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Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Tuesday
Friday 4th November 2005
Prisa takeover bid for Sogecable
Homechoice: 34,000 subs, national roll out
Alice French triple play
Samsung: double sales by 2010
Vonage IPO or sale?
DirecTV new profit
C4 launches mobile TV
Comcast revenue up
NTL narrows loss
US cablecos confirm mobile deal
Nike moves towards all digital
CBS joins others on net
QVC red button on Freeview
Prisa takeover bid for Sogecable
From David Del Valle in Madrid
Spanish media group Prisa, has launched a bid for an additional 20 per cent of Sogecable, owner of digital DTH platform, Digital Plus, Canal Plus and the new commercial channel Cuatro. If the E988 million bid is successful, it will give Prisa effective control, with a 45.5% stake.
Prisa is offering E37 per share, a premium of 17 per cent than above the broadcasters closing price. The bid is conditional on receiving acceptance from shareholders with 16% of the company. Prisa, owner of the largest daily newspaper in the country, El Pais and one of the main radio stations, Cadena Ser, already owns 24.5 per cent of Sogecable whose other core shareholder is Telefonica with a 23.83 per cent stake.
Prisa aims to strengthen its position in the broadcasting industry. Juan Luis Cebrian, CEO of Prisa, said that this is "clearly a strategic" move aimed at ensuring control of its broadcasting unit and fully consolidating the division in the future. Sogecable has 1,854,000 subscribers (as of September 30) and will launch a new commercial channel Cuatro next week.
Prisa is also breaking into Portugal with the acquisition of a significant stake in the Portuguese group Media Capital, owner of TVI, the leading commercial TV channel in that country.
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Homechoice: 34,000 subs, national roll outVideo Networks Ltd (VNL), the operator of Homechoice, has announced plans for its national roll-out. Starting in 2006, it says a network expansion will more than quadruple Homechoice's coverage to over 10 million homes. It will extend Homechoice's market across the greater London area and into major cities and conurbations across the UK. It will also give Homechoice a footprint approaching the same size as that of the combined UK cable companies.
VNL says the decision follows the success of Homechoice's Phase 2 rollout and the new advertising campaign launched in September, in particular, the rate of new customer acquisition and the increase in ARPU, which stands at £430 (E623). VNL claims that within its footprint, Homechoice is adding new pay-TV customers at a faster rate than either cable or satellite.
Recently surrounded by takeover and cash shortage rumours, VNL also announced that Credit Suisse First Boston has been appointed as financial adviser to assist the company with a new equity fund raising.
Roger Lynch, Chairman and CEO of VNL said: "We're now the fastest growing pay TV service relative to our footprint. Our wide channel choice, video on-demand (VOD) and Replay services, together with broadband, telephony and great value for money are a winning combination. More than 90% of our subscribers watch Homechoice's VOD channels each month. This gives us great confidence in our decision to launch our national roll-out and bring the attractions of Homechoice to a much wider UK audience.
We've also reached the stage in our corporate development when we believe it's right to raise capital from new investors. Hence our decision to appoint CSFB."VNL says Homechoice's national expansion will be funded by existing shareholders and by a new equity financing. Raising new money in the face of the launch of IPTV services from BT and Sky is likely to be a challenge and therefore takeover rumours are unlikely to subside.
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Alice French triple play
From Sotires Eleftheriou in ParisTelecom Italia France, which markets the Alice Internet broadband service, has launched a triple play service, called AliceBox, priced E29.95 a month. It includes a bouquet of 31 television channels (some of which are pay channels via other operators), access to TPS as an option, and unlimited telephone calls to land lines in France and Italy, as well as broadband at a minimum of 6 MB/s.
The service is available in the zones where the local telephony loop is unbundled. The decoder, supplied by Sagem, is compatible with Mpeg 2 and 4 as well as DTT. It is made available to the subscriber free of charge, although there's a returnable deposit of E70.
The Telecom Italia France network currently covers about 25 percent of the French territory. Alice had about 380,000 broadband subscribers in France at the end of June, including those from Tiscali France which it acquired recently. It aims to have 500,000 by the end of this year and 1 million by the end of 2006.
