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Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Tuesday
Friday 4th May
Almost 50% of Europe watches TV online
Internet users say piracy ‘wrong’
Ireland national broadband scheme
Gemstar guides FiOS
Comcast disputes DTH HD
More deals for Joost
US online audience nearly double cable TV subscribers
Betts on BBC Vision
Allied Telesis and IBM team-up
Almost 50% of Europe watches TV onlineAn independent study by Motorola has revealed that almost half of Europe has already watched TV on the Internet. The European study, which surveyed attitudes and behaviours of 2500 broadband users in UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, said 45 per cent of European viewers are already watching TV online.
French television addicts are the most demanding, with 59 per cent choosing to watch previews and episodes of their favourite shows via the web. Italians and Brits come in second and third respectively, whilst German viewers remain most bound to schedules set by TV broadcasters with only 33 per cent catching shows online.
The extended use of the TV is still increasing: 45 per cent of Europeans expect to be making video calls via their home TVs by the time the 2012 Olympics is on.
"These results show that viewers across Europe are no longer satisfied with fitting into schedules dictated by broadcasters and are turning to the choice and flexibility offered by TV over the internet," says Karl Elliott, Marketing Director for Motorola.
Other statistics underlined consumers’ desires for freedom of choice when watching TV included: 57 per cent of respondents want the ability to go online via the TV set during a live broadcast, for example to get sports statistics during a match or check out retail stores for fashion show items. And 35 per cent of viewers want the ability to pause, fast forward or rewind live broadcast programming.
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Internet users say piracy ‘wrong’Over two-thirds of US households believe the acquisition of pirated content is wrong, according to Global Digital Living II. The study from Parks Associates, investigated online piracy habits in 13 countries around the world, and found 69 per cent percent of American households believe it is wrong to download pirated music and video from the Internet.
Attitudes regarding pirated content differ sharply by age, however. Just 50 per cent of respondents ages 18-25 believe downloading unauthorised content is wrong compared with 75 per cent of respondents ages 45 and over.
"Downloading will be a phase for some, but these young consumers still represent a threat to the music and movie industries," said John Barrett, director of research at Parks Associates. "Young adults are the key consumers for music and movies. Even a temporary lull in their purchasing can have a big impact."
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Ireland national broadband schemeNoel Dempsey, the Minister for Communications, has launched the procurement process for the Irish Government’s new National Broadband Scheme (NBS). The NBS will provide broadband services to the areas of Ireland that are currently unserved and ensure that every reasonable request for broadband in these unserved areas is met.
A single national tender will be used for the National Broadband Scheme. A detailed mapping exercise has indicated that the potential number of households in the unserved areas favours a national tender over a number of smaller regional tenders. The final product that consumers will receive from the NBS will be an always on service of at least 1Mbit/s down and 128kbits/s up.
Gemstar-TV Guide International has signed a patent license agreement with Verizon Communications covering interactive programme guides for the phone company's FiOS television service. The two companies also agreed to work together to let FiOS TV customers remotely schedule recordings on digital video recorders using TV Guide listings.
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Comcast disputes DTH HDComcast recently commissioned an independent research firm to conduct a study among TV consumers to find out whether DIRECTV or DISH Network had a better high-defintition picture than the cable provider. The results of the survey show that when it comes to HD quality, Comcast is the winner - even among customers of both satellite providers. According to Comcast, in side-by-side comparisons, two-thirds of satellite customers asked to chose between the cable company and either DIRECTV or DISH, and they picked Comcast as having the better HD image. The cableco said more than 65 per cent ranked Comcast higher than DIRECTV and almost 70 per cent higher than DISH.
At the same time that Comcast is pushing results of its survey, the cable company launched an ad campaign. The advertisement, which is running in The Washington Post and other national newspapers, includes the headline, "Comcast wins the HD Picture Challenge... Satellite customers agree: HD looks better with Comcast."
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Joost has landed programming deals with Turner Broadcasting System, Sony Pictures Television and Hasbro as it prepares to introduce its service to the public this month. Turner will provide Joost shows from its news network, CNN, and from Adult Swim. Sony Pictures Television will offer shows from its archives.
