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Our Latest Issues
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Tuesday
Friday 9th November
Profit falls, sales rise at News Corp
DirecTV dips on Q3
Time Warner income sags
TiVo offers viewer profiles
First mobile HD trial in Spain
BBC social networking show
BT Q2 results, still top in broadband
Multi-taskers use Internet with other media
Southern Africa Direct on the Sky Platform
MTG: management appointments
Télédiffusion acquires Media&Broadcast from Deutsche Telekom
Pace selects PartnerTech
Profit falls, sales rise at News CorpNews Corp first-quarter profit fell 13 per cent from a year earlier, when the sale of investments boosted results by $428 million (E291m). Income dropped to $732 million from $843 million a year earlier. Sales rose 19 per cent to $7.07 billion.
Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch highlighted the results at Fox Interactive Media, that includes the company's social-networking Web site MySpace. The company said losses at the division narrowed as search revenue improved, driven by a partnership with Google that took effect in January. "With more than four years under its belt, MySpace is seeing a stable and steady growth curve," Murdoch said. He brushed off concerns about competition from Facebook, saying such fears were "misplaced."
Operating income at filmed-entertainment jumped 51 per cent to $362 million. At the company's television segment, which includes the Fox network and News Corp.'s TV stations, earnings fell 4.7 per cent to $183 million. The company said improved results at Fox Broadcasting were offset by lower contributions from its TV stations and a full quarter of losses at MyNetworkTV, which was launched in September 2006.
Operating income at the company's cable-network-programming unit rose 16 per cent to $289 million. Operating income at Fox News channel more than doubled, offset by start-up costs.
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DirecTV dips on Q3DirecTV's third-quarter net income dropped 14 per cent as the company spent more to provide customers with high-definition channels and digital video recorders. The US’s largest satellite-TV operator reported net income of $319 million (E217m), compared with $370.2 million a year earlier. Results in the year-ago quarter included a pretax gain of $61 million related to the merger of Sky Brazil and DirecTV's Brazil operations.
Revenue rose 18 per cent to $4.32 billion on subscriber growth and an increase in the average revenue per subscriber. Operating costs surged 24 per cent, with programming-related and subscriber-acquisition costs both climbing 20 per cent.
The company said net US subscriber additions grew 45per cent to 240,000. DirecTV had 16.56 million subscribers as of September 30th, up 6per cent. Almost 40 per cent of subscribers have advanced services compared with less that 30 per cent a year ago.
Average monthly revenue per subscriber rose 8.3 per cent to $78.79 on higher prices for programming packages, higher fees for high-definition and DVR services and an additional week of NFL Sunday Ticket revenue in the current quarter compared with a year ago. Average subscriber acquisition cost went up 10 per cent to $696.
The monthly churn rate - the percentage of customers that left in the quarter - fell to 1.61 per cent from 1.8 per cent. The churn rate usually is higher in the third quarter because of seasonal trends.
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Time Warner income sagsTime Warner reported a 9 per cent rise in third-quarter revenue of $11.767 billion, however net income was down to $1.1 billion from $2.3 billion 12 months earlier due to discontinued operations and one-off items.
The group's main revenue driver, Time Warner Cable, posted a 25 per cent increase in revenue to $4 billion, with revenue at its network business, which includes HBO and TBS, up 6 per cent to $2.6 billion. However revenue at AOL slid 38 per cent to $1.2 billion as the ongoing switch to an ad-funded model meant subscription revenue declined 56 per cent.
Jeff Bewkes, chief executive-in-waiting fuelled speculation that the media group would change shape by suggesting acquisitions, spin-offs and asset sales would be considered. "We will be looking at basically anything that can improve our strategic advantage over our competitors, and that has a good long-term return, and that will be true for acquisitions or divestitures," he said.
He added: "This company has to move faster", referring to the need to respond to the rapid shifts in consumer behaviour and distribution of media in light of the proliferation of high-speed internet connections.
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TiVo offers viewer profilesTiVo is reported as offering a new service giving advertisers detailed profiles of its users. TiVo - which sells advertisers second-by-second ratings of programs and commercials based on subscriber viewing habits - plans to announce that it will soon add demographic data about the viewers themselves the WSJ reported. The information includes age, income, marital status and ethnicity.
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First mobile HD trial in Spain
From David del Valle in MadridOrange Spain, controlled by France Telecom, is launching the first HDTV broadcasts via mobile in Spain. The trial will last three months and will include three TV channels - MTV, National Geographic Channel and Sci Fi and some other sports content (football, tennis and basketball) - to be received free of charge by consumers equipped with a 3G or HSDPA mobile terminals. The operator currently has nearly 11 million clients, of which 1.2 million are 3G customers.
The company plans to roll out commercial mobile HDTV services from 2008. In France, Orange already offers 60 HDTV channels in its Premium package. The announcement comes at a time when the operator has strengthened its mobile TV offer by adding 16 new TV channels up to more than 30 TV channels at a price of E6 a month. All of them can also be watched on a pay-per-view basis at a price of E1 per 20 minutes.Currently, the Orange's mobile TV package is composed of the following channels: Bloomberg TV, Euronews, MTV Music, Paramount Comedy, Cartoon Network, National Geographic Channel, Calle 13, Scifi, Nick, Fox TV, La Sexta Movil, TVC i, Tele5, Trace TV, GONG, Oh! Music, Xtreme Sports, A3 Lo Mejor, A3 Series, CNNi, Boomerang, Adult Swing, LiveStyle Playboy, MTV Mix, Animax, Pocoyo TV, BBCi, PlayBoy, Blue and Sexy Dreams.
