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Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Tuesday
Accenture: IPTV has small window for success
Yahoo dilutes TV commitment
More research says mobile TV a turn off
Asia pay TV will double by 2015
Flextech wants user TV
FCC wants $0.5m for DTV education
3 Italia chooses Nagra
Viasat adds 10 channels to Baltics
New appointments at SBS
Accenture: IPTV has small window for successCompanies offering IPTV should focus on its consumer benefits to overcome customers' confusion about the technology says Accenture, the management and technology consultancy. It concludes that providers have a brief "window" to get their branding and consumer offering right before it becomes a mass market technology.
A survey of 6,000 people in the US, the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy found that 46 per cent did not understand the term IPTV. Despite this, it found "a strong consumer interest in the benefits that such a service could bring," said Ray Dogra, head of the IPTV team in Accenture's communications practice. The survey found that 54 per cent of respondents were unwilling to pay any extra for features such as being able to search for television, radio or music content. However, younger adults were "markedly" more willing to pay for IPTV services. But having said they weren’t keen to pay for it, 55 per cent ranked “less advertising", as a more important benefit than greater choice.
Meanwhile, consumers expressed concerns about security issues, which were raised by 38 per cent of those polled, and service quality because of poor connections was mentioned by 39 per cent.
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Yahoo dilutes TV commitment
Lloyd Braun, the head of Yahoo’s Media Group, has told the NY Times it is scaling back plans to bring original programming to the web and would shift focus to acquired content. It has been rumoured that Braun, former head of ABC Networks, had clash with Terry Semel over his ambitious TV plans and their budgets.
“I didn’t fully appreciate what success in this medium is really going to look like,” said Braun. “This is not about creating one-off hits like in my old business. That is not going to create a sustainable competitive advantage over the long term.” Braun said that the way to keep users on Yahoo’s site longer — and thus be able to show them more advertising — was to offer ways they can create their own content and look at content created by others. He pointed to the site Yahoo built for the 2006 Winter Olympics, which prominently featured photographs from Flickr, Yahoo’s photo-sharing site, along with articles both by news agencies and by a few columnists exclusive to Yahoo.
Braun insisted that Yahoo would not abandon its efforts to have original material, but he said it would embark on only a handful of new ventures this year, not the dozens he had been promising last year.
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More research says mobile TV a turn off
A new survey indicates U.S. cellphone users don't care much about watching TV on phones and hate the idea of getting advertisements via cellphones. The survey, conducted by Royal Bank of Canada's RBC Capital Markets among 1,001 cellphone users, found that price is the single most important factor for most U.S. users, more important than whether a phone can take pictures or play music or video.
But concern for price doesn't mean people would accept advertising on their cellphones. More than half of those surveyed believe that mobile marketing is a nuisance and should be prohibited; 43% said they would be willing to pay more for a cellphone that prohibits marketing or advertising messages.
More than three-quarters of the people surveyed said they aren't interested in watching TV or movies on a portable device, and 69% said they don't see themselves listening to music on their cellphones. The survey result echoes that of an online survey last year by Forrester. Among more than 5,000 adults surveyed, only 1% said a digital-music player was a must-have feature for cellphones. More desirable, they said, would be longer battery life and high-speed data access.
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Asia pay TV will double by 2015
Revenue generated by Asia's pay television industry is expected to more than double to $45bn by 2015, while within a decade India will match Japan and become one of the region's biggest pay TV markets, according to a new report from Media Partners Asia.
The study predicts that by 2010 India will overtake Japan as the region's leading revenue-generating market for pay TV broadcasters, thanks to strong subscription and advertising growth. "India is probably the most important and accessible broadcasting revenue opp-ortunity across Asia. It is not as big as China in advertising terms but it is more accessible," said Vivek Couto, MPA executive director. Penetration of pay TV in India is expected to jump from 53 per cent of its 214m households in 2005 to 70 per cent of 250m homes in 2015.
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TiVo limits for kids
TiVo have announced KidZone, a service that lets its video recorders limit children to watching shows approved by one of two groups promoting family programming. Tom Rogers, TiVo's chief executive, said existing technology and ratings had been rarely used because both the software and the ratings were too difficult to understand.
