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Our Latest Issues
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Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Tuesday
Friday 30th November
EU stands by DVB-H
US networks reaping web ad profits
Virgin strategy head out
FCC now limiting cable’s size
Root out at Disco
Setanta, Virgin launch sports news channel
RAI to launch four international channels
blinkx heads Google on UK video search
Virgin VoD more viewers than Five?
NZ digital switchover
TiVo narrows loss
CCP locates in Singapore
Brightcove, C4 deal
EU stands by DVB-HDVB-H will be the European Union's standard for mobile television broadcasting, the European Commission said as it tries to boost the mobile broadcasting sector."DVB-H will be published by the Commission in the list of official EU standards," the EU's executive said in a statement.
"As a result, all EU Member States will have to support and encourage the use of DVB-H for the launch of mobile TV services, thus avoiding market fragmentation and allowing economies of scale and accordingly affordable services and devices," it said.
The EU has ignored opposition from Britain, Germany and the Netherlands claiming they did not gather enough support to block it at a meeting of EU telecoms ministers yesterday. "European mobile TV is a step closer to success following today's endorsement by the Council of the Commission's strategy for creating economies of scale in this important sector," said Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for the Information Society and Media. "This shows that political resolve and market developments are in tune to ensure this potentially multi-billion Euro market is on the right track by mid-2008. I welcome the support received today for the Commission's mobile TV strategy and, by a strong majority of Member States, also for DVB-H. At the same time, I call also on the minority of governments who are still reluctant, partly for internal reasons, to endorse DVB-H as European standard to join the majority quickly."
US networks reaping web ad profits
The four main US television networks are in line to generate $120 million (E81.2m) of revenues in 2007 from free web streaming of their content, according to a media buyer Starcom.
The networks have been reluctant to acknowledge the size of their streaming businesses, partly because online video advertising has become a sticking point in pay negotiations with the writers who are currently striking. However, it is clear advertisers are flocking to web streaming. "Based on what we’re paying for spots across the four networks, we estimate this market to be worth more than $120 million," said Tracey Scheppach, senior vice-president of Starcom.
The total online video advertising market will be worth close to $1.3 billion this year after doubling in size in 2006, according to Accustream, the digital media research company.
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Virgin strategy head outVirgin Media’s head of strategy is the latest executive to leave the group amid a wider restructuring. Ernie Cormier, its managing director of strategy, would leave in the new year. Steve Stewart, the group’s head of customer care, will leave at about the same time.
The future of Jacques Kerrest, the group’s finance head, also looks uncertain. His contract expired one year ago and industry insiders indicated that his tenure might end soon. The group said that contract negotiations with Kerrest were continuing.
The company insisted Cormier’s move had been at his own instigation. Neil Berkett, the group’s acting head, told staff yesterday that Cormier had taken the decision "some time ago" and had decided to return to the United States. The departures come as Berkett, a 51-year-old New Zealander with a background in financial services, seeks to stamp his mark on the business and prove that he can ensure that the cable giant fufills its potential.
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FCC now limiting cable’s sizeComing off a setback on its attempt to trigger tighter regulation, the head of the Federal Communications Commission has moved quickly to propose the FCC adopt a rule that would prevent Comcast, the nation’s biggest cable company, from becoming larger.
Officials said that Kevin Martin notified other commissioners this week of the agenda for the agency’s next formal meeting on December 18, and that it included a vote on his proposal to prohibit a cable company from controlling more than 30 per cent of the market. Comcast is at about that level.
The proposal would also defer a final vote on a related plan to restrict a cable television company from providing more than 40 per cent of its channels with shows from its affiliated programmers.
Martin has long complained that cable rates have risen significantly faster than inflation over the last decade. He also has said that there was not enough competition in the marketplace and that the cable companies have erected impediments to more diverse programming. He has urged the cable companies to offer à la carte plans that would let their customers pay only for the channels they watch.
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Root out at DiscoDiscovery and Science Channel president and general manager Jane Root is out at the company, Discovery Communications president and CEO David Zaslav confirmed.
She is being let her out of her contract effective immediately to return to her native United Kingdom, and Discovery veteran John Ford -- who rejoined the company in September after years away at competitor National Geographic Channel -- will assume the head slot at Discovery Channel. The company is recruiting a new chief for Science.
Root who had been controller of the United Kingdom's BBC2, was hired by the previous Discovery regime under former chief Billy Campbell. Zaslav said bringing in Ford, whose career he said he has followed for years, has been a priority since he joined the company in January 2007.
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Setanta, Virgin launch sports news channel
From Colin Mann in LondonPremium sports broadcaster Setanta Sports has launched its first free-to-air channel with the unveiling of Setanta Sports News, jointly owned with Virgin Media. The 24/7 channel will be available on Virgin’s UK cable platform and digital satellite via the Sky EPG. It will feature all newsworthy sports items, not just those for which Setanta has footage or coverage rights.
Leonard Ryan, joint Chief Executive, Setanta Sports, said he felt the channel would encourage sports fans to subscribe to the broadcaster’s Setanta Sports package. Virgin Media cable subscribers will now have access to a sports news service after Sky Sports News was withdrawn from cable systems earlier this year as part of a dispute between the satellite broadcaster and Virgin.