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US online audience nearly double cable TV subscribersVideo networking site Tubearoo has highlighted data claiming that the US Internet video audience has grown to nearly double the number of US basic cable TV subscribers. According to the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, the number of US basic cable subscribers was 65.6 million in December 2006; while comScore Video Metrix reported the number of unique U.S. Internet video streamers at nearly 123 million in January 2007.
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The BBC is to appoint Nick Betts, current managing director of NBC Universal Global Channels in the UK, to become BBC Vision’s head of commercial and business development.
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Allied Telesis and IBM team-up
Allied Telesis, a global provider of secure IP/Ethernet next-generation access solutions, has announced a collaborative agreement with IBM focusing on the development of IPTV systems, targeting telecommunications companies and Network Service Providers worldwide.Under the agreement, IBM will provide business consulting, technical consulting, implementation services based on Cisco technology and flexible financing services from IBM Global Financing. IBM will create a new integrated system providing operators and carriers with end-to-end platforms that offer Broadband TV services, multi-channel High-Definition television, video-rich content on demand, online gaming and a range of interactive services. Allied Telesis will be IBM's preferred access network supplier for next-generation broadband access. IBM will also be Allied Telesis' preferred systems integration partner for IPTV sales activities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
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Thursday 3rd May
Dolan’s win Cablevision at last
Sky subs up
TW earnings up
Sirius strong sub numbers
Brazilian broadcasters invest in DTT
Piracy threatens premium downloads
SES Q1 results
NZ freeview launched
Two BBC channels for India
Dolans win Cablevision at lastCablevision has agreed to be taken private by the founding Dolan family for about $10.6 billion (E7.8bn). The offer for Cablevision, which is the fifth largest MSO and also owns Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, and the New York Knicks and Rangers, is an 11 per cent premium to the closing price.
Since 2005, the board has rejected two previous offers from the family. The previous offer valued the portion of the company the Dolans didn't already own company at $8.9 billion. The Dolan family, led by founder and Chairman Charles Dolan, and his son, Chief Executive James Dolan, said "We are very proud of the company's track record of delivering quality service and innovative products to our customers. We believe the best way to continue this tradition in today's increasingly competitive environment is as a privately held company."
The Dolans, who founded the company nearly 35 years ago, will contribute $2.1 billion in equity to the transaction through reinvestment of its Cablevision shares in the newly private company. Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns & Co. and Bank of America have committed to providing $15.5 billion in debt financing for the acquisition and the refinancing of Cablevision debts.
After the rejection of the Dolans' first, $21-a-share offer, the Dolans persuaded the board to agree to a one-time, $3 billion special dividend. The family used its share of those proceeds to finance a second buyout offer last October. The company said that lawyers representing shareholders in a lawsuit over its going private plans had participated in the latest negotiations and had agreed to dismiss pending going private litigation.
The Dolans believe that with Cablevision’s years of capex in new networks almost over the business will be highly cash generative going forward, despite competition from telcos. Two other big cable companies, Cox Communications and Insight Communications, recently have gone private, joining the wave of buyouts of public companies by private-equity firms and controlling shareholders.
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Sky revealed its efforts to shed less profitable subscribers by ending discounts to retain customers raised its churn rate but increased the ARPU. At March 31, the end of its third quarter, the churn rate stood at 13.7 per cent, up from 11.9 per cent at December 31. However ARPU had risen from £394 (E571) to £406.
James Murdoch, chief executive, said the changes to BSkyB’s retention and acquisition strategy "are delivering valuable benefits to the quality and profitability of our business." But he also admitted that if its current legal row with Virgin Media was not resolved, it would cost it £15m-£20m in operating profits in the year to June.
Strong demand for the group’s products, including its new "See, Speak, Surf" combination of TV, broadband and telephony, boosted revenues by 10 per cent to £3.38bn. The group added 340,000 customers in the quarter, with net customer growth of 51,000 taking the total to 8.49m. An extra 199,000 households signed up for Sky+ taking the total to 2.17m, while broadband customers more than double to 553,000 with and BSkyB had bookings for the service of 669,000 by April 29.
Adjusted operating profits – excluding exceptional gains and including losses of £137m largely relating to the new residential broadband service – fell from £660m to £557m. However, this was ahead of analysts’ expectations.
