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Our Latest Issues
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Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Tuesday
Friday 16th November
FCC vs cable, it’s getting nasty
Murdoch not interested in 5
New promo money for Spain DTT
Google DoubleClick deal, new scrutiny
Broadband more popular than TV?
Sirius and XM shareholders want merger
Fans prefer HDTV over stadium seats?
Seven planning TV, digital expansion
Vivendi entertainment website
DirecTV Hits 100 HD
CNN spends on international
AT&T invests in Vobile
ITV Hot Desk mobile show
Astro signs with NDS
SIDSA breaks into DTT market
FCC vs cable, it’s getting nastyThe stand-off between FCC chair Kevin -Martin and the US cable industry is getting serious, and complicated. Two of his fellow Republican commissioners seem to be doubting the validity of his data for deermining that cable has crossed the arcane 70/70 threshold (see Daily 13th Nov).
Martin, a relentless critic of ‘big cable’, has said the data in question indicated that the cable industry had reached the 70 per cent concentration threshold that allows the FCC to heavily regulate the sector under a rule established in 1984. But commissioners Deborah Tate and Robert McDowell expressed reservations about the data Martin was using. In a letter the two commissioners asked Warren Communications News, which compiles the data for the FCC, to send them "all information" regarding the data, including any "caveats" or "footnotes" to the statistics.Reacting to Martin’s plan, the cable industry ditched all efforts to improve its strained relations with Martin and instead accused him of backing measures "designed to hurt the cable industry". "In my judgment, the FCC is broken,’’ Kyle McSlarrow, president of the National Cable and Telecommunications Industry Association, said.
"We'd much rather have a better relationship, but we're not going to fundamentally wreck a business model and hurt our customers to appease one chairman of the FCC," said McSlarrow. Cable companies are upset at what they see as the latest in a series of attacks by Martin, in retaliation for their refusal to sell cable programming on a channel-by-channel basis. Martin has long been a proponent of the a la carte system because he believes it would offer more choice and cost consumers less.
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James Murdoch has ruled out swapping British Sky Broadcasting’s stake in ITV for ownership of Five, RTL’s UK channel. The satellite broadcaster, which has a paper loss of about £320 million (E463m) on its 17.9 per cent stake, may be forced by the Competition Commission to sell its stake. The Commission is expected to make its recommendation to ministers next month.
"There’s this big theory that Sky’s going to buy channel Five, that’s what Sky really wants. I’ll just tell you right now, it isn’t," Murdoch told a bank conference. He said: "We think the ITV franchise is a valuable one ... We intend to be a long-term shareholder to get returns from that, and we’ll see how that goes."
Meanwhile ITV chief Michael Grade reiterated his belief Sky’s intend was to materially influence events and that it should be forced to sell all of its stake. He also said he saw no merit for ITV in a new approach from Virgin Media, which was in the process of bidding for ITV when Sky bougfht its’ stake.
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New promo money for Spain DTT
From David Del Valle in MadridThe Ministry of Industry and the Pro DTT Association, ImpulsaTDT, have signed an agreement to invest E6 million in the promotion of DTT to boost the DTT take-up during the Christmas campaign.
Both parties will launch joint media campaigns and other marketing (sponsorship of conferences, events, fairs) to raise public awareness of the advantages of DTT. They will also issue regular reports and back new audience measurement methods to evaluate the impact of DTT in the market.
However, more bodies are asking for pay DTT services to make the business profitable in the future. Jose Manuel Lara, president of the Publishing House, Planeta, main shareholder in Antena 3 TV, said that after the analogue switch-off in 2010 there will be 55 free-to-air channels competing for the same advertising market. "There will not be space for all of them" he claimed.Currently, DTT is watched by more than 4.2 million people, with an average audience share of 8.3 per cent. In September more than 372,000 DTT boxes were sold in the market increasing the total DTT devices available to 6.5 million. By proportion, according to ImpulsaTDT, Spain is the second country, after the UK, in the number of DTT boxes sold ahead of France and Italy.
Google DoubleClick deal, new scrutiny
Google's proposed £3.1 billion (E4.49bn) purchase of DoubleClick will face an in-depth second-phase review, after the European Commission expressed concerns about competition issues.
The European Commission's Competition Unit will conduct the investigation under the EU Merger Regulation, after its initial market review indicated competition concerns in the online advertising and intermediation markets. The Commission now has until April go through or whether modifications need to be made.
Eric Schmidt, chairman and chief executive of Google, said the search giant was "obviously disappointed" by the decision to extend the review.
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Broadband more popular than TV?
Within the next three years, more than 16 million US TV households may be using their broadband service more than they use their TV sets according to research firm In-Stat.
"Today's stable and profitable subscription TV services are facing new competition from online and mobile entertainment services, and from new, high-quality packaged goods, such as HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs," says Gerry Kaufhold, In-Stat analyst. "The very nature of what consumers call ‘entertainment' is undergoing a profound change in which the ability to instantly share content with friends, family members, and those connected on social networks or buddy lists is creating micro user communities that replace traditional entertainment sources such as TV programmes. As more high-quality content becomes available online, savvy consumers are considering ways to reduce their monthly bills by getting everything from the Internet."
