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Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Tuesday
Friday 3rd November
AOL boost for TW
Google will beat UK TV on ads
AT&T Launches Integrated Homezone Service
YouTube on mobile devices
Freewire TV offers broadcast over broadband
Spain's DTT only reaches 3% of TV audience
BigBand demos addressable advertising
Aggregator and MercuryMedia documentary IPTV Service
Pace reassures
Sky on 3 and Orange
Player X and Universal mobile Retrosodes
Envivio, Minerva and ADB combine on IPTV solution
AOL boost for TW
Time Warner says that advertising revenue at AOL increased by 46 per cent in the third quarter as it increased its share of the US online ad market. AOL’s revival are one reason a recent rally in Time Warner’s shares has seen them over $20 for the first time in four years.
Other factors include the strong performance of its cable division, part of which will be spun off in the coming months. Although revenues at AOL declined in the third quarter as 2.5m subscribers stopped paying for internet access, profits were up amid higher advertising revenues and lower costs. Since August e-mail addresses have been free of charge, meaning that people wanting high-speed internet connections no longer have to stop using AOL.
Time Warner earned $2.3bn in the third quarter versus $853m a year ago. Earnings were boosted by the acquisition of cable operator Adelphia and income from asset sales. Revenues rose seven per cent to $10.9bn from $10.2bn.
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Google will beat UK TV on ads
Google is poised to overtake Britain’s main TV channels in the race for advertising revenue. The internet company’s ad revenue in the UK is expected this year to surpass Channel 4’s anticipated 2006 take of £800m (E1.15bn).
Within 18 months, it is forecast to overtake ITV1 according to Mindshare and Initiative, two media buying groups. ITV1 accounted for 90 per cent of the ITV group’s £1.63bn total advertising revenues last year.Andy Duncan, chief executive of Channel 4, told the Financial Times that Google would earn about £900m in UK revenues this year.
In the first nine months of 2006, Google’s UK revenues are estimated to have been £593m, with a strong fourth quarter expected for the group. Google UK doubled its advertising revenues in each of the last two years, making it by some distance the company’s biggest single market outside the US.
AT&T Launches Integrated Homezone Service
AT&T has expanded the launch of AT&T Homezone, a new service that integrates AT&T Yahoo! Internet, AT&T | DISH Network satellite television and AT&T Home Networking services via a single device.
AT&T Homezone provides Internet-based video with satellite TV programming. It features digital video recording, movies on demand, photo and music-sharing, storage for both, and Web-based access to the system. Future enhancements to the Homezone product will include a High Definition version of the receiver, as well as music and video content from content providers Yahoo! and Akimbo. Customers will also be able to eventually program their DVR and use other "remote access" features through their Cingular wireless phone.
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YouTube on mobile devicesYouTube has said it hopes to launch a service for wireless devices within a year.
Chad Hurley, YouTube chief executive and co-founder, told an advertising conference that offering video services on mobile phones was a key opportunity for the company. "Within the next year we hope to have something on a mobile device, it's going to be a huge market, especially for the video mind-set we're dealing with, it's a natural transition."
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Freewire TV offers broadcast over broadbandFreewire TV, a service from Inuk Networks in the United Kingdom, will deliver broadcast quality television channels over multicast broadband networks, offering multichannel choice to the ‘digitally disenfranchised’ who are currently unable to receive digital television services by other means.
Freewire TV will initially be available to up to half a million students who will be able to access the service through their campus network. It could be available more widely in the future.
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Spain's DTT only reaches 3% of TV audience
From David del Valle in Madrid
One year after its re-launch, DTT is finding it hard to grow in the Spanish market and is far away from profit. Only 3 per cent of Spain's TV audience tune in DTT channels, far away from 15 to 21 per cent of audience pulled in by analogue TV networks, according to Sofres.
Official figures by the Ministry of Industry show that since its re-launch in November 2005 around 2,250,000 set-top-boxes have been sold in the country and antennas of more than 300,000 buildings have been adapted to the new TV. In theory, this means that around 6 million homes and 18 million inhabitants could have access to DTT. To these potential clients are added those who are subscribed to digital satellite TV (more than 2 million subscribers), cable TV (1,5 million) or IPTV services (300,000 clients), platforms which also distribute the DTT channels.
However, in practice, according to Sofres, last month DTT in Spain only had 1,5 million viewers.