The triple play broadband market in France is becoming increasingly competitive. Free (Iliad group) and Neuf Telecom already have such a service and Club Internet (Deutsche Telekom) is to launch one soon. France Telecom has a more complex offering.
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Samsung: double sales by 2010Samsung has announced a major expansion plan, targeting a doubling of sales and market leadership in a host of categories by 2010. It said it aimed to become one of the world's three biggest consumer electronics firms within the next five years. Samsung has enjoyed almost 20% sales growth in each of the past five years.
Samsung is a leading producer of flat-screen televisions and display panels and the world's largest memory chip maker and second largest semi-conductor manufacturer. It also sits third behind Nokia and Motorola in the mobile handset market.
Doubling the company's sales would bring it to $110bn by 2010.
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Vonage IPO or sale?Vonage the pioneer in selling VoIP services, is preparing for an initial public offering that could raise $600 million and is also exploring a sale to a larger company for at least $2 billion, the WSJ reported.
It said investors including Bain Capital, 3i Group, Meritech Capital Partners, Institutional Venture Partners and New Enterprise Associates have poured $408 million into Vonage. Vonage has held exploratory talks with several potential suitors, including Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA.
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DirecTV new profitDIRECTV has reported third quarter net income of $95 million compared with a net loss of $1.01 billion last year and operating profit of $156 million compared with an operating loss of $1.55 billion in the same period of 2004. In addition, revenues increased 13% to $3.23 billion and operating profit before depreciation and amortization improved to $365 million from an operating loss before depreciation and amortization of $1.35 billion.
"The more than doubling of DIRECTV U.S. operating profit before depreciation and amortization to $338 million in the quarter provides us with another data point showing the substantial profit-generating potential of DIRECTV," said Chase Carey, president and CEO. "Much of this growth was fueled by the 22% increase in revenues to $3.05 billion in the quarter along with higher operating margins attained through improved cost management in key areas such as subscriber acquisition and upgrade and retention marketing. Driven by these accomplishments, DIRECTV U.S. generated $230 million of free cash flow in the quarter compared to a negative $151 million in last year's third quarter."
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C4 launches mobile TVChannel 4 New Media announces the launch of its mobile TV channel dedicated to Channel 4 content on their mobile phone.
Available to 3G subscribers on Vodafone and Orange networks, the mobile TV channel will initially feature a selection of popular Channel 4 shows. Full-length episodes of these programmes will be edited into two-hour blocks of programming linked using a combination of Channel 4 idents and voice-overs. More Channel 4 programmes will be added to the service as the rights become available.
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Comcast revenue upTop U.S. cable operator Comcast said quarterly revenue rose 10 % alongside new high-speed Internet and digital phone but profit was undermined by investment losses. The company reported profit for the third quarter of $222 million, little changed from the $220 million it reported a year earlier. Revenue rose to $5.6 billion but the cable operator cut growth expectations for 2005 because of higher programming costs.
Because of stronger demand for costlier advanced set-top boxes, the company also changed its outlook for capital spending. Full-year 2005 capital expenditure expectations have risen to $3.5 billion from a previous target of $3.2 billion to $3.3 billion, it said. While an investment loss of $104 million hurt its results, the company's quarter was boosted by the addition of more high-speed Internet subscribers and digital phone customers. Although Comcast lost 46,000 basic subscribers, ending the quarter with 21.4 million, it added 437,000 high-speed data subscribers for a total of 8.1 million at the end of the period.
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NTL narrows lossNTL made a loss of £4.7 million (E6.8m) in Q3 2005 compared to an operating loss of £7.8 million during the period last year. Revenue was £483m down 3% on last year. Other highlights were RGUs up 7 per cent and record quarter of 218,600 gross additions resulting in net additions of 53,900. NTL is due to merge with Telewest.
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US cablecos confirm mobile deal
Four US cable companies, including Comcast Corp and Time Warner, have confirmed a joint venture with Sprint Nextel. The deal, which will start in 2006 with the cross promotion of services to offer customers the so-called "quadruple play" of video, internet, phone and wireless access, involves a total initial investment of $200m. The group will aim to develop mobile phone products to enable customers to effectively take their e-mail, voicemail and TV services with them.
