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Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Tuesday
Friday 27th April
EyeVio launched in Japan
Blinkx float?
HDTV future depends on Ofcom decision
Joost blue-chip ads
Apple TV key to OMD
CE closing on broadband leaders
New interactive TV Guide
FT advances again
120,000+ Canadian IPTV subs
RawFlow P2P-TV Flash video
Arris up
EyeVio launched in JapanSony is launching a video-sharing site in Japan in a first step to challenging YouTube. Sony also hopes to introduce eyeVio abroad, but said it wanted to gauge the reception at home before drawing up an overseas launch schedule.
CEO Howard Stringer said "It's an opportunity to transmit user-generated video anywhere you want to, anytime to anybody, in a protected environment." Sony said, unlike YouTube, it would closely monitor content on the service. Such a model would appeal to companies looking to release content and to protect their image, said Sony spokesman Takeshi Honma: "We believe there's a need for a clean and safe place where companies can place their advertisements." The site will be free to users, but spokesman Honma said Sony hoped it would eventually generate revenue through advertisements and tie-ups with media companies.
Earlier this year YouTube agreed to display warnings on in Japanese telling users not to upload copyright materials. Last year it removed nearly 30,000 video files from the site at the request of Japanese media firms.
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UK search technology company Autonomy says it is going to IPO its consumer division on AIM under the name Blinkx. This will involve it first taking control of Blinkx – the online video search business – run by its former CTO Suranga Chandratillake. It will pay for the takeover by giving Blinkx – which uses Automomy core technology –exclusive rights to that technology outside China. Unlike Google and Yahoo’s search engines, Autonomy’s technology does not rely on text and keywords, but uses mathematical formulae to detect patterns in any type of information, including pictures and sounds.
HDTV future depends on Ofcom decision
Strategy Analytics forecasts that 90 percent of UK homes will be watching High Definition TV (HDTV) by 2020 as long as Ofcom allocates spectrum on the digital terrestrial television (DTT) platform for HDTV. Without HD on DTT, just 60 per cent of homes would be watching HDTV by 2020. It suggests that the decision on HD-DTT is closely tied to overall policy on the future of public service broadcasting and that the availability of HD-DTT is necessary to ensure that PSB does not become unduly weakened relative to pay and commercial television services.
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Joost blue-chip adsJoost has revealed a blue-chip line up of advertisers, including United Airlines, Microsoft, Sony Electronics and Unilever, as it prepares for launch, possibly as early as next week. Joost recently said it was ‘beta’ broadcasting to 150,000 users and had more than 500,000 registered and waiting for the service.
Joost says it has 30 major clients as launch partners. The advertisers have signed up for a three-month trial period, during which various advertising formats will be tested, said Nick Loria, general manager of North American sales and operations for Joost.
Loria declined to say how much advertisers were paying, but the NY Times reported sources saying the cost for three months was $50,000 for ads to appear only in the United States, and $100,000 for those to be shown globally.
Much of the advertising will be akin to programme sponsorship, instead of interrupting the programming.
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Apple TV key to OMDThe Apple TV device will decide the future of the online movie download (OMD) business, according to The Diffusion Group.
"At this point, the entire online movie download sell-through market hinges on the success or failure of Apple TV," said Dale Gilliam, director of primary research at The Diffusion Group. "Without a way to stream movies to the TV, the OMD sell-through market remains little more than a niche/stop-gap between the DVD and a totally network-based distribution model where movie access is instant and physical media either does not exist or becomes part supplement and part novelty, like older technology often does."
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CE closing on broadband leaders
Central European nations have closed in fast on the digital elites in North America and Western Europe. The region scored 6.1 out of a possible 10 in the 2007 rankings, up from 5.8 in the previous year, according to the annual study published by IBM and the intelligence unit of The Economist.
The survey produces a scorecard from a mix of factors which determine how "e-ready" countries are. These include the number of broadband Internet connections and the level of online access to public services.
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TV Guide parent Gemstar is launching an interactive application for the TV Guide Channel on EchoStar's DISH Network. Developed with interactive video company Ensequence, the new platform will allow Gemstar to programme the entire screen allowing viewers to access TV Guide listings and recommendations, as well as pay-per-view and DVR scheduling, with their remote controls while watching the channel.
