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Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Tuesday
Friday 27th January 2006
Sony: better earnings
ITV entertainment portal
New Microsoft lab
Multi mobile TV chip
WorldSpace finished 2005 with 115,000 subscribers.
Multichannel subscribers 684m by 2014
Canal + chooses Sony
NDS for Tata
Globecast for MaLigne TV
Sony: better earnings
Sony reported better than expected figures with an increase in profits in the third quarter helped by solid TV, games and financial services sales and a favourable currency. As a result, Sony revised up its full year forecasts. Group sales are expected to reach Y7.4bn revised up Y150m, while Sony expects an operating profit of Y100bn, rather than a Y20bn loss as forecast in September.
But the group cautioned that the outlook remained difficult. “I don’t think the trend in the third quarter will continue. We are a little bit cautious about sales volume and [price trends]. We don’t see any big swing from now on,” said Nobuyuki Oneda, chief financial officer.
Sales in the third quarter rose 10 per cent to Y2.367bn while operating profits gained a strong 47 per cent to Y202.8bn. Sony’s consumer electronics division recovered, with sales rising 4.7 per cent and operating income up 56 per cent. The business benefited from buoyant demand for its Bravia flat panel LCD TVs. Games were also strong with sales of PlayStation 2 and PSP doing particularly well. The games division had a 48 per cent rise in sales in the third quarter and a 59 per cent increase in operating profits. But Sony struggled to make a mark in the portable audio market, where its Walkman has trailed Apple’s iPod. Although sales were flat. Pictures were also a disappointment due to the flop of The Legend of Zorro and Zathura, at the box office.
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ITV is set to re-house the recently acquired Friends Reunited under the banner of a new broadband entertainment portal that could see its entire family of channels multicast via the Internet, reports NMA.
The first phase of the broadband strategy will see ITV overhaul its existing online presence, uniting its portfolio of TV channels with the Friends Reunited business. As well as allowing users to create their own personalised ITV home page, the Web portal will provide on-demand access to a range of shows broadcast on ITV1, ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4.
"Ultimately we want to make all of our programmes available via the broadband portal," said ITV. "We also want to commission content exclusively for the Web." ITV is developing a series of online formats that will enable viewers to use the Web to play along with its soon-to-launch interactive TV gaming channel. It's also considering plans to launch a broadband-only children's channel. The broadcaster is hopeful that it will be able to launch the first phase of its revamped Web presence to coincide with its coverage of this summer's World Cup Finals in Germany. It intends to offer Internet users access to four-minute video clips of the tournament's key matches.
ITV's broadband initiative forms part of a wider strategy to focus on generating revenue direct from consumers, rather than relying entirely on TV advertising.
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New Microsoft lab
Microsoft Corp said it will launch a new research laboratory aimed at developing technology for the Internet.The based company said the unit, called Live Labs, would be headed by Dr. Gary William Flake, a Microsoft technical fellow, and include staff from its online service MSN and its main research group. Research from the lab group will focus on a range of areas including multimedia search, machine learning, distributed computing and data mining.
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Multi mobile TV chip
From David Del Valle in MadridMadrid-based Sidsa, an international provider of digital TV, mobile TV, IP TV and broadband solutions, has launched a DVB-H-based chip, called Loren-Inc that allows to receive all kind of world wide mobile TV services, including added-value services and VoD.
The company says the chip is "a fast time to market solution that gives access to the new mobile TV business that, according to our forecasts, will experience a significant growth over the next few years. In 2006 there will be one million worldwide DVB-H mobile TV users; 10 million in 2007 and 100 millions in 2010".
Loren-Inc is the fist chip available in the international market that may receive all mobile TV services supporting both L band (America) and UHF's (Europe). The chip, "fully commercial and successfully tested", will soon be used in different pre-commercial DVB-H trials worldwide, including Spain.
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WorldSpace finished 2005 with 115,000 subscribers.