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RAI to launch four international channels
From Branislav Pekic RomeItalian state broadcaster RAI has announced that its international subsidiary, RAI International, will be rebranded as RAI Italia. The name change is intended to call attention to the network's country of origin around the world. The change will take place soon and will also see the launch of four Italian channels to be broadcast globally via satellite (some of them will be bilingual). The changes will be made at zero cost for RAI, as they will be covered by sponsorships and partnerships.
The RAI Italia offer will have two flagships. The first will be a general entertainment channel, offering a selection of the best of RAI’s programmes including variety, talk shows and Italian football. The second will be an all-news channel, similar to the existing RaiNews 24 in Europe. Two more channels will be added in three years time: Rai Cult will be dedicated to Italian opera and the performing arts, while Rai Style will focus on Italian lifestyle, tourism and gastronomy.
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blinkx heads Google on UK video search
Shares in video search engine blinkx have climbed after ComScore figures showed it had 52.5 million unique visitors in October, and Hitwise data showed it had overtaken Google Video in terms of UK market share.
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Virgin VoD more viewers than Five?Virgin Media’s Malcolm Wall has claimed that its VOD service has grown to the point that its audience is larger than that for Channel Five. He said Virgin's VoD service had clocked up 30 million individual clips viewed last month, from 3.5 million subscribers. Wall added that this "put it past" Channel Five's consolidated viewing for October. "By the end of the year [the Virgin VOD service via TV] will be the third or fourth most watched channel on our platform".
However, Wall also admitted that the company is not marketing its football offering as effectively as he had hoped.
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The New Zealand government says it will be 2012 at the latest before a date is set to switch off the country's analogue television service. Around 45 per cent of households currently have digital television. Broadcasting Minister Trevor Mallard says a final date will be set for the analogue switch-off once that figure reaches 75 per cent.
Mallard says the process is likely to occur on a region-by-region basis and will include a trial switch-off to test responses. He estimates the change-over could save the economy about $230 million a year, as digital television requires less energy and ensures better reception.
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TiVo narrows lossDigital video recorder maker TiVo has reported a narrower quarterly loss as its revenue and subscriptions increased, and it issued a forecast that was more optimistic than estimates. The net loss was $8.24 million, for its fiscal third quarter compared with a loss of $11.1 million, a year earlier. Revenue rose to $75.5 million from $66 million as service revenue from subscribers advanced to $52.94 million from $49 million. TiVo-owned subscriptions rose to 1.7 million from 1.6 million.
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CCP locates in SingaporeAsia-Pacific’s first Centre for Content Protection (CCP) has officially launched. The CCP’s key objectives are to be a clearinghouse and resource centre for information related to all aspects of digital distribution and content protection covering resource information for the Asia Pacific region. The CCP is joint enterprise of the Motion Picture Association of America and Singapore’s Media Development Authority. Initially, CCP will be funded by the two founders, though ultimately they expect it to be funded and driven by its members.
The over-arching goals for the Centre are to expand consumer viewing choices by promoting technological measures that permit secure distribution of digital television; educating the public on the digital transition; and supporting technical solutions for legal downloads, home networking and remote access. The CCP will also discuss anti-piracy technological solutions where members within the organisation can network and share knowledge on content protection and expand outreach programmes within the region.
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Brightcove, C4 dealBrightcove announced that it has entered into a company-wide agreement with Channel 4 allowing the broadcaster to incorporate video content across all of its online properties. The first Channel 4 site to launch video content with Brightcove is its new online promotional destination "TV Clips," featuring clips from current TV programmes, an archive of the best moments from Channel 4's 25 years of broadcasting, and a preview of new programming coming to Channel 4.
Channel 4 will use the Brightcove Internet TV platform to distribute online video clips to help drive Internet users to watch full-length programme content via Channels 4's linear transmissions, its 4oD on demand site or by purchasing a DVD. The Brightcove Internet TV platform also gives Channel 4 the option to incorporate ad-supported video content within any online property as a means to enable advertisers to reach new audiences and for Channel 4 to generate additional revenue.
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Thursday 29th November
FCC cable regulation stumbles
BBC underestimates web profit
Global satellite demand continues to rise
3G LTE: future of mobile broadband
TiVo monitors NBC ads
UK shoppers misled over HD TVs
Countries unhappy over EU DVB-H ruling
Verizon on all devices
News Corp online ad network
Spotzer E10m
IPTV chooses Arqiva for UK DTH distribution
FCC cable regulation stumblesKevin Martin, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has backed down, for now, from his effort to expand regulatory control over the cable industry after failing to secure backing from fellow regulators.
The FCC had planned to vote on a report that found companies such as Comcast and Time Warner Cable had reached a large enough share of the US population to allow the government to impose new regulatory powers. The commission voted to approve the release of the report to Congress and the public without concluding that the 70/70 threshold had been reached, FCC spokesman David Fiske said. The agency will require cable operators to provide subscriber data within 60 days after the report appears in the Federal Register.
