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Our Latest Issues
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Tuesday
Friday 11th January
Microsoft anywhere DVR
Portuguese reject DTT subsidies
Trade row on electronics?
Analogue switch-off fails in Spain
3.5G drives mobile broadband growth
UKTV Gold to be rebranded?
Sony VOD for Belgacom
Al Jazeera English for Hong Kong Cable
Ofcom appoints Bradley
Industria partnership with Anevia
Microsoft has announced the availability of DVR Anywhere on the Microsoft Mediaroom platform, giving DVR customers the flexibility to watch recorded programmes on any TV in their home.
Microsoft Mediaroom's DVR Anywhere is software-based, so no TV tuners are needed, so playback and multiple recording can take place simultaneously. It also requires that only one set-top box in the home have a hard drive, thus lowering the expense for service providers and consumers. The company says DVR Anywhere feature, which will support standard and high-definition TV, is the first whole-home DVR offering currently available to IPTV service providers.
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Portuguese reject DTT subsidies
From Branislav Pekic RomePortugal’s Minister for Parliamentary Issues, responsible for the Social Communications Portfolio, has rejected subsidising DTT decoders, pointing out that the Government does not have the obligation of paying for digital TVs or decoding devices.
"The incentives that the Government has already made available are for the improvement of the offer via another free-to-air general entertainment channel and the introduction of high definition programming," Augusto Santos Silva told a Parliamentary Commission. "It is not our task to supply plasma TVs or decoding devices," he added.
The Government approved last week the launch of a public tender for the opening of a new FTA TV channel as a way of filling out the remaining space available on the digital TV platform. It also decided to reserve part of the frequency spectrum for the launch of HD broadcasts by national broadcasters RTP, SIC and TVI.
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The US is considering action against the European Union with the World Trade Organization over tariffs the EU imposes on some electronics products, Trade Representative has told the CES in Las Vegas.
Schwab said the US is talking to other countries who also feel that EU tariffs on products like set-top boxes are a violation of the Information Technology Agreement, which has been in place since 1997. The ITA is adhered to by 70 WTO members that account for about 97 per cent of world trade in technology products to eliminate tariffs on IT goods such as computers and computer parts.
Europe has imposed or has threatened to impose tariffs on products like multi-function printers, certain liquid crystal display monitors and set-top boxes, arguing it can impose tariffs on those items because they were not invented when the ITA was negotiated.
Those items, according to Schwab, are products that are covered under the agreement that have evolved and added new features. For example, Europe regards LCD monitors over 19 inches as televisions, which are not covered under the ITA.
Schwab said she would prefer not to litigate, because it is time-consuming and it does not solve the fundamental issue of whether "convergence" products – technology items that can perform more than one function - are covered under the ITA.
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Analogue switch-off fails in Spain
From David Del Valle in Madrid
Spain has failed to switch off Local TV analogue transmissions breaking the law that stated that from January 1st all 1,000 existing local TV stations should be migrating to digital.
Two years before the complete migration to digital, scheduled for April 2010 for nation wide TV channels, the road map for the local analogue switch-off approved by the Ministry of Industry is not being met for two main reasons: the lack of interest from local TV channels that argue that they are not ready yet to migrate to digital and the lack of an awarding process in some regions to grant the DTT licences.
The migration to digital of local TV in Spain will result in the closure of many of the local TV stations as those with no DTT licence will not be able to continue broadcasting once the process is completed.
The analogue switch-off of local TV is regarded as the first step towards the digital migration in the country and its delay may affect the overall switch-off in 2010. Today, DTT covers 85 per cent of the population, with an average share of nine per cent. In Spain, around 23.4 per cent of all households have access to DTT, with Madrid, in the centre of the country, and Valencia, in the east, as the Regions where DTT is most widely watched.
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3.5G drives mobile broadband growth3.5G is driving mobile broadband growth around the globe, with a rapid increase in the number of commercial HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet access) networks being rolled out. The number of commercial HSDPA networks launched worldwide grew by 69 per cent last year, according to a survey by the Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) — a GSM/3G supplier association.
There are now 166 commercial HSDPA networks in 75 countries and a further 38 networks are committed to rollouts, which will bump the total to 204 HSDPA networks in 89 countries, said the GSA. Commercial HSDPA networks are widely available in Western Europe (61 networks), Asia Pacific (35), Eastern Europe (34), the Middle East and Africa (20) and the Americas and the Caribbean (16).
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UKTV Gold to be rebranded?UKTV is considering a massive rebrand across its entire array of channels following the success of UKTV G2's evolution into Dave. A joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Virgin Media is reportedly considering dropping UKTV from some channel names and giving others entirely new names.
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Sony VOD for BelgacomSony Pictures has signed a Video-On-Demand agreement with incumbent telecom operator, Belgacom, in Belgium. Through the deal Sony is providing an extensive range of movie content from the Sony Pictures current slate along with titles from the Studio’s library. The service enables Belgacom TV customers to view movies on their TVs through their set top box.
