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Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Tuesday
Friday 18th November 2005
US networks: "we don't fear DVRs"
EC and Premier League settle
GlobeCast IPTV headend
CE will drive chip sales
Sony VoIP service
Spaceway finally up
Blinkx linked to Universities
CE market strong growth
SkyStream for China education
ADB for FastWeb
UTStarcom for China Telecom
Thomson STB for Germany
US networks: "we don't fear DVRs"Digital video recorders will actually boost television audiences, the major networks said in an unusual joint press conference to announce a report. The six major networks -- CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox, the WB and UPN – are anxious to allay the fears of advertisers.
The networks said their research showed the technology offered an opportunity to attract viewers who might otherwise miss shows when they first air. "For most of the top television programmes, the audience will be greater for these programmes as DVR penetration increases," David Poltrack, head of ratings research for CBS, told reporters. "The DVR is going to increase viewership to major network television programmes."
Nearly eight per cent of U.S. homes have a DVR, with that number expected to grow to 39 per cent by 2010. Acknowledging that trend, Nielsen in January will begin to issue national television ratings that include DVR playbacks within a day of original airing and up to seven days later.
On average, homes with a DVR watched 5.7 hours of television daily compared with 5.1 hours for homes without the device, the networks said. DVR households still watch about 90 per cent of their television at original broadcast time.
While 90 per cent of viewers surveyed said they skipped all or most commercials when they watched a show played back on DVR, the networks' research showed 58 per cent paid attention to the commercials in a fast-forward mode and 53 per cent have gone back to watch an ad that interested them, the networks said.
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EC and Premier League settleUK Premier League has struck a deal with the EC over the next soccer rights contract. As expected, football matches will be divided up into six ‘balanced' packages that will be shared between at least two broadcasters, under a provisional agreement with the European commission competition authorities.
As part of the deal, an independent trustee will be appointed to ensure that the League keeps its commitments to the Commission. The League is said to have guaranteed it will create six ‘balanced' packages of games that broadcasters can bid for. This eases one of the commission's gravest concerns, namely that a rival to Sky will be left to pick up a ‘runt' package of the least popular games. Each bidder will also have to make a standalone bid for each package and will not be able to offer a premium for winning two or more. Both the League and the commission declined to comment last night.
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GlobeCast IPTV headendGlobeCast has completed the build out of its new Technical Operations Center (TOC) in Miami. The new centre is designed to support the company's newly inaugurated IPTV Super Headend, capable of aggregating hundreds of television signals from around the globe in MPEG-2 and MPEG-4, and providing IP encapsulation and retransmission of content via satellite for distribution to "local" IPTV headends across North America. The upgrade of the Miami facility is a central component to the company's expanding offer of fully managed content delivery services for emerging IP-based video and rich media.
All current and future IPTV services, including IPTVComplete - a joint offering with Eagle Broadband (AMEX: EAG) providing more than 200 channels via IP video - will originate from the new TOC in Miami, situated at GlobeCast's existing 85,000 square foot digital broadcast complex.
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CE will drive chip salesGlobal sales of microchips will reach $309bn in 2008, up 45 per cent on the $213bn recorded in 2004, according to the annual forecast of the Semiconductor Industry Association trade body.
The SIA predicted a compound annual growth rate of nearly 10 per cent for 2005 to 2008. "Consumer products will be the major growth-drivers in the years ahead," said George Scalise, SIA president. He cited cell phones, portable media players and digital TVs as the major products boosting the chip sector.
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Sony VoIP serviceSony has launched a free Web-based phone service called Instant Video Everywhere, designed to link users of the service via their computers. The new service will ship with the company's latest version of Vaio BX laptops, which are equipped with built-in video cameras.
Sony is working with Glowpoint, a US video-phone service provider known for its "All You Can See" unlimited video dialling plans and features including live video operators and video-call mailboxes. Sony said it will also offer to connect IVE users to landlines and cell phones for a monthly fee of $9.95.
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Spaceway finally upAn Ariane 5 launch vehicle carried DirecTV's next-generation satellite, the Spaceway 2 spacecraft, into orbit during a mission that was deemed a success by Arianespace.
The launch also contained the TELKOM 2 communications satellite for Indonesian operator PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk. The Wednesday mission also set a record for commercial launches: with more than 8,000 kg injected into orbit, the Spaceway 2 and Telkom 2 satellites represent the heaviest dual payload ever launched.
The Spaceway bird is one of four satellites DirecTV is launching during a two-year period as part of an in-orbit expansion.
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Blinkx linked to UniversitiesSearch engine blinkx has formed agreements with several universities and an educational content partnership with the University Channel, to make hundreds of hours of academic audio content. The content is from institutions including Harvard, Princeton and Cambridge and is searchable online at www.blinkx.tv.
Suranga Chandratillake, founder and CTO, blinkx, said: "We believe that the Internet can be a forum for education and a mechanism for sharing knowledge." Donna Liu, executive director at the University Channel, said: "We hope this partnership with blinkx will help bring the ‘public' back into the world of public affairs, by making it easier to find and access the kind of well-researched and dispassionate analysis that academia can apply to solving today's problems."
