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NEWS Monday 4th April to Friday 8th April 2005
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Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
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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 |
MTV goes into broadband Overdrive
MTV is launching a free Internet-based service that will show some of the station's TV programmes. The MTV Overdrive website will allow users with broadband connections to watch music videos and extended programmes on demand. The website is currently being tested and will launch fully on 25 April.
Jason Hirschhorn, MTV's senior vice president of digital music and media, said the channel was being launched in response to demand from broadband-enabled fans. "It seemed essential to create a new hybrid screen with its own content," he said.
MTV president
Van Toffler shrugged of suggestions that the new offering would entice viewers
away from their existing TV channels. "The TV experience is still great,"
he said. "Our ratings are moving higher and we don't fear that."
He added that MTV was in talks with cable providers to deliver the new service
to cable subscribers, but a deal had yet to Toffler suggested that the initiative
was a great example of giving viewers MTV programming "available whenever
they want it."
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Swedish mobile video distributor Kamera has signed a deal with South African operator MTN to distribute video clips to MTN’s customers. Customers will be able to download these video clips to their 2.5G / EDGE handsets, from the MTNLoaded portal. Kamera will provide two new entertainment clips on a daily basis.
"Entertainment news is growing more popular in all channels, including mobile phones. This co-operation with Kamera strengthens our offering in the mobile entertainment segment" claimed Ashraff Paruk, General Manager, Products, Services and Innovation, MTN South Africa.
The launch with MTN is the first project arising from the Content Distribution Agreement Kamera recently signed with Ericsson. The project was initiated through Ericsson and the video clips delivered from Kamera will be handled by Ericsson’s content management solution.
Dan Willstrand,
Head of Sales at Kamera, noted that the deal marked Kamera’s first co-operation
in Africa and that MTN held a very strong position in many African markets.
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Content security solutions provider Widevine Technologies has signed an Agreement to secure video distribution for Taiwan’s state-owned ChungHwa Telecom with Widevine Cypher, a comprehensive conditional access and digital rights management solution - Multimedia on Demand (MOD).
ChungHwa Telecom’s MOD project, one of the largest IPTV deployments in the world, offers True Video-on-Demand (TVOD), Near VOD (NVOD), Karaoke-on-Demand and linear broadcast channels. Its MOD expansion project will add another 500,000 subscribers to the current MOD subscriber base. The project will feature two additional head ends. Widevine will deploy using two middleware providers - Orca and Alcatel - and four set-top boxes from three manufacturers: Pace, Foxconn and Hwacom/Setabox.
Brian Baker,
President and CEO of Widevine, said that ChungHwa had been "strategic
and methodical in its video deployment right from the beginning," adding
that it was no surprise that ChungHwa now boasts one of the largest such deployments
in the world.
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Lucent Technologies is to invest US$80 million in its 3G mobile telephony research centre in Nanjing, taking its investment in the centre to US$200 million. Established in 2003, the centre witnessed US$70-million investment in July last year.
China is expected to have 97,973,215 subscribers for 3G services, according to IDC's report on 3G. Lucent is currently estimated to have a 21 per cent market share in 2G and 2.5G CDMA equipment in China.
Lucent’s decision follows similar announcements from the likes of France’s Alcatel and Germany’s Siemens to gear up themselves for 3G licensing later this year. The foreign vendors are competing against the likes of Huawei, ZTE, and Datang.
"We’re in the midst of a land-grab for 3G. The problem is, the starting gun of the race hasn’t gone off yet. They’re staking out their turf, but until licences are issued there will be no contracts, Ted Dean, managing director of Beijing-based telecom consultancy BDA told media.
In March, Germany’s
Siemens AG announced a US$100-million joint venture with domestic giant Huawei.
Siemens holds a 51 percent stake in the venture, called TD Tech. Prior to
this, Nortel Networks and Chinese telecom vendor Putian also announced a framework
for a joint venture. Recently, Alcatel joined forces with Fujitsu to build
mobile networks for 3G networks in China.
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US mobile video provider MobiTV has added cable TV service The Weather Channel to its growing channel line-up. Cell phone users can view 24-hour weather-related video that is similar to the programming reaching 88 million US households on their handset. The service - a streaming product - is made of weather video clips that have been ‘stitched’ together into a single programming experience.
