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Our Latest Issues
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Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Tuesday Comcast: we’ll loose TV subs
Bis launch line up, prices
Fastweb MVNO
Ofcom takes over premium rate ruling
France 24 mobile
TI HD chip
Amino for Panama
NDS extends DirecTV deal
Motorola in Denmark
Comcast: we’ll loose TV subs
Comcast, the largest U.S. cable television operator, said it expects to lose video customers in 2008 as competitive and economic pressure mounts; its shares fell more than 10 percent on the news.
The comments from CFO Michael Angelakis came after the company lowered its forecast for 2007 cable revenue growth to about 11 percent from a previous forecast of at least 12 percent, citing a "challenging economic and competitive environment."
The cautious outlook took down other cable stocks. Angelakis said Comcast's scale across the United States has meant that it has been hurt by the downturn in the housing market and a tougher macro-economic environment.
"When we see a little bit of a rise in both churn and bad debt, that indicates there's an economic issue," he told investors at a UBS media conference. Churn is the industry term for customer losses. Angelakis said Comcast expected to lose more basic video customers in the current quarter and into 2008, hurt by competition from new video services from Verizon and AT&T as well as from longer-term competition from satellite TV operators. "We will fight in the streets and do everything we can for retention but I think the expectation that I have is we will lose some share in the video side," said Angelakis.
In the third quarter, Comcast posted a 54% drop in quarterly profit as it lost more basic video subscribers than expected.
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Bis launch line up, prices
From Sotires Eleftheriou in Paris
The AB group has concluded a range of deals ahead of its launch of the low cost satellite platform Bis Television next week. The basic Bis package costs just E4.90 a month for 25 channels, with film and adult add-on options costing an extra E4.90 a month each.AB has just concluded a deal with the Arabic platform ART to include its channels as a further option. Also, AB has concluded alliances with box manufacturers and the distribution channels to roll out a range of STBs with the Bis label and including a viewing card in the package, for E149. The viewing card gives ten days of free viewing, after which it must be validated by taking out a monthly subscription.
Alternatively, a tuner with a viewing card pre-paid for one year costs E199, or a one-year pre-paid card alone for E99. These prices include E40 for the card itself.
Bis will transmit from both the Hotbird (13 degrees east) and the Atlantic Bird 3 satellites. A significant part of the target market is people who have already installed dishes for TPS but who want to reduce their pay TV budget or do not want to move their satellite dish. “By canceling their TPS subscription and returning the proprietary decoder, the refund of their E75 deposit will go half way to paying for a decoder they will own plus our package”, said Claude Berda, president of AB group. “Then the price of subscription bears no relation to that of the monopoly platform.”The platform is also aimed at people who receive free to air transmissions from Hot Bird or AB3 (the analogue terrestrial channels), a total of almost 5 million dishes.
Asked about the failure of the AB Sat platform, Berda explained that it had been “boycotted by decoder manufacturers, obliging us to reposition as a channel supplier”. He added that the 15,000 remaining subscribers to AB Sat would be encouraged to migrate to Bis Television. Bis aims to have 100,000 subscribers within a year.
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Fastweb MVNOFASTWEB has signed a mobile virtual network operator agreement with 3 Italia, the mobile media company 7.7 million subscribers. The agreement will enable FASTWEB to offer mobile telephone services to its residential and business clients.
The partnership agreement will give FASTWEB complete freedom in defining and developing its services and, thanks to the integration of the new mobile platforms with its own broadband network, FASTWEB will be able to capitalize on previous investment and on the services already developed for its 1.25 million fixed network clients.
The service will be marketed by the FASTWEB sales network, on a subscriber and prepaid card basis.
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Ofcom takes over premium rate ruling
UK regulator Ofcom is taking over premium-rate phone regulator PhonepayPlus (formerly Icstis) to take a tighter rein on the call-TV industry after a year of scandals. It’s one measure to emerge following Ofcom’s review of the premium-rate sector after all the main broadcasters were embroiled in instances of charging callers to competition lines despite not considering their entry. PhonepayPlus will remain but will take direction from Ofcom.
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On its first anniversary, France 24, announces new mobile services and an agreement with Nokia. There will be - on demand access to its channel content, in three languages - French, English and Arabic - directly on mobile phones. The channel has also created The Observers to present user generated news content from around the world. France 24 journalists, assisted by regional editors, will select the most relevant contributions and verify the authenticity of the content.
It will also broadcast its Arabic service for 24 hours from December.
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Texas Instruments is offering a new DaVinciT technology digital media processor for video transcoding in media gateways, multi-point control units, digital media adaptors, video security DVRsv and IP set-top boxes. Wrapped with a complete offering of development tools and digital media software, the new TMS320DM6467 DaVinci processor is a DSP-based system-on-chip (SoC) specifically tuned for real-time, multi-format, high-definition (HD) video transcoding. Integrating an ARM926EJ-S core and 600 MHz C64x+T DSP core along with a high-definition video
co-processor, conversion engine and targeted video port interfaces, the system solution delivers a 10x performance improvement over previous generation processors to perform simultaneous, multi-format HD encode, decode and transcoding.
