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Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Tuesday
Friday 8th September
News Corp for Telecom Italia stake?
Vivendi up on pay-TV
Nortel focus on 4G
Multimedia Blackberry
Comcast Sets VOD Records
BBC channels for India
Playboy mobile interactive
DTG appoints Gauntlett
Conax and Iwedia partner
NDS, SES partner for metro middleware
Red Bee Advisory Board
News Corp for Telecom Italia stake?News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch is set to meet with Telecom Italia Chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera to discuss a wide-ranging content-sharing deal, and, press reports suggest, News might also take an equity stake.
Telecom Italia are under increasing pressure to deliver content to their broadband and mobile clients, while News Corp.'s Sky Italia is looking to expand its television audiences. Telecom Italia's disappointing recent performance has turned convergence into an urgent priority for Tronchetti Provera. He has noted repeatedly that media companies trade at significantly higher multiples than telecom firms do.
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French media group Vivendi has followed up its E1.6bn acquistion of Bertlesmann’s music publishing business by reporting a 10.9 per cent rise in adjusted net income for the first half of the year. The company said underlying profits rose to E1.38bn against E1.24bn from the same period a year earlier as it benefited from a "substantial improvement in operating performance" across the group.
"Our outlook for the next five years provides ample proof of our strengths and potential," said Jean-Bernard Lévy, chairman. The MNO SFR, the source of almost half of Vivendi’s total revenue, saw a 3.7 per cent gain in EBITDA to E4.3bn thanks to higher ARPU.
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Mike Zafirovski, Nortel Networks' new chief executive, said the group would focus on fourth-generation technologies and seek to ensure the group remained an independent company. Zafirovski added that Nortel would grow by focusing on fewer businesses, especially ones where it could achieve a 20 per cent market share or more.
He added that consumer demand for mobile video was likely to provide opportunities in the near future. "Mobile video will strain third-generation mobile bandwidth going forward," he said. Nortel would be focused on providing faster broadband connectivity and bandwidths of up to 40 megabytes into the home, as well as services and applications.
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Multimedia BlackberryResearch In Motion, will launch its first multimedia BlackBerry – the Pearl. The BlackBerry 8100 Pearl – named after the pearl-coloured navigation "ball" used to move between menu items and through e-mails– is the most radical design change since RIM launched the first BlackBerry devices in the late 1990s. RIM, which has sold more than 5.5m BlackBerries, expects Pearl will expand the market for its handsets and help answer critics that complain many BlackBerry users actually carry a separate mobile phone for voice calls.
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Comcast Sets VOD RecordsComcast says its video-on-demand has surpassed three billion programme views since 2004. The cable operator also set a monthly record for July, with customers watching 180 million on-demand shows. Comcast said music videos and programmes saw more than 540 million views, children's shows received more than 330 million views, free movies achieved more than 180 million views, and sports and fitness programs took in more than 73 million views. "Customer response to On-Demand over the past few years has been extraordinary," said Page Thompson, senior vice president and general manager of video services at Comcast.
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BBC Worldwide is close to a deal to distribute the children’s channel Cbeebies in India — in Hindi and English — and BBC Entertainment, featuring adult drama. Initially, the BBC plans to use British programmes, but Darren Childs, managing director of global channels, said that the plan would be to produce programmes locally — and possibly buy Indian production companies — if the business lifts off. "You could see Indian versions of familiar soap operas," Childs told The Times.
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Playboy is extending its business into casino-style interactive gambling on TV and mobile phones in the UK and Ireland in a deal with YooMedia. Playboy Enterprises intends to develop gambling capability for channels including Playboy One, on Sky and on mobile phones. The company already runs an online casino service at playboycasino.com.
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The Digital TV Group, the industry association for digital television in the UK, has appointed Simon Gauntlett, an Engineer for the BBC, as Technology Director.
DTG says Gauntlett will have the opportunity to set the strategic technical vision of the organisation, supporting DTG Technical Council, and directing the group's technical programme and technology team. Simon will also provide important technical advice to DTG members leading up to and during digital switchover.
Gauntlett who will move to the DTG in December 2006, has worked in the BBC's research and development division for the past seven years.