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CE market strong growthInnovative devices with digital technologies are leading to a rapid growth of film, music and image-based CE market segments in Western Europe. According to the
European Information Technology Observatory (EITO) the market value is
growing by 9.2 per cent in 2005 to an overall value of E54.2 billion.
"Digital devices are offering a substantial increase in value for the
user", says EITO Chair Bruno Lamborghini. "Accordingly, digital products like flat screen TVs, MP3 players or game consoles show double-digit growth rates. In contrast, the market for analogue products is experiencing a real decline."
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SkyStream for China educationSkyStream announced that China Education Television (CETV) will use its media delivery platforms to expand video content distribution, rural Internet service and distance-learning programmes to remote areas.
CETV will extend broadband distance learning across the nation using the
SkyStream Source Media Router (SMR-26) IP encapsulation solution for
broadcasting the educational content at the uplink and Edge Media Receiver
and Router (EMR) to receive and distribute the content to its end
destination. CETV will also offer video-on-demand and other video services
to 25 remote areas via satellite, where broadband services are not currently
available.
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ADB for FastWebAdvanced Digital Broadcast announced that it has received a substantial order from FastWeb for the supply of its 3800TW New Generation set-top box (STB). This unit is ADB's latest single chip IPTV platform based on the STi7100 chipset from STMicroelectronics .
"ADB is delighted to add FastWeb to its ever-growing list of IPTV customers.
FastWeb is one of Europe's pioneers in the provision of IPTV services",
comments Philippe Lambinet, CEO of Advanced Digital Broadcast. "Speed to
market with a state-of-the-art product, coupled with leadership in digital
television in Italy has made ADB the preferred choice for FastWeb. This
order further endorses the investment that ADB has made in the development
of new generation IP products".
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UTStarcom for China TelecomUTStarcom announced that China Telecom, the largest
fixed-line telecom operator in China, has chosen UTStarcom's mVision
end-to-end IPTV system to support its new IPTV service in China to be
launched by the end of the year. The first official service launch of up to
5,000 subscribers is scheduled to be in Shanghai."While we don't expect revenue associated with this agreement to be
meaningful in the near term, we do believe this represents a significant
opportunity over the next several years," said Ying Wu, chief executive
officer and president of UTStarcom China. "We believe that IPTV technology
will revolutionise the way people watch TV by empowering users with the
ability to choose the programs they want to watch when they want to watch
them. According to a recent report from ABI Research, IPTV subscriber growth
is expected to exceed 110 million people by 2010, with the Asia Pacific
region accounting for more than 50 per cent of the subscribers worldwide."
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Thomson STB for GermanyThomson announced that its DCI1500G cable set-top box is deployable on the network of Kabel Deutschland, Germany's leading cable operator and has been certified compliant by Pay-TV operator Premiere. Thomson has thus demonstrated its ability to provide best-in-class set-top box technology for the migration to all-digital cable TV across Germany. Thomson will begin rolling out the DCI1500G model to cable subscribers in Q1/2006.
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Thursday 17th November 2005
Sky / Vodafone mobile TV success
DTT boxes take off in Spain
Intellect says Freeview distorts market
Murdoch: "shares will recover"
Music industry keeps up pirate pressure
China: 3G licenses in 06
A&E, NBC partner for History
Macquarie IPOs media fund
Online to account for 25% of DVDs
Sky / Vodafone mobile TV success
Vodafone's mobile TV service has recorded one million streams of mobile channels in its first two weeks of broadcast, providing Vodafone and content partner Sky with confidence to invest further, reports NMA.
The take-up by up to 341,000 Vodafone customers has been received as positive and exceeded expectations. "These figures clearly show that people want access to TV wherever they are," said Robert Fraser, head of corporate media at BskyB. 19 mobile TV channels are currently available on Vodafone Live!. Fraser commented that Sky is likely to increase the volume and variety of content available to mobile TV soon. Vodafone is planning a major cross-platform ad campaign ahead of the introduction of a subscription charge for the service in February 2006.
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DTT boxes take off in Spain
From David Del Valle in Spain
The forthcoming launch of a free-to-air DTT platform is driving up the sale of set-top-boxes in the country. Over the last ten months, 400,000 units have been sold putting an end to a three years stagnation following the closure of the pay-TV DTT platform, Quiero.According to the industry, only 5 per cent of all the DTT devices are TV sets with an integrated digital tuner (whose prices range between E1,200 and E 4,900); 95 per cent are DTT boxes with a price ranging between E79 and E 119. Electronic manufacturers have high hopes about the coming Christmas campaign estimating they will sell 300,000 new boxes in that period.
