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Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Tuesday Friday 27th October
Telecom Italia drops mobile spin-off
Telenor Satellite Services acquired by Apax Partners
E! Networks inks APAC mobile deals
Video home monitoring service unveiled in US
Austar momentum continues
Widevine patents watermarking
X Factor user-generated content
Vodafone revamps with Musiwave
BBC Parliament to Freeview
Miglia unveils first dual digital TV tuner for Mac
HD Forum for Spain
Telecom Italia drops mobile spin-offTelecom Italia has confirmed its intention to accelerate convergence between fixed, mobile, broadband Internet, and media content services, but it appears to have dropped plans to spin off its mobile operation into a separate unit as part of restructuring.
Recent plans to put TIM, the telco’s mobile network, up for sale, led to conflict between Marco Tronchetti Provera, the Telecom Italia chairman, and the centre-left Government of Romano Prodi, which cost Signor Tronchetti Provera his job.
Telecom Italia said that its decisions reflected the integration of fixed and mobile launched two years ago, which had generated savings of E1 billion in 2005 and the first half of 2006. "Telecom Italia has, therefore, confirmed the strategic objective of pushing on the convergence between fixed, mobile, broadband Internet, and media content," it said.
The group intends to carry out a next-generation upgrade to its local access network to carry high-definition TV, films, music, video and other computer services.
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Telenor Satellite Services acquired by Apax PartnersNorwegian telco Telenor has agreed to sell its Telenor Satellite Services (TSS) to investment group Apax Partners France for $400 million. Since 2002 Telenor has defined TSS as non-core
business."We are delighted to make a further investment in satellite communication services by acquiring TSS. TSS is not only a major provider of mobile satellite services, but also a leading competitor in the high growth VSAT business segment. Apax Partners will rely upon TSS' management and employees to pursue the development of the company in Norway and abroad," said Bertrand Pivin, Partner at Apax Partners in Paris.
The transaction will not affect any other units of Telenor ASA that use satellite as their communications platform, including Telenor Broadcast/Telenor Satellite Broadcasting.
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E! Networks inks APAC mobile deals
Entertainment programmer E! Networks has signed two new mobile deals for the Asian Pacific territory with Foxtel by Mobile and Vodafone in Australia
Foxtel by Mobile will offer up E! content on its 3G platform beginning this month, offering a 90 minute looped video feed of Ed’s content featuring entertainment news, information, and celebrity profiles, providing consumers with a linear experience similar to that of traditional television.
Vodafone will host short form content from E! News, E!'s fashion clips and the network's signature live red carpet coverage from the latest movie premieres, all refreshed daily or weekly. Additionally, Vodafone will take E!'s 90 minute looped daily video.
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Video home monitoring service unveiled in USAT&T is to offer a monitoring service that allows US customers to use cell phones or computers to receive alerts or view a real-time video feed from their home.
The telco said it would offer the service for $9.95 a month to broadband Internet customers around the country or to wireless web cell phone customers of Cingular Wireless, its joint venture with BellSouth Corp.
The service is an effort by AT&T to try and improve customer loyalty by offering integrated wireless and wired services.
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Austar momentum continues
From Rose Major in MelbourneAustralian regional pay-TV provider Austar has virtually matched its previous quarterly strong subscriber growth, reporting 20,109 additions in the three months to the end of September, compared with 20,200 previously.
The company pointed to an increased investment in sales and marketing as the major reason behind the continued strong growth, although this raised operating expenses for the nine-month period by 19 per cent compared with the same nine months in 2005, to reach A$101 million. The company now has 590,987 subscribers, up 13 per cent over the year.
Revenues in the quarter rose 11 per cent compared with Q3 2005 to A$128.6 million. Operating expenses were 20 per cent higher, up from A$30.3 million to A$36.5 million. EBITDA was up seven per cent to A$34.6 million and pre-tax profit up 34 per cent from A$15.8 million to A$21.3 million. Churn dropped from 1.28 per cent in the previous quarter to 1.15 per cent.
Austar also said that XYZ Networks, its 50:50 joint venture with Foxtel which operates 11 pay-TV channels, had returned A$3.6 million to its shareholders to date in 2006.
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Downloadable content protection group Widevine Technologies has confirmed that the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office has issued a new patent which provides intellectual property protection for watermarking of multimedia content.
The new patent is intended to provide a licensed solution providing a system and method for session based watermarking of encrypted content.Watermarking is emerging as a fundamental building block for securing premium multimedia content delivery across any IP video network.
