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NEWS Monday 18th April to Friday 22nd April 2005
Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
| Tuesday | |||||
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IPTV is the engine of the "content everywhere" era. IPTV International is the new journal from Advanced Television Ltd. To find out more and apply for a free subscription click here |
John Malone head of Liberty Media International has signalled it could use $6bn to pursue acquisitions and partnerships in the Japanese and European markets. Malone, chairman of both LMI and its US sister company Liberty Media, said LMI was seeking deals to consolidate its position in Japan, where it recently floated a near 22 per cent stake in J-Com, the largest cable TV company. He also hinted at deals involving UnitedGlobalCom, the European cable arm of LMI.
"We continue
to look for acquisitions that increase our scale both in Japan and Europe
where we have our greatest [international] concentration," said Malone,
speaking in Tokyo. He said LMI could access $2bn from annual cash flow and
$4bn of other liquid assets to pursue deals, adding: "LMI is a business
with a lot of firepower and ability to grow." He suggested smaller operators
controlled by private equity groups could be targets. Malone made no comment
about Liberty's intentions towards News Corp, where it has built up a near
19 per cent voting stake.
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Comcast and Time
Warner have confirmed they have reached a definitive agreement to buy Adelphia,
the bankrupt cable operator, for $17.6bn after a bankruptcy court judge gave
the deal the go ahead. Under the terms of the transaction, approved by both
boards, Adelphia shareholders will receive $9.2bn in cash and 16 per cent
of Time Warner's common equity. Comcast will pay Adelphia $3.5bn in cash.
The groups must still secure the approval of the companies' shareholders,
Adelphia's bankruptcy judge and federal regulators.
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The European Commission has closed an investigation into the funding of public broadcasters in France, Italy and Spain after the three EU member states made changes in how they finance the networks. The decision has been taken following the three countries "have either accepted or already implemented measures to introduce greater transparency and proportionality in their funding systems", according to the EC.
The EC had been
studying state financing of public television in an attempt to avoid "unnecessary
market distortions" and to ensure that public and private broadcasters
compete on equal terms in commercial markets. Last month, Germany, Ireland
and the Netherlands were warned that their funding breaks EU rules on state
aid. In the Spanish case, the EC asked Spain to eliminate the unlimited guarantee
whereby the State had guaranteed RTVE's debts.
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TFJ (Television Francaise Juive) and its main shareholder and creditor Charisma Films has been declared insolvent and put into liquidation by the Nanterre tribunal, on the very same day that the channel was putting its case to the CSA for a free service on one of the 8 remaining DTT channels.
The channel's president, Ghislain Allon, called the decision "a peal of thunder" during the hearing before the CSA. He added that the channel would obviously appeal against the decision. The Nanterre tribunal had already ordered an investigation into the accounts of Charisma Films on 25 January. TFJ is reported to have had net losses of E640,000 in 2002, E409,000 in 2003 and (not certified) of E383,000 in 2004. The reduction in losses is due to donations from viewers.
TFJ is currently
broadcast FTA on the Hotbird satellite as well as in the basic of various
cable and ADSL operators. TFJ had also been an unsuccessful candidate for
a DTT frequency during the 2002 call for tenders, but that time as a subscription
channel.
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Nokia the biggest
handset maker, saw double-digit rises in profits and sales on higher-than-expected
average handset prices. Profits for the three months to end March were up
18% at E836m, from E729m a year-ago. Sales were 17% higher at nearly E7.4bn,
up from E6.35bn. Nokia was upbeat on the future and its shares rose 4% after
results were issued.
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China is projecting to spend US$24 billion to upgrade its mobile network for data-rich applications. Hou Ziqiang, a member of the communications technology committee at China's telecoms regulator said that the country will require massive investment for 3G services development.
China is planning to issue licences for 3G in September according to the Ministry of Information Industry (MII). The industry expect 3-4 3G networks to be built when licenses are awarded to mobile carriers like China Mobile and China Unicom Ltd. and fixed-line carriers China Telecom Corp. and China Netcom Group Corp. (Hong Kong) Ltd.
China is conducting tests on all the three 3G standards - the homegrown TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access), European-based WCDMA (Wideband CDMA) and US Qualcomm-based CDMA2000.
Gearing up for
3G service, Alcatel and Japanese electronics maker Fujitsu have tied-up to
build mobile networks for third-generation (3G) services in China. Siemens
launched a US$100 million joint venture with Huawei Technologies to develop
products based on China's home-grown 3G wireless standard - TD-SCDMA.
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US telco Sprint is launching live news to Sprint TV, known as Fox News Channel (FNC) Live. The deal provides Sprint customers with the opportunity to watch continuous live FNC programming nationwide on Sprint PCS Vision Multimedia Phones. The deal marks FNC's first foray into providing wireless content.