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Conax and Iwedia partnerConax has announced a cooperative relationship with Iwedia Technologies, a provider of embedded software solutions for digital TV devices, to integrate Iwedia’s Comedia DVB middleware with Conax’s CAS7 conditional access system. This integrated solution will give digital TV service providers the ability to offer their subscribers many popular interactive services that are proven to increase revenues, in a cost-effective way.
Conax CAS7 is an end-to-end conditional access solution for protection of Digital TV premium content. The solution is built on Conax’s strong security technology platform and long experience and is a key business enabler for operators seeking to maximize revenues. Iwedia’s Comedia is a complete middleware platform for Pay-TV Set-Top Boxes.
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NDS, SES partner for metro middlewareNDS has announced that SES AMERICOM will distribute the NDS Synamedia Metro IPTV middleware solution to the American telecommunications market. This is the first global distribution agreement for Synamedia Metro, which was released in June of this year.
NDS says Synamedia Metro brings the world’s most advanced television technologies to the telecommunications industry, enabling telcos to offer a compelling IPTV middleware solution to their subscribers. The solution enables IPTV operators to offer advanced features to their customers including interactive TV applications (iTV), Video on Demand (VOD), Electronic Program Guides (EPG), and interactive games.
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Red Bee Advisory BoardRed Bee Media announced the appointment of an Advisory Board to contribute to its global expansion into new markets in Europe, Asia and the US. The Advisory Board is made up of leaders and entrepreneurs from around the world with extensive contacts and knowledge in the media industry. It is chaired by Janice Hughes of Spectrum Strategy Consultants in London, with other members being German media entrepreneur Christiane zu Salm and Darren Shaw from the Shaw Group in Hong Kong.
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Thursday 7th September
Price sensitivity for iTunes Movie Downloads
ReelTime launches for PCs
Kamera in web TV launch
Spain: 10% pay-TV reach
TeliaSonera launches new media network
Obopay secures $7m investment
Alticast eyes 3m MHP and OCAP STBs
Digital Rapids wins IPTV deal
RF Magic, ADB tune into silicon
Smart move for Latens
HP, Intel launch IPTV test centres
Pro-Bel, SGI partner
Price sensitivity for iTunes Movie Downloads
According to new research, only 14 per cent of broadband households would be interested in an iTunes online movie download service for use on PCs or portable devices if titles were priced at $15 each. This compares to total interest of 23 per cent at $10 per download - a 64 per cent decline in interest when increasing the cost per title by only $5.The Diffusion Group’s report - The On the Viability of an iTunes Movie Download Service - states that movie studios originally demanded that Apple accept a pricing scheme of around $20 per download, similar to the prices charged by current online movie services such as CinemaNow and Movielink. But according to Michael Greeson, founder and principal analyst with TDG, Apple demanded download prices of around $10 for even new titles, half that of existing services. "It would seem, then, that the two parties simply split the difference. All things equal, this appears to make sense."
However, TDG's research found that the net loss of demand from increasing the price from $10 to $15 is almost four times the gain in demand from lowering the price from $20 to $15. In other words, at $10 per title, demand would have been optimised yet profits would have suffered, while at $20 per title both revenue and profits would have been optimised with little loss in demand.
Regardless of whether the iTunes movie download service is announced this month or later this year, Greeson believes that the time is right for Apple to enter this market space. "Although current services such as CinemaNow and Movielink continue to languish, Apple is aware that the conditions are now suitable for extending iTunes to include full-length movie downloads. Consumer awareness has improved; video-over-broadband is now viable; studios are now making movies available for online download to DVDs; portable video platforms are improving qualitatively with each new generation; and Apple's brand awareness and credibility are at all time highs. As well, CinemaNow and Movielink's experience, while insightful, is of limited value to Apple, who continues to enjoy the fruits of being a market-maker in portable digital electronics and online media services."
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ReelTime launches for PCs
From Rose Major in MelbourneAustralian VOD company ReelTime Media has officially launched its VOD-to-PC service, but has yet to give a date for the launch of its ReelBox for VOD-to-the-TV.