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Amino announced that Panama’s CTV Telecom has selected the AmiNET125 multi-codec Set-Top-Box for Central America’s first IPTV service. The AmiNET125 platform is specifically designed to help operators in emerging markets to introduce IPTV services with a flexible and cost effective approach. The AmiNET125 can also be used in European and North American markets for standard definition TV sets.
CTV has a purpose built high-speed 100 per cent fibre optic network in the capital, Panama City, exclusively to deliver the new IPTV service. CTV offers subscribers pure IPTV services including telephone, broadband internet and television, with a choice of over 100 broadcast, music and on demand channels.
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NDS has signed an agreement with DIRECTV, the largest satellite Pay TV operator in the world, to extend the term of their relationship. NDS has been contracted to continue to provide conditional access technology and services to DIRECTV U.S. and DIRECTV Latin America until June 2013.
Raffi Kesten, NDS Chief Operating Officer, said: “DIRECTV has set the benchmark for the pay television industry. DIRECTV has been highly innovative in developing its consumer offerings to provide the best range of television services available in the United States and across much of Latin America. NDS is very proud to announce the extension of our already long-standing successful relationship.”
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Motorola in Denmark
Telia Stofa has selected the Motorola hybrid cable/IP set-top box for the launch of its Danish cable/IP video service - a first for the cable industry. With Motorola’s hybrid STB, Telia Stofa can deliver new services in Denmark that enhance the capabilities of its existing cable network with the additional flexibility and interactivity of IPTV.
The first new service that Telia Stofa will launch will be video-on-demand (VoD), utilizing the IP connection to communicate with the operator’s VoD server and the high-speed cable network to deliver the video to the customers STB. In addition, the IP connection allows Telia Stofa to manage and monitor the STB to ensure customers receive the best performance from the equipment and highest quality video service.
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Thursday 6th December
Nokia; entertain yourselves
Nielsen will be piracy police
Piracy: mixed views
BT Vision VOD target ads
News Corp believes
iPlayer for Xmas
Latens for Cameron
Nokia; entertain yourselves
Nokia believes up to a quarter of the entertainment consumed by people in five years time will have been created, edited and shared within their peer circle rather than coming out of traditional media groups. This phenomenon, dubbed 'Circular Entertainment', has been identified by Nokia as a result of a global study into the future of entertainment.
'A Glimpse of the Next Episode', carried out by The Future Laboratory, interviewed trend-setting consumers from 17 countries about their digital behaviours and lifestyles signposting emerging entertainment trends. Combining views from industry leading figures with Nokia's own research from its 900 million consumers around the world, Nokia has constructed a global picture of what it believes entertainment will look like over the next five years.
"From our research we predict that up to a quarter of the entertainment being consumed in five years will be what we call 'Circular'. The trends we are seeing show us that people will have a genuine desire not only to create and share their own content, but also to remix it, mash it up and pass it on within their peer groups - a form of collaborative social media," said Mark Selby, Vice President, Multimedia, Nokia.
Selby continues, "We think it will work something like this; someone shares video footage they shot on their mobile device from a night out with a friend, that friend takes that footage and adds an MP3 file - the soundtrack of the evening - then passes it to another friend. That friend edits the footage by adding some photographs and passes it on to another friend and so on. The content keeps circulating between friends, who may or may not be geographically close, and becomes part of the group's entertainment."
Tom Savigar, Trends Director at The Future Laboratory added, "Consumers are increasingly demanding their entertainment be truly immersive, engaging and collaborative. Whereas once the act of watching, reading and hearing entertainment was passive, consumers now and in the future will be active and unrestrained by the ubiquitous nature of circular entertainment. Key to this evolution is consumers' basic human desire to compare and contrast, create and communicate. We believe the next episode promises to deliver the democracy politics can only dream of."
Of the 9,000 consumers we surveyed:
- 23% buy movies in digital format
- 35% buy music on MP3 files
- 25% buy music on mobile devices
- 39% watch TV on the internet
- 23% watch TV on mobile devices
- 46% regularly use IM, 37% on a mobile device
- 29% regularly blog
- 28% regularly access social networking sites
- 22% connect using technologies such as Skype
- 17% take part in Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games
- 17% upload to the internet from a mobile device
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Ratings giant Nielsen wants to be the policeman in the battle over rights to video posted online. It is rolling out a new service that aims to ensure that video is distributed and viewed on the Web only in ways sanctioned by its owners. It is hoping to offer the service called Digital Media Manager to media companies as well as social networks.
Some media companies argue that big tech companies that are hugely dependent on video content don't do enough to scour their sites for unauthorized content. These tensions came to a head in March when Viacom filed a $1 billion suit against Google for copyright infringement.