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France Telecom shares rose 3 per cent to after it first quarter turnover beat analyst expectations by increasing by 1.8 per cent to E12.84bn. Gross operating profit rose 1.5 per cent to E4.66bn.
The French group confirmed that Sanjiv Ahuja, the head of its mobile group, was stepping down to pursue "new ventures" after overseeing the roll-out of the Orange brand across the group. He has been replaced by Olaf Swantee, currently a senior vice-president at Hewlett-Packard.
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120,000+ Canadian IPTV subsThe number of IPTV subscribers in Canada has topped 120,000 following IPTV provider MTS’s announcement that it had surpassed 70,000 customers. Along with competitor Sasktel's 51,277 IPTV customers they now have over 120,000 IPTV subscribers. That total is up over 30 per cent from 93,000 a year earlier.
There are currently four IPTV providers in Canada: Aliant TV, MTS TV, Sasktel Max and Telus TV. Official subscriber figures for Telus TV and Aliant TV have not been released by either company, however, the numbers are believed to be very small.
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RawFlow, provider of live peer-to-peer streaming technologies, has revealed that it supports the streaming of Adobe Flash encoded media content. The release of RawFlow’s new Intelligent Content Distribution (ICD) V. 5.3 solution, is the first ever peer-to-peer streaming solution to support live Flash media.
Flash Video has exploded in popularity over the last two years, largely due to the proliferation of user generated content sites such as YouTube and the recent launch of Adobe’s Flash Media Encoder (FME), a free Windows desktop programme. RawFlow’s move to support the streaming of live Flash content will enable it to offer a service to clients wishing to explore the live video capabilities of Flash.
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Arris upArris Group has posted revenues of $253.5 million (E186m) for Q1 2007, or 13 per cent more than in the corresponding period in 2006. At the same time, its net income was up by 81.6 per cent year-or-year to $37.6 million. The figures were boosted by demand for the company’s VoIP and high-speed data products. Revenues from Arris Group’s broadband products meanwhile amounted to $80.2 million in Q1 2007, as opposed to $92.4 million in the previous quarter and $85.4 million in Q1 2006. Arris lost out to Ericsson in its bid for Tandberg Television.
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Thursday 26th April
Alcatel-Lucent merger still drags
Warner wins $110m from Bertelsmann
TVTel to launch satellite service on May 15
Spain's DTT reaches 18% penetration
Viasat continues growth
Chinese TV makers challenge US patent charge
Portugal Telecom to spin off PTM
E! to launch in Canada
Bigband deploys in China
Alcatel-Lucent merger still dragsAlcatel-Lucent has warned of "significant unusual items" propelling the group into a first-quarter loss while sales had fallen more sharply than expected. Patricia Russo, CEO of the Franco-American group, admitted the destabilising effects of the merger were still being felt.
Sales in the traditional wireless and core networks businesses were lower than expected, leaving first-quarter revenues 8 per cent down at E3.9bn against forecasts of E4bn. Operating losses are E260m, half of which is down to re-evaluations "on the commercial conditions of certain contracts" implying some recent supplier or outsourcing deals are not as beneficial as expected. As well as integration problems, Ms Russo said the group had been late in presenting its new GSM platform to wireless customers.
Nevertheless, Russo defended the logic of the decision to combine the two companies: "It is way too premature to judge [the merger] just five months on. When we announced it we spoke of a three-year plan."
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Warner wins $110m from Bertelsmann
Warner Music said that it would receive $110 million (E80m) as part of a settlement with Bertelsmann that resolves claims that Bertelsmann had contributed to widespread copyright infringement by supporting Napster, the file-sharing service. Under the settlement Bertelsmann will admit no liability.
Bertelsmann provided Napster with about $85 million in loans starting in late 2000, a time when Napster had enabled millions of users to trade pirated songs online. (Napster has since been reinvented as a licensed subscription service).
The settlement comes a month after Bertelsmann reached a similar agreement with the EMI Group. Last year, Bertelsmann also agreed to pay about $60 million to resolve claims by the Universal Music Group. That settlement was part of Universal’s arrangement to buy Bertelsmann’s music publishing unit for $2 billion.
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TVTel to launch satellite service on May 15
From Branislav Pekic in RomeThe satellite service of Portuguese cable TV operator TVTel is set to launch on May 15 via a Eutelsat Eurobird at the 9° East orbital position.
