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NEWS Monday 6th June to Friday 10th June 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 |
French broadcasting regulator the Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel (CSA) has given the go-ahead for three trials of DVB-H mobile television service in the Paris area.
After having asked Canal+, TPS and TDF to put forward a joint approach for such a trial, the CSA has confirmed that its enquiries have been satisfied. It has asked the operators to submit the exact list of the services to be broadcast during the trial. It also has authorised the three, before launching the trials, to carry out one-month technical transmission tests on channel 37 and channel 29.
The CSA has also
authorised the participation of Radio France and Radio Orient in the trials
and confirmed that it was disposed to authorise other similar trial requests
specifically for radio services.
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Diller's IAC exits VUE with $3.4b
Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp has sold its 5.44 per cent stake in Vivendi Universal Entertainment to NBC Universal for about $3.4 billion in cash and shares. The sale was one in a series of related transactions that have simplified the companies' corporate and financial structures and resulted in IAC's exit from Vivendi Universal Entertainment (VUE). As a result of the transactions, VUE is now wholly owned by NBC Universal. NBC Universal is 80 per cent-owned by GE, with the remaining 20 per cent controlled by Vivendi Universal.
IAC and Vivendi Universal have also agreed to dismiss permanently litigation between them pending in the Delaware courts, and all parties have released one another from potential claims relating to IAC's investment in VUE.
Vivendi Universal subsequently confirmed that the total net amount paid in cash by amounted to $235 million, compared with the elimination of the obligation to make average annual payments of $30 million over a 17-year period. From an accounting standpoint, Vivendi Universal recorded a capital gain of $244 million (approximately €200 million).
In addition to
the elimination of the tax litigation with IAC, this transaction allows for
the elimination of VU's obligation to GE to pay a compensation, up to $520
million in respect of a possible loss on any sale of the theme parks before
2008 (an off balance sheet obligation).
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Digital content protection specialist Viaccess has signed a new global agreement to protect TPS's multichannel offer to be launched over France's digital terrestrial network, and to secure its existing satellite network with a new generation of cards. The deal extends an existing nine year relationship between the two companies.
The new TPS DTT offer is scheduled for an autumn 2005 launch and will include the premium channel TPS STAR and other pay-TV channels distributed by TPS. Using the latest generation of services and cards (Buda Card) developed the TPS DTT package will be based on the MPEG-4 compression technology mandated by the French government for pay television broadcasts and approved by the French audiovisual regulatory body, the CSA. Viaccess and TPS anticipate considerable growth potential, with 65 per cent of the French population expected to have access to DTT by the end of 2006.
"The introduction
of Viaccess latest technology to protect our new DTT offer and the choice
of a new generation of cards are efficient steps in our extensive plan to
eradicate piracy," declared Gilles Maugars, Senior VP and CTO, TPS. Mathias
Hautefort, Viaccess CEO, suggested that Viaccess's experience with operators
such as Sweden's Boxer pay-DTT service would benefit the TPS operation.
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Alcom debuts Finnish IPTV over DSL
Alands Datakommunikation (Alcom), the primary DSL provider for the Aland Islands has launched Finland's first commercial IPTV over DSL service.
Alcom selected broadband access solutions provider Paradyne as their DSL vendor in 2003 and deployed Paradyne's GranDSLAM 4200IP DSLAM throughout its network, initially for the delivery of data services and VoD. Alcom is currently offering between 20 to 50 IPTV channels to around 1,000 business/residential subscribers. Alcom's rollout plans aim to cover over 70 per cent of the islands' population over the next three years.
Keith Hoult,
Managing Director EMEA, Paradyne Networks said that there was "no doubt
that the ‘hot area' for DSL technology at the moment is that of IPTV
or Triple Play solutions."
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Jupiter demands Warner content
Video-on-demand aggregator Jupiter VOD has reached a licensing agreement with Warner Bros International Television (WB) for a package of current and library titles for its VOD and SVoD service in Japan. Jupiter VOD's first affiliate is Japan's largest multiple service operator, J:COM. WB's titles will be added to the service from July 1, 2005 with other cable operators in Japan expected to sign up in the future.
The WB contract
is the third VOD licensing agreement with a major Hollywood studio for Jupiter
VOD, after Buena Vista International TV Distribution Japan and MGM International
Television Distribution Inc.
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Ascent Media scores with ESPN STAR Sports
Asian sports broadcaster ESPN STAR Sports has signed a multi-year agreement with Ascent Media Network Services Asia (AMNSA) to provide satellite and fibre services, access management services, and control and monitoring for ESPN STAR Sports' global contribution network.
AMNSA will use dedicated C-band bandwidth on Loral Skynet's Telstar 18 satellite and occasional-use C-band capacity on both Telstar 18 and Loral's Telstar 10 for space segment, enabling ESPN STAR Sports to uplink live video from sporting events across Asia to its Singapore production facility for re-broadcast to cable operators or direct broadcast service providers in Asia.
In addition, AMNSA will provide ESPN STAR Sports with multiple video and data fibre channels between London and Singapore, which will enable the broadcaster to receive live sporting content from most locations in Europe and North America.
Matt Armstrong, Senior Vice President, Global Sales and Marketing, AMNS, observed that more and more leading content providers were choosing to outsource these types of services to AMNSA "leveraging our global expertise in the transport of regional video content as well as the associated flexibility, reliability, and economies of scale.""
Andy Rylance,
Director of Engineering, ESPN Star Sports, noted that previously, ESPN had
used only satellite for all its contribution feeds. "The fibre system
provided by Ascent both reduces our costs and significantly increases our
capacity, adding a more dynamic range of live content available to our network."