"The addition of live Fox News Channel to Sprint TV continues to illustrate our leadership in the wireless multimedia space, adding more high-quality live video to our customers' mobile experience that they typically consume on TV at home," said Jeff Hallock, vice president Wireless Data Product Strategy, Sprint. "Sprint has been delivering multimedia content nationwide for more than two years and was the first US CDMA wireless carrier to deliver streaming audio and video on demand at up to 15 frames per second."
"This deal positions FOX News Channel to become a significant player in the wireless industry and is a great opportunity to expand the brand and reach our loyal audience outside their homes," said Jeremy Steinberg, FNC's director of digital media.
Sprint first
launched Sprint TV in August 2004, giving customers access to streaming audio
and video at up to 15 frames per second. The service has continued to grow
with Sprint now offering 17 channels of video content on demand. The content
genres range from news, sports and weather to music, cartoons and made-for-mobile
movies.
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Media technology
group Thomson is expanding its IPTV product portfolio with the introduction
of the IP1100 high definition networked entertainment set-top box platform.
The IP1100 platform provides extensive advanced compression codec support
including H.264/AVC, Windows Media 9, VC-1, and MPEG-2.
"This new decoder integrates four years of technical expertise that Thomson
has acquired in IPTV," commented Keith Wehmeyer, General Manager, IP
Video North America, Thomson. "Based on customer feedback, we have developed
a flexible, cost-reduced set-top box that delivers both SD and HD content."
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TiVo is in talks with Google and Yahoo! about deals intended to link television and the web. According to silicon.com TiVo could partner with Google or Yahoo! on a new service that would let consumers search for videos on the web and then watch them on TV. It was also reported that investment in TiVo or an outright acquisition had been on the agenda.
A partnership between TiVo and a major search engine would offer opportunities for both. TiVo has long talked about becoming the 'Google of TV', enabling its three million subscribers to search for and watch any broadcast or broadband media. And both Google and Yahoo! are investing heavily in video services. Google has begun soliciting video submissions to its searchable broadcast archives, inviting producers to host or sell playback of their work using its servers. The project builds on Google Video, the company's pilot scheme to archive closed captioning of broadcast television shows and make their content searchable. Yahoo! this year also launched a searchable video archive.
TiVo has been
developing what it calls its 'Tahiti' strategy for two years. Services being
developed as part of the strategy aim to make internet content available to
TiVo DVR subscribers on their television. Initial efforts include: making
movies and trailers downloadable to a TiVo recorder from an internet-connected
PC; buying products through the TiVo interface; and searching local cinema
listings. TiVo has also made content on its recorders available on PCs through
its TiVoToGo service.
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The UK music industry has secured access to the names of 33 people it suspects of sharing up to 72,000 music files on the internet. The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) applied to the High Court for internet service providers to hand over personal details of the alleged file-sharers.
The five ISPs now have two weeks to hand over the identities. The BPI is seeking compensation and legal costs from those accused of distributing the music. "This court order should remind every user of a peer-to-peer filesharing service in Britain that they are not anonymous," BPI general counsel Geoff Taylor said.
Meanwhile, British record labels claim to have lost £650m (E942m) to illegal computer downloads over the last two years. The BPI said record labels lost £376m last year - up nearly £100m on the £278m they lost the year before - in the music business's first attempt to quantify the financial cost of illegal downloads.
A two-year study
by research group TNS showed that music fans would have spent £1.5bn
on recorded music between 2002-2004, but because of downloads spent only £858m,
according to the BPI.
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Viacom has recorded a seven per cent gain in operating profits for the first quarter as strong growth in cable networks outpaced a poor performance at its radio and television divisions.
The results are likely to hasten the company's previously announced intention to split itself into two separate groups along those cable and broadcast business lines. The restructuring is an effort to better target growth and value investors to revive the languishing share price. Sumner Redstone, chief executive, said Viacom hoped to reach a decision on the plan by the end of the quarter, and could undertake the split in the first quarter of 2006.
Overall, Viacom earned $585m during the first quarter, an 18 per cent drop from the same period of 2004, when it generated net income of $618m. Those 2004 figures were padded, however, by the inclusion of a $111m tax benefit from a previous audit. Revenue edged up 5 per cent to $5.6bn. Viacom's cable group, including MTV and Nickelodeon, led the way with a 19 per cent gain in revenue and a 20 per cent increase in operating income.
Meanwhile, Viacom's
television division, which includes the CBS and UPN networks, posted an 8
per cent drop in operating income to $304m. Its radio stations also continued
to struggle, with operating income falling 5 per cent to $189m despite a 2
per cent increase in revenue.
