|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Our Latest Issues
Visit our archive to access more than 200 features! |
Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Tuesday
Friday 22nd June
HDTV: 148m homes by 2011
BT Vision still slow
Spain's switch-off plan is go
Cisco predict vast broadband demand
Licence fee cash for Channel 4
Liberty lifts to 49% of Telenet
BBC and ITV share Euro 2008
Digiturk boosts Eutelsat capacity
BBC appoints Mercier as head of mobile
BET UK channel
Veoh video player
Pace and Simplay support HDMI and HDCP
ZTE selects Irdeto
C-COR and Harmonic SVD solution
HDTV: 148m homes by 2011The worldwide market for high-definition TV (HDTV) is forecast to grow strongly over the next four years, with satellite remaining the dominant method of reception. The market is forecast by IMS Research to grow to nearly 148 million HDTV households by 2011, with nearly 41 per cent of those households receiving HDTV programming via satellite.
According to the IMS report, entitled "The Future of High-Definition TV - 2007 Edition," the growth in satellite HDTV households over the next four years will be largely driven by the US and Western Europe. In Western Europe in particular, the slow advancement of digital cable in recent years has helped position satellite as the most common method of receiving pay-HDTV. Recent consolidation of the cable TV markets in several countries is expected to aid European cable HDTV growth over the long term.
This is in direct contrast to the cable-centric US market, where the advancement of digital cable and heavy promotion of triple-play and advanced services are expected to keep cable dominant in the US HDTV market through 2011.
BT Vision still slowUK consumers are proving slow to take up new internet television offerings, raising questions about BT's targets for its BT Vision service, which will provide Freeview channels plus a selection of football matches and on-demand films over broadband.
Ofcom, the media regulator, has reported that just 62,000 households were receiving television over broadband at the end of March - up 44 per cent on the previous quarter but less than 0.25 per cent of all homes in the UK.
BT said the figures failed to take into account the fact that it had only been promoting BT Vision, which launched in December, since mid-May. The UK telecoms group reported last month that just 7,500 customers had taken up the service by the time of the advertising launch. It said yesterday it expected "a six figure number" of customers by the end of the year and "hundreds of thousands" of customers by March 2008.
Spain's switch-off plan is go
From David Del Valle in MadridThe analogue switch-off in Spain will be progressively implemented in four phases from next year to April 2010, according to the Government's plan. In 2008 the analogue switch-off will cover 1 per cent of the population (switching off in Soria and A Fonsagrada), reaching 12 per cent by mid 2009 and 32.4 per cent by the end of that year, completing the process in April 2010.
The country has been divided into 73 technical areas with a total of 90 transition projects in three different groups: areas with less than 500,000 inhabitants and high DTT coverage; regions with 500,000 to 700,000 inhabitants; and the third group more than 700,000 inhabitants.
The plan has been approved by the DTT Transistion Comittee, formed by broadcasters, manufacturers, Regional Administrations, Consumers Associations and Installers. The cabinet meeting will formally give its approval to the plan in July.
Cisco predict vast broadband demandCisco Systems Chief Executive John Chambers, speaking at the NXTcomm in Chicago said demand for bandwidth would grow 300 to 500 percent each year in the next several years. "The transition is going to happen much quicker than people anticipate," Chambers told reporters.
AT&T unveiled at NXTcomm a video-sharing service for its next-generation wireless customers. Video Share, allows users to send live videos to each other during phone conversations. "Today, video share is a one-to-one mobile service, but you should expect this to quickly reach the other two screens, the PC and the television," AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson said.
Licence fee cash for Channel 4Tessa Jowell, the culture secretary, has confirmed that UK commercial broadcaster Channel 4 will receive financial help to meet the costs of digital switchover of £14m (E20.2m). But she warned the channel’s performance would be closely watched.
The aid will come from the BBC licence fee - the first move to "top slice" the corporation's revenue. The money will be used to cover Channel 4's capital costs associated with building out the digital terrestrial transmitter network in the run-up to digital switchover.