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X Factor user-generated content
Internet group lycos.co.uk, producers FremantleMedia and talkbackTHAMES are teaming up to launch a new user-generated content campaign around UK broadcaster ITV’s hit TV series, The X Factor.The latest activity on Fan Central, the community section on The X Factor website, will allow fans of the show the opportunity to upload their own performances as clips. Each week, the most entertaining clips, selected by The X Factor production team, will be put on the show’s official website and users will be encouraged to vote for their favourite clips. As a result of these votes, weekly winners will be selected.
In addition, Lycos Chat will host webchats with evictees on a fortnightly basis. The sessions, which will also be filmed for use on The Xtra Factor – The Aftermath on ITV2, will enable fans to ask the evictees questions live online.
"User generated content is a massive trend right now and The X Factor lends itself perfectly to the medium. It’s a way of engaging viewers even further and we are always keen to experiment in this area", said Alex Mahon, Chief Operating Officer, talkbackTHAMES.
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Vodafone revamps with Musiwave
Vodafone is revamping its web portal for music and video downloads as part of ongoing efforts by the mobile phone operator to increase revenues generated from its third-generation network.
Vodafone's UK business has hired Musiwave, a mobile content management company, to improve the search facilities on Vodafone live, its entertainment portal.
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BBC Parliament will be available in full screen format on Freeview from 13 November 2006.
BBC Parliament will migrate from its current quarter-video screen offering in time for the State Opening of Parliament on 15 November.
Peter Knowles, Controller of BBC Parliament, said: "For the first time, the full proceedings of Parliament can be seen on terrestrial television, broadcast as a normal TV channel."
BBC Parliament reaches between three quarters of a million and a million viewers every month. The full screen BBC Parliament offering will be accompanied by a BBCi digital interactive service.
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Miglia unveils first dual digital TV tuner for Mac
Digital media products manufacturer Miglia Technology has unveiled TVDuo, claimed to be the first dual digital TV tuner for Macs.TVDuo is compatible with the DVB-T standard and works in most European and Asian countries.
Bundled with Elgato’s EyeTV2, TVDuo includes the features: Record TV; remove adverts from recorded footage whilst watching live TV; access EPG data from the Internet, schedule recordings and more.
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HD Forum for Spain
From David Del Valle in MadridSpain’s Government is to give a real boost to High Definition with the creation of a HD Forum which will bring together manufacturers, content providers and other active players in the market.
The announcement was made by the Telecommunications Secretary of State, Francisco Ros, at the Spanish fair Matelec, where several HD demos have been taking place, sponsored by satellite operators Hispasat and Astra and the independent organisation Foro HD.
The announcement comes at a time when the Ministry of Industry recently sponsored the creation of the Pro DTT Association with a budget of E18 million to promote DTT in the country.
Ros also confirmed his department is finalising new DTT rule which will set all obligations and requisites to be met by all DTT operators.
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Thursday 26th October
Poor customer service threatens digital TV take-up
CASBAA launches mobile TV group
Ofcom allows sponsorship of commercial channels
PCCW Selects ICTV ActiveVideo
Spain's analogue switch-off pilot in 2008
Rainbow Media’s VOOM HD a hit in Asia
Akimbo picks Up Hollywood blockbusters
All West Selects Latens
Rochester Telephone selects Tandberg for IPTV over FTTP
Business on SKY
StupidVideos.com unveils new features and new look
Intelsat hires Warker for marketing role
Poor customer service threatens digital TV take-up
From Colin Mann in LondonDigital TV support services company MGt suggests that that digital TV services providers are losing out on potential revenue opportunities as consumers turn away from new subscriptions. The findings emerged from research commissioned by MGt into people’s attitudes to new digital TV platforms and technologies.
According to MGt, over 60 per cent of consumers believe that customer service would be the deciding factor when looking to sign up to a new digital TV service. The survey also revealed that trust is an important factor when looking to subscribe to new digital TV services. The majority of consumers (57.8 per cent) would only trust their traditional broadcaster for their digital TV services whilst only 12.3 per cent would trust an Internet service provider. Furthermore, 60.5 per cent of customers are also most likely to switch digital broadcast services providers for more competitive rates.
"The research shows that digital TV services providers are losing out on potential revenue opportunities because they are unable to provide adequate customer service," said Jamie Mackinlay, Director of Sales and Marketing at MGt. "Customers need to know they can trust broadcast providers to offer them the most relevant service which is most suited to their needs."
