|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Tuesday Tiscali tipped for HomeChoice rescue
Video iPod jumpstarts PMP market
Hauppage enables ‘TV Anywhere’
Karneval time for Liberty Global
Racing UK saddles up with Setanta Sports
Converged voice and video for programme callers
EchoStar Q2: subs and revenues up
Yahoo7 locks in ReelTime
MobiTV OKs WiMAX
NDS: subs and deployments up
Unity Media selects S-A for Bundesliga broadcasts
Tiscali tipped for HomeChoice rescueInternet service provider Tiscali’s UK operations is on the point of merging with broadband service provider Video Networks’ HomeChoice video-on-demand service in a deal valued at £100m (E148m) according to the Daily Telegraph.
Video Networks’ plans to raise about £100m to fund a national roll-out are thought to have been scrapped amid mounting competition.
Tiscali has 4.5m broadband subscribers, of whom 1.1m are based in the UK. The purchase would give it access to HomeChoice's TV platform and content, plus a greater presence within BT's local exchanges. Tiscali UK wants to install its equipment in 600 of BT's exchanges by the end of the year under local loop unbundling.
Back to top
Video iPod jumpstarts PMP marketEven though Apple's video-capable iPod technically does not fit the definition of a ‘true’ Portable Media Player (PMP), it has given the product class a boost, reports high-tech market research firm In-Stat.
According to the research company, the worldwide market for true, video-centric PMPs will grow to 5 million units by the end of 2006, up from a mere 390,000 just two years ago.
"Despite the fact that PMP shipments are finally gaining traction, suppliers and manufacturers continue to face challenges," commented Stephanie Ethier, In-Stat analyst. "PMPs will continue to compete with other portable devices offering similar functionality, such as notebook computers, portable DVD players, handheld gaming products, and other mobile devices."
Over the next year, In-Stat expects that improvements in video compression technology, download video content sites, and wireless communications will help drive the PMP market.
Back to top
Hauppage enables ‘TV Anywhere’The ability to view free TV on a mobile phone, PDA or laptop has become a reality with the launch of ‘TV Anywhere’ from Hauppauge Digital. The device allows owners to watch live and recorded TV anywhere with an Internet connection.
Hauppauge's new TV Anywhere product - £99.99 inc VAT) - includes a tiny WinTV PVR USB2 device that plugs into a home PC and an aerial, turning the PC into a TV and digital video recorder. The software then uses the home broadband connection to deliver the live TV and recordings, anywhere in the world with an Internet connection.The technology detects the connection quality of the mobile device and compresses the video, allowing for connection through WiFi and 3G, and can be enjoyed on a desktop PC, Apple Mac or WiFi-enabled PDA or mobile phone.
"Appointment TV is dying," commented Yehia Oweiss, UK MD of Hauppauge Digital. "People are recording more and more TV and watching what they want, when they want. Timeshifting was first introduced with the VCR, and later enhanced with the PVR (Personal Video Recorder). Placeshifting is the new frontier - watching recorded TV where you want it, and moving live TV out of the home."
Back to top
Karneval time for Liberty Global
Cable MSO Liberty Global is to purchase Karneval s.r.o. and Forecable s.r.o. (Karneval), the second largest cable operator in the Czech Republic for an estimated purchase price of E322.5 million, subject to regulatory approval. At June 30, 2006, Karneval had approximately 310,000 revenue generating units (RGUs) including 253,000 video RGUs and 57,000 broadband Internet RGUs.
Mike Fries, President and CEO of Liberty Global, described the Czech Republic as one of our fastest growing markets in Central Europe. Fries said the combined UPC Czech/Karneval would be well positioned to participate in the rapid growth of advanced broadband services in the region. “We anticipate significant additional synergies from combining Karneval with our existing UPC Czech business will be realised over time. In the meantime, we look forward to working with Czech regulators to get the transaction approved as soon as possible,” he added.
Separately, Liberty Global announced financial and operating results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2006, which featured net additions of 363,000 RGUs, a 58 per cent increase from Q2’05 subscriber growth in, as well as revenue growth of 46 per cent to $1.59 billion, operating cash flow growth of 54 per cent to $568 million, and a loss from continuing operations of $184 million compared to a loss of $109 million.Fries stated, “Consistent with our cable peers, we continue to demonstrate strong fundamental trends in our core cable business, as evidenced by our solid second quarter results. Our success in driving bundled products, largely due to recent VoIP launches and strong broadband Internet sales, drove net organic RGU additions of 363,000 in the quarter, and we are carrying excellent operating momentum into the second half of the year.”
Back to top
Racing UK saddles up with Setanta Sports
Setanta Sports, the UK’s largest independent sports broadcaster, and horse racing channel Racing UK have signed a three-and-a-half year channel bundling agreement that will see the two broadcasters offering a combined package of sports channels for just £15 per month.
