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Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Tuesday Friday 18th May
Imagenio growing fastest in pay-TV
Internet to TV Solutions: $1.5bn by 2012
ITV revenue down on ads and phone
BT Q1 up
Two Way TV Virgin deal
STB costs stabilising
Motorola buys Modulus
Postgate for BBC future media
Imagenio growing fastest in pay-TV
From David Del Valle in MadridTelefonica's IPTV service Imagenio has revealed that on March 31 the company had 418,618 subscribers, 67.3 per cent up than one year earlier, with a 11 per cent market share. Imagenio is growing faster than its main pay-TV rivals DTH platform Digital Plus and cable company ONO; while Imagenio added a net 78,674 subscribers in the last quarter of 2006, Digital Plus grew by 38,000 and ONO by 10,000.
Telefonica's IPTV service is preparing a new assault on the pay-TV market from September, with new programming and more channels available. The company plans to offer up to 200 TV channels by the end of the year and hopes to reach one million subscribers in 2008.
Digital Plus has made it clear it wants to enter into partnership with Imagenio. Spanish media Group Prisa is lobbying the Government for lifting as soon as possible a ban that the Administration imposed on both parties when it allowed the digital merger between Telefonica-controlled Via Digital and Sogecable-owned Canal Satelite Digital to create Digital Plus. The condition will expire in November, although Prisa wants the Government to relax it earlier. A possible deal would allow Digital Plus to launch triple play and benefit from synergies with Telefonica becoming a tougher competitor to cable company ONO and other smaller pay-TV operators.
In the meantime its pay-TV rivals are looking for new opportunities to raise revenues. Sogecable is negotiating with third party operators about distribution of its premium channels over their networks and recently launched a 10-channel 3G mobile TV product in partnership with Vodafone. ONO is increasingly involved in TV production through Teuve which distributes nine channels reaching 1.65 million homes. The cable company is also working on the integration of web services with TV, HDTV and PVR services.
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Internet to TV Solutions: $1.5bn by 2012
A new study suggests that the ultimate destination for Internet video will be on the living room television. The push to bridge content between the PC and the TV is creating a huge opportunity for set-top box, gaming console and media device manufacturers developing solutions to deliver Internet video to TVs. According to ABI Research, over-the-top Internet video-to-TV solutions will generate about $1.5 bn (E1.1bn) in service revenue by 2012.
In a new survey of online consumers, the research firm found 12 per cent said they have purchased some form of video content delivered over the Internet. Not surprisingly, the vast majority (71 per cent) watched the video on their PCs, while another 16 per cent watched it on TV after burning it to a DVD. The study said another 8 per cent watched the video using a gaming console as their playback device.
ABI said that of all the consumer platforms for video playback, video game consoles will lead in total revenue for Internet video delivery due to their "close proximity to the TV, large hard drives, and the high penetration of online services among gamers." According to ABI Research director Michael Wolf, "While internet video delivery services for TV playback are only beginning to see public adoption, these devices will ultimately create significant pay-content revenue opportunities if consumer platform vendors can provide easy-to-use solutions with quality libraries, while offering attractive pricing options, whether subscription, download-to-own, or rental."
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ITV revenue down on ads and phoneITV has warned the high-profile scandals surrounding premium rate phone lines has knocked revenues. A lack of consumer confidence had led to a 20 per cent fall in income from the phone lines in March and April, it said. ITV also warned advertising revenue at its ITV1 channel were down 9.6 per cent in the first half of 2007 against last year. Total advertising revenues at ITV fell 5.7 per cent in the first half of 2007. In March the company predicted a first-quarter fall of 4.5 per cent.
ITV refused to comment on speculation that Dawn Airey, who recently quit Iostar, a media start up business, and previously worked at British Sky Broadcasting, had been approached to take a senior role at the group.
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BT has overtaken Virgin Media to once again become the UK's largest broadband provider, it says. It has won 26 per cent of the market and now had 3.66 million broadband customers. The figures helped it increase annual profits by 15 per cent to £2.49bn (E3.6bn) in the year to the end of March.
The group also announced it would be returning £2.5bn to investors through a share buy-back scheme within the next two years. The importance of the broadband market was underlined by news that revenues from its traditional fixed-line phone business had fallen 3 per cent, which BT said was "continuing recent trends".
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UK-based production company Two Way TV has signed a long-term content deal with Virgin Media, for its skill-based games service and its interactive gaming channels, The Winner Channel and The Roulette Channel. In a parallel deal, Virgin Media has acquired – for an undisclosed sum - Two Way TV’s Ark Technology for the UK and Ireland.
The content deal will enable Virgin Media to place Two Way TV’s games, gaming TV channels and competitions behind the red button of a number of third party broadcasters. Deals are already in place with ITV, Five, Challenge, and Cartoon Network.
