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Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Tuesday
Friday 17th November
BT pays £67m for PlusNet
Vivendi profit up
3 broadband package
Spain's TVE to launch a Freesat platform
HDTV traction
Channel 4 reveal 4oD
Ofcom probes Sky’s EPG service
Freeview DVR vendors picked
AOL appoints Falco
Optibase provides IPTV solution in Hungary
Eurocinema arrives in New York
BT pays £67m for PlusNetBT is buying broadband provider PlusNet for £67m (E95m) to strengthen its position in broadband services. The deal is the latest move to consolidate the market as operators seek economies of scale to cope with cut-price competition.
BT’s new broadband customer share had slipped to 22 per cent during the second quarter of its financial year from 25 per cent in the previous quarter, sparking fears it was losing out to competitors, though its overall share of the broadband market remained fairly steady at 24 percent. BT intends to keep the PlusNet brand name.
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Vivendi Universal said that third-quarter adjusted net profit rose 28 per cent on growth at Maroc Telecom, Canal Plus and the company's games unit. Vivendi also confirmed it would meet guidance with a full-year 2006 adjusted profit gain of 16 per cent to E2.6 billion.
Vivendi said the adjusted net profit figure strips out certain financial charges and income, the amortization of intangibles acquired through business combinations, earnings from discontinued operations, provision for income taxes and minority interests relating to these adjustments, as well as nonrecurring tax items. Earlier this month, Vivendi reported revenue for the quarter ended September 30th at E4.89 billion from E4.87 billion a year earlier.
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3 Group has given details of a fixed-price mobile broadband package offering services including VoIP calls with Skype, instant messaging with Yahoo! and Microsoft and - for Slingbox users, shifted TV. The X-Series package from 3 will launch in the UK in December and in 3’s other markets next year. Two handsets, one from Nokia and the other Sony Ericsson, initially will support the full range of services.
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Spain's TVE to launch a Freesat platform
From David del Valle in MadridTVE is to launch a free-to-view digital satellite platform in the first quarter of 2007 that will initially distribute its five current DTT channels (TVE1, TVE2, Teledeporte, Clan and Canal 24 Horas). Private TV operators have been invited to take part in the project.
The subscription-free package will be available through Hispasat and Eutelsat. This TVE-sponsored initiative aims to complement the current DTT platform and will target those homes unable to receive digital terrestrial television. "The aim is to ensure free access to all the TVE's DTT services and the rapid penetration of DTT across the country in the run-up to switchover", explained Eladio Gutierrez, Director of RTVE Digital.
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Over one million people in the UK have HDTV-enabled TV sets, with another 3.5 million likely to buy, according to Continental Research’s Autumn 2006 Digital TV Report.The percentage of households owning HDTV equipment had increased from 2 per cent in February to 6 per cent in July, an installed base of just over one million.
Dave Chilvers, Chairman of Continental Research, said: "Even though there are only about a dozen channels with HDTV content, and consumers can only access it via Sky with the BBC only supplying one channel, its take up is the fastest of any Sky product to have launched."
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Channel 4 reveal 4oDChannel 4 has unveiled details of its new online video-on-demand service, branded 4oD. Shows will available to ‘rent’ for up to 48 hours for 99p, (E1.4) or to download to own for £1.99.
Content will include old favourites and new shows aired on TV up to 30 days previously. C4 also unveiled a deal to make some of its content available on-demand on BT Vision.
Ofcom probes Sky’s EPG service
Ofcom is to look at Sky’s electronic program guide (EPG) service after digital channel Rapture complained about the fee it was charged for the listing service. Sky could be forced to review its EPG fee structure if the watchdog finds Sky has not managed the Rapture complaint in a fair manner.
Rapture believes that Sky is charging excessively high fees for the supply of its EPG service on the digital satellite platform, and that it has previously charged much lower fees for the same service. Ofcom will review the evidence presented by Rapture, which says the fee of £76,800 for one year's EPG is not cost related, and claims no negotiation on this price was allowed by Sky.