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BigBand demos addressable advertisingBigBand Networks, provider of broadband multimedia infrastructure for video, voice and data, has revealed new capabilities in its Broadband Multimedia-Service Router platform that give service providers the ability to deliver television commercials to individual recipients. BigBand conducted demonstrations of addressable advertising - the delivery of highly-relevant advertising content to very small, specific segments of a television viewing population - in tests with solution partners OpenTV and INVIDI Technologies.
The collaboration between BigBand Networks and its solution partners gives operators the ability to address adverts to individual viewers based on relevant, but anonymous data such as viewing preferences, hobbies, interests, personal demographics, zip code, ethnicity and other parameters.
Aggregator and MercuryMedia documentary IPTV Service
Aggregator and MercuryMedia have entered into a co-venture agreement to develop and launch a TV-over-Broadband service which will enable easy access to an extensive library of documentaries and factual films.
The service, called ‘joiningthedots.tv’, is due to launch in February 2007 with over 200 titles, including categories such as: current affairs, history, observational, polemic, arts, nature and science; as well as providing non-partisan forums and a portal for user generated factual content.
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Pace reassures
Pace Micro has issued a reassuring statement that it was on track to meet its expectations for the 2006/7 financial year as it made solid progress, driven by demand in all regions. The group posted an annual pretax loss of £15.6 million pounds (E23m) in September, due to delays in developing products for the United States, but said it was starting to recover.
"Pace has turned the corner after a difficult period and is beginning to make solid progress," Chairman Mike McTighe said at the group's annual general meeting. "We have also secured new business from both new and existing customers in the rest of the world, which supports our outlook for the year," McTighe said.
BSkyB is to extend the reach of Sky Mobile TV with a new agreement to bring the service to Orange 3G and 3UK customers. All Orange 3G customers can now receive up to 23 Sky Mobile TV channels including live news, sport, music, entertainment and documentaries from some of television’s biggest brands.
Sky Mobile TV includes a mix of dedicated ‘made for mobile’ channels and others that are streamed ‘as live’. Users can keep up with live breaking news and sports reports from Sky News and Sky Sports News, or enjoy entertainment, music and documentaries while they’re on the move.
Player X and Universal mobile Retrosodes
Mobile media company Player X has expanded its relationship with Universal Mobile Entertainment by producing mobile video content based on 1980s hit TV shows Knight Rider and Magnum, P.I.
Series one of this made-for-mobile animated content consists of 10 original ‘Retrosodes’ of up to two-minutes each adapted to handsets and channel requirements.Player X will produce, publish and distribute the Retrosodes through its direct distribution deals with more than 85 global carriers that offer the titles a potential reach of more than 1.8 billion people. The Retrosodes will launch across all networks in Q1 2007 with integrated marketing support.
Envivio, Minerva and ADB combine on IPTV solution
Envivio, technology provider of IP video convergence solutions from mobile to HD, has unveiled its SD and HD encoders with Minerva Networks iTVManager middleware and AVC/H.264 set-top boxes from Advanced Digital Broadcast (ADB) to provide a complete MPEG-4 IPTV solution targeting the Independent Operator Company (IOC) market. Products from Envivio, Minerva Networks and ADB have been integrated into a ready-to-use MPEG-4 IP video convergence solution that telcos can install with ease.
The product allows operators to quickly deploy highly personalised TV, entertainment and advertising solutions. This MPEG-4 IPTV solution is particularly aimed at operators wishing to deliver HD content at low bandwidths with high video quality.
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Thursday 2nd November
Major CE companies form WirelessHD group
European telcos embrace IPTV
IPTV equipment sales to explode
Top Up TV Anytime service
Turner new broadband network
Al-Jazeera sets date for international network
Sony reveals content organiser for PSP
MTV Europe Music Awards on Mobile TV
Yanowitch quits NDS
Major CE companies form WirelessHD groupLG Electronics, Matsushita, NEC, Samsung, SiBEAM, Sony and Toshiba have a working group, WirelessHD, to develop a specification for a wireless high-definition digital interface intended to enable high-definition audio video streaming and high-speed content transmission for consumer electronics devices.
"WirelessHD will provide consumers wireless flexibility and ease of use while preserving the benefits traditionally associated with popular wired alternatives for point-to-point display, such as HDMI and DVI," said Brian O’Rourke, a Senior Analyst with In-Stat/MDR.