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Nike moves towards all digitalNike is to place alternative digital platforms, such as mobile and podcasting, at the core of its digital marketing strategy as it increasingly produces film content exclusively for its digital marketing reports NMA.
The company will become one of the first brands to launch an integrated mobile, online and video podcasting push, for its latest football boot range. According to Nike lead global producer David Reti, the company is increasingly doing digital-only work. "It's all driven by the idea, so if suitable we'll do just digital," he said.
Nike is one of the first brands to launch a video podcast campaign, enabling consumers to view the Ronaldinho video on their video iPods or via iTunes on their PC. "We haven't figured out if everything will be pumped out this way," said Reti. "But it's now part of the media choice rather than being an afterthought."
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CBS joins others on netCBS, the top-ranked US television network, announced plans to broadcast for free three episodes of its new drama, Threshold, on the company's website. The move marks the first time that CBS has made one of its dramatic series available on the web, and highlights the networks' embrace of the internet both for distribution and promotion of its content. Walt Disney earlier this month unveiled plans to sell episodes of its top-rated ABC shows, Lost and Desperate Housewives, for download through Apple's iTunes store a day after their debut.
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QVC red button on FreeviewQVC viewers on Freeview are now able to press the red button on their remote control to enter QVC Active - offering a selection of products and services on the digital terrestrial platform. Developed with Strategy & Technology Ltd, QVC Active on DTT features the Today's Special Value product, daily best sellers, 24 Hour Product Review, the QVC TV Guide and Help (customer service information).
Richard Burrell, Director of Engineering at QVC, comments: "Viewers are now able to access an enhanced service that is quick and easy to use on the wide variety of Freeview set top boxes. Behind the contemporary on-screen visuals, we have developed an application with Strategy & Technology that has stretched the capabilities of the Freeview set top box."
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Thursday 3rd November 2005
TW ups share buy back
Microsoft signals fundamental shift
DT says it won't bid for O2
Nokia multimedia mobiles
Sirius widens loss
Cox sells systems
DirecTV original programmes
BBC for SuperPass
NBC on net
Comcast on sale in Radioshack
ANT IPTV in Korea
Philips new decoders
TW ups share buy backTime Warner is increasing its planned share buyback to $12.5 billion. It had previously announced a $5 billion repurchase programme. Carl Icahn, who leads a group of investors owning 2.6 percent of the shares, has been pushing for a $20 billion repurchase.
The company made the repurchase announcement as part of its third-quarter report. Profits rose about 80 percent, topping forecasts. "Our solid third-quarter results and expanded stock repurchase programme highlight the fundamental operating strength of our businesses and their growing momentum," said Chairman and CEO Dick Parsons. "With our strong balance sheet, industry-leading free cash flow and solid earnings, we can expand our stock buyback while still having the resources to invest meaningfully in future growth as well as to pay our regular quarterly cash dividend."The cable unit saw the strongest gains in revenue among the five divisions with revenue up nearly 13 percent in the quarter and 11 percent year to date. Operating profit was up 17 percent in the quarter and 13 percent year-to-date, the second best gain in earnings so far this year behind a 22 percent rise in profits at the America Online unit.
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Microsoft signals fundamental shiftMicrosoft's founder Bill Gates has called it a "revolution" and the firm's biggest strategic shift in five years. Several key products and services - from office software to e-mail and instant messaging services - will be delivered online and on demand. In the same model as Google and Yahoo, Microsoft hopes to finance the move through advertising.
The new services will be called Windows Live and Office Live and recognise a sea change away from software on the desk top to software on the network loaded to a thin client on demand.
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DT says it won't bid for O2Deutsche Telekom has ruled out making any counter-bid to the E25bn offer by Telefonica for UK MNO O2.
The City had hoped for rival offers, especially after DT and Dutch KPN held abortive talks with 02. O2's shares now trade above their offer price and Telekom says a bid would "not be in the interests of shareholders".