The global satellite radio company said during the fourth quarter it added more than 40,000 net new subscribers, increasing its subscriber base by more than 50 percent in the fourth quarter alone. Chairman and CEO Noah Samara said the numbers demonstrate the company is delivering on its plan to drive subscriber growth in India.
"The value proposition of our offering is being validated by growing the demand for our service," said Samara. "We look forward to continue building on our success in 2005." At the end of 2005, WorldSpace was offering service in nine cities in India, including Mumbai, New Delhi and Bangalore. The service covers about 29 million through 650 retail locations and 550 direct sales force agents
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Multichannel subscribers 684m by 2014
By 2014 Kagan Research estimates the global multichannel subscriber base will total 684.4 million penetrating 54.2% of TV households. Revenues are expected to grow at a 7.2% CAGR to reach $26.60 per sub/month, producing an industry revenue total of $214.7 bn.
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Canal + has selected Sony France to equip its television studios with High Definition (HD) equipment, enabling the channel to launch HD television services in April 2006. Canal + will install the latest generation of high-performance, multi-format Sony HDC-1500 cameras in its recording studios in Boulougne-Billancourt, France.
The HDC-1500 cameras feature the latest 1080p50 sensor technology, with CCDs designed and manufactured by Sony, which says an image processor with 14-bit conversion provides unrivalled image quality while the new console networks give the user powerful and creative control over the image via the user interface. Canal + has also invested in HDCAM-SR recording media, the format will convey high quality HD images at a rate of 422/10bits. Providing 12 audio tracks and maintaining its quality level even in the long term, the media is an excellent choice for archiving purposes.
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NDS for TataNDS end-to-end solutions have been chosen by Tata Sky for the launch of the company’s direct-to-home pay-TV service in India in mid-2006. Tata Sky is the 80:20 joint venture between TATA Group and STAR Group.
Tata Sky aims to become India's largest digital television platform, offering consumers a wide array of programming choices with interactive features and superior picture and sound quality. NDS is working with Tata Sky to build a broadcast infrastructure. NDS systems will play a key role in the end-to-end system architecture and launching the nationwide digital service.
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GlobeCast was chosen by France Telecom's IPTV arm MaLigne TV for technical
management of the French operator's newest IPTV bouquet, Le Bouquet TV.
GlobeCast will be responsible for aggregating and managing Le Bouquet TV, which will offer thirty general and thematic channels.GlobeCast's solution for France Telecom includes satellite downlink of the channels, MPEG-4 encoding, multiplexing, IP encapsulation and 24x7 supervision. GlobeCast will also create two mosaic index screens to provide viewers with an overview of all
channels simultaneously.
The MaLigne TV service, which delivers television content over the
subscriber's broadband Internet connection directly to the TV set, also
offers premium bouquets through TPS and Canal+ Group, as well as
Video-on-Demand.
GlobeCast is a France Telecom subsidiary.
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Thursday 26th January 2006
TW and CBS merge networks
Springer ‘nein’ for Sat 1
Disney: $7.4bn for Pixar
Widescreen idTVs fail to set Australia alight
SBB, Eutelsat partner
TDC goes with Alcatel
ISI underway
NDS exclusive for TBS Asia
TW and CBS merge networks
Time Warner and CBS are merging their ‘also ran’ TV networks MGM TV and UPN into The CW, as the new 50:50 joint venture will be known. They hope to provide more competition for the established networks ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox.
The CW will begin in September and will be aimed at a young audience. “The CW will clearly be greater than the sum of its parts,” said Les Moonves, chief executive of CBS, which now trades as an independent company following the break-up of Viacom.
UPN was estimated by analysts to have been losing $15m-$20m a year. The WB was estimated to have been losing $25m-$50m a year. With stations owned by Tribune (which was a WB shareholder and has a 10 year carriage deal) and CBS, the CW will be available to almost half the households in the U.S. It hopes to sign affiliation agreements with other broadcasters, extending its reach to most of the country by the time it launches. But it won’t be on the ten stations owned by News Corp that now carry UPN, the soon to expire carriage contract will not be renewed.