In-Stat's survey also revealed that up to 30 per cent of respondents would be willing to drop subscription TV and use the Internet for TV.
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Sirius and XM shareholders want mergerShareholders of Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio voted to approve Sirius' proposed $13.6 billion acquisition of XM.
The companies signed an agreement in February for a deal that has drawn close regulatory scrutiny. Terms call for Sirius to pay 4.6 shares for each XM share. Analysts say it may still be difficult for an XM-Sirius as it is seen as creating a monopoly, especially if their market is narrowly defined as the satellite radio industry. The companies say their market should not merely be defined as satellite radio, since they must compete against all of terrestrial radio, as well as Internet radio, audio from satellite and cable television systems, music download services and other media.
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Fans prefer HDTV over stadium seats?Motorola commissioned a survey in the US among more than 1,000 adults and found that 45 per cent would rather watch college or professional football on a HD TV than watch the game in person. Only one in three respondents (32 per cent) indicated they would rather watch a college or professional football game in person.
The survey also found that more men than women would rather watch football on a high definition TV than in person (51 per cent of men vs. 41 per cent of women).
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Seven planning TV, digital expansion
Channel 7 executive chairman Kerry Stokes says the Australian broadcaster plans to develop its multiple-channel TV business over the next year. Stokes also confirmed the broadcaster was appealing a Federal Court decision against it in the C7 case, in which Seven alleged its competitors had conspired to ruin its C7 sports pay television venture.
Stokes said Seven would build on its programme development and the network was committed to creating new free-to-air channels. "The launch of our new channel, Seven HD, is the first step to create a three channel network for Seven on free-to-air digital television, " he said. "Over the coming 12 months (we) will see Seven develop a multiple-channel business - realising our long held ambitions in this promising evolution of free-to-air television."
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Vivendi entertainment websiteVivendi will start testing a new entertainment website within the next few days according to chief executive Jean-Bernard Levy. Levy said the website, developed under the project name 'Vivendi Mobile Entertainment', will be marketed as 'Zoaza'.and will act as a 'content and services platform'.
Observers have seen the project as an attempt by Vivendi to compete with the likes of YouTube and MySpace by drawing on content from Vivendi units such as Canal Plus and mobile phone network SFR.
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DirecTV has hit its long-promised goal of 100 HD channels by year's end. The satcaster bolstered it high-def offering this week by adding five new basic cable networks, five new pay-per-view channels, and 13 new regional sports networks into the mix. According to DirecTV, the addition of all the new channels gives the company 100 high-def channels. The satcaster airs 85 national HD channels, the remainder made up of PPVs and others.
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CNN spends on internationalCNN plans a multimillion dollar investment in its international news gathering resources, in a bid to be less reliant on third parties and to fight back against new competitors to the original 24-hour news channel. The investment, thought to be costing about $10m, will see CNN International open permanent bases in nine new countries from Afghanistan to Vietnam and add correspondents in existing bureaux, including Beijing, London and Jakarta.
It will also open a regional hub in the United Arab Emirates, putting it in direct competition with Al Jazeera's Doha-based English-language service, which marks its first anniversary today, with distribution deals taking it to a potential audience of 100m homes.
US telco AT&T is making an investment in Vobile, whose VideoDNA technology identifies pirated online content, indicating it plans to step up co-operation with studios to block illegal distribution across its Internet network.
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ITV Hot Desk mobile showITV has revealed its first made-for-mobile production, a celebrity interview show. ‘The Hot Desk’ will be free to viewers and funded through sponsorship.
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Astro signs with NDS
Measat Broadcast Network Systems, owner and operator of Malaysian pay-TV service Astro and NDS Group have signed contracts for the licensing and deployment of the VideoGuard conditional access system (VideoGuard CAS) for its Direct-to-Home Pay TV services. The company plans to progressively migrate its satellite Pay TV services to the VideoGuard CAS. This follows Astro's deployment since 1999 of the MediaHighway middleware (owned by NDS) as its operating system for its set top boxes. The utilization of VideoGuard CAS will provide Astro with a single and consolidated CAS/middleware provider resulting in enhanced ability to leverage functionality between the two technologies, cost efficiencies and speed to market.
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Spanish technology company SIDSA is targeting the Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT) market to help broadcasters and operators develop cost-effective pay DTT services with a minimum investment.
Its KeyFly Conditional Access System (CAS) is protecting the Spanish Football League TV rights in the Middle East and North of Africa within the pay-TV platform, Al Jazeera Sport Channel, whose pre-pay model is proving to be a success for the third consecutive year.
In addition, in Spain, SIDSA has joined forces with the pay platform Boulevard Digital, SIEMENS-InOutTV, the Consultancy firm SDIdigital, the operator Telecom Castilla-La Mancha and the TV producer Mediapro to launch a pay DTT pilot. It is one of the first pay-TV initiatives on DTT in Spain and forms part of the project called "DTT Digital Alcázar", the first successful case in the South of Europe of a "DTT Digital Island".