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Nokia multimedia mobilesNokia is unveiling new multimedia devices that it says represent a leap from mobile phones to handheld computers that can swap content with electronic equipment in the home and provide enchanced security in mobile email. The Nokia N series handsets allow users to watch and record live TV and to exchange content - such as music or photos - with home electronics like PCs, audio equipment and printers. The company is also introducing a new internet browsing tool called MiniMap designed to enhance the internet viewing experience on a small display.
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Sirius widens lossSirius Inc. posted a wider third-quarter loss on higher expenses, despite tripling revenue on strong subscriber growth during the period. The company raised its full-year guidance for subscriber growth.
The third-quarter loss was $180.5 million from $169.4 million the year before. Revenue totalled $66.8 million, up more than threefold from $19.1 million a year earlier. Sirius added 359,294 net subscribers last quarter raising its total customer base to about 2.2 million.
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Cox sells systemsCox Communications has agreed to sell cable television systems to Cebridge Connections in a deal that would more than triple Cebridge's customer base. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the price per cable subscriber that Cebridge would pay Cox is expected to be $2,500 to $3,000, which would put the purchase price around $2.35 billion.
The subscriber base of Cebridge to 1.3 million, from around 400,000, after the deal's expected close in the second quarter of 2006, making it the eighth-largest cable operator in the United States.
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DirecTV original programmesDirecTV plans to launch its first original programming series. "CD USA," will debut in January and will be available exclusively to its 15 million U.S. subscribers. CD USA will feature emerging artists from the MySpace.com Internet network and marks one of the first programming ventures that fosters cooperation among companies controlled by News Corp., which bought MySpace.com this year.
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BBC for SuperPassBBC World News is to be launched in the US as part of Real's SuperPass broadband service. BBC World's Editorial Director, Sian Kevill, commented: "Independent research has shown a 40%* increase in the US audience demand for international news recently. BBC World News can deliver this."
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NBC on netThe NBC Nightly News will soon become the first news programme to air its entire broadcast on the Web. NBC will offer the half-hour nightly news program in its entirety and free of charge online at MSNBC.com. The program will air on the Web starting at 7 p.m. PT after it has already been shown in all time zones across the U.S.
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Comcast on sale in RadioshackComcast and RadioShack announced a retail agreement spanning both high-speed internet and digital cable services. The agreement adds more than 1,800 RadioShack retail locations immediately to Comcast's retail footprint.
"Our announcement with RadioShack further supports our continuing efforts to offer Comcast services to consumers at a time and place that's convenient for them. There is a neighborhood RadioShack within an estimated five minutes of where 94 percent of all Americans either live or work," said Bob Faught, senior vice president of retail sales for Comcast Online.
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ANT IPTV in KoreaANT Software announced its IPTV expansion in Korea, working with Micro Network Korea Co. Ltd. and adding three new set top box customers in Korea: Kaon Media, Homecast and InfoEq. Additionally, ANT announces the opening of its new support and development centre in China to provide local service and expertise to China's rapidly growing IPTV market.
"Micro Network is a well respected company in Korea with excellent links into the Korea digital TV market," said Stephen Reeder, executive director, sales and marketing at ANT. "Their positioning, coupled with our growing presence in the Asia Pacific region, is a natural fit for both companies."
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Philips new decodersPhilips has introduced a new family of audio/video decoders and says by integrating multi-standard stereo and a seamless interface with advanced silicon tuner solutions, the new SAA7136 and SAA7137 will enable consumers to experience high-performance features, such as high-fidelity stereo and 480p/576p component video capture, in wireless TV, media gateways, digital media adapters and other emerging applications, at approximately 20 percent lower prices than older generation stand-alone analogue stereo and video decoder solutions.
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Wednesday 2nd November 2005
Sky targets Homechoice?
iTunes: one million videos so far
Case finally quits AOL
Viacom back in profit
MTV new COO
FCC signs off telco merger
NDS income up 41%
Sky targets Homechoice?BSkyB is now targeting struggling triple play provider Homechoice, according to UK press reports. The satellite company is said to be considering a bid for Video Networks Ltd, the company behind Homechoice, which has around 20,000 subscribers in the London area. Video Networks recently reported a £46.5 million (E67.4 million) loss, see Friday 28/10/05 news.