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STB costs stabilisingIMS Research estimates that the average semiconductor bill of materials cost (BOM) for set-top boxes dropped 37 per cent from 2004 to 2006, going from $59 (E44) to $37. This precipitous drop was caused primarily by rapidly falling prices for MPEG-2 core decoders chips in preparation for the transition to MPEG-4 AVC, both in HD and SD segments. However, IMS Research is forecasting that due to a number of factors, this trend will change, and from 2007-2011 the overall average cost of a set-top box semiconductor BOM will stay near $41.
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Motorola has purchased a Modulus Video, a leader in MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding (AVC) compression systems designed for delivery of high value video content in the IPTV, cable, broadcast and satellite marketplace.
Modulus Video has partnered with Motorola for over two years bringing encoding solutions to key customers around the world. Motorola says this acquisition will complement recent acquisitions of Broadbus, Kreatel, Tut Systems and Netopia in the creation and delivery of an integrated, end-to-end video delivery system for multiple network architectures.
"Through this acquisition, Modulus Video will become part of a world-class organisation in a highly strategic market segment. Our team will benefit from Motorola’s rich heritage and leadership of video delivery expertise," said Bob Wilson, Chairman and CEO of Modulus Video. "Modulus Video will bring to Motorola a software-centric platform that ensures flexibility, reduced cost and fast development time."
BBC future media and technology director Ashley Highfield has confirmed the appointment of Matthew Postgate as controller of mobile, responsible for co-ordinating the Corporation’s public service presence across mobile platforms.
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Thursday 17th May
MySpace TV Channels
French opt for DTT HD
Telefónica delays broadband launches
Interest in mobile TV overshadowed
DirecTV broadband over power lines?
Vivendi Q1 results
Vodafone likes Real music
NAB chief calls for STB availability
Mediapro acquires Spanish F1 TV rights
TNTSat opts for Viaccess
AOL acquires Third Screen Media
Eutelsat opens new neighbourhood
McCulloch leaves ITV
MySpace TV ChannelsMySpace is preparing to launch a series of branded news and entertainment video channels over the next few months. The videos will be available as a separate section within MySpace Video from news outlets including National Geographic, The New York Times, Reuters, and entertainment/lifestyle producers including The Daily Reel, Expert Village, Flow and Fox’s IGN Entertainment.
Jeff Berman, GM of video for MySpace, commented: "We’re empowering our partners to customise their own video channels and use them as hubs to create a niche experience for users. (This) announcement is a sign of things to come for MySpace Video."
These channels will join MySpace Video’s other forthcoming video programs, including reality show, ‘Independent’ and existing features such as the site’s deal with Michael Eisner’s Vuguru to air ‘Prom Queen’, and the launch of a dedicated film trailer community Trailer Park.
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French opt for DTT HDFrench broadcast regulator Le Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA) is to invite applications for two HD services on a vacant digital terrestrial multiplex. The announcement follows a public consultation, which indicated that a majority of respondents favoured the early introduction of such services. One slot on the multiplex is to be reserved for a public television service, according to the Minister for Culture and Transport.
The CSA suggests that it will be possible to launch HD DTT in 2008, allowing French TV viewers access to higher quality pictures. The CSA also confirmed that it would later be seeking to introduce personal mobile television (TMP) and local TV services, for which space has already been allocated on a multiplex.
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Telefónica delays broadband launches
Spanish telco Telefónica has delayed the launch of its commercial broadband service in Britain and Germany by a few months because of teething problems. Peter Erskine, the chairman and chief executive of Telefonica O2 Europe's mobile phone unit, said the company would launch a UK broadband business in September, rather than in spring, after re-launching in Germany over the summer.
"We could have rushed out a converged service in Germany," Erskine said. "We chose to break it up into a simplified tariff and through the year will offer a broader range of services by launching DSL (broadband) as well."
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Interest in mobile TV overshadowed
Initial results from recent consumer mobility survey carried out by research firm Canalys reveal some interesting attitudes and opinions from European consumers on a range of topics, including Apple as a mobile phone supplier, mobile TV services and GPS navigation in handsets.
Among the survey’s findings is that 51 per cent of those surveyed expressed some interest in mobile TV, but a diverse range of content is required. Consumers were more open to advertising-supported services around location and communication than TV, while almost half the iPod owners in the survey said Apple likely to be considered for their next mobile phone. Just under half the people in the survey said they had no interest in watching any kind of TV on a mobile phone, even if the service was free.
"When asked what types of mobile TV programming they would be interested in, consumers’ preferences are quite diverse, and there is unlikely to be one type of killer content," commented analyst Adrian Drozd. "This suggests many different content partnerships and charging models may be required, which will add complexity for users and for the operators developing such services."
