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Our Latest Issues
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Tuesday
Friday 12th October
Premiere slumps on Kirch return
Ofcom investigates broadband speeds
Croatia DTT incentives
NEC ‘deep fibre’ solutions for HDTV VOD
Dailymotion brings CNN to Europe
Virgin Media's ‘Fan Van’
Belgacom and Nokia Siemens IPTV contract extension
Premiere slumps on Kirch returnShares in Premiere slumped as it emerged its former owner Leo Kirch had won the rights to market Bundesliga football for the next six years. Kirch, now aged 81, saw his media empire implode in 2002 in Germany’s then largest bankruptcy. Kirch is still suing Deutsche Bank for E1.6 billion over the collapse of his business.
Premiere said it was still keen on bidding for the rights to the most popular sport in Germany. The DFL, the German football association, is expecting to earn E3.45bn from the next six seasons – an increase of about a third on what it receives at the moment. Kirch, who through his company, Sirius, will only market but not transmit the matches, has promised minimum revenue of E3 billion over the timeframe from selling the rights in Germany.
Shares in Premiere fell 12 per cent. They companyhas lost halfo its value since it lost the Bundesliga rights at the end of 2005, it later got soccer back on air through complex deals with the cable companies and ISP that had bought the rights.
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Ofcom investigates broadband speedsThe head of Ofcom's independent consumer panel has sent letters to the bosses of the UK's top six broadband providers asking why customers often fail to get the connection speeds they are promised. The enquiry to BT, Tiscali and TalkTalk "follows increasing consumer concern about broadband speeds".
Broadband providers often say they offer speeds "up to" a headline-grabbing figure such as 8, 16 or even 24 megabits per second. Research from price comparison website Moneysupermarket.com, however, shows that only 21 per cent of broadband customers actually get the speed for which they signed up.
In a survey of over 43,000 broadband users, Moneysupermarket found that 44 per cent were only getting half the speed they expected. Even on the most basic package of 'up to' 2 megabits per second, only about half the customers were getting the right speed.
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Croatia DTT incentives
From Branislav Pekic in RomeThe Croatian Government has decided to accelerate the process for the introduction of digital terrestrial TV, by providing incentives for the acquisition of STBs.
Special coupons worth HRK 200 (E27) will be distributed to regular TV licence payers in the coastal region of Istria, which will enable them acquire digital boxes at a discount. All of the coupons should be distributed by November 20 and their owners will have until 30 June 2008 to use them. Istria has been selected as the first test area as it suffers the most interference in the reception of analogue signals, especially from broadcasters in neighbouring Italy.
The local population will be able to receive digital TV channels from two multiplexes. The existing one, on UHF channel 28, will in the future be used exclusively by private broadcasters (Nova TV, RTL Televizija, plus two more channels to be licensed). A second multiplex, recently activated on UHF channel 53, will carry the channels of state broadcaster Hrvatska Televizija. Viewers can currently receive the HRT 1 and HRT 2 channels, to be jointed by HRT 3 (sports and entertainment) and HRT 4 (news) from 1 January 2008.
Croatia is aiming to completely switchover to digital TV by 2010, two years earlier than the EU deadline.
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NEC ‘deep fibre’ solutions for HDTV VOD
NEC Corporation has launched two new additions to its AM3100 Series MSAN (Multi -Service Access Node) product range - the AM3110 and AM3160. NEC says The AM3100 series represents a generational shift in access technology with a total access platform family that meets all copper, fibre and wireless applications needs.The AM3110 and AM3160 allow deep fibre deployment with lower incremental cost. One common platform for next generation services delivers lower OPEX through common spares, inventory and maintenance practices. Small form factor and card flexibility mean better matches for CAPEX to service growth, says the company.According to Richard Hanscott, Vice President, Network Solutions of NEC Europe, the design and implementation of Next Generation Network (NGN) technology is one of the most pressing issues facing telecommunications businesses today. "As we enter the third wave of broadband development, flexibility is the key. Continued cost pressure on operators and higher subscriber bandwidths drive deeper fibre penetration. In order to survive, operators will need to reinvent themselves and their revenue structures in order to address industry challenges and meet the increasing demands of their customers."
"The scalability of the AM3100 series means greater throughput capacities for High Definition IPTV support and lower total cost of ownership - with extended platform life as densities and capacities evolve. This allows incremental migration to NextGen access services such as 10G-based PON services", said Hanscott.
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Dailymotion brings CNN to Europe
Dailymotion, the independent video sharing site, and Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) Europe have confirmed an agreement to make news, entertainment and animation programming available to audiences across Europe. The agreement marks Turner’s choice of Dailymotion as partner in the wider distribution of its content across non-linear platforms and the continued distribution of Adult Swim outside the US.