"Ratings have had a marginal effect because parents don't fully understand how to use them," Rogers said. "Nor do they bring forward what they want their kids to watch."
Parents will be able to designate ratings issued by one of two groups — Common Sense Media or the Parents Television Council. The service will let children watch only programs the designated group deems appropriate for the age range specified by the parent. In addition, parents can automatically record programs designated by the groups as especially worthwhile. Parents can overrule the groups' choices or make their own list of approved and banned programmes. They will also be able to type in a password to view programmes denied to their children.
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Flextech wants user TVFlextech is to embrace user-generated content with a new viewer-produced show. Homegrown, on Trouble will showcase video content supplied by viewers via their mobile phones and computers. The user-generated content featured will be repackaged for Homegrown into Roving Reports, with regional topical issues; a strand branded Stings, with trailers for Trouble output; Street Skills, looking at current UK trends; and Re-Dubs, featuring the re-dubbing of video from Trouble shows.
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FCC wants $0.5m for DTV education
The Federal Communications Commission has asked for $500,000 to educate the public about the ongoing switch to digital TV. The money is part of the FCC's proposed 2007 budget which overall calls for $302.5 million.
The $500,000 would fund an outreach campaign to educate consumers about the transition. "The commission is proposing to help educate consumers about the benefits and impact of DTV. With these funds, the commission would be able to initiate a wide range of outreach projects to help prepare consumers for the DTV transition," said the FCC.
The $302 million budget for the FCC would consist of a $1.042 million grant while the remaining $301 million would be generated through regulatory fees.
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3 Italia has selected Nagravision to secure its DVB-H Mobile TV service, to be launched prior to the FIFA World Cup in June/July 2006. Nagra Mobile solution, integrated into 3 Italia’s SIM cards, handsets and network, manages the users’ access rights and will allow 3 Italia to deliver a wide variety of advanced business models, from Pay-per-Subscription to Pay-per-View and Pay-per-Time.
Meanwhile Nagra parent, Kudelski Group reported total revenues for the year 2005 of CHF 697.2m, an increase of 15% compared to the previous year.
Viasat adds 10 channels to Baltics
Modern Times Group announced the addition of ten TV channels to its premium pay-TV offering in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The new channels will include the public service state and national commercial channels - LTV and LNT in Latvia, and LTV in Lithuania - as well as the Discovery Channel, Cartoon Network, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and leading Russian national network RTR Planeta.
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New appointments at SBSSBS Broadcasting announced two senior management appointments with Patrick Tillieux named Chief Operating Officer of the SBS Group and Manfred Aronsson named Chairman of the Board of Directors of C More Group, the Company’s Nordic pay television service. Tillieux, 48, is currently responsible for SBS’s operations in the Netherlands and Belgium. Aronsson, 42, currently manages Kanal 5 Sweden, SBS’s Swedish television service, where he will continue as Managing Director.
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NTL losses deepen, while Telewest gains ahead of merger
NTL will bid for soccer
DT looks for soccer partner
Freeview STBs hit 10m
Cable winning US VoIP
New packages from AB Sat
Blu Ray set for May
IDC appointmentsNTL losses deepen, while Telewest gains ahead of merger
UK’s NTL has reported a deeper net loss for the last three months of 2005, ahead of its merger with Telewest. Losses for the quarter rose to £56m (E81m), up from £52m a year earlier. Fourth-quarter revenues fell 5.4% to £484.6m following a drop in telophony usage by its customers.
The number of subscribers grew by 20,600, but the ARPU fell to £38.98 from £39.08. Churn rate was flat at 1.5%. NTL said that 29% of its residential customers, totalling about 1.8 million, now subscribe to the "triple-play" package of TV, telephone and internet services, a rise of 27% from a year ago.
Last month, NTL raised its takeover offer for Virgin Mobile to £961m. The two companies are in talks about the improved offer after Virgin Mobile rejected NTL's original £871m bid. If the deal goes ahead NTL will use the Virgin brand.