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Al Jazeera English for Hong Kong CableAl Jazeera English has announced a deal with one of Asia’s leading cable operators, Hong Kong Cable Limited, for the channel to broadcast in Hong Kong. The agreement is yet another step forward for Al Jazeera English’s rapid distribution growth – the channel now reaches over 100 million households worldwide.
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Ofcom appoints BradleyOfcom has announced the appointment of Anna Bradley as Chairman of its independent Consumer Panel. The Panel advises Ofcom on the consumer interest in telecommunications, broadcasting and spectrum markets. Bradley was Consumer Affairs Director of the Financial Services Authority (2002-5) having been Chief Executive of the National Consumer Council (1999-2002).
Industria partnership with Anevia
Industria, IPTV solutions provider, and Anevia, French designer of the Toucan VOD/nPVR servers, have signed a partnership agreement that is intended to ensure successful sales activities between Industria's products and services and Anevia's products. The main focus of the partnership will be on marketing and sales of integrated solutions featuring Industria's flagship product, the Zignal IPTV software suite, and Anevia's Toucan VOD/nPVR servers.
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Thursday 10th January
No more ads on French public TV?
FCC will probe Comcast throttle
NBC in alliance to fight video piracy
US mobile broadcast, another platform
Sony and Disney buy FilmFlex
iTunes movie rentals, price cuts
MTVN expands net syndication
Increase in US measured advertising
Sony content on YouTube
Fox brings Premier League to V CAST
Verizon upgrades with G-PON
Blu-Ray for Xbox?
Veoh through DivX
Red Bee appoints Poulter
Ocean Blue and Sunplus mobile TV platform
Cisco new STB models
ON Telecoms deploys Neptuny’s Caplan IPTV Edition
No more ads on French public TV?
From Sotires Eleftheriou in ParisIn a surprise announcement President Sarkozy said that the government is looking to drop ads from the public sector television and radio channels. These are currently financed by a licence fee of E116 a year, with advertising bringing in an extra E800 million, providing France 2 with 40 per cent of its budget and France 3 with 30 per cent.
Sarkozy said that a public broadcaster had to be independent of commercial constraints; his announcement came hot on the heels of the disclosure that the public channel France 3 had made cuts in a documentary about the dairy industry in order to appease possible complaints by its leading advertiser. It is proposed the shortfall could be made up by a tax on advertising on the commercial channels and possibly also by a tax on Internet access providers.
The share price of the commercial channel TF1 rose on the basis of the announcement. The opposition stated that such a measure constituted giving a present to the private channels.
Sarkozy’s cultural adviser spent time in London last year studying the BBC as a model for ad-free public broadcasting. In a further move the President said he wasn’t happy for the tax payer to fund France 24 any longer and wants it merged under an umbrella body with TV5 Monde and Radio France Internationale to form a BBC Worldwide look-a-like.
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FCC will probe Comcast throttle
Kevin Martin, head of the Federal Communications Commission confirmed at CES that it will investigate complaints that Comcast actively interferes with Internet traffic as its subscribers try to share files online.
Last year the Associated Press found that Comcast in some cases hindered file sharing by subscribers who used BitTorrent. The report in October confirmed claims by users who also noticed interference with other file-sharing applications.
"We look forward to responding to any FCC. inquiries regarding our broadband network management," said David L. Cohen, executive vice president at Comcast.
Comcast denies that it blocks file sharing, but acknowledged after The A.P. article that it was "delaying" some traffic between computers that share files. The company said the intervention was necessary to improve the surfing experience for the majority of its subscribers.
The FCC.’s response will be an important test of its willingness to enforce "net neutrality." The agency has a broadly stated policy supporting the concept, but its position has not been tested.
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NBC in alliance to fight video piracyNBC Universal has formed a coalition with a group of technology companies, including AT&T and Microsoft, with the aim of developing anti-piracy measures that would restrict the illegal transfer of copyrighted video content over the internet.
NBC, which is owned by General Electric, is also understood to have approached Apple to discuss how anti-piracy technology could be used to stop unauthorised copyright-protected content being transferred to the computer maker’s devices, such as the iPod. However, Apple is believed to have refused to participate in any anti-piracy discussions with NBC. NBC and Apple have a strained relationship and recently had a public disagreement about pricing, which resulted in NBC pulling its TV content from Apple’s iTunes platform.
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US mobile broadcast, another platformSamsung Electronics, MobiTV, Nokia Siemens Networks, Rohde & Schwarz and SES Americom IP Prime are set to demonstrate a national distribution platform to enable mobile TV services in the US using local broadcast TV spectrum. The platform is planning to showcase a complete mobile TV technology solution in 2008, with consumer trials planned in US cities to be announced later.
The platform will deliver local and national programming and interactive applications to consumers on mobile devices "in-band," i.e., through local TV stations’ existing transmitters and spectrum.
The platform offers another alternative for broadcasters to avoid using the MNOs that currently control content and, effectively, the handset market. However, it will go up against the recently announced LG/Harris system and could give the US electronics/broadcast market another standards headache.