The deal covers content from Turner’s global news network, CNN International, which will feature on the new Dailymotion News Channel with hourly refreshes, and Adult Swim, the animation brand which will form a key part of Dailymotion’s Funny Channel. In addition, Dailymotion will also feature clips from Nuts TV, the recently launched men’s entertainment channel, produced in association with IPC Media.
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Virgin Media's ‘Fan Van’Virgin are offering sports fan the Virgin Media Fan Van service. By visiting Virgin Media's sports portal on Saturdays, sports fans are able to immerse themselves in near live content including interviews, commentary, fans' views, comedy and other fan-related footage from a sporting venue. The content is also archived on the site so it can be streamed for viewing at anytime.
M3U.com, the live Internet broadcasting experts, encode and transmit the content over their secure, rapid satellite broadband Internet connection from Virgin Media's new mobile TV studio to Virgin Media's own internal network.
Belgacom and Nokia Siemens IPTV contract extension
Belgacom and Nokia Siemens Networks have extended their contract for the delivery and integration of an IPTV solution for another three years. Nokia Siemens Networks is also supporting Belgacom’s plan to add high-definition television to its existing portfolio of interactive TV services via IP-based broadband lines.
Belgacom’s total customer base for its Belgacom TV reached 190,000 subscribers by the end of June 2007.
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Thursday 11th October
blinkx shares 50/50 on ads for UGC
CNN on Joost
Beauty parade for HD DTT candidates
NBC buys Oxygen TV
No Comment from EuroNews on YouTube
Vuze opens platform
i-concerts extends its brand reach
JumpTV growth
Green light for 24hr BBC Arabic service
E! International expands global presence
Neuf Cegetel selects Ericsson and Redback for FTTH
ExpressCard TV tuner
Smart Telecom selects Thomson triple play solutions
Red Dwarf on mobile TV
blinkx shares 50/50 on ads for UGCblinkx, the video search engine, has revealed a unique technology to remunerate consumers who have embedded video clips into their blogs or webpages. Based on blinkx's AdHoc platform, the new application places highly-relevant text advertisements against embedded video from popular sharing sites such as YouTube, GoogleVideo and DailyMotion. blinkx will share 50 per cent of the revenue generated from the ads with users, and payments will be facilitated through PayPal.
Launched in June 2007, blinkx AdHoc was the first contextual advertising platform for online video, designed to place highly relevant advertising against video content on the Web.
"The dramatic growth of online video has been driven by a global audience - individuals who are creating and distributing user-generated content," said Suranga Chandratillake, founder and CEO, blinkx. "We wanted to reward people for the role they played in sharing and promoting video legally on the Web. blinkx's new AdHoc widget enables Internet users to monetise the video they choose to embed on their webpages and blogs quickly and easily."
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CNN on Joost
From Colin Mann in CannesCNN International is launching on Internet TV service Joost in Europe. In an agreement with parent company Turner Broadcasting, the deal with Joost also includes Turner's entertainment brand Adult Swim. Turner's content will roll out on Joost in Europe from October. Previously available via invitation only, Joost became publicly available on October 1st. Turner programming, including CNN and Adult Swim has been on Joost in the US since May.
As part of the news element, Joost's European user-base will have on-demand access to news and feature programming from international news leader CNN's broad video portfolio. The deal will also mark CNN's first major step into short-form content provision in Europe as CNN continues to expand its digital presence across emerging media platforms.
Casey Harwood, SVP for Digital Media at Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) Europe, said that Turner had a track record of actively embracing new ways of distributing its content in line with changing consumer habits."Joost is an indicator of how the next generation will access and view television in the digital space."
Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) Europe has also signed a deal to distribute news and entertainment content to YouTube. Starting October 2007, short clips from Turner's news and entertainment portfolio will be available to users across Europe. Specially branded channels on YouTube will feature content from CNN International, Adult Swim, TCM (Turner Classic Movies) and the recently launched men's interest channel, Nuts TV.
TBS Europe's deal with YouTube follows a number of content agreement deals already brokered this year. In recent months the company has launched across Internet streaming services Vingo and Jalipo.
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Beauty parade for HD DTT candidates
From Sotires Eleftheriou in ParisThe four candidates for the two HD DTT channels earmarked for the private sector presented their projects to the broadcasting regulator CSA. The third HD DTT channel goes to the public sector France Televisions. The CSA should announce its decision at the beginning of December, with broadcasts to start during 2008. The four candidates each spent twenty minutes outlining their project and answering the CSA’s questions.
The four projects are: Metropole Television (parent company of M6) whose project is a HD version of its channel. M6 already broadcasts some of its programmes in HD via cable and satellite. The company would invest E40 million over five years. The amount of HD content would be 2-3 hours a day at startup in June 2008.
