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Our Latest Issues
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Tuesday
Friday 22nd August
Intel and Yahoo TV Widgets
Comcast reveals new brake plans
DTV set to reach 274m households by 2012
Hybrid opportunity for telcos
China content identification standards soon
Unity digital progress
C4 hires Ofcom man to drive digital
Sky head of mobile ads
HD confusion lingers
Alcatel-Lucent supports trial of BCAST mobile TV
Handheld Olympics a hit
Micronas scalable IDTV platform
Intel and Yahoo TV WidgetsIntel and Yahoo have revealed plans for the Widget Channel, a TV application framework optimised for TV and related consumer electronics devices that use the Intel Architecture.
The Widget Channel will allow consumers to enjoy Internet applications designed for the TV while watching TV programmes. The channel will be powered by the Yahoo Widget Engine, a fifth-generation applications platform that will enable TV watchers to interact with a set of "TV Widgets," or small Internet applications designed to complement and enhance the traditional TV watching experience and bring content, information and community features available on the Internet within easy reach of the remote control.
The Widget Channel will also allow developers to use JavaScript, XML, HTML and Adobe Flash technology to write TV applications for the platform, extending the power and compatibility of PC application developer programmes to TV and related CE devices. In addition to supporting the Yahoo Widget Engine, Yahoo will also provide consumers Yahoo-branded TV Widgets that are customised based on its Internet services.
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Comcast reveals new brake plansEarlier this month the Federal Communications Commission found that Comcast had improperly blocked peer-to-peer programs like BitTorrent. In an order this week the FCC gave the company 30 days to provide details of its "unreasonable network management practices" and show how they would be changed by year-end.
Comcast Corporation says it plans to slow service to its heaviest Internet users during periods of congestion after regulators ordered the company to devise a new method for managing its Web traffic.
Top Internet speeds for the heaviest users will be reduced for 10 to 20 minutes at a time to keep service to other users flowing, said Mitch Bowling, Comcast’s senior vice president and general manager for online services.
A heavy Comcast Web user being impeded would have Internet speeds equivalent to "a really good DSL experience," Bowling said. After a slowdown ended, Comcast would return Internet service to normal.
Comcast, which calls the new system fair share, will fine-tune it further before introducing it, Bowling said. In trials, Comcast has found the fair-share system to be effective if the slowing lasted for "roughly between, probably, 10 and 20 minutes,"Bowling said. Comcast has about 14.4 million Internet users.
"We’re going to really have to see all the detail and have all the information," said Marvin Ammori, a lawyer for Free Press, which promotes universal access to communications and filed the complain with the FCC along with Public Knowledge, an advocacy group.
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DTV set to reach 274m households by 2012Digital TV adoption will show strong growth over the next 2 years as consumers demand enhanced features, greater breadth of content and bundled communications offerings. According to the report by Datamonitor.
"DTV will grow an average of 12 per cent year-on-year, with particularly strong adoption in the near term as broadcasters terminate analogue terrestrial television," says Chris Khouri, analyst for media and broadcasting at Datamonitor. "In 2007 there were 158 million households using digital television services in Western Europe and the US. By 2012, Datamonitor expects there to be an estimated 274 million digital TV households in these regions."
The report covers uptake of DTV in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.At the end of 2007, 54 per cent of homes in Europe and the US had some form of DTV service. This will grow to 88 per cent by the end of 2012 primarily due to the significant increase in digital terrestrial television (DTT) households.
DTT households in Europe and the US will increase from 26 million in 2007 to 55 million by 2012, illustrating an average yearly growth rate of 16 per cent. As a whole, however, Datamonitor expects there to be a significant migration away from free–to-air services in the medium-to-long term, as bundled offerings (triple play, quad play etc.), enhanced features and premium content grow in importance to consumers.
Over the next three years, all DTV platforms will show strong growth as consumers transition to digital services. The two fastest growing platforms in Europe and the US will be digital cable and DTT. Datamonitor expects they will achieve net household increases of 50 million and 30 million, respectively. Concerning other platforms, IPTV services will show the strongest average yearly growth at around 28 per cent, reaching almost 23 million households by 2012. Despite satellite services illustrating very moderate growth of 5.5 per cent, there will be a 20 million increase in subscribers by 2012, reaching around 86 million households.
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Hybrid opportunity for telcos
Telecoms operators across Europe are being urged not to delay any further in their move into the television content business. According to the new report from consultancy firm Arthur D. Little, telecoms operators must also be conscious that within the next two years, opportunities to gain market share could be lost forever.
The report - Taking Advantage of the Best of IPTV and SatTV – from the firm’s Telecoms, Information, Media & Electronics (TIME) Practice, predicts that it will not be long before linear TV is replaced by an on-demand, ad hoc consumption model, brought about by consumers’ growing familiarity with Personal Video Recorder (PVR) and on Demand (TVoD or VoD) services. Telecoms operators have an opportunity to gain a share of the content market by playing the role of content aggregator and offering an on-demand service that allows consumers access to a variety of programming, while at the same time increasing coverage with hybrid Direct-to-Home (DTH) solutions.Given that many telecoms operators are already supplementing their IPTV offer with DTH TV services, the report identifies an IPTV/DTH hybrid as the most cost-effective and market-ready option for telecoms providers to bring to market. The report identifies a flexible range of potential scenarios for bringing so-called ‘Hybrid TV’ to market, highlighting how the initial investment required for satellite TV roll-out compares favourably to the cost per subscriber necessary to further develop pure IPTV services.