Mackinlay suggested that with so many different digital TV services available, customer service would be the key differentiator. "The bottom line is that as new services providers emerge on the market, the current providers simply can’t afford to ignore customer satisfaction from both an ethical and financial perspective"
It also emerged that only 12.8 per cent of consumers are planning to subscribe to broadband TV services and 4.5 per cent to TV-to-mobile, but these figures would quadruple, however, if services were offered on a ‘try-before-you-buy’ basis.
"The research shows consumers are wary of buying into what they perceive to be immature digital TV platforms," added Mackinlay.
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CASBAA launches mobile TV group
The Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) has launched the CASBAA Mobile Group - a team of CASBAA members dedicated to the effective, business-model focused deployment of Mobile TV services across the Asia Pacific.
Among the CASBAA members participating in this CASBAA Group are mobile content providers such as Turner Broadcasting, ESPN Star Sports, CNBC Asia, BBC World, STAR Group, Walt Disney Television International and Sony Pictures TV International, as well as platform operator PCCW, handset manufacturer Nokia and chipset supplier Sun Microsystems."The CASBAA objective is to create an environment where the regulatory and business issues surrounding Mobile TV can be debated with hard information exchanged to encourage the distribution of paid video content to as many Mobile TV subscribers as possible," said CASBAA CEO, Simon Twiston Davies.
"The pay-TV industry places the development of a robust business model for Mobile TV as one of its highest priorities for our digital future. There is a long-term commitment by the content industry to work more closely with mobile platforms and manufacturers to create an economically viable business for everyone. This is just the beginning of the development of new and substantive revenue stream for our industry," he predicted.
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Ofcom allows sponsorship of commercial channels
UK comms regulator Ofcom has revealed that it will allow the sponsorship of commercial television channels and radio stations, subject to specific safeguards intended to preserve editorial independence, protect the under 18s and ensure the audience is made fully aware of the sponsorship relationship.
The restrictions include: Viewers being made aware of the sponsorship arrangement; the sponsor’s credits being kept separate from all other editorial and advertising content; credits for the channel sponsor must not appear in programmes that cannot be sponsored; the sponsor’s presence on the channel should not be unduly prominent; broadcasters will be unable to name channels after the sponsor.
However, as at present, a company with a brand known in another field – for example, Hallmark or Saga - may be granted a Broadcasting Act licence in its own right, with editorial responsibility for all programme output.
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On-demand solutions broadband video provider ICTV has secured a deal with Hong Kong communications provider PCCW to supply the ICTV ActiveVideo Distribution to enable interactive channels via television to subscribers of PCCW’s now TV service.
The first ActiveVideo channel offered by now TV is the completely interactive ‘Movie Trailer Channel’ that PCCW has launched in partnership with cinema groups United Artists. The Movie Trailer Channel allows subscribers to preview movies, choose cinema locations, check program times, request seat locations, and buy tickets using just their standard remote controls. The channel is the first in a series of ActiveVideo channels and applications that will deliver more interactive services to now TV’s 654,000 subscribers.
"The Movie Trailer Channel is the first example of how ActiveVideo Distribution Network will enable our subscribers to find and control an entirely new series of television channels of high-quality video with interactivity and information that specifically meets their individual preferences," said Dominic Leung, Managing Director, Television and Content of PCCW
Jeff Miller, President and CEO of ICTV said that the ability of ActiveVideo to bring standards-based, Web-driven programming and Internet-style advertising to the television would be a significant factor in helping operators such as PCCW to dynamically expand the scope of their offerings and capture new subscriber and advertising revenue.
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Spain's analogue switch-off pilot in 2008
From David Del Valle in MadridSpain will carry out an analogue switch-off pilot in 2008, two years before the Government-imposed deadline in 2010.
The province of Soria, located in the region of Castilla y Leon, will completely migrate to digital in 2008, becoming the first in the country.
E2 million will be invested to implement the project that will be divided into three separate phases: first, access to the digital technology; second, the development of contents and finally the switch-off, with digital coverage in 100 per cent of households.
The pilot experience "will place the province at the forefront of the information society being a key reference in the national and international markets", according to David Cierco, General Director for the Development of the Information Society.
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Rainbow Media’s VOOM HD a hit in Asia
London-based iD Distribution has licensed nearly 170 hours of high-definition (HD) programming to broadcasters throughout Asia over the last 12 months.