The second candidate, TF1, pointed out that it had already broadcast 300 programmes in HD since May 2006 and undertook to broadcast 35 per cent of its programming between 4pm and midnight in HD, well above the minimum of 25 per cent stipulated by the CSA.
The third candidate, AB NT was the only one to propose a brand new channel, to be called Terranova HD. Finally, Canal+ was the only pay channel proposed. It has already been operating an HD version of its channel on cable and satellite, for which it charges E9 a month over the standard subscription. Its CEO Bertrand Meheut pointed out that the channel had already broadcast 600 hours in native HD since the beginning of this year, and a premium pay channel would be a natural complement to a free private sector and a free public sector channel. Industry watchers tip TF1 and Canal + as favourites in this contest.
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NBC buys Oxygen TVNBC Universal has agreed to pay $925 million (E652m) for Oxygen Media, the independent cable television channel for women launched seven years ago by talk-show host Oprah Winfrey. It marks NBC’s latest move to tap into the cable sector. Executives hope they can cross-promote NBC's traditional broadcast network, cable services and Internet portals, and believe the combination will appeal to advertisers seeking multi-media packages.
NBC plans to sell two of its Spanish-language television stations, including KWHY-TV Channel 22 in Los Angeles and another in Puerto Rico, to help finance the transaction.
No Comment from EuroNews on YouTube
From Colin Mann in CannesInternational news channel EuroNews has created a new channel based on its No Comment programme. On No Comment TV, Internet users will be able to view a selection of images renewed daily by EuroNews, including images that can't be seen elsewhere. The stories are always topical and may be spectacular or unusual. They may also cover topics generally neglected by mainstream international media. Whatever the story covered, it will be covered differently. Since the launch of EuroNews, No Comment has been one of the signature programmes of the international news broadcaster, covering news stories through live footage and without commentary.
Phillipe Cayla, President of EuroNews, said the objective was to create links between all levels of distribution. "It’s at the heart of showing how to explain the uniqueness of EuroNews," added Michael Peters, CEO.
For the first few weeks, NoCommentTV.com viewers will be redirected to the No Comment TV channel specially designed for YouTube.
Along the same principles as YouTube, web surfers will create a No Comment TV community by registering with the channel, sharing videos and impressions, and voting or actively participating in the creation of new videos. All of their contributions must respect the spirit of No Comment. Internet users can also contribute to No Comment TV by submitting their own videos, because anyone might be a witness to a news event that should be shared. The videos will only be shown after selection and verification by EuroNews that they correspond to the editorial charter of No Comment TV.
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Vuze opens platform
From Colin Mann in CannesOnline entertainment platform Vuze, which claims an established audience of 10 million viewers, has opened its publishing platform to anyone who creates high-quality digital content, including global television networks, premier and mid-size production studios, and maverick content creators.
With the aim of enabling high-quality content to be distributed easily and monetised instantly, the Vuze Open Entertainment Platform seeks to serve the Vuze installed base by providing more compelling, high-quality content for free. With Vuze, publishers have a set of options for how they can monetise their content online. Publishers can offer their video, audio, and gaming content to viewers for free, for free with ad support, or at the price they choose.
Gilles BianRosa, CEO of Azureus, the company behind Vuze, said the platform offered content providers and advertisers an immersive way to reach the 18-34 male demographic that has left traditional networks and cable channels in favour of new forms of entertainment.
According to an April 2007 online video survey published by Bear Stearns, approximately 67 per cent of men (18-34) prefer to watch free, ad supported online video rather than paying to view the same content. "The Bear Stearns report underscores the relevance of Vuze and the huge market opportunity at hand," BianRosa added.
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i-concerts extends its brand reach
From Colin Mann in CannesMusic VOD service i-concerts is strengthening its brand position worldwide by launching a new global consumer facing website- i-concerts.com. The site will serve as a marketing vehicle for i-concerts VOD platforms, which are available today exclusively via IPTV and Cable VOD services across Europe. The site will allow consumers to preview and learn more about the 800+ titles currently available via i-concerts VOD services. It will also serve as a promotional platform for rights owners, who will have the opportunity to upload artist news, promote new albums and
connect to merchandising, CD, and DVD sites.
Natalia Tsarkova, President, i-concerts, said the objective of i-concerts.com was to enhance the experience of its set-top-box audience. "We see our online portal as an intelligent EPG, which will allow our VOD clients to make their choices, build play lists, select favourites – and then access them via their set-top-box service. The average consumer nowadays frequently accesses the TV, PC and mobile – and it is key for any entertainment brand to provide continuity across these screens."
