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Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Tuesday
Friday 13th April
CBS signs with Joost
Google ad management for DirecTV?
DTT STBs in Spain hit 4 million
C4 call Ofcom to review NG buy
Ad buyers want Sky discounts
Comcast net video
ATSC to develop new mobile TV standard
OLEDs in 2007
CBS signs with JoostCBS Corp. has made new deals to distribute network TV shows and other video programming to various Web portals, including MSN and AOL. CBS is also expected to announce an agreement with Joost. CBS will become the first broadcast network to sign with Joost. The company is also in talks to have a new NBC Universal-News Corp. venture distribute its shows on a nonexclusive basis.
CBS has been asking to keep 90 per cent of ad revenue generated by its videos; the other 10 per cent would go to distribution partners, according to reports. That structure is said to be the same as the one secured by NBC Universal and News Corp. The deals reflect CBS's strategy of making its content as widely available as possible while maintaining maximum control. It had been in discussions with NBC Universal and News Corp. to be a founding member of their online venture, but balked at an exclusivity requirement.
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Google ad management for DirecTV?
Following Google’s partnership to sell TV advertising time for EchoStar, the search company is rumoured to have reached a similar deal with DIRECTV. Coupled with EchoStar's footprint, a partnership between Google and DIRECTV would give the internet company's advertisers access to more than 25 per cent of U.S. TV households.
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DTT STBs in Spain hit 4 million
From David Del Valle in Madrid
Sales of DTT set-top-boxes have been growing significantly in Spain since the start of the new year. In February, more than 300,000 boxes were sold, 152 per cent up against the same month the previous year, reaching up to 4.1 million units available in the market, according to DTT Association Impulsa.
60 per cent of all sales are DTT integrated TV sets representing 38 per cent of all units sold in February. In terms of audience ratings, DTT is reaching an average share of 5.7 per cent at a time when traditional analogue TV channels are losing audience (they represent now 77.4 per cent) to DTT channels and, above all, satellite, cable and IPTV platforms, with 16.9 per cent. According to EGM, 16 per cent of Spaniards currently have access to DTT transmissions in a country where DTT already has coverage of 80 per cent of the population.
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C4 call Ofcom to review NG buy
UK’s Channel 4 want Ofcom to investigate competition issues surrounding its only rival in the latest multiplex bids, National Grid Wireless, following the sale of that company to Macquarie. Macquarie subsidiary Arqiva owns 37 per cent of the first digital multiplex, so if National Grid Wireless was now to be awarded the second licence, the bank would be able to influence digital radio operations across both networks, claims C4.
Arqiva said "we are confident [the company] can work through any competition areas", adding: "Until the competition issues [surrounding the purchase of NGW] are resolved, Arqiva and National Grid Wireless will operate completely separately with two business plans and everything running as it did before."
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TV ad buyers will press Sky for reductions to prices to reflect the loss of more than three million cable viewers following the expiry of a deadline for talks between Virgin Media and Sky aimed at resolving the row over carriage payments.
One agency head of broadcast told Brand Republic: "We feel we need to take action on our clients' behalf. [Sky] is limiting supply, and while this may be a very well-thought-out strategy for corporate reasons, it doesn't suit our clients."
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Comcast, the world's biggest purchaser of television and movie content, is to launch a TV and movie information site.
It has purchased Fandango, a popular movie information and ticket site and will be launching Fancast. "Consumers are a bit confused," said Sam Schwartz, executive vice-president of Comcast Interactive Media. "They have more choices than ever in terms of being able to watch videos on television or on the internet, and we want to help them cut through some of the clutter." Fancast will have information about television shows and movies, such as when they can be watched on television, whether they can be watched on-demand or where they are available on the Internet.
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ATSC to develop new mobile TV standardAdvanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC)—the body that developed America's digital TV standard—is to develop a new system for broadcasters to deliver programming to mobile and handheld devices.
ATSC president Mark Richer said the proposed ATSC-M/H Standard would allow broadcasters to use their digital broadcast channels to provide new services directly to hand-held receivers, laptop computers and vehicles.
Sony has said it plans to start selling ultra-thin TVs using organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology this year. Several companies are investing in OLED technology because it can produce bright, colourful images and does not require a backlight as do liquid crystal displays (LCDs), allowing for a thinner panel. OLED panels are also said to be energy-efficient and good at reproducing fast-moving images.
OLED displays are already used in digital cameras, cellphones and other devices with relatively small panels. But cost and technology hurdles have so far prevented them from being mass produced for use in larger equipment such as TVs.
