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NEWS Monday October 18th to Friday October 22nd 2004
Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
| Tuesday | |||||
Continues from first page.......
In a bid to improve
its multimedia broadband services, C-COR Inc, a global provider of communications
systems and services, is acquiring privately held on-demand media and digital
advertising systems provider nCUBE Corporation.
The $89.5 million deal follows four other acquisitions completed by C-COR
during 2004 as part of its strategic plan to aggregate essential enabling
capabilities required by the next generation of Internet Protocol (IP) broadband
and telecommunications networks.
C-COR anticipates that, in the twelve months following closing, the nCUBE
acquisition would add approximately $50 million in net sales and contribute
to earnings after the integration is completed, which is expected by the end
of C-COR's fiscal year 2005. With the completion of the purchase, nCUBE will
be integrated with C-COR's current software business unit, and Michael J.
Pohl, currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of nCUBE, will become
President of the unit.
According to David Woodle, Chairman and CEO of C-COR, the company is fully
prepared to deliver integrated, application-oriented IP solutions for efficiently
deploying revenue-generating services, such as On Demand, VoIP, and high-speed
data. "Early this year C-COR announced its strategic goal of expediting
the acquisition of the technologies and business solutions that will drive
the delivery of IP voice, video, and data over increasingly complex broadband
and telecommunications networks, not only today but well into the future,"
stated Woodle.
"With the acquisition of nCUBE and its expertise in the delivery and
management of content, we have certainly met our goal," he added. "We
are ready to enable any broadband network or telecommunications operator to
deliver On Demand services. And we can easily extend our deep expertise beyond
current HFC infrastructures to the rapidly emerging all-digital IP networks."
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The French State Council has published its decision following a complaint filed by TF1 earlier this year (see Advanced Television archives two weeks ago). It plans to cancel six DTT licences that the CSA had awarded to the Canal+ and Lagardere groups . The channels concerned are i-MCM (music), Canal J (children), Sports+ (sports news), i-Tele (news), Cine-Cinema Premier and Planete. However, the State Council decision does not affect the DTT simulcast of the Canal+ premium channel, because simulcasts of existing analogue channels have priority and do not need to go through the call for proposals process. This decision reflects the conclusions of the government commissioner.
The CSA held an exceptional plenary session on early on October 21 to discuss the issue. It decided to undertake a public consultation, to begin immediately. It will then analyse the comments and hopes to issue its conclusions by December 1st. It may then issue a new call for proposals for the six vacated slots.
This process should have little affect on the launch of free DTT, as only one of the six channels is free. Free DTT is set to launch in March 2005 with 14 channels; launching with one less should pose no problem. However, the launching date of the pay channels, scheduled for September 2005, could be put back slightly.
"The CSA is determined to make this project work", stated CSA Chairman Dominique Baudis at the monthly press briefing, which had been put back to Thursday to await the State Council decision. Dominant analogue terrestrial broadcaster TF1 has been pulling out all the stops to try to undermine the launch of DTT in France. Its other line of attack has been to call for DTT to be used for HDTV and to use MPEG4 instead of MPEG2.
Baudis also disclosed
that the CSA had received a reply from the Prime Minister to its letter about
the choice of standards (MPEG2 or MPEG4) and they have spoken on the phone.
The PM agreed to give the CSA an audience, probably in the first few days
of November.
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Texas Instruments
is developing development what is claimed as the wireless industry's first
digital TV on a single chip for cell phones. Code-named 'Hollywood', the chip
will receive live digital TV broadcasts using new television infrastructure
that is being developed for cell phones.
The new chip builds on TI's current capabilities in the converging wireless
and consumer electronics markets, including high-quality streamed video content
on 2.5G and 3G handsets via its 'OMAP' multimedia processors. This complements
TI's current suite of consumer device technology, including its DLP technology
and its signal processing and analogue technology for such products as digital
still cameras, audio players, and digital radio.
"TI's new 'Hollywood' digital TV chip will combine the two biggest consumer
electronics inventions of our time – the television and the cell phone,"
commented Gilles Delfassy, TI Senior Vice President and General Manager for
TI's Wireless Terminals Business Unit. "One by one, the industry's most
exciting consumer electronics are being integrated into wireless handsets,
allowing consumers to get their news and entertainment whenever and wherever
they want. With this new chip on the cell phone, users will enjoy digital,
high-quality TV in real-time."
In terms of broadcast standards, TI believes that the most prevalent will
be those that are open and non-proprietary, including Digital Video Broadcasting
- Handheld (DVB-H), developed for Europe and expected to extend to North America,
and the Japanese specification, Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting –
Terrestrial (ISDB-T). 'Hollywood' will support both DVB-H and ISDB-T.
TI expects to provide samples to customers in 2006. The offering will also
include all necessary software for television signal processing. The associated
'Hollywood' plus OMAP processor-based development platform will allow handset
manufacturers to create customised user interfaces, enhancing the consumer
experience. This is expected to enable manufacturers to launch products in
conjunction with the first mobile digital TV infrastructure mass deployments
in 2007. Field trials are currently underway in several regions, including
the US.
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Singapore's monopoly cable TV operator StarHub has decided to raise the prices of its pay-TV packages by 17 per cent. The new rates will be applicable from November 3.
With the increase, subscribers to its package containing sports channels like ESPN and Star Sports, which broadcast live English Premier League matches, will have to pay US$21.4 a month, up from US$18.3 currently.
StarHub said that the rate adjustment was "inevitable as the costs of sports programmes have skyrocketed in recent years." No details pertaining to the higher cost of packages excluding sports channels were disclosed.
Earlier this year, ESPN and Star Sports threatened to stop the live broadcast of English Premier League in Singapore, due to a disagreement with StarHub over pricing. The dispute was eventually resolved although neither party gave details of the settlement.
StarHub has over
393,000 cable TV subscribers, equivalent to around one-third of Singapore
households. The company also sells broadband Internet and mobile and fixed-line
services to Singapore's 4 million inhabitants. According to analysts, StarHub's
capital-intensive cable-TV business isn't generating enough revenue to be
profitable, placing more pressure on its profitable mobile-phone business
to deliver revenue growth in a saturated market.