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Freeview announced that six manufacturers have signed up to produce Freeview Playback-branded digital TV recorders, although most will not be in the shops in time for Christmas.
Alba, Humax, Sagem, Sharp, Sony, and TVonics have all signed up to meet standards set by the DTT platform, with the rollout of personal video recorder technology - similar to that offered by Sky+ - seen as a vital next step for its growth.
Media Week first broke the news that Freeview had delayed a major marketing campaign to promote the next generation of branded products, which had originally been due to start in September.
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Time Warner has appointed an industry veteran from NBC to lead its AOL division.NBC Universal Television Group President Randy Falco replaces CEO Jonathan Miller. The management switch follows the company's announcement of a major overhaul in August to turn AOL into an ad-supported Internet service instead of a subscription-based business. The plan included about 5,000 job cuts as part of a cost-saving campaign.
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Optibase provides IPTV solution in HungaryAdvanced digital video solutions outfit Optibase is providing its IPTV solution to Hungarian Internet service provider, TVnet. Upgrading its current Internet and telephony services, TvNet has added IPTV to its list of services, to commence in Budapest in December.
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Eurocinema arrives in New YorkEurocinema, the branded on-demand service featuring European and global theatrical and short films, is to officially supply on demand content to Time Warner Cable in the New York area.
International films can be viewed by Time Warner Cable digital customers through International Movies On Demand (IMOD) Channel 500. Each title may be viewed at any time at a cost of $3.95 for unlimited access within 24 hours. IMOD films can be accessed by categories including Bollywood, Chinese, French, Italian, Japanese and Spanish.
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Thursday 16th November
OFT could stall NTL's ITV takeover bid
Google prepares for YouTube legal battle
Orange and BBC World global deal
Yahoo: Internet advertising understated
22 candidates for local DTT in Paris region
Antena 3 launches 24/7 news
SIC Noticias arrives in the USA
PCCW and CANAL+ secure Premier League rights
Yamgo extreme mobile TV
Hanaro selects Alcatel for broadband network
OFT could stall NTL's ITV takeover bidThe UK's Office of Fair Trading (OFT) could intervene in NTL's proposed takeover of ITV, because of NTL's 50 per cent interest in pay-TV channel provider UKTV.
The proposed merger would bring ITV's huge back catalogue into the merged group as well, making a library so all-encompassing that the OFT may well take action because of its effect on competition.
UKTV has an exclusive "first-look" deal for BBC-produced content, which runs until 2027. However, the deal only covers rights for "linear TV" - principally, UKTV's existing channels - and not new means of delivery, such as on-demand or broadband rights. Exploiting ITV's back catalogue through these new media platforms is an important driver of the proposed NTL/ITV merger.
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Google prepares for YouTube legal battleGoogle is setting aside more than $200m to deal with possible lawsuits and copyright settlements over the next 12 months arising from its $1.65bn acquisition of the video-sharing site YouTube.
Google announced the completion of the deal, agreed last month, and said it had issued 3.2m shares and options and warrants convertible into another 440,000 shares worth $1.65bn, less $15m already given in funds to YouTube, reports the Financial Times. Critics of the YouTube deal have argued that Google would face major lawsuits from media companies whose copyrights were infringed by content being illegally uploaded onto the YouTube site.
But Eric Schmidt, chief executive, denied last week a report that surfaced on blogs suggesting it had put aside $500m for possible lawsuits. He told the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco that Google had been visiting as many media companies as it could to sort out content licensing issues.
YouTube has taken down material when copyright holders have complained and is introducing new technology to identify pirated content.
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Orange and BBC World global dealOrange and BBC World have extended their current mobile distribution offering by signing a global deal that will allow Orange mobile phone customers in eight new countries to watch the channel live. BBC World, the BBC's 24-hour international news information service will be the only English language news channel to be streamed live to mobiles in Belgium, Poland, the Netherlands, Romania, Portugal, Jordan, Egypt and the Dominican Republic.
