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Our Latest Issues
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Tuesday
Friday 25th April
Liberty: Virgin Media not for us
Cable credit crunch: No panic but no sale
Vivendi pulls out of Sogecable
Orange TV portal
Comcast, Cox split with Sprint
IPTV market sees aggressive growth
Orange reports mobile TV boom
Mediaset programmes on MSN Video and Libero
Malone backs new studio
BlinkBox consumer launch
Ondas signs Dutch framework agreement
Liberty: Virgin Media not for usMichael Fries, Liberty Global's chief executive officer said even if the reports of Virgin’s TV division prove true, they won’t be spending any of their $5 billion war chest on it.
"We have so much opportunity in front of us, either in our stock or existing markets or emerging markets,'' Fries said. "It is highly unlikely we would be a serious player for those assets." Liberty Global said in February it would double a stock buyback plan announced a month earlier to $1 billion.
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Cable credit crunch: No panic but no sale
From Nick Snow in MadridA panel of seasoned cable financiers here at the Cable Congress reassured that the current credit crunch won’t have a material effect on the industry. John Hahn from Providence Equity Partners, said most leveraged consolidation deals – including his own firm’s – were refinanced during 2006 and 2007 when terms were historically beneficial and, therefore, there shouldn’t be funding problems.
Others agreed, and Shane O’Neill, Chief Strategy Officer and President, Chello Media, reaffirmed the evidence so far was that the traditional view – that TV services were recession resistant for the consumer – was holding true.
Frank Knowles, partner at New Street Research, was a little less sanguine on the industries financial health. He is not convinced capex requirements will ever ease as operators have to stay ahead on applications and, therefore, significant free cashflow will not come easily and if consumer revenues do drop, a cash and repayment squeeze could follow.
All agreed that the Private Equity companies – which now own the majority of the industry – are stuck with their assets: the valuations would be down on sale, and, in any event, buyers couldn’t raise the funding in the current climate. Again, Knowles sounded a warning about the only other way out: IPO. He declared the evidence was clear the public markets shared his more downbeat view of cable prospects and consistently valued companies way below the prices paid in private deals.
Echoing his bosses sentiments on Virgin Media, O’Neill said it wasn’t highly likely Liberty would take the opportunity to shop for more consolidation – although if distressed bargains came along that would change – he said the depressed price of Liberty stock made buy back the biggest opportunity they had.
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Vivendi pulls out of Sogecable
From David Del Valle in MadridFrench media group Vivendi is pulling out of Spain's largest pay-TV group Sogecable following its latest move to exchange bonds in the company for shares to cut debt by E217 million, this leaves it with only 0.64 per cent in Sogecable down from the current 5.5 per cent.
Spanish media group Prisa is set to acquire that stake within its takeover bid. Under Spanish law, Prisa has to launch a takeover bid for Sogecable as the company has increased its stake in its subsidiary to over 50 per cent. Spain's telco giant Telefonica is also a shareholder of Sogecable, with around a 17 per cent stake. Sogecable posted a first-quarter to March net profit of E16.3 million, up from E1.2 million a year earlier. Sogecable said first-quarter revenues rose to E507.5 million from E478.8 million a year earlier.The group's revenue for the first quarter were boosted by gains at both its pay-TV arm, Digital+, up to E433.4 million from 418.1 million, and at its Free-to-air channel Cuatro, which posted revenues of E74.1 million euros, after 60.7 million a year earlier. Subscribers for Digital+ rose to 2.080 million March 31 from 2.065 million at the end of December.
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Orange France has launched its bouquet of web TV channels giving all the ISP’s customers access to a wide range of channels on their PC. The complete line-up is a VOD barker channel, France 2, France 3, Orange Sport, France 5, BBC World, Poker Channel, Direct8, France 24, Demain, Liberty TV, Fashion TV, LCP- PS, France 4, BFM TV, I Télé, Trace TV, TV 8 Mont Blanc, Art Channel and France O.
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Comcast, Cox split with SprintTwo US cable companies said they had exited a wireless phone venture with number-three US wireless company Sprint Nextel Corp. Comcast the leading US cable operator, and Cox Communications said they were pulling out of the two-and-half-year-old joint venture and switching their mobile phone customers to a similar Sprint package. The $200 million venture, branded as Pivot last year, also included Time Warner Cable and Advanced/Newhouse Communications, but failed to spark much consumer interest.
The cable companies and Sprint had hoped customers would be interested in a single integrated service that combines cable television, Internet access, fixed-line phone and wireless on one bill. It also planned to offer integrated services such as TV clips and e-mails on cell phones or a single voicemail.
IPTV market sees aggressive growth
The Synergy 2007 IPTV Market Share report has shown the overall IPTV equipment revenue, from the core of the network to the set-top box, is growing aggressively at 47 per cent year over year.
The Synergy study found that Service Providers are making significant capital investments today to strategically position their network’s capability to provide next generation TV services. As Cable companies have successfully taken a bite out of the Service Provider’s telephone and broadband Internet business, Service Providers are making the necessary investments to get a slice of the massive TV market.
