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Our Latest Issues
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Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Tuesday
Friday 8th August
Time Warner profits drop
Virgin Media beats profit expectations
Premiere Q2 loss, targets pirates
China fights Olympic piracy
Rocketboom signs with Sony
Deutsche Telekom Q2 progression
Singapore online content market to hit $24m
O2 TV claims 100,000 customers
South Africa plans DTV subsidy
Korean Mobile TV habits
Tandberg aids HD Olympics
Chunghwa secured by Widevine
Accedo brings Funspot to AQUOS
Time Warner profits dropMedia giant Time Warner’s second-quarter earnings fell 26 per cent on declining subscriber fees at its AOL online unit and lower ad revenue at the Time publishing business.
The company affirmed its full-year financial targets after revenue rose at its film, cable and networks segments. Time Warner also took legal and tax steps that make it possible to split its AOL online business and sell it in parts.
The New York-based media conglomerate said net income fell to $792 million from $1.07 billion a year ago. Revenue rose 5 per cent to $11.6 billion.
AOL remained a burden on the company’s bottom line. Subscription revenue fell 29 per cent, pushing operating income down 36 per cent. AOL scrapped fees for its e-mail service in favour of an ad-supported revenue model two years ago. The service still has 8.1 million subscribers.
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Virgin Media beats profit expectationsUK cable group Virgin Media beat expectations for underlying second-quarter profit despite losing customers and reiterated its focus was attracting higher-spending subscribers in a tough economic environment.
Virgin Media, which has Britain’s highest broadband speeds and reaches more homes than its rivals, said it lost 19,500 net customers in the normally weak second quarter, taking the total of residential customers on its cable network to 4.74 million.
Underlying operating profit rose 6 per cent to £333 million thanks to incremental cost cuts and efficiency measures Sales slipped slightly to £990.5 million from £995 million, broadly in line with expectations, and average revenue per user fell to £41.63 per cable customer per month from £42.16.
Virgin Media, said it aimed to continue to reduce churn after it fell to 1.3 per cent from 1.8 per cent a year earlier. The company is gradually shrugging off a reputation for poor customer service. More important than increasing overall customer numbers was encouraging them to sign up for more expensive services, Virgin Media said. It increased triple-play customers - those who sign up for cable, phone and broadband - to a record 53 per cent.
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Premiere Q2 loss, targets piratesGerman pay-TV broadcaster Premiere (posted a bigger-than-expected net loss in the second quarter, blaming tax expenses and piracy, but said on it expects solid growth in the second half. EBITDA E11.2 million from E10.2 million a year earlier, but the company made a net loss of E37.8 million.
Meanwhile, Premiere is hoping to convert the thousands of pirate viewers illegally viewing the service into legitimate subscribers through a new campaign. The platform, currently in the final stages of a card swap out programme aims to use "special distribution channels" to target the non-payers.
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China fights Olympic piracyChina’s top 10 Web sites are following a government order to work together to fight piracy of Olympic material. Sina, Netease, official Olympic Web site Sohu and six other sites signed an agreement with China Central Television ( CCTV), which is the games’ official Internet broadcaster in China, stating they will not provide video, images or content that would violate CCTV’s rights, nor will they provide links to such material.
The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, China’s Internet and broadcast content regulator, has ordered all Web sites to respect CCTV’s broadcast rights, online and offline.
CCTV, also China’s top broadcaster and domestic licensee for the 2008 Olympics, has partnerships to provide online and mobile content to 160 Web sites, in China and the Macau Special Administrative Region, west of Hong Kong.
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Deutsche Telekom Q2 progressionDuring the first six months of 2008, Deutsche Telekom made good progress in reaching its financial targets for the full year and is therefore confirming its guidance.
As in the first quarter, fluctuating exchange rates and changes in the composition of the Group had a considerable impact on the development of results in the first six months. Reported revenue declined by three percent to E30.1 billion. On an organic basis, i.e. adjusted for exchange rate effects and changes in the composition of the Group, revenue would have increased slightly by 0.3 per cent to E30.8 billion. At E9.5 billion, the Group’s adjusted EBITDA was down 0.5 per cent on the previous year. On an organic basis, EBITDA would have increased by 0.5 per cent to E9.7 billion.
Adjusted net profit rose by 21.9 per cent to E1.4 billion. Free cash flow increased by 58.2 per cent compared with the first half of 2007 to E3.6 billion.
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Rocketboom signs with SonyDaily video blog Rocketboom has struck an international distribution and ad sales deal with Sony Pictures Television.
Rocketboom will be integrated with Sony’s video site Crackle, as well as other Sony products such as the PS3 games console and direct to Sony Bravia TVs, while retaining existing distribution agreements with websites such as iTunes and TiVo.
Sony will handle all Rocketboom’s ad sales exclusively in a deal that is thought to include a seven-figure guarantee and a revenue share agreement.
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Singapore online content market to hit $24mThe online content services market in Singapore is predicted to see a 77 per cent growth this year to reach $23.82 million, and hit $120 million by 2013, according to the research released by Frost and Sullivan.
Kamlesh Kalwar, an industry analyst with Frost, said that the Singapore online content market, which is dominated by online gaming, was worth $13.4 million last year.
"Online gaming accounts for just under 50 per cent of revenues (in the online content market in Singapore), followed by online videos and online music, in that order," Kalwar noted. "The market is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 44 per cent till 2013 to reach US$120.16 million."
He noted that the premium video segment is rapidly emerging from the shadow of online music and gaming as a result of the advances in compression technology and high bandwidth broadband availability, which makes streaming video and video downloads feasible. "Video-on-demand (VoD) operators in Singapore suggest that the main restraints for growth of VoD services are issues stemming from high set-up and operational costs," he observed, adding that once Singapore’s Next Generation National Broadband Network (Next Gen NBN) was up and running, the online content services industry would witness substantial growth.
"If the high-speed broadband network is able to deliver high-speed broadband connection to every home in Singapore at affordable rates, there is nothing to stop the growth of the online content industry," he said, pointing out that with the prevalent strict anti-piracy laws in place, Singapore would have a good environment for both the content production and distribution ecosystem to grow.
"With the proliferation of distribution platforms like IPTV (Internet Protocol TV), we expect the online content market in Singapore to grow at a pace faster than ever before. Apart from Western content, the popularity of content from South Korea, Japan, China and India for local subscribers is also expected to increase," he concluded.