The deal creates a package of sports channels at a highly competitive price on satellite and cable in the UK. Subscribers to the Setanta Sports Pack of nine channels will get more sporting action with access to Racing UK and Racing World’s coverage of live UK and US horseracing.
The deal with Racing UK is the third significant development for Setanta in the last six months. In May it acquired a package of 46 live FA Premier League matches and in June it signed a six-year exclusive deal to show live coverage of golf’s US PGA Tour.
The agreement will give existing subscribers to both broadcasters access to nine sports channels for a single subscription price, namely: Setanta Sports 1, Setanta Sports 2, Setanta Ireland, Racing UK, Racing World, NASN, Celtic TV, Rangers TV and the soon to be launched Setanta Golf channel.
The combined channels will have in excess of 200,000 subscribers at the outset. Subscriber numbers are expected to grow rapidly as PGA Tour golf and English Premier League football are added to the content line-up.
Back to top
Converged voice and video for programme callers
Specialist video service provider All New Video has launched a series of converged 3G, IP video and VoIP calling services that will allow increased interactivity between BBC viewers and News television programmes.
BBC viewers will be asked to call into the show from their phone, PCs and 3G mobile video phones. Once users are connected, the participants will be greeted with an interactive media response (IMR). Using the telephone keypad, participants will be offered the choice of recording a video or voice message for the show, or alternatively connecting directly into the show for a two way voice or video conversation with the presenters. The service can be used for applications such as a news gathering by both reporters and viewers, in addition to TV video ‘phone-ins’.
All New Video CTO, Lee Woodland, said that being able to work with the BBC in enabling a converged 3G and IP video calling service highlighted the progression of the technology, the services and its increasingly important role in news gathering and user generated content.
Back to top
EchoStar Q2: subs and revenues up
Digital satellite TV provider EchoStar Communications Corporation has reported total revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2006, a 17 per cent increase compared with $2.10 billion for the corresponding period in 2005.Net income totalled $169 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2006, compared with net income of $856 million during the corresponding period in 2005. Basic earnings per share was $0.38 for the quarter ended June 30, 2006, compared with a basic income per share of $1.89 during the corresponding period in 2005. Net income for the quarter ended June 30, 2005, included a non-recurring, non-cash benefit of approximately $593 million to recognise the tax benefits of previously reported tax losses.
DISH Network added approximately 195,000 net new subscribers during the second quarter of 2006, ending the quarter with approximately 12.46 million subscribers.
Back to top
Yahoo7 locks in ReelTime
From Rose Major in MelbourneYahoo7, the Australian joint venture between Yahoo and the Seven Network, has struck its first major exclusive long-form internet content download deal, with Internet video-on-demand specialists ReelTime. The deal means PC owners wishing to access ReelTime’s service must do so through the Yahoo7 site, and comes ahead of the launch of Seven Network content via Yahoo7 over the coming months.
Users of Yahoo7’s website will be able to download content via ReelTime, provided they have a broadband connection, and watch the movies and TV content on their PCs. The content is cached onto PCs, rather than streamed, and has a ‘viewing period’ from when it is first watched before becoming unavailable again.
ReelTime’s service will also shortly allow users‚ to connect their PCs to their televisions if they have a set-top box supplied by ReelTime. The company has deals with content owners including Sony, Fox, NBC Universal International TV and MGM. Previously,
ReelTime has concentrated on partnering with ISPs rather than content aggregators.But ReelTime’s deals with content owners are non-exclusive, which means that other content aggregators can sign their own deals for movies and television. Yahoo7’s major rivals for TV and film content are BigPond, which has a number of deals for a movie and TV download service, and Ninemsn, a joint venture between Microsoft and Seven’s rival, the Nine Network. Ninemsn has not yet ventured into IP provision of movie content.
Back to top
Mobile TV and radio specialist MobiTV has announced its official support for the WiMAX standard. MobiTV has been investing heavily in research and technology development to support the latest wireless network standards and the company is now committed to deploying advanced mobile television and media delivery services over WiMAX networks. The support for the new 802.16 standards has been under development at MobiTV for the past several quarters in partnership with several leaders in the wireless and technology industries.
"WiMAX is one of the most promising new wireless technologies to emerge over the last several years. We are working hard to integrate it with a broad range of emerging video and television technologies, both wired and wireless," said Phillip Alvelda, CEO and co-founder for MobiTV. "As we have said in the past, the consumer market is looking for a compelling video user experience, and has to be simple and accessible with a seamless blending of technologies that hide all of the network integration complexity in a cost effective manner."
MobiTV expects to continue conducting research on a number of network standards as they emerge in order to meet the needs of the Company's international partners.
Back to top
Digital content technology specialist NDS has reported revenues for fiscal 2006 up 8 per cent to $600 million, and operating income for fiscal 2006 up 42 per cent to $131 million. Other key indicators reveal 65.0 million active digital TV smart cards, 41.6 million cumulative set-top boxes activated with NDS middleware and 3.5 million cumulative DVR deployments.