The aggressive growth in IPTV equipment revenue continues to be driven by upgrades to carrier networks, especially at the Edge. Such investments are increasing the velocity of Carrier Ethernet deployments. The lower costs associated with Carrier Ethernet continue to drive Service Provider’s decisions to deliver IPTV using Carrier Ethernet at the Edge of their next-generation network.
"IPTV has transitioned from a forward-thinking play to an essential strategy for Service Providers to counter competitive forces and pursue lucrative revenue opportunities," says Ray Mota, Ph.D., Chief Research Officer at Synergy Research Group, "This continues to translate into dollars spent on infrastructure equipment providing intelligence and service delivery at the Edge of the Service Provider‚s network."
From a market share perspective, Cisco continues to dominate the IPTV market, receiving 59 per cent of this total IPTV CAPEX spend. It is followed by Alcatel-Lucent, capturing 13 per cent of the revenue, and Motorola with 11 percent. Juniper’s share was 10 per cent.
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Orange reports mobile TV boomOrange has released the results of its third Digital Media Index (DMI), revealing a sharp increase in mobile internet and mobile TV usage. The network’s report, examining trends in customer consumption of digital media, shows a spike in Orange customers‚ use of mobile internet since the second DMI was released in November last year. User numbers have increased 12 per cent to 2.64 million, accessing 99 million page impressions a month ˆ a 35 per cent increase.
The number of mobile broadband customers has jumped 31 per cent to 1.8 million. Orange director of portals Matthew Kirk said: "The distinction between mobile and laptop is finally disappearing as the mobile phone truly becomes an on-the-go‚ multimedia device." Orange reported hours viewed on mobile TV increased by 87 per cent in three months, particularly since the start of the football season.
Mediaset programmes on MSN Video and Libero
From Branislav Pekic in RomeItalian commercial broadcaster Mediaset has signed agreements with two video portals, making its programming available to an ever wider audience.
The agreement with MSN will see programmes from the Canale 5, Rete 4 and Italia 1 TV channels carried on MSN Video. The portal’s estimated 1.7 million users will get free access to the content, with the possibility of making comments on Windows Live Messenger or uploading it to their own blogs with Windows Live Spaces.
Mediaset’s most successful programmes are now also available on the Italian portal Libero.it, owned by telecom operator Wind. Libero Video provides a wide selection of content, news and entertainment selected from the schedules of Mediaset’s three terrestrial TV channels, such as "TG5", "Verissimo", "Le Iene", "Grande Fratello". All of the material is available only a few hours after it is broadcast on the air to the more than 1,8 million visitors of this site.
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Malone backs new studio
Overture Films the new studio is the brainchild of Chris McGurk and Danny Rosett, two former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer executives, who say they have spotted a potentially lucrative gap in the market.They have backing from John Malone, boss of Liberty. Their pitch to Malone was apparently simple: they would produce or acquire films that cost $25 million or less – much cheaper than the cost of the average studio film, which has risen to more than $100 million – and they would assemble their own distribution network to ensure the company benefited from the success of their films. The other parts of Malone’s empire, such as the Starz pay-TV channel, would then have a ready-made source of film content, which could be exploited in perpetuity. Malone is financing the studio to the tune of $250 million and has committed to support the new studio for five years.
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BlinkBox, the UK start-up that lets users ‘mash’ clips from TV shows and films as well as rent and buy movies, is officially launching as a self-styled cross between iTunes and Facebook. The website, launched by former senior executives from Channel 4 and Vodafone, aims to combine elements of social networking with e-commerce through a series of deals for film and TV content with major studios and producers.
Although the site has been accessible since last autumn, it is officially going live with 10,000 scenes that users can mash, share and send as well as 1,600 film and TV titles.
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Ondas signs Dutch framework agreement
Ondas Media, the satellite radio company for Europe, has entered into an extensive framework agreement with the State of the Netherlands as represented by the Radio Communications Agency Netherlands, completing another key component of its regulatory strategy. The agreement provides Ondas with exclusive rights to construct, launch and locate up to two geostationary satellites in the region in order to operate its European networks for satellite radio (S-DAB).
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Thursday 24th April
Record numbers, sober reflection
Pay-VOD ‘dead’
Ofcom: BBC shouldn’t be forced to fund bandwidth
Reding: OK to manage traffic
Broadcasters challenge Zattoo
Yahoo exceeds expectations
C4 at "tipping point"
Netcom VOD service
Hellas satellite platform
Sun enhances IPTV product portfolio
Record numbers, sober reflection
From Nick Snow in MadridThe Cable Congress got under way with the proud announcement of record numbers for the European industry in 2007. Manuel Cubero, president of organiser Cable Europe (formerly ECCA), said total revenue across Europe rose 12.6 per cent to E17.9 billion, the number of digital homes connected more than doubled in the past two years to 13.9 million, broadband internet customers grew 20 per cent to 15.6 million, telephony customers climbed 19 per cent to 11.6 million and growth in unique cable customers rose to 72.7 million from 70.5 million.