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Malaysia's newest pay-TV platform, MiTV Corp Sdn Bhd (MiTV) has chosen the Tandberg Television professional hardware encoding solution for Windows Media Video 9) to provide advanced video encoding and control systems for its scheduled summer 2005 launch. MiTV plans with a full commercial roll out of a multi-channel IPTV service, with more than 50 live and on-demand channels planned.
Tandberg Television will provide its EN5920 encoders and nCompass control and monitoring system to enable low bandwidth, broadcast quality video delivery over MiTV's IPTV network, which utilises a combination of Internet Protocol and UHF transmission technologies and infrastructures. MiTV's IPTV offering includes a broad range of services, such as live TV channels, interactivity, video-on-demand, network PVR, music-on-demand and pay-per-view.
Jonathan Chan,
Chief Operating Officer of MiTV , said that the platform operator was keen
to manage its bandwidth utilisation carefully while ensuring that the video
services provided to consumers were second to none. He suggested that the
deployment would give MiTV the ability to deliver broadcast quality TV at
bit-rates at a saving of approximately 50 per cent when compared to traditional
compression methods.
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Telewest primes on-demand launch
UK cable MSO Telewest Broadband has secured agreements with BBC Worldwide, Discovery Networks Europe (DNE) and National Geographic Channel Europe to supply programming for its forthcoming TV-on-demand (TVOD) service.
The BBC Worldwide agreement will initially provide over 180 hours of programming including documentaries, natural history, drama and light entertainment, plus children's programmes. DNE will provide factual and lifestyle programming. Additional agreements are already in place with FilmFlex, the BBC, Flextech, Nickelodeon and several adult channels, with negotiations with other programmers ongoing.
Eric Tveter, president and chief operating officer at Telewest Broadband, said that Telewest truly believed that TV-on-demand would transform the way consumers watched TV, and was lining up top quality content providers to give its customers "a superb choice of programmes and the flexibility to watch them whenever they want."
Following the initial launch of movies-on-demand in the west-country city of Bristol, Telewest Broadband will make the TVOD service available region by region throughout the second half of this year, starting with 26,000 customers in the provincial town of Cheltenham. who are set to receive the service in early July.
Telewest Broadband
is investing around £20 million in the development of TV-on-demand and
PVR services in 2005.
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CCTV
expands with PanAmSat
From Shveta Malik in New Delhi
As part of its strategy to expand the geographic reach of its programming, China Central Television (CCTV) has signed a multi-year expansion agreement with PanAmSat for the distribution of its premium programming to Western Africa.
"As PanAmSat has expanded its global services, we have been able to utilise the greater power and coverage for the efficient and economical distribution of our global programming," said He Zong Jiu, vice-president, CCTV.
PanAmSat currently
provides full-time programme distribution services for CCTV via the Company's
PAS-1R Atlantic Ocean Region satellite, PAS-8 Pacific Ocean Region satellite,
PAS-9 Atlantic Ocean Region satellite and PAS-10 Indian Ocean Region satellites.
PanAmSat also provides CCTV with capacity on its Galaxy 3C satellite for direct-to-home
(DTH) services in the United States. This new agreement is for capacity on
the Ku-band payload of the PAS-1R satellite. CCTV has been a PanAmSat customer
since the launch of the company's PAS-2 satellite in 1994.
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UK broadcasting and communications watchdog Ofcom has published its response to the Government's Green Paper on the Review of the BBC Royal Charter and has renewed its call for the Government to explore the potential sources of funding - and new models of accountability - that would be needed to finance public service programming and content beyond that provided by the BBC. This could include financing pilot schemes for new forms of content, funded from an enhanced BBC licence fee model.
Oftel also recommends that the Government bring forward its review of public service funding, to ensure that this is completed by 2010, two years before the completion of digital switchover; and take forward the review of options for local television, more detailed work on the Public Service Publisher model and on the review of prospects for Channel 4.
The regulator has made its recommendations in light of the growth of digital television, now received by 60 per cent of UK households and growing by 50,000 households a week across digital terrestrial, cable and satellite; clarity on the timetable for digital switchover in television, as set out in the Government manifesto; further clarification on the digital switchover rollout sequence and extent of terrestrial coverage post-switchover; the growth of broadband, now used by 30 per cent of UK households with 60,000 new connections a week; and increasing average broadband speeds, to the point where within three years, the majority of broadband households will benefit from video-capable connections.
Ofcom also believes that the Government must ensure that the BBC remains the cornerstone of the system; strong, independent, properly funded and focused on providing public service programming and content, and ensure that other suppliers of public service programming and content, beyond the BBC, are also able to prosper through the transition to digital, each competing for audiences through innovation.
Ofcom has also reiterated its call for a new model of governance, expressing its belief that the proposed BBC Trust could evolve into an independent body, external to the BBC and with responsibilities beyond the BBC, to meet that future requirement.
Separately, commercial
network ITV is lobbying Ofcom to drop plans to create a new £300 million
(E447 million) public service broadcaster and instead hand the cash to commercial
channels to fund quality programming. Charles Allen, ITV chief executive,
made the request during evidence to an influential parliamentary Committee
looking at the renewal of the BBC's Charter.
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US telco chief calls for new broadband policy
Verizon Executive VP Thomas J Tauke has called for a national broadband policy that accounts for the global nature of the service; is technology-neutral and encourages convergence; and treats broadband as a competitive market where economic regulation is unnecessary. He told a panel discussion during the SuperComm convention in Chicago that reform of the video franchise process was important for consumers and the future of broadband.
"There remains a real disconnect between the broadband market and broadband policy," Tauke said. "The broadband market is global, while broadband policy is still local. The broadband market is converging, while broadband policy is still in silos. And the broadband market is competitive, while broadband policy is still stagnant," he added. Tauke said it is also critical that policymakers create a marketplace that encourages investment, innovation and risk-taking. "We need action in Congress and at the FCC," he declared.
