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Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Tuesday Friday 2nd February
61% of Americans unaware of DTV transition
Google revenues up 67%
Puttnam: No to BBC role
France Telecom annual profits dip
Latin American IPTV to generate E60m in 2 years
ROK mobile TV service in Thailand
TTP aids UBC Media DMD service
Indian digitalisation not possible till 2015?
Sat.1 HD and ProSieben on T-Home
ROO launch MGN online video content
RDF launches RDF Digital
AMC-18 Ready for Commercial Services
Envivio double delight
61% of Americans unaware of DTV transitionThe majority of US households that receive television signals over the air are still unaware of the digital TV transition even though an estimated 22 million over- the-air homes need to make some kind of digital decision by February 17, 2009.
The survey, conducted by the Association of Public Television Stations (APTS), showed that 61 per cent of participants had no idea that the DTV transition was taking place. Ten per cent said they had limited awareness, while 25 per cent said they were somewhat aware or very aware. While some respondents had knowledge of the digital transition, 53 per cent had no idea when analogue transmissions were scheduled to be turned off.
APTS is urging American Congress to designate targeted funding for consumer outreach on the switch from digital to analogue. "There are more than 21 million U.S. households that get their TV exclusively free and over the air, and we know these homes are heavy viewers of Public Television," APTS President and CEO John Lawson said. "That puts us, working with our partners, in a strong position to provide information about the digital transition to the people who need it most."
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Google revenues up 67%Google’s net revenues surged 67 per cent in the final quarter of 2006, ahead of estimates. The company continued to steal market share from other web search engines and found ways to squeeze higher returns from its advertising system.
The Internet search engine has signalled it will continue to invest heavily in new services and its technology platform, pointing to continued pressure on its underlying profit margins, which slipped slightly in the latest quarter.
"Our impressive performance in the fourth quarter demonstrates the continuing strength of our business model across Google properties and those of our partners," said Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. "Our growing organisation allows us to deliver ever increasing amounts of information and content to our users both through investments in search and ads as well as through strategic partnerships."
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Lord Puttnam, the favourite choice to replace Michael Grade as chairman of the BBC has decided not to apply for the post. Puttnam, the Labour legislator and former film producer, who was supported by leading corporation insiders and the culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, wrote in Spectator magazine that after a month of agonising he will not put his name forward to head the BBC Trust.
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France Telecom annual profits dipFull-year profits dropped at France Telecom (FT) in 2006, despite a strong performance from its mobile phone business and foreign operations.
Annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell to E18.5bn in 2006 from E19bn in 2005. The firm, which owns Orange, blamed the cost of setting up Internet services and price pressures for the drop.
The fall came despite revenues rising 7.5 per cent to E51.7bn.
FT reported "rapid development" of ADSL Multi-service offers with 4.1 million Liveboxes deployed in Europe at the end of 2006, 2.5 million Voice over IP customers, and 590,000 ADSL digital TV customers.
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Latin American IPTV to generate E60m in 2 yearsSpanish telecoms giant Telefónica predicts that the market for IPTV in Latin America, excluding Mexico, will generate around E60 million in revenues in two years time. The figure includes a host of other products and services related to IPTV.
The operator expects to roll out IPTV services in Chile in March 2007, in Colombia in the third quarter and in Peru and Argentina later in the year.
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ROK mobile TV service in Thailand
ROK Entertainment Group, a UK-based mobile entertainment and technology development company, has confirmed the launch of its mass-market 2.5G mobile TV service in Thailand in conjunction with Thai mobile network operator, AIS.
The AIS ROK TV platform is delivered over GPRS and will be marketed by AIS to its 16 million strong customer base.The mobile TV subscription service which starts at 50 Baht (approximately E0.80 per month) offers up to 20 channels, of which three are free, to include Fox News streamed live, as well as music, sport and entertainment channels in both English and Thai.
AIS aim to generate approximately 1 million subscribers to the service within the next 12 months.
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TTP aids UBC Media DMD serviceEuropean IP company The Technology Partnership (TTP) has created the enabling software for UBC Media to launch its broadcast Digital Music Downloading (DMD) service to mobiles. TTP’s software has evolved from its scalable DAB-IP technology platform, enabling UBC to develop the DMD offering. UBC is soft-launching the service in London in March 2007, with full UK consumer roll out by early summer 2007. The DMD technology allows digital radio listeners to purchase tracks instantly, as they are broadcast directly to mobile devices, such as digital radio enabled handsets and personal media players.
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Indian digitalisation not possible till 2015?Converting India into digital television and radio mode by 2015 as proposed by the Planning Commission may not be possible, said A S Guin, president of Broadcast Engineering Society (BES) of India.
Guin said, the analogue and the digital mode may have to be run on a simulcast mode for 10 years before complete digitisation. "We have to look into the entertainment needs of rural India. Switching off analogue after 2015 may create problems. Therefore, we have suggested simulcast mode," he explained.
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Sat.1 HD and ProSieben on T-HomeThe ProSiebenSat.1 Group has signed a contract with Deutsche Telekom’s T-Online for the distribution of its HDTV programmes. Sat.1 HD and ProSieben HD are now available via VDSL on T-Com’s T-Home IPTV service.
T-Home is available via Telekom’s high-speed Internet access, with transmission rates of up to 50Mbit/s. The commercial TV services Sat.1 HD and ProSieben HD will be included in the T-Home Complete package.