These deals expand VOOM HD content further into Japan, China, Hong Kong, India, Korea, Thailand and Singapore.Greg Moyer, VOOM HD's General Manager, said: "We are pleased to see the appeal of this brand resonate with more and more people throughout the world, and we’re particularly happy with the solid response from Asia."
Among the Asian-based broadcasters licensing Rainbow's VOOM HD Networks' programming are: China's CCTV HD,. Hong Kong's ATV, Korea’s OnMedia, UBC Thailand, Discovery India and Fox Japan.
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Akimbo picks Up Hollywood blockbusters
Internet video-on-demand service Akimbo has secured the rights to screen movies from some of the top motion picture studios including Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Studios, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios and Warner Bros..
The films will be on offer through the Akimbo Player via the Movielink service for prices, ranging from $0.99 to $4.99.
"Akimbo has grown from a few niche titles to 13,000 videos from some of the most important producers in the world. We're proud to announce the addition of hundreds of popular Hollywood movies" said Joshua Goldman, CEO of Akimbo. "This is the first time a consumer can have immediate access to the best of movies, television, music, sport and videos from around the world, all for on-demand viewing on TV."
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IPTV Conditional Access provider Latens Systems has confirmed that Utah-based IPTV services operator All West Communications has selected the Latens FCAS Conditional Access solution to secure its advanced IPTV services.
FCAS will integrate with the Entone VOD server and Hydra II multi-stream set-top box and with Minerva’s iTV Manager, to provide an end-to-end IPTV solution, which will allow All West to offer its subscribers secured video services, including pay-TV, High Definition, personal video recording and video-on-demand.
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Rochester Telephone selects Tandberg for IPTV over FTTPRochester Telephone, an Indiana-based communications provider, has selected Tandberg Television as its video head-end provider for a new IPTV service over Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP) that will serve its Indiana ILEC (Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier) footprint. Rochester Telephone will be able to deliver triple play services and high definition programming to subscribers.
The Rochester Telephone agreement marks the ninth Tandberg Television IPTV deployment in the state of Indiana.
Jim Olson, executive vice president of corporate development, Tandberg Television, said that the company was proud to support independent telephone companies such as Rochester Telephone, "who are leading the IPTV revolution in the US."
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A new channel is launching on Sky Digital next month aimed at business-minded viewers. The Business Channel, from London International Television, will air for 18 hours a day.
StupidVideos.com unveils new features and new look
StupidVideos.com, the user-generated video site for humorous clips, has launched a new version of its popular website.
The Flash-supported StupidVideos.com has an updated design that includes a larger video player, enhanced navigation, more robust video browse capabilities, and SV TV, a channel-based product that allows users to watch playlists, or ‘episodes’, around favoured themes. The redesign enables StupidVideos.com’s five million monthly unique users to explore the site’s library by selecting videos that are New, Top Rated, and Most Popular and filter by Last 7 Days, Last 30 Days, and All Time, as well as by categories.
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Intelsat hires Warker for marketing role
Satellite services provider Intelsat has appointed Vicki Warker as the company’s new Senior Vice President of Marketing. Warker’s brief includes growth initiatives and maximising the company’s performance in serving the video and network services customer groups. Jim Frownfelter, COO, Intelsat, said that Warker would contribute significantly to the integration and development efforts underway at Intelsat.
Warker joins Intelsat from Sprint Business Solutions, where she was Vice President of Marketing and Products.
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Wednesday 25th October
AT&T bullish on HD
Netflix profit jump
DirecTV offers Arabic programming
BBC battle Bulgarian Government
France Telecom to make assault on Spanish IPTV market
C-COR debuts ‘VOD in a box’
Stratacache on Amino STBs
AT&T bullish on HDAT&T plans to roll out a high definition version of its U-verse IPTV service in 15 markets by year end.It gave an upbeat assessment of the outlook for its IPTV service in a conference with investors to discuss the company’s third quarter results.
AT&T has been investing heavily in the fibre optic network Project Lightspeed to support the U-verse advanced video and data service and compete directly with cable TV operators Rick Lindner, AT&T’s chief financial officer, said on Monday that the initial customer response to U-verse – launched first in San Antonio, Texas in June – had been " very positive." He said AT&T plans to upgrade the 3,000 subscribers in San Antonio to HDTV service in late November and expects to launch HDTV U-verse services in approximately 15 metropolitan markets across its 13-state region by the end of 2006.
