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NEWS Monday 7th March to Friday 11th March 2005
Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
| Tuesday | |||||
RTL Group, Europe's biggest broadcaster, has posted a 21 per cent rise in earnings over last year with EBITDA of E711m on E4.88bn turnover against E487m on E4.45bn. The results were adjusted to take account of RTL taking full control of M6 during the period.
Gerhard Zeiler, Chief Executive Officer of RTL Group said "2004 has been a record year for RTL Group. We have expanded geographically into Croatia and Portugal and further strengthened our families of channels in France and Belgium. In 2004 advertising market conditions continued to be mixed in Europe. Spain was the out-performer with the UK and France strong and Belgium showing moderate growth. Germany and the Netherlands continued to be weak. In the first two months of 2005 the picture remains mixed with low forward visibility. We are therefore cautious on how the advertising markets will develop this year."
"Our strategy remains consistent and based upon three themes - the development of the families of channels to counter audience fragmentation, growth and exploitation of diversification businesses and geographic expansion. "
A highlight among
the results was the performance of the Fremantle production unit - which has
had huge success with the Pop Idol format – it had revenues of E866m
and earnings of E101m.
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Shares in Premiere
began trading at E30.5, a nine per cent premium to the issue price. The group's
shares were launch priced at E28, on the top end of the target range as the
E1.2bn IPO was 12 times subscribed. People involved in the Premiere IPO said
the offering represented the return of demand from investors focused on growth
companies. Analysts praised the company's recent track record, although many
worry that Premiere may not be able to continue gaining customers at the rate
seen in the last three years.
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Canal Plus has demonstrated three new decoders to its distributors, which add DTT reception to the channel line up in the zones where it can be received.
The first two,
manufactured respectively by Thomson and Philips, are for subscribers to the
satellite service (Canal Satellite or Canal Plus Numerique via satellite).
They feature two tuners, one DTT the other for digital satellite reception
and will be available to subscribers from July, on rental at the same price
as the existing STBs but with an entry fee of E40.
These subscribers will be able to receive TF1 and M6 digitally, as well as
the other FTA DTT channels. These two terrestrial channels have consistently
refused to be carried on the Canal Satellite platform, being the joint owners
of the competing TPS platform, obliging Canal's digital subscribers to view
the terrestrial channel in analogue mode. These decoders have the additional
advantage of having an AC3 audio connector, for home cinema enthusiasts.
The third STB
is for Canal Plus analogue subscribers. It also features a built-in DTT receiver,
giving subscribers access to the FTA channels, but apparently not to the pay
DTT channels, of which Canal Plus will be one. This decoder will be available
from June.
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ITV is pressing the regulator for more advertising minutes per hour to maximise the broadcaster's revenue earning potential. It has also asked the regulators to allow it to charge for product placement in programmes, something Ofcom has hinted it was sympathetic to. The broadcaster's lobbying emerged as ITV reported a surge in profits and revenue growth during 2004. Charles Allen, ITV chief executive, pointed out that the newer multi-channel broadcasters were allowed nine minutes of ads each hour, compared with seven minutes at ITV1.
"We want
a level playing field," he said. He also pointed out that product placement
was allowed in films and on US television. "Product placement is allowed
in movies, why not in original television programming? For instance, the deals
that are done in Bond films over which car he drives. Viewers are sophisticated
enough to know what is going on."
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France Telecom's ISP Wanadoo is introducing VoIP in the UK. Subscribers to it's broadband service will be able to use the service to make free evening and weekend calls to any UK landline, and free calls at any time to other Wanadoo users. The service will cost an extra £4 (E5.7) a month and will come with a free Livebox, the broadband hub which Wanadoo plans will be used in future to provide video-on-demand and home security services. The secondary phone line will mean customers can have an extra home phone number and will also provide wireless internet access around the home.
"Voice-over
broadband is a key trend across Europe and is set to have a dramatic impact
on the telecommunications industry, " Eric Abensur, Wanadoo's chief executive
told the BBC News website. It's the latest sign that VoIP is making significant
market impact. Almost 83 million people have downloaded the software that
powers the Skype VoIP service, according to the net telephony firm's website.
Meanwhile US firm Vonage offers a VoIP service that lets people plug an ordinary
phone into a broadband router to make calls.
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Revenues of Canada's speciality, pay and pay-per-view television in Canada reached Cdn$2.05 billion in 2004, an increase of 9 per cent from 2003 figures of $1.88 billion. The figures were compiled by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission from the annual reports and financial data of the TV licensees.
Over a five year period, the number of Canadian speciality, pay and pay-per-view TV services rose from 59 in year 2000 to 115 in 2004. Over that period, their revenues increased by a total of $780.1 million, or 61.4 per cent, and EBIT increased by $196.6 million, or 88.7 per cent.
2004 revenues from cable distribution services rose by 7.6 per cent over 2003, increasing from $829.3 to $892.2 million, while those for direct-to-home satellite distribution services grew by 2.5 per cent, reaching $428.3 million in 2004. Revenues from national advertising increased by 16.8 per cent to $691.2 million, while local advertising brought in close to $16 million.
The eight Canadian
ethnic speciality services earned $49.8 million, which was $6.8 million -
or 15.9 per cent - more than in 2003.
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EchoStar said
it agreed to settle an insurance claim with insurance companies through a
deal that will provide $240 million to the satellite TV company. The claims
involve the company's EchoStar IV satellite. EchoStar said that after the
deal it still will retain title to and use of the spacecraft, which despite
suffering from anomalies is in operation. EchoStar said it received signed
agreements representing about 83 per cent of the aggregate amount. The company
said while it expects the remaining insurers will each sign the agreement
shortly, arbitration will continue with respect to any insurers who decline
to settle.