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O2 TV claims 100,000 customers
Telefónica’s Czech Republic O2 TV digital television service now has more than 100,000 customers, reaching the milestone in late July 2008.
Jan Karas, Director of Marketing for the Consumer Segment, Telefónica O2 said that thanks to its vast selection of channels and several above-standard functions, such as TV Archive and Videotéka, O2TV offered something for everyone. "Its popularity continues to grow and now, as the switch from analogue to digital broadcasting is accelerating, O2TV is one of the practical solutions of digitisation," he suggested.
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South Africa plans DTV subsidy
South Africa will spend about 2.45 billion rand ‹E213 million) on subsidising the switch to digital television for five million poor households by 2011.
The South African government also confirmed that it would meet a November 2008 deadline for switching on digital broadcasting, well ahead of the football World Cup, which it is hosting in 2010. The analogue system will be switched off in November 2011.
The government revealed that it would pay about 70 per cent of the set-top box, which will be available in 2009. "It is estimated that this option will cost government about 2.45 billion rand," a statement said.
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Korean Mobile TV habits
According to results of a TNS Media Korea survey , terrestrial DMB TV ratings were 1.172 per cent in average on August 1, a weekday, while the figure was 0.828 per cent on weekend, August 2 and 3. The ratings were the highest around six in the evening during weekdays and weekend. The number of local DMB users reached 13.7 million in the end of June. As many as 12.4 million units of terrestrial DMB devices have been supplied. Satellite DMB subscribers were 1.3 million people.
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Tandberg aids HD OlympicsVideo compression specialist Tandberg Television has revealed its role in the delivery of HD and SD television feeds to a potential worldwide audience of four billion for the Beijing 2008 Summer Games. The company is providing a range of MPEG-4 AVC and MPEG-2 compression equipment and professional receivers to a number of major broadcast organisations across the globe including the Host Broadcaster, EBU and Televisa.
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Chunghwa secured by WidevineWidevine Technologies, provider of multiformat, multiplatform DRM and digital copy protection solutions, has confirmed that Chunghwa Telecom has purchased an additional 450,000 Cypher Virtual SmartCard clients from Widevine to accommodate rapid subscriber expansion and in-home network proliferation with existing subscribers. The continued demand for Chunghwa’s television service has largely been driven by the introduction of existing Hollywood premium content, HD programming and exclusive rights to Olympics coverage.
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Accedo brings Funspot to AQUOSAccedo Broadband has added its Funspot casual game service to Sharp AQUOS Net connected TVs. Users of Sharp AQUOS LCD TVs equipped with the AQUOS Net feature are able to enjoy a selection of casual games from Accedo’s Funspot range. All games will be enjoyable in the comfort of the living room with the simplicity of remote control interaction and HD graphics.
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Thursday 7th August
News Corp Q4 strong, warns of a difficult ‘09
ITV shares slump
100m+ DTVs in Western Europe
Liberty Global Q2 profits
Consumers are not sold on mobile video services
Orange's assault on Spanish IPTV market
ITV.com goes football crazy
DirecTV HD PGA coverage
Digital splits Oz TV ad revenue
NASCAR goes mobile
TV to surpass newspapers as largest ad medium
Teleste upgrades Ziggo
Entone selected by Panhandle
News Corp Q4 strong, warns of a difficult ‘09Rupert Murdoch's News Corp reported a 27 per cent increase in its fiscal fourth-quarter net income, but said it faces a "much more difficult economic environment" in its current year that will continue to hurt local television advertising, but not national TV ad sales for now.
Operating income for News Corp is expected to rise by a more moderate four to six per cent in fiscal 2009, compared with a mid-teens percentage range for 2008.
Revenue at Fox Interactive Media, which includes the popular MySpace Internet social network, is expected to rise by about 30 per cent in 2009, executives said. Fox Interactive Media revenue rose 57 per cent in fiscal 2008.
"Although we clearly face more challenging macro-economic conditions in fiscal '09, we're well positioned to deliver continued, if somewhat less robust growth," Murdoch said.
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ITV shares slumpITV, Britain's largest commercial broadcaster, has been forced to slash its dividend and its growth targets after plunging into a £1.5 billion (E2.93bn) loss in the first six months of 2008 and announcing advertising revenue will fall by 20 per cent in September.
Overall revenue at ITV grew by 3 per cent in the six months to June 30th. However, the company expects total TV advertising revenue to fall by 1 per cent over the eight months to August, before declining by 20 per cent in September. Shares in ITV fell 12.5 per cent to 40.5p in early trading, giving the company a market value of £1.5 billion which is the same figure as the pre-tax loss it reported.
The company blamed "tough year-on-year comparisons" for the 20 per cent fall in September, primarily due to last year's Rugby World Cup for the slump. However, advertising revenue generated by its flagship ITV1 channel fell by 5.1 per cent over the interim period.
Global content revenue rose 3 per cent over the six month period and online revenue increased by 6 per cent.
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100m+ DTVs in Western EuropeResearch from Informa Telecoms & Media shows that digital TV penetration of Western European households broke the 50 per cent barrier in 2007, ending the year at 54 per cent, up from 42 per cent at end-2006. Informa forecasts that digital homes in the region will reach 104 million by the end of 2008, rising to 157 million by 2013, equivalent to a 90 per cent penetration rate.
Despite the rosy picture, full digital conversion is only expected in four (Finland, France, Ireland and the UK) of Western Europe’s 15 major broadcast countries. Adam Thomas, Informa’s Media Research Manager, said: "While cable will remain the region’s leading pay TV platform, the satellite subscriber base is eating into its dominance. Satellite’s much higher ARPU levels mean it will overhaul cable in revenue terms during 2009."
Cable is also expected to lose its position as the leading platform, when digital terrestrial TV (DTT) overtakes it in 2011. According to Thomas: "DTT often provides a similar channel line-up to analogue cable, usually for no monthly fee, so will benefit from churning cable customers. IPTV is also using attractive triple-play bundles to tempt away cable subscribers."
The UK is currently the most prominent digital market, accounting for 25 per cent of the region’s digital TV homes, followed by France with a 20 per cent share and Germany with 17 per cent.
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Liberty Global Q2 profitsInternational cable group Liberty Global returned to profitability y thanks to gains on investments and foreign currency. But the company has lowered its fiscal 2008 forecast on a weaker-than expected, first-half performance in its European markets.