"There is an opportunity to target particular consumer segments that will likely be more responsive to certain mobile TV propositions," Drozd added. "For example, more than 40 per cent of those who were already frequent users of YouTube said they would watch similar content on their phones. They also exhibited much higher levels of interest in all other mobile TV content types."
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DirecTV broadband over power lines?Satellite television provider DirecTV may test delivering high-speed Internet service through power lines in a major US city in the next year, according to chief executive Chase Carey.
DirecTV and others are talking to companies that specialise in providing broadband through the electrical grid. DirecTV would like to test delivering Internet access on power lines in a "top 50 city where you're covering at least half the city." Testing the service on several hundred thousand people would provide the company with "challenges and positives," Carey said.
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Vivendi Q1 resultsShares in French group Vivendi rose more than 2 per cent after the company posted strong first-quarter results, driven by pay-TV, video games and its Moroccan telecoms business.
Vivendi posted earnings before interest, tax and amortisation of E1.3 bn beating the average forecast of E1.02 bn given in a poll of 10 analysts.
Pay-TV unit Canal+ Group reported revenues of E1.07 bn, up E168m. For the first quarter, recruitment of new subscribers remained strong. Canal+ recorded its best month of March in terms of recruitment since 1986. For CanalSat, it was the best March since its launch in 1996.
The group, which also owns the world's biggest record company Universal Music Group (UMG) and SFR, France's No.2 mobile operator, also reaffirmed its forecast of net adjusted profits for the year of at least E2.7 bn.
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Vodafone and digital media services provider RealNetworks have entered into a multi-year global partnership to support Vodafone's music services across Europe.
The agreement will make RealNetworks' mobile music services, including Internet radio-style streaming music and the ability to purchase and download full songs, available to Vodafone customers in Europe. These services are now available from Vodafone in Germany, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Romania and the UK. The Internet radio-style streaming music service is available in France. These services are currently provided to Vodafone by Sony NetServices, a joint venture of Sony DADC and Sony Europe that has just been acquired by RealNetworks.
Sony NetServices provides mobile operators with end-to-end white label digital music services that are available today in eight countries throughout Europe. The acquisition is part of RealNetworks' strategy to extend its global leadership in digital entertainment delivery on the mobile platform, and follows its recent acquisition of mobile entertainment leader WiderThan.
With the addition of Vodafone as a customer, RealNetworks now has 12 music on demand customers with more than 196m mobile subscribers in 11 countries.
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NAB chief calls for STB availability
NAB President and CEO David K Rehr has urged electronics manufacturers and retailers to ensure digital-to-analogue converter boxes are available to US consumers by January 1, 2008.
Calling their availability "critical to our collective success," Rehr reinforced the importance of building and stocking converter boxes in a letter to Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association and Marc Pearl, executive director of the Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition.
Rehr said, "significant consumer confusion will result," if converter boxes are not produced and on store shelves on January 1, 2008.
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Mediapro acquires Spanish F1 TV rights
From David del Valle in MadridThe Spanish TV producer Mediapro, shareholder in TV network La Sexta, has exclusively acquired TV rights to Formula One in Spain from 2009 to 2013.
The move is a setback to Mediaset-controlled Telecinco and Regional TV channel TV3 which so far held those rights at a time when Formula One has proved to be a ratings-winner in the country, with more than 6m viewers, a 47 per cent market share, watching the recent Spanish Grand Prix.
This is the second strategic step taken by Medipro to acquire the most important sport TV rights, following its acquisition last year of TV football rights for both Real Madrid and Barcelona clubs, at a time when TV competition in Spain is intensifying with six nation wide commercial TV networks, more than 20 DTT channels with a national coverage, 13 Regional TV stations and more than 1,000 local TV networks.
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TNTSat opts for ViaccessViaccess has confirmed that Canal+ has selected its conditional access system for its TNTSat entry package. Scheduled to launch on June 15, TNTSat will replicate the line-up from the French digital terrestrial platform.
TNTSat will sit side by side with the Canal+ CanalSat package on Astra at 19 degrees East. It will feature 18 of the channels from the DTT platform, together with France O from public broadcasters France Télévisions. DTT services are currently available to 63 per cent of the population and will extend to 95 per cent by the time analogue switchover is completed in November 2011.
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AOL acquires Third Screen MediaInternet portal AOL has acquired Third Screen Media, a mobile advertising network and mobile ad-serving and management platform provider. Third Screen Media will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of AOL's Advertising.com division.
Third Screen Media connects advertisers, publishers and mobile phone carriers on a common platform, allowing ads to be managed and delivered via WAP, downloadable applications, SMS, MMS and mobile video. The acquisition comes as the mobile advertising industry is growing exponentially.
