|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Our Latest Issues
Visit our archive to access more than 200 features! |
Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Tuesday
Friday 21st September
80%+ UK homes are digital
FastWeb IPTV for E20 a month
NBC 30 day downloads
Ofcom will auction 2G capacity
Andorra first switch-off
Sogecable 3play to boost subscribers
MTV ‘active’ network
AOL signs ABC
Intel: Chips with everything
UKTV introduce 'Dave'
The History Channel on demand in Korea
80%+ UK homes are digitalAlmost 85 per cent of UK homes now have digital television on their main set Ofcom says. Household take up of digital television - via Freeview, digital satellite or cable TV - stood at 84 per cent at the end of June, up from 80.5 per cent three months earlier, according to the media regulator's latest digital television progress report. The number of multichannel households, which also includes analogue cable homes, has reached 85 per cent of the UK total. This is up 13 per cent over the year, the strongest 12 months' growth to date, Ofcom said.
At the end of June there were 9.14 million Freeview-only homes, up from 8.38 million three months earlier. Almost 1.9 million Freeview devices were sold during the quarter - over a million of them to homes that already had digital TV.
Satellite and cable also took a share in the growth, with 8.09 million customers paying for BSkyB's satellite service in the UK and 3.41 million subscribers to the Virgin Media cable service, 3.13 million of those on digital.
Cable's penetration, at 13.4 per cent of homes, was at its highest since the second quarter of 2004. This compared with 35.9 per cent for digital terrestrial, or Freeview, and 35.5 per cent for satellite, of which 3.7 per cent was free-to-view satellite.
Back to top
FastWeb IPTV for E20 a month
From Branislav Pekic RomeWith the goal of capturing the 3-4 million Italians that are not satisfied with terrestrial television but do not want to pay for a triple-play package, as of next week, Italian telecom and broadband operator FastWeb will launch a TV-only package for only E20 a month.
FastWeb’s IPTV offer will include all the national terrestrial channels in Italy (Rai, Mediaset, La7, MTV), channels carried on the various digital terrestrial multiplexes, plus four movie premieres a month and interactive channels for children. The monthly "package" also includes two new services: Videorec, enabling the recording of any programme, and Replay, which permits the replay at any moment of programmes aired in the past three days.
Outside the package, viewers will be able to acquire individually (at prices ranging from E1.99 to E5) on demand content: current box office hits in high definition, the most popular Italian TV series (such as "Montalbano" and "La Squadra"), football matches (the entire Sky Italia offer is available, as well as programming from Cartoon Network and ESPN Network.
The new FastWebTV package includes 30 channels and interactive service which can be received with the new multiplatform decoder, which guarantees reception of analogue terrestrial, digital terrestrial, digital satellite and IPTV channels. The digital box is also capable of receiving High Definition TV signals.
Back to top
NBC 30 day downloadsNBC Universal said it would soon permit consumers to download many of NBC’s most popular programmes free to personal computers and other devices for one week immediately after their broadcasts.
The service, which is set to start in November, comes less than three weeks after NBC Universal said it was pulling its programmes out of the iTunes service. That partnership fell apart because of a dispute over Apple’s iTunes pricing policies and what NBC executives said were concerns about lack of piracy protection.
NBC makes many of its popular shows available online in streaming media, which means that fans can watch episodes on their computers. Under the new NBC service, called NBC Direct, consumers will be able to download, for no fee, NBC programmes like "Heroes," "The Office" and "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" on the night that they are broadcast and keep them for seven days. They would also be able to subscribe to shows, guaranteeing delivery each week.
Back to top
Ofcom will auction 2G capacityUK’s Ofcom is to ‘grab back’ capacity 02 and Vodafone have been licensed for restricted 2G services. The original mobile phone companies Vodafone and O2, formerly Cellnet, were given 2G spectrum when the UK mobile industry was founded in 1985. But Ofcom wants to release part of it to new entrants so they can run wireless broadband services, especially in rural areas.
Vodafone and O2 will receive no compensation for losing a massive chunk of the airwaves and will not be allowed to bid in the auction, proposed for 2009, to try to retain it. Ofcom estimates that 'liberalising' the spectrum used by Vodafone and O2 could bring benefits to the UK economy of up to £6bn (E8.6bn).