Liberty lifts to 49% of TelenetLiberty Global, has exercised options to purchase 18.668 million shares in Telenet Group the largest cable operator in Belgium, for a total purchase price of E466.7 million. As a result of the transaction, Liberty Global will increase its controlling position from 31.32 per cent to 49.7 per cent of the outstanding shares of Telenet at. The shares are being purchased from existing shareholders of Telenet. Mike Fries, President and CEO of Liberty Global said, "It was a logical next step for us to exercise these options given their expiration dates and terms."
Telenet offers cable television, voice and broadband services to residential customers. At March 31, 2007, Telenet had approximately 3,047,000 RGUs including 1,761,000 video RGUs (of which 281,000 were digital video RGUs).
BBC and ITV share Euro 2008Coverage of the Euro 2008 football championships will be shared between the BBC and ITV after they agreed a joint deal with UEFA for exclusive live UK television and new media rights to all 32 matches during next summer's football tournament in Austria and Switzerland. Included in the deal is full live match coverage and highlights, along with Internet and mobile rights.
Digiturk boosts Eutelsat capacitySatellite company Eutelsat and Turkish TV platform Digiturk have signed a new contract for capacity on the W3A satellite to support continued expansion of Turkey's leading pay-TV platform. The new contract, concluded for four years, is the third signed between Eutelsat and Digiturk since November 2006. It takes to 11 the total number of transponders leased for broadcasting services by Digiturk on Eutelsat's satellites.
BBC appoints Mercier as head of mobileBBC Worldwide has appointed Peter Mercier as Head of Mobile in its Digital Media Division. Mercier, who was previously Director of Business Development for MobiTV (Europe), will lead BBC Worldwide’s continued push into the mobile space, working with content brands such as Little Britain, Doctor Who and Top Gear.
BET UK channelUS cable network Black Entertainment Television, or BET, is to launch in the UK. The network, which is home to American cable TV's highest rating awards show, the BET Awards, is to launch a UK 24-hour general entertainment service by the end of the year. BET UK is expected to be a multi-platform and multimedia channel.
Veoh video playerVeoh Networks has launched free, downloadable software capable of finding and playing video content from anywhere on the web while mimicking the look and feel of TV. CEO Dmitry Shapiro said Veoh TV is designed to be online video’s first "killer desktop application", adding the group planned to sell advertising within its programming guide as well as reach ad-share deals with content providers.
Pace and Simplay support HDMI and HDCPPace Micro Technology and Simplay Labs, provider of HD technologies have signed an agreement to maximise HDMI performance and HDCP on all current and future Pace high definition set-top boxes. As such, all of Pace's HD products will support the HDMI standard, as well as the HDCP specification, to ensure interoperability with HDTVs and other HD consumer electronics devices and protection of digital content.
ZTE selects IrdetoZTE Corporation, China's largest listed telecommunications equipment provider, has selected security specialists Irdeto as the preferred content security partner for its end-to-end IPTV system that will be launched, marketed and sold worldwide. According to the agreement, ZTE will incorporate Irdeto's secure content delivery platform in its IPTV ECO system, an end-to-end solution specifically designed for employing multimedia services over an IP network.
C-COR and Harmonic SVD solutionPlatform developer C-COR and Harmonic are accelerating the rollout of switched digital video (SDV) with the first comprehensive, pre-integrated solution for the cable market. The offering brings together Harmonic's compression and edgeQAM technology leadership with C-COR's on demand and advertising management, enabling operators to quickly manage the widespread rollout of SDV.
Thursday 21st June
Digital TV in 20m+ UK homes
UK private equity buys Intelsat
More Yahoo and Microsoft merger talk
News Corp ponders swapping MySpace for Yahoo stake
Brazilian Government threatens digital TV manufacturers
French DTT to cover 70% by July
Joost advertisers seek rights assurances
Digital TV in 20m+ UK homesMore than 80 per cent of UK homes now have digital television on their main set, media regulator Ofcom has reported.
Ofcom’s Digital Television Progress Report for January to March 2007 shows that household take-up of digital television now stands at 80.5 per cent, or 20.4m homes, up from 77.2 per cent in the previous quarter.