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Eutelsat opens new neighbourhoodEutelsat Communications has confirmed that its Hot Bird 2 satellite has been redeployed to 9 degrees East. Rebranded Eurobird 9, the satellite's entry into service marks the opening of a new video neighbourhood, which is adjacent to Eutelsat's premium Hot Bird position. Reception of channels from both locations is possible with off-the-shelf dual-feed domestic dishes.
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McCulloch leaves ITV
ITV commercial director, Ian McCulloch, is leaving after 27 years with the UK broadcaster. McCulloch, 47, who joined the ITV network of companies in 1980 as a sales assistant at London regional franchise LWT, will depart the company in the Summer.
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Wednesday 16th May
"DTO dead end" Forrester
Investors question Virgin strategy
Ofcom wants Sky News answers
DirecTV to test BPL
German cartel office to probe DVB-H consortium
More than 25,000 Italians receive Sky via IPTV
French broadband users up 38%
Disney Sprint deal
UPC Czech ups base
Swisscom invests in kyte.tv
S4C joins Inuk Networks' TV service
Tandberg for Multimedia Polska
"DTO dead end" ForresterThe paid video download market is a dead end, according to Forrester Research. It estimates that paid video downloads will peak in 2007, generating $279 million in revenue, up from $98 million last year. Instead, it believes advertising models will drive the online video market.
In the past year, companies such as Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Wal-Mart have begun offering downloads to own or rent. But a recent Forrester survey showed that only nine per cent of online adults have ever paid to download a movie or TV show. Furthermore, an analysis of these consumers showed they are a niche audience willing to spend heavily on such content; but they do not represent the vanguard the mainstream consumers. Without mainstream viewers joining the service, the video download market will not grow fast enough to support the ambitions of all the companies involved says Forrester.
"The paid video download market in its current evolutionary state will soon become extinct, despite the fast growth and the millions being spent today," said Forrester Research’s James McQuivey. "Television and cable networks will shift the bulk of paid downloading to ad-supported streams where they have control of ads and effective audience measurement. The movie studios, whose content only makes up a fraction of today's paid downloads, will put their weight behind subscription models that imitate premium cable channel services."
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Investors question Virgin strategy
The poor quarterly results from Virgin Media last week – and its own promise of worse to come – have rattled its shareholders, and not least its largest the Virgin Group itself.
Virgin chief Richard Branson will be demanding some answers on strategy at the board later this month and it has emerged another large shareholder, Franklin Mutual, want to meet with management.
The group rejected a $32 (E23) a share bid from private equity last summer as too low; the shares now trade around $23. Much criticism is levelled at the Stateside board which lays down strategy while uninvolved in operations in the UK. Many think they consistently over value what Virgin Media has, as they view it through the prism of the much stronger US cable market, and consistently under estimate the strength of the competition in the shape of Sky, BT and the likes of Carphone Warehouse. They are also bemused that a company so obviously struggling with operational integration and market competition should have been contemplating taking over ITV.
The loss of Sky News to Freeview has emerged as an important issue in BSkyB's discussions with Ofcom about launching a pay per view service on digital terrestrial television (DTT). Ofcom has asked Sky for more information on its DTT pay-TV plans, delaying the start of the media regulator's official consultation on the proposals.
This is a blow to Sky's plans to launch a pay-TV service in time for the start of the Premiership football season in August - when rival broadcaster Setanta commences its offering of Premiership matches via DTT.
Sky plans for Sky News to be part of a a DTT subscription service later this year, leaving BBC News 24 as the only UK news channel available in Freeview homes.
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DirecTV to test BPLDirecTV Group may test delivering high-speed Internet service through power lines (BPL Broadband over Powerlines) in a major U.S. city in the next year, its chief executive Chase Carey says. "We think it would be a good thing to have a third, a fourth or a fifth entrant in broadband and if we can be helpful in pushing that forward and if there's an opportunity for us to intelligently invest in doing so, we would."
Carey said the company has looked at Wi-Max technology for high-speed Internet access, such as offered by Clearwire Corp. He also said another potential partnership with EchoStar on a broadband initiative was still in the works, as were discussions with other companies to bring new broadband options to market.
Speaking at a Reuters event, Carey was asked if there might be a link between At&T and Echostar to advance the telcos video numbers: "I can understand the logic. AT&T looked at DirecTV in 2003."
German cartel office to probe DVB-H consortium
The German federal cartel office has launched an investigation into the plans of three German mobile operators, Vodafone Germany, T-Mobile Germany and O2 Germany, to launch a mobile TV service based on DVB-H technology, reports the Financial Times Deutschland.