Dr Abe Peled, Chairman and CEO of NDS, said the company was “ready to meet the changing scene of content distribution with a strong portfolio of new products, and has also made good inroads into the developing markets in Asia and Eastern Europe.”
Back to top
Unity Media selects S-A for Bundesliga broadcasts
Cable operator parent company Unity Media has chosen Scientific Atlanta to support its cable broadcast of live football matches of the first and second Bundesliga in Germany from Deutsche Fussball Liga (DFL). In addition to headend, encoding and network management systems, Unity Media will deploy the Scientific Atlanta Digital Content Manager, an extremely dense, MPEG video processing platform.
The football matches will be delivered by Unity Media's new Arena channels under the terms of a new three-year agreement recently signed with the league. Scientific Atlanta's technology will serve Unity Media's Network Operation Center (NOC) at Kerpen near Cologne.
Back to top
Mobile TV tipped for half a billion users
Sonic enables DVD-on-Demand
ITV up but forecasts deline
ECI Telecom nets Romania cable deal
Irdeto dealt winning cards in China
ROK rolls into US
Sony intros mylo
CacheLogic, BitTorrent partner for P2P distributionMobile TV tipped for half a billion users
Nearly half a billion people will be watching TV on their cellular handsets by the end of 2011, according to recent research. Driven primarily by the adoption of broadcast-based services such as DVB-H, mobile digital TV will experience 50% year-on-year growth through 2010.
IMS Research’s study - Mobile TV - A Complete Analysis of the Global Market - 2006 Edition, suggests that mobile TV delivered over the cellular data network should experience strong growth and build on its early lead in the marketplace. However beginning early in 2010, cellular network-based mobile TV subscriptions will be overtaken by even quicker growth in digital broadcast services. By then, more than half of the world’s mobile TV subscribers will receive their video via a mobile digital broadcast service.
"Given the right conditions, mobile TV has the potential to spread from one customer to the next like few technologies before it," stated one of the report’s authors, Stephen Froehlich. "If providers effectively supply compelling content, quality reception, and affordable, attractive phones, then every new mobile TV subscriber can become a mobile TV evangelist. However, to make their customers into product evangelists, mobile TV service providers and their partners must invest enough in infrastructure and technology to enable both wide population coverage and good indoor reception."
Back to top
Sonic enables DVD-on-DemandDigital media software specialist Sonic Solutions has unveiled Roxio Venue, a comprehensive media application that lets consumers select, manage, view, and securely burn entertainment purchased online onto recordable DVDs that play on standard DVD players as well as PCs. Roxio Venue is built on Sonic’s AuthorScript DVD on Demand engine, the first technology to support the managed recording of entertainment using the Content Scramble System (CSS) ‹ the copy protection found on commercially released DVDs. Roxio Venue is available now to online entertainment service providers for evaluation and will be released later this year through Sonic’s direct, retail, and OEM channels. The CSS feature of Roxio Venue will be activated after final approval of recordable CSS.
“With almost 40 million broadband-connected US households, many consumers are using online entertainment services to obtain movies and programming,” said Mark Ely, executive vice president of corporate strategy, Sonic Solutions. “By incorporating studio-approved copy protection, including key technology for the recently announced recordable CSS format, Roxio Venue will pave the way for more high-quality entertainment to be distributed electronically and for consumers to have the ability to enjoy that content in the comfort of their living room.”
Back to top
UK’s ITV predicted a 14% decline in national advertising revenues in the three months to the end of September, as it released half-year results showing a rise in profits. The company, whose chief executive Charles Allen resigned this week, said it was struggling with weakness in the advertising market and the effect of the contract rights renewal system that pegs advertising rates to audience figures. Over the nine months to the end of September, advertising would be down 8% on the year before, it said.
But ITV drew some comfort from improved performance from its digital channels and other businesses. It said today that revenues from its consumer division were up more than 300% to £69m (E100m), with Friends Reunited, acquired last year for £120m, recording a 50% rise. Overall first-half profits at the company rose to £173m from a restated £154m last year, while revenues were up 3% to £1.08bn.
Back to top
ECI Telecom nets Romania cable deal
Telecommunications solutions provider ECI Telecom has signed a new multi-million dollar contract with the largest cable operator in Romania, RCS & RDS, for the upgrade and expansion of its optical network. The network upgrade will enable RCS & RDS to provide triple play and other broadband services across Eastern Europe and will enable access to the European Internet exchange located in Frankfurt. RCS & RDS’s upgraded network will serve some 1.7 million subscribers.
RCS & RDS is the most important Romanian provider of telecommunication services, among the cable operators, registering 1.7 million subscribers for all the services provided, in Romania, Hungary and Slovakia. It registers 500.000 telephony users, 300.000 Internet subscribers and other 400.000 Digital TV clients in the region.
Back to top
Irdeto dealt winning cards in China
Content security specialist Irdeto is to provide one million smart cards to Shaanxi Broadcasting & TV Information Network Co., Ltd. to secure the migration to digital TV of the country’s first unified provincial cable TV network. The deal marks the single largest contract for smart cards awarded to any content protection vendor in China to date, and strengthens Irdeto’s leadership position in securing China’s fast-growing digital TV market.