Thursday 12th April
Yacom launches IPTV service in Spain
Yahoo secures Viacom ad deal
Cablevision appeals on DVR
Mobile TV continues steady growth
BBC Trust will rule on YouTube
Liberty defends DirecTV deal
US copyright action against China
NBC and T-Online DTO deal in Germany
Channel 4 appoints ODG for 4oD content management
Maddox heads CNNI
Irdeto and Rohde & Schwarz secure mobile TV
Harmonic simplifies video service management
Motorola and ECI relationship
Yacom launches IPTV service in Spain
From David Del Valle in MadridDeutsche Telekom subsidiary Yacom is launching its Microsoft IPTV Edition service in Spain with 25 TV channels for a monthly fee of E6, in direct competition with the existing IPTV operators: Telefonica's Imagenio, Orange TV, Jazztelia and Superbanda.
Yacom is offering triple play at E35.95 per month (Telefonica's fee is E44.90, Jazztelia's E32.95 and Orange's E32) with a set-top-box equipped with a 80 Gb hard disc, able to store up to 50 programming hours and that allows "live pause". Connection is made through PLC (Power Line Communications) and the company plans to use Microsoft video console Xbox as a set-top-box from 2008.
With 400,000 ADSL clients at the present time, Yacom plans to launch VoD services from September and add all 20 DTT channels to its programming line-up. The company claims to be negotiating with the largest US cinema majors to have access to the most relevant cinema libraries.
The launch of the service comes at a time when Deutsche Telekom is negotiating the sale of the company. Vodafone, Orange and Jazztel are thought to be intersted in acquiring Yacom.
Yahoo has signed an exclusive three-year deal with Viacom to provide sponsored search and contextual ads to more than 170 of the company’s websites.
The online media company will provide the ads to around 33 key Viacom broadband websites (including MTV and Nickleodeon) initially and potentially a further 140 sites through its new Panama search marketing system, which launched earlier this year.
Cablevision is filing an appeal of a recent U.S. court ruling barring it from launching a network DVR after it lost a suit filed by several Hollywood studios and TV networks for violating U.S. copyright laws.
"Our remote-storage DVR is the same as conventional DVRs, and merely enables consumers to exercise their well-established rights to time-shift television programming," Cablevision Chief Operating Officer Tom Rutledge said in a statement. "We continue to believe strongly that remote-storage DVR is permissible under current copyright laws," he added.
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Mobile TV continues steady growthThe number of commercially launched mobile TV broadcast networks will grow from 9 in 2006 to 13 in 2007, reports In-Stat. The unavailability of spectrum is the largest barrier to the launch of more mobile TV services, particularly in Europe, the research firm says.Over the next 10 years, as more spectrum is made available, in many cases when analogue TV signals are shut off, more mobile TV broadcast services will launch. Another issue limiting the market today is the small number of mobile TV broadcast enabled handsets available in many markets.
In-Stat predicts Mobile TV broadcast subscribers will reach 125 million worldwide in 2011.
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BBC Trust will rule on YouTube
The BBC may have to seek approval from the BBC Trust if it is to extend its partnership with YouTube. The trust's acting chairman, Chitra Bharucha, noted the "potential strategic significance" of the partnership.
Any proposals reviewed by the BBC Trust could be subject to a public value test, which weighs the public value of the service against any negative impact on the commercial market. The YouTube deal, formally announced in March, involves two BBC-branded channels on the video sharing site.
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Liberty defends DirecTV dealIn its Federal Communications Commission filing Liberty Media took on critics of its pending takeover of a controlling stake in DIRECTV. The company said petitioners seeking conditions "provide no factual or legal support for the regulatory relief that they request from the commission."
"Like letters to the North Pole in early December, petitioners and commenters (sic) identify in their submissions a wide variety of regulatory gifts that each would like to receive in this proceeding," Liberty said in its filing. "Ranging from guaranteed carriage over other programmers, to a ban on exclusive agreements with third party programmers, to even a prohibition on Liberty Media's creation or acquisition of any new programming without prior government approval, these requests are without any factual support."
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US copyright action against ChinaThe US has filed two complaints with the World Trade Organisation against China over copyright policy and restrictions on the sale of American films, music and books. US trade representative Susan Schwab said American companies were losing billions of dollars annually from piracy levels in China. Washington accused China of breaking its 2001 WTO entry agreement and sought consultations with Beijing over the twin complaints, which could lead to a formal case being brought if no deal can be struck within 60 days.