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BBC social networking showBBC3 is to screen an entertainment show early next year, hosted by singer Lily Allen, based on the social networking phenomenon that helped launch her career. Viewers will shape the show online by becoming her virtual friends and contributing to topical discussions, putting questions to guests and presenting parts of the show. The audience will consist entirely of Allen's online friends, who will also have exclusive access to behind-the-scenes footage of the show and will be able to sign up to have highlights sent directly to their mobile phones.
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BT Q2 results, still top in broadbandBT met forecasts with a 3 per cent rise in second-quarter revenues on good growth in broadband and networked IT services and said it was confident in its growth prospects.
The BT Retail unit accounted for 37 per cent of net DSL broadband additions during the quarter, giving it a broadband customer base of over 4 million and making it the largest provider in Britain.
The group posted a 2 per cent rise in EBITDA before specific items to the £1.45 billion (E2.1bn) for the three months to end September.
"Our performance underpins our confidence that we can continue to grow revenue, (underlying) EBITDA, earnings per share and dividends for the year," Chief Executive Ben Verwaayen said.
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Multi-taskers use Internet with other media
Internet users, more than ever before, are multitasking and incorporating different and new media types into an interconnected experience, according to a recent survey by Burst Media. The study found that over four-fifths (82.4 per cent) of respondents are involved with another media, activity, or device while online. Among these multi-taskers, nearly one-quarter (23.6 per cent) are "super-taskers" juggling four or more tasks while online. Watching television (58.3 per cent) is the most common offline activity connected with Internet consumption.
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Southern Africa Direct on the Sky PlatformSouthern Africa Direct, a new free-to-air lifestyle and culture television channel, will go on-air on the Sky digital broadcast platform on November 26th 2007. This new channel is the UK’s first ‘Destination TV’ channel, providing an information source for anyone interested in visiting or building commercial links with Southern Africa.
Modern Times Group has announced a number of new senior management appointments and the reorganization of its Central Eastern European operations. Manfred Aronsson has been appointed as CEO of MTG Sweden and Anders Nilsson as Co-Chief Operating Officer of MTG. Ulrik Bengtsson has been appointed as CEO of Pay-TV Emerging Markets, and Laurence Miall-d'Aout as CEO of Free-TV Emerging Markets.
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Télédiffusion acquires Media&Broadcast from Deutsche TelekomDeutsche Telekom has concluded an agreement with the French TDF group on the sale of T-Systems Media&Broadcast. The transaction has an enterprise value of E0.85 billion. The sale of Media&Broadcast is part of the ‘Focus, fix and grow’ strategy presented to the public by the Deutsche Telekom in March.
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Pace selects PartnerTechPace Micro Technology, independent developer of digital TV technologies for the global pay TV industry, has selected PartnerTech, one of Europe’s leading contract manufacturing companies, to provide a fast-turnaround new product introduction (NPI) and prototyping service covering its range of digital set-top boxes. The business will be fulfilled from PartnerTech’s UK facilities in Poole and Cambridge.
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Thursday 8th November
ITV wants Sky out
AT&T: U-verse more capex for less homes
Media groups drop London listing plans
Virgin hails Q3 upturn
France considers digital dividend
Spain: 9m DTT by year-end
Premiere scraps 2008 outlook over TV rights timing
DT selling broadcast unit
ESPN and Nielsen measure sports programming
Joost IM service
Andrew dumps satellite business
OpenTV deal with Sun Direct TV
ITV wants Sky out
ITV has told the UK Competition Commission it wants Sky off its share register. The broadcaster said Sky's ability to influence ITV's decisions on planned investments would lead to a "substantial loosening" of competition, which required a "comprehensive and effective" remedy.
In its submission to the Commission, which is currently investigating Sky's stake, ITV said it had a "wide range" of "genuine and realistic" prospective investments. The broadcaster added that there was a "realistic and genuine" prospect that at least one would be made within two years.
ITV outlined a number of "strategic investments" that it believed put it in direct competition with Sky, such as plans to buy independent production companies and its involvement in free satellite service Freesat. "The only such remedy is a complete divestment of BSkyB's stake in ITV," the commercial broadcaster said in its submission.
"Only such a remedy would ensure that it [ITV] is able to make the decisions that it envisages making in the short to medium term without the fear that those decisions may be adversely influenced by its biggest competitor through the medium of its shareholding. ITV therefore requests that the Competition Commission recommends such a remedy in its report to the secretary of state."
ITV said lowering the stake to 9.9 per cent would not satisfactorily address the issues, although cutting it to 4.9 per cent, accompanied by a prohibition on Sky seeking or accepting board representation, "would at least begin" to address its concerns.
If a divestment took place, ITV added, Sky should not be able to sell its stake to anyone connected to BSkyB or News International, News Corporation's UK newspaper subsidiary. News Corp is also the largest shareholder in BSkyB.
In Sky's submission, the satellite broadcaster offered to place 3.9 per cent of its stake in a special trust, leaving it with direct control of 14.9 per cent.