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Time Warner reported better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter thanks to robust results from its cable business and improved profits at its AOL division.
TW reported sales of $11.2 billion up 9 percent from a year ago. Net income fell 18 percent to $1.2 billion although it was up when adjusted for asset sales. "Time Warner is off to a strong start this year. Our first quarter results put the company firmly on track to meet all of our full-year financial objectives," said chairman and chief executive officer Dick Parsons.
Results at the company's newly public Time Warner Cable (jointly owned with Comcast after they split the Adelpia assets) unit led the gains at Time Warner thanks to healthy increases in subscribers for digital cable, digital phone and high-speed Internet access services. It reported revenues of $3.85 billion, up 61 percent from a year ago and adjusted operating income of $1.31 billion, an increase of 54 percent from the same period last year.
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Sirius strong sub numbers
Sirius' Q1 revenues increased 61 per cent to a record $204 million (E150m), with subscribers increasing more than 556,000 to nearly 6.6 million overall. With the positive performance, Sirius said it has become the satellite radio leader with 66 percent segment share of net subscriber additions during the period.
Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin was bullish and believes the merger with XM will ultimately be approved by the end of the year.
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Brazilian broadcasters invest in DTT
Branislav Pekic from RomeBrazil’s leading broadcaster, Rede Globo, has announced that it will initiate DTT transmissions on December 2 in Sao Paulo on channel 18.
Digital broadcasts will then be expanded to Rio de Janeiro in the first half of 2008, while the rest of the regional capitals should get DTT by the end of next year. Rede Globo’s is investing $300 million in technology and infrastructure until 2009. The broadcaster is also producing its next soap "Duas Caras" (Two Faces) entirely in HDTV, to be aired on DTT.
The country’s second largest broadcaster, SBT, will receive $46.6 million in financing from the BNDES bank, which is equivalent to 86 per cent of the estimated total for upgrading the transmitters to digital. The total value of the project is $5.35 million and foresees the acquisition of 194 transmitters for nine channels forming the SBT network, as well as the upgrading of three transmitter sites. The financing forms part of a government-financed programme for the implementation of DTT in Brazil which has a budget of $500 million until 31 December 2013.
Meanwhile, Brazil’s Communications Minister, Hélio Costa, has announced that, as of January 2008, UHF channels 60 to 69 will be made available to public TV broadcasters for DTT.
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Piracy threatens premium downloadsNearly two-thirds of mobile industry executives believe that the variety of content currently available for downloading to a mobile device is too limited, according to research from SafeNet the information security provider.
It surveyed 350 senior executives from across the global mobile industry on their experiences and opinions related to accessing, purchasing, distributing and enjoying mobile content. When asked to rate the variety of content currently available for download, 59 per cent were unsatisfied.
"Non-intrusive DRM is the most effective way to balance the competing concerns of content owners, distributors, and consumers," said SafeNet.
"A recent industry prediction stated that the TV and film download market would reach £6.3 billion by 2012. However unless operators address security content concerns, the distrust of content owners will lead to a stunt in the growth of the industry."
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SES Q1 resultsSES, the worldwide satellite operator, has reported strong results for the first quarter of 2007. Revenue rose 21 per cent to E399.5m (Q1 2006: EUR 329.3m), EBITDA increased by 21 per cent to Em (Q1 2006: E227.2m), operating profit grew 9 per cent to E137.9m (Q1 2006: E126.4m) and net profit was E97.7m (Q1 2006: E118.3m).
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NZ freeview launchedNew Zealand's free to air digital television platform has launched in Auckland to a mixed reaction. The content now available is exactly what analogue television viewers can already receive - except it costs AUS$700 (E424) to purchase the box, dish and installation. Freeview's initial sales proposition is to appeal to the people who suffer from reception difficulties, and those for whom this is a predominant reason to subscribe to Sky.
Extra content on the platform will come in September, when TVNZ launches the first of two new channels, which will offer children’s programmes and family themed shows. TVNZ's news channel kicks off in March 2008. It is aiming to get 20,000 households connected in the first year.