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French ISP Free (Iliad group) has unveiled its ultra high speed (15 MB/s) ADSL service. It will be rolled out from December, much earlier than any of its competitors, to existing subscribers who have the latest version of the 'Freebox' terminal, version 4, which Free began to distribute at the end of this summer.
The boxes will
have their software updated on line as the new versions of the ADSL equipment
is installed in the exchanges. It is estimated that some 80,000 subscribers
are concerned with this first phase. The remaining subscribers will get access
to the service progressively. Like the existing Free ADSL service, subscribers
also have unlimited telephone calls via an in-built VOIP interface, plus around
100 digital TV channels. There is no price change from the current E30 a month,
anticipated to be considerably lower than those of competing services when
they roll out.
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Intelsat shareholders have approved the proposed acquisition of the company by Zeus Holdings Limited.
On August 16, 2004, Intelsat entered into a transaction agreement with Zeus by which Zeus Holdings will acquire 100 per cent of Intelsat for a total cash consideration of approximately $3 billion, or $18.75 per ordinary share, plus the assumption of nearly $2 billion in existing debt.
Zeus Holdings is a Bermuda company formed by investors advised by Apax Partners Worldwide, LLP and Apax Partners, Apollo Management V, MDP Global Investors Limited and Permira Advisers LLC.
Intelsat, CEO Conny Kullman said that the transaction represented "a strong proposition and attractive valuation for our shareholders who, upon closing, will receive cash in exchange for their shares. This is a major milestone and we are pleased with our progress on the transaction to date. We look forward to obtaining the required regulatory approvals and meeting the other conditions to closing in an expeditious manner."
Meanwhile, Telenor announced the sale of its four per cent share in Intelsat for $129 million. The sale will give the telco a book profit of approximately $62 million. Telenor has approximately 6.9 million shares in the satellite operator. The settlement for the shares will be in cash, and is expected to be concluded around year-end 2004.
"We made
an important choice in 2001 when we continued as shareholders after Intelsat
was privatised (and turned into a private limited company). We are now rewarded
for this strategy. Even though we are selling our shares in Intelsat, Telenor
will still be a part owner of the new Intelsat 10-02 satellite, which was
launched in June. We will continue to develop the strong industrial co-operation
with Intelsat, encompassing operations and joint ownership of satellites,
independently of the change of ownership in the company", noted Stig
Eide Sivertsen, Managing Director of Telenor Broadcast Holding.
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KDMC is a consortium made up of 44 independent cable television system operators (SOs), serving 4.0 million combined subscribers, the largest number of cable subscribers in Korea.
KDMC plans to
offer SVOD trial service this calendar year, with system-wide commercial deployment
scheduled for the first half of calendar year 2005.
SBC
and Alcatel sign $1.7bl IPTV deal
US telecommunications group SBC Communications has selected Alcatel as the
primary contractor for its planned nation-wide fibre optic network. The five-year
deal is worth about $1.7bn.
Alcatel will be SBC's primary supplier of network infrastructure including
access and fibre technologies, IP routing and Ethernet switching solutions,
and network systems integration services.
Additionally,
Alcatel will work with SBC to ensure seamless video systems integration. This
agreement is a key enabler for SBC's Project Lightspeed initiative, which
will deliver integrated IP Television, ultra-high-speed, user centric broadband
services, IP voice and wireless bundles of products to 18 million households
by year-end 2007.
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The Italian Minister of Communications, Maurizio Gasparri, revealed that the privatisation of public broadcaster RAI will start next spring.
"We are trying to keep all our promises. In spring 2005 we will begin to privatise RAI, as set by law 112. The formal procedures are being completed. It will be a history-making transaction", said Gasparri, during a presentation of the new digital channel Rai Utile. "The Economy Ministry can send the letter to investment banks, for the appointment of advisors, any time, and I think they're about to do it".
The Italian government
is currently looking for a bank to handle the privatisation. Initially, 20
per cent of RAI will be available for sale on the stock market. The move requires
a change in the media law, which is expected to be passed in April 2005. There
are fears that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will use the privatisation
of RAI to gain an even firmer grip on control of the major Italian media.
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Alcatel and Japan's Fujitsu announced the joint launch and operation of a live HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) demonstration system in France. This system, which was developed by Fujitsu based on technical specifications provided by NTT DoCoMo, is located at Alcatel's 3G Reality Centre (3GRC) in Vélizy, France.
By introducing greater capacity and higher data speeds of up to 14Mbps into existing W-CDMA networks, HSDPA promises enhanced quality of service (QoS) and cost/performance advantages for operators and subscribers alike.
"Positioned
correctly, HSDPA will further improve the success of 3G, delivering increased
capability necessary to accommodate the market uptake of high-speed mobile
applications such as content downloads," observed mobile infrastructure
analyst Jason Chapman.
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Shipments of digital satellite enabled set-top boxes will continue to grow worldwide through 2008, fuelled by increasing demand for 'free-to-air' (FTA) boxes, according to a new report.
The report's author, In-Stat/MDR, said the popularity of FTA boxes will carry overall shipments of set-top boxes to 65 million this year and to 71 million units by 2008.
"The growth in free-to-air set-top boxes has to do with the pricing of the boxes coming down and becoming more affordable for more homes, especially in Asia, Africa and the Middle East," commented In-Stat/MDR Senior Analyst Michelle Abraham. Falling component prices have led to price drops.
Shipments of FTA boxes will outpace those of pay-TV boxes this year, the survey said, hitting 36 million units, compared with 29 million. FTA boxes also outsold other variants in 2003.
FTA boxes aside,
overall growth in shipments of all digital satellite receivers is also being
driven by other factors, including a rise in the number of boxes per household
in North America, users swapping out their set-top boxes in Europe following
technology consolidation, and new satellite services in India, the survey
said. In addition, improved video compression will have an effect, and lower
component prices are bringing down the cost of pay-TV boxes as well.
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Cogeco Cable posted a significant increase in its major performance indicators, helping Cogeco Inc.'s fiscal bottom line for 2004.