Meanwhile, NTL's merger partner Telewest added 20,000 subscribers in the fourth quarter, taking its total to about 1.8 million, while its churn rate fell to 1.2%. Telewest's ARPU was flat at £45.17.
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NTL will bid for soccer
NTL confirmed plans to bid for the broadcast rights to Premier League football matches. Jim Mooney, chairman, said it would "significantly enhance" NTL's ability to compete with Sky if it won some of the six rights packages to be auctioned. "If the Premier League and the government are serious about creating competition in football, then we are serious about participating."
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DT looks for soccer partnerDeutsche Telekom is in talks with several partners, including Premiere, about the rights to broadcast German premier league soccer live over the internet. Premiere's shares rose sharply on talk that the two companies were close to signing a deal on Bundesliga soccer games.
Germany's regional media regulators have said that Deutsche Telekom, which won the rights to show the Bundesliga over the Internet, will need to find a partner which has a broadcast licence for the league if it wants to show the games live. Premiere last year lost the TV rights to show German premier league soccer and the German pay-TV group is expected to start losing customers later this year when it stops showing the games.
Premiere has said it is in talks with both Deutsche Telekom and Arena, which won the TV rights, on possibly sharing them, fuelling market speculation that the channel would somehow be able to offer its subscribers Bundesliga soccer.
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Sales of Freeview set-top boxes have hit 10m. Freeview is in nearly 6m UK homes - the other set-top boxes are used for second or third television sets. Sky is in 8m and cable is in more than 3m households.
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Cable companies now have 52 percent of the VOIP business, according to a new study from telecom research firm Telegeography. Meanwhile, independent VOIP companies like Vonage, Primus, and SunRocket now only have 37 percent of the market. Local phone companies, which would rather sell traditional phone service than VOIP connections, have just 11 percent market share. The cable company’s ability to supply VoIP as part of triple play is seen as a key advantage.
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New packages from AB Sat
From Sotires Eleftheriou in Paris
French channel supplier ABsat is back in the DTH market and has launched four new satellite packages priced between E8 and E13 per month. The AB Basique package (E8/month) comprises the channels TMC, RTL9, AB1, NT1, Encyclopedia, FitTV, Toute l'Histoire, Mangas, Animaux, Terra Nova and Zik. A Cinema option can be added for a further E2 a month. The AB Dynamite package, priced E10 a month, compises the Basique package plus the channels Escales, AB Moteurs, Musique Classique and Chasse et Peche. AB Integrale, E11 a month, consists of the previous package plus the cinema option. AB Integrale Adultes, is E13/month and includes the hard-core channel XXL. The optional Dorcel TV is available for a further E4 per month.Subscribers must pay a start up fee of E60 for the smart card. A combined DTT/satellite decoder costs E76 plus E6 a month over 12 months.
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Blu Ray set for May
Sony Pictures said it aims to deliver its new Blu-ray DVD format to U.S. stores on May 23 to coincide with the entry of compatible disc players. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and MGM Home Entertainment will first release eight Blu-ray titles, followed by another eight in mid-June. The first movie titles include "50 First Dates," "The Fifth Element," "Hitch" and "House of Flying Daggers."
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IDC appointments
International Datacasting Corporation announced two senior industry experts have agreed to join the IDC Board of Directors. Peter Liebel, a prominent investment banker and expert in corporate finance and mergers & acquisitions specializing in telecommunications and information technology and Neil Bauer, a long-time CEO and senior executive in the satellite industry with links to the major operators and service providers. IDC Chairman of the Board Denzil Doyle commented, “I am delighted that we are able to add these two new members. They bring additional strategic expertise and industry contacts and I am confident that they will contribute significantly and help lead IDC into the next phase of their growth.”
Both appointments have been approved and recommended by the IDC Board of Directors and are subject to the approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange. Mr. Liebel has already joined the Board to fill the vacancy left by JP Soubliere, who left late last year to become Chairman of the Board of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited. Mr. Bauer will join the Board immediately in an advisory capacity and will be formally nominated for election at the next Annual General Meeting of the Shareholders which is anticipated to be held in early June 2006.
