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NEWS Monday November 22nd to Friday November 26th 2004
Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
| Tuesday | |||||
Pierre Danon, CEO of BT Retail, is to leave the company in the New Year to take up the position of Chief Operating Officer at Cap Gemini, a technical consultancy firm headquartered in Paris. Danon has been with the telco since October 2000. Despite the official reason for his departure, the timing has fuelled speculation that a fundamental disagreement with BT CEO Ben Verwaayen over local loop unbundling (LLU) was to blame.
Danon had made it clear that he wanted BT Retail to get involved in LLU. Such a move would reduce costs and allow BT's Internet service provider to offer services such as video-on-demand to compete with rivals such as AOL and Wanadoo.
Any such initiative would significantly hit revenues at BT Wholesale, which charges for residential phone lines for broadband access, it counts BT Retail is its largest customer.
BT has not ruled
out using local loop unbundling, but chairman Sir Christopher has said that
if BT Retail were to stop taking wholesale broadband services it would have
a negative effect on BT Wholesale's plans to spend £10 billion over
four years on a new core network.
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Dutch electronics group Philips has sold its entire holding in Vivendi Universal, the French media group. The company said the sale of three per cent of Vivendi concluded on Wednesday and would provide Philips with proceeds of about E720 million and a non-taxable gain of around E300 million in the fourth quarter.
Philips had already
written down the value of its Vivendi stake by about E1.8 billion to account
for the drop in value since it received the shares in exchange for part of
its holding in the Seagram group in 2000.
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ALL3MEDIA announced the launch of a new TV production company in Germany. The company will be called IdtV Germany and will report in to ALL3MEDIA's Dutch company, IdtV Holland. IdtV Germany aims to become one of the leading independent production companies in the German market. Based in Cologne the company will focus on developing high quality productions in drama, sitcoms, comedy and entertainment.
Current projects
underway at IdtV Germany include sitcoms and factual entertainment for RTL
and SAT1. In the near future, IdtV Germany also plans to adapt, market and
produce formats and TV productions for which ALL3MEDIA and IdtV Holland currently
hold the rights. Many such programmes have been hits in the UK, Holland and
America.
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The heads of the main telecoms and broadcasting companies and organisations are backing the launch of mobile TV, under a push from the industry minister, Patrick Devedjian.
The project comprises a number of actions. One is to set up a technical committee to meet every three months, and for an annual public review of progress. The group aims to lobby the authorities for the conditions to foster mobile TV, including reserving spectrum capacity. It called for the currently vacant DTT multiplex, known as R5, to be handed to mobile TV using DVB-H format with video compressed in MPEG-4. Another call was to initiate a long term (at least six months) trial before the end of 2005, and short-term demonstrations in several cities.
The joint project was signed up to by around fifty players, including TF1, France Televisions, Canal+, Vivendi, Orange, TPS, Eutelsat, Astra, Nokia, Thomson, Sagem and Alcatel amongst others.
However, not all opinions were united. The CSA, called the proposal "an attempted take-over of R5", and pointed out that R5 is only vacant for the time being because the government dropped two of the channels which were to be used by France Televsions, and three channels are set aside for local channels.
While those present
were on the whole favourable to the idea of mobile TV, many observers see
it as another attempt to kill off DTT before it is launched in March 2005.
The public will be wary of buying a decoder while there is doubt over standards.
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Several Regional
Governments in Spain have given the green light for local DTT by calling for
public tenders for digital licences over the coming months.
The Government of Madrid has announced a public tender to award 34 local DTT
channels for a period of five years. Another ten stations will be managed
by local town councils, making a total of 44 local DTT channels in this central
province.
The Regional Administration of Navarra will also grant 20 local DTT channels.
The province, in the north of Spain, has been divided into 5 areas capable
of operating up to 5 multiplexes per area.
In the Baleares Islands, the Government has called a tender to grant up to
28 local DTT channels. All licences will have to be awarded during 2005 so
that the successful licensees can start transmissions in January 2006 in accordance
with the law. The current local DTT legislation has divided Spain into 266
demarcations allowing for more than 1,000 local DTT stations.
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France Telecom and the world's largest chip maker, Intel, have agreed the joint development of new solutions for theDigital Home. The two companies will work together on the evolution of Home Communication Services gateways and wireless home connectivity to increase broadband penetration and image, video, music, photos and game requirements.
The main goal of the alliance is to design, develop and deploy products and services to match a variety of home network architectures and requirements of end users who are increasingly accessing simultaneously several services through different home digital devices, such as the TV, hi-fi, Multimedia PC, fixed and mobile lines and game consoles.
Intel suggests
that the alliance illustrates the natural connection between the two groups
resulting from digital convergence, adding that convergence will take place
through the increasing development of digital entertainment, necessary equipment
interoperability and the desire to offer end users an enriched experience.
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Dutch TV production house Endemol promoted Peter Bazalgette, to the key position of chief creative officer, a job held by founder John de Mol until earlier this year. Bazalgette, who will retain his current position as chairman of Endemol UK, will take up his new role at the beginning of next year.
