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Our Latest Issues
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Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Tuesday
Friday 9th May
Liberty subs pressure, more buy backs
Virgin arrests churn, Sky back?
$110m damages for MPAA from movie P2P
DirecTV nets 275K subs in Q1, more buybacks
MySpace misses as News Corp posts records
Macrovision will sell TV Guide
Wilmington NC for first switch
Record fine for ITV
IPTV STBs - $3bn business in 2012
Fastweb cuts losses
France Telecom Q1
Deutsche Telekom Q1
Virgin News relaunches
C4 hires Heaf
Liberty subs pressure, more buy backsPressure from low priced DTH and IPTV services in its Central European markets dragged on Liberty’s UPC cable net results for Q1 with the loss of 57,000 video subscribers.
Nonetheless other measures were strong with total RGU bas up 7 per cent or 1.6m since March last year, 348,000 RGUs were added in the quarter, 302,000 of them from existing subs. Although there are major variations across the various territories, average ARPU was across UPC Broadband was E22.8 compared to E21.3 a year ago.
Revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2008 increased 24 per cent to $2.6 billion from $2.1 billion for the three months ended March 31, 2007, though excluding exchange benefits sees revenue increased 8 per cent year on year. The net loss for the period was $156 million against $136 million last time. The company said the increase was down to increased interest and income tax expenses and higher losses on derivative instruments. These increased losses came despite operating income reaching $358m, almost double Q1 07.
President and CEO Mike Fries confirmed liberty would step up its buy back programme adding another $500m to the pot: "Since activity in the M&A market remains slow, we continue to be aggressive buyers of our own stock. Since the beginning of the year, we have purchased approximately 7 per cent of our equity at a total approximate cost of $910 million. At the end of April, we had approximately $150 million remaining under our existing repurchase program which, when combined with the(new) $500 million increase we brings our total repurchase availability to approximately $650 million. In addition, we had approximately $800 million of corporate cash generally accessible to LGI at March 31, as well as $1.7 billion of credit facility. Going forward, shareholders should expect us to continue to be opportunistic purchasers of our equity."
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Virgin arrests churn, Sky back?UK’s Virgin Media added 4,900 net new customers for its services in the first quarter and said better customer retention and stabilising revenue per customer left it positioned for growth.
"Our first-quarter results represent another solid operational performance. In particular, churn continued to decline, reflecting the emphasis that we have placed on this area," commented Chief Executive Neil Berkett. "Our results demonstrate that our customers are continuing to respond positively to our compelling consumer propositions. We remain focused on leading in next-generation broadband and redefining the TV experience through on-demand."
Virgin Media reported 36,800 net new additions to its television service, 88,400 net new additions to its broadband offering and added 29,000 customers to the telephony service. These additions were mostly existing customers buying extra services.
Turnover for the period was £1.01bn ((E1.26bn) slightly down on the period in 07, operating loss fell to £4.6 million from £15.3 million in 2007.
It has also been reported that Virgin has recently held talks BSkyB over returning the Sky channels to the cable platform. BSkyB pulled its channels off the Virgin platform last year in a very public spat after the two sides failed to agree terms for a deal. Both groups have appointed new chief executives since that decision however, and Neil Berkett commented there had been more dialogue in the last two or three months than before.
Other operational highlights were:
* 204,300 total RGU net additions (Q1-07: 145,100)
* 4,900 on-net customer net additions (Q1-07: 46,900 net
disconnects)
* On-net churn declined to 1.2 per cent (Q1-07: 1.6 per cent); lowest since
2004(1)
* 88,400 on-net broadband net additions (Q1-07: 87,900)
* 29,000 on-net telephony net additions (Q1-07: 63,400 net
disconnects)
* 36,800 TV net additions (Q1-07: 36,100)
* 59,400 contract mobile net additions (Q1-07: 54,200)
* 127,600 prepay mobile net disconnections (Q1-07: 115,500
net disconnects)
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$110m damages for MPAA from movie P2PTorrentSpy which shut down a weeks ago, has been ordered by a US Federal Judge to pay the Motion Picture Association of America $110 million for infringement of thousands of copyrighted film and TV shows.