The 2G spectrum used by Vodafone and O2 runs over the 900MHz band. When One2One, now T-Mobile, and Orange were offered licences in 1991 they were given spectrum in the higher 1800 brand, with the existing two networks also given some capacity on this band. The four networks pay just £16m a year each for their 2G spectrum. All four operators have been lobbying hard for the regulator to remove restrictions on what services they can run over their 2G networks, which can only carry voice calls, texts, picture messaging and slow internet access.
Putting 3G technology onto these lower brands would enable wireless broadband in more rural areas because on the lower ranges such as 900 MHz, signals can travel over much greater distances than on the 3G spectrum sold during the dot.com era. The lower bands are also better for indoor coverage.
Ofcom has decided to reclaim some of the 900MHz band granted to O2 and Vodafone to auction off. While Orange, T-Mobile and 3 will be able to bid for a slice of this spectrum, Ofcom also expects up to three new entities to bid.
Back to top
Andorra first switch-off
From David Del Valle in MadridThe Principality of Andorra, a small country located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by Spain and France, has just switched off its analogue TV transmissions, becoming the first country in Europe to do so.
Its 85,000 inhabitants now watch only watching digital TV with 20 DTT channels in four multiplexes. The first multiplex is offers the following channels: 3/24, Tele 5, Arte, RTP Internacional and BBC World; the second, ATV, TV3, La 2, TF1 and M6; the third, K3, La Primera, Antena 3, France 2 and France 3; and in the fourth the TV offer is still to be decided.
Andorra, a territory of only 468 m2, has a very high penetration of DTT with around 85 per cent of all homes equipped with a DTT set-top-box.
Back to top
Sogecable 3play to boost subscribersSpain's Sogecable, is getting into broadband and voice telephony in an attempt to bolster its subscriber base and boost the country's lagging pay TV sector. From November it will join forces with telco Telefonica to offer triple-play package Trio Plus, which includes its satellite service Digital Plus.
By late September, Sogecable also will launch iPlus, the next-gen decoder and DVR capable of storing more than 80 hours of shows. Trio Plus will sell Sogecable's Digital Plus alongside broadband and voice telephony from Telefonica in the near 50 per cent of the Spanish market that Telefonica IPTV service Imagenio doesn't reach.
Back to top
MTV ‘active’ network
Viacom's MTV is to launch a new Internet social network sponsored by foundations operated by the founders of Microsoft and AOL to encourage youth activism. The site, Think.MTV.com, is designed to be a resource for social and political issues, aiming to inform as well as let users connect with other like-minded people on issues from the environment to sexual health and discrimination.
Back to top
Walt Disney's ABC has become the latest major network to strike a deal with AOL allowing its full-length prime-time shows to be available free on the Time Warner-owned portal. ABC shows will be available on AOL effective immediately, a few weeks before NBC Universal and News Corp.'s Fox are expected to launch their jointly owned online venture Hulu.
Back to top
Intel: Chips with everythingIntel, the world's largest chipmaker, is on the verge of making its biggest push yet into mobile consumer electronics, seeking to replicate its success in mobile personal devices, and personal computers. In the first half of next year, Intel will deliver its Menlow platform, a collection of chips and other components to power mobile Internet devices.
Back to top
UKTV introduce 'Dave'UKTV is to launch a channel called "Dave" in place of UKTV G2 and give it a precious Freeview slot. The "Dave" channel, which will launch on October 15, will focus on a young male audience with a mix of comedy and factual entertainment programming.
Dave will replace UKTV Bright Ideas on Freeview, while it will also be available on Virgin Media's cable and Sky's digital TV services.
Back to top
The History Channel on demand in KoreaThe History Channel has made its Video on Demand debut in Korea following recently signed agreements with Gretech and Hanaro Telecom. Through the deal with Gretech, The History Channel has a branded service on the Info & Entertainment offering of GOM TV, an advertising supported broadband video player. Hanaro Telecom agreed to debut The History Channel VOD service on Hana TV, the first and largest IPTV service in Korea, with 470,000 subscribers.