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JumpTV growthInternet broadcaster JumpTV says subscribers increased by about 19 per cent to 86,000 between August 9 and September 30, while Q3 ended with a record level of subscribers for its international and sports divisions.
Green light for 24hr BBC Arabic service
The BBC World Service will press ahead with expanding its Arabic TV news service to a 24-hour operation and broadcasting a news channel in Farsi after the chancellor, Alistair Darling, confirmed funding plans. The new deal will see the total World Service budget rise from £246 million (E354m) this financial year to £271 million in 2010-2011.
New government funding will allow the BBC to launch its first new news channels for a decade. It provides funding for the BBC to extend its planned 12-hour Arabic news channel, to be launched later this year, to 24 hours a day from next year.
Meanwhile BBC World Service, which is funded by the UK government, won an additional £70 million in funding.
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E! International expands global presence
From Colin Mann in CannesEntertainment programming network E! is further expanding its worldwide presence with new launches on Numericable, the leading cable broadband operator in France, and Digiturk, the premier DTH operator in Turkey. The E! International Network will be distributed on Numericable's basic digital offer, as well as on Digiturk's extended basic package - Aile Paketi.
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Neuf Cegetel selects Ericsson and Redback for FTTHRedback Networks, an Ericsson company that makes video-centric routers for 75 triple-play networks, has been selected by French telecom operator Neuf Cegetel to build its next generation fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) aggregation network for both residential and business services.
Under the new deal, Redback and Ericsson will deploy and maintain Redback SmartEdge 1200 multi-service edge routers to aggregate optical access nodes into a high speed, 10 Gbps metro Ethernet network.
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ExpressCard TV tunerHauppauge Digital, PC TV technology provider, has introduced an ExpressCard TV tuner, giving owners of the laptop computers a quick way to add free live TV to their PCs. The Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1400 provides analogue and digital (Freeview) TV reception via the new ExpressCard format. The card also comes with Hauppauge's WinTV 6 viewing software and SoftPVR to schedule and record programmes for later viewing. Recorded video can also be burned to DVD for long-term storage.
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Smart Telecom selects Thomson triple play solutions
Smart Telecom, Irish telecoms provider, has selected Thomson to provide an end-to-end solution for its launch of advanced triple-play packages. In support of the Smart Telecom services, Thomson will provide a solution integrating its IPTV solution with its Cirpack VoIP softswitch to enable unique communications services in addition to interactive and on-demand video. Smart Telecom, who has its own DSL network, has purchased Thomson’s set-top boxes, VIBE MPEG4 encoders, Sapphire video-on-demand servers, and SmartVision IPTV service platforms.
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Red Dwarf on mobile TVFans of the international, award winning, cult sci-fi comedy series Red Dwarf, are now able to watch exclusively created 'mobisodes' of the show on their mobile phone via Pitch, the international mobile entertainment company. Animated episodes made up from classic moments in the show, are available on a weekly basis.
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Wednesday 10th October
BitTorrent DNA for all
Google puts YouTube to work on ads
Portland TV seeks buyer
TiVo into music
VOOM HD’s 'Virgin' launch into UK
Spaniards are not into MHP DTT services
Babelgum offers content upload
Virgin Media to offer C4 HD
Comcast launches VOD, E! Online
Operax and Orca bring QoS to IPTV
Torque.TV online
BitTorrent DNA for allBitTorrent, whose P2P technology has been said to be responsible for more than 40 per cent of Internet traffic, are opening up their file share technology through a new interface service; BitTorrent DNA (Delivery Network Accelerator).
In February, the privately held company opened an online video store to sell videos licensed from Hollywood studios. Now it says Brightcove, will be the first customer of DNA. Brightcove currently distributes video programmes over the Internet for companies including CBS Corp, Fox Entertainment, MTV Networks and New York Times Co.
The company says its DNA service allows content providers to tap into its P2P expertise and will mean big savings for media companies that are making content available online. There are already more than 150m users of BitTorrent’s existing software: "We are collecting this resource of users and adding to the capacity of the network," says Ashwin Navin, president and co-founder of BitTorrent. "Now, with DNA, we have an interface where any company can tap into this network."
Navin said BitTorrent DNA can boost the efficiency of video-streaming networks that use services provided by Akamai and Limelight Networks which help speed the delivery of Web content. He said most companies spend more than 20 cents an hour to stream video over the Internet, which means they lose money because they cannot pull in more than 20 cents an hour in advertising revenue. BitTorrent DNA will help customers push the cost of streaming video to less than 20 cents per hour, he claimed.
BitTorrent, having renounced piracy, has struck deals with 55 content providers. BitTorrent.com offers legal downloads and the company’s partners include 20th Century Fox, MTV Networks, Paramount and Warner Bros.
