NEWS
Monday 3rd May to Friday
7th May
2004
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*No
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Friday
May 7th 2004
News
Corp profits jump
NTL
makes first operating profit
BBC
reveals technology sale shortlist
Antena
3 returns to profitability
SES
Global plans 4th bird for UK
DT
sells stake in satellite operator SES Global
Taiwan
to invest $910m in broadband infrastructure
Vivendi
Q1 results
Latens
to provide Turkish CA solution
Wireless
Broadcasting says Yes to content deal
Liberate,
ICTV partner on STB
Canada
and China team up on TV
SingTel's
mobile subscriber rises 37 %
Motorola
adds voice recognition capabilities to STBs
News
Corp profits jump
News Corp reported its Q3 profit rose 69 percent on booming DVD sales and increased
advertising at its television networks.
The Rupert Murdoch controlled group posted a net profit for the third quarter
ended March 31 of $465 million compared to $275 million, a year earlier.
Revenue for the quarter rose 19 per cent to $5.2 billion, from $4.4 billion.
.Sales of DVD movies helped push film operating profit up 6 percent to $214
million, from $201 million a year ago. Operating income at the cable TV stations
rose 51 percent to $143 million on higher advertising, driven by the Fox News
Channel.
News Corp, which in the US owns a controlling stake in satellite television
operator DirecTV, the 20th Century Fox movie studio, and the New York Post newspaper,
plans to reincorporate the company in United States later this year with hopes
of bolstering American institutional investor ownership.
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NTL
makes first operating profit
Britain's largest cable company NTL said its first-quarter net loss narrowed
63 per cent to E99 million due to 61,500 new subscribers and lower interest
costs.
NTL, which emerged from bankruptcy protection last year after a debt-for-equity
swap, also achieved its first-ever quarterly operating profit; E3.3 million
excluding interest, currency effects and other items, against an operating loss
of E75.7 million a year earlier.
Improving average revenue per user (E64) also helped push sales up 10 per cent
to E603 million in its residential unit, but business sales were down 7.7 per
cent to E104 million. Total sales in the period rose from E827 million last
year to E886m. Churn was at 13.2 per cent annually, or 1.1 per cent per month.
NTL ended the quarter with 1,028,800 broadband customers, up 81,000.
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BBC
reveals technology sale shortlist
From Colin Mann in London
The BBC has announced a third stage shortlist of bidders to take part in the
final round in the procurement process for a new technology services agreement
for the Corporation, and sale of BBC Technology. The sale is subject to the
approval of the UK's Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. The move
to procure a new technology contract followed an internal strategic review of
the BBC's technology requirements. The review identified potential annual savings
for the BBC of at least £20 million to £30 million (E30 million to E45 million)
if its technology services were outsourced.
The three companies - selected from a »long list' of eight - remaining in the
bidding process are management consulting, technology services and outsourcing
company Accenture, IT services company CSC and information, communications and
media industries giant Siemens. The bids received from the final eight were
selected through a rigorous EU procurement process conducted by the BBC's evaluation
team.
John Varney, Chief Technology Officer, BBC, remarked that the shortlisted bidders
had shown their ability to invest in technology innovation which would enable
the BBC to revolutionise the way it made programmes over the next ten years,
adding that they had "also shown a cultural alignment with the BBC that is one
of the most important parts of this contract." Varney anticipates making an
announcement on the winning bidder by Autumn 2004.
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Antena
3 returns to profitability
From David del Valle in Madrid
Antena 3, Spain's second-largest commercial television station, has managed
to turnaround its unhealthy financial situation. In the first quarter of the
year, the network returned to profitability making a profit of E 15.5 million,
against losses of E 9 million in the same period last year.
Total revenues reached E144 million, against E118.5 million the previous year.
The company declared an EBITDA of E40.1 million up from E8.6 million in the
first quarter in 2003.
In the first quarter, Antena 3 raised by 0.4 points its audience ratings, reaching
an average share of 20.1 per cent. The network also increased its advertising
share up to 26 per cent, 1.3 points more than in 2003.
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SES
Global plans 4th bird for UK
Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES Global is planning to increase its capacity
by adding a fourth satellite to those already beaming channels to the UK. As
a result the number of satellite TV channels available in Britain could rise
by up to 50 per cent to more than 600.
SES Global, which this week completed a E507 million share offer in Paris, will
offer the channel capacity to television companies such as the BBC and commercial
broadcasters including ITV and Channel 4.