Thursday 15th November
More CE devices enter the digital TV market
Portugal Telecom plans DTH service for March 2008
Private continues aggressive IPTV/VOD rollout
Microsoft CEO sees opportunities in digital advertising
Telefónica's FTTH pilot
Whitehaven Switch over complete, BBC NAO report
UDcast selected by Harris for DVB-H Mobile TV headend
AT&T reserves Prime slot
Sistema set for DVB-H launch
Motionbox Motionbooks
C4 proposing outsourcing to Red Bee
More CE devices enter the digital TV marketMany established companies such as Google, Amazon, and NBC, as well as newer entrants such as Joost and BiBC, are aggressively pursuing opportunities in delivering content to consumers via the Internet to the PC or via IP to the TV set. IMS Research estimates that in 2007, about 30.7 million IP-enabled consoles will ship worldwide as well as over 6 million devices such as digital media adapters, SlingCatcher, Apple TV, and Media Center PCs.
The IMS Research study ‘Hybrid Set-top Box Developments and the Impact of Other Hybrid Equipment’ explores the services and products that are employing non-traditional methods of delivering video content to the TV set. Anna Hunt, Research Director and author of the study, states, "Integration of digital receiver technology into DVD and blue-laser products and into TV sets, as well as IP-enabling of many CE devices such as game consoles, is becoming much more popular. This trend illustrates that in the future, many CE devices, beyond the STB, will deliver digital video content to the TV set." IMS Research forecasts that in 2012, over 200 million devices such as these will ship worldwide. Hunt adds, "With services such as Joost and Xbox LIVE Marketplace, as well as content providers‚ initiatives to deliver content directly to consumers, traditional cable and satellite TV operators will continue to face challenges relating to the integration of new concepts and technologies into their service and content strategies in order to remain competitive."
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Portugal Telecom plans DTH service for March 2008
From Branislav Pekic in RomeIn expectation of the launch of the tender that will award DTT licences, Portugal Telecom is also considering the launch of a satellite TV service with 120 channels.
The new DTH offer, which could be launched in March 2008, would compete with TV Cabo, a company that has just separated from the PT Group and which has more than 80 per cent of the Portuguese pay-TV market. According to local daily ‘Diario de Noticias’, the satellite TV offer is one of the options being discussed by the PT management, together with the launch of DTT services, depending on the results of the tender that will take place in the first quarter of next year.
The new digital satellite service would be complementary to Meo, PT’s triple-play offering (TV, Internet and fixed telephony). Meo’s main problem is that requires a minimum speed of 8 Mbps, thus limiting its expansion throughout Portugal. When the triple-play service launched, PT managers announced that the goal was to have 30,000 subscribers at the end of this year and 100,000 by the end of 2008.
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Private continues aggressive IPTV/VOD rolloutPrivate Media Group is set to launch its content with additional European IPTV operators in Poland, the Netherlands, Italy, Greece and Portugal before the end of the year. The platform operators in these countries include leading telecoms which all offer Triple-Play featuring IPTV based Video-On-Demand.
Berth Milton, CEO of Private Media Group commented: "With launches recently taking place in France, Belgium, Spain and Germany, we are extremely pleased with the continued rollout in the fast growing IPTV/VOD market in Europe. Offering better buy rates and higher margin than traditional cable VOD, we expect the launch of our content on these platforms to add substantial shareholder value going forward."
As of November 2007, the Company had agreements with 23 IPTV/VOD platforms in 11 territories covering approximately 74 per cent of all IPTV subscribers in Europe.
Microsoft CEO sees opportunities in digital advertising
Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said the company sees growth opportunities in emerging countries and the shift to digital advertising. Ballmer said Microsoft's sales in ‘BRIC’ countries -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- will grow to almost $3 billion in fiscal 2008 ending in June from about $1 billion three years ago.
It is still only a small percentage of Microsoft's estimated total revenue of close to $60 billion this year, but the company is working to increase revenue in those countries with new business models and better piracy control measures. Ballmer reiterated the company's goal to be an advertising "powerhouse," saying that the $600 billion market for global advertising is moving to digital formats.
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Telefónica's FTTH pilot
From David Del Valle in MadridTelefónica is launching a trial on its FTTH (fibre to the home) network in Madrid and Barcelona to test Internet broadband access at 30 Megabytes in a combined triple play offer that also includes its IPTV service, Imagenio.
The triple play service, at a price of E9 until next September 2008, will be distributed to 54,000 clients in Madrid and Barcelona in this pre-commercial period. The company plans to have more than 1,000 FFTH clients by the end of the year. The Telecommunications Market Commission has given its authorisation to the operation, approving a fee of E6 for the basic package and E9 for the familiar package.
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Whitehaven Switch over complete, BBC NAO reportArqiva has confirm that the second stage of the UK Digital Switch Over in Whitehaven, Cumbria, has been a technical success.
Following removal of the BBC Two analogue signal on 17th October, analogue signals for the remaining channels, BBC One, ITV1 and Channel 4, have now been switched off. All three Public Service Broadcast multiplexes are now being transmitted via high-power digital TV signals from three relay sites at Whitehaven, Eskdale Green and Gosforth.