The pay-TV package will be made up of 17 channels (RTP1, RTP2, SIC, TVI, RTPN, Fox, AXN, Canal Hollywood, MGM, Odisseia, The Biography Channel, Canal Panda, Canal de História, ESPN Classic, NASN, MTV and Região Norte TV), as well as an info channel and two test channels. The operator is planning a special promotional launch campaign, lasting three months, during which the monthly subscription will cost E9.95 instead of the full price of E13.Região Norte TV (RNTV) will be TVTel’s first venture in the content production area. The channel, which will launch via cable and satellite in September, will substitute Invicta TV, acquired by the operator at the beginning of the year.
Spain's DTT reaches 18% penetration
From David Del Valle in MadridDTT is growing its penetration in Spain, 17.6 per cent of homes are already receiving DTT, according to the Media Research Association AIMC. 16.5 per cent DTT homes are watching DTT through a TV with an integrated set-top-box. Spaniards prefer flat TV sets which are now present in 10.1 per cent in all Spanish households, a rise of 33 per cent in the last quarter.
Viasat continues growth
Modern Times Group results reveal Viasat ‘s pay-TV base in the Nordic Region was up 15 per cent in Q1 2007 on the same period last year. The Nordic business posted sales E95.4 million for in Q1 2007, 17 per cent up on 2006. In Eastern Europe its DTH pay-TV platform more than doubled its subscriber base year-on-year with 18 channels across 26 territories accumulating 8.8 million subs.
Chinese TV makers challenge US patent charge
Ten major Chinese television makers have founded a new company to develop cutting-edge technology and improve the bottom line by negotiating reductions in patent fees with foreign rivals. The Shenzhen Zhongcai Union Technological Co will compile a pool of digital TV patents and integrate domestic and international intellectual property right resources for China's TV industry, said Luo Qiulin, general manager. The company will also help Chinese TV makers negotiate digital TV patent fees with foreign patent holders, he said. The ten shareholders include the nation's largest TV maker TCL and manufacturers Changhong, Haier, and Xoceco.
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Portugal Telecom to spin off PTM
Portugal Telecom will spin off its cable and entertainment unit PT Multimedia in September, implementing a pledge made as part of its defence against a Sonaecom takeover bid. At a meeting this week, PT shareholders are expected to give the plan the green light at their own AGM, and this will be followed by the legal procedures.
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E! to launch in CanadaE! Networks and the broadcast division of CanWest MediaWorks have revealed an agreement to licence and manage the E! brand and content in Canada. Starting in September, CanWest will bring the entertainment brand to Canadians across multiple platforms, including broadcast, online, mobile, video-on-demand and satellite radio.
As part of this agreement, CanWest’s current CH Network will be rebranded as E!, marking the first time that E! will be delivered as an over-the-air network anywhere in the world.
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Bigband deploys in ChinaBigBand Networks, provider of broadband multimedia infrastructure, has confirmed that six Chinese cable operators are deploying the company’s Broadband Multimedia Services Router (BMR) to process and deliver digital video. The operators are Wuxi Cable TV and Changshu Cable TV in Jiangsu province; Jieyang Cable TV and Qingyuan Cable TV in Guangdong province; and Hefei Cable TV and Huaibei Cable TV in Anhui province.
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Wednesday 25th April
Glickman calls for DRM interoperability
Spain's TV3 starts HDTV
Tioti ready at last
VoIP driving US cable telephony
China as IPTV market leader?
Blu-ray winning so far
Airtel IPTV launch by year-end
53% would take broadband TV
Digital TV rises in India
Asian STB Vendors dominate market
Kamera mobile TV for Vodafone Egypt
Med1a launches local TV Internet portal
Young males prefer Mobile TV
Motorola buys Terayon
Glickman calls for DRM interoperabilityMotion Picture Association of America Chairman and CEO Dan Glickman has called on leaders from the entertainment and technology industries to attend a meeting "akin to a trade negotiation" in order to find common ground on digital rights management technology. Glickman said conversations need to go beyond "lawyers and engineers" in order to alleviate problems with different DRM systems that don't interoperate or confuse consumers with their limitations.