Endemol's parent, the Spanish telecoms group Telefónica, is seeking to dampen expectations of a E2 billion-plus sale of the production business. Earlier this month Telefónica retained Merrill Lynch, the investment bank, to advise it on future options for Endemol, including a sale.
The TV production
business was bought by the Spanish company for E5.5 billion in 2000 at the
peak of the market.
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Taiwan's largest telecom operator Chunghwa Telecom has entered into a new agreement with digital content providers for strengthening its multimedia-on-demand (MOD) digital TV service.
The company has signed up entertainment-on-demand provider Anytime to offer MOD subscribers with the latest movies from Hollywood film-making companies, earlier than movie channel HBO.
The telecom carrier
wants to expand its MOD customer base to 300,000 households next year from
the current 27,000. The company is planning expansion of its coverage to central
and southern Taiwan in the first quarter of next year.
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Walt Disney Television International Asia Pacific has signed a multi-year deal with STAR Group to distribute Disney Channel and Toon Disney Channel in India. Both channels will be launched on Friday, 17 December 2004.
"The Disney
brand is incredibly strong in India and has a natural resonance with Indian
kids and families. This strong brand affinity makes India a natural market
for us to launch a Disney Channel and also introduce the region's first ever
Toon Disney Channel," said Doug Miller, executive vice president WDTVI-AP."
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PrimaCom creditor Apollo Management, has responded to recent reports that PrimaCom is to sell N.V. Multikabel, its subsidiary in the Netherlands.
"We have been troubled by recent reports suggesting that PrimaCom is considering a sale of its trophy asset, Multikabel, in order to raise capital. This won't solve the problem. The company's capital structure still needs to be fixed," Apollo said in a statement.
In an earlier
statement, Apollo had expressed its deep concern with the continued management
turmoil inside PrimaCom.
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Film studio Sony Pictures has moved to capitalise on the easing of rules on foreign investment in Chinese TV by setting up a digital television production venture in the country. Sony takes a 49 per cent stake in the joint venture, with state-controlled China Film Group holding the remainder.
Huaso Film/Television
Digital Production Company has opened offices in Beijing and has a number
of Chinese-language projects in development, including light entertainment
and sitcom properties, drama series and TV movies, for distribution within
and outside the PRC. This year Sony will produce television programming in
Asia in India, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand and Taiwan.
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Channel 4 is to offer its first mobile games service. The interactive division, 4Interactive, is teaming up with European digital media company Buongiorno to provide the service. Visitors to the broadcaster's website will be able to download Java games such as Spiderman 2, Garfield and Olympio Challenge to play on their mobile phones.
Viewers can choose between a range of five different mobile games, which can be purchased either over the phone or via text at a cost of £4.50 each. In addition, a ‘game of the week' will be selected and reviewed on the website, providing consumers with an inside guide on how to play, along with a user rating.
Andy Taylor,
head of 4Interactive said that Channel 4 viewers had a strong appetite for
online games and that the initiative was "a sensible next step to provide
them with entertainment they can carry with them on their mobiles."
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As digital switchover approaches in the UK, Restricted Television Service licensees have requested that their long term position be clarified. Ofcom has 18 location-based RTS licences in various locations around the UK, for broadcasting on analogue spectrum. All analogue frequencies used for television broadcasting will no longer be available by the end of the digital switchover process.
Until now the RTS licences have been for a period of four years, and then re-advertised. The watchdog intends to vary all the existing RTS licences until a date shortly before the digital switchover timetable begins. The date that Ofcom proposes for this variation is 30 June 2007 . All other terms and conditions of the licences are unchanged.
Ofcom is also
planning to carry out detailed work on the prospects for digital local television
in 2005 following on from the Public Service Television Review. Its aim is
to be able to give RTS licensees more detailed information about such prospects
well in advance of 2007.
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Conditional Access developer Viaccess, a France Telecom company, announces that TPS, one of the largest French pay-TV operators, has chosen Viaccess PC2.5 smart cards to serve its new subscribers.
PC2.5, launched
in June 2003, features crypto-algorithm differentiation that enables the effective
isolation of different operations using the same smart card generation. PC2.5
is today the best system available to combat piracy, the company claims.
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Auctionworld, the troubled shopping channel, has gone into receivership just days after landing a £450,000 (E680,000) fine from Ofcom.
The channel has £14m of debts including liabilities to customers and suppliers. The channel, which employs 300 people, is still on air while the receivers seek a rescuer. But administrator Philip Long of accountants PKF was not optimistic and admitted it was unlikely creditors would be paid.
Launched in 2001
the channel has had a chequered history including several brushes with the
regulator. Last week Ofcom, after multiple customer complaints, imposed the
fine and told the channel to broadcast a confessional statement three times
a day.
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US consultancy
A.T. Kearney says U.S. users alone will spend $30 billion annually on mobile
TV, money that will go to telecoms operators, equipment makers and broadcasters.