Meanwhile, the BBC Trust has published an independent review it had commissioned from the National Audit Office (NAO): The BBC's Preparedness for Digital Switchover, which looks in particular at how the BBC plans to meet its obligations set out under the Royal Charter and Agreement.
Jeremy Peat, BBC Trustee, said: "The Trust accepts the report's conclusions and has discussed the NAO's findings and recommendations with the BBC Executive. The Trust is content that the BBC management team's proposed actions are an appropriate response and endorses them. Furthermore, the Trust will continue to scrutinise the BBC's preparations for digital switchover and will commission a review of the Digital Switchover Help Scheme around 2009 to monitor the operational value for money of the scheme."
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UDcast selected by Harris for DVB-H Mobile TV headendUDcast, provider of Mobile TV infrastructure solutions and satellite based enterprise equipment, has been selected by Harris to supply DVB-H headends for Harris' range of Atlas DVB-H Mobile TV transmitters. UDcast will provide its DVB-H IP Encapsulators, Network Managers and monitoring equipment. Harris transmitters will also be fully interoperable with UDcast's iSpicer to enable regionalisation of programming from a single source. This feature will allow operators to save bandwidth costs and provide customised local programming that will best serve their regional markets.
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AT&T reserves Prime slotAT&T’s U-verse TV service is to deliver international programming via SES Americom's IP-Prime platform. SES Americom will also provide international programming for AT&T broadband and wireless platforms.
"Providing AT&T U-verse TV with international programming reflects the extensive relationships and agreements we have with leading programmers throughout Europe, Asia, Latin America and the rest of the world," said Bill Squadron, president of SES Americom's IP-Prime division.
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Thomson is to provide DVB-H broadcast technology to Sistema Mass Media (SMM), a branch of Russia’s AFK Sistema which is set to launch a mobile multimedia service.
For this service, initially available in Moscow and in 16 other Russian cities with populations over one million, Thomson has provided the technology to distribute the content by satellite from Moscow to the other regional transmitters, as well as the headend platform. For distribution from Moscow to the other cities where SMM has a licence, Thomson has implemented a solution using available bandwidth on an existing satellite transponder.
SMM plans a commercial launch of the new mobile television service in early 2008. The service will be available to all mobile network operators.
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Motionbox MotionbooksMotionbox, the website that allows users to share their personal videos, has introduced a new service that delivers a complete, secure solution for uploading, storing and sharing video memories. Motionbox has also introduced TV-quality iPod downloads and new video flipbooks for sale, called Motionbooks, to coincide with the launch.
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C4 proposing outsourcing to Red BeeChannel 4 has unveiled proposals to contract out to Red Bee Media a range of broadcast and production services currently being carried out in-house by its Channel Operations and 124 Facilities divisions.
The proposal would give Channel 4 access to flexible purpose built facilities. It affects more than 100 staff and encompasses the channel’s broadcast engineering and transmission teams, as well as post production, library services and on-air graphics. Staff working in the affected areas are expected to transfer from Channel 4’s headquarters in the Victoria area of Central London to Red Bee Media’s Broadcast Centre in White City in West London over a 12 month period from the second quarter of 2008.
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EU set for new telco rules
MRG IPTV Global Forecast: Stronger Market
Bebo Launches 'Open Media'
Pluthero control at C&W
Sub prime torpedoes Dish?
WB’s Mom Logic
Disney on mobile in Japan
Comtrend 400Mbps powerline
A-L lands du
Chello for C4
ANT for SA
Optibase, Leadcom alliance
The European Union is set to launch new reform proposals for the telecoms sector in a bid to increase competition and create a single market. Draft proposals are expected to include plans to create a regional watchdog and give Brussels greater power to change the decisions of national regulators.
The plans, set to be announced next week will need to be approved by the EU's 27 member states and Germany and Spain are seen as strong opponents of certain aspects of the plans.
The driving force behind the changes is the EU view that more consistency between member nations' telecommunications legislation is needed. The Commission wants the power to override a national regulator's decision regarding a competition issue if it believes it is inadequate.
It has also argued that technological developments mean there is a need to review regulation, especially as technology is moving away from more traditional fixed-line services that rely on wire infrastructure.
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MRG IPTV Global Forecast: Stronger Market
Growth for IPTV Subs is projected from 13.5 million in 2007 to 72.6 million in 2011, roughly a 40 per cent compounded annual growth rate. With an emphasis on
profitability, improved operations and sustained growth, large European carriers are planning for future converged services still over 18 months away.
According to Len Feldman, Director of IPTV Analysis for MRG, "We've substantially increased our global subscriber forecast for 2011, from 63.6 million in the April 2007 Forecast to 72.6 million now, in large part because we're considerably more optimistic about the probability for market success in China, India and Korea. We slightly decreased our subscriber forecast for 2007, from 14.3 million to 13.5 million, but paradoxically, our forecast for total system revenues went up, from $2.1 billion to $2.5 billion."