The disadvantage of pure DTH solutions is the lack of the back channel allowing interactive services. By combining the advantages of providing a low Capex broadcast solution through DTH and at the same time providing an IP back channel for interactive services with low bandwidth requirements, interactive services could be offered with close to 100 per cent coverage.
According to the consultancy, ‘Hybrid TV’ solutions will require the development of new customer-premises equipment, or a so-called ‘hybrid set-top box’, which offers the functionality to decode satellite TV as well as provide an IP interface for connecting to the internet. It predicts telecoms operators should be prepared to make an initial investment of E80 - E200 per unit in the development and production of the equipment.
"With the tremendous popularity of video on demand services such as YouTube, we believe that the opportunity for telecoms operators to offer value-added services will drive the growth of Paid TV revenues as consumers increase the demand to access content regardless of time, location or type of device," said Karim Taga co-author of the report and director at the company’s TIME Practice.
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China content identification standards soon
As part of a move to combat online piracy and protect intellectual property rights, the Chinese Ministry of Culture has confirmed that China will promulgate a national standard for identification codes to be used in online content such as music, video and text. The National Technical Committee for the Standardisation of Information and Documentation (NTCSID) is currently working on five standards which will be sent to the Standardisation Administration of China (SAC) for approval before November 15th.
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Unity digital progressUnitymedia of Germany is reaping increased RGUs, despite the loss of basic subs. Reporting its half year results the operator for the German states of North Rhine Westphalia and Hessen said it had increased its total RGUs from 5,546,000 at June 30, 2007 to 5,936,000 as of June 30th, 2008. At the same time the total number of subscribers taking the so-called "new services" almost doubled to 1,224,000. The percentage of basic cable subscribers taking digital services at 22 per cent is double the figure for 2007.
H1 cable revenues increased 13 per cent year-on-year to E409.3 million while adjusted cable EBITDA was up 17 per cent in the first half to E193.4 million.
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C4 hires Ofcom man to drive digital
Channel 4 has hired Ofcom's senior adviser for digital media, Tom Loosemore, to head its £50 (E63m) million fund to drive public service digital media. Loosemore will take the title of head of Four Innovation for the Public Fund. 4IP, as it is more commonly known, was unveiled by the Channel 4 chief executive, Andy Duncan, earlier this year as part of the Next on 4 manifesto to secure the broadcaster's future in the digital age.
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Sky head of mobile adsSky has appointed its first head of mobile ad sales as it prepares for a major push into the space.It has has hired Tim Hussain, who is currently head of mobile at AOL UK. He will join former AOL colleagues Giles Ivey, now sales director for Sky Digital Media, and Andy Jonesco, MD of Sky's online business unit.
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HD confusion lingersResearch from LG, reveals that the TV industry still has a journey ahead of it to inform and educate consumers about high definition. Results show that although the majority of respondents want to experience HD, over 60 per cent of those surveyed are yet to invest in it due to confusion.
With a whopping 80 per cent of people confused over industry terminology such as HD Ready vs. HD Ready 1080p (Full HD) and 25 per cent of Brits not understanding what HD is - thinking that owning a TV with an HD Ready logo or a digital box instantly makes all programmes high definition – the research highlights that consumers are suffering from information overload and struggling to keep up with the latest technology and jargon.
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Alcatel-Lucent supports trial of BCAST mobile TVAlcatel-Lucent has confirmed its support for the world's first commercial trial of the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA)'s new BCAST Smartcard Profile, an key emerging standard for mobile TV content protection. This trial is being led by Alcatel-Lucent for MobileOne (M1), a mobile telecommunications service provider in Singapore, and MediaCorp, the country's leading media company,
The trial, which began in early this month, is based on Alcatel-Lucent's industry-leading Mobile Interactive TV solution, which will power the DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld) platform for the trial. The trial also includes mobile devices from Samsung and Smartcard Profile-compliant SIM cards from Gemalto.
Alcatel-Lucent's DVB-H platform supports the Open Mobile Alliance Bcast Smartcard Profile standard, which is being adopted globally. This is a SIM-based service protection system that enables Mobile TV providers to offer flexible subscription models incorporating services such as pay-per-view, pay-per-time, recorded content and more.
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Handheld Olympics a hitAccording to China Mobile, from August 1st to August 19th, the company's "Handheld Olympics" service has attracted more than 8 million visitors, and 300 million page views. The site is now servicing more than 1 million pages and 13 million page views daily, and at its peak, reached 30 million page views per day. Nearly 500,000 users received live updates of the opening ceremony of the Olympics through the service. Peak concurrent users for the site has reached 240,000. The 'Handheld Olympics' service is China Mobile's WAP platform for serving Olympic content through mobile phones.
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Micronas scalable IDTV platformMicronas, supplier of IC system solutions for consumer electronics, has announced a scalable IDTV (Integrated Digital Television) system solution for next-generation flat-panel TVs. The Pegasus IDTV platform enables TV manufacturers to develop global HDTVs that feature class-leading picture performance with 100Hz/120Hz motion blur reduction.