The company, whose largest customer is British Sky Broadcasting, said it had
been in contact with the BBC about its plans for free-to-air satellite services,
which could pave the way for the end of analogue television transmissions over
the next five to 10 years.
Last week, the publicly funded broadcaster announced plans to augment its existing
Freeview digital platform with a satellite offering. BSkyB already offers 90
free satellite channels, along with its subscription services.
Meanwhile, SES Global posted its 2003 results. The company said it had revenues
of E 1.2 billion and a net operating profit of E 205 million.
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DT
sells stake in satellite operator SES Global
The German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom has sold a six per cent
stake in the satellite operator SES Global, raising about E260 million.
Out of a total holding of 77.5 million shares, or a stake of about 13.5 per
cent, DT has placed 35 million shares as part of the listing of SES Global on
the Paris stock exchange, the German group said in a statement.
Deutsche Telekom planned to use the proceeds from the sale to help cut debt.
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Taiwan to invest $910m in broadband infrastructure
From Shveta Malik in New Delhi
In an effort to improve the broadband infrastructure, the Taiwanese government
has marked a budget worth $910 million to be invested over the next five years
as a part of a reform plan for the digital telecommunication industry.
The government said that the investment would be made in three major areas:
construction of more last-mile connections; expanding regional wireless networks
and creating a dual network system. The dual network program, which allows regular
mobile-phone users to get access to Internet services such as e-mail and video
in the areas covered by the regional wireless network system, is expected to
be available in September.
The announcement by the government followed the Chunghwa Telecom's decision
to cut the price of its ADSL services. Currently, Chunghwa Telecom controls
97 per cent of the nation's last-mile network, while three local fixed network
companies jointly share the remaining three percent. The market leader, which
has 80 per cent market share in the ADSL market, has more than one million 2MB
subscribers and 1.5 million 1MB subscribers.
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Vivendi
Q1 results
Vivendi Universal said that its consolidated revenues for the first quarter
of 2004 amounted to E5.973 billion compared with E6.232 billion for the first
quarter of 2003. However, on a like for like basis and at constant currency
rates, revenues increased by seven per cent said the company.
The cable television unit Canal Plus reported first-quarter revenues of E923
million, down from E1.16 billion in 2003 but Vivendi claimed stripping out the
sale of pay-television operator Telepiu last year showed year-on-year growth
of eight per cent.
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Latens
to provide Turkish CA solution
Card-less Conditional Access specialist Latens has won a contract to supply
the CA system for the new pay-TV services of Milenyum TV, the Turkish satellite
operator that launched a service under the FreeTV brand earlier this year.
Yogan Balci, COO of MilenyumTV parent company Dogan Yayin Holding, noted that
smart-card based set-top boxes were "prohibitively expensive for the Turkish
TV market. Latens provides us with a cost-effective way of protecting our revenues
and thanks to its flexible operation we can try new ways of packaging and marketing
our channels." He said Milenyum also intends to offer a managed portfolio of
broadcast, production and satellite transmission services to other content providers
in Turkey.
Latens CEO Jeremy Thorp said "We look forward to helping Milenyum to grow its
revenues after Turkey's most exciting pay-TV services launch later this year."
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Wireless
Broadcasting says Yes to content deal
Singapore-based wireless specialist Wireless Broadcasting Corporation (WBC)
and broadband entertainment platform provider Yes Television of Hong Kong are
teaming up to penetrate key Asian markets where they consider their strengths
are complimentary.
The pair will establish a joint sales effort to provide television VOD services,
3G video content, and technology and content development platforms for VOD in
either residential or other application areas.
Thomas Kressner, CEO of Yes Television said the agreement leveraged the synergy
between the companies "to jointly explore key markets together, especially since
our combination makes it possible to provide both compelling content and affordable
deployment rates through the use of low cost, proven technologies."
Benjamin Ng, Managing Director of WBC said that his company would now be able
to complete its suite of offerings, and by working with Yes Television, be able
to launch compelling services to the masses.
Separately, Yes Television revealed that it had struck a deal with adult entertainment
programmer Playboy TV International to represent PTVI throughout Hong Kong,
China, Korea and Taiwan. Yes Television will work in conjunction with PTVI's
business development team and will be responsible for identifying cable and
satellite distribution opportunities for PTVI networks and Playboy TV programming
throughout the territory.