Australian broadband subscribers on plans at speeds of 512kbps or above will be able to access the service, although with titles at around 650MB to 1.2 GB each, users are likely to need a more-expensive unlimited download account. Such a service is likely to cost around A$70 a month. ReelTime has direct partnership deals with some ISPs, although not with incumbent Telstra’s Bigpond ISP division. Bigpond has its own movie-download service, but ReelTime claims it offers a greater choice of major studios and titles.
The ReelTime service is currently designed to be viewed on a PC, although those with the ability to view their PC through a TV screen can watch that way. When the company launches its VOD-to-TV service, however, users will be able to download content on to
a set-top box through a broadband connection, for playing straight to the TV.ReelTime also recently received a VOD licence from the Media Development Authority of Singapore, with a PC service scheduled for the end of 2006 and a TV service set for six months to a year later.
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Kamera in web TV launch
Mobile and web TV provider Kamera has signed a deal with Norwegian magazine publisher Hjemmet Mortensen, which sees Kamera producing three web TV channels for the Scandinavian media company. The first web TV channel is ‘Vi Menn’, the number one men’s magazine in Norway, which is to be launched September 2006.Over the last few years, the magazine’s website has become increasingly important for both its readers and advertisers. Now, a web TV channel is added to the magazine’s offering, with daily entertainment news and in-house produced content.
"Television is no longer a one-way medium where only the major broadcasters control the means to push content into homes. In fact online video is really exploding. Vimenn.com has now adopted video to reach their audience. With the support from Kamera, a lot of the content is now developed to reach consumers in a multi-platform environment," commented Espen Agdestein, VP of HM Interaktiv.
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Spain: 10% pay-TV reach
From David del Valle in MadridPay-TV is increasingly pulling in large audiences, already representing 10 per cent of the total TV audience, according to research firm Sofres.
Cable company ONO leads, with an average audience share of 6.02 per cent, 37 per cent more than its main competitor, the Sogecable-controlled platform Digital Plus.
The most widely watched thematic channel is AXN. The Disney Channel is also one of the most watched, leading children’s channels.
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TeliaSonera launches new media network
TeliaSonera International Carrier is to launch an extensive media network in Europe, based on its own existing fibre infrastructure. The telco’s unit aims to leverage its experience and expertise in operating a global fibre-based network, utilising the platform it has in place on which to build its new high capacity and highly resilient network to serve the needs of the professional broadcast and media industry.
The network aims to meet the needs of broadcasters and distributors to find a cost effective alternative to satellite and address the soaring demand for media specific bandwidth services. It integrates professional media transport and distribution on an international level. Video content can be produced in one country, stored in a second and broadcast in one or many other countries in a common format. The media carrier network can be used for the secure distribution of video content, live events as well as less time-critical, time-sensitive content, helping broadcasters, production companies, satellite operators and content owners to rationalise and streamline their businesses.
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Obopay secures $7m investmentMobile payment service Obopay has closed on a $7 million strategic investment round led by wireless technologies innovator QUALCOMM Inc. Other participants in this round include investors Redpoint Ventures, ONSET Ventures and Richmond Management, which all contributed to the series A round of $10 million in February 2006.
"QUALCOMM believes that there is a tremendous opportunity in mobile payments," said Nagraj Kashyap, director of North American operations, QUALCOMM Ventures.Obopay will leverage the investment to expand its marketing and operations to capitalise on the rapidly growing opportunity for mobile payments in the United States. The company also will continue to work closely with mobile operators, merchants and financial institutions to provide consumers with greater options and a seamless experience with the Obopay mobile payments service.
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Alticast eyes 3m MHP and OCAP STBs
MHP and OCAP solutions provider Alticast is predicting that some 3 million Alticast-enabled set-top boxes will be deployed by the end of 2006, as a result of the adoption of MHP and OCAP services in Europe and Korea. As of July 2006, there are over 2.5 million MHP- and OCAP-based set-top boxes powered by Alticast’s middleware in Korea and Italy.
Korean digital satellite operator SkyLife projects MHP deployment of around 2 million devices by the end of the year. There are six other Korean MSOs that have already launched OCAP-based services. In addition, Korea Telecom seeks to start ACAP-based Internet protocol (IP) TV services and will begin field tests this November using Alticast’s products.