Although a number of companies claim to fill the same policing role, Nielsen says it has already done the legwork of encoding more than 95% of national US TV programming for its TV-ratings service, which it revamped about four years ago. Others have to persuade media companies to add their content to their database.
Nielsen says it has approached Google and media companies, including News Corp.'s Fox, about the new service. The service will be available starting in the spring. Nielsen's partner in the venture is Digimarc, a digital-watermarking company that helps to produce authentic driver's licenses.
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Piracy: mixed views
Attentional has launched a UK internet panel to enable surveys to be carried
out to understand the tastes and usage levels of those who access programme
content through media other than television platforms.
As part of the ongoing development of this panel, we have run a trial survey
to gauge opinion towards the issue of internet piracy. How many people would
consider downloading pirated content? While 12% of respondents would definitely consider downloading pirated content, another 21% were unsure, leaving 67% who said they would not. So, nearly a third of respondents are potential downloaders of such content.
The majority of respondents believed that the best way to reduce online
piracy would be to make legal content cheaper, and 72% indicated that having
US content made available in the UK at the same time as its US release would
also help. The survey also found that 10% of respondents class themselves as regular viewers of downloaded or streamed content from the internet, although this
figure was higher among younger respondents. Younger respondents also
appeared more likely to pay for download services.
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BT Vision Download Store is trailing the launch of a new service that offers customers free film rental in return for watching targeted advertisements.
BT Vision, Hiro Media, Intel Corporation and FremantleMedia Enterprises will collaborate on a three-month trial offering Download Store customers three films, Mischief Night, Played and The Punk Rock Movie, at no cost. At the time of rental customers will be asked to download free video software from Hiro Media, a developer of innovative internet ad-supported-video-download technology. Viewers will then be asked to provide anonymous demographic information allowing the software to select adverts dynamically that are most suited to the answers provided.
Once downloaded, the film will be available for one month and providing the viewer is online, at each viewing different ads will be shown. Viewers can also send the films to friends via email to be viewed on the same terms. Breaks, which will be placed at appropriate places in the films, will include adverts provided by isobar, the digital advertising agency, from the AA, Norwich Union and Territorial Army, amongst others. The ads will not fast forward when viewed on a PC.
Antony Carbonari, BT Vision’s interactive and commercial media director, said: “This will be a fascinating trial: the concept of targeted TV advertisements is now a reality through the combined technology behind BT Vision Download Store and Hiro’s software. We believe that sympathetically-placed, targeted advertising, combined with a viral film-sharing capability, will be attractive to many customers in conjunction with free or reduced content prices.”
Meantime BT Vision is also launching Microsoft Tasman that operates like a "website for TV", allowing advertisers to create destinations on the service, enabling them to make more innovative and content-rich versions of the sites that sit behind "red button" services currently on TV.
It is also planning to launch an "advertiser zone" to act as a home for companies to build permanent sites within the BT Vision customer interface.
The company is also launching what it describes is a digital BT Vision "magazine" that will be accessible through the main menu on the TV service.
The "magazine", called On Vision, will offer more information about programming on BT Vision over the Christmas season.
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News Corp believes
Fox Entertainment Group has purchased Beliefnet, a Web site on spirituality and faith, as part of its Internet expansion. Founded in 1999, Beliefnet, which offers everything from message boards, news and blogs to e-mail newsletters and social networks, attracts more than 3.1 million unique monthly visitors and 7.6 million subscribers, according to its Web site.
The site targets users holding myriad faiths including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and followers of Falun Gong.
Fox sees Beliefnet as a way to distribute its content, from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment's faith-based programming to HarperCollins's Zondervan and HarperOne brands. The company will be a part of Fox Digital Media.
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iPlayer for XmasThe BBC iPlayer will become fully available to consumers on Christmas Day. The internet-based catch-up TV service has been in beta operation. Downloads will be available for PC and streaming for Macs. Downloading for Macs is expected early in 2008.
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Latens for CameronLatens Systems announced that its FCAS solution has been chosen by Cameron Communications, a parent company to local area providers of phone, internet and cable services, to secure the programming on its IPTV platform. The Latens FCAS solution is to be integrated with middleware from Minerva and deployed across Amino and ADB 3800 series set-top boxes.
Based in Louisiana, Cameron Communications is a family of companies providing advanced telecommunications services to both residential and business customers in rural Southwest Louisiana, Central Louisiana and Southeast Texas.
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Wednesday 5th December
Hulu partners differ on iTunes?
US cable no to mobile auction
IABM: suppliers storm ahead
DTT to surpass 50% by 2010
FCC probe
ONO, Tele 5, lead ratings in Spain
Xbox UK VOD service
Bertelsmann mulls control of RTL
Irdeto buys Cloakware
T-Com launches Extra TV in Montenegro
Third party channels join Sky Anytime re-launch
EuroNews and CCTV enter into cooperation
Envivio for MTV Brasil
MTV Italia with Digital Rapids
Hulu partners differ on iTunes?NBC, as promised, removed all its content and that of its affiliates from the iTunes Store after its contract with Apple expired. Meanwhile News Corp was reportedly "actively negotiating" with Apple to put new releases and catalogue titles on iTunes beginning in early 2008 amid speculation Apple will relent on fixed pricing.