Back to top
Thursday 20th September
Mobile TV to reach 120m by 2012
$41bn online and mobile advertising by 2011
Channel 4 HD on Sky
MGM HD on DirecTV
MTV launching pan-Euro HD feed
CASBAA one-stop portal for TV marketers
Penthouse TV for US
Trai tunes in to TV-on-mobile code
TW may sell dial up
Mobile TV to reach 120m by 2012Worldwide annual consumer spending on mobile broadcast TV services is expected to exceed $6.6 billion (E4.7bn) by 2012, according to a new report from Juniper Research.
It predicts 120 million mobile users in more than 40 countries are to receive broadcast TV services by 2012, compared to less than 12 million in 2007, with DVB-H the dominant transmission standard. However, the report is cautions that services face significant technological and regulatory hurdles both prior to launch and as they bid to build a critical mass of subscribers.
According to report author Dr Windsor Holden, "while the quasi-mandation of DVB-H by the European Commission is a huge boost to that standard, it does create uncertainty in the minds of those who might regard other technologies as more cost effective and might ultimately be counterproductive as a measure to promote mobile TV per se."
The report also stresses the need for regulators to make optimal UHF spectrum available as soon as is practicably possible, and for vendors to ensure that broadcast TV chipsets are rapidly introduced into a wide range of mass market handsets to facilitate adoption.
Back to top
$41bn online and mobile advertising by 2011MultiMedia Intelligence has reported that the new media opportunity of Internet advertising, Internet TV, IPTV advertising, mobile TV advertising and in-game advertising will grow to $41 billion (E29bn) worldwide by 2011. This will more than double the new media advertising segment of 2007, which collectively will reach almost $18 billion worldwide in 2007.
The $185 billion dollar TV advertising industry is now in the cross-hairs of the technology industry, according to Rick Sizemore, Chief Strategy Officer for MultiMedia Intelligence. "New technology-driven advertising models are emerging on the Internet, on mobile devices, in video games, and on public displays. These are significant opportunities, but will be massively disruptive to the traditional advertising industry."
Back to top
Channel 4 HD on SkyChannel 4 is set to become the first UK terrestrial broadcaster to offer a high definition simulcast of its main channel on the Sky platform. Scheduled to be available from December 2007, Channel 4 HD will allow Sky HD customers to watch HD versions of select Channel 4 shows. There are plans to make it available on digital cable TV and Freeview in the future.
"The launch Channel 4 HD represents an early, cost efficient entry into a valuable, emerging market and an important enhancement to the service offered to the rapidly increasing number of HD viewers," said the Channel 4 director of new business, Rod Henwood.
Back to top
MGM HD on DirecTVHollywood film studio MGM is set to launch a new 24/7 network delivering a library of classic and contemporary films on demand in high definition. MGM HD will launch this Autumn on DirecTV. MGM is believed to be the first leading Hollywood studio to launch a standalone HD channel, which it hopes will generate a significant new revenue stream.
Back to top
MTV launching pan-Euro HD feedMTV Networks International will launch the company's first pan-European high-definition feed next year. With content drawn from MTV, VH1 and Nickelodeon, the channel will be operated by MTVNI's emerging markets group. It joins MTVNI's other pan-regional European services: MTV European, VH1 European and VH1 Classic European.
Back to top
CASBAA one-stop portal for TV marketers
Regional advertising agencies and clients have gained access to www.thepowerofpaytv.com, a dedicated website for the client and agency community highlighting marketing opportunities to reach customers from the Asia Pacific pay-TV industry.
The site, launched by the Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA), houses industry research along with TV network data, client case studies and the latest industry news. "The idea is to deliver a ‘one-stop’ pay-TV advertising information resource for media planners across the region," said Paul Corrigan, the CASBAA Consultant who coordinated development of the site.
"It’s time for the pay-TV industry to further demonstrate to marketers how much has changed in the advertising environment. Most markets with a viable pay-TV advertising medium now have reliable measurement making the industry more accountable than ever to clients".
New Frontier Media, a producer and distributor of general and adult-themed entertainment, has made an exclusive, long-contract with Penthouse Media Group, of one of the world's leading men's lifestyle publications, to deliver Penthouse-branded adult television content in the US. Under terms of the deal, New Frontier Media will develop and launch a Penthouse-branded linear TV channel as well as a Penthouse Video On Demand service to US cable, satellite and IPTV operators.