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Intellect says Freeview distorts marketIntellect, the trade body for the UK's hi-tech industry, has told a UK government committee it believes that the BBC's promotion of Freeview constituted "direct market intervention", "inhibited consumer choice" and was "not in the interests of switchover." It said said the corporation's support for Freeview was leading to falling prices and difficulties selling more advanced set-top boxes. Calling for "strong consistent messages from key stakeholders" Intellect accused the BBC of "continuing to act unilaterally in respect of its on-air campaign promoting Freeview".
"[We] do not believe that it is in the interests of switchover for the BBC to promote a price point of £40 for set top boxes ... Intellect believes that it is outside the BBC's remit to set price points in the market and the BBC should take a more responsible approach that does not inhibit consumer choice."
Tim Davie BBC director of marketing said there were "different attractions in terms of satellite and digital terrestrial television in terms of cost and simplicity for viewers", and said the BBC's support for Freeview was about "keeping choice in the market".
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Murdoch: "shares will recover"Speaking to shareholders in Australia, Rupert Murdoch put the year-long share slide in News Corp shares down to investor fears at the impact of new technologies such as the internet. He said it was an industry-wide problem and that the internet would eventually become very profitable for media firms.
While Murdoch admitted there was a "tremendous amount of work to be done" in getting News Corp to make a significant profit from the internet, he said such new technologies would eventually be central to media firms' revenue streams. "As people realise, as the world goes on and gets more complicated and more advanced, that media is going to be a bigger and more central industry than ever before," he said.
Touching upon the issue of who will succeed him at the company, he said it was a matter for his fellow directors - although was not retiring any time soon. "I'm just sick of being told I'm dying - I'm feeling great."
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Music industry keeps up pirate pressureThe music industry stepped up its campaign against illegal online file sharing announcing the launch of more than 2,100 lawsuits against individuals in 16 countries stretching from Sweden to Argentina. The International Federation of Phonogram and Videogram Producers (IFPI), which has co-ordinated most of the campaigns against music and video piracy outside the US, said the lawsuits represented the "biggest escalation yet" in its efforts to tackle a problem that is blamed for a 22 per cent decline in CD sales over the past five years.
The additional legal cases bring the total launched so far to more than 3,800. Although most were brought against "uploaders" in Germany, cases were brought for the first time in Sweden, Switzerland, Argentina, Hong Kong and Singapore.
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China: 3G licenses in 06China may issue 3G licences one at a time next year, with the first permit likely to require an operator to use the home grown TD-SCDMA standard, according to Christoph Caselitz, president of Siemens's mobile networks division. "I can imagine from the public discussions that we are having in China that TD-SCDMA may be the first licence to be issued," he told the 3G World Congress.
He said Siemens would invest hundreds of millions of euros in the Asian mobile market, in an attempt to overtake Nokia as the world's second biggest provider of wireless telecoms equipment. "The key market in this endeavour is Asia . . . This fiscal year alone, we will be investing triple-digit millions of euros in Asia."
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A&E, NBC partner for HistoryA&E Television Networks (AETN) and NBC Universal Global Networks have formed a joint venture partnership in Germany to own and operate The History Channel. The History Channel was launched in Germany by AETN in November 2004 and is carried on the Kabel Deutschland, Ish, Iesy, and Kabel BW digital subscriber platforms, as well as in Switzerland on the Cablecom platform.
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Macquarie IPOs media fundMacquarie, Australia's biggest investment bank, has raised £394.72m (E571m) in an initial public offering for its media fund. The fund - Macquarie Media Group - will use the proceeds to buy 85 Australian commercial radio stations from Macquarie Bank and look to acquire overseas media assets with stable earnings and cash flow and strong market positions. It will list on the Australian stock exchange. The bank had hoped to raise up to £419.32m from the IPO but sold the shares at the lower end of the range offered to institutions.
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Online to account for 25% of DVDsThe online DVD rental market is forecast to account for a quarter of the market spending in the US and one third in Europe by 2009, according to Screen Digest.
It says by the end of 2005 6.3 million people will have rented DVDs online. Screen Digest added that growth online has come at the expense of the existing video stores, some movie channels and also new growth in the rental market. It predicts that at least half the UK's video rental transactions and rental spending will be online by 2009.
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Wednesday 16th November 2005
Malone will use split proceeds to prey on debt
Four million cable phones in US
IPTV worth $44bn by 2009?
China HD New Year
Vodafone warns of slow down
USDTV opens in Dallas
Austar reveals PVR details
US broadband sign ups boom
Microsoft downloads for Xbox
China Netcom and Telefonica alliance
Finnish mobile TV licence
Nokia and T-Mobile test HSDPA
Verimatrix and Siemens
Malone will use split proceeds to prey on debt
John Malone is splitting up Liberty Media group in order to be ready to invest in the corporate debt markets, where he expects values to collapse under the weight of the highly-leveraged acquisitions by private equity investors. Malone said his plan for separating Liberty Media's interactive assets from its financial investments was aimed at giving Greg Maffei, the new chief executive, more scope to pounce on future opportunities, such as potential ones in the debt markets.
