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Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Tuesday
Friday 19th May
BT higher on new revenues
Star and PCCW target IPTV opportunities
BT Vision nets DreamWorks content
New VP for ECCA
Click ads from NBC and CBS
Freeview wants to boost DVRs
Irdeto for MultiChoice
BT higher on new revenuesBT reported revenue up six per cent to £19.51bn (E33bn) for the full year, as strong demand for broadband internet helped to offset a decline in its traditional business. But after exceptional items, pre-tax profit fell to £2.04bn, (E2.95bn) down from £2.35bn the previous year.
Sales were boosted by a sharp increase in revenue from "new wave" services such as broadband internet and corporate IT services. BT had a 31 per cent share of net additions in the broadband market in the three months to March 31, unchanged from the previous quarter. Broadband revenue grew 35 per cent to £202m in the fourth quarter. Overall, revenue from new wave services, which now account for about a third of BT’s revenue, rose 38 per cent to £6.28bn during the year. In contrast, revenue from the company’s traditional businesses declined by 3 per cent.
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Star and PCCW target IPTV opportunitiesStar TV and PCCW have made a pact to work together to explore IPTV pay-TV opportunities in overseas markets. Leveraging PCCW's expertise in building and operating an IPTV business and Star's strength and experience in content creation and distribution and the pay-TV business, the two companies will look into opportunities to work with platform operators and media companies in Asia for the rollout of IPTV services.
PCCW's now TV is the world leader in IPTV with more than 550,000 subscribers to the service since its launch in August 2003 and representing over 25 per cent of homes in Hong Kong. now TV carries over 110 TV and audio channels including 17 channels provided by Star and its joint ventures.
PCCW Executive Director Alex Arena said, "PCCW has a wealth of experience in quickly implementing and operating a successful IPTV pay-TV business. Telecom and broadband companies from around the world visit us regularly, to explore how PCCW can share its experience with them. We are delighted to work together with Star to develop these opportunities."
Star Chief Executive Officer Michelle Guthrie said "We are excited to expand our working relationship with now TV, a tremendous partner of ours in Hong Kong, to explore opportunities across Asia. It is clear that IPTV will be an exciting distribution platform in the future. Today's announcement underscores our efforts to help unlock its full potential, enabling Star to deliver content to more people across the region."
The Star/PCCW cooperation will involve full pay-TV operations and will be in addition to worldwide technical and IT solutions provided by CASCADE Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of PCCW. CASCADE has built and installed end-to-end technical IPTV solutions in countries as far afield as Thailand and Morocco. Ongoing discussions are in progress with a number of other overseas operators
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BT Vision nets DreamWorks content
BT Vision has struck a deal with DreamWorks that will see new films available on its upcoming TV-over-broadband service. BT said it was the first content deal allowing the delivery of new films to consumers. DreamWorks, part of Viacom, owns the rights to films including War of the Worlds, the Shrek franchise and Steven Spielberg's Munich. The films will be offered on pay-per-view.
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The European Cable Communications Association (ECCA) announces that Manuel Kohnstamm has been unanimously elected as Vice President. Together with Manuel Cubero (President) and Bernard Cottin (Vice President) he will provide strategic guidance to ECCA in close cooperation with ECCA’s Executive Committee.
Manuel Kohnstamm is Managing Director, Public Policy & Communications, of Liberty Global Europe BV. Based largely in Amsterdam and Brussels, he is responsible for government affairs, external relations and communications throughout the Liberty Global group in Europe. Manuel Kohnstamm is also a board member of VECAI (Dutch Association of Cable Operators) and the International Communications Round Table (ICRT).
"I am delighted to work together with Manuel Kohnstamm to further develop the European Cable Communications Association. His outstanding industry knowledge and expertise in regulatory and public affairs will be of great value for ECCA." said Manuel Cubero, President of ECCA.
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Click ads from NBC and CBS
When NBC did a spin-off of its soap opera "Passions" exclusively for the Internet, they experimented with: "clickable video." A viewer watching "Passions: Vendetta" on NBC.com could move his or her mouse around the screen and click on parts of the steamy action. The clicked scenes were then book marked for the viewer to visit afterwards to get more information about the scene and clues to the overall story, a murder mystery. The goal: Get people to look at more pages -- where they would have no choice but to view more ads from "Passions: Vendetta" sponsor Maybelline.