Controlled by US cable pioneer John Malone, Liberty Global reported net income of $428 million, or $1.11 per share in the second quarter ended June 30th, compared with a net loss of $129.7 million, or 34 cents per share a year earlier.
Revenue rose 25 per cent to $2.73 billion, from $2.18 billion a year earlier. Excluding the effects of foreign exchange rates, revenue growth for the quarter was six per cent, falling below the company's previous forecast for growth of between seven per cent and nine per cent.
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Consumers are not sold on mobile video servicesWhile nearly one-third of US households have a video-capable mobile phone, operators are struggling to find an audience for their mobile video services, according to Mobile TV: Analysis & Forecast
The report by market research firm Parks Associates found a majority of consumers with a video-capable mobile phone have never used the video features. For example, 56 per cent have never watched a video clip using a mobile phone. These low usage rates are discouraging for operators hoping to boost revenues through new TV and video services.
"Buy before you try is always a tough sell," said John Barrett, Director of Research, Parks Associates "Most subscribers must pay additional money to watch video and mobile TV services, even once they have purchased an appropriate phone. This circumstance presents an obvious chicken-and-egg obstacle to adoption. Many consumers are hesitant to pay for a new, unfamiliar service, but they will remain unfamiliar with the service until they or someone they know uses it."
The report predicts operators will overcome this challenge by offering more programming at no cost. "A free taste would go a long way in making the consumer case for mobile TV," he said. "Mobile TV services have taken off in Japan and South Korea, where service is offered free of charge. In Italy, where additional fees have been the norm, usage has been limited. It's in everyone's interest to offer some free programming."
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Orange's assault on Spanish IPTV market
From David Del Valle in MadridFrance Telecom’s Orange is making a full-frontal assault on the IPTV market in Spain in an attempt to snatch market share from Telefónica , whose IPTV service Imagenio currently counts 575,000 subscribers.
To this end, the company has launched a promotional offer that includes free of charge for two months the package Paquete Plus from Digital Plus as well as a free-of-charge football match every week from the Spanish League until 2009 available to those clients within the Yacom coverage. The service has been made possible following the recent agreement with Sogecable, owner of Digital Plus and Canal Plus, to launch a joint offer, Yacom+, that includes the triple play at 10 Megabytes. A similar deal with Imagenio was reached by Sogecable to launch Trio Plus last year.
Orange's move is intensifying competition in the market at a time when Imagenio is seeing its growth slowing down. Up to June 2008, the company captured more than 65,000 subscribers, quite below that of 128,000 the same period last year, and against Orange's 38,000 subscribers.
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ITV.com goes football crazyITV has expanded its football website in preparation for its biggest ever season which includes live rights to the FA Cup, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup and England internationals.
The new site will simulcast all matches broadcast on ITV1 and provide exclusive highlight packages of all the action making it the home of football video online.
In addition, ITV.com will also feature Premier and Football League highlights plus footage from the Italian, German and French League games as well as exclusive blogs, stats, games and forums. FA Cup matches involving non-League clubs will be filmed and made available to a large audience thanks to a partnership between ITV Local, ITV.com and The Football Association.
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DirecTV HD PGA coverageDirecTV will continue its run HD sports coverage by offering golf fans unique, in-depth tournament viewing with its PGA Championship Interactive service. Supplementing broadcast feeds from TNT and CBS, as well as the online offerings of PGA.com, DirecTV will provide enhanced and expanded coverage of the 90th PGA Championship during all four days of the tournament.
The service, free to DirecTV customers, will deliver four channels - all in HD - of Tournament coverage, including three unique channels that will focus on a featured group each day, featured holes and a new offering called ‘Players In Depth’.
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Digital splits Oz TV ad revenue
The push by the free-to-air TV networks to start multiple digital channels will significantly challenge their business models, a media analyst at PricewaterhouseCoopers has warned.
While prime-time programmes can attract about 1.5 million people and deliver mass audiences to advertisers, viewer numbers will fragment as broadcasters run their new high-definition and standard-definition channels, said David Wiadrowski, the lead partner for communication and entertainment at PwC.
He predicted the channels would need to invest more in content to retain audiences, putting further pressure on their profits in an uncertain economy. "Overall we still see growth for free-to-air television, but as they go down this path of multi-channelling.
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NASCAR goes mobileESPN and MediaFLO USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm, are bringing NASCAR racing live to mobile phones throughout August. MediaFLO USA’s award-winning mobile TV service is available to AT&T subscribers as AT&T Mobile TV with FLO and to Verizon Wireless customers as V CAST Mobile TV. MediaFLO USA and ESPN will air live race coverage of the NASCAR Nationwide Series, as well as six Sprint Cup Series races on ESPN Mobile TV.
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TV to surpass newspapers as largest ad medium
Total communications spending is projected to increase 5.4 per cent to $923.91 billion in 2008, as strong gains in the institutional and alternative media sectors offset the downward pressure of declining traditional advertising spending, according to research released today by Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS), a private equity firm dedicated to the media, communications, information and education industries.BSS suggests that for many alternative media this will be the first economic slowdown in which they will be seriously tested, such as online search, digital out-of-home media, word-of-mouth marketing, videogame advertising, and social network advertising, among others. As a result of these trends, VSS projects that broadcast TV will become the largest advertising medium by year-end 2008, the first time in U.S. history that newspapers have not held that position.
For the third consecutive year, overall time spent with media by consumers is expected to fall in 2008, declining 0.1 per cent to 3,493 hours per person, due to media multitasking and several media platforms reaching saturation, including some that will become obsolete during the forecast period, including dial-up access, VHS, and audio cassettes. Time spent with media that have a digital component, however, is expected to climb. For example, time spent with pure-play Internet will surpass recorded music as the third most used medium after television and radio.
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Teleste has been selected by Ziggo to deliver their new compact node platform for upgrading their cable networks to anticipate to future capacity needs. The value of the initial order is approximately E1 million. This is Teleste's first major order for Ziggo, the largest Dutch cable operator with 3.49 million subscribers.