Maffei left Oracle after only four months as the chief financial officer. "We don't know what (the opportunities) will be. However, when you leverage businesses as highly as the private equity guys are doing, combined with (higher interest rates), I have got to believe pressure is going to be felt by operating businesses as they struggle to service the rising cost of debt," Malone said. Liberty Global, now the biggest cable operator outside the US, was built up with investments in the distressed debt of cable companies bought in the early 1990s after frenzied over-investment in the sector. Malone said he hoped to build on the experience of the spin-off of Liberty Global; with hindsight, wished he had made many more similar investments after the bursting of the internet and technology bubble.
In recent years Malone has spun off a number of Liberty Media's divisions in an effort to simplify the company and remove the discount at which it trades in the stock market.
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Four million cable phones in USThe top U.S. operators surpassed the four million voice customer mark in Q3 05, a penetration around 9% of all homes passed with a telephony service.
The rate of growth in cable phone customer counts was brisk with the group of the top seven companies adding nearly 500,000 net new telephony customers, only slightly below the 511,890 net new cable voice customers added during Q2 05. Not all of cable's voice customers are VoIP-enabled. To date most of Comcast's 1.2 million telephony customers are served by old-fashioned circuit-switched telephony, as are the majority of Cox's voice customers, reports IP Media Monitor.
Those that are fully exploiting VoIP are Time Warner and Cablevision, the only two players to launch VoIP company-wide. During Q3 04, Time Warner had virtually no VoIP customers, but ended Q3 05 with 854,000 IP telephony subscribers. Cablevision had less than 200,000 VoIP customers at the end of Q3 04, but served nearly 609,432 by the end of Q3 05.
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IPTV worth $44bn by 2009?IPTV service revenue, subscribers, and capital expenditures are increasing rapidly, says a new report by Infonetics Research. It says worldwide IPTV service revenue will skyrocket to over $44 billion in 2009. DSL providers account for the bulk of service revenue now, but cable broadband providers will also migrate to all-IP triple-play services in the next few years, possibly offering wireless services as well.
The report says service providers anticipate big payoffs from IPTV, judging from the significant investments they are making. In 2004 service providers worldwide spent $304 million which it predicts will grow to almost $4.5 billion in 2009 as providers look to IPTV services as the means of raising ARPU from a near-saturated broadband subscriber base.
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China HD New YearChinese state television will launch the country's first digital high-definition TV channel at the beginning of 2006, the government says.The pay channel will broadcast 18 hours a day and carry events such as the 2006 soccer World Cup in Berlin.
The Chinese government says it plans to begin shifting all its television broadcasting to digital in 2008 and cease analogue transmission entirely by 2015.China Central Television has been testing the new digital high-definition channel since September in Hangzhou, near Shanghai.
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Vodafone warns of slow downVodafone warned of slowing top-line growth next year and a drop in margins because of market saturation and competition.
The shares were down more than 6 per cent in early trading at 135_p as investors reacted with disappointment, despite a commitment to extend the share buyback programme by £2bn ($3.5bn) to £6.5bn.
The warning came as the group said ebitda rose to £6.7bn (E9.7bn) from £6.3bn in the first six months to the end of September on revenue up nine per cent to £18.3bn. Pre-tax profits fell to £4.1bn from £4.5bn, hit by a £515m writedown on the sale of its Swedish business.
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USDTV opens in DallasDigital terrestrial TV service USDTV is launching pay-TV in Dallas following pilots in Salt Lake City and Las Vegas last year. It delivers about 30 channels of content for $19.95 a month.
Recently, USDTV announced a $25.75 million funding agreement with major media investment partners that include Fox Television Stations, Hearst-Argyle Television, McGraw-Hill Broadcasting, LIN TV, Morgan Murphy Stations and Telcom DTV.
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Austar reveals PVR details
From Rose Major in MelbourneAustar, the Australian regional pay-TV provider, will launch a personal digital recorder in mid-2006, using hardware supplied by Thomson.
The set-top will comprise four tuners, receiving both digital-satellite and digital-terrestrial signals, so users will be able to record programmes from both Austar's platform and the country's free-to-air DTT platform.
It will have a 160 Gigabyte hard disk, and include Open TV's Core and PVR2.0 middleware. Irdeto Access will provide conditional access.
Austar has 525,000 subscribers in rural and regional Australia, including over 300,000 digital subscribers. The company has pledged to convert all of its subscribers to digital services by March 2007.
Australia already has one PVR service - Foxtel's iQ, launched in February 2005. The company has yet to release subscription data for the service.
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US broadband sign ups boomLeichtman Research Group reported that the 20 largest cable and DSL providers, representing about 94 percent of the market, acquired a record 2.6 million net additional subscribers during the third quarter. The top broadband providers now account for more than 40.2 million high-speed subscribers - with cable having more than 23.2 million broadband subscribers and DSL having 17 million subscribers, the firm said.
During the three-month period, the top DSL providers added a record 1.42 million subscribers, representing 54 percent of net broadband additions for the period versus cable, which added 1.2 million subscribers. Net adds in the quarter for DSL were 379,000 more than third quarter 2004 net adds, Leichtman said. Net adds in the quarter for cable were about 80,000 fewer than the record set by cable providers during the same period last year.