Of the results Stephen Andrade, NBC's vice president of interactive development said "We were fairly blown away. Visitors who clicked, which was most of them, spent about twice as long with the show as those who didn't." Now, both NBC and CBS are offering the technology to advertisers as part of a menu of opportunities to reach television fans on the Web. A spokeswoman for CBS says the network will offer clickable video on its various Web properties if there is demand from advertisers.
The clickable video on network Web sites is from Avant Interactive, a Los Angeles company. Avant says its technology works on video downloads, streaming video and DVDs.
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UK’s Freeview announced plans to launch a digital TV recorder brand, ‘Freeview Playback’, designed to raise consumer awareness and boost sales of these DTT products. The company says with digital switchover planned to start in 2008, clear consumer understanding of digital TV recording is needed. Recent Freeview research has shown that there is little consumer awareness of digital TV recorders, a finding supported by limited uptake of the devices already available for the DTT platform.
Freeview is launching four initiatives, supported by the industry, to help establish and promote the digital TV recorder category: 1. The launch of ‘Freeview Playback’ as a brand extension to effectively communicate digital terrestrial TV recorders to consumers. 2. Manufacturers and retailers to use a common product description for the category. 3. The Digital Television Group (DTG) to establish an industry standard ensuring ‘Freeview Playback’ products carry a quality assurance for consumers. 4. A commitment by Freeview to implement marketing activity to raise awareness of the category and of the ‘Freeview Playback’ brand extension .
Cary Wakefield, Freeview General Manager said, "Freeview’s success to date has been based upon offering viewers a simple way to get digital television. Working with the industry, Freeview is committed to delivering a strong brand to increase consumer awareness of the benefits of digital TV recorders and to make the technology easy to understand." The ‘Freeview Playback’ brand is expected to be in the market by September 2006.
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Irdeto announced that its Irdeto Mobile Broadcast security solution has been selected to protect the DVB-H trials of South African broadcasting companies MultiChoice and M-Net. The MultiChoice and M-Net trial, which started in November 2005 under a test license, is building unique South African mobile broadcast expertise and yielding invaluable consumer insights amongst trialists in Soweto, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban. "MultiChoice is committed to pioneering new technologies that support the company’s mission of enriching lives.
With this mobile TV project we continue to show MultiChoice’s and South Africa’s ability for innovation, and Irdeto has always been solidly behind us in making that a reality," said Nolo Letele, CEO of MultiChoice.
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Thursday 18th May
Record industry sues XM
News Corp puts My Space at centre of My Network plans
Vivendi rejects break up
Veo TV in block deal with Sony TV
US Pay TV, slightly better service
Hughes Communications Reports 1Q
Gore at Edinburgh
BT wireless cities
Record industry sues XMUS satellite radio firm XM is being sued by record labels over its Inno device that lets listeners download tracks. The lawsuit seeks $150,000 in damages for every song copied by XM customers to an Inno. XM defended itself by saying that music stored on the device cannot be moved elsewhere and only lasts as long as a customer is a subscriber.
The record companies says Inno means XM becomes like an iTunes to iPod service but XM says that the Inno does not let people download music on demand like iTunes and only lets listeners record radio shows as the law has allowed for "decades". The lawsuit comes after talks between the RIAA (Record Industries Association of America) and XM on licence agreements for the Inno device broke down.
XM's rival Sirius Satellite Radio recently agreed to pay the RIAA licence fees for its S50 recording device.
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News Corp puts My Space at centre of My Network plansNews Corp has unveiled the launch programming schedule for My Network TV, which will be the first new US terrestrial TV service to launch in more than a decade when it begins broadcasting on September 5. It also revealed plans for MySpace.com to play a leading promotional role for its new US channel.
News Corp is also expected to use the social networking, content-sharing model behind MySpace's success as a template for its MyNetworkTV.com website. MyNetworkTV.com will allow users to send clips of the channel's programmes to friends via email and mobile, and take part in blogs and online viewing parties.
The network is planning to distribute 3,000 original video clips from its dramas via its website. MyNetworkTV.com will also have a "casting call" section where budding actors can post their showreels, with users voting on who should be cast.