Consolidated third-quarter net income at AT&T, which was formed through the merger of SBC Communications and the old AT&T a year ago, increased by 74 per cent as earnings at Cingular Wireless quadrupled.
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Netflix profit jump
Shoeing no sign of impact from VOD services, online DVD renter Netflix reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit and sharply raised its profit forecast for the current quarter, sending shares up more than 13 per cent. Net income was $12.8 million in the third quarter, compared with $6.95 million in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue rose to $255.95 million from $172.7 million a year earlier. Netflix said its subscriber base grew to 5.7 million.The company forecast fourth-quarter net income of $7.5 million to $13.5 million -- up from a previous forecast of $3.8 million to $8.8 million. Netflix said it expects fourth quarter revenue of $273 million to $278 million, up from a previous range of $267 million to $272 million, and ending subscribers for the year of at least 6.3 million.
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DirecTV offers Arabic programming
DirecTV has added an Arabic-language programming package that includes five of the leading Arabic-language channels from the Middle East.
The direct-broadcast satellite provider’s ArabicDirect package consists of Rotana Cinema, Rotana Zaman, Rotana Moossika, Orbit Al-Yawm and The Orbit Arabic Series Channel.
ArabicDirect is currently available nationwide on DirecTV’s WorldDirect programming platform for $25.99 per month. "With more than 800,000 Arab Americans living in the United States, there is an enormous appetite for programming that is relevant to the Arab culture," DirecTV vice president of international Aaron McNally said.
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BBC battle Bulgarian GovernmentThe BBC is taking the Bulgarian Government to court after its licence to broadcast in the country was revoked last week.
In an open letter to the Bulgarian Media Council, the broadcaster denied accusations made by the head of the council, Raicho Raikov, that the World Service had violated local laws by ceasing all Bulgarian-language broadcasts.
The BBC said there is no rule in the BBC Radiocom licence relating to the broadcasting of programmes in Bulgarian, which it stopped 10 months ago in order to focus on its Arabic-language service.
The conflict started last week when Mr Raikov told the Bulgarian media that the BBC was to lose its licence, and then escalated when he claimed the broadcaster had been putting pressure on his office to change its mind.
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France Telecom to make assault on Spanish IPTV market
From David Del Valle in Madrid
France Telecom prepares for a massive assault on the Spanish IPTV market over the next months coinciding with the Christmas campaign.Its TV offer, marketed under the brand of Orange TV (replacing the previous Wanadoo TV), is going through a far-reaching reshuffle including the addition of new channels. The French group is also in talks to Sogecable, Spain's leading pay-TV group owner of digital DTH platform Digital Plus and Canal Plus, in an attempt to reach an agreement to distribute its premium contents.
The upgrade of Orange TV offer in Spain will be continued next year with the announced launch of HD Television. Since its launch in Spain as Wanadoo TV, the France Telecom's IPTV service has already extended its coverage three times to reach more than 4 million potential homes.
C-COR has introduced itsn5C compact server, a device enabling network service providers serving smaller opportunities to economically deploy a complete set of next-generation On Demand applications.
Operators that serve smaller markets or communities will be able to launch video on demand, digital program insertion and advanced advertising, network personal video recording and switched digital video using a unified video server platform.
The new video server leverages third generation server technology and On Demand application features to offer operators serving communities of 16,000 customers or less. The server is available for deployment in Q4 2006.
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Stratacache on Amino STBs
Stratacache has integrated its OmniCast content distribution software on the Amino family of set-top boxes (STBs), enabling the use of Amino devices as distribution points for corporate video in branch locations.
With OmniCast integrated on Amino STBs, enterprises, banks, and retailers have a plug-and-play solution for enabling live or on-demand corporate video access from branch locations. The solution powers applications such as distributed e-learning, corporate communication, and associate training.
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Tuesday 24th October
YouTube takes down 30,000 clips
Flux for Japan
News Corp renews poison pill
Spanish networks punished with E786,000 fines
Microsoft to double Windows phones
Realitatea plans more channels
Net TV guide
WCSN on Akimbo
YouTube takes down 30,000 clips
YouTube has wiped nearly 30,000 files from its website after Japanese media companies said their copyright was being infringed. The Japan Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers found 29,549 music video, movie and TV clips had been posted without permission.