The agreement will allow Orange mobile broadband customers to access live news wherever they are through their mobiles. It also increases BBC World's new media distribution channels worldwide, encompassing mobile, broadband and live streaming to PCs and airline TV systems.
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Yahoo: Internet advertising understatedThe growth potential of Internet advertising has been underestimated because the predictions did not include advertising on video, social media or mobiles, according to Terry Semel, CEO of Yahoo.
Speaking at the Internet Advertising Bureau conference in London, Semel said predictions for online advertising had only covered graphical and search advertising. "Video will become a major factor on the Internet. It will be ever present throughout the Internet and it will find its proper way to advertise. So whether it's mobile or whether it's video or whether it's more and more community sites, these factors have not gone into those numbers, so the actual growth potential of advertising online is really being understated," He stated.
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22 candidates for local DTT in Paris region
From Sotires Eleftheriou in ParisThe French broadcasting regulator CSA has received 22 applications for the four local DTT channels to cover Paris and the surrounding region. All of the candidates are for free to air projects; five of them are from associations. The CSA may also decide to take into account projects which were posted before the closing date. The short-listed channels will be published in March 2007 and the authorisations issued in May 2007. Service should begin before the end of 2007.
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Antena 3 launches 24/7 news
From David Del Valle in MadridAntena 3 TV is breaking into the new media business with the launch of a 24 hour news IPTV channel, Antena3noticias24, available through mobile TV and DTT, along with its other DTT channels Antena.Neox and Antena.Nova. Viewers can also have access to the channel through www.antena3.com or www.antena3noticias.com
Meanwhile, rumours about Rupert Murdoch's interest in Antena 3 mount ith its shares significantly up on the Stock Market. The former Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Maria Aznar, member of the board at News Corporation could help smooth any bid. Murdoch has long looked for a way into the Spanish TV market.
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SIC Noticias arrives in the USA
From Branislav Pekicin RomePortuguese all-news channel SIC Notícias will be officially launched today in the USA, although it has been on the air for nearly 15 days. SIC Notícias which is available on Channel Canal 599 of Dish Network will form part of a Portuguese TV package together with Newark-based SPT and RTPi which costs US$ 24.99 (EUR 19.50) a month. Dish Network will thus be transmitting a total of six Portuguese language channels - RTPi (Channel 615), SPT (Channel 650) and SIC Noticias (Channel 599) from Portugal, as well as TV Globo (Channel 596), TV Record (Channel 597) and RBTI (Channel 598) from Brazil. From January 2007, Dish will add PFC, a 24-hour football channel from Brazil.
The arrival of SIC Notícias in the US is the result of more than one year and a half of negotiations with SPT, which wanted to add the news channel to a new package to be offered by Dish Network. According to SPT‚s Lusa António Seabra, the addition of SIC Notícias to the existing package will increase the price by only one dollar.
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PCCW and CANAL+ secure Premier League rights
Hong Kong telco PCCW has achieved exclusive rights to broadcast UK Premier League football on its Now service for three seasons commencing from the 2007/08 season in Hong Kong. PCCW will show a total of 380 matches on both TV and mobile through the PCCW Mobile 3G service.
CANAL+ has also secured the rights to broadcast the same three seasons in the Nordic region.
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Yamgo extreme mobile TVYamgo, UK sports mobile content providers and publishers, has launched a Mobile TV channel dedicated to extreme sports entertainment. Yamgo TV works on over 60 different mobile devices through the ROK TV service and is available in the UK, USA and China.
Yamgo TV is streamed over both 2.5G and 3G services to mobile phones. Consumers have shown a strong appetite to watch mobile TV and video clips and Yamgo TV provides instant access to videos specifically optimised to fit the small screen of mobile phones.