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Entone selected by PanhandleEntone, provider of IPTV home connectivity solutions, has confirmed that its Hydra HD IP video gateway and Amulet HD IPTV receiver have been selected by Panhandle Telephone Cooperative for its high-definition IPTV service rollout. PTCI is a progressive IPTV and digital cable provider with quad-play residential and business communication services throughout the Oklahoma Panhandle and portions of the Texas Panhandle
Wednesday 6th August
Cablevision wins playback ruling
NDS reports fiscal year, goes private
iDTVs edging out STBs?
Southern Europe leads Web TV
'Mobile Video' increasingly Includes 'Internet Video'
‘Call to Action’ advertising
CEA to discuss portable standards
Scopus to acquire Optibase
Digital switch scheme criticised
AVN adult entertainment on VUDU
Sloan extends MGM reign
Myvideorights distributes ALL3MEDIA
ESPN acquires Racing-Live
Sky Sports catches cricket deal
Viasat movie channel for Russia, CIS, Baltics
Butaca.tv launches
Cablevision wins playback rulingIn a blow to Hollywood studios and TV programmers, Cablevision has won an appeals court ruling that lets it offer cable-television subscribers a new service to record and play back shows and films.
The ruling by the US Court of Appeals is a setback for News Corp., Time Warner, Walt Disney, CBS, and NBC, which sued to prevent the system's debut. They claimed the service, Remote Storage Digital Video Recorder, threatened their copyrights.
The network DVR system allows cable customers who don't have digital video recorders, such as those made by TiVo, to record programmes on central hard drives housed and maintained by Cablevision at a remote location. The users can then get a playback of those shows through their TV sets, using a remote control and a standard cable box. Cablevision, which operates in the New York area, said the system replicated the function of a video recorder and thus was permitted under copyright law.
Motion Picture Association of America, the movie industry's lobbying group, is reviewing the decision and will consider all options, according to an e-mailed statement. "We will continue to take the steps we believe are necessary to protect our legal rights with regard to our content."
News Corp argues the planned service amounted to a way to provide a new "public performance" of each show or movie recorded and played back. They said that meant Cablevision would need their permission to use their copyrighted material.
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NDS reports fiscal year, goes private
Digital pay-TV technology specialist NDS has released its results for the fiscal year ended June 30th, 2008.
The group reported revenues of $850.1 million, an increase of 20 per cent over the previous year, while operating income rose 21.8 per cent by the same comparison to reach $195.4 million. The number of active devices protected by NDS conditional access technology hit 90.3 million at the end of last June, whilst there were 92.5 million middleware clients deployed at the end of the period and 13.1 million DVR clients deployed.
Commenting on the performance, Dr. Abe Peled, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDS, said, "Our fiscal 2008 performance has benefited from continued strong execution and key new customer wins. Of particular note are our successful penetration of the German cable and satellite market, and our wins in India and Malaysia. We also extended the terms of our CA contracts with our largest customers. Our reported performance benefited overall from the continued weakness of the US dollar. Unfortunately, as we look into fiscal 2009, the continuing strength of the Israeli shekel will make fiscal 2009 a very challenging year."
Separately, NDS Group plc announced that the independent committee of its board of directors has reached an agreement in principle with News Corporation and two subsidiaries of funds advised by Permira Advisers LLP on a price at which News Corporation and the Permira entities would acquire all issued and outstanding NDS Series A ordinary shares, including those represented by American Depositary Shares traded on NASDAQ, for per share consideration of $63 in cash. The consummation of the transaction would result in NDS ceasing to be a public company, and the Permira entities and News Corporation owning approximately 51 per cent and 49 per cent of NDS, respectively.
The transaction is subject to negotiation and execution of final legal documentation and conditional upon the receipt of certain regulatory, financial and legal approvals.
The agreement in principle follows a proposal made by News Corporation and the Permira entities on June 27th, 2008 to acquire the publicly held shares of the Company for $60 per share. The independent committee of the board of directors of NDS, advised by Citigroup Global Markets Limited and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, has received an opinion from Citi that the per share consideration of $63 in cash is fair, from a financial point of view, to holders of the Series A NDS ordinary shares, including those in the form of American Depository Shares.
IMS Research is forecasting that shipments of integrated digital TVs (iDTVs) will grow to 143 million in 2013, up from an estimated 52 million in 2007. Given that Samsung, LG, Sony, and Funai have signed on to make tru2way certified iDTVs for the US and Korean cable markets and that every iDTV sold in the EU must support a conditional access module interface for pay TV, the research form asks whether the days of the set-top box are numbered.
Stephen Froehlich, Senior Analyst, Consumer Electronics, noted that in Japan, iDTVs already displace about 1.7 million satellite set-top box shipments each year, having reduced that market from 2 million unit shipments in 2003 to just 0.3 million in 2007. "While the conditions in Japan that allow this are unique, it is clear that US cable operators are working towards the creation of an even more compelling situation in the hopes of eliminating most of the $200 cost of a DVR," he stated.
However, according to US cable industry trade body the NCTA, despite the fact that CableCARD iDTVs have been available since 2004, at most 372,000 cable set-top boxes (out of an estimated installed base of 55 million) have been displaced by iDTVs as of June 2008. Results have been similar in Europe, where every iDTV includes a similar DVB-CI interface in accordance with an EU mandate.
Forthcoming tru2way iDTVs are likely to change this situation. According to Froehlich, the fact that the same level of interactivity is available on Japanese satellite boxes and iDTVs is a significant contributor to the iDTVs success in Japan. "Forthcoming tru2way iDTVs will be designed specifically to add interactive functions, presenting a real risk of reduced cable set-top box volumes in the US. In addition, parallel efforts are under way to deploy the same technologies in Europe, specifically iDTVs with support for MHP or MHEG-based interactivity and improved CI+ content security," he said.
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Southern Europe leads Web TVItaly and Spain are forging ahead of the US and other European countries in adoption of online and web TV services, according to ‘Internet TV : Southern Europe Leads The Way’, from the Strategy Analytics Digital Media Strategies service.
The Strategy Analytics survey of 3,500 Internet users found that 22 per cent of Spanish respondents are regular users of streamed video from broadcaster websites, compared to 18 per cent in the US and only 8 per cent in Germany. This report estimates that 32 million people in the US and 34 million in Europe are now regular users of video streaming from broadcast network websites."Internet users in Southern Europe are clearly making the most of the Internet’s capacity to deliver programming choice," noted Martin Olausson, Director of Digital Media Strategies. "The success of web TV in these countries is in contrast to the relative lack of interest in traditional multichannel TV services from cable and satellite providers."