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Chinese
group plans global media-on-demand platform
From Colin Mann in Las Vegas
China Government policy making organisations and media certification agencies, along with China's leading technology and broadband companies are teaming up to support an end-to-end global media-on-demand entertainment system that will launch in China late this year with the aim of delivering rich media content direct to the consumer, globally.
A high level delegation from the Government of China unveiled the IDV Global Media On-Demand (GMOD) platform at the NAB Convention in Las Vegas, and invited US media companies to supply TV shows, sports events, movies and other interactive entertainment to the China market. By 2008, when the Olympic Games go to Beijing, China is expected to have half the world's total Internet users.
The IDV GMOD platform encompasses software, hardware, content, encryption, encoding, content certification, distribution network, payment system and business protocols. China media companies will also be providing content to the joint venture, allowing Chinese TV shows, culture programmes, games and news about preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games to reach US consumers.
"Now US media publishers and distributors have a direct platform on which to earn millions of dollars in incremental revenues from their content in the China market," said Dr Fan Yeqiang, deputy director, China Institute of Policy Studies (CIPS), a government think-tank that studies and forms policies for China. "We are offering a safe, certified delivery system never available to U.S. media companies before."
"For the past 10 years, the world has been waiting for the next big technology revolution," he continued. "We've seen the introduction of many transition technologies like IPTV. However, IPTV and the other broadcast era Video-on-Demand (VOD) solutions are regional, costly to implement and not being accepted by the consumer. None of them offer what the digital consumer wants - a next generation platform that delivers high quality content, 24 hours a day, on demand."
China Netcom
and MinYing Telecom have signed their interest in being providers. Tsinghua
Tongfang, China's second largest PC manufacturer, has expressed interest in
building the hardware for the system, the IDV Superbox.
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The increasing use of broadband, personal video recorders and mobile telephones for TV poses a serious threat to traditional network TV, according to the latest report – this one from Deloitte & Touche – to predict the demise of TV advertising.
It shows that growth in on-demand TV, new TV services and broadband is putting mass audiences out of the broadcast industry's reach. This threatens the revenue model of showing adverts to a captive audience, and forces networks to look at new ways of getting their product to viewers, the report says.
"If you look at the share shift between 1993 and 2005, you now have a share of about 28% for other channels outside of the core five and we see that growth continuing to increase. The need to be looking at your product in a far more multimedia way is essential today" said Jolyon Barker, head of the media practice at Deloitte.
The report says
the only solution for broadcasters is to derive more income from new channels
and formats, introducing more personalised services such as pay-per-view and
viewing over the internet, and lengthening the lifecycles of their programmes
by creating more physical products such as DVDs.
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Dishtv:
$91 pa inc STB
From Shveta Malik in New Delhi
India's first DTH service Dishtv has launched an aggressive new package, which does away with monthly subscription fee for various channels. The Essel Group-promoted service has launched a scheme that gives customers a reduced hardware price and subscription fees for a year incorporated in the cost.
"Rs. 3990 (US$91) is all it will cost now to get a dishtv connection," says the company. Under the scheme, a customer gets the hardware installed without any additional charge. The offer has been designed to include a year's subscription for the Dish Welcome package. The package includes a total of 77 channels which include channels like Zee Cinema, ESPN, Star Sports, CNN, Cartoon Network etc.
Competitors for
Dishtv includes state-run DD Direct Plus.
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DirecTV has filed suit in a Southern Texas District Court against 12 individuals, including at least 10 former customer service agents, it alleges were involved in a scheme to fraudulently activate programming accounts.
DirecTV said
it believes they attempted to defraud the company by creating subscription
accounts with false information and fraudulently linking access cards to existing
accounts that enabled others to receive DirecTV programming without authorisation
or proper payment. The suit was filed following a lengthy investigation by
DirecTV's Office of Signal Integrity into improper activities at the call
centre. DirecTV says no customer information was compromised in the scheme.
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Chip
chief challenges broadcasters to break free
From
Colin Mann in Las Vegas
In a keynote address at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference, Hector Ruiz, chairman of the board, president and CEO of microprocessor firm AMD challenged entertainment industry leaders to break free from traditional technology barriers.
Ruiz demonstrated that his company's AMD64 technology with Direct Connect Architecture delivered breakthrough production power to digital artists while simultaneously reducing costs for businesses transitioning to HD production.
"AMD64 liberates
the creative imagination from technology's limitations and allows business
managers to break free from a history of high-cost, low-ROI investments,"
said Ruiz. "AMD64 technology helps businesses creating and delivering
HD content to control data flow, control costs and realise artistic visions
better than any other processor technology available," he claimed.
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Martha Stewart signs for Sirius
Martha Stewart, just six weeks out of federal prison and still under house arrest, has signed with Sirius Satellite Radio to broadcast a 24-hour channel featuring lifestyle reports aimed at women.