Back to top
Trai tunes in to TV-on-mobile codeThe Indian telecom regulator TRAI has initiated a consultation process to seek operators’ views before issuing guidelines for mobile TV services. The Government will also issue a regulatory framework for mobile TV.
Based on comments from the industry, Trai will issue recommendations on issues relating to mobile television services. The guidelines will be on international practice, eligibility criteria, net worth requirement, foreign direct and indirect investment levels, technology, revenue sharing, entry fees, bank guarantee, spectrum and facilities to be offered by service providers. A joint group of ministers will study the recommendations before releasing the final set of regulations.
Back to top
TW may sell dial upTime Warner will "look hard" in the next 12 to 18 months at possibly selling off its AOL dial-up Internet access business, similar to its strategy in Europe. AOL, which restructured last year to offer most of its services for free, aims to focus exclusively on boosting online advertising sales both on its AOL.com portal and across the Web.
Meanwhile, AOL is planning to pilot a free service offering users the chance to share personal photos, videos and music through one application. The ‘Bluestring’ site will give users about 5GB of memory, meaning they could store about 1,600 songs, 10,000 photos or 600 videos, depending on the file sizes.
Back to top
Wednesday 19th September
Virgin 1, October 1
Ofcom: BBC HD channel OK
Govt to speed UK broadband?
Arsenal signs for Setanta
iPhone hits UK
SingTel selects Ruckus for Wi-Fi
Scaberia partnership with 3Vision and Concurrent
Arqiva satellite distribution network to enable Freesat
Virgin 1, October 1Virgin 1, the general entertainment channel that aims to take on Sky One, will launch on October 1. The channel will be available on Freeview, satellite and cable. Virgin Media's catch-up TV, previews and exclusive content will also be available online.
Virgin Media has acquired the rights to several high profile US shows ahead of the launch, including The Riches, The Sarah Connor Chronicles and the Star Trek franchise.
Back to top
Ofcom: BBC HD channel OKOfcom’s Market Impact Assessment (MIA) has ruled that the BBC’s plans to introduce a new mixed genre digital TV channel in high definition format, available free-to-view without advertising, is unlikely to have significant negative market impacts.
Audiences would have the opportunity to access the BBC’s proposed HD channel on all digital television platforms – digital satellite, digital cable and digital terrestrial. The channel would also be available on the Internet when technical and financial considerations make it possible.
At launch the channel would offer a schedule of three to four hours per day building to nine hours in late 2008, broadcasting a selection of material from BBC1, BBC2 and other BBC channels.
Back to top
Govt to speed UK broadband?The UK Government is willing to consider some form of limited public intervention to spur private-sector investment in ‘ultra-fast’ broadband networks. Stephen Timms, minister for competitiveness, will use a speech to the Broadband Stakeholder Group to warn that the UK risks lagging behind other leading industrialised countries that are rolling out super-fast, fixed-line broadband networks.
He will say that ministers and regulators had just two years to find ways to encourage investment in high-speed broadband, or UK competitiveness would suffer.
Arsenal signs for SetantaArsenal and Setanta have signed a six-year deal for a club channel to be screened on the satellite broadcaster, providing the Premier League club with a new income stream for delayed rights to its matches. The deal mirrors a similar agreement made between Setanta and Liverpool in July, which sees the club's exclusive channel launched this week as part of the Setanta Sports package.
Unlike club channels for Manchester United and Chelsea, which require the clubs to pay satellite and subscriber management costs, Setanta is paying Arsenal and Liverpool a rights fee in order to drive subscriptions.
Back to top
Apple and O2 have confirmed that the iPhone will launch in the UK on November 9 with O2 as its exclusive carrier. O2 customers will be able to get their hands on an iPhone for £269 (E384) - approximately £69 more than in the US.
O2 will be offering unlimited data usage (2.5G, EDGE) to anyone with an iPhone on a £35, £45 or £55 monthly contract. No word on terms of the expected revenue share the two companies have in place for ARPU generated by the device, though 10 per cent to Apple has been reported.
Back to top
SingTel selects Ruckus for Wi-FiRuckus Wireless has been selected by Singapore Telecommunications to supply its Ruckus MediaFlex Smart Wi-Fi system to enable in-home wireless distribution of SingTel's new "mio TV" IPTV service.