"Europe will remain the number one IPTV market in terms of subscriber count through 2011, but Asia is catching up quickly and will most likely surpass Europe in 2012-2013,_ said Feldman. “In North America, Verizon and AT&T are growing considerably faster than we previously forecasted, and we expect Verizon to be the world's largest IPTV service provider in 2011."
Technologically, MPEG-4/AVC is consistently replacing MPEG-2 in new installation, as MPEG-2 ceases to be sold even in cost-sensitive markets like China or Eastern Europe. Although DSL continues as the dominant last-mile technology, FTTH (Fibre-to-the-Home) is beginning to show more traction in both new and established neighbourhoods.
Some increase in systems revenue also occurred in the Content-Protection/ DRM sector, where our revised market model. Since Content-Protection can include multiple components ranging from Conditional Access to more newly developed Watermarking and Fingerprinting, this sector should continue showing upside potential as security applies to multiple home devices and formats.
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Bebo Launches 'Open Media'
Bebo, the global social network unveiled Open Media, that gives media companies free and open access to Bebo's 40 million users worldwide and the Bebo community free and open access to thousands of hours of premium entertainment content. Launch partners include CBS, MTV Networks, ESPN, the BBC, Channel Four, ITN, Yahoo! and BSkyB, as well as emerging media companies like Music Nation,
Next New Networks, Crackle, Ustream, Last.fm and JibJab.
Launched at simultaneous events in New York and London, Bebo's Open Media ushers in a new way for people to explore and experience content on the Internet, and the way media owners promote, distribute and monetise their programming.
Open Media allows users to store and curate within their personal profiles their favourite music and video content; and virally distribute that content throughout their 'friends network' and the wider Bebo community.
For media companies, Bebo's flexible architecture gives them access to a growing community of 40 million members, many of whom fall into the elusive 13-24 year old target audience. Uniquely, partners will not be charged for access to the platform and are able to distribute their content using their own video players, which can carry their own advertising and allow them to retain 100 per cent of the related ad revenues.For Bebo, the addition of thousands of hours of short and long form premium entertainment content from major global entertainment brands and emerging media companies will increase the audience's engagement with the site and thus the value of Bebo's advertising and brand associations.
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Pluthero control at C&W
John Pluthero will assume management control of both the international and the Europe, Asia and US divisions of Cable & Wireless following the departure of Harris Jones, the international chief executive, this week.
Richard Lapthone, group chairman, said Pluthero was the ideal choice to oversee the division now that the recovery phase in the Europe, Asia and US division was over. The surprise departure accompanied a strong set of interim results from the UK’s second-largest telecoms company. Pre-tax profits in the six months to the end of September doubled to £166m (E240m) although this included an exceptional gain of £35m. Revenue fell from £1.7bn to £1.6bn. Gross margins rose to 41 per cent from 35 per cent last year.
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The lacklustre new subs number for EchoStar’s Dish (110,00 for the quarter) saw its stock take a pasting on Wall St despite profits being over forecast.
Of particular concern was the churn that rose to 1.94 percent in the quarter from 1.76 percent in the same period a year ago. EchoStar said itself this was in part because of bad credit cut-offs and this in turn was linked to its customer’s problems with mortgage payments.
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WB’s Mom LogicWarner Bros. Television Group is set to unveil its new online portal, sMomLogic.com,. The site will provide content ranging from news and original scripted Web series to how-to info and user-contributed material, all targeted at mothers. “This is not a parenting site but rather a site for women who are moms,” says Hilary Estey McLoughlin, president of Telepictures Productions.
Although moms can get their news from MSNBC.com or Google News just like anyone else, Lisa Hackner, Telepicture’s executive vice president of creative affairs, says “we hope to provide them with a service by editing down all this information and content and putting it in one place, so it’s one-stop shopping for moms. MomLogic is looking at the world through the ‘mom lens.’”
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Disney on mobile in Japan
Disney plans to launch mobile phone services in Japan early next year to become the newest entrant in an ultra-competitive market. Disney, which plans to halt its U.S.-based mobile phone service in December, is now eyeing demand for its online contents in the world's biggest market of third-generation phones.
Disney would use local mobile phone carrier Softbank's network and the two would jointly develop mobile phones and content. For Softbank - another new entrant which has been winning users with its low-cost price plans - the agreement could be a key to induce subscribers to use their phones for more downloads and switch to pricier handsets and calling plans.
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Comtrend 400Mbps powerlineComtrend Corp., manufacturer of network solutions, specialising in broadband, VoIP and data network technologies, announced it has become the first manufacturer to offer home networking adaptors that support speeds up to 400 Mbps. Comtrend’s new product, called the PowerGrid 904, is an Ethernet Powerline adaptor that plugs into any standard power plug in a home. The PowerGrid 904 provides Comtrend’s carrier customers a competitive advantage in deploying next-generation triple-play services, particularly IPTV, over existing wiring within a consumer’s home.