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Handan has introduced
the first PVR that combines a hard disc with MHP middleware. An Ethernet connection
makes fast access into IP based services like the T-Online Vision services.
Handan in co-operation with Alticast developed a MHP-PVR-receiver, that receives
digital satellite TV as well as iTV services.
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Building on the commercial and brand building experience gained from the globally successful properties 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?' and 'the new Alliances division will work closely with brands and the agencies that represent them to offer advice and assistance in the creation and exploitation of advertiser funded programmes and events, broadcast sponsorship and barter deals, says Celador.
The division's
first project will be to assist in the attraction of sponsors for The British
Independent Film Awards, scheduled for November 2005, which will be filmed
by Celador International's subsidiary production company.
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Nordic region pay-TV group C More Group is to launch three further digital services as it seeks to maximise the potential for service delivery over existing and new platforms such as IPTV.
Marc Antoine d'Halluin, CEO, confirmed that following the launch of betting and gambling at the beginning of October 2004, the introduction of Mobile/SMS in January 2005, and the introduction of a subscription VID service at the beginning of February, three further services would be rolled out in 2005, culminating with a High Definition TV service at the beginning of the final quarter of 2005. A full VOD service is scheduled for an April 1 launch, with an international channel package slated for two weeks later.
"We're pretty
much everywhere, and we intend to be everywhere," claimed d'Halluin,
who observed that the Nordic region is wealthy, but that pay-TV was under-penetrated,
averaging 11.9 per cent across the region.
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TSL the international independent broadcast systems integrator and manufacturer, has been selected by brand new channel CNBC Pakistan as the system integrator for the construction of the facilities to support the new venture's launch.
CNBC Pakistan
is owned by Pakistani company VNTV, is supported by NBC-Universal-owned CNBC
and will have full access to the CNBC global programme network. With a planned
third-quarter launch, the channel will broadcast a 24-hour mixture of locally-sourced
and international business television in both Urdu and English. CNBC Pakistan
will provide world class programming with the associated high production values
provided by this TSL-designed system.
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Tripleplay Services
has announced the launch of TripleSign, a Digital Signage Solution with partner
Creative Retail Entertainment (CRE) who will also be presenting their range
of in store music services and terminals. The use of web based technology
has enabled Tripleplay to develop a cost effective method of creating media
rich content, including broadcast TV, live data feeds and video streaming,
across a large network of screens at an individual or group level. By supporting
the screens via an IP set top box, significant savings are made over traditional
PC based systems.
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VCON a provider of videoconferencing solutions and i3 micro technology, a provider of VoIP and IP-TV products and solutions, have announced a partnership for providing residential video telephony solutions.
Initial co-operation
focuses on integrating VCON's ZAPI4TV video telephony software development
kit (SDK) into i3's Mood 300 IP set-top box. This new alliance provides video
telephony to a new market, offering a low-cost integrated IP-TV solution that
specifically targets residential consumers and SOHO installations.
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Netherlands media company SBS Broadcasting is to launch three digital channels building on its existing programming, library and cultural strengths, Patrick Tillieux, president and chairman of the management board, has revealed.
The first, 'Klusen & Wonen', is a 'do-it-yourself' channel, following on from SBS6's existing DIY programming strand of the same name, while 'I Love' is dedicated to classic films and programmes from the 60s and 70s. "The service will not only benefit from our library, but also our experienced access to Hollywood," claimed Tillieux.
The third service, 'Veronica Vibes', is aimed at utilising the power of the Veronica brand acquired when its print operations were acquired in 2003. "It will be like a 'Time Out', but for Dutch TV," remarked Tillieux. The channel will present the latest developments across arts and entertainment to give the Dutch public a taste of what is available.
Tillieux admitted
that cable carriage talks had already taken place with UPC, but were not necessarily
exclusive. DSL and DTH satellite delivery were also being considered. SBS
hopes to launch the services early in the fourth quarter of 2005.
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ITV profits up 50%
Spain: new commercial TV players
Sagem demos MPEG 4 DTT HD/SD box
Product
placement for UK TV?
Comcast renews for $1bn with Motorola
Cox ponder system sales
VOOM: Dolan will fund to March deadline
Four
more 3G licenses for China
UK commercial
broadcaster ITV's profits rose by more than 50% last year as it benefited
from increased advertising revenues and cost savings. The news comes after
it was revealed the ITV audience had dipped 10% year on year.
The company's share of advertising revenues at its channels - ITV1, ITV2,
ITV3, ITV News and GMTV - went up by 4.7% to £1.59bn (E2.31bn). ITV2's
advertising revenues are up 90% in the present quarter, ITV said, while over-35s
channel ITV3, which was launched in November, has given the figures a lift.
ITV said today that profits before tax last year were £340m, up 57%
when calculated assuming that the merger took place at the end of 2002, rather
than in February last year. Turnover increased by 3% to £2.08bn.
Meanwhile, ITV was forced to spend £30m for buying a 5% stake in Arsenal
football club that is worth just £12m at current market prices. The
broadcaster was committed to the deal under an agreement struck in October
2000, when Granada Media, which has since merged with Carlton to form ITV
plc, bought a 5% shareholding worth £20m and pledged to pay another
£30m for a further 5% once the club gained planning permission for a
new stadium.