"The availability of high-definition wireless connections stands to eliminate the morass of cables, switches and other complexities traditionally needed to support the wide variety of devices consumers have and will continue to buy, such as HDTVs, HD disc players, digital video cameras and game consoles. With high-definition wireless links, media streaming and transmission from any source to any display or recorder is dramatically simplified by removing the need for a hard-wired connection," stated John Marshall, Chairman of WirelessHD.In addition to actively promoting the new format throughout the industry, WirelessHD will present the format available for adoption as soon as the specifications are completed circa Spring 2007.
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European telcos embrace IPTV
Western Europe is now home to more than 30 IPTV providers and by the end of 2006 IPTV will be available in nearly every country in the region, according to market research firm IDC.IDC estimates that the IPTV market in Western Europe is currently worth around $500 million, and will grow at an annual rate of 71 per cent to reach $4.3 billion by 2010. In the next five years, household penetration of IPTV services will increase from 1 per cent in 2006 to 11 per cent by 2010. The countries that will make up a large portion of this growth are France, Italy, and Spain, where the pay-TV markets are less developed than elsewhere in Western Europe, where the first large IPTV services were launched, and where some of the more innovative providers are based.
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IPTV equipment sales to explode
A report from market research firm Infonetics Research estimates the number of worldwide IPTV subscribers to more than double just about every year from 2005 to 2009, when it will reach 68.9 million subscribers.
The report forecasts IPTV service revenue and service provider capex to increase dramatically as well, and sales of IPTV equipment to boom from $371 million to $6.8 billion, between 2005 and 2009.
"IPTV is still in the ‘kick the tires’ phase, with service providers doing trials rather than mass deployments, but there’s no question that IPTV is going mainstream," said Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for Broadband and IPTV at Infonetics Research.
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UK’s DTT based Top Up TV, is to launch of its Top Up TV Anytime Service and Digital TV Recorder (DTR). The device will allow viewers to watch and record content from 19 channels including Disney, MTV, Paramount Comedy, Livingtv and, for an additional cost, premiere Setanta Sports and PictureBox.
The DTR provides access to all of the Top Up TV Anytime programming as well as all Freeview channels. It comes with digital features allowing users to pause, rewind and fast forward live TV as well as record two channels at the same time.
Once the Top Up TV Anytime DTR has been set up, new programmes will be sent overnight to the user’s box and stored on the hard drive. Each programme put onto the box will stay there for seven days after which time it will be refreshed by something new.
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Turner new broadband network
Turner Broadcasting intends to launch broadband network ‘SUPER DELUXE’ in January 2007. The network will be devoted to exclusive, originally produced comedy combined with interactive online-community tools.Through these tools, Turner says fans can express their own humour and interact with artists and others by creating their own profiles, uploading their own videos and rating and sharing content SUPER DELUXE will be ad-supported, making the network entirely free to consumers, and will integrate advertising in innovative ways.
In addition to being available online, SUPER DELUXE content will be available via cable VOD, wireless devices and personal media players.
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Al-Jazeera sets date for international network
Al-Jazeera has fixed a date of November 15 for the launch of its international English-language news network. The Arabic broadcaster’s English-language website is also being re-launched to coincide with the channel’s debut.
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Sony reveals content organiser for PSP
Sony has confirmed the launch of Media Manager for its handheld PSP console, allowing users to transfer, share and manage their PSP content with their PC.
The software, available to download, will enable users to transfer video, photos, documents, podcasts and music to and from the PSP system using the simple drag-and-drop method. Media Manager for PSP will support a majority of file formats and will automatically convert files to allow users to easily view or listen to the library of content that is available to the PSP community.
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MTV Europe Music Awards on Mobile TV
MTV Networks will premiere its MTV Europe Music Awards as a live simulcast on mobile TV, accessible to more than 20 million 3G users. The event will be shown on MTV's mobile TV channels in nine European countries.
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NDS, digital pay TV solutions group, announced that Richard Yanowitch has resigned as a non-executive director and Vice Chairman of the NDS Board.
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Wednesday 1st November
Swisscom’s Bluewin TV arrives
Live Internet coverage of UEFA Champions League
Pepsi on YouTube
Amp’d content for Japanese mobile
First premiere streaming in Canada
100 Digital TV Channels for MTNL Network
Sogecable sets up a new media content unit
Virgin Mobile adds ITN News to mobile TV service
BitBand becomes ANYTIME Partner
CoreMedia and Discretix accelerate mobile content
Swisscom’s Bluewin TV arrivesSwisscom's much delayed Bluewin TV is now available. The broadband service offers 100 plus television channels, 70 plus radio channels, 500 plus films on demand, live sports coverage and up to 30 Teleclub channels.