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AT&T: U-verse more capex for less homesUS telco AT&T has declared it will need to spend more money deploying its IPTV service U-verse to reach less than the estimated number of households it predicted by the end of next year.
The company said it is increasing the total capital-expenditure estimate for the period including 2007 and 2008 to $4.5 billion-$5 billion. According to AT&T, the investment represents start-up costs that include new video-hub offices and other back-end systems. The homes-passed estimate was revised to 17 million by the end of 2008 versus 18 million expected previously.
AT&T announced third-quarter net profits of $3.06 billion (E2.08bn), up from $2.17 billion a year earlier, on revenues up from $15.6 billion to $30.1billion
Media groups drop London listing plans
The leading Romanian cable television company and Turkey’s DTH operator have dropped plans to list on the London Stock Exchange, becoming the latest big casualties of the credit squeeze.
RCS & RDS, the Romanian media and telecommunications group, blamed "current market conditions", while Digiturk of Turkey said it preferred to invest in its own business and not sell shares at a price it felt was too low.
The Romanian company had hoped to raise between $390 million (E266m) and $540 million for 15 per cent of the company through the issue of global depositary receipts priced at between $5.25 and $7.25 per GDR. This would have given RCS & RDS a market value of about $3.5 billion. It wanted to use proceeds to fund expansion into the third-generation mobile telephone market and into central and eastern Europe.The company has more than 1.2 million cable TV subscribers in Romania and also offers satellite TV, fixed-line telephony and broadband internet to customers in countries such as Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. RCS & RDS has about 70 per cent of the Romanian cable broadband market, according to Pyramid Research.
Digiturk, looking to raise up to $550 million was expected to be the largest Turkish flotation this year. It is controlled by Cukurova Group, a Turkish conglomerate, and Providence Equity Partners, a private equity group.
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Virgin Media added 13,000 new customers in the third quarter of the year, hailing a "significant turnaround" in its business. At the end of September it had an "on-net" customer base (the total number of subscribers to at least one of its cable services) of 4.8 million.
Acting chief executive, Neil Berkett, said customer growth, along with additions to its broadband and telephony operations, were at their best since the merger of NTL and Telewest in March 2006. Virgin Media was created out of the subsequent merger of NTL/Telewest and Virgin Mobile.
In pay-TV, Virgin added 20,400 new customers, to give a total of 3,417,000 taking its cable service, including the 250,000 remaining analogue viewers. It said 6 per cent of its digital TV subscriber base - 190,200 customers - had now signed up to its V+ personal video recorder service, the company's equivalent of Sky+.
In broadband, Virgin added 122,900 new customers in the quarter, up from a gain of 50,500 in the three months between April and June. The company now has 3,590,000 broadband subscribers, although 282,300 of these are not supplied by Virgin's own cable network.
Virgin also reversed declines in telephony and mobile, adding 13,700 and 15,900 respectively. There are now 4,083,000 telephony customers and 4,430,900 taking Virgin mobile. The company said 47 per cent of customers now subscribed to three of its services - the so-called "triple play"- up from 45.2 per cent in the second quarter and 38.7 per cent a year ago.
However, ARPU fell from £42.16 (E61) to £41.55, which Virgin said was "due primarily to strong price competition" as it offered deals to new customers and discounts to existing ones.
The company said income before depreciation, amortisation and other charges - stood at £342m for the quarter, up from £315m in the previous quarter.Operating income was £47m, compared with £3m in the second quarter and a £9.6m loss in the corresponding period last year.
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France considers digital dividend
French telecommunications regulator ARCEP has published a summary of its public consultation- launched July 2007 – aimed at enlightening public authorities in their work on the digital dividend conducted under the aegis of the Comité Stratégique pour le Numérique.
Several players, especially from the telecommunications sector, but also a very small number of contributors from the broadcasting sector, discussed the question of complementarity between mobile networks (where mobile television offers already exist) and future broadcasting networks to mobiles in the UHF band (TMP), as well as satellite projects such as DVB-SH. Certain contributors also addressed the question of broadcasting additional channels on digital terrestrial television as well as that of other uses such as digital radio in the III or L bands, wireless microphones and RFID.
Several contributors looked at the question of assigning the digital dividend in the UHF band. Some players consider that the volume of the digital dividend can be known only once analogue television has been effectively closed. Others, on the other hand, provide technical evaluations and UHF frequency distribution scenarios for the end of analogue.
The question of assigning the digital dividend itself was the object of a number of different approaches. Some contributors focus on the needs related to national coverage in very high-speed mobile and would like to see a reasonable share of the digital dividend attributed to this use, in the form of a sub-band. Other contributors promote allocation diagrams intended essentially to implementing high definition television via microwaves, as well as broadcasting to mobiles (TMP).
Finally, some contributors stressed that broadcasting service offers must help to develop very high-speed fixed and mobile networks. "These networks constitute effective means for broadcasting content which, while encouraging the preservation of pluralism and the development of cultural diversity, will in return provide the growth relays needed by programme and content providers," concluded the report.
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Spain: 9m DTT by year-end
From David Del Valle in Madrid
The rapid take-up of DTT in Spain is boosting the sale of DTT boxes with plans to reach 9 million DTT devices by the end of the year, according to Andres Tejero, CEO of Veo TV. The latest report from the Pro DTT Association Impulsa TDT has revealed that until September, 6.5 million DTT tuners had been sold, with 331,246 DTT equipments acquired in the last month. Nearly half of them, 45.87 per cent were iDTV sets, with external DTT boxes representing 38.76 per cent.