"The addition of The Weather Channel marks another major stride in our commitment to providing our subscribers with extremely popular and useful programming options on the MobiTV network," said Phillip Alvelda, CEO and chairman of MobiTV. "From Florida to California, the weather affects each and every MobiTV subscriber everyday, and it's very exciting to offer a channel with such broad reach and appeal as part of our service offering."
MobiTV allows consumers unlimited viewing of over 20 channels of television programming (news, weather, sports and entertainment) - for around $10 per month.
"As the
pre-eminent provider of consumer weather information in the United States,
The Weather Channel is dedicated to reaching its viewers in the most relevant
and timely way," said Louis Gump, vice president of mobile for The Weather
Channel Interactive. "We are very excited about our new relationship
with MobiTV and the resulting ability to be there when consumers need us the
most."
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IPTV applications developer Orca Interactive has integrated its RiGHTv middleware applications with Amdocs IP Convergence Solution for IPTV. The Amdocs IPTV solution combines the Amdocs 6 portfolio of integrated, modular products, enabling service providers to accelerate the implementation of an integrated customer management strategy for emerging IPTV services.
The offering will combine Amdocs IPTV solution with Orca's IPTV applications such as broadcast TV over IP, VOD (Video-on-Demand), NVOD (Near Video-on-Demand), PVR (Personal Video Recording), pay-per-view and other interactive services. As a result, service providers can simplify the entire customer experience and reduce time to market of new services, while creating the customer-centric environment needed to attract high-value customers.
"As IPTV is a relatively new service in most areas, one of the key issues providers are concerned with is attracting and retaining subscribers," said Eran Wagner, vice president of interactive TV, Amdocs, who added that the integration enabled service providers to interact directly with the end-user via the TV, resulting in an extraordinary customer experience, creating stronger, more intimate and more profitable customer relationships.
Yosi Glick, vice
president of marketing and business development, Orca Interactive, said that
as the IPTV market expended, the offering would provide our customers with
the scalability and flexibility required to support the growing IPTV subscriber
base with seamless ordering, fulfilment and billing for IPTV services and
bundled packages.
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Mobile telephones and other wireless communication devices will soon become the most important medium for advertisers to reach technology-savvy consumers, according to Andrew Robertson, chief executive of Omnicom's BBDO advertising agency, the world's third-biggest. Robertson told the Financial Times that advertisers could face up to the growing issue of ad avoidance by targeting consumers via wireless devices such as mobile phones, laptops and the BlackBerry.
He said: "We
are rapidly getting to the point where the single most important medium that
people have is their wireless device. 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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A survey of UK
advertising executives has concluded that plans to complete analogue to digital
switchover by 2012 is "unrealistic". The survey, carried out by
MediaTel Insight, also highlighted their concern that householders wouldn’t
upgrade their second and third TV sets and the ensuing consumer backlash will
be too bitter a political pill to swallow. The intended date of 2012 for the
switch-off could be pushed back to as late as 2016, according to the survey.
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Digital TV company enteraction tv has appointed James Penfold as Business Development Director to head new business activity across both enteraction’s core business of branded television content as well as interactivity via Red Fig, enteraction’s participation TV division. Penfold joins enteraction tv from interactive company DITG, where he was Director of Sales since 2001. Before joining DITG, he was content director at BT Openworld and also spent time working on BT’s pre-cursor to BIB/Open…
CEO of enteraction
tv Mark Cullen suggested that in his new role, Penfold would play an integral
part in ensuring clients are able to exploit the full range of interactivity
on projects as well as building enteraction’s channel management business.
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Cablevision Systems is to make a $16.5 billion cash bid for bankrupt Adelphia Communications say Wall St observers. The bid would rival the offer from Time Warner and Comcast valued at $18 billion. T W and Comcast were viewed as the likely winners for Adelphia's five million-plus subscribers.
Cablevision was said to be preparing a bid alongside private equity firms, but now appears ready to go it alone. Analysts predict a period of consolidation following the Adelphia transaction, whoever wins.
Most were surprised
by the bid as Cablevision has less geographic bundling potential than its
rivals. However, as one observer pointed out, Cablevision is currently full
of surprises; founder and Chairman Charles Dolan is controversially seeking
to block the sale of Cablevision's satellite operations to EchoStar.
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Spain:
Analogue TV licences will delay DTT, say experts
From David Del Valle in Madrid
The Government's proposal to grant two new analogue TV licences will delay the re-launch of DTT, according to industry figures appearing before the Parliamentary committee.