The network will launch with a two-hour prime time schedule between 8pm and 10pm, Monday to Saturday, from September.
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Vivendi rejects break upThe French media group says it has rejected a break-up proposal presented by Sebastian Holdings, which owns a 1.19 per cent stake in Vivendi. The company said it had rejected the plan as it was "based on economic and legal hypotheses that are unrealistic".
"The supervisory board and the management board have decided to further pursue the group’s strategy, one which is the best positioned to create value for Vivendi’s shareholders," Vivendi said. The company, now led by Jean-Bernard Levy, believes its current composition is appropriate but the accumulation of shares by Sebastian Holdings has prompted speculation of further break-up pressures. Vodafone is thought by some to be interested in buying out the balance of SFR, the French mobile operator in which Vivendi has a 56 per cent stake, while Lagardere is interested in Canal Plus, the cable TV network.
The failed proposal was declared as the group reported strong first quarter results, aided by a legal victory for its music business and a strong recovery at Vivendi Games. Revenues for the three months to March 31 were almost 6 per cent higher at E4.77bn while pre-tax profits were 18 per cent higher at E1.12bn.
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Veo TV in block deal with Sony TV
From David Del Valle in MadridThe Spanish DTT broadcaster Veo TV, owned by newspaper El Mundo, has signed an output deal with Sony Pictures TV International allowing the channel access to its wide catalogue of entertainment TV programming. Veo TV will broadcast on its second DTT channel a block of entertainment programming under the banner ‘Sony Entertainment TV on Veo’, from next June with a formal launch in September.
Veo TV is currently available on the DTT platform led by RTVE with 20 nation wide TV channels launched last year.
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US Pay TV, slightly better service
Pay-TV services saw some improvement in their scores in the American Customer Satisfaction Index. The "ASCI" said scores for cable and satellite TV increased 3 per cent to 63, improving for the first time since debuting on the index in 2001. The cable industry has been a poor performer in the past, "with rate hikes more consistent than service." But the bundling of services is improving the perceived customer benefit in the form of price savings and a single vendor.
Yet, even with the improvements, cable and satellite TV still lag among the poorest scoring industries measured by the index. DirecTV led all pay-TV services with a 6 per cent improvement to 71, the highest score in the sector.
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Hughes Communications Reports 1Q
Hughes Communications released first quarter results, its first reporting of financials as a publicly-traded company. First quarter revenues for Hughes wholly-owned subsidiary HNS were $196.8 million, representing an increase of $18.6 million on the same period in 2005. Net income improved by $14.6 million to $194,000 during the first quarter, compared to a loss of $14.4 million for the same period last year.
Said Grant Barber, Hughes' chief financial officer, "We are pleased with the solid operating results posted in this quarter. In addition, our successful closing of $450 million of senior unsecured notes in early April, allowed us to retire our bank debt of $325 million." He added, "We are confident that, due to these actions, we now have a strong balance sheet with the resources available for us to pursue appropriate strategic initiatives, including Spaceway."
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Gore at Edinburgh
Former American vice-president Al Gore will deliver the Alternative MacTaggart Lecture at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival.
Gore will talk about his award-winning TV network, Current TV, which he has described as the "television homepage for the internet generation". Current TV features "pod" segments ranging from five seconds to 15 minutes, covering topics from music and video games to politics, finance and the environment. Viewers can pick their favourite videos and get instructions on the network's website to help them make their own.
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BT wireless cities
BT announced agreements with six cities to become wireless pioneers as part of its plans to create a first phase of 12 Wireless Cities across the UK. People in Birmingham, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Cardiff and Westminster will benefit from huge wireless networks, giving them access to information and services.
BT started the Wireless City rollout in Cardiff, where BT Openzone hotspots have been installed in many locations in the city centre. In Westminster, a dedicated high-bandwidth wireless network is already in place and is now being extended. The first six cities were chosen for their commitment to embracing the possibilities brought by the technology. BT aims to announce deals with many other cities.
Meanwhile Dundee announced a partnership between the University of Abertay Dundee and LastMile Communications, the British company pioneering a wireless delivery platform using WiFi.
Under the agreement, the Abertay campus will become a test bed for LastMile's state-of-the-art node-based wireless information system. The technology offers end user-focused content to mobile devices on demand, and tailored precisely to their location.