Spanish DTT currently has an average audience share of around 8 per cent, with a coverage of more than 85 per cent of the population. Despite these positive results, Tejero stated that a specific frequency plan, with digital switch-over pilots and the local analogue switch-off (initially scheduled for 2006, then postponed to 2008 and now with no final deadline) were all needed as soon as possible to avoid a digital migration failure. "If nobody remedies it, the (analogue) switch-off will not take place", he warned.
He recommended the Government to follow the Swedish example following its recent successful analogue switch-off and urged the Administration to take a pro-active role in the market to boost the development of DTT. Tejero asked the Government to lift the obligation by private TV channels of reaching a 96 per cent coverage or at least to finance the latest 6 per cent of coverage, as "going from 90 to 96 per cent of coverage will mean to double the costs from E14 million to E26 million". He explained that the cost to operate a DTT channel ranges between E5 to E12.5 million, with advertising revenues only reaching around E15 million.
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Premiere scraps 2008 outlook over TV rights timing
German pay TV broadcaster Premiere, whose profits depend largely on its ability to show live Bundesliga football matches, scrapped its 2008 forecast on uncertainty over the next TV rights auction.
"The bidding process will begin much later than expected and an agency has been commissioned to manage the process. We cannot rule out that this new development could impact potential and existing subscriber behaviour," a Premiere spokesman said.
Premier had targeted 4.75 million subscribers by the end of 2008, sales of more than E1.2 billion and a core profit of E180 million to E200 million.
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DT selling broadcast unit
Deutsche Telekom is selling its German media broadcast business to private equity firm in a transaction worth between E800 million and E900 million. They will chose between bids from the Macquarie Infrastructure Group and TPG private equity of the US.Deutsche Telekom's chief executive, René Obermann, had signalled the possiblesale of the media broadcast business in March. He announced then that Deutsche Telekom was reviewing the future of the unit, which has about E500 million in annual sales and 1,200 employees, most of them based in Germany.
ESPN and Nielsen measure sports programmingESPN and Nielsen are collaborating to measure the performance of ESPN’s sports programming across multiple media platforms. The collaboration will cover mobile devices, television and the Internet. Nielsen, through its NielsenConnect division, will attempt to produce a unified picture of how viewers are accessing media content across different platforms.
The partnership intends to enable buyers and sellers of TV advertising on ESPN’s sports programmes to understand more completely the interaction of new digital platforms with traditional TV viewing.
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Joost IM serviceJoost has appointed Meebo to power its instant messaging service. The deal means that Joost users will now be able to chat while watching content from its 250 channels. Meebo claims 3.5m accounts are now registered with its service. Mike Volpi, CEO of Joost, said: "Participation in community activities has emerged as one of the most significant trends in consumer behaviour."
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Andrew dumps satellite business
Andrew Corporation is to sell its satellite communications business to Resilience Capital Partners. The private equity firm has agreed to pay upwards of $39 million in total potential cash, in addition to an ownership stake in the new satellite company that Resilience will establish with the acquired Andrew assets.
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OpenTV deal with Sun Direct TV
Indian broadcaster Sun Direct TV has selected OpenTV to provide the end-to-end solution and deployment management enabling its digital television services. In addition, OpenTV will provide Sun Direct TV with a collection of applications that includes a new electronic program guide (EPG), interactive cricket, and multi-angle interactive news.
Sun Direct TV will introduce a new Digital Direct-to-Home (DTH) pay TV network in India and expects to use programming from multiple broadcasters to provide a nationwide service with an emphasis on Southern India. Sun Direct TV will use the latest MPEG-4 based technology to increase broadcast capacity.
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Wednesday 7th November
Video phone sales to double by 2010
BBC and Sky score football league deals
Digital radio market to experience global market growth
MPH developers big up in-band mobile DTV
Early praise for Hulu
blinkx online TV service
IPTV Corporation in Sky DTH launch
VOOM HD on Measat 3
Setanta Sports News launch date
57% of DTR owners regularly time-shift their viewing
New Time Warner CEO
Telstra selects Alcatel-Lucent for interactive Mobile TV
CacheLogic and Connexia deliver AC Milan online
Telescope and Akamai voting platform
FLO open conditional access framework
Video phone sales to double by 2010Sales of mobile video phones hit close to $58 billion (E40bn) worldwide in 2006 and are forecast to more than double to nearly $125 billion by 2010, says market research firm Infonetics Research in its latest report, Mobile Video Phones, Services, and Subscribers.
Explosive growth in mobile video subscribers is forecast as well, jumping from a few million in 2006 to 58.6 million in 2010, the report suggests. Drivers for this strong growth include increasingly powerful and efficient phones and the analogue broadcast signal switch-offs.
"Despite some concerns around the business plan and subscriber take rates, major service providers continue to move forward with their mobile video network rollouts. They’re taking advantage of spectrum availability, thanks to the switch-off of analogue TV broadcasting networks, and the pressure to get services rolled out before next year's Summer Olympics in Beijing and the European Soccer Championship," said Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for broadband and IPTV at Infonetics.