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ROO launch MGN online video contentMGN Digital has partnered with Internet video specialist ROO to develop a video portal for its flagship ‘Mirror’ and ‘Sunday Mirror’ websites.
The partnership forms part of MGN Digital’s strategy, which aims to place video at the heart of its websites. With the support of ROO the sites will aim to be more user-friendly, and will feature the new ROO video players.
Robert Petty, CEO of ROO, said that the British public had "a tremendous appetite for online video, and traditional news organisations are realising the importance of providing a greater interactive experience to their online audiences."
MGN Digital operates websites for Trinity Mirror, the UK’s largest newspaper publisher, with over 500 media brands including some 250 national and regional newspaper titles.
UK independent television production and distribution company RDF Media Group has confirmed the launch of RDF Digital, a new division established to focus on the creation of video content for distribution over the Internet. The division will work closely with members of RDF’s multi-genre development and production teams to service the demand for entertaining video content from a variety of clients.
According to Zad Rogers, Creative Director, RDF Digital, "video content is finding its way onto the web at an unprecedented rate due to advances in technology and quicker, more widespread broadband connections in the UK. We believe that RDF, with its track record as a producer of innovative popular programming is in fantastic position to serve the needs of a range of potential customers in this fast moving new market."
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AMC-18 Ready for Commercial ServicesSES Americom has confirmed that the Americom-18 (AMC-18) satellite, launched on December 8 2006, has successfully completed a full battery of in-orbit-tests and is now operational from its assigned orbital location of 105 degrees West.
The C-band satellite is the first in that frequency at 105 degrees to be operated by SES Americom. Given the demand from the media community for more high definition as well as standard definition distribution bandwidth, Americom has been seeding the cable head-end market with triple-feed antennas.
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Envivio double delightMPEG-4-based IP video convergence technology solutions provider Envivio has picked up two awards for its innovations and market presence.
It has been awarded the 2007 Frost and Sullivan Award for Entrepreneurial Company of the Year in the world digital media infrastructure market, recognising its early provision of MPEG-4 technologies and solutions. It also received the 2006 Frost and Sullivan Product Innovation Award for its work in the field of video encoding solutions for mobile television applications and its mobile video encoder – the 4Caster M2.
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Thursday 1st February
80m IPTV Subscribers by 2011, only half will pay
BBC iPlayer gets green light
YouTube users watching less TV
BSkyB profits down but ahead of forecasts
IBM, Cisco soft launch IPTV
BBC buys stake in Freehand
CCTV expands Internet and Mobile TV offerings
Comcast and C-COR VOD in a box
HK’s Cable TV scores new channel
DirecTV acquires DirecTV Latin America
YooMedia interactive TV gaming
Nesma chooses Globecast for satellite distribution
PCCW selects Harmonic for video service
IPTV-Americas selects Verimatrix
Verizon launches quad-play bundle
Vivendi 2006 revenues reach E20 bn
Nickleodeon’s Nicktropolis
80m IPTV Subscribers by 2011, only half will pay
The total number of IPTV households will grow dramatically over the next five years, rising from just under 6 million homes worldwide in 2006 to more than 80 million in 2011, predicts a report from the technology research firm, Strategy Analytics.
The report, ‘Global IPTV Forecast: Homes, Users and Subscribers,’ finds that many subscribers to IPTV will not be paying directly for TV programming or services, but will use IPTV free-of-charge as part of a package of bundled broadband services. This report predicts that the number of households worldwide paying for IPTV services will rise from 3.3 million in 2006 to 40.9 million in 2011.
"An intensely competitive consumer communications market is making deployment of new services, like IPTV, a critical objective for many service providers. But service structure and payment models used to deliver IPTV vary widely by region and service provider," noted Martin Olausson, Senior Analyst from the Strategy Analytics Digital Consumer Practice. "The traditional pay-TV definition breaks down in an environment in which multiple IP services (broadband, VoIP and IPTV) are paid for by a single fee, and in which a growing share of TV programming will not be paid for via subscriptions."
"The jury is still out on how much consumers are willing to pay telcos for IPTV," noted David Mercer, VP and Principal Analyst at Strategy Analytics. "Most telcos will likely offer customers a mix of free, subscription and pay-as-you-go programming models."
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BBC iPlayer gets green light
The BBC Trust has given the go-ahead to the corporation's iPlayer on-demand TV service, but with significant changes, including some proposed by Ofcom.
Changes proposed by the Trust as part of its public value test for the iPlayer include limiting the storage window for seven-day catch up of individual TV shows to 30 days, rather than the 13 weeks requested by BBC management.
The Trust has also taken onboard Ofcom's reservations about the market impact of the iPlayer's series stacking facility. Series stacking will only be available for certain kinds of programme, the Trust has ruled, "with a distinct run, with a beginning and end, and a narrative arc or those which are landmark series with exceptionally high impact".
The Trust has also asked the corporation to reassess its reliance on Microsoft technology, especially for the digital rights management (DRM) framework. The Trust will require the BBC Executive to adopt a platform-agnostic approach within a reasonable timeframe. This requires the BBC to develop an alternative DRM framework to enable users of other technology, for example, Apple and Linux, to access the on-demand services.
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YouTube users watching less TV
Research by Harris Interactive reveals that over four in 10 (42 per cent) online US adults say they have watched a video at YouTube, and 14 per cent say they visit the site frequently. 32 per cent of these frequent YouTube users say they are watching less TV as a result of the time they spend there. However, YouTube has its own set of challenges as it tries to monetise the viewer traffic it has amassed.