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Google puts YouTube to work on adsGoogle is taking the first steps toward turning its powerful advertising network, which places ads on hundreds of thousands of Internet sites, into a system for distributing content, and more ads, across the Web.
It is introducing a service to allow websites in its ad network to embed relevant videos from some YouTube content creators. The service, which represents the first major combination of a Google product with YouTube, will give video creators wide distribution beyond YouTube via Google’s network, known as AdSense. Since the videos will be surrounded by ads, the service is another way for Google to cash in on the huge number of video clips stored on YouTube. Google said it would share revenue from the ads with the creators of the videos and with the Web sites that embed them.
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Portland TV seeks buyerRichard Desmond, owner of the UK’s Daily Express newspaper, has confirmed plans to sell a majority stake in his adult television business, assumed to be a prelude to an IPO of the newspaper business.
The plans for a placing of shares in Portland Television, which is responsible for pay TV channels ranging from Red Hot-branded adult programming to the Express Shopping network, emerged in copmany filings. The group was "reviewing its strategic options" in television and pursuing the option of an Aim listing of a new holding company after operating profit margins in production and broadcasting were hit by increased competition from free-to-air adult channels.
The broadcasting activities yielded operating profits of £11.4m (E16.6m) from turnover of £31.6m in the year to December 2006, down from £12.7m profits on sales of £34.1m a year earlier.
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TiVo into musicTiVo and RealNetworks have made an agreement that will allow TiVo subscribers to listen to songs from the Rhapsody digital music service on their televisions. Both services require a monthly subscription fee of around $13 (E9.2) a month, but TiVo subscribers will receive a free one-month trial of Rhapsody. Consumers will be able to search for music directly on their TV, browse charts of Rhapsody's most popular artist or tunes, or listen to thousands of radio channels.
Michael Bloom, Rhapsody general manager said the deal will help expand the market for consumers of digital music. "The big thrust for us is to try to expand the pie, bring digital music to more consumers. CD sales have been in rapid decline. This is one of the ways that we are going to help in that regard."
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VOOM HD’s 'Virgin' launch into UK
From Colin Mann in CannesVOOM HD Networks has inked an agreement with UK quad-play operator Virgin Media, to trial the global VOOM HD channel starting in October 2007 as part Virgin Media's 50Mbs Broadband Pilot in the UK. The deal, brokered by international broadcaster and distributor of thematic channels Chello Zone (formerly Zonemedia), marks the initial delivery of a VOOM HD channel in the UK.
Since initiating its global expansion effort at MIPCOM just two years ago, VOOM HD Networks has seen exponential growth in the international marketplace. More than 1,100 VOOM HD programming hours have been sold into more than 150 countries, and the global VOOM HD channel is now available in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
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Spaniards are not into MHP DTT services
From David del Valle in MadridInteractive DTT applications are not popular amongst most of Spaniards who, even though they know their existence they use them very little. That is the main conclusion from a test with a sample 40 homes in the cities of Madrid and Salamanca which, equipped with a MHP DTT box, could enjoy several MHP services -a multimedia portal, EPG, and information services on the Stock Market, Traffic, Meteo- over the last few months through TVE
The most widely used MHP services were the meteo (weather information) and the digital teletext applications. The results from the test showed that the MHP services may have potential in the future, but Spaniards are not interested in them for the time being. Children and young people are good at using the DTT box but they think that the current MHP services are boring. Adult Internet users said that interactive DTT is not as complete as the Internet TV services.
The trial has been carried out by the tecnology companies Plot 4 and Fresh IT in collaboration with the Madrid Politecnica University. Currently, 98 per cent of all DTT boxes sold in the Spanish market are not ready for MHP services. The Government has undertaken to boost the market with an injection of around E20 million in 2008. Currently, DTT coverage reaches 85 per cent of the Spanish population with around 30 per cent of all citizens having access to DTT with an audience share of around 8 per cent.
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Babelgum offers content upload
From Colin Mann in CannesNew generation global Internet TV network Babelgum has launched a new direct upload facility for independent producers, rights owners and programme partners to manage their assets on the online platform.
In addition, on 29th October 2007, the facility's features will advance to provide for the simultaneous upload of entire content libraries, saving time and placing control in the hands of all pre-qualified professional content owners and distributors.
The service is provided free of any charges and offers content owners the opportunity to manage dynamically the way their body of work is distributed online. Rights holders maintain complete control of their assets by placing material on Babelgum to suit their individual distribution requirements in contrast to the restrictive environment experienced in traditional broadcasting. Using Babelgum's free upload facility, existing video assets can be immediately monetised either via a minimum revenue guarantee or through a share of advertising revenue after Babelgum's commercial launch in 2008.
