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NEWS Monday 26th September to Friday 30th September 2005
Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
| Tuesday | |||||
eDonkey, the network that has surpassed Bit Torrent as the world’s biggest video P2P player, says it is to stop according to Sam Yagan the boss of MetaMachine, the compay behind eDonkey.
Yagan said so in testimony to Congress, according to US reports. Yagan said he is responding to a cease-and-desist notice served by the Recording Industry Ass. of America to several P2P networks. "I have personally committed that we are in the process of complying with their request," said Yagan. "Therefore I am not here as an active participant in the future of P2P, but rather as one who has thrown in his towel."
Yagan blamed the Supreme Court's June judgement which suggested that a P2P company's copyright liability rested on its intent to infringe (the ‘Grokster case’). As a consequence, small companies were being forced out of business because they couldn't afford to litigate. As a result, he said, innovation was being stifled and the US economy would suffer.
Overall the feeling among politicians at the Senate Judiciary Hearings on copyright issues in a ‘post-Grokster’ world, was that they should wait and see if Grokster continued to be effective in holding back P2P before legislating further.
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Skype, the VoIP company now owned by eBay, has hinted it could soon offer online video services. Skype is to launch Personalise Skype, a feature that means that callers can receive and send pictures, sounds and ringtones and Saul Klein, vice-president of marketing, told the Times: "We are starting with ringtones but we would not discount any possibilities. Part of the message we want to send out is that Skype is open for business and that people, third parties, can work with Skype to provide content."
Skype will share revenues with its content partners that will initially include American Greetings, Qpass and Wee World. The company has so far made money by offering premium services such as voicemail on top of free calls. eBay also wants to wrap Skype's technology into its own auction site and is exploring advertising models where clients pay for leads generated via Skype calls.
The company was bought by eBay a few weeks ago in a deal that could reach $4.1 billion if Skype hits its profit targets.
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The Finish mobile company plans a full-frontal assault on the Spanish mobile TV market with the massive launch in 2006 of mobile TV-ready phones.
Nokia, along with other mobile TV operators, is eagerly expecting the Government's decision to allocate the DTT mobile TV frequencies over the next months. Nokia -with a market share of around 40 per cent - is already involved in the first DVB-H project in Spain, along with Telefonica and broadcasting agency Abertis. They recently reached an agreement with several Spanish TV broadcasters - TVE, Telemadrid and TV3, Tele 5, Antena 3 and Canal Plus- to trial DVB-H with up to 15 TV channels. Initially, the launch was scheduled for September, but it is running late. The idea is to test mobile TV for six months.
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The BBC has had 30,000 applications after its call for volunteers for the second phase of its iMP (integrated Media Player) trial, which begins rolling out to volunteers this week. 5,000 have been chosen to participate in trailing the player, which offers catch up TV and Radio through the internet for seven days after the original broadcast.
iMP volunteers have been chosen as a representative sample of the UK. The BBC will be monitoring the volunteers' viewing habits and recording their views on iMP until the end of the year. The purpose of the trial will be to gauge the public interest in iMP as well as to evaluate the public value of such a service, and any potential market impact.
The iMP allows users to download tv and radio programmes from bbc.co.uk to their PC or laptop and watch or listen to them for seven days after the transmission date. The pilot will use digital rights management software (DRM) to delete programmes seven days after the programme has aired on TV and users will no longer be able to watch it. DRM also prevents users emailing the files to other computer users or sharing it via disc.
The iMP pilot uses peer-to-peer distribution technology (P2P) to distributes its audio visual content effectively and Geo-IP technology to restrict iMP to UK internet users only.
Meanwhile it is reported the BBC is in talks with Google over providing BBC archive material to the search engines video service.
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NTT DoCoMo is contemplating buying a European operator and views the British market as the ideal testing ground for the entire continent. DoCoMo’s i-mode, is being launched in the UK on the O2 network.
DoCoMo dominates its home market — with nearly 50 million users it controls 56 per cent of the market and leaves its rivals, KDDI and Vodafone, well behind.
In an interview with The Times, Takeshi Natsuno, the head of multimedia and the originator of i-mode, said that DoCoMo faced a decision of whether to invest further in expanding its Japanese operations or to pursue an aggressive overseas strategy. The Japanese group has an acquisition war chest of more than £4 billion (E5.78bn) in cash. Natsuno revealed it was contemplating the outright purchase of at least one operator in the European Union, possibly in the UK.
