 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
16,000
industry execs receive our Daily News. |
|
|
|
|
|
Free subscription |
|
|
|
|
NEWS Monday 16th May to Friday 20th May 2005
 |
Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
| Tuesday | |||||
 |
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 |
BT unveiled Q4 earnings at the top-end of expectations with pre-tax profits of £570m, (E826m) up from £423m a year earlier, it reported the fifth straight quarter of underlying revenue growth, with fourth quarter revenues up 2 per cent to £4.87bn.
A 27 per cent increase in 'new-wave' sales generated from areas such as network services and broadband was boosted by two acquisitions, to £1.37bn, and this helped offset a 9 per cent decline in turnover from the traditional business. The share of new wave revenue as a total of group revenue grew from 23 per cent to 28 per cent in the quarter.
For the full-year, pre-tax profits of £2.34bn were ahead of forecasts, up from £1.95bn last time. Revenues for the 12 months rose marginally to £18.6bn from £18.5bn a year earlier.
The result means
BT also signalled an early end to its debt reduction programme; average net
debt fell to £7.79bn, down £639m from a year earlier. The group
said it was "comfortable" with this level of debt and had therefore
scrapped the £7bn target set for the 2006/07 financial year. BT originally
set the target to boost its credit rating but said it could not have the credit
rating agencies "decide how to run our business."
Back
to top
Vivendi Universal net profits tripled in its first quarterly results since Jean-René Fourtou quit as chief executive. Fourtou had promised to turn around the group, which takes in the SFR MNO, Canal Plus, and Universal Music, before stepping aside for his deputy Jean-Bernard Lévy.
Q1 net operating
profits rose from E160m to E512m.The recover follows restructuring and disposals
to reduce the huge debts built up under Jean-Marie Messier. The group hailed
the return to profit at both Universal Music, the world's biggest record company,
and Vivendi Universal Games, the computer games subsidiary.
Back
to top
Record ad revenues helped C4's profits soar last year to £46m (E66m) up 34 per cent from £34.3m. It was helped by a near-fourfold rise in operating profits from commercial arm 4 Ventures.
Turnover was
up to £841.4m (2003: £769.6m). 4 Ventures' operating profit was
£12.1m (2003: £3.2m). Chief executive Andy Duncan said the profits
were being reinvested in the core C4 terrestrial channel, along with digital
channels E4 and soon-to-be launched More4.
Back
to top
Online auctioneer eBay has struck a deal with Time Warner Cable to let cable customers make Internet bids through their televisions. Digital subscribers in Austin, Texas, will take part in a one-year test of new technology designed to make cable TV have an Internet 'fee'.
The software
used in Time Warner Cable boxes is designed by BIAP, a privately owned company
based in Plano, Texas, which designs software that lets TV viewers hunt down
Internet programming. Viewers will be able to click their remotes to view
the status of eBay bids they made on their computers. Users can set the software
to alert them on their TV screens if they are outbid, and can then use their
remotes to raise their bids.
Back
to top
The first advertisement to be displayed on a UK 3G mobile phone network will appear this month. 3 has struck a deal enabling 100,000 3G customers to download a movie trailer for free.
Flytxt, the marketing
company which did the deal said there was potential for 3G advertising to
become a lucrative source of revenue for network operators, as it had become
in Japan. "There will be a big battle among advertisers to own the handset,"
said Flytxt's director of corporate development Pamir Gelenbe.
Back
to top
Orange launches nine UK TV channels
Orange UK is
launching nine television channels including news, sport and entertainment
programmes. The service will be available to customers on Orange's 3G network
on the Nokia 6680 handset. Customers can download the application for free
and will then be charged £10 (E14.50) per month which gives them about
20 hours of viewing time. Orange is already offering 23 TV channels over mobile
phones in France.