Cogeco Cable recorded better performance in terms of acquiring and retaining customers, with a 28 per cent and 19 per cent increase in its digital and Internet customers, respectively, as well as the first gain in basic-service customers since 1998. Fiscal 2004 showed a rise of about 3,200 customers compared with recent fiscal years in which the company reported losses in basic-service customers.
However, while its high-speed Internet service continued to post excellent results, there are signs of market maturity, particularly in Ontario, says Louis Audet, President and CEO. To stimulate demand in the more mature Ontario market, Cogeco Cable has started offering a Lite service since last July on an acquisition basis to the more cost-conscious customer.
Cogeco Cable
also has conducted VoIP market trials and intends to launch wireline telephone
services in 2005.
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State-run telecom company Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) has chosen Ericsson to supply broadband access network to the Indian cities of Delhi and Mumbai. MTNL plans to launch the services by the end of this year, offering broadcast TV, video on demand and high-speed Internet. The contract is on a turnkey basis for the supply and rollout of Ericsson's solutions Ethernet DSL Access and Ethernet aggregation technology into the MTNL network.
MTNL has 13 per cent market share of the Indian telecommunication network with a customer base of over 4.98 million lines. The Indian government holds 56.25 per cent stake in MTNL.
The contract includes a complete end-to-end broadband access solution including upgrading of existing telephony lines with Ethernet DSL technology, customer premises equipment, bandwidth provisioning system and aggregation network.
The ADSL2+ technology
selected by MTNL for the mass rollout will allow MTNL to offer up to 24 Mbps
bandwidth to the customers over existing copper lines.
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Walt Disney's board of directors is facing court proceedings following shareholder accusations that it merely rubber-stamped a decision to hire Michael Ovitz as President and allowed him to walk away months later with a $140 million severance package.
Shareholders are demanding that the severance package plus interest be returned - a sum that could amount to $200 million.
Shareholders contend that Ovitz, who was hired in a deal engineered by Disney CEO Michael Eisner, a personal friend, should have been fired but instead the board awarded him the lucrative package and allowed him to walk away.
Scheduled to last four weeks, the case will be decided by a judge who will base his finding on whether the board acted in good faith and with the interests of the company at heart.
Lawyers for shareholders
plan to call three witnesses, then the defence will put on its case, with
testimony expected from Ovitz, Eisner and most of the Disney board.
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SCM Microsystems revealed that it had reached an agreement with what it describes as "a significant European customer" that resolves all claims previously made by that customer. The resolution will result in a net payment to SCM by the customer that is not expected to have a material effect on SCM's results of operations or financial position.
On July 9, 2004, SCM announced that it had received a demand letter from the customer that alleged damages arising from performance issues with one of the Company's products.
"We are
very pleased to have reached an amicable resolution of our disputes,"
commented Robert Schneider, chief executive officer of SCM Microsystems. "This
agreement allows us to avoid a potentially costly litigation process and paves
the way for mutually beneficial business relations in the future with this
long-time customer."
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News Corp, DirecTV sued over Latin American reorganisation
Latin American media company the Cisneros Group is suing to block a deal by News Corp and DirecTV Group to restructure their satellite television properties in Latin America.
The suit, filed by Darlene Investments, which owns 14 per cent of DirecTV Latin America and is controlled by Venezuela's Cisneros Group, alleges that the deals benefit News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch at the expense of other investors.
Darlene is seeking more than $1 billion in damages for "fraud committed by News Corp and DirecTV prior to the transactions," it reportedly said in a statement.
News Corp had
recently agreed to sell its stake in Sky Latin America to DirecTV Latin America
for $579 million. DirecTV owns 86 per cent of DirecTV Latin America. Darlene
owns the remaining shares. Darlene alleges the transaction "was designed
primarily to deliver improper benefits to News Corp" by undervaluing
DirecTV Latin America.
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Cox Enterprises,
the privately held parent of the US cable giant Cox Communications, reached
an agreement to buy out the public minority shareholders in its cable business
for $8.5 billion. The price was about $600 million more than it first offered
two months ago when it proposed the deal.
Cox raised its offer for the cable business to $34.75 a share from $32, or
8.6 per cent, after meeting resistance from stockholders, who argued that
the original offer undervalued their shares. A special committee of the board
of Cox's cable business was created to represent the interests of the minority
shareholders, independent of Cox Enterprises and the family.
Analysts said
the $8.5 billion buyout price - which equates to about $4,000 a subscriber
- sets an important price benchmark for cable companies and could rise the
value of the assets of Adelphia Communications, which are currently being
auctioned, and could also raise the value of Cablevision.
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Italian broadcaster
Mediaset has chosen Nagravision's conditional access systems for its pay digital
TV services scheduled to launch in 2005.
Under the terms of the agreement, Nagravision will secure pay-per-view (PPV)
offerings over Mediaset's digital terrestrial platform, the first commercial
DTTV service in Italy. Nagravision will download its conditional access technology
on to the DTT-enabled set-top boxes already deployed and will work with all
digital STB manufacturers to enable the timely launch of the service.
Nagravision's
content security solution is based on smart cards, which can be recharged
during a limited time period. Italian customers will be able to buy them in
stores to watch the live broadcasting of football matches in the Italian Serie
A.
Mediaset has secured digital terrestrial premium football TV rights for the
next three seasons from leading Serie A clubs Inter, Juventus, Milan, Roma,
Sampdoria, Atalanta, Livorno and Messina.
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BSkyB is to launch its long-mooted free digital satellite TV system October 21 as it seeks to combat the competition from digital terrestrial service Freeview, according to MediaGuardian.
The pre-Christmas launch for the system, which will provide some 200 TV and radio channels for a one-off payment of £150, is aimed at taking a share of the 200,000 Freeview boxes sold each month.
Trade sources suggest that the 'free' package will be launched using refurbished Sky Digital boxes and modified smart cards that will give viewers access to encrypted channels such as Channel 4 and Five for up to two years. BSkyB would then anticipate persuading viewers to upgrade to pay-TV. The absence of trade support material has led to speculation that the offer will only be available direct from Sky.
Plans for BSkyB
and the BBC to launch a 'Freesat' have failed to come to fruition. The BBC
owns the Freesat trademark.