Back to top
Scaberia partnership with 3Vision and Concurrent
Scaberia, a Norway-based technology and innovations consulting company, is partnering with Concurrent Computer Corporation and 3Vision to offer creative technology and content solutions for on-demand in Europe. Concurrent, a developer of on-demand technology, and 3Vision, the UK-based content strategy and acquisition specialists, will collaborate with Scaberia on joint projects and on-demand solutions for clients across Europe.
Back to top
Arqiva satellite distribution network to enable FreesatArqiva has been awarded a contract by the BBC to help bring Freesat, the free-to-air digital TV platform, to air by March 2008. Arqiva will provide the BBC with an end-to-end distribution solution for the platform management data, which will have fully-redundant back up across dual teleports. Arqiva will implement multiple circuits between two key teleports – the primary one in Bedford (Bedfordshire) and secondary one at Crawley Court (Hampshire) – and the BBC broadcast centres in London.
Back to top
Tuesday 18th September
Sky-ITV inquiry delayed
CASBAA hails APEC
DTT sales accelerate in Spain
Broadcasters tell Ofcom to lay off
Digital UK campaign in September
Germany to approve mobile TV project
Pace on track but warn on ‘08
UTStarcom, Bharti Airtel launch IPTV
200,000 choose Telia’s digital TV
Seven to pay News Corp legal costs
SK Telecom, T-Systems team up for mobile TV
Nokia buys Enpocket
blinkx and Utarget advertise online
Alcatel-Lucent services deployed in development lab
Sky-ITV inquiry delayedThe Competition Commission has extended the timetable for completing its inquiry into BSkyB's £940m (E1.3bn) purchase of a 17.9 per cent stake in ITV until next year.
It had intended to hand over the results of its inquiry to John Hutton, the secretary of state for business enterprise and regulatory reform, by November 7. However, the commission said that the deadline had been extended to January 2 because of the "complex" nature of the inquiry "dealing with both competition and media public interest considerations".
Back to top
CASBAA hails APECIndustry body the Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) has applauded a call by regional political leaders for Governments to "effectively address" the issue of satellite and cable TV signal theft. "The new priority given by the APEC ministers to this problem is great news," said Marcel Fenez, the Chairman of CASBAA. "With estimated pay-TV piracy in Asia topping US$1.1 billion -- and still rising -- Governments must sit up and take notice."
The APEC statement noted that TV signal piracy does great harm to copyright owners, legitimate pay-TV operators and broadcasters. "The big change is that Asian governments now see the damage that piracy of all kinds to does to their domestic economies," said Mr. Fenez. "With more and more Asian content entering the global media market, it is not only the legitimate distributors, but increasingly Asian content owners who bear the brunt of signal theft."
Back to top
DTT sales accelerate in Spain
From David Del Valle in Madrid
The sales of DTT boxes and integrated DTT TV sets are accelerating in Spain. More than 371,000 DTT devices were sold in July, of which more than 170,000 were integrated DTT TV sets, representing 45.8 per cent of the total.
Currently, 19.4 per cent of Spanish homes are already enjoying DTT in Spain, according to the Association Impulsa TDT, with 3.3 million people watching DTT. But three years before the analogue switch off there are still more than 20 million sets to be adapted to digital.
Back to top
Broadcasters tell Ofcom to lay off
A dispute has broken out between UK television networks and their and Ofcom over the public service remit of channels such as ITV1 and Channel 4. Ed Richards, chief executive of the media and communications regulator, signalled renewed pressure to finalise the remit of channels such as ITV1 and Channel 4, saying that the public service broadcasting debate so far had just been "shadow boxing" and that "the real debate" was starting.
At the Royal Television Society conference, Michael Grade, ITV’s executive chairman, called for his company to be "left alone by regulators" as Mark Thompson, director-general of the BBC, warned Ofcom that one of its favoured options for the future funding of public service broadcasting was "crazy". They both agreed that privatizing C4 would be preferable to further state subsidy. Grade called for all ITV's public service genre quotas to be scrapped.
Back to top
Digital UK campaign in SeptemberDigital UK is launching a national information campaign on September 19 to promote the digital TV switchover, which starts in Whitehaven, Cumbria on October 17, before rolling out across the entire country region-by-region over the next few years, finishing in 2012.