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FilmFlex, the cable movies VOD service in UK, has been bought by Sony Pictures and Disney. The two studios already owned a third each of the business, and acquired the remaining third held by SeaChange subsidiary OnDemand Group. The stake was acquired for approximately $14.5 million.
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iTunes movie rentals, price cutsApple will let iTunes users rent movies as well as buy them and add Fox and Warner Bros as suppliers. According to reports Apple will announce the rental service later this month. New releases and older titles will rent for $3.99 for 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Apple is to reduce the price it charges UK users to buy tracks from iTunes by almost 10 per cent to bring them in line with the rest of Europe. It follows threats of an antitrust cast from the EU.
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MTVN expands net syndicationMTV Networks has unveiled its targeted online syndication strategy, announcing partnerships with select online video sites to deliver a vast library of video content from MTVN's popular brands. These sites include Dailymotion, GoFish, imeem, MeeVee and Veoh, and join AOL, Bebo, Comcast's Fancast, Joost and MSN to comprise MTVN's portfolio of online syndication partners.
MTVN's targeted online syndication strategy will enable the company to build dynamic relationships with its partners across the globe and work closely with them to enhance their content offerings. The company will collaborate with each site to engage users, co-market and optimise MTVN's programming line-up, and use filtering technologies to ensure copyright protection.
All of MTVN's partner sites will carry individual channels for each participating MTVN brand, streaming ad-supported video clips free to the consumer. Like MTVN's own branded websites, the partner sites will enable global audiences to embed MTVN clips on their own blogs, social networking pages or websites.
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Increase in US measured advertisingTotal US measured advertising spending is projected to increase 4.2 per cent in 2008, according to the full-year forecast released today by TNS Media Intelligence, provider of strategic advertising and marketing information. Measured expenditures are forecast to grow by 3.6 per cent in the first half of 2008 followed by a gain of 4.7 per cent in the second half.
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Sony content on YouTubeSony Pictures Television has agreed to provide five-minute versions of several of its most popular TV shows for viewing through YouTube.
Sony said the short versions, or ‘minisodes’, of programmes such as ‘Married With Children’ and ‘Newsradio’ will help expand the brand for the shows to the online universe. Some 21 shows will be available at the Minisode Network. After the Minisode Network, the Sony unit plans to launch other channels on YouTube, including some that will include original content.
Fox brings Premier League to V CAST
The Fox Soccer Channel is now delivering video highlight content from England’s football Premier League to V CAST Video-enabled phones. The relationship makes Verizon Wireless the first wireless distributor of Fox Soccer Channel’s exclusive Premier League mobile highlight package, delivering more than 35 video clips per week, including near-live, in-game coverage to V CAST Video customers from coast-to-coast.
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Verizon upgrades with G-PONVerizon say they are upgrading FiOS with next-generation electronics to enhance the speeds, and thus the capabilities, of Verizon's all-fiber-optic FiOS broadband, video and voice network.
Known as gigabit passive optical network (G-PON) equipment, the new electronics can increase the line-rate bandwidth on the Verizon fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network by four times downstream to the customer and eight times upstream back to the network. This provides the capability for future enhancements to Verizon's FiOS Internet and FiOS TV products as new applications are developed and as customers demand more bandwidth.
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Blu-Ray for Xbox?Microsoft’s Xbox 360 games console unit still fully backs Toshiba Corp's HD-DVD high-definition DVD format but could consider supporting Sony Corp's rival Blu-ray technology should consumers want it, according to a Microsoft executive. "It should be consumer choice; and if that's the way they vote, that's something we'll have to consider," Albert Penello, group marketing manager for Xbox hardware.
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Veoh through DivXDivX and Veoh have announced an agreement that will bring Veoh's Internet television service to viewers through the DivX Connected platform. Under the terms of the agreement, Veoh will make some of its most popular video content from its site accessible on DivX Connected devices.
The first DivX Connected device available to consumers from D-Link is presently for sale online in the UK, France, and Germany and will be released in the US in 2008.
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Red Bee appoints PoulterRed Bee Media has appointed former Miva European MD Adam Poulter as its executive commercial director. Poulter, who left the performance network last year, had previously been CEO at digital content distribution specialist IMD.
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Ocean Blue and Sunplus mobile TV platformOcean Blue Software, the UK-based digital TV software specialist, and Sunplus Technology Company, the Asian silicon systems provider, have collaborated to develop a portable Freeview DVB-T platform with full interactive features. The new development will provide ‘red button’ functions such as text services and access to alternative video streams in Freeview DVB-T TVs.
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Cisco new STB modelsAt CES Cisco has unveiled the latest additions to its 8500HDC Digital Video Recorder (DVR) Set-Top Series, demonstrating that set-tops have come a long way from their predecessors. The new 8500HDC DVR models offer a broader set of features and technical innovations enabling the delivery of next-generation visual networking experiences. The emerging consumer experience category of visual networking blends streaming digital video technology with social networking, which enables more choice, easier navigation of content from the provider network and the Internet, higher-quality viewing and faster, more personalised interaction.