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Thursday 21st August
Ericsson mobile and ST Micro merge
Sky adding seven new HD channels
Google bucks downturn in slow quarter
EchoStar: Piracy v Privacy
Technetix acquires Dalvi assets
ITN for Dailymotion and MUZU
Asia, Latin America want news and sport on mobile TV
Reliance DTH launches
IOC to raise price to China TV
NBCU buys Carnival
Virgin experimenting with cross-platform show
GlobeCast expands with Verizon
ROK, Rotana mobile content agreement
Latens and GMI STB Solution
Ericsson mobile and ST Micro mergeSTMicroelectronics and Ericsson have agreed to merge Ericsson Mobile Platforms and ST-NXP Wireless into a joint venture. The 50/50 JV will have the industry's largest product offering in semiconductors and platforms for mobile applications and will be an important supplier to Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG and Sharp. The venture will employ almost 8,000 people with pro-forma 2007 sales of $3.6 billion.
In the joint venture, ST contributes its multimedia and connectivity solutions as well as a complete 2G/EDGE platform and strong 3G offering, including customer relationships with Nokia, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson. Ericsson contributes its 3G and LTE platform technology as well as customer relationships with Sony Ericsson, LG and Sharp.
"By combining the complementary strengths and product offerings of Ericsson and ST in platforms and semiconductors the joint venture is well positioned to become a world leader," said Carl-Henric Svanberg, President and CEO of Ericsson. "The industry continues to develop at a swift pace and customers see benefits from our broad offering. This partnership is a perfect fit and secures a complete offering, as well as the necessary scale for technology leadership."
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Sky adding seven new HD channelsSky has confirmed a significant expansion in the choice of high definition content available to UK television viewers. Seven new HD channels will launch on the Sky+ HD service in October 2008, including six genre-themed Sky Movies channels in HD and a new HD version of Sky Real Lives.
As awareness grows and sales of "HD ready" TV sets continue to rise, Sky expects to add even more HD channels by the end of 2008. The addition of the new channels in October will increase the total number of HD channels on the Sky platform to 26, compared with nine channels when Sky+ HD made its debut in May 2006.
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Google bucks downturn in slow quarter
According to Strategy Analytics’ Digital Media Index (DMI), revenue growth in digital media slowed to 0.8 per cent quarter-on-quarter in Q2 2008, down from 3.3 per cent in the previous quarter and 3.4 per cent in the same period last year. Google, up 3.5 per cent quarter-on-quarter, was the only one of the five largest companies in the index that went against the general trend.On a trailing twelve months basis, Strategy Analytics’ DMI grew 5.8 per cent in Q2 2008 to reach 153, equal to a 53 per cent increase from the index base year, as of December 31, 2006. Three companies managed to beat the quarterly index growth: Warner Music Group’s Digital Business, up 8.5 per cent, Google, up 8.3 per cent and Apple iTunes, up 7.3 per cent.
"The global digital media economy continues to expand quickly with an annual growth rate of 31 per cent," said Martin Olausson, Director of Digital Media Research at Strategy Analytics, "but we are now seeing a considerable slowdown in quarter-on-quarter growth across the board."
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EchoStar: Piracy v PrivacyA pressure group has started a legal challenge that targets work by EchoStar to address its piracy issue. The Electronic Frontier Foundation said it has asked a federal court to reject efforts by EchoStar to get the names and addresses of consumers who purchased a free-to-air satellite receiver.
EchoStar has claimed that the receiver can be modified to pirate its satellite TV programming.The foundation said EchoStar's demand would violate user privacy and leave innocent purchasers vulnerable to bogus legal threats.
"Innocent customers should not be dragged into federal litigation just because they bought a product that other, less scrupulous purchasers may be hacking for unlawful purposes," said EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney Fred von Lohmann.The demand for customer records is part of litigation involving EchoStar/DISH and Freetech, manufacturer of Coolsat free-to-air satellite receivers. The legal case also involves distributors of Coolsat receivers.
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Technetix acquires Dalvi assets
Technetix Group have purchased the assets of Dalvi Technology. The transaction includes the entire assets and goodwill of twelve years of market leading experience by Dalvi in the integration and engineering of complete Pay TV systems for digital TV networks. Technetix intends to retain and build on this heritage and will retain all Dalvi Technology’s staff within its division Technetix Networks Ltd.
Paul Broadhurst, CEO of Technetix Group, said, "We are delighted with this development as Technetix and Dalvi Technology have very complimentary skills. The Dalvi Technology assets will add a number of additional key services to our well established offering of engineering, integration and supply chain services covering all the technologies in broadband cable networks. This new addition provides exciting new opportunities for Technetix and Dalvi’s former customers."
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ITN for Dailymotion and MUZU
ITN’s multimedia division, ITN On, has revealed an extensive content deal with video sharing site Dailymotion. ITN On is delivering five new channels on the platform: ITN News, ITN Entertainment, ITN Sport, ITN Music, Games and Gadgets and OMG.Dailymotion users are encouraged to share video with their friends, upload it on blogs and spread it across the web. The service is funded by advertising across channel pages with revenue shared between ITN On and Dailymotion.