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Liberate,
ICTV partner on STB
Liberate Technologies and ICTVÀ announced an agreement to integrate ICTV's HeadendWare
with Liberate TV Navigator 5.
Under the agreement, ICTV will port its existing thin-client set-top module
to a Java client application that operates in the TV Navigator environment.
The integrated solution will provide access to the entire suite of applications
and content enabled by HeadendWare. In turn, Liberate will certify HeadendWare
for use on cable systems deploying TV Navigator 5 in both North America and
Europe.
HeadendWare, ICTV's centralised application architecture for delivery of games,
on-demand interfaces, customer care, local information, and entertainment, provides
a powerful complement to the native Java applications already available with
TV Navigator, the companies explained. The new, integrated solution will comply
with the OCAP standards, and will provide cable operators with support for HeadendWare-hosted
applications on existing set-top boxes from Motorola and Scientific-Atlanta,
as well as future OCAP devices.
With the integrated solution, subscribers will be able to select between live
video, local Java applications, or XML content developed for the Liberate platform,
and the full-motion audio and video virtual channels and applications running
on HeadendWare.
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Canada
and China team up on TV
From Gail Chiasson in Montreal
Toronto-based Rogers Media, and Sun Wah Media, from Hong Kong, have announced
a new joint-venture called SW Rogers Media Limited, Hong Kong China, with the
aim of developing new types of television productions and media products for
audiences in both Canada and China.
"This partnership may also extend to other Rogers Media properties in the areas
of television and publishing," says Leslie Sole, CEO of Rogers Television.
The Sun Wah Media division, part of the Sun Wah Group, is focused on investing
and developing China-based businesses in the area of film and TV production,
distribution, international business promotion and other media-related activities.
Rogers Harbourfront Productions, the production arm of Rogers OMNI Television,
will be producing the first worldwide product for Sun Wah Rogers: a 52-hour
reality-based documentary series called 'Mandarin Planet' beginning later this
year.
'Mandarin Planet', with English subtitles, will be shown in early 2005 on Rogers'
OMNI.2 station in Canada.
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SingTel's
mobile subscriber rises 37 %
Asia's SingTel announced that its aggregate mobile subscriber base in the region
has exceeded 47 million as at 31 March 2004. This is the largest mobile base
in Asia outside of China and Japan.
The combined mobile subscriber base of SingTel, SingTel Optus and SingTel's
four regional associates grew 37 per cent from about 35 million a year ago.
Compared to a quarter ago, the subscriber base increased by 3.2 million, or
by more than one million subscribers each month.
In a separate statement, SingTel unveiled that Chris Anderson would step down
as Optus CEO at the end of August, after seven years ion the post. He will be
succeeded by COO, Paul O' Sullivan.
O' Sullivan was previously the Managing Director of Optus Mobile and has worked
as COO for the past two and a half years. He will succeed Anderson on 1 September
this year.
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Motorola
adds voice recognition capabilities to STBs
Motorola has announced a partnership with technology firm Agile TV to allow
digital TV subscribers to control their STB using voice commands.
Agile TV's plug-and-play voice-recognition technology enables broadband operators
to offer subscribers the navigation solution without complicated set-up or the
need for training. Operators can integrate Agile's voice recognition solution
with Motorola's DCT2000 digital set-top platform.
The technology, which recognises around 100,000 phrases and can understand multiple
languages, has been field tested in an alpha deployment on Motorola DCT2000
digital set-tops with USA Media's cable subscribers for 15 months.
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Thursday
May 6th 2004
ProSiebenSat.1 completes capital increase
DirecTV
quarterly loss widens
Head
of RAI resigns
French
DTT: launch date will be known this month
CETV
terminates analogue transmission contract
Gore:
new media mogul?
Ofcom
varies DAB multiplex
Telenor:
revenues up 13% in Q1
EchoStar
will end double dish by 2008
ANT
gets funding
Fox
names new network President
ProSiebenSat.1 completes capital increase
From Dieter Brockmeyer in Frankfurt
German TV conglomerate ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG completed its new share issue
with proceeds of E282 million from issuing 19 million additional shares, about
half of them preferred stock.
The group, controlled by billionaire Haim Saban, is also hoping for an additional
E475 million from a new loan facility due this month. The group says the cash
will bring flexibility but also to strengthen its position in competition.