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Two BBC channels for India
The CBeebies channel and BBC Entertainment will be available as pay channels12 hours a day via the Tata-Sky satellite TV service. The plan to launch channels in India was raised in September. BBC Worldwide's existing interests in India include a joint venture magazine deal with the Times of India Group, a TV sales business and an FM radio licence partnership to create seven stations.
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Wednesday 2nd May
FiOS signing 2,200 a day
Google "we want a jury"
Upgraded ITV.com
Channel 4 benefits from digital
‘Red Button’ to exploit broadband connections
Basque Country to award 60 DTT channels
Fox to update ads on your DVR?
Sony ‘minisode’ channel
J:COM home security
NDS Q3 figures
VUDU studio deals
Tubinis joins Cedar Point as CTO
FiOS signing 2,200 a dayVerizon says it is signing 2,200 FiOS IPTV customers a day. It signed up 141,000 customers in the first quarter, about 750 more per day than during the previous quarter, and ended the period with 348,000 subscribers. In addition, Verizon now has about 618,000 satellite TV customers through its partnership with DirectTV, the US satellite TV operator.
In the latest quarter, the cost of deploying FiOS services diluted earnings by 11 cents per share but the company says the investment is necessary to offset a decline in traditional phone subscribers and maintain growth. Verizon lost 408,000 primary residential access lines during the quarter, a fall of 8 per cent. to 44.2m lines. Traditional telecom consumer market revenues fell by 3.5 per cent to $4.2bn (E3bn). Overall, data revenues across all markets increased by 12.2 per cent to $4.2bn, reflecting increasing revenues for consumer broadband services.
Operating earnings grew by 20 per cent to $3.8bn on operating revenues that increased 6 per cent to $22.6bn.
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Google has filed a confrontational defence against Viacom’s suit alleging it has wilfully breeched copyright, saying it wants to go before a jury to defend the freedom of the Internet.
Google says Viacom’s $1bn (E735,000m) lawsuit against YouTube strikes at the heart of how the Internet works it says in seeking to make carriers and hosting providers liable for Internet communications, "Viacom's complaint threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information, news, entertainment and political and artistic expression."
As expected, Google's defence hinges on legal protections afforded by the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that limits liability for Internet service providers that act quickly to block access to pirated online materials, once the copyright holder notifies a site of specific acts of infringement. Viacom's suit challenges the "careful balance established by Congress," Google responded. "The DMCA balances the rights of copyright holders and the need to protect the Internet."
However Viacom countered: "This response ignores the most important fact of the suit, which is that YouTube does not qualify for safe harbour protection under the DMCA."
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Upgraded ITV.comITV is following 4OD and BBC's iPlayer with major web developments. It has announced the £20m (E29m) relaunch of its website to offer all of its channels streamed live over the Internet, new video-on-demand content and around 1,000 hours of programming from its archive. Viewers will be able to watch programmes they missed over the net for 30 days after they were first screened.
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Channel 4 benefits from digitalChannel 4's annual report has revealed that turnover increased by 5 percent last year to a record £937m, (E1.357bn) thanks to growth in digital revenues. Channel 4’s new media division more than doubled turnover to £51m last year, up from £24.5m in 2005.
The digital revenue growth was also attributed to the launch of More4 in October 2005 and E4 and Film4 shifting from pay-TV services to free to air on Freeview, which boosted ad income. Revenues from advertising sales and sponsorship was flat at £824m, with the £39m fall in the core Channel 4 TV network's sales, to £696m, almost exactly cancelled by the £40m jump - to £128m - in sales revenue for the digital TV channels.
Overall, the group retained a surplus of £14.5m, down 70 per cent on the previous year as a result of increased costs.
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‘Red Button’ to exploit broadband connectionsDigital TV software developer Ocean Blue Software, is completing development of new software to allow set-top boxes to connect to broadband, opening new opportunities for interactive ‘red button’ services. The company is part of the DTG standards design group finalising broadband support for MHEG-5, the system behind red button services on digital TV.
The new MHEG return channel will provide features such as interactive voting, shopping and video-on-demand, even web browsing on the TV. The standard is likely to be ratified by the DTG during 2007, paving the way for manufacturers to produce set-top boxes that support broadband and PSTN dial-up.