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Digital Rapids wins IPTV dealVideo solutions developer Digital Rapids’ Indian operation - Digital Rapids (India) Pvt Ltd - has finalised an order with The New Media Group (TNMG) for an IPTV project based around high brand value content for diaspora communities around the globe. Initially, Digital Rapids is providing StreamZ media encoding and streaming systems for 28 channels, with further expansion following the launch of the service.
The launch will take place in September, with the service comprising 24 linear channels including the content of News Corporation, Taj Sports, and others; four wholly-owned Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) channels; and 200 hours of Video on Demand (VOD).
The initial IPTV offering will be community-oriented and focus on the Subcontinent communities living and working in Japan, South Korea and Australia, and the French-speaking and Arabic-speaking communities in those markets. Content will be delivered from around the world to The New Media Group’s headquarters in Japan by traditional distribution methods, where it will be streamed live to the Japanese, Korean and Australian markets.
"Our mission is to provide high brand value content to communities that are underserved, and IPTV is the exact right way to do that," said Randy McGraw, President of TNMG.
"The delivery of television over IP networks continues to gain momentum, as content owners increasingly take advantage of the new revenue opportunities that it enables," said Brick Eksten, President of Digital Rapids Corporation. "The launch of this service, on top of the hundreds of existing Digital Rapids powered IPTV channels, exemplifies the growth we’re seeing in this market. IPTV is an ideal distribution platform for expanding the reach and availability of community and cultural content."
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RF Magic, ADB tune into siliconFabless semiconductor company RF Magic and digital STB developer Advanced Digital Broadcast (ADB) are partnering to deliver STB solutions featuring the industry's first implementation of silicon tuners integrated directly onto the STB motherboard.
Replacing traditionally implemented CAN tuners, ADB has integrated RF Magic's RF4000 DVB-T silicon tuner technology into its latest ADB-3800TW series of hybrid, digital terrestrial set-top boxes.
Philippe Lambinet, CEO of ADB, suggested that the company’s digital terrestrial customers could rapidly benefit from this new technology, which he felt resulted in more efficient hardware designs and more cost-effective solutions for the competitive digital
terrestrial markets.Gordon Schenk, Vice President of Worldwide Sales for RF Magic, described the implementation as "an industry milestone, as silicon is again replacing CAN tuners as part of a bundled package, demonstrating the competitive advantages that silicon can now offer when compared with traditional CAN technology."
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IPTV Conditional Access (CA) solutions provider Latens Systems has signed a deal to supply the CA system for Irish telecom provider Smart Telecom’s SmartVision IPTV service. The contract follows the successful conclusion of a pilot of the Latens system with the Dublin-based operator.
Founded in 2000, Smart Telecom is the fastest growing provider of residential, SME and corporate telecommunication services in Ireland and was the first operator in the country to provide digital triple play via a high performance FTTH network. Smart Vision offers subscribers over 100 TV and radio channels including Sky Sports, Sky Movies, MTV, Setanta Sports, Channel 4 and E4. The Latens system integrated seamlessly with Smart Vision’s IPTV ecosystem, which includes a VC8000 IP Streamer and iTV Manager middleware from Minerva and a population of Amino 110 set-top boxes.
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HP, Intel launch IPTV test centres
HP is working with Intel to open two Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) test centres to help carriers and broadband providers take advantage of the opportunities of the technology.
The IPTV Centres of Excellence will help customers accelerate deployment of new revenue-producing IPTV services, as well as reduce the costs and risks associated with them. The centres also address the service providers’ need for a ‘one-stop’ facility where they can test and validate IPTV solutions and resolve problems before the solution is deployed for subscribers.
At the two facilities, located in Grenoble, France, and Richardson, Texas, HP and Intel have created state-of-the-art working environments where carriers and broadband providers can develop and model the infrastructure they need to deliver a successful IPTV service. The facilities allow for performance and scalability evaluation, characterisation, sizing, full proof-of-concept testing, and integration of IPTV solutions into the network and the operational and business support systems.
"Intel and HP have created a world-class IPTV resource that will deliver very real operational and business value for service providers," claimed Peggy Dau, worldwide director, broadband and media solutions, Communications, Media and Entertainment, HP.