With all this good news it was perhaps a surprise that the opening plenary ‘a view from the top’ was a pretty sober affair. Each of the major operator CEOs on the panel said 2007 had been a difficult year. Mike Fries CEO of Liberty Global declaimed the competition its’ UPC networks were facing in some territories, especially Eastern Europe, as ‘irrational’ with unsupportable business models drawn up by desperate incumbents. But, he said, that didn’t mean they didn’t attack the ‘soft underbelly’ of UPC’s low price basic analogue subscribers, which once lost were hard to win back and up sell to digital services.
Neil Burkett, CEO Virgin Media, said the UK was a hyper competitive market. He said Virgin would concentrate on emphasising the benefits of its network, adding that while the premium pay market was probably near saturation, there was much to play for the in the 8-9 million free/low pay digital market that could be turned into ‘medium pay.’ He refused to qualify whether concentrating on delivering service, applications and functionality meant Virgin was likely to sell its content division, as has been speculated.
Meanwhile, Richard Alden CEO of host operator ONO, confessed it had been a tough year: "We were a David that took over a Goliath and we got indigestion" he said, adding consolidation issues were largely resolved and the last quarter of 2007 had been very positive.
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Pay-VOD ‘dead’
From Nick Snow in MadridThe opening plenary at Cable Congress was something of a requiem for pay VOD. Once (not long ago) touted as a major differentiator and revenue driver for cable, it was collectively written off by the panellists.
Ironically, all agreed it was one of the ‘killer apps’ that will drive cable’s competitive edge, (along with PVR and HD), but as a catch up and brand extension business and for free, or very nearly free. All the operators said their VOD usage rates had surged and they were adding more capacity but they saw it as predominantly an anti-churn play.
All the operators – to the chagrin of the content players on the panel – had drawn the conclusion the battle ahead was as much about delivering great applications, functionality and service as content. Outside of premium content owned by pay-TV operators in order to deny it to others (for which read soccer), they implied such a huge range of content was available from so many sources, the edge was now was in how it was packaged, priced and delivered.
Emphasising this was their attitude to OTT services, which seems to have softened. While they still reserve the right to throttle traffic in order to preserve customer experience, they agreed broadband video services can be a sales converter for cable because only its bandwidth can cope with heavy use. In an example of differentiating the packaging, Neal Berkett from Virgin, far from objecting to the BBC iPlayer P2P service, is to offer it on their VOD service so subscribers can catch up on the PC service via their TV.
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Ofcom: BBC shouldn’t be forced to fund bandwidth
The BBC should not be forced to help pay for the creation of next-generation superfast broadband networks the Ofcom chief executive, Ed Richards, told MPs.
Internet service providers (ISPs) have seen traffic leap dramatically since the BBC iPlayer was launched, leading to problems with capacity which prompted Tiscali to suggest the BBC should help pay to upgrade the UK's broadband networks. In evidence to a joint session of the Commons Culture, Media & Sport and Business and Enterprise committees, Richards said getting content providers such as the BBC to pay was one way network upgrades may happen. However, he added: "[But] it is not necessarily the only way it can happen and it is not necessarily the way we would anticipate it will happen. I am not convinced myself that the right answer to that is to get the BBC to pay for the iPlayer," he said. He said it was more sensible for the investment burden to be shouldered by network operators and consumers, with prices likely to rise for faster connections.
He added he would not rule out "content-led tariff models" – where ISPs do deals with content providers so their services run more smoothly over their networks.
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Reding: OK to manage traffic
From Nick Snow in MadridIn a video address,Vivian Reding, EC Commissioner for Information Society and Media, gave cautious approval to the practice of traffic management over cable networks. Reding said such practices were legitimate, particularly when video was concerned, so long as the management was for the benefit of the network users as a whole.
She said Brussels would empower national regulators to set minimum standards for video quality but stipulated the operators must make these clear to users and tell them if traffic was being managed.
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Broadcasters challenge ZattooA band of broadcasters have consulted lawyers about the legality of an online TV website called Zattoo.com, which is based in Switzerland and aims to have 450,000 registered UK users by the end of the year. Zattoo's UK site, which launched last December, streams live TV content from the BBC, Channel 4 and Five, as well as other English-, French- and German-language TV channels, without seeking permission from the networks in question.
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Yahoo exceeds expectationsYahoo, which is currently fending off a takeover bid from Microsoft, said its profits tripled in the first three months of 2008. The firm reported income of $542.2 million compared with $142.4 million in the same period a year earlier.
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C4 at "tipping point"UK broadcaster Channel 4's main channel made an operating loss last year for the first time since 1992, according to the broadcaster's annual report. The channel was hit by falling ratings for flagship show Big Brother and the loss of phone-in revenue as a result of the premium-rate TV competition scandal. Channel 4's chairman, Luke Johnson, warned that the broadcaster had reached a "tipping point" with a new public funding solution now "urgently required" if it is to continue to compete with the BBC.