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NBC and T-Online DTO deal in Germany
NBC Universal and T-Com have confirmed digital distribution agreements for the new download-to-own (DTO) rights and additional renewed video-on-demand (VOD) rights to a wide array of NBC Universal content in Germany via T-Home, T-Com’s IPTV services, as well as their VOD service T-Online Video on Demand.
Under the terms of the new download-to-own agreement with UPIE, broadband consumers in Germany will be able to download Universal feature films and legally burn them to DVD. Consumers will also receive two digital copies of the films to watch on their PC and portable video device.
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Channel 4 appoints ODG for 4oD content management
On Demand Group has been appointed to provide a range of content management and reporting services for Channel 4's video-on-demand service, "4oD", now available to Virgin Media customers. ODG has implemented its own content management system to manage 4oD's video distribution and data processing requirements in order to ensure the smooth delivery of video content as part of a seamless customer experience.
4oD, Channel 4's own brand video-on-demand service, was launched successfully to all Virgin Media customers in October 2006. The service offers an initial line-up of nearly 1,000 new and library Channel 4 titles. It is updated daily with a weekly turnover of 75 hours of content.The VOD content and metadata ingest services provided by ODG for the 4oD service encompass the distribution of video materials encoded by Channel 4 onto the cable platform and the processing of data to supply customers with up-to-date programme information. ODG ensures that both content and data are delivered in a compatible format that Virgin Media's existing cable infrastructure can ingest.
ODG has also developed a reporting solution for Channel 4 to support the launch of its VOD services on the Virgin Media platform. Using On Demand's content management system in conjunction with a Business Objects and Oracle data management back end, the solution enables Channel 4 to gain valuable insight into the viewing behaviour of its VOD customers.
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Tony Maddox will succeed Chris Cramer as managing director of CNN's international channels. A former executive at the BBC, Maddox is currently senior vice president of news operations for CNN International.
In his new role he will oversee five CNN services in English, as well as CNN en Espanol, CNNj in Japan and CNNArabic.com. Mr Maddox will be based in Atlanta and will report to Jim Walton, the president of CNN Worldwide.
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Irdeto and Rohde & Schwarz secure mobile TVIrdeto and Rohde & Schwarz have completed interoperability testing aimed at offering a full content security solution for DVB-H to mobile network operators.
Rohde & Schwarz has integrated the Irdeto Mobile Broadcast CAS solution into its DVB-H signal generators and transmitters, allowing mobile network operators to provide fully secured DVB-H services to their end-users.
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Harmonic simplifies video service managementHarmonic says its’ NMX Digital Service Manager now features "Any-to-Any" technology, a capability that automates the way services are moved across IP-based transports and multiplexes. Harmonic's technology employs IP-based connectivity between encoders, eliminates the permanent physical mapping of encoders to multiplexers, and allows routing of any encoder to any multiplexer. With the new Any-to-Any capabilities, operators can manage any number of channel line up changes using a simple graphical user interface.
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Motorola and ECI relationshipMotorola and ECI Telecom have revealed a strategic relationship pairing ECI's IP DSLAM portfolio with Motorola's Fiber-to-the-Node (FTTN) and Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) solutions.
The multi-year agreement provides Motorola access to ECI's complete portfolio of carrier class access infrastructure products. Designed to maximise bandwidth potential and help increase service delivery efficiency, the IP DSLAM is supported by a premier IP/Ethernet switching fabric and deep Quality-of-Service (QoS) assurance capabilities.
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Akimbo available for TV and PC
New channels driving online music and video growth
Widevine secures Adobe flash video
Orca in middle of Baltic MPEG-4 IPTV service
NPTV in Asian new media vision
Tiscali takes box office home
BSNL confirms triple play
Irdeto enables ethnic service
Digital Plus Mobile surpasses 140,000 subscribers
Entropic in RF Magic trick
Volantis, Mobixell team for mobile video
Ensequence in $40m expansion boost
Fujitsu US enables real-time HDTV
Akimbo available for TV and PC
Broadband Internet VoD specialist Akimbo Systems is making its Internet video-on-demand service available in beta release for Windows XP and Vista-based PCs. Consumers will be able to download Akimbo at www.Akimbo.com to access thousands of videos for viewing on their PCs.