Back
to top
FCC to Examine Cable Ownership Regulations
The Federal Communications
Commission has announced that it intends to take a new look at cable ownership
regulations. The move comes four years after a federal appeals court rejected
the ownership caps ordered by the FCC in 1993, which deemed that a company
could not own systems serving more than 30 per cent of U.S. cable subscribers
and no more than 40 per cent of the channels.
Back
to top
Sky Report brings
us the story of DaveTV in Atlanta. They've recently announced plans to offer
more than 100 channels via pay-per-view computer download. DaveTV plans to
build its future on narrowcasting, an endless variety of niche programming,
much of it offered by do-it-yourselfers, including the "BBQ" channel,
featuring such programmes as 'whole-hog roasting'.
Back
to top
Juniper Networks
have announced that BT Media and Broadcast has selected its routing platforms
to create Europe's first point-to-multipoint IP/MPLS-based (Multi-protocol
Label Switching) broadcast distribution network. The network has been deployed
by BT Media and Broadcast on behalf of Meridian, a regional member of ITV.
The new network, based on Juniper Networks M320 and M10i routing platforms,
is being used to transport broadcast-quality video, data files, voice and
IT traffic between ITV's studios.
Back
to top
National Geographic's Digital Media group has signed with an American-Croatian-owned company, Mobitel., to deliver content to mobile phone users in eastern Europe, it was announced today by Matthew White, executive vice president, digital markets.
Content aggregator
Mobitel will distribute National Geographic content through mobile phone service
providers in Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia and
Herzegovina. The content will involve a mixture of daily, weekly and permanent
offerings, culled from thousands of hours of award-winning footage from National
Geographic's film archive. Customers will be able to access all downloads
through a National Geographic-branded channel on their mobile phones.
Back
to top
J:COM has added
four new channels to the basic selection provided with its Digital cable TV
service. The new channels include Cinefil Imagica, with a variety of popular
movie offerings; Home Drama Channel, which features a wide selection of period
dramas, as well as modern TV dramas from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan; National
Geographic Channel, offering documentaries with unbeatable real-life footage;
and Reality TV, which compiles compelling footage from around the world.
Back
to top
Richard Parsons, chief executive of Time Warner, has admitted it could eventually spin off AOL if its new growth strategy did not pan out.
In an interview with Fortune Magazine, Parsons said Time Warner would consider spinning off AOL as a separate stock. The centrepiece of that strategy is the launch this summer of a free portal, which will include a search engine and other functions that had previously been available only to paying subscribers. "If this doesn't work, then you start to think about AOL much differently," Parsons said.
"You start to think about AOL in somewhat the same way I think about the cable company we'd have access to the platform, but it would have its own currency to go out and do acquisitions or other deals. We'd have to find a way to maximise the value for our shareholders."
AOL reported a 45 per cent increase in online advertising in the first quarter, and continues to generate about $1 billion in sales but its subscriber base has been falling steadily as customers desert to other providers broadband service. It lost 549,000 subs in the most recent quarter.
Meanwhile, AOL
has launched an assault on the UK phone business by rolling out AOL Talk,
offering unlimited calls for an introductory monthly flat rate of £7.99
(E11.6). Initially available for AOL internet subscribers, it will be sold
as a standalone product later in the year. AOL said the package included "competitive"
mobile and international rates. The service includes unlimited UK local and
national calls for the introductory price, which will be valid to the end
of June when it will increase to £9.99 a month.
Back
to top
Premier League chases Internet pirates
The UK Premier League is considering legal action against Internet providers who are jeopardising its £1 billion (E1.44 billion) television rights deals by streaming live matches on to the net from foreign countries broadcasting live football games.
Under a UK ‘blackout’, designed to protect match attendances, Premier League football matches are not shown live in Britain on Saturday afternoons. Games are shown live in 195 foreign countries as part of a £320 million deal with foreign broadcasters.
The Premier League, which found out about the problem several months ago, has hired a technology company to locate and shut down the sites. The company, NetResult, has shut 50 sites so far, including one called soccerstreams. The league now also wants to sue one of the sites as a test case. The league hopes to prove that the cyber pirates have breached its copyright.