Launched in February 2005, YouTube shows about 100 million clips per day. A spokesman for the Japanese group said it was considering asking YouTube to introduce a preliminary screening process to stop illegal video files being placed on the site.
YouTube has recently signed distribution deals with media groups including Universal Music Group, Warner Music and CBS to offer short-form programming including news, music videos, sport and entertainment.
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Flux for JapanViacom International Japan, a subsidiary of MTV Networks, announced the launch of its new FLUX video sharing site for users in Japan.
Judy McGrath, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of MTV Networks, commented, "FLUX revolutionizes the way audiences view and use video content - putting them in complete control. This innovative service significantly expands MTVN's digital media presence in Japan, enabling us to deliver our leading MTV, Nickelodeon and BET content to audiences in new ways. Through our global network we are uniquely positioned to share FLUX innovations from Japan with more than 150 MTVN digital media properties worldwide."Tony Elison, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Digital Media at Viacom International Japan commented, "FLUX presents an entirely new way of interacting with entertainment - it’s 21st century television on the Web. Placing the consumer at the center of the programming universe, FLUX offers endless opportunities for Japanese users to access the content they love, discover new entertainment and share their experiences with others."
In addition to video created by users, FLUX features leading content from MTVN including: Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants; MTV’s Europe Music Awards and Jackass; and local MTV Japan productions including Trainsurfer and Tempura, among others. Clips range from 3-10 minutes in length.
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News Corp renews poison pill
News Corp shareholders have agreed to extend a special "poison pill" provision that was designed to protect the it from a hostile takeover by Liberty Media. At a New Corp annual meeting the proposal to extend the measure for an additional year won 57 per cent of the votes cast.At the same time, Murdoch said he believed that he was nearing a deal with John Malone, the Liberty chief executive, who began to build up a 19 per cent stake in News Corp two years ago. "If Liberty is to be believed, we’re on track for a pretty quick resolution of the matter," Murdoch said.
In the past, Mr Murdoch and Mr Malone have talked about swapping stakes in various News Corp cable networks, such as National Geographic, or some of its 35 Fox television stations, for the stake. News Corp’s 38 per cent stake in DirecTV, the satellite television group, has also been the subject of recent discussions.
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Spanish networks punished with E786,000 fines
From David Del Valle in Madrid
The Government has imposed E786,000 fines on TV networks up to June for breaking the law on content both in programmes and adverts. The State Secretary of Telecommunications has started 50 legal proceedings against the TV stations for allegedly breaking the legislation.
The excessive broadcasting of advertising is the misdemeanour attracting most of the fines, with E324,000. In 2005, nine fines were imposed for E2.4 million, the triple than the previous year.
For changing programming at the last minute (the so-called counter-programming) four fines were imposed for a total of E194,000. For subliminal advertising the Government imposed three fines for E156,000.
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Microsoft to double Windows phones
Microsoft aims to double the number of mobile phones running its Windows software this year from 6 million at the end of 2005 and to keep up this rate of growth in coming years, a Microsoft executive said.
"The number of devices operating on Windows Mobile doubled to 6 million last year," Peter Knook, head of Microsoft's Mobile and Embedded Devices division. "We want to make 100 per cent again this year and to grow further at this rate in coming years."
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Realitatea plans more channels
From Nick Snow in BucharestRealitatea Media, the fast-growing Romanian private broadcaster, is planning two new channels in 2007 to join its current news and money channel line up.
First up will be Romantica, a telenovela station launched in March through a joint venture with ZoneMedia. It will air for eight hours a day with up to half the content produced locally.
The mixed media group has grown from a standing start with the backing of oil services magnate Sorin Ovidiu Vantu and as well as launching the TV channels and a news agency in 2006, has also acquired consumer magazine publishing, and a radio station.
Now it is setting its sights on ProTV, the leading private channel, with the planned launch of a general entertainment channel in late 2007. Sorin Enache, the group’s youthful CEO, says; "we are looking for an international partner for the entertainment channel."
Net TV guide
A UK man has come up with TIOTI.com - Tape It Off The Internet. Development in Ukraine, it now has a beta site to be tested by up to 11,000 users. A full service should be available to the public by the end of the year.TIOTI tells users where and when shows are available online and its sources include Apple's growing offering of TV content on iTunes and Amazon's download service. The service currently indexes more than 1,600 TV shows and almost 90,000 episodes.