Silvio Gonzalez, General Director of Antena 3, said he was surprised that the Government wants "to boost a new technology by awarding more licences with an old technology (analogue)". "What we do now in analogue will condition the development of digital TV", pointed out Andoni Oztuzar, general director of regional channel ETB.
A recent report
produced by another Gaptel said a pre-condition for the introduction and development
of DTT was a tight switch-off deadline. It said that now it is the right time
to develop DTT and that a new delay would have disastrous consequences for
the market.
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Peter Chernin, president of News Corp told the NCTA that the acquisition of live event programming will be one of the keys in coping with the emergence of the digital video recorder.
Chernin, describing News Corp.'s strategy, said giving consumers sports and other shows they want to see live gives them an incentive to tune in when the programme airs, making them more likely to view commercials. He also said "giving people ways to pay for programming directly," was important. Also, the industry will have to "get more creative" about commercials. "A pod of six to eight minutes of commercials is like holding up a sign that says, 'Do something else for a few minutes,' " Chernin said.
Bob Wright, chairman of NBC Universal, said TiVo viewers are people who generally watch more television than usual anyway, more than 25 percent more than non-TiVo users. He added that "If you watch that much, it's usually niche programming, like sports," he said. "And advertisers usually align their ads to reach those niche viewers."
But, Wright said, cable and satellite operators have to be very careful about giving consumers technologies like DVRs, because so much of the entertainment industry is still primarily dependent on advertising.
Given the realities
of the DVR and changing viewer habits, Bob Iger, the new Disney chief, said
Disney is increasingly inclined to spend on assets that have more than one
revenue stream. "Broadcasters, because they have one revenue stream,
are more vulnerable because of new technologies," he said.
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Newly appointed Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin says he'll continue his predecessor's free-market driven approach in dealing with competitive issues in media.
Martin also said that Congress, not the FCC, would ultimately decide if cable and satellite television should be regulated in the same manner as broadcast TV. "I think the cable industry has an opportunity to address this issue." Because most American TV viewers now get even their broadcast station signals from cable or satellite, broadcasters argue that cable should be held to the same strict standards that apply to over-the-air broadcasters.
Generally, the
FCC will stay in a "reactive" mode with regard to indecency, Martin
said.
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MCI Inc. rejected a $9.1 billion takeover offer from Qwest Communications International Inc., which will now consider going straight to shareholders with the offer.
The rejection,
announced early on Wednesday, marked the third time MCI has chosen a lower
acquisition offer from Verizon Communications Inc. which last week sweetened
its bid to $7.6 billion.
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TiVo has signed a new advertising services agreement with DirecTV, extending the companies' prior deal.
With the new deal, each company will sell and distribute TiVo's advanced advertising capabilities on DirecTV DVRs with TiVo service, the DVR company said. Both TiVo and DirecTV will each retain their respective revenues generated from such sales.
TiVo has been
DirecTV's main source of DVR technology until recently, when the satellite
TV company partnered with sister company NDS to develop its own digital recorder.
More than two-thirds of TiVo subscribers also have been with DirecTV.
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In a move that will see a step change in PVR and other device capacities, Hitachi says it has broken the record for data density in a hard drive thanks to a new way of storing data. Most drives store data by writing it onto the top of a disc horizontally. The new method allows the data to be written vertically into the disc, allowing much higher levels of storage.
"We are at the cusp of the most significant hard drive technology transition of the past decade, and it's one that holds so much promise for the hard drive and consumer electronics industries," said Jun Naruse, CEO, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. "As the biggest supplier of small-form-factor hard drives, 2.5 inch and below, consumers' demand for storing more data on smaller devices has provided a strong impetus for us to pursue perpendicular recording with a greater sense of urgency."
While traditional
horizontal data writing is the predominant form of data storage researchers
believe this technology will reach its limit at about 120GB per inch squared.
The new drives are capable of 230GB per inch squared, compact enough to build
a 20GB mini iPod or a terabyte 3.5 inch drive.
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The Secure Video
Processor (SVP) Alliance announced at the NCTA show that eight new companies
have joined the content protection group, bringing the total to 22 and further
strengthening the organisation's influence in the important realm of digital
content protection.