"In addition, governments are very quickly lining up behind various mobile video technologies to help facilitate deployments, with the EU’s endorsement of DVB-H and the Chinese government’s sponsorship of CMMB being the 2 most visible efforts," Heynen added.
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BBC and Sky score football league dealsThe English Football League has secured new broadcasting agreements with Sky Sports and BBC Sport, worth a total of £264 million (E378m), to run for three seasons from 2009/10.
The new agreements will see Sky Sports continue its coverage of Coca-Cola Football League, Carling Cup and Johnstone’s Paint Trophy matches. Live Coca-Cola Championship and Carling Cup matches – including the Carling Cup Final – will now be shown on BBC terrestrial television.
The new agreements, which represent a 135 per cent increase on the League’s existing broadcasting arrangements, are worth £88 million per season to Football League clubs and encompass terrestrial and pay television, broadband, video-on-demand and mobile services.
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Digital radio market to experience global market growthThe worldwide digital radio market is on a roll, with unit sales expected to increase more than three-fold from 2006 to 2011, reports In-Stat, the high-tech market research firm. Recent developments include the availability of the enhanced Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB)+ standard in the UK, an increase in the number of DAB trials throughout Europe and Asia, and the introduction of mobile devices with integrated DAB support.
"From a regional standpoint, DAB technology is close to mass-market appeal in the UK, and is the pervasive digital radio technology throughout Europe," says Stephanie Ethier, In-Stat analyst. "Satellite radio remains the leading platform for digital radio in the US, despite notable progress in HD Radio awareness."
Research by In-Stat found that the global market for digital radio will grow from 9 million units in 2006 to almost 32 million units in 2011. Increased choice of programming continues to be the primary driver of digital radio ownership.
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MPH developers big up in-band mobile DTVThe developers of MPH in-band mobile digital television (DTV) have told members of the Community Broadcasters Association that their innovative technology, which is designed to reach viewers on the move, has the potential to generate new revenue streams for DTV broadcasters in general and the nation's community broadcasters in particular.
"Delivering robust DTV signals to a new generation of mobile-portable-handheld devices is what MPH is all about," said Wayne Luplow, vice president – HDTV standards and promotion, at Zenith. "Our highly flexible system maximises broadcasters' use of their DTV spectrum. LPTV stations will be able to offer between four and six mobile, locally oriented channels, which seems likely to give them a substantial competitive edge."
"Local news, weather and traffic updates, sports and other local programming may turn out to be mobile DTV's 'killer app,'" said Jay Adrick, vice president, broadcast technology, at Harris Broadcast Communications. "MPH in-band mobile DTV enjoys some distinct advantages over other delivery media, not the least of which is that it can be advertising- rather than subscription-based."
The overarching goal of the companies was to devise a robust, ATSC-compatible mobile solution for local broadcasters to maximise the use of their digital pathway in providing a wide range of profitable consumer services.
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Early praise for HuluNBC Universal and News Corp’s online video venture Hulu has received praise for its ease of use and advertising structure from a group of Beta-testers following its launch last month. But the group questioned its limitations on content, such as the fact that it can’t be downloaded or viewed internationally.
When the site officially launches in the coming months, it will have close to 1,000 hours of content from Fox, NBC and various other studio partners, nearly doubling the current amount of content it has now, according to CEO Jason Kilar. Hulu will update that content every day, adding new clips as frequently as every 15 minutes.
Hulu’s advertising structure, which sees ads fitted according to the length of content, has also been commended by testers.
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blinkx online TV serviceblinkx is reportedly developing its own online television service, entering the broadband video market in competition with mainstream broadcasters such as Joost and Babelgum. The video search group has become the world’s biggest video search engine, with 4.2 million daily searches of the 18 million hours of online broadcast content it has indexed.
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IPTV Corporation in Sky DTH launchLA-based interactive television company PTV Corporation is launching its wholly owned interactive television channel on the Sky DTH platform in the UK and Ireland.
The company's channel is styled as the world’s first multi-play dynamic pricing television commerce platform. Its proprietary programming is a fast-paced, competitive, trading floor atmosphere that provides live, real-time auctions combined with live video, designed to create a completely interactive television viewing experience.
IPTV's channel combines traditional TV commerce elements seen on Liberty Media's QVC Network and IAC/Interactive Corporation's Home Shopping Network along with dynamic pricing mechanisms found on websites such as e-Bay and TV game shows such as The Price is Right. The Company expects that its can bring a new level of interactivity to the millions of Sky viewers through programming that resembles more of a gaming experience or competitive sport than a traditional television shopping show.
IPTV Corporation develops its video commerce technologies for use on wireless, satellite and broadband-based Internet protocol television platforms.
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VOOM HD Networks, Ascent Media and Measat Satellite Systems have agreed a deal to distribute the VOOM HD channel across Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Africa.
"With the Asian market at a tipping point for HDTV adoption, the demand for compelling and high-quality HD programming has grown exponentially," said Glenn Oakley, VOOM’s Senior Vice President, Global Operations & Business Development. "We developed our global channel to help fill this void, and Measat and Ascent Media offer the perfect vehicle with which to do so."
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Setanta Sports News launch date
Setanta Sports News has revealed it will launch on November 29th this year.. The 24-hour channel will be available free-to-air on the Virgin Media platform, and also on satellite, and it will cover, in detail, all relevant sports stories from the UK and abroad. Setanta Sports News is jointly owned by Setanta Sports and Virgin Media, and will be produced by ITN.