BSkyB made its first triple play buy earlier this month acquiring broadband provider Easynet for £221 million. The Homechoice service offers 80 TV channels, video on demand, broadband and telephony services over BT lines. Buying Video Networks would mark out the battle lines with BT Entertainment the telco's IPTV and VOD service due for launch in mid 06.
Video Networks was rescued three years ago by Microsoft co-founder Chris Larson, who became the firm's largest shareholder after investing £60 million. Other shareholders include Time Warner, Sony and Disney.
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iTunes: one million videos so far
Apple Computer has racked up one million video purchases in 19 days. Compared to iTune's more than two million songs, there are just 2,000 music videos currently available. Through a partnership with the Walt Disney Co. Apple also offers downloads of five TV programmes, including the highly rated "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives," both from Disney's ABC network. All videos can be downloaded through iTunes for $1.99 each and watched either on an iPod or any computer with iTunes.
In a statement announcing the one million downloads, Apple said the next challenge "is to broaden our content offerings so that customers can enjoy watching more videos on their computers and new iPods".
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Steve Case, the AOL co-founder, has resigned from the board of Time Warner, cutting ties with the company five years after he guided it into one of the most controversial mergers in media history.
Case said that he was stepping down as a director so that he could dedicate more time to Revolution LLC, a healthcare and media investment firm he founded earlier this year.
The 2000 acquisition of Time Warner by AOL ultimately caused the company to take a nearly $100 billion write-down, and then pay hundreds of millions of dollars more to settle investigations into its accounting practices and shareholder lawsuits.
Richard Parsons, Time Warner's chairman and CEO, has placed the division at the centre of his plans to revive the company, and rivals, including Microsoft and Google, are angling for a stake in the business.
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Viacom swung to a $708.5 million net profit in the third quarter after strong performances at its cable and entertainment divisions, bouncing back from a loss in the year-ago period when results were hit by a charge for the Blockbuster. It reported a $487.6 million loss a year earlier, when it took a $1.5 billion goodwill write-down relating to the split-off of Blockbuster. Revenue rose 10 per cent to $5.94 billion from $5.38 billion.
Viacom is separating its cable network and film operations from its broadcast-television and radio businesses during the first quarter of next year.
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MTV Networks is expected to hire a prominent media strategist, Michael J. Wolf, a managing partner in the consulting firm McKinsey, as its President and Chief Operating Officer.
As a consultant Wolf worked for Comcast during its acquisition of AT&T's cable television systems, for Condé Nast to help overhaul the magazine company's costs and increase advertising revenue and for Rupert Murdoch, the Chairman of the News Corporation, on its plans for its DirecTV satellite television division.
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The FCC voted unanimously to approve SBC's $16 billion takeover of AT&T and Verizon's $8.5 billion takeover of MCI. The merger conditions agreed to by all four companies involve the temporary freeze of high-capacity special-access rates for customers in regions in which two of the merging companies overlap. SBC and Verizon also agreed to provide a stand-alone DSL service, or service that was not bundled with traditional voice service, within 12 months of the closing dates of the deals.
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Revenues at NDS for the first quarter were up 2 per cent to $144 million, while operating income jumped 41 per cent to $35.7 million. NDS now claims 58.5 million active digital TV smart cards in the market with another 6.3 million additional set-top boxes activated with NDS middleware.
Commenting on NDS's performance, Dr. Abe Peled, President and Chief Executive Officer of NDS, said: "We have had another strong quarter. It is particularly pleasing to see the improvement in our profitability resulting from our investments in middleware and PVR technologies."
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Tuesday 1st November 2005
Sky partners Vodafone for mobile TV
O2 recommends Telefonica offer
Disney VNO?
Murdoch: more shareholder unrest
Samsung download music
Nokia first DVB-H
NDS for SkyLife
Irdeto for CUTV!
Kreatel for VOKBY
Sky partners Vodafone for mobile TVSky has confirmed it will launch a mobile TV service on Vodafone's 3G network. Vodafone's 250,000 UK 3G customers will be able to receive a 19-channel TV package on their phones including Sky News and cricket highlights.