The core Channel 4 service recorded an operating loss of £7.8 million (E9.75m) after programme costs grew faster than advertising, according to the report. Overall group turnover was marginally up, with increased advertising revenue helping offset the loss of revenue from premium-rate telephone services.
Ratings for the core Channel 4 service fell 11 per cent in 2007 but there was an increase in audience for its digital channels, E4, More4 and Film4. Channel 4's new media division recorded an operating loss of £15.4 million, up from £6 million in 2006, because of the start-up costs of its VOD service, 4oD.
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Netcom VOD serviceChina Netcom is planning to enter the online video market, with a P2P based, video-on-demand, online video content service. Netcom stated that it hoped to provide an open platform for new media and content provider partners, with deputy chief engineer Zuo Feng calling on broadcasting regulators and state-owned and private content providers to join Netcom's partnership programme to implement prior-approval checks, making it easier to monitor content. At the same time, because partners had a better understanding of online video regulations, communication with relevant government departments would be easier.
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Hellas satellite platformHellas Sat, the subsidary of OTE managing the Greek space satellite, has submitted an application to the Greek National Council for Radio and Television (NCRTV) to operate a DTH satellite platform. The new platform will be known as Hellas Sat ID.
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Sun enhances IPTV product portfolioSun Microsystems has announced that its IPTV products will now enable simultaneous streaming in the range of 100-160,000 streams as the company expands its Sun Streaming System. Sun’s new Sun Streaming Software Release 2, providing the Solaris 10 Operating System (OS), will enable service provider customers to scale from 500 to over 1.5mn users and from 200 to more than 1mn hours of content.
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Wednesday 23rd April
AT&T: Internet to reach full capacity by 2010
Portuguese DTT tender to close
Bollywood takes piracy battle to US Congress
Social media challenging traditional media
U-verse boost for AT&T
Classic ITV on iTunes
Google: World’s number 1 brand
D-Link partners With Veoh
Product placement probe
Moldova’s first DTH operator
Election goes to MySpace
AT&T: Internet to reach full capacity by 2010US telco giant AT&T has claimed that, without proper investment, the Internet's current network architecture will reach the limits of its capacity by 2010.
Jim Cicconi, vice president of legislative affairs for AT&T, warned that the current systems that constitute the Internet will not be able to cope with the increasing amounts of video and content being uploaded. "The surge in online content is at the centre of the most dramatic changes affecting the Internet today," he said. "In three years' time, 20 typical households will generate more traffic than the entire Internet today."
Cicconi said that at least $55 billion worth of investment was needed in new infrastructure in the next three years in the US alone, with the figure rising to $130 billion to improve the network worldwide. "We are going to be butting up against the physical capacity of the Internet by 2010," he said. He claimed that the "unprecedented new wave of broadband traffic" would increase 50-fold by 2015 and that AT&T is investing $19 billion to maintain its network and upgrade its backbone network.
Cicconi added that more demand for high-definition video will put an increasing strain on the Internet infrastructure. "Eight hours of video is loaded onto YouTube every minute. Everything will become HD very soon, and HD is seven to ten times more bandwidth-hungry than typical video today. Video will be 80 per cent of all traffic by 2010, up from 30 per cent today."
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Portuguese DTT tender to close
From Branislav Pekic in RomeThe deadline for submitting bids to operate Portugal's digital terrestrial TV multiplexes expires on April 23 and uncertainty still exists over who will take part.
Up for grabs are licences to operate three national multiplexes (one for free-to-air and two for pay-TV channels) as well as three regional multiplexes (for pay-TV channels). The public opening of the bids will take place on April 24, after which a commission will have 40 days to evaluate the bids for the pay-TV tender and 60 days for the FTA tender.
Likely bidders include Spanish DTT pay-TV operator Dahlia TV (owned by the Air Plus holding), as well as Portugal Telecom and Prisa-owned Media Capital, who had been rumoured to be submitting a joint bid. However, reports in the Jornal de Negocios now suggest that Portugal Telecom will bid on its own. According to the newspaper, the two companies have reached an agreement for PT to integrate Media Capital's TV transmission signal Reti into its own network, thereby removing the need for Media Capital to participate in the DTT tender.
PT currently manages the only other TV signal distribution service for Portugal's four free-to-air channels, and after the deal with Media Capital it is expected to be the only bidder for the licence to manage the signal distribution in the DTT tender, the paper said. Other rumoured partners in the consortium were Spain’s Abertis and Portuguese multimedia group Sonaecom.
Another consequence of the agreement is that PT will be free to bid on its own for the pay-TV and Portugal's fifth free-to-air (FTA) channel in the tender.
The participation of Portuguese media groups Impresa and Cofina on the tender depends on the possibility of setting up their own consortia. ZON Multimédia and Vodafone Portugal have already said they will not take part in the race, while there have been no comments so far from potential participants AR Telecom, Controlinveste, RTP or SGC Telecom.
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Bollywood takes piracy battle to US CongressCampaigners against piracy in India's Bollywood entertainment industry, which loses four billion dollars a year to counterfeiters, have taken their battle to the US Congress. "We are losing 90 per cent of our home video market in the United States," veteran Indian filmmaker Bobby Bedi said.