The quarterly digital TV update also shows that Freeview has now overtaken Sky as the most popular digital television service, experiencing huge growth in the first three months of the year. Digital cable TV, now under the Virgin Media brand, outperformed Sky in the number of new subscribers for the first time since 2001.
Freeview is now the largest digital service, on the main television set in 8.4m homes, up from 7.7m in the last three months of last year. Sky by comparison grew its customer base by 32,020 in the quarter and now has just over 8 million subscribers. Free-to-view satellite also added 70,000 homes, taking its total number to 885,000.
Back to top
UK private equity buys IntelsatBC Partners, the UK private equity firm, has purchased Intelsat for around $16bn, including debt, after outbidding several strategic buyers in a heated auction for the Bermuda-based fleet of satellites.
BC's victory in the auction shows buy-out groups continue to be aggressive buyers. BC edged out offers from other private equity groups as well as Loral, the New York-based satellite group, and a joint bid by Liberty Media and EchoStar Communications.
The deal marks BC's largest acquisition outside Europe. While US private equity groups have expanded significantly in Europe and Asia in recent years, European buy-out groups have been slower to make investments in the US.
Back to top
More Yahoo and Microsoft merger talk
Internal portal Yahoo has reportedly been approached by Microsoft about a potential tie-up that could value the company at $25bn., The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post both report.
Talk of a possible deal between Yahoo! and Microsoft have persisted over the past few months, with reports claiming the firms held informal merger talks last year. Neither company has so far commented on the reports.
Back to top
News Corp ponders swapping MySpace for Yahoo stake
News Corporation has discussed swapping MySpace, its Internet social networking unit, with Yahoo! in return for a 25 per cent stake in the enlarged group, reports the US press. News Corp is said to be interested in a deal even if it means losing some control of MySpace because it would give the media group exposure to a far larger internet-based business.
Back to top
Brazilian Government threatens digital TV manufacturers
Branislav Pekic from RomeThe Brazilian Government has threatened to liberalise imports of digital TV decoders from China if Brazilian manufacturers do not succeed in meeting the December 2 deadline (when DTT broadcasts are set to initiate) and offer boxes which do not cost more than $100.
The issue will be discussed this week by the Committee for the Development of the Brazilian Digital Television System (SBTVD). Manufacturers claim that it will be difficult to produce the set-top boxes which will permit the reception of digital TV on conventional (analogue) TV sets for less than $200. The industry has requested tax benefits that could reduce costs by up to 36 per cent. For its part, the Government says it could import equipment from China for $75.
The body, which initially claimed it was impossible to "define a date" for the start of sales of decoders, now claims that the "industry is working so that the products arrive on the market before the start of transmissions. However, since the prototypes of set-top boxes are still being developed and require various tests, it is possible that not all manufacturers will succeed in respecting that date".
Meanwhile, the Committee has vetoed the installation of a blocker in digital TV converters that would have prevented the recording of soap operas and movies, claiming that such a prohibition did not fare well in developed countries. However, it also decided against the installation of a device that permits TV viewers to skip commercials when recording programmes. The Committee approved the incorporation of the H264 video compression standard and the AAC3 audio standard, which will enable "home theater" sound and give viewers the possibility of selecting the language or subtitles of the broadcasts.
Back to top
French DTT to cover 70% by JulyThe French DTT service is set to reach 70 per cent of the population by the end of July with the addition of 11 new transmitters. This month transmitters are scheduled to come on the air: in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region: Menton ; in Lorraine: Bar-le-Duc, Epinal, Vittel; in Rhône-Alpes: Chambéry, Montmélian; in Champagne-Ardenne: Troye; and in Bourgogne: Auxerre.
In July three more regions will be reached in Bourgogne covering the areas of Dijon, Sens and Mâcon. The new transmitters will reach a total of more than two million French. In October, seven areas in the North-eastern part of the country will also be covered. By year-end between 80 and 85 per cent of France is expected to be served by DTT.
Back to top
Joost advertisers seek rights assurances
Advertisers on Joost are insisting they will not run their commercials next to programmes whose rights have not been cleared. Joost has developed a business model based on agreeing deals with content providers to share advertising generated around individual programmes or channels that viewers can download over the web to a personal computer. Joost viewers, of which there are estimated 700,000 signed up to the service in its test phase, watch the shows for free.