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Bruno Claude, chief executive, said: "This IPO demonstrates the emergence of cable as a powerful platform to continue to grow and develop our customer market through television, internet, fixed line and potentially mobile telephony as well as our business market with voice and data services." Cablecom’s decision follows recent attempts to sell the company. In late August Cablecom said it had approached Liberty Global, the largest broadband cable operator outside the US, regarding a potential sale, as well as other companies’ with an interest in European cable assets.
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Despite some reports that Telewest is ready to call off the sale of Flextech, others claim the sale process is ready to move to stage two. Shortlisted suitors will meet with BBC Worldwide which, as joint owner with Flextech of UKTV, will have a say in any sale. BSkyB, RTL and Viacom are thought to be among those still in the hunt.
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The GSM Association (GSMA) and its partners have successfully completed a series of interoperability trials in both Europe and Asia - a major step towards ensuring that the next generation of multimedia services, based on the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and IMS, will work smoothly across networks right from launch.
Over the past six months, operators and equipment vendors in Europe and Asia have been testing whether their Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystems (IMS) are compatible.
These tests are important because many operators around the world are planning to use IMS to handle multimedia services, such as instant messaging, push-to-talk-over-cellular, video-sharing and multiplayer-games and later introduce voice applications.
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Verizon announced separate programming-distribution agreements with Lifetime Television, TV shopping network HSN, Jewelry Television and Ovation - The Art Network. The agreements were signed prior to the launch of Verizon FiOS TV in Keller, Texas, on Sept. 22. The programming is part of the FiOS TV offer now available in Keller, and it will be available in future FiOS TV markets.
The agreement with Lifetime Television includes Lifetime, Lifetime Movie Network and Lifetime Real Women. The HSN agreement includes HSN and America's Store.
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An agreement between DIRECTV and XM Satellite Radio, providers of digital means 72 channels of XM's music, children's, and talk programming will be available via DIRECTV, nearly doubling its current audio programming lineup at no additional cost.
"This marks the beginning of a natural partnership between the nation's leading satellite radio company and the leading satellite television company," said Patricia Kesling, senior vice president, Marketing and Operations, XM Satellite Radio.
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Sanyo Electric has unveiled a sweeping restructure plan, which involves heavy and immediate job losses and the ditching of several non-core businesses.
The Osaka-based company, which recently appointed Tomoyo Nonaka, a former TV presenter, as chairwoman and chief executive, will speed up job cuts, losing 10,000 within four months. It will eventually axe 14,000 jobs, 15 per cent of its workforce, with 8,000 losses coming in Japan. Sanyo said it would leave several businesses altogether, including DVD players and recorders. It forecast a widening of losses to Y140bn ($1.2bn) for the year.
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CTV Inc and MTV Networks has announced a strategic alliance to build and grow the MTV brand in Canada. It will encompass: An MTV branded analogue channel available to 4.4 million households, exclusive access for CTV to the MTV brand and library of programming for use in Canada across CTV's conventional, and speciality services.
CTV's talktv, an analogue speciality service currently available in 4.4 million Canadian households, will be re-born as a Canadian programmed and managed MTV channel. The channel will continue to be fully compliant with its license condition of 68 per cent Canadian programming (71 per cent in prime time), representing one of the highest Canadian-content requirements of any Canadian service.
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Most people spend a third of their day using two or more media at the one time, often without realising that they are doing so, a new report has found.
The Middletown Media Studies report revealed that people spent an average of nine hours a day consuming media, including watching TV and radio, as well as spending time on their computers, reading books and using the telephone. This makes media the number one activity people spend doing every day, with television by far the most popular medium. It found a high number of people using two or more media concurrently -- with over 96 per cent doing so for 30 per cent of the day. The number one combination was people watching television and using the internet at the same time; followed by those watching television while using email, and those watching television while on the phone. For another 40 per cent of the day, people were devoted solely to engaging with media, rather than combining it with other activities such as childminding.
The study has been conducted by researchers at Ball State University Centre for Media Design. It is based on a study that followed 400 people from first thing in the morning until as late as the participants would allow the researchers to stay. The survey had a number of surprising facts. For example, it revealed that 18- to 24-year-olds were the second lowest internet users, but watched more television than those aged between 25 and 34, who watched the least amount of television.