At the same time, Saban is finalising the restructuring of the ProSieben management
board. The board member responsible for the group's political lobbying, Juergen
Doetz, will be replaced by Hubertus Meyer-Burkhardt from September 1. He currently
holds a seat on the executive board of the German publishing group Axel Springer
- which owns 11.5 per cent of the ProSieben common stock.
The company sees this step as the first one to a closer cooperation between
Saban and Springer. They already cooperated in their bid for the English Hollinger
media group, where they are interested in different newspapers in the target
group's portfolio.
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DirecTV
quarterly loss widens
US DirecTV Group posted a wider first quarter loss on a charge related to the
pending sale of its PanAmSat satellite unit. The company, controlled by Rupert
Murdoch's News Corp, recorded a loss of $639 million, compared with a net loss
of $50.9 million, last year.
Revenues were $2.5 billion, up 25 per cent from the $2 billion over the same
period a year ago. The satellite broadcaster said it would start offering new
programming and interactive applications in the second half of the year as it
raises the stakes in the battle for subscribers. The company target is to add
three million new subscribers in the next three years.
The group's new senior management, led by CEO Chase Carey, said it was planning
to offer a broader programming slate including a package aimed at Hispanic subscribers.
The company reported a strong start to the year, adding 460,000 net subscribers
in the first quarter to bring the total to 12.63 million. In the quarter, average
monthly revenue was $63.6 per subscriber, up from $59.1 a year ago, largely
as the result of an fee increase which DirecTV pushed through in March.
Meanwhile, the company has its new bird, the DirectTV-7S, in orbit. A Zenith-3SL
Ukrainian-Russian rocket has successfully lunched the American satellite within
the framework of the Sea Launch international project. The rocket was launched
from the Odysseus floating platform in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday.
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Head
of RAI resigns
The President of Rai, Italy's state-run television and radio network, resigned
in a dispute that re kindled controversy over the influence exerted over the
national media by PM Silvio Berlusconi.
According to a report on the FT, Lucia Annunziata, announced her departure at
a news conference in Milan where she accused Berlusconi's centre-right government
and its supporters of trying to pack Rai with political appointees.
Rai has three of Italy's seven main television channels, as does Mediaset, the
company that forms part of the Berlusconi family business empire. Together Rai
and Mediaset account for 90 per cent of Italy's prime-time TV viewers.
Berlusconi's unusual position as media magnate and premier was criticised last
month in a European parliament report that argued it was not right for one man
to be in a position to influence so much TV content in one country.
Annunziata described the proposed job appointments at Rai as "the final act
in an organised campaign by the government majority aimed at full control over
public service broadcasting".
The resignation was timed to coincide with the date marking Berlusconi as the
longest continuing serving PM since the War with three years in office.
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French
DTT: launch date will be known this month
From Sotires Eleftherious in Paris
The CSA will announce the date of the launch of DTT in France after May 13,
according to Yvon Le Bars, the CSA Counsellor in charge of DTT. The CSA does
not want to pre-date adoption of new media laws by the Parliament.
The broadcasting bills have gone through both houses of parliament, where they
have been heavily amended. A joint parliamentary committee is to meet on May
11 and will draw up the final version ofl for publication in the, incorporating
the amendments from both houses. It is after this committee meets that the CSA
will be able to announce the start date for DTT.
The CSA has already set the launch window as 1 December 2004 to 31 March 2005.
Meanwhile, more analogue frequencies are being changed to provide space for
the digital broadcasts. At launch the reach will be at least 50 per cent of
the population.
Yvon Le Bars also disclosed that a preliminary launch could take place in the
next three or four months. This would be on one or two multiplexes carrying
free to air channels in a limited number of cities. The purpose is to enable
antenna installers to check reception, and also for the public to get accustomed
to the idea of DTT.
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CETV
terminates analogue transmission contract
From Shveta Malik in New Delhi
Multimedia company Chinese Entertainment Television (CETV) has decided to end
its analogue contract with Asia Satellite Telecommunication Holdings (AsiaSat).
The company will be paying more than $12.5 million for the termination of contract,
as the network switches from an analogue to a digital format.
Though CETV will pay AsiaSat a one-time penalty for ending its analogue contract,
the broadcaster will continue to use AsiaSat-3S for digital transmission.
"Following the switch, the unit should be able to save up to $3 million in costs
annually," said Tom group's CEO Sing Wang. Wang commented that CETV raised more
than $500,000 in advertising revenue in the first quarter of this year, much
better than its full-year income when the group acquired CETV.