Back to top
Wednesday 20th June
Grade ready for terrestrial HDTV battle
YouTube aims for global audience
Yahoo chief steps down
Portugal's PT launches triple play
Freewire TV adds MTV into its Pay-TV
MiTV and Nokia Malaysian mobile TV
Euro 2008 on German public TV
Qualcomm and Siano FLO chip agreement
Grade ready for terrestrial HDTV battle
ITC Chief Michael Grade is forming a 'war cabinet' that will challenge the UK Government's plans to sell off the analogue TV spectrum. Instead Grade wants the bandwidth to pipe terrestrial high definition TV content into millions of UK homes.Grade has called for a meeting with members of the HD For All campaign to come up with a battle plan. HD For All comprises of leading broadcasters and consumer electronics companies. The aim is to challenge the Government's planned spectrum sell-off, wresting it from the hands of UK mobile phone networks who are currently the most likely recipients.
"Retailers, manufacturers and rival broadcasters are determined to get the Government and the regulator to understand ... the level of consumer anger they are going to face after analogue switchover when the public realise that they will be unable to receive their favourite channels in HD on Freeview on the HD-ready TV sets they are buying in their millions," Grade told The Telegraph.
Back to top
YouTube aims for global audienceYouTube is set to build on its international audience with the launch of its first foreign-language websites. Though the Google-owned video sharing website already draws more than half of its audience from outside the US, the international strategy is intended eventually to make it a local mainstay in dozens of countries around the world and fend off local copy-cats that have gained momentum in recent months, according to company executives.
The initiative will begin with YouTube translating its existing site for France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Brazil and Japan, as well as services in the UK and Ireland, then gradually refining each national site to highlight the content and features that are best suit local cultural sensitivities.
Executives said that the company would use its global reach as one of the main weapons in its international expansion. "What we bring to the table is a true global audience," said Chad Hurley, one of YouTube’s co-founders, and all material uploaded to any of the company’s sites around the world will be available to all viewers. "We’re not filtering out any content," he added.
Back to top
Yahoo chief steps downYahoo chief executive and chairman Terry Semel has stepped down after six years to be replaced by co-founder Jerry Yang. The Internet search giant has also promoted Susan Decker, who was named as executive vice-president and head of advertiser and publisher group last December, as president of the company.
Back to top
Portugal's PT launches triple play
From David Del Valle in MadridPortugal Telecom (PT) has launched a triple-play service under the name ‘meo’, offering customers access to 78 TV channels, high speed internet services with peak download speeds of 8Mbps and a fixed line telephone connection.
The service costs E50 a month until September, when the price rises to E54.90. meo is currently only available in Lisbon, Porto and Castelo Branco. PT plans to expand its TV line-up until it is offering several hundred channels.
A residential gateway and a set-top box will be placed in each subscriber home, including digital video recording capabilities for up to 160 hours. Alcatel-Lucent was the main equipment supplier, providing IP-based broadband access network infrastructure and an end-to-end video solution.
Back to top
Freewire TV adds MTV into its Pay-TVInuk Networks has added MTV Networks UK to its Freewire IPTV service. The addition of MTV channels will bring popular music programmes to Freewire TV's student and residential viewers across the UK and is one of a series of recent content deals that include Channel 4, Five and S4C, added to the line-up.
Inuk Networks is currently adding a range of new channels to Freewire TV as it adds pay TV channels to the platform and expands the service to residential customers later this year. The addition of MTV Networks UK to the Freewire TV roster includes core channels MTV and VH1 as well as MTV Hits, MTV2, MTV Dance, MTV Flux and VH1 Classic.
Back to top
MiTV and Nokia Malaysian mobile TVGlobal mobility company Nokia and multimeida outfit MiTV Corporation are set to launch a commercial mobile broadcast TV service, based on DVB-H technology in Malaysia in the second half of 2007. The agreement is among the first of Nokia’s commercial mobile TV service rollouts utilizing DVB-H technology globally. Earlier last year, Vietnam became the first market in APAC to roll out commercial DVB-H services.