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57% of DTR owners regularly time-shift their viewingTop Up TV has revealed the results of a customer survey that revealed 57 per cent of its customers regularly use their Digital Television Recorder (DTR) to time-shift more than 50 per cent of the programmes they watch.
"Our customers are time-shifting more than ever before… People want their TV viewing to fit in with their lives, not to fit their lives around TV schedules. For example we increasingly find that people will series stack and watch three or four episodes in one hit over a weekend. This level of choice has only been possible with the advent of the DTR which has made time shifting part of our lives," said Roger Matthews, Marketing Director, Top Up TV.
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New Time Warner CEODick Parsons is to step down as chief executive of media giant Time Warner. Parsons will be replaced by Jeff Bewkes, the company's president and chief operating officer, on January 1st next year. Bewkes had been chief executive at HBO where he was credited with building it into a profit driver for the company with original programming, movies and sports.
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Telstra selects Alcatel-Lucent for interactive Mobile TVAlcatel-Lucent's Mobile Interactive TV solution had been selected by Telstra Corporation Limited, Australia's leading telecommunications and information services company, to deliver its first fully interactive Mobile TV service.
Telstra Mobile Foxtel by Telstra encompasses 33 channels in packages across 5 genres. The convergent capabilities of Mobile TV will allow Foxtel customers with Foxtel iQ to remotely record content on their set top box at home via an Electronic Programme Guide on their handset. Telstra Mobile Foxtel is available on more than 50 3G and Next G devices.
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CacheLogic and Connexia deliver AC Milan onlineCacheLogic, provider of the Digital Asset Delivery Network, has been selected by Connexia, the web partner of AC Milan to deliver online streaming video content to the global fan-base of Italian football club. Windows Media Streaming will be used to power live streaming and on-demand video for the AC Milan official website.
Telescope and Akamai voting platform
Telescope, player in participation media services and Akamai, service provider for accelerating content and applications online, have provided the first multi-channel voting platform for participation media events, part of a growing industry that has become more significant to broadcasters. The two companies have successfully delivered the application, which enables audience members of participation TV shows to send votes and interact via the Web, through their mobile devices, and using landline voice calls.
US network Fox is among the first broadcasters to use the new Telescope-Akamai platform in its ‘On the Lot’ game show.
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FLO open conditional access frameworkThe FLO Forum, a body of over 90 global wireless industry leaders dedicated to the open standardisation of FLO (Forward Link-Only) technology for mobile multimedia broadcast, has announced the completion of the Open Conditional Access (or OpenCA). The Key Management System Framework, creates a standards-based environment that enables multiple vendors to implement content security systems within the FLO architecture. The OpenCA framework provides a standard interface for CA systems to interoperate, ensuring that FLO network operators do not become dependent on a particular vendor.
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Tuesday 6th November
Microsoft signs $500m IPTV deal with Reliance
RAI and Mediaset to provide digital frequencies
BSkyB sets repeats bar
Swisscom to shut down Betty TV
US TV writers strike over web revenue
Bewkes to succeed at TW
DTG search for new DH
Alcatel-Lucent and Voda Portugal demo Mobile TV
Microsoft signs $500m IPTV deal with RelianceMicrosoft has entered into a $500 million (E345m) with Reliance to launch IPTV and allied services in India. The IPTV service will be launched in Mumbai and Delhi by March 2008, to be followed gradually by other metros.
CEO Microsoft Steve Ballmer said: "Reliance is about to change the way consumers experience television. TV is the only digital device that has been left out of the networking revolution. Microsoft and Reliance are now making TV a 'first class citizen' in the connected entertainment landscape." Ballmer said that very soon India and the US would be the largest IPTV market in the world. The service will be powered by Microsoft's Mediaroom IPTV software.
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RAI and Mediaset to provide digital frequencies
From Branislav Pekic in RomeItaly's communications regulator, AGCOM, has recommended that public broadcaster RAI and commercial rival Mediaset should make available 40 per cent of the capacity on their digital multiplexes to smaller broadcasters and new operators.
AGCOM has also established that independent media groups, and national operators that need to extend digital coverage and local operators can take part in the tender that will award the surplus capacity. The regulator claims that both RAI and Mediaset control about 40 per cent of the existing analogue frequencies, which is more spectrum than they need. As a result, new companies wishing to enter the market and smaller broadcasters find it difficult to acquire the frequencies they need in order to grow.
AGCOM is seeking to introduce greater competition in the TV sector before the migration from analogue to digital terrestrial by 2012. However, it is worth pointing out that the recommendation is not binding and it remains to be seen when the Italian Parliament will debate the measure.
Meanwhile, two digital TV channels based in the northern Italian region of Valle d'Aosta are reversing to analogue terrestrial. Rete St-Vincent and the E21 Network said the decision was motivated because laws governing the TV sector make it too difficult to broadcast in digital. The two channels said they plan to switch back to digital technology when it becomes more viable.
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BSkyB sets repeats barSatellite broadcaster BSkyB has increased the minimum amount of new programming which must be broadcast by channels on its Electronic Programme Guide (EPG).
In a letter to broadcasters, BSkyB said that from 1 July 2008, it would "only provide an EPG listing to television channels and radio stations which broadcast no less than 6 hours of non-repeating programming in each 24-hour period". It further required "no less than 24 hours of non-repeating programming in each seven day period and no less than 50 hours of non-repeating programming in each 30 day period".