Tauke suggested that Congress establish a new ‘national policy' that creates choice by eliminating barriers to competition. One of the requirements of that update, according to Tauke, should be a new video policy that encourages competition and treats telecoms as new entrants to the video marketplace – just as cable has been treated as a new entrant to the voice marketplace with VoIP.
Video competition "will result in an explosion of new services for consumers," Tauke said. "But we need to change the policy on franchising." According to Tauke, the current process was built for cable companies that needed authority to build a network and received exclusivity to offer video services in a defined marketplace.
He suggested that the telco already had the authority to deploy its network, and was entering the video market as a new player in a competitive marketplace. "Applying the cable franchise rules to us is unfair and simply delays the day when consumers will have a choice of video providers," he said.
In summary, Tauke
said, "Businesses are ready for broadband. Consumers are ready for broadband.
Policy has to catch up. As an industry, we must continue to remind policymakers
and consumers that broadband is not just about megabit speed or franchising
or DRM. It is about access [for consumers]."
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Harmonic's Japanese IPTV delivery
Digital video compression specialist Harmonic is supplying its DiviCom encoding solutions to enable NTT's Plala Networks to distribute simultaneously broadcast-quality video over existing DSL and fibre-to-the-home infrastructures.
"There is great demand for new television services delivered over copper, fibre and wireless networks in Japan," said Satoshi Nakaoka, Director and General Manager of New Service Development at Plala Networks "IP is a very reliable way to deliver the video, voice and data triple play over many different networks."
Harmonic's DiviCom MV 100 encoding platform and NMX Digital Service Manager has also enabled Canadian communications provider Aliant to expand its video-over-DSL service, which is currently being trialed with customers, while optimising picture quality and facilitating future expansion with advanced compression technologies.
"Aliant
is building on its existing strengths in areas of telephony, IP, wireless
and Internet technology by introducing an advanced IP-television service,"
said Gary Lund, CTO at Aliant. Yaron Simler, President of Harmonic's Convergent
Systems Division, suggested that by ensuring a simple evolutionary path to
advanced compression technologies, Harmonic gave Aliant and other operators
the ability to further reduce bit-rates to expand their reach and range of
services.
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Scopus scores Sri Lanka satellite success
Digital TV video networking specialist Scopus Network Technologies has equipped Sri Lanka's CBNSat with digital broadcast capabilities for its Direct-to-Home services. The broadcaster is utilising Scopus's digital Headend broadcast platform to deliver distribute content to its subscribers throughout Sri Lanka and the Indian Sub-Continent.
According to
Kishore Shirekar, Scopus's Sales Director for India and South Asia, CBNSat's
decision to utilise Scopus's Headend solution ensured that it would be a key
regional broadcaster in the region, providing CBNSat with an integrated answer
for future broadcasting needs.
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NEC enhances anti-piracy features
NEC Electronics is addressing the increasing number of incidences of pay –TV piracy, by introducing a single-chip MPEG decoder for the digital set-top box (STB) market with enhanced security. By working closely with conditional access vendors, NEC Electronics has incorporated features designed specifically to prevent illegal reception of pay-TV broadcasts and copying of the information stored in STBs.
"Piracy
of digital broadcasts is a growing and costly issue for producers, content
owners, and broadcasters of television programming," commented Masao
Hirasawa, general manager, Digital AV Systems Division, NEC Electronics, who
suggested that the new MPEG decoder provided an affordable single-chip solution
designed to significantly limit such illegal activities.
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Dreamline
goes next-gen with Lucent
From Shveta Malik in New Delhi
Lucent Technologies has signed a contract with Korean broadband Internet service provider Dreamline to assist in building a nationwide optical network. The Korean company will use Lucent's next-generation SONET systems to offer video distribution and cable TV services to its customers.
KeumJoo Kim,
vice president of Dreamline said that the Lucent solution allowed the ISP
to reduce its spend on customer premise equipment, but still be able to offer
a high-quality, fully protected video distribution solution efficiently and
reliably.
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SeaChange International is extending its IP Video solutions with the introduction of its Multiverse Suite, an application platform enabling broadband network operators to create video services across televisions, PCs and mobile devices.
The SeaChange Multiverse Suite enables broadband operators to package, promote and administer on-demand and broadcast video applications to any IP-connected device. Multiverse has open application programming interfaces and is based on industry standards including C, HTML, JavaScript and DVD, enabling broadband operators and third-parties to implement easily new applications to differentiate their subscriber services.
"Multiverse
simplifies video for broadband operators so they can begin to bring exciting
and useful applications to subscribers wherever they are," claimed Yvette
Kanouff, corporate vice president of strategic planning, SeaChange.
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OpenTV and Alticast eye Europe and Asia opportunities
OpenTV and Alticast
Corporation announced have signed a multi-year agreement to integrate Alticast's
AltiCaptor DVB-MHP compliant receiver software stack into OpenTV's Core middleware.
With the AltiCaptor extension to OpenTV Core, OpenTV will be able to offer
network operators an MHP solution that is fully compliant with DVB standards
existing in Europe and Asia. OpenTV and Alticast anticipate that the integration
will be completed in early 2006, with commercial availability expected sometime
in mid-2006.
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Broadcast services provider GlobeCast has commenced broadcast of French music and entertainment channel W9 on its channel distribution platform on Eutelsat's Hot Bird satellite. The platform is operated in partnership with satellite television provider TPS and gives W9 access to a potential audience of 1.3 million digital TPS subscribers throughout France.
GlobeCast's solution
for W9 includes fibre connectivity from the broadcaster's control room to
GlobeCast and TPS's platform gateway outside Paris, as well as uplink, encryption
and space capacity on the Hot Bird satellite at 13ëE.