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Samsung Electronics America and the cable industry's OnlyCableCan initiative, have teamed up to launch a partnership that will bring High Definition music events and concerts to an expanding group of cable customers.
An exclusive live Bon Jovi concert will kick-off a consumer promotion and a subsequent schedule of INHD's Centre Stage Samsung-sponsored music events on INHD/INHD2 - the most widely distributed all High-Definition (HD) network channel.
Andy Addis, Senior Vice President, Marketing and New Products, Comcast, and OnlyCableCan spokesperson said that the partnership provided "a one-of-a-kind high-definition viewing experience -- available only on cable. Our customers will be entertained by the most popular artists with cable's best HD sight and sound on the highest-quality HDTV sets. It's a complete package that no satellite company can match."
The participating
cable companies, under the OnlyCableCan umbrella, are Adelphia Communications,
Comcast, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable, and cover approximately
75 per cent of US television households.
The concert will air live on INHD2 at 8 p.m. on Sunday, November 21, 2004.
The concert will also be simulcast on the Web and a replay of the event on
INHD2 for viewers on the west coast will air immediately following the live
show.
The programme
will run from October 19th, 2004 until February 5th, 2005. Throughout that
time, there will be monthly concerts featuring high-profile music artists
on INHD/INHD2. A retail offer provides a $200 gift card to consumers who sign
up for digital cable with HD and purchase a Samsung digital TV.
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UK media company HIT Entertainment, producer of children's characters such as Bob the Builder, revealed that its CEO Rob Lawes has quit the role. The company said that chairman and founder Peter Orton would take over as interim CEO.
HIT reported annual results including a 43 per cent fall in pre-tax profit to 14.6 million pounds in the year to end of July, on turnover down 12 per cent to 148 million pounds. Orton said the results were a creditable performance in difficult trading conditions, which he expected to continue well into next year. He forecast little growth in 2004/05.
However the firm
is looking into the US for its future growth. HIT announced it was to launch
a dedicated 24-hour digital pre-school channel in America next September.
It will invest $32 million over five years for a 30 per cent equity stake
in a venture with Comcast Corp, US public broadcaster PBS and Sesame Workshop.
Beginning in early 2005, a companion VOD package will be available to cable
companies in the United States and will include more than 50 hours of programming
for pre-schoolers and their families. The 24x7 digital cable channel is expected
to launch in the autumn of 2005.
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Motorola, the world's No 2 maker of cell phones, says its quarterly profit more than tripled, but growth in handset volumes has disappointed Wall Street.
Handset shipments rose 15 per cent as Motorola rolled out a host of high-end models in a bid to fend off rival Nokia, which has been slashing prices. Meanwhile, aggressive Asian rivals like No 3 handset maker Samsung have added cheaper phones with rich features to gain share.
Motorola's third-quarter
profit rose to $479 million from $116 million in the year-earlier period.
Sales increased 26 per cent to $8.62 billion, but were below analysts' average
estimate of $8.67 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.
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ITV, the UK's biggest commercial broadcaster is launching its new interactive ITVi anytime service on ITV 1 and ITV 2 on Sky.
UK-based YooMedia, the interactive entertainment group, is to offer its dating services to ITV viewers in digital satellite homes, via an interactive link to its Dateline service within Sky Active. Dateline has already enjoyed success on the Sky Active TV portal, with dating being the second most popular interactive TV service after games.
Through ITVi and Sky Interactive partnership, ITVi viewers will also get: Friends Reunited and Koopid- Photo Dating and Chat. Viewers can build a profile, search for matches and chat in real time, all via their TV.
Other services
that ITVi 24/7 will offer include: Game On and Bet Direct, in association
with Littlewoods; GTV, ITVi's games service which has been developed in conjunction
with PlayJam; ITVi's mobile zone where viewers can buy the latest tones, logos
and games for their phones.
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Telenor Satellite
Services, a subsidiary of Telenor of Norway has launched
its latest IP networking service - Telenor Digital Video Broadcasting –
Return Channel Satellite (DVB-RCS).
The new, two-way
broadband service via satellite enables low-cost, 'always-on' communications
for land-based users located throughout Europe and the Middle East, the company
said. Telenor DVB-RCS, Powered by Terralink, Telenor's exclusive network of
IP infrastructure and applications, is the latest addition to the company's
expanding portfolio of broadband services.
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Tandberg Television delivered revenues of MNOK 344.9 in 3Q up 33 per cent on the same quarter in the previous year. Gross margins continued to strengthen to 49 per cent, up from 47 per cent in 2Q 2004, due to improved product mix and manufacturing cost savings, the company confirmed.
The operating
costs were MNOK 113.7 for the quarter. Pre-tax profit was MNOK 50.6 in 3Q
2004 up from MNOK 19.1 in 3Q 2003. The estimated group tax cost was MNOK 15.2,
with no cash impact due to the deferred tax asset.
The change in the cash balance during the quarter was principally due to investments
for new product launches. The cash balance at the end of the quarter was MNOK
283.2.
In September,
Microsoft announced that Tandberg Television was the first encoding partner
to be successfully integrated with the Microsoft IPTV platform. This announcement
marked the continuation of a two-year collaboration between the companies
to develop end-to-end IPTV systems.
The IBC broadcasting technology event in September 2004 saw Tandberg launch
its HD Windows Media 9 Series and HD MPEG-4 encoders. A number of broadcasters
and operators across all regions are already using Tandberg's MPEG-2 HD products
Tandberg anticipates increasing demand for the new HD advanced encoding solutions.
IBC also saw the Company launch its open Cable VoD platform. The platform's
launch was timed to coincide with the increasing interest amongst European
cable operators to deploy VoD services with best-of-breed system architectures.
Separately, Tandberg Television announced that it has secured the contract to provide IPTV decoding, encoding and streaming solutions to Sistema, the largest private sector consumer services company in Russia and an active player in the Russian telecommunications market.
Tandberg Television will provide a range of solutions to enable the delivery of broadcast quality television and video services over ADSL to Sistema's residential customers. The system will be delivered and installed in November 2004. Ninety channels of video content will be delivered from Moscow over the ADSL network. Content is being sourced from satellite feeds, tapes and local servers.