"Availability of full interactive services on digital TV, particularly Freeview, has been limited due to the lack of a return channel," said Ken Helps, founder and CEO of Ocean Blue Software. "Over 80 per cent of homes will have broadband by 2010. It makes sense to tap into that bandwidth to provide additional services to digital TV viewers."
"The failure of the Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) to gain traction in the market means the ISO version of the MHEG-5 software standard is now a viable solution for digital terrestrial broadcasters," added Helps. "This has allowed us to start the development of the first fully interactive middleware, incorporating the forthcoming standards for a return channel."
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Basque Country to award 60 DTT channels
From David Del Valle in MadridThe Basque Country, north of Spain, is moving with the DTT tide and is to award 60 local DTT channels (from 15 digital multiplexes) over the next months. 33 TV companies have made 81 bids for all those local DTT licences.
Those DTT channels managed by Town Councils will have to offer 50 per cent of their programming in the Basque language. Private management will be limited to 20 per cent ownership. Local DTT channels should start transmissions by the beginning of 2008.
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Fox to update ads on your DVR?News Corp’s US network Fox is planning to develop technology to enable advertisers to replace commercials stored on digital video recorders to ensure they are time-appropriate at playback.
John Nesvig, Fox sales chief, said he filed a patent to develop a proprietary technology with TiVo that would allow advertisers and agencies to replace their own ads in a commercial pod with updated, timely spots on playback.
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Sony Television is planning to launch an Internet-based service called the Minisode Network in June, initially offering the mini-shows for an exclusive run on MySpace.
The network will consist of a lineup of tightly edited versions of shows from Sony’s television library, such as Charlie’s Angels and TJ Hooker. They will not be offering clips of the shows, but actual episodes with the narrative edited down and communicated in under six minutes.
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J:COM home securityJ:COM the largest MSO in Japan announced the upcoming launch of a new home monitoring service for J:COM NET Premier (30Mbps) subscribers. J:COM will launch this IP camera home-monitoring package, currently referred to as the Peace of Mind service, nationwide starting with Cablenet Kobe Ashiya.
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NDS, supplier of end-to-end digital technology and services to pay-television platform operations and content providers, has revealed third quarter figures. Revenues are up 20 per cent to $178 million (E130m); nine-month revenues are up 14 per cent to $508 million, and operating income for the third quarter moved up 1 per cent to $36 million.
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VUDU studio dealsVUDU, the movie broadband-to-tv movie service, has closed deals with seven major motion picture studios: Walt Disney, Lionsgate, New Line Cinema, Paramount Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal Studios, and Warner Bros.
Under the wide-ranging licensing agreements, VUDU's studio partners will provide new releases, along with select titles from their libraries. In addition to entering into licensing agreements with the major studios, VUDU has struck deals with 15 independent and international film distributors.
Upon launch, VUDU will offer access to more than 5,000 titles directly on their televisions, without requiring a PC or a cable or satellite TV subscription.
Tubinis joins Cedar Point as CTO
Cedar Point Communications, a leader in integrated VoIP switching technologies for service provider and enterprise telecommunications signalled a new phase in the company’s growth, with the naming of Mark Tubinis as the company’s first Chief Technology Officer.
Tubinis, whose 30-year career includes a co-founder role with WaterCove Networks, joins Cedar Point after having served most recently as a vice president in the Mobile Solutions Division of Alcatel. With Cedar Point, he will be responsible for continuing the evolution of the SAFARI C Multimedia Switching System, with a particular emphasis on increasing scalability, operational simplicity and the development of new residential and business applications.
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Tuesday 1st May
Trust pass BBC iPlayer
4OD a success
Portugal to have two DTT tenders
Spanish TV sue on cinema law
Bebo signs MTV executive
Yahoo secures Right Media
SIC TV Alcatel-Lucent solution
Trust pass BBC iPlayer
The BBC has got the go-ahead to launch its iPlayer on-demand service in November. The BBC Trust said its first "public value test" had concluded the service would "create significant public value with limited market impact."
The Trust announced 10,500 individuals and organisations had responded to the consultation and concerns raised by commercial rivals prompted the Trust to insist on two modifications to the original proposals: "Series stacking" - allowing the iPlayer software to record all episodes of a series - will be limited to 15 per cent of all on-demand content, and the Trust will conduct six-monthly audits of the BBC’s progress in making the service available on all platforms. Other concerns about impact mean book readings and most classical music will be excluded from the iPlayer.