NBC has switched some its content on to NBC Direct, an ad-supported download service that runs only on Windows; a Mac version is due next year. Its shows will also be available on hulu.com, a joint venture with News Corp. Both services are still in beta testing.
NBC had been Apple’s single largest partner for digital video, with more than 1,500 hours of programming representing either 30 per cent or 40 per cent of iTunes video content, depending which side you believe. Talks to renew the contract reached an impasse last August. NBC wanted to be able to charge more than $1.99 for its most popular shows. Apple insisted on a flat per-show rate and claimed that the network wanted to raise prices to as much as $4.99 per episode.
NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker placed his company’s digital strategy last on his list of priorities in a speech at the UBS Global Media & Communications Conference. Repeating that NBCU’s deal with Apple was worth "only $15 million" in profit, he added: "it wasn’t the game changer for us that it was for Apple."
Meanwhile, on Hulu he said: "We have 60,000 users, seven major advertisers. The online press wanted to kill it, but it’s doing well. Advertisers tell us they want a safe environment. That’s what this is about. They don’t want a cat on a skateboard, but they do want The Simpsons or a film they like. "
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US cable no to mobile auctionComcast and Time Warner Cable have bowed out of an auction for US airwaves. The auction is seen as the last opportunity for a new player to enter the wireless market. Shares in Comcast and Time Warner Cable rose on news they would not bid in the auction - alleviating analyst fears of an expensive purchase. Google has confirmed its intention to bid in the auction.
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IABM: suppliers storm aheadSales are increasing at more than 14 per cent per annum in broadcast and media technology companies worldwide, according to the latest Industry Index published today by the IABM - the trade association which represents broadcast and media technology suppliers
Sales for European companies are storming ahead at over 17 per cent per annum, while their North American counterparts are growing at just 10.3 per cent. The profit-to-sales ratio stands at 12 per cent with European businesses leading the way as well. Large companies dominate the profit performance with a profit-to-sales ratio of 13 per cent compared to smaller businesses at just 3 per cent.
The IABM released the index which tracks the financial performance of more than 60 companies who in total report sales of $8.6billion, representing more than two thirds of the global market. The Index is balanced at 50:50 North America to European companies based on sales turnover.
Commenting on the report, Roger Crumpton, IABM CEO said, "Our market is changing fast and companies are achieving an excellent level of performance. The continued roll-out of HD and digital operating infrastructures is supporting that growth."
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DTT to surpass 50% by 2010
From Branislav Pekic in RomeDigital terrestrial television has become Europe’s second digital TV distribution platform, according to Italian consultancy e-Media Institute.
According to data from June 2007, DTT was received in 25 million households in Western Europe, compared to 37 million satellite TV households. Digital cable and IPTV had respectively 13 million and 4 million. In comparison, the number of DTT households in December 2005 totalled slightly less than 14 million.
In Italy, figures from the end of September 2007 indicate that the percentage of DTT households stood at 17 per cent. According to the e-Media Institute, this figure is lower than originally forecast, due to the strong slowdown in growth registered over the past two years. The expectation is that Italian DTT penetration could top 50 per cent by 2010.
The study also indicates that, in three years time, all the main European countries will register a digital TV penetration close to or higher than 90 per cent. The only exception being Germany, due to a strong analogue multichannel environment dominated by cable. According to the e-Media Institute, Italian digital penetration would arrive to 87 per cent, thanks to the expected expansion of DTT.
In the top five countries in Europe (France, Germany, UK, Italy and Spain), IPTV and DTT will be the platforms with the highest growth between 2006 and 2010, registering growth rates of 40 per cent and 27 per cent respectively.
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The US Federal Communications Commission is being investigated by the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight, prompted by criticisms of the FCC's processes and what one official described as a "breakdown in proper procedure." The committee informed FCC chairman Kevin Martin and the other commissioners of concerns saying that it wanted the chairman to commit to publishing proposed rules in advance of commission meetings, then allow for "sufficient time to review" the rules and give other commissioners "all of the relevant information on which proposed orders and rules are based."
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ONO, Tele 5, lead ratings in Spain
From David Del Valle in MadridSpain's largest cable company ONO leads the pay-TV audience ratings with an average share of 7.11 per centin November, well ahead of the digital DTH platform Digital Plus, with 3.95 per cent, Telefonica's Imagenio and other cable operators, with 5.64 per cent, according to TNS Sofres. The most widely watched channel on ONO was CineStar Teuve, ONO's cinema channel with an accumulated audience of 2.6 million people. Overall, thematic TV made an average share of 11 per cent.