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Spain:
new commercial TV players
From David del Valle in Madrid
The sSpanish Government is planning to open it up to new TV entrants on the
grounds of "pluralism". The Administration is said to be planning
to grant two new anologue TV licences and to allow pay-TV television station
Canal Plus, owned by Sogecable, to broadcast free-to-air 24 hours per day
as the channel has recently demanded.
The Government is set to announce the decision over the next days. One of
the new analogue licences is likely to go to the El Mundo-owned digital channel
Veo TV, which had asked the Government for permission to broadcast in analogue
during the transition period to digital. For the second licence, there are
several candidates but many point to the other existing national digital TV
operator Net TV, owned by Vocento, as the most likely candidate, as it has
also expressed its interest in broadcasting in analogue until DTT is a reality.
The awarding of these new licences will intensify competition in the commercial
TV market by raising the number of free-to-air channels from the current four
commercial channels (La Primera, La 2, Antena 3 and Tele 5) to seven (including
Canal Plus and the two new TV stations).
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Sagem demos MPEG 4 DTT HD/SD box
From Sotires Eleftheriou in Paris
French manufacturer Sagem has demonstrated a prototype DTT set top box that can decode MPEG 4 HDTV signals, as well as standard definition signals and MPEG 2.
It also has an open standard card reader for access control. Georges Penalver, head of the Terminals and Internet division of Sagem, said that the decoder could be in industrial production by the end of the year. No indication was given about the possible price point, since it would most likely be rented by the operators. The prototype shown was the size of a hefty VCR, but we were told that the production model would have a similar slimline form to the current boxes.
Sagem unveiled its line up of five STBs aimed at the French market for the DTT launch at the end of the month. They range from a basic receiver (but which nevertheless has 2 SCART connectors) for E100, a model that includes UHF modulator (unusual on French equipment) and digital audio for E120, one with a reader for digital photo memory cards for E150, and two full blown PVRs with double tuners, respectively E350 and E450 for the 80 and 160 gigabyte versions.
Penalver explained
that Sagem has a long history in set top decoders, going back to the Syster
decoder for Canal Plus back in 1989. It supplies custom boxes for Noos, France
Telecom Cable and TPS, is market leader in the UK, with an 18% market share
and has a 30% market share in Sweden, as well extensive presence in Italy
and Spain.
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DVDs lost $4bn to piracy in 04
DVD piracy cost the entertainment industry $4bn last year says NDS chief executive Abe Peled. Peled, who says his company protects a $30bn of pay-TV revenues, said the estimate was conservative since it largely ignored the DVD black market in Asia.
He said the internet
was not yet a big factor in the piracy of premium programme, but the rise
of digital media creation, distribution and consumption, combined with the
growth of broadband internet services, and an ethos that online content is
free, was conspiring to threaten the global pay-TV market. Peled said the
issue could “not be solved by a single company or a single technology”.
NDS is a member of the Secure Video Processor (SVP) alliance, along with LG,
Samsung, Philips, BSkyB, Fox and DirecTV
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Product placement for UK TV?
Stephen Carter, CEO of media regulator Ofcom, told a meeting of the Incorporated
Society of British Advertisers that the media watchdog recognised that limits
on TV sponsorship in Britain were restrictive and he was sympathetic to change.
One area of change could be product placement - banned in Britain since the
birth of commercial television 50 years ago - which has existed in films for
all that time.
Carter, himself a former advertising executive, said he would look carefully
at proposals to relax the ban. In many cases rules about advertising, sponsorship
of programmes, sponsorship credits, product placement and channel sponsorship,
were more restrictive in Britain than in Europe, he said. He also said that
advertiser-sponsored channels was a possibility.
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Comcast
renews for $1bn with Motorola
Comcast and Motorola extend a previous partnership that will see Comcast will
buy set-top and networking equipment from Motorola including STBs equipped
with high-definition digital video recording technology. Comcast, the No.
1 US cable company, and Motorola also agreed to form two joint ventures that
will focus on conditional access technologies.
Back
to top
Cox
ponder system sales
Cox Communications has said it may sell four cable operations serving about
900,000 subscribers in California, Texas, North Carolina and several other
states to reduce debt and accelerate growth. It would leave Cox with about
5.4 million customers.
Systems under consideration for sale include West Texas, serving the Lubbock,
Midland, Amarillo, San Angelo and Abilene areas; North Carolina, serving the
Greenville, Rocky Mount, New Bern and Kinston areas; Humboldt County, Calif.;
and much of Middle America Cox.
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VOOM:
Dolan will fund to March deadline
Cablevision says it has entered into an agreement with its chairman, Charles
F. Dolan, and his son Thomas Dolan in which they agreed to work cooperatively
and finalize a separation of Cablevision and its Rainbow DBS operation.
The agreement allows Rainbow DBS to remain in operation and continue to provide
VOOM service to subscribers while the Dolans seek to arrange an alternate
transaction that would avoid a shutdown of the satellite TV business, the
company said. Charles Dolan has agreed to fund any costs incurred by Rainbow
DBS above those that would have been incurred under a shutdown scenario, Cablevision
added. The agreement, which was approved by the Cablevision board during a
meeting Tuesday, terminates on March 31, Cablevision said.