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Alcatel-Lucent announced that it has signed a frame agreement with du, the UAE’s
second telecom operator, for its upcoming Internet protocol television (IPTV) deployment based on the Microsoft Mediaroom IPTV and multimedia platform. In addition, Alcatel-Lucent will act as the end-to-end network integrator of a complete IPTV solution comprised of network infrastructure, Microsoft Mediaroom, services fulfilment and OSS/BSS integration, subscriber data management, and content asset management integration and implementation.
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Channel 4 has selected Chello Interactive’s Mistral Software to deliver interactive advertising solutions. The deal allows Channel 4 to create and publish interactive advertising on its channel(s) on the Sky Satellite platform.
Chello Interactive’s Mistral software has been recently enhanced to offer a new range of advertising solutions for UK satellite, DTT and European Cable platforms. The solutions offer media owners and advertisers greater creative scope and a fast, cost-effective route to delivery on a range of platforms in territories across Europe and beyond. The software has so far been used to create over 50 interactive TV commercials in the past 12 months.
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ANT for SAUser interface software provider ANT has announced it’s been selected by Scientific Atlanta to be the provider of its core television service applications.
ANT is now the reference supplier of a comprehensive range of highly customisable television applications Scientific Atlanta will supply to their IPTV customers worldwide. It joins ANT’s list of customers including some of Europe’s most high profile and largest IPTV deployments with France Telecom, and Telecom Italia.
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Optibase, Leadcom allianceOptibase, provider of advanced digital video solutions and Leadcom Integrated Solutions, an international provider of innovative telecommunication solutions, announce a strategic alliance to roll out integrated TV over IP services. The first project will be delivered to a leading Telco operator in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Leadcom selected Optibase's pre-integrated, advanced IPTV platform in order to enhance its offering by adding high quality, broadcast TV and interactive IPTV services. The joint deployment in Kazakhstan includes Optibase's end-to-end IPTV solution consisting of Video on Demand (VOD), personal video recorder (PVR) services, middleware, set-top-boxes (STB) and the Optibase Media Gateway (MGW) carrier-grade H.264 encoding platform.
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FCC new rules for ‘saturated’ cable market?
Regulator against Sogecable-Telefonica
Kids now use Internet more than TV
Ads: biggest upheaval in 50 years
25% HD in US
Four in for Numericable
Open wins on Liberate
Echostar results
Disney on Fastweb
FCC new rules for ‘saturated’ cable market?
A report by the Federal Communications Commission is claimed to show that cable TV companies have reached a subscriber saturation point that may lead to the agency exerting greater regulatory authority over the industry. The finding is in an annual report that assesses competition in the pay-television market.
The report will conclude that the agency has reached the "70/70" threshold, a measure contained in a relatively obscure provision of the 1984 cable act. The law says that when cable systems with 36 or more channels are available to 70 percent of households in the U.S. and 70 percent of those households subscribe to them, the commission may "promulgate any additional rules necessary to promote diversity of information sources."
The last video competition report released by the FCC questioned the way cable subscribership penetration is measured and sought more information on how it is calculated.The cable television industry strongly disagrees that the standard has been reached. "Every independent analysis of the marketplace shows that cable serves less than 70 percent of the nation's households and even the FCC staff concluded last year that cable was well short of this threshold," said Kyle McSlarrow, head of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association. McSlarrow called the provision "a relic of decades-old regulation" and said "twisting statistics in order to breathe life into this rule" is an attempt to justify regulation in an already competitive market.
Kevin Martin, the Republican chairman of the media and telecommunications regulator, has long sought the power to force US cable companies such as Comcast and Time Warner, to unbundle their channel offerings and offer independent programmers greater access to the cable television market.
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Regulator against Sogecable-Telefonica
From David Del Valle in Madrid
The Spanish Competition authorities has started legal proceedings against the recent alliance between the Spain's largest pay-TV group Sogecable and Telefónica to launch a joint triple play offer and joinly negotiate with TV content providers.
The National Council of Competition (CNC) argues that there is evidence of an abuse of dominant position as the alliance would strengthen both companies in the pay-TV market, breaking competition legislation.
The dominant position would affect both the acquisition of TV content and the pay-TV market in which Sogecable, with more than 2 million clients, has around 52% of all pay-TV customers and 80% of all revenues through its DTH service Digital Plus, whereas Telefonica has around 12% of the pay-TV market through Imagenio, with more than 450,000 clients.
Their alliance was announced in June and both companies have plans to launch a joint triple play offer, Trio +, from the beginning of December, when the Government-imposed limit on an alliance between them comes to an end.
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Kids now use Internet more than TV
According to research released by the European Interactive Advertising Association, 16- to 24-year-olds - a crucial audience for advertisers – are using the internet more often than TV for the first time.
The survey of more than 7,000 people across 10 European countries shows that 82% of 16- to 24-year-olds use the web between five and seven days a week while only 77% watch TV as regularly - a drop of 5% from last year.
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Ads: biggest upheaval in 50 years
The advertising industry is facing more upheaval in the next five years than in the previous half century, according to a new report. “The End of Advertising as We Know It" from IBM Global Business Services shows more-empowered consumers, more self-reliant advertisers and evolving technologies are redefining how advertising is sold, created, consumed and tracked.