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Wednesday 17th May
Record quarter for US broadband
Alexander will leave Virgin / NTL
Liberty will challenge News Corp poison pill settlement
Sogecable's crackdown on piracy
MTV goes after iTunes with Media Player
Pay-TV revenues playing catch-up
Digital radio signs more stations in US
India pulls plug on foreign channels
VCOM third quarter
Record quarter for US broadbandUS cable and DSL operators acquired a record 3.06 million net additional subscribers in the first quarter. The top broadband providers surveyed account for nearly 46 million high-speed Internet subscribers, with cable having nearly 25.8 million broadband subscribers and DSL having about 20.2 million.
Research firm Leichtman said the top DSL providers added a record 1.66 million subscribers, representing 54 per cent of net broadband additions for the period when compared to cable. DSL providers have added more broadband subscribers than cable providers in each of the last six quarters, acquiring more than 1.1 million more customers than cable during those reporting periods.
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Alexander will leave Virgin / NTLTom Alexander, founder and chief executive of Virgin Mobile will leave the following the group’s acquisition by NTL. Non-executive chairman Charles Gurassa will also step down. Alan Gow, CFO will become managing director.
Alexander had previously sounded a note of caution suggesting it would be harder for the company to keep its entrepreneurial spirit if it was taken over by a larger one. Alexander is expected to be retained as a consultant to Virgin Mobile for the rest of the year.
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Liberty will challenge News Corp poison pill settlement
Liberty is challenging a proposed settlement aimed at resolving a shareholder lawsuit against News Corp. over its poison pill strategy adopted to block any possible takeover by Liberty.
Liberty is the second-biggest voting shareholder in News Corp. (behind the family of Chairman Rupert Murdoch), and believes that the settlement could prevent future attempts to take over News Corp. Negotiated in April, the proposed settlement aimed to resolve a lawsuit filed by several News Corp. shareholders last year over the firm's decision to extend a poison-pill defence plan without shareholder approval.
The poison pill was originally adopted in late 2004, after Liberty moved to double its voting stake. In the settlement, News Corp. agreed to hold a non-binding shareholder vote in October on the extension of the poison pill.The poison pill, or shareholder-rights plan, allows News Corp. to issue a huge amount of new stock if someone buys more than 15 per cent of its voting shares -- diluting the buyer's stake sharply. In Liberty's case, the pill effectively freezes its stake at 18 per cent.
Liberty wasn't involved in the original suit or the settlement discussions. But the suit is a class-action, giving Liberty the right to challenge the settlement. Liberty says the proposed settlement allows News Corp. to be released from future legal claims about its poison pill once it holds the shareholder vote and complies with the outcome. Liberty argues that the release is overly broad and could prevent shareholders from suing News Corp. in the future for rejecting a takeover bid.
News Corp. and Liberty have had on-off talks about a deal in which News Corp. would buy back part of Liberty's stake. Current proposals reportedly include swapping some of News Corp.'s TV stations for the stock.
Last week, at a meeting with investors, Liberty Chief Executive Greg Maffei suggested Liberty might vote against the extension of the poison pill. "We don't see it as obvious why we would vote for a pill designed to restrict our ability to buy more stock."
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Sogecable's crackdown on piracy
From David Del Valle in MadridSpain's leading pay-TV company, Sogecable, owner of digital DTH platform Digital Plus, is making a full-frontal assault on piracy.
The company is intensifying its campaign against hackers by reporting them to the police who have already made the first arrests, the latest in Catalonia. Meanwhile, Sogecable is planning to replace the existing 800,000 old set-top-boxes from Via Digital with those from the former Canal Satellite Digital. It is estimated that currently around 300,000 people are pirating Digital Plus' signal, most of them through old Via Digital's boxes.
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MTV goes after iTunes with Media Player
MTV’s music service Urge goes live today offering users two million songs from that can be bought either separately for $0.99 or via a monthly subscription. The service will be the featured music player on Microsoft's Media Player.
Urge will be compatible with more than 100 digital music players but not with the market leader, Apple's iPod. "We will concentrate on people who don't have iPod's," said Van Toffler, president of MTV Networks Music Group. "Hopefully, through the TV channels we have and the dot-com sites...we can educate people about the virtues of subscriptions. It's not about selling a million singles," he added.