(1 EUR = 8.23
NOK)
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US cable giant
Comcast has appointed Joseph J. Collins as an independent Director of Comcast
Corporation.
Collins currently serves as the Chairman of Aegis, LLC. He retired from Time
Warner where he served as the Chairman and CEO of AOL Time Warner Interactive
Video, a position he assumed in 2001. From 1989 to 2001, he served as the
Chairman and CEO of Time Warner Cable.
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C-Com Satellite Systems has teamed up with Ottawa based RAMTelecom to deliver high-speed satellite based mobile Internet services using ViaSat LinkStar technology.
RAMTelecom, through its Network Operation Centre located in Ottawa, will be providing broadband services for the C-Com developed iNetVu Mobile platform, which will be able to deliver upload speeds of up to 2Mbps and download speeds of up to 60Mbps.
RAMTelecom President
Ralph Misener said that the system fully supported different grades of high-speed
data, Voice over IP and video sessions for those enterprise clients who need
immediate access to the Internet while on the move, adding that the deal meant
that customers would be able to travel "virtually anywhere within the
satellite coverage area, arrive at any destination and be connected to the
Internet at high speed within minutes."
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Datasat, an Ukrainian
information technology and telecommunications company
is to deploy Hughes Network Systems (HNS) broadband satellite solution.
Under the agreement,
which expands Datasat's existing satellite business network, HNS will supply
it with a Direcway network operations centre (NOC) and 1,000 DW6000 remote
satellite terminals, enabling the company to provide a new range of broadband
services to the Ukrainian market.
For over two years, Datasat has been providing network solutions to its
enterprise and government customers operating an HNS-supplied VSAT network.
With the upgrade to Direcway, the firm will now be able to provide a wide
range of additional broadband applications.
"Direcway
is the only solution that can provide broadband access uniformly
throughout the large territory of Ukraine," commented Dr. Arunas Slekys,
HNS vice president of corporate marketing and general manager, Russia/NIS/Baltic
region.
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The socialist
Government is considering opening up the commercial TV market to two new entrants.
The new TV licences, with a nation wide coverage, are likely to be awarded
over the coming months
Spanish media group Prisa, owner of pay-TV channel Canal Plus, is expected
to be one of the licensees, with Canal Plus set to become a free-to-air channel.
For the second licence, there are several candidates: Media group Recoletos,
owner of financial newspaper Expansion; Unedisa, owner of El Mundo; Vocento,
shareholder in Tele 5; Group Zeta or Godo. This licence might be awarded to
one single company or more likely to a consortium. The Government is said
to have plans to privatise the second TVE channel La 2 to make this second
new station possible.
The final decision is expected in February next year, when a group of TV experts,
appointed by the Government, are due to release their report about a new public
TV model. Recently, the president of the Government, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero,
said, "there is market enough to increase pluralism and competition in
the private TV market".
Advertising companies have welcomed Government plans to launch two new TV
channels. Current TV operators Antena 3 TV and Tele 5 are less enthusiastic
as they believe that new entrants will damage their ad revenues.
Meanwhile, RTVE continues its international expansion. The group has signed
an agreement with the Italian company Fastweb to distribute through its ADSL
network its international channel TVE Internacional.
The channel will be included in the basic package and will be available to
all Fastweb's 417,500 clients.
RTVE has also signed a distribution deal with the operator Mesco in Maldivas
Islands to distribute its international channel in this territory.
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Swedish media giant Modern Times Group (MTG) announced its financial results for the third quarter and the nine months ended 30 September 2004. The group's net sales were up eight per cent to SEK 1,550 million (E 170 million). Sales at its commercial television channel TV3 Scandinavia increased 17 per cent to SEK 493 million.
MTG's operating income, excluding a SEK 381 million net gain from the sale of SDI Media, rose seven per cent to SEK 58 million.
Hans-Holger Albrecht, President and CEO of MTG, commented: "We are continuing to drive our clear strategy of developing our free-to-air and pay-TV broadcasting businesses in our core Scandinavian territories, as well as into high growth new Central and Eastern European markets. The integrated Viasat platform enables the group to generate multiple revenue streams and considerable operating synergies."
"The performance
of our free-to-air businesses in the seasonally weakest advertising sales
quarter of the year, demonstrates that our investments in content are already
paying off and we have continued to grow our market shares in all territories.
We have also successfully implemented the secure new encryption system for
Viasat's premium pay-TV channels in order to eliminate piracy and have further
strengthened our premium pay- TV offering whilst remaining the price leader
in each market," he concluded.
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UK digital viewers will see the arrival of a new shopping channel this week. The Express Shopping Channel is a joint venture between Daily Express proprietor Richard Desmond, and mail order shopping enterprise N Brown Group.
Broadcasting on Sky and NTL (channel 637), it aims to offer "fashion for real women", cooking, DIY and gardening-related products. Desmond reportedly said the new channel would take advantage of the fact that the Express was the "most reassuring, trustworthy brand" in middle England.
Desmond, who
also owns OK!, New and Star magazines as well as adult channels including
the Fantasy Channel, criticised the home shopping market leader QVC –
which is owned by John Malone's Liberty Media. "I don't think QVC do
it very well, to be honest. When you see our channel, the products we've got
[are] more relevant, and the presentation is better," he told the Financial
Times.
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Eutelsat's German
programming distribution arm visAvision has agreed a strategic co-operation
for the distribution of German pay-per-view content for cable networks. Under
the terms of the deal, visAvision will market the German Kabelvision services
of cable operator PrimaCom's Decimus subsidiary. In return, PrimaCom will
market visAvision's 22 foreign language channels to its customers. Decimus
will also install and operate an uplink to Eutelsat's Telecom 2D satellite
in Leipzig.
The deal marks a significant advancement in visAvision's presence in German
cable markets. It is now able to market 12 German programmes and pay-per-view
services. Demand for such programming has come particularly from the so called
level 4 (NE-4) operators, where Eutelsat has more than 50 partners of all
sizes in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
The initiative
provides a serious alternative for the smaller cable network operators, who
aim to stay independent and offer their own content. They are not willing
to let dominant cable operator KDG access their customers directly.