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Microsoft downloads for XboxMicrosoft plans to cash in on the second version of its Xbox games console with an online marketplace where users can download games and music videos.
Microsoft earns revenues from sales of the Xbox console and the games its studios produce as well as royalties from other games publishers that use the platform. The Xbox Live service, where more than two million members play each other over the internet, also brings in subscription revenues.
The online store could be used to provide full console games but the leading publishers are not ready for such a step and Microsoft would risk alienating retailers. Aaron Greenberg, marketing manager for Xbox Live, said: "Our arcade will deal with smaller games; we are not disrupting the retail channel. "
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China Netcom and Telefonica allianceChina Netcom has entered into a Strategic Alliance Agreement with Telefonica Internacional. The Agreement will become effective after the completion of the acquisition of additional shares by Telefonica, representing the difference between the existing stake of 5% of the outstanding issued Shares held by Telefonica and 9.9% of CN.
Under the Agreement, China Netcom and Telefonica will negotiate a strategic relationship for cooperation in: existing overseas business,
the provision of telecommunication businesses and services in the southern provinces in the PRC; call centre business, including worldwide services for the Beijing Olympics 2008.
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Finnish mobile TV licenceMinistry of Transport and Communications of Finland has announced that an operating licence for the fourth digital broadcasting network is open for applications. The commercial network, which will be the first of its kind in Europe, is meant for mobile television broadcasts and services. The licence holder will be responsible for the transmission network and management of the multiplex. The aim of the operating licence is to lay the groundwork for a new type of content service market, says the ministry.
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Nokia and T-Mobile test HSDPANokia and T-Mobile have completed High Speed Downlink Data Packet Access (HSDPA) calls using Nokia's 3G network technology. The calls were made in T-Mobile's live network in the UK, the Netherlands and Germany, and are the result of collaboration between the two companies to deliver HSDPA to the commercial networks. "The HSDPA calls demonstrate T-Mobile's commitment to raising the bar for the quality of broadband mobile data services," says Hamid Akhavan, Chief Technology Officer, T-Mobile.
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Verimatrix and SiemensSiemens announced the integration of its SURPASS Home Entertainment portfolio with Verimatrix's Content Authority System (VCAS), providing broadband operators with additional controls to guard against IPTV video and content piracy say the companies. The SURPASS Home Entertainment solution also includes integrated security and management solutions provided by middleware from Myrio, a Siemens company.
Verimatrix's VCAS, already part of the Siemens Home Entertainment solution deployed by KPN Royal Dutch Telecom, allows devices and systems within media delivery networks to be encrypted and authenticated through a public key infrastructure (PKI) that identifies security breaches and unauthorized network users.
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Tuesday 15th November 2005
TW launches In2TV on AOL
NTL courts third partner for UKTV
Wal-Mart movie downloads
Canal Plus to launch pay DTT next week
Seven may settle in court case
O2 profit up
Sony suspends disc protection
DirecTV launch another delay
Mercier for MobiTV
UMG and Vodafone ally
JSAT trials Tandberg HD
BigBand for Dublin
ESPN Star appointment
Two units of Time Warner are getting together to launch a classic TV VOD service. The Warner Brothers service will let fans watch episodes from more than 100 old series via AOL. In2TV, will be free, supported by advertising, and will start early next year. More than 4,800 episodes will be made available online in the first year.
Programmes on In2TV will have one to two minutes of commercials for each half-hour episode, compared with eight minutes in a standard broadcast. The Internet commercials cannot be skipped. An enhanced version of the service will use peer-to-peer file-sharing technology to get the video data to viewers.
"We looked at the rise of broadband on Internet and said, 'Let's try to be the first to create a network that opens a new window of distribution for us rather than having to go hat in hand to a USA or a Nick at Night or a TBS,' " said Eric Frankel, the president of Warner Brothers' domestic cable distribution division.
Other Internet TV moves have included charging viewers for current programmes. ABC has started selling episodes of some programmes to download to Apple iPods for $1.99. And NBC and CBS announced last week that they would sell reruns of their top new shows for 99 cents an episode through video-on-demand services. CBS is working with Comcast and NBC with DirecTV.
Meanwhile AOL is to be the first to introduce a trial for a new "AOL Hi-Q" high quality video format. The AOL Hi-Q format builds on the AOL portal's video experience and can deliver DVD quality videos, in addition to standard quality streaming video, free to broadband users.
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NTL courts third partner for UKTVNTL CEO Simon Duffy has told the BBC he is willing to see another company take a stake in their UKTV joint venture as part of efforts to resolve a potential ownership dispute. NTL is acquiring the stake as part of its $6 billion acquisition of rival cable group Telewest, and is willing to be diluted down as low as 25 per cent, provided it is comfortable with the new investor. According to The Telegraph It is also said to be ready to pay the BBC an unknown sum to stop the corporation forcing it to sell out of the 50-50 venture. The BBC has a change of ownership clause allowing it to buy out Telewest's share or work with a partner to do so.