Traditional advertising players risk declining revenue as budgets shift to new, interactive formats, which are expected to grow at nearly five times that of traditional advertising. To survive in this new reality, broadcasters must change their mass audience mind-set to cater to niche consumer segments, and distributors need to deliver targeted, interactive advertising for a range of multimedia devices, the report recommends.
"Digital entertainment is experiencing faster adoption than anyone had previously anticipated. The advertising community needs to dramatically re-orient its business to serve consumers who increasingly access content in non-linear formats," said Bill Battino, Communications Sector managing partner, IBM Global Business Services
More than half of ad professionals polled by IBM expect that the next five years will see open advertising exchanges (currently led by companies like Google, Yahoo, AOL) taking 30 percent of current revenues now commanded by traditional broadcasters and media.
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25% HD in US
New consumer research from Leichtman Research found that about one-quarter of households in the United States have at least one television set capable of receiving high definition programming– essentially double the penetration of HDTV of two years ago. Yet, consumer confusion related to high definition programming and products remains strong.
LRG’s latest HDTV research found that:
While over three-quarters of HDTV owners believe that they are watching HD programming, LRG estimates that about 53% of all HD households are actually watching HD programming from a multi-channel video provider (cable, DBS or a telco), and about 4% are watching HD programming via broadcast-only - leaving about 20% of those with an HDTV erroneously thinking that they are watching HD programming when they are not.
Just 41% of HDTV owners say that they were told how to receive HD programming when they purchased their set.
About 40% of HDTV owners, and over 20% of all adults, believe that their household currently has a high definition DVD player - a figure that, if accurate, would represent a much greater total than the number of high definition DVD players actually sold to date.
These findings are based on a survey of 1,300 households throughout the United States, and are part of a new LRG study, HDTV 2007: Consumer Awareness, Interest and Ownership.
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Four in for Numericable
Four buyout firms have been shortlisted in the race to buy British private equity firm Cinven's 35 percent stake in French cable operator Numericable. The firms selected - PAI Partners, TPG Capital, Carlyle and Providence - must now submit a firm offer within a month, a fifth firm could still be added to the shortlist. The sale could fetch around E1 billion.
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Open wins on Liberate
OpenTV Corp said it will get $1.5 million related to the settlement of a 2002 lawsuit against former competitor Liberate Technologies Inc over patents concerning interactive television. Liberate, whose assets have since been acquired by TVWorks, acknowledged that OpenTV's patents are valid and enforceable and admitted infringement, OpenTV said in a statement.
TVWorks, a joint venture between Comcast Corp and Cox Communications, agreed to pay the $1.5 million amount to OpenTV, to release it from past liability it acquired along with the Liberate assets, OpenTV said.
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EchoStar Communications Corporation reported total revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter ended September 30, a 12.9 percent increase compared with $2.48 billion for the corresponding period in 2006. Net income totaled $200 million for the quarter compared with $140 million in 2006.
DISH Network added approximately 110,000 net new subscribers during the third quarter of 2007, ending the quarter with approximately 13.695 million subscribers.
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Disney on Fastweb
Disney announced they have signed a deal to launch Disney Channel On Demand, a Video On Demand offer on FASTWEB IPTV.The agreement represents a further step in its strategy of seeking to leverage on new digital platforms to extend its reach and availability to viewers. FASTWEB IPTV subscribers are given the opportunity to enjoy viewing in a new way – choosing their favourite programme when they want to watch it.
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French mobile TV at the starting line
IPTV growth strong, but ARPU challenges
Cablevision loss widens
Liberty Global Q3
Dahlia TV launches in Spain
Telia try HDTV via broadband
HDNet sues DirecTV
STAR, TrueVisions and GMM Media channel venture
French mobile TV at the starting line
From Sotires Eleftheriou in ParisThe French broadcasting regulator CSA has issued a call for candidates for national personal mobile TV services. The services are to be carried on the M7 multiplex using the DVB-H standard. The deadline for applications is 15 January 2008. M7 covers 70 urban areas and has a capacity for 16 channels, three of which will be reserved for the public sector broadcasters. The call therefore concerns 13 private services, which can be general interest or themed, free or pay. Candidates must undertake to cover a minimum of 30 per cent of the population within three years and 60 percent within six years.
Some of the M7 spectrum will be used for interactive services and a number of radio stations (5 to 9), but the CSA will reconsider radio as a function of the way bands III and L are used and also after a possible public consultation.
Under the CSA’s timetable, it will publish the list of candidates whose applications are valid in February 2008. Following this the CSA will interview the candidates in public and issue its list of accepted candidates in April. The authorizations will be issued in June. After that, the successful candidates will have two months in which to agree among themselves to constitute multiplexes and select companies to provide the technical services.
The commercial launch will therefore not be until the end of 2008, hence missing the Beijing Olympics. However, services may broadcast during the Olympics on an "experimental" basis.
IPTV growth strong, but ARPU challenges
Although growth of IPTV subscriptions in Europe are expected to grow five-fold by 2011 - to more than 25 million - a new study from Parks Associates finds that operators are ARPU-challenged and facing strong competition.