The service will be free to Vodafone 3G subscribers until the end of January next year, after which it will cost £5 (E7.25) a month. The service rival offerings from companies like NTL/Telewest and Orange. BskyB COO, Richard Freudenstein, said the deal with Vodafone would run exclusively until next March when the broadcaster would look at expanding the service onto other networks. "This just highlights where the world is going. Customers want flexibility, convenience and choice to consume media wherever they are."
Vodafone's 3G subscribers will get a range of TV channels including CNN and Bloomberg in addition to specially made-for-mobile content such as MTV Snax, which will be available on a two-hour loop.
Not all shows from the schedules will be available because of rights issues.
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O2 recommends Telefonica offerUK's O2 has agreed a takeover offer from Spanish telecom company Telefonica which will pay £17.7bn (E24.6bn) cash in order to access Europe's largest markets - the UK and Germany and become world wide number two after Vodafone.
Telefonica, which has agreed a deal with the board of the UK company, said O2 would retain its existing brand and continue to be based in the UK. O2 has been subject of bids from Dutch KPN and Deutsche Telecom recently. "The combination with O2 is a logical step for Telefonica in pursuing our strategic goal of providing its shareholders with both growth and cash returns," Telefonica said. O2 CEO Peter Erskine added: "This transaction brings together two companies which are growing strongly with highly complementary geographical activities."
Telefonica has a customer base of around 145 million and around 173,000 staff and the group said the deal would produce "economies of scale" - resulting in cost savings of an estimated E293m euros a year by 2008.
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Disney VNO?THE Walt Disney Company has reportedly started to recruit executives for the launch of a mobile-phone network by becoming a Virtual Network Operator. The move would mirror an initiative under development in America where Disney is working with Sprint.
Disney would be risking controversy by entering the mobile market in Britain because its service could be seen as appealing to children; the UK mobile-phone industry has agreed not to market explicitly to children for fear they are more likely to suffer from prolonged exposure to radio waves.
Disney already runs a website, Disneymobile.co.uk, offering ringtones, wallpapers and games for mobile phones and in Japan, Disney is one of the biggest vendors of content to users of i-mode, the mobile entertainment and commerce service developed by NTT DoCoMo. O2 has recently introduced i-mode to Britain.
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Murdoch: more shareholder unrestRupert Murdoch faces a difficult shareholders' meeting at BSkyB's AGM this week. A share buyback is likely to be opposed as Murdoch's News Corp will increase its stake from 37.1% to 39.1% if the proposal is voted through on Friday.
Legal & General, the largest British shareholder, with 2.5% of BSkyB, is the latest to oppose it. Hermes is also likely to come out against it. Support from US investors will be crucial if BSkyB is to win a vote that News Corp will not take part in. Murdoch clashed with investment funds at News Corp's AGM amid protests at the "poison pill" to prevent the John Malone raising his stake.
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Samsung download music
Samsung is to following Apple and Sony with its own online content download service to promote its digital music players.Choi Ji-Sung, the head of the company's digital media division said the service will be launched domestically and overseas shortly. Choi gave no other details, but the service is likely to use Windows Media technology.
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Nokia first DVB-HNokia has announced the world's first commercial service management solution for DVB-H services, the Nokia Mobile Broadcast Solution 3.0. The Nokia Mobile Broadcast Solution (MBS) 3.0 supports the broadcasting of different types of digital content such as live TV, radio and video clips over DVB-H networks to mobile devices.
The key features of the MBS 3.0 include the Electronic
Service Guide (ESG), a consumer interface in the mobile device for
searching available services, setting alerts for upcoming programs
and for the viewing selection. Additionally, the MBS 3.0 offers
service protecion, flexible content pricing schemes and provides
consumers with an easy way to purchase viewing rights.The MBS 3.0 is based on open standards such as DVB-H. It fully
implements the Open Air Interface (OAI) 1.0 implementation guidelines.
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NDS for SkyLifeNDS announced that SkyLife has selected NDS XTV technology for the launch of an integrated personal video recorder service. The commercial launch of the SkyLife PVR service is planned for mid-2006.