UKTV owns 10 channels including UKTV Gold. Among candidates who have looked to take over Telewest's stake are Discovery, Viacom, Time Warner, RTL, ITV and Sky. NTL is determined to prevent ITV or BSkyB getting a hand on UKTV.
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Wal-Mart movie downloadsWal-Mart, the world's largest retailer is talking to Hollywood studios about installing kiosks in its stores where consumers could download films on to portable discs.
The move aims to alleviate the shortage of space on Wal-Mart's shelves, which has been blamed by analysts and film executives as a cause for the slowdown in DVD sales. At the same time, it would benefit the studios by lowering their shipping costs, and the expense of dealing with returned inventory.
"We're exploring all different types of distribution mechanisms to the customer," said David Porter, a vice-president at Wal-Mart, which is the world's largest seller of DVDs. "There have been discussions with most of the studios." The studios are also looking at other retailers, such as Target and Best Buy in the US, and the UK's Tesco.
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Canal Plus to launch pay DTT next week
From Sotires Eleftheriou in ParisCanal Plus is to launch its pay DTT service in France on 21 November. It will comprise a premium package and a ‘Minipack'. The premium package consists of Canal+, Canal+ Cinema and Canal+ Sport for E31.90 a month, the same price as the subscription for the analogue Canal+ on its own.
The Minipack consists of Planete (documentaries), Canal-j (children's), Eurosport and Paris Premiere for E7 a month. DTT subscribers must also pay an additional E8 per month for rental of the digital decoder. Canal Plus has ordered 200,000 MPEG4 DTT decoders for roll out in the zones covered by DTT transmissions.
Speaking about HDTV, Canal Plus said that a launch will be possible via satellite after April 2006. HDTV via DTT is subject to approval from the CSA.
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Seven may settle in court case
From Rose Major in MelbourneAustralia's Seven Network has agreed to mediation in an attempt to settle its dispute with a number of parties over the failure of its pay-television
venture, C7.But the broadcaster will continue with its case against News Limited, part-owner of the Foxtel pay-television platform, at least for the time being.
Seven has been suing 22 sports organisations, media and telecoms companies in a federal court over the bidding process for various sports rights, including Aussie Rules football and rugby league, in 1999/2000. Seven claims that Foxtel's contract with the AFL (Aussie Rules) was only economic in that it put a rival out of business.
C7 closed in March 2002 with no major sports rights and no distribution deal with Foxtel.
The company today said it would discuss entering into mediation with the AFL and the National Rugby League (NRL) to settle the dispute out of court. Its case against News Limited will continue, however, to give Seven's lawyers a chance to cross-examine some of News' witnesses.
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O2 profit upO2 the UK mobile phone operator subject of a E25.6bn bid from Telefonica has reported first half sales 12 per cent up at E5.2bn with pre-tax profits of E507m, 5 per cent up. Profits were affected by a E171m write-off of 3G licence fees, compared with E72.4m last year.
The company repeated its forecast of service revenue growth levels at 6 to 9 per cent in the UK and "low twenties" for Germany. In the three months to September 30, it added 470,000 net new customers, equivalent to 17 per cent growth. Customer numbers grew in Germany by 34 per cent to 8.9 million, and by 3.5 per cent in the UK to 15.1m. In its smallest market, Ireland, O2 customer numbers grew 10 per cent to reach 1.5m.
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Sony suspends disc protectionSony is suspending the production of music CDs with anti-piracy technology which can leave computers vulnerable to viruses. The move came after security firms said hackers were exploiting the software to hide their creations.
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DirecTV launch another delayA problem encountered during final preparations of an Ariane 5 with DirecTV's next-generation satellite on board at the weekend resulted in postponement of the dual-satellite launch mission. Arianespace said the launch will be rescheduled, but didn't offer a date. Minor problems with ground support infrastructure were blamed for the postponement. The launch vehicle was returned to the final assembly building at Arianespace's launch facility in French Guyana to resolve the problems.
The mission - consisting of DirecTV's Spaceway 2 satellite and the Telkom 2 for PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia has been delayed a number of times within the last week. The Spaceway bird is one of four satellites DirecTV is launching during a two-year period as part of an in-orbit expansion. The satellites will enable DirecTV to deliver more than 1,500 local and more than 150 national HD channels.
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Mercier for MobiTVMobiTV, Inc. has announced the appointment of Peter Mercier as director of business development for Europe. With the primary remit of growing MobiTV's presence and driving sales across the UK and Europe, Mercier will also look to further cement relationships with the broadcasting and mobile operator communities, both of whom are demonstrating a clear commitment to mobile television as a viable 3G consumer service.
MobiTV recently announced that it has been awarded an Emmy Engineering Award by the Academy for Television Arts and Sciences. The award represents the first time a wireless application has won such a high profile entertainment award and it is symbolic of the validation given to mobile television by the broadcasting community.