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ON Telecoms deploys Neptuny’s Caplan IPTV EditionON Telecoms, a triple play provider in Greece, has deployed Neptuny’s Caplan-IPTV Edition for its IPTV Services. Neptuny’s Caplan-IPTV Edition is a decision support, service reporting and capacity-planning platform that allows IPTV managers to make proactive strategic decisions based on objective data, collected from different layers in the IPTV infrastructure. ON Telecoms are using Caplan-IPTV Edition to ensure efficiency of their existing systems and optimise the allocation of their IT resources as well as provide a strategic view enabling them to predict trends in demand for services.
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News Corp scoops Premiere stake
Comcast expands output to ‘infinity’
Pay-TV content war
US digital conversion ‘free’
Panasonic, Google Internet TVs
Ka-band for Eutelsat
blinkx Partners with ITN Source
Carter for Brown
Mobile music revenues to approach $18bn by 2012
China Digital TV diversifies
NDS selected by Cox
Xcrypt CAS to protect KBS World TV
Ericsson mobile TV solution for Cellcom Israel
Akamai streams QVC
News Corp scoops Premiere stakeNews Corporation has acquired a 14.58% stake in German pay-TV operator Premiere, in a E287m cash deal, making it the company's biggest single shareholder. The shares were acquired from Unitymedia, Germany's second largest cable MSO, which took the holding in February 2007 as part of a deal which enabled Premiere to show top-flight Bundesliga football, for which Unitymedia held the rights.
The move marks News Corp’s second investment in Premiere. BSkyB, which has News Corp as a 39% shareholder, took a 24% stake in the operator in 1999, but quit in 2002, as former owner Leo Kirch’s media empire began to crumble. The failed investment cost some £1 billion.According to News Corp chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch, “Pay-TV is a core business for News Corporation and it’s a category that’s thriving across Europe with a multitude of new services and innovations. We see enormous potential for growth in Germany and believe the time is right to invest in its foremost pay-TV business.” Parm Sandhu, Chief Executive of Unitymedia, said the sale of these shares secured Unitymedia a positive financial result for the Arena football rights initiative.
Speculation towards the end of 2007 had suggested that French pay-TV powerhouse Canal+’s owner Vivendi was considering a takeover bid. The focus is now on News Corp’s long-term intentions.
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Comcast expands output to ‘infinity’
US telco Comcast is set to carry out carry out a mass expansion of its on-demand content service in an attempt to capitalise on shifting television viewing habits. Comcast has a library of 10,000 titles, ranging from pay-per-view films to advertising-supported episodes of top TV programmes. Now, in an expansion codenamed Project Infinity, the group aims to offer thousands more titles in high definition by the end of the year. Brian Roberts, chief executive, said: “Project Infinity builds on our commitment to bring more content to people across all platforms at home and on the go.”
The group’s on-demand service has already attracted more than 6 billion views since its launch in 2003. With sales of high definition TV sets booming in the US, viewers are demanding more high definition content. Comcast aims to have 1,000 titles available for on-demand viewing by the end of 2008.
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Pay-TV content war
From David Del Valle in Madrid
The main Spanish pay-TV operators Digital Plus (DTH), ONO (cable) and Imagenio (IPTV) are strengthening their programming line-up in a tough fight for capturing new subscribers. They are upgrading their TV packages with the addition of new TV channels and services.
Digital Plus is launching the local TV channel Popular TV, the Sony-produced Animax, SET (Sony Entertainment TV) and an independent cinema-orientated TV channel still under discussion with Chello Multicanal, producer of Canal Hollywood.
ONO is launching several TV channels such as Baby TV (children), Telenovelas (soup operas), Pacha TV (music), Extreme Sports Channel (Sports), Canal de las Estrellas, Biography Channel and De Casa. All these channels will be promoted for the first month with free of charge access for those more than 900,000 ONO's TV subscribers. In December, ONO led the pay-TV ratings in Spain with an average share of seven per cent.
Imagenio is adding more and more channels. One of the latest is Aprende Ingles TV (Learn English TV), claiming to be the only TV channel in the world dedicated to teaching a languague 24 hours per day, that is also being distributed via DTT.
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Converting to digital in the US could, theoretically be free as EchoStar Communications announced it teamed up with Sling Media to brand a converter box that it said will sell for $39.99. They say it will comply with the National Telecommunications & Information Administration's specifications for devices that can be covered entirely by the NTIA's subsidized $40 coupons.
EchoStar said it would also market a higher-end box with digital-video-recorder functionality (DVR boxes do not qualify for the coupons).
Meantime, DISH Network also announced a price-freeze on programming packages. It's not a permanent freeze, but a guarantee that prices won't rise on packages until February 2009. The No. 2 satellite TV platform made the announcement at CES, which in addition to programming packages includes no jump in prices for the company's DishDVR Advantage offering.
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Panasonic, Google Internet TVs
Panasonic is reportedly working with Google to develop televisions that will allow users to watch Internet content. The TVs developed by the partners will allow users to directly access videos from YouTube, and see Picasa Web Albums, a free online photo-sharing service from Google.