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Springer ‘nein’ for Sat 1
As expected Germany's antitrust made it official when they had rejected Axel Springer’s planned E3.5 billion takeover of broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 Media.The office declared the takeover would give Springer too much control of the German media market.
No compromise could be reached in terms of selling TV channels from the merged group and Springer refused to sell off newspapers as the regulator wanted. Now it is considering an appeal direct to the government, who, it is thought, were broadly sympathetic to the deal. Otherwise, Springer has hinted it will direct its investment war chest at foreign targets and ITV could be among them.
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Disney: $7.4bn for Pixar
Walt Disney has confirmed that it is buying Pixar, the animated studio led by Apple head Steve Jobs, in a deal worth $7.4 billion.
Disney has released all of Pixar's films so far, but the companies' current distribution deal was set to expire. The merger brings together Disney's franchise of animated characters with Pixar's modern stable of cartoon hits. As part of the deal, Jobs – who is now one of the biggest shareholders in Disney - will become a board member. John Lasseter, the highly respected creative director at Pixar who had previously worked for Disney, will rejoin as chief creative officer for the company's combined animated studios and will also help oversee the design for new attractions at Disney theme parks.
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Widescreen idTVs fail to set Australia alight
From Rose Major in Melbourne
Fewer than 10 per cent of the 600,000 widescreen televisions sold in Australia during 2005 had integrated digital receivers, according to new figures from Digital Broadcasting Australia.
Sales of DTT receivers are often linked to consumers upgrading their television systems. The DBA has yet to release figures on the numbers of DTT receivers (idTVs and set-top boxes) sold during 2005, but the figure is likely to be substantially higher than during 2004.
Poor idTV sales came despite a record year for widescreen TVs. During 2004, just 440,000 widescreen TVs were sold, so the 2005 figure represents a 37 per cent increase. The 2005 sales figures for widescreen TVs were strongest in the December quarter – up 59 per cent on the same period in 2004 – and this is likely to be mirrored in DTT receiver sales.
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SBB, Serbia's leading cable operator, has concluded a contract with Eutelsat Communications to support a new direct-to-home (DTH) television platform for South-east Europe. The contract concerns two transponders on Eutelsat's W2 satellite positioned at 16 degrees East.
Called TotalTV, the new DTH platform will offer 25 television channels, including Serbian national and regional channels and international channels. SBB's objective is to reach homes in Serbia and Montenegro not already served by its cable system. It also plans to create special programme packages for neighbouring regions.
Commenting on the contract's signature, Dragan Solak, CEO of SBB, said: "We are pleased to be working with Eutelsat as part of our launch of DTH television service in South-east Europe. As one of the largest and most dynamic television providers in the region, we look forward to offering our exciting package of exclusive entertainment and information channels to an expanded base of customers."
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TDC goes with AlcatelTDC, Denmark's largest telecom and cable TV operator, announced that it has selected Alcatel for the deployment of its IPTV offering. The solution will include the Microsoft TV IPTV Edition software platform and Alcatel's services integration.
"We are looking forward to deploying a superior solution and the implementation of the Alcatel/Microsoft TV IPTV solution is twofold. Firstly, will we implement the system on ADSL and secondly also use elements of the backend systems and middleware for applications in our DVB based cable-TV network," says Niels Breining, CEO of TDC Cable-TV.
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ISI underwayOn February 1, representatives of prominent satellite industry companies and organizations, under the auspices of the European Commission and of the European Space Agency, will meet in Brussels, to inaugurate a new European Technology Platform, the “Integral Satcom Initiative (ISI)”, as part the 7th Framework Programme (FP7), which will drive European RTD initiatives in the period 2007-2013.
The ISI platform is designed to bring together for the first time in a unified forum all aspects related to satellite communications (satcom), including mobile, broadband, and broadcasting applications, security systems and applications, and the integration of data communications with navigation, Earth observation and Air Traffic Management systems.
ISI has the explicit purpose to foster the entire satcom sector and positively contribute to several EU policies, in order to promote European industrial competitiveness, growth and employment in a sustainable way, in synergy with National priorities.