Last year it
took action against satellite hackers who intercepted the signal from foreign
countries to show matches in British pubs.
Back
to top
The UK-based MNO said its first dividend would be at the top end of expectations as it reported another year of strong growth, despite a competitive domestic market and termination rate cuts. Pre-tax profits more than tripled to £309 million (E448 million) and revenues grew 18.4 per cent to £6.7 billion.
O2’s once
loss-making German unit continued to be the engine of growth, where its customer
base rose by a third to 8 million and service revenues grew 28 per cent. In
the UK service revenues were up 13.9 per cent to £3.6 billion thanks
to 8.4 per cent growth in its customer base to 14.4 million and higher average
ARPU.
Back
to top
Australian cable operator Optus is offering discounts of up to 22 per cent on subscriptions in an attempt to stem an exodus of customers after rival Foxtel started digital broadcasts. Customers wanting to cancel their cable subscription are being offered as much as A$15 off a A$66.90-a-month package until Optus starts digital broadcasts later this year. The company's pay-TV customers fell 19 per cent to 164,000 in the year ended March 31. Foxtel, which started digital services 15 months ago, increased subscribers 15 per cent to 998,000 as of March 31.
Optus is spending A$30 million over the next two-to-three years to upgrade its cable network to provide digital services as part of a renegotiated deal to sell programming from Foxtel. Foxtel is 50 per cent-owned by Telstra Corp Australia's biggest telephone company. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp and Kerry Packer's Publishing & Broadcasting each own 25 per cent.
Foxtel's loss
narrowed to A$15 million in the March quarter from A$43 million a year earlier.
Chief Executive Kim Williams expects the company to be cash-flow positive
by mid 2006, and that between 35 per cent and 40 per cent of households will
have pay-TV by 2008.
Back
to top
Space
TV, Sun Direct TV get nod for DTH operations
From Shveta
Malik in New Delhi
The Indian government has green-lighted two direct-to-home ventures. The Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry has to issued preliminary licenses to Sun Direct TV Private Ltd and the Star India joint venture Space TV Private Ltd for the launch of ku-band DTH operations. Space TV, an 80:20 Tata Group-Star JV, is expected to launch the service end of 2005.
"We believe the service will immensely enhance the choices of viewers looking for the best of pay television services in the country," said Vikram Kaushik, Chief Executive Officer, Space TV. Now the two companies will have to furnish bank guarantees before licenses are issued for the launch of their DTH platforms.
The other players
in the DTH segment include ASC Enterprises and state-run DD Direct Plus. DD
Direct Plus, launched in 2004, is a free-to-air DTH service and claims to
have over two million viewers, while ASC Enterprises’ Dish TV, launched
in September 2003, has about 200,000 subscribers. Two other applications from
Essel Shyam Communications Limited and Noida Software Technology Park Ltd.
are pending with the government.
Back
to top
Vivendi suing Deutsche Telekom for E2.2bn
Vivendi is suing for compensation on losses on Polish mobile phone company PTC, over which the two firms had fought for control. The legal action, filed in Paris, accuses Deutsche Telekom of wrongful termination of negotiations to buy out Vivendi and its Polish partner.
Vivendi claims Deutsche Telekom's aim was to take over PTC more cheaply. PTC is the biggest mobile phone operator in central Europe, with more than 40 million customers. In August 2003, Deutsche Telekom, which owns 49 per cent of PTC, offered E1 billion to win control of the company by buying the rest from Vivendi and Polish utility Elektrim.
But just over a year later, the German company called a halt to the negotiations. "Vivendi Universal considers this sudden withdrawal to have been motivated by Deutsche Telekom's wish to appropriate the shares of PTC at the lowest possible cost, using methods which Vivendi regards as unlawful," said a statement on the media group's website. A spokesman for Deutsche Telekom said: "We currently see no legal ground for the charge."