The popularity of video file sharing over unauthorised networks is also markedly higher in Spain and Italy than elsewhere. Sixty-six per cent of Spanish and 55 per cent of Italian respondents admit to engaging in this activity at least several times a year, compared to only 28 per cent in the US and 18 per cent in Germany.
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'Mobile Video' increasingly Includes 'Internet Video'In the past year, two forces have emerged to radically change the definition of ‘mobile video’, reports In-Stat. Firstly, Internet delivery of user-generated and professionally produced content is moving viewers from their living rooms to their computers, the high-tech market research firm says. Secondly, high-quality mobile devices that use wireless networks (such as Apple's Wi-Fi iPhone and iPod Touch) are improving mobile access to the Internet in general. As a result, ‘Internet video’ increasingly means ‘mobile video’ says In-Stat.
In-Stat identified two potential models for mobile TV viewing: ‘waiting room’ and ‘leisure time’ with very different requirements. David Chamberlain, In-Stat analyst, suggests that personal devices such as cellphones and personal media players are preferred for the waiting room scenario. However, if there is more time available, survey respondents preferred larger screens on products such mobile Internet devices or ultra-mobile PCs
Other findings in In-Stat’s ‘US Consumers Weigh In On Mobile Video Content Choices’ report indicate that mobile operators offering both 3G and out-of-band video content (such as MediaFLO, DVB-H or 1-Seg) have the near-term advantage fulfilling both leisure time and waiting room usage models; over half of the respondents to an In-Stat US consumer survey reported watching Internet video in the previous 30 days; there is a strong preference for full-length shows rather than selected highlights tailored for mobile viewing. Finally, US survey respondents prefer monthly subscription fees to the purchase of video devices.
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The combination of mobile TV and the inherently cellular back channel are creating a new category of advertising known as ‘Call to Action’ advertising, according to research by MultiMedia Intelligence. Call to Action advertising was virtually non-existent in 2007, but the speciality advertising market will grow to $419 million in worldwide advertising revenue by 2012.
Call to Action allows users to get more information or to communicate with the advertiser while the advertisement is playing. For example, if you see an advertisement for the latest car, you would press the call to action button and an SMS text could be sent to your phone with the nearest dealership or a dealer could send you more information.
"The cell phone is inherently an inferior entertainment platform when compared to other media devices like TVs," according to Frank Dickson, Chief Research Officer for MultiMedia Intelligence. "However, the cell phone is inherently a superior portable communications platform. It allows the possibility for TV advertising outside the home as well as creating a new form of advertising. Call to Action leverages the built in return channel of the handset to deliver advertising beyond the capabilities of the existing living room TV experience."
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CEA to discuss portable standardsUS trade body the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has announced the formation of a discussion group to weigh interest in establishing industry technical standards for portable and handheld devices, such as MP3 players, GPS devices, video displays and cameras. CEA will hold a Discovery Group meeting to consider the issue at its Industry Forum on October 21st.
An industry standard for portable and handheld devices could make it easier for consumers to connect these devices with home audio and video systems, in-vehicle audio, video and navigation systems and other consumer electronics (CE) products, says the CEA.
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Scopus to acquire OptibaseScopus Video Networks, a provider of digital video networking products, has entered into a non-binding Term Sheet to acquire the business of Optibase, the Company’s principal shareholder. Optibase, based in Israel, provides professional encoding, decoding, video server upload and streaming solutions for telecom operators, service providers, broadcasters and content creators. According to its audited financial statements, Optibase reported revenue of approximately $23 million for 2007.
The acquisition of Optibase's digital video and streaming business for 2.6 million Scopus shares amounts to 19 per cent of its share capital. The deal increases Optibase's stake in Scopus from 36.6 per cent to 46 per cent.
The companies did not disclose the price of the deal, put on the basis of Scopus' current share price, it amounts to $11.9 million. Scopus may issue to Optibase up to additional 900,000 shares, which will boost Optibase's stake in Scopus to 49 per cent. Optibase fell 8.1 per cent on Nasdaq to $1.58 on Monday’s announcement, giving a market cap of $21 million, while Scopus rose 3.1 per cent to $4.70, giving a market cap of $65 million.
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Digital switch scheme criticised
Manufacturers and consumer groups have criticised the government for their scheme which was designed to help elderly and vulnerable viewers switch to digital television.
The scheme has been criticised because Sky have an unfair advantage when it was handed the contract to be the digital switchover help scheme's ‘standard offer’ for the ITV Border region, the first part of the UK to go digital. For the first two months after installing its set-top boxes, Sky provides free access to the personal recorder service Sky+ and to some pay channels. Then, after that time, customers are left to decide whether to continue receiving these services, which would require a subscription.
"The Department for Culture, Media and Sport agreement that governs the help scheme urgently has to be reviewed," said Leen Petre, chair of the government-appointed consumer expert group on digital switchover. "The help scheme should not open the floodgates for marketing practices and advertising of additional products or services to older and disabled consumers which can leave them stressed and confused."
The scheme is being funded with £603m of BBC licence fee money and entitles over-75s and disabled people to have a set-top box installed for a one-off fee of £40 or, if they're on benefits, for free.
"It is inappropriate for the scheme to select as standard such a confusing commercial deal, when it is geared to encourage vulnerable customers to opt for a potentially confusing or costly installation," said Danny Churchill, the joint chairman of the Digital Television Supply Chain Group (SCG), which represents manufacturers, retailers and aerial installers.
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AVN adult entertainment on VUDUAVN Media Network, player in the adult entertainment industry, has partnered with VUDU, the award-winning on-demand set-top box and service. The AVN Channel will include hundreds of the latest standard and high definition titles from the leading adult studios including Wicked, Vivid, Hustler, and many others. This is the first stand-alone content channel available on VUDU.
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Sloan extends MGM reignHarry E. Sloan has signed a new three year agreement to continue as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios. Sloan joined the company in October 2005.
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Myvideorights distributes ALL3MEDIAMyvideorights.com has completed an agreement to distribute content from ALL3MEDIA International’s catalogue into the worldwide digital market. The company will reformat ALL3MEDIA’s content to short form and commercialise the rights for the programming to enable web, IPTV and mobile publishers from around the world to use high-quality, risk-free video content.