ISI Participants include: Alcatel Alenia Space, Cedetel, CNES, EADS Astrium, Eutelsat, Hispasat, IMST, Indra Espacio, Inmarsat, Nd Satcom, OpenSky, SES Global, and Sirius Satellite Radio.
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Turner Broadcasting System has appointed NDS Group, as exclusive interactive TV (iTV) games and enhanced television applications developer for the Asia Pacific region. NDS and TBS will deploy Cartoon Network interactive content on selected Asian Pacific digital platforms.
As part of the agreement, NDS will provide TBS a variety of iTV games on a pay-per-play basis, the Powerpuff Girls Crystal Crisis being the first pay-per-play game offered for Cartoon Network in Australia. The pay-per-play games will provide new iTV entertainment for Cartoon Network’s Australian viewers, and will be updated every month.
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Wednesday 25th January 2006
Alliance to boost Mobile TV
Sidsa launches new mobile TV platform
Providence takes all of KDG
IPDRO setting IPTV standards
MSN video streaming UK
Jcom mobile
Widevine partners sigma
Alliance to boost Mobile TV
Nokia, Intel, Motorola, Texas Instruments and Crown Castle International, have formed an alliance to promote DVB-H for delivering live TV to mobile phones. The partners declared they would work together to develop and spread the use of the open standard DVB-H through the Mobile DTV Alliance.
The formation of the alliance represents a serious challenge for Qualcomm, the US mobile phone chip maker, that is backing a rival proprietary technology called MediaFlo. DVB-H and MediaFlo technologies will enable mobile carriers to provide video content to subscribers without overloading their 3G wireless networks.
In the US, Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel, which operate 3G networks based on Qualcomm’s CDMA technology, are expected to adopt Media Flow. Mobile carriers in Australia,Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the US have been testing DVB-H technology.
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Sidsa launches new mobile TV platform
From David Del Valle in Madrid
SIDSA, an international provider of digital TV and broadband solutions, products and services, has launched a worldwide mobile TV platform, SIDSA POLARIS that enables broadcasters and operators to distribute any (free-to-air or pay) mobile TV service and implement different business models.
According to the company, this IP Datacast over DVB-H platform aims to "meet the highly increasing demand for technical, pre-commercial and commercial DVB-H services, for both pay and free to air TV".
The launch of this state-of-the-art platform comes at time when DVB-H trials are taking place throughout the world and above all in Europe, including Spain with Telefonica and Vodafone leading the projects. The company is also going to take part in new pre-commercial DVB-H tests with Telefonica to be launched in the second quarter of this year.
The platform follows a fully IP based architecture made of the EtherCast PRO DVB to IP gateway, URSUS H264 AVC transcoder and the VEGA IP-to-DVB-H encapsulator, which currently is, according to the company, one of the reference equipment in the DVB arena. Along with this, SIDSA markets its Service Protection and Purchase system, the KeyFlyTM Mobile to allow the provision of pay TV services. The company has also developed its own professional DVB-H receivers and pre-commercial plug & play receivers.
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Providence takes all of KDG
From Dieter Brockmeyer in FrankfurtGerman TV cable group Kabel Deutschland (KDG) is now solely owned by the British investor Providence Equity Partners who completed the take over of the stakes that were held by partner investors Apax Partners and Goldman Sachs Capital.
Providence intends to boost investment into the so far still weak triple play proposition of the cabler. It says KDG will upgrade 90 percent of the 15.3 million homes passed within the next three years. In Germany KDG serves almost 10 million cable homes and had 2005 a revenue above E1bn.
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IPDRO setting IPTV standardsThe Internet Protocol Detail Record Organization (IPDR.org), a collaborative industry consortium will host an open, industry wide meeting to focus on accounting and settlement standards for IPTV services. This would be applicable to telephony service providers, voice operators, broadband network providers, cable operators, entertainment content partners, support vendors, media and analysts. It says the meeting will allow all interested parties to influence the direction of this IPTV initiative. Sponsored by Cisco Systems, the event will take place February 23-24, 2006 at Cisco’s San Jose offices.