"The light goes on when you see it. It is very watchable," said
ATK of live TV demonstrations on phones in South Korea. In a trial in Germany
by Nokia and Vodafone showed 80 percent of people wanted TV on their mobiles
and were willing to pay E12 per month for it. Surveys by rival Sony Ericsson
show interest from up to 40 per cent of users.
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CableLabs announced today that it has approved a recording technology jointly developed by Philips and Hewlett-Packard that enables consumers to make home recordings of certain high-value cable programming. Under the FCC Plug & Play Rules, CableLabs may approve new digital outputs and recording technologies for use in unidirectional Digital Cable Ready (DCR) devices.
The Video Content Protection System (VCPS) allows cable content marked as "copy once" to be burned onto VCPS-enabled DVD+R and DVD+RW optical digital media. The CableLabs approval extends to all DCR products built in compliance with standards and regulations applicable to unidirectional digital cable products, as well as to both unidirectional and bi-directional products built to the OpenCable specifications.
"We're very pleased to add VCPS as an approved recording technology for digital cable-ready retail products," said CableLabs President and CEO Dr. Richard R. Green. "Secure recording technologies like VCPS are essential for home copying, while maintaining the integrity of cable networks to provide high-value programming to customers who purchase retail products for use with cable," Green added.
Under license
agreements with CableLabs, DCR manufacturers may obtain the confidential information
necessary to build products compatible with the cable industry's CableCARDremovable
security modules, and may include secure outputs and recording technologies
as approved by CableLabs and added to the CableLabs agreement. A separate
license from Philips is required for VCPS adopters to obtain the information
and licensing rights needed to implement the recording technology.
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Auna, the Spanish telecommunications group targeted by a E11bn private equity bid, would pay its senior executives two years' salary if the company changed hands, according to Expansion.
The loyalty plan covers about 50 senior executives at Auna and its two subsidiaries - Amena, its mobile arm, and Auna Telecomunicaciones, its fixed-line division. It is unclear whether the plan would affect the sale to a consortium including Apax Partners and CVC Capital of the UK, and US groups Blackstone, Carlyle and Providence.
The plan was
signed only weeks before news about the private equity bid emerged. People
close to the telecoms group described it yesterday as an extension of an older
loyalty scheme.
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A Chinese television channel operator in the province of Shandong is preparing a landmark initial public offering - part of a trial opening of the fast growing TV sector to greater private and foreign investment. The planned domestic listing by Shandong TV-net Media Development is the first approved by media regulators for a venture directly operating television channels, a business traditionally tightly controlled by the state.
Beijing is determined nevertheless to retain control of what Chinese viewers can watch, and channels offering news and current affairs remain off-limits to foreign and private investment.
Shandong TV-net
has the right to run three local TV channels' scheduling, purchasing, production
and advertising. Legal ownership of the channels and responsibility for approving
content remains with its parent, the state-run provincial broadcaster.
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Easy Group is close to clinching a deal with T-Mobile, Deutsche Telekom's mobile division, to launch a low-cost mobile telephone service in the UK.
Apparently T-Mobile and TDC - the Danish telecoms operator that signed a deal in August allowing it to market cut-price services under the Easy brand - have agreed on wholesale tariffs for an EasyMobile service. Negotiations on how widely the EasyMobile brand can be used are still taking place, but a deal is expected to be signed in the next week or two.
Under the agreement
between TDC and T-Mobile, the Danish group will undertake customer relations
such as billing services under the EasyMobile brand, while T-Mobile will carry
the calls over its network.
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Korean electronics giant LG has reported a noticeable jump in shipments of its 3G and other mobile handsets in October. According to company, phone sales were up 68per cent on the same period in 2003, thanks to orders from Hutchison and Orange. The Korean vendor, currently ranked fifth in the world league of phone sellers, believes it will be in the top three within three years.
The recent boom
in sales reflects strong demand for LG's high-end camera phones and 3G terminals.
The company's figures for October saw a 27per cent jump in month-on-month
sales of mobile handsets. In the three month period to the end of September
2004, LG shipped 11.8 million phones, in October alone it managed to sell
5.09 million handsets. At the same time, LG reported that it had increased
the margin on each phone sale to 7per cent, compared to the average of 6.4per
cent in the previous quarter.
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Rainbow Media Enterprises, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation announced that its year-old VOOM satellite service will expand in March of next year from its current 39 high-definition channels to more than 70 high-definition channels covering the full continental U.S.
"The increase in VOOM's HDTV channels from 39 to more than 70 will allow us to continue to provide more high-definition video services than any other cable or satellite provider," said Tom Dolan, CEO of Rainbow Media Enterprises. "Our plan is to simultaneously add nearly 200 standard definition channels."
To facilitate the expansion, the VOOM service will use 16 transponders on the SES Americom AMC-6 satellite, which VOOM refers to as "Rainbow 2," previously leased from SES AMERICOM, a SES GLOBAL company. Dolan explained that all the programming transmitted by both Rainbow 1 and Rainbow 2 will utilize a new encoding system from Harmonic, initially configured to run in MPEG-2 and software upgradeable to MPEG-4.