The cable industry fought hard against Martin’s 70/70 rule on market reach, whereby 70 per cent of US households have access to cable systems with 36 or more channels, and 70 per cent of those households subscribe. A measure cable companies regarded as a further step in his campaign to damage the sector due to its refusal to allow customers to pay for programming on a channel-by-channel basis.
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BBC underestimates web profit
From Colin Mann in London
The head of BBC Worldwide said the business has underestimated how much money it could make from the Internet. Chief Executive John Smith said the business initially aimed to get at least 10 percent of its total revenues from the Internet, but has now realised this target is too low."We think we will be able to beat it. It has gone from one percent to nearly four percent in just 18 months. So already we are starting to see that probably we have under-egged the extent to which we will see more of our revenues coming from the Internet," Smith told a conference in London.
BBC Worldwide's pretax profit in the year to the end of March rose 24 per cent to £111.1 million (E161m) on sales of £810.4 million.
Smith, who became CEO of the BBC's commercial arm in 2005, said there were four strands to the division's strategy. These included capitalising on the 40 million international users to the www.bbc.com website, that unlike its UK site, carries advertisements.
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Global satellite demand continues to rise
With the highest growth rate of any market segment, analysts are calling Ku-band video services like distribution for FTA and cable headends, DTH, contribution and occasional use the global commercial satellite market's rising stars. If certain projections hold true, more than 500 36 MHz transponder equivalents of Ku-band capacity will be added to global capacity demand by next year - with half coming from DTH markets alone.
According to research firm NSR, every region of the world is showing sustained growth from direct-to-home services, it says there are no reasons why this will change well into 2012. NSR researchers say the satellite industry has stumbled on a number of new and promising markets, with internet access to commercial airlines being one that holds promise for new demand. Although the firm says this segment will eventually take off, satellite insiders should concentrate on what satellites do well besides video delivery.
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3G LTE: future of mobile broadband
Juniper Research predicts that subscriber numbers for 3G LTE (Long Term Evolution) will approach 24 million by 2012, just two years after the early versions of the technology are expected to be deployed.
The report highlights that LTE is expected to be the long-term successor in mobile broadband as it offers a migration path from existing 3G/HSPA technologies already in place. Juniper Research forecasts that, by 2010, LTE - the next generation of mobile broadband (after HSPA), should be going commercial and high definition could by then be a reality on devices.
However, the report warns that LTE needs to continually evolve to remain competitive in cost and performance versus the other leading mobile data technologies set to be foremost over the next five years. The report predicts that HSPA will dominate mobile broadband network deployments, consistently accounting for about 70 per cent of the total mobile broadband subscriber base until 2012.
Report author, Howard Wilcox says, "we expect 3GLTE to begin to achieve significant market traction towards the 2011 to 2012 timeframe. By 2012, for example, we forecast that 3GLTE will represent around 24 million subscribers globally. As the GSM Association has said recently, it is a natural follow-on from HSPA and will benefit from the extensive installed base of HSPA worldwide. Western Europe will account for over half of LTE subscribers in 2012."
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TiVo monitors NBC adsNBC Universal is set to use TiVo to tell it how television viewers are using their digital video recorders and to introduce interactive commercials to the masses. The companies said they will use TiVo's existing interactive advertising platforms as well as create new ones, and they will split some of the revenue the platforms could generate.
The deal also calls for NBC to subscribe to TiVo's Stop Watch and Power Watch services, which provide second-by-second data about shows and commercials that are being watched, paused, skipped and rewound. Power Watch is based on a random and anonymous sampling of 20,000 of TiVo's 4.2 million subscribers each night, whereas Power Watch data comes from an opt-in panel of 20,000 TiVo users, so it includes detailed demographic information.
One of the interactive advertising initiatives NBC will use is TiVo's tag system, which allows viewers to click during a commercial in order to obtain more information about the advertised product, then return to the show they were viewing without missing programming.
NBC becomes the first large network to sign on to TiVo's interactive advertising and audience-measurement initiatives.
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UK shoppers misled over HD TVsUK shoppers are being misinformed when buying high-definition TV sets, regulators have warned. A study by Ofcom found that large numbers of people are given incorrect information when buying expensive HD TV sets.
According to the survey, however, there were significant errors in the information given to customers by many retailers. Four in 10 people who took part in the survey were given potentially misleading information, such as being told that the TV sets "can receive high-definition programmes" - without being told that they would be required to buy an extra set-top box in order to do so.
Some 10 per cent of shoppers were incorrectly told that there were a number of HD channels available without subscription using Freeview, while others were even told that buying an HD-ready set would improve the quality of ordinary television channels.
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Countries unhappy over EU DVB-H rulingThe EU’s decision to back DVB-H technology as the standard for mobile TV broadcasts in all member countries is under attack from Germany, Britain and the Netherlands. EU media commissioner Viviane Reding, wants to put DVB-H on a list of official standards, and could compel member states to adopt the mobile technology as early as next year. Germany, Britain and the Netherlands, however, say that no system should be made mandatory and that the market should be allowed to decide.