The objectives for the initiative include: Understanding the requirements for IPTV accounting. Challenges associated with all network data-related aspects of IPTV such as advertising, content settlement, user behaviour, capacity management, multimedia events, and other IPTV service components. Developing technical specifications to address the needs of IPTV overall accounting and settlement. Creating an industry wide task force comprised of leaders and contributors.
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MSN video streaming UKMSN has introduced its video streaming service in the UK.Initially available as a beta test, MSN Video is a dedicated streaming video site with a range of sub-channels. MSN has made agreements with a range of providers including APTN, MyMovies, ITN, the Press Association, Condé Nast and record labels to offer content such as sports, entertainment and business news, film trailers, music videos and interviews.
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Jcom mobileJupiter Telecommunications the largest MSO in Japan announced that its new mobile phone service, "J:COM MOBILE powered by WILLCOM" will commence March 1, 2006.
J:COM MOBILE is the fourth component of a full service package provided by J:COM, in addition to cable TV, high-speed Internet access and telephony services.
The service includes up to 125 minutes of free calls on calls from any J:COM MOBILE handset to any J:COM PHONE number through the newly established "Toku-Toku Talk MOBILE" preferential rate. All calls between J:COM MOBILE subscribers, and all calls between J:COM MOBILE subscribers and WILLCOM subscribers are free as part of the subscription package.
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Widevine partners sigmaWidevine Technologies and Sigma Designs a leader in digital media processing solutions for consumer electronics, announced they have entered into a partnership agreement.
Under the agreement, the patented Widevine Cypher Virtual SmartCard is pre-integrated with Sigma Designs’ EM8620 and SMP8630 series. This enables telco, cable, satellite, Internet and wireless service providers to offer secure content delivery to consumer devices powered by Sigma Designs’ chipsets. The Widevine Digital Media Processor Partner Program enables consumer electronics manufacturers a faster time to market with content protection for video operators around the world.
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Tuesday 24th January 2006
TD-SCDMA first for China
BAH: DTV in 60% homes by 2010
02 subs up ahead of sale
Mobile P2P operator
ReelTime agrees resort deal
Bharti gears up for IPTV service in India
Disney to sell ABC radio
C4 programme debuts on broadband
Amino buys SJ Consulting
Latens integrates with Simac
Telsey opens in UK
TD-SCDMA first for China
The Ministry of the Information Industry has said the TD-SCDMA technology had been selected as a national standard and network construction will shortly begin, according to the Xinhua news agency. The fact China is endorsing its own standard will come as no surprise, and means it could shortly begin awarding licences for 3G wireless services, with the domestic standard potentially given a headstart over the two widely-accepted global standards - WCDMA and CDMA 2000.
Beijing has delayed introducing the new generation of services while the TD-SCDMA technology encountered problems in development. A trial network has been set up in several cities. "The technology is already mature and ready for manufacturers to move ahead with production . . . A stand-alone network will be built for the home-grown technology," the Xinhua reported.
The mobile industry had initially expected China to award four 3G licences in the first half of this year, with the domestic standard playing only a minor role. However, in recent months some executives say the government has appeared more likely to first issue a licence for the TD-SCDMA standard in order to give it market advantage. China Telecom is the favourite to be the operator for the first licence.
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BAH: DTV in 60% homes by 2010
By 2010, digital TV (DTV) will be available in 60% of European households
enabling consumers to access new services, including interactive television, say technology consultants, Booz Allen Hamilton, claiming this means DTV will overtake broadband as the main driver of new services.
It forsees cumulative investment of E100bn in DTV and the creation of 100,000 jobs, mostly with infrastructure providers. It also forecasts E35 billion will be invested in new content development but warns this scale of investment will only fully materialize if genuine competition between infrastructures is ensured. It notes high investments will play a key role in the impending competition for the Digital Home – for developing or expanding the network, for creating new digital content, as well as for sales and marketing.