The Judge entered the multimillion-dollar judgment against TorrentSpy parent company Valence Media for wilfully inducing, contributing and vicariously allowing copyright infringement on its website.
The MPAA, filed suit against TorrentSpy in February 2006, claiming that the site's torrent files were illegally uploaded. "This substantial money judgment sends a strong message about the illegality of these sites," MPAA chairman and CEO Dan Glickman said. "The demise of TorrentSpy is a clear victory for the studios."
Whether the MPAA will collect the $110 million from TorrentSpy remains to be seen. Court records show that Valence and TorrentSpy principles Justin Bunnell and Wes Parker have filed for bankruptcy.
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DirecTV nets 275K subs in Q1, more buybacks
DirecTV netted 275,000 customers during the three-month period, taking its customer count past the 17 million mark. DirecTV cited its ongoing HD programming push for part of the success, with CEO Chase Carey saying the company's strategy "of offering the best television experience to higher quality customers continues to drive superior financial results."
In addition to the subscriber gains, there was strong APRU growth to $79.70, up from $73.40 reported for the same quarter last year. Average monthly subscriber churn fell to 1.36 per cent in the first quarter, compared to 1.44 per cent for the same period last year.The Group said first quarter revenues increased 17 per cent to $4.59 billion, when compared to the same period last year. Net income of $371 million jumped 10 per cent when compared to first quarter 2007 numbers.Looking to gain from what it says is the market’s under valuation, DirecTV said it plans to raise $2.5 billion in new debt to buy back stock. This despite the credit crunch, but the company believes its strong balance sheet will reassure lenders.
As part of the buyback plan, DirecTV's biggest shareholder, John Malone's Liberty Media Corp., agreed to cap its voting stake in the company at its existing level of 48 per cent. Without the cap, Liberty's voting stake would have gone past 50 per cent.
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MySpace misses as News Corp posts recordsNews Corp's social-networking website MySpace failed to hit its revenue target this year as advertisers struggle to judge the commercial value of making on-line friends.
News Corp revealed that its Fox Interactive Media arm, which includes MySpace, will miss its goal of an 80 per cent increase in revenue by "about 10 per cent". The division had been predicted to generate up to $1 billion.News Corp's chief operating officer, Peter Chernin, said earlier growth projections had been "very aggressive" and that the group remained satisfied: "Despite the obstacles we're facing, what we're accomplishing is extraordinary." Chernin said one of the reasons for the shortfall was the tricky task of evaluating the commercial potential of contacts in cyberspace: "It's still difficult to quantify the economic value of a friend in the social networking space." He said advertisers were accustomed to basing their thinking on long-established measures.
In spite of this, News Corp maintains that MySpace is the strongest social networking offering on the net. In the key US market, it boasts 73 million regular users compared to Facebook's 36 million, each of whom spends an average of 44 per cent more time on the site than Facebook users.
The news didn’t deflect News Corp's global profits as they jumped by $1.8 billion to $2.7 billion, largely due to a gain of $1.7 billion from the transfer of its stake in DirecTV to Liberty Media.
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Macrovision will sell TV GuideDays after getting new owners TV Guide is back on the block. It would be the fourth change in control during the last decade for TV Guide.
Last week, the Macrovision Solutions Corporation completed a $2.8 billion takeover of Gemstar-TV Guide, the magazine’s publisher. The new owner has made clear that it is interested in some of Gemstar’s electronic assets, not the one made of paper and ink that has suffered through years of plummeting sales.
Macrovision wants to find buyers for TV Guide and two former Gemstar-TV Guide cable channels, the TV Guide channel and TVG, a horse-racing channel. But it wants to keep TVGuide.com, an operation largely separate from the magazine that offers celebrity videos and a video search engine.
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Wilmington NC for first switchFCC Chairman Kevin Martin has selected a guinea pig TV market to conduct a test of the digital switch, according to US reports is will be Wilmington, in his home state of North Carolina.