Bedi lamented that American enforcement agencies were not forceful enough in helping plug losses suffered by the Indian entertainment industry in the US, where he said counterfeit Indian movies were being peddled mostly by mini retail stores. "We feel that we should get the same treatment as American producers should get as far as intellectual property is concerned," he said.
A recent study prepared for the US Indian Business Council by global accounting firm Ernst and Young showed that India's burgeoning entertainment industry lost as much as $4 billion and 800,000 direct jobs each year due to counterfeiting and piracy.
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Social media challenging traditional media
Social media – and blogs in particular – are becoming a more important part of global media consumption for Internet users than some traditional media channels, according to the findings of a recent survey by media agency Universal McCann.
Globally 73 per cent of Internet users are reading blogs with 48 per cent including these consumer-generated content in their weekly media diet. TV too is facing similar competition for eyeballs with 83 per cent of Internet users having watched a video clip and 59 per cent viewing at least one clip every week.
According to Universal McCann, the latest survey – the third it has carried out - shows no signs of a pause in the explosive growth of social media. Video clips, blogs, podcasts, social networks and RSS are all essential components of the online media diet. While not all markets are as developed, in each of the 29 countries surveyed social media is becoming a key constituent of global media consumption.
Key findings from Wave 3 include: 83 per cent watch video clips, up from 62 per cent in the last study in June 2007; 78 per cent read blogs, up from 66 per cent; 57 per cent of Internet users are now members of a social network; RSS consumption is growing rapidly up from 15 per cent to 39 per cent; Podcasts are now mainstream digital content, listened to by 48 per cent.
"Social media is a mass medium for many Internet users. Brands and marketers need to adjust rapidly to this revolution in way consumers are creating and digesting content. With every wave of research, our Social Media Tracker is noting greater and greater growth for channels such as blogging, video clips and social networks," reported Tom Smith, EMEA research manager at Universal McCann.
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U-verse boost for AT&TAT&T’s first quarter results have revealed a continued ramp in AT&T U-verse TV subscriber totals, with a first-quarter net gain of 148,000 to reach 379,000 in service; on track to reach target of more than 1 million subscribers by year-end 2008, according to the telco.
Total video connections, which include AT&T U-verse service and bundled satellite television service, increased by 264,000 in the quarter to reach 2.6 million.
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Classic ITV on iTunesUK commercial broadcaster ITV is to make a range of its classic programming available through Apple’s iTunes store. The deal, which will be the first time that ITV has made TV shows available for sale via a third-party website, will see more than 260 hours of archive shows made available via iTunes.
The shows will be priced at from £1.89 (E2.36) per episode and fans will be able to download complete series. ITV is not yet making current programmes or series available. All shows can viewed on a Mac or PC, iPod with video, iPhone or on a widescreen TV with Apple TV.
Dawn Airey, Managing Director of ITV Global Content said the broadcaster wanted to give viewers the opportunity to watch their favourite shows wherever they are. "ITV has thousands of hours of classic content in the archive which we are bringing to a whole new audience via iTunes. Our strategy is to deliver 360 degree value for our content on multiple platforms, and in multiple territories, and our partnership with Apple is a demonstration that we are delivering on that strategy."
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Google: World’s number 1 brandGoogle has topped a list of the world's most powerful brands, with new research estimating its value to be $86 billion. WPP-owned research company Millward Brown puts Google at number one in its annual top 100 global brand power list for the second year in a row with a 30 per cent year-on-year increase in its value.
Google beat General Electric to the top spot, with the NBC Universal owner's brand value estimated at $71.4 billion. The next most valuable brands are Microsoft at $70.89 billion, Coca-Cola at $58.2 billion and China Mobile at $57.2 billion, according to Millward Brown.
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D-Link partners With VeohD-Link, the end-to-end networking solutions provider, and Internet television network Veoh, have revealed that the D-Link PC-on-TV (DPG-1200) will feature VeohTV, a free service that provides both branded and user-created video content in high-quality for full-screen environments.
D-Link PC-on-TV will ship with a link to access VeohTV directly from the television, providing a single interface to search, browse and view thousands of videos found on the Internet. It offers programming from major media companies as well as independently produced content available on sites such as YouTube, Google Video, Veoh.com and MySpace.
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Product placement probeThe UK government is preparing to launch a consultation this summer regarding whether the UK should legalise product placement.
The legalisation of product placement is one of several changes to the UK TV regulatory landscape that could result from the introduction of the European Union's Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) directive, Brussels' set of legislation that governs Europe's audiovisual and media industries. The probe will be held in conjunction with Ofcom, whose codes currently ban product placement.
Tess Alps, chief executive of TV marketing body Thinkbox, broadly welcomed the idea of legalising product placement in the UK. "Clearly the UK would welcome a more level playing field," she said. "The fact is that we're all watching a lot of product placement, or product integration, in series imported from the US."