MUZU TV has also signed a content deal with ITN for access to 80,000 hours of content from ITN Source’s archive, consisting of Reuters, Granada and Channel 4 interviews and performances, as well as daily music news and interviews from ITN’s multimedia division ITN On.
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Asia, Latin America want news and sport on mobile TV
Telegent Systems, provider of mobile TV solutions, has released the results of a global survey conducted to assess consumer interest in watching the 2008 Beijing Games on mobile handsets around the world. Conducted in nine countries, including China, Brazil, Germany, India, Mexico, Russia, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the US, the survey found the strongest interest in mobile access to Beijing games TV broadcasts in emerging handset markets, with a preference for live news and sports content rather than made-for-mobile clips.
Of consumers interested in mobile TV, 72 per cent of consumers were very likely or likely to watch mobile TV if they are able to receive free, local broadcasts on their handset, compared to 40 per cent who were receptive to subscription services. Respondents preferred live, local broadcast coverage to made-for-mobile clips, although approximately one-third expressed interest in both.
Consumers interested in watching the Beijing games reported a wider variety of expected use cases for mobile viewing than those not interested in the summer sporting events. For both groups, watching mobile TV while in a car, train, bus or taxi were important use cases. Those interested in the games reported increased interest in also watching mobile TV at home, during breaks at work, to check in on news and sports scores while away from home, and to view ‘unmissable programmes.’ Use cases at home included the ability to watch TV when the primary television was in use, without disturbing others, and to move freely from room to room.
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Reliance DTH launchesReliance Communications has launched its DTH venture in India, Reliance BIG TV, which boasts an advanced MPEG4 Direct-to-Home platform.
"The DTH market stands at six million households now of the 125 million television viewing homes in India," said Arun Kapoor, President, Reliance Communication. "This number will double in a year and we will hold a 40 per cent market share."
"The market is set to expand as bigger players come into the fray," said Kapoor. "There is a huge opportunity, as less than five per cent of all TV homes in India are DTH." BIG TV said it plans to launch DTH services with 100,000 retail outlets across 6,500 Indian towns, in addition it will open 2,000 exclusive stores.
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IOC to raise price to China TVChina’s TV companies will be expected to pay over 10 times more for broadcasting rights at future Olympic games than the bargain sum paid for Beijing, as Olympic marketing officials seek to exploit the country’s medals success.
CCTV, China’s state broadcaster, is understood to have paid around $9 million for the 2008 coverage in the course of which it has generated around $400 million in advertising revenues. The opening ceremony alone attracted a Chinese audience of 842 million.
Timo Lumme, marketing director for the International Olympic Committee, said China’s broadcasting costs for these Olympics was tied up in a rights deal signed with the Asian Broadcasting Union in the late 1990s to cover the games from 2000 to 2008. The deal was signed before China was awarded the 2008 games and at a time of limited interest among Chinese people in the Olympics, although by then the IOC knew that China would be bidding for the games.
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NBCU buys CarnivalNBC Universal has said it is looking to make further acquisitions in the UK after its £30 million (E39m) deal for Hotel Babylon producer Carnival. The US broadcaster and Hollywood studio said it would use Carnival and its chief executive Gareth Neame to spearhead expansion in the UK, which NBC Universal has identified as a key focus for its international ambitions.
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Virgin experimenting with cross-platform showVirgin Media is to launch its first cross-platform programming with online drama series Prom Queen, which will roll out on TV, online, on-demand and mobile. The quad-play operator has agreed the rights to simultaneously serialise 80 episodes of the US web drama across its multiple platforms from this October. The 90-second episodes will be screened on Living TV as well as on the Living portal, with 30-second clips to be featured on the Virgin Bites mobile portal.
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GlobeCast expands with VerizonWorld TV, a division of GlobeCast, has revelaed that its content and rights aggregation business has expanded, with the initial launch of 14 of its international channels on Verizon FiOS TV. GlobeCast and World TV are providing Verizon, America’s fastest-growing television service provider, with rights, content aggregation, encoding and encryption as well as fibre delivery.
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ROK, Rotana mobile content agreementROK Entertainment Group the global mobile entertainment company, has announced its Finland-based mobile services development company, Geniem, has signed an exclusive mobile content delivery agreement with Rotana, the world’s largest producer and distributor of Arabic music and films. Under the terms of the agreement, Geniem will build customised on-device portals (ODP’s) for Rotana’s mobile partners to be deployed across the Middle East, enabling users to seamlessly access its content portfolio from their mobile phones.
Latens and Good Mind Industries (GMI), provider of broadcasting equipment, have successfully partnered to offer a secure, cost effective set top box solution for operators of DVB-C networks. The integration of Latens BCAS with GMI further extends Latens ability to provide software only Conditional Access solutions to all Pay-TV operators and is piloting in Beijing using 80 Envivio 4Caster encoders.
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Wednesday 20th August
Joost against Kangaroo
Norway opts for DMB
Internet TV big business for UK
Mediapro GolTV pay-TV channel
Brits break free of TV schedule
KPN mobile TV
Foxtel notes HD potential for Oz
Mackenzie for MyVideoRights
PCTL IPTV for Pakistan
NCC deal with DirecTV
CinemaNow selects Widevine
Broadcom single-chip cable STB DTA solution
Sky doubling art output
Two Way Media Latin gameshow deal
Joost against KangarooOnline TV portal Joost, already frustrated at its failure to get any content from BBC, ITV and Channel 4, has told the UK Competition Commission that the broadcasters' Kangaroo joint venture will make the situation worse.