Adding further
dimension to the company's capacity plans, Rainbow Media disclosed that today
it filed with the Federal Communications Commission a recently completed contract
with Lockheed Martin under which the aerospace company will construct five
Ka-band satellites for VOOM. These high power satellites, the first of which
is to be completed and launched in approximately 34 months, will enable VOOM
to increase its channel capacity to more than 5,000 high definition channels
when operating in spot beam mode. This will enable VOOM to have spot beams
covering the entire United States including Alaska and Hawaii. With these
satellites, VOOM will be operating with virtually no capacity constraints.
These satellites will be operated at the company's orbital locations at 62W,
71W, 77W, 119W and 129W.
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Comcast will raise cable rates in January
Comcast Corp. has moved to raise New England cable television rates by an average 5.9 per cent starting in January.
Comcast, which now controls cable systems formerly operated by a half-dozen different operators, is moving toward standardising rates in the more than 350 New England communities where it provides cable TV. The average monthly price for standard cable service will rise to $45.95 from $43.39, excluding whatever franchise fee the local government charges.
Meanwhile, Los
Angeles officials announced they have settled a dispute with Adelphia Communications
Corp. that will freeze most cable rates until July, reduce the cost of the
least expensive monthly service to $12 and cut an infrastructure surcharge
over the next 12 years by nearly $68 million. The new $12 monthly basic package
will provide 38 channels for at least 24 months. Currently, the least-expensive
cable package in Adelphia's West L.A. area is $31.10 and includes 57 channels.
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RADCOM, a network test and service monitoring solutions provider and Comarco, a provider of wireless test solutions, announced a partnership agreement. The collaboration will allow development of a next-generation testing solution that integrates both companies' core technologies for service monitoring of 2.5G and 3G networks including GPRS, UMTS and CDMA2000.
"As competition
amongst service providers worldwide grows, the demand for quality of service
test and optimisation solutions increases," said Greg Maton, Senior Vice
President of Comarco. "We are certain that with RADCOM's technological
advantages, this next-generation testing tool will be a powerful solution,
offering service providers and vendors an array of benefits."
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Thomson is to invest in ContentGuard, according to a reports the French technology group is taking a 33 per cent voting stake and will acquire a global licence to use the digital rights management group's patents. As part of the deal, it will name two of ContentGuard's six directors.
The move has the added benefit of probably allaying the European Commissions concerns over the previous ownership structure: Microsoft and Time Warner took control of the company in April, buying out founder Xerox. The acquisition has had problems with the European Commission, which was concerned that the takeover could leave Microsoft in a key position to influence the development of the digital media and entertainment businesses. Earlier this month the EC formally objected to the deal.
The Thomson deal will reduce Microsoft's stake in ContentGuard from 50 per cent to one-third. Time Warner and Microsoft said they hoped the Commission would see the Thomson deal as a positive move but stressed that the investigation had not been the main driver of the transaction. The companies said, they were keen to tap into Thomson's skills at licensing intellectual property to help increase the acceptance of ContentGuard's technology among media companies and consumer electronics manufacturers.
Thomson has access
to more than 30,000 patents, including licences for MP3, the technology used
for playing digital music. Financial terms of the Thomson transaction were
not disclosed but the company said its investment was on a par with the other
partners. Microsoft and Time Warner have not disclosed how much they paid
for stakes in the company in April but Xerox reported a gain of $83m from
the sale.
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China is planning to launch a satellite for broadcasting in the first half of 2006, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television announced. The satellite is expected to provide service to 260 million Chinese families, Zhang Haitao, vice-minister of the administration was reported as saying at the 21st Century Broadcast Media Summit.
China has about
360 million households - 100 million of which now receive cable TV programmes.
The rest will be a potential audience for DTH. China will have to adjust its
policy and and regulations in in order to start satellite broadcasting Zhang
added. Currently individuals are forbidden to receive satellite TV programmes
by their own satellite receivers.
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DVR vendor TiVo posted a wider quarterly net loss, as it boosted spending to achieve a sharp increase in new subscribers to its fee-based TV service. TiVo reported a loss of $26.4 million, against $7.4 million in the year-ago quarter. Net revenue slipped to $38.3 million for the period ended October 31 from $43.3 million, due to rebates and other costs.
Service and technology
revenues - or revenue from TiVo's service but not from the boxes it sells
- rose to $28.4 million from $22.7 million. Net revenue also included $27.9
million in hardware sales, but $17.9 million was subtracted due to rebates
and revenue share agreements, mostly with DirecTV.
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Global media solutions provider BT has teamed up with digital rights management specialist Blueprint to launch a new service for hosting, managing and distributing music online. The partners aim to develop the market with a new service using Blueprint's 'Open Royalty Gateway' and 'Song Centre' software.
They hope the new service will substantially accelerate the growth of the market to benefit artists, record companies retailers and consumer alike. Blueprint will provide the software framework and industry interface, with BT utilising its digital content hosting platform and international network to deliver global reach.