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The popularity of search-based advertising boosted US online advertising spending by 26 per cent in the first six months of the year. Advertisers spent a record $5.8 billion (E4.8 billion) online in the six months to June, up from $4.6 billion in the same period a year before, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Though search ads made up 40 per cent of online revenues - the same as during the first half of 2004 - the amount spent by advertisers rose by 27 per cent to $2.3 billion. Display advertising accounted for 20 per cent of turnover or $1.15 billion, while classifieds made up 18 per cent or $1.04 billion.
"It is clear from this continued growth that most agencies and marketers are now committed to interactive as a critical medium in reaching their audiences," said Greg Stuart, President and Chief Executive of the IAB.
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Telefónica to float Endemol in Amsterdam
Telefónica has decided to float Endemol, the producer of television reality show Big Brother, in Amsterdam by the end of the year. The teleco had been considering a partial flotation in London, but has decided on an Amsterdam listing of up to 35 per cent of its shares in order to value Endemol.
Telefónica is understood to have been trying to sell Endemol since it decided that it was not a core part of its operations. However, Endemol's French division, which has open-ended incentive agreements for its executives, is said to have been a barrier to an outright sale. Telefónica paid E5.5 billion in shares for the television producer in 2000, hoping that it would play a large part in providing content on mobile phones.
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Real for Cingular mobile media
Cingular Wireless, the biggest U.S. wireless service, plans to use RealNetwork's video streaming to deliver video to mobile phones. The deal is a key win for RealNetworks over arch-rival Microsoft as both companies try to expand from the desktop into the wireless services market.
Cingular's biggest rival, Verizon Wireless, uses Microsoft's media player for a mobile video service that delivers news and entertainment video clips to customers using its high-speed wireless data network. Cingular, a JV of SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp., plans to introduce a video service using RealNetworks technology by year-end.
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UPC cleared by Dutch regulator
UPC Netherlands has been cleared by the NMa (Dutch Competition Authority) after an investigation for the years 2000-2005 into the pricing for the analogue standard TV package of UPC in the Netherlands. NMa concluded that these tariffs were not excessive in terms of Dutch competition law.
UPC Netherlands has 2.3 million television customers, 439,000 internet customers and 248,000 telephony customers (as of June 30, 2005).
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Inmedia is to rebrand as Arqiva, following its acquisition in July by Arqiva (formerly ntl Broadcast). Inmedia is being merged with Arqiva’s Satellite and Playout unit to form the Satellite Media Solutions division of the company. The new division will continue to provide broadcast and media solutions including permanent and occasional broadcast services as well as IP, voice, data and digital media networks.
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SeaChange International has acquired the remaining 72 per cent of the On Demand Group that it did not previously own. London-based ODG provides movies for on-demand and pay-per-view services throughout Europe, including for operators ntl and Telewest in the U.K. It is also a member of the FilmFlex video on demand movie service venture with Sony Pictures and The Walt Disney Company.
SeaChange paid $13.4 million (E11.1 million) at completion for the remainder of ODG. Under earn-out provisions, if ODG meets annual performance goals over the period to January 2008, SeaChange will pay up to an additional $11.4 million with up to 50 per cent payable in shares of SeaChange. At the time of the transaction the On Demand Group had in excess of $6 million cash at hand.
"The On Demand Group is a significant addition to SeaChange ," said Bill Styslinger, president and CEO, SeaChange International. "We are pleased to be adding ODG's experienced management to our global team which will strengthen our presence in Europe and elsewhere. SeaChange and ODG will be able to provide comprehensive content acquisition and brokering services worldwide, making it easier for service providers to offer and expand their video on demand services."
ODG was formed in 1995 and is privately funded. It is considered a leader in Europe in interactive media service deployment and development, content management and television production, and has provided services in more than 20 countries. In 2002, SeaChange entered into a non-exclusive strategic partnership with ODG to develop video on demand opportunities worldwide. ODG has recently worked extensively in supplying a wide range of movie, kids programming, television and music video content and project management services for the successful launch of the ntl on demand service in January 2005.