Several VOD operators are concerned that the venture could hike prices charged for content to rival distributors. In its submission to the commission's inquiry on the yet-to-launch VOD platform, Joost acknowledged that "(our) business has (already) suffered as a result" of its inability to get public service content in the UK as it has done in Sweden.
"(Our) inability to obtain content from the joint venture's parents on reasonable commercial terms is a key issue limiting (our) ability to compete in the UK. While the parties may argue that they stand to gain more financially through a non-exclusive distribution model, the lack of any licensing deals to date with Joost, despite numerous approaches, weakens their position on this issue."
Joost called on the commission to block the bundling together of the Kangaroo distribution arm with its wholesale content sale operation. And it's worried about Kangaroo's ability to discount advertising rates for ad packages bought across TV and online.
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Norway opts for DMBNorway’s main broadcasters, NRK, TV 2 and MTG, have set up a JV company to launch DMB mobile TV. The initial package will consist of nine live TV channels, on demand content and other services. Gunnar Garfors, Director of Developments at NRK, said: "This marks the start of real mobile TV. This is not about ‘mobile phone TV’ it is about mobile TV that can be received by other devices too. Our goal is to make mobile TV widely available, easy to use and free of charge."
NMTV will start its broadcasts in Oslo, which contains 30 per cent of the Norwegian population. DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) is seen as the best technology in Norway due to cost efficient coverage of large and rural areas. The receivers are also compatible with DAB that already covers 80% of the population. Though Norway is not in the EU, the selection is another blow to DVB-H, mandated by the European Commission.
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Internet TV big business for UK
The British Internet TV market could generate revenues of £1.78 billion (E2.5bn) by 2011, according to research by technology company Alcatel-Lucent. Although the industry is in its infancy, several British companies already offer TV over the Web. Alcatel-Lucent claims Internet TV services could have a market share of between 22 and 37 per cent in the UK within three years, depending on how aggressively they are promoted. The findings were calculated by the number of people who said they would like to use the services and the amount they were willing to pay.
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Mediapro GolTV pay-TV channel
From David Del Valle in MadridMediapro, shareholder in the commercial channel La Sexta, is launching GolTV (Goal TV), a pay-TV channel specifically dedicated to football that will be initially distributed via cable and ADSL. The channel will also be on DTT when the Government changes the legislation to allow pay DTT content.
The channel will include football matches from the Italian, German, French and Dutch Football Leagues, as well as information and reviews about the Spanish Football League and even some matches from certain Spanish Football teams. Mediapro plans to offer the whole Spanish Football League from next season 2009-2010 as the company has the majority of football rights from that time.
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Brits break free of TV schedule
The ability to pause, rewind and record TV is freeing Britons from the fixed TV schedule according to a survey of 2,000 UK digital TV viewers, commissioned by Microsoft’s Connected TV Business Group.
Of the tens of millions of Brits now watching digital TV, almost half (48 per cent) in the survey say they now control what they watch and when they watch it using digital video recording (DVR). The biggest reasons for the popularity in digital TV and DVR is to avoid scheduling conflicts but also gives more family time, fewer arguments about what to watch and the ability to pause live TV to answer the phone or door.
Nevertheless, the report finds that one in three digital TV viewers (31 per cent) continue to organise their lives around what’s on TV; including a hardcore one in eight (12 per cent) who would even turn down a night out if it clashed with a favourite programme.
According to the survey, it is the tech-savvy ‘Generation Y’ (16 to 24 year olds) who seem most attached to live TV, with just under half (42 per cent) saying they organise their lives around the schedule and almost one in three (31 per cent) saying they would choose to stay in or go home early if there was something on TV they wanted to watch.
With DVR, viewers can pause and rewind live TV, and record TV shows or whole series all at the touch of a button. Nine in ten people (92 per cent) who use DVR say this improves the TV viewing experience, addressing the most common frustrations of broadcast TV, including scheduling conflicts, which the research revealed to be the biggest gripe for one third (34 per cent) of digital TV viewers.
Microsoft suggests that the DVR offers unexpected bonuses. One in five DVR users (22 per cent) reported more family time as they record programmes and eat at the dinner table not in front of the TV; one in three (30 per cent) have fewer arguments in the home about what to watch and four in ten (39 per cent) say they now pause TV rather than ignoring a phone call or knock at the door.
"Young adults are still willing to change their schedules to catch their favourite shows live so that they can talk about them with their friends right away. For the rest of us life is too hectic and we value being able to catch-up and watch our favourite shows at a more convenient time. You can do this and more with connected TV services," noted Christine Heckart, general manager, marketing, connected TV business group, Microsoft.
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Dutch mobile users can now watch a choice of 10 television channels offering the highest quality broadcast through the MobielTV service launched nationwide by telecommunications group KPN. Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks have joined forces to enable this service with their leading-edge mobile TV technology, services and expertise.
The service is made available through a broadcast network based on the Digital Video Broadcast for Handheld (DVB-H), the European standard for mobile television, and can be watched on DVB-H-enabled mobile devices.