However, another senior TV executive argued that the money made through allowing product placement would be minimal for broadcasters, adding that most of it would go to the production companies that agree to feature certain brands' products.
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Moldova’s first DTH operatorTelenor Satellite Broadcasting has signed a contract with Focus-Sat SRL to supply capacity and services for Moldova’s first DTH operator. Focus-Sat SRL commenced transmission this week from 1 degree west, one of Europe’s prime orbital locations.
Leiv Svenning, Head of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) of Telenor commented, "We are delighted to be able to provide Focus-Sat SRL, with a complete DTH broadcasting solution for channel distribution in Moldova. With over two million households already tuning into 1 degree west in the CEE region, this contract signifies the growing strength of its position, which continues to show increased value for DTH distribution."
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Election goes to MySpaceNBC has reached a deal with social-networking site MySpace to be the provide election news on a new Decision ‘08 subsite. NBC News supply news and analysis to the site on MySpace's IMPACT public-affairs hub. It will also include an RSS feed, an interactive map, voter-registration information and blogs.
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Tuesday 22nd April
Hollywood studios combine for VOD service
BBC eyes Virgin channels
Latin American pay-TV market to double by 2012
Almost 10m IPTV subs in 2010
HDTV subs 44m by year-end
Pay TV strong in Asia
17m mobile TV users in Asia
Sony and ProSiebenSat.1 extend VOD deal
Pace wins Queens Award
Hollywood studios combine for VOD serviceViacom, owner of Paramount Pictures, is launching a pay-TV channel and on-demand service with MGM and Lionsgate. The joint venture will take on CBS's Showtime Networks, which the three filmmakers used to have contracts with and which used to be a Viacom property.
The service will launch in an environment where US households are watching fewer feature films, analysts said. According to market data firm Nielsen, the numbers of households watching films first shown in the cinema at home have fallen 80 per cent since 2001. Many viewers have already seen the movies on DVD, downloaded them via their PC or an on-demand service before they become available on pay-TV.
Viacom President Philippe Dauman hopes the new premium channel can exploit that trend. "We can provide a lot more ways to provide what consumers want, whether it's broadband opportunities, maximising video-on-demand opportunities and high definition," he said. The channel will also show TV series and is expected to launch in the Autumn of 2009.
Viacom will take the largest share of the new joint venture, but no further financial details were released.
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The BBC is reportedly interested in buying Virgin Media Television. Apparently BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, has courted private equity firms including Cinven, KKR and Providence Equity Partners to join a bid for VMTV, which owns channels under the Living, Bravo, Challenge and Virgin 1 brands and partners the BBC in the UKTV channels.
The prospect of the BBC buying out its partner in the joint venture has previously been mooted, this is the first time a possible bid for the whole of VMTV has been reported. Virgin Media has told its bank, Goldman Sachs, to review options for its TV division and a sale is the most likely outcome as Virgin concentrates on its fixed and mobile network business.
VMTV could be worth £800 million (E1bn) although its value has always been complicated by that BBC JV. NTL tried to get Telewest to sell the business before the merger that created Virgin but Telewest struggled to establish a market or value.
Other possible scenarios include the BBC taking over the UKTV channels and the others being sold separately, possibly to Chello, the content arm of Liberty.
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Latin American pay-TV market to double by 2012
From Branislav Pekic in RomeThe arrival of IPTV will contribute to the doubling of pay-TV penetration in Latin America by 2012, according to research conducted by Brazilian consultancy TVTelco.
The number of subscribers will increase from 27 million in 2007 to 59 million over the next five years. Out of them, 13.48 million or 22.8 per cent, will use IPTV, while the remaining will opt for cable, DTH and MMDS.
However, much of the success will depend on regulatory changes, primarily in Mexico, Argentina and Brazil. For example, if Law 29, which authorizes telecom operators to offer IPTV, is approved in Brazil, pay-TV penetration will more than triple by 2012, going from 10.4 per cent to 34.5 per cent of the population. IPTV will be responsible for 5.5 million out of the expected 18.7 million subscribers.
Nevertheless, the dominant technology will continue to be cable, which should grow more than twofold over the coming years, from 3.6 million to 9.2 million clients. For DTH satellite, the consultancy forecasts a leap from the current 1.7 million to 4 million subscribers.
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Almost 10m IPTV subs in 2010A report from Telecommunications Management Group (TMG), "IPTV: The Killer Broadband Application," forecasts that there will be nearly 60 million Internet Protocol television (IPTV) subscribers worldwide by the end of 2010.
IPTV has been doubling each year since its commercial introduction in 2002. There were 9.9 million IPTV subscribers around the world at the end of 2007, more than double the previous year, and TMG projects more than a 500 per cent increase over the next three years.
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HDTV subs 44m by year-endHigh-definition television will be seen in 44 million households worldwide by the end of this year, according to Informa Telecoms & Media. 4 per cent of households around the world will actively watch HDTV programming by the end of 2008, doubling from 2 per cent at the end of 2007.