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UMG and Vodafone allyA strategic alliance between Universal Music Group (UMG), and Vodafone, has been forged to deliver and entertainment innovation to Vodafone live! customers.
The agreement will see the introduction of a range of products and services including: Realtones and ringback tones, full-track audio downloads, video downloads and video streaming.
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JSAT trials Tandberg HDTandberg Television has announced that Japanese satellite operator JSAT Corporation has deployed its advanced compression technology as part of a Japanese government-funded trial for the direct to home delivery of high definition video over satellite. JSAT Corporation chose Tandberg Television's advanced first-to-market MPEG-4 AVC HD encoding system with statistical multiplexing for maximum bandwidth efficiency.
The project is designed to test the suitability of MPEG-4 AVC HD technology for the Japanese satellite market and expands upon JSAT Corporation's previous deployment of Tandberg Television's digital TV solutions for content distribution. JSAT delivers content for customers including SKY PerfecTV, Japan's largest satellite digital broadcasting service, with a subscriber base of 3.9 million.
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BigBand for DublinBigBand Networks and Digiweb Ltd, one of the fastest growing communications companies in Ireland, announced collaboration on enabling delivery of broadband wireless services to Digiweb subscribers. The BigBand Cuda CMTS (cable modem termination system) and BigBand FastFlow broadband provisioning manager have been deployed to make high speed data, VoIP and eventually IPTV services available throughout most of the country, based on DOCSIS 2.0 over wireless networks. This marks BigBand Networks' first broadband wireless deployment, and positions Digiweb as the first to offer broadband wireless services across Ireland as well as the nation's most extensive DOCSIS 2.0 deployment.
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ESPN Star appointmentESPN STAR Sports announced the promotion of Tom McVeigh to the position of Senior Vice President, Operations and Technology. McVeigh was previously the network's Vice President, Operations and Engineering.
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Monday 14th November 2005
News Corp bemoans undervalue
HD first on Telewest
NBC Intellectual Property report
Tougher US copyright laws
Telefónica points to higher profits
Endemol E1.6bn listing
UPC sales and income up
Carlyle stalks Kingston
Intelsat revenue up
Canada pirate sentenced
Emmy for games and hand helds
arvato takes majority of S4M
Kamera Mobile TV
News Corp reported a sharp decline in quarterly profits with a loss of $433m because an accounting change writing down the value of broadcasting licenses by $1bn. However, at the operating level revenue was up 10 per cent at $5.7bn and income up 19 per cent to $909m on the back of strong performance at Fox TV and 20th Century Fox.
Despite the strong showing shares are down 23 per cent from the beginning of the year and Chairman Rupert Murdoch didn't hid his frustration. While admitting the 19 per cent owned by Liberty Media and the rows over poison pill defences (currently before the courts) were a distraction, he doesn't believe it justifies News Corps underperformance against its peers despite similar or better results. One option would be split the company in the same way as Viacom has and Time Warner is considering, but this is the last thing Murdoch wants to do.
Meanwhile Murdoch sought to reassure the market over his internet strategy, he said the business remains comfortable with the $2bn set as an upper limit on acquisitions earlier this year. A deal to acquire a search engine, mentioned at the last results, has apparently fallen apart.
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HD first on TelewestTelewest has promised to be the first UK broadcaster to offer HD, confirming it would begin a trial service next month. It said it would pilot its service ahead of rivals Sky and the BBC, which will introduce their own services next year. Customers of the TV Drive service will receive a US-made set-top box, complete with a personal video recorder on which they will view and record high definition programmes.
TV Drive will cost an additional £10-£15 a month (E14.5-22).The company said it had already acquired some HD content from the BBC but declined to give details of other programming partners ahead of a full roll-out in the first quarter of next year.
Meanwhile the company posted its Q3 results with £404m (E585m) of sales (against £328m for Q3 2004) and £33m of operating income against £10m last time. There were 11,000 net customer additions in the period.
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NBC Intellectual Property reportNBC Universal has released a study on the impact of intellectual property theft on the U.S. economy in a move to demonstrate that digital piracy is not just a concern for the music, television and music industries.
Researched and written by Stephen E Siwek of Economists Incorporated, Engines of Growth: The Economic Contributions of the U.S. Intellectual Property Industries analyses the industries that rely most heavily on copyright or patent protection to generate revenue, employ and compensate workers, and contribute to economic growth. It found that U.S. intellectual property industries are the most important growth drivers in the current U.S. economy, contributing nearly 40 percent of the growth achieved by all U.S. private industry and nearly 60 percent of the growth of U.S. exportable high-value-add products and services.NBC Universal EVP and General Counsel Rick Cotton noted: "Intellectual property protection is the bedrock on which this economic growth rests. This study makes clear that it is the lifeblood of both growth and high-wage employment in the United States."
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Tougher US copyright lawsPeople who attempt to copy music or movies without permission could face jail under legislation proposed by the U.S. Justice Department. The bill, outlined by U.S. Attorney General at an anti-piracy summit, would widen intellectual-property protections to cover those who try but fail to make illicit copies of music, movies, software or other copyrighted material.