Valerio Zingarelli, CEO of Babelgum, said the facility was designed with the needs of the many independent small-medium sized professional producers in mind. "It provides them with a global platform to showcase their work which may not be suited for traditional TV broadcast schedules due to length, format or genre. This presents an enormous opportunity to reach a previously untapped market of potential worldwide audience for content that might otherwise remain unseen."
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Virgin Media and Channel 4 have agreed a deal where the cable operator will offer High Definition (HD) content from Channel 4 via its on demand service. Subscribers will be able to view a selection of Channel 4 programming (in Standard as well as HD) up to seven days after original transmission free of charge.
With the option to broadcast Channel 4's full blown HD channel, scheduled for launch this December, Virgin Media are planning to keep pace with Sky who are already committed to making the full complement of the terrestrial channel's content available in HD to its subscribers.
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Comcast launches VOD, E! Online
From Colin Mann in Cannes
Newly-created Comcast International Media Group (CIMG) has unveiled a suite of Video-On-Demand fully branded channels that includes E! Entertainment Television, The Style Network, The Golf Channel, G4 and Exercise TV. Also rolling out internationally for the first time is E! Online, a web destination for entertainment and pop culture fans, in localised versions in six countries this year - Canada, UK, Australia, Germany, Italy and France."With this new VOD suite launch, we hope to leverage Comcast's status as pioneers in the VOD industry," said CIMG President Kevin MacLellan.
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Operax and Orca bring QoS to IPTVOperax, vendor of dynamic resource and admission Control solutions for IP service quality, and Orca Interactive, provider of IPTV middleware and applications, have combined for a solution allowing operators to manage their service expansion while ensuring Quality of Service (QoS) for advanced video and IPTV services.
The new solution will enable operators to quickly deploy new applications and services without reconfiguring their network infrastructure. In addition, the new solution will help provide leverage in the face of growing competition from incumbent cable and satellite pay-TV operators, as well as broadcasters and service providers offering Internet video streaming over operators‚ existing infrastructures.
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Torque.TV onlineTorque.TV, an Internet television network for vehicle enthusiasts, has launched offering full screen, broadcast quality video entertainment 24/7 around the globe. It says streaming rates and screen size can be tailored to view on a mobile device or a plasma screen, with the detail and quality required to watch fast moving footage.
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Tuesday 9th October
IPTV reaches 8m subscribers
Sky had private equity ally for ITV
One TV platform launched
Gorillabox launched
ITN boosts Joost line up
China Digital TV oversubscribed
MTG and Canal agree non-exclusivity
Prom Queen goes abroad
ABC News on Kamera
IPTV reaches 8m subscribersStatistics, prepared for the DSL Forum by industry analyst Point Topic, have shown that the number of people using IPTV services increased by 179 per cent in the 12 months to 30 June 2007. In broadband access DSL continues to dominate with almost 66 per cent of subscribers connected.
Over eight million people are now connected to IPTV services. Europe added over three million subscribers in the 12 months to 30 June 2007, making it the strongest market both in terms of growth (231 per cent in 12 months) and total subscriber numbers (almost five million by 30 June 2007).
"Top markets like France (2,550,000 customers) and Hong Kong (938,000 customers) show that IPTV can be deployed rapidly to large numbers of subscribers, if the market conditions are right," said Point Topic Senior Analyst John Bosnell. "On the demand side, competitive and clear bundle pricing and content deals will help to attract customers to IPTV services, while on the supply side, making IPTV easier to install and develop will help to deliver IPTV services to a wider subscriber base. Developing and agreeing standards will help to simplify the delivery process and drive higher take-up in other markets too."
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Sky had private equity ally for ITVIt has emerged BSkyB had a private equity partner lined up to take part in its £940 million (E1.36bn) raid on ITV late last year. At the last minute the private equity house pulled out so Sky had to decide whether to go ahead and buy all of the blocking stake to prevent Virgin’s takeover bid.
The investor has not been named and its not known if the regulatory risk put them off. Last week the Competition Commission said in a preliminary report that the 17.9 per cent stake bought by Sky raised serious competition concerns as it gave the satellite broadcaster a potential stranglehold on ITV's strategy.
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One TV platform launched
From Sotires Eleftheriou in ParisFrench company Mobibase has launched One TV, a platform of TV channels made specifically for viewing on mobile phones on the Orange Gallery service. A small selection of the channels has already been available on test over the summer.
One TV should be available via other operators soon – SFR before the end of the year and Bouygues in mid 2008. Mobibase CEO Vincent Roger explained at the press launch that unlike existing mobile TV services which are generally streamed versions of mainstream channels, One TV is devised specifically for the platform, consisting mainly of clips and close-ups to suit the screen size.