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VNL head calls for BBC Charter clarity
Roger Lynch, Chairman and CEO, of UK broadband provider Video Networks has suggested that the BBC can make a key contribution to digital switchover via innovative content and not as a technology or platform operator. Lynch also told the UK parliament's House of Lords Committee on Charter Renewal that if the BBC were to lead the public information campaign proposed to support switchover, "the message must be clear, and promote access to all platforms, not just Freeview."
According to
Lunch, Video Networks wants sufficient clarity in the BBC Charter of what
are publicly funded activities so that private investment in commercial companies
is not jeopardised by uncertainty around the BBC's services.
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Kansas-based Golden Belt Telephone Association is to deploy Alcatel's 1677 SL bandwidth management platform to upgrade its local telephone network. This network-wide deployment of the 1677 SL will provide transport of traditional SONET (Synchronous Optical Network) time division multiplex services and enable the delivery of higher bandwidth, next-generation services to Golden Belt's customers.
The 1677SL platform
is designed to transport a variety of services including Telephony, Internet,
Video, Gigabit Ethernet, and xDSL services.
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Pace
anticipates rapid IPTV take-up
From Colin Mann in London
Digital television technology specialist Pace Micro Technology has claimed that the ramp-up of IPTV adoption will be faster than existing digital take-up. Noting that there are currently 160 million MPEG-2 STBs deployed globally, Alan Delaney, Product Manager, IPTV at Pace suggested that growth will be driven by building on existing knowledge, technology and services. He anticipates IPTV set-top boxes having a nine per cent share of a global 132 million unit market by 2010, rising from four per cent of 45 million in 2004.
He also suggested
that IPTV would dominate pay-TV delivery in certain regional geographies,
adding that Pace believed that IP is the path that will give access to ubiquitous
entertainment. "Content partnerships with networks, programmers and service
operators will make the big difference," noted David Gillies, Pace's
Director of Technology.
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Microsoft and Harmonic are to work together to deliver an integrated IP-based video solution encompassing the Microsoft TV IPTV Edition software platform and Harmonic's DiviCom encoding solutions. In a similar agreement, Scientific-Atlanta is to work with the software giant to offer live and on-demand television programming at lower data rates than today's current delivery systems, while maintaining broadcast-quality video.
The new agreement with Harmonic builds on a relationship initiated in September 2003 to promote the Windows Media 9 Series codec - now known through the SMPTE standardisation process as VC-1 - for broadcast-grade video services on Harmonic's DiviCom MV 100 encoding platform.
"High-quality, real-time VC-1 and AVC encoding is a critical component in the end-to-end delivery of IPTV services from Microsoft TV," said Phil Corman, director of worldwide partner development of the Microsoft TV Division at Microsoft, adding that the Harmonic integration made it possible for operators to use IP-based networks to deliver a range of next-generation television services and a viewing experience that was "second to none … a critical requirement for growing the IPTV subscriber base." He also suggested that Microsoft's interoperability with Scientific-Atlanta would provide broadband operators with price-performance economies of scale as they launch IPTV services.
David Price, Vice President of Business Development for the Harmonics' Convergent Systems Division , described the expansion of the relationship between Microsoft and Harmonic as "a very significant step in the evolution of commercially viable IPTV and broadband video services."
Paul Connolly,
vice president and general manager of emerging businesses at Scientific-Atlanta,
said the combination of S-A's encoder and integration experience with the
power of the Microsoft TV IPTV Edition software platform would help enable
broadband operators to enjoy the benefits of a seamless, integrated system.
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On demand television programming, management and delivery solutions specialist TVN Entertainment is to use content security specialist Widevine Technologies' Widevine Cypher System for pre-encryption and secure transport of VOD assets.
TVN is using Widevine's Cypher System to provide encryption of media from content owner to any VOD server. The implementation reflects the high importance that broadcasters and Hollywood Studios have placed on a comprehensive conditional access and digital rights management solution to protect content delivered in VOD release windows.
Dom Stasi, TVN
Chief Technology Officer, noting that every month, TVN delivers over 2,000
hours of high profile, high value, file-based content via satellite to its
network of VOD distribution affiliates, said it was "absolutely imperative"
that TVN protected that content from unauthorised interception, and did so
throughout its network.
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Pay-TV solutions provider NDS has strengthened its relationship with SuperSUN, the pay-TV service of Galaxy Satellite Broadcasting Limited. The operator is to use NDS's Synamedia solution - incorporating NDS VideoGuard content protection for its IPTV offering and Video-on-Demand service. The planned launch follows the successful launch of the most secure digital pay-TV service on SMATV network in Hong Kong.
NDS's Nigel Smith, Vice President Broadband Internet said that VideoGuard protection fulfilled content owners' demand for strong security for new broadband networks before licensing their valuable premium content.
Separately, NDS announced that Modern Times Group's Viasat Broadcasting, a leading digital satellite pay-TV broadcaster in the Nordic region, has selected also Synamedia. NDS has an existing relationship with Viasat, following the successful completion of the switch of Viasat's subscriber base to NDS VideoGuard conditional access encryption technology in 2004.
Using the Synamedia solution integrated with VideoGuard content protection, Viasat has been able to make its pay-TV channels securely available to over 300,000 households in 50 Swedish cities that are connected to the Bredbandsbolaget fibre network.
Hans-Holger Albrecht,
President and Chief Executive Officer of Modern Times Group (MTG) said that
the launch was only made possible by having a fully integrated and secure
technology platform, adding that MTG expected the service to grow rapidly
with features such as VOD being launched in the future. NDS's Smith said the
solution allowed entertainment operators to earn new video-based revenues
by exploiting broadband IP networks.