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Hanaro selects Alcatel for broadband networkHanaro Telecom, the Korean service provider, has selected Alcatel for its Gigabit Passive Optical Networking (GPON) trial in Korea. This commercial pilot signals a breakthrough for GPON in the Korean market and in the greater North-East Asian region.
The GPON trial, which started in October 2006, is using a future-proof fibre access technology capable of delivering speeds of 100 Mbps. Upon the completion of the trial, Hanaro Telecom will be able to build an all-fibre access network, enabling triple play services - including high-speed internet, high definition video, and multi-player interactive gaming - to Korean households.
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Wednesday 15th November
Britain wins support against net video regulation
TiVo Download service
Free UK broadband disappointing
AL JAZEERA International launch
Madrid to subsidise DTT
Loral's Q3 Looks up
Zee Telefilms acquires 50% of Ten Sports
BT Broadband price cuts
Digital TV offers choice says TVNZ
Disney on Kabel Deutschland
Britain wins support against net video regulationThe British government is set to succeed in fending off proposed European rules that would make it responsible for overseeing taste and decency in video clips on websites.
Under the European media regulation directive TV Without Frontiers, national governments would be responsible for regulating the Internet for the first time. Britain's media watchdog Ofcom argued that the plan was unworkable and would stifle creativity and investment in new media across Europe and has now won majority support for its objections, reports The Guardian. Ofcom said Internet users should be left to police themselves within the bounds of the law. Because Internet technology does not respect borders, it argued, users would simply turn instead to websites in the US and elsewhere.
Britain also won majority support for its line on the "country of origin" principle, which makes national regulators responsible for broadcasters operating from within their borders.
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TiVo plans to broaden its services by adding a feature that will allow users of its set-top boxes to download videos from the web and watch them on TV.
TiVo expects to implement its new service by the end of the year through an upgrade to the TiVo Desktop software. The service will only work with downloaded videos that are not copy-protected. Content bought from online stores like Movieling or iTunes will not be supported, although TiVo officials said they will try to offer protected content in the future. TiVo will also introduce a feature to allow users to create a private channel to distribute to the TiVo boxes of customers who have agreed to be on a private network.
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Free UK broadband disappointing"Free" broadband deals have failed to meet customer satisfaction levels. According to the uSwitch Customer Satisfaction Report, most providers fail to match rising customer numbers with improved services and technology.
The survey of more than 11,000 customers found a nine per cent drop in broadband satisfaction levels. The report also says consumer trust in their internet suppliers is currently at an "all time low". The TalkTalk service, run by Carphone Warehouse, and Orange achieved the worst scores with only 70 per cent of people expressing satisfaction with the services.
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AL JAZEERA International launchAl Jazeera English, the first English language international news and current affairs channel headquartered in the Middle East, launches today at 12.00 GMT to over 80 million cable and satellite households worldwide, far exceeding its original launch target of 40 million cable and satellite homes. It will be distributed across all continents and in addition to cable and satellite will be available on broadband IPTV, ADSL, terrestrial and mobile phone platforms.
Wadah Khanfar, the Director General of the Al Jazeera Network stated, "Our launch figure is over double the original target we set for ourselves and is unprecedented in the broadcasting industry - no other international news channel has launched with such a high number of homes across the world. We will continue to build on this figure after launch and will be looking to expand our reach significantly. This is another reflection of the strength of the Al Jazeera brand."
Madrid to subsidise DTT
From David Del Valle in MadridThe Regional Government of Madrid has announced that it will give subsidies to finance the DTT adaptation in SMATV buildings. Subsidies will cover up to 50 per cent of the cost of the DTT adaptation in those buildings or blocks with more than 20 flats with SMATV installations. In buildings with less than 20 flats, the subsidy will represent 20 to 30 per cent. 700,000 households in Madrid will benefit from the measure.
So far, more than 40 per cent of all Madrid households are already adapted to receive DTT, with 417 new adapted buildings every day. There are plans to reach a percentage of 70 to 80 next year. Madrid will be home to 53 local DTT channels.