Irdeto will provide its Epsilon smart cards, the company’s fifth generation of proven security devices to Shaanxi, one of China’s largest digitalisation projects covering an area of 4 million TV households. Irdeto will be the exclusive content security provider for the first phase of Shaanxi’s digitalisation project, projected to last for two years and including one million TV households located in 11 prefectural level cities.
Back to top
ROK Entertainment Group has launched its ROK TV streaming mobile TV service in the United States. Users can now go to www.roktv.com and subscribe to thirteen channels of content for only $0.99 per channel. ROK has licensed content from over 50 content providers, sufficient for dozens of channels, which will be going live throughout the coming weeks.
ROK has positioned the service as one that focuses on niche, independent, alternative, urban, and international. This is largely due to ROK’s UK experience that has shown mobile TV to be a ‘3x5 proposition’ where consumers’ usage tends to take on a ‘three minutes at a time, five times a day’ pattern and where these types of channels are proving as popular as major brand names."We see large demographic and affinity segments of active mobile media consumers that are being underserved by the content offerings of existing mobile video services," said Jonathan Kendrick, chairman of ROK. "But we’re not turning away from major entertainment, news or sports programming, in fact we fully intend to showcase the power of major media brands and sponsors in a variety of unique ways as the service grows."
Back to top
Sony Corp. is set to introduce its first wireless broadband communications and entertainment device, aimed at heavy users of instant messaging. Sony’s ‘mylo’ personal communicator is a hybrid device that competes with a range of gadgets already on the market, including the Sidekick, created by Danger Inc., and Nokia’s 770 wireless Internet mini-tablet.
The name mylo stands for ‘my life online’ and provides users access to online instant messaging services, HTML Web pages, e-mails and to play music or view photos. mylo will be available in September retail for about $350, Sony said.
The name mylo is borrowed from a prior, ill -fated generation of its handheld devices the Japanese consumer electronics giant had planned to launch in the United States on September 11, 2001 but subsequently cancelled.
The device bears similarities to Sony’s PSP gaming device, but is targeted at a different market: socialisers who are heavy text message users and music fans, rather than gamers.
Back to top
CacheLogic, BitTorrent partner for P2P distribution
P2P caching solutions specialist CacheLogic and peer-assisted file distribution platform developer BitTorrent have agreed a key strategic partnership to further enable the widespread adoption of P2P technology as a distribution network for commercial video and other rich digital content.
The collaboration centres on the development of the Cache Discovery Protocol (CDP) - an open-source protocol that ISPs can utilise to mitigate the burden of BitTorrent traffic. CDP will enable BitTorrent client software to automatically discover and take advantage of caching devices within an ISP’s network to accelerate significantly the delivery of legitimate content whilst reducing costs.
The protocol greatly simplifies the deployment of CacheLogic’s P2P Management Solution, negating the need for expensive, inline hardware deployments or legacy packet inspection technologies, which are alternative approaches to managing P2P traffic.
"BitTorrent continues to gather momentum as one of the leading distribution technologies for rich media and its impact on the ISP networks is becoming increasingly important,” said Andrew Parker, CTO at CacheLogic, who added that ISPs now had a simple way of reducing their traffic levels and improving the quality of experience for their end-users. “Equally, content owners can continue to utilise BitTorrent for distribution whilst experiencing greater download speeds and increased quality of service for their customers," " Today, people use the Internet for many bandwidth-intensive services and consumers are increasingly aware of the quality of service needed for their favourite applications," said Ashwin Navin, president and co-founder of BitTorrent.
Back to top
Wednesday 9th August
MySpace, Google $900M ad pact
Viacom eyes Bebo
NTL: first merged quarter
Allen out at ITV
CommScope intervenes in Andrews deal
UK tries to dilute internet regs
Nokia acquires Loudeye
PT spins off multimedia
MySpace, Google $900M ad pact
Google has won the bidding to provide search services and advertising to News Corporation’s MySpace.com, and the company’s other sites. The deal promises News at least $900 million over three and half years. “In one fell swoop, we have paid for two-thirds of our Internet acquisitions,” Peter Chernin, News president, said.
MySpace shows more pages than any site except Yahoo, and has almost 100 million members. Eric Schmidt, Google’s chief executive, said the company had decided that it would not display ads on every page. “We are not going to cover MySpace with ads,” he said, noting that Google carefully analyses what sort of ads encourage users to click on what sort of pages to produce the most revenue.
Google’s competitors in the bidding were the other big search engines, Yahoo, IAC’s Ask.com and Microsoft’s MSN. Google will handle searches initiated from MySpace pages. MySpace has a box for search queries on almost every page that now leads to results, and advertising, currently provided by Yahoo.