Urge will offer users albums at about $9.95, and unlimited music downloads at two monthly rates of $9.95 and $14.95 (the higher price allowing unlimited transfers to portable players). The service also plans to offer video downloads.
The Apple iTunes service has a library of 3 million tunes and has sold more than 1bn songs since it was launched in 2003.
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Pay-TV revenues playing catch-up
From Rose Major in Melbourne
Australia's pay-TV channels accounted for less than two per cent of the total television industry revenues in the year to July 2005, according to new figures
from regulator ACMA.
ACMA said today that the country's 53 television licensees reported revenues of A$4,119 million over the year, of which A$4,046 million - 98.2 per cent - was pulled in by the three major television networks Seven, Nine and Ten and their regional affiliates.
The low figure seems at odds with viewing habits. Astra, the Australian Subscription Radio and Television Association, regularly reports that subscription TV captures between 51 per cent and 54 per cent of viewing in homes with subscription television.
Total profit for the industry was A$577 million, down 2.4 per cent compared to 2003-04.
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Digital radio signs more stations in US
The HD Radio Alliance has announced key deals with retailers. The entity backed by the nation's biggest broadcasters also updated on its progress to turn the AM/FM dial into digital audio.
It said that to date, 3,000 U.S. radio stations have committed to HD Radio technology. More than 800 radio stations are broadcasting primary signals in digital, reaching 75 per cent of the U.S. population. Plans are in place to expand that number to 1,200 stations and 90 per cent of the population by the end of this year, the alliance said.
By July 31, the number of stations broadcasting HD2 multicast channels with new music formats is expected to grow to 400, HD Radio said. HD2 multicast channels are in 22 markets, bringing the total number of cities with multiple audio feeds to 50. In December, the alliance launched a $200 million on-air advertising campaign.
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India pulls plug on foreign channels
The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has pulled the plug on 30 foreign television channels, which were via cable and DTH. The I&B ministry issued a notification altering the cable television rules and directed multi-system operators (MSO's) and direct to home (DTH) operators to stop the telecast of all channels not registered with the government.
The Gulf based MBC bouquet of five film and entertainment channels, One TV, Pakistani channels PTV 1 and PTV 2, Sind TV, Rung TV, Al Jazeera, religious channel QTV, apart from few music channels have been banned. Others like Channel G, TVN, Dubai TV, KTN, BVN, NHK, Saudi TV, RTP, Rai, Now and The Muzik will return once the channels apply for registration in India.
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VCOM third quarterCanada’s VCom Inc. announced net income after tax for the third quarter was up 30 per cent to C$3.1 million as compared to C$2.4 million in the second quarter. Total revenue for the same periods was C$21.4 million and C$19.1 million respectively, representing quarter over quarter growth of 12 per cent.
Sales for the nine months ended March were C$58.1 million. Excluding the effect of a non-recurring event last year, nine-month revenue this fiscal year was 27 per cent higher than three-quarters of 2005 operating revenue. The company increased productivity and experienced economies of scale in the period that allowed it to substantially increase sales and maintain gross margin in spite of the appreciation in the average value of the Canadian dollar during the period as compared to the same period last year.
Using funds provided by the IPO, VCOM retired C$5 million in operating line debt in the second quarter and C$3.6 million in long term debt in the third quarter. VCom no longer has debt other than trade payables.
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Tuesday 16th May
QVC may buy brands
Internet TV downloads set to thrive
MySpace TV downloads
O2 goes for broadband
BBC commercial pressure
ITV High Def World Cup deal with cable
Premiere goes for NDS
Conto TV selects Irdeto
Maxisat Selects Ruckus
CNN on demand for Home Choice
Liberty Media’s QVC is targeting its first acquisitions of developing brands as it explores future growth strategies. Mike George, chief executive, told the FT that the network, which had sales last year of more than $6bn, has played a significant role in developing young brands. In addition to QVC’s own sales, he claims "retailers…see a peak in sales of items we feature. We think we can be a little more aggressive in capturing the value we create because of the marketing lift that we give the brands that we feature."
George, who was chief marketing officer at Dell computers before joining QVC in November, said QVC would be looking carefully for early or mid-life brands. "We want to capture brands early on, where we can add value," he said. Bare Escentuals, one of QVC’s most popular featured cosmetic brands, is planning an initial public offering for later this year that is expected to value its operations at up to $1bn.