The SVP Alliance is joined by eight new members including: AMD, a worldwide producer of microprocessors, Flash memory devices, and silicon-based solutions for communications and computer industries; Amstrad, a manufacturer and supplier of innovative consumer electronics products, including multi-network set top boxes; Cablevision, a leading media, entertainment and telecommunications company; Pace Micro Technology, a leader in innovative set-top box solutions.
Philips, one of the world's largest electronics companies; Sky Italia, the Italian pay-TV service offering 150 television, audio, interactive, and pay-per-view channels; Texas Instruments, a provider of digital signal processing and analogue technologies and Yes, the Israeli satellite services company complete the new members.
"It is important
to us to understand the content protection standards that will be required
to enable various forms of content distribution within the digital home,"
said Wilt Hildenbrand, Cablevision's executive vice president, engineering
and technology. "We at Cablevision believe that SVP is one of the compelling
solutions that will enable us to package premium
content for our subscribers to view at their convenience, while ensuring its
continued protection from unauthorised use."
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The use of broadband telephony in the US is expected to explode over the next four years as home users hop on the VoIP bandwagon. That's the conclusion of IDC who reckon the number of residential VoIP users will rise from three million at present to 27 million by the end of 2009. Despite its slow start, VoIP is beginning to take-off.
However, Senior
IDC analyst William Stofega reckons VoIP providers need to offer services
that are "compelling and affordable". "Carriers will need to
educate residential users on the features and functions of VoIP service to
avoid a pricing war. Integrating applications and enabling convergence are
critical capabilities that carriers will need to offer in the years ahead."
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3G:
142 million by 2009 in APAC
From Shveta Malik in New Delhi
Mobile phone subscription for 3G in the Asia Pacific region, excluding Japan, is projected to grow from 10.2 million in 2004, to 142.6 million in 2009, growing at a CAGR of 68.5%, according to IDC's Competitive Analysis report `3G Developments in Asia/Pacific (ex-Japan): No Turning Back'.
IDC said that at the end of 2004, only Hong Kong (259,000 subscribers in 2004), South Korea (9,541, 407) and Australia (410,000) had launched 3G services outside of Japan, accounting for 10.2 million subscribers. Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Thailand and India are expected to follow. China is expected to have 97,973,215 subscribers while South Korea is predicted to grow its base to 25,230,800 by 2009. By the end of the forecast period in 2009, IDC expects that 3G services would have penetrated more than 12% of total mobile subscribers in the region, with South Korea leading at 63%, followed by Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore then Taiwan.
Alayne Wong, research manager of Wireless Communications Research, IDC Asia/Pacific, said, "A complete strategy involves looking at target market, tariff, branding, content and applications, portal, marketing and distribution, service quality; all of which tantamount to providing quality of the end-user experience. If implemented well, new revenue generating opportunities from 3G services abound for service providers."
IDC stated that
the availability of suitable devices has improved with models coming into
the market with enhanced form factors and feature specifications. "But
as we progressively cross this first hurdle, network performance, pricing
and service positioning will become increasing areas of focus to move 3G from
niche to mainstream."
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UK's Channel 4 is to air 11 short programmes featuring pop music artists, potentially paving the way for a video music service from the subscription download company.
The series is
to launch this month with a programme about Scottish rock band Garbage. Leanne
Sharman, Napster vice-president, said: "To extend the Napster experience
to TV is the logical next step in the UK roll-out of the brand." The
move follows a prediction earlier this year by Chris Gorog, chairman and chief
executive, that Napster would move into video and possibly movie subscription
services.
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Google co-founder Larry Page said at NCTA it will put out a call for personal video clips as it moves to further expand the reach of its Web search business. "We're going to start taking video submissions from people," Page said.
Google in January rolled out the test version of its video search service that allows users to find content in television programs from such providers as Fox News, the NBA and PBS. Called Google Video, it allows users to see still images from the video clips and associated closed-captioning.
Google has search relationships with numerous content and broadband providers and hopes to extend those into new areas. For example, cable company Comcast uses Google search on its site and also creates its own content.
Google's main
rival Yahoo, led by former Hollywood studio executive Terry Semel, has made
a big move into entertainment and already has struck exclusive content deals
with "Survivor" creator Mark Burnett and JibJab Media, a producer
of short animated films.
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US network Fox will launch the first channel devoted to the reality genre. Fox Reality will air a continuous stream of favourites such as Joe Millionaire and Temptation Island. At first most of the content will be reruns and one-off original shows with behind-the-scenes footage, updates on reality personalities and commentary.