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ESPN acquires Racing-LiveESPN has confirmed the acquisition of Racing-Live.com – the leading independent motor racing website. Racing-Live.com covers Formula 1, Moto GP and Superbike, Rally, off-road Rallies, Endurance Sports-Cars and Kart racing. The site provides fans around the world locally tailored up-to-the-minute news and information in English, French, Japanese, Italian, German and Spanish. Racing-Live.com has accumulated a following of around three million unique users per month.
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Sky Sports catches cricket dealThe England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has revealed four-year broadcast deals for seasons 2010 to 2013, giving Sky Sports all England’s home Test matches, exclusive live coverage of all One-Day and Twenty20 internationals, the Twenty20 Cup and matches from the County Championship. The deals are worth a combined £300 million.
ECB chairman Giles Clarke called for a public debate into the reasons why the BBC failed to make a bid for the various packages. A BBC spokeswoman rejected the ECB's criticisms for not bidding for the television rights. "We've always said any bid for live Test cricket was subject to value for money and fitting into scheduling and in our view neither of these criteria were met. We have consistently argued that not having cricket as a listed event puts it out of the reach of all terrestrial broadcasters."
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Viasat movie channel for Russia, CIS, BalticsViasat Broadcasting will launch the movie channel TV1000 Action in Russia and five other countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States as well as in the Baltics. The localised movie channel will be available to third party cable operators in Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as on Viasat's own digital satellite TV platform in the Baltic States and Ukraine with effect from 1st September 2008. TV1000 Action provides viewers with Hollywood blockbusters and European box office hits in the action genre.
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Butaca.tv launchesButaca.tv has launched its international Video-on-Demand website for people interested in watching, discovering and learning about Latin cinema.
Tuesday 5th August
News Corp to invest $100m in India TV
UGC content management platform
SES reports H1
Mobile operators should back free mobile TV
Ono grows
DISH Network Q2
DOCSIS 3.0 to drive revenue for CMTS
IOC channel
Beijing TV i-vision service
Lenovo 3G TV phones for China Mobile
iPhone nano?
Callahan named CTO of ActiveVideo
News Corp to invest $100m in India TVNews Corp plans to invest $100 million to launch six regional television channels in India, Chairman Rupert Murdoch has confirmed, underscoring his commitment to one of the world's fastest-growing media markets.
"I'm guessing the investments will be in the region of $100 million, and we will launch the channels within 12 months," Murdoch told reporters. "All these channels will be under the STAR brand."
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UGC content management platform
Digital asset protection solutions Advestigo’s RAFFUT project has been recognised by the French National Research Agency (ANR) as the most-promising platform to manage digital audio, video and textual content on UGC sites. INRIA Grenoble/Rhone-Alpes, part of the French national institute for research in computer science and control, joined Advestigo in developing the project.
Advestigo and INRIA will develop an integrated detection and management solution for copyrighted content based on Advestigo’s patented Theraography technology, the only platform which analyses three sources of digital content – whether video, audio or textual – to generate content-based fingerprints. These fingerprints allow for the detection of total or partial copying, independent of file and data formats, sampling rates, encapsulations and other typical masking techniques. INRIA will contribute its world-class leading edge concepts and algorithm in digital video characterisation.
In addition to detecting illegal content, the RAFFUT Project integrates a protection and cleaning function: illegal content is automatically removed from UGC sites and is blocked from being uploaded again – a frequent response to detection and removal. To complete the offer, the solution manages the income generated by copyrighted content, ensuring that the rights holders are remunerated.
In providing a complete and robust platform, Advestigo and INRIA will allow UGC sites to increase the amount of content posted each day, all while insuring the rights of the copyright holders. According to Advestigo, technology of this nature is critical in order to return to the true spirit of collaborative sites where professional/copyrighted videos exist along side UGC/amateur/personal video. Advestigo estimates that the solution will be ready for market in 2009.
The solution was developed in response to both qualitative and quantitative issues, claims the company, suggesting that not only is it necessary to improve video description technology to make it as effective as possible yet still compact and reliable, but the solution must be able to accommodate clients whose users upload a huge number of videos, guaranteeing quick turnaround in analysis and response.
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European satellite company SES has reported nearly unchanged first-half core profit, broadly in line with expectations, and reduced its full-year forecasts due to a weaker dollar. SES said EBITDA edged up 0.4 per cent to E550.2 million.
Analysts said the figures, following 2007-2008 numbers from Eutelsat last week, confirmed that the market was solid. SES nevertheless lowered its forecast for 2008 revenue to between E1.568 and E1.598 billion and for EBITDA to between E1.08 and E1.11 billion. Its previous forecasts were E1.58 to E1.62 billion and E1.086 to E1.126 billion.
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Mobile operators should back free mobile TVWeijie Yun, CEO of mobile TV semiconductor specialist Telegent, has suggested that mobile operators should back free mobile TV. His comments follow the failure of Germany’s Mobile 3.0’s subscription mobile TV service. "Despite the lack of consumer traction for subscription mobile TV services, there is no question that mobile TV technology works, or that consumers like to watch TV on their handset," he said.
"The key to success for mobile TV is to first understand what consumers want, and in this respect, content is king. Consumers are open to place-shifting television, provided that the content that they are familiar with and already enjoy stays the same and is accessible at the times that they are accustomed to viewing it. Free-to-air mobile TV enables operators to have access to the most popular content, which then provides a platform for the delivery of value-added services."
Yun noted that free-to-air mobile TV can be complementary to long term goals of pay TV services. "New consumers of mobile TV might initially choose a free-to-air mobile TV feature over a subscription service. However, the rate of consumer adoption will be much faster, opening opportunities to upsell premium content to a broader audience already accustomed to watching TV on their handset.
By offering a free-to-air service, operators also have the opportunity to leverage the service for branding and differentiation and improve their competitive position in the marketplace. "Free-to-air mobile TV may serve as the route to spur widespread adoption of mobile TV; pay TV services can then follow," commented Yun.
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Ono growsSpanish cable operator Ono saw strong growth in operational profits in the first half of 2008, despite a slowing economy. Ono had an EBITDA of E343 million representing a growth of 11.2 per cent over that of the same period last year which was E308 million. Net profit was E20 million.
Ono added 41,000 new net clients on to its TV service during Q2, with 31,000 for broadband and 14,500 for the telephony area. As of June 30th the operator had 1,052,000 television subscribers, 16.4 per cent more than a year ago. Ono's triple play offering the operator also took a step forward with 619,000 clients, 7.7 per cent more than a year ago.