The new centres broaden the already extensive co-operation between HP and Intel in the converging telecom, broadband and media markets. In 2002, the two companies established their first competence centre dedicated to these industries.
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Broadcast technology specialist Pro-Bel is forming a strategic alliance with content archive and storage management software provider Software Generation Ltd (SGL). Pro-Bel has become the first SGL partner to fully integrate the company’s redesigned data archive and management software FlashNet6 with Pro-Bel’s Morpheus family of products.
Bernie Walsh, SGL Sales Director, suggested that the integrated FlashNet6 digital video storage/archive management software and Morpheus automation system would provide broadcasters worldwide with a totally integrated solution.
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Wednesday 6th September
Freston out at Viacom
Sat 1 buys into MyVideo
Eutelsat up on new channels
International alliance in the mobile TV market
Latens for Eagle
Channel 4 Mobile extends Volantis
OpenTV for Digiturk
Freston out at Viacom
Tom Freston has resigned as chief executive of Viacom, and Philippe Dauman has been appointed to succeed him.No reason was given for the Freston departure but the Viacom price has drifted since the split with CBS earlier this year. US reports also suggested Chairman Sumner Redstone’s handling of the ‘Tom Cruise affair’ may have created tension. Freston was best known for his long tenure at MTV and later MTV Networks.
Dauman, 52, will report to Redstone. The firm also named Thomas E. Dooley, 49, to the new position of senior executive vice president and chief administrative officer. Redstone said, "I have great respect for Tom Freston and want to personally thank him for his tremendous contributions to Viacom." Freston said: "I have worked closely with Philippe Dauman and Tom Dooley over the years and have the highest respect for their abilities. I will do all I can to insure a smooth transition."
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ProSieben Sat 1 has bought a 30 per cent stake in MyVideo, a German video website modeled on YouTube. Guillaume de Posch, chief executive, refused to disclose what the group had paid for the stake, but said ProSieben had an option to buy the remaining 70 per cent.
Only launched in April MyVideo’s German website registers about 2m downloads every day. It also runs sites for Poland, France and Spain. RTL Television, ProSieben’s rival last month launched the site Clipfish.de.
Myvideo has a German flavour; while YouTube offers a range of video categories from Arts to Video Games, MyVideo includes the categories Crazy and Erotica.
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Eutelsat has seen annual profits rise, lifted by demand for digital TV and data services. Net profit increased by 7 per cent to E40.2m in the year to 30 June. The firm operates 23 broadcasting and communications satellites and said improved demand would see turnover this year rise 5 per cent to E800m.
Eutelsat floated in December after an earlier share sale was cancelled. Guiliano Berretta, Eutelsat's CEO, said that over 80 per cent of the company's sales came from digital video, data and broadband markets.
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International alliance in the mobile TV market
From David Del Valle in MadridA group of leading DVB-H companies, led by Madrid-based tech provider SIDSA, have entered into an alliance to launch TrustVision Managed Services that will provide wireless and broadcast operators with a fully-managed single interface to all the elements of the mobile TV value chain for the first time.
This mobile TV solution is comprised of a TrustVision Terminal and Network, which includes: the POLARplus System (including the full range of core Digital TV Broadcast and Headend Equipment and middleware) and the Loren TV integration ready solution for terminals (comprising DVB-H chipsets, MW and Mobile TV application for handheld devices by Nextreaming). In addition, it includes a suite of consumer and enterprise TrustVision Middleware and Applications: fromTrickle Casting to Mobile TV Content Delivery and Publication Browsers, accessible either through mobile terminals or specialised devices.
Amongst the partners are leading vendors such as LambdStream, Nextreaming, Mier Comunicaciones and Opera Wireless.
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Latens Systems announced that Eagle Broadband a national provider of broadband for the United States of America, has selected the Latens IP CAS Conditional Access solution to secure its advanced IPTV services. Eagle, a pioneer for IPTV and IP-based Set-Top Boxes within the U.S., will offer its subscribers more than 200 channels of secured video services that include Pay-TV, high-definition (HD), personal-video-recording (PVR), video-on-demand (VOD) and subscription video-on-demand (SVOD).