The monthly fee for the basic offering, Bluewin TV Plus, is CHF29 (E18). This includes a range of content and a selectable language package (German, French or Italian). The Bluewin TV set-top box provides customers with over 100 hours' recording capacity. The monthly TV Magazine provides information on programme content. Additional language packages can be ordered at a cost of CHF5.50 per package. As an option, customers can choose from up to 30 Teleclub channels.
Bluewin TV offers French-speaking customers the option of CANAL+ LE BOUQUET. This features five channels with films, sports programmes and serials. Bluewin TV is installed by a specialist at the customer's home for a charge of CHF95. For the Teleclub Basic package from Bluewin TV the customer pays CHF29.90 instead of CHF39.90 via cable.The Swisscom service uses the Microsoft TV software and the launch follows the start of the T-Com in Germany using the same system, earlier this month.
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Live Internet coverage of UEFA Champions League
The launch of the UEFA Video Service (UVS) has given Internet users in 96 countries access to live online matches from UEFA competitions. UVS 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 UVS to make every UEFA Champions League match from the 2006/07season 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 in over 100 countries.
As well as the live coverage, UVS also provides a comprehensive archive of over 5,000 videos and 1,000 matches from UEFA competitions dating back over ten years.
The live match coverage is produced in conjunction with each broadcaster using UVS. The UVS can either encode the broadcaster’s own live satellite feed, via its infrastructure located in London and Turin, or distribute the multilateral feed with English commentary. The feed is then delivered to a custom web interface developed for each broadcaster.
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Pepsi is launching a branded channel on YouTube. Pepsi UK is planning to use YouTube as a bridge to drive traffic to its own recently launched video-based website, maxyourlife.com. The promotion uses the strapline - "Max your YouTube" and invites users to make and post a video of how they would use £1,000 to "max" their day.
Pespi hopes to go beyond using YouTube purely for short-term promotional purposes and to build the popularity of the Pepsi Max website in its own right for future independent campaigns.
Pepsi UK has also tied up with Bebo.com. Bebo users will be able to "Max their Bebo experience" with various Pepsi content such as videos and a "skin" for their homepage.
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Amp’d content for Japanese mobile
Amp'd Mobile, a wireless carrier backed by MTV Networks and Universal Music Group, is set to announce that it will start selling its mobile-entertainment content to the 20 million-plus customers of Japan's second-largest carrier, KDDI in March.
The service, named "Amp'd Live," will include American film clips, music videos, sports highlights and other content, which is popular in Japan. Amp'd, which licenses or produces the content, will add Japanese subtitles to some of it. KDDI will take a small cut, estimated at about 10 per cent, of each content sale for handling billing transactions. Amp'd will share the rest of the revenue with content owners.
Amp'd has more than 50,000 subscribers to its wireless service in the U.S. The company predicts it will have 100,000 customers by yearend. Its customers pay $30 a month on average for content, on top of their voice-calling plan. Customers of major U.S. wireless carriers only pay less than $10 a month for entertainment content. Amp'd says that its customers, specifically 18-to-34-year-olds, are willing to pay a premium for wider selection and a "cool" factor.
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First premiere streaming in Canada
From Gail Chiasson in Montreal
CTV has marked an industry milestone by streaming the highly anticipated Season 4 Premiere of The O.C. on The CTV Broadband Network.
It marks both the first time a U.S. Network drama has been delivered to Canadians on broadband, and the first time any U.S. Network series was streamed in Canada in advance of its television premiere. The O.C Season 4 will make its television premiere November 2 on CTV and in High Definition on CTV HD East/West.
The promotional initiative was arranged between CTV and Warner Bros. International Television. Both the Season Premiere and episode two will be available to Canadians on broadband, with episode two making its broadband debut following episode one's television conclusion.
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100 Digital TV Channels for MTNL Network
Optibase, provider of advanced digital head-end video solutions, and its partner, broadband content services operator, Time Broadband Services, are expanding their IPTV solution to India's state-owned major telecom service provider, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam
MTNL recently launched IPTV services through Time Broadband employing Optibase's platforms for its digital IPTV head-end operation at the company’s Network Operating Centre. Service provider, Time Broadband is geared up to deploy IPTV services on both TV & PC delivery, through network and Internet service providers across India. Following the success of the initial deployment providing 26 channels of Telco-grade streaming, Optibase has now supplied an additional 74 channels.
Optibase is enabling the launch of their IPTV services in Delhi with high sign-on rates for broadband Internet Services.