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Swisscom to shut down Betty TVSwisscom AG is to shut down its interactive television operation Betty TV in Switzerland. 'The results from Betty TV (Switzerland) were significantly below our expectations,' said spokesman Carsten Roetz in an interview. Betty TV gained 10,000 customers in Switzerland and 100,000 in Germany since its launch last June.
But Swisscom had produced 300,000 devices for the service at a high cost, and in the first half-year, Betty TV had a E36 million negative impact on Swisscom's EBITDA. However, Betty TV will continue operating in Germany, where Swisscom is seeking an investor, said Roetz.
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US TV writers strike over web revenueFilm and TV writers are to stage their first strike for two decades, after last-minute talks failed. The WGA wants writers to receive a slice of the additional advertising revenue that studios make when TV shows are streamed over the Internet. It also wants an additional reward for creating bespoke digital content for the Internet or mobile devices. Another key issue is how to split DVD revenue. Consumers are expected to spend $16.4 billion (E11,3bn) on DVDs this year, according to Adams Media Research, but writers receive only about 3 cents on a typical DVD selling for $20.
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Bewkes to succeed at TWThe board of directors is likely this week to appoint Jeff Bewkes as the next chief executive of Time Warner. The company is due to announce third-quarter results this week. Dick Parsons, the current chief, has long made clear that Bewkes, president and chief operating officer, is in pole position to succeed him. Parsons could retain his role as chairman until his contract expires in May 2008.
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DTG search for new DHThe Digital TV Group (DTG) is conducting a search for a new Director General following Richard Lindsay-Davies. Lindsay-Davies’ move to a new role as Commercial Development Director at Freesat, the BBC / ITV joint venture launching a free-to-view satellite TV service in 2008.
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Alcatel-Lucent and Voda Portugal demo Mobile TVAlcatel-Lucent and Vodafone Portugal have demonstrated for the first time in Portugal the Unlimited Mobile TV solution based on DVB-SH technology. The live broadcast Mobile TV demonstration, based on the DVB-SH standard, uses the S-Band frequency spectrum.
The demonstration enabled representatives of the Portuguese Government and of the broadcast, telecom and media sectors to watch Euronews broadcast live on mobile phones, in various available EU languages, as well as RTP Mobile, SIC Channel and TVI Channel. The handsets used for the demonstration were DVB-SH-ready handsets provided by Sagem Mobiles.
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Monday 5th November
Murdoch senior: Sky’s remarkable story
Murdoch junior: Sky+ exceptional
Tele 5 performs well; Antena 3 TV, so-so
Champion’s League rights set for bidding war
Verizon increases HD output
Napster posts losses
AOL launches Truveo UK
MySpace and Google collaborate
.2 Network, set for launch
Murdoch senior: Sky’s remarkable storySky Chairman Rupert Murdoch offered BSkyB shareholders a vindication of his company's 18 years in business by declaring it would relish the competition brought by changes in the media landscape.
Murdoch told investors at the company's annual general meeting that the satellite broadcaster's history since launching 18 years ago had been "a remarkable story," with "many more chapters to come." He said Sky had helped to end a "world of limitation and scarcity" by pioneering multichannel television, 24-hour news coverage and innovations such as the Sky+ personal video recorder and high definition TV.
Sky would respond to its customers' demands as the balance between traditional broadcasting and consumer choice shifted, he added. "We believe that the only strategy for success in a competitive marketplace is to maintain an absolute focus on meeting customer needs. The good news for companies like Sky is that consumers are taking charge. People everywhere will soon have the power to access a virtually unlimited wealth of information, to choose what they want from it, to share it, to add to it, and to create new communities that transcend old boundaries. No doubt this will be painful for some. It will threaten businesses that fail to adapt. But as a trend it has to be good for our society."
He suggested that this would also be good for companies such as Sky. "I mean the companies that are positive and optimistic about change, that take risks and that focus above all else on their customers." he continued, "For Sky, competition is not simply a fact of life to be tolerated. We relish competition and help to create it. We compete vigorously, responsibly and fairly."
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Murdoch junior: Sky+ exceptionalSatellite giant BSkyB won more new customers than anticipated in its first quarter but saw pre-tax profits fall to £121 million (E174m) in the three months to 30 September compared with £166 million last year. Revenue went up by 11 per cent on the comparable period to £1,185 million.
The company said it had 939,000 broadband and 679,000 telephony customers at the end of the quarter, with Sky+ customer additions an extra 14 per cent to 2.697 million and a net customer growth of 83,000 to 8.665 million. Subscription revenue growth was offset by the impact of new Premier League contracts and the non-renewal of its basic channels package deal with Virgin Media.
"We've seen continued good demand from customers for our entire product range, with over one million product sales for the fourth consecutive quarter," said chief executive James Murdoch. Sky+ has been exceptional, growing faster than ever before - and is now enjoyed by almost one third of Sky TV customers. We launched Sky Broadband in the belief that customers would respond to quality and value, and they have. After just 14 months over one million customers have chosen Sky Broadband, and growth continues. As expected, our financial performance reflected strong product sales, our investment in high quality programming and a full quarter of investment in Sky Broadband and Talk. We expect that performance for the full year will be in line with our plans."