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Verizon on all devices
Verizon Wireless plans to open its mobile network to all devices and mobile Internet applications next year. The company has unveiled a package of free software to try to stimulate the development of handsets that are open to any Internet service. The move marks an apparent reversal of course by the second-biggest US mobile carrier in the face of Google’s agitation for a more open US wireless industry.It has also said it may bid in a spectrum auction in the US in January so that it can build an open wireless network of its own.
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News Corp online ad networkNews Corp's Internet division plans to launch an online network to sell advertising across Rupert Murdoch's media group and to other media companies as early as the first half of next year.
Fox Interactive Media (FIM) President Peter Levinsohn told Reuters that the network, internally dubbed "FIM Serve," is the subject of discussion across the company after first being built for its MySpace online social network.
"We're well down the path in terms of discussions with some of the other News Corp properties to do ad serving," Levinsohn said. "Ultimately we'll take the company off network and become an ad network for assets outside of the News Corporation empire."
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Spotzer E10m
Spotzer Media Group, provider of multi-media video advertising campaigns, announced the closing of a E10 million financing led by Sierra Ventures of Menlo Park, California. European Directories, operator of leading yellow page publishers in nine countries, also invested.
Spotzer will primarily use the new capital to extend its innovative rich media advertising services into the US market. The company has recently opened offices in New York and California and now plans aggressive build-out of its sales and client services capabilities. Strategic partnerships with a number of major US television, web and out-of-home TV networks are also under development. The expansion is timed to leverage the company’s new online advertising platform opened to client’s globally.
The new platform allows small and mid-sized businesses to create a professional commercial in 30 minutes. The new platform also introduces enhanced tools for planning and buying media across television, the Web and out-of-home TV networks. For a low cost clients buy rights to use an ad with a degree of exclusivity that matches their budget. For example, a local business in New York can buy exclusive rights to use an ad throughout a tri-state area for as little as $500 - significantly reducing the company’s advertising costs.
Clients can use advanced search and mapping tools to configure and purchase highly targeted campaigns across television, web and out-of-home TV networks. Clients also have access to an online library of high quality "ready-to-air" video commercials that can be personalized with their unique logos, photos, slogans and other branding materials.
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IPTV chooses Arqiva for UK DTH distributionUS broadcast channel IPTV has chosen Arqiva as its content distribution platform to expand into the European market. Arqiva recently acquired two teleports and fibre networks in the United States which offer direct access to Arqiva’s distribution within the UK and Europe. With this new infrastructure in place, Arqiva has the ability to take content from the US market and directly distribute it within Europe offering customers faster and simpler implementation times and more cost effective services.
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Wednesday 28th November
TV rivals band together for on-demand service
Telefónica extends Imagenio to mobile
Mobile adult content revenues $3.5bn by 2010
Turner: UK new media springboard
IPTV expands with Arqiva
Japan's portable media market growth
Tiscali to London?
Multimedia mobiles set to surpass TV shipments
Setanta scores World Cup matches
BiBC signs distribution deal with Sony BMG
TeliaSonera broadband TV for Helsinki
BBC and Sky share RFL
Top Up TV tops up channels
Canal Satellite Réunion boosts pay platform
NXP expands PCTV capabilities
Widevine Korean patent
TV rivals band together for on-demand service
From Colin Mann in LondonThe BBC, ITV and Channel 4 are to launch a joint on-demand service, which will bring together hundreds of hours of television programmes in one place. The service is set to go live in 2008 and will offer viewers access to current shows and archive material.
Plans will have to be approved by the BBC Trust and the other broadcasters' boards for the service currently under the working title of ‘Kangaroo’.
Programming from all three broadcasters will be available for free download, streaming, rental and purchase via the Internet, with expansion on to other platforms planned.
The BBC's iPlayer, ITV's catch-up service and Channel 4oD will continue to exist along the new online merger, which will provide a complement to the established providers.
Michael Grade, ITV's executive chairman, described the project as having the potential to become "an important shop window for UK broadcaster content and a great destination for viewers".
John Smith, CEO of BBC Worldwide, the corporation’s commercial arm told delegates at the PricewaterhouseCoopers European Media Leaders Summit in London that with the arrival of a range of video sharing sites, broadcasters risked being disintermediated.
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Telefónica extends Imagenio to mobile
From David Del Valle in Madrid
Telefónica is to extend its IPTV service, Imagenio, one of the most successful IPTV operators in Europe, to mobile phones in the first half of 2008. Its first mobile IPTV services will be available in the first half of 2008 on its market-leading mobile phone service Movistar, with more than 22 million clients. Through the mobile phone, its clients will be able to acquire VoD content, have a look at the EPG or even enjoy mobile alerts with information about their favourite programmes.
This is Telefónica’s latest move within its ongoing assault on the IPTV market to increase its subscription basis and reach 1 million clients by the end of 2008. The company added 18,142 new subscribers to its Imagenio IPTV service in the third quarter of this year, bringing the total number of subscribers to 469,000, representing a 12 per cent share of the Spanish pay-TV market.
To capture new subscribers, Imagenio is launching new thematic TV packages - among them, Caribbean, Asian or International packages targeted at large immigrants communities and a specific children's package- as well as new a la carte channels such as Canal Parlamento, Art Channel or The Poker Channel, going from 120 to 160 TV channels by the end of the year. The company plans to launch an HDTV offer in the second quarter of 2008. To this end, Telefónica is increasing threefold its ADSL speed and even testing a FTHH network at 30 Megabytes.