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Four more 3G licenses for China
Ericsson Chief Executive Officer Carl-Henric Svanberg told the FT China is
likely to hand out four licenses for fast wireless services this .``The way
we read it they are very much back into rolling out four licenses'' for so-called
third-generation, or 3G, wireless services, Svanberg said. China will decide
how many licenses and which 3G standards to use. Ericsson, along with Finland's
Nokia, belongs to a group promoting one 3G standard, while a group led by
Germany's Siemens AG and Beijing-based Datang Mobile Communications Equipment
Ltd., a government-owned phone equipment maker, is promoting another. The
groups have agreed to cooperate to make their systems compatible and help
speed up China's decision.
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TPS,
FT, Orange and Bouygues trial DVB-H
From Sotires Eleftheriou in Paris
Hot on the heels of the Canal Plus/SFR announcement, the competing platform TPS says it is to experiment with mobile TV using the DVB-H standard.
TPS, France Telecom, Orange and Bouygues have formed an alliance to carry out the trial with a panel of at least 200 mobile phone subscribers, 100 each from Orange and Bouygues. The test, subject to approval from the CSA, will start in June and last for six months, in the Paris region.
TPS will provide
a range of channels, a dedicated multimedia portal, interactive services and
EPG. The channels to be carried on the test are TF1, M6, Eurosport, M6 Music,
Infosport, LCI, TF6, Tfou and Teletoon. France Telecom will develop the access
control using Viaccess. The test will be carried out using a DVB-H compatible
telephone developed by Sagem. It will concern tests of usage patterns, technical
aspects and distribution models. Commercial launch on a nation-wide scale
is not expected before 2006, more probably 2007.
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State-owned RTVE and Mediaset-controlled TV network Tele 5 represent both sides of the Spanish TV market in financial terms. While RTVE makes record losses, Tele 5 delivers record profits.
The state-owned group lost E723 million in 2004, E100 million more than the previous year, raising at the same time its accumulated debt to E 7 billion. For 2005 it forecasts a loss of E 654 million with its total debt reaching more than E 7.5 billion by the end of the year. That debt, according to a group of experts appointed by the Government, should be written off by the State under a new financial framework based on more state subsidies (up to 50 per cent of RTVE's budget from the current 5 per cent) and fewer ad revenues (with a reduction of around 25 per cent). By contrast, Tele 5 is one of the most profitable channels in Europe. In 2004, it made a profit of E 215.9 million, 76.1 per cent up against E122.6 million in 2003.
The boom in the
TV advertising market -with an average rise of more than 15 per cent in 2004-
and its audience ratings leadership with an average share of 22.1 per cent,
have delivered total revenues of E 789.9 million. Ad revenues amounted to
E 777.9 million, 20.7 per cent more than the previous year.
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Four months after landmark relaxations, China is re-tightening some of the foreign media ownership rules. A notice from the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television restricts most foreign companies to only one joint venture and bans the involvement of any found to be "unfriendly".
"There is
a very strong ideological component to production of broadcast television
programmes," Sarft said. "China must understand the political tendencies
and background of overseas partners and prevent joint ventures or co-operation
from bringing harmful foreign thinking or culture into our production sector."
In November China issued rules allowing approved foreign companies to take
minority stakes in TV production companies. But the leadership is reluctant
to loosen controls on what is shown on China's 400m TV sets. Wen Jiabao, the
premier, made clear in a weekend speech that reforms in the TV, radio, film
and internet sectors did not mean an end to censorship.
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Mitch Stern has quit as president and chief executive officer of DirecTV, the day-to-day running of the company will will be taken up by Chase Carey.
Both men took
their positions in December 2003, when Rupert Murdoch took control of the
satellite broadcaster. Stern will take some time off before deciding what
to do next. In a statement Carey said: "While we considered 2004 a transition
year, DirecTV achieved a tremendous amount under Mitch's leadership. Most
notably, more new subscribers chose DirecTV last year than any other pay television
service."
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New figures today show one in 10 deserted ITV in the past two months and almost a quarter of young viewers stopped watching over the last year. It means ITV could lose advertising revenue if it does not stop the trend.
The figures show:
Total audiences fell 10% in January and February compared with the previous
year. Among 16 to 34-year-olds, the audience fell by 23% in the same period.
The number of ABC1 viewers, the affluent audience advertisers most want to
reach, fell by 12%. The 10% drop in share represents 1.5m viewers a night
at peak times. In February the share was 22.3%, down from 24.6% last year.
The only channel with worse figures was BBC2, which lost 12% of its audience
share in January and February.
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Digita, Elisa, MTV, Nelonen, Nokia, Sonera and YLE (The Finnish Broadcasting
Company) are starting a unique mobile TVpilot in Finland. The project tests
mobile TV services and consumer experiences, as well as the underlying technology,
with 500 users in the Helsinki region.
Selected from
Sonera and Elisa mobile phone customers, the test users are able to view real-time
TV and radio programs on a Nokia 7710 smartphone equipped with a special accessory
to receive mobile TV broadcasts. The Nokia smartphone also enables direct
links to the Internet for access to background information on TV programs
or sports results. Test users have access to MTV, YLE and Nelonen programs
as well as international theme channels such as CNN, BBC World, Euronews,
Eurosport, ViVa Plus and Fashion TV. The pilot continues until 20 June 2005.
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SBS has announced its 04 results. In 2004 it generated operating income of E73m on turnover of E678m up on an 03 out turn of E43m income on E582m sales.
Commenting on the results, Markus Tellenbach, SBS's Chief Executive Officer, said: "With more than €100 million of EBITDA in 2004 the Company's operating and financial performance exceeded our expectations and we are in a strong position to build on those gains this year."