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Sogecable sets up a new media content unit
From David Del Valle in MadridSogecable, owner of digital DTH platform Digital Plus and Canal Plus, has set up a business unit to develop, produce and market mobile, cable and broadband content.
According to the company, the New Media content unit (Unidad de Contenidos para Nuevos Medios) aims to "extend Sogecable's capacity and experience as a content producer to distribute it through mobile devices, portable terminals and any means that allow to enjoy this audiovisual experience".
This new unit will not only distribute Sogecable's existing contents but will develop "original formats based on those contents". Game channels and "other services related to audiovisual content" will also play a leading role in the new unit.
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Virgin Mobile adds ITN News to mobile TV service
Virgin Mobile has confirmed 24-hour news channel `ITN News’ as the latest addition to join its mobile TV service. ITN News is a rolling news channel designed specifically for mobile phones.
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BitBand becomes ANYTIME Partner
ANYTIME have confirmed that BitBand, provider of video content distribution and video delivery solutions, has joined the ANYTIME Technology Partner Program.
BitBand join a growing number of the technology vendors including Verimatrix, SecureMedia, Concurrent and Tatung as members of the ANYTIME Technology Partner Program.
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CoreMedia and Discretix accelerate mobile contentProvider of software solutions CoreMedia, and Discretix, supplier of embedded security and DRM solutions for mobile devices, are collaborating to accelerate the deployment of OMA DRM 2.0 and Windows Media-DRM solutions.
The collaboration will achieve fully seamless end-to-end mobile DRM solutions say the companies. The solutions will address the mobile operators’ and content owner’s requirements for both usability and security. Fully interoperable DRM solutions ostensibly provides a cost-effective deployment while simplifying the user experience to ensure a rapid uptake of digital content services.
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Tuesday 31st October
SES, Eutelsat team up for mobile broadcasting
Brightcove, AOL team for video downloads
Alcatel and Samsung partner to develop S-Band Mobile TV handsets
ISMA addresses fast RTP channel change
China’s SINOSAT launch successful
Zonemedia takes VOOM HD into Europe, Africa and Asia
Consolidated Communications selects Entone For MPEG-4 HD IPTV
C-COR launches network PVR
SES, Eutelsat team up for mobile broadcasting
Satellite operators SES Global and Eutelsat Communications are joining forces to invest in the first European satellite infrastructure for broadcasting video, radio and data to mobile devices and vehicle receivers, responding to what they describe as "the innovative nature of this market".
A 50:50 joint venture company will operate and commercialise the S-band payload on the W2A satellite commissioned by Eutelsat from Alcatel Alenia Space for launch on Sea Launch in the beginning of 2009. W2A will be operated at 10 degrees East. The company will be set up by SES Astra and Eutelsat following approval from relevant regulatory agencies. The S-band space segment represents an investment of approximately E130 million.
The S-band (2.0 and 2.2 GHz), which represents a new frequency band for both SES and Eutelsat, provides a set of frequencies optimised for supporting a wireless distribution network for delivering video and other services to mobile devices, including phones, PDAs, laptops and vehicle receivers.
The pair suggest that the development of mobile video services through a satellite-based hybrid network will provide content providers and operators with alternative or complementary solutions to terrestrial-based networks and will bring the benefit of the universal coverage that satellites can provide.
Romain Bausch, President and CEO of SES Global said that by joining forces with Eutelsat, this infrastructure investment offered an attractive business opportunity in line with SES’s internal investment hurdle rates. Giuliano Berretta, Chairman and CEO of Eutelsat Communications, suggested that satellite services using S-band frequencies could make a vital contribution to the overall success of the mobile broadcasting market, adding that the design of the S-band payload was also fully suited for two-way communications.
Brightcove, AOL team for video downloadsOpen Internet TV service Brightcove and AOL are launching a new distribution service for selling digital video downloads. The service aims to allow video publishers to sell high-quality video downloads through the AOL Video and receive up to 70 per cent of the revenue generated from their sales.
Using Brightcove, any video publisher can easily have their video downloads distributed and sold through AOL Video. In addition, videos can be automatically indexed in the AOL Video Search engine and can be browsed through the AOL Video portal. Consumers will be able to purchase and download the videos and watch them on their computers, network connected TVs or other devices.
"As the market for online video grows, both emerging and established media companies are looking for more options to reach consumers with their paid downloads," said Jeremy Allaire, chairman and chief executive officer of Brightcove. "Our relationship with AOL is giving Internet TV programmers a powerful new channel to reach consumers, build audience and generating revenue through sale of high-quality digital video."