Back to top
Euro 2008 on German public TVGerman public channels ARD and ZDF have won the rights to broadcast all major matches for Football European Championships 2008 in the German market. The sports rights agency Sportfive, negotiating for UEFA, accepted the offer of SportA, the sports rights agency of ARD and ZDF. The agreement is subject to the approval of the boards of ARD and ZDF.
Back to top
Qualcomm and Siano FLO chip agreementQualcomm, developer of advanced wireless technologies and data solutions, and Siano Mobile Silicon, supplier of semiconductor solutions for mobile digital TV (MDTV), have signed a royalty-free agreement that enables Siano to use Qualcomm’s patented technologies to design, manufacture and sell certain semiconductor chip products that implement FLO technology. This licence agreement paves the way for Siano to develop a multi-standard MDTV receiver chip supporting FLO, in addition to other standards.
Back to top
Tuesday 18th June
Viewers lose faith in participation TV
MSTV IPTV now Mediaroom
Universal and Tiscali PictureBox
Spain's green light to Hispasat's takeover by Abertis
CLP TV to start broadcasting in July
Blockbuster prefers Blu-ray
HD 2012 Olympics?
SES Astra increases ITV capacity
Extreme sports brands "must embrace digital"
Irdeto conducts Sydney DVB-H trial
Viewers lose faith in participation TVThe controversy surrounding participation TV has caused a big drop in the number of calls contests have received, service operator Eckoh confirmed today. Eckoh said the crisis had made a "significant impact" on response levels, which it described as "much lower" throughout the sector.
Unveiling its preliminary results for the year ending March 31, the company said the "adverse publicity" and the "potential increase in risk" meant the firm was now reviewing its involvement in the sector and would look to renegotiate its contracts with broadcasters to improve margins.
Despite the negative publicity, Eckoh said its client interactive voice recognition (IVR) division actually increased its revenues by 50 per cent to £71.3m (E103m) in the 12 months to the end of March. This could be mainly attributed to the launch of ITV Play. Eckoh said profits in the division also rose 13 per cent to £3.5m.
Back to top
Microsoft has unveiled a new brand name for its Internet-based television platform, so far deployed by 10 companies. The company said it will introduce a toolkit to allow developers to create applications for the Mediaroom platform.
Back to top
Universal and Tiscali PictureBoxUniversal Pictures and Tiscali UK have entered into an agreement to launch the PictureBox subscription-on-demand service on Tiscali TV in the UK. PictureBox provides a selection of current and library feature films, including titles from NBC Universal.
Subscribers to the PictureBox service on Tiscali TV will pay a monthly fee of £5 (E7.25) to view a selection of feature films that will be delivered via the Tiscali TV IPTV platform. Films will be refreshed constantly, with new titles being added each week. The PictureBox service will include a total of 28 feature films at any one time.
Back to top
Spain's green light to Hispasat's takeover by Abertis
From David Del Valle in MadridThe Spanish telco network operator Abertis has reportedly been given clearance by the government to acquire a 40 per cent stake in Hispasat for E375 million.
The government will impose conditions on the sale including the guarantee that the satellite company will remain Spanish, the suspension of the preferential voting rights of core shareholder Eutelsat, and that Petra Mateos remains chairman of the Hispasat. Abertis currently holds an 8.8 per cent indirect stake in Hispasat through its 32 per cent stake in Eutelsat, which in turn has 27.69 per cent of Hispasat.
Hispasat is seeking a stock market listing and plans to launch three new satellites in the future.
Back to top
CLP TV to start broadcasting in July
From Branislav Pekic in RomeCLP TV, the satellite TV channel dedicated to Portuguese-speaking communities abroad, will launch regular broadcasts at the beginning of July. The Canal de Língua Portuguesa (Portuguese Language Channel) is the result of an initiative of a group of 20 Portuguese entrepreneurs based in Paris, which was presented for the first time in July of last year. After nearly a year of test broadcasts, the free-to-air channel will launch in July with 20 daily hours of programming initially aimed at Portuguese communities in France and Luxembourg.