SkyLife was the first digital broadcaster in Korea, and is still the only provider of digital broadcasting services with nationwide coverage. SkyLife has experienced remarkable growth rates and currently provides pay-TV services to 1.8 million subscribers, five years after commercial launch.Mr. Surh Dongkoo, President and Chief Executive Officer of Korea Digital Satellite Broadcasting (SkyLife) said, "SkyLife has achieved many technology firsts in Korea, and the launch of a personal video recorder service is another example of our market leadership and innovation. NDS has been a key partner of SkyLife since launch, and the XTV integrated PVR will take us one step further in being Korea's digital media leader."
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Irdeto for CUTV!Irdeto announced that it has implemented its IPTV content security solution for CUTV! Cornell University's campus television service, delivered across the university's broadband IP network to Cornell's residence halls. Subscribers may access the service on their Windows-based PCs or view from their TV sets by connecting to a set top box. CUTV! offers 50 channels of news and entertainment programming.
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Kreatel for VOKBYKreatel Communications, a leading provider of IP-STBs solutions, announced that Swedish regional FTTH provider VOKBY Broadband has selected Kreatel IP-STB 1510 and Kreatel TV Software for its IPTV service.
VOKBY provides the inhabitants in five rural districts in southeast Sweden with FTTH connections and has launched an IPTV service just in time for the closedown of analogue TV broadcast in the region.
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Monday 31st October 2005
Eutelsat drops IPO
Gates: game over for packaged media
Mobile music: next piracy problem
Real increases subs
Tele 5 and Antena 3 profits up
DoCoMo revenue up 15%
UK govt making dishes easier
Alcatel profit up 36%
Teletext mobile portal
Former BBC Broadcast unit targets expansion
SES launches IPConnect
Eutelsat drops IPOEutelsat has pulled its IPO saying that, while institutions were backing it, it was afraid the volatile market would significantly under value the business post-float.
The private equity owned group was hoping to achieve a valuation of E3bn but had already cut the launch price by over 20%. The company said it was concerned "that the after-market performance would not, in light of the volatile market environment, reflect the fundamental value of the company."v The private equity owners - Eurazeo, Spectrum Equity Investors, Texas Pacific Group, Cinven and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners - had decided this week not to sell any of their stakes for at least six months.
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Gates: game over for packaged mediaBill Gates has predicted the imminent demise of CDs and DVDs, predicting they would be the last "physical form" for music and films that in the future would be kept on a hard drive and sent over the internet. He outlined his vision of a "high definition generation" where a single handheld device will meet all our entertainment and lifestyle needs.
Speaking at Engage 2005, the Internet Advertising Bureau's online marketing conference, Gates said today's mobile technology "had only just begun to scratch the surface" of what was possible. "The new technology is going to be very empowering for the consumer," he said. "In some ways the computer just disappears into the environment."
However, he said the big movie studios were not being as co-operative as they could be in embracing the new technology despite the widespread pirating of big screen releases.
Meanwhile, Microsoft said that quarterly revenue was $9.74 billion, 6 percent higher than $9.19 billion in the quarter last year. Earnings rose 24 percent, to $3.14 billion, from $2.53 billion a year earlier.
The results in the most recent quarter included a charge of two cents a share stemming from the antitrust settlement that the company reached with a rival, RealNetworks.
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Mobile music: next piracy problemThe music industry fears the spread of mobile phones carrying hundreds of easily transferable songs has opened a new opportunity for piracy. The chief executive of a company planning to sell mobile phone downloads said the piracy problem caused by mobiles could be worse than that caused by the internet. Martin Higginson, the chief executive of Monstermob, told Music Week: "If piracy on the internet was a tidal wave, this is going to be a tsunami."
The fears have been triggered partly by Nokia's plans to release a phone early next year capable of storing 3,000 songs - enough for about 250 albums. The Sony Walkman phone, launched this month, has the capacity for about 500 songs. With 900m tracks already available on websites for illegal downloading, the growth of mobiles that play music raises the prospect of millions more in people's pockets which can be shared via Bluetooth without even connecting to a computer.
A greater threat may come from the falling price and increasing capacity of removable memory cards that allow hundreds of songs to be transferred simply by sharing the card.