In the commercial TV market, Mediaset-controlled, Tele 5, is the market leader with an average share of 20.5 per centin November, followed by the state-owned channel TVE 1, with 17.2 per cent; Antena 3 TV, with 16.9 per cent; FORTA (Regional TV channels) 14.2 per centCuatro, 7.8 per cent; La Sexta, 4.9 per cent and La 2, 4.5 per cent.
Tele 5 is the most widely TV channel amongst people aged 25-44 and 45-64; Antena 3 amongst 13-24 and TVE1, from 64 years. It is estimated that 2007 will see a TV consumption record with 221 minutes per viewer in front of the TV every day.The Spanish media group Vocento has put for sale its 13 per cent stakes in the Mediaset-controlled TV channel Tele 5, the market leader in Spain in terms of audience ratings (over 20 per cent of average share) and profits. Vocento plans to get E580 million for the operation. The legal prohibition against holding stakes in two channels with the same coverage has prompted Vocento to pull out of Tele 5, and put now its focus on its DTT channel Net TV, also with a nation wide coverage.
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Microsoft will allow UK gamers to purchase films through its Xbox 360 console from next week, as the console moves to compete with online download stores. The Xbox Live Marketplace Video Store will initially offer 40 popular film titles in standard and high definition. Users will pay between £2 (E2.9) and £4.50 for each film and have two weeks to watch the movie after download. The service will also roll out in Canada, Ireland, France and Germany after it launched in the US in November last year.
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Bertelsmann mulls control of RTL
Bertelsmann is considering taking full control of RTL Group, Europe’s largest broadcaster. Bertelsmann confirmed a WSJ report that it was possible it would make an offer for the 10.2 per cent of RTL it does not already own, but cautioned that this had yet to be approved by its supervisory and management boards.
Buying the remainder of RTL would secure full control of one of Bertelsmann’s fastest-growing businesses, at a time when outsiders are questioning the growth prospects for some of its other businesses. The proposed buyout could cost about E1 billion.
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Irdeto announced it has acquired 100 per cent of Cloakware, a privately held software company based in Virginia, USA and Ottawa, Canada. Graham Kill, CEO of Irdeto said: "This acquisition strengthens our existing content security offering, broadens Irdeto’s reach across the entire content lifecycle and vertically expands our offering into new markets."
Cloakware’s technology, which makes security inseparable from the software it protects, adds an additional layer of protection to Irdeto’s security offering. The acquisition of Cloakware furthers Irdeto’s agenda to deliver end-to-end security offerings and a broad portfolio of security solutions covering multiple markets and a wide range of devices.
Cloakware’s software solutions protect more than one billion applications and the assets of some of the world’s largest, most recognisable and technologically advanced companies. Customers include Texas Instruments, Pioneer Electronics, NXP, State Street, and Vodafone. Irdeto and Cloakware’s long-standing partnership includes solutions to prevent piracy and subscription fraud in digital video and IP networks. Cloakware's previous shareholders included significant venture capital funds and industry experts Fairhaven Capital, Globespan Capital Partners, and Intel Capital.
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T-Com launches Extra TV in Montenegro
T-Com has launched Extra TV to T-Com customers in Montenegro. Extra TV is a digital TV offering of 60 domestic and international channels, hundreds of movies and a range of interactive options. Extra TV users will be able to view premium channels with the Extra TV service, including Discovery, Eurosport, National Geographic, Cartoon Network, MTV, RAI, Jetix, HBO, Fashion TV and Animal Planet. The service is based on Microsoft Mediaroom.
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Third party channels join Sky Anytime re-launch
Sky has re-launched Sky Anytime on PC as it further expands its PC-based on-demand offer. The service offers access to a broad collection of first run subscription movies, sports, entertainment and documentaries. Its re-launch sees content from third party channels being made available for the first time, new Sky brands joining the service, enhancements to the application's functionality, and a selection of buy to own entertainment being made available to non Sky customers for the first time.
The range of content available has now expanded to include programming from National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo Wild, The History Channel, The Biography Channel and Crime & Investigation Network. In addition, Sky Real Lives will also join the service, joining the existing Sky portfolio comprising Sky One, Sky Sports, Sky Movies and Sky Arts, with Sky News also due to join this month.
EuroNews and CCTV enter into cooperation
EuroNews, China Central Television (CCTV), and the European Commission, signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the broadcast in Mandarin of a EuroNews magazine package about science, space activities and technology, on CCTV network to a potential audience of 500 million viewers. This agreement is the first step for a longer partnership between EuroNews and CCTV.
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Envivio for MTV BrasilEnvivio is providing the video encoding for MTV’s mobile TV services in Brazil. MTV’s mobile programming is being delivered using a Brazilian variant of the successful Japanese ISDB-T digital terrestrial television standard which includes the 1seg specification for mobile TV. As Brazil is among the world's largest mobile phone markets, with more than 110 million users, the government mandated that content delivery to mobile devices be included within the new national digital TV system. The Envivio 4Caster B3 encoder, selected by MTV as well as several other broadcasters, is the first encoding product to support the specification defined within the Brazilian 1seg mobile TV standard.