The content (videogags, softcore, weather, bollywood, news, glitter, shock, clips, sports, movie trailers etc) is geared to 15-35 year olds, mainly masculine technophiles, but some additional content is coming soon. The platform is available via 3G or Edge. The streamed video content is free of charge, other than any mobile operator charges (e.g. for data volumes) where applicable. Also "goodies" are available for downloading at a charge of between E1 and E5. One TV’s other source of revenue will be advertising and sponsorship, with revenue being shared with the mobile operator. Mobibase already has a sponsorship agreement with the Paris transport authority.Asked about DVB-H, Roger said it would give One TV a wider coverage. Mobibase is in fact a candidate for one of the planned DVB-H licenses, which it would use to showcase its service.
Gorillabox launchedGorillabox, a new fully managed mobile TV enabler, has launched with a proposition to stream video content to any mobile handset, anywhere in Europe and the US.
Central to the Gorillabox plan is a unique fixed fee commercial model, which will allow network operators, content owners, brand owners and ad agencies to take advantage of the benefits of mobile TV but without the hidden costs of the traditional revenue sharing model.
Christian Harris, founder and CEO of Gorillabox, says: "There’s been a lot of hype around mobile TV. But we’re looking to cut through that hype and show brands, content owners and mobile operators that mobile TV also makes commercial sense."
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ITN boosts Joost line upITN has signed a deal with IPTV platform Joost to provide its news, entertainment and sports content and a new weekly programme entitled Movie Buff. ITN will keep Joost viewers up to date with all the latest UK, world, sports, showbiz and business news throughout the day. Joost viewers can also tune into weather from the UK and holiday hot spots.
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China Digital TV oversubscribed
Investors embraced China Digital TV Holding Co.'s IPO last week, more than doubling the value of the company's shares in the first hour of trading. After opening at a high of $37.50, well over double the IPO price of $16 per share, the stock has traded only as low as $29.04.
China Digital provides conditional access systems that allow digital television network operators in China to control their subscribers' content and services, such as on-demand viewing and pay-per-channel programming.
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MTG and Canal agree non-exclusivityModern Times Group (MTG), has revealed that MTG Norway and Canal Digital have signed a non-exclusivity agreement, whereby both parties have agreed not to exclusively distribute any of the five most watched channels in Norway. NRK1 and NRK2 are already distributed on both the Viasat and the Canal Digital satellite pay-TV platforms, and both TV distribution platforms are in discussions with TV2 regarding the inclusion of the channel in their packages.
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Prom Queen goes abroadWeb TV series "Prom Queen," produced by former Walt Disney Chief Executive Michael Eisner, is heading to France and Japan under deals that will revamp the short Web films into programming for local audiences. "Prom Queen" has drawn media industry interest by making a case for how entertainment tailored to the Internet can be extended to cell phones and other media outlets. Now it will take a step further, with overseas deals to develop it into programming for everything from television to DVDs.
Eisner's new media studio Vuguru will produce and distribute the localized versions with Japan's Rights Entertainment, including manga and anime formats, and France's Cyber Groupe in deals with former Disney executives."If you do something well, there's appeal for it around the world," Eisner said in an interview. "All the things that used to go downstream when the Internet was simply an ancillary market, now you're seeing the Internet becoming the primary market."
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ABC News on KameraABC International Television and Internet and mobile TV specialist aggregator Kamera have closed an agreement to distribute news video content from ABC News. The deal will enable Kamera to market ABC News’ portfolio of news content to mobile operators and online platforms worldwide, excluding North America. Kamera will distribute, pitch and package ABC News content to its existing global network of customers, comprising of 35 mobile operators and more than 40 online customers, as well as creating products and services for mobile and online.
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Monday 8th October
Sky: no more new channels
Wind reaches IPTV deal with Sky Italia
Sky+ viewers 'watch less TV'
Spain: 6 million DTT boxes
BBC One chief out
Virgin Media beefs up online content
Hanaro delivers 100Mbps Broadband with Cisco
Vode future-proofs Eagle Rock’s content
Sky is calling a halt to new channels on its platform in a move that is bound to lead to bidding battles between companies seeking valuable slots on its electronic programming guide (EPG).
Sky has said that it will "cease to take further applications for places in the EPG launch queue" and will proceed with "extreme caution" launching the 100 or so TV and radio channels already on the list.
"After a very careful consideration we have taken the decision to make these changes in order to safeguard the interests of both viewers and platform users," said Nicola Bamford, director of channels and operations at Sky said in a letter to prospective channels.
"Our goal is to provide a high quality viewer experience and a stable environment for all platform users, while maintaining the principle that access to the EPG should be available without discrimination to broadcasters." Sky has cited "very significant memory constraints in several models of boxes" for the change.