Those found guilty of a copyright violation could be forced to pay restitution to the owner of the material in question, and repeat offenders would face stiffer sentences. Congress in recent years has strengthened copyright laws to help media companies battling the widespread copying of their works, and law enforcers have increasingly targeted groups that release movies on the internet hours after they appear in theatres.
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Telefónica points to higher profitsThe Spanish telco says it is revising its 2005 revenue guidance upwards in light of growth which is significantly outstripping that of our European peers with revenue growth to "in excess of" 15 per cent from 12-15 per cent.
The more upbeat outlook followed strong growth in revenues and profits over the nine months to September 30. Net profits jumped 36.2 per cent to E3.25bn as revenues rose 24.2 per cent to E27.4bn.
Telefónica has been pursuing a vigorous expansion policy over the last few years, especially in Latin America, but in recent months has turned its attention on Europe with the Cesky buy and last month's £17.7bn (E25.6bn) deal to buy UK mobile group O2.
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Endemol E1.6bn listingSpun off from Telefónica, Endemol is seeking a flotation in Amsterdam which could value it at up to E1.6bn. Endemol employs 3,300 staff. Telefónica bought it for E5.5bn at the height of the tech boom in 2000. While Endemol has its head office in the Netherlands, it also operates subsidiaries and joint-ventures in 22 countries around the world. Endemol's French business will not be part of the listed group.
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UPC sales and income upLiberty Global subsidiary UPC holdings has issued preliminary financials for its consolidated European cable holdings.
Total sales for the three months to September 30 were E538.5 million (04 E452.2m) with operating free cash flow at E195.6m (04 E179.6m).
Meanwhile Liberty Global (which also includes holdings in Japan and South America) reported sales 20 per cent up at $1.3bn for the quarter and operating cash flow up 16 per cent at $463m.
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Carlyle stalks KingstonCarlyle, the US buyout firm, has approached Kingston Communications with a takeover offer that could value the UK telco at more than £400m (E579m).
According to the FT, Carlyle is understood to have offered up to 85p a share, valuing Kingston's equity at £437m. Last year Carlyle bought Inmedia, Kingston's satellite and broadcasting division, for £34m in cash. The move on Kingston Communications, the only profitable alternative network operator in the UK, follows a flurry of deals in the sector.
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Intelsat revenue upIntelsat reported results for the nine months ended September 30, 2005.
It had revenue of $876.6 million (up 15 per cent) and a net loss of $259.6 million. EBITDA for the nine-month period was $461.1 million, and covenant EBITDA was $616.9 million."Intelsat's performance in lease services and managed solutions provides improved balance given the continued expected run-off in contracted channel revenue, and operating costs are now reflecting the changes we implemented earlier this year," said Intelsat CEO David McGlade. "Meanwhile, we are working diligently on securing the necessary approvals for our planned merger with PanAmSat." In the summer the companies agreed a takeover valuing PanAmSat at $3.2bn.
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Canada pirate sentencedDirecTV said Mr. Reggie Scullion pled guilty to two felony counts related to theft of satellite TV service. He agreed to forfeit more than C$4 million in cash and other property that had been seized by the government in connection with the case, with C$1.1 million of the funds to be distributed to DirecTV and the remainder to Revenue Canada and other creditors.
Scullion, a resident of Quebec, also received a suspended sentence of one year, and under a civil judgement obtained by DirecTV, he is permanently enjoined from engaging in activities related to theft of DirecTV service, the company said.
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Emmy for games and hand heldsThe National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, best known for Emmy Awards, is expected to announce that it has created an award category to recognise original video content for computers, cellphones and other hand-held devices, like the video iPod and PlayStation Portable.
The category is to have its debut at the academy's next Sports Emmys presentation. The category will not be included in the prime-time Emmy Awards, which are overseen by a sister organisation. The academy already hands out a technical achievement award for new media but this will be the first time the group has recognised original content for cellphones and other devices.
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arvato takes majority of S4MThe German systems house S4M - Solutions for Media a subsidiary of RTL Television, is to have a new shareholder structure. arvato systems will have an 80.1 per cent stake, while RTL retains a 19.9 per cent share. At the same time, arvato systems will take over management of S4M.
The Cologne-based systems and consulting firm S4M develops and distributes integrated software systems for the media industry and is a leading provider of broadcast management solutions. Throughout Europe, and increasingly abroad, media companies seek out S4M systems to handle their broadcast management tasks. S4M solutions are already marketed by arvato systems outside of Europe.
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Kamera Mobile TVThe Mobile TV provider Kamera will launch a live streamed TV-channel through Vodafone Sweden's network. EXPRESSEN-TV, is a joint venture between Kamera and the leading Swedish tabloid Expressen. So far, Swedish 3G customers have been able to download or stream single video clips using their mobile phones. The launch of EXPRESSEN-TV is a step towards a full scale television service via 3G, something that has proved to be very successful in other Vodafone markets around Europe.
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