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Ka-band for EutelsatSatellite operators Eutelsat has selected EADS Astrium to deliver its first satellite operating exclusively in Ka-band frequencies. The satellite will form the cornerstone of a major new satellite infrastructure programme designed to expand significantly capacity for consumer broadband services across Europe and the Mediterranean Basin, while providing new opportunities for local and regional television markets.
Currently called KA-SAT and scheduled for launch in third quarter 2010, the satellite will be configured with over 80 spotbeams. A network of eight gateways managed by Eutelsat, and which will provide access to KA-SAT and deliver the full range of services to end users, will form an integral part of the new infrastructure. Eutelsat will locate KA-SAT at 13º East where it will join three large Hot Bird Ku-band broadcasting satellites. This co-location will enable satellite homes to receive television in the Ku-band and new rich media services in the Ka-band through a single dual-frequency antenna.
KA-SAT is the European equivalent to ViaSat-1, a high-capacity Ka-band broadband satellite ordered by ViaSat to serve the North American market and planned to launch in 2011. ViaSat and Eutelsat are co-operating closely around ViaSat's Ka-band SurfBeam networking system and a similar wholesale business model that works through ISPs, telecommunications companies and pay-TV platforms to serve subscribers.
Giuliano Berretta, Chairman and CEO of Eutelsat said that with their high power and broad coverage, today's Ku-band satellites are highly optimised for video broadcasting and professional data networks and are the core component of Eutelsat's satellite system. He described the Ka-band initiative as ”crossing a new frontier to a specifically designed infrastructure for interactive consumer services.” He confirmed that Eutelsat would also leverage the substantial capacity available in the Ka-band for new opportunities for local and regional content, and that the craft had been designed for transmitting new video applications requiring ultra-high bit rates such as HD digital cinema and 3D television.
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blinkx Partners with ITN Source
blinkx has formed a partnership with ITN Source, one of the world's leading providers of professional video content, to give blinkx viewers direct access to ITN Source's market-leading collection of moving image libraries and stock footage on the Web. Leveraging its unique AdHoc platform, blinkx will also place contextually relevant advertising against the footage, and will share resulting advertising revenue with ITN Source.
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UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has appointed Stephen Carter, the former chief executive of Ofcom, as his key strategy adviser.
The 43-year-old, who is currently chief executive of corporate communications company Brunswick Group will be the principal special adviser in No10 and will be in charge of political strategy, communications and research. He will attend cabinet and head the No 10 policy unit at Downing Street, reporting directly to the prime minister.
Carter stepped down as the first chief executive of Ofcom in the summer of 2006, having previously been CEO of NTL.
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Mobile music revenues to approach $18bn by 2012
Mobile subscriptions which offer unlimited music downloads on a rental basis are expected to surge in popularity and will provide the majority of mobile revenues derived from original recordings, according to a new report from Juniper Research.According to the report, the market for subscription-based music rental services will reach $3.3 billion by 2012, eclipsing the market for paid-for original recordings. Author Dr. Windsor Holden commented, "Music rental services such as those offered by Omnifone are incredibly ´sticky,´ in that once consumers have taken the time and effort to build up an extensive playlist, they will be increasingly reluctant to unsubscribe from that service and from the operator, thereby providing a significant boost to ARPU levels."
However, the report also states that as 3G services are rolled out in emerging markets, then full-track download sales will mushroom, with the volume of downloads in the Indian sub-continent alone rising from less than 2 million in 2007 to nearly 480 million in 2012.
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China Digital TV, provider of conditional access systems to China's rapidly digital television market, has established Beijing Novel-Super Media to partner with China's cable operators and content providers to offer value-added services to TV viewers, including Electronic Programme Guide-based advertising and PC card-based services enabling PCs to function as HDTVs with DVR features.
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NDS selected by CoxNDS has revealed that its IEX system has been chosen by Cox Communications as its preferred automated set-top box (STB) testing solution. Cox, a multi-service broadband communications and entertainment company, is replacing manual testing equipment with the automated IEX solution provided by NDS. After successfully testing an IEX server over the past year on the Scientific-Atlanta platform, Cox has decided to expand its automated testing program using IEX and to extend automation to include Motorola STBs as well.
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Xcrypt CAS to protect KBS World TV
KBS, Korea’s national broadcaster and biggest public television network, has selected Xcrypt’s Conditional Access System to secure the worldwide distribution of its KBS World TV channel. KBS World TV is distributed to 50 countries reaching a potential 42 million people.
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Ericsson mobile TV solution for Cellcom IsraelEricsson has signed a contract with leading Israeli mobile operator Cellcom Israel to provide an end-to-end mobile TV and video solution to enable Cellcom Israel's subscribers to enjoy a true TV experience, including access to live TV channels and video-on-demand (VoD) content.
Under the agreement, Ericsson will be the sole supplier of a mobile TV platform supporting rich media clients, a content management system and support systems for operation and customer care units. Rollout has started in December 2007, with commercial launch due during 2008.
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Akamai Technologies, global service provider for accelerating content and applications online, has confirmed that QVC, the UK’s largest TV shopping channel, is using Akamai to support the streaming of its Video on Demand and 24/7 live streaming video services.