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Wednesday 1st March 2006
IPTV overshadows ECCA
ECCA looks to future
Disney switches packaging strategy
Sprint want its MTV
Thomson and WiNetworks team up for WiMAX triple play
French DVB-H trial confirms mobile TV interest
SES Astra to offer new digital TV services
Games free for Telstra-connected Australians
Player X kicks off mobile video campaign
Varbers IPTV secure with Latens
BigBand wins Telesystem Tirol deployment
Sigma new appointments
IPTV overshadows ECCA
From Nick Snow in ViennaIPTV is, unsurprisingly, the spectre at the feast for European cable operators at ECCA. John Hahn, managing director of Providence Equity, the VC that owns KDG and a stake in a list of other operators, warned that when it came to telcos, “the good news is they are slow, the bad news is they have a truck load of money and they’re aiming it straight at us.”
To illustrate the firepower at the incumbents command he explained, “the combined EBITDA of the German cable market is around E1.5bn, Deutsche Telekom’s is E23bn.”
In a session on content there were fears expressed that telcos could use some of that financial muscle to buy exclusive rights, squeezing out other pay-TV operators. Content owners were reassuring, saying it was very unlikely a major rights holder would see it in their long-term interest to cut-off such a large potential audience. Nonetheless content providers including Disney and AETN, made it clear cable operators needed to work with them to package content more flexibly and that cable must hit the accelerator on VOD and not just on movies.
Manuel Cubero, MD KDG and new President of ECCA, said, IPTV is the threat. To be competitive in VOD will be important to us, it is natural territory for IPTV.” Not very reassuringly, Darren Childs, MD Global Channels at the BBC, added, “you need to be very worried about IPTV. If they crack P2P streaming so it delivers virtual simulcast, then that’s a real problem.”
In addition to better packaging, all agreed customer relations and service support had be cable’s major weapon against an intrinsically remote service. Some admitted this meant they had more reason than ever to improve an area many operators have under invested in recent years.
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ECCA looks to future
From Nick Snow in ViennaECCA announced the appointment of its new president, Manuel Cubero, the MD of KDG, and a range of initiatives to propel the organisation and spread best practice among its 31 members.
Cubero succeeds Bernard Cottin, who becomes vice president, and is joined by the recently appointed executive team; Caroline van Weede as Managing Director, Niels-Kristian Hersoug as the new MD of EuroCableLabs and Toon Diegenant as Head of Communication.
Cubero emphasised the organisation’s main purpose will remain lobbying on regulatory and other issues – van Weede’s background is in European policy with MNO SFR and as chair of GSM Europe. But, in addition, he emphasised that in an increasingly crowded environment it was important cable’s story stood out. He also pointed to several shared-knowledge and best practice initiatives based around the mantra “If you ain’t big, you’ve got to be smart.”
With an increased budget and a full time executive staff, ECCA confirmed it is setting its sights on emulating the NCTA as a full service organisation involved in lobbying, training and communication and representing the industry the outside world.
Meanwhile, ECL announced it was establishing a Concept Lab alongside its core specification and certification activities, this will research emerging technologies and their relevance to the cable environment. ECL said all stakeholders, including vendors and other technical organisations, like the DVB, would be involved. To aid the cooperative process, Chuck Carrol has been appointed ECL liason officer to CableLabs.
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Disney switches packaging strategyDisney says it has recognised cable’s need to provide more uniquely packaged product in an increasingly competitive landscape. To this end Geoff Ellis, Senior VP Business Development and Distribution, revealed a new UK programming strategy where the Disney Channel and Playhouse will move to the basic tier and a new channel, Disney Cinemagic, will become the premium offering.
“We’ve used content to address market issues,” said Ellis, “we’re flexible on packages, in the US we supply a vast array of pay, and PPV and VOD offers to operators. Cable does have an advantage if they choose to use it.”