In addition, Imagenio is launching a plethora of added-value services to allow its clients to interact with its IPTV platform, and utilise such facilities as pausing, shifting and rewinding.In parallel, Telefónica and Sogecable will be launching their joint offer Trio Plus from the beginning of December, offering the triple play, subject to clearance from competition authorities.
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Mobile adult content revenues $3.5bn by 2010The increasing adoption of streamed video and video chat services, fuelled by a sharp rise in the adoption of 3G services, will push revenues derived from mobile adult services to nearly $3.5 billion by 2010, according to a report by Juniper Research.
The report also found that a significant proportion of new revenues were expected to hail from the relatively underdeveloped North American markets, despite the existing restrictions on on-portal content.
According to report author Dr Windsor Holden, "While operators in the US and Canada are still very reluctant to introduce age-verification systems and offer adult content, it is a completely different story off-portal with a number of service providers now offering D2C content and services aimed at those markets.
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Turner: UK new media springboard
From Colin Mann in LondonThe mix of digital platforms in the UK makes it the ideal springboard for launching new media initiatives, according to Casey Harwood, SVP, Digital Media at Turner Broadcasting System Europe. He told members of the Broadcasting Press Guild that given its global spread, the broadcaster could afford to take bets in international markets and export them back to the US.
Admitting that platform diversity meant that old distribution models no longer existed, and that it was no longer a case of "one size fits all", he said that some platforms are happy to take channel content and branding for services such as IPTV platforms, but not the linear channels themselves.
He suggested that Turner would need to move out of its ‘comfort zone’ in the future, looking at alternative genres, and accepted that an increase in ‘direct to the consumer’ services required different skills from traditional affiliate support activities associated with cable and satellite distribution. "We’ve been good at library channels," he said. "New services such as Nuts TV on Freeview mean that we can look at participation TV and advertiser-funded programming." He felt that Turner was best placed supplying content to social networking sites rather than considering acquiring any such property.
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US broadcast channel IPTV has chosen broadcast transmission specialist Arqiva as its key content distribution platform to expand into the European market.
Arqiva recently acquired two teleports and fibre networks in the United States which offer direct access to Arqiva’s distribution capabilities within the UK and Europe. The deal represents the first contract to take full advantage of the cost and distribution benefits of using Arqiva’s new North American assets. IPTV’s founder, Michael Reinstein said that using the Arqiva gateway allowed the channel to cut costs for origination and allowed it to operate virtually as if it were a UK-based broadcaster.
Japan's portable media market growth
Fuelled by market drivers, such as inexpensive flash-based players available around the world, growing broadband penetration, and the increasing availability of affordable, legitimate music and video online, the market for portable media equipment will see strong growth in Japan over the next several years, reports In-Stat. Music-enabled mobile phones, however, may cut into this market, according to the high-tech market research firm,
"While video capable, dedicated PMP/MP3 players seem safe from multimedia cell phone competition, there is a significant opportunity for cellular operators to capture those consumers who are considering audio-only MP3 players" says Alice Zhang, In-Stat analyst.
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Tiscali to London?Tomasso Pompei, CEO of broadband provider Tiscali, said the group is "considering very seriously" listing its UK operations in London early next year. Britain has emerged as the dominant part of the business after Tiscali's £211 million acquisition of Pipex's Homechoice broadband and voice assets in September.
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Multimedia mobiles set to surpass TV shipments
According to research consultancy MultiMedia Intelligence, worldwide unit shipments of multimedia feature rich mobile phones will exceed 300 million units in 2008, outnumbering shipments of TV sets. Multimedia phones have at least 1 megapixal image capture, MP3 audio, video Playback, Java, USB, Bluetooth, 16-bit screen colour, QVGA resolution, WAP and MMS. Revenue from these handsets will be over $76 billion.
"Multimedia has become the term of the day as wireless service has expanded beyond voice to include a variety of communication, data, and entertainment services," stated Frank Dickson, Chief Research Officer for MultiMedia Intelligence. "Voice services are suffering under increasing price pressure, forcing operators to leverage data services to sustain revenue growth and offset declining voice ARPU. Handset manufacturers are racing to meet the consumer and operator demands for increasingly feature-rich multimedia handsets, while controlling handset cost and power consumption. The result is the mobile phone has become the world’s most ubiquitous entertainment platform."
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Setanta scores World Cup matches
Setanta has secured the rights to four of England's five away qualifying matches for the 2010 football World Cup, including the team's match with Croatia. The Irish pay-TV broadcaster has struck an exclusive broadcast deal for about 90 World Cup qualifiers, which will begin next autumn.
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BiBC signs distribution deal with Sony BMGThe British Internet Broadcasting Company (BiBC) has signed an audio, video and long form video content deal with Sony BMG Music Entertainment (UK). This deal will allow BiBC to distribute Sony BMG content on a subscription, download-to-own or download-to-rent basis along with unique advertising funded promotions.