SBS also announced it had completed the acquisition of C More Group AB for E269.6million in cash. "Through the launch of new digital channels across our footprint and the acquisition of the C More Group we are strategically diversifying our revenue streams through the addition of subscription services that utilize our management and operating infrastructure. As we integrate these new assets and implement our business plan we will seek to continue to increase profitability," said Tellenbach.
C More Group
is the leading Nordic pay television provider with over 770,000 subscribers
in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. The only provider of both premium
sports and premium movies in the Nordic region under the Canal+ and C More
brands, C More Group enjoys market leading positions in Sweden, Norway and
Finland.
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Entriq, the DRM provider, has been selected by Nordic Web Radio (NWR) AB for delivering secure Live and On Demand content for hit reality television show Big Brother in Sweden and Norway.
Big Brother viewers can browse the Big Brother website and watch six different live video streams from the Big Brother house. Created by NWR, this is the first time Nordic Big Brother viewers have been able to have such flexibility and control. Such a service is a significant investment for NWR to create and operate, so in order to protect their revenue stream, Entriq has provided a security solution that enables NWR to monetise this content in a consumer-friendly way.
Entriq and NWR,
along with payment provider partner, Payex, developed a selection of pay-per-view
content streams whereby users can pay for premium content by the hour, week,
month or for the 4-month duration of the show.
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Virgin radio station, in partnership with technology firm Sydus, will broadcast on selected 2G and high-speed 3G networks. Later this year listeners will be able to download software from the Virgin website which enables the service.
James Cridland, head of new media at Virgin Radio, said: "It places radio at the heart of the 3G revolution." Cridland said: "This application will enable anyone, anywhere to listen to Virgin Radio simply with the phone in their pocket." Saumil Nanavati, president of Sydus, said, "This radio player is what the 3G network was built for, giving consumers high-quality and high-data products through a handset in their pocket."
Virgin says an
hour's listening to the station via mobile would involve about 7.2MB of data.
Virgin says radio via 2G or 3G mobiles is therefore going to appeal to people
with unlimited download deals.
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Irdeto Access has appointed Parvaiz Ahsan as vice-president of sales in order to further drive the company's rapid expansion into IPTV and Mobile content security market segments.
Ahsan will head
the global sales and account management teams based in the company's worldwide
offices. Ahsan's team will continue to place increased focus on the emerging
need for content security in the telecommunications industry. Before joining
Irdeto Access, Ahsan held several positions within British Telecom; most recently
as head of transport sales.
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Dutch media-company Mediakabel has launched its 3G Triple Play Content Platform ‘Manycast' enabling telecom operators to offer professional live and On Demand video-services via cable, via mobile phones and the Internet.
Manycast is the
new service platform developed by Mediakabel. Content owners can easily inject
their content into various Web and Wap portals as well as offer their services
directly to consumers. The new Manycast platform offers a fully automated
workflow for managing, encoding, publishing and distributing live television
and radio, as well as On Demand-services to Set Top Boxes, PCs, PDAs and mobile
phones. The Manycast platform supports all types of devices and mobile phones.
The platform offers advanced Digital Rights Management (DRM) and a variety
of payment options.
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"Pace's first generation US HD box was the most advanced cable set-top in its class and set the standard for HD set-tops across the US. Leading cable operators Time Warner Cable, Comcast and Bright House Networks have successfully deployed Pace's HD cable box in volume across the USA for the past two years.
"At CABSAT,
we are excited to be able to demonstrate these two powerful technologies to
broadcasters in the Middle East, and to demonstrate how they can benefit from
such high-demand services."
Visitors to CABSAT can see these technologies in action at the Pace
Pace Micro Technology
(pic.l), the world's largest dedicated developer of digital set-top boxes
today demonstrated its first digital satellite radio device. The Pace DSR210F
is designed to capitalise on the growing popularity of satellite radio which
delivers superb sound quality and extensive choice of content and programmes.
Pace's DSR210F simply connects into a home stereo-system to enable free-to-air
satellite radio services to be distributed throughout the home.
Satellite radio is gaining momentum across Europe. Satellite delivers better
clarity of sound compared to traditional or DAB radio as satellite radio signals
are transmitted at the same high bit-rate as digital broadcast streams. Satellite
radio is also less susceptible to disruption compared with traditional radio
and can be received in poor signal areas.
Live demonstrations at SRN 2005 reveal how users can simultaneously connect
Pace's DSR210F radio device and a Pace digital satellite set-top box to one
satellite dish using a twin LNB. As a result, a household can listen to a
broadcaster's digital satellite radio service and watch digital TV at the
same time, in separate parts of the house.
"Households with only one digital set-top box may have arguments if one
person wants to watch digital TV while another wants to listen to satellite
radio through the same set-top box," explained Pace's Worldwide Sales
& Marketing Director, Neil Gaydon. "By using Pace's DSR210F radio
device, households can now enjoy a broadcaster's digital TV and satellite
radio services at the same time without needing an extra digital set-top box
or satellite dish." For broadcasters, Pace's DSR210F creates new revenue
opportunities by easing competition for use of the set-top box.
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to top
France's leading players in four sectors vital to the success of mobile television are set to launch a 500-person DVB-H trial in the second part of 2005. Groupe Canal+ (content), SFR (telco), Nokia (handset manufacturer) and towerCast (broadcast transmission) have jointly requested permission to use appropriate DVB-H frequencies from communications watchdog the CSA.
The trial will not only seek to define technical parameters for broadcast and reception, but also serve as a gauge of consumer response, studying content and uptake, as well the economic and commercial models associated with the new distribution platform.