Rights holders will be able to host their songs, videos, ringtones and other digital media files, while allowing direct commercial relationships with retailers to drive product offerings to the consumer. Content can be delivered directly to any number of media-enabled devices, including PCs, digital audio players and mobile phones. The service has already been used successfully for Robbie Williams' recent Number 1 hit single 'Radio' with Australia and New Zealand's leading music retailers, Sanity and Sounds.
Simon Orme, director
of sales and business development at BT Broadcast Services, highlighted the
reduction in time the BT solution took to bring music, videos and ringtones
to market. "Offering a central, global hosting service also avoids replicate
investment in IT and storage facilities in the supply chain, and allows for
more effective negotiation between retailers and rights holders, " he
explained. "We are offering a better, cheaper, more attractive way forward
that we believe will act as the catalyst for the establishment of a thriving
digital marketplace for music,' adding that it was vital that there be one
dedicated location to host such services.
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UBC MEDIA, the radio group, is planning to launch a digital radio music download service early next year in direct competition with Apple's iTunes and Vodafone's third-generation service, the times reported.
The idea is that listeners will be able to download tunes promoted by local radio stations for a fee of about 99p. The service requires a specially designed £150 (E210) radio, the Pocket DAB 2000, which will not be ready until after Christmas.
Simon Cole, chief
executive, said: "We paid about £130,000 for the licences that
allow us to do this. Unlike the mobile phone operators, who paid billions
for third-generation licences, we think it will be easy for us to make money."
UBC hopes to reach an agreement with artists and record labels that will give
it about 30 per cent of the total download fee. A small cut would go to the
owner of the radio station, leaving the music company with the rest.
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The US Congress has reportedly passed a three year ban on internet taxes. State and local governments cannot put tax on internet connections - whether they are dial-up access or DSL access.
The only exception
is in states which introduced taxes before the original ban was put in place
in 1998. One exception is Wisconsin, which has two years to remove its internet
tax. The law replaces a three-year moratorium on net taxes which was in place
until last year. It covers not only internet access but also treats internet
purchases differently to "real world" purchases.
The law does not cover new technologies like Voice over Internet Protocol.
But local states won't be able to tax VoIP phone calls because the Federal
Communications Commission ruled that only central government.
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After kids and lifestyle programming, Indian broadcasting industry is heading towards a new battle in the business news segment.
Zee, which operates a 24-hour Hindi news channel Zee News, has announced its plans of launching a Hindi business channel on November 30. "The channel, Zee Business, will be positioned as a personal finance channel. It will offer business news in a clutter-free style and in an easy-to-understand language. Zee Business will be highly aggressive on the stock markets, commodity markets and in reporting business news. There are also programs for setting up small businesses and on cutting edge technologies. Then there are news bulletins on sports, foreign affairs and the top news of the day," says a company statement.
The new channel will be owned and managed by a new company, Zee News Limited. Television Eighteen (TV18), which is a joint partner in CNBC TV18, is expected to launch its new Hindi business channel in December.
Other new players
will be New Delhi Television Limited (NDTV), which is planning to launch its
channel in 2005. The broadcaster currently operates two news channels (NDTV
India in Hindi) and (NDTV 24x7 in English).
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Petra Mateos-Aparicio
has been appointed as the new president of Spanish satellite operator Hispasat,
replacing Pedro Martín Marin who left his post three months ago.
Doctor of Economics, Mateos-Aparicio will have to face a share reshuffle in
the company as three of its stakeholders have plans to pull out: Telefonica
(13.23 per cent), Auna (17.64 per cent) and bank BBVA (10.75 per cent).
Broadcasting agency Abertis is the most likely candidate to become a new partner.
Hispasat's leading shareholder Eutelsat (27.69 per cent) is also likely to
strengthen its position in the company.
Currently, Hispasat is operating four satellites (103 transponders) covering
the Iberian Peninsula, the Mediterranean basin, the north of Africa and the
whole American continent. Hispasat declared a net profit of E 6.4 million
in 2003 with total revenues of E 92.98 million and an EBITDA of E 73.38 million.
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Time Warner Cable and Cablevision reached a last-minute pact to keep two regional sports networks on the air, avoiding a shutdown like the one that froze out millions of New York sports fans earlier this year.
The deal doesn't
solve the dispute over money and the position of Cablevision's Metro Channel.
But it does give both companies until January 20 to hammer out an agreement.
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Conax, has signed an agreement with MiTV Corporation (MiTV) for delivering Conax CAstream to their digital broadcasting over Internet Protocol (IP) operation in Malaysia.
MiTV has created a cost-effective product, using a combination of Internet, transmission technologies and infrastructures (IP/UHF), to address the ever-increasing media demands of a wider cross section of the Malaysian market. This combination of technologies is unique to Malaysia, the company explained.
MiTV will use
the Conax CAstream system and smart cards for their service.