If YouTube is considering airing ads before its videos, they may be advised to halt that thinking as 73 per cent of frequent YouTube users say they would visit the site less if it started including short video ads before every clip.
Further compounding the problem for the TV and advertising, YouTube usage is greatest among the group already hardest to reach through television advertising: young males. 76 per cent of 18 to 24 year old males say they have watched a video at YouTube, and 41 per cent visit YouTube frequently.
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BSkyB profits down but ahead of forecasts
BSkyB reported profits ahead of forecasts but it disappointed investors with slower customer growth over the key Christmas season. That growth was well below 190,000 predicted by analysts in a Reuters poll and was also down sharply on 215,000 recorded a year earlier.
For the latest October-December quarter Sky's overall net customer growth was below forecasts at 183,000, taking the group's total number of subscribers in the UK and Ireland to 8.4 million. The Group claimed that its expansion into the UK broadband and telephony sectors got off to a good start with 259,000 broadband customers by 28 January 2007.
Meanwhile, churn - the proportion of customers who cancelled their Sky subscriptions - was 11.9 per cent over the three-month period, up from 11.8 per cent in the previous quarter and also worse than forecasts. BSkyB suggested that this was a consequence of its previously-announced plans to first reduce, and then remove, viewing package discounts in retention and acquisition with a greater use of broadband and telephony. The Group estimates that around 27,000 customers left Sky’s platform during the quarter as a result of this change in policy.
Excluding these customers, churn was around 10.6 per cent. BSkyB expects this shift in retention and acquisition strategy will deliver valuable benefits in quality and profitability of the business through the second half of the financial year and beyond.
BSkyB said that its focus in the second half of this financial year was to continue to drive customer demand, accelerate the rate of broadband provisioning to reach over 700,000 customers by the end of June and to extend the roll-out of our broadband network. It also plans to capitalise on the investment in its DTH/DSL platform by introducing a new enhancement, ‘Sky Anytime’, giving over a million Sky customers at launch the chance to enjoy a selection of the week’s best programmes on-demand.
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IBM, Cisco soft launch IPTV
IBM and Cisco have launched a trial IPTV with HD, video-on-demand and other capabilities at a demonstration centre at the IBM Industrial Solutions Center in La Gaude, France.
The package will consist of six modules: the ‘head end’ feeding digital TV and HD TV satellite signals into the network supplied by Cisco subsidiary Scientific-Atlanta; conditional access provided by Verimatrix and IBM; video on demand by Kasenna and IBM; the core network by Cisco; the metro (city-wide or district-wide) network by Cisco and the access or ‘last mile’ DSL or fibre to the home from Cisco.
The IPTV package will be officially launched in March 2007.
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BBC buys stake in Freehand
BBC Worldwide is taking a 25 per cent stake in an Australian television production company, Freehand Group, as it pushes ahead with plans to become a major international media brand.
The public broadcaster's commercial arm is understood to be paying about £1m for the equity stake.
Some of the money will be used to create new shows for Australian audiences. BBC Worldwide has already sold a series of formats to Australian television including Strictly Come Dancing and The Weakest Link but it is keen to be more involved in producing shows, taking greater control of its intellectual property as well as production fees.
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CCTV expands Internet and Mobile TV offerings
Chinese state owned broadcaster CCTV is expanding up its data, mobile and IPTV offerings. The company has expanded its online video content, making 275 of the 391 programmes airing on the network available on CCTV.com.
To capitalise on the rapid growth of broadband and mobile delivery systems, CCTV obtained licences for IPTV, Web and mobile TV offerings. CCTV recently began IPTV trials and during the Asian Games in December 2006, CCTV further expanded its new media operations by launching a mobile TV offering and testing its IPTV offering. During the games, CCTV.com site had more than 60 million page views a day during the games, up from the typical usage of about 30 million views.
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Comcast and C-COR VOD in a box
Comcast Media Center (CMC), and C-COR are launching VOD In a Box˛, a pre-integrated on-demand solution designed to reduce the complexity, cost and time required to deploy video on demand (VOD) in markets that serve 25,000 digital customers or fewer. System testing has been completed and the first customer trials will start in Q1 2007.
The VOD In a Box solution includes C-COR's On Demand server and software management platform and offers approximately 1,000 hours of premium, pay and free content programming that will be aggregated and managed by Comcast Media Center. The solution, optimised for systems serving up to 25,000 digital subscribers, includes complete content aggregation, receiving equipment, storage and streaming hardware, a full suite of management software and tools as well as professional services, installation and support.
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HK’s Cable TV scores new channel
Hong Kong’s I-Cable Communications is planning for a new television channel to maintain viewer numbers and secure advertising income after losing the English Premier League football franchise to PCCW’s Now TV.
South China Morning Post quote company sources as saying Cable TV would invest almost HK$100 million (E9.9 million) and recruit about 100 programme and production staff for the channel, which was targeted to launch in the second quarter. The Cable TV outfit also plans to boost production of its own TV programmes to diversify its revenue stream.
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DirecTV acquires DirecTV Latin America
The DirecTV Group has agreed to acquire Darlene Investments's 14.1 per cent equity interest in DirecTV Latin America and resolve all outstanding disputes between the parties, for $325 million. The cash transaction, which is effective immediately, enables DirecTV to acquire full equity ownership of DirecTV Latin America, LLC, and eliminates all pending litigation against DirecTV and other parties.