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Asian broadcaster Star is introducing Star One, a new Hindi channel featuring general entertainment targeted at young, urban audiences, to be launched on November 1, 2004.
"The new channel is a premium service with a distinct look and feel, innovative programming concepts and cutting-edge production values. It will launch with an array of 21 original programmes across a range of entertainment genres – action/thrillers, comedy, drama, youth, game/format shows, lifestyle and original movies made for television," the company commented.
Peter Mukerjea,
Star India CEO said: "The launch of Star One today underscores our long-term
commitment to driving innovation and production quality in Hindi programming
and to providing diversity of choice to our viewers. This new channel along
with Star Plus and Star UTSAV, enable Star to provide a complete bouquet of
Hindi television entertainment to meet the diverse demands of marketers, advertisers
and viewers of different demographics."
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State-run Prasar Bharati has got the Indian government's nod to carry 23 private channels, increasing the offering from 13, on its direct-to-home platform DD (Doordarshan) Direct Plus. The private channels which have signed up with Prasar Bharati are Aaj Tak, Headlines Today, BBC, Zee Music, Zee News, Smile, Surya TV, Star Utsav, ETC, Akash Bangla and talks are on with others including CNN.
In all, the DTH service will offer 40 channels including 17 Doordarshan network channels. Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is expected to formally inaugurate the service next month.
In addition All
India Radio (AIR), will provide its programmes through TV with its DTH satellite
service benefiting linguistic groups residing outside their home state. The
spokesperson said that with a ten channel service would commencing in March
next year.
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Telenor has decided
to step up its ADSL rollout plans, thereby ensuring that 90 per cent of Norway's
population will have access to broadband by the end of 2005.
"The Norwegian Post and Telecommunications Authority confirmed this summer
that the demand for broadband is high, that Norway occupies an advanced position
internationally, and that 23 per cent of Norwegian households are using broadband.
We have therefore decided to step up our commitment to broadband, and we are
advancing our rollout schedule by one year," said the telco.
Today, approximately 1,200 telephone exchanges have been upgraded, and around
76 per cent of all Norwegian households have access to broadband. To be able
to reach our new goal, we need to bring the total figure of upgraded exchanges
up to 2,100. Telenor said it will allocate all the necessary resources to
complete the upgrading of the remaining 900 exchanges.
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Irdeto Access has been selected by China's Shaanxi Broadcast & TV Network Intermediary (SXBCTV) to provide content security for its digital TV operation. SXBCTV will deploy Irdeto PIsys, Irdeto Access' conditional access system, to encrypt and manage its pay-media content in the Shaanxi region.
This is Irdeto's 5th agreement in China, following deals in the provinces of Guangdong, Gansu, Jiangxi, and Xinjiang. The company's content security technology now protects content delivered to approximately 90 per cent of the TV households in Northwest China, Irdeto commented.
SXBCTV is among
the few publicly listed CATV operators in China and the first operator to
run a unified provincial network. SXBCTV's network currently covers over 11
cities with 2.5 million CATV subscribers. The operator plans to cover all
major cities by 2005 and expects to complete the analogue-to-digital transition
in 2015.
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VegaStream, a
supplier of dedicated business VoIP (Voice over IP) Gateways, announced that
it has developed a new VoIP gateway board - the Vega 50V BRI - under an additional
contract with the Naval Air Warfare Centre Training Systems Division of US
Naval Air Systems Command. The new product is for deployment in high reliability
and performance VME systems to meet the requirements for military deployment.
The first deployment of the Vega 50V is planned for the USS Ronald Reagan
with subsequent installations in other Navy ships and shore-bases.
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HOT, the Israeli
cable consortium comprised of Golden Channels, Matav and Tevel, is rolling
out on-demand television in November 2004 and has selected SeaChange International
to provide the platform and integration services for this new television service.
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SBC Communications announced $1.99-per-month Wi-Fi service for customers who subscribe to SBC Yahoo DSL. The reduced rate -- which comes in under $29 for both -- requires a one-year commitment. The US telecom carrier will continue offering its FreedomLink Wi-Fi to non-SBC Yahoo DSL members for $19.95.
SBC has spent
much of this year expanding its network of hotspots -- from just 70 at the
end of the first quarter to nearly 3,900 today. Its goal is to have more than
20,000 Wi-Fi hotspots by the end of 2006.
.
"When we can offer a high-speed broadband connection at home, plus thousands
of Wi-Fi hotspots across the country, that's a better value prop than cable,"
SBC spokesman Michael Coe commented.
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Taking a step forwards on its 3G service offerings, Telekom Austria announced that its Croatian mobile subsidiary VIPnet was granted a UMTS license for 20 years.
The company is
paying approximately E17.4 million and the yearly fee for the radio frequency
equals E 2.6 million plus one per cent of the revenues generated by UMTS.
Josef Vinatzer, CEO of VIPnet, said: "With the introduction of EDGE technology
in April 2004, VIPnet became the first operator in Croatia to offer 3G mobile
telephony services to its customers. By the end of June we had already reached
a 90 per cent coverage of the Croatian population with the EDGE technology.
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Trying to lure 'refusenik' subscribers into taking up satellite TV, BSkyB is introducing a new way to join Sky digital with the launch of a retail pack. For £39.99 (E59.99), the Sky Starter Pack offers new Sky digital subscribers one or two months' included viewing on selected packages plus standard installation of their free Sky box and minidish.
Sky is rolling out its marketing initiative in more than 1,000 Argos and Woolworth's stores across the UK. The launch will be supported by in-store marketing activity, national press advertising and listings in each of the retailers' Christmas gift guides, the company said.
The Starter Pack represents the first time that the company has packaged its pay-TV product on a full commercial basis in such a way that it can be purchased and offered as a gift. From November, Sky intends to extend distribution further by rolling out the pack to around 60 of Tesco's largest "Tesco Extra" format stores.
The move is expected to be just one part of a massive promotional push approved by the BSkyB CEO, James Murdoch, to combat a slowdown in subscriber growth. In August he announced a £25 million a year boost to Sky's marketing budget in an attempt to appeal to pay-TV sceptics.