Market players with good access to funding and a large subscriber base to leverage enjoy decisive competitive advantages. For them, the investment can be significantly lower on a “per customer” basis. It concludes national telecommunication incumbents are in a privileged starting position. They dominate the infrastructure industry in their respective countries by a factor of 1:7 or more in terms of revenue. In addition, European telecommunications incumbents have a customer base of around 151 million. Cable network operators lag well behind with around 51m.
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02 subs up ahead of sale
02 revealed sharply higher third-quarter customer growth ahead of its merger with Spain’s Telefónica. In its last independent figures before the completion of Telefónica’s £17.7bn (E25.6bn) takeover, O2 said it had added 1.75m customers taking its total client base to 27.4m, in the three months to the end of 2005.
The quarter, which bucked the trend of slower growth that has hit most of its competitors, was boosted by strong increases in its UK and German customer base. Net service revenues were also up, although ARPU at £272 slipped as it offered incentives to retain old customers and attract new ones.
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Mobile P2P operator
US company Nareos says it has introduced the world’s first legal mobile P2P download service: PeerBox, a technology that searches, identifies and offers paid music downloads.
Launched at Midem PeerBox allows the users to search for music and download songs from the open peer-to-peer file sharing networks, such as eDonkey 2000, Gnutella and others. PeerBox combines an audio fingerprinting component to offer copyrighted songs only as paid downloads, as well as on-air and speech recognition to identify music and speech-assisted search.
Users are required to either speak or type a music search query on their mobile to search for a title in p2p networks. The users can also hold their handset to music - and after 15 seconds the song, album and artist information appears on the PeerBox screen, together with a price for its download. The service will be offered as a subscription and a pay-per-download service - which will appear on the customer’s cellular phone bill or credit card. Whilst the service requires payment for copyrighted material there are artists using the p2p networks as an outlet for promoting their music - whose songs can be downloaded for free.
CEO of Nareos, Alexander Lazovsky, commented “We are delighted to have created a mobile service that combines the richness of P2P with the legality of an online store.”
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ReelTime agrees resort deal
By Rose Major in Melbourne
Australian IPTV company ReelTime Infotainment has agreed a deal to provide on-demand movies and entertainment to the resort of Hamilton Island. The deal is worth up to A$13 million and is based on a revenue-share model between ReelTime, NEC Business Solutions and content partners. Reeltime said its capital expenditure would be limited to A$300,000. The company will also transmit Australia's free-to-air channels.
NEC has started rolling out broadband DSL on the island. The project is due for completion in April, with ReelTime's service due to start before July to over 2800 rooms including staff and permanent residences as well as hotel rooms.
ReelTime recently signed a deal with Twentieth Century Fox for access to the studio's content. It also has deals with companies including Sony Pictures
Entertainment and Granada International and is scheduled to launch services in Adelaide in March.
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Bharti gears up for IPTV service in India
From Shveta Gupta in New Delhi
Bharti Group is set to enter the IPTV market in India. UTStarcom, the technology partner of Bharti, has installed a digital headend in Gurgaon, near New Delhi, where a trial run is running with some free-to-air TV channels and other video content.
Bharti says the move to enter IPTV segment is synergistic with current operations as the major private telecom operator. It has a sizable fixed telephone retail customer base and increasing broadband users. It is working on an offering of about 100 TV channels. Bharti has approximately 500,000 fixed telephone retail customers.
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Disney to sell ABC radio
The Walt Disney Company is near a deal to sell its ABC Radio unit to Citadel Broadcasting, the US's fifth-largest radio broadcaster, for nearly $3 billion.
After receiving bids last week from several suitors, including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Entercom Communications, Disney selected Citadel as the preferred bidder. The sale of ABC, which owns and operates 73 stations in many top markets comes just as Disney is considering an acquisition of Pixar Animation Studios.
C4 programme debuts on broadband
Channel 4 is following the BBC's lead by premiering a new comedy series on the Internet before showing it on TV. The broadcaster will stream the first episode of 'The IT Crowd' a week ahead of its first transmission on Channel 4.
