using their Plasma Magenta content management and production system and Fraunhofer IMK's 'JAME' MHP application framework.
Colin Prior,
Business Development Director at SysMedia commented: "Many broadcasters
have successful analogue teletext services and business models. This integrated
solution provides an off-the-shelf package that will enable them to launch
MHP digital teletext services that will be familiar to their viewers and will
help them in the transition and uptake of digital TV."
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Bertelsmann BMG, the world's fifth-largest record label, is to offer different types of CD formatting in a bid to increase sales in an ailing record industry.
From August, the music giant intends to sell three types of CDs - from 'luxury' to 'regular' and 'no frills' formats - to compete with the increasing popularity of internet-based music services sites such as Apple's iTunes.
Customers will
have the choice to either buy stripped-down CDs for just over half the current
price, or full glossy versions with all the glamour one would currently expect
from a normal CD. No-frills versions will merely consist of the CD with the
disk title printed directly onto it, with luxury editions carrying additional
material such as lyrics and videos.
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Digital audio broadcaster Music Choice has launched on the Sky platform in Italy using NDS encryption technology. Music Choice, which has been broadcasting in the UK for over three years, is the first interactive music application to be deployed on the Italian platform.
Over one million viewers will be able to listen to a compilation of CDs through the TV, at the press of the green button. The upgraded compilations service developed by NDS using Value@TV technology, and originally introduced to the BSkyB platform in the UK in October 2003, enables viewers to choose from a diverse mix of CD's to suit the tastes of all music lovers.
Meanwhile in
the US, Music Choice announced a strategic alliance with Radio Disney to bring
Radio Disney programming to digital cable and satellite TV homes and cable-modem
subscribers, beginning July 7, 2004. In addition to a 24/7 channel on the
Music Choice line-up, the alliance creates a series of exclusive, televised
music concerts for DirecTV and cable systems.
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Revenue for the period ended May 31 rose 6.8 per cent to CA$168.4 million, the company reported. CEO Louis Audet said he expects operating income to grow by 10 per cent in the cable division and 15 per cent in the media sector in 2005.
"Cogeco is posting higher revenues in television, increased market share in radio and solid growth in cable distribution," Audet said in a statement and added: "Cogeco Cable has experienced continued growth, and our results for the first nine months of the year bode well as we head into 2005."
The cable company
expects to generate free cash flow of CA$40 million in the current fiscal
year and up to CA$50 million in fiscal 2005.
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TF1
acquires Histoire
From Sotires Eleftheriou in Paris
The French TF1 group has concluded the acquisition of 100 per cent of thematic channel Histoire, which had been held by France Televisions (22.5 per cent), Arte France (22.5 per cent), the French audiovisual institute INA (7.5 per cent), Pathé, the Suez Group and Wanadoo.
Histoire, which was created in 1997, is distributed via TPS and cable networks. The acquisition is intended to complete TF1's line-up of documentary channels, alongside Odyssée (documentaries) and the forthcoming Ushaia TV channel (extreme).
Gerard Carreyrou, CEO of Odyssee, will be President of all of the group's documentary channels. Didier Sapaut will be General Manager of Histoire. The President and GM of Histoire, Gerard Worms, and Philippe Chazal, left their functions on the same day.
The owners of
Histoire put the channel up for sale earlier this year, following the decision
to attribute the free public service DTT channel to Festival. Other candidates
for its acquisition have included the AB group and National Geographic. Histoire
was in financial equilibrium in 2002, but made a loss of between E600,000
and E700,000 in 2003 and hopes to regain balance in 2005.
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For the first
time in the Spanish TV history, the two private channels, Tele 5 and Antena
3 TV have overtaken state-owned TVE's La Primera in the TV ratings battle.
Tele 5, which is controlled by Italian group Mediaset, has become the most
widely watched TV channel with a June average share of 23.1 per cent. Antena
3 TV was second with a share of 21.7 per cent, with La Primera being relegated
to a third place with 21.5 per cent.
This upset in the balance of power in terms of ratings has come at a time
when Tele 5 has just started trading on the Stock Market and soon after the
arrival of RTVE's new MD, Carmen Caffarel.
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Five free-to-air TV stations in Taiwan, have launched 14 digital TV channels. Mobile phone, computer and personal data assistant (PDA) owners will be able to watch digital TV on their screens or laptops within two years.
"After black-and-white TV in 1962 and colour TV in 1969, today's digital TV is without doubt the third wave of the revolution", said a spokesperson from the broadcasting authoritiy on the launch.
The five free-to-air
TV channels are China Television (CTV), Taiwan Television (TTV), China Television
System (CTS), Formosa Television (FTV) and the Public Television Service (PTS).
The government intends to switch the nation completely to digital TV by 2006
or 2008 at the latest, but is locked in a dispute about fees and regulations
with cable operators, who supply TV to more than 80 per cent of households
nationwide.
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A US court has ruled in favour of InterActiveCorp in a tax-related dispute with Vivendi Universal that IAC has said is worth more than $600 million over the next 18 years.
IAC, the e-commerce company controlled by Barry Diller, sued Vivendi over the terms of their 2001 agreement creating the Vivendi Universal Entertainment movie, television and theme park joint venture. IAC received cash and securities in that deal, including two classes of preferred shares, which accrue dividend-like payments and had an initial face value of $2.5 billion. IAC argued that Vivendi had agreed to pay for the taxes on those distributions, and the judge agreed.
The dispute is separate from another between the companies, which was settled in April and had paved the way for Vivendi to merge Vivendi Universal Entertainment with General Electric's NBC, creating NBC Universal.