"It has been our dream to bring our expertise in the lifestyle arena and our vast library of how-to ideas to radio programming," Stewart said in a statement released by Sirius and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Since Stewart, 63, was released from prison on March 4, she has signed a series of high-profile deals, including agreeing to do a television cooking program and making a spin-off of the reality television show, "The Apprentice."
"Martha
Stewart Living is the premier brand in lifestyle and how-to programming for
women and their families," said Mel Karmazin, Sirius chief. Sirius charges
its 1.2 million listeners $12.95 a month, much of the programming is advertising-free,
but Stewart's channel will have commercials.
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Studios
streamline media assets
From Colin Mann in Las Vegas
Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is teaming up with industry majors to streamline the distribution of its film and television content. A co-operation with Microsoft will see the studio use the Microsoft Connected Services Framework to enable it to create an integrated media environment, boosting productivity and reducing costs.
"By implementing the Microsoft Connected Services Framework, Sony Pictures Entertainment has been able to extend our existing production environment to enable new services, increase interoperability, improve workflow management, and reduce costs," said Jerry Ledbetter, vice president of Digital Media Initiatives for Sony Pictures Entertainment. SPE will also leverage a series of new digital entertainment technology and services created by Ascent Media Group (AMG) and HP. By digitising its library of media assets (both film and TV)SPE can create content once and deliver it to its partners and customers many times, in any standard or format, more securely, quickly and cost-effectively than ever before.
"At SPE, the ability to deliver our content in an efficient, cost-effective and secure way is critical. This project marks a significant step towards the future of file-based digital content delivery, said Jeff Hargleroad, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Product Fulfilment, Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Ken Williams, chief executive officer, Ascent Media Group, said the co-operation was "a powerful statement on how the industry is addressing high-priority issues like security, time and manufacturing efficiencies and new forms of distribution."
In addition,
Warner Bros. Studios and HP are expanding their existing alliance to develop
the industry's first digital, end-to-end process (DETE). HP, Warner Bros.
Studios and Accenture are designing and implementing an architecture that
will enable Warner Bros. Studios to be the first studio to create an environment
that will allow a transition of its entire film production and distribution
process - from creation through post production - to an all digital, file-based
process.
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SeaChange International
announced that its video-on-demand (VOD) system is supporting "OnDemand
TV," the IP television service slated for launch this spring over NTT-East
and NTT-West broadband systems, Japan's largest telco networks.
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EuroNews has
extended its distribution following the channel's launch on the digital terrestrial
television (DTT) platform in the capital city of Tallinn, Estonia. The channel
has been launched in the Baltic region in Estonia by Levira, the operator
of the Estonian DTT platform. Around 250,000 viewers in 70,000 Estonian households
will have access to the channel in Russian, English, French and German.
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The ORBIT Act, passed by the US Congress in 2000, mandated the privatisation of the former intergovernmental organization. Intelsat was purchased in January 2005 by four private equity firms, which bought out the ownership interests of Intelsat's former shareholders.
"The FCC
has recognised that Intelsat has completed its transformation into a fully
private company, able to provide a complete range of satellite solutions in
the competitive marketplace," said Intelsat's Executive Vice President
and General Counsel, Phillip Spector. "Going forward, Intelsat is concentrating
our efforts on providing the services our customers demand and on increasing
shareholder value," he added.
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Korea's plans for web-based television trials received a setback as the four terrestrial television broadcasters withdrew their participation. KBS, MBC, SBS and EBS notified the state-run National Computerization Agency of their intensions to postpone participation and said they might consider pulling out completely.
The opt out is
related to the conflict between the country's broadcasting and telecommunications
regulators over the jurisdiction of IP-based television. The terrestrial channels
were expected to sign partnerships this month with consortiums led by telecom
operators KT Corp., SK Telecom Co. and Dacom Corp. The alliances would have
joined pilot projects for the broadband convergence network, slated for
commercial launch next year.
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The General Secretary
for Telecommunications, Francisco Ros, has announced that the Government is
to finally re-allocate Quiero's three and a half multiplexes (14 TV channels)
"over the next weeks". The re-allocation will made amongst present
broadcasters -RTVE, Antena 3, Tele 5, Canal Plus, Veo TV and Net TV- although
one or two new possible entrants are not ruled out.
The Administration is holding negotiations with state-owned group RTVE about
its role in the development of DTT. RTVE has asked the Government to grant
it with two multiplexes to lead the market. "Undoubtedly, its role (RTVE)
will be very important", said Ros. In parallel, the Government hopes
that the new DTT law is finally approved in May to give a definitive boost
to the market and pave the way for the launch in Autumn of a DTT platform
with 22 channels, coinciding with the Christmas campaign.