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Amino buys SJ Consulting
Amino Technologies plc, the Cambridge based broadband network software and systems company, has acquired SJ Consulting Limited ("SJC") for a total consideration of £1.3million (E1.88m).
SJC is a software company that has developed advanced video codec products such as MPEG4 (H.264) and Windows Media/VC1.The intellectual property for these codec products has been licensed and deployed in an array of set top boxes for several customers including Amino.
The company's primary focus is in embedded systems design, particularly for
advanced networked equipment using technologies such as MPEG, ATM
(Asynchronous Transfer Mode) and wireless Ethernet. SJC also has
considerable experience of video-on-demand systems, having participated in
the 'leading edge' Cambridge video-on-demand trial.
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Latens integrates with Simac
Latens and system integrator Simac Broadcast announced that they are collaborating to provide Simac Broadcast’s customers with video distribution solutions pre-integrated with Latens next generation Content & Revenue Protection systems for Pay-TV and IPTV.
“By working with vendors producing best of breed technology for all sections of the video distribution chain we are able to offer our customers pre-integrated solutions that maximize their flexibility, so that the Pay-TV or IPTV operator can tailor their business models to the needs of their markets,” says Dick Hamann, General Manager at Simac Broadcast.
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Telsey opens in UK
Italian network gateway company Telsey Telecommunications is opening an office and lab at the Warwick Science Park as it seeks to expand its European business.
Telsey specializes in access solutions for advanced IP networks (FTTX, xDSL, Cable) helping providers to overcome the ‘last mile’ bottleneck. It is a major supplier to Fastweb.
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Monday 23rd January 2006
AOL £120m unbundled play
Tesco goes for VoIP
C4 wants free Freeview
Spanish thematic TV breaks audience records
EMI chooses Microsoft protection
Currie reappointed to Ofcom
US satcasters go family friendly
BBC stockpiling URLs
Amazon TV show
AOL £120m unbundled play
AOL UK is launching an £120m (E174m) local loop unbundling project aiming to open up 50% of the household market. The ISP is spending an initial £50m to open up 300 exchanges, giving it access to 20% of UK households.The move will allow AOL to offer internet, telephony and other broadband services as well as advanced gaming directly to consumers. This will take place in the first half of 2006 and if the programme is a success it will be rolled out to a further 700 exchanges, costing a further £70m. AOL currently has 1.1m broadband users in the UK out of a total user base of 2.3m and will plan to migrate users to the new proposition. AOL is also hoping that the investment will speed up the development of digital content and services in the UK by giving the consumer a wider choice of service providers.
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Europe’s biggest supermarket, Tesco, is launching a VoIP service to attract the growing number of consumers choosing to switch from landline services. Tesco is making sure its service feels like a normal telephone - albeit one which needs to plug into a PC. The retailer says its all-in-one internet phone service will focus on "simplicity, value and no hidden charges". "Consumers have not yet caught on to internet calling but this is now set to change," said Andy Dewhurst, chief executive of Tesco Telecoms. The firm has teamed up with Australian based Freshtel to launch the service.
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C4 wants free Freeview
The chief executive of Channel 4 has asked the Government to give it a free block of digital spectrum to help to safeguard its future — as an alternative to a cash handout. The broadcaster also wants help with the costs of migrating to digital, due to be be paid by BBC licence fee, because it is worried that it could otherwise struggle to make a profit in the digital era.
Andy Duncan said “we must be confident of a lifeline if the business model proves insufficient to deliver public service plurality in a much tougher environment down the line.” Duncan said that he wanted to have part of a “seventh multiplex”, a block of Freeview spectrum big enough to carry several channels. The capacity would become available when the analogue television signal is switched off in favour of digital in 2012.
Meantime, Channel 4 is taking a hard line in new media rights because it cannot afford to see its shows being made available via broadband or mobile within days of their first TV transmission, said its finance director, Anne Bulford.
Bulford was speaking of the deadlocked negotiations with Pact, the independent producers body, over new media rights to Channel 4 shows.