Tom bought a 64 per cent interest last year in CETV, a 24-hour satellite television
channel delivering Chinese-language entertainment shows.
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Gore:
new media mogul?
Al Gore, the former Vice President of the US, announced that a media company
he formed purchased News World International from Vivendi Universal, and has
plans to launch a youth-oriented cable network. The sum for the deal, which
took over two years of negotiations, was not disclosed.
Al Gore's objective is to transform a little-watched cable news channel into
an independent voice for youth. Gore and Joel Hyatt, his business partner, said
the re-launched channel would be aimed squarely at young Americans. But they
stressed it was not intended as a counterforce to the growing power of conservative
news outlets such as Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel.
The channel, which currently features 24-hour global news produced by The Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation, will now target an 18- to 34-year-old audience. Newsworld
International is distributed to about 17 million subscriber homes.
The venture is being financed by two private equity firms and 22 private investors,
including Rob Glaser, Chairman and founder of RealNetworks; Bob Pittman, former
COO of AOL Time Warner; former Sun Microsystems executive Bill Joy; and Warren
Lieberfarb, the former Warner Brothers executive who helped pioneer the DVD
industry.
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Ofcom
varies DAB multiplex
UK watchdog Ofcom has agreed to vary the licence for the national DAB multiplex
held by Digital One. This will allow the launch of data services using the national,
commercial DAB platform.
Ofcom said it believes the proposal is "a potentially significant innovation
in the development of new media services for a broad range of citizen-consumers."
The licence variation allows Digital One to use capacity that is presently vacant,
following the withdrawal of two radio services from the multiplex in 2002.
Ofcom has decided to vary the licence by withdrawing the obligation to provide
these services from the multiplex licence. This will allow Digital One to make
the capacity available for data and other services.
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Telenor:
revenues up 13% in Q1
Telenor's revenues increased by 13 per cent in the first quarter of 2004 compared
to the first quarter last year, to just below NOK 14.3 billion, mainly due to
growth in the mobile operations and the consolidation of Sonofon. Compared to
the same period operating profit increased by NOK 807 million to NOK 2,282 million,
while profit before taxes and minority interests increased by NOK 3.6 billion
to NOK 4.7 billion.
EBITDA in the first quarter of 2004 amounted to NOK 5,016 million. This is NOK
839 million more than in the first quarter last year. The EBITDA margin increased
from 33.1 to 35.1 per cent.
Broadcast had an operating profit of NOK 110 million in the first quarter of
2004 compared to a loss in the first quarter last year.
(E1 = NOK 8.17)
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EchoStar
will end double dish by 2008
Satellite television provider EchoStar Communications hopes to move within four
years to a single dish that will include local television channels, Chief Executive
Charlie Ergen said.
Customers in 38 markets out of 119 where EchoStar offers local channels must
currently use a second satellite dish, EchoStar says, because of capacity constraints.
Satellite providers that offer a single local station in a market are required
by federal law to offer to carry all local channels that want to be aired, often
straining capacity.
"The marketplace is forcing us to go to one dish, we want to go to one dish,"
Ergen told reporters after testifying before Congress on re-authorising a law
that permits satellite companies to offer television broadcast stations.
He reportedly said that by the end of 2004 the company will offer local channels
in 150 markets and 30 will likely still require two dishes but that they hope
to be phased out by 2008.
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ANT
gets funding
UK-based ANT, an iTV software developer, has gained the backing of a group of
11 technology investors, with the conclusion of a £3.39 million (E 7.2 million)
funding round aimed at accelerating the company's commercial development.
Simon Woodward, President and CEO of ANT said: "Having built a robust base for
the business in a difficult economic climate, we now feel the time is right
to invest in growing more aggressively. This additional funding will help us
to capitalise on what we see as a sweet-spot in the market, and to target new
opportunities for growth."
Led by technology investor Richard Farleigh, the syndicate of investors includes
VCs Pall Mall and Top Technology and a group of private investors.
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Fox
names new network President
Fox Broadcasting, a unit of News Corp, named Ed Wilson, a former senior executive
of NBC and CBS, as President of the Fox Television Network. Wilson will oversee
relations with affiliated local TV stations, ad sales, legal operations, broadcast
standards and Fox Entertainment Group marketing efforts for the network.
He was most recently President of NBC Enterprises, where he oversaw distribution
and syndication, among other efforts. He will report to Tony Vinciquerra, president
and CEO of the Fox Networks Group.