Asia’s pay-TV and broadband industries continue to benefit from economic growth, investment and competition, according to a report published by Media Partners Asia (MPA). The report measures the consumption and value of multi-channel video and broadband services over multiple distribution networks, including cable, satellite, fibre, ADSL and mobile, across 16 markets in Asia Pacific.
Over the past five years, the region’s pay-TV and broadband industries have grown at an average annual rate of 22 per cent, generating more than $53 billion in sales in 2007. According to MPA, this revenue base could climb at a CAGR of 11 per cent to reach $86 billion by 2012. Over a longer time frame, MPA sees industry revenues growing at a CAGR of 8 per cemt to approach $120 billion by 2017.
Commenting on the report’s findings, MPA Executive Director Vivek Couto said: "Digitisation and broadband penetration is growing rapidly in Asia, boosted by growing economies of scale in platform operation; technological change and lower equipment costs; and the availability of wider programming options. Near-term risks include softening economic growth as well as deteriorating global credit conditions and equity markets, while longer-term risks converge around regulation. Encouragingly, the broad fundamentals of the region in general, and markets such as India in particular, remain strong."
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17m mobile TV users in AsiaThere were more than 17 million mobile TV users in Asia at the end of 2007, according to an analysis from Asia Media Journal publisher, Media Partners Asia (MPA).
Subscriber growth was boosted last year by platforms using free and pay models in Asia’s two largest markets for mobile TV, Korea and Japan, as well as new rollouts in Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Meanwhile, new launches are expected this year in China, India, Indonesia, Singapore and Taiwan. 3G adoption is also growing, increasing by 38 per cent in 2007 to top 128 million users, a viable critical mass to drive up interest in mobile video streaming.
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Sony and ProSiebenSat.1 extend VOD dealProSiebenSat.1 Group and Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) have concluded a multi-year deal for maxdome, ProSieben’s online video store and the largest video-on-demand (VOD) portal in Germany. The deal, which extends the existing partnership between maxdome and SPTI, means that maxdome customers can digitally rent a range of Sony Pictures current and library movies titles and current and classic TV series.
Pace wins Queens Award
Pace Micro Technology, independent developer of digital TV technologies for the global payTV industry, has won the Queens Award for International Trade. Pace wins the Award for the second time for increasing its exports by 251 per cent over three years to £335 million (E418m), which in the final year represented 81 per cent of total sales.
Monday 21st April
Italy launches DTT tender
Advertisers to spend $102bn on MMS in 2012
Google exceeds targets
AEPOC demands European CA Directive amendments
Universal and BT launching PictureBox UK
French DSO: 2 regions in 2009
C4 themed ad-break
Swisscom brings Bluewin TV to mobile phones
Multiple deals for Viaccess
Arqiva HD for occasional use broadcasting
Italy launches DTT tender
From Branislav Pekic in RomeItaly’s Communications Authority (AgCom) has given the go-ahead for the tender that will award additional capacity on the country’s DTT multiplexes.
The tender was officially launched following the approval of the financial conditions for 40 per cent of the transmission capacity of the digital multiplexes owned by national broadcasters RAI, RTI (Mediaset) and Telecom Italia Media. Interested companies will have 60 days, from the date of the publication of the tender rules on the AgCom site and in the Official Gazette, to present their bids. The tender should be concluded during this summer.
The financial conditions foresee lower prices than those initially proposed by the national broadcasters, especially for contracts with independent content suppliers. As a result, AgCom claims that "participants on the tender will be able to benefit from lower costs for network access and can concentrate their investments on content".
In a related development, Mediaset has launched its new digital media advertising unit Digitalia 08. The new company’s portfolio includes Mediaset’s DTT offering, the group’s Internet site and teletext service Mediavideo. The management of Digitalia 08 is made up of president Sandro Annibali, vice president Yves Confalonieri and two CEOs, respectively Fulvio Pravadelli and Fabrizio Cerutti.
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Advertisers to spend $102bn on MMS in 2012Total spending on mobile media services (MMS) by consumers and advertisers, including web access, video and music products, will more than double from almost $47 billion in 2007 to over $102 billion by 2012 according to a Strategy Analytics report. Strategy Analytics also projects that the population of mobile phone users engaging in mobile content and applications delivered over cellular networks will rise from 406 million to over 870 million across the same period.
Nitesh Patel, Senior Analyst, Global Wireless Practice, notes, "The combination of falling mobile data pricing, an increasingly open approach from network operators towards partnering with popular consumer media brands, the lowering of barriers to off portal service accessibility and improvements in device usability will lead to an improved environment for mobile content and service adoption. Consequently, over the next five years we project continued growth in consumer acceptance and spending across a range of media applications distributed over cellular networks, particularly web access, video, music and mobile TV."
David Kerr, VP Global Wireless Practice, adds, "Relative growth in consumer spending on mobile media applications will be surpassed by advertisers, as they look to exploit the maturing cellular content channel as a means to deliver their marketing and advertising messages to key target segments."
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Google exceeds targetsInternet giant Google saw no impact from a weakening US economy as it posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit and waved off fears of an online advertising slump.