According to director Pedro Mariano, more than E2 million have been invested so far in the channel. Besides news and information, the programme schedule will include formats as well as Portugese and history lessons. CLP TV will also air two Portuguese league football matches a week, starting from August. 80% of the progamming will be in Portuguese, with the remaining 20% to be broadcast in French.
Blockbuster will rent high-definition DVDs only in the Blu-ray format in 1,450 stores when it expands its high-def offerings next month. Blockbuster has been renting both Blu-ray and HD DVD titles in 250 stores since late last year and found that consumers were choosing Blu-ray titles more than 70 per cent of the time.
Back to top
HD 2012 Olympics?ITV, Sony and the BBC are lobbying the UK Government to ensure that high definition channels are available on Freeview in time for the 2012 London Olympics. Otherwise, the HD for All lobby group says, British viewers will be watching the event in poorer quality pictures than most of the rest of the world.
Back to top
SES Astra increases ITV capacitySES Astra is providing ITV with additional satellite capacity. The agreement, which increases ITV’s transmission capacity on Astra by half a transponder to six transponders, has been prompted by the growing demand for additional services and enhancements. It will be made available on the Astra -2C satellite that is about to be moved from the orbital position 19.2° East to 28.2° East in order to fulfill the high capacity demand from the UK and Irish markets.
Back to top
Extreme sports brands "must embrace digital"Extreme sports brands are failing to embrace the digital age despite a strong correlation between their potential customer base and high Internet usage, claims the CEO of Europe's only online advertising network dedicated to extreme sports.
Sportsyndicator.com, set up six months ago, already offers advertising clients access to over 230 extreme sports websites, attracting a global audience of 12 million sports enthusiasts. However CEO Ransu Salovaara said that despite the perfect demographic of those Internet users, the majority of participation sports and extreme sports brands remain focused on print advertising.
Back to top
Irdeto conducts Sydney DVB-H trial
Irdeto has partnered with Broadcast Australia, and head-end systems vendor Thomson in a DVB-H trial in Sydney, Australia. The first phases of the trial, which included testing interactive services, technical capabilities and performance of the DVB-H Solution to deliver mobile TV and related broadcast services has resulted in five secure, encrypted channels available for viewing in the Sydney Metropolitan area, on the Samsung P930 swivel screen handsets.
Monday 18th June
Sony launches Internet TV
Joost aims for hardware
DirecTV and DISH sign with Clearwire
Media Institute: no neutrality
News Corp, NBC online venture in September
PTC launches triple-play
Telefónica IPTV services in Chile
Star TV for Europe
TVI Portugal and Vodafone DVB-H trials
Telia channel package for digital TV
Al Jazeera English awards
Sony launches Internet TVSony plans to start shipping its Web to TV device in July. The Bravia Internet Video Link will stream video over a broadband connection to compatible Sony Bravia HDTVs. The device connects to the television via USB and HDMI ports.
Available Web video, which is accessed through the TV remote control, will only come from Sony's movie and music divisions, or through partners Yahoo, Time Warner's AOL, and Grouper. More partnerships are to be confirmed at a later date.
When the device was announced at CES in January Josh Felser, co-founder of Grouper Networks said that through the partnership with Sony, Grouper will "edit" and filter user-generated content posted at Grouper's website, "plucking" the ones the company thinks "right" for viewing on Bravia.
Back to top
Joost aims for hardwareJoost has started lobbying equipment manufacturers to embed its video-playing software in TV sets and other consumer hardware. New CEO Mike Volpi said Joost is a piece of software that can reside on a variety of platforms, including a television with an internet connection, a set-top box, a mobile phone, or in some alternative device that might come out in the future.
Back to top
DirecTV and DISH sign with ClearwireDirecTV and DISH have struck a partnership with Clearwire to offer that company's high-speed wireless Internet service. Clearwire was founded by cellphone pioneer Craig McCaw in 2003.
The DTH companies both have partnerships with large phone companies like Verizon Communications and AT&T which market satellite video services along with their phone service and Internet access. But both Verizon and AT&T are launching their own TV services, prompting the satellite companies to search for other ways to provide broadband.