Diane Coyle, Chair of the Trust’s PVT Steering Group, said: "With the modifications which resulted from the test and the consultation, the Trust is satisfied that the BBC's new on-demand services will create significant public value with limited market impact. We have therefore given our final approval for the services to be launched."
Mark Thompson, the BBC's Director-General, said: "We are delighted with the BBC Trust's decision to approve our on-demand proposals."
"This is a significant decision as the new on-demand proposals are at the heart of the BBC's Creative Future. However, we disagree with the Trust's decision to exclude classical music podcasts from the proposal: our research suggests that classical music audiences would wish to download classical music programmes from the BBC and to listen to them on their terms, free at the point of use."
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4OD a success
The BBC will be hoping to emulate C4’s VOD success with its iPlayer. More than one million people have watched a total of 20 million programmes over 4OD since its launch six months ago, far exceeding expectations.
"It has definitely taken off," said Sarah Rose, head of video-on-demand at Channel 4. "We were pleasantly surprised by people's willingness to pay." 4OD, launched in October, is available online and via Virgin Media, BT Vision and Tiscali, and Channel 4 is holding discussions with British Sky Broadcasting to be included in the Sky Anytime on-demand service. According to independent producers, Channel 4 guaranteed them a minimum of £500,000 (E724,000) in revenues in the first year of the service but this was achieved after just four months.
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Portugal to have two DTT tenders
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
The Portuguese Government will launch two separate digital terrestrial television (DTT) tenders.
One of them will be for the management of the platform that will carry the free-to-air channels and another for pay-TV channels. The first tender, for the platform that will carry the four national free-to-air channels RTP 1 and 2, SIC and TVI, and will be organised by telecom regulator Anacom, "as the channels in question already have licenses", explained a minister.
The second tender foresees the awarding of a licence for the management of a broadcasting platform as well as another one for the joint management of pay-TV channels.
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Spanish TV sue on cinema law
From David Del Valle in Madrid
The European Court is to decide whether the Spanish Government-imposed obligation on TV channels to invest 5 per cent of their revenues in Spanish cinema breaks European legislation.
The Spanish Supreme Court has referred the case to Europe following the TV Association UTECA, formed by all private TV channels in Spain, asked the European authorities to step in the issue.
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Bebo signs MTV executive
Bebo, the social networking site that claims to be the most popular in Europe, has hired former MTV executive Angel Gambino to oversee a push into music as it targets rival MySpace in that sphere. It hopes to forge new relationships with record labels that are increasingly using social networking sites to promote established acts and find new ones.
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Yahoo secures Right Media
Yahoo has agreed a $680m deal to buy the remaining 80 per cent of online advertising exchange operator Right Media in a move widely seen as an effort to keep pace with Google's rapid ad services diversification. Chairman Terry Semel said the deal represented the "third leg of the stool" after recent tie-ups with eBay and a number of US newspaper groups.
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SIC TV Alcatel-Lucent solution
Communications solution group Alcatel-Lucent has been selected by SIC TV, Portuguese private television broadcaster, to supply a mobile TV service. The solution will enable SIC to create mobile TV programmes.
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Ofcom, OFT: Sky’s ITV stake needs review
UK Freesat, finally?
‘Sky trying to eliminate us’ – Virgin
Comcast up and up
XM numbers on line
Microsoft flies on Vista
Increased handset choice won’t aid DVB-H growth
Telkom ready to launch pay-TV
Korean TV fully digital by 2012
Imagine and Tandberg video platform
Nokia, Siemens for IPTV deployment in Poland
Virgin Media selects Narrowstep
New channels for Bluewin TV
Ofcom, OFT: Sky’s ITV stake needs review
UK regulators Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading have recommended to the Government that BSkyB’s purchase of 17.9 per cent of ITV does raise competition issues and a Competition Commission investigation should be instituted.