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Sprint want its MTVHit music, comedy and entertainment programming from the premier music brands such as CMT, MTV and VH1 and all-comedy network, Comedy Central, is now available on-demand on Sprint TV(SM) line-up. In addition to offering subscribers select clips from such hit MTV Networks programmes as 'CMT Insider,' 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,' 'Laguna Beach' and 'Best Week Ever,' Sprint is the first US cellular service to stream the CMT, MTV and VH1 radio stations.
"Sprint continues to lead the industry in bringing the best line-up of entertainment and mobile content to our customers," said Jeff Hallock, vice president of wireless product strategy and marketing for Sprint.
"No matter where they are, Sprint customers can now stay connected to the short-form programming they love … and remain plugged into the latest trends in music, fashion, movies, comedy and more," said Greg Clayman, MTV Networks' vice president of wireless strategy and operations.
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Thomson and WiNetworks team up for WiMAX triple play
Thomson and WiNetworks have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will enable the delivery of seamless triple play and mobile services (video, voice and high-speed Internet) over broadband wireless technology WiMAX.
WiNetworks’ solutions allow one-way broadcast operators such a DTH/DBS satellite operators, DVB-T, MMDS and one-way cable to extend their existing infrastructures to deliver a complete bundle of triple play to their subscribers.
“As many recently confirmed officially, DBS carriers have recognized the need to expand beyond their satellite infrastructure in order to deliver broadband triple play services” commented Effi Atad, CEO, WiNetworks. “Our solution will enable DBS operators to deliver fully integrated fixed and mobile connectivity services, and compete on all fronts in the market for broadband-based communication services.”
Ghislain Lescuyer, SEVP, Systems and Equipments SBU of Thomson, said the company’s strengths were very complementary and addressed the key requirements of triple play service delivery, “always-on broadband connectivity and cost-effective CPE deployments.”
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French DVB-H trial confirms mobile TV interestA trial of mobile TV using DVB-H involving Groupe Canal+, Nokia, cellular operator SFR and broadcast transmission specialist has revealed strong consumer interest in such a service, with 73 per cent of trialists declaring themselves satisfied with the service.
Key findings included the fact that trialists watched the TV on average for 20 minutes per day, with half watching it mainly at home. There were three periods of heavy usage: mornings between 09.00 and 10.00, lunchtime between 13.00 and 14.00 and the evening between 20.00 and 22.00.
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SES Astra to offer new digital TV servicesSatellite operator SES Astra is to build a digital infrastructure for Free TV, pay-TV and interactive services that will be open to all digital broadcasters. The new offer is intended to ease the development of digital services on an open technological basis. The offer will consist of play-out services, encryption of programme signals, and smart card distribution for access and customer relations management. For play-out and technical services, SES ASTRA will rely on its existing subsidiary Astra Platform Services (APS) in Unterföhring near Munich whilst logistics, distribution of smart cards and customer services will be handled by a new SES ASTRA affiliate.
“By building up a new service package, we consistently follow our strategy to improve our portfolio as a technical service provider for TV channels and focus their activities on digitization”, said Ferdinand Kayser, President and CEO of SES Astra. “The infrastructure that we offer is completely open for everybody, neutral and non-discriminatory. What we are doing will help all interested Free- and Pay-TV channels to enter the digital age, enabling the distribution of new programmes and programme packages and therefore fostering competition. This is how we will provide an important stimulus for the development of digital TV in Germany and further evidence of the role of the satellite as a technical pioneer.”
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Games free for Telstra-connected Australians
From Rose Major in Melbourne
Subscribers to incumbent telco Telstra’s broadband internet or third-generation mobile services will be able to watch live content from the 2006 Commonwealth Games, starting in Melbourne in two weeks’ time, for no extra charge.
Telstra will stream Channel Nine’s coverage of the Games, which last for twelve days, to its Telstra Bigpond broadband subscribers and 3G mobile customers. Broadband customers will also be able to access an additional seven channels of coverage.
Subscribers to the Foxtel, Austar and Optus digital pay-television platforms will also be able to watch seven additional channels, as part of Fox Sport’s interactive-television coverage of the Games. But those wishing to access extra television coverage will have to pay for the service on a pay-per-view basis. Fees for the service are A$50 for those who pay before March 8, and A$65 thereafter.