Google will provide not only ads on the search-result pages but also text advertisements on many MySpace member pages as well as other pages on News Corporation sites. Google will sell the advertisements on its auction system, in which advertisers bid for how much they will pay if a user clicks on their ad. Google will in turn pay a large portion of the revenue to News Corporation for the ads displayed on its sites.
Back to top
Viacom eyes BeboViacom is reportedly considering a bid for Bebo, the social networking site that is second only to MySpace outside the US. The company is also believed to have looked at Facebook, the number two social networking site in the US. Bebo has far fewer users than the sites in the US but is number one in Ireland and second in the UK. It claims 25m registered users worldwide.
Michael Birch, British founder and chief executive of San Francisco-based Bebo, told the FT he was in no hurry to sell. One recent rumour suggested BT, the telecoms group, had offered E435m.
Back to top
NTL announced results for the quarter ended June 30, 2006 - the first full quarter since NTL merged with Telewest. Highlights include: ARPU of £42.21,(E61) up £0.71 on the previous quarter. Triple play penetration of 37.1%, up from 34.9%. Estimated £15m of synergy savings achieved in quarter.
On a proforma basis (assuming merger had taken place January 1) the revenue was £884m down slightly on Q1’s £889m mainly on a dip in content (flextech) revenue. Operating income was £6.3m versus an £0.9m loss in Q1.
Back to top
As expected Charles Allen has agreed to step down as chief executive of ITV at the end of September.“The board of ITV owes its thanks to Charles for his success in creating a single ITV company from the federal structure that he inherited and for preparing the company for television in the digital age,” said Sir Peter Burt, chairman. John Cresswell, ITV’s current finance director, is interim chief executive as a search for a replacement starts.
Back to top
CommScope intervenes in Andrews deal
CommScope launched a rival $1.5bn cash bid for Andrew Corp, the US communications equipment maker that is already the subject of a takeover offer from ADC Telecommunications. CommScope is offering Andrew's shareholders $9.50 a share in cash - a 20 per cent premium to the closing price on Friday, and 36 per cent higher than ADC's all-stock offer.
The potential bid battle for Andrew drove the company's shares up 23 per cent on Nasdaq . Andrew is seen as an attractive takeover target because of its strength in wireless infrastructure products at a time when technologies are converging.
Back to top
UK tries to dilute internet regs
UK ministers are proposing a compromise in an attempt to prevent the European Union extending television regulation to internet video. Writing to all European Union member states, the Government said that it “was strongly of the view” that the scope of the directive should be confined just to television broadcasting.
The letter did concede that if Europe wanted to widen the scope of regulation, it should draw in only video on demand — such as HomeChoice and BT’s forthcoming Vision service — because it is “closely similar to traditional television”.
Back to top
Nokia acquires LoudeyeLoudeye Corp. announced they have signed an agreement for Nokia to acquire it for $60 million. Loudeye is a leader of digital music platforms and digital media distribution services. By acquiring Loudeye, Nokia can offer consumers a comprehensive mobile music experience, including devices, applications and the ability to purchase digital music.
The multi-function mobile device will become the preferred medium for enjoying music and Nokia is leading this trend. With music optimized products like the Nokia N91 and other Nokia devices, Nokia sold more than 15 million music enabled devices in the 2nd quarter, making it the world's largest manufacture of digital music players.
"Music is a key experience for Nokia and Nokia Nseries multimedia computers and we want to be able to offer the best fully integrated mobile music experience to our customers. Loudeye brings a number of key assets to Nokia, including a great team of people, a substantial content catalogue and a robust service platform that will help us to achieve this objective," said Anssi Vanjoki, executive vice president and general manager, Multimedia, Nokia. Loudeye operates 60 live services in over 20 countries and multiple languages across Europe and South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Loudeye aggregates rights and content from all the major labels and hundreds of independents and currently offers licensed catalog and complete media for over 1.6 million tracks.
Back to top
PT spins off multimediaPortugal Telecom intends to spin off its 58.43% interest in its subsidiary PT Multimédia - Serviços de Telecomunicações e Multimedia, (PTM) and to increase the shareholder remuneration package already announced for the 2006-2008 period from E 3.0 billion to E3.5 billion, in addition to the distribution of PTM shares.
PT shareholders are expected to receive E3.5 billion in cash plus PTM shares over the 2006-2008 period, including the dividends paid in 2006, and to continue to benefit from PT’s leadership position in the telecommunications market in Portugal, Brazil and certain regions of Africa.
Back to top
Tuesday 8th August
Viacom output for Google
IPTV worth $27bn in 2010
Proposed Aussie broadband network shelved
TIM TV offers seven free channels
Hanaro defies regulator
CacheLogic debuts VelociX
ITV1 stream on 3
SES GLOBAL profit up 28.6%
TANDBERG buys ZetoolsViacom output for Google
Viacom’s MTV Networks has struck a partnership with Google for it to distribute the broadcaster’s programming to a series of niche websites and blogs. Some of the content will be video clips from MTV as well as the Nickelodeon cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants. The two companies plan to share revenue from advertising sold alongside the clips.