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Real increases subsReal Networks reported earnings of $11.2 million in the third quarter, compared with a loss of $7 million a year ago.
Next quarter's earnings will be bolstered by a legal settlement with Microsoft. Real said it had received $478 million in cash related to the settlement for the fourth quarter. The gain will be offset by about $40 million to $50 million in legal fees and other costs, along with $30 million in other costs related to the agreements.
Excluding antitrust litigations costs that RealNetworks incurred in the September quarter, the company said it had a profit of $14.7 million. Third quarter revenues rose 20 percent to $82.2 million from $68.3 million in the third quarter of 2004.
Total paid subscribers rose to more than 2.2 million from 1.55 million a year earlier. Of the total paid subscribers, it had more than 1.3 million subscribers to RealNetwork's Rhapsody and other paid music services, up from 625,000 a year earlier.
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Tele 5 and Antena 3 profits up
From David Del Valle in MadridThe Spanish private TV broadcasters, Tele 5 and Antena 3, are scoring record profits in 2005.
In the first nine months of the year, the Mediaset-controlled channel Tele 5 has made a profit of E212.63 million, up 52.1 per cent and nearly the same as the whole 2004's profit (E 215.9 million). The channel has broken its ad revenue record with a turnover of E 625.88 million, up 23.8 per cent, declaring an EBITDA of E 312.7, 52.2 per cent more than the same period last year.
Antena 3 TV has doubled its benefit to E 138.8 million up to September, up 112.2 per cent, with an EBITDA of E 232.9 million, 59.2 per cent more than the same period last year.
In terms of audience, Tele 5 is also the market leader with an average share of 22.5 per cent, followed by Antena 3 TV, with 21 per cent, and TVE 1, with 19.4 per cent.
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DoCoMo revenue up 15%For the six months ending September 30, the group earned Y385.3bn ($3.4bn) in net profit, up 14.9 per cent from the same period last year. This was mainly due to a sharp rise in the number of subscribers for its Foma, or third-generation, service. It said on it had 49.9m mobile subscribers. Among them 16.77m were using Foma, up 45.8 per cent from 11.5m at the end of March.
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UK govt making dishes easierThe UK government is setting out planning proposals on that will make it easier for households to access digital and satellite television and broadband Internet services. The government intends to amend current planning regulations to take account of the growth in the variety of antenna technology such as MESH antennas and wireless antennas. Under the changes, householders will not have to apply for special planning permission to site antennas.
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Alcatel profit up 36%Alcatel the world's biggest supplier of broadband Internet equipment, said third-quarter profit rose 36 percent as it had a one-time gain. The stock fell after the company cut its full-year profitability forecast.
Net income rose to E266 million from E195 million a year earlier. Profit included a E91 million gain from selling satellite assets to Finmeccanica.
The company expects full-year operating profit as a percentage of sales to be 9 percent, from a previous target of 10 percent. The previous figure ``was an objective, the 9 percent is a forecast,'' Beaufret said.
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Teletext mobile portalUK's Teletext is gearing up to launch a concerted push onto the mobile internet. Teletext will be heavily promoting its mobile portal across all its media channels. It will also be promoted to the 80,000 subscribers to Teletext SMS alerts, which deliver over 2m premium SMS messages each month.
Like Teletext's other channels, the mobile portal features numeric page navigation, enabling users to go directly to a specific page.
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Former BBC Broadcast unit targets expansionPam Masters, CEO of Red Bee Media – formerly BBC Broadcast – has revealed that the new entity is targeting expansion and growth under its new Macquarie consortium ownership.
European and Asian opportunities are being considered by the newly-rebranded unit, which suggests that a number of opportunities exist in IPTV, VoD, mobile and navigation services.
Masters said that the new status of the company gave it the ability to extend beyond its previous remit.
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SES launches IPConnectSES Americom has launched IPConnect, a centralized distribution platform designed to serve key enterprise markets with a suite of satellite-delivered, IP-based voice, video and data solutions.
The company also unveiled IPConnect VNO (Virtual Network Operator) services, enabling enterprise service providers to offer everything from basic Web surfing and point-of-sale authorizations to business continuity, VoIP, video and private networks.
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