Fox Reality will
be the first to capitalise on the format. The launch is expected in May.
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UK Internet advertising outstripped radio for the first time last year. Strong growth in broadband subscriptions helped online advertising expenditure to grow by 60% last year to £653.3m (E946m) in Britain, beating a total of £637.4m for commercial radio, according to research for the Interactive Advertising Bureau. The internet edged above radio in terms of market share, taking 3.9% of total spending against 3.8% for its closest rival. Internet advertising revenues are now four times larger than they were in 2000.
The figures,
compiled by accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers and the World Advertising
Research Centre, confirmed that the press is the largest, if not the fastest
growing, medium. Press spending accounted for 41.5% of the total, followed
by television with 23.9% and direct mail with 14.6%. Total advertising expenditure,
buoyed by one-off events such as Euro 2004 and the Athens Olympics, rose by
6% to £16.9bn.
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Irdeto Access announces the sale of its conditional access solution to Kabel Noord in Northeast Friesland. It joins operators, including Essent, Casema, Kabel Noord, Multikabel, CAIW, Nutsbedrijven Maastricht and others, which service more than four million households, representing 70 percent of the Dutch cable market. Past digital cable rollout efforts in the country had met with a disappointing response from consumers and some suffered from piracy-related issues. The operators' new strategy, offering digital sound and video quality and additional channels at little or no additional monthly expense above standard analogue subscriptions, has name-brand set top boxes flying off the shelves in consumer electronics stores throughout the Netherlands.
The model, unique
to the Dutch cable market, enables consumers to make a one-time purchase of
a complete, simple-to-install package from their local consumer electronics
store. The package includes a set top box from well-known companies like Samsung,
Panasonic, Nokia or Philips, an Irdeto Access smart card to access the service,
and a subscription to the service from the consumer's local cable operator.
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Humax has launched
UK's first digital LCD TV (iDTV) and built-in personal video recorder (PVR).
The LGB32-TPVR combines twin Freeview receivers with a PVR, which can record
up to 30 hours of TV programmes to a 40gb internal hard disk drive. The 32in
LCD TV puts you in control of what you watch and when, and practically eliminates
the need for TV extras such as video recorders and set-top boxes in your living
room.
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Yoo Media E34.7m loss but on target
YooMedia plc, the UK's biggest independent interactive media company, announced preliminary results for 2004 showing turnover of £21.3m (E31m) (against £0.7m in 03) and an operating loss of £24.0m (2003: loss £5.4m). The losses included exceptionals of £5.9m, and depreciation and impairment charges of £11m.
The company said the DITG acquisition has been successfully integrated and the group was on target for operating break-even for the quarter of 05. Current monthly revenues are c.£8m
Commenting on the results, Michael Sinclair, chairman, said: "Each of our business units has performed well during the year and all of them are strongly poised for growth. The leap forward we made by merging with DITG has taken YooMedia to a new level, building on the progress we had already made over the past couple of years. The merger has lived up to our expectations and the two businesses are already integrated, resulting in benefits in terms of scale and synergy."
Since the year-end,
the company has entered into an agreement to acquire the balance of the shares
in ViaVision Limited, having already acquired 15% with the acquisition of
DITG. As a result of this acquisition, YooMedia will operate Pokerzone TV,
the new name for the existing Game-In TV channel. YooMedia will provide interactive
services for this channel through the red button on Sky and via mobile devices.
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Spain's leading
pay-TV group, Sogecable, owned by media group Prisa, Telefonica and Canal
Plus France, has raised its share to 85.5 per cent in digital satellite platform
Digital Plus, by acquiring a 2.25 per cent stake from terrestrial channel
Antena 3 TV. This latest share move comes at a time when group, presided by
Rodolfo Martin Villa, is already working on its project to turn pay-TV channel
Canal Plus into a commercial TV station. A Government decision to allow Sogecable
to transform Canal Plus into a free-to-air channel is expected over the next
weeks.
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BT has connected
its five millionth broadband customer. The milestone comes a year ahead of
the telecoms company's own predictions and includes broadband connections
sold on by third party firms. The figures suggest that soon more than half
of all net users in the UK will be on a broadband connection. The five million
customers are shared among the 200 companies that re-sell BT lines. BT's own
broadband business has a 35% share of total DSL market.