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Alcatel and Samsung partner to develop S-Band Mobile TV handsets
Alcatel and Samsung Electronics have signed an agreement to develop mobile handsets compatible with the evolution of the DVB-H standard in the S-Band. This is part of Alcatel's Unlimited Mobile TV solution.
Alcatel and Samsung will collaborate on interoperability testing in order to deliver a seamless end-to-end solution to operators and a high quality Mobile TV service to end-users. Both companies will support the standardisation process of this solution in the DVB Forum undertaken in the DVB-SSP (Satellite Services for Portable devices) Ad-Hoc Group, and join forces to market their combined solution.
The solution in the S-Band allows complete territory coverage for Mobile TV at the scale of a country or even a continent, including inside buildings. The solution is compatible with DVB-H in UHF, which also enables the development of dual-mode UHF/ S-Band Mobile TV terminals.
Kwang Suk Hyun, Senior Vice President of Samsung, suggested that S-Band was a solution of choice in Europe for Mobile TV deployment and Samsung intended to be a major player in that business. Olivier Coste, President of Alcatel's mobile broadcast activities, said that Samsung's endorsement of Alcatel's hybrid mobile TV solution in the S-Band demonstrated the attractiveness of this option for the Mobile TV industry at large.
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ISMA addresses fast RTP channel changeThe ISMA (Internet Streaming Media Alliance) has responded to the industry's need for fast IPTV channel changes by beginning work on a new specification addressing instantaneous and reliable channel tune-in and will continues to solicit industry input on the topic.
Fast channel change was identified as a vital Quality of Experience issue potentially affecting consumer adoption of IPTV at Summits that ISMA held recently to discuss the state of open standards in the industry.
"There is a general myth in the industry that RTP (Real-Time Transport Protocol) channel change is slow and erratic in principle," said Nikolaus Farber of Fraunhofer IIS and the ISMA technical chair. "But with the correct deployment, RTP is one of the most stable and effective technologies for IPTV, including fast and accurate channel tune-in," he said.
The specification looks at the coding, transport and network layers, and proposes solutions based on correct RTP usage, RTP extension headers, and distributed edge servers to support fast tune-in. The results of this specification work will be aligned with other organisations, in particular DVB-IPI Phase 2. ISMA developed the draft at its September member forum in Paris following the European Summit.
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China’s SINOSAT launch successfulChina's first large direct broadcasting satellite SINOSAT-2 has successfully launched a Long March-3B carrier rocket in Xichang Satellite Launch Center, southwest China's Sichuan province. The craft has a 15-year mission life and will provide TV and radio transmissions, digital films, direct TV and digital broadband to meet the needs of China's rapidly developing TV market on the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
Sun Laiyan, chief of the China National Space Administration, said that the satellite would enable every farming household to receive TV signals using a small dish, thereby bringing educational programmes and even remote medical services to farmers.
Observers suggest the launch is likely speed up the reform of China's satellite TV service by prompting the abolishment of a 13-year-old regulation banning individuals from setting up dish antennas. Industry analysts predict that once individuals are allowed to install satellite dishes, up to 100 million households will do so between 2006 and 2010. China currently has about 400 million television sets.
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Zonemedia takes VOOM HD into Europe, Africa and Asia
Following the launch of VOOM HD channel Rainbow Media has broadened the global channel’s reach with a new distribution agreement. International broadcaster, distributor and thematic television channels representative Zonemedia is to sell Rainbow’s 24/7 linear high-definition VOOM HD channel throughout much of Europe, Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia.
Tanya Gugenheim, Zonemedia’s Chief Business Development and New Media Officer said that with the rapid growth of HD television internationally, Zonemedia believed the channel would become extremely popular with viewers the world over.
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Consolidated Communications selects Entone For MPEG-4 HD IPTVCommunications services provider Consolidated Communications has selected IPTV consumer premise equipment (CPE) provider Entone Technologies’ Hydra HD IP video gateway for its IPTV services.
Consolidated has some 240,000 access lines throughout Illinois and Texas and has provided telecommunications services to its communities for more than 100 years and will now be able to offer a triple-play service bundle of voice, video, and data.
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C-COR launches network PVRNetwork specialist C-COR and Oregon-based comms service provider BendBroadband are taking a leading role in Network Personal Video Recording (nPVR) with the launch of the advanced On Demand service to Bend customers.
The service utilises C-COR’s patented real-time encoding and playback technology to offer broadcast programmes on the On Demand platform with full PVR capability from the time the scheduled programme begins.