"We are delighted with the acquisition by SeaChange because it enables us to offer a completely integrated one-stop solution, from server provision and content acquisition, to service development and operating experience for any cable or telco company internationally that is maximising the triple play opportunity of television, internet access, and telephony," said Tony Kelly, CEO of the On Demand Group Limited.
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Intel and Microsoft are backing Toshiba's HD-DVD technology for next-generation DVDs, a move that may give the format a significant edge over Sony's rival Blu-ray disc technology. The companies hope their endorsement of HD-DVD will push the computer, consumer electronics and entertainment industries to agree a single optical disc standard. Toshiba has already announced it will produce laptops with HD-DVD next year.
They will argue that Toshiba's HD-DVD format offers higher quality, is more affordable and can be manufactured to be compatible with current DVD standards as well. Toshiba and Sony have been at odds for several years over their rival standards for next generation discs capable of recording high-definition films and video games.
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US Digital Television, a provider of digital terrestrial pay-TV services, said it has signed a $25.75 million funding agreement with an investment group of TV station owners. The group includes Fox Television Stations, which is owned by News Corp. Other station groups providing USDTV with funding are Hearst-Argyle Television, McGraw-Hill Broadcasting, LIN TV Corp., Morgan-Murphy Stations and Telcom DTV. USDTV said the investments will help fund additional financial and strategic support to expand it all-digital "over-the-air" alternative to cable and DBS.
For about $20 (E16.6) a month, USDTV offers consumers 30 channels, comprising of local digital and HDTV broadcast signals and 12 cable networks, including FOX News Channel, ESPN and Disney Channel. Consumers receive the USDTV service through an antenna connected to a proprietary set-top box. USDTV broadcasts its service through leased spectrum controlled by TV station partners in each city. The service is in three pilot markets: Salt Lake City, Albuquerque and Las Vegas. USDTV launched its offering in March 2004.
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Tele 5 a DTT sports channel
From David Del Valle in Madrid
Mediaset-controlled network, Tele 5, is to launch two DTT channels before the end of November. One, Telecinco Sport, will be dedicated to sports. The other, called Telecinco Estrellas will be exclusively dedicated to fiction aimed at "opening a window for the Spanish audio visual industry", according to Tele 5. The channel will make a survey among its viewers about what sports and fiction series they would like most to watch.
Tele 5 will also operate a third DTT channel: the one that has been on air since 2000 replicating its analogue transmission. All three DTT channels will form part of the planned free-to-air DTT platform with 21 channels, scheduled for launch next November.
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The Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) has launched an intensive enforcement campaign against Philippines pirate pay-TV pirate operators, starting with police raids on cable companies in Mindanao on September 21, and in Metro Manila on September 23 and 26.
"This is the first of a series of high-impact actions the industry is taking to highlight the seriousness of cable signal theft in the Philippines, especially for legitimate, law-abiding Filipino cable and satellite TV operators," said CASBAA CEO, Simon Twiston Davies.
The recent CASBAA-instigated raids on renegade cable operators were undertaken in co-operation with the National Bureau of Investigation of the Philippines (NBI). CASBAA said it had been conducting surveillance of the target companies for several months taking note of the re-transmission of pay-TV programming which had not been authorised by the channel providers or their legitimate distributors in the Philippines.
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Australia's switch over to digital television could be delayed for another six years but broadcasters could be fined if they fail to offer the new service on time. The ideas come out in a new paper on digital TV released by Communications Minister Helen Coonan.
Currently, broadcasters are meant to switch off their analogue TV signals to Australians living in metropolitan areas in 2008 and 2011 in regional areas. But the paper suggests a uniform national deadline might now need to be set, possibly 2011, to help increase the take-up of digital TV in Australia. The paper also flags that Australia could follow an idea being debated in the United States and fine TV broadcasters which fail to switch off their analogue services on time.
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NTT DoCoMo, announced the development of the 3G FOMA P901iTV, DoCoMo's first mobile handset to receive terrestrial digital broadcasting signals, in addition to conventional analogue signals. The handset was developed in response to the planned launch of mobile digital broadcasting in April 2006, which Japanese broadcasters formally announced today.
The handset's main display will be a 2.5-inch, wide-view LCD screen. More than 2.5 hours of continuous viewing will be possible for digital TV programmes. The TV function will be activated by twisting the screen (enabling the lower half of the phone to be used as a convenient handle), or simply pushing a button. An antenna-embedded earphone will enhance TV signal reception.