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Channel 4 Mobile extends Volantis
Volantis, the leading supplier of Intelligent Content Adaptation solutions for mobile, announced that Channel 4 has engaged in a new licensing agreement to merchandize a broad variety of rich media content for its mobile services offering.The new platform - based on Volantis' Mobile Content Storefront - provides Channel 4 with a low-cost, low-risk solution to further expand its brand into mobile.
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OpenTV announced that it has extended its relationship with DIGITURK for the deployment of OpenTV’s High Definition Personal Video Recorder (PVR) technology. The High Definition solution leverages OpenTV’s advanced digital television software, OpenTV Core 2.0, and OpenTV PVR 2.0. The launch is expected for the first half of 2007.
The deployment is expected to enable DIGITURK to deliver an array of digital television services to DIGITURK’s 900,000 interactive subscribers. These services will include Push VOD, which will enable subscribers to select, download, and store feature films and television shows directly on the set-top box hard drive. DIGITURK expects to initially deploy OpenTV’s software on Pace PVR set-top boxes, with Irdeto providing conditional access security.
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Pace upbeat despite poor year
Green light to new RTVE Group
SBS buys Lumea
FSTs drive CE upturn
Music download on wane?
Wow for O2 Germany
Ruckus appoints Mitchell
Pace upbeat despite poor year
Pace Micro Technology has reported revenues down at £178.1m (E257m) for the year to June, against £253.3m last time and losses of £15.6m against a profit of £9.1m. And the loss was before a further exceptional charge of £11.9m related to charges against US products, restructuring costs and write down on trade investments.Chairman, Mike McTighe, commented: "As previously announced, the full year results reflect delays emanating from new product introduction in the US, a position that is now being resolved as shipments have started to flow through. The new CEO Neil Gaydon and his team have initiated a number of significant organisational changes to resolve former execution issues, improve margin performance, reduce costs and ensure Pace is best placed to grow its business. The Board believes that with shipments to the US underway, a strong performance of the business in EMEA and Asia Pacific, and the implementation of a new lower cost, but more effective organisational structure, Pace is turning an important corner."
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In 2006 Pace shipped 2.2m set-top boxes against 3.4m in 2005.
Green light to new RTVE Group
From David Del Valle in MadridThe Spanish Government has given the green light to the restructure of the state-owned group RTVE which also operates La Primera and La 2. The Group is to become a Corporation, called Corporacion RTVE, with a share capital of E100m, which will be up and running by the beginning of next year.
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The Corporation will manage all RTVE's TV and radio interests and its main aim will be to put an end to the huge losses of the group. The Spanish Parliament is to appoint a new president shortly.
SBS buys Lumea
SBS Broadcasting announced that its wholly-owned Romanian subsidiary, Amerom Television S.R.L., has completed the acquisition of Romania’s most popular music channel, TV K Lumea. With a focus on contemporary international and domestic hit music, TV K Lumea is the ratings leader in the 15-24 year-old urban target group. TV K Lumea was launched in 1999 as Romania’s first local language music channel. The terms of the acquisition are confidential.Commenting on the announcement, Patrick Tillieux, SBS’s Chief Operating Officer said: "We are excited to acquire the most popular music television channel in Romania. We will build the channel through our experience operating the successful The Voice TV music television channels in the Nordic countries and our ability to fully integrate the channel into our other Romanian operations, Kiss FM, and our youth-oriented television station, Prima TV, enhancing our multi-channel offering. This investment underscores our commitment to grow our businesses in Romania and to seek further opportunities in the region."
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FSTs drive CE upturn
Flat-screen TVs are driving growth in a consumer electronics market growing by nearly 10 per cent in 2006. This represents a turnover of some E60 billion for the industry. These figures from European Information Technology Observatory are based on a new study of ten European countries provided by EITO market researchers together with colleagues from the GfK.European consumers will spend some E20 billion in 2006 for flat-screen displays. This is a full 50 per cent more than last year. It means an increase in turnover for LCD televisions from about E8 billion last year to E14 billion. For plasma screen TVs, customers in Western Europe will spend E4.7 billion this year, as against E3.8 billion in 2005.