DirecTV Latin America provides digital television service to approximately 4 million customers in Latin America.
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YooMedia interactive TV gaming
YooMedia, the interactive media, gaming and mobile entertainment group, is piloting the first digital television format for Tringo, a hybrid of bingo and tetris.
The company has been developing the television version of the game for its joint venture partner SGI. Tringo will be the joint venture’s first participation TV games format for both UK and international markets. The interactive multi-player game will be piloted on Sky Channel 842, ahead of an anticipated full roll-out later in the year.
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Nesma chooses Globecast for satellite distribution
North African channel nessma has launched via Globecast satellite. The channel is now available via Direct-to-Home satellite reception throughout North Africa and the Middle East. GlobeCast will also supply nessma with an access to its GlobeCast Content Exchange service, an IP-based video exchange and collaboration tool.
The channel’s programming will be carried via the leading regional orbital position on Arabsat’s BADR-4 satellite at 26° East and on Nilesat 102 at 7° West.
GlobeCast is managing a seamless broadcast service for nessma, including fibre connectivity from Paris to its Madrid teleport, where GlobeCast provides uplink and space capacity on Arabsat’s BADR-4 and Nilesat 102. nessma will also be exploiting GlobeCast’s content exchange solution for the gathering of live news reports from the field for dispatch to the channel’s broadcast department.
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PCCW selects Harmonic for video service
Harmonic has revealed that IPTV operator PCCW is deploying its DiviCom Electra 5400 standard definition (SD) MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) encoders for its now TV channel line-up. This expansion enables PCCW to add services and extend its reach in Hong Kong.
The now TV service, launched in 2003, is part of PCCW's quadruple platform offering and has over 700’000 subscribers.
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IPTV-Americas selects Verimatrix
IPTV-Americas has selected content security specialist Verimatrix, to provide digital video content security throughout its digital video network. IPTV Americas is currently running trials of its turnkey IPTV solution with telecommunications carriers in Latin America and plans a full-scale launch in 2007 to meet growing demand for sophisticated entertainment options throughout Latin America.
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Verizon launches quad-play bundle
US telco Verizon has launched a selection of packages of two, three or four services, covering voice, Internet, TV and wireless service, in a move that shows its hand in the battle against similar offerings for cable.
Offered in nearly all Verizon's markets as Verizon Double Freedom, Verizon Triple Freedom and Verizon Ultimate Freedom, the six new plans let customers mix and match home services and, for the first time, include wireless service from Verizon Wireless.
" Bob Ingalls, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon's Telecom Group, said that by adding Verizon Wireless, consumers could have the convenience of all their services on a single bill with "great savings". "Our new packages are the most complete offers in the market," Ingalls claimed.
Verizon Triple Freedom links a combination of the Freedom Essentials calling plan and Verizon high-speed Internet (DSL up to 3 megabits per second) with either an existing Verizon Wireless calling plan or DirecTV service. Verizon Triple Freedom is priced from $94.99 to $104.99 a month, and savings range from $17.98 to $27.98 per month. Verizon Ultimate Freedom combines all four services at prices from $134.99 to $144.99 a month with monthly savings of up to $27.97 a month.
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Vivendi 2006 revenues reach E20 bn
Media conglomerate Vivendi has reported revenues totalling €20.044 billion for the full year 2006 compared to E19.484 million for the full year of 2005, an increase of 2.9 per cent.
Vivendi’s pay-TV arm, the Canal+ Group’s 2006 revenues amounted to E3.63 billion, with revenues up E257 million, or +7.7 per cent compared to 2005.
Revenues from pay-TV operations in France were up E244 million, or 9 per cent compared with 2005, mainly stemming from increased subscriptions of the Group’s offers in a very competitive market, as well as increased revenue per subscriber.
The Group claimed over 8,6 million subscriptions (individual and collective, in France and overseas) for its pay-TV offers. Net additions over the year equalled 350,000 subscriptions, with 1.155 million gross additions.
Total subscriptions to Canal+ at the end of the year reached 5.14 million, which represents a net increase of 76,000 compared with year-end 2005. The Canal+ churn rate stands at 11.95%, still among the lowest in Europe.
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Nickleodeon’s Nicktropolis
Children’s cable station Nickelodeon has launched online interactive world Nicktropolis.com, aimed at 6 to 14-year-olds. The site, which features advertising, allows users to create avatars and play games linked to Nickelodeon content.
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Wednesday 31st January
Mobile Internet use increases
Berlusconi says new Italian media bill "criminal"
Asturias awards 22 DTT licences
HDTV alliance established In Beijing
Tandberg served Colombian deal
Puttnam for BBC chairman?
IMG Acquires NunetSports
Net Insight further Finland DTT
Widevine for Brasil Telecom
NDS nears 70m digital smart cards
Mobile phone users in the UK accessed the Internet via their handsets approximately 16 million times throughout December 2006, reports the Mobile Data Association.
The association's report shows an increase of one million unique sessions over November 2006, the prior record. However, much of the recent increase could be a result of seasonal gift-giving, according to Thomas Husson, a mobile analyst at Jupiter Research.