The extra channels will include live, delayed and highlights coverage of the Games.
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Player X kicks off mobile video campaign
Mobile content publisher and distributor Player X has built on its exclusive English Premier League football mobile video deal by signing deals with operators in The Netherlands, Norway and Denmark.
The video content has already gone live with Orange, Vodafone, KPN and T-Mobile in the Netherlands, 3 in Denmark, and TV2 in Norway showing mobile video in-match, match, preview and round-up packages for all weekend and midweek matches.
Features available include 30-second to 2-minute clips that can be viewed five minutes after incidents such as goals, saves and action updates. Viewers can also access half-time and full-time packages that are available until midnight the following day.
Premier League Chief Executive, Richard Scudamore, said the Premier League was committed to providing the widest possible access to its matches. “Mobile video is taking Europe by storm and the English Premier League has fans all across Europe. Our operator partners in Denmark, Norway and The Netherlands are actively marketing the clips, and we know there is huge demand for this type of video content", said Tony Pearce, Player X CEO.
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Varbers IPTV secure with LatensConditional access supplier Latens has been selected by Swedish utility company Varberg Energi AB, to provide its Foundation CAS content and revenue protection for Varberg's IPTV services. Varberg Energi presently delivers analogue TV channels to its subscriber base and is about to launch a Pay-TV service via its IP network. The Latens CA is installed and is ready to protect Varberg's revenues at the launch of its IPTV service. "Varberg's choice of our solution further reinforces the twin trends towards IPTV security being provided by secure software systems and IPTV operators choosing a 'best of breed' approach to IPTV systems," suggested Andy Mathieson, Director, Latens Systems.
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BigBand wins Telesystem Tirol deployment
Broadband multimedia infrastructure specialist BigBand Networks has been selected by Austrian cable operator Telesystem Tirol for extensive headend-based processing and control of its entire digital television offerings. The operator will deploy BigBand’s Broadband Multimedia-service Router (BMR) to groom for line-up control, integrate with conditional access for secure delivery, and modulate for compatibility with subscriber devices.
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Sigma new appointments
Sigma Systems, the provider and designer of OSS service management solutions, has promoted Mark Pearson to Vice-President – Customer Operations EMEA and appointed Fadi Samara, Vice-President Customer Operations – accelerating the company's global customer initiatives.
“Mark and Fadi's exceptional leadership and management experience, coupled with their unique strategic approach is the caliber of talent we were looking for to spearhead our expanded global customer initiatives,” says Tim Spencer, President and COO, Sigma Systems. “The global market is ripe with new opportunities for our OSS service management solutions so total customer satisfaction and interaction are key strategies to our anticipated successes.”
Mark joined Sigma in 1999 and continues to work in a hands-on management capacity with Sigma's EMEA customers. As Vice President of Customer Operations, Fadi Samara oversees Sigma's global customer operations, delivery and support processes and their associated organizations. His latest role was in Corporate Project Management at Shaw Communications Inc. where he led the project management practice including delivery, best practices and alignment to strategic planning.
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Tuesday 28th February 2006
Fries calls for level playing field
Kingston to close IPTV service
New Zealand eyes free DTT
Mobile TV seeks EU guidelines
News Corp scotches Phoenix rumours
ITV delays Freesat launch
Fries calls for level playing field
From Nick Snow in ViennaMike Fries, CEO of Liberty Global, used his opening address to the 52nd ECCA Congress to call for a level playing field for cable operators as they face unprecedented competition from incumbent telcos and MNOs. He said operators cannot compete effectively if regulators limit their scale – several high profile operator mergers have been blocked – when they are fighting entrenched national and even multi-national carriers. Fries said Liberty couldn’t compete when limited to only 30% of a market and would exit markets when much higher coverage wasn’t available.