"The people who handle strategy have to get together to talk about this, not just the same technical people," he told Variety. Glickman made specific statements about DRM on behalf of all the MPAA's member studios: "Our goal is a diverse, high-quality, hassle-free consumer experience," he said, "one that makes the most effective case possible not merely for the legitimate consumer marketplace, but its vast superiority (over piracy)."
Glickman also said the industry supports "managed copying," a policy that allows users to take films off a DVD and watch it on a PC or portable device. He said managed copying should launch in the HD-DVD format by the end of the year, and said the industry would also like to see it enabled for SD DVDs.
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Spain's TV3 starts HDTV
From David Del Valle in MadridThe Spanish Regional channel TV3 has been the first to broadcast on High Definition in the country by launching its HD transmissions in Barcelona. Through UHF 43 channel, TV3 is offering 2 to three hours on HD per day with animation content and films from Sony-Columbia, around 50 co-production films and TV series.
TV3 has become the most advanced (traditional) TV channel in Spain for its bet on new technologies and new distribution platforms. The channel recently launched its own channel on YouTube and is leading the DTT deployment in Catalonia.
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TV indexing website Tape It Off the Internet, (Tioti), is ready to launch following a five-month trial involving 16,000 users. Tioti has created significant interest by combining the three killer web trends of web TV, community and aggregation.
The site provides extensive listings of TV shows and users submit suggestions of where to find downloadable video of these programmes across peer-to-peer networks including Azureus, content sharing services such as YouTube, and on broadcasters' own websites. "Our unofficial mission is to index all the TV in the world ever," said the Tioti designer, Paul Pod, who started the site in 2005 as a personal project after trying to track down the last series of The West Wing before it aired in the UK.
"Everyone else wants to be the distribution guy in this revolutionary space. Big companies want to compete for their part of the distribution chain but the whole point is that this revolution disrupts all that," Pod said. "Tioti is about aggregation and information. That will be the most interesting area and has huge potential for growth." Pod said that 15 per cent of all links from the site point to legal content but he believes that eventually, when broadcasters catch up with demand, all the content listed on Tioti will be legal.
Tioti is registered in the US to take advantage of the country's more mature web legislation. The 1996 Digital Millennium Copyright Act exempts online service providers from liability in copyright infringement cases, providing they remove material immediately after a complaint. YouTube is relying on this in its defence against the suit from Viacom.
VoIP driving US cable telephony
Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology has proven to be the key market enabler for cable telephony services and subscriber growth, reports In-Stat. The increasing availability of VoIP services in North America was directly responsible for an almost two-fold increase in the number of North American subscribers during 2006, the high-tech market research firm says.
Recent research found that Worldwide cable telephony subscribers increased to over 22 million in 2006, up sharply from 15.8 million in 2005. Also, Cable telephony service revenues are also growing at a rapid pace and are projected to reach $10.4 billion in 2007, up from $7.9 billion (E5.8bn) in 2006. North America will account for two-thirds of the worldwide service revenues in 2007.
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China as IPTV market leader?The co-founder of a leading Chinese telecom equipment vendor is predicting that China soon will be the largest IPTV market in the world, with as many as 1 million subscribers by year’s end, because it has overcome the significant barriers to deployment of the new technology.
Ying Wu, a Bell Labs veteran who co-founded UTStarcom and is now CEO of its China unit, said the regulatory and market environments in his country will enable the market to ramp up very quickly. UTStarcom has deployed its IPTV system with China Netcom in Harpin and with China Telecom--where it shares the set-top box part of the business with ZTE--in Shanghai.
"I predict China will be the largest IPTV market in the world quickly because we have overcome the five major barriers to deployment," Yu told an audience attending UTStarcom’s IPTV Tour 2007. He cited the five barriers as regulation, technology, content, infrastructure and capital. "Regulation is not a problem with the government in China," he said. "We have some problems with the local regulators but the good news is the government is trying to break that. We have had to overcome the resistance of the local cable operators but cable is very fragmented in China."
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Blu-ray winning so farOf HD discs bought in the first quarter, 70 per cent were in the Blu-ray Disc format and 30 per cent were HD DVD, according to sales figures provided by trade publication Home Media Magazine. Blu-ray Disc enjoys the support of five of the six major studios, while HD DVD is supported by three of them. Three studios -- Sony, Disney and Fox -- are exclusively in the Blu-ray camp, as is mini-major Lionsgate. Paramount and Warner support both formats. Universal is the only major studio to release titles only in the HD DVD format, which backers claim is easier and cheaper to produce.