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Secure content distribution specialist Viaccess is joining the Symbian Platinum Partner Programme to address the growing market of Symbian OS-based mobile handsets. As a Symbian Platinum Partner, Viaccess aims to ensures the close integration of its protection solutions with mobile devices based on Symbian OS, the operating system that powers many popular smartphones.
"The smartphone
business is moving towards mass market as the number of devices based on Symbian
OS increases," observed Mathias Hautefort, Viaccess' CEO. "This
partnership demonstrates our commitment to the digital content protection
market and our intent to build upon our mobile strategy." Simon Garth,
Vice-President, marketing, Symbian, said that robust content protection solutions
had become fundamental requirements for today's smartphones.
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Digital TV conditional access technology supplier Conax has achieved certification of its Conax CAS7 CableCARD according to the Korean OpenCable standard for digital cable television broadcasting. Conax's conditional access technology has passed the compliance tests performed by the Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA), and Conax is thereby officially approved as supplier of CA systems and CableCARDs to the Korean cable market.
Conax has worked closely with SCM Microsystems (SCM) to achieve certification of its conditional access technology, using SCM CableCARD hardware and middleware. The security module is based on the Korean OpenCable standard for digital cable television broadcasts. Conax is the first CA vendor to obtain the TTA certification including the copy protection function.
Ole Hansvold, Executive Vice President and COO of Conax AS, said the certification from TTA was also a step in the process of getting Conax CA technology approved for the US cable market. Robert Schneider, chief executive officer of SCM Microsystems, said that certification was an important step forward for companies wishing to play a role in the burgeoning digital cable market in South Korea.
The Korean government
will be deploying digital cable television to between six and nine million
households over the next several years. By adopting the OpenCable open standards-based
broadcast security model, the Korean government hopes to create a digital
television industry that is both competitive for consumers and profitable
for operators.
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Lucent Technologies is forming a strategic alliance with IPTV applications specialist Orca Interactive to deliver solutions that help service providers offer secure, mass market IPTV and next-generation multimedia services to end customers at any time on any device.
Under the multi-year agreement, the companies are also collaborating on joint development to enhance service providers' ability to address the quality and control issues associated with deploying IPTV. Lucent has integrated Orca's RiGHTv IPTV middleware platform into its network infrastructure solutions for the delivery of video applications.
Rob Picnic, vice
president and general manager, Broadband Solutions, Lucent Technologies, said
that both security and quality of service for carrier grade networks, represented
key differentiators that are critical for Lucent's customers as they begin
to deploy IPTV services.
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T-Online France tries Microsoft IPTV
Club Internet/T-Online France, the French subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom's T-Online International, is to undertake a trial the Microsoft TV IPTV Edition software platform, enabling T-Online France to launch competitive pay TV services to subscribers over its new IP network infrastructure. The project is part of Club Internet's new strategy centred on deploying a new national network and offering triple play services. Having launched France's first Web TV offering on the Internet in 2002, Club Internet, which until now has been exclusively an Internet access and services provider, is now launching a project for triple play services.
T-Online's decision
makes it the eighth major operator to announce publicly working with Microsoft
TV IPTV Edition, following Telecom Italia and Swisscom in Europe and SBC and
BellSouth in the US, among others. Marie-Christine Levet, President of Club
Internet/T-Online France, said the partnership with Microsoft was key to Club
Internet's triple play strategy, and would enable French users "to fully
benefit from the new use of broadband and experiment with new ways of watching
television."
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Mobile content set for compressed delivery
London-based Infinite Solutions Ltd (ISL) has launched a mobile content delivery system that delivers high-quality, multi-media services such as video and live broadcasting to mobile users. The system, TATO, works by streaming compressed data to a mobile device, effectively delivering 3G services to a 2G device.
ISL's Chief Operating Officer, Duncan Ward, claimed that mobile users had long been pushing operators to provide the services that 3G promised but as yet had failed to deliver. "TATO removes this headache as it truly outperforms 3G allowing operators with 3G licences to deliver effective services whilst making better use of the available bandwidth," he suggested.
Using proprietary
Wireless Data Transfer Service (WDTS) technology, the user is able to access
data services at less than a tenth of the cost of GPRS and at significantly
faster download speeds. ISL also suggests that WDTS means that users no longer
need to worry about expensive data tariffs, because data transfer is faster
and significantly cheaper.
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Amdocs and Microsoft in IP pact
Customer management specialist Amdocs and Microsoft have signed a Letter of Intent designed to enable service providers to more rapidly deliver converged, IP-based services to their customers. The pair plan to jointly develop, market and deliver solutions that will combine Amdocs consulting and implementation services; the recently announced Amdocs 6 portfolio of integrated, modular products; and Microsoft Communications Sector solutions, including the Microsoft Connected Services Framework.
Amdocs and Microsoft will co-operate on a broad set of business and technology initiatives designed to help service providers quickly and easily deliver converged network services that bring together voice, video and data.
"IP convergence is driving innovation in the development of new, personalised services that enable operators to enhance their product portfolios, attract new subscribers and build customer loyalty — all of which improve the revenue opportunities available to service providers," said Maria Martinez, corporate vice president of the Communications Sector at Microsoft.
Michael Matthews,
chief marketing officer of Amdocs suggested that communications service providers
were putting their customers at the centre of their business, transforming
themselves from voice service utilities to retailers of digital multimedia
services, including IPTV and an endless variety of digital content.
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Video content distribution and delivery solutions specialist BitBand is stepping up its efforts in the US market by opening up a Californian office. BitBand's proposition to US-based Telcos and IOCs (Independent Operating Carriers) is powered by the company's Video On Demand solutions for the IPTV market, currently supporting subscribers of operators such as Italy's FastWeb, as well as other operators and service providers is Sweden, Norway, Germany, The Netherlands, Ireland, and India.