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Music download on wane?
Interest in downloading music to mobile phones has begun to stall, raising questions about consumers’ appetite for one of the perceived selling points of 3G mobile phones. A survey of 3,000 consumers by Entertainment Media Research, in association with Olswang says the survey found that just 11 per cent of consumers were already paying for music downloads on their mobile: only half the level that expressed interest in downloading in a similar survey a year ago.The study found that the mobile industry had succeeded in attracting "early adopters" to the technology, but a "second wave" of consumers was unconvinced with 44 per cent saying they were not interested in downloads and 36 per cent preferring to download over their home computer.
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Wow for O2 GermanyMobile and Web TV provider Kamera has signed a deal with German mobile operator O2 for the distribution of its dedicated entertainment service WOW! TV. WOW! TV is a daily mobile video service providing users with entertainment news. Distributed by 20 mobile networks worldwide, including Tele2, 3, Singtel and MTN, WOW!TV is Kamera’s most successful content service.
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Ruckus Wireless announced the appointment of Mark Mitchell, former vice president of sales for Juniper Networks, to vice president of sales covering the EMEA region.
Mitchell, who has 20 years of sales and channel development experience, will report to Rob Mustarde, who has been promoted to vice president of worldwide sales. Mustarde will work out of the company's headquarters in Silicon Valley.Ruckus Wireless also announced the opening of a new R&D centre in Tapei, Taiwan, where the company's engineering team will continue to innovate next generation Wi-Fi technology.
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Monday 4th September
O2 Czech launches IPTV
AT&T large scale WiFi
Fox tries to block DISH network deal
Alcatel to buy Nortel 3G business
Cablecos want to distribute satellite radio
Skype without PC from Philips
VideoGuard DRM
Tandberg for MyNetworkTV
O2 Czech launches IPTV
Telefónica O2 Czech Republic will offer all its services under the O2 brand and launch a new IPTV service, it has announced. O2 will replace the two original brands, CESK TELECOM and Eurotel, and will be used for all fixed line and mobile products. O2 TV will offer more than 30 broadcast channels available through a fixed connection and is now potentially available to more than one million lines. The user needs a modem that supports the O2TV service and a set-top box connected to the television in order to watch TV, purchase VOD and receive radio stations.Peter Erskine, chairman and chief executive, O2, said: "The O2 brand has gone from strength to strength in Europe after just five years since its inception. In addition to the brand, our newest business in the Czech Republic is playing a crucial part in O2's move beyond mobile into fixed broadband and converged services."
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AT&T large scale WiFi
AT&T will for the first time build a large-scale municipal WiFi network, providing free wireless broadband internet access in Illinois.
The company’s project in the city of Springfield could signal an important shift in the attitude of telecoms and cable network operators towards the rash of municipal WiFi roll-outs in large cities, including Philadelphia and San Francisco begin handled by specialist network suppliers or ISPs. AT&T, which already operates more than 34,000 small-scale WiFi "hotspots" in over 80 countries, said it saw municipal WiFi projects as an opportunity to complement their existing services, rather than a threat.
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Fox tries to block DISH network dealFox Broadcasting has asked a federal judge to block EchoStar from offering ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox programming to hundreds of thousands of viewers around the country. At issue is the delivery of ‘distant network’ programming. Satellite carriers are allowed to beam the Big Four signals from New York and sell them to customers around the country, but those consumers are ineligible if they can pick up their local affiliates with an antenna.
A federal appeals court found that EchoStar sold the programming to hundreds of thousands of ineligible subscribers, ordering a lower court to issue an injunction that would ban EchoStar from providing distant network signals to anyone, even legally eligible customers. But last week EchoStar announced a settlement with the independent affiliates of ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, hoping to avoid issuance of the injunction. But Fox Network and Fox local stations, both controlled by News Corp (also owner of DISH rival DirecTV) refused to go along with the effort to bring the eight-year-old case to a close.
As part of the settlement, EchoStar agreed to expand local service from 165 markets to 175 by the end of the year and pay $100 million to the stations. EchoStar, which has 12 million subscribers, said that less than a million purchase distant network signals.