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Airtel IPTV launch by year-endBharti Airtel Ltd will launch its first full-fledged IPTV applications on its broadband fixed line telecom services at Gurgaon in Haryana by the end of 2007. The launch in Gurgaon will be followed by the launch in the entire national capital region by the end of the current financial year, Atul Bindal, president of broadband and telephone services, said.
Fifty-three per cent of US Internet users would replace their cable and satellite TV with broadband TV, if they could get the same TV channels, according to a new Zogby poll. Zogby is an Ericsson company. The poll asked 1006 Americans how they use broadband services, Internet-connected mobile devices and what video and mobile services they would pay for in the future.
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Digital TV rises in IndiaIndian pay TV revenues will reach $10 billion (E7.3bn) by 2011, up from $4.2 billion in 2006, according to Media Partners Asia (MPA). Pay TV penetration will reach 84 per cent of all homes with TVs by 2011, up from 61 per cent in 2006. There will be 107 million cable households by 2011, compared to 71 million in 2006.
Satellite subscriptions will increase as well. Direct-to-home (DTH) homes will reach 38 million by 2015, up from 1.9 million in 2006. Dish TV currently has 2.7 million DTH subscribers, while rival TataSky has nearly 0.8 million. DTH adoption will speed up between 2008-12, adding 5 to 6 million net new subscribers each year, with six operators predicted to compete in the market.
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Asian STB Vendors dominate marketThe newest release of ABI Research’s set-top box research report shows that Samsung, Coship and other Chinese and South Korean STB vendors collectively account for over 55 per cent of the Asia-Pacific STB market, which is growing faster, in terms of subscribers, than the rest of the world. Moreover, they are using their growing clout and market share to address overseas markets.
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Kamera mobile TV for Vodafone EgyptMobile TV specialists Kamera have teamed up with Vodafone Egypt in a deal which will sees Kamera offering a host of its mobile TV channels, as well as distributing a variety of third party channels, to Vodafone customers in the country.
Starting Spring 2007, Vodafone Egypt also intends launching a range of rich media services for its 3G customers.
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Med1a launches local TV Internet portal
IPTV consultancy Med1a has launched View TV Local, an internet portal which eventually aims to stream local TV services from across the UK. First channels to launch using Med1a's technology platform are Chester TV, Tamworth TV and Redditch TV, offering tourist information, local news and weather, and user-generated content.
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Young males prefer Mobile TVcomScore, a specialist in measuring the digital world trends, has released the results of a study analysing Americans’ usage of, and attitudes toward, Mobile TV. The study, based on a survey of more than 2,000 mobile phone users, revealed that nearly two out of three Mobile TV subscribers are male and that nearly half are below the age of 35.
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Motorola buys TerayonTerayon Communication Systems announced that the two companies have signed a merger agreement and Motorola will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Terayon’s stock for $1.80 (E1.32) per share in cash. The transaction will have a total equity value of approximately $140 million.
Terayon is dedicated to creating video processing solutions that optimise bandwidth and enable content to be delivered based upon the regional and local interest of viewers. This can accelerate a service provider’s ability to evolve and capitalise on new business opportunities. Motorola says the integration of Terayon and its software-driven application solutions will enhance its video infrastructure and seamless mobility core.
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Tuesday 24th April
Airey quits lostar after eight days
TW Cable subs can do hot spots
Spain: DTT boost
Ericsson completes Tandberg offer
Consumer groups against DoubleClick deal
Apple TV slow start?
Google overtakes Microsoft
BBC Worldwide China deal
Clear Channel sells 56 TV stations
SES AMERICOM, Home2US ethnic IPTV
‘Self expression’ kyte.tv launches
BT business network
Airey quits lostar after eight daysDawn Airey, who left her job as MD of channels and services at Sky last month, is leaving her new job as CEO of start up media group Iostar after just eight days. Reports say Airey quit after developing doubts about funding that meant a "significant breach in her contract."
The board of lostar includes media luminaries including former UKTV chief executive Dick Emery and the actor Stephen Fry. Iostar is aiming to forge a new model for media companies, combining production, distribution, talent and rights.