Yuval Sovinsky,
EVP Marketing and Sales, BitBand, said that the company saw a great expansion
potential for the IPTV market in the US and intended to present its capabilities
and take part in "the exciting developments in this market."
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Digital satellite broadcaster BSkyB is launching a service that allows mobile phone users to keep up with the latest sports, news and weather around the clock. Sky Mobile is the only service where users can access the entire range of Sky's mobile content in a single, integrated application.
The launch of Sky Mobile represents the latest development of Sky's services for mobile users. Existing activities include agreements with Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile and '3' to deliver news and sports content via SMS, WAP, MMS and 3G video.
Stephen Nuttall,
BSkyB's Director of Business Development, said the service brought customers
the latest news, sport and weather in a convenient and easy-to-use format.
"This application allows us to build on existing customer relationships
and reach consumers wherever they want to access Sky content." Sky Mobile
is a downloadable Symbian application requiring General Packet Radio Service
(GPRS) or 3G network support. Mobile networks that currently support connections
to the application include Vodafone, T-Mobile, O2, Orange and Virgin Mobile.
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Viacom tipped for Flextech deal
US media giant Viacom is rumoured to be considering a bid for UK cable operator Telewest's television unit Flextech. The cableco is in the early stages of discussing a merger with Telewest, and both parties are keen for the new operation to concentrate on cable operations, rather than content. It is understood that Viacom's interest is only at the preliminary stage.
Viacom has been linked with major UK acquisitions in the past, and would likely face competition from media groups such as RTL and private equity group Apax Partners, which has former BBC director-general Greg Dyke as an adviser.
Weekend media
reports also suggest that Telewest will demand a cash payment from NTL in
return for agreeing to become the junior partner in a merger with its rival.
Telewest is understood to want NTL to pay cash and shares for new shares in
a merged company.
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Recent studies by ABI Research have indicated that TV to the mobile handset is not in danger of turning out to be just a hyped-up technology? According to ABI Research's principal analyst of semiconductor research, Alan Varghese, "the concept of mobility does not necessarily mean that the user himself is moving; it could simply mean that he is not at his usual fixed locations. It could also mean that she is travelling in a train, bus or car, which, although mobile, does not preclude her from watching TV on her handset."
Varghese also points out that the take-rate of analogue TV technology is not an accurate indicator of potential interest in TV to the handset. Analogue TV had a lot of image quality problems and it rapidly drained the handset's battery. Current digital technologies will offer an enhanced user experience, and developments in both algorithm and circuit design will reduce battery drain to a few tens of milliwatts.
ABI suggests
that ultimately, the 'steak behind the sizzle' is industry momentum and mobile
TV roadmaps; and points out that recently, both Samsung and Nokia have announced
multiple DMB and DVB-H handset designs, and operators Orange and O2 announced
Mobile TV trials and deployments in the U.K.
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Indian
DTH: 11m by 2010?
From Shveta Malik in New Delhi
The cable and satellite subscriber base is estimated to grow from 53 million in 2006 to 77 million in 2010 in India. Out of this, the DTH industry will grow from 3 per cent in 2006 to 14 per cent or 11 million-mark by 2010, according to UBS estimates.
"There is a bunch of factors which will drive growth. There is limited bandwidth on cable network and as a result it is impractical to carry more than 65 to 70 channels. Whereas there are more than 150 channels on the sky and this year another 50 are likely to be added. Further there is lack of addressability on cable," said Dish TV chief executive officer Sunil Khanna. Dish TV, which had launched its operations in October 2003, was the first company to introduce DTH service.
Dish TV's competitors
include state-run DD Direct Plus and two new players in Tata-Star JV Space
TV and Sun TV, which were recently granted Letter of Intent by the government
to commence operations.
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Amino boosts telco IPTV efforts
Amino to commence shipments of MPEG-4 AVC IPTV set-top box in July Single chip AmiNET124 offers increased revenue opportunities to Telcos by extending subscriber reach and capacity.
Set-top box and software specialist Amino Communications has revealed its first set top box design to support the H.264 compression codec (MPEG-4 AVC). The AmiNET124 IPTV set-top box is claimed to set a new benchmark in deployment cost for MPEG-4 IPTV systems, utilising Amino's software stack which enables all of the IPTV support software to run on a single DSP processor. The STB is also compatible with leading IPTV middleware and conditional access providers.
"We have
brought the same price/performance benefits to H.264 applications that we
have already demonstrated with our MPEG-2 products," claimed Karthik
Ranjan, VP Product Marketing, Amino, who added that the set-top box would
enable telcos to make volume deployments of H.264.
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Irish eyes smile on MGM Channel
The MGM Channel is to receive widespread distribution in Ireland following an agreement between MGM Networks and Irish triple-play provider Chorus. The MGM Channel will officially launch as part of Chorus' digital basic package during June 2005.
MGM Networks
Executive Vice President Bruce Tuchman noted that the MGM Channel would now
be distributed to all Chorus and ntl digital subscribers in Ireland. "We
strongly believe in the potential of this growing market and have made it
our goal to gain distribution here." MGM agreed a similar distribution
deal with NTL in March. Since May 9, both Chorus and NTL Ireland have been
owned by UnitedGlobalCom.
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Akado hits Moscow streets with digital
ComCor-TV (CCTV), a subsidiary of Moscow CableCom, is re-branding its cable television and Internet access product offerings under the name 'Akado', as part of a broader advertising and marketing programme aimed at establishing Akado's identity and communicating the full scope of its services within Moscow.