The deployment with BendBroadband marks the launch of C-COR’s new Local On Demand Packager (LODP) which manages the ingest and metadata entry of real-time content. The LODP platform and C-COR’s video server combine to enable nPVR capability.
"By adding our real-time encoding and playback solution to our existing video servers, operators such as Bend are able to upgrade to network PVR cost effectively today," said Mike Pohl, president, Global Strategies, C-COR.
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Monday 30th October
BBC and Sky dominate UK third screen
China enforces home-grown mobile TV standard
ONDAS Media and Club DAB team for sat radio
Taiwan NCC trials digital terrestrial HDTV
Nagravision/T-Mobile launch Mobile TV pilot in Czech Republic
Parks Associates roadmap for advanced STB features
Swisscom Broadcast tests DVB-H
Telefónica launches its own IPTV channel
One in 10 watches TV online
Mahony named for Espial marketing role
MGM adds hit content to the iTunes store
vsn hires Cooke for NE office
BBC and Sky dominate UK third screen
The BBC and Sky dominate the third screen in the UK, according to communications and new media research firm Telephia.
Telephia conducted consumer research to track mobile content consumption at the channel, website and content title level. The first wave of findings shows 33 per cent of all mobile TV/video viewers watched BBC 1. 29 per cent watched Sky Sports.
The BBC also secured the top ranking among mobile Internet sites, with 28 per cent of all mobile web users visiting the site. The Sky Sports website secured a 23 per cent reach among mobile Internet users."The big broadcasting brands in the UK have extended their footprint to reach the mobile population, and the strategy is clearly working," said Reza Chady, Managing Director Europe, Telephia. "Consumers are tapping into three screens - television, PC and mobile phone - for their news and entertainment. Broadcasters must develop an integrated strategy across the three screens to reach, maintain and expand their audience."
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China enforces home-grown mobile TV standard
Broadcasters in China's emerging mobile TV industry have been ordered to use Chinese technology standards instead of competing foreign systems.
China is trying to develop its own standards for mobile communications and other technology, hoping to reduce reliance on foreign know-how and give its own companies a competitive edge.
The national broadcast regulator, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television told mobile TV broadcasters hey must use the STiMi (Satellite Terrestrial Interactive Multi-service Infrastructure) standard developed by its own researchersChina's high-tech companies could benefit if the country's systems were adopted as world standards, because they would have a head start in using it and could license technology abroad.
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ONDAS Media and Club DAB team for sat radio
European satellite media company ONDAS Media has signed a partnership agreement with Italian broadcaster Club DAB Italia. This will ensure that channels directed specifically to the Italian audience will be available, in addition to the existing programmes for Club DAB members, when ONDAS launches its full subscription-based, advertising-free satellite radio, video and data service."Wide-coverage satellite media is available only on a fixed basis, with cable connection or a satellite dish for example," stated Celso Azevedo, CEO of ONDAS. "However, when ONDAS’ service launches, it will be receivable in-car by portable receivers allowing no-fade, high quality digital coverage on the move throughout Europe for the first time."
Through its digital satellite transmission network, ONDAS hopes to provide digital entertainment to up to 600 million European inhabitants on the move 24 hours a day, seven days a week through more than 150 channels in all the key European languages.
The president of Club DAB, Fabrizio Guidi, has suggested that Satellite Radio "is a promising opportunity in order to achieve the transition to digital format."
Taiwan NCC trials digital terrestrial HDTV
Taiwan's National Communications Commission is arranging a trial broadcast of digital terrestrial high-definition TV (HDTV) by local TV broadcasters along with the Public Television Service (PTS).
In order to develop terrestrial digital HDTV in Taiwan, the Government has designated Channel 30 in 2005 as the radio frequency band specifically for engineering tests and trial broadcast of programmes. PTS filed a proposal with the NCC to establish a Channel 30-based platform for the trial broadcast of wireless digital HDTV at an estimated total cost of NT$2.782 billion (E65.8 million) which has been Government approved.
The NCC plans to invite other TV broadcasters as well as related businesses, such as programme providers, to join in the trial broadcast.
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Nagravision/T-Mobile launch Mobile TV pilot in Czech Republic
Content protection provider Nagravision has confirmed its participation in the T- Mobile Czech Republic Mobile TV trial, in partnership with mobile industry players such as Motorola, Siemens, Rohde & Schwarz and Gemalto.The service will be tested by more than 250 users in the next two month, with ten channels available from content providers such as Ceská televize, Prima TV, Euronews, Ósko, Filmbox, National Geographic, TOP TV, JETIX and Playboy TV. T-Mobile plans to launch the ‘TV in your pocket’ service on a commercial basis in as soon as possible, ideally in 2007.