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Wednesday
May 5th 2004
US
Cable Chiefs on attack
US
names rights pirates
AOL:
what next?
Disney
dissidents: we want jobs
Interactive
Corp. sales surge but not margins
BBC:
programme download service
Attheraces
down to two runners
More
Polish TV joins DISH
US
Cable Chiefs on attack
Some of the biggest hitters in US cable used the opening session of the National
Cable Telecommunications Associations convention to take on their Wall St
critics.
Comcast Corp. president and CEO Brian Roberts, Time Warner chairman and CEO
Richard Parsons and Vulcan Inc. chairman Paul Allen, who owns a controlling
interest in Charter Communications, criticised the gloomy long-term projections
from the investment community that suggest cable is struggling with competition
from satellite and phone companies.
"Wall Street spends a lot of time conjuring up things and stressing over them,"
Parsons said. "What they miss about the cable business is the relationship
with the customer. There's huge inertia in this business that the Street never
gets because they don't understand consumers."
Allen emphasized that the industry's saving grace is a robust digital platform
that can accommodate all manner of innovation in the delivery of video, voice
and data services. "We are by far in the best position to take advantage of
that than any competition," he said.
The executives' sensitivity to their Wall Street image was also in evidence
in the discussion of Comcast's aborted attempt to acquire the Walt Disney.
"One of the big disappointments I had with Disney for us is the pundits wrote
that we've lost faith in cable and that's why we were buying Disney," Roberts
said. "Unfortunately or fortunately, that has nothing to do with what we're
doing. We wanted to get something good for our shareholders and replicate
what Time Warner or Turner had."
Elaborating on the potential for Comcast to add to its content holdings, Roberts
said: "Can we rent those assets or find ways to work with other companies
to get content? I think we can. I think hopefully we'll build those assets,
whether it's stand-alone Comcast or in partnership with others."
Asked if Time Warner had any acquisitions planned, Parsons did not outline
specifics. "We like the businesses we're in," he said. "We particularly like
the cable business. We have an interest in the right time and the right price."
Parsons was equally blunt on the subject of current congressional discussion
pertaining to regulating the cable industry's content or pricing structure.
"I have a big problem with all this potential governmental intervention with
tiering, a la carte pricing, even the sensitive subject of censorship," he
said but added "the market will sort it out«I think at the end of the day,
when you get past the heat of an election season and people go back and soberly
assess, I don't think it's going to be a significant issue."
The assembled panellists also happily reported progress on the industry's
digital products. Roberts touted figures indicating that 60per cent of digital
subscribers were using video-on-demand, with the average home sampling VOD
programming 15 times per month. "People are no longer watching live television
when you give them the ability to control their viewing," Roberts said. "It's
the personalization of television."
And, although they differ in their deployment strategies for telephony, each
operator stressed its importance as a revenue-generator. "Our cable company
will be the first to roll out voice capacity across our entire footprint,"
he said. "I think that product will jump off the shelf."
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US
names rights pirates
The United States has urged dozens of nations to crack down on counterfeiting
of goods such as compact discs and drugs that it said robs U.S. companies of
up to $250 billion each year.
In an annual report, the U.S. Trade Representative's (USTR) office elevated
five countries -- Egypt, South Korea, Kuwait, Pakistan and Turkey -- to its
"priority watch list" for intellectual property theft and lowered Poland to
its regular watch list.
"The economic damage caused by the counterfeiting to the legitimate companies
whose products are counterfeited is enormous. Losses to U.S. industries alone
are estimated at $200 to $250 billion per year," USTR said.
The report identified problems with copyright and patent protections in 52 countries.
Ukraine again was designated a "priority foreign country" -- the worst ranking
-- because of its "repeated failure" to protect U.S. compact discs, DVDs and
computer software from piracy.
The United States will maintain sanctions on $75 million worth of Ukraine's
exports because of the piracy, USTR said. The trade office put China and Paraguay
under "Special 306 monitoring," which means it could immediately impose sanctions
if either country lags in its protection of U.S. intellectual property rights.
Two weeks ago, Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi told the Bush administration that
Beijing was launching a campaign to reduce piracy and counterfeiting. USTR said
it would conduct a review early next year to see if Beijing is following through
on its commitments.
Other trading partners on the priority watch list were Argentina, Bahamas, Brazil,
the European Union, India, Indonesia, Lebanon, Philippines, Russia and Taiwan,
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AOL:
what next?