Vivendi vowed
to appeal against the ruling. But Diller reportedly said: "We have maintained
from the outset that we would prevail over Vivendi's empty and cynical attempt
to overturn an agreement made in good faith."
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AEPOC, the European Association for the Protection of Encrypted Works and Services, announced that the AEPOC Code of Ethics and Good Practice has become effective from July 1st 2004. The document defines for the first time common standards of support and co-operation among the AEPOC members in the fight against electronic piracy. The text has been formally adopted by the association and signed by its President Jean Grenier at the AEPOC Ordinary General Assembly in Bratislava June 25th 2004.
The new Code of Ethics and Good Practice is backed by 31 leading players in the audio-visual services industry in Europe and beyond, covering all areas of the sector such as content providers, TV channels, conditional access providers, providers of transmission infrastructures and manufacturers of related hardware.
"The new Code of Ethics and Good Practice has been inspired by the necessity to co-operate closely in order to cope with the international and organised structures of pirate organisations," said Jean Grenier, President of AEPOC.
The new Code
aims to lay down general principles in the fight against piracy, to develop
"best practice" procedures for collective efforts against piracy,
to promote compliance with the applicable national laws and EU regulations,
and to increase the awareness of the threats related to electronic piracy.
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SES Global has announced a restructuring of its assets in the core satellite business as well as of its holdings in different satellite service companies.
In addition to its 100 per cent holding of SES Astra (also owning 75 per cent of Nordic Satellite AB) and of SES Global Americas (controlling 100 per cent of SES Americom), SES Global has set up five Luxembourg-based companies: SES Global Africa, SES Global Asia, SES Global Europe, SES Global Latin America as well as SES Global Participations.
Romain Bausch, President and CEO of SES Global commented: "The new group structure will lay the foundation for a flexible corporate legal entity framework that can be tailored for any present and future geographical and business segmental development. In addition to the strategic alignment, the restructuring will result in an optimisation of the corporate group and financing structure, in increased transparency of the financial numbers by region and by market segment as well as in the release of deferred tax provisions with a favourable impact on consolidated results."
SES Global Africa will hold SES' 43.55 per cent stake in Accelon, the premier pan-African broadband satellite services provider.
SES Global Asia it will hold SES' 49.5 per cent participation in Bowenvale, itself the controlling shareholder of AsiaSat (68.9 per cent).
SES Global Europe will hold the Group's European participations in the satellite services field i.e. ASTRANet (100 per cent), SATLYNX (41.69 per cent), DPC (75.2 per cent) and Netsystem.com (15.02 per cent).
SES Global Latin America will hold SES' 19.99 per cent participation in Brazilian satellite operator Star One as well as the company's 28.75 per cent stake in the Argentinian operator Nahuelsat.
SES Global Participations
will hold SES' global or interregional businesses such as ORBCOMM (10.54 per
cent).
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Orange, the mobile arm of the France Telecom Group, will launch a 3G network across the UK on July 19. At launch the company claims, it will have an integrated 2.5/3G network in the UK covering 66 per cent of the population.
The operator,
in partnership with FreeMove, will also give UK business customers the ability
to access 3G services in Spain, Italy and Germany at launch, as well as the
3G network of Orange in France. Orange and its FreeMove partners have licences
in 14 markets across Europe. Orange will be launching its next generation
services in France this Autumn (2004) with coverage available in over 20 cities.
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Competition could intensify in the UK residential telecommunications markets following an announcement by the Post Office that it will offer residential telephone services from next year through a deal with Cable and Wireless.
According to
a report on the FT, the Post Office will use C&W's network infrastructure
and sell the service through its 16,000-strong branch network, the largest
of all UK retailers. C&W said it would benefit from greater call traffic
across its network through the "carrier pre-select" model, which
allows customers to chose a different call provider while using the same infrastructure.
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The ten episode
TV series, co-produced with UK indie Giant Film & TV, will offer an inside
view into the lives of porn stars, and those who think they have what it takes
to make it in the porn industry. Chosen from hundreds of eager men, five ordinary
guys are given the opportunity to see if they can fulfil their dream of starring
in adult films. The five male newcomers are joined by five established female
adult film stars in a specially prepared house, under 24 hour surveillance,
with cameras capturing every thought, word and deed. In the end the winner
is given the opportunity to star in one of Private's blockbuster movies.
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BT has confirmed plans to double the availability of its wholesale broadband products for businesses by extending the technology to a further 150 exchanges, bring the number of exchanges providing SDSL to 300.
The firm said
that the move will bring a wider range of business class broadband services
to additional new areas including Cheshire, Cardiff, North East England, Aberdeen
and Exeter. The first 34 of theses exchanges will have SDSL service by the
end of July, another 34 will have service by the end of November 2004 and
SDSL switch on dates for the remaining 82 will be announced by the end of
September 2004.
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Viacom has made a $42.2 million offer to acquire the 38 per cent of SportsLine.com it does not already own. Viacom is parent company of CBS, which SportsLine has partnered for many years through its flagship CBSSportsline site.
Viacom's proposal
is subject to completion of its due diligence and negotiation of a mutually
acceptable definitive merger agreement. A special committee of SportsLine.com's
board of directors has been formed to evaluate 'strategic alternatives' for
the company, and will consider and evaluate Viacom's proposal.
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Acquisitions helped Catalyst Media, the interactive television technology group formerly known as Newsplayer, to increase interim turnover from £114,000 (E171,000) to £1.66 million, the FT reported.
Pre-tax losses
for the six months to April 30 were reduced from £2.43 million to £710,000
and Paul Duffen, CEO, said the group was set to "make a profit for the
current financial year."
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