In the last three months of 2006, mobile users accessed the web 45.6 million times. Despite the new numbers, Thomas Husson, mobile analyst, said mobile data was "far from being mainstream". He added that an increase in data use should be expected over the next year resulting from a larger installed base of Internet-capable mobile phones, better user experiences, user education, and new consumer-friendly price points.
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Berlusconi says new Italian media bill "criminal"
From Branislav Pekic in RomeItalian opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi has accused the government of deliberately targeting his media empire with a "criminal" reform bill.
Speaking to journalists, the former Prime Minister blasted the bill as a "criminal plan of attack" on his three-channel private TV network Mediaset. "Mediaset will be forced to defend itself," said the media mogul, threatening to "lead five million people on to the streets" in protest and use his TV channels to mobilise public opinion against the reforms.
The media bill was drawn up by Communications Minister Paolo Gentiloni and has just begun its passage through parliament. Gentiloni's bill would force both Mediaset and Italian pubcaster RAI to move one of their three terrestrial channels to digital within 15 months of its approval, with the freed-up airwaves being sold to competitors. It would set a November 2012 deadline for terrestrial networks to shift to digital. The bill would also introduce a 45 per cent cap on any given broadcaster's share of the TV advertising market.
Berlusconi also targeted Rupert Murdoch, claiming that Mediaset and RAI "are two dwarves in Europe and worldwide, while the real monopolist is Murdoch with his 138 TV channels". He pointed out that the Australian-born tycoon can easily buy products "at low prices" from US majors, "while Mediaset, RAI and La7 are forced to spend more and stage a fierce competition".
Asturias awards 22 DTT licences
From David Del Valle in MadridThe Spanish Region of Asturias, in the north of the country, has awarded 22 Regional and local DTT licences across the eight existing demarcations. One of them has a Regional coverage and has been awarded to Productora Asturiana de Television.
All of them will have to begin transmissions by the end of 2007. It is estimated that the investment to develop DTT in the region will amount to around E46 million over the next ten years.
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HDTV alliance established In BeijingBeijing Gehua CATV Network Company has formed an alliance with other companies to provide comprehensive high-definition television service and accelerate the development of the service in China.
The alliance includes companies such as Huacheng Film and Television Company, Dazhong Electronics, Dolby Laboratories Changhong, Haier, Hisense, Panasonic, TCL and Sharp.
The six TV manufacturers confirmed that their TV sets would conform with the national high-definition standard. A representative from Gehua pointed out that high definition TV, including LCD and plasma televisions, are replacing traditional CRT TVs because of their continuing price decline. However, they can't offer better television programmes unless there is high-definition signal access, and this is why they have formed this alliance.
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Tandberg served Colombian deal
Tandberg Television and business partner Balum Ltd have been selected by EPM Telecommunications UNE to provide IPTV video headend and MPEG-4 AVC encoders for the telco’s IPTV service in Colombia, South America. EPM’s new IPTV service will be part of its competitive triple play package.
William Franco, ICT CEO, EPM., said that using advanced MPEG-4 AVC technology enabled the telco to deliver the highest quality of IPTV entertainment services to our Colombian consumers for the first time, which he described as "a revolutionary achievement for the Colombian television industry."
Former film producer Lord Puttnam has emerged as favourite to replace Michael Grade as BBC chairman. The 65-year-old Channel 4 deputy chairman and Labour legislator is one of a large number of candidates approached by head-hunters hired by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Puttnam said he is considering the offer "very seriously". The deadline for applications is the end of January, with the peer seeming to show his hand by stating: "It is a very, very important job. I feel this very strongly. It is an important time for me and an important time for the BBC generally."
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IMG Acquires NunetSports
Entertainment and media company IMG has acquired mobile media solutions provider Nunet.IMG said that Nunet's capabilities perfectly complemented those of IMG Media, which specialises in the delivery of traditional and new media content and services, with Internet, broadband and mobile expertise, transforming how audiences access and interact with content.
Nunet currently streams more than 200 channels for over 20 mobile network operators in Europe, Africa and the Americas. Clients include Vodafone Germany, Vodafone Global, A1 Mobilkom in Austria, Swisscom in Switzerland and Vodacom in South Africa.
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Net Insight further Finland DTTNet Insight has received an order to expand Digita’s digital terrestrial television network in Finland. Digita has previously chosen Net Insight’s Nimbra platform to cover northern Finland. With the new order Digita continues to deploy the Nimbra platform in its DTT regional and national network. The equipment will be used to adapt DTT signals to Digita´s existing transmission network. The order will be delivered during the first quarter of 2007.
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Widevine for Brasil TelecomWidevine Technologies, provider of downloadable content protection, has confirmed that Brasil Telecom has chosen the company to protect its IP video service. Scheduled to launch in phases, the service enables subscribers to securely view a variety of premium Hollywood content and local programming on set top boxes, home media gateways and, eventually, PCs.
Brasil Telecom, one of the country’s major providers of converged telecommunications services, is the first to offer IPTV in Brazil. It launched in October 2006 in Brasilia with 300 customers.
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NDS nears 70m digital smart cardsDigital pay-television technology provider NDS has reported a net profit of $30.3 million or $0.52 per share, compared with $26 million, or $0.45 per share in the corresponding fiscal quarter in 2006.
Sales rose 8 per cent to $165 million, from $152 million in the corresponding quarter.