Backed by individual investors and trust funds, Iostar was founded by Mark Grenside, the co-founder of HIT Entertainment and the man behind the sale of Hallmark International to Sparrowhawk Media, and Tim Carron Brown, the ex-chairman of dotcom venture Edfex.
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TW Cable subs can do hot spotsTime Warner Cable will let its home broadband customers turn their connections into public wireless "hot spots." Using Wi-Fi startup Fon,Time Warner Cable hopes to avoid an exodus as free or cheap municipal wireless becomes more readily available.
Fon was founded in Spain in 1995. At first, the company offered software that let members, called Foneros, turn Wi-Fi routers into shared access points, but it took hours to get up and running. In 2006, Fon, which counts Google and Skype among its investors, started selling and sometimes giving away its own branded wireless router, called La Fonera. Since then, it has distributed about 370,000 of them worldwide.
Fon splits a Wi-Fi connection in two: an encrypted channel for the Fonero and a public one for neighbours or passers-by. Foneros can decide how much of their bandwidth to share with the public and can log on to any Fon router without charge. "Aliens," as Fon calls nonmembers, can register on a Web page and pay a modest $2 or $3 for 24 hours of access. In the U.S., where it costs $10 for a day pass to use a T-Mobile HotSpot at a Starbucks, Fon's economics seem particularly appealing.
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Spain: DTT boost
From David Del Valle in MadridPro DTT Association, Impulsa TDT, formed by all national broadcasters and carrier Abertis, and ASIMELEC, the electronic companies Association, have signed an agreement to jointly boost the development of DTT in the country, three years before the analogue switch-off deadline in 2010.
Both parties will carry out actions in an effort to develop the market by exchanging information, making joint advertising campaigns and supporting all the necessary infrastructure to make DTT possible. Both have also undertaken to back advanced DTT services and work together to coordinate the distribution of the spectrum.
"This agreement will help the digital migration," said Andres Armas, General Director of Impulsa. "We have undertaken to work together to make possible that both users and companies are well informed to migrate (within three years) without a problem", commented Martin Perez, president of ASIMELEC.
A similar deal was recently reached with the Electronic Industry Association AETIC calling on the Government to join them to give a real boost to the DTT market.
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Ericsson completes Tandberg offer
Ericsson has been cleared by the relevant competition authorities to acquire all outstanding shares in Tandberg Television. All the terms and conditions set out in the offer document, from February 26 have been met and Ericsson will complete the offer in accordance.
Settlement for the shares submitted in the voluntary public cash offer is expected to take place on or about April 25, 2007. As soon as possible following settlement, Ericsson will proceed with a mandatory offer for the remaining shares in Tandberg Television.
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Consumer groups against DoubleClick dealConsumer privacy groups have sought to derail Google’s $3.1 billion deal to buy online ad supplier DoubleClick, filing a complaint with U.S. regulators to block the merger on privacy grounds. Groups led by the Electronic Privacy Information Centre have filed the complaint with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission arguing the merger would violate agreed limits on how much data advertisers collect on consumers and seeking an injunction.
Google's proposed acquisition of DoubleClick will give one company access to more information about the Internet activities of consumers than any other company in the world," the complaint by the privacy activist groups argues.
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US reports say that chain store Target is will join Best Buy as the second major retailer to carry Apple TV boxes. But they also say checks with Best Buy reveal that the No. 1 U.S. electronics retailer's own Apple TV sales have had a relatively low level of interest from shoppers thus far -- in some cases leaving stores with the majority of their initial allotments.
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Google has overtaken Microsoft as the world's most powerful brand, according to Millward Brown's BrandZ index. Taking into account Google's financial performance and popularity the survey awarded it a "value" of $66.4bn (E48.9bn), almost doubling its $37.4bn value from last year. Microsoft dropped to third on the list.
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BBC Worldwide China dealBBC Worldwide, the BBC’s commercial arm, has confirmed its first ever global clips deal with the Chinese state broadcaster, CCTV.
The deal brokered by BBC Motion Gallery, the archive clips sales arm of BBC Worldwide, means that BBC Motion Gallery will distribute clip footage globally on behalf of CCTV. BBC Motion Gallery now offers more than 500,000 hours of film with 60,000 available online. Its archive covers more than 110 years of footage including news, history, music, wildlife and sport.