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Tele 5 performs well; Antena 3 TV, so-so
From David Del Valle in Madrid
Third quarter results for Tele 5 has reaffirmed the Mediaset-controlled channel as the most profitable in Spain, both in audience ratings and in profits. The company made a net profit of E262.8 million until September, 14.6 per cent more than the same period last year.
Total revenues rose 10.0 per cent to E770.9 million from E700.8 million, with gross advertising revenues up 9.6 per cent at E750.5 million. Total operating costs rose 6.7 per cent to E409.4 million and EBITDA increased 13.7 per cent to E366.1 million.
In comparison, its main rival in the Spanish TV market - Antena 3 TV -experienced a 38.3 per cent drop in nine-month net profit as advertising revenues fell and costs rose following its struggle to attract viewers and reverse the downward trend in ratings. The channel claimed an average audience share of 17.7 per cent up to September in comparison with 19.8 per cent the same period last year.
The net benefit reached E133 million, 38.3 per cent down, with sales growing at 1.6 per cent, up to E734 million, although advertising revenues dropped by 1 per cent up to E595 million. The quest for attractive content has raised programming costs 6.9 per cent to E511 million for the first nine months of the year, though the rate slowed to 4.7 per cent in the third quarter.
In terms of audience ratings, Tele 5 scored an average of 21.5 per cent in October, followed by TVE 1, with 17.1 per cent; Antena 3, with 16.2 per cent; Regional channels, with 14.6 per cent; thematic channels, with 11.7 per cent; Cuatro, with 7.4 per cent, La Sexta, with 4.5 per cent, and La 2, with 4.4 per cent.
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Champion’s League rights set for bidding warUK broadcasters are preparing bids ahead of a Champions League rights auction that is expected to secure a record sum for football governing board UEFA as the BBC, ITV and BSkyB go head-to-head. UEFA has confirmed that it will issue tender documents for the three seasons from July 2009 after this season's Champions League final in May 2008.
UEFA is hopeful of boosting the current £90 million-a-year deal to nearer £150 million. UK broadcasters are already weighing up their options, with the BBC, ITV and BSkyB working on their bidding strategies. UEFA are determined to maintain the tournament's reach and attractiveness for sponsors and thus it is thought likely that at least one terrestrial broadcaster will win a portion of the rights. BSkyB, conscious of the challenge posed by the new entrant Setanta since it broke its dominance of live Premier League coverage this season, is determined to hang on to its share of rights. Five is also likely to submit a bid.
For the first time, the current deal required all broadcasters to simultaneously show matches live on the Internet. A UEFA spokesman said it would assess the success of that experiment before deciding whether to repeat it.
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Verizon increases HD outputCustomers of Verizon’s FiOS TV service are set to receive an increase of high-definition content as the US telco confirmed plans for a fivefold increase in the number of HD channels, to 150 channels, as well as plans for offering additional HD content through FiOS TV's video-on-demand service. Verizon is also planning a major expansion of sports and multicultural programming on FiOS TV in 2008.
In the spring of 2008, Verizon will begin expanding its HD line-up as well as the sports and multicultural programme offerings on FiOS TV. Verizon initially will double the current number of HD channels, on a market-by-market basis, to more than 60, including additional sports channels. Verizon expects to have more than 150 HD channels by year-end 2008.
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Napster posts lossesMusic download service Napster has reported a narrower quarterly loss as revenue increased from new mobile phone-based and existing personal computer-based services. The digital company said its fiscal second-quarter net loss was $5.1 million, compared with a year-earlier net loss of $9 million. Revenue grew 24 per cent to $31.6 million from $25.5 million a year ago.
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AOL launches Truveo UKInternet portal AOL has launched a video search engine in the UK, which allows users to search for videos from a number of media sources such as BBC and ITN. Truveo, the video search engine, allows users to search and browse through videos from media brands as well as user-generated content from video uploading sites such as YouTube.
Truveo is planning to launch video search portals in countries including France, Germany, India, Japan and Korea.
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MySpace and Google collaborateMySpace has agreed to join OpenSocial, Google's new platform designed to allow developers to build applications that will work on any website. MySpace joins other sites including Bebo, LinkedIn and Orkut in signing up to OpenSocial. It is MySpace’s latest move in challenging to Facebook, the world’s fast-growing social networking site which opened up its site to outside software developers in May.
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Guardian Enterprise Group is to launch its new, nationwide multicast digital broadcast network, .2 Network in February 2008. .2Network programming includes a licensing deal with Sony Pictures Television (SPT) for over 300 titles of blockbuster, award-winning films as well as four television series.
Dubbed ‘Network-in-a-Box’ .2Network provides local station affiliates with a uniform, national network platform, affording stations a 24/7 option to simply ‘plug and play’ the network onto their current available and unused digital multicast channel positions and receive back immediate non-traditional revenue (‘NTR’) in the form of revenue sharing.
Station affiliates can customise and localise their digital channel by pre-empting portions of the 24/7 feed and re-purposing and inserting their main channel’s local news, traffic and weather or other public interest programming, and receive local barter spots throughout the day. .2Network enables broadcasters to monetise the digital capabilities they were mandated to build with little or no past offsetting revenue sources.
.2Network President Richard C Schilg said that in the digital world and with digital multicasting, a limited number of new, nationwide television broadcast networks could now be added to the landscape.
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