Despite encouraging words in last weeks Tim Warner results statement, rumours
persist that Time Warner will sell part or all of AOL this year. Apparently
US private equity firms have already approached the company.
According to Media Week, one media banker said Time Warner could allow buyout
firms to purchase 20per cent of the company in order to pay down debt. "There
are a lot of buyout firms that would be willing to do this," he said, naming
large firms such as Thomas H Lee Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co and
Thomas Weisel Partners as potential bidders. He also said another possibility
is that Time Warner could sell 20per cent of AOL in the public markets.
A Time Warner spokesperson said the company was committed to returning AOL to
growth, denied it was selling AOL and declined to comment on whether LBO firms
had approached the media business about the internet property.
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Disney
dissidents: we want jobs
The two dissident investors in Walt Disney who campaigned to oust Michael Eisner
as chairman will nominate an alternate slate of directors next year if the current
board does not "face up to the issues", said former director Stanley Gold.
Although Disney has been forecasting strong earnings growth over the next few
years, Gold said Disney's results will deteriorate because the company has "buildings
full of suits" but is "bankrupt of creative people." Gold and fellow dissident
investor Roy Disney, the nephew of company founder Walt Disney, spearheaded
a drive to oust Eisner after they resigned from the Disney board late last year.
Gold is the chairman of Shamrock Holdings Inc., the U.S. investment arm of Roy
Disney.
Their campaign against Eisner sparked the shareholder protest that flared at
the company's March shareholder meeting, when 45 percent of ballots were withheld
from Eisner's re-election to the board. Eisner was ousted as chairman, but remains
chief executive of Disney.
Gold said he considers Pixar Animation Studios chief Steve Jobs qualified to
take over as CEO from Eisner. "If I had a list, Steve Jobs would be on a short
list of people who could fix this company," Gold said in answer to a question
at a meeting of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers.
Pixar, the pioneering computer animation house founded by Jobs, has been responsible
for creating some of the most successful movies distributed by Disney in recent
years, including "Finding Nemo" and "Toy Story." Pixar in late January ended
talks with Disney to renew their movie distribution deal.
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Interactive
Corp. sales surge but not margins
Barry Diller's Interactive Corp. has boosted Q1 sales, particularly through
travel, but margins have not met expectations as the company invests in new
services and ups marketing spend. Shares fell 3.7per cent.
In the travel division, which includes Expedia and hotels.com, sales grew 41per
cent to $494m and bookings were up over 50per cent. Operating income increased
21per cent to $85m.
For the whole group the Q1 net income was $38m against a loss of $110m last
time, although this was largely attributable to the Gulf War and the costs of
the dispute with Vivendi Universal.
Other divisions also performed well with HSN, the home shopping TV service,
posting sales up 13per cent to $468m and operating income up 53per cent to $28m.
Ticketmaster and dating service match.com were also said to have shown strong
growth.
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BBC:
programme download service
The BBC is launching a pilot project for viewers to download programmes online.
1,000 people will take part, including BBC staff and will be able to choose
from a menu of programmes to download to their hard drives.
Ashley Highfield, BBC Director of New Media, said "If we don't enter this market
then what happened to the music industry could happen to us", referring to widespread
'ripping off' of music labels IPR with copies of music posted on the internet
for download.
Meanwhile, the government had announced that the review into the BBC's digital
services will be carried out by the former C4 Director of Programmes Tim Gardam
and Prof. Patrick Barwise of London Business School.
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Attheraces
down to two runners
BskyB and Arena Leisure have bought out C4's stake in the attheraces consortium.
Their position may be taken up by the racecourses in a deal that could see the
service return to Sky Digital and cable next month.
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More Polish TV joins DISH
Echostar has announced that its DISH Network satellite television services will
add itvn, a Polish network channel, to its international programming schedule.
The addition of itvn's new Polish-language channel created especially for Poles
living abroad continues DISH Network's role in broadcasting international programming
and specifically Polish broadcast television. DISH Network offers more than
60 international channels in more than a dozen languages, including Arabic,
Farsi, Hindi, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese and Russian.
"DISH Network is committed to providing our international customers with the
best value and a wide variety when it comes to international programming," said
Michael Schwimmer, EchoStar's senior vice president of Programming. "The addition
of itvn gives DISH Network customers an even more extensive package offering
of Polish television, including immediate access to Polish news, events and
entertainment."
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