The ownership
of the remaining 51 per cent of PTC is currently at the centre of a legal
dispute, with Deutsche Telekom saying it had an option to buy Elektrim's stake
without reference to Vivendi.
Back
to top
Canada
gets RAI
From
Gail Chiasson in Montreal
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has approved the addition of the Italian service RAI International 2 to its lists of eligible satellite services for distribution on a digital basis.
Rogers Cable Communications Inc., acting as the Canadian sponsor, had applied to the CRTC in January 2005 to add RAI International 2, a non-Canadian satellite service, to the lists of eligible satellite services for distribution on a digital basis. Rogers stated in its request that RAI International would not solicit advertising in Canada for its RAI International 2 service distribution on a digital basis.
The CRTC noted
that persons wishing to subscribe to RAI International 2 would be required
also to subscribe to TLN. The addition of RAI has earlier been a subject of
controversy since Telelatino had already been carrying some RAI programming.
Back
to top
DISH Leads Pay-TV in Customer Satisfaction
DISH Network satellite TV service finished first among all pay-TV providers in the American Customer Satisfaction Index for the second straight year.
DISH Network
posted the highest score among all satellite and cable TV companies in the
results of the index. DISH Network finished above all cable companies for
the fifth consecutive year -- covering every year that the University of Michigan
has assembled the index for pay-TV companies. DISH Network also ranks No.
1 in Customer Satisfaction among Cable/Satellite TV Subscribers by J.D. Power
and Associates, giving DISH Network a clean sweep of the most prestigious
customer satisfaction awards.
Back
to top
Strong demand
for HD programming helped PanAmSat return to profit in Q1. The results are
the first since the US satellite operator’s IPO in March. The company,
which provides links for broadcasters, news organisations and telecoms groups,
reported earnings of $1.1 million, compared with a year-earlier loss of $31.9
million. Revenues increased by 1.6 per cent to $208.8 million from $205.4
million, led by the company’s fixed satellite services segment. For the
year, PanAmSat forecast an increase in revenues of 3 per cent on earnings
up 4 per cent.
Back
to top
Time Warner Inc. is talking with China's top two broadcasters about partnerships in the country's newly opened TV programme sector. Executives from Time Warner, owner of the CNN and HBO television networks and the Warner Bros. movie studio, recently met with counterparts from China Central Television (CCTV) and Shanghai Media Group (SMG) about ways they can work together.
"We have
an awful lot of both content and expertise we think can be helpful to developing
the TV industry here in China," Rick Parsons, TW CEO told reporters in
Beijing. "In terms of target dates, we're really at the beginning of
trying to create these relationships and I would hope that by next year we
would have some success." HBO formed a partnership last year to provide
movies to CCTV. Parsons said Time Warner saw big potential in the Chinese
market, but he acknowledged that any meaningful contributions to the company's
sales were still at least five years off.
Back
to top
Seeking to bring
an Arabic viewpoint, al-Jazeera says it plans to launch an English language
channel next year. According to the FT, the new channel will focus on developing
world issues with reports emanating from four main centres, Doha, Kuala Lumpur,
London and Washington, D.C. The Arabic-language al-Jazeera channel is currently
offered by the DISH Network via its Arabic-language packages.
Back
to top
Marconi says its failure to secure a major 21CN BT contract will cost it £105m (E152m) during the current financial year. The telecoms equipment company made the warning as it released its annual results for the year ending 31 March, which saw it cut its loses by 62 per cent. In addition to 800 jobs, Marconi says it will cost the firm £50 million in sales and £55 million in restructuring costs this year.
For the year
ending 31 March, the telecoms equipment company made an operating loss from
continuing operations of £95 million ($174 million), down from £249
million for the year before.
Back
to top
Widevine Technologies announced that NovaMedia of Reykjavik, Iceland, has chosen Widevine Cypher to provide content security for its complete video broadcast and video-on-demand (VOD) service.