The investigation will take up to three months and investigates possible competition breaches of the announced service. The three operators plan to launch the DVB-H service in the beginning of 2008. They have set-up a consortium that will operate the nation-wide network, which has to be approved by the cartel office.
More than 25,000 Italians receive Sky via IPTV
From Branislav Pekic in RomeSince launching two months ago, 25,000 Italians have signed up for Sky Italia’s premium packages via FastWeb’s IPTV service. According to Sky Italia CEO, Tom Mockridge, the goal is to sign up 50,000 families by the end of June and 150,000 during 2008. The agreement between Sky Italia and Fastweb, signed in March, will has a four year duration. Mockridge said that other partnerships are also being studied with the aim of developing the Sky product on the IPTV platform, but underlined that the main goal is to strengthen the Sky offer on FastWeb. He also called upon audience research body Auditel to start measuring the audience for IPTV services.
Mockridge made clear that "no decision has been made" on Sky Italia’s IPO, adding that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp "is happy to own 100 per cent".
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French broadband users up 38%
From Sotires Eleftheriou in ParisThe number of individuals in France connecting to the Internet from home via broadband grew by 38 per cent in one year, from 16.43 million in March 2006 to 22.737 million in March 2007, according to the audience measuring organization Mediametrie.
In March this year, 94.2 per cent of Internet users connected via broadband, compared to 83.9 percent a year earlier. Mediametrie also states that the number of Internet users aged 11 and over was 29.7 million in March 2007, 11 percent up in one year (26.8 million), representing 55 per cent of the population. 14.5 million French homes now have home computers and 11.8 million broadband, a penetration of 45.6 per cent. Google was at the top of Mediametrie’s monthly list of the thirty most visited sites in France, with 21m different visitors (number of separate people visiting the site at least once in the month.
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The Disney-ABC Television Group and Sprint announced that Sprint customers can access a portfolio of news and entertainment video programming from ABC Entertainment, ABC News and Disney Channel. The content is available in two forms: on demand and via three "linear" mobile channels, which stream continuous scheduled programming throughout the day. Sprint is also the first carrier to provide ABC Mobile, a newly-created linear mobile channel. ABC Mobile features a variety of popular full-length and short-form news and entertainment content. Additionally, Sprint now offers: On-demand full-length ABC News programmes and will soon provide on-demand, full-length episodes of popular Disney Channel programmes.
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UPC Czech ups baseUPC, the largest Czech cable TV provider, had 930,500 clients at end-March, a growth of 86 per cent year-on-year, its parent company Liberty Global has revealed. The growth was mainly due to the acquisition of its rival Karneval and to an increase in the number of Internet users.
More than 205,300 UPC clients now get connected to the web through cable TV, up from 84,000 a year ago. Some 35,000 clients use phone services and 689,200 watch cable TV through UPC, more than double the number from a year ago.
Swisscom has invested a seven-figure sum in decentral.tv, the company responsible for developing and kyte.tv. The service allows users to launch their own TV channel and broadcast live online or via mobiles. Swisscom has been testing kyte.tv since February 2007 and has received positive responses from its customers.
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S4C joins Inuk Networks' TV serviceWelsh television channel S4C and Inuk Networks have made an agreement to include S4C Digidol within Inuk Networks' IPTV Freewire TV service. The channel addition is the latest step towards Inuk Networks' planned nationwide residential rollout later this year.
S4C Digidol will initially be available to students living in university residences around the UK. Inuk Networks employs multicast over closed IP networks to deliver its Freewire TV channels, allowing students access to digital television directly from their own campus accommodation using PC equipment connected via the high speed JANET network.
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Tandberg for Multimedia PolskaTandberg Television part of the Ericsson Group, announced that its next-generation high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) MPEG-4 AVC encoding solutions and IP EdgeQAM modulators have been selected by Multimedia Polska to power the introduction of its digital cable HD services. Multimedia Polska has over 575,000 customers and is one of the leading Polish providers of triple-play, combining cable television, broadband internet and fixed-line telephony in a single package. The new HDTV service is the next step in Multimedia Polska’s deployment of a major, advanced multimedia system in Poland. The HD service has been launched with two-way capability, allowing Multimedia Polska to offer additional interactive services in the future.
Tandberg Television is providing Multimedia Polska with the EN8090 MPEG-4 AVC SD and EN8030 MPEG-4 AVC HD/SD ultracompression broadcast encoders, as well as its high density EdgeQAM solution for remote modulations of IP streams. Built on Tandberg Television’s market leading advanced compression platform.
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Tuesday 15th May
Founder and Berlusconi buy Endemol
46m mobile video subscribers by 2010
Sun Microsystems and Tech Mahindra partner for IPTV
C4 plea for more digital slots
Iostar goes into liquidation
Australian Government to blame for broadband lag?