As part of the deal, MTV Networks will also sell episodes of its programmes through Google’s video store. It has similar agreements with AOL and Apple’s iTunes. MTV Networks is hoping that the deal will allow it to reach more young consumers, who may be spending time on niche sites and blogs affiliated with Google, and build greater awareness for its content. The company, along with Google, is also hoping to cash in on the surge in internet advertising.
Back to top
The IPTV subscriber base will generate more than $27 billion in overall IPTV services revenue in 2010. While video services will account for the largest portion of these dollars, value-added media services and IPTV operator advertising will combine to represent more than 14 percent of IPTV services revenue in 2010.
Furthermore, across all IPTV services, the corresponding content licensing revenue will reach $11 billion in 2010, according to a forecast from iSuppli.
”The fight to capture the expanding base of IPTV subscribers will put telecom operators on a collision course with existing pay-TV market competitors and with a new class of broadband video portals as they roll-out progressively more sophisticated offerings,_ said Mark Kirstein, vice president, multimedia content and services for iSuppli. The company categorizes market deployment of IPTV services in three phases. The current global IPTV market is early in its first phase: basic service deployment. The second phase will add an array of value-added and interactive services. Phase three will bring dramatic improvements in integration and interactivity.
Thus, in this pending battle for subscribers, providing a competitive video offering is merely the cost of entry for IPTV operators. Differentiation of IPTV services will be essential to bringing new capabilities to TV-based entertainment and attracting subscribers.
Back to top
Proposed Aussie broadband network shelved
From Rose Major in Melbourne
Hopes for improved high-speed broadband services in Australia have suffered a blow, after incumbent telco Telstra said it had broken off talks with the competition regulator on competitors' access to its planned A$4 billion fibre-to-the-node network. Without such a network, new services such as IPTV are unlikely to become widespread, but Telstra and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission have been unable to agree on how much Telstra's rivals should pay to access the network.
"The major stumbling block was the ACCC's unwillingness to recognise the actual costs that Telstra incurs in providing its services and, especially, the costs it incurs in provding services to rural, regional, and remote Australia," the company said in a statement. "Until Telstra's actual costs are recognised and the ACCC's regulatory practices change, Telstra will not invest in a fibre-to-the-node broadband network."
But the ACCC rejected Telstra's stance, saying that from the start of talks, "the ACCC accepted 'that Telstra should be entitled to recover its actual costs arising from the FTTN upgrade'....The ACCC notes that the calculations which Telstra has provided, to date, on the costs of services on its existing network have been based not on its actual costs or its regulatory accounts, but on Telstra's own highly contentious economic model."
Talks between Telstra and the ACCC had been going on for over five months, with the spectre of a government sale of its remaining 51% stake in the telco looming.
Just last week, communications minister Helen Coonan urged Telstra to strike a deal, although she said today that the ACCC was still talking to Telstra's rivals about how to get a high-speed network built. Optus-led the FTTN Consortium, a group of Australia's second-string telcos, have been putting pressure on the telco, claiming the company's proposed network would reach under half of the country and that it would be too difficult to unbundle the proposed network for use by competitors anyway. In April, the consortium called for collective industry investment in an open access network.
Graeme Samuel, chairman of the ACCC, said: "There are multiple carriers in a position to put in place high-speed broadband networks using DSL, FTTN, wireless or other technologies. All they await is certainty as to Telstra's FTTN plans."
Back to top
TIM TV offers seven free channels
From Branislav Pekic in RomeTIM TV, the digital mobile television offer of Italian MNO TIM, is offering free reception of seven TV channels transmitted in DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld) this summer.
The promotional offer includes Canale5, Italia1, Rete4, La7, MTV, Sky TG24 and Sky Meteo24 channels, with new content to be added soon, including Sky Sport News and Fox News. TIM TV will introduce a monthly subscription from this autumn. The first handset for digital TV mobile reception available on the Italian market is the Samsung SGH P920 which also supports the UMTS network, has a steerable screen for a better vision of the TV and is equipped with advanced multimedia functions. Thanks to the “Tutto Relax” offer consumers can purchase a DVB-H mobile phone for E49 and pay the remaining sum in 24 monthly installments of E1 each.
With the start of the new Italian football season in September, Telecom Italia will also launch the first “convergent” offer dedicated to football that will enable, with a single subscription, live and exclusive reception of the most important matches of the Serie A on DVB-H (TIM TV), IPTV (Alice Home TV) and on the Rosso Alice portal. Mobile phone users will also exclusively be able to watch Champions League football matches.
The DVB-H network already covers 100 Italian cities, including: Milan, Turin, Rome, Bergamo, Treviso, Venice, Padua, Udine, Bologna, Lucca, Florence, Pisa, Naples and Palermo. By the end of 2006, coverage is expected to reach 70-75% of the Italian population. Telecom Italia is hoping to reach at least 1 million clients by 2008 with its DVB-H TV service.