NovaMedia launched
its Internet Protocol (IP) broadcast service in 2001 over the country’s
existing fibre network and has plans to launch its VOD service later this
year. The company expects the new service to be particularly attractive to
customers during the winter months, where the average Iceland home traditionally
rents, on average, 3.5 movies per month.
NovaMedia plans to roll out their VOD service to over 60,000 customers throughout
Iceland, and to offer hospitality services as well. "When we consulted
the content owners to obtain IP video content licenses, they told us they
would not grant licenses without an appropriate content security solution,"
said Halldór Axelsson, Founder/CTO of NovaMedia. "Widevine have
a high comfort level with major Hollywood studios with their solution."
Back
to top
Philips is to supply basic digital set-top boxes (type DCR 3201) and interactive digital set-top boxes (types DCR 6701 and DCR 7701) to Belgian cable operator Telenet.
The DCR 6710 and DCR 7701 set-top boxes have embedded Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) middleware to enable interactive television services. In addition, the DCR 7701 includes PVR (personal video recorder) functionality and a dual-tuner that enables programmes to be recorded and played back simultaneously.
Frans Schmetz,
CEO Philips Belgium-Luxembourg, said: "The initiative taken by Telenet
is the first large-scale project in Belgium based on the generally accepted
Multimedia Home Platform standard for new, interactive TV services."
Back
to top
SmartVideo has
announced the launch of the Digital Music Video Network (DMV Network) as part
of its mobile television service. The Network is a free, fully ad-supported
network; all that’s needed is a cell phone with Web access and a Windows
Media Player, RealPlayer or similar application. DMV Network says it has access
to the second-largest music video library in the world, including over 40,000
videos that are streamed straight to the handset at a minimum of 24 frames
per second and on current 2.5G networks at a minimum of 15FPS
Back
to top
Inmarsat has played down reports it is preparing for an imminent flotation but left open the possibility of a stock market listing later this year after it launches a new satellite. The private equity-backed company, which has been valued at over £1bn (E1.44bn), is seeking an exit route for its owners. An Inmarsat spokesman denied reports that the company had appointed JP Morgan, Cazenove and Merrill Lynch to handle a flotation.
Apax Partners
and Permira bought a 52 per cent stake in the company in 2003 as the satellite
industry's reliable cash flows caught the eye of private equity investors.
An IPO is one of several options being considered by the company, the spokesman
added. "No parties have been appointed at this stage and an IPO is something
being considered along with other paths to liquidity." In Q4 Inmarsat
hopes to complete the second phase of a $1.5bn programme to increase capacity.
The company has invested in the construction and launch of three satellites,
the first of which, the largest commercial satellite ever put into space,
was launched successfully in March.
Back
to top
Liberty Media
International the largest owner of cable television systems outside the US,
posted a first-quarter profit on Friday, boosted by more high-speed Internet
subscribers at its Japanese and European cable subsidiaries. The International
holding spin-off of John Malone's Liberty Media Corp. said the profit was
$26.3 million, compared with a year-earlier net loss of $84 million.
Back
to top
Spain's Telefónica revealed sharply higher first-quarter profits as it tightened its grip on Latin America's mobile phone market and broadband subscriptions boosted its fixed-line business. Net profits jumped 36 per cent to E912m ($1.15bn) in the three months to March 31.
Revenues rose
17 per cent to E8.3bn, thanks largely to a contribution from 10 Latin American
mobile phone companies bought from BellSouth last year. Telefónica
has predicted 12 to 15 per cent revenue growth this year, as well as a 12
to 18 per cent rise in operating profits. Telefónica also reported
steady first-quarter growth at its fixed-line division, where sales rose 6
per cent thanks to higher broadband ADSL internet subscriptions - despite
intensifying competition in its domestic market.
Back
to top
TU Media Korea's country satellite-based mobile television broadcaster, said it gathered more than 20,000 customers after two-weeks of commercial services.