The platform will also be prepared for Virtual Video-On-Demand (VVOD). VVOD
implies that MiTV can automatically download blocks of films to large number
of STB's with hard drive during off-peak hours, saving broadband capacity.
The TV consumers can browse a catalogue over the movies currently available
on the STB hard disc, and choose to view the preferred movie.
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Fox Sports has signed a $320 million deal to broadcast college football's Bowl Championship Series, adding another major sporting event to a lineup that already includes the Super Bowl and World Series.
The four-year
deal gives Fox exclusive rights to the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, the FedEx Orange
Bowl and Nokia Sugar Bowl from 2007 to 2010, along with the BCS National Championship
Game from 2007 through 2009. Although the terms were not disclosed, a source
close to the deal said it was worth about $320 million.
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SES Astra and Spanish broadband operator Neo-Sky, have reached an agreement to launch broadband Internet services via satellite. The new internet access, aimed mainly at Spanish areas that do not have ADSL, will offer download speeds of between 256 kbps and 768 kbps, and a return channel through the telephone line.
The service will
also offer more than 130 digital television channels through the computer,
broadcast free-to-air via the ASTRA satellite system at 19.2° East.
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ntl provides fifth satellite multiplex for ITV
ntl's Broadcast
division has been awarded contracts to uplink signals to a fourth and fifth
satellite transponder for ITV. Currently three transponders provide ITV's
digital satellite services from an ntl uplink which opened in November 2001.
The fourth multiplex is due to go live during November 2004 with the fifth
due next March; they will enable further regional variants of ITV1 and additional
interactive applications.
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The owners of UK's Channel Five, RTL and United Business Media are believed to be considering a merger of Britain's terrestrial channel with Flextech, the content operation that is part of cable company Telewest.
The move follows the collapse of merger talks between Five and Channel 4 last week. Over the weekend speculation was rife that Channel 4 is now looking for a collaboration deal with the BBC.
According to press reports Channel 4 is hoping the BBC will pay the lion's share of the cost of upgrading the TV transmission network to digital in time for the switch-off of the analogue signal in 2012. Channel 4 fears it will lose about £100 million (E140 million) in advertising revenues by the time the analogue signal has been switched off in 2012. CEO Andy Duncan, is this week expected to call for public funding for Channel 4, the first time it has asked for public money since it was started 24 years ago.
Five, meanwhile, is looking to expand its channels to compete with a merged ITV as well as Sky. A deal with Flextech would bring a much needed boost in content.
Weekend reports
suggested RTL and fellow Five shareholder United Business Media are planning
a meeting with WR Huff Asset Management, the US-based stakeholder in Telewest
about a deal.
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ITV agreed a two-month extension to its programme encryption contract with BSkyB as talks over a full contract renewal became deadlocked. ITV is demanding a big cut in its £17 million (E 25.5 million) per-annum contract to encrypt ITV1 and ITV2.
Recently launched
ITV3 is already broadcast as an unencrypted channel, an option ITV could pursue
for ITV1 and ITV2, though it would have to agree that first with movie studio
and sports content providers since its programmes could be seen in Ireland
and Holland.
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Bell Canada, Canada's largest telephone company, has won approval from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to deliver television over phone lines.
The regulatory approval gives Bell broadcast licences to serve 11 urban centres in Ontario and Quebec, including Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City.
The decision opens the field for a full-scale battle with cable operators for control of the converged communication line into Ontario and Quebec homes. The nation's phone carriers and cable operators are racing to bring new technology to market that will let each compete in the other's backyard.
All the major cable companies have outlined plans to begin offering phone service over high-speed Internet connections by next year, while the telecom players are fine-tuning ways to deliver video service over their phone lines. Each industry is hoping to lock up customers by offering them bundled services at a discount that include phone, TV, Internet and even wireless in one package.
Bell plans to send TV programming down the same fibre and copper lines it uses to offer Internet service to residences. Bell already operates Sympatico, the biggest Internet service provider and Telesat Canada, an affiliate of Bell's, is the country's only satellite carrier.
The CRTC stated that satellite television services, including Bell's ExpressVu, do not provide a sufficient competitive alternative to cable company offerings and concluded that granting Bell the licences will improve competition.
Bell expects
to launch its service within two years. When it applied for the licences,
it said that the service would cost $676 million, and that the service would
be competitive with cable at about $23 a month.
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Satellite companies in the US would be able to retransmit broadcasters' television signals for another five years but would have to offer those signals on a single dish, under legislation approved by Congress on Saturday.
The legislation, the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act means operators would have 18 months to phase out a two-dish solution for reception for sets of local stations. EchoStar said it was disappointed "that the bill inappropriately singles out EchoStar for unfair treatment with respect to channel positioning." "The bill gives EchoStar only 18 months to eliminate its two-dish solution while at the same time forcing us to wait up to three years to provide distant digital signals. However, EchoStar will work with local broadcasters, Congress and the Federal Communications Commission to meet this tight deadline and to minimise the impact on consumers."