"We are not just worried about money, we are worried about securing the rights that Channel 4 absolutely needs to have to reach audiences on any platform. We cannot envisage programmes appearing on rival platforms just months, weeks, or even days after first transmission," Bulford said.
"I think we can reach a deal, providing broadcasters are willing to be reasonable about the length of primary windows and the length of secondary holdbacks,” said Pact.
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Spanish thematic TV breaks audience records
From David Del Valle in MadridSpain's thematic TV channels are increasingly pulling record-breaking audiences, according to Sofres. Currently, they have an average share of 7.4 per cent, 1.5 per cent up on 5.9 per cent in 2004. By contrast, the traditional broadcasters are losing audience. The three largest channels, TVE, Antena 3 and Tele 5, lost 1.1 points in 2005, representing 63.2 per cent against 64.3 per cent the previous year. Local TV is also drawing more viewers with an average share of 3.5 per cent against 3 per cent in 2004 and 2.7 per cent in 2003.
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EMI chooses Microsoft protection
Microsoft announced that it is working with EMI Music to standardise on a common technology platform, based primarily on Microsoft technologies, as part of a change programme known as Digitizing EMI Music. Through this programme EMI expects to optimise its distribution in an increasingly digital world; maximise its marketing capabilities; and become more flexible and responsive to the needs of consumers, artists and business partners.
Microsoft technologies will also enable EMI to move music quickly and more securely, facilitate faster information flow, and aid in the development of artists across its global business borders.According to the Federation of the Phonographic Industry, global sales of music via the internet and mobile phones in 2005 generated sales of $1.1 billion a threefold increase from 2004.
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Currie reappointed to Ofcom
Lord (David) Currie has been re-appointed as Chairman of the Office of Communications (Ofcom) by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Tessa Jowell. The re-appointment will be for a period of 2 years, commencing after the end of his current term. Jowell said:"David Currie has been instrumental in the successful establishment of Ofcom as the UK's regulator for the communications industries and I congratulate him on that achievement. The challenges facing Ofcom in carrying out its role over the next few years are of course considerable, and I am very pleased that as a result of his reappointment, David will be able to continue leading Ofcom's Board in tackling those challenges effectively."
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US satcasters go family friendly
DirecTV and EchoStar said they would offer packages of family-oriented channels, joining cable companies that took similar steps after pressure from regulators.
DirecTV's $34.99-a-month package of 40 channels includes Toon Disney and CSpan. The satellite companies are following the two largest cable companies, Comcast and Time Warner, in offering packages of channels intended to weed out programming that might be inappropriate for family viewing.
The pay TV companies are under pressure from Kevin J. Martin, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, who has called for voluntary curbs on sexually explicit programming.
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BBC stockpiling URLs
The BBC is building a stockpile of domain names not related to bbc.co.uk, its principal website address. The British Internet Publishers Alliance called for the domain names to be immediately handed back.
"The BBC ought to use this opportunity to do something positive by releasing those domain names - certainly there is no justification in paying out licence money to hang on to them," said the BIPA secretary, Angela Mills Wade. The list in question of around 200 names does not include any websites that relate to BBC programming, such as eastenders.biz, matchoftheday.biz and casualty.biz, which the corporation has also registered and are also not active.
After the Graf report into the BBC's internet operations in July 2004, the corporation said it would apply a public value test to its online activities after it agreed to shut a handful of sites that aped commercial rivals.
Meanwhile, Culture secretary Tessa Jowell confirmed that Ofcom will be given a role in assessing the market impact of proposed new BBC services. Jowell's comments clarify one of the biggest uncertainties about the future governance of the BBC when the corporation's new charter is introduced next year.
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Amazon TV show
Amazon.com is starting its own weekly talk show, presented over the internet with the comedian Bill Maher as host.
The half-hour show, "Amazon Fishbowl," will have a format familiar to any late-night television viewer, with a monologue by Maher, followed by an interview with an author, a conversation with a filmmaker and a performance by a musician or musical group. The common theme among the guests, who will be chosen by Amazon, is that they will have products for sale through its online site.
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