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Clear Channel sells 56 TV stationsProvidence Equity Partners, the US buy-out group, has agreed to buy 56 television stations from Clear Channel Communications for $1.2bn.
Providence, which recently raised about $12bn for new media and telecommunications investments, will be taking over eight Fox stations, seven NBC stations, six ABC stations, six CBS stations and others in mostly medium-sized markets such as Memphis, Tennessee, Rochester, New York and Monterey, California.
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SES AMERICOM, Home2US ethnic IPTVSES AMERICOM and Home2US have confirmed a joint marketing agreement to deliver international programming to more viewers across a variety of media.
The agreement brings together Home2US, DTH international content provider in the US, with IPTV distribution system, IP PRIME. As part of the alliance, the companies also announced the addition of the Korean News Network, YTN, the Ethiopian TV Network, and Kenya Live TV to the Home2US line up, which is currently delivered to ethnic DTH audiences over SES AMERICOM's AMC-4 satellite.
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‘Self expression’ kyte.tv launcheskyte.tv has launched, enabling people to be the star, director, and producer of their own live TV channel both online and on-the-go.
kyte.tv allows users to create interactive TV shows that are instantly broadcast to multiple destinations. Personally-branded channels can be placed on any website, blog, social network, and mobile phone, allowing users to connect and socialise in real-time through features such as chatting and voting.
BT is preparing to launch a social networking site for small-business users. Called Trade Space it will be free to use, but customers who want increased functionality which enables browsers to call the user by clicking a button will be charged £15 (E11) a month.
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Microsoft, Samsung partner
AEPOC alarmed by directive wording
Sorrel warns on Doubleclick deal
Grade wants Freeview HD
China Netcom up
Siemens chair quits
BT buys Comsat
Indies want own platform
Google Q1 profits
BT Movio tries to expand mobile TV market
AAM and Fox download deal
UEFA cup on broadband
YouTube ‘pre-roll’ ads
ITV London Life
Bilotti joins Vyyo
Microsoft, Samsung partnerMicrosoft and Samsung have agreed to a broad technology patent pact to develop future products. The companies said they will each receive payments from the other for patent usage. The companies said the deal would help speed up development of new products including digital media players, televisions and computer-related devices.
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AEPOC alarmed by directive wordingAEPOC, the European Association for the Protection of Encrypted Works and Services, calls on the EU Parliament to think again on the current draft of the Enforcement Directive on Intellectual Property Rights (IPRED2). It says it appears to dilute legal protection of copyright as a price worth playing to build the basis for a prosperous scenario for the development of the EU Information Society.
AEPOC says the proposed legislative text in its latest amendments expressly admits piracy committed by private users for non-profit purposes without any risk of sanction in the field of copyright and IPR violations. Accordingly, the draft lays down a dangerous concept of ‘legal piracy’ – putting the future of artistic works and creation at stake, ultimately resulting in lesser consumer choice and fewer cultural diversity in Europe, and beyond.
AEPOC President Jean Grenier expressed his deep concern: " Accepting private piracy…, equals opening the Pandora Box: Especially in view of peer-to-peer copyright violations, private users would be specifically protected when acting illegally according to the current draft. This trivializes illegal behaviour and would loosen dramatically existing legislation as in place in some EU Member Countries. Moreover, the penalty-free concept must be seen as an opportunity to criminal providers of piracy enabling technologies to take advantage of this scenario."
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Sorrel warns on Doubleclick dealMartin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP says the Google to acquire DoubleClick was a "brilliant move – they’ve done something very clever", but added it raised questions over the "leakage" of information. "It raises issues about whether we are prepared to give Google data that’s very valuable. Clients will be concerned over the access Google may have to information that is owned by them."
Advertisers and web publishers have concerns about the extra power Google would gain by being able to combine data collected by DoubleClick with its own data about search engine usage. Google has said that it may consider making concessions such as keeping Double Click and Google data separate if that proved necessary to ease concerns.
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Michael Grade, head of ITV, has called on the UK Government to ensure that viewers receive high-definition television from Freeview when Britain completes the switch to digital broadcasting.
He gave warning of a consumer backlash if viewers who invested in the latest "HD-ready" sets found that they were unable to receive the superior-quality pictures they paid for. Ofcom will not guarantee to make spectrum available for high-definition channels on Freeview after the analogue signal is switched off by the end of 2012.