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One year after Loral Space and Communications was emerging from bankruptcy, the company has survived a troubling period and is now posting impressive results. Loral's revenue for Q3 rose 42 per cent to $227 million compared to $160 million last year, and for the first nine months of the year, total revenue reached $592 million - an increase of 38 per cent. The company also reported a net income of $1.2 million for the period and a year-to-date net loss of $26.1 million.
In the company's satellite services, Loral Skynet 3Q06 revenues were $52.2 million, a 27 per cent improvement over the $41.1 million a year ago. Utilization on Loral Skynet's satellite fleet at the end of the third quarter was 74 per cent compared to 67 percent at the end of 3Q05.
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Zee Telefilms acquires 50% of Ten Sports
Zee Telefilms, India's biggest publicly traded television broadcaster, has bought a 50 per cent stake in the Ten Sports television channel. The stake will help Zee Telefilms gain access to more sport fans in Asia, mainly cricket enthusiasts in India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, and the West Indies. Zee Telefilms and Ten Sports have bid for the global cricket telecast rights for events after the 2007 cricket World Cup.
Ten Sports, owned by Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based Taj TV Ltd., also has rights to the UEFA Champions League, WWE, U.S. Open and Hockey World Cup.
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BT is to cut prices of its wholesale broadband products by up to 12.5 per cent from next May when the telco expects 1.5m of its lines to have been unbundled. It also forecast further cuts by January 2008. "These pricing proposals will help our ISP customers develop their business plans and compete effectively in the broadband market," BT said. Additionally, BT is to introduce a "cessation" charge of £33.75 for service providers whose customers change broadband providers.
Digital TV offers choice says TVNZTelevision New Zealand viewers are being promised more local content on two new commercial-free digital channels. The government is pumping $79 million into the state broadcaster to establish the channels, which should be up and running by late next year. One channel will be dedicated to news, current affairs, sports and documentaries. The other is to be aimed at children and families.
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Disney on Kabel DeutschlandBuena Vista, the international TV distribution division of Disney, has concluded a multi-year Pay-Per-View licensing agreement with the On Demand Group, acting as Pay-Per-View partner for Germany's largest cable operator Kabel Deutschland. The agreement will bring a range of current, upcoming and library movies to Kabel Deutschland subscribers via its digital cable service Select KINO.
With this agreement, users will be able to access a library of feature films from Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures and Miramax.
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Tuesday 14th November
NTL seeks ITV approval. BT in the wings?
DT turns to Obermann
Google: mobiles could be free
Italian TV market growth
France 24 free to air
O2 third quarter results
Hong Kong legislators probe PCCW purchase
Lycos Cinema
Sky senior appointments
emuse deal with ids
Adkins joins BBC Worldwide
NTL seeks ITV approval. BT in the wings?
NTL is planning this week to meet ITV shareholders and Ofcom to discuss its £5bn (E7.25bn) offer for the television group. The cable company is to outline its intentions and explain the industrial logic of a deal and say it is considering making an offer of about 120p a share.
Sir Richard Branson, NTL’s largest shareholder, is understood to be fully behind the approach but is said to be "mindful that NTL does not overstretch itself". NTL is planning a cash-and-shares offer but will offer a full cash alternative for UK institutional shareholders who cannot hold NTL’s Nasdaq-listed paper. The deal will be funded by bank debt and bonds, although there is widespread concern at the resulting level of indebtedness for the group.
NTL will also approach the media regulator to discuss its proposal. Any change of control of ITV would trigger a review by Ofcom, including the broadcaster’s public service programming obligations.
Some observers are sceptical that a merger of two companies that are facing challenges – ITV from a tough advertising market and NTL from a surge in competition in the broadband market – is a good idea. One interesting alternative raised by some is a takeover of ITV by BT – a far healthier network owner than NTL and one, arguably, in even more need of content.