Clearwire uses a wireless technology similar to WiMax. With more than 258,000 subscribers and reaching 39 U.S. markets, Clearwire wants to make its service available to 125 million people in five years, up from about 10 million currently.
Back to top
Media Institute: no neutrality
The Media Institute, a thinktank backed by NBC Universal, News Corp., Time Warner, and Viacom among others, thinks net neutrality regulation is a bad idea.
In a submission to the FCC, the institute argues that in the present marketplace, "there is no problem – no clear and present danger to the openness of the Internet – that requires regulatory action," saying that perceived harms, rather than actual ones, are fueling the drive for regulation.
The Institute argues that the FCC has transformed its four "goals" for network nondiscrimination in the provision of broadband service into "rights," and that even its contemplation of some type of regulator scheme to "protect and enforce these 'rights," is "little more than an exercise designed to expand regulatory clout."
The Institute essentially suggests turning those "rights" back into "goals," calling regulation a "solution in search of a problem."
Back to top
News Corp, NBC online venture in September
NBC Universal has said it expects its new online video venture with News Corp. to launch in September. The two companies announced the project in March, saying it would begin operation in the summer of 2007. The yet-to-be-named Web video outlet aims to compete for viewers with Google 's YouTube and other online video outlets under construction by large media companies.
Back to top
PTC launches triple-play
From Branislav Pekic in RomePT Comunicações (PTC) has launched a triple-play service (telephone, Internet and television), that will be marketed with the brand name MEO.
Speaking during the presentation of the new service, PTC executive president, Rodrigo Coast, said that the goal was to sign up 10,000 to 30,000 clients by the end of the year. The subscription to the basic package, which includes 42 channels (10 of which are selected by the client), broadband internet with speeds of up to 8 Mbps and unlimited phone calls on the PT network, costs E54.90 a month. This figure does not include the lease of the equipment (digital box plus router) which costs E7.50 a month. Two of the channels will be transmitted in high definition and there will also be a "video-on-demand" service.
PTC has invested E10 million to launch the service which will initially be available in Lisbon and will be extended to Porto and Castelo Branco in the coming weeks. The entire country should be covered by the end of 2007, according to the company's managers, although it is expected that only 40% of households will be able to access the service, as a broadband connection is required.
The IPTV solution was developed by PTC, PT Inovação and PT Sistemas de Informação, while the technology platform is supplied by Microsoft and Alcatel.
Back to top
Telefónica IPTV services in ChileThe Chilean unit of Telefónica has launched IPTV services in Santiago, its first in Latin America. Telefónica Chile has invested $20 million into network upgrades and equipment purchases to facilitate the IPTV rollout. The service is still in its initial phase and limited to the wealthier neighborhoods in the northeastern corner of Santiago.
Back to top
Star TV for EuropeStar TV has launched their channels Star Plus, Star One and Star Gold across continental Europe (excluding the UK and The Republic of Ireland) on the WorldTV platform. The channel launches are part of WorldTV’s bouquet of seven pay television channels which are now available across Europe.
Back to top
TVI Portugal and Vodafone DVB-H trials
TVI Portugal and Vodafone Portugal have completed successful trials of digital television broadcasts to mobile phones using Thomson’s SmartVision interactive service platform and Mobile TV head-end products, Argos mobile TV encoders and Opal DVB-H IP encapsulators. The trial consisted of eight live channels broadcasted by DVB-H to a panel of users with mobile phones from Samsung.
Back to top
Telia channel package for digital TVSwedish telecom Telia is continuing to focus on its digital television initiative. More than 100,000 customers have already signed up for the service to date. Now a new package of channels is being launched with eight of TV4’s channels and TV4 Anytime, making Telia the first digital TV provider in Sweden to offer customers on-demand services that were previously available only on the Internet. TV4 Anytime gives customers access to an archive of previously broadcast shows.
Back to top
Al Jazeera English awards
Back to top
Al Jazeera English has won three Bronze trophies at the 2007 PROMAX & BDA International Conference in the categories of Topical Campaig, Image Campaign and Website-News.