He also noted that the company was continuing its efforts to develop its online
presence, to build on internet sales of just over $1bn last year – making it one of the leading online retailers. Also, the company, whose business in the UK, Germany and Japan accounts for about a third of sales, is due to launch a service providing video to mobile phone subscribers in the UK later this year. This follows the launch of a similar scheme in Japan last year.
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Internet TV downloads set to thriveAccording to Continental Research 2.6 million people have either downloaded a TV programme or watched it live on the internet, and 900,000 have watched TV via their mobile phone. Indeed, downloading TV programmes via the internet is becoming "habitual" according to Continental’s inaugural Convergence Report Spring 2006.
Of those who download TV programmes, a significantly large number - 29 per cent - do so at least once a week. The types of programmes that are downloaded most are popular American TV shows such as Lost (the most watched downloaded programme), CSI, Desperate Housewives and The Simpsons, all dominating the list ahead of leading British shows such as Life on Mars and Little Britain.
James Myring, associate director at Continental Research, said: "Given the popularity of downloading first music and now films via the internet, there is every reason to predict that downloading TV will grow rapidly in importance. Watching live TV over the internet remains more occasional, with 19 pe cent doing so at least once a week."
The prediction of rapid growth is given credence by the proportions of internet TV viewers likely to increase their viewing to specific services in the next 12 months. 40 per cent say that watching downloaded programmes will increase, and 25 percent say watching TV live via the internet will increase. As the amount of content grows in quantity and quality it will help further the growth of internet TV.Downloading TV programmes via a mobile phone, however, is handicapped by the same constraints that limit mobile internet, namely a small screen size and incomplete content compared to the ‘real thing’ (i.e. standard TV/ internet). "Until these limitations are overcome we don’t expect usage of mobile TV to breakthrough into the mass market. There may be significant experimentation, but it is habitual use that will make it commercially viable. It is also worth recalling that miniature televisions never became popular."
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MySpace TV downloads
News Corp’s MySpace.com plans to begin offering $1.99-an-episode downloads of Fox drama "24." It also will offer free downloads of two episodes of "24" sponsored by Burger King Holdings. The move is part of an effort by News Corp. to transform MySpace.com from a social-networking site into a full-featured, advertising-supported portal.
MySpace has exploded in popularity, amassing more than 75 million registered users. News Corp. acquired MySpace last year for about $650 million and is taking steps to generate revenue from its huge audience.
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O2 goes for broadband
O2, the UK mobile phone operator owned by Telefonica of Spain, is set to enter the fiercely competitive broadband market and offer high-speed internet access to its customers before the end of the year.
Peter Erskine, chairman and chief executive of O2, signalled it could offer "bundled" services made up of broadband and mobile phone calls. "It is pretty certain we will go down the DSL route," said Erskine. "If we do DSL alongside mobile we then have just about everything the customer wants." O2’s business in the Czech Republic provides bundled services of mobile phone calls and broadband. O2’s German business will offer similar bundled services this autumn. Its customers can pay less for mobile phone calls made inside the home compared with outside.
Erskine also highlighted how Telefonica, which bought O2 in February for E26bn ($33.5bn), provides television using internet protocol standards. However, he played down the prospect of O2 providing similar services in the UK in the short term.
Telefonica meanwhile announced revenues climbed 45 per cent, to E12.04bn in Q1 and European acquisitions and customer growth in Latin America had helped it post a 40 per cent year-on-year increase in first-quarter net profits, to E1.27bn. …………….
Nokia tablet runs Google
Nokia will unveil a new version of its Internet tablet device that runs Google Talk communications software. It offer consumers the ability to chat with other users of instant messaging software via the Nokia Wi-Fi device. The Nokia 770 Internet Tablet offers wireless access to digital music and video playing on a st colour screen, as well as the ability to check e-mail, surf the Web and read computer documents or play video games.
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BBC commercial pressureAs the BBC lobbies for its licence increase, pressure is mounting for its commercial activities to be reigned in. Opposition Conservative has launched an attack saying the corporation must be stopped from 'abusing its privileged position and huge resources to crowd out smaller players' on the internet.