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Deutsche Telekom has named the head of its mobile phone arm, Rene Obermann, as its new chief executive to replace Kai-Uwe Ricke who stepped down following poor results, and pressure from shareholders. Earlier in November, Telekom said its profits in the three months to 30 September were 34 per cent down on the year before. The firm has been hit by increased competition in its main German market, but T-Mobile has consistently been the group's best performer.
Deutsche Telekom is also currently embroiled in a row with Vivendi which has filed an official complaint against DT's purchase of a 48 per cent stake in Polish telco PTC from Elektrim. The French firm, which itself owns a stake in PTC, insists that Elektrim had no right to sell Deutsche Telekom the stake as it was jointly owned with Vivendi.
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Google: mobiles could be freeGoogle's chief executive, Eric Schmidt, sees a future where mobile phones are free to consumers who accept watching targeted forms of advertising. Schmidt said that as mobile phones become more like handheld computers and consumers spend as much as 10 hours a day talking.
He said his own company had no plans to directly give away phones itself, nor is he aware of any effort by partners such as phone makers or mobile operators like to make such a radical move.
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Italian TV market growth
From Branislav Pekic in RomeThe Italian TV market will continue to grow at an average rate of 8 per cent, mostly thanks to pay-TV, and will be worth more than E9bn in 2008, according to a report published by ITMedia Consulting.Over the next two years, the biggest growth is expected to come from the pay-TV sector, which is expected to reach E2.8bn or 31 per cent of the value of the entire TV market. Digital TV penetration should grow from 38 per cent in 2005 to 63 per cent in 2008.
According to the report, DTT could be received by 7.8 million families in 2008, more than one third of the TV households. At the end of 2005, the digital TV market was worth less than 30 per cent of the overall TV market. However, this figure should increase to 32 per cent by year’s end and to 39 per cent in 2008, equal to E3.5 billion. Advertising will register the biggest growth as a source of revenue, although the market will continue to be mainly financed by pay-TV revenue.
The analogue terrestrial TV market will loose its significance: it represented 73 per cent of the total TV market in 2005, but its share will fall to 68 per cent in 2006, down to 61 per cent in 2008. In two years time, RAI will have a 31 per cent market share, Mediaset 33 per cent and Sky Italia will arrive at 29 per cent. The advertising market will stagnate, with Mediaset remaining the market leader (63 per cent in 2005, dropping to 61 per cent at the end of 2008), with growth only expected from Sky Italia, whose market share will double compared to 2005, going from 3 per cent to 6 per cent.
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France 24 free to air
SES ASTRA and SES NEW SKIES, two SES GLOBAL companies have agreed to broadcast France 24, the new French channel for international news, on an ASTRA satellite for Europe and on the NSS-7 satellite serving the African continent. Starting December 7th, more than 21 million European digital households will receive France 24. The contract has been signed through SES’ French partner Globecast.France 24, a subsidiary of the TF1 and France Télévision, will be transmitted free to air 24 hours and seven days a week on two independent channels – one in French, one in English.
O2 third quarter resultsO2 has released their third quarter results. Key stats include: O2 UK net service revenue grew by 14.9 per cent year-on-year; O2 Germany service revenue grew by 6.1 per cent year-on-year and Group SMS volumes grew by 26 per cent year on year to 6.49 billion messages. The mobile operator also said it added 812,000 subscribers in its third quarter.
Peter Erskine, Chief Executive of O2, commented: "O2 has continued to thrive as part of the Telefónica group adding 812,000 mobile customers, taking the total mobile customer base to 34.4 million, 14 per cent higher than last year."
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Hong Kong legislators probe PCCW purchase
Two separate groups of legislators are set to look into possible adverse repercussions for the Hong Kong public of the proposed purchase of a substantial stake in PCCW by tycoon Li Ka-shing and Spain's Telefonica.
"We are concerned about the potential market domination by Li of Hong Kong's telecom market because he currently controls Hutchison Telecom and his proposed entry into PCCW can eventually produce a dominant telco player, which won't help public interest any," said Albert Cheng, chairman of the Legislative Council.