The Akimbo Service offers a collection of high-quality video, including popular TV networks alongside speciality outlets. The Akimbo Service available on Windows PCs lets consumers bypass the monthly Akimbo subscription fee and instead pay per video download to enjoy their choice of programming.
Akimbo President and Chief Executive Officer Thomas F. Frank said that making Akimbo available on the PC was an important step toward delivering the Internet VOD service wherever consumers preferred to receive it.
Akimbo used the Sonic Solutions Roxio Venue, a rich media management application, to make the Akimbo Service available on PCs. Users with high-speed broadband connections can use Roxio Venue to select, manage and, taking advantage of the progressive download feature, even begin to watch videos before the download is complete. Later in 2007, consumers will also be able to burn Akimbo videos securely onto recordable DVDs that play on standard DVD players as well as PCs, which will be enabled using Sonic DVD On Demand technology.
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New channels driving online music and video growth
New distribution channels for online music and video are beginning to have a significant impact on the music and video industries, according to consultancy In-Stat. Online sales of digital music represented 6 per cent of the total worldwide music market in 2006, up from 4 per cent in 2005. By 2011, online sales of digital music will represent 26 per cent of all music purchased worldwide.
"The Internet is now an essential channel for online music distribution; and social networking sites, such as YouTube and MySpace, are beginning to show great potential as new and legitimate channels for digital content consumption," noted Stephanie Ethier, In-Stat analyst. "As a result, consumers are demanding access to digital content in more ways than ever."
Research by In-Stat also indicted that 74 per cent of respondents (primarily North Americans) downloaded music in 2006, up significantly from 48 per cent in 2005; Digital piracy continues to represent the primary challenge to content owners and online service providers, particularly outside the US.
In-Stat believes that the growth in mobile music will have important implications for the online music market.
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Widevine secures Adobe flash videoWidevine Technologies is to support the Adobe Flash video format via its Widevine Cypher DRM solution that offers consumers the freedom to choose their entertainment platform while protecting the copyright and revenue streams of content owners and distributors.
Its multi-format copy protection now includes the protection of Macromedia Flash video—the most ubiquitous video format in use today, with approximately 750 million downloads. Widevine Cypher is currently used by three major TV networks and leading video retailers for Internet video delivery to PCs, Macs, portable media players and other devices.
In contrast to traditional DRM technologies—such as Apple’s FairPlay and Microsoft’s Windows Media DRM, which restrict content purchase and usage to specific devices, video formats and online services—Widevine suggests that its approach opens DRM interoperability to all platforms, networks and video devices.
"Widevine is unique in the market because it doesn’t have a vested interest in a consumer content service, device, operating system or a video format," claimed Brian Baker, Widevine’s CEO. "Widevine gives consumers the ultimate flexibility to acquire content from any site, in any format and play on any device."
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Orca in middle of Baltic MPEG-4 IPTV serviceIPTV middleware and applications developer Orca Interactive’s IPTV middleware – RiGHTv – has been deployed in the first Baltic MPEG4 IPTV solution for Lattelecom, Latvia’s leading provider of information technology and telecommunications services.
Utilising Orca’s RiGHTv middleware as part of the end-to-end solution provided by Optibase and supported by local system integrator Hannu Pro, Lattelecom IPTV service includes broadcast television, video on demand, multi-lingual and self service. Orca’s Service Delivery Platform (SDP) architecture enabled Optibase to develop an innovative segmented advertising service that allows Lattelecom to send advertisements triggered by the user’s actions.
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NPTV in Asian new media vision
Interactive TV software solutions provider NPTV and Vision New Media, the leading content provider in Malaysia, have established a joint venture, New Vision Partners, to address the content and technology needs of the burgeoning mobile phone market in Asia.
The company will provide the market with solutions to create instant, downloadable, rich-media applications that will work on all Java-enabled mobile phones. The applications will benefit from the Bando Player for Mobile (BPM) technology.
The pair say that the approach of creating a fully customisable player that will allow all manner of applications to be deployed, regardless of handset manufacturer or operator; will open up the market for creative deployment of content applications and services.
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Tiscali takes box office homeUK broadband entertainment network provider Tiscali TV has made the new Home Box Office subscription video on demand (SVoD) channel available to its subscribers. HBO On Demand will be available to all Tiscali TV customers who subscribe to the big pack package £10 a month on top of the base pack subscription cost of £14.99 a month.
This marks HBO’s first entry into the UK marketplace, offering customers the opportunity to view the very best of its programming whenever they like.