Turning to the looming threat of IPTV, Fries, whose company now serves 19m subscribers in 19 countries, believes they are going to find video tough going on both QoS and CRM fronts. “I am not overly worried, so long as they are rational,” he said, explaining that if some began to see video as merely a way to protect voice telephony and gave it away or priced it overly aggressively, then cable would have a problem. Ditto with content; he said it was vital operators could maintain access to all content and if telcos began to negotiate exclusivity, this would become a regulatory issue.
Meantime, Fries found himself as one with telcos when it comes to OTT “over the top” providers – the likes of ISP driven TV – and whether they should pay to use the operator or the telcos ‘dumb pipes’. “A model may be Shaw in Canada who charge the end user for a guaranteed QoS on their VoIP.”
Finally, he counselled operators shouldn’t get carried away with the availability of new technology. They should remember that for the next 10-15 years at least, the majority of their customers would be ‘lean back’ types who valued choice but also continuity.
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Kingston to close IPTV service
UK regional telco Kingston Communications is to close its IPTV service at the beginning of April, in the face of increased losses and growing competion. BSkyB, which recently purchased broadband ISP Easynet, has been rumoured as a potential buyer of the service, dubbed Kit (Kingston Interactive Television). When the service was first launched in 1999 it became one of the pioneers of video delivered over broadband. It is alleged never to have attracted \more than 10,000 subscribers, with current levels nearer 4,000.
“Without the benefits of scale, further investment in the KIT service would not be cost-effective, and due to anticipated increased competition in the Digital TV market, it is not viable to continue the service as it currently exists,” said Andrew Fawcett, Kingston’s marketing manager - Broadband TV.
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New Zealand eyes free DTTBroadcast legislators are expected to put in place a structure that will bring free-to-air digital television by the end of 2006. The Government favours a Freeview style model, which would see two commercial-free digital channels with a public broadcaster approach to broaden the fare offered on existiing One and TV2. Broadcasting Minister Steve Maharey hopes to have formulated plans for TVNZ approved by the end of 2006.
An option tabled by former chief executive Ian Fraser in a memo to the TVNZ board in October 2005 suggested that One and Two would operate much as they do now, maintaining a high audience share and generating substantial commercial revenue.A factual channel could show high-end international documentaries, re-runs of One News and minority programmes with a high local content. A second channel primarily for children could screen serious drama and arts at night. Issues such as set-top boxes would still need to be addressed.
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Mobile industry players have asked the European Union on set guidelines that would boost the emerging sector of mobile TV on cellphones and other portable devices. They are seeking guidance on what radio spectrum is likely to be made available. According to Simon Wilson, Spectrum Policy Manager at British operator O2, minimising the cost of service means minimising the device costs. “To get to the economies of scale to achieve these low integrated devices costs, we need co-ordination of policy and harmonisation of spectrum," he told a mobile broadcasting workshop organised by the European Commission.
The Broadcast Mobile Convergence Forum has urged the EU to use its powers to help establish a specific radio band for mobile TV services throughout Europe. "Industrial products for the mass market can no longer be developed in an economical viable way for national markets. Sub-regional scale must be the minimal goal, that means Europe," said the forum's vice chairman Bernard Pauchon.
The mobile broadcast president of French telecoms networks vendor Alcatel, Olivier Although a number of operators are currently trialling and favour the DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcast – Handheld) standard, the appropriate spectrum is not available throughout Europe.
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News Corp scotches Phoenix rumours
Media giant News Corp has denied a report in the Financial Times that it may sell its entire 38 per cent stake in Phoenix Satellite Television Holdings Ltd, the biggest satellite television operator broadcasting into China. "We have not considered or discussed any exit from Phoenix," said Jannie Poon, on behalf of Hong Kong-based News Corp service Star TV.
The report alleged that News Corp may sell its stake in Phoenix because the investment in the Hong Kong-based company had failed to help Rupert Murdoch’s Star Group to expand in China. The board of Phoenix had been considering moving the company to the Hong Kong stock exchange's main board from the Growth Enterprise Market, where it was listed on June 30, 2000, Poon revealed.