"As new forms of media develop, I believe that the BBC must be very careful about not abusing its privileged position and huge resources to crowd out smaller players. I am concerned that in too many of its non-core activities, particularly on the internet, it is stifling the growth of innovative new companies that simply can't compete with BBC budgets," says shadow chancellor, George Osborne.
According to Osborne, a "clear set of rules" should be established about what areas the BBC should focus on, and which it should be made to set aside for commercial companies.
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ITV High Def World Cup deal with cable
ITV announced a deal with cable operator ntl Telewest to provide ITV’s World Cup matches in high definition format, making it the only commercial platform to broadcast every live World Cup match in High Definition. Alongside the World Cup matches, viewers will be able to see documentary material including the epic new wildlife series Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ocean Adventures.
The deal comes as ITV prepares to launch a six-month trial of HD over digital terrestrial (DTT) test frequencies with the other commercial broadcasters and transmission provider Arqiva this summer in the London area.
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Premiere, the leading pay TV operator in Germany and Austria, has chosen the NDS MediaHighway middleware solution to set-up an interactive platform paving the way into advanced digital TV services. The middleware-based TV platform will enable customers to interactively use add-on-services with their remote control via a return channel over the Internet.
Based on the NDS MediaHighway middleware, Premiere will launch this innovative platform that will offer an unprecedented range of TV services to Premiere subscribers from August 2006.
NDS MediaHighway will play a key role in operating the interactive TV architecture, that combines broadcast and IPTV technologies into a single service on a hybrid STB. The cornerstone of the new platform will be a middleware enabled easy-to-use STB user-interface, that ensures the same look and feel over a variety of STBs.
Dr. Georg Kofler, CEO of Premiere, says: "NDS MediaHighway middleware has proved itself around the world. It is extremely powerful and flexible and covers all the functions that we need, from interactive and add-on services to advanced PVR technology."
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Conto TV selects Irdeto
Irdeto announced that it has successfully deployed its Irdeto Digital TV conditional access solution at Conto TV in Italy. The solution secures Conto TV’s DTT service broadcast in various regions such as Toscana, Campania, Marche and Rome. In addition it secures Conto’s satellite services covering Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.
Conto TV offers a combination of general and adult entertainment programming. Irdeto Digital TV ensures that the adult content is encrypted and is not freely available to the general public, while at the same time giving Conto TV simple, effective and safe ways to sell their content to those that wish to buy it.
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Maxisat Selects Ruckus
Ruckus Wireless announced that Maxisat Ltd., a leading Finnish triple play provider, has selected the Ruckus Wireless smart Wi-Fi system to solve the growing problem of how to reliably distribute digital voice, video and data services throughout
subscriber homes.
The Ruckus MediaFlex system is an advanced in-home multimedia solution and
the first developed to enable the reliable transmission of digital multimedia content using standard 802.11g Wi-Fi technology. Maxisat subscribers can now enjoy all their multimedia services anywhere in their home over a single, robust Wi-Fi network. "With Wi-Fi, consumers have now tasted freedom from wires and want that freedom extended to all their multimedia services," said Jari-Pekka Hela-Ar, IPTV development manager for Maxisat. "Ruckus has now made this possible by making Wi-Fi predictable enough to virtually guarantee certain levels of
capacity to any corner of the home."
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CNN International announced the launch of a video-on-demand service on digital home network, Homechoice. CNN’s feature programmes, Quest, Living Golf, CNN Business Traveller, Global Office and Art of Life, as well as CNN documentaries, will be available on the VOD service.
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Monday 15th May
BellSouth and Samsung partner on broadband enabled devices
Cellcast pioneers DTT ‘visual radio’
Aussie broadband alliance seeks cash
Yarosa goes interactive with MTV
ITN selected for T-Mobile World Cup team
Spain: new public TV law approved
BellSouth and Samsung partner on broadband enabled devicesBellSouth and Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung) have agreed a strategic agreement to explore opportunities to market and co-brand broadband-enabled devices in consumer and business markets. This agreement comes during a time of increasing convergence between traditional telephony, computing and
entertainment."BellSouth and Samsung recognise that convergence is the future of our industries," said Randy Roberts, vice president - consumer devices & wireless, BellSouth. "We are excited about the potential to leverage the brand strength of both companies to provide our customers with simple, seamlessly-integrated products."