In addition to
the two-dish issue, the legislation includes a provision allowing satellite
TV to deliver "significantly viewed" stations to consumers who live
outside the station's home market. The bill also allows for the creation of
a "digital white area," which will allow satellite TV companies
to deliver distant broadcast digital and HDTV signals to consumers who cannot
receive a local digital TV signal.
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US Federal Regulators presented a report to the Congress stating that letting cable TV subscribers pay for only the channels they want won't reduce the cost for most. Consumer groups, which support the so-called 'a la carte' pricing option, allowing people to pick individual channels rather than paying for bundled packages of channels, immediately attacked the study as flawed, according to the local press.
The analysis by the FCC staff found the average cable household watches about 17 channels, including over-the-air broadcast stations. If a subscriber purchased that many channels under a pick-and-choose system the consumer would likely face a monthly rate increase of up to 30 per cent.
According to
the report, such a system would drive up cable companies' costs for equipment,
customer service and marketing that would almost certainly be passed on to
subscribers.
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"Any of
the services that are developed by Vodafone will be made available to BT,"
Andrews said and added: "So you can expect to see us launching 3G within
2005." The company will also trial the next generation of wi-fi technology,
known as WiMax, next year as it seeks to increase the availability of high-speed
internet access. But Andrews said BT had yet to decide whether to offer a
consumer 3G option. Vodafone has launched its 3G offering in the UK, while
Orange and T-Mobile will also have handsets in stores for Christmas. MmO2
has decided to hold off until next year.
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In a series of three approvals by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission at the end of last week, CHUM, Toronto, took control of all shares of Craig Media. Craig's Toronto One assets were reorganised into a subsidiary called Newco; and Newco shares were sold to Quebecor's TVA Group and Sun Media.
Craig's shares went to CHUM for E170,000,000 (Cdn$265 million); Toronto One (Newco) went to TVA and Sun Media for €29.5 million (Cdn$46 million).
As part of the sales of Craig assets to CHUM, CHUM had agreed to the sale of Toronto One, since CHUM was already operating a traditional television station in the Toronto market. Craig had agreed to transfer the assets of Toronto One into Newco upon receiving CRTC approval for the CHUM transaction but prior to Craig being actually acquired by CHUM.
In addition to the Toronto One properties and Hamilton transmitters, Craig held several stations and rebroadcast transmitters in Alberta and Manitoba. It also held the licences for MTV Canada, MTV2, TV Land, and Stampede. (Stampede is not yet in operation.)
Craig's decision to sell was brought on by weak financial results at its western Canada stations and greater losses than expected at Toronto One.
The purchase
by TVA gives that group, operator of Canada's strongest private French-language
network a solid foothold in Canada's largest English-language TV market.
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Hutchison Whampoa Chairman Li Ka-shing has projected a sound performance for its third-generation (3G) mobile business in 2005, despite several newcomers preparing to enter the crowded market from early 2005. Li Ka-shing said the the 3G arm is projected to break even on a cash flow basis next year. Hutchison Whampoa launched its 3G service last year.
“Our 3G business is on track and will achieve EBITDA breakeven next year. In the cellular business, 3G is a special case...Those people who say that we will face pressure because of 3G do not understand the business. I am especially confident about the coming year,” said Li.
Li's optimism follows the recent reports that Hutchison Telecommunications International (HTIL), the group's newly listed telecommunications arm, has slashed salaries and sacked workers to trim costs as its loss-making 3G operations, according to local media. HTIL is also said to have outsourced its network maintenance operations to Japan's NEC, a key equipment supplier for Hutchison's 3G mobile network, in a bid to lower operating costs.
Recently, Sunday Communications, Hong Kong-based smallest mobile-phone carrier, reportedly increased its equipment supply contract with mainland strategic investor Huawei Technologies by 41 per cent with a view to launching a third-generation (3G) service in the first half of next year.
Huawei Technologies,
China's largest telecommunications equipment vendor, holds an 8.02 per cent
stake in Sunday, which is believed to be in the final stage of testing its
3G network and could launch the service as early as May, an industry source
said. SmarTone Telecommunications plans to start 3G services before Christmas,
while CSL is also preparing to enter the market.
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UK media watchdog Ofcom has launched an investigation into the contracts signed by customers of Vodafone after a complaint from trading standards officers.
Leicestershire
County Council believes the notoriously long and complex contracts could breach
regulations under the Enterprise Act which are designed to ensure that consumer
contracts are fair.
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Alcatel has been selected by Telefónica Móviles to deploy and integrate a video gateway solution into the operator's 3G/UMTS network in Spain that will enable the operator to launch new video services.
Alcatel's video
gateway solution opens the way to a range of new real-time end-user services,
such as video calls between 3G mobile handsets and a fixed PCs, person-to-machine
video applications like mobile telesurveillance (including 'nanny cam') or
video mailboxes, and future applications to be defined and explored in further
stages, the company explained.
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Mel Karmazin, the former president of Viacom, is joining Sirius Satellite Radio as CEO, replacing Joseph Clayton, who is staying on as chairman.