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Foxtel notes HD potential for OzFoxtel, the Australian pay-TV operator, has been encouraged by the early results from its HD service, and with the costs for HD-ready TV sets plummeting, the trend should continue to rise.
"We have been watching the price of large HD-ready panels plummet," Patrick Delany, executive director of sales and product development for Foxtel said. "The prices make them an every-man consumer device. Secondly, the amount of HD content has really exploded. There are major producers of HD content now like BBC, National Geographic and Discovery."
Foxtel has around 1.5 million subscribers in Australia, and the company believes 25 per cent of those customers currently have HD-ready TV sets.
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Mackenzie for MyVideoRightsKelvin MacKenzie, former Sun editor and MD of Sky, is to chair his son’s company MyVideoRights, a startup that aims to be "the Getty Images of video entertainment."
Ashley Mackenzie says the company will aggregate videos and the rights to commercially exploit them, then syndicate them to what he says is a growing appetite for web video amongst small- and medium-sized destinations, like magazine websites. The focus is on short-form clips and MyVideoRights will handle all the video encoding chores on behalf of content owners. The business will operate both as a central repository of its own and a syndication service that pipes material to other publishers and platforms.
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PCTL IPTV for PakistanPTCL has launched Smart TV – the first ever interactive television service in Pakistan. This service along with high speed broadband and voice telephony will all be available on the subscribers existing telephone lines at the same time on one telephone bill. The service is be available to households in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad immediately and will be extended to other cities and towns in the near future.
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NCC deal with DirecTVNational Cable Communications, the spot-cable-advertising giant owned by operators Comcast, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable has formed an innovative advertising and technology partnership with satellite competitor DirecTV to sell spots on select regional sports networks.
Under the agreement NCC will integrate select RSN feeds currently offered to DirecTV subscribers into cable-advertising interconnects in nine major US markets: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles and San Francisco. NCC will also assume national-spot-sales representation of DirecTV’s RSNs in these markets.
Cable operators, NCC and DirecTV have been working together for some time to create the new cooperative model for regional-sports buys, said Charlie Thurston, president of Comcast advertising arm Comcast Spotlight.
"Cable operators have made many advancements in working with NCC to offer truly effective planning and buying for advertisers that want to reach cable's ever-growing audience," Thurston said in a statement. "And this ground-breaking announcement with DirecTV signifies another major step forward in media sales."
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CinemaNow selects Widevine
Widevine Technologies, provider of multiformat, multiplatform DRM and digital copy protection solutions, has been selected by CinemaNow, an innovator in digital entertainment technology that delivers movies, TV shows and music videos, to secure multiplatform distribution of CinemaNow content to major consumer electronics (CE) devices and PC’s. CE devices will ship to retail with CinemaNow’s ‘CE Store’ application embedded with Widevine’s content protection. The embedded solution enables a secure and interoperable experience, allowing consumers to securely access feature films and other premium content at home or on the go.
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Broadcom single-chip cable STB DTA solutionBroadcom Corporation has released a new digital-to-analogue (DTA) system-on-a-chip (SoC) solution that enables cable set-top box OEMs to provide cable operators with a cost effective device that transitions analogue cable customers to digital broadcasting. The new Broadcom DTA chip paves the way for the expanded network capacity needed to provide additional high definition content and is currently used by manufacturers building DTA converter boxes for Comcast.
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Sky is doubling its output of arts content by creating bespoke Sky Arts channels reflecting contemporary and classical programming to run alongside its dedicated HD Channel. From October, Sky Arts 1, Sky Arts 2 and Sky Arts HD will broadcast 36 hours of arts programming a day.
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Two Way Media Latin gameshow dealUK interactive games specialist, Two Way Media, has formed an alliance with Latin American mobile content and SMS specialist NetPeople, to distribute its popular TV gameshows across the region. The first deal announced by Two Way Media and NetPeople is with one of Panama’s most popular channels, Tele7, which is owned by MedCom.
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Tuesday 19th August
Sky broadband booms
BBC not "good value for money"
IPTV equipment posts strong growth in Q2
Apple more valuable than Google
BBC Top Gear channel for YouTube
HK DTV audience rises 60%
Miss World IPTV channel
Scorched welds Web and TV
New look for Dave
Factory sport channel
Skyline record DataMiner deployments
Sky broadband boomsSky has revealed it has signed up 1.6 million customers, and become the fifth-largest broadband company in the UK since launching broadband two years ago. Delia Bushell, Sky’s director of broadband and telephony, is confident that the company will hit its target of 3 million broadband customers by 2010, taking advantage of selling broadband to its 8.9 million pay-TV customers.
Bushell says only 11 per cent of those customers are at present also buying broadband and telephony from Sky. "There is a substantial opportunity for growth," she adds. She shrugs off the potential impact of the economic downturn, highlighting how the company’s "triple play" offer of TV, telephony and broadband is competitively priced.
Sky is closing in on Tiscali and could become the fourth-largest broadband company in the third quarter.
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BBC not "good value for money"The BBC is facing an uphill struggle to maintain support for the licence fee, according to a new survey that shows almost half the population do not find it value for money, as media regulator Ofcom prepares to unveil the next phase of its wide-ranging public service broadcasting review.