Cheng said Legco's ITB and financial affairs panels are set to conduct hearings next week to look into the various aspects of the PCCW transaction, government regulations relevant to the deal and the transaction's potential repercussions on public interest.
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Lycos is aiming to reestablish itself in the market by presenting itself as a teen broadband video channel. This new service, called Lycos Cinema, aims to benefit from two of the most popular fads on the Internet: video sharing and social networking.
The service would be launching a high-speed Internet video channel this week and users would be able to watch them while discussing them with other users online. Web users would be able to upload their own videos on the service and chat via an inbuilt chat-room.
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Sky senior appointmentsMike Darcey, Sky's Commercial and Strategy Director, has become Chief Operating Officer while Brian Sullivan, Sky's Director of Product Strategy and Management, has been appointed to the position of Managing Director. Sullivan, who has been instrumental in Sky's multi-product strategy through the successful launch of Sky+, multiroom, Sky HD and Sky Broadband, takes up the role following the announcement that Jon Florsheim, Sky's Chief Marketing Officer and Managing Director, Customer Group, is to leave the company after 12 years to become Chief Executive of Homeserve UK.
Matthew Anderson, Sky's Group Director for Communications, assumes the new role of Group Director for Communications and Brand Marketing. Didier Lebrat is to join Sky in December 2006 in the newly created role of Chief Technology Officer from Vodafone Italy.
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emuse deal with ids
emuse absolutely and ids are to offer interactive advertising across several platforms on a number of channels from the Flextech and UKTV portfolios, including LIVINGtv, and UKTV Gold.emuse absolutely will work with ids to provide interactive advertising on the DTT, DSat, Mobile and IPTV platforms.
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Jemma Adkins has joined BBC Worldwide Digital Media division as Head of Content. Adkins will be responsible for sourcing the best programming and digital content for the global digital media business that includes BBC Worldwide’s VOD and mobile offering in addition to its proposed commercial iPlayer.
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Monday 13th November
Vodafone broadband
Ten companies for Portuguese DTT
Nokia: The future of TV will be personal
Strong profits for Disney
Telstra launches ADSL2+, but only for some
NTT online UEFA Champions League
Multi-platform for The Ashes
Conax provides conditional access for TEO
Vodafone broadbandVodafone is to become the latest mobile phone group to move into the broadband market in the UK with the launch of its £25 (E36) a month ‘At Home’ service.
Unlike rivals, Vodafone will rent capacity from BT rather than build its own broadband network. As well as unlimited broadband, At Home will offer discounted calls to mobiles and free landline-to-landline calls.
Customers will also get a modem that will allow them to access the service, which will offer downloads with speeds of up to 8 Mb. Potential users require a mobile phone on Vodafone's network to be able to sign up to the service. Vodafone currently has 16.3 million customers in the UK.
Ten companies for Portuguese DTT
From Branislav Pekic in RomePortuguese telecom regulator Anacom has been approached by more than ten companies interested in launching Digital Terrestrial Television in the country.
According to the head of DTT at Anacom, Mário Freitas, Portugal Telecom (PT), Sonaecom, AR Telecom, France’s TDF, Retevisión, RTP, Impresa, Media Capital, Cofina and Controlinveste have all expressed interest in the introduction of DTT in Portugal. Freitas said he looks favourably on the participation of PT, as existing regulatory obstacles will soon be overcome by the sale of broadband unit PT Multimedia.
PT boss, Henrique Grenadeiro, said that the goal of the recently announced separation of PT and PT Multimédia was "to guarantee the possibility of competing for a DTT licence after resolving the regulatory barriers caused by the ownership of the cable TV network".
The first DTT signals should be on the air by January 2008, with the goal of progressively substituting the analogue broadcasts that are currently received by around two million Portuguese households. Freitas also said that Anacom will issue two DTT licences: one for free-to-air channels (such as RTP, 2, SIC and TVI) and the second to pay-TV channels.