The channel will launch with over 60 hours of on demand programming including the critically acclaimed series Curb Your Enthusiasm, Entourage and The Sopranos as well as award winning documentaries. The programming line-up will be updated on a weekly basis and will provide consumers with the freedom to enjoy HBO programming whenever they want.
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BSNL confirms triple playIndian state-run telco BSNL is to offer voice, cable TV and Internet services on a single line by the later half of 2007, a move designed to boost its revenues but also enable it to match private operators in providing quality offerings.
Its rival, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), another state owned NYSE listed company has started offering triple play services called ‘Triband’ in Mumbai and Delhi, the two cities where it operates exclusively.
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Irdeto enables ethnic servicecontent security specialist Irdeto, has been chosen to secure the broadcast of the Ethiopian Television Network (ETN) in the US on premier pay-TV platform Home2US. ETN is a 24/7 broadcast channel featuring a variety of news and entertainment programming.
The new agreement strengthens Irdeto’s ongoing relationship with Home2US, which offers a comprehensive suite of turnkey and a la carte services to broadcasters with support from SES Americom. Services include comprehensive subscriber management, hardware provisioning and customer support.
"Popularity for ethnic broadcasting is growing rapidly to deliver the comforts of native broadcast programming from across the globe to ethnic audiences here in the US," said Emrah Ozkan, president and CEO for Home2US.
"Subscription-based satellite broadcasting ushers in new opportunities for operators with specialised programming to offer, especially as ethnic broadcasting grows," said Doug Lowther, vice president of sales and marketing for Irdeto. "
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Digital Plus Mobile surpasses 140,000 subscribers
From David del Valle in MadridThe mobile version of Spanish pay-TV platform Digital Plus, Digital Plus Mobile, is experiencing significant growth. In only three months, it has attracted more than 140,000 subscribers through Vodafone live! and is potentially available to more than 2,300,000 3G-equipped Vodafone's terminals in Spain.
Currently, Digital Plus Mobile is offering 10 TV services that are being strengthened with the addition of new music contents. Furthermore, the company has been the first to wholly broadcast a movie, La gran aventura de Mortadelo y Filemon, through mobile TV.
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Digital entertainment home networking specialist Entropic Communications is seeking a leadership position in the Connected Home Entertainment sector by acquiring RF Magic, a developer of broadband radio frequency (RF) systems-on-a-chip. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The merging of the two San Diego-based semiconductor companies brings together established complementary technologies focused on the rapidly growing market for connected home entertainment.
"We can now offer customers a comprehensive product portfolio for the connected home entertainment market," stated Entropic president and CEO Patrick Henry, who will become CEO of the new company.
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Volantis, Mobixell team for mobile videoMobile Internet content specialist Volantis, and mobile multimedia solutions provider Mobixell are partnering to deliver a broad variety of multimedia capabilities optimised for every media type, mobile device, and value added service (VAS).
The two companies have completed development on a fully integrated mobile video solution that takes advantage of Mobixell's multimedia capabilities (supported by its recent acquisition of Adamind), together with Volantis' content delivery
platform.
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Ensequence in $40m expansion boost
Interactive video company Ensequence, has completed a $40 million Series C funding round. The capital enables Ensequence to continue its worldwide expansion, open new offices in Los Angeles and New York, complete operator deployments in cable and satellite and bring to market the next generation of on-Q® software.
"With this investment, Ensequence is expanding to deliver interactive video across TV, broadband and mobile platforms – offering advertisers, programmers and operators new content and transactional revenue opportunities," said Ensequence CEO Dalen Harrison. "In the past year, video has solidified its role at the centre of the interactive experience, and we're delivering the most compelling interactive video experiences available to consumers with our software and services."
Ensequence Chairman Bernee Strom claimed the company was at the forefront of next generation video and poised for rapid and continued growth. "Ensequence technology will change the way video is consumed, giving advertisers, programmers and operators new revenue opportunities by providing new ways to engage their target audiences with multi-platform interactive video."
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Fujitsu US enables real-time HDTV
Fujitsu has unveiled the IP-9500, a new line of video encoder/decoder which enables broadcast-quality high-definition video over Internet Protocol (IP) and Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) networks in North America. Utilising advanced H.264 video encoding, the IP-9500 enables live transmission of high-quality HDTV at approximately half the bit-rate of typical MPEG-2 encoders.
"Fujitsu has been active in the video encoder market in Japan for more than 20 years. With this announcement Fujitsu is now making available its products for the US broadcast market," said Dan Dalton, director, Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc.