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Stuart Murphy,
Controller of BBC THREE, says: "The 'Best of Three' multi-screen trial
is a bold and ground-breaking new application which offers viewers more control
and greater access to the wide range of programmes on BBC THREE."
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Intel has unveiled
a new Wimax, chip which enables broadband connections over several miles,
unlike the short range of wi-fi used in specific locations. The company has
announced a series of trials with partners, including BT, around the world.
Intel and other Wimax supporters will be hoping that the release of a chip
will do for the technology what Centrino chips did for the spread of wi-fi.
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Philips Electronics has suffered in the markets after profits plunged 79%
on losses at its flat-screen unit. Net profits at the Netherlands firm were
E117m in the three months to March, down from E550m in the same period of
2004. Revenues were flat at E6.64bn on lower flat-screen prices and falling
chip sales.
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Texas Instruments is to supply its digital media processor platform to set-top box vendor Humax, for its three-in-one RG100 set top box. The STB combines a digital satellite set top box with a personal video recorder and an IPTV decoder, and support for multiple advanced video codecs such as MPEG-4, H.264 and Windows Media 9 Series.
The RG100 offers a range of interactive services from T-Online, while as a set-top box, it receives encrypted services via a common interface module, as well as FTA broadcasts. Support for multiple codecs provides access to a host of content as well as improved bandwidth efficiency. Humax also offers software upgrades through the satellite connection or the company's website so viewers have access to the latest digital broadcast content.
Suman Narayan,
worldwide marketing manager for TI's Streaming Media group, commented that
the programmability of the TI solution enhanced the users experience and its
high performance ensured that the latest content could be viewed with ease.
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Harmonic has
introduced an extension to Harmonic's NMX Digital Service Manager that provides
a highly-integrated foundation for a standards-based digital program insertion
(DPI) solution, facilitating the analogue to digital migration. The NMX DPI
Server module simplifies the process of dynamically customizing content with
advertisements and short form programs to increase an operator's revenue potential
while reducing complexity and costs.
"As the digital TV experience continues to evolve, it will become increasingly
more locally relevant and, ultimately, personally tailored even though it
may be distributed centrally," said Shahar Bar, NMX Digital Service Manager
Product Manager at Harmonic Inc. "Harmonic's new NMX DPI Server offers
a scalable, pay-as-you-grow deployment model, making it possible for operators
to incrementally expand their infrastructure in step with market demand. Our
standards-based solution, which supports both centralized and distributed
DPI architectures to fit seamlessly into virtually any environment, gives
operators a simple, cost-effective and reliable way to ensure the continuity
and growth of their advertisement business in the digital world."
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Media server
specialist Omneon Video Networks has unveiled a new system capability that
enables broadcasters to play back SD and HD content simultaneously from a
single timeline of any combination of SD and HD source clips. With built-in
up- and down-conversion, the new system delivers integrated playback for today's
heterogeneous broadcast facilities and simplifies the transition to HD.
The streamlined hybrid playout development is made possible by new Omneon
Spectrum modules, the MultiPort 4100 series, a family of interface devices
for MPEG-2 decoding that can support simultaneous playback of both SD and
HD MPEG-2 material.
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IPTV is the engine of the "content everywhere" era. IPTV International is the new journal from Advanced Television Ltd. To find out more and apply for a free subscription click here |
Industry
majors in HD collaboration
From
Colin Mann in Las Vegas
A group of media and computing industry leaders are to collaborate to deliver a line of open, scalable, desktop HDV and HD solutions optimised to meet the needs of video, film and broadcast professionals. Adobe, HP, Intel, Microsoft and Dell revealed the initiative at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Convention.
"OpenHD Certified Solutions will take HD to the mainstream, by offering choice and peace-of-mind to anyone thinking of moving their workflows to HD," said Steve Saylor, vice president of Digital Video and Audio products at Adobe. "Technology leaders are combining their expertise to ensure that fully-configured HD systems are available right out of the box."
OpenHD is being
established by the group to deliver a line of integrated, certified, Windows-based
HD solutions, making HD technology more affordable and accessible to a broader
audience. Through a joint certification process, the companies will help ensure
compatibility between hardware and software components, simplifying the purchasing
process and giving customers the confidence that they are buying a validated
turnkey system.
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Verizon signs Starz for content
Verizon Communications has signed content-programming deals with Starz Entertainment as well as content providers representing roughly 100 television channels, as the phone company steps up its push into TV.
Under the agreement
with Liberty Media owned Starz, Verizon can carry Starz 13 movie channels
on the phone company's new fibre network. Verizon is expected to launch its
television operations in various markets around the U.S. this year.