Canal+ sues Kewego
French mobile TV receives EC funding
NBC for Scandinavia
F1 HDTV offering
Private Media Group Q1 results
Polska deploys Latens
Lattelcom selects Widevine
Founder and Berlusconi buy EndemolProduction company Endemol is to be sold for E3.5bn to a consortium that includes the group's co-founder John de Mol and former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. The news follows confirmation from Spanish telco Telefónica that it had agreed to sell its 75 per cent stake in Endemol to a consortium for E2.63bn to a consortium including de Mol’s investment vehicle Cyrte, Goldman Sachs and Mediacinco Catrera, a newly incorporated entity owned by Berlusconi's Mediaset and its Spanish subsidiary Telecinco.
The buyers have also committed themselves to buying out the remaining 25 per cent of Endemol's shares, which were floated on the Dutch stock exchange in November 2005. The owners of the publicly traded shares will be paid a price "at least equal" to what Telefonica is being paid for its 75 per cent stake in Endemol.
This price implies a premium on Endemol s latest closing price and represents a capital gain close to E1.4bn for Telefónica. Nevertheless, the disposal represents a significant discount on the E5.5bn paid by Telefónica in 2000, as telcos sought to acquire content companies. Telefónica may use the cash to acquire other telecoms service providers.
The consortium faced competition from Endemol's former COO, Tom Barnicoat; and the managing director of Endemol France, Stephane Courbit.
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46m mobile video subscribers by 2010
Service provider revenue from mobile video services jumped 317 per cent to almost $200m worldwide from 2005 to 2006, and is expected to triple in 2007, says market research firm Infonetics Research in its latest report, Mobile Video Devices, Services, and Subscribers.
Similarly, the number of worldwide mobile video subscribers increased more than 300 per cent between 2005 and 2006, and is set to soar to over 46m by 2010, the report shows. Drivers for this strong growth include increasingly powerful and efficient handsets and the expected analogue broadcast signal switch-offs.
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Sun Microsystems and Tech Mahindra partner for IPTV
Sun Microsystems India and telco solutions provider Tech Mahindra have formed a strategic alliance to enable the rollout of cost-effective and efficient IPTV services to the Indian and Asia Pacific markets.
As part of this alliance, Sun and Tech Mahindra, along with AMD, will jointly set up a next generation IPTV lab at the Tech Mahindra facility in Pune. Tech Mahindra is already engaged with various service providers to offer IPTV solutions in various geographies.
C4 plea for more digital slots
UK public service broadcaster Channel 4 is to lobby regulators to double its allocation of rent-free space on the Freeview digital TV service to help make up for a looming £100m (E146m) funding shortfall reports The Sunday Telegraph.
The fight for access to broadcast more channels on Freeview has taken centre ground among commercial and public service broadcasters, and Channel 4 has fallen behind the BBC and ITV in the number of slots it controls.
Andy Duncan, Channel 4's chief executive, has now suggested that his service should be awarded, at no cost, an entire digital multiplex to broadcast around eight channels, which would be worth up to £100m on the open market. This would help balance the annual deficit, also expected to be £100m by 2012.
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Iostar goes into liquidationTelevision start-up Iostar, headed briefly by former BSkyB executive Dawn Airey, is set to go into liquidation The decision comes after Iostar failed to raise £30m for an acquisition spree that was to include a modelling agency and actor Stephen Fry's production company. Airey left a job at Sky to head Iostar but walked out just eight days into her new job when she realised the start-up had no cash to carry out its grandiose plans.
"The board of Iostar has considered a number of options to continue the business according to a revised plan following its funding difficulties and the resignation of its chief executive," the company revealed in a statement. "However, it has not proved possible to implement such plans in the time available to the board having regard to the current financial position of the company. Accordingly, the directors have seen no alternative but to take immediate action to place the company into liquidation and have instructed David Rubin & Partners to commence these proceedings."
Liquidators will be appointed on May 25 and Iostar's creditors have already been informed it is heading for liquidation.
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Australian Government to blame for broadband lag?Backward Government policies are to blame for keeping Australia behind the rest of the world in broadband capabilities, Telstra chief Sol Trujillo has suggested.
Speaking to reporters at the Futures Summit 2007 in Melbourne, Trujillo said only regulations were stopping Telstra building a fibre-to-the-node network, which would give four million businesses and homes access to faster broadband speeds. "In terms of policies, the one network that hasn't been built is a fibre-to-the-node network and it hasn't been built simply because of the regulatory policies, the regulatory settings that are still mired in what I would call backward looking focus as opposed to forward looking," he said.
"I would like to see the environment for investment change - it means a policy change, it means that it's a change the government will have to lead. Otherwise my shareholders, the Telstra shareholders don't want to invest in money-losing projects." He said Telstra shareholders "should not be put into a position where they are asked to subsidise foreign competitors".