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World Championship Sports Network (WCSN), the premier multi-platform world championship sports destination, announced that Akimbo Systems, creator of the first Internet video-on-demand service for television, will make World Championship Sports, WCSN’s most popular weekly series, available for download through the Akimbo Service.
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Monday 23rd October
Entertainment will drive US mobile data revenue
DVB-H gets US boost
DTT households expected to surge
Channel 4 launches on demand on ntl Telewest
EchoStar launches high-speed Internet
Symbian signs with Sling for mobile TV
Andorra second to switch off analogue?
Mediaset working on PC TV on demand
RDF eyes new media opportunities
Eircom to use WiMAX for broadband
Freeview TV card for PCs
Entertainment will drive US mobile data revenue
Non-voice services will account for approximately 13.3 per cent of total service revenues for US mobile operators in 2006, a figure set to grow to 24.5 per cent by 2011, according to The US Mobile Market: trends and forecasts 2006–11, published by Analysys.US mobile operators’ revenues from mobile entertainment services are expected to total $5.2 billion in 2006, growing to over $7 billion in 2007.
"The market will be spurred on both by increasing adoption of 3G handsets and by service innovation, stimulated in part by new-entrant MVNOs," commented Danny Dicks, Principal Analyst and co-author of the report. "In addition, recent spectrum auctions in the USA have given operators the spectrum they need to increase coverage and capacity of both CDMA2000 1 Å~ EV-DO and HSDPA-enabled W¹CDMA networks," he added.
Senior Analyst Alex Zadvorny, the report’s co-author, added "We expect most entertainment services to be delivered over cellular networks, with broadcast TV ultimately making only an incremental contribution to the overall revenue."
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DVB-H gets US boostIndustry-led consortium the Digital Video Broadcasting Project (DVB) has welcomed the decision by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) to adopt DVB-H as an official standard for Mobile Digital TV in the US. DVB considers the publication of TIA-1105, ‘Terrestrial Mobile Multimedia Multicast Based On Digital Video Broadcasting For Handheld Devices System’, is a further boost to the growing acceptance of the non-proprietary, open standard by broadcast and telecommunications companies engaged in implementing mobile TV services in the US.
According to Peter MacAvock, Executive Director of the DVB Project, "DVB-H is now a recognisable global success with announcements almost every day of DVB-H products and services. The TIA’s ratification of the specification as a standard is a significant endorsement and will be seen as an important step in establishing DVB-H as the leading choice for mobile TV implementers in the US".
Commercial DVB-H services are already on-air in Italy, and services have been announced for the US, Finland, Vietnam, France, Germany, Spain, Russia and South Africa before the end of 2007.
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DTT households expected to surgeForecasts from IMS Research predict that the worldwide digital terrestrial TV (DTT) market will grow significantly over the next five years, from an estimated 37 million households in 2006, to a forecast 131 million households by the end of 2011.
Primarily driven by DTT uptake in Western European countries, the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region has experienced the most success in DTT adoption, and is expected to comprise nearly 62 per cent of worldwide DTT households by 2011.
According to analyst Mark Meza of IMS Research, "The success of DTT in Europe is due in large part to Government and industry initiatives, a growing selection of content, and increasingly affordable set-top boxes."
The report suggests that this success has created an opportunity for value-added paid DTT services, such as Top Up TV in the UK, noting that paid DTT services have a distinct advantage in markets where a free DTT service has been successful.
"Standalone pay DTT services face greater challenges in establishing subscribers, often due to limited content offerings and pricing that is not competitive with other pay TV options," observed Meza. "An example of this is the difficulty faced by USDTV, which recently filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy after securing only about 10,000 subscribers in three years of operation, as well as early launches of pay-DTT in the UK."
With the continued growth expected for DTT worldwide over the next five years, IMS Research predicts an accompanying rise in value-added pay-DTT offerings.
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Channel 4 launches on demand on ntl TelewestUK cable operator ntl Telewest has agreed with UK broadcaster Channel 4 to make the channel's programming available on demand across the operator’s broadband platform..
The three-year contract will provide ntl Telewest customers with hundreds of hours of Channel 4 programming. The content will be refreshed on a regular basis and will include a seven-day, free catch-up service for the majority of Channel 4's primetime TV schedule.
Rod Henwood, new business director at Channel 4 said the deal was "a major step towards making Channel 4 content available on demand across multiple platforms and lays the foundation for the launch of our bespoke on demand service later this year."