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The home-made
programs known as "Podcasts" are catching on with people who own
iPods or other digital-music players, according to a survey in the US. Twenty-nine
percent of U.S. adults who own MP3 players like iPod say they have downloaded
podcast programs from the Internet, the Pew Internet and American Life Project
found.
Podcasters create radio-like programs of commentary, music or humour, which
are saved in MP3 audio format and posted online. Listeners are automatically
notified when a new podcast is available. Nearly half of digital-music player
owners younger than 29 years old have tried out podcasts, the survey found,
compared with 20 percent of those 29 or older.
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Video Networks, provider of the HomeChoice entertainment and communications service, announced the addition of a new R.E.M. video-on-demand channel to its platform. HomeChoice customers will gain exclusive access to the channel, which has been entirely designed and built in-house, from 31st March 2005.
The launch of
the R.E.M. music content coincides with the band’s UK tour - the highlight
of which will be a live date in Hyde Park on July 9th. Earlier this year also
saw the re-release of nine of R.E.M.’s most successful albums including
Green, Out of Time and Automatic for the People. The V:MX R.E.M. channel is
the first artist specific video-on-demand package in the world and will sit
within HomeChoice’s suite of V:MX music channels, which feature a massive
library of over 3,000 music videos.
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Hawaii-based Broadband iTV (BBiTV) today announced it has entered into an exclusive, multi-year worldwide distribution agreement with OpenTV Corp. one of the world's leading interactive television companies. BBiTV's interactive television applications will be marketed through OpenTV's sales and marketing staff, with an initial focus on U.S. cable operators.
"Given the industry-wide respect and broad global distribution of OpenTV, we are particularly encouraged about the prospects to scale our business to both U.S. and international markets," said Eric Tom, Broadband iTV's chief executive officer.
Open have also
signed a distribution deal with Bluestreak Network, Inc., the developer of
the Digital Entertainment Middleware (DEM). Bluestreak's DEM extension will
enable OpenTV licensees to develop iTV applications that leverage the Flash
presentation environment, one of the most popular multimedia formats on the
internet.
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Arroyo Video Solutions, Inc. is today introducing "Always ON," video on demand (VOD) to the industry. Employing the new "Always ON" capabilities of Arroyo OnDemand - Arroyo's 100% open standards solution for VOD - operators have for the first time a solution that continues to deliver uninterrupted on demand TV to subscribers, irrespective of any problems affecting it, even up to the failure of whole servers.
"Our 'Always
ON' OnDemand solution delivers nonstop VOD service for subscribers and nonstop
VOD revenues for operators," said Paul Sherer, CEO of Arroyo Video Solutions.
"With operators delivering north of one billion VOD streams this year,
VOD has clearly moved to a business-critical status. Subscribers need 24X7
VOD service and operators need to sleep at night knowing they are meeting
that need. For the first time, with Arroyo's 'Always ON' OnDemand solution,
both are realities."
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Scopus Network Technologies has launched its dense IP decoder UID-2900 product family with the introduction of the UID-2902 Universal IP Decoder. The UID-2902, a cost-effective platform that enables migration from analog to all-digital distribution networks, is currently being evaluated by several leading U.S.-based cable operators (MSOs).
The new UID-2902
1RU device features concurrent two-channel MPEG decoding; dual MPEG over IP
inputs supporting IGMPv2 (IGMPv3 ready); simultaneous two video stream and
four audio stream support; and both link and logical redundancy. Management
and control of the UID-2902 are easily achieved via an easy-to-use graphical
front panel, a simple network management protocol (SNMP) or Web-based management.
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Microsoft has launched a video download service for Windows-based mobile devices. Subscribers will be able to access daily TV programmes, news and sport headlines, comedy, music videos and independent films. Programmes are specially tailored for viewing on Microsoft smartphones, Pocket PCs and portable media centres.
The US service
is priced at $19.95 a month and Microsoft says it has lined up 20 firms to
provide downloadable programmes and short films for the video service, including
MSNBC, Fox Sports, IFilm, MTV, TiVo, Napster, and DIY Network. Those signing
up will get the content they want downloaded automatically to a library on
their PC that they can then transfer to their portable media player.
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Hutchison Whampoa has admitted it blew $3bn on new 3G technology last year but plans to make a return on that investment. It hopes to float its Italian mobile phone business towards the end of the year with 3 UK to follow in 2006.