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MTV Italia with Digital Rapids
MTV Italia, the Italian affiliate of international media powerhouse MTV, has purchased a range of Digital Rapids DRC-Stream media encoding and streaming solutions. The Digital Rapids hardware and software combinations were selected by MTV Italia for encoding and streaming live content on QOOB TV, MTV Italia’s interactive website. QOOB TV explores new ways of producing and distributing content. Users are also allowed to upload and comment on content, which is monitored and edited by MTV.
Tuesday 4th December
UK fast net not needed?
XM and Sirius deal closer?
Setanta reaches 1m
Nine billion online video views in US for September
Mobile TV: Subscribers but no profits
Still confusion over digital switchover
BBC HD launches
The Fifth Medium, an ‘upmarket YouTube’
18m STBs in Germany
Hunt for BBC1
SmarDTV launches CAM technology
UK fast net not needed?The push for next-generation broadband could be premature, according to regulator Ofcom and BT which have expressed doubts about whether the time is right for rolling out fibre optic networks. "We need significant evidence that such a network is required and I don't think it exists yet," said Peter Philips, Ofcom's head of strategy.
Super-fast nets capable of delivering speeds of up to 100Mbps have worked their way up the political agenda in recent months. Competitiveness minister Stephen Timms recently hosted a summit on the issue and Ofcom has launched its own consultation.
Fibre networks capable of speeds of up to 100Mbps are already commonplace in Japan and South Korea and are starting to be rolled out in countries such as the US, France and Germany.
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Shares of XM Satellite Radio and Sirius rose sharply before the weekend after speculation the Department of Justice is to announce it will not block a deal to unite the two.
If and when the transaction wins DOJ approval, it will move to the Federal Communications Commission. If the FCC approves the XM/Sirius combination, it's expected that conditions could be attached to the deal.
If the deal is approved, XM shareholders will receive 4.6 shares of Sirius' stock for every XM share they own.
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Setanta reaches 1mPay-TV broadcaster Setanta Sports has signed up its millionth subscriber a few months after it began screening live Premiership football matches.
The figure, up from just 200,000 subscribers a year ago, excludes more than 2 million viewers who receive the service through their contracts with Virgin Media in the UK and ntl/Chorus in Ireland. It says it needs to add about 500,000 more subscribers in the next 18 months to break even.
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Nine billion online video views in US for SeptemberComScore, specialists in measuring the digital world, has released its Video Metrix report for September 2007, revealing that nearly 75 per cent of US Internet users watched a video online (including both streaming video and progressive downloads), averaging three hours of video per person during the month. Google Sites, which includes YouTube.com, topped the September rankings with both the most unique video viewers and most videos viewed.
September saw Americans view more than nine billion videos online, with Google Sites once again ranking as the top US video property with 2.6 billion videos viewed (28.3 per cent share of videos), 2.5 billion of which occurred at YouTube.com (27.6 per cent). Fox Interactive Media ranked second with 387 million (4.2 per cent), followed by Yahoo! Sites with 381 million (4.1 per cent) and Viacom Digital with 304 million (3.3 per cent).
Mobile TV: Subscribers but no profits
According to Mobile TV: Business Models and Opportunities from Screen Digest, MNOs must offer mobile TV but won’t make any money from it in the near term.Looking across 25 countries it concludes that in the short term network operators don’t stand to make much profit from offering mobile TV services yet they must offer it to remain competitive. Operators who do not offer mobile TV will simply lose their subscribers to other operators or other media devices, such as the in-car devices so popular in Asia. The lion’s share of the income from offering mobile TV services will be shared between the handset manufacturers, software companies, content creators and network owners.
Still confusion over digital switchover
Information about the digital switchover is still not getting through to people who need it most, according to a new report. The Ofcom Consumer Panel found some consumers were confused about which equipment to buy. They often lacked confidence about installing digital TV themselves, the advisory group found.
The Panel wants Digital UK, the body set up to manage the switch from analogue to digital television, to step up promotion of its helpline and a rolling information channel should be set up on Freeview to give switchover information.
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BBC HD launchesBBC HD, the UK's first free-to-air high definition television channel, has launched on satellite and cable. Jana Bennett, Director of BBC Vision said: "I am delighted that BBC HD, the UK's first public service HD channel…HD is the next generation of television and a real opportunity for programme makers to reach out to the audience in ways they have never done before. HD is a real creative enabler making our programmes even more powerful and outstanding." BBC HD is available on channel 143 on Sky and on channel 108 on Virgin Media.
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The Fifth Medium, an ‘upmarket YouTube’The Fifth Medium (t5m) online video service backed by a number of British internet entrepreneurs and powered by Microsoft, has gone live. Names including actor Kate Bosworth and Nelson Mandela have been lined up to feature in the first slate of programming offered by t5m.com.