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Google said it was showing online this week the first episode of a new television comedy, Everybody Hates Chris, produced by the UPN Network. Television networks have increasingly used the web to promote new shows premiered Fat Actress online for Showtime earlier this year and this month previewed WB’s Supernatural.
Google said the show and other video content uploaded to its site would be viewable through a new player based on Flash technology rather than the open-source VLC media player used before. The new player offers a much larger viewing window and more controls. It is also available to Macintosh and Linux users as well as Windows. Google said another feature allows thumbnail video images found on searches to be clicked on to run 10-second previews of the full content within the results page.
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Rainbow Media plans global strategy
Shortly after launching its international distribution arm – Rainbow International – sports, news and entertainment programming provider Rainbow Media has unveiled plans to launch channels and distribute original HD, VOD and linear content around the globe.
In order to carry out this strategy, Rainbow International has secured consulting agreements with GANG TV’s Gregory Ang and IBC’s Jon Helmrich as well as an exclusive distribution agreement with ID Distribution, headed by Sally Miles, to represent global content distribution, which will put it on the fast track in making the company’s original content widely available in channel formats and international syndication.
These consulting deals will create a mechanism for global distribution of Rainbow Media’s library of linear, VOD and HD content. It also ensures that key HD original programming from the VOOM HD Networks will be made available in the global marketplace.
Glenn Oakley, Senior Vice President, Business Development, Rainbow Media, revealed that Rainbow International would be making its first official appearance at the forthcoming MIPCOM TV programming market in Cannes. "We plan to make a big impact given the fact that high definition is fast becoming a reality and there’s a big programming void to fill," declared Oakley.
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The UK Premier League is lobbying MPs to criticise the "unfair" investigation by Brussels into the way it sells television rights. In the process it has admitted that the Commission wants one broadcaster to buy no more than 50 per cent of the football matches being auctioned. BSkyB has won exclusive live TV rights to the Premiership ever since the league's launch in 1992, but the Commission has ruled that the sale process is anti-competitive.
Richard Scudamore, the league's CEO, has warned MPs that a quota could create a duopoly and depress the value of top-flight TV rights. Scudamore says: "Our fear is that a rule that prevents any broadcaster from buying more than half of the available games would reduce competition - each company would know the biggest bidder was limited to half the market and could, therefore, avoid having to outbid them in an open market. The situation could be even worse if the market condensed into two main bidders: a duopoly that could harm the game and consumers alike."
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Telenet has set the pricing for its IPO next month, which will see just under 50 per cent of the Belgian cable operator come to market, valuing it at up to E2.5bn. The float could raise just under E1.3bn based on the indicative price range of between E21 and E25.50. Among its other big shareholders is John Malone’s Liberty Global, which owns 21 per cent. Set up in 1996, Telenet provides internet, television and telephone services, largely to residential customers in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium.
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China tightens internet rules again
China has set new regulations on internet news widening a campaign of controls it has imposed on other web sites, such as discussion groups. "The state bans the spreading of any news with content that is against national security and public interest," the official Xinhua news agency said. The news agency did not detail the rules, but said internet news sites must "be directed toward serving the people and socialism and insist on correct guidance of public opinion for maintaining national and public interests".
Established news media needed permission to run a news web site, it said. New operators had to register themselves with government information offices.
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Spain to limit TV cross-ownership
From David Del Valle in Madrid
The Government is to impose new limits on the ownership of private TV channels aimed at guaranteeing pluralism and free competition.
TV shareholders with five per cent or more in a TV channel will not be able to hold shares over five per cent in any other TV station that operates in the same area and has the same coverage. This measure will be applied to nationwide TV stations when there are more than four channels, to regional TV stations when there are more than two networks and in all cases concerning local TV networks.
These share limits will be included in a new TV law - the so-called Ley General Audiovisual - that is being finalised by the Government and sent to the Parliament by the end of October. This new rule will eliminate the definition of private TV as a public TV service and lay down that TV licences will have a duration of 10 years, and be renewable twice.