Sony BMG will allow BiBC to distribute the audio and video to brand owners as a white label offering. MediaMaster, BiBC’s acclaimed distribution platform, provides the back-end technology to allow content to be distributed onto set top boxes, PCs, MP4 players, mobiles etc.
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TeliaSonera broadband TV for HelsinkiNordic telco TeliaSonera will launch broadband TV services in the Greater Helsinki Area this week. Sonera Broadband TV offers a selection of channels, videos and high-definition image. The service is designed for households for which Sonera’s top-speed 100 Mbps broadband is available. The top-speed access makes it possible for users to surf on the Internet and watch high-definition TV channels simultaneously. TeliaSonera has about 170,000 cable TV customers in Finland. The company now expands the provision of pay TV services from the cable TV network to the fibre optic network.
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BBC and Sky share RFLThe BBC has secured exclusive rights to show rugby league's Challenge Cup live in 2009, 2010 and 2011 in a deal covering television and online. An England international will also be shown annually as part of the deal. A new contract will also see Sky Sports continue its exclusive live coverage of Super League in addition to the National Leagues, which will have 29 matches screened a season.
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Top Up TV, which provides premium TV content on UK DTT platform Freeview is to offer subscribers programmes from National Geographic Channel and The SCI FI channel. The channels join recently announced additions The History Channel and Crime & Investigation Network. This will be the first time that all four channels will
be available to viewers in the UK.
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Canal Satellite Réunion boosts pay platform
Eutelsat has clinched a multi-year contract with Canal Satellite Réunion, which is a subsidiary of Canal Overseas (Canal + Group). The capacity on Eutelsat's W2 satellite will support the expansion of the Canal Satellite Réunion pay-TV platform which broadcasts channels and services to satellite homes in Reunion Island and surrounding islands in the Indian Ocean.
In addition to providing additional capacity, Eutelsat will also uplink channels joining Canal Satellite Réunion to the W2 satellite from its teleport in Rambouillet, near Paris.
Olivier Milliès-Lacroix, Eutelsat's Commercial Director said the agreement further anchored W2 as a key video neighbourhood in the region."
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NXP expands PCTV capabilitiesNXP, the independent semiconductor company founded by Philips, has launched two new additions to its PCTV family. The SAA7164BE and SAA7163AE are new PC TV processors designed to bring multi-streaming, which allows for watch and record capabilities to work simultaneously, and DVR capabilities to desktop and notebook multimedia PC TV USB applications.
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Widevine Korean patentWidevine Technologies, provider of downloadable content protection, forensic watermarking and digital copy protection solutions, has revealed that the Republic of Korea Intellectual Property Office has issued a new patent which provides intellectual property protection for next generation content protection. The new patent is intended to provide a licensed solution for next generation content protection systems which are focused on downloadable conditional access, mobile media security and copy protection of high definition DVD formats.
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Tuesday 27th November
FCC chief hunts votes on cable
EU will regulate behavioural ads
France disconnecting pirates
Setanta raises football finances
Spain's broadband quadruples
FCC OKs broadband for airplanes
CASBAA applauds C-band ruling
Hong Kong DTT: 2008
US studios sue Chinese online cinema
Virgin halts TV plans
Digital TV growth forecast
Ficci for DRM
Paramount movies for BT Vision
On2 and Texas collaborate on video devices
FCC chief hunts votes on cable
The head of the Federal Communications Commission is reportedly struggling to find enough support from agency commissioners to regulate cable television companies more tightly.
The five-member commission is set to vote today on a report, proposed by Kevin Martin that would give the commission expanded powers over the cable industry after making a formal finding that it had grown too big.
A defeat would be a major blow to consumer groups and a setback for Martin, who has led the effort for tighter regulation. Last month, the commission approved his proposal to strike down exclusive contracts for a particular cable company to serve an apartment building. Last December, the agency approved a proposal to force municipalities to move more swiftly on applications by phone companies to offer rival video service to the cable companies.
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EU will regulate behavioural adsThe European Union expects to regulate online behavioral targeting next year, as protests over privacy concerns are stirring a potential backlash against recent marketing enhancements by social networks like Facebook. Reuters reported that the EU’s data protection commission, known as the Article 29 Working Party, is preparing to devote time to the kinds of information websites maintain about their users. Late last month, the U. Federal Trade Commission also began discussions with the online ad industry about its problems with behavioral targeting.
The EU’s move comes as a storm of protest has erupted over new behavioral marketing initiatives from Facebook. The social net has found itself the focus of opposition over Beacon, a feature of its SocialAds program. Some charge Beacon violates users’ privacy because Facebook members’ purchases made on the social net’s marketing partner sites are included in other members’ news feeds. Facebook defends the Beacon by saying that the information is only open to members’ Facebook friends and members can opt-out of the programme.
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The French government plans to cut off Internet access for constant offenders of download piracy. The penalty is part of a range of measures to deal with the unauthorised copying of music and video online proposed by the French Ministry of Culture including watermarking content, tracking surfers’ activities, and creating a registry of those accused by copyright holders of piracy.