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ITV delays Freesat launchUK commercial broadcaster ITV has reined in plans to launch its ‘Freesat’, free-to-air, satellite service, planned in conjunction with the BBC. ITV had announced in September 2005 that the service could be operational by June 2006. Continued high sales of digital terrestrial Freeview boxes have caused a rethink by ITV executives. ITV wants to concentrate on marketing the Freeview service instead, where it has higher ratings in Freeview homes than those with Sky’s digital satellite TV service. ITV re-entered the digital terrestrial sector in 2005 with the purchase.
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Monday 27th February 2006
German regulator probes channel deals with Astra
Viacom straight to web?
Finland: programme licenses for digital TV networks
Orange for fixed lines in UK
Fox takes over Turner south
Ofcom to look at VoIP
Sky wins cricket rights
German regulator probes channel deals with AstraGermany's cartel office has launched a probe into ProSiebenSat.1 and RTL Group's digital satellite TV cooperation with SES Astra, as it suspects the broadcasters are trying to dominate the market, reports Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, citing a request for information the cartel office sent to the companies.
The newspaper says the cartel office enquiry makes clear it suspects the companies as trying to 'seal off' the market by cooperating to establish their own standard of broadcasting technology and decoders. The paper claims Astra's Munich-based unit APS, ProSiebenSat.1 and RTL have been in talks for months to launch what they call Project Blue and Project Dolphin, which involve encoding ProSieben's and RTL's TV programmes that are transmitted via satellite.FAZ says the cartel office believes the three companies may actually be erecting market entry barriers to keep other broadcasters out of German satellite broadcasting.
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Viacom straight to web?Viacom is in talks to supply content to internet portals in an effort to more than triple digital revenues over the next three years. Tom Freston, chief executive, disclosed the negotiations when briefing on the company's fourth quarter earnings, (see News 24.01.06.)
"We are in active discussions now with several portals to make a larger content play," Freston said. He sketched out an arrangement in which Viacom would supply video and other content in exchange for a portion of advertising revenue. In an effort to draw more traffic to its websites, Viacom earlier this year signed agreements with Yahoo, AOL and TV Guide to make its content available to their video search engines. Freston wants to increase digital revenues from $150m last year to $500m over the next three years.
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Finland: programme licenses for digital TV networks
The Ministry of Transport and Communications announced new programme licences for digital television networks open for applications. The licences are for the third multiplex that is already in use and for a new fifth multiplex.The fifth digital broadcasting network will be built during the next few years, and 3-5 programme licences will be granted for the network. Capacity for two sets of programmes from Swedish Sveriges Television (SVT) will be reserved in the multiplex. There are three digital networks in Finland that are reserved for television broadcasting. 5-6 national TV channels can broadcast in one multiplex. The fourth network is reserved for mobile television broadcasting. Applications must be submitted by 2 May 2006.
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Orange plans to enter the fixed-line telephone market. From April, the company will roll out the service to its business customers, but it has no plans yet to offer the service to domestic consumers. Orange and internet group Wanadoo, both owned by France Telecom, will merge to offer bundled products. The service will run over the network of Cable & Wireless, and Orange claims it will be 20% cheaper than the rival offering from BT.
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Fox takes over Turner southFox Cable Networks said it has agreed to purchase Turner Broadcasting's Turner South regional sports and entertainment network for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition of Turner South brings to 15 the number of Fox-owned-and-operated regional programming networks, which reach more than 80 million subscribers.
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Ofcom to look at VoIP
Ofcom, the UK regulator, took the first step towards regulating the nascent internet telephony market as more customers take up so-called VoIP services. It published a consultation document outlining basic consumer protection measures and moves to investigate complaints and potentially take punitive action. Interested parties have until May to respond to the document with Ofcom expected to publish its decision in August.
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BSkyB has secured the television rights to show England's forthcoming Test cricket series against India in a four-year deal. Sky is believed to have paid around E14.5m for the rights package to Nimbus, the Indian marketing company that owns the global rights to the series.
The deal covers all three Tests of this year's series and includes England's next series on Indian soil in 2009, together with India's series against Australia in 2007, 2008 and 2009, Pakistan in 2007, Sri Lanka in 2009 and South Africa in 2010.
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