Google's hard-hit shares surged 18 per cent above $500 as the company showed signs of better cost control and earned more revenue abroad than at home for the first time, partly because of the weak dollar.
"It's clear to us that we're well positioned for 2008 and beyond, regardless of the business environment that we find ourselves surrounded by," commented Chairman and Chief Executive Eric Schmidt.
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AEPOC demands European CA Directive amendments
AEPOC, the European Association for the Protection of Encrypted Works and Services, has called on the European Commission to reconsider important sections of the Conditional Access Directive (CAD), currently being under review.
AEPOC has highlighted the considerable progress made on the Directive and its national implementation since its official launch back in 1998 – while underlining the need for substantial clarifications and greater harmonisation in its implementation to successfully meet the challenges of today's audiovisual piracy environment on a pan-European basis.
In particular, AEPOC has expressed its dissatisfaction with several of the findings of a professional study conducted by different consulting companies for the Commission.
Separately, the Association has confirmed that Davide Rossi is to remain as Secretary General. An investigation by the Italian fiscal police into pay-TV piracy in Sicily mentioned Rossi – amongst 132 other but unnamed individuals – as possible "external supporter" of a local TV hacker. Jean Grenier, President of AEPOC said that the explanations received from Rossi and discussions within the AEPOC Board of Directors did not reveal any grounds to justify to change the Secretary General.
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Universal and BT launching PictureBox UK
Universal Pictures and BT have entered into an agreement to launch the PictureBox subscription-on-demand service on BT Vision in the UK.
The PictureBox service will launch on May 5th and provide a broad selection of current and library feature films, including titles from NBC Universal, as well as other suppliers. The agreement continues the expansion of the PictureBox service, which has already launched in Poland and Singapore as well as well as additional platforms in the UK. Additional territories are being targeted for future launches.
Subscribers to the PictureBox service on the BT Vision platform will be able to view films from a selection of 28 titles available at any given time, providing a complement to the platform’s current title-by-title VOD service. Many of the PictureBox films will have not yet been seen on free-to-air television in the UK. Films will be refreshed constantly, with new titles being added each week.
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French DSO: 2 regions in 2009France’s television regulator, the Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA) has revealed proposals to switch off analogue signals in two regions in 2009. It is recommending that this be done gradually, so as to enable broadcasters to make substantial savings in their transmission costs. The CSA says that switch-off should focus on areas where households have largely made the transition to digital television.
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C4 themed ad-breakChannel 4 is scheduled to broadcast the UK’s first ‘themed’ ad break on May 4th, with design-focused groups including Dyson and Nintendo buying slots during its flagship property show Grand Designs. A ZenithOptimedia spokeswoman said: "Themed breaks are an extension and greater formalisation of the creative buys TV buyers have always targeted."
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Swisscom brings Bluewin TV to mobile phonesSwisscom is adding Bluewin TV to its mobile TV menu. The service will be available on the DVB-H network in a quality that the company claims is as good as the quality received on home TVs. An initial 20 channels will be offered by Bluewin TV, accompanied by an electronic programme guide and navigation key for ease of use.
The service will be launched in Switzerland, where DVB-H currently reaches 44 per cent of the population, on May 13th.
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Multiple deals for ViaccessViaccess has signed an exclusive contract with Purva TV, the first channel in the world entirely in Bhojpuri, language spoken by more than 140 million people of the North-East of India, Mauritius and Trinity-and-Tobago, Guyana and the Fiji islands. This contract provides for the supply of Barca cards, the latest generation of Viaccess’s cards, for the security of the transmission of Purva TV’s content by satellite towards the head ends of the Indian cable operator.
Viaccess has also signed an agreement with an independent cable TV network in North Delhi, Satcom Networks Cable TV, to secure its digital services. By using the Viaccess solution, Satcom Networks will be able to deliver premium content and compete with other TV services. Information TV, a company located at Media House in New Delhi has also selected the Viaccess protection system to secure the uplink of its Hindi channels to cable head-ends.
Furthermore, French digital terrestrial service Vest@vision has chosen Viaccess’ content security solution for its TNTop offer, which will give a secured access to all DTT channels. Future subscribers will be equipped with the TNtop package which contains the TNtop STB, compatible with MPEG-4 HD, a smart card secured by Viaccess protection solution and a remote control. This new offer is fully compatible with future DTT HD.
Arqiva HD for occasional use broadcasting
Network solutions provider Arqiva is set to implement a new High Definition (HD) Video platform to provide complete turn-around services for occasional use broadcast customers. Arqiva is one of the first broadcast supply houses to offer MPEG-4 compression services on an occasional-use basis. This will deliver flexible and cost-effective distribution and contribution between the US and the rest of the world.
Arqiva’s Washington Teleport will take feeds in any format, uplinking to any of the company’s ten international teleports and including connectivity to Arqiva’s own global terrestrial fibre network. The combination of either MPEG-4 or MPEG-2 compression with DVB-S2 modulation will maximise bandwidth utilisation. The platform will allow Standard Definition broadcasters to begin a progressive transition to HD satellite delivery.