The Mori poll for the Guardian suggests that while viewers enjoy the corporation's programmes - BBC1 is by some distance the most popular channel - a large proportion do not feel the licence fee is good value for money or an appropriate way of funding the BBC. According to the figures, 41 per cent agree that the licence fee is an "appropriate" funding mechanism and 37 per cent disagree. But asked whether the licence fee is "good value for money", 47 per cent disagree, with more than half of those disagreeing strongly.
Meanwhile former Culture Secretary Chris Smith has backed the idea of ‘top slicing’ the licence fee to fund Channel 4.
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IPTV equipment posts strong growth in Q2Synergy Research’s Q2 2008 IPTV Market Share report shows the overall IPTV equipment market growing 30.3 per cent year over year. The fastest growing IPTV market segment was Core Router IPTV, which grew 37.9 per cent year over year.
The Synergy report finds that IPTV equipment sales continue to be driven by upgrades to Carrier networks, especially at the Edge, handling the surge in subscriber and traffic growth.
Synergy anticipates Worldwide IPTV subscribers are set to increase substantially over the next two years and approach close to 40 million by 2010. Synergy research further finds that IPTV deployments in China and South Korea are developing at an accelerated pace. In Europe, Service Providers continue to heavily invest in IPTV deployments.
"The Service Providers that have been early adopters of IPTV have arrived at an inflection point that is no longer driven by market share gain but by profit," says Ray Mota, Ph.D., Chief Research Officer at Synergy Research Group. "The requirement to increase IPTV network efficiency has become vitally important, IPTV equipment manufacturers that realise this shift in perspective can tailor their strategies accordingly."
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Apple more valuable than GoogleThe iPhone has proved so lucrative for Apple that the electronics giant has unseated Google to become the most valuable company in America's pillar of technological innovation, Silicon Valley.
The phenomenal popularity of the phone has fuelled a 44 per cent surge in Apple's share price in 12 months. Meanwhile, Google's once dazzling star has waned slightly as America's economic slowdown has eaten into online advertising and investors have wondered how the company can produce solid profits from expensive ventures such as the video-sharing website YouTube.
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BBC Top Gear channel for YouTubeBBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, has this week launched an official Top Gear channel on YouTube following the launch of its own service on the video-sharing site last year.
Despite hundreds of non-authorised Top Gear clips already being available on YouTube, the move marks the first time BBC Worldwide has a dedicated section on YouTube for a single programme brand, complementing the existing BBC Worldwide YouTube page.
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HK DTV audience rises 60%The digital terrestrial TV audience in Hong Kong has grown 60 per cent in two months with the extension of free digital broadcasting coverage, according to the Commerce & Economic Development Bureau.
A survey conducted by the Government and Hong Kong's two free-to-air broadcasters at the end of July found 15.6 per cent of households watched digital television via digital receivers, including set-top boxes or integrated digital television sets or computers, up 60 per cent compared to the take-up rate of 9.7 per cent at the end of May.
The bureau believes more people will switch to digital TV with six new transmitting stations coming into service extending the digital footprint to all 18 districts covering 75 per cent of the population.
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Miss World IPTV channel
The Miss World contest has launched an interactive global website allowing users to interact with the competition through TV programmes and exclusive content. The site – launched by Internet Television Productions – offers each country the ability to sign up its advertisers and sponsors as well as drive national traffic for the site.The Miss World final commands a global audience of around 2.2 billion – an audience only exceeded by the Olympic games and the football World Cup.
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Scorched welds Web and TVA new drama on Australian network Nine is straddling the divide between TV and the web, and its creators hope viewers will continue to build on the story well into the future. Scorched is a 90-minute ‘tele-movie’ scheduled to air on Nine on Sunday August 31st. But both before and after its free-to-air debut, viewers can enter the Scorched universe online via Scorched.tv, YouTube and social networking sites.
The Scorched website contains entirely original content that contributes to and extends the telemovie's story. "What we've created is an integrated story that runs across all the platforms," director and producer Marcus Gillezeau said. "What we've produced with the online component is not a marketing line in the budget, it's part of the delivery of Scorched."
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New look for DaveUKTV is to launch a range of new onscreen idents for Dave, the digital channel that labels itself the "Home of witty banter", to celebrate one year since its successful rebrand from UKTV G2.
The broadcaster is planning to launch a range of new promotional idents for the channel - which airs a range of BBC repeats and shows including Top Gear, Have I Got News for You and QI - on October 15th, the first anniversary of its relaunch as Dave.
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Factory Media has launched an online action sports TV channel, Mpora.TV, which will feature professionally produced and user-generated content.
The channel aims to attract mainstream sports viewers and action sports fans, with specially commissioned documentaries and live action. Mpora.TV offers pre and post-roll advertisements, plus banner ads. Early figures show viewers are watching shows for up to 30 minutes, and post-reel ads are viewed up to 60 per cent.
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Skyline record DataMiner deployments
Skyline Communications, global player in open multi-vendor network management solutions for the HFC broadband, IPTV, broadcast and satellite industry, announces a record number of DataMiner deployments by industry leading operators.
Amongst others this includes deployments by ASBU, Broadcast Australia, Czech Television, ENEX, Gateway Communications, M6, MTV, Overon, Roshan, RTL-TVI, Stratos Global, TelstraClear, TVE, and UPC.