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Satellite TV figures large on Forbes' rich list
EchoStar CEO Charles Ergen is listed at No. 30 with a worth of $7.1bn (E5.8bn) while News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch is at No. 32 with a value of $6.7bn. Also on the list are Sumner Redstone of Viacom, No. 25 and worth $8.4bn, and sisters Barbara Cox Anthony and Anne Cox Chambers, of Cox Enterprises fame, both listed at No. 12 and each worth $6.7bn. Carl Icahn, the corporate raider who presently is the company restructuring thorn in Time Warner's side, was No. 24 with a worth estimated at $8.5bn. Microsoft's Bill Gates was No. 1 with a worth of $51bn, according to Forbes.
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News Corp’s $580m bid for Intermix, which owns MySpace.com, is facing a counter offer from an investor owning around 10 per cent of Intermix. Brad Greenspan, who founded many of the internet assets owned by Intermix but left the company in 2003, says he has the backing of private equity investors to buy half of Intermix shares at $13.50, above the $12 offered by News Corp.
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ntl and BroadbandTV Group, the joint venture between YooMedia and ICTV, announced that, following successful joint lab testing, live trials of broadband quality interactive digital television programming and technology will be conducted in the fourth quarter of this year. The trials will take place in selected ntl digital cable households. They are designed to fully demonstrate the capabilities of ICTV’s HeadendWare technology, enabling the delivery of vivid, interactive web based programming content on ntl’s existing standard cable set-top boxes.
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NTT DoCoMo has reported that O2 will be launching DoCoMo's i-mode service in the UK starting October 1st. The service, which will be offered over O2's W-CDMA and GPRS network, marks the thirteenth market for i-mode, following Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Australia, Israel, and Russia.
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BSkyB is to launch a new entertainment channel, Sky Three including on the DTT Freeview service.
Launch of the new channel next month will see Sky One's sister station Sky Mix re-branded as Sky Two. All three channels will be available on digital satellite. Sky Three is recognition of the need to make up ground lost to BBC3 and in particular ITV2 and ITV3. It will face further competition later this year when ITV launches lads' channel ITV4. Sky One has suffered from not being available on Freeview now Sky hopes to recover some of its audience share, and also provide a showcase for its digital satellite channels.
"The expansion of Sky's portfolio of entertainment channels will allow us to deliver more value to customers and to exploit programme rights more effectively," said Dawn Airey, the managing director of Sky Networks.
Sky Three will offer a mixed schedule including programmes already shown on Sky One and original lifestyle commissions and travel documentaries from Sky Travel. It will be available to 13m homes, 5.2m of them via Freeview.
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James Murdoch BSkyB CEO has called for the BBC's digital ambitions to be reined in, warning that it risks a "fundamental shift" in its' purpose. Murdoch told delegates at the European broadcast convention the explosion of choice on digital television was erasing the need for a state-funded broadcaster, and accused the BBC of duplicating services already developed by their commercial rivals.
"The BBC's director general was even quoted the other day as saying that digital media is erasing the 'simple distinctions' such as the 'public service/commercial boundary. He went on to advocate an online music download service on the BBC. We should be clear that movement into these new technology areas could lead to a fundamental shift in mission for the corporation. If the government genuinely wants the public broadcaster to be at the forefront of all the new delivery mechanisms and digital technologies ... it had better hope that the licence fee payers continue in their willingness to bear an ever-increasing financial burden. A burden that contributes less to a genuinely distinctive concept of public service broadcasting, and more to playing catch-up with innovations developed by commercial broadcasters," said Murdoch.
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IFPI, which represents music companies across the world, joined forces with the Motion Picture Association to urge company chief executives to clear their computer networks of files illegally downloaded by employees or face legal action.
They have launched a free software programme that allows employers to identify any copyrighted music and video files which have been swapped illegally and then block or remove them. The Digital File Check software, which will be accompanied by an educational marketing campaign, will be available online and on CD across Europe and in Thailand.John Kennedy, chairman of IFPI, said the initiative "comes after months of warning and information campaigns making it clear that file-swapping copyrighted music is illegal and could involve fines and prosecutions. We know peer-to-peer file sharing takes place during the working day as well as at home. If we find company networks are being used to infringe our copyright, we won't hesitate to take action."
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Australia's thriving broadband market is set for a further boost, with number two telco Optus pledging to invest AUD$150 million in extending its broadband reach.