Created to produce original "socially conscious", t5m.com bills itself as a highbrow, glossy version of YouTube.
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18m STBs in GermanyAccording to figures released by the consumer electronics association Zentralverbandes Elektrotechnik- und Elektronikindustrie (ZVEI), there are currently approximately 18 million digital set-top boxes in German homes. There are estimated to 11 million satellite receivers, 5.5 million DTT receivers and 1.5 million cable tuners.
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Hunt for BBC1Channel Five's director of programmes, Jay Hunt, is the new controller of BBC1. The former controller of BBC daytime will replace Peter Fincham, who resigned following the "Crowngate" scandal.
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SmarDTV launches CAM technologySmarDTV, a Kudelski Group company, has launched a new Conditional Access Module (CAM) for Italy. The SmarCAM Italia offers TV viewers who have purchased credit on Mediaset Premium, La7 Cartapiù, and Pangea the ability to watch their programmes directly on their digital-ready TV sets without the use of an external set-top box. The SmarCAM Italia supports up to two smart cards simultaneously – one of standard size and one of SIM size. The end-user can view content from multiple services without having to exchange smart cards or CAMs.
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Monday 3rd December
Google will bid for wireless
PTO sides With TiVo over EchoStar
Sogecable-Telefonica's Trio+ launches
Consumers demand free online content
DVB reinforces IPR policy
ProSiebenSat.1 Q3
Channel 4 buys stake in Mobile IQ
TRAI: Let telecom and cable operators offer IPTV
TDA selects Eutelsat for DTT in Algeria
Avail receives injection of capital, Espial deal
Harris acquires Zandar
Alcatel-Lucent and HKBN introduce GPON
Smart Telecom selects Verimatrix
Google will bid for wirelessGoogle will bid for coveted airwaves to launch a U.S. wireless network. The company said several months ago it was considering bidding in the auction of 700-megahertz wireless spectrum due to begin January 24.
Google see the wireless spectrum as a way to create more open competition for mobile services and devices than existing networks -- putting the industry on a footing similar to the Internet. "We believe it's important to put our money where our principles are," said Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO, Google. "Consumers deserve more competition and innovation than they have in today's wireless world. No matter which bidder ultimately prevails, the real winners of this auction are American consumers who likely will see more choices than ever before in how they access the Internet."
Other expected bidders include AT&T and Verizon Wireless.
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PTO sides With TiVo over EchoStar
TiVo shares gained 25 per cent as the US Patent and Trademark Office upheld TiVo's time-warp patent covering the company's DVR technology. As reported, EchoStar had requested that the patent be re-examined in an effort to have an earlier patent infringement judgement against the company overturned.
TiVo officials said the company is extremely pleased the patent and trademark office found the claims within the time-warp patent to be valid after conducting the re-examination requested by EchoStar. TiVo said the decision "brings us another step closer to ending EchoStar's continued infringement and we are hopeful that the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will uphold the district court judgment of patent infringement and reinstate the injunction."
TiVo also said the PTO decision is final and not appealable by EchoStar. However, the decision does not have any affect on the companies' ongoing court battle.
Meanwhile, Nero, digital media technology specialists, and TiVo, have entered into an agreement to further enable the connected digital home by integrating TiVo's television user experience with Nero's next generation of PC software. Under the agreement, Nero will develop a software solution that will bring TiVo features to the personal computer, capitalising on the growing PC TV tuner market.
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Sogecable-Telefonica's Trio+ launches
From David Del Valle in MadridThe Sogecable-Telefonica’s pay-TV offer launched this weekend following the expiry of the Government’s 34 conditions on the digital DTH merger between the former Sogecable-controlled Canal Satelite and Telefonica-led Via Digital.
One of the conditions adopted by the Government in 2002 to approve the digital merger prevented both companies from jointly operating in the pay-TV market in an attempt to guarantee free competition.Trio + triple play includes: Broadband Internet access at 3 Megabits speed. Free Antivirus and flat fee, 24 hours per day, for local, provincial and national calls to fixed lines.
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Consumers demand free online content
The Olswang Convergence Consumer Survey 2007 has revealed that consumers are demanding more rich media content but are still reluctant to pay. To secure free content consumers are willing to tolerate online advertisements which they would normally go out of their way to avoid. Some are even willing to deliberately break the law to secure free content, while others simply don't understand the law.
Olswang and YouGov, have conducted a nationally representative independent survey of over 1,539 18-55 year old UK consumers boosted by a further 254 13-17 year olds. The survey discovered that convergence is taking hold of UK households as a large number of homes have networks installed and the computer is becoming a true entertainment device with over 30 per cent of respondents streaming or downloading movie and TV content.Even greater numbers watch the range of free content that is already available on websites such as YouTube (63 per cent) as well as streaming music (42 per cent) and accessing podcasts (33 per cent). However, people are much less willing to pay for audiovisual content, with free content being consumed by approximately three times as many people as paid content and those not yet consuming also being around three times more interested in free content.