Other invited
partners are expected to join the trial in due course. The eventual aim is
to develop a new means of television distribution to mobile devices, particularly
mobile phones, to complement existing methods such as 3G.
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BT is doing its best to fend off the threat of being split into a retail and wholesale division. The group, which has been threatened with the separation by Ofcom, will appear before the Trade and Industry Select Committee to defend itself. BT will argue that it would create too much upheaval. It will claim that a "whole" BT is far more beneficial for consumers and that there are no precedents outside the UK for the successful splitting up of an incumbent operator.
In America the split of AT&T into Baby Bells has been largely reversed by a series of take-overs. In the latest round of consolidation, Nextel and Sprint are to merge; SBC, the former Southwestern Bell, has agreed to buy AT&T, its former parent company, for $17 billion; and MCI, the long-distance telephone company, has agreed to be acquired by Verizon Communications, Vodafone's partner in Verizon Wireless, for $6.75 billion.
BT's evidence
will come as a major telecoms review by Ofcom nears its final stages. The
review is aimed at ensuring that rivals receive the same treatment and access
from BT's wholesale division as its own retail division receives. Both BT
and rivals will give evidence to MPs ahead of its closing stages in the summer.
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Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has said it is "unthinkable" that anybody would be left unable to watch TV after the switchover, but: "We are not at the point yet of making decisions about whether we need to give free set-top boxes," she said. "Those decisions will be taken, but they are decisions for three or four years' time, not now."
However, she
did say that more details on regions and timing should be forthcoming: "I
expect decisions to move quite rapidly between now and the end of the year
on the exact timing and the phasing," she said. Media regulator Ofcom
had recommended that the switchover begin in Wales, the West Country and the
northern counties of England in 2008. London and the South East would be the
last to receive digital-only television in 2011.
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British-born Howard Stringer will be the next chairman of Sony Corp, the first time a foreigner has run the historic Japanese entertainment and electronics combine. Stringer is currently chief executive of the Sony Corporation of America. He does not speak Japanese.
The move comes just a few weeks after Sony issued a profits warning for its vital electronics division, the second year in a row it has done so. Outgoing Sony chairman Nobuyuki Idei has held the job for a decade. Sony is looking for inspiration having lost its lead in key product areas. Stringer's background is in television, where he ran the CBS network, and the company hope he can find innovative ways to combine Sony's gadgetry and media content.
Stringer, 63, is a US citizen, and had a 30-year career as a journalist and TV producer after an Oxford education and service in Vietnam. "Sony has an unparalleled legacy of boldness, innovation and leadership around the world. We look forward to joining our twin pillars of engineering and technology with our commanding presence in advanced devices and forms of entertainment to the consumer," said Stringer
Meanwhile, Sony
is planning a major European expansion of its Connect Internet music download
service, a rival to Napster and Apple's iTunes, after a strong increase in
sales. The company plans to more than double the number of European countries
in which Connect operates from four to nine by the end of the month, with
new local sites in Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, Switzerland and Ireland.
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Australian Broadcasting Corp. (ABC) has introduced its digital-only, free-to-air TV channel ABC2. Designed as a complementary service to the main ABC TV, the channel will air new and repeat programming for kids, regional news, arts and documentaries. "It's a complementary service offering another chance to see the programme you missed on the main channel," says ABC.
The channel will
be available for subscribers of cable television services such as Foxtel digital
cable, TransACT and Neighborhood Cable. "However, the high cost of satellite
capacity prevents us from providing a version of ABC2 for each time zone for
viewers of Foxtel satellite or Austar services," says ABC. Digital Broadcasting
Australia estimates that there are now more than 600,000 digital television
set-top box receivers in Australian homes.
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Advertisements for UK DTT subscription service Top Up TV have been criticised by the Advertising Standards Authority. Viewers had complained that in the promotions 'restricted channel streaming' was not explained and it was not clear this meant some channels could end mid-programme.
Complaints that
it was also not clear that Top Up would require another connection fee if
someone signed off then signed back on, were rejected.
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Video Networks Ltd, provider of the HomeChoice service, has announced the addition of London TV to its platform. London TV, run by branded TV specialists enteraction tv, is commissioned by Visit London, London's official tourist organisation, and highlights the best of what's happening in the capital. HomeChoice customers will uniquely be able to access all of London TV's content on-demand.
London TV is
a video resource of the Capital, which aims to offer the most comprehensive
guide for tourists and London residents alike. Viewers will be able to access
a wide range of video-on-demand programmes on the channel via an on-screen
menu. Roger Lynch, Chairman & Chief Executive, Video Networks Ltd said:
"Video Networks is delighted to add London TV to our line-up particularly
as we are the first provider in the UK to offer the channel on-demand. The
launch demonstrates the capabilities of our platform, our ability to target
specific audiences and demographics and the unique and innovative types of
video-on-demand content that can be created. As a company, Video Networks
is consistently aiming high to ensure it always offers the most compelling
customer proposition."
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A new series of product launches from Littlewoods Gaming - ITVi's exclusive fixed odds gaming and betting partner have been announced. Today sees Game On launch the first suite in a succession of full-screen games on ITVi's 24:7 service, behind the red button.
Peter Cuffe, Director of Interactive at Littlewoods Gaming, said: "The launch of full-screen games marks a new chapter in our deal as the exclusive gaming and betting partner of ITV. We are delighted to be working with BettingCorp and look forward to launching more full screen games, which we believe will be very successful with our existing customers and the ITV interactive user.