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Tuesday 8th January
Cable’s portable DVR
Supplier confidence strengthens through 2007
CE makers form dotTV
BT Vision secures Motorola and Xbox deals
Warner picks Blu-Ray
Multiple deals for Microsoft
LG enhance mobile TV
CBS to feed Sony Bravia TVs
Youth prefer MySpace to TV
CinemaNow and Macrovision collaborate
SatLink brings TV Canção Nova to Asia
Comcast and Panasonic will launch a co-branded portable digital video player that can show videos like Apple’s iPod and record shows from any US cable operator's system. The AnyPlay device is the first of a range of new electronic devices based on technology developed jointly by the cable industry and consumer electronics makers intended to increase interoperability among cable operators - and increase their threat to satellite TV rivals.
AnyPlay can record up to 60 hours of video and plays DVDs and CDs. It also features an 8.5-inch display screen. The device was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Comcast Chief Executive said ahead of the show that the industry had been working on the technology standard for several years and now plans to roll it out across the United States this year. "We knew we needed an open, national and interoperable structure between cable companies," said Roberts, who is also chair of industry technology trade body Cable Labs."We also knew there would be more competition and we had to change," said Roberts. "The era of closed cable is over and the era of open cable is here."
Electronics devices compatible with the technology, called Tru2way and previously OpenCable Platform, are expected to be available at retail outlets later this year and will be able to work without a cable operator-supplied set-top box.
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Supplier confidence strengthens through 2007
Broadcast and media technology suppliers are upbeat about the global market. Confidence levels have improved through 2007 based on the latest International Association of Broadcast Manufacturers (IABM )Industry Trends Survey undertaken by Ernst & Young LLP. The IABM represents broadcast and media technology suppliers worldwide.
Respondents seeing increased or significantly increased confidence outnumbered those seeing decreased confidence by 7:1 and up from 4:1 earlier in the year. The 12 month outlook is good too with a 7:1 ratio up from 6:1 in the Spring. According to IABM CEO Roger Crumpton, "this reflects our own analysis and confirms how strong the market has been in 2007. The outlook is good but there are indications of financial pressures on the horizon."
Margins are suffering though, selling prices are seeing some downward pressure and cost prices are rising. 20 per cent of respondents commented on falling prices compared to 2 per cent reporting an increase - a ratio of 10:1. This is primarily due to the impact of the dollar exchange rate in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. This again confirms other IABM research that suggests prices are falling at an average 5 per cent per annum.
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A group of major Korean consumer electronics, technology and broadcast companies announced the formation of dotTV, an industry consortium whose mission is to build a next-generation interactive TV viewing experience leveraging social networking and online video to engage viewers. As viewers increasingly demand an anytime, anywhere, any-device viewing experience, dotTV seeks to bring the interactivity of online media and social networking to the TV and set-top box. Members of the consortium include broadcasters KBS (Korean Broadcasting System), EBS (Educational Broadcasting System), and SBS, technology providers Irdeto and VMark, Inc. and major consumer electronics makers Samsung and LG.
"By leveraging the confluence of digital terrestrial television tuners, DVRs and Internet access in Digital Televisions, set-top boxes and other consumer electronics devices, dotTV is developing a platform that provides viewers with a more social, interactive viewing experience," said Won-Kun Lee, Executive Vice President of KBS. "By supplementing our broadcast content with relevant metadata, viewers will be able to search for content of interest, retrieve more information about specifics presented in the content as well as share this content with friends over any connected viewing device."
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BT Vision secures Motorola and Xbox deals
BT has selected Motorola as the lead supplier of next-generation set-top boxes for its BT Vision digital TV service. Motorola will supply BT with second-generation V-Boxes boasting a new look, the potential for improved energy efficiency and enhanced capabilities for deployment in 2009.
The HD-capable V-Box digital TV recorder will provide access to up to 40 Freeview TV channels and 30 radio channels, the ability to record an average of 80 hours of content, on-demand access to a library of films, TV shows, music videos and sport and a range of interactive applications. Philips was the initial supplier of the BT Vision STB when the service first launched.
Microsoft Corp and telecommunications leader BT has also confirmed they are bringing their BT Vision serivice to Microsoft’s Xbox 360 games console. All BT broadband customers will have the BT Vision service and its library of on-demand content via the Xbox Live portal.
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Warner picks Blu-RayWarner Bros will release movie discs only in the Blu-ray format, becoming the latest studio to reject the rival HD DVD technology and further complicating the high-definition landscape for consumers.
Warner Bros, owned by Time Warner, was the only remaining studio releasing high-definition DVDs in both formats. It is the fifth studio to back Blu-ray, developed by Sony. Only two support the HD DVD format, developed by Toshiba.
Multiple deals for MicrosoftNBC Universal is partnering with Microsoft to expand its online offerings for the 2008 Olympics. The partnership will deepen the Olympics' Internet footprint, making more than 3,000 hours of live and on-demand content available via NBCOlympics.com as well as MSN.com and other Microsoft-owned online hubs. NBC Universal and Microsoft will share online advertising revenue.