NDS claims 69.9 million active digital TV smart cards, 50.2 million cumulative set-top boxes activated with NDS middleware, as well as 5.3 million cumulative DVR deployments.Dr Abe Peled, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDS, said the company had made "tangible progress in developing products for the rapidly changing media distribution landscape," adding that the acquisition of Jungo, in the broadband residential gateway software, coupled with NDS’s Synamedia Metro system solution, and its VG Key digital rights management offering, positioned the company well to support the secure distribution of content over broadcast as well as broadband IP networks to any device, anywhere.
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Tuesday 30th January
Web TV downloads forecast to hit $6.3bn
YouTube to share revenue with users
Europe contests iTunes coding restrictions
News Corp buys stake in ROO
MySpace expands to Canada and Mexico
NDS and Dogan combine for DSMART
Limelight terabit per second content delivery
African broadband should reach 7m by 2011
Satellite TV for 93.9% of Saudis
Optibase wins Latvia IPTV deal
Web TV downloads forecast to hit $6.3bnDownloads of television programmes and films from websites are expected to grow to around $6.3bn in 2012, although some content companies have not learned from the music industry’s experiences with Internet piracy, says a report by business information group Informa.
Global revenues generated by legal online television and film services such as YouTube, Google Video, Movielink, and Apple’s iTunes Video, are expected to grow exponentially over the next few years as a result of growing broadband penetration. The arrival of legal peer-to-peer services, where computer users share files are also expected to boost IPTV.
However, in spite of the growing popularity of online TV, the audiovisual sector is in danger of repeating the mistakes of the music industry by hoping that piracy will somehow sort itself out, says the report.
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YouTube to share revenue with usersGoogle is planning to share advertising revenues on its YouTube video sharing site with the individuals who submit the films.
Chad Hurley, the co-founder of YouTube who sold the site to Google for $1.65bn last year, said the system would be introduced within months.
Other video-sharing sites such as Revver and 3’s mobile phone service in the UK already make payments to users who post videos popular enough to generate advertising revenue. However, none can match the scale of YouTube’s audience or its online video library, indicating that it could generate far more money for users.
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Europe contests iTunes coding restrictionsFollowing the Norwegian ruling that Apple iTune’s lack of compatibility with devices other than its own iPod is illegal, Germany’s federal consumer protection association, the VZBV, and the Dutch consumer protection agency, along with Finland and France, have joined a continent-wide move to get Apple to change its coding restrictions. "Consumers have a right to listen to music they have bought online on all players," says the VZBV.
Germany’s consumer protection minister, Horst Seehofer, plans to publish a jointly authored "Charter for Consumers of Digital Media" in mid-February. The charter will call on online vendors such as iTunes to ensure that downloaded music can be played on all types of players, as well as demanding that they address data-protection and liability issues. The VZBV hopes that the Government will use this national initiative to create momentum for steps at EU level.
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News Corporation is buying a stake in web video firm Roo. News Corp is to invest in as much as 10 per cent of the Australian web video firm, which provides technology for distributing and syndicating video content.
The company already powers video services for several News Corp web properties, including Times Online, Sun Online and The Australian. Roo also syndicates video content for Fox News and Sky News.
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MySpace expands to Canada and Mexico
MySpace is set to launch local versions of its site in Canada and Mexico as part of an aggressive international expansion, with South Korea and China believed to be next on its list.
The online social networking site, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, has doubled the number of people it employs in six months to keep up with its rapid growth.
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NDS and Dogan combine for DSMARTDigital pay-TV technology solutions provider NDS and Dogan TV, owned by Turkish media group Dogan Yayin Holding, are teaming up to deploy a broad range of NDS technologies and applications. This will enable Dogan TV to launch an advanced digital interactive television service, entitled DSMART, that will be available to an estimated total of 17 million households in Turkey.
The collaboration between NDS and Dogan TV will broadcasting free-to-air and premium content to Turkish consumers on a ‘pay as you go’ basis.
Limelight terabit per second content delivery
Limelight Networks, content delivery network for digital media, has revealed a global delivery capability that now exceeds one terabit per second, shattering previous industry content network metrics.
Limelight's delivery capacity is a combination of highly scalable delivery services deployed at key regional locations in conjunction with massive provisioning to broadband last-mile networks. This architecture is suited to the requirements of global digital media delivery, wherein increasingly large files, such as music, video, and movies, are being delivered to worldwide broadband audiences.
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African broadband should reach 7m by 2011The number of broadband connections, both fixed and wireless, is expected to reach over seven million by 2011 with DSL subscribers making up 3,7-million over the forecast period according to African ICT market research and analysis firm BMI-TechKnowledge.
Stephane Tchies, telecoms research analyst and co-author of the report, says that the African continent is slowly moving to the uptake of broadband services from a business and consumer perspective.
"In North Africa we are seeing a healthy uptake of services with Morocco reporting 350 000 ADSL subscribers and Egypt 150 000 while the rest of the continent broadband is starting to gain traction."
According to the report, currently 76 per cent of internet connections across Africa are dial-up, 17 per cent are xDSL, 4 per cent cellular (including GPRS, Edge and 3G/HSDPA) and 2% fixed wireless broadband, including various CDMA variants and early WiMAX implementations. This split will change significantly in future, in favour of wireless technologies, although ADSL will remain dominant, especially in North Africa.
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Satellite TV for 93.9% of SaudisA survey conducted out by the Arab Advisors Group with 674 cellular phone users across different parts of Saudi Arabia has found that 93.9 per cent of the population own a satellite dish. But nearly half the population, 48.4 per cent, still watch terrestrial television offerings, while more than 70 per cent are regular listeners to the radio.