In spite of the slowing of Spain's economy, Ono's total income was stable over the six month period at E809 million.
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DISH Network Q2DISH Network has reported total revenue of $2.91 billion (E1.86bn) for the quarter ended June 30th 2008, a 5.6 per cent increase compared with $2.76 billion for the corresponding period in 2007.
Net income totalled $336 million for the quarter, compared with $224 million during the corresponding period in 2007. Basic earnings per share were $0.75 for the quarter, compared with basic earnings per share of $0.50 during the corresponding period in 2007.
The service lost approximately 25,000 net subscribers, ending the quarter with approximately 13.79 million subscribers.
DOCSIS 3.0 to drive revenue for CMTS
Networking and telecommunications market information specialist Dell'Oro Group has forecast modest revenue growth for Cable Modem Termination Systems (CMTS) each year through 2012 driven by cable operators upgrades to recently introduced high-speed DOCSIS 3.0 equipment. Findings also indicate that over the same period, revenue for high-speed VDSL and PON infrastructure equipment will be largely driven by telecom service providers' desire to offer TV over broadband.
"Marketing and perception are significant drivers for sales of access infrastructure equipment, especially for cable operators," said Tam Dell'Oro, Founder of Dell'Oro Group. "While telecom operators are upgrading access networks with VDSL and PON to enable new services such as TV over broadband, Cable operators are upgrading for much different reasons. Cable's TV service is not deployed over their access network and although increasing Internet traffic is driving higher bandwidth requirements, they are much lower than those for telecom operators. However, to stay competitive in the broadband speed race, cable operators will upgrade to DOCSIS 3.0 especially in areas where telecom operators are deploying VDSL and PON," added Dell'Oro.
IOC channelThe International Olympic Committee (IOC) will launch an online Channel to broadcast the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in 77 territories across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, including India, Republic of Korea, Nigeria and Indonesia from 6th August 2008. The IOC will broadcast a selection of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games clips as Video On Demand (VOD). The IOC’s Channel will be available on YouTube, geo-blocked within each territory.
Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), a wholly owned subsidiary of the IOC, will produce regularly updated Olympic content. The package will include highlights, news and daily clips of the competitions, available throughout the 17-day period of the Games.
IOC Director of Television and Marketing Services, Timo Lumme said the IOC’s priority was to ensure that as many people as possible were able to experience the magic of the Olympic Games and the inspirational sporting achievements of the Olympic athletes. "The IOC’s Channel will make fantastic Olympic footage available where young generations of sports fans are already going for online entertainment, and will complement the footage offered in these territories by our broadcast partners across all media platforms," he added.
By offering an abundance of freely available content across media platforms around the world, including over the internet, the IOC believes it is limiting the risk of piracy infringements.
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Beijing TV has launched its mobile TV services a week before the opening of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. As a technology platform and content partner, i-Vision has aided in demonstrating the good quality live streaming TV services onto mobile phones, and the collaborative channel with BTV.
i-Vision has focused on the development of mobile digital TV technology and interactive TV applications. The Company's end-to-end mobile TV platform enables operators to drive revenues from interactive value added services and personalised advertising in addition to the traditional subscription business model.
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Lenovo 3G TV phones for China MobileLenovo Mobile Communications is set to deliver 3,000 TD900 TD-SCDMA TV mobile phones with built-in China Mobile Multimedia Broadcasting (CMMB) chips to China Mobile, the nation's largest mobile carrier, in partnership with Spreadtrum Communications , a Shanghai-based provider of TD-SCDMA baseband chips. Spreadtrum is the only maker of CMMB ships in the industry.
"Lenovo Mobile will offer the first batch of 200 TD900 TV mobile phones," said Lu Yan, president of the mobile phone unit. The State Administration of Radio Film and Television of China (SARFT) has awarded six operation licences for mobile television content, but the Chinese government has not yet decreed a national mobile television standard: under consideration are the CMMB standard and the Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) standard.
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iPhone nano?Varied media reports suggest that Apple will release an iPhone nano - a smaller version of the iPhone - in time for the Christmas holidays. The indications are that it will be launched in the UK for £150 on the O2 network.
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Callahan named CTO of ActiveVideoJohn Callahan has joined ActiveVideo Networks as Chief Technology Officer. During a 15-year career with Time Warner Cable, Callahan was a leader and member of the team that created many of digital cable’s most innovative on-demand and interactive applications. With ActiveVideo Networks, he will be responsible for spearheading technical development and deployment of ‘web-infused’ interactive applications targeted at all video platforms.
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Monday 4th August
Croatia sets 2011 switchover deadline
STB market booming
Telenet clocks 10m VOD hits
Telefonica beats forecasts
FT steady
Top three UK ISPs account for 65% of illegal downloads
Korea Communications IPTV in Dec
Cablevision strong
Skywalkers return
Simply Sport and BT Vision
Ireland DTT next year
ITV buys into Electric Farm
Playbox partners with Playout247
SSM chooses NDS
Croatia sets 2011 switchover deadline
From Branislav Pekic in RomeThe Croatian Government has set 2011 as the deadline for the complete switchover to digital terrestrial broadcasting, one year before the EU’s 2012 deadline.
The Government’s Strategy for conversion from analogue to digital broadcasting, establishes that the transition will initiate on 1st September 2008 and be concluded by 1st January 2011. According to the State Secretary for e-Croatia, Igor Lucic, digital technology will provide a higher quality picture, digital teletext, EPG, and new interactive services such as electronic banking and electronic shopping. It will also enable the introduction of 4 new national TV channels, the first of which is HRT 3 Sport, which launches on 1st January 2009.
Currently, 10 per cent of Croatian households are ready for digital TV, Lucic said, adding that 1.2 million TV license payers will receive coupons worth HRK 135 (E18) as the government's financial support for the purchase of digital TV receivers. During 2008, the government is planning to spend HRK 15 million (E2 million) to raise awareness of digital conversion and for receiver subsidies. Next year, the sum will rise to HRK 41.5 million (E5.7 million) and in 2010, the government will earmark HRK 106 million (E14.5 million) for this purpose.
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Strong demand from Free-to-Air satellite service, coupled with the expanding availability of digital cable TV and IPTV services, fuelled a record-setting number of digital set top box unit shipments in 2007, reports In-Stat.