Microsoft has also confirmed a pair of significant content expansions to Xbox 360 and Zune handhelds. The company's Xbox Video Marketplace has now signed on content from Disney-ABC as well as MGM. This places TV shows such as Desperate Housewives and Lost on the console for purchase despite Disney-ABC's connection to Apple through board member Steve Jobs; for MGM, it also provides movies for rent such as the Terminator series. The catalogue update takes place later this month and will supply HD content for shows produced in a higher resolution.
Meanwhile, Microsoft has also announced that its Mediaroom IPTV and multimedia platform is delivering video entertainment experiences to more than 1 million set-top boxes worldwide and its service provider customers are adding two new IPTV subscriber households every minute. The Mediaroom platform is on pace to reach 1 million subscriber homes in the first quarter of 2008.
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LG enhance mobile TVWoo Paik, LG's chief technology officer, has announced the firm's new mobile TV vision at CES 2008. MPH - or Mobile Pedestrian Handheld - is due to revolutionise US mobile TV, Paik said, bringing live digital broadcasts to mobile phones, notebook computers, personal media players, GPS units, and in-car TV sets.
Developed with Zenith and Harris Corporation, LG's MPH technology is set to enhance the mobile video picture to offer broadcast-quality video. "LG's new MPH technology is TV to the power of three," Paik said at LG's keynote at CES 2008 this morning. "It allows high speed mobility for users, high-definition quality programming, and multicast variety for broadcasters." MPH will support DVB-H technology, which has already been adopted as the European mobile TV standard.
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CBS to feed Sony Bravia TVsSony has secured a content partnership with CBS Interactive for its Bravia Internet Video Link Module. The US network's digital division will provide primetime and daytime programming, news and sports content to Sony from later this month. The module streams Internet video content directly to Sony's compatible Bravia HDTV flat-screen sets without the need for a PC.
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Youth prefer MySpace to TVMySpace, the social networking giant, claims to be drawing young people away from television and video games as they use its web pages to make friends and money.
A group of 18- to 24-year-olds drawn from 1,000 people surveyed by Future Laboratory said it would rather spend 15 minutes visiting social networking sites than watching television, reading, playing video games or talking on mobile phones.
CinemaNow and Macrovision collaborateMacrovision and CinemaNow, a digital entertainment innovator delivering movies and TV shows across multiple platforms, have integrated their technologies to enable consumers to acquire video content and download it directly from CinemaNow to a Macrovision-enabled consumer electronics devices.
With this technology integration, consumers can expect to register their Macrovision-enabled hardware at CinemaNow.com, allowing them to watch a selection of movies, TV shows and music videos on their television by using the selected device. Macrovision's technology will also enable the devices to find, stream and playback other personal content stored anywhere on the home network.
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SatLink brings TV Canção Nova to AsiaTV Canção Nova, the Brazilian Catholic channel, together with SatLink Communications, the fastest growing teleport in 2007, has confirmed the TV channel's launch into the Asian market on SatLink's AsiaSat 2 MCPC platform. With the Vatican’s representatives in the Holy Land (Custodia di Terra Santa) already connected to SatLink’s teleport via fiber optics, this move is another step in the growing relationship between the two.
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Monday 7th January
EU targets single market for online content
Weather Channel for sale
DTV penetration 43% in 2012
US cable operators continue investing
Fox Business short on viewers
Sirius ends 07 with 8m
YouTube ban in China
Portugal gets fifth free channel
NBC takes stake In India’s NDTV
Gracenote, Philips fingerprinting combine
STMicroelectronics HD STB decoder
EU targets single market for online content
The European Commission wants to give a boost to Europe's online content sector. The Commission is encouraging the content industry, telecoms companies and ISPs to work together to make available more content online, while at the same time ensuring a robust protection of intellectual property rights.
The Commission published "Creative Content Online in Europe's Single Market," which builds on a consultation process that took place in 2006 and notes four areas of particular interest which merit action at an EU level: the lack of available creative content for online distribution, a lack of multi-territory licensing rights for new platforms, inter-operability of content and the continuing piracy and file-sharing stifling growth.
The Commission is now launching a public consultation through to March, it is designed both to identify current challenges and prompt discussion of forthcoming issues. An EU Recommendation is expected to follow in mid-2008.
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Weather Channel for saleLandmark Communications, the privately owned US media company that owns The Weather Channel, said it was considering a sale. According to US reports the company could be worth more than $5 billion (E3.4bn), although moves are under way to split the business in two.
"Landmark’s weather, publishing, broadcasting, interactive and information businesses all have leading positions in their markets and have strong growth opportunities," said Frank Batten, Jr, the chairman and chief executive whose family founded the company in 1904. The Weather Channel was formed in 1982.Landmark has about $1.8 billion in annual revenues.
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The proportion of digital TV subscribers worldwide is predicted to exceed 40 per cent by 2012 according to a report by the Korea Information Society Development Institute. The report said the current rate is 22 per cent with 239 million subscribers and the number will exceed 43 per cent with 540 million by 2012.