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Radio Times has signed with Rupert Murdoch's Gemstar TV Guide to produce a Radio Times-branded EPG. Users will have access to seven-day listings, programme recommendations and a database of 24,000 film reviews with star ratings.
The new EPG will be called Guide Plus and will eventually be available on digital televisions, recordable DVD players and personal video recorders. It will also carry paid-for advertising, which will be sold by the Radio Times and could eventually include ads for programmes that viewers could click to take them to the programmes.
The BBC recently
spent £1m (E1.44m) on a marketing campaign to promote the magazine in
a battle to retain circulation in a price war between the UK's best-selling
title, What's on TV, and rival TV Choice.
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Motorola, the No. 2 maker of mobile telephones, is set to unveil a service called iRadio that will let users download preselected audio content from a range of providers on their home computers, dump it on their cell phones and listen to it on their car stereos.
The company is banking on the popularity of portable music underscored by sales of Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod digital music players and growing demand for high-quality, commercial-free radio provided by satellite radio companies Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc.
"What we set out to solve was finding a way to get the breadth of content into the stereo where people listen," said David Ulmer, director of marketing for Motorola's media solutions business. "We looked around and noticed that everyone had a cell phone in their pocket. There is a very large market of potential customers to go after."
The iRadio service,
which will let customers download 10 hours of content at a time, will be available
at the subscription cost of about $5 to $7 a month. When not driving, customers
can listen to content on a phone with a headset.
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Television's share of the global advertising market will peak next year before falling in 2007, starting what could be a long-term decline, according to ZenithOptimedia.
Its latest report
predicts television will start losing global market share to the internet
in 2007. The probability that DVRs will gain popularity adds to the likelihood
that television's market share is nearing its peak, said Jonathan Barnard,
knowledge management manager at ZenithOptimedia. "We expect that in 2006,
this is the highest proportion of the world spending it is likely ever to
take," he said.
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Mobiles most important for ads
Mobile telephones and other wireless communication devices will soon become the most important medium for advertisers to reach tech-savvy consumers, says the BBDO advertising agency, the world's third-biggest.
The agency said
the way forward for advertisers to reach consumers would be to use wireless
devices such as mobile phones, laptop computers and the BlackBerry e-mail
devices favoured by travelling corporate executives on the go. "We are
rapidly getting to the point where the single most important medium that people
have is their wireless device," he said. "It's with them every single
moment of the day. It's genuinely the convergence box that everyone has been
talking about for so many years."
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NTL signs more on demand providers
NTL is to sign
up with Universal Music to provide on-demand music video content to its subscribers.
And the company will start offering Paramount films to provide movies-on-demand
as part of its video-on-demand service, which was launched at the beginning
of this year.
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BskyB's credit card that earns credit for your pay-TV has been launched. The SkyCard works like any other credit card in shops and cash machines worldwide, but can also be inserted in the interactive slot on the Sky digibox, enabling customers to manage their credit card securely via their TV.
The Sky branded card has a 0% interest rate on purchases and balance transfers until 1st January 2006 and a typical purchase APR of 16.9%.
The card also
offers rewards. For every £1 spent, one SkyPoint will be earned which
can be exchanged for rewards such as money off a monthly sky subscription
or pay for view football games or movies.
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Harris
content with Class introduction
From Colin Mann in Las Vegas
Broadcast communications specialist Harris Corporation is adopting a new approach to content delivery with the introduction of the H-Class Content Delivery Platform for broadcasters and content providers. Harris's H-Class platform provides these organisations the means – for the first time – to integrate disparate processes into a single, modular system that handles all content management and delivery enterprise-wide from creation to consumption.
H-Class enables companies to serve what it describes as "the rapidly emerging ‘audience of one'", by intelligently managing the delivery of rich digital media across multiple networks, channels, formats and devices. This provides more targeted programming and advertising content, which in turn enables the creation of new advertising models for increased revenue.
"Digitisation of rich media, changing ad models, new mediums and the consolidation of media outlets are just a few of the myriad challenges facing broadcasters and content providers' traditional businesses," commented Jeremy Wensinger, president of Harris's Broadcast Communications Division. "In order to successfully meet these new market realities, these organisations need the means to easily manipulate and repurpose their content for deployment in multiple venues, times and locations."
The platform allows broadcasters and content providers efficiently and cost-effectively to achieve finer control of their content. This enables them to track their rich media as close to the point of creation as possible while seamlessly managing its movement throughout the broadcast chain to final distribution. The H-Class platform is designed to unlock new and incremental revenue opportunities by enabling broadcasters and content providers to deliver targeted content to more users, as well as support new services such as Video-on-Demand (VOD), IPTV and mobile video.