"This is a very strategic opportunity which dramatically advances our North American growth plans," said Dale Sohn, President of Samsung
Telecommunications America. "By joining with one of the leaders in broadband deployment, we gain a significant presence in the United States. Our companies' strong commitments to deliver innovative broadband services will advance convergence and further enhance the customer experience."The two companies will work throughout 2006 to identify opportunities in which a relationship between BellSouth's broadband platform and Samsung's devices could extend broadband usage and deliver enhance solutions to BellSouth customers.
"Our vision is to enable a digital home in which a customer can share photos and music, download and watch video, play games online, or talk to their friends and family -- from whatever device they choose at any location in their home," continued Roberts.
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Cellcast pioneers DTT ‘visual radio’Interactive digital broadcaster Cellcast is launching interactive entertainment services on UK digital terrestrial service Freeview’s platform in the UK. The company has ventured with Top Up TV to trail interactive content and programming on Smile TV on Channel 37.
Cellcast has also worked with Top Up TV to launch a new interactive service, Top Up Active, on Channel 107. This will be available to all 6.4 million-plus Freeview households in place of the static ‘placeholder’ which is traditionally used on subscription channels to promote a broadcaster’s pay channels. Cellcast has developed a unique format which utilises all available bandwidth to provide radio-style broadcasting combined with interactive chat and games. Combining talk-radio, participation TV and interactivity, Cellcast and Top Up TV are pioneering ‘visual radio’ for the Freeview platform.
Andrew Wilson, Chief Executive Officer of Cellcast, described the approach as "revolutionary", suggesting that it pushed the interactive opportunity on Freeview to its limits. "Where Teletext and similar services use their bandwidth to direct viewers to the content, this application focuses on user generated content to entertain the viewer."
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Aussie broadband alliance seeks cash
From Rose Major in MelbourneAustralian regional triple-play company Austar has teamed up with another telco and a broadband wireless company to apply for up to A$1.1 billion in government
funding to start building a national high-speed broadband network.The joint bid, called AUSalliance, teams Austar with IP network owner Soul and wireless broadband carrier Unwired. Together, the companies claim that they have licences covering up to 95 per cent of the population.
AUSalliance’s proposed network would use DSL2+ and fibre solutions to create a high-speed network capable of offering new services.
Incumbent telco Telstra is under pressure to upgrade its national broadband network for new services, including IPTV. Less than a month ago, another group of triple play and telco operators, including Optus, called for industry-wide investment in an open access network. The new alliance is likely to increase pressure on Telstra further.
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Yarosa goes interactive with MTV
Interactive TV specialist Yarosa Entertainment has launched interactive premium MMS solution ‘Twin Factor’ with MTV Sweden, MTV Hits (UK) and TMF UK, its first use on music channels.Twin Factor is an interactive MMS application, enabling viewers to send an MMS with their photo and receive the photo by return, morphed into a celebrity. The result is based on a face recognition technology, based on eyes, face outlines, distance between mouth, eyes, nose, etc.
Yarosa Entertainment CEO Jan van Ottele said that although MMS had been in the market for a while, viewers had only just started adapting the technology and opportunities
After the successful launch at the Swedish and UK MTV channels, MTV Norway will follow shortly.
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ITN selected for T-Mobile World Cup team
News provider ITN has teamed up with cellco T-Mobile to produce an exclusive 24-hour World Cup mobile TV channel to keep fans up-to-date with the latest news from the tournament in Germany.
ITN will produce a dedicated streaming video channel for T-Mobile which will include all the breaking news from across the tournament through a series of news wraps every 30 minutes.
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Spain: new public TV law approved
From David del Valle in Madrid
The new legislation will drastically change the structure and model of the state-owned group RTVE, which operates La Primera and La 2, transforming it from a public corporation company into a private business.The new law also legislates that, to avoid political bias, RTVE's General Director will be now be appointed by the Parliament instead of the Government, as has been the case so far.
The new legislation states that RTVE will be financed by a mix of ad revenues, sales revenues and state subsidies, preventing the group from getting into unlimited debt as happened previously.
RTVE has an accumulated debt of E7.5 billion and is undergoing a restructuring of its finances, entailing the dismissal of more than 3,000 workers.
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