The company launched its satellite-based mobile television service May 1. "A daily average of about 1,500 TV-enabled handsets is being sold right now. We believe the demand to increase with mobile-phone makers SK Teletech, Pantech and LG Electronics planning to release new models," said a TU Media spokesman.
TU Media, 30
per cent owned by the country's largest mobile-phone carrier SK Telecom Co.,
is currently providing seven video and 20 radio channels to its customers.
The company estimates that there are about 25,000 TV-enabled handsets sold
in the local market, since their first introduction at the beginning of this
year. TU Media is targeting 600,000 to 700,000 customers by the end of this
year and expects to break even when it gathers about 5.5 million customers,
which it predicts to be four to five years from now.
Back
to top
Rival Sirius
said that beginning this month its service will be available in five 2005
Toyota models: Toyota Camry, Toyota Solara and Solara Convertible, Scion xA,
Scion xB and Scion tC.
Back
to top
The long awaited "inevitable" deal to consolidate the UK cable sector looks to be going no more smoothly than usual.
Both companies have just announced encouraging operating results and NTL has shed its last ‘untidy’ business, the network in Ireland. According to the City, therefore, the last remaining obstacle is for Telewest to complete its own housekeeping and get rid of, or at least obtain an independent valuation on, its Flextech channels division. Yesterday Telewest announced it had paid £97.3m (E141m) for the 50.3 per cent of interactive channels producer Sit Up TV it didn’t already own. It looked like a classic tidying up operation prior to either a trade sale or an IPO of Flextech – the latest rumour.
However, on the same day, Barry Elson, acting CEO of Telewest, said "As content goes out to the consumer over a multiplicity of platforms, you have to believe content becomes more valuable in the future and not less. We like being in both businesses". This is the antithesis of the NTL philosophy, Simon Duffy, CEO, has professed himself "sceptical of the alleged merits of vertical integration between content and distribution."
The real problem is this gives the two companies very divergent views on the value of Flextech where analysts estimates range from £500m - £800m and NTL’s view is probably below the low point. So, Telewest has to find a way to realise its higher value before a merger but, so far, the market has taken NTL’s side, a number of trade buyers have looked at Flextech but been put off by the vendors valuation, with the weak dollar making it particularly unattractive to US suitors.
The real problem
is at the heart of Flextech is the UKTV JV with the BBC controlling the strongest
brands like UK Gold. It is highly questionable whether the JV still fits into
the BBC’s ideal digital strategy as it contemplates the potential value
of its archive in an IP enabled multi-platform nVOD and VOD market.
Back
to top
Malone signals interest in Nat Geo and IAC
Liberty’s John Malone signalled he would be interested in snapping up the National Geographic Channel yesterday in return for selling a stake he built up in rival News Corp back to the company.
News Corp owns about 67 per cent of NatGeo’s US operations and 50 per cent of the international subsidiary. A deal to buy the National Geographic Channel would require the approval of the National Geographic Society, a non-profit group.
Meanwhile Malone
said Liberty Media may fully acquire one of IAC/InteractiveCorp businesses
if the market "substantially undervalued" them after a planned spin-off
of IAC’s Expedia travel division. IAC is separating its travel business
under the Expedia name from his other Internet businesses.
Back
to top
DT reported a rise in first quarter profits of more than a third following the expansion of its international business and the popularity of its broadband service. It signed up nearly a million new mobile customers in the US to its T-Mobile service taking the total number of subscribers by the end of March to 18.3m.
But growth was slower in its European mobile business T-Mobile Germany signed up just 89,000 new customers in the quarter where it was forced to cut handset subsidies to protect margins. In the UK sales fell nearly 13 per cent as price cuts imposed by the telecoms regulator took their toll.
Overall, pre-tax
profits rose 36 per cent to E1.62bn from E1.2bn on revenues up 3.5 per cent
at E14.38bn. Profits were helped by a E500m fall in interest payments to E721m
as debt fell from nearly E50bn to E42.6bn at the end of last year. Underlying
profits rose 5.2 per cent to E4.7bn. The group was confident of its prospects
for the year and stuck by its full-year forecast for underlying profits of
between E20.7bn and E21bn.