Back to top
Hanaro Telecom, South Korea’s second largest fixed-line operator, said it will continue its Internet-based video-on-demand (VOD) service despite threats of punishment from the Korea Broadcasting Commission.
"We consulted with related government agencies and legal authorities before the launch of the HanaTV service, so there will be no changes in the plan,” said Park Byung-moo, CEO of Hanaro, in a statement. The broadcasting commission said it is considering taking punitive measures against Hanaro for its possible violation of broadcasting laws, after receiving an official protest from the cable TV operators association, which is worried about losing market shares to the new service.
Cable broadcasters have insisted that HanaTV is a variation of broadcasting, and therefore should be controlled by the broadcasting commission. On the contrary, Hanaro has said that it is a kind of Internet file downloading service, and should not be subject to broadcasting laws. Since its launch in July, HanaTV had attracted 13,000 subscribers. It expects HanaTV will draw 250,000 users this year alone, expand to one million in 2007
Back to top
CacheLogic debuts VelociX
CacheLogic, a leader in P2P caching solutions, - announced the immediate availability of its new VelociX Accelerated Media Delivery Platform.
CacheLogic says the VelociX platform is the first to combine the unique benefits of scalable Peer-to-Peer technology with a distributed physical network of P2P caches to provide the quality-of-service benefits offered by traditional content distribution networks (CDNs). On VelociX-equipped broadband networks, large media assets such as television programs or movies can be downloaded in minutes rather than hours. For content owners, the Peer-Assisted technology underpinning the VelociX service provides a seamless, end-to-end solution for the publication and high speed delivery of digital media to mass audiences. This is accomplished at a significantly lower cost compared to legacy delivery solutions, which enables content owners to effectively monetize a much wider range of media.
For Internet Service Providers, the combination of a physically distributed P2P caching network with accelerated content delivery allows the VelociX platform to massively reduce the upstream congestion that has been previously associated with P2P. Additionally, the content acceleration capabilities of the VelociX platform enables Service Providers to fully utilize their high-speed connections to provide truly compelling services for their subscribers.
The VelociX Accelerated Media Delivery Platform comprises a global distributed network with significant delivery capacity located at strategic points across the Internet. The platform, and its interaction with P2P clients operating on the network, is dynamically controlled using CacheLogic’s Cache Discovery Protocol (CDP) that enables accelerated media delivery and optimizes distribution of legal content. CDP has already been integrated into the newest clients of BitTorrent (San Francisco) and RawFlow (London) with other software vendors also utilizing CDP to fully integrate their products with the VelociX Accelerated Media Delivery Platform.
Back to top
ITV1 stream on 3
ITV and mobile phone group 3 have signed a deal to stream ITV1 to 3's UK customers. ITV has granted an exclusive 3G licence to 3 for six months from the autumn, which will enable 3.5 million of the mobile network's customers to watch live terrestrial TV. According to ITV, evidence from mobile TV services suggests that those who watch television on their phones are new viewers.
Details of how 3's mobile customers will pay for the ITV they watch have yet to be revealed. It may be offered free with some mobile contracts, or it could require an additional payment.
Back to top
SES half year to June saw revenues rise 16.6% to E710.5 million, or 8.1 % to E657 million on a recurring, same scope (excluding SES NEW SKIES) and constant exchange rate basis. Net profit rose 28.6% to E215.6 million (E167.7 million).
Romain Bausch, President & CEO of SES, said, “The first six months of 2006 were significant for the development of the SES group. We concluded the acquisition of New Skies Satellites in order to expand our connectivity offerings as well as to strengthen substantially our positioning in emerging markets. SES NEW SKIES’ performance is ahead of plan and progress in the integration makes us confident that we should achieve the synergy target. In addition, we further increased our shareholding in ND Satcom to 100%, strengthening our services capabilities in particular in the government segment.”
Back to top
TANDBERG announced that it has agreed to acquire Zetools Inc., a Los Angeles-based developer of software that enables the delivery of next-generation digital video services over the Internet. The move expands TANDBERG’s ability to support content owners and operators as they look to build Internet TV and broadband businesses. In the past five years, Zetools has built a customer base of leading media companies, including AOL, NBC Universal, MTV Networks and Viacom. By incorporating its on-demand and interactive technologies with Zetools’ award-winning Internet TV software, TANDBERG Television is increasing its ability to enable the publishing, distribution and monetization of video content across any platform, to any digital device.
“Our business is to help operators and content owners move video across today’s growing choice of distribution platforms to satisfy subscribers’ growing demand for improved picture quality, and convenience in their viewing experience. For cable, satellite, terrestrial, IPTV, wireless and now the Internet, we are the world’s leading provider of solutions that enable our customers to create new consumer video experiences and generate online revenues through interactive advertising and pay-TV, a truly unique proposition,” says Eric Cooney, President and CEO of TANDBERG Television. “The deal with Zetools enables us to help our customers build broadband businesses through the delivery of digital video over the Internet to PCs and to the TV using the next generation of broadband enabled set-top-boxes and PVRs.”