Karmazin left Viacom in June after four years of tension with Viacom's CEO Sumner Redstone. The announcement comes just one month after Sirius snagged another big-time media name: radio shock jock Howard Stern, who worked for Karmazin for many years at Infinity Broadcasting, which is now a division of Viacom.
In joining Sirius,
Karmazin will return to his roots in the radio business, where he worked his
way up from the bottom.
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Disney 4Q Earnings Rise to $516 Million
Strong results from its cable channels and ABC Television network drove higher revenue and profits at Walt Disney in the fourth quarter, overcoming a steep drop in profits at its film studio.
The media conglomerate reported net income of $516 million, in the quarter ended September 30, compared to income of $415 million, in the same quarter last year.
Revenue increased to $7.54 billion, compared to $7.01 billion last year. Fourth quarter profits were helped by the one-time resolution of tax matters, which added 6 cents per share to earnings, compared to 3 cents per share for similar tax matters in the same quarter last year, the company said.
Results were led by advertising and subscription gains at Disney's Media Networks division, which includes ABC as well as cable channels ESPN, the Disney Channel and the ABC Family Channel.
Operating income fell 89 per cent in the quarter at its studio on the failure of several films, including "Mr. 3000." Last year during the quarter, the studio was enjoying the success of "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Finding Nemo."
For the full
year, Disney reported earnings of $2.345 billion, compared to $1.267 billion
last year. Full year earnings per share rose 80 per cent. Disney had been
promising investors an increase of more than 50 per cent for the year as well
as double-digit growth through 2007.
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Virgin Mobile, the mobile phone company majority owned by Sir Richard Branson, is said to be planning to launch its own 3G service next year.
Virgin, which announced its first results since coming to the market in the summer, has been experimenting with the new technology for several months.
Under its network deal with T-Mobile, it is allowed to offer 3G services and intends to have a full range of products in time for next Christmas. Tom Alexander, the chief executive, said the company, intends to revamp its successful Bites suite of data services - spanning news, information, gossip and games - to produce Virgin Bites with 3G.
Earlier this
month Vodafone unveiled its consumer 3G service - Vodafone Live with 3G -
and plans to have a range of handsets in stores before Christmas. While its
rival mmO2 has decided to hold off until next year, Orange and T-Mobile will
have some 3G handsets in British stores in time for Christmas.
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Channel 4 to ask for public cash
UK's Channel
4 is set to call for public funding to support advertising revenues likely
to be eroded by the proliferation of rival television channels. The broadcaster's
case for the public funding will be included in its submission to the media
regulator Ofcom's review of public service broadcasting. The move, which comes
after the broadcaster decided not to merge with Five, marks a switch from
Channel 4's preference for market-based solutions.
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Hathway
launches digital cable service in Mumbai and Delhi
From Shveta Malik in New Delhi
Mumbai-based Hathway Cable and Datacom, which has a strategic alliance with Star India, has launched its digital cable services in Mumbai and Delhi.
The service offers features like DVD-quality pictures, stereo sound, over a 100 channels, electronic program guide and parental lock. Existing analogue services were capable of providing only 70-80 channels.
Hathway is providing the service in Delhi in partnership with telecommunication company Bharti. In the cable TV segment, the company has a presence in 10 cities across the nation - Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Nashik, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Vijaywada.
The service is available for a US$68.5 deposit, for which users get a set-top box, smart card and remote control. The monthly cable TV charges will remain unchanged.
Jayant Changrani,
head of commercial operations and vice-president, network and ISP Hathway,
Mumbai, "The service will be available in Mumbai alone and then it will
be launched in a phases in other cities in the country in the coming weeks."
The company is planning to introduce its Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP)
telephony soon. Hathway recently launched its new broadband package Silver
Super Rush offering high speed Internet up to 512 Kbps through cable for just
US$11 per month.
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UMTS Forum urges India to align 3G with the world
In order to realise fully benefits of 3G/IMT-2000 networks and services, industry body The UMTS Forum has urged India to align its mobile spectrum allocations with the internationally harmonised WARC-92 band plan.
Many UMTS Forum Member organisations - including global vendors - are increasingly concerned about moves to find a separate band plan allocation in India outside of the WARC-92 band (1920-1980 MHz/2110-2170 MHz). This WARC-92 band is internationally harmonised for all 3G/IMT-2000 technologies and today offers a global spectrum for all 3G/IMT-2000 technologies including UMTS/WCDMA and CDMA2000.
In identifying the WARC-92 band for 3G/IMT-2000 back in 1992, the ITU - the United Nation's International Telecommunications Union - realised the importance of long-term stability in spectrum policy. Through economies of scale, globally harmonised spectrum will make a major contribution to connecting the unconnected.
The Telecom Regulatory
Authority of India (TRAI) is currently considering proposals to release spectrum
in the PCS-1900 band (1850-1910 MHz paired with 1930-1990 MHz), which directly
overlaps and clashes with the ITU-R identified WARC-92 band, identified globally
for 3G services.
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