Grade said: "We’ve seen off the digital divide, only to see a high-definition divide open. HD will only be open to those willing to pay. What an own goal. Closing the door on HD undermines the principle behind switchover, which is that everyone should have access to the same quality of broadcasting and channels."
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China Netcom said first-quarter sales rose 0.2 per cent as it added customers for its high-speed internet service. Revenue in the first three months climbed to 20.02 billion yuan, the company said. The total excludes contributions from its Guangdong and Shanghai units that were sold in February. Netcom, the dominant fixed-line carrier in 10 northern provinces, boosted subscribers to its broadband internet business as growth in phone customers stalled because of competition from wireless operators such as China Mobile. China Netcom gained 1.52 million broadband users in the first quarter for a total of 15.94 million.
Siemens chairman Heinrich von Pierer is to stand still insisting he had no involvement in the ongoing slush fund scandal at the firm. Von Pierer also said he was not taking responsibility for the scandal, yet he did hope his successor could help lead the firm to "calmer waters".
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BT buys ComsatBritish Telecom has agreed to buy data communication service provider Comsat International to expand its reach in Latin America. BT did not disclose the price it would pay for Comsat, but the price is reportd around E65 million. The latest acquisition will give BT's Global Services arm access to 15 Latin American markets and some 700 people, boosting its ability to serve large multinational corporations in these markets.
Major independent producers Endemol and All3Media have approached platforms including Sky, Virgin Media and Top Up TV about launching a video-on-demand service harnessing content from Britain’s top indies and distributors, according to Broadcast.
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Google's first-quarter profit for 2007 has risen 69 per cent. The Internet search giant earned $1 billion (E735’000m) during the first three months of the year. That compared with net income of $592.3 million at the same time last year. Google's market share has grown and recently it revealed a $3.1bn deal with web advertising network Doubleclick. Google's results contrast sharply with Yahoo, whose sales fell 11 per cent in the first three months of this year.
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BT Movio tries to expand mobile TV marketBT Movio is attempting to grow the UK's broadcast mobile TV market by expanding its base of handsets from the current single choice of device offered. The company, which offers operators the opportunity to deliver BBC1, ITV1, E4 and ITN to subscribers via DAB technology has only Virgin Mobile as a customer. It has attracted far below its estimated number of subscribers to the service since its launch in October 2006.
BT Movio believes that low consumer and operator take up is partly due to the fact that just one handset, manufactured by HTC, currently supports the format. Emma Lloyd, MD of BT Movio, is trying to convince more handset manufacturers to produce DAB-capable devices. She added that DAB remains the only way to broadcast live TV from one-to-many in the UK until at least 2012 when DVBH spectrum becomes available.
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AAM and Fox download dealArts Alliance Media (AAM) has struck a deal with 20th Century Fox have to distribute Fox content on AAM's Vizumi Network. The deal covers both Download-to-Rent and Download-to-Own for both new release and catalogue films. The content will be available on www.vizumi.com, and will also be distributed to AAM's partner sites, including LOVEFiLM, AOL and Empire.
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UEFA cup on broadbandITV.com has extended its commercial relationship with digital services company Premium TV, by agreeing a deal for a UEFA Cup broadband simulcast. The broadcaster will screen all UEFA Cup games over broadband, from now through to the competition’s conclusion. For the first time, broadband coverage will exceed that shown on TV.
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YouTube ‘pre-roll’ adsGoogle is working with broadcasters on new advertising formats for its video-sharing website subsidiary YouTube and will introduce them next year. Patrick Walker, the European head of video partnerships at Google, said broadcasters were excited about the potential of video advertising and had asked to introduce 30-second "pre-roll" ads that appear before content is viewed on YouTube. The revenue would be shared between the content producer and YouTube.
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ITV London LifeITV Local, the broadcaster's broadband TV service, has launched London Life, a new TV service for the London area. A total of 39 TV channels - one for each London boroughs plus the surrounding Home Counties - will show factual films and documentaries about each area.
Vyyo a supplier of broadband access equipment for cable system operators, announced today that former Morgan Stanley analyst Richard Bilotti has accepted a seat on Vyyo’s board of directors. With Morgan Stanley Bilotti, was at the forefront of working with the operator and vendor communities to evaluate the costs and benefits of technologies that would help the cable industry improve its competitive position.