The £39.99 pack consists of a box containing the Sky remote control and a reference number to call to arrange installation of the dish and set-top box.
Consumers can choose to receive either one month's viewing of Sky's top package, Sky World with Family Pack (including Sky Movies and Sky Sports), or two months' viewing of the Family Pack (which includes popular channels such as Sky One, E4, MTV, Discovery Channel and National Geographic Channel). If they wish, customers can choose to switch to another Sky package after their first month's viewing.
A fixed phone
line connection and minimum subscription term of 12 months are required.
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Former BBC Worldwide CEO Rupert Gavin, has formed an investment vehicle called Kingdom Media, which could work with the BBC on joint ventures and bid for parts of Worldwide.
According to a report in the Financial Times, Kingdom Media is being funded with seed capital supplied by Gavin, as well as partnerships with private capital groups.
The company is likely to bid for any assets that the BBC decides to sell off after the review of BBC Worldwide is complete. It could also form partnerships with the corporation. Investment bank Lazard, is reportedly advising Kingdom Media on funding for potential bids.
Gavin, who left
BBC Worldwide in July this year, has long been rumoured to be one of those
parties likely to bid for BBC Worldwide. However, it looks increasingly unlikely
that the BBC will sell the whole of its commercial arm.
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China Central Television (CCTV) could net a record 5.5 billion yuan (US$667 million) from prime-time advertising in 2005, an annual increase of 25 per cent, according to director of advertising Guo Zhenxi.
The local media says the annual auctions of CCTV's prime-time slots create quite a stir as they bring in about 70 per cent of the network's ad revenue. The beverage, fashion, home appliance and car industries are expected to be among the big ad spenders next year given CCTV's new 10-second slots during prime-time hours from January 1.
Guo said competition at the auction for 2005 airtime, to be held on November 18, was likely to be fierce among both overseas and domestic bidders despite reserve prices as much as 20 per cent higher, driven by rising broadcasting costs. The reserve price for 15-second commercials during talk shows after 1950 hours will be US$24000.
10-second slots
are targeted at smaller companies with less money to spend, produced in conjunction
with China Minsheng Banking Corporation and China Merchants Bank, the first
financiers to provide advertising loans, Guo said. CCTV will also provide
30-second prime-time slots targeted at overseas companies or those with new
products to promote and are willing to invest more.
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EchoStar announced that its Dish Network satellite TV service is teaming with six networks to create what the company call a 'unique coverage' of the upcoming US elections. Viewers will be able to watch national and state election coverage simultaneously from the six networks on a single TV screen. They can also easily select an individual network and view its coverage in full-screen format.
The networks
are CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, CSPAN, MTV: Music Television and Comedy Central,
providing a variety of election coverage to meet the needs of a diverse audience.
The interactive television application, called DISH Network Election 2004
Coverage, is the first use of ITV multiple picture-in-picture technology for
election coverage in the US. From Monday, October 25, through Friday, November
5, DISH Network Election 2004 Coverage will be free to more than nine million
DISH Network customers.
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Playboy Enterprises Inc (PEI) said that it will consolidate its online, TV and DVD businesses into one unit, Playboy Entertainment Group.
The re-organisation will eliminate Playboy.com as a separate operating unit, merging the online group into TV production, which includes the Playboy Channel, Spice and 14 domestic and 20 international channels.
James Griffiths, PEI senior executive vice president, has been named President of the new Playboy Entertainment Group. Reporting to him will be Ned Nalle, President Programming, who will oversee content creation and acquisition, and Randy Nicolau, President Distribution, who will be responsible for global sales, marketing and distribution on all electronic platforms.
The company is
shedding 20 jobs as a result of the unit's merger.
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Australia's freshly re-elected conservative government is expected to relax cross-media ownership laws, paving the way for Rupert Murdoch to add a television network to his Australian media portfolio.
Media reports
speculate that Murdoch's News Corporation's most likely target is the terrestrial
Ten Network. But it could also make a bid for the Seven Network. Earlier this
year Murdoch said he would continue to lobby for the media ownership reforms
despite his plans to shift his media empire's headquarters to the US.
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Hong Kong-based content provider Phoenix Satellite Television will beam its InfoNews and Chinese channels over pay-TV rookie Galaxy Satellite's network to expand its coverage in Hong Kong.
Phoenix currently broadcasts its InfoNews and Chinese channels over the cable networks of i-Cable Communications' Cable TV, PCCW's NOW Broadband TV and Star TV under the basic channel package, with coverage of about 900,000 households.
Phoenix, 37.6
per cent owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, is expanding its reach in the
Chinese-speaking communities to Singapore on November 15 and Malaysia early
next year, CEO Liu Changle confirmed.
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Pace Micro Technology, UK-based set-top box vendor, is working with Equator Technologies, a provider of high-performance, programmable and power-efficient system-on-a-chip (SoC) processors for video streaming and image processing applications, and Dicas, the provider of MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 (AVC) software codecs, to develop a new IP based set top box for operators implementing AVC audio visual services.
The Pace DB680,
will provide access to a full range of digital TV services such as pay-per-view,
video-on-demand and streaming applications. "Many operators are keen
to implement services based on the recent AVC standard. The quickest route
to market is with high performance field programmable set-top boxes coupled
with software decoding, which can be upgraded easily in the field as the standard
evolves," says David Gillies, Director of Technology at Pace Micro Technology.
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Addressing the needs of multiple-computer households, Jupiter Telecommunications Co (J-Com), the largest broadband and cable service provider in Japan, announced plans to launch a wireless LAN service for its customers.
Having tested the new Internet service in J-Com's Sapporo system since August 2004, the favourable response from customers has prompted J-Com to launch the service throughout all of its systems beginning on October 28, 2004.
Based in Tokyo,
J-Com provides broadband services through 19 managed franchises, including
cable television services (J-COM TV), high-speed cable Internet access services
(J-COM Net) and telephony services (J-COM Phone) where available. These services
are provided through J-COM's advanced fibre and cable network, which carries
information, content and services directly to homes throughout Japan.
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ANT, a UK-based provider of user interface software for TV and consumer electronics, and G-cluster, an interactive gaming-on-demand provider, announced a strategic alliance to further develop broadband TV client technologies.