Back
to top
Man Utd takeover could split TV rights
Manchester United’s takeover by US sports tycoon Malcolm Glazer could see the Premier League’s collective negotiation of TV rights broken up. That would weaken the Premier League’s hand and open the door for other high-profile clubs to follow suit.
Glazer, who owns
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers American Football team, has won control of the club
after securing the stake owned by JP McManus and John Magnier. He now has
more than 70 per cent of the club and wants to buy the rest of United’s
shares giving a total price of around £790m (E1.14bn). Observers believe
Glazer sees a lot more value in Man Utd’s TV rights than it achieves
through the Premiere League deal.
Back to top
Tensions between the satellite and CE industries over the introduction of digital TV emerged again as Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association told the Advanced Television Systems Committee’s (ATSC) that broadcasters need to figure out a business model that actually works for them in the digital age and sell U.S. consumers what they really want - HDTV.
"Who will be disenfranchised and not receive a TV signal after the cut-off has been a major concern for all involved in the transition?" asked Shapiro. "Recent figures from CEA show the percentage of American homes that rely only on an over-the-air signal is low and shrinking." Shapiro said that data suggests 87 percent of U.S. homes have access to cable or satellite. More pipelines capable of carrying video programming - including fibre optic lines, DSL, telephone lines and power lines - are moving into U.S. homes, "jeopardising the monopoly once enjoyed by broadcasters," he said.
National Association
of Broadcasters went on the attack in Congress with NAB’s Eddie Fritts
saying recent data from the GAO and elsewhere demonstrate much wider use of
off-air broadcasting services. "Today, there are 73 million over-the-air
television receivers not hooked to cable or satellite. CEA’s cavalier
dismissal of these viewers ignores the potential for consumer outrage if millions
of people prematurely lose access to this programming."
Back
to top
Reporting its
first results since being bought by a private equity consortium, Intelsat
posted revenue of $293.2 million and a net loss of $151.7 million for the
quarter ended March 31, 2005. Results included a net non-cash impairment charge
of $69.2 million related to the previously reported IS-804 satellite failure.
Back
to top
HDTV-Source 1000 is the world’s first signal source for HDTV content that provides the missing link between the availability of HDTV display units and broadcast content, say makers Euro Electronics. Retailers of HDTV format LCD and plasma display units will no longer have to use PCs to demonstrate the picture quality of HDTV or rely on just one satellite channel.
Using a hard
disk drive, HDTV-Source 1000 outputs 24 Mbit/sec. signal directly to the display
unit in 1080i or 720p format. Simple to operate, contained in an ultra- slim
and robust case and designed to be left to operate 24 X 7, Euro Electronics
says for HDTV hardware manufacturers, broadcasters and content producers,
HDTV-Source 1000 offers a simple solution of how to demonstrate HDTV content.
Back
to top
EuroNews has appointed Michael Peters as Managing Director. He joined the channel seven years ago and is promoted from the position of Deputy Managing Director.
Peters will be
based at the channel’s headquarters in Lyon, France reporting directly
to the President and CEO, Philippe Cayla. Prior to joining EuroNews in 1998
Michael worked for four years for Arthur Andersen.
Back
to top
A satellite film service exclusively from Yorkshire and the Humber will be launched at the end of the year. The initiative was announced by Yorkshire Forward, the regional development agency which has chosen film and TV as a lead regenerator of the local economy. Apart from a successful series of films including The Full Monty, Brassed Off and Calendar Girls, the region is building a stable of independent producers and digital media companies.
The Propeller
Channel will initially broadcast some six hours a day through the Sky Digital
platform. Financed by a package including £2,900,000 (E4.2m) from Yorkshire
Forward, it is the first ‘region TV’ of its type.
Back
to top
For the very latest news go to Home Page ............