Akado will also be launching a new digital platform from which it will provide its subscribers access to a host of additional television channels and services, in addition to the more than 50 channels it currently offers.
Akado's access network passes some 220,000 homes, primarily in the Central and South regions of Moscow, and the operator plans to expand its reach to one million homes in the next three years. Its near-term expansion plans involve construction in the North West, North East and Zelenograd administrative regions.
Warren Mobley,
the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer, said that the rebranding
would enable the operator to market its services under a name that it expected
to become "the number one choice in consumers' minds for high-speed Internet
access and commercial television." He suggested that the investment in
the new digital platform underscored CCTV's commitment to delivering the best
information, communication, and entertainment products and services in the
Moscow region.
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DVN
to support Chinese digital TV migration
From Shveta Malik in New Delhi
DVN (Holdings) Limited has entered into a framework Letter of Intent with Guangxi Broadcasting and Television Info-Network Co Ltd for the migration of the autonomous region's cable network from analogue to digital. China's State Administration for Radio Film and Television has approved Guangxi as the country's only provincial trial site in April this year.
DVN, as Guangxi BCTV Network's sole technology partner, will provide technological support for Guangxi's TV mass digitisation programme, and participate in the building of its digital TV platform based on which TV-commerce, interactive games, e- government, TV SMS and other value-added services can be developed in the future, said a release.
Guangxi plans to cut off its analogue TV signal in phases to the autonomous region's three million cable subscribers. DVN will generate revenues from licensing fees on the estimated three million DVN designed set-top boxes to be sold in the province, and from the provision of software and supply of related services in the next two years as the migration rolls out; and over the long term from sharing in the revenues generated from value added services.
Terry Lui, chief
executive officer, DVN, said that the Guangxi project was by far DVN's largest
mass digitisation programme after the migrations in Qingdao and Foshan. "The
Qingdao mass digitisation project in 2003 has now been endorsed as an analogue
cut-off model for China's development of digital TV. We are confident of achieving
another successful migration in Guangxi on the back of our solid experience
earned from previous rollouts," he stated.
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Perfect 10 for Entone and Neterion
Personal television solutions provider Entone and networking specialist Neterion are teaming up to provide the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) with an IPTV demo for the Forum's SUPERDemo at the forthcoming SUPERCOMM show in Chicago. Integrated with Neterion's 10 GigE technology, Entone's StreamLiner network video recorder (NVR) will provide video streaming to 30 of MEF's participating members. The demonstration is aimed at proving that Carrier Ethernet is now ready to deliver 'real world' applications such as Triple-Play services with VoIP, IPTV and high-speed Internet access.
"This will
be the world's largest Carrier Ethernet interoperability demo of its kind,"
claimed Nan Chen, President of the MEF. "Now that Ethernet has been released
from the confines of the local area network, it's time for us to show the
world what Carrier Ethernet is capable of, in terms of delivering carrier-class
applications and services to enterprise, residential and mobile markets."
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BT is teaming up with Virgin Mobile to pilot a new live mobile TV service using DAB technology. BT said 1,000 Virgin Mobile customers would get access to Sky Sports News, Sky News, new music channel Blaze, more than 50 digital radio channels and the UK's first EPG on a mobile.
"BT intends to be Europe's first commercial mobile entertainment service to deliver broadcast TV and entertainment services direct to DAB-enhanced mobile phones and media players," Chris Hutchings, Director ventures for BT Wholesale, said.
MNOs Vodafone, O2 and Orange are testing rival technology DVB-H, to broadcast television channels direct to mobile phones. But the companies, which already offer selected live mobile TV by streaming channels over their high-speed, third-generation (3G) networks, need new spectrum before they can start commercial services using DVB-H.
BT, which is working with Microsoft, Arqiva, HTC, GCAP Media and digital radio network Digital One, said DAB mobile TV could run on existing spectrum and transmission networks.
"In the
long term both (DAB and DVB-H) are likely to coexist. However, in the short
to medium term, the availability of spectrum and transmission networks will
result in country by country differences," BT said. It said its four-month
pilot would begin in June in central London.
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France
Televisions turns to HDTV
From Sotires Eleftheriou in Paris
Marc Tessier, President of France Televisions, said it would start transmissions in HD from the autumn of 2006 on cable and satellite. The news follows announcements on its trials in mobile TV. France Televisions, with Sony France and the French tennis federation presented HD pictures of the French open, with some of the matches are being transmitted via Eutelsat in partnership with Globecast.
Tessier pointed out that the group is planing to invest in HDTV production equipment. A number of series on the group’s channels are already available in HDTV. Philippe Citroen, the Director General of Sony France, said that Sony would put 24 HDTV models on the French market this summer, with prices starting at E1200 and screen sizes from 25 to 50 inches. A 70 inch model would be available in the autumn.
Marc Tessier
is nearing the end of his mandate as president of France Televisions and is
a candidate for re-selection. The CSA will announce the result this summer.
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Germany: 4.1m triple play by end 05
The German cable association says major cable network operators are investing hugely in the expansion of triple play with the combined investment volume of Kabel Deutschland, ish (NRW), iesy (Hessen) and Kabel Baden-Württemberg amounting to E172 million in 2004. For 2005 the companies plan to spend a further E185 million on upgrading.
Via the networks of the major operators (so-called network level 3) around 4.1 million households will then have access not only to triple play services from their cable network by late 2005. In late 2004 the figure was 3.65 million. The association predicts exceptional growth in high-speed Internet and cable telephony. In 2004 already high-speed Internet accounted for a 300 per cent increase in subscribers to these two segments. For 2006 they also expect triple-digit growth rates for broadband Internet and Voice over IP telephony via cable.