Under Ofcom's regulations Sky must give carriage to channels on "fair and reasonable terms". It has more than 600 channels on its EPG, up from 200 at launch. It charges approximately £78,000 (E113,000) a year for the slots
Sky plans to allow would-be broadcasters to buy slots from existing channels, thereby sparking auctions – many current channels will doubtless find trading their slot the most profitable part of the business.
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Wind reaches IPTV deal with Sky Italia
From Branislav Pekic in RomeItalian telecom and broadband operator Wind has reached an agreement with Sky Italia to distribute the entire portfolio of the pay-TV operator on its new IPTV platform.
As a result Wind will be able to complete its triple play offer with TV via the internet, while Sky will boost the distribution of its pay-TV offer. The agreement sees the distribution of more than 170 channels of the Sky DTH platform, including basic and premium channels, as well as all the optional and PPV channels, including High Definition services and the Personal Video Recorder.
Meanwhile, Wind’s rival, Telecom Italia, is also in talks with News Corp. to broadcast all of Sky Italia's channels on its own IPTV service Alice Home TV. Currently, Alice Home TV only carries Sky Italia's premium package, with a limited number of channels. Sky Italia is also negotiating with Tiscali which has yet to launch an IPTV offering in Italy.
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Sky+ viewers 'watch less TV'Research by Attentional into the viewing habits of Sky+ subscribers suggests owners of digital TV recorders watch less television. Attentional says people-meters used by viewing measurement panels show they actually watch less TV.
"Sky+ users are lighter viewers than the average Sky viewer, they tend to be relatively prosperous and such people simply watch less TV," said Adrian Edwards, Attentional's head of operations.
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Spain: 6 million DTT boxes
From David del Valle in MadridAccording to Pro DTT Association, Impulsa TDT, in September more than 330,000 DTT devices were sold in the country reaching up to a total of 6,111,859 units, with sales in the first eight months of the year similar to those in the whole 2006.
Spaniards prefer the Integrated Digital TV sets, representing 45.87 per cent of all DTT sales in September, followed by those 38.76 per cent who acquired a separate DTT box and the rest, more than 50,000 who opted for other alternatives (combo DVD, PC cards etc). 98 per cent of all sold DTT boxes are not ready for MHP applications.
The sale of IDTV sets already surpasses (52 per cent) the sale of analogue TV sets, with Madrid and Barcelona being the cities with a greater proportion of sales. According to the Association, DTT is now experiencing a monthly reach of 8.1 per cent, with traditional commercial channels taking an average of 4.9 per cent (60 per cent of DTT viewers watch them) and thematic channels only 1.2 per cent. Madrid and Murcia (east of Spain) are the regions with more DTT consumption in the country.
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BBC One chief out
BBC One controller Peter Fincham has resigned following the publication of a report into footage that distorted the actions of the Queen.A trailer for the documentary, A Year With The Queen, appeared to show her storming out of a photo session. Fincham told the press it showed her "walking out in a huff". But it emerged the trailer had been edited out of sequence.
BBC director general Mark Thompson said "serious mistakes were made". Stephen Lambert, the creative director RDF Media, which made the programme, has also resigned.
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Virgin Media beefs up online contentVirgin Media has launched three new services a major online content, it will offer shows from its recently launched digital TV service Virgin 1, as well as games and music content.
Virgin has also signed deals with music platforms OD2 and Vidzone to supply it with music tracks and videos in preparation to ramp up its music offering in the New Year and has extended its games proposition with Metaboli which features publishers such as Eidos, Sega, THQ and Ubisoft". The Virgin Media portal is seen by around seven million people each month according to Comscore, and has 3.4 million broadband subscribers.
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Hanaro delivers 100Mbps Broadband with CiscoCisco has revealed that Hanaro Telecom, Korea's major broadband service provider, has chosen Cisco's standards-based channel-bonding technology for the world's largest deployment of 100-megabits-per-second broadband services, now reaching more 200,000 customers.
Through Cisco's multiservice cable broadband technology, Hanaro Telecom was able to deploy the 100Mbps wideband services market ahead of its competitors.
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Vode future-proofs Eagle Rock’s contentVode, the UK based VoD specialist has announced its latest digital storage and distribution deal with UK and US based music and entertainment specialist, Eagle Rock Entertainment
Eagle Rock supplied Vode with its content library in digi beta format which was then digitised and stored in the VodeVault, serving as Eagle Rock’s ‘virtual archive.’ The content was handed over to Vode to identify which properties were applicable to the various platforms and advised enable Eagle Rock on maximising new revenue streams. This content has now been delivered to Eagle Rock clients such as iTunes, mobile phone operators and other digital download stores.
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