The £8m (E11.4m) campaign is the latest phase of Digital UK’s national information programme. Since the first promotions launched in summer 2006, awareness of switchover has increased by over a third, to more than eight-in-ten adults. But with only 16 per cent able to say when their region will convert, the new campaign emphasises that people will switch at different times according to where they live. The adverts also encourage people to visit digitaluk.co.uk, where a new postcode checker provides detailed information about when they will switch and what digital services and channels they are likely to receive.
Meanwhile, The UK’s CE has announced measures to increase the supply of digital television products and phase out analogue-only kit ahead of switchover. The Digital Switchover Supply Chain Group, representing independent retailers and chains such as Currys, Comet, Tesco, Sony and Panasonic, will also take steps to improve levels of information about equipment available to consumers.
Back to top
Germany to approve mobile TV projectDeutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile, Vodafone and O2 have agreed to meet German regulatory conditions to win approval for their venture to broadcast television on mobile phones. The conditions will ensure that competition isn't hampered. The approval will become final in October provided that it isn't challenged before then.
The companies agreed not to bundle services and will ensure that programmes can be received on devices other than mobile phones and that customers won't be obliged to buy both the TV programmes and the mobile-phone services.
T-Mobile, Vodafone and O2 plan to work together to create the technical basis for broadcasting mobile televisions and to buy programmes. The sale of programmes to customers isn't part of the venture as the products will be marketed individually by the three companies.
Back to top
Pace Microtechnology put out a Market Update saying "Pace is continuing to perform well and the Board now expects that the outcome for the shortened 2007 year will be significantly ahead of its existing expectations. This primarily results from ongoing action to improve business efficiencies, which is delivering results ahead of our expectations across the entire product range. In addition, Pace's US business is continuing to perform very strongly." But the statement also warned: "At this early stage the Board's current expectation is that on an annualised basis revenues in 2008 may not be as strong as 2007, as the current exceptional sales performance in the US adjusts to normal levels. However, Pace continues to make extremely good operational progress and the Board remains confident with its existing expectations for the overall outcome for the 2008 financial year."
Back to top
UTStarcom, Bharti Airtel launch IPTV
UTStarcom has made a contract to supply its RollingStream end-to-end IPTV solution to Bharti Airtel, one of India's leading integrated telecommunications service providers with more than 46 million customers. UTStarcom's RollingStream solution will enable Bharti Airtel to offer a new service to its customers consisting of live broadcast television, time-shifted TV and video-on-demand (VoD) bundled with the operator's existing broadband and voice services.
Back to top
200,000 choose Telia’s digital TVTelia’s digital TV service has registered its 200,000th customer – with the total number of customers having doubled since May 2007.
Back to top
Seven to pay News Corp legal costs
Aussie network Seven will be required to pay legal costs of $23.5 million to a number of News Ltd companies, following the failure of the broadcaster's long running C7 pay television litigation.
Seven had launched a marathon campaign to prove News, PBL and Telstra conspired almost seven years ago to kill off its C7 pay-television sports venture.
Back to top
SK Telecom, T-Systems team up for mobile TV
South Korean mobile operator SK Telecom and T-Systems have entered into a preliminary agreement on mobile broadcasting. The companies plan to jointly enter the mobile broadcasting market in Europe and Asia, using a variety of mobile TV technologies. The size of the deal was not disclosed.
Back to top
Nokia buys EnpocketNokia has agreed to buy US mobile advertising firm Enpocket. Nokia claims that the move will allow it to accelerate the scaling of its mobile advertising business, taking advantage of Enpocket's platform and strong partnerships with advertisers, publishers and operators.
Back to top
blinkx and Utarget advertise onlineVideo search engine blinkx has partnered with Utarget, the UK online video advertising network, to place video advertising around its video content for UK audiences. Utarget will focus on monetising blinkx's video inventory including ITN News and ITN Celebrity.
Back to top
Alcatel-Lucent services deployed in development labAlcatel-Lucent and CableLabs have confirmeed the deployment of Alcatel-Lucent next-generation IP multimedia applications and core network technology in the CableLabs PacketCable 2.0 Applications Lab, as part of a cable industry program to increase new advanced services available to cable customers.