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Optibase wins Latvia IPTV deal
Advanced digital video solutions provider Optibase has successfully installed the Baltic’s first turnkey MPEG4 IPTV solution for Lattelecom, Latvia’s leading provider of information technology and telecommunications services.
Optibase will provide an advanced, end-to-end IPTV solution enabling Lattelecom to supply state-of-the-art interactive TV services based MPEG-4 H.264 technology. In addition to streaming live TV channels, Lattelecom DSL users can form personal programme sets, order TV shows and movies, create personal archives, select languages and to use internet and voice communications.
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Monday 29th January
Digital online content revenues E8.3b in 2010
AT&T to ramp up IPTV rollouts
Europe looks to telecom providers and ISPs for IPTV
US consumers ‘ready For Mobile TV’
Cinea provides anti-piracy protection for BAFTA titles
Americans downplay illegal downloading seriousness
HK seeks views on mobile TV regulation
China seeks to ‘purify’ Internet
Spain's Tele 5 and Axion in DTT carriage deal
Wippit with ITN Source
InfoValue and Amino team for IPTV Services
Nintendo signs with Associated Press
Blu Ray hacked
Ondas Spanish satellite broadcasts
Digital online content revenues E8.3b in 2010Revenues from online content will reach Euro 8.3 billion by 2010 in Europe, a growth of over 400 per cent in five years, according to a new study by media analyst Screen Digest for the European Commission's Directorate General Information Society and Media.
The study entitled 'Interactive Content and Convergence: Implications for the information Society', had two major objectives. Firstly, to assess the potential growth of digital content including TV, movies, games, radio, music and publishing content across new distribution platforms and technologies, such as interactive TV, broadband and mobile. Secondly, and most importantly, to identify the current and potential economic, technical and legal obstacles that might hinder the exploitation of digital content in Europe.
The research found that the spread of broadband, the roll-out of advanced mobile networks, and the massive adoption of digital devices mean that online content is on the verge of becoming mass market, especially in the sector of music and games, where the proportion of revenues made online already represent a significant percentage of overall income. Although the European market is growing steadily, technological, economic and legal challenges were identified that need to be addressed to ensure European creative industries can maximise the potential economic and social benefits.
The research will be a contribution to the communication on 'Content Online in Europe's Single Market' which should be presented later this year by Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Information Society and Media. "The long-awaited digital convergence is becoming an economic reality, creating great opportunities for Europe's consumers, content providers and technology industries," said Reding. "To capitalise may require casting a fresh eye at the technical and legal issues where a modernised and internal market-oriented approach would add value to European content."
The report highlights some of the key obstacles to developing online content and assesses their market impact up to 2010. These include: wide ranging differences in broadband access between countries, Copyright issues and digital piracy, which still significantly limits potential online revenue and dissuades rights-holders from making content available online.
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AT&T to ramp up IPTV rolloutsAT&T's IPTV solution is working better than the company anticipated, thus the American telco plans to ramp up deployments in the coming year, Chief Executive Officer Ed Whitacre has revealed.
Whitacre commented on the expansion of AT&T's IPTV service during the company's fourth-quarter 2006 earnings call. By the end of the year, AT&T's U-verse IPTV service, as well as HD programming, will tentatively be available to 8 million homes, he said.
AT&T's IPTV service is currently available in 11 markets - and in those markets, it's available only to a handful of subscribers. AT&T had said it expected to have service available in 15 markets earlier in 2006, but the company changed its projections toward the end of the year.
AT&T blamed delays on glitches in the Microsoft software on which it operates. Executives on the conference stresed that delays in the IPTV service had been caused by software issues and did not reflect any problems with the network architecture.
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Europe looks to telecom providers and ISPs for IPTV
Consumers would choose traditional telecom providers and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) over portal/content providers to supply their IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) service, according to European research commissioned by Juniper Networks. The research suggests that consumers’ primary concerns focus upon the quality, reliability and security of broadband connections.
Survey respondents, all consumers in the U.K., France and Germany between 18 and 65+ years of age, opted for established telecoms brands over other potential IPTV providers, because they perceive this will deliver the best quality of service.
Juniper’s research also suggests that IPTV adoption will be increasingly defined by consumer demands for highly-personalised services, enabling users to build their own schedules and packages built around on-demand content. As a result, ‘traditional’ providers in the U.K., France and Germany may have only a small window of opportunity to establish services and secure IPTV subscribers before competition hots up.
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US consumers ‘ready For Mobile TV’US consumers are willing to pay enough for watching TV on mobile phones to justify what it would cost carriers to build a new broadcast network to guarantee quality service, according to the Mobile DTV Alliance.
According to the Alliance, a successful proposition for mobile TV in the United States is high-quality video and service and flat rates of about $20 a month for unlimited viewing. To meet those standards, the alliance suggests building a separate broadcast network, which would cost a carrier between $500 million and $2 billion.
But the cost would be justified, according to Yoram Solomon, president of the alliance and author of a white paper on the economics of Mobile TV. He contends that if a quarter of the subscribers of operators are willing to pay $20 a month for the service, carriers would take in a total of $12 billion annually. At that rate, even if half of the revenue went directly to content owners, and the entire investment in infrastructure was amortised over one year, "there is still plenty of profit to share."