The OFT says BSkyB's stake in ITV means the broadcaster is no longer fully independent and it raises significant competition concerns and concluded it needed to be referred to the Competition Commission. OFT CEO John Fingleton said: "this…link between two key players raises significant competition concerns [that] may alter the future competitive landscape, especially as we approach digital switchover." It said Sky’s £1bn (E1.45bn) purchase – made as Virgin Media tried to merge with ITV – "has resulted, or may be expected to result, in a substantial lessening of competition within a market or markets in the UK, and clear cut remedies sufficient to resolve the OFT's competition concerns were not offered."
Ofcom has separately also recommended a review referring to the deal’s potential effect on media plurality. "Ofcom's advice is that there are public interest issues, in relation to sufficient plurality of news provision for both cross-media and television news in the UK," the regulator said.
Ofcom has submitted its report to trade secretary Alistair Darling in response to a the twin-trackinvestigation the minister ordered two months ago. Darling will now consider the two regulators' reports and will make a decision by May 26 as to whether to refer the matter to the Competition Commission.Separately, Ofcom is considering whether a change in shareholding at ITV amounts to a change of control and whether that would have an effect on the broadcaster's licence commitments to output such as news and current affairs.
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UK Freesat, finally?The BBC Trust has given a green light to Freesat, the planned free-to-air digital satellite TV service from the BBC and ITV. The corporation's regulatory body has confirmed a provisional decision it made in February to give the go-ahead. The BBC Trust had received 700 responses to consultation and said "an overwhelming majority of respondents, 93 per cent, considered that the BBC should be taking action to improve access to its digital services in the lead-up to digital switchover".
But the approval does come with conditions, the Trust said Freesat would be required to show that other broadcasters who signed up to distribute TV and radio channels via the new satellite service were not being subsidised by the licence fee. In addition, Freeview should be kept "operationally separate from its involvement with Freesat to minimise any potential effect on competition".
Freesat is expected to offer up to 300 TV and radio channels - compared with around 75 that are currently available through Freeview. It is due to launch by the time the Borders region switches off its analogue signal in 2008-2009 and will operate on a not-for-profit basis.
The Trust said it hoped that other public service broadcasters will sign up to Freesat and will share the costs of the new joint venture.
Both Sky and Virgin objected on the basis a publicly funded broadcaster would be impacting on a free market. However, the Trust said it decided to go ahead as it would "be of significant public value" for licence fee payers, by addressing "inadequate access to the BBC's digital services in the lead-up to switchover". It also pointed out: "BSkyB is under no regulatory obligation to provide subscription-free access and we think it reasonable to conclude that it does so as a commercial choice and therefore there was no guarantee it would remain a subscription-free route to access BBC services in the future as BSkyB could choose to withdraw or change the terms of this service.
Freesat was first proposed in 2003 and then outlined formally by the BBC and ITV in September 2005, when it was envisaged it would launch in the first half of 2006.
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‘Sky trying to eliminate us’ – VirginBritish Sky Broadcasting had "engaged in abusive behaviour involving a disproportionate attack targeted at its only material competitor" says Virgin in its High Court action against the satcaster and claimed Sky tried to cut the fees it paid for flextech (Virgin) channels on its platform from £35.6m (E51.5m) to nil. It eventually paid £5.1m.
This was the prelude to the later dispute over fees Sky wanted to charge Virgin for carrying its basic channels on Virgin cable, which resulted in Sky withdrawing those channels. Sky demanded £40.3m up from £23.6m.
Alongside the legal dispute the Office of Fair Trading and Ofcom are about to make their recommendations to the Government over Sky’s 18% stake in ITV. Ofcom is also now conducting a wider investigation into the UK pay-TV market.
Virgin Media is suing Sky for abuse of dominant position. It alleges that the satellite company had "formulated and implemented a strategy to stifle or substantially impair" its ability to compete with BSkyB.
BSkyB is expected to file its defence next month.
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Comcast announced quarterly profit rose 80 per cent, fuelled by subscriber growth and a gain from dissolving a partnership with Time Warner Cable. The numbers were in line with Wall Street forecasts with strong growth in subscriber additions to its digital television and phone services.
Net profit rose to $837 million (E612m) in the first quarter, up from $466 million, a year earlier. The results were boosted by a $300 million gain from the dissolution of its Time Warner partnership. Revenue in the first quarter rose 32 percent to $7.39 billion from $5.60 billion.