Worldwide digital STB unit shipments reached 143 million in 2007, up sharply from 121 million in 2006. Worldwide digital STB product revenues hit $14 billion in 2007, an increase of $3 billion over 2006 revenues. The market for semiconductor components inside digital STBs also grew significantly last year. The total value of semiconductors embedded in digital set top boxes increased to $7.7 billion in 2007.
Satellite set top box unit shipments accounted for just over 50 per cent of all global digital set top box unit shipments last year, while digital cable set top boxes made up 29 per cent of total unit shipments.
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Telenet clocks 10m VOD hitsTelenet hsa reported it received 10 million requests for VOD content between January 1st and July 31st, 2008. It says this takes the total of VOD transactions since launch in 2005 to 26 million. Top requests during the first half of 2008 were for the Will Smith movie I am Legend, made available under the Day & Date scheme at the same time as its DVD release.
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Telefonica beats forecastsSpain's Telefonica has posted a 6.2 per cent decline in first-half net profit to E3.593 billion, better than forecast, and reiterated its growth guidance for 2008. EBITDA declined 1.3 per cent to E11.123 billion.
Telefónica estimates its Imagenio IPTV added 22,513 new subscribers, down on the 32,307 recorded in the same period in 2007, and 65,471 in the first six months of 2008. This brings the subscriber base to 575,558, a year-on-year increase of 27.9 per cent.
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FT steady
France Telecom reported steady growth in revenues and underlying profits. It said it would return cash to investors following its failed takeover of TeliaSonera. The telco reported an increase in revenues of 3.9 per cent in the first half of the year on a comparable basis, in spite of a slowdown in some of its markets.Didier Lombard, France Telecom’s chief executive, said the company continued to eye acquisitions in emerging markets but they would be small.
The company benefited from the roll-out of new "triple-play" high-speed internet, digital television and internet telephone services. It also saw improvements in its Spanish and UK mobile operations, as customers with contracts replace those with pre-paid phones, and in services to businesses in which profit margins increased by 13 per cent.
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Top three UK ISPs account for 65% of illegal downloads
Customers of the UK's three biggest ISPs were responsible for 65 per cent of illegal downloading activity in June this year, according to a study by Envisional. The Internet intelligence firm tracked torrent downloads over two months and matched the IP addresses to various ISPs. Over 28,000 unique IP addresses were traced in June, 22.6 per cent of which used the Carphone Warehouse as their ISP. The next most popular ISP for illegal downloaders was Virgin Media with 21.6 per cent, followed by BT with 21.2 percent.
The three ISPs were part of a deal struck last week with the government and the BPI that aims to tackle illegal file sharing. The six ISPs that signed up agreed to issue customers caught downloading illegally with warning letters.
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Korea Communications IPTV in DecKorea Communications Commission has announced that with the help of National Information Society Agency, it has selected KT Consortium, Hanaro Consortium and LG Dacom Consortium for a pilot project of convergence of broadcasting and telecommunication.
The selected consortium, run with 3 billion won of the public and private matching fund, plans to provide contents owned by national and public institutions to subscribers at home through IPTV. It will kick off pilot service for 600 households in December.
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Cablevision posted stronger-than-expected earnings for the second quarter, beating back competition for customers, especially telephone company competition.
James Nolan, chief executive, said he planned to meet with shareholders to close the gap between Cablevision’s intrinsic value and current market value. The Dolan family is the controlling shareholder of Cablevision and has tried to take the company private several times in recent years.
Cablevision earned $98.3 million compared with $317.4 million in the quarter a year earlier. In the second quarter of 2007, Cablevision had a $183.9 million gain on the sale of a 50 per cent interest in FSN New England.
Revenue rose 9 per cent to $1.71 billion, helped by rate increases and strong gains in its digital video, high-speed Internet, phone and business services.
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Skywalkers returnBskyB has revealed its gine back to door knocking in pursuit of its’ target of 10 million subscribers by 2010. A team of 500 so-called Skywalkers have been quietly recruiting customers across the UK, signing them up to BSkyB products including high-definition television and 8mb broadband.
"It has proved very successful and is a particularly good way of trying out new offers, because you get the most direct kind of customer feedback," Jeremy Darroch, chief executive of BSkyB, told the Financial Times.
The move harks back to Sky’s earliest days when Sky Direct salesmen were crucial to the ‘scorched earth’ policy of signing up subscribers at any price in order to successfully deny the market to BSB, which was eventually forced to ‘merge’ with Sky.
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Internet TV company Simply Sports Media has launched a free channel dedicated to extreme and endurance sports. BreakSweat TV will cover sports including mountain biking, adventure racing and rock climbing, based around programmes between three and five minutes long. The channel will sit alongside Simply Sports Media’s existing online sports channels, which include GolfBug TV and SnowZone.
Simply Media has also signed an agreement with BT to provide content for the telco’s TV-over-broadband service BT Vision. It will provide nostalgia-themed programmes to BT subscribers on subjects including aviation, naval and military history.
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RTE and commercial television stations will begin switching on digital television next year in the wake of a successful trial of the technology, Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan has confirmed. The service will be free and is expected to reach 80 per cent of the country initially with all areas expected to be able to access the service within a few months of its launch.
1000 homes and businesses in Louth and Dublin participated in the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) pilot, which began in August 2006. Some eight out of 10 people who took part in the trial said DTT was better than the current analogue television.
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ITV buys into Electric FarmITV has bought a 10 per cent stake into US multimedia producer Electric Farm for £1 million (E1.22m) as part of its continuing international expansion plans. ITV has the option to acquire a controlling shareholding in Electric Farm at the end of the year. ITV's investment is part of its strategy to increase its production business in the US.
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Playbox partners with Playout247
PlayBox Technology has partnered with Playout247 to produce an advanced playout operation in London. This now supports 24 conventional satellite channels and 38 Internet channels at full satellite broadcast quality and has proved the new state-of-the-art playout technologies resulting from a two-year development project.
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SSM chooses NDSSistema Mass Media (SMM) has chosen a suite of NDS technologies to secure and manage both its IPTV and mobile TV platforms - resulting in the delivery of a true convergence play for its’ subscriber services. NDS’s Unified Headend will cover set-top boxes, PCs, and a variety of mobile devices.
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