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EchoStar launches high-speed Internet
EchoStar Communications has launched DISH Network High-Speed Internet – a satellite-delivered broadband Internet service. The technology, powered by broadband access provider WildBlue, is a two-way satellite service that provides an always-on, high-speed data connection. Packages are up to 30 times faster than dial-up.
"Our customers living in rural communities have endured the slower speeds of dial-up simply because they haven't had choices when it comes to high-speed Internet service providers," said Jim DeFranco, executive vice president at EchoStar. "They now have access to affordable broadband Internet via satellite with speeds comparable to DSL or cable modem - without the need for an additional phone line."
Symbian signs with Sling for mobile TV
Digital lifestyle consumer electronics products company Sling Media has teamed up with smartphone open operating systems Symbian to enable users to redirect or ‘placeshift’ TV from their home to their mobile phones.
Under the terms of the alliance Sling Media will deliver its SlingPlayer Mobile software, which is currently available only in North America, for Symbian OS in selected European and Asian countries during the final quarter of 2006.
The application is designed to deliver home TV on mobile handsets using standard network connections including 3G cellular and Wi-Fi.
SlingPlayer Mobile for Symbian OS will support Symbian smartphones on S60 and UIQ. It will allow mobile viewing of terrestrial TV, UK digital terrestrial service Freeview, cable and satellite. In addition, SlingPlayer Mobile lets users control their home personal video recorder to watch recorded shows, pause and rewind live TV or even queue new recordings while away from home.
More than 82 million Symbian smartphones have been sold worldwide to over 250 major network operators. Research suggests that Symbian accounted for about 71 per cent of worldwide smartphone shipments in the second quarter of 2006.
Blake Krikorian, co-founder and CEO of Sling Media, noted that "people love their living room TV programming and simply want the ability to watch it on any device wherever they happen to be, whether at work on their PC, around the home on their wireless laptop, or on the go via their mobile phone."
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Andorra second to switch off analogue?
From David Del Valle in MadridThe principality of Andorra will become the second European country, after Ireland, to switch off analogue TV transmissions.
Situated on the border between France and Spain, Andorra plans to migrate completely to digital in 2007 when it switches off analogue TV in September. Andorra is strongly betting on digital TV and on the introduction of new technologies, backed by the fact that the country only has one telecommunications operator.
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Mediaset working on PC TV on demand
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
Italian commercial broadcaster Mediaset is reportedly working on a PC TV on demand service set to launch in the second quarter of 2007.According to Yves Confalonieri, Director of Interactive Media, Mediaset’s digital activities arm, the new service will offer users the possibility of re-watching TV programmes 24 hours after they were aired on Mediaset’s terrestrial networks.
Interactive Media forms part of the New Business area recently set up by inside the Mediaset group in order to join together the activities that are complementary to the core business of analogue television: merchandising and licensing, music, TV shopping (MediaShopping), websites, value added services via phone and computer.
RDF eyes new media opportunities
UK independent producer RDF Media is gearing itself to take advantage digital media by creating a new division.
Announcing the group’s interim results, Chief Executive David Franks said: "Broadband connections have now reached 10 million homes in the UK and although only a small proportion of users currently download or watch video using their Internet connection, we expect this to grow, albeit constrained in the immediate future by the availability of bandwidth. We believe this will become an important source of income for the Group in the future. We are responding to these opportunities by creating a new division, RDF Digital Media, through which we plan to invest in a number of initiatives, joint ventures and partnerships."
Eircom to use WiMAX for broadbandIrish telco Eircom has announced a number of initiatives which it says will improve broadband availability and increase take-up.
Eircom intends to enable an extra 100 telephone exchanges for broadband by 2007. The company is also committing to taking all broadband orders placed in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Galway. Eircom says 120,000 extra phone lines will be able to support broadband as a result.
Eircom will also use WiMAX technology next year to overcome problems with broadband over some lines. The technology will be used to supplement existing DSL services in the five major urban centres.
Eircom has held its wireless licence for four years and the introduction of WiMAX now is seen by the industry as an admission that too many lines were failing over traditional broadband delivery methods.
In a separate move, sports channel Setanta is to simulcast live and exclusively via broadband to Eircom customers.
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Freeview TV card for PCsTV on PC specialist Hauppauge Digital has released a twin tuner Freeview add-on card for Windows PCs. The Hauppauge WinTV allows owners to watch one Freeview programme whilst recording another, or to record two programmes simultaneously.
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