Minister for culture Christine Albanel said the problem of digital piracy was urgent - despite the introduction last year of a controversial law that made unauthorised file-sharing a criminal offence punishable by up to six months in prison and a fine of E30,000.
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Setanta raises football finances
Setanta Sports has raised an extra E130 million to finance its assault on BSkyB's dominance of football coverage. The funding has come from a share issue to existing backers – including Doughty Hanson and Balderton Capital, the private equity firms, and Goldman Sachs - and will be used to bid for rights acquisitions such as next year's deal to show England international and FA Cup games.
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Spain's broadband quadruples
From David Del Valle in MadridThe broadband market is growing strongly with plans to reach 8.2 million broadband Internet lines by the end of the year, a penetration rate of 18.4 per cent, against 2.1 million connections back in 2003. Approximately 57 per cent of households in Spain are expected to have broadband services by the end of the year, up from 33 per cent two years ago.
The Government plans to extend broadband to 100 per cent of the population by the end of 2008 and reverse the present situation whereby the country has the lowest broadband penetration in Europe. To this end it is investing more than E1.44 billion this year and E1.8 billion in 2008 within its "Plan Avanza" to boost the development of the Information Society.
Today, most of the broadband connections in Spain, 6 million, are made through DSL technology; there are other 1.6 million through cable modem. Telefónica is the market leader with more than 4.3 million broadband clients.
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FCC OKs broadband for airplanesThe Federal Communications Commission has granted ViaSat blanket authority for domestic operation of up to 1,000 earth stations aboard commercial aircraft. The agency said the earth stations will provide Aeronautical Mobile Satellite Service using standard Ku-band frequency ranges to link with leased transponders on the AMC-6 satellite.
According to FCC documents, the ViaSat aircraft earth stations will provide two-way broadband communications for passengers and aircrew members aboard commercial airliners and private business jets, with access to email, the Internet and corporate virtual networks.
ViaSat said its planned AMSS system, dubbed Arclight, is designed to provide two-way broadband data communications via satellite radio links between aircraft earth stations and ground earth stations.
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The Asia Pacific pay-TV industry has hailed an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) decision on the preservation of C-band spectrum for satellite TV services in Asia as "a long-awaited positive outcome on a contentious issue". According to the Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA), the decision taken by the United Nations-led ITU World Radio Conference (WRC) recognised the central role that broadcasting - and in particular pay-TV services - plays within the Asian communications market.
Hong Kong's two domestic free television stations, Asia Television Limited and Television Broadcasts Limited, will phase in digital terrestrial television (DTT) services from December 31st. Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Frederick Ma said Hong Kong will be the first to adopt the national DTT transmission standard developed by the Mainland. The initial launch will serve up to half the city's population, covering areas in Kowloon, north Hong Kong Island, part of Sha Tin and east Lantau Island.
US studios sue Chinese online cinema
20th Century Fox, Disney, Paramount, Columbia and Universal have launched six lawsuits against China's largest online movie provider Jeboo.com and Eastday Bar, which runs a chain of Internet cafes.
Jeboo.com is accused of broadcasting, without permission to Internet cafe customers - a potential violation of the movie companies' intellectual property rights.
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Virgin halts TV plansVirgin Media has put plans on hold for nationwide IPTV services. The company has conceded that it will be at least 2009 before it can replicate its full range of services – TV, broadband, phone and mobile – for the half of the population that live outside its cable footprint.
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Digital TV growth forecastResearch published by Informa shows that nearly 54 million digital TV households will be added in 2007, bringing the global total to 239 million. The report forecasts that digital penetration of TV households will reach 22 per cent by year-end. The North American penetration rate will exceed 68 per cent, with Western Europe at 52 per cent. A further 52 million digital homes will be added to the total in 2008.
By 2012, 43 per cent of the world's TV homes will receive digital signals - or 504 million households. This indicates that digital growth will accelerate as the decade progresses, especially outside North America and Western Europe. More than 264 million digital homes will be added to the total between end-2007 and end-2012, which will more than double the total. China will be a major contributor to this increase by accounting for 60 million of the extra homes. Other significant rises will come in the US (39 million), Japan (20 million) and India (23 million). These four countries combined will account for 54 per cent of the additional digital households.
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Ficci for DRM
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) is pushing for the adoption of an "efficient" digital rights management (DRM) system, saying that this would give "a fillip to the fast-growing Indian digital entertainment and media industry".Ficci and PriceWaterhouseCoopers conducted a study on the Indian entertainment and media industry. The report called for an efficient DRM system "that allows management and protection of digital content". It added that it was the "need of the hour" for India to have "technology-agnostic, forward-looking and robust regulatory policies balanced with self-regulation and cross-industry agreements."
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Paramount movies for BT VisionBT Vision has signed a deal with Paramount Pictures Digital Entertainment to make around 150 films distributed by Paramount available from the BT Vision. Download Store users will now be able to download and own current and classic titles distributed by Paramount and watch them on PCs and portable devices.
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On2 and Texas collaborate on video devicesOn2 Technologies, a player in video compression solutions, has inked an extensive agreement with Texas Instruments (TI), under which the two companies will collaborate on technology to implement On2’s TrueMotion VP6 and VP7 video compression formats on TI’s OMAP Platform and DaVinci technology for mobile handsets and digital video applications. Under their agreement, the two companies will share technology and development resources allowing TI to optimise VP6 and VP7 codec performance for different applications with TI’s development partners and community.