Hutchison said: "With the 3 Group becoming self-financing in the 2005-2006 period, plans are already being made to put in place appropriate new capital structures for the Italy and UK businesses which will maximise their value contribution." The company said that its UK business, which launched two years ago, now has more than 3 million customers, against 1.2 million a year ago and 2.5 million three months ago. This growth suggests the company's policy of offering cheap phone calls and large bundles of text messages is paying off.
Average revenue per user - a crucial measure for investors - was £40.30 (E58) a month in 2004, down on the £43.22 announced at the half-year stage. Nevertheless, it is higher than the average revenue achieved by its UK rivals.
Overall the group
posted a net profit of $2.07 billion in 2004, a 38% increase compared to 2003.
Revenue was$23 billion, a 23% increase compared to 2003.
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Spain's
crackdown on pirate TV stations
From David Del Valle in Madrid
The Spanish Authorities are intensifying their fight against TV piracy by closing down illegal local TV stations in an attempt to clarify the market and release spectrum in for the awarding of two or three new analogue TV licences.
The latest action has taken place in Madrid where the regional Government has closed down 21 illegal local TV channels and 33 radio stations and has imposed a E1.5 million fine on a residents' association for pirating the signal of 14 TV channels.
The shut down channels were broadcasting without a licence, a common practice in the Spanish local TV market. Another 16 local televisions in the Madrid region will also have to close down, as they do not have a licence to broadcast.
This crackdown
on illegal local TVs comes at a time when the Madrid Administration is about
to grant 53 digital local TV licences that will have to be in operation by
the beginning of next year. 44 different companies made 115 bids for those
53 licences.
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BSkyB’s
EPG is to get an overhaul to cope with ever rising number of channels on the
digital satellite platform. Channels will be re-ordered and re-grouped. The
current EPG has 10 categories on the main menu, the new EPG will re-group
Sky’s 480 channels – 340 more than the number available when Sky
Digital launched in 1998 - over 16 categories, with new categories for lifestyle,
religion, shopping, gaming and adult channels, and new separate categories
for documentaries and radio stations. Some channels will have to be re-numbered,
a potentially controversial process.
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Time Warner Cable has begun testing its own mobile-phone service in Kansas City, signalling a move to compete against local phone companies wireless dominance. Time Warner Cable started marketing Sprint mobile phones to its subscribers in Kansas, the phones are branded and operated by Sprint but Time Warner Cable is handling billing procedures and marketing for the service.
Cable executives have long hinted at their interest in offering cell phone service to their customers. During parent company Time Warner's quarterly earnings conference call in November, CEO Richard Parsons said the company would "begin to explore relationships in the wireless space."
Cable companies
have had considerable success in bundling their TV programming with broadband
Internet access and, in some cases, phone service. But wireless has always
been a missing piece in their package of entertainment and communications
services.
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ITV
secures Freeview slot
From Colin Mann in London
UK commercial broadcaster ITV is expected to launch a version of its Men and Motors channel on the DTT Freeview service after winning the auction for the additional digital TV channel made available on multiplex D, part of the digital platform.
Mobile telecommunication and broadcast transmission infrastructure company Crown Castle UK released the capacity, prompting a high level of interest from broadcasters such as the UK’s Channel 4 and five, as well as Disney, Turner Broadcasting and NBC.
Charles Allen,
ITV's chief executive officer said: "One of our strategic objectives
is to grow ITV's successful multichannel business and we are therefore delighted
to have secured additional capacity on this platform. We will now build on
the tremendous success of ITV2 and ITV3 by expanding the range of our offering
on the digital platform where our channels perform best."
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Mitsubishi America and Sharp have signed license agreements for Zenith Electronics digital television (DTV) reception technology. Under the agreements, Sharp and Mitsubishi become the latest companies to license Zenith's "8-VSB" (eight-level Vestigial Side Band) DTV technology. Zenith developed the 8-VSB digital transmission system at the heart of the ATSC DTV Standard adopted by the Federal Communications Commission. The company holds numerous patents essential to the operation of over-the-air digital television receivers compliant with the ATSC DTV Standard.