Back to top
Major US TV advertisers want online ad exchange
AOL cuts 5,000
UK looks at TV gaming
Mediaset prepares all-news channel for DVB-H
ABC to re-launch broadband
Frost Appointed CEO GlobeCast America
Major US TV advertisers want online ad exchange
Nine prominent advertisers have joined forces to create and test an online marketplace for buying advertising time, reports the WSJ. The proposal is still in its early stages. Participating are advertisers including Toyota Motor, Wal-Mart Stores, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Home Depot – and they have made approaches to broadcast and cable networks, whose participation is critical to making any online system work. But some TV executives have already made their opposition clear. If implemented, an Internet auction site for TV ad time could accelerate the recent shift in bargaining power to advertisers and possibly drive down average prices.
The advertiser group has enlisted eBay to build an auction site -- dubbed e-Media Exchange -- that would sell national ad time available on a yet-to-be determined cable network in a test tentatively set for January. The nine advertisers, who have put up a combined $50 million for the test, are looking to attract additional advertisers and plan to launch an information Web site called admarketpilot.com.
Back to top
AOL plans to cut 5,000 jobs, about a quarter of its staff, over the next six months as it tries to boost profit. Many of the job cuts will be European as AOL plans to sell off its UK, French and German internet access businesses. The European divisions currently employ about 3,000 staff.
Among the firms that are seen as potential buyers for the UK business are BSkyB, Carphone Warehouse and France Telecom's Orange mobile phone division, Reuters reported. France's Neuf Cegetel is said to be interested in that country's local business, while firms keen to buy AOL's German operations include Versatel, Freenet.de, Telecom Italia and Dutch phone firm KPN, the news agency said.
Back to top
UK looks at TV gamingThe UK Gambling Commission has opened a public consultation questioning the legality of many prize draws and competitions, a process that could threaten the business models of "participation TV" operations such as ITV's digital channel, ITV Play. The consultation has been prompted by changes in UK gambling industry laws that will come into force late next year. It will consider whether the simple questions used in various televised quizzes - that generate money from consumers calling premium-rate phone lines - are a form of gambling.
The consultation will look at whether the question formats require any skill or if, like a lottery, they are a game of chance. If such games are classed as lotteries, they will have to be regulated and 20% of revenue must go to charitable causes.
Back to top
Mediaset prepares all-news channel for DVB-H
From Branislav Pekic RomeItalian broadcaster Mediaset is planning to launch an all-news channel on digital terrestrial, with CNN being mentioned as one of the potential partners. Mediaset president, Fedele Confalonieri, said that negotiations are underway with several possible partners, including CNN. He confirmed expansion plans abroad, adding that “if there are opportunities we will take them” and also interest in Dutch TV company Endemol “although there is nothing concrete for the moment”.
After recently signing deals with mobile phone operators TIM and 3Italia, Mediaset will start offering TV programs to DVB-H mobile phones from October. “We are studying a sort of personalized schedule for Vodafone” – explained Pier Silvio Berlusconi, vice-president of Mediaset. Recently, the two companies signed an agreement that will enable the mobile operator to use the capacity of Mediaset’s digital multiplex for a period of five years, with a renewal option for another five years. For its part, Vodafone is also working on content it would offer via the multiplex.
Earlier this week, Mediaset signed an agreement with Telecom Italia for the mutual exchange of DTT transmission rights for Italian football league matches for the next three championships. Mediaset will also pay to Telecom Italia Media E64 million over the 2006-2009 seasons.
Back to top
ABC to re-launch broadband
ABC is to relaunch its streaming video service in the fall with a tweaked broadband player and more shows available online for a shorter period of time per episode. Viewers will see a broadband player created by the Disney Internet Group with a minor changes since the test in May and June. There will be slightly longer commercial inventory but Albert Cheng, executive vp digital media for Disney-ABC Television Group, said it wouldn't hamper the "great consumer experience" that the service was.
One change will be to the release window, which in the test had been every episode available after it aired for the entire two months. Now each episode will be available the day after the original telecast for up to four weeks.
"Most people watch because they missed the episode, and that happens mostly within a discrete period of time. Once you let it sit there, it doesn't get that much usage down the line,” said Cheng. In the two-month test more than 5.7 million requests for episodes were made and 16 million video streams were served. Each hour-long episode contained four separate streams, which were kicked off by a brief ad.
Back to top
Frost Appointed CEO GlobeCast America
Mary Frost has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of GlobeCast America, the U.S. unit of Paris-based GlobeCast, a global provider of broadcast distribution and content management services. Frost oversees GlobeCast‚s strategy and operations in North and Latin America, based between the company‚s sales and marketing offices in Washington D.C. and New York. Frost joined GlobeCast in 2003 as Sr. Vice President, Sales, and was later named Chief Commercial Officer.
Back to top