The association rejected claims cable connections were losing out to DTH: "In contrast to a press release by satellite operator ASTRA, figures of households in Germany linked to the cable networks of iesy, ish, Kabel Baden-Württemberg and Kabel Deutschland have remained stable in Germany. In a press release published in February, ASTRA had reported growth rates for satellite reception to the detriment of cable reception, however with statistics declaring local satellite-fed cable households (so-called SMATV households) SAT households. With a stable market share of 55.9 per cent and a diverse and cutting-edge product portfolio cable remains the most important and strongest-growing media infrastructure in Germany."
Rüttger Keienburg, President of the German Cable Association, said: "Cable is still the backbone of the German media landscape and able, like no other infrastructure, to advance digitalisation in Germany and give the people unlimited access to modern media offerings. If we can liberate cable from current political and media law over-regulation, it will really be able to work as a motor of innovation and jobs for Germany as a media and technology location."
The cable network
operators have demanded an adjustment of existing national regulations to
EU law and more leeway for programmes.
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CEM Acquires Krsak and PPF Interests in TV Nova
Central European Media Enterprises Ltd announced that it has bought the interest of Peter Krsak in CET 21 and completed the exercise of its call option on the remaining interest of PPF in the TV Nova group. CET 21 holds the national terrestrial broadcast license for TV Nova in the Czech Republic.
CME's total investment to acquire the TV Nova group is $898 million (E734 million), including $216.4 million (E177 million) paid in cash to exercise the call option. At the beginning of May 2005, net debt at TV Nova was approximately $32.3 million (E26.4 million).
Michael Garin,
CME's Chief Executive Officer, commented, "TV Nova -- the television
network with the largest all-day audience share in Europe -- is a fantastic
asset. We have acquired the entire company at a multiple that is much lower
than we were projecting when we first announced our deal last December. We
are also thrilled to have successfully completed all three stages of the acquisition
so quickly. The fact that the Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting
was able to give prompt consideration to the transfer of Mr. Krsak's interest
was instrumental to this and we are looking forward to maintaining a constructive
relationship with the Council in the future."
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Orange, has set a target of signing up 1 million customers by June 2006 for its latest television services.
Orange already offers city-dwellers a 3G service, from June 9 it will also offer Edge a cheaper, less sophisticated, upgrade to its existing network to consumers in less densely-populated areas. By combining the two technologies, Orange claimed that it would be able to cover 85 per cent of the population of France. By the end of 2006, it is hoping to have signed up 2 million people for its various forms of high-speed services.
In France, Orange
is now offering 42 television channels, ranging from the domestic public-service
broadcasters France 2 and France 3, to BBC World and Fashion TV. Didier Quillot,
chief executive of Orange France, referred to mobile telephones as "the
fourth screen" after cinema, television and computer screens.
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BBC
Broadcast scores ESPN win
From Colin Mann in London
BBC Broadcast has won the contract to playout the channels of ESPN Classic Sport. The dedicated French and Italian channels will be played out to France and Italy from the Broadcast Centre in West London from July 1, with localised feeds in English, German and Dutch being played out from the Broadcast Centre from August 1.
ESPN Classic Sport’s move allows it to take advantage of the Broadcast Centre’s ‘ingest once, use many’ architecture, where media is stored digitally on a central store, enabling easy and cost effective manipulation and playout of content.
John Pink, BBC
Broadcast Director of Sales and Marketing, said the infrastructure enabled
ESPN Classic Sport to challenge its current workflow and take advantage of
a number of cost savings within the Broadcast Centre’s tapeless environment.
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Digital Cable System (DCS), a consortium of almost fifty Romanian cable TV companies, has signed a multi-year agreement with Nordic Satellite for two transponders on the SIRIUS 2 satellite with an option for a third. The consortium has invested in satellite capacity and intends launching Direct-To-Home (DTH) services shortly on the Romanian market.
The DCS operators
together cover virtually all of the regions of Romania. Gheorghe Minea, President
of DCS said upon signing the contract with NSAB-SIRIUS: "We estimate
that DTH will be equally important in Romania as it is in the rest of Europe
in the long term, which is why we must have satellite partners that can handle
our pace of expansion. To begin with we will be using two transponders, but
we will be taking up our option for an additional transponder as soon as possible."
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Sharp Corp. said it would begin selling a 65-inch LCD television, the biggest in the world, equalling the largest plasma TVs.
Sharp, the world's
largest LCD TV producer, already markets a 45-inch model and is keen to expand
its footprint in the fast-growing market for flat TVs above 40 inches, a segment
now dominated by plasma and rear-projection models.
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Sony Pictures Television International's (SPTI) global action and adventure channel, will launch a dedicated, 24-hour service for Korea in July 2005. With the launch of AXN in Korea, AXN expands its reach to more than 76 million Asian households across 23 Asian countries, including AXN's branded day part programming in China.
The first international
general entertainment channel approved for retransmission by the Korean Broadcasting
Commission, AXN will be carried exclusively in SkyLife's MoviePlus package
(Channel 333), initially reaching more than 1 million Korean viewers. Viewers
can expect 24-hour adrenaline-filled programming focused on blockbuster action
movies, adventure-reality shows and top television series, with Korean subtitling
provided.
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SCM Microsystems announced that it has signed its fourth customer for OpenCable compliant CableCAR modules in South Korea, the cable operator Qrix Communications. The Qrix module incorporates the Nagravision conditional access (CA) system and will be used to protect cable pay-TV content from piracy.
Qrix Communications
boasts 520,000 subscribers and is pushing to be among the first cable operators
in South Korea to launch a full range of interactive services, including video
on demand (VOD), subscription video on demand (SVOD) and interactive pay-per-view
(IPPV). Qrix plans to begin rolling out these new services in the Seoul metro
area in the first half of 2005.
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