Harris has also
unveiled its H-Class Intelligent Transport to enable providers to recognise
live and file-based video at the point of content contribution to the network
and at the point of content distribution to multiple devices or destinations.
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Conax
on stream for IPTV Operators
From Colin Mann in Las Vegas
Norwegian conditional access provider Conax AS has expanded its offerings in the IPTV sector with the launch of its Conax CAstream IPTV product for the North American market. Conax calls this product "a missing link", allowing high value content to be streamed over broadband networks with robust security.
Conax CAstream enables operators and content providers to encrypt the streamed IP television content, distribute the stream via open networks, and selectively determine the receivers who will be able to decrypt and utilise the content. Conax CAstream is a stand-alone security system allowing operators to continue using existing platforms and applications, while adding strong conditional access and digital rights management mechanisms.
"The security
solution for distribution of television and video will become more and more
important as the number of IP broadband consumers increases," commented
Ernst Thue, Conax CEO, adding that the product offered operators and content
rights owners a security solution for full protection of video and television
content streamed via IP broadband networks.
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Premiere
launches sports agency
From
Dieter Brockmeyer in Frankfurt
German digital pay TV platform Premiere has set up its own sports agency, Primus Sport. The new company, with an acquisition budget of over E1 billion, is going to acquire all sports programming for Premiere. But it also will sub-license some content to other channels. "With the new company we intend to strengthen our presence in the sports segment", says Premiere CEO Georg Kofler, who for the time being, will also be the managing director of the new company.
Earlier this
year, prior the Premiere IPO in mid March, rumours suggested that Premiere
was looking at the possibility of acquiring a stake in the German free-to-air
sports channel DSF, currently fully owned by the German media group EM.TV.
Kofler had said that advertising funded television could also become significant
for Premiere. Acquiring DSF would be a logic step, because in addition to
the possibility of shared acquisition power in both pay and free TV it also
would provide a strong free-to-air promotion platform for the pay sports offers.
Kofler said the company also would also plan to offer full service packages
for the new distribution channels. ranging from DSL to 3G among others.
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BSkyB
primes HDTV launch
From
Colin Mann in London
BSkyB has added a trio of technology and equipment suppliers - Sony, Tandberg Television and Harris Corporation - to support its forthcoming HDTV service launch. Following the March announcement that Thomson would be the initial manufacturer of Sky's HDTV set-top box, the latest agreements are geared to ensuring that BSkyB remains on track to launch HDTV in the UK and Ireland in 2006.
Sony will construct and equip a new HDTV studio at BSkyB's West London headquarters and supply additional equipment for edit suites and dubbing facilities at the same site. The satellite broadcaster will deploy Tandberg Television's MPEG-4 part 10 (H.264/AVC) video encoding and distribution system, and Harris Corporation’s D-Series Version 4 Air Automation System will support delivery of HDTV programming. Further technology and equipment suppliers will be named in due course as BSkyB progresses its service development.
Alun Webber, BSkyB's Group Director of Engineering and Platform Technology, described the launch of HDTV as "the most significant development for BSkyB's broadcast infrastructure since the launch of Sky digital in 1998," adding that the supplier contracts would keep BSkyB on track to launch HDTV in 2006 and ensure that Sky customers continue to receive the highest-quality viewing experience available.
Roger Bolton,
director of satellite at Tandberg, said that High Definition was going to
take TV viewing to a new level and was a key service differentiator for pay-TV
operators such as BSkyB. "Already a mass consumer proposition in the
US, HDTV is now taking off in Europe and Asia. In fact, when we talk to broadcasters
and operators in these regions, the question is no longer if, but when,"
he commented.
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Music industry targets Internet2
The recording industry is to sue hundreds of students accused of illegally distributing music and movies across Internet2, the super-fast computer network connecting leading universities for researching the next generation of the Internet.
The Washington-based
Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group for the largest
labels, said it will file federal copyright lawsuits Wednesday against 405
students at 18 colleges with access to the Internet2 network, which boasts
speeds hundreds of times faster than the Internet.
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CASBAA welcomes pirate crackdown
The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) has welcomed newly invigorated government approaches to pay-TV signal theft in Hong Kong, the Philippines and Malaysia.
In Hong Kong, telecoms regulator the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) and the Hong Kong Customs Department have undertaken a series of raids on traders in unauthorised pay-TV equipment which should result in criminal prosecutions of multiple vendors. In late March, the Hong Kong Customs Department seized 30 pay-TV decoders designed to decrypt satellite signals only licensed for the Philippines that could allow unscrupulous public venues in Hong Kong to profit while refusing to pay licensing fees in Hong Kong.
"We are extremely pleased with these initiatives by OFTA and Hong Kong Customs to address what the industry and the government believe are highly corrosive activities damaging to the community at large," said Marcel Fenez, the Chairman of CASBAA.