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Nokia: The future of TV will be personal
Personalisation and interactivity will be the key drivers of mobile TV according to a new report commissioned from the LSE by Nokia. The report examines the future impact of mobile TV on the broadcasting and advertising industries.
The study predicts that the introduction and adoption of mobile TV will ultimately give way to a more personal and private TV experience than that of traditional broadcast TV, with big implications for users, content providers and advertisers. Users will be able to receive content anytime, anywhere, choose what is most relevant to them, and even create and upload their own television content, while content providers and advertisers will be able to tailor their offerings more specifically to the user.
According to the report, the current trend of user generated content, as evidenced by the popularity of YouTube, will be a key feature of mobile TV. As consumers increasingly use their mobile devices to create video content, new broadcast platforms will emerge to distribute this content to other mobile users.
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Disney chief executive Bob Iger hailed a "spectacular" year for the media giant as it reported a fourth-quarter net profit of $782m, more than doubled on a year ago. Revenues rose 14 per cent to $8.8bn, with movies and the ABC network performing well. More than 500,000 Disney movies and 12m ABC shows have been sold on iTunes. The group also said it planned to revamp Disney.com in the coming year.
Iger has been a strong advocate of digital delivery of Disney content, making it one of the company’s three "strategic pillars" alongside international expansion and creation of compelling content. Since June there have been 53m downloads of shows on DisneyChannel.com while ABC streamed 19m advertiser-supported programmes and sold nearly 500,000 movies on iTunes.
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Telstra launches ADSL2+, but only for some
From Rose Major in MelbourneAustralia's incumbent telco, Telstra, has launched a high-speed broadband network, but said that its fastest service of up to 20 megabits per second would only be available from exchanges where competitors already offer those higher speeds. Elsewhere, the new network will have speeds up to eight Mbps.
The move signals that Telstra believes the competition regulator will not decide to set the price at which the company wholesales a faster network to rivals.
Telstra has been widely criticised for the slow broadband speeds it has been offering customers, of only up to 1.5 Mbps. Recently, the company had threatened not to go ahead with upgrades after it reached an impasse with the regulator over the pricing of its network to rivals.
But the company believed a recent speech had signaled the regulator had conceded that there was no reason to force a price on Telstra and a statement by the government today confirmed that view. "In a competition sense, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Chairman Mr Graeme Samuel has indicated publicly that he sees no compelling case for declaring Telstra's ADSL 2+ service," the statement said. "The announcement is further evidence that it is competition that provides the incentive for the industry to deliver new services."
But the statement added that it was "disappointing" that Telstra had decided not to offer the higher ADSL2+ speeds at all exchanges.
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NTT online UEFA Champions League
NTT Europe Online, is to provide content distribution and web infrastructure services to support UEFA's online video service.The UEFA Video Service has been developed by UEFA to enable its broadcast partners to extend their rights and provide live match coverage on the Internet. Over 20 broadcasters around the world are using the service to make every UEFA Champions League match from the 2006/07 season and every UEFA Cup match from the quarter-final stage in April 2007 available live on the Internet. As a result, more than 125 matches will be offered to football fans in over 100 countries.
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Multi-platform for The AshesSKY will offer coverage of The Ashes via mobile and broadband for the first time this winter. Customers will be able to watch live coverage from the series, plus highlights from each day’s play, via 3G mobile phones, with daily highlights also made available for those with broadband.
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Conax provides conditional access for TEOConax AS, supplier of conditional access technology for digital TV, has signed a contract with Lithuanian TEO LT AB, where Conax will deliver conditional access for TEO’s, GALA TV IPTV services.
TEO holds a leading position on Internet, data communication and fixed-line telephony in Lithuania. They launched their digital television (IPTV) service, GALA TV, last month, using the conditional access system Conax CAS7. The GALA television will cover almost the total territory of Lithuania and TEO will reach their subscribers’ homes by their voice telephony and Internet service lines.
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