Meanwhile, in
more evidence of the explosive growth of online gaming, more than 30,000 people
signed up for ESPN's new online poker website within in a few days of its
launch. The sports media company launched its free online poker game last
week as part of its multimedia effort to capitalise on a trend spurred by
TV programmes such as the World Poker Tour and the World Series of Poker,
which airs on ESPN's cable television network.
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Philips Electronics
has introduced the PNX1700, the newest member of the company's Nexperia family
of media processors with high-definition (HD) capabilities. Combining media
processing, network connectivity and display enhancement on a single chip,
the PNX1700 is designed to deliver unprecedented picture quality of streaming
movies, news, digital photos and TV programmes. It doubles the performance
of previous generations while maintaining both hardware and software compatibility.
Digital Connected Consumer devices enabled by the PNX1700 include IP set-top
boxes, digital media adapters, personal video recorders, videophones and TVs.
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Extreme Sports
Channel has completed its first distribution deal in Italy, launching with
a 'branded window' on Sports Italia this month. Sports Italia is a free-to-air
terrestrial channel, owned by Eurosport, and will take Extreme Sports Channel
into 17 million new households on weekdays. Italy is the 53rd country in which
Extreme is available.
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BBC
kicks off Broadcast unit sale
Deutsche Telekom strong Q4
VOOM could rely on EchoStar?
DirecTV sues Canada pirates
Another
Freeview slot from Crown Castle?
News
Raises Offer for Fox Buyout
Big
bet on Online Poker
J-Com looks for $1bn from float
PSB funding probe for Germany, Ireland,
Holland
Harris for DVB-H trial
Finland’s
Kiss FM begins Visual Radio broadcasts
BBC
kicks off Broadcast unit sale
From
Colin Mann in London
As widely anticipated, the BBC has formally set in motion the sale of its commercial subsidiary BBC Broadcast Limited with the placing of adverts in the Financial Times and UK trade magazine Broadcast. The sale, which follows the Corporation's internal review of its commercial businesses, is subject to the necessary approvals by the BBC Board of Governors and the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and is expected to be completed by the end of the coming summer.
The unit specialises in the distribution and promotion of multimedia content and it offers a comprehensive range of services to play-out, publish, promote and provide media access for content across all media, from television to mobile phones. It made an operating profit of £7m in 2004, and a sale is likely to raise up to £150m.
In selling the unit, the BBC believes that the combination of a new commercial owner, and a partnership approach with the successful bidder, will mean that the BBC can continue the strong relationship it has built up with BBC Broadcast. The Corporation also suggests that a new owner will provide the business with new opportunities for growth which are not available while it is owned by the BBC, but with the stability of a seven-year contract in place with the BBC.
Peter Phillips, Director, Business Development, said the BBC was committed to finding “a long-term partner that can not only continue to deliver the outstanding quality of services back to the BBC, but also help BBC Broadcast continue to develop in new markets.”
Among likely suitors for the unit are global communication group WPP, which owns Lambie Nairn, the design company that created idents for BBC1, and media and entertainment group Thomson, which expanded its broadcast services activity with the November 20004 acquisition of Corinthian Television Facilities in London, UK. Thomson is targeting opportunities in key segments of the growing television broadcast management and services market.
Others likely to express interest are media services group Ascent Media, a subsidiary of Liberty Media, Carlyle, the venture capitalist, which acquired satellite service provider Kingston inmedia in April 2004, and Australian investment vehicle Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group, which was part of a consortium that acquired ntl Broadcast in November 2004.
Apart from existing
industry heavyweights, other possible contenders are financial groups such
as 3i, or a management buy-out led by current Managing Director Pam Masters,
who described the sale as “a great opportunity for the business to grow
outside the constraints of being owned by a public service broadcaster, giving
access to capital to enable the business to grow."
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Deutsche Telekom
saw strong fourth quarter profits on the back of upbeat US mobile earnings
and better-than-expected asset sales. Net profit was E1.4 billion, a dramatic
turn round from the loss of E364m in 2003. Sales rose 2.8 per cent to E14.96
billion. Sales of stakes in other companies raised E1.17 billion, more than
expected, and helped to bring debt down to E35.8 billion.
T-Mobile USA, the company's American mobile business, made a strong contribution
to profits. The company also said it would resume paying a dividend, after
two years in which it focused on cutting debt.
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VOOM could rely on EchoStar?
Cablevision Chairman Charles Dolan is seeking to save its struggling satellite
TV service VOOM by a co-operative deal with EchoStar, which is set to take
over the Rainbow 1 satellite in a $200m deal.
Dolan planned to approach EchoStar to negotiate an arrangement in which the
Rainbow-1 satellite supporting VOOM's service could be "brought"
together with the VOOM business outside of Cablevision. The other directors
of Cablevision said: "For our part, we agreed to support a delay in the
shutdown of VOOM for a short period while you engage in those discussions
and that if you are able to negotiate such an arrangement with EchoStar on
terms satisfactory to us, we would be prepared to renew discussions with you
for a sale of the VOOM business".
It's unclear how Dolan would gain use of the Rainbow 1 satellite, if he could
get access to the satellite at all, or even if a deal was actually discussed
between the Cablevision chairman and EchoStar. Cablevision released the records
of discussions through a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Cablevision has also revealed that the Securities and Exchange Commission
is conducting an informal inquiry into the trading of its securities and has
requested information concerning the suspension of its Rainbow Media service.
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DirecTV has filed a lawsuit in Ontario against 19 Canadian citizens and five of their businesses it alleges were participating in a scheme to activate fraudulent DirecTV accounts enabling individuals to receive the satellite TV company's programming without authorisation.