Last year, Telstra shelved plans for a $4 billion fibre-to-the-node network, after a stalemate with the competition watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), over the access prices for rivals wanting to use the network.
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French pay-TV provider Canal+ is taking legal action against content aggregation website Kewego, alleging copyright breaches for Canal+ material posted on its sites. It is seeking damages of E1.5m. An initial hearing has been set for May 30.
Programmes include Les Guignols de l’Info, Groland, Nulle Part Ailleurs, Les SAV des Emissions, Les Nuls and Dans le Peau d’un Noir and the Canal+ Daily news.
The company is also claiming E1.5m in damages.
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French mobile TV receives EC fundingThe European Commission has authorised E37.6m in aid from the French Agence de l'Innovation Industrielle towards funding Télévision Mobile Sans Limite - a mobile TV research and development project.
Télévision Mobile Sans Limite (Unlimited Mobile TV) will combine satellite and terrestrial TV networks to broadcast TV on mobile phones, and will be available in France only. The project was started in 2006 with the aim of completing sometime in 2009 at a cost of E98.4m. It involves 11 partners headed by Alcatel-Lucent.
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Viasat Broadcasting and NBC Universal International Television Distribution have entered a multiple year licensing agreement for the exclusive free television rights to range of current and library feature films and television product for broadcast in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. In addition to feature films, Viasat Broadcasting will also have rights to NBC Universal television series, television movies and miniseries.
TV viewers in Scandinavia will be able to watch the selection of NBC offerings on entertainment channels TV3, TV6, TV3+ and ZTV.
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F1 HDTV offeringFormula One figurehead Bernie Ecclestone is gearing up to introduce high definition television (HDTV) feeds at F1 races later this year.
According to autosport.com, Ecclestone said he did not know when the sport would switch over to the higher quality coverage, but that plans are in place to make a feed available to F1's television partners. Ecclestone, however, said it was more important for F1 to be available in a widescreen format.Global satellite broadcasting company SISLink was due to bring a HDTV ready broadcasting truck to this weekend’s round at Barcelona, but Ecclestone now says that HDTV will be available later in the year.
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Private Media Group Q1 resultsAdult entertainment group Private Media Group has revealed its Q1 results, reporting a decrease in net sales of 15 per cent to E5.4m compared to the same period last year. Broadcasting increased 18 per cent to E1.0m, primarily as a result of an increase in video on demand and channel sales in Europe offset by a decrease in channel sales in the US. Wireless increased 65 per cent to E0.6m. The increase in wireless sales was primarily the result of content going live with significantly more international carriers. Internet sales increased 5 per cent to E1.1m. The total increase in New Media sales was 20 per cent, and reached E2.7m, representing 50 per cent of total net sales.
CFO Johan Gillborg said the Group was shifting its business model towards New Media, which already grew exceptionally during 2006, but that this was affecting overall sales and operating profit in the short-term. "However, in view of the extraordinary margins, and in particular the rapid expansion taking place in the European IPTV market, this will impact our business very positively during the remainder of the year and going forward," he suggested.
"The Company is aggressively targeting all major IPTV and cable based True Video on Demand (TVOD) platforms and we are currently in the process of contracting with several operators," he revealed. "Most of these platforms are relatively new, but as they are operated by major multinational corporations, showing high adoption rates and swift expansion, it is clear that this type of broadcasting method is the new way of television and we are currently securing our place as a main provider in this new arena."
By the end of 2007, the Company expects to reach a subscription base of at least 16m TVOD enabled subscribers on a minimum of 28 new platforms represented by: Western Europe (17), North America (7), the Far East (3) and Australia (1).
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Latens Systems, provider of software Conditional Access (CA) solutions, has revealed that its downloadable CA is now deployed to provide content and revenue security for Multimedia Polska’s cable network as it transitions to digital. The new contract and deployment, following a successful trial, means that Latens CAS now protects the content and revenues of all Multimedia Polska Digital TV services as it transitions its analogue cable subscribers to a digital DVB-C network and expands its IPTV service.
The deployment sees Latens CAS integrated with Multimedia Polska’s IPTV and DVB-C infrastructure, including ADB set-top boxes, MHP middleware from Osmosys and Minerva IPTV middleware. ~
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Widevine Technologies, provider of downloadable content protection, has confirmed that Lattelecom, the Baltic's first MPEG-4 IPTV solution, has chosen Widevine to enable its acquisition of premium content and secure delivery on the H.264 platform to multiple devices in the home.