The Mobile DTV Alliance is an open industry consortium that focuses on selecting and promoting the best practices and open standards to deliver premium-quality broadcast television to mobile devices in North America. The Alliance includes leading companies from across the mobile business system and entertainment value chain. Sponsor members include Hiwire, Intel, Microsoft, Modeo, Motorola, Nokia and Texas Instruments.
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Cinea provides anti-piracy protection for BAFTA titles
Cinea, a subsidiary of Dolby Laboratories, has encrypted 23 films for award consideration by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) in the 2006–2007 season, using its S-View anti-piracy protection. After making available the S-View service to all of the major film studios as well as various independent film companies and UK distributors, Cinea aided in the award consideration efforts for nearly two dozen films, distributing approximately 100,000 copies to BAFTA academy members around the globe."Several studios chose to work with Cinea during the critical award consideration period because we provide a secure platform for ensuring that high-value film content will not be illegally distributed," said Laurence Roth, Vice President of Business Development and Marketing for Cinea. "We are pleased to provide a solution to the industry that not only prevents piracy but also facilitates award consideration efforts in a secure review environment."
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Americans downplay illegal downloading seriousnessOnly 40 per cent of Americans polled by Toronto-based Solutions Research Group agreed that downloading copyrighted movies on the Internet was a "very serious offence." That compares with the 78 per cent who said shoplifting a DVD from the local video store was a very serious offence.
"There is a Robin Hood effect. Most people perceive celebrities and studios to be rich already and as a result don't think of movie downloading as a big deal," said Kaan Yigit, study director at Solutions Research Group.
Yigit said that existing download-to-own movie services and new market entrants will need to be more flexible in first-run and catalogue content offerings and pricing if they want to convince consumers to pay copyright holders for product. "Otherwise file-sharing will continue to thrive," he said.
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HK seeks views on mobile TV regulationPublic views are being sought on the introduction and regulation of mobile television in Hong Kong. The Commerce, Industry & Technology Bureau said it needs to facilitate the launch of mobile TV services in Hong Kong to promote investment, innovation and competition for the benefit of consumers and the further development of Hong Kong's communications market.
The three-month consultation aims to seek views on spectrum availability, spectrum allocation, spectrum assignment, and licensing arrangements.
Subject to the outcome of this consultation, it will draft an implementation framework for introducing mobile TV for a second round of consultation.
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China seeks to ‘purify’ InternetChinese president Hu Jintao has called for tighter controls on the Internet, ordering Government and Communist party cadres to ‘purify’ the web and tap into new technology to guide and manage online opinion more closely.
"Whether or not we can actively use and effectively manage the Internet…will affect national cultural information security and the long-term stability of the state," he told state media.
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Spain's Tele 5 and Axion in DTT carriage deal
From David del Valle in MadridMediaset-controlled Tele 5 has signed an agreement with Axion, subsidiary of French company TDF, for the distribution and carriage of its DTT signals from August 2007.
The deal ends the current broadcast transmission monopoly of Spanish operator Abertis and paves the way for the development and launch of interactive DTT services in the near future.
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Video archive ITN Source has signed a deal with music download service Wippit to provide video content from its music archive for consumers to download.
The deal will allow its users to download interviews and news pieces from ITN Source’s music catalogue, spanning from the 1920s to present day. ITN Source will supply Wippit with footage from ITN, Reuters and British Pathe.
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InfoValue and Amino team for IPTV Services
InfoValue Computing, providers of video-streaming platforms and solutions, has partnered with Amino, IPTV platform supplier, to deliver full streaming video to enterprise users, telco subscribers, and hotel guests by using the AmiNET124 set-top box (STB) supporting the H.264 (MPEG-4, Part 10) video compression format.
As part of the partnership, InfoValue and Amino have customised InfoValue SuiteTV and BizTV, the company's flagship video-streaming solutions, to utilise the full feature set of the AmiNET124 and provide for a ‘future-proof’ STB supporting the latest compression formats and required features for streaming video applications.
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Nintendo signs with Associated PressNintendo Wii Consoles with a broadband Internet connection and the will be able to access the new free news channel primarily featuring top news stories and photographs from The Associated Press. Japanese-language news will come from a separate agency.
News will be displayed through an interactive map, which users can navigate with the Wii's wireless controller, said Perrin Kaplan, vice president for marketing at Nintendo.
The AP will deliver news for the Wii in English, French, Spanish, Dutch, German, and Swiss-German, said Jane Seagrave, vice president of new media markets for the New York-based news agency.
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Blu Ray hackedHaving already hacked HD DVD copy protection last month, the same hacker has achieved the same with Sony’s HD optical format Blu-ray.
Both HD DVD and Blu-ray discs can have their decryption keys updated so compromised keys can in theory be ‘banned’ and playback software will refuse to run them. Whether Hollywood will want to run the risk of invalidating millions of titles when the new keys can be just as easily obtained is open to debate.
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Ondas Spanish satellite broadcasts
Pan-European satellite media company Ondas Media has been registered as an operator by the Spanish National Regulatory Authority the CMT (Comisión del Mercado de las Telecomunicaciones). Ondas is now authorised to provide satellite radio broadcast services from Spain to the whole of the European Union.Ondas intends to use Spain as the gateway to broadcast its multi-lingual radio, music, video, and data services directly to European consumers in their automobiles, trucks, homes, offices and to their mobile and portable devices.