Back to top
Monday 17th September
News Corp boss urges innovation
US online video consumption
Hulu chases Mojito
Media think-tank for UK
PMPs becoming more aligned with consumer needs
Headweb offers legal torrents
Canadian regulator to give TV, cable operators more leeway
ICASA new pay-TV licence holders
J:COM subscriber figures
Zinkia and Vodafone Spain’s Pocoyo TV
Microsoft and Sun expand strategic alliance
IPTV tops DSL Forum agenda
BBC scores Super Bowl rights
Dolgen and Freston join Veoh investors
Web-only show ‘Quarterlife’
News Corp boss urges innovationPeter Chernin, president and chief operating officer of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, has warned British broadcasters to adapt their output to the new media world or face extinction.
He told delegates at the Royal Television Society (RTS) convention in Cambridge that if they were not "innovating and coming up with new ideas," they were "toast". "There are huge rewards for those who innovate, and death to those who do not," he said.
Chernin suggested that there was a "golden opportunity" for media companies to make money from the new consumer-led world despite having to fight harder for viewers' attention. According to Chernin, traditional media companies had to take notice of technological developments and adapt their business model accordingly. "The knee-jerk reaction is to take pot-shots at what you don't understand. To dismiss user-generated content as crap and blogs as unauthoritative is not only unproductive but a waste of time," Chernin claimed.
Back to top
US online video consumptionComScore, which measures consumer Internet habits, has reported that 75 per cent of Internet users in the US watch an average of three hours of online video a month. The average online video duration was 2.7 minutes.
ComScore reports that Google video sites are the most seen; a hefty 2.5 billion videos were viewed on its sites during July, of which 2.4 billion were viewed on YouTube.
Back to top
Hulu chases MojitoHulu, News Corp and NBC Universal’s online video joint venture, is reportedly close to buying Chinese company Mojiti, a YouTube clone for $10m - with observers speculating it could use the tech start-up’s video platform as its main player.
Back to top
James Purnell, the UK’s culture secretary, has announced a new convergence think-tank made up of experts from both inside and outside government. The first task of the think-tank will be to organise a series of public looking first at how to secure open markets and empower consumers. It will move on to look at the future of public service broadcasting later in 2008.
Purnell was unveiling his vision for broadcasting at the Cambridge RTS convention, and outlined three main goals: to secure an open market and find ways of deregulating while increasing competition; to secure ‘universal access’ to distinctive and high-quality content; and to address looming questions around content regulation.
Back to top
PMPs becoming more aligned with consumer needsCompelling video content and good video viewing experience trump cost of video content as the top two factors that will drive consumers' usage of next-generation, video-focused portable entertainment devices, according to Parks Associates' report.
The data is pulled from Parks Associates' survey - Mobile Entertainment Platforms and Service II - and is based on analysis that groups (Portable Multimedia Player) PMP owners' perceptions on 12 individual video consumption factors into five major usage driver categories. The results indicate that 43 to 44 per cent of owners choose appealing video content and optimised video viewing experience as their top motivations to watch more videos on the portable platform, compared with 33 per cent who are motivated by cost of content, 19 per cent by personalisation and connectivity features, and 16 per cent by ease of use.
"The PMP market has not reached one tenth of its potential yet, and this data explains why," commented Harry Wang, Senior Analyst and author of the report. "None of the PMP vendors have a perfect score on these five mega factors, although Apple clearly leads the pack in fulfilling the high-ranking needs of the PMP early adopters."
Back to top
Headweb offers legal torrentsSwedish company Headweb believes it may have discovered a lawful solution to the movie industry's long-running file sharing quandary. By merging peer to peer file sharing methods with advanced watermarking technology, the Stockholm firm hopes to beat the Internet pirates at their own game and offer consumers a legal alternative.
Customers will be given the opportunity to pay for movies, download them legally using BitTorrent technology and view them using a regular DVD player.
Back to top
Canadian regulator to give TV, cable operators more leewayCanada's broadcasting regulator should give more flexibility to cable operators and television stations on advertising, Canadian content and channel packages, according to a report commissioned by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. The study will feed into the federal regulator's public consultations next year on speciality and pay channels and cable and satellites services.