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Monday 14th May
Internet users not watching VOD
RTVE sets up an interactive TV division
IPTV triple-play showdown begins
BandSports to air Pan-American Games in HD
SKY Italia grows
Liberty Global Q1 results
NCTA crowd down
TRAI takes IPTV out of Internet access
VeeSee channel for the deaf
Internet users not watching VODCacheLogic has released the results of a Video on Demand (VOD) viewer habits survey of 2,400 UK Internet users. The survey, carried out by YouGov, found that just 15 per cent of Internet users have downloaded a full-length TV programme and only 14 per cent a whole movie.
The most common responses when asked "What would need to be addressed for you to view or download more?" were "speed of download" and "reliability". When asked to imagine a video on demand service that worked quickly and easily, the overwhelming majority of respondents—65 per cent—said they would be "fairly interested" or "very interested" in using it. Just 13 per cent were "not at all interested".
CacheLogic CTO Andrew Parker, commented: "These results challenge conventional wisdom that widespread consumer acceptance of video on demand is dependant on seamless integration into living room TV sets. Consumers are clearly ready to use their PCs to watch TV shows and movies. We just need to provide the content quickly and efficiently."
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RTVE sets up an interactive TV division
From David Del Valle in Madrid
State-owned TV group RTVE is also joining the news channel bandwagon. The company plans to launch "a big multimedia news TV channel" that becomes "a reference in Spain and Spanish-speaking countries", according to its president, Luis Fernández.
The group has created a new division to develop added-value and interactive services in order to have a presence in all distribution platforms. Rosalia Lloret will pilot RTVE's multimedia project in her role as Director of Interactive Media.
RTVE has made this move soon after its private competitors Antena 3 TV and Cuatro have reached an agreement with YouTube to launch their own TV contents through its network.
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IPTV triple-play showdown beginsIn its most recent study on IPTV services in Central and Eastern Europe, IDC predicts that with the right product offering and pricing, telecoms operators will quickly become serious competitors to existing pay TV operators - but warns against a lack of experience in TV programming.
According to the IDC study, IPTV could be a viable service for fixed-line operators seeking new revenue streams to offset an ongoing decline in the voice service side of the business. "By enabling users to access television content over their broadband connections, operators add value to their offerings," said Kresimir Alic, senior analyst, IDC CEMA, and the author of the study. "By adopting a one-stop-shop model for communications and content services - whether Internet, movies, television, or IP-based services - these companies can expect better customer retention and more stable revenue."
Over the next five years, IDC expects Central and Eastern Europe to see steady growth in the number of telecommunications operators offering IPTV services as part of their portfolios, either as a standalone service or in a triple-play package bundled with broadband Internet access and VoIP. As a result, IPTV will constitute a much larger share of total revenues generated from pay TV services in the region than at present.
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BandSports to air Pan-American Games in HD
From Branislav Pekic in RomeBrazilian pay-TV sports channel BandSports has announced it will transmit the Pan-American Games, taking place in Rio de Janeiro in June, in High Definition (HD).
During last year’s World Football Cup in Germany, BandSports became the Brazilian pioneer in HD, in partnership with cable operator TVA Digital and equipment manufacturer Gradiente. The channel will count on three transmission sites for its HD coverage and will use new systems for storing images and digital editing supplied by Harris.
The broadcasts will be in HD 1080i with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. Reception will be possible with a decoder developed by Gradiente, together with an Asian company, which supports both digital HD and SD signals, and retails at BRL 1699 (E628).
SKY Italia grows
Sky Italia has announced further progress in Q3 revealing 4.17m subscribers up 456,000 net on last year. It has also declared income of $91m, (E67m) up from last year’s $69m.
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Liberty Global Q1 resultsLiberty Global has revealed that in the three months ended 31 March 2007 it recorded an operating income of $181.8 million (E134.4m) , more than double the $90.5 million figure posted in the same quarter of 2006. Revenues jumped from $1.49 billion to $2.11 billion.
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NCTA crowd downAbout 15,000 people attended The Cable Show convention in Las Vegas this week, according to the National Cable & Telecommunications Association. Attendance had dropped by about 500 from last year. It’s the second consecutive year that attendance has dropped at the convention. NCTA drew about 17,000 people to the 2005 convention in San Francisco.
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TRAI takes IPTV out of Internet access
Seeking to regularise Internet services, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended that IPTV and IP-VPN would not come under the definition of Internet, and suggested that ISPs shall not be permitted to have PSTN/ PLMN connectivity. TRAI also wants to remove restrictions on the use of devices used to make Internet telephony calls to facilitate use of affordable and user-friendly devices/adapters conforming to international organisations specification like ITU/ IETF.
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VeeSee channel for the deafAn online entertainment channel has been launched for deaf viewers. VeeSee TV communicates to viewers using British Sign Language (BSL), and is the first dedicated channel for BSL users. The channel has been launched on ViewTV's broadband video platform
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