"IPTV in Europe: Digital TV in a Hyper-competitive Market" – A study finds that telcos are facing growing competition from not only cable, satellite and digital terrestrial services, but also other national incumbents and competitive players that are taking advantage of local loop unbundling regulations.
"Europe is certainly a laboratory in real market time of how competition among service providers is constantly forcing operators to constantly evaluate their entire broadband and bundled services strategies," said Kurt Scherf, Parks Associates' vice president and principal analyst. "Given the need to differentiate their services and add real value back to their companies, the European IPTV landscape is characterized by a careful balance between competitive pricing and value-added features."
Scherf said that Europe provides an example of what North America may experience given the entry of major telcos into the multichannel video space. He points to such applications as managed home networks, an emphasis on converged communications applications, and a rise in interactive television as three key areas of interest to watch in not only Europe but the rest of the world.
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Cablevision loss widensUS operator Cablevision reported a wider net loss for the third quarter, but operating income rose 59 per cent as more cable TV customers signed up for high-speed Internet and digital phone services.
Cablevision also trimmed its forecast for full-year growth in cash flow, from 10 per cent to 9 per cent, and said it expects to add fewer customers for premium services in 2007 than it had forecast three months ago.
Cablevision, which also owns Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall and the New York Knicks, posted a loss of $79.3 million (E54m) versus a loss of $59.2 million in the same period a year ago. Revenues rose 9.4 percent to $1.51 billion.
Cablevision's shares have fallen in tandem with other cable companies over the last three months, partly over concerns about competitive threats from satellite and IPTV.
Liberty Global Q3International cable group Liberty Global third-quarter profit fell from last year, when it recorded a gain on the sale of assets in France, Norway and Sweden. Liberty said it expects the fourth quarter to be the biggest quarter of the year in terms of subscriber growth, and that it expects to grow operating cash flow 14 per cent to 16 per cent.
The company said it does not expect to exceed the low end of its re-based revenue growth target of 10 per cent to 12 per cent because of a revenue shortfall in the Netherlands, Japan and Romania.
In the third quarter, net income fell to $40.4 million (E27.5m) from $445 million a year ago. The most recent quarter included a gain from the sale of its Shopchannel unit in Japan. Revenue was up 8.1 per cent to $2.26 billion.
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Dahlia TV launches in Spain
From David Del Valle in Madrid
Dahlia TV has been specifically created to provide pay-TV services on the DTT platform. Directed by a former executive of Spain's largest cable company ONO, Fernando Ojeda, Dahlia TV claims to have reached agreements with some of the major networks in the country. The company hopes the government will grant the four digital channels the right to carry pay-TV.
Dahlia expects to sign deals with the channels to provide pay-TV content in exchange for a percentage per the subscriber fee. The company undertakes to share the transmission costs, cooperate in buying content and guarantee ad revenues. It plans to reach those 75 per cent Spanish homes that do not have any pay-TV service available. The company plans to invest E107 million in the project. Its main shareholders are the Swedish group 2TD and funds Provider Venture Partners and Constellation Ventures.
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Telia try HDTV via broadbandAs the first major broadband operator in Sweden, Telia will begin to test HDTV via their broadband network. The trial period will last for six months, and is scheduled to begin in late November. Approximately 70 households in Stockholm and Gothenburg will participate in trial. The date for commercial launch has not yet been decided. However, given that the trial period is a success, a selection of Telia’s broadband customers in Sweden may be offered HDTV already sometime during 2008.
Telia is the fastest growing performer on the Swedish television market with nearly quarter of a million customers. Nearly 25 per cent of all Telia broadband customers have also selected the Company’s TV service.
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HDNet sues DirecTVHDNe has filed a lawsuit against DirecTV in an effort to stop the satellite company from moving the company's two HD channels to a special HD-tier. The suit claims DirecTV is trying to destroy HDNet by bumping the network and its sister net HDNet Movies to the satcaster's HD Extra Pack which costs subscribers an extra $4.99 per month.
The lawsuit alleges DirecTV is violating the carriage deal between it and HDNet by moving the two networks to the other tier. On top of the $9.99 DirecTV subs already pay for HD access, the new tier requires the additional $4.99 to receive all HD channels which don't have a standard feed. (The planned channel lineup for DirecTV 's "HD Extra package" includes HDNet, HDNet Movies, MGM HD, Smithsonian HD and MHD.)
In response, DirecTV said it was disappointed HDNet ignored the language of their carriage agreement and filed "an unnecessary lawsuit." A company spokesman said HDNet has yet to provide any evidence to support its claims, DirecTV is acting within its agreement and that the satcaster will defend the lawsuit "vigorously."
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STAR, TrueVisions and GMM Media channel ventureSTAR, TrueVisions and GMM Media have announced a three-party joint venture for CHANNEL V Thailand, a leading music and youth entertainment channel targeted at Thailand’s youth market. STAR will hold a 49 per cent stake in the joint venture while TrueVisions, Thailand’s leading pay-TV operator, and GMM Media, Thailand’s leading multi-media group, will hold 26 per cent and 25 per cent respectively.