Lawyers Laurence Dunbar and Christian Leblanc, the report's authors, said the CRTC should foster more competition among speciality channels by scrapping ‘genre protection’ and licence distinctions, since many vie for the same viewers. Stations should be free to advertise as much as they want, and consumers should have more freedom to choose the channels they get from cable operators instead of tightly regulated packages, the report also said.`
Back to top
ICASA new pay-TV licence holdersThe Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has confirmed the winning bidders of the new commercial satellite and cable subscription broadcasting licences.
The only surprise was the withdrawal of Sentech from the race, as it was expected that pay-television giant MultiChoice would win and so would Telkom Media which is expected to be MultiChoice’s biggest rival. Other winners are e.tv’s e.sat, On Digital Media and Walking on Water.
Icasa councillor Zwelisa Masizsa said the authority took into account factors such as ownership and control, the applicant’s general history, finance, market research, programming and technology information.
Back to top
J:COM subscriber figuresJupiter Telecommunications, the largest multiple system operator (MSO) in Japan based on the number of customers served, has announced that the total subscribing households as of August 31, 2007 served by J:COM’s 21 managed franchises reached approximately 2.72 million, up 478,100, or 21.4 per cent since August 31, 2006.
The increase is attributed to growth of the subscribing households in existing service areas and the addition of newly consolidated franchises. Combined revenue generating units (RGUs) for cable television, high-speed Internet access and telephony services reached 4.75 million, up 822,000 or 20.9 per cent since August 31, 2006. The cable television digital migration rate as of August 31, 2007 increased to 62 per cent from 46 per cent as of August 31, 2006.
Zinkia and Vodafone Spain’s Pocoyo TV
Spanish animation company Zinkia has teamed up with Vodafone Spain to create Spain’s first kids‚ mobile TV channel, Pocoyo TV. The streamed channel, which debuts during September 2007 in Spain on Vodafone live!, offers viewers the chance to watch back-to back episodes of the animated series, when they want and where they want, in English and Spanish.
Back to top
Microsoft and Sun expand strategic allianceMicrosoft and Sun Microsystems have confirmed that Sun has signed on as a Windows Server OEM. Additionally, Sun and Microsoft will collaborate to further enable deployment of Windows Server on Sun x64 systems.
Furthermore, Sun and Microsoft will continue to collaborate to advance the worldwide deployment of the Microsoft Mediaroom IPTV and multimedia platform on Sun servers and storage systems. AT&T U-verse digital TV offering has chosen Sun for one of world's largest deployments of the Microsoft Mediaroom platform, which includes server and client software. The combination of Sun's server solutions and Microsoft's TV software technology is expected to speed time-to-market for IPTV services, while providing superior cost and performance characteristics for communications service providers worldwide.
Back to top
IPTV tops DSL Forum agendaThe successful mass deployment of IPTV is at the top of the DSL Forum’s agenda and dominated discussions at the Forum’s latest quarterly meeting.
The meeting, held in Nashville Tennessee, focused on elements critical to the success of IPTV on a global scale. The Forum, which has also formed an IPTV Oversight Committee, met to discuss the areas identified for future work including transport improvements around VDSL2, policy control framework and network performance improvements as well as home networking optimisation, including IPTV remote management and Set Top Box (STB) initiation advancements.
Back to top
BBC scores Super Bowl rightsBBC Sport will broadcast the Super Bowl live, over the next two years, having signed an exclusive free-to-air deal with the NFL. The deal will also include exclusive free-to-air highlights of the NFL London game on 28 October 2007 between the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants at Wembley Stadium, plus any other NFL London games that may be scheduled for next year. Commercial rival ITV previously held the free-to-air rights.
Back to top
Dolgen and Freston join Veoh investorsFormer Viacom president and CEO Tom Freston has joined a growing
list of investors in Internet TV service Veoh Networks. Freston, who left Viacom a year ago, took part in the company's Series C funding, which closed in August 2007, via his Firefly3 LLC firm. Former Paramount Pictures head Jonathan Dolgen was also amongst investors in its third funding round.
Web-only show ‘Quarterlife’The creative minds behind such TV shows as ‘Thirtysomething’ and ‘My So-Called Life’ are launching a Web-based show, hoping to find the artistic freedom online that they say is lacking on broadcast networks.
The show, called ‘Quarterlife’, will debut November 11 on MySpace.com and will also be paired with its own social networking site that will include story extras as well as career, romance and other information for the show's young audience.