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i-Player P2P switch off
Warner channels go global
Spain puts DVB-H TV on hold
RTL Group to expand TV in Russia
S2M TV service launch
MDA seeks public views on Singapore mobile TV
TV Guide to mobile
i-Player P2P switch offAshley Highfield, future media director of the BBC, has said BBC iPlayer has cost around £4.5 million (E6.5m), as part of a £130 million, five-year plan to transition from tape to digital. On bandwidth management, Highfield told Groklaw, the open source site, he had added the ability to iPlayer users to turn off bandwidth sharing when not using the P2P software in response to "a lot of unsolicited user feedback". He conceded the BBC needed to look further at giving users more control and flexibility over allocating their own bandwidth.
The BBC wants to move to "a world beyond DRM". and technology unit director Ashley Highfield told Groklaw two additions to iPlayer and Microsoft DRM were under consideration - an open-source DRM for the interim and a long-term hope to abandon rights limitations altogether. That’s an ambitious plan that would require another license agreement be struck with independent producers. Highfield said: "We want to get to ... a much more flexible world where the content would be free of DRM...We’ve got to find ways in which that would not harm the rights holders’ business." But he said the parties had "already started these conversations".
Meanwhile, an anonymous former iPlayer developer has tole The Register: "The disorganisation was incredible. The management had lost track of where they wanted [iPlayer] to go. It was the biggest mess I’ve ever worked on."
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Warner channels go globalWarner Bros has announced it will be launching a number of branded, video-on-demand, non-linear channels on a subscription- and advertiser-supported basis over a variety of global delivery platforms.
The on-demand and broadband models make financial sense, says Jeffrey Schlesinger, Warner Bros International’s president. "The costs here are much lower than creating a linear channel. You don't have as much on-air promotion that you have to do. You don't have as much scheduling or advertising sales infrastructure. You don't have to worry about commercial insertion."
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Spain puts DVB-H TV on hold
From David Del Valle in MadridThe launch of DVB-H mobile TV in Spain has been put on hold until the next Government's mandate following the general elections in March 2008. The General Secretary of Telecommunications, Francisco Ros, confirmed that the DVB-H mobile TV plans "stand adjourned".
The lack of a specific legal framework which the present Administration failed to approve over the last months is likely to delay the introduction of mobile TV services, based on the European Commission-backed DVB-H standard at least until the end of 2008 or the beginning of 2009.
The Government had undertaken to award a multiplex, with a capacity of up to 20 mobile TV channels, in the last quarter of this year. The decision to put it on hold comes at a time when there is a hot debate in the country about the advisability of distributing certain pay TV services through the DTT platform. Francisco Ros is for allowing certain pay TV services on DTT on the grounds that not including these (pay) services, "would be a great mistake".
Meanwhile, Eladio Gutierrez, Director of RTVE Digital, has been appointed as the new president of ImpulsaTDT, the Pro DTT Association, created to boost the DTT take-up in Spain.
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RTL Group to expand TV in RussiaRTL Group has signed an agreement with Luxembourg-based Continental Finance Group (CFG) to build up a joint venture for the production, operation and distribution of thematic, non-terrestrial TV channels in Russia and in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
According to the agreement, RTL Group will purchase 50 per cent of the shares of Content Union S.A. (CUSA) in which CFG already contributed its four Russian thematic channels. These channels are also distributed in the cable networks of Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Georgia. In addition, the joint venture will act as a distribution agent for third-party channels.
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S2M TV service launchS2M (satellite to mobile), a Dubai-based company specialising in satellite broadcasting, is planning to launch the region's first satellite-to-mobile TV service in the MENA region early next year.
S2M will launch its own satellite, allowing TV and radio stations to broadcast across the Middle East and North Africa. The company will combine satellite technology with terrestrial broadband to give roaming mobile users access to high quality video and audio broadcasts.
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MDA seeks public views on Singapore mobile TVThe Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) is conducting a public consultation from now till January 4th 2008 to seek feedback on the Authority’s proposed policy and regulatory framework for mobile TV services.
The move to facilitate the commercial deployment of mobile TV in Singapore – coming soon after the successful commercial deployment of High-Definition TV this year - is in line with the nation’s goal to develop Singapore as a Global Media City and a test-bed for new media services.
As part of MDA’s efforts to nurture a pro-business environment and enable more media choices for consumers, industry players and the public will be invited to comment on areas such as technology standards, licensing framework, market structure issues, as well as content and advertising regulation.
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TV Guide to mobileTV Guide Mobile has reached an agreement with mobile service Helio to provide TV guidance, editorial commentary and entertainment news directly to its members’ wireless devices. The deal with Helio -- a joint venture of SK Telecom and EarthLink that provides voice and data services over a national third-generation network -- will allow its members to receive TV Guide content via a downloadable application that delivers content directly to the mobile device. TV Guide Mobile on Helio is $2.99 for a 30-day rental for all members.
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