North America is expected to have virtually completed the transition to digital TV as 98 per cent of people will have digital TVs in their home. West Europe follows with 86 per cent predicted and the region is followed by Middle East (30 per cent), Asia (29 per cent), East Europe (23 per cent), and Latin America (21 per cent).
China will have 60 million subscribers, the biggest contributor to the global digital TV industry development. The US will have 39 million, Japan 20 million, and India 23 million. Those four nations will have 54 per cent of global users.
Digital cable TV will secure 249 million subscribers by Feb 2012 and digital satellite service subscribers will add 33 million to the current 87 million by 2012.
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US cable operators continue investingThe increasing competitiveness of the US pay-TV market continues to drive cable TV operators in the US to invest in their networks and roll out new services, reports In-Stat. For example, 90 per cent of US cable TV systems now offer HD video service, the research firm says. This is one of the findings of a recent survey of 50 US cable TV systems operators.
"The introduction of telco TV services by companies such as Verizon and AT&T, coupled with stiff competition from satellite TV service providers, is forcing US cable TV operators to develop new revenue streams, while at the same time, trying to hang on to their existing video subscribers," commented Mike Paxton, In-Stat analyst.
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Fox Business short on viewersOnly about 6,300 viewer on average, on any given weekday, according to early estimates compiled by Nielsen Media Research are watching Fox Business. By contrast, chief competitor, CNBC, attracted about 283,000 viewers each weekday in October to December.
While Nielsen, at the network’s request, has measured the viewership of Fox Business since its premiere, Nielsen is not permitted to release or even confirm those figures publicly. That is because they are so low as to fall below Nielsen’s minimum standards for reporting, said Gary Holmes, a Nielsen spokesman, reports the NY Times.
While CNBC is available in about 90 million homes, Fox Business is thus far available in about 30 million.
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Sirius ends 07 with 8mSirius Satellite Radio ended 2007 with more than 8.3 million subscribers, a 38 per cent rise that met its target for the year. Sirius added about 2.3 million net subscribers in the year, and its gross subscriber additions were the highest in the history of satellite radio.
"Based upon preliminary financial data, we expect to report significantly greater positive free cash flow in the fourth quarter of 2007 than the company reported in the fourth quarter of 2006," said Mel Karmazin, chief executive of Sirius, in a statement on Thursday.
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YouTube ban in ChinaIn a move aimed at YouTube and other smaller rivals, the Chinese authorities announced that all video-sharing websites must have official government approval before they can be accessed by Chinese surfers. New rules governing online content announced by the state administration of radio, film and television also stipulate that from the end of January only state-owned or controlled companies would be given licences to upload video in China.
"Those who provide Internet video services should insist on serving the people ... and abide by the moral code of socialism," say the new guidelines. Licensed companies would be responsible for upholding national security, maintaining a "healthy online environment" and would be required to ban any videos that damage the country's reputation.
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Portugal gets fifth free channelPortugal will auction a free-to-air TV license for a national channel to compete with the four existing ones. The new channel will be carried on a DTT platform, along with simulcasts from pubcaster channels RTP1 and RTP2 plus commercial webs TVI and SIC.
The announcement of a new general entertainment channel is likely to spark considerable interest in Portugal given that the four incumbents had a combined 84.5 per cent viewing share in 2007, as against a 15.5 per cent share for all cable and satellite channels.
Potential bidders for the new channel include Portugal Telecom, Sonaecom, Abertis and Vodafone.
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NBC takes stake In India’s NDTV
NBC Universal has taken a major stake of around 30 per cent in NDTV’s UK arm in a deal rumoured to be worth $100 million. The stake is in NDTV Networks Plc, the UK-registered company which owns five subsidiaries of NDTV: NDTV Imagine Limited, NDTV Lifestyle Limited, NDTV Convergence Limited and NDTV Labs Limited and 50 percent in NGEN Media Services Private Limited.
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Gracenote, Philips fingerprinting combineGracenote and Philips announced they have deepened their existing relationship by combining their respective content fingerprinting technologies to provide advanced solutions for video and audio content filtering and monetisation. The technology partnership combines Philips video fingerprinting and Gracenote’s audio fingerprinting technologies, and results in a viable system for content owners and service providers looking to control the use of and monetise copyrighted content across multiple platforms.
According to researchers, 36 per cent of US Internet users watched a TV show or other video streaming online at the end of 2006, up from 28 per cent at the end of 2005, which shows online video is replacing music as the driver of digital media’s growth. One of the side effects of this growth is the need to identify copyrighted content making its way across computers and mobile phones around the world.
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STMicroelectronics HD STB decoder
STMicroelectronics, supplier of integrated circuits for digital set-top boxes (STBs), has released a new single-chip high-definition STBbox decoder combining both the demodulation and decoding functions on a single device. The STi7111, which has been designed to meet the requirements of major satellite operators worldwide, including DirecTV, will allow OEMs to target the high-volume market for consumers moving to HD services. By including a network interface, ST has further ensured the STi7111 can be effectively used in a hybrid STB, where content is delivered by both a satellite and an IP network.
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