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Alcatel to buy Nortel 3G business
Alcatel announced it has signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding with Nortel to acquire its UMTS radio access business (UTRAN) and related assets for $320 million. The deal is part of Alcatel's strategy to further strengthen its UMTS market position.
With the deal, Alcatel becomes one of the world's largest suppliers of UMTS radio access solutions, The proposed acquisition would enhance Alcatel's mobile radio expertise and product portfolio with technology and products that enjoy strong recognition among leading operators such as the Vodafone and Orange groups.
Under the transaction, Alcatel intends to acquire Nortel's UMTS radio access technology and product portfolio, associated patents and tangible assets as well as customer contracts. It is anticipated that a significant majority of employees of Nortel's UMTS access business, will be transferred to Alcatel.
Following the transaction Alcatel would serve an additional fourteen UMTS customers around the world for a combined global footprint that amounts to one in four UMTS operators. Alcatel would also significantly reinforce its presence with Tier-1 operators, especially in world-leading 3G markets such as South Korea, Italy, Spain, France, and the UK.
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Cablecos want to distribute satellite radio
From Gail Chiasson in MontrealMontreal-based cable television distributors Videotron Ltd. and CF Cable TV Inc. have applied to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to amend the licence of the Class 1 cable broadcasting distribution undertakings serving various locations in Quebec so that these cable systems can distribute, on a digital basis, the audio programming services offered by Canada's two satellite subscription radio undertakings: XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Canada.
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Videotron says, among a number of advantages for the Canadian broadcasting system, that distribution of satellite radio services by Class 1 BDUs could incite existing analogue subscribers to subscribe to digital services. Videotron also says that, not only will it enhance the choice and diversity of audio programming available to Canadians, but it will serve as a springboard and source of revenue for Canadian musicians, particularly those new and upcoming.
Videotron maintained that, if Canadian distributors cannot offer a comparable service, then consumers will abandon the Canadian distribution system to obtain U.S. satellite services.
Skype without PC from Philips
Philips Electronics said it would introduce the world's first cordless DECT phone that can make Skype Internet calls without being connected to a personal computer. The product will be available before the end of the year, Philips chief of consumer electronics activities, Rudy Provoost, said at the IFA electronics fair in Germany.
Also at IFA, Panasonic said it would start selling the world's largest television set, featuring a 103-inch (262-centimetre) screen, for $80,000.
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NDS has announced the addition of new DRM capabilities to its VideoGuard solution, enabling pay-TV operators to securely provide content across any platform to any type of device. The solution has been designed to address consumer viewing habits, with a focus on ensuring that subscribers can access their desired content when they want to watch it over whatever network and device they choose to watch it on. Consumer electronics manufacturers that integrate their products with VideoGuard can enrich their offering by giving users access to premium content on their devices using customizable business models.
The additional components of VideoGuard include a unified CA and DRM headend, a Trusted Secure Kernel, which is a security agent that is integrated within CE devices, and a Trusted Secure Player that will be integrated into PCs. The solution also includes a VideoGuard Key, a portable storage device containing robust hardware based CA and DRM that enables consumers to securely view and transfer content between a range of devices, including PCs, mobile devices and STBs.
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TANDBERG announced that MyNetworkTV, the new primetime television network with 167 affiliates representing 96 per cent of U.S TV households, has chosen TANDBERG Television to provide both high definition and standard definition MPEG-2 encoding solutions for its launch on September 5, 2006.
The win marks the sixth U.S broadcast network currently using TANDBERG Television systems for satellite distribution of network programming to affiliates. Implementation of the new system will enable MyNetworkTV, the only high definition broadcast television network in the U.S, to deploy a robust satellite distribution system enabling the highest quality of video for the launch of the new network this autumn.
"TANDBERG Television is pleased to have been chosen to provide the video and audio distribution system for the launch of MyNetworkTV in the U.S," said Lisa Hobbs, Senior Director of Business Development, TANDBERG Television Inc. "Our comprehensive range of encoding and receiving solutions, designed with the rigors of 24-hour-a-day broadcasting in mind, has made us the leading choice for U.S broadcasters today. We look forward to working with MyNetworkTV both during and after the launch of its new network."