Meantime, Comcast has reported success in early trials to make movies available through on-demand downloads on the same day as they are released for sale on DVDs. For the first time the company released specific information about this segment, saying that, in the first quarter of the year, pay-per-view revenue was $181m, up 26 per cent on the previous quarter.
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XM numbers on lineXM sat radio narrowed its first-quarter loss to $122 million (E89m) and reported stronger subscription growth with the help of sales from receivers installed in cars. XM said that it signed 10-year contract extensions with Honda and Toyota.
Chief executive Hugh Panero cited the subscription growth as a sign that the company was working on its financial problems. XM reported yesterday that it had 7.9 million subscribers in the first quarter, compared with 6.5 million a year earlier. XM's loss for the three months ended March 31 is an 18 percent improvement over its $149 million loss in the first quarter of 2006. Revenue rose 27 per cent, to $264 million. XM and rival Sirius are lobbying to be allowed to merge.
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Microsoft reported stronger sales than expected of its new Vista operating system and issued a broadly optimistic outlook for its next fiscal year.
Revenues of $14.4bn (E10.5bn), up 32 per cent from a year before, were around $500m higher than expectations. Net income rose 65 per cent to $4.9bn. Chris Liddell, chief financial officer, said that sales of Vista were $300-400m higher than expected. Microsoft forecast revenues for the next year of $56.5-57.5bn.
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Increased handset choice won’t aid DVB-H growthStrategy Analytics says that a series of regulatory delays are hampering mobile TV spectrum availability in Europe. "These regulatory delays, combined with the success of ISDB-T in Japan, the momentum of DMB services in Korea, the commitment of the two largest operators in the US to using MediaFLO, and the rising chorus of support for MBMS in 3GPP2 will create a much more fragmented mid-term for mobile TV adoption globally," states Chris Ambrosio, Director at Strategy Analytics.
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Telkom ready to launch pay-TVTelkom Media says it is ready to roll out pay-TV in South Africa by 2008 if it acquires a cable and satellite broadcasting licence from the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa). It is one of 18 bidders for satellite and cable TV licences. The new company, 67 per cent owned by Telkom with media partners Videovision, Women’s Development Bank and MSG Africa Media holding the balance of shareholding, has revealed its 10-year strategy plan for pay-TV which will have the backing of R7.5bn (E785bn).
Telkom Media also intend to launch an IPTV service. Telkom Media’s chief strategy and operations officer, Rikus Matthuyser said that while about 75 per cent of South African households had TV sets, only 11 per cent of these had pay-TV which presented a huge potential for pay-TV broadcasters.
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Korean TV fully digital by 2012Digital TV broadcasting services will fully replace analogue in Korea by 2012. Minister of Information and Communication Roh Jun-hyong and Korean Broadcasting Commission Chairman Cho Chang-hyun have put together a bill that would require full digitalisation. The bill requires broadcasters to halt their analogue TV signals by December 31, 2012. The law would also require all new TV-related home appliances to incorporate digital tuners, or equipment for digital reception.
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Imagine and Tandberg video platformImagine Communications, developer of platforms enabling VOD and SDV, is integrating with Tandberg Television's OpenStream Switched Digital Video Platform. Imagine says its Variable Bit Rate and statistical multiplexing technology ("VBR/StatMux") allows operators to supercharge their VOD and SDV deployments with up to 50 per cent more streams per 256 QAM channel.
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Nokia, Siemens for IPTV deployment in PolandDialog telecom, one of the largest independent fixed-line telephony operators in Poland, has chosen Nokia Siemens Networks to deliver and integrate an IPTV-platform into Dialog’s network for interactive television and video-on-demand services. Nokia Siemens Networks will also supply the set-top boxes to allow the new multimedia services to be used.
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Virgin Media selects NarrowstepNarrowstep, the TV on the Internet Company, has been chosen by Virgin Media to power their online video offering, comprising a range of factual and entertainment content, sports and movies.
New channels for Bluewin TVSwiss telco Swisscom is adding more TV channels to its basic Bluewin TV package, including the English-language BBC Prime. Bluewin TV's basic package already covers a wide range of English-language channels that are no longer broadcast in analogue format by some cable TV operators. To date, more than 40,000 customers have signed up for Bluewin TV.