Italy was the first country in the world to deploy commercially Mobile TV services over DVB-H, with the launches of 3 Italia Tua TV service and Telecom Italia’s TIM TV, also secured by Nagravision.
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Parks Associates roadmap for advanced STB featuresConsumer interest in advanced TV features will transform the set-top box into a complete service platform that integrates entertainment, information, communications, and commerce-related applications for digital home consumers, according to ‘Set-top Boxes: Analysis and Forecasts’, an upcoming report from Parks Associates.
According to the report, the worldwide evolution of the set-top box will include three stages: At stage one, TV viewers will demand features and services that enhance their TV-watching experience, such as high-definition capability, TV recording, and enriched TV programming. At stage two, applications that help consumers better access information and easily bridge PC-based digital media into the living room will become popular. At stage three, communications, commerce, and personalised applications and services, such as caller ID on TV, recommendations, and TV shopping, will find wider acceptance among consumers, transforming the set-top box into a home service platform.
"Service providers and their set-top box partners can follow this roadmap in formulating service offerings and hardware strategies going forward," said Harry Wang, research analyst at Parks Associates. "Very soon the number of applications for the set-top box will increase dramatically, and providers must understand the dynamics of this market in order to offer the services that most appeal to their subscribers."
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Swisscom Broadcast tests DVB-H
Swisscom Broadcast is conducting a trial in conjunction with Swisscom Mobile, sunrise and Orange to see whether DVB-H adequately meets the public's needs with regard to mobile radio and television. From now until the end of January 2007, some 200 people in the city of Berne will be testing mobile TV via DVB-H technology.
Swisscom Broadcast and the mobile phone operators intend to gain important insights into the market appeal and customer requirements with regards to mobile TV.
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Telefónica launches its own IPTV channel
From David Del Valle in MadridTelefónica has announced plans to launch Terra TV, a free-to-air IPTV channel specifically aimed at the Internet with its own TV content.Telefónica is in talks with five production TV companies, among them Endemol, to develop its own TV contents targeted at young people "who less and less watch TV and prefer the Internet", noted Luis Velo, CEO of Imagenio.
Terra TV, which will be on trial from the beginning of 2007 with two hours programming per day, will be the first Internet TV channel with its own contents in Europe. The channel aims to complement Telefónica's pay-TV offer, Imagenio, and its video on demand service Pix Box.
"We hope to find a formula based on YouTube or MySpace but with a Spanish nature," commented Velo. Among other contents, Terra TV will offer in-house fiction series with four five minutes-episodes seeking an active role from the consumer.
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Only one in 10 Web users are watching shows online according to a report issued by The Conference Board and market research firm TNS.
The report claims 62 per cent of Web users who view TV online watch news clips, while almost half view entertainment 53 per cent said they view TV online by streaming it for free, while 49 per cent said they have downloaded shows for free.
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Mahony named for Espial marketing role
IPTV middleware and applications provider Espial IPTV has appointed Brian Mahony as VP of Marketing. Mahony is a 15-year veteran of the telecom industry, most recently with Netcentrex, and will lead Espial’s marketing and product management organisations.
"I have seen the telecom market mature from analogue to digital to IP-based technologies," said Mahony. "In this era of fierce competition between different types of service providers, IPTV is proving to be the key weapon in the triple and quad play wars that are upon us."
MGM adds hit content to the iTunes store
MGM Studios has announced that more programming from its television library is now available for purchase and download from the iTunes Store. Television classics such as ‘The Addams Family, ‘The Outer Limits and ‘Pink Panther’ are now available from the iTunes Store.
"We have over 10,000 hours of television programming so making MGM hit series available to the iTunes community is a great way for us to continue our expansion in the new media world." said Doug Lee, MGM’s executive vice president, New Media Division.
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vsn hires Cooke for NE office
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Spanish broadcast automation manufacturer vsn (video stream networks) has expanded its activity in the UK and Northern Europe by opening a branch office in London. Eugene Cooke, formerly with On Air Systems and Snell&Wilcox, has been appointed to develop the company's Northern European subsidiary and to develop the reseller network within this territory. vsn intends to strengthen its presence in the broadcast automation business for the British market, following its successful developments in Spain and Latin America over the last two to three years.