Optus said the new services would allow it to reach another 2.9 million homes and businesses - trebling its existing cable footprint of 1.4 million homes and
businesses. The company will install its own digital subscriber line access multiplexers (DSLAMs) in around 340 of incumbent Telstra's exchanges. Roll out will start immediately, including in the markets of Adelaide, Perth and Canberra, which Optus' cable network does not service.
At the moment, Optus has around 400,000 broadband subscribers.
But Telstra said that Optus would still be piggybacking on its network, not rolling out its own and accused its rival of "cherry picking" the most lucrative exchanges.
However, the government welcomed the plan with the communications minister calling it "competition at work". Australia's broadband subscriptions have doubled over the past year, to stand at 2.2 million.
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Montreal-based Vidéotron ltée, which currently offers cable TV, cable telephone and broadband Internet, will be adding mobile wireless services to its offerings following the signing of a strategic agreement with Rogers Wireless of Toronto.
Vidéotron, which will operate as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator, or MVNO, utilizing wireless voice and data services provided by Rogers Wireless across its GSM/GPRS network, will offer Vidéotron branded mobile wireless services in the first half of 2006.
Services will include international roaming and popular options. Vidéotron will be responsible for acquiring and billing customers, and for providing customer support under its own brand.
The agreement with Rogers Wireless means that Vidéotron customers will soon be able to benefit from wireless service, as part of a quadruple package with residential phone service, cable TV, Internet access, delivered across Rogers' extensive wireless voice and data network.
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ITV chief executive Charles Allen has called for a "radical rethink" of Euro media regulation, including the sweeping away of rules preventing product placement. Allen said commercial broadcasters had to be given the freedom to look beyond traditional advertising revenues, and his call was backed by the European Union's commissioner for media, Viviane Reding.
"Of course, there are legitimate concerns about the preservation of editorial quality and integrity once you let commercial brands inside programmes. But US shows like 24, Desperate Housewives and Lost have demonstrated, through their successful links with brands such as Ford and Sears, that there is a place for sensible and well thought-through product placement in the commercial TV marketplace, " Allen said.
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BT Media and Broadcast (BTM&B), the digital media and broadcast services arm of BT, has secured a three year contract with start-up global motor racing championship, A1 Grand Prix (A1GP), to provide a full package of managed TV distribution services for the series, styled as the new World Cup of Motorsport. The first A1GP event takes place September 23 to 25 at the Brands Hatch race track outside London.
BTM&B will provide live world feed distribution from each event to broadcasters in Europe, Asia, North and South America and Africa. In addition, the comprehensive package includes the provision of cameras, live stand-up equipment and transmission of broadcasters' unilateral broadcasts and news feeds from site. Highlights from each race will be distributed post event from BT Tower in London.
The package provided by BTM&B also includes the future opportunity for A1 Grand Prix to have race coverage streamed to their website for access through a variety of digital media-enabled devices, including PCs and mobile phones. Not only will this facility help to massively increase exposure for the new series but it will also create significant new revenue opportunities for A1 Grand Prix.
Richard Dorfman, Broadcast Director at A1 Grand Prix, said that BTM&B’s "vast experience" of managing major sporting events, including some of the world's premier international series, championships and motorsport events, would prove invaluable in establishing A1GP on the global stage.
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Front Porch Digital, the Broadcast and Media Division of Incentra Solutions announced that it was selected by Belarus TV, the new Belarusian channel, to implement a digital video archive powered by DIVArchive.
Created by the National State TV and Radio Company of the Republic of Belarus for Russian- and Belarusian-speaking audiences abroad, international satellite TV channel Belarus TV started broadcasting on Feb. 1, 2005. Belarus TV is a state-owned, non-commercial television channel broadcasting abroad providing information about Belarus. Belarus TV is accessible from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Uzbekistan, and Moldova, as well as from Poland, Denmark, Romania, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran.
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Euronews Expands in Portugal
EuroNews has completed distribution deals for the Portuguese language version of the channel to be available on Portugal's AR Telecom cable network and on Optimus' mobile Live TV service. This agreement comes soon after EuroNews launched on Proximus, Belgium's largest mobile operator, which launched its first public 3G services last week. The Proximus 3G network covers 61% of the population, and has a reach to over 200 Belgian cities and towns all of which are able to watch EuroNews Live, in two linguistic versions: English and French.
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