US nets back quiet period
NBC sets Olympic records
NDS goes private with News Corp and Permira
South Africa plans to meet digital deadline
Jupiter nears 3m subs
AMC-21: launch success
US nets back quiet periodThe boards of directors of the ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC affiliate organisations have agreed to support a voluntary month-long 'quiet period' ensuring no disruption of local television service in the weeks leading up to and following the digital television transition in the US, the National Association of Broadcasters has revealed
The affiliate boards' endorsement follows NAB Television Board of Directors' pledge to continue making local television signals available to cable, satellite and telephone company distribution partners from February 4 through March 4, 2009. Analogue television in the US will end on February 17.
"We are delighted that all of the affiliate boards have agreed to support the NAB Television Board initiative," said NAB Television Board Chairman K James Yager, CEO of Barrington Broadcasting. "This pledge - coupled with our unprecedented campaign to educate America on the DTV transition - will minimise consumer confusion and help local broadcasters and government achieve our joint objective of a seamless transition to the next generation of television."
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NBC, the US’s self-styled Olympics network, is reporting record viewing figures, experiencing its most viewed and highest rated night of the Olympics so far as Michael Phelps set the record for most Olympic gold medals ever won, reaching 82 million total viewers and posting a 19.9 rating, 34 share.
Jeff Zucker, President And CEO, NBC Universal, said: “Obviously our multi-platform Olympic strategy is a success, but this record-breaking Olympic performance is proving that network television is more alive than ever. We are breaking records that are 20, 30 and nearly 50 years old - this is a fantastic triumph for network TV.”
NBC Universal has issued its first TAMi (Total Audience Measurement Index) for the first four days of the Beijing Games. Alan Wurtzel, President, Research, NBC Universal said that the beauty of the TAMi was that NBC could optimise the way it measured content across all of its platforms and evaluate how each platform is being used over time. “When we look at the first few days of TAMi data, it’s clear that while the power of broadcast television remains unmatched, consumers are seeking out and taking advantage of all the different platforms offering Olympic coverage, creating an entirely new Olympic experience.”
The TAMi (Total Audience Measurement Index) will measure the 3600 hours of programming during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, including Television (P2+ reach), Online (Unique Users), Mobile (WAP unique users and Mobile VOD unique users) and TV VOD (unique users).
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NDS goes private with News Corp and PermiraRupert Murdoch's News Corp has joined with private equity house Permira to take digital TV technology specialist NDS private in a deal valuing the business at $3.67 billion.
News Corp is effectively selling around half its stake in the business to Permira as part of a complex deal. News Corp currently owns 72 per cent of NDS's equity, controlling 96 per cent of the voting rights. Under the terms of the deal, which values NDS's equity at $63 a share, News Corp will reduce its holding to 49 per cent, with Permira owning per cent. In return, News Corp will receive $1.52 billion in cash plus a $242m vendor note from Permira.
Abe Peled, Chairman and CEO of NDS said: "With the convergence of broadband and broadcast technology, new frontiers lie ahead for NDS. NDS needs to have the strategic agility and flexibility to enter into any type of value enhancing transactions. The current ownership structure was imposing certain limitations. Therefore News Corporation has decided to reduce its ownership position in NDS so that NDS can capitalise on these new opportunities with a more independent structure and the expertise of Permira."
Shares in NDS rose 14 cents to $60.64 on confirmation of the deal.
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South Africa plans to meet digital deadlineAccording to South Africa’s communications department, which is in charge of making sure that the switch from analogue to digital broadcasting happens by 2011, digital TV will be a success and timescales will be met.
“There are no signs to suggest that we will not be ready by 2011. One of our goals is to speed up uptake and use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) among South Africans,” department spokesman Joe Makhafola said.
Media commentators have expressed concern that the three years allowed by the government will not be long enough for all seven million households to receive the necessary set-top box converters. Of these, some five million will need a government subsidy, which would cover up to 70 per cent of the cost of a R700 box (E60).
Makhafola said the government would develop a strategy for the electronics industry involving both present and new players, which would create training and employment.
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Jupiter Telecommunications, Japan’s largest multiple system operator (MSO) has reported the total subscribing households as of July 31, 2008 served by J:COM’s 19 managed franchises reached approximately 2.89 million, up 179,600, or 6.6 per cent since July 31, 2007.
Combined revenue generating units (RGUs) for cable television, high-speed Internet access and telephony services reached 5.15 million, up 427,300 or nine per cent since July 31, 2007. The bundle ratio (average number of services received per subscribing household) increased to 1.79 as of July 31, 2008 from 1.75 since July 31, 2007. The cable television digital migration rate as of July 31, 2008 increased to 74 per cent from 60 per cent as of July 31, 2007.
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AMC-21: launch successSatellite operator SES’s AMC-21 craft has been successfully launched from the French Guyana Spaceport in Kourou and has been placed into geostationary transfer orbit.
Rob Bednarek, President and CEO of the recently announced division - SES Americom -New Skies - said that bringing the satellite into service was establishing a new Ku-band enterprise and broadcast neighbourhood in the North American arc at 125 degrees West. Anchoring the new satellite will be the Public Broadcasting Service and several of their local broadcast affiliates. The satellite will also be used for new applications such as maritime mobile broadband,” he said.
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