DirecTV said it executed civil seizure orders at nine locations in southern Ontario and recovered computer files and business records related to the activation fraud scheme and grey market activity. The company also said equipment used in the past to modify access cards to enable programming theft was seized.
The DirecTV lawsuit alleges that the defendants operated a scheme through a complex network of companies and Web sites used to provide bogus US addresses and other false information to establish DirecTV accounts. Those accounts were then used to illegally activate programming for individuals, who apparently paid defendants to receive DirecTV programming without authorisation.
The company said
that under Canadian law, it's entitled to damages estimated in excess of $10
million. DirecTV also claimed punitive damages of $10 million.
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Another Freeview slot from Crown
Castle?
As Crown Castle prepares to announce the winner of its spare channel slot on Freeview it is said to be ready to invite bids for another new channel.
According to
reports, Crown Castle has created a new channel slot on digital terrestrial
multiplex C, one of two commercial multiplexes it owns. The channel could
launch in the second half of 2005. ITV and Channel 4 are battling it out to
win the 18-hours-a-day channel slot that is currently up for grabs. Each is
said to have submitted bids to Crown Castle of more than £5m (E7.2m).
Rival bidders including Five, Top-Up TV, Disney and Emap will all be invited
back to the table to pursue the second 18-hour slot.
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News Raises Offer for Fox Buyout
News Corporation raised its offer for full ownership of the Fox Entertainment Group yesterday by seven per cent, to $6 billion.
A committee of
Fox directors endorsed the higher offer, and shareholders that sued to block
the purchase agreed to a settlement, said News Corporation.
Purchasing the 18 percent of Fox stock it does not own will give News all
of Fox's $12.2 billion in annual sales and provide complete control of assets
that include the 20th Century Fox film studio, Fox News Channel and 35 television
stations in the United States. Fox accounts for 75 percent of the company's
revenue.
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Online poker is set to become a $5.9 billion business by 2008, compared to $1.4 billion last year, say analysts Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein Research. They believe the current online poker market is "potentially just the tip of the iceberg".
The report predicts
the number of players worldwide will grow from 1.5m in 2004 to 7.7m in three
years' time, helping lift poker's share of the online gaming market from 15.3
per cent to 32.3 per cent. Europe's share of the poker market is tipped to
grow from 17 per cent to 25 per cent, at the expense of America. The report
also predicts an $18.1 billion gross win across all forms of online gambling
by 2008, almost doubled from last year's figure. Interactive TV is tipped
to account for 6 per cent of the online gambling market by the end of the
decade.
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J-Com looks for $1bn from float
Jupiter Telecommunications,
the Japanese cable TV company partly owned by Microsoft and US cable pioneer
John Malone's Liberty Media International, said it planned to raise as much
as US$1 billion in Tokyo's largest initial public offering so far this year.
The group is Japan's largest broadband and cable TV provider.
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PSB funding probe for Germany, Ireland, Holland
The funding of public broadcasting in Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands may be in breach of EU competition rules, the European Commission has warned. The Commission has written to the governments of the three countries asking them to justify their funding or suggest changes after a preliminary investigation into complaints from competitors.
"Having
examined allegations from several complainants, the commission's preliminary
view is that the current financing system in these member states is no longer
in line with treaty rules requiring member states not to grant subsidies liable
to distort competition," the commission said.
The Commission's warning comes as the UK's public broadcaster, the BBC, was
granted a 10-year extension to its principal means of funding, the TV licence
fee. The Commission has already investigated the financing regimes in France,
Italy, Spain and Portugal, which have since agreed to put their houses in
order.
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Harris Corporation has announced an agreement to supply transmission equipment and technical support to Sydney-based The Bridge Networks for Australia's first trial distribution of multi-channel TV to mobile receivers using the DVB-H standard.
For the 12-month
trial, which will be launched in the middle of this year, Harris is providing
technology from its Atlas DTV660 range of transmitters which offers integrated
network adapters for telecom networks and integrated DVB-T receivers for re-transmission
applications. These benefits are further enhanced with DVB-H and hierarchical
modulation capabilities. "During the trial period, we would expect the
DVB-H transmissions to cover 80 percent of Sydney, or around 3.2 million people,"
said Darren Kirsop-Frearson, managing director, The Bridge Networks.
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Finland’s Kiss FM begins Visual
Radio broadcasts
SBS Finland's
Kiss FM has become the first radio station in the world to begin Visual Radio
broadcasts. The concept, developed by Nokia, offers listeners the possibility
to give feedback and to participate in programmes with greater ease than previously
possible.
Kiss FM Visual Radio provides visual information on the song and artist currently
playing on the radio, including album information and future tour dates. With
a simple push of a button, listeners can take part in competitions and audience
polls, buy ring tones and wallpapers for their phone, and book tickets for
the evening's concert.
Leena Ryynänen, CEO of SBS Finland, believes Visual Radio will open up
new possibilities for radio. "Visual Radio strengthens the communal aspect
of radio as well as the relationship between the radio station and the listener.
It also enables us to offer new interactive real time services for our advertisers."
The Nokia 7710, Nokia 3230 and the Nokia 6230i are the first Nokia phones
to feature the new Visual Radio application. More Visual Radio enabled handsets
will be introduced later in 2005. Tommi Mustonen, General Manager of Nokia's
Visual Radio Business, said the new application redefined the mobile radio
experience for listeners, radio stations, the music industry, advertisers
and operators.
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