CASBAA also commended a newly proactive stance being taken by the Philippines pay-TV and telecoms regulator, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). The NTC recently announced its intention to create an Intellectual Property Unit in co-operation with a second Philippines regulator, the Intellectual Property Office, to address all issues of content piracy. The NTC is aggressively fighting a court case directly challenging its jurisdiction over pay-TV signal theft in the Philippines. Government officials believe the case could well move to the Supreme Court of the Philippines.
Meanwhile, the
courts in Malaysia have also demonstrated their commitment to fighting pay-TV
piracy by passing deterrent sentences on pirate traders in pay-TV equipment
and services. Last week a dealer in illegally cloned Smart Cards was sentenced
to 10 years imprisonment on four charges of possession of cards designed to
unlawfully access Malaysia’s ASTRO ‘Direct To Home’ satellite
pay-TV service.
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Samsung profits halved in the first quarter compared with a year earlier, worse than analysts had feared. Along with IBM’s surprise announcement of first-quarter earnings that were below expectations, Samsung’s results underline the challenges facing the IT sector.
Samsung – the world's top flat screen maker, the second-largest chipmaker and the third-biggest mobile phone producer – admitted that the second quarter would also be tough, but remained optimistic about the longer term.
"The second
quarter is seasonally weak but we will maintain solid earnings. And we expect
to create earnings at a different level in the second half," the company
said. Samsung reported that net profits fell by 52 per cent to $1.5bn in the
first three months of the year. The South Korean company experienced lower
performance in all of its core divisions, although it said it expected to
see across-the-board improvements in the second half. The company was badly
hurt by the Won US$ exchange rate.
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United Business Media has sold its NOP World market research unit German group GfK for £383m (E555m). The group - which owns a 35 per cent stake in broadcaster Five - said it would use the proceeds of the deal to return £300m to shareholders, representing 17 per cent of its current market value.
GfK, the Nuremberg-based
company said the acquisition was expected to raise its annual revenues by
half to around E1bn. NOP World is the tenth largest market research group
in the world, and generated £20.1m of profit before interest, tax and
amortisation on £222.9m of turnover last year.
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Rogers Wireless and MobiTV announced the arrival of Rogers Mobile Television in Canada, providing Rogers Wireless customers with real-time access to live television.
Rogers Mobile
Television service is powered by MobiTV, the world's first network and platform
providing live television on wireless phones. Rogers Wireless customers who
subscribe to the service will be able to watch exclusive Toronto Blue Jays
real-time highlight clips and the companies will offer live programming on
at least eight channels. Discussions are ongoing with stations to be available
on Rogers Mobile Television, including: MSNBC, CP24, NBC On-Line, Discovery,
TLC, The Weather Channel, Meteo Media, NBC Mobile, Major League Baseball Highlights.
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The Intersputnik International Organisation of Space Communications announced the official assumption of the office of the Intersputnik Director General by Vadim Belov elected on April 4, 2005 during the XXXIII session of the Intersputnik Board.
Vadim Belov, Svyazinvest Deputy Director General, was nominated for Intersputnik Director General by the Russian Telecommunications Administration after the expiry of the term of office of Mr. G.Kudryavtsev. Belov’s candidacy was unanimously supported by the member countries of the Organisation.
‘In the
last decade the Organisation faced certain difficulties but managed to make
impressive progress. With its status of an intergovernmental organisation,
Intersputnik is a unique subject of international relations, capable of making
a ponderable contribution to the establishment and development of a global
information medium’, – emphasised Kudryavtsev in his closing address.
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Viaccess announces that its content protection solution for IPTV distribution is now deployed in more than 100,000 households using ‘MaLigneTV’, France Telecom’s TV over ADSL service.
"We are
very happy to announce that more than 100,000 IPTV subscribers make a daily
use of Viaccess’ leading-edge solutions and services in France"
declared Mathias Hautefort, Viaccess CEO. "TV over ADSL opens a tremendous
growth potential for the fixed-line phone business," said the company.
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Latens Systems
has ported its IP CAS to Texas Instruments digital media processor platform.
The companies say the combination of Latens’ solution with TI’s
TMS320DM64x generation of high performance, fully programmable digital media
processors, delivers an optimal and secure transaction system to equipment
manufacturers and IPTV operators, protecting their broadband content and revenue
streams.
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Convergent Media
Systems, a business TV provider serving over 800,000 viewing locations for
enterprises such as EDS and Ford Motor Company, has selected Intelsat as a
provider of worldwide distribution services for its business TV offerings.
Intelsat’s global fibre and satellite network will be employed to transmit
live and on-demand video communications services, including corporate communications,
distance learning and video distribution to some of Convergent’s key
international customers.
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