The alliance
will see G-cluster port and optimise its client gaming software into ANT's
integrated user-interface architecture for TVs and set-top boxes. Running
within ANT's user interface architecture will enable G-cluster to rapidly
provide cost-effective gaming-on-demand solutions to those service provider
customers who already use ANT's Fresco browser and PurePlay digital media
management technologies.
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Football fans in the UK could soon be sitting in the stadium with their laptops while watching the games. The Football League and The Cloud, a wireless broadband network operator, announced an agreement to put wireless broadband access in every Football League stadium over the next three seasons.
The initial phase
will provide wireless broadband access for both the media and club employees,
but the agreement will ultimately see the service expanded to a wider audience,
including supporters, by making it available in club bars, conference rooms
and hotels. Deployment has already begun with Nottingham Forest, Sheffield
United, Port Vale and Blackpool.
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Australia's Telstra Corporation and Hong Kong-based Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company (AsiaSat) have signed an agreement further expanding their existing partnership on the provision of rural broadband services in Australia.
This confirms
AsiaSat as integral to Telstra's transponder capacity in Australia. It also
establishes a framework for Telstra to take up additional transponder capacity
on AsiaSat's satellite fleet in the future. Telstra is currently using AsiaSat
3S's Ku-band capacity for the provision of two-way BigPond via satellite broadband
services across Australia, serving particularly the remote outback and rural
areas.
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At the Interactive TV Show Europe 2004 in Barcelona, BBC Chairman Michael Grade pledged the corporation would work closely with the UK's interactive television players to help create a vibrant market. Grade said the BBC had "a duty to invigorate the market" by working more closely with independent production companies and sharing the BBC's expertise.
"As the world's foremost producer of interactive TV services, the BBC would be prepared to share its expertise if companies asked for help. "The great store of knowledge the BBC has amassed about interactive (is) not just a BBC resource, but a resource for the whole industry – including other broadcasters… The BBC is committed to sharing this knowledge freely and openly," said Grade.
He also announced
the launch of Ten Extra, an interactive service due later this month alongside
flagship bulletin the 10 O'Clock News. He claimed this would add an extra
dimension to the news and provide "another way for the BBC to deliver
its public value commitment".
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The Indian government has announced the Broadband Policy 2004, formulated with a view to provide impetus to broadband and Internet penetration in the country. The policy targets three million broadband subscribers and six million Internet subscribers by December 2005. By the end of year 2010, the policy targets 20 million broadband subscribers and 40 million Internet subscribers. Broadband service is expected to be available for US$10-16 per month.
The new policy encourages growth of infrastructure through various access technologies, which can mutually co-exist; such as, optical fibre, digital subscriber lines, cable networks, satellite, and terrestrial wireless technologies.
It includes incentives for creation of additional infrastructure, employment opportunities, induction of latest technologies, national security, and bring in a competitive environment so as to reduce regulatory interventions. The policy defines broadband as an always-on connection, supporting interactive services including Internet access, with minimum download speed of 256 kbps per subscriber.
To prevent last-mile
copper loop from becoming a bottleneck for broadband services, access providers
shall be free to enter into mutually agreed commercial arrangements. However,
regulator TRAI's recommendation to unbundle the local loop is not part of
the policy. "Unbundling of local loop will only cause confusion and we
decided it's not necessary, especially after looking at the developed countries
like the US and UK, where unbundling has failed. However, we have given full
freedom to incumbents to commercialise the local loop through franchisee agreement,"
said Dayanidhi Maran, minister of communications and IT.
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Swedish operator Boxer TV-Access, a provider of DTV and interactive services, increased the number of subscribers by 50,000 during the third quarter reaching a total of 320,000 digital TV subscribers.
The company launched
its fifth digital broadcasting network this year. It currently reaches 50
per cent of the Swedish households. CEO Crister Fritzson is confident that
"sales will continue to increase, especially during Christmas."
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Nokia reported a 20-per cent drop in operating profit and a small 1-percent increase in net sales in the third quarter. Meanwhile, rival Sony Ericsson Mobile saw a rise in mobile-phone sales and profits.
Nokia issued a profits warning after reporting a fall in third-quarter earnings. The firm said that quarterly profits fell to E1 billion on sales of E6.94 billion. However, CEO Jorma Ollila had a positive message: "We expect continued strong growth in global mobile device market volumes in the fourth quarter, even as compared with the remarkable final quarter in 2003," he said.
In contrast SonyEricsson
said it was looking forward to a "good Christmas" after reporting
Q3 profits of E136 million on sales of E1.68 billion, up 29 per cent. Camera
phone success was a major factor in the improved figures, with the Swedish/Japanese
company's president Miles Flint confirming that "over 60 per cent of
phones sold during the quarter featured integrated cameras".
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Korea's cableco 'C' has selected Concurrent's MediaHawk On-Demand Platform to provide the country's first VoD field trial and for the launch of commercial and advanced on-demand services.
'C' represents Korea's largest HFC cable MSO in terms of average revenue per subscriber and represents Korea's fastest growing HFC cable MSO in terms of both revenue and number of subscribers, with more than 1.3 million subscribers.
'C' plans to
launch commercial services to subscribers before the end of calendar year
2004.
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600,000 Indian villages to link via satellite
More than 600,000 villages across India will be linked through a programme launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the local press reported.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will inaugurate the Village Resource Centre (VRC) programme in New Delhi on October 18, a joint venture of ISRO and the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF).
The network would
use one of the extended C-band transponders of the INSAT-3A satellite. It
would be a completely interactive VSAT-based network.
A satellite link provided by ISRO would provide villages with local information.
The VRCs would use not only communication satellites like INSAT but also remote
sensing satellites to provide information on a range of subjects like natural
resources, sites for drinking water and ground water recharging, water harvesting
and wasteland reclaiming.
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The History Channel to launch in Germany on Kabel
The History Channel
is set to launch in Germany on November 15, 2004 on Kabel Deutschland through
its new digital program package, Kabel Digital Home, announced Steve Ronson,
Sr. Vice President, Enterprises, A&E Television Networks (AETN).
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