New FCC regulations
that took effect last summer will require DTV tuners with 8-VSB demodulators
in virtually all TVs sold over the next three years. The phased-in ‘FCC
DTV Tuner Mandate’ started on July 1, 2004, requiring 8-VSB tuners in
50 percent of 36-inch and larger sets sold in the United States. Effective
July 1, 2005, 100 percent of 36-inch and larger sets, and 50 percent of 25-
to 35-inch sets, sold in the United States will be required to incorporate
8-VSB demodulators. The rule will apply to all TVs 13-inches and larger in
2007.
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The UK is set
to get a new TV channel for the gay community. Outgoing Sky Italia programme
chief David Bouchier is behind the plans for Faze TV, which will offer lifestyle
content, dramas and movies. The channel will initially be available to Sky
customers for a monthly fee. Bouchier said similar channels had proved successful
in the US and France.
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Qwest Communications
has hiked its takeover bid for MCI to $9 billion, intensifying its efforts
to scuttle the long-distance telephone company's acquisition by Verizon Communications
Inc. Qwest's latest offer topped its previous bid of $8.45 billion and exceeded
by 18 percent Verizon's sweetened offer of $7.6 billion that MCI accepted
on Tuesday. MCI said its board would review Qwest's latest proposal. Qwest
said it would withdraw its offer if MCI failed to respond and declared its
bid superior by April 5.
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A Dutch consultant has provoked the anger of the BBC by creating a website which lets users browse Ceefax, the broadcaster’s popular teletext service. The BBC has demanded the closure of the site, claiming copyright infringement.
Hendrik Noorderhaven,
a former candidate for the European parliament, started the website two years
ago because he used to watch Ceefax on television. BBC 1 and 2 are both available
on the Dutch cable TV system. However, the BBC decided two years ago to show
only a limited version of the teletext pages in the Benelux. Ceefax cannot,
like the Dutch equivalent Teletekst, be accessed online.
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Advanc
offers interactive TV with Internet, plans 3G trials
From Shveta Malik in New Delhi
Advanced Info Service Plc (Advanc), Thailand’s mobile phone operator, has introduced an interactive television service bundled with a broadband Internet service and plans to launch the trials for its 3G service in May this year. The company has chosen China’s Huawei Technologies to provide 3G trial services.
Advanc’s subsidiary Advanced Dananetwork Communications Ltd has launched the service using the fixed-line telephone network of state-owned TOT Corp Plc. The service costs US$16.5 a month, which includes unlimited high-speed Internet access and a 100-megabyte e-mail address. Video-on-demand will be charged in addition to the monthly fee.
The bundled services
allow subscribers to watch television content provided by Advanced Dananetwork
as well as video-on-demand while using the Internet and talking on the fixed-line
telephone, all at the same time. Advanced Dananetwork is targeting 60,000-80,000
subscribers in the first year of operations and expects the company to break
even in four years, when the subscriber base is expected to rise to 500,000.
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SBC selects SA for IPTV Network
Scientific-Atlanta announced that it has signed a multi-year agreement with SBC Communications, Inc. to design, build and activate the IP video super hub offices (SHO), IP video hub offices (VHO) and IP video operations centre (VOC) for its Project Lightspeed network. This advanced network will be able to deliver video, voice and data services to 18 million households in the SBC 13-state service area.
In this first-of-its-kind network, the IP video super hub offices will use Scientific-Atlanta's state-of-the-art video encoders for efficient advanced video coding (AVC) for standard-definition and high-definition transmissions, and will be capable of serving the entire SBC footprint. Additional Scientific-Atlanta advanced video encoders in the IP video hub offices, located throughout the SBC service area, will provide the essential encoding functions for locally originated content.
At the IP video
operations Centre, Scientific-Atlanta's ROSA(tm) Element Manager system will
be used to support a broad array of network monitoring and control functions.
Scientific-Atlanta's extensive experience with video networks enables it to
provide SBC companies with comprehensive, proven system integration services
for the SHOs, VHOs, and the VOC.
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OpenTV announced that it has entered into an agreement with TV Guide Interactive, Inc., an affiliate of Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc., the developer of the cable industry's most widely-distributed interactive programme guide (IPG), for Gemstar-TV Guide's newest IPG, i-Guide to be integrated with OpenTV's middleware.
This deal will
allow network operators to choose both the leading IPG and the world's most
broadly deployed middleware solution says Open. It is expected that Gemstar-TV
Guide will market i-Guide through its sales and marketing staff, and that
it will be offered worldwide on set-top boxes enabled with OpenTV Core middleware.
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