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The DVB Project has announced the adoption of new procedures in its efforts to promote the wide availability of technology based on DVB standards. This initiative is the result of a broad review, still on-going, undertaken by DVB on its policy governing intellectual property rights (IPRs).
DVB launched the review in response to members’ concerns about the perceived delays and uncertainties in relation to the launch of the MHP licensing programme. The review has also addressed questions directed to DVB by the European Commission on DVB’s IPR policy and the need for timely disclosure of licensing terms for essential intellectual property rights.
DVB has long fostered the development of voluntary licensing programmes (patent pools); one noteworthy programme grants licences to patents essential to its DVB-T standard. As a result of the IPR review, DVB has now added new procedures to its activities to encourage patent pools:
Those responding to a "Call for Technology" may be requested to confirm a willingness to enter into a patent pool; The early launch of the pooling effort can be promoted through the convening of information meetings while a specification is still under development; Once a pool is in formation by rights holders and a facilitator, the DVB Project Office will monitor the progress of the pool and, where required, lend technical and other support to help completion of the programme; and Assertions of essentiality of patents included within a pool may be subject to "peer review" by DVB specialists.
These measures are intended to be used selectively and to complement the other means DVB has used in the past to promote patent pools. In exceptional cases, DVB also assists in the preparation of the licensing framework.
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ProSiebenSat.1 Q3
German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 said adjusted core earnings more than doubled in the third quarter mainly thanks to the acquisition of SBS broadcasting. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose to E124.8 million.As expected by the company, a E120 million fine imposed by Germany's cartel office for anti-competitive practices in the marketing of advertising slots hurt ProSiebenSat.1's pretax profit. It reported a pretax loss of E103.7 million. Revenue in the period from July to September was up 55 per cent to E668.4 million.
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Channel 4 buys stake in Mobile IQ
Channel 4 is buying a 10 per cent stake in mobile ad tech firm Mobile IQ to boost its mobile advertising efforts. The two companies have been working together since February 2006, during which time Mobile IQ has deployed both Channel 4’s direct-to-consumer mobile services and its mobile content portals on Vodafone and O2. Channel 4 uses Mobile IQ to help package mobile content from its shows that can be sponsored by its advertisers.They are also planning to create new mobile ad opportunities around video advertising, as well as giving clients more targeted mobile ad opportunities and will redevelop the broadcaster’s mobile portal.
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TRAI: Let telecom and cable operators offer IPTV
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has suggested that both telecom operators and cable TV operators should be allowed to offer IPTV.
In a draft recommendation, the telecom regulator has also said that the Cable TV Act should be amended to allow broadcasters to provide signals to all distributors of TV channels such as cable operators, MSOs, Direct to Home operators and IPTV service providers.
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TDA selects Eutelsat for DTT in AlgeriaEutelsat Communications has a contract for capacity on its Atlantic Bird 3 satellite with Télédiffusion d'Algérie (TDA) to broadcast Algeria's national Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) package of television and radio channels. The launch of the new platform underpins the Algerian government's objective to manage the transition of the country's broadcasting sector into a fully digital environment.
Avail receives injection of capital, Espial deal
Avail Media, provider of IPTV and advanced media services to broadband operators, has closed the final tranche of a $25 million Series B equity round. First time investor Valhalla Partners joined Columbia Capital, Novak Biddle Venture Partners, and Pioneer Ventures in the round. The financing, along with $5 million in debt financing from a strategic investor and Silicon Valley Bank, brings the total capital raised this year to $30 million.
Meanwhile, Avail Media has also agreed to resell Espial's Evo IPTV Service Platform to small and mid-sized operators in the North American market. The companies intend to jointly develop and share revenues for a range of new and differentiating IPTV applications that will leverage the strengths of their respective technologies. Avail Media revealed that nine North American service provider customers have already selected Espial's Evo IPTV Service Platform as their middleware, pre-integrated with Avail Media's managed video content services.
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Harris Corporation has acquired Zandar Technologies, a privately held developer and provider of high-quality multi-image display processors for television broadcast and professional video markets.
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Alcatel-Lucent and HKBN introduce GPONAlcatel-Lucent and Hong Kong Broadband Network Limited (HKBN), a wholly-owned subsidiary of City Telecom have confirmed the deployment of the first Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) in Hong Kong. The collaboration contract also includes network maintenance. Alcatel-Lucent says its Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) solution will enable HKBN to deliver advanced triple play services to its subscribers and enlarge its FTTH network coverage in Hong Kong. The new network is expected to be in service in January 2008.
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Smart Telecom selects Verimatrix
Verimatrix, content security experts, has announced that Irish telecoms provider Smart Telecom has selected Verimatrix to secure its advanced interactive and Video-on-Demand service in Ireland, called Smart Vision. The Verimatrix Video Content Authority System (VCAS) enables Smart Telecom to deliver secure, premium content throughout its digital video network.
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