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Record fine for ITVITV has been fined £5.675 million (E7.12m) by Ofcom over the of premium-rate phone lines scandal - nearly three times the previous record sanction against a UK broadcaster. The chairman of Ofcom's content sanctions committee, Philip Graf, said: "ITV programme makers totally disregarded their own published terms and conditions and Ofcom codes. Further, there was a completely inadequate compliance system in place. The result was that millions of paying entrants were misled into believing they could fairly interact with some of ITV's most popular programmes."
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IPTV STBs - $3bn business in 2012The IMS Research study ‘IPTV: A Global Market Analysis - 2008 Edition’ forecasts that, on a worldwide basis, shipments of IP set-top boxes will grow at a CAGR of 37.1 per cent through the end of 2012. These shipments will represent revenues of $3 billion. IP + Digital Terrestrial hybrid STBs are expected to comprise 30 per cent of shipments in 2012 with HD DVR boxes nearing 35 per cent.
Shane Walker, research analyst and author of the study, states, "HD IP set-top box shipments are forecast to grow as uptake of HD IPTV services in the US, Korea, Japan, and Western Europe begins to accelerate in the near to intermediate term. DVR functionality is already gaining traction, especially in the areas previously mentioned, with DVR-enabled boxes expected to grow to nearly ten million units at the end of the forecast. In addition to HD and DVR functionality, we expect hybrid boxes (including satellite + IP and cable + IP) to be installed in the majority of households receiving a TV service via IP from an operator."
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Fastweb cuts lossesItalian broadband operator Fastweb reduced its net loss and added clients in the first three months of the year and left open the possibility it will bid for Italian rival Tiscali.
The net loss narrowed 47 percent to E11 million from a year ago. EBITDA rose 15 per cent to E112.5 million as sales rose 12 per cent to E389.3 million. The company added 75,000 clients in the quarter, bringing the total to 1.39 million, up 21 per cent from a year ago.
Fastweb, Italy's second-biggest broadband services operator, has posted a net loss every year since it was founded in 1999 but expects to post a profit this year.
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France Telecom Q1France Telecom posted first-quarter sales of E13.03billion, up 1.4 per cent year-on-year, with EDITDA up to E4.79 billion from E4.66 billion. Finance director Gervais Pellissier also confirmed the group was still interested in acquiring Nordic operator TeliaSonera, but added no negotiations were currently taking place.
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Deutsche Telekom Q1Deutsche Telekom posted first quarter net income almost doubled at €924m, thanks in part to the sale of its media and broadcast unit to French group TDF, with revenue slipping 3.1 per cent to E15 billion.
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Virgin News relaunchesVirgin Media has relaunched its news channel with a range of multimedia content produced by The Press Association. The channel will feature video clips, video news packages and dedicated campaign sites for key events throughout the year in addition to giving users access to a three month archive of Press Association news.
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C4 hires HeafChannel 4 has hired BBC Worldwide's director of digital ventures, Daniel Heaf, to work on interactive projects across its radio, TV and online output. Heaf, who was previously head of new media at BBC Radio 1 and the corporation's BBC Teens brand Switch, becomes head of new media, 4 Radio and multimedia entertainment.
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Thursday 8th May
DirecTV up 10%
Orange nears 1.5m IPTV subs
Microsoft to stay alone
ZON TV Cabo adds 13,000 clients and new channels
C4 mobile TV
Cablevision buys Sundance
Spain's ONO and Antena 3 VOD deal
Spain face EC punishment over TV advertising rules
RTL hit by ad decline
TV and web combo ads more effective
IPTV underdeveloped in Australia
New York cracks down on piracy
Alcatel-Lucent and Quantum co-operate for DVB-SH
Premiere renews partnership with KDG
Two Way rebrands
DirecTV up 10%DirecTV’s first-quarter net income rose 10 per cent amid higher net subscriber additions and a lower subscriber cancellation rate. The company reported net income of $371 million, up from $336 million, a year earlier. Revenue rose 17 per cent to $4.59 billion.
DirecTV said US net subscriber additions rose 17 per cent to 275,000, putting the total at 17 million, up 5.2 per cent. Average revenue per subscriber increased 8.6 per cent and average subscriber-acquisition costs climbed 6.7 per cent. The monthly churn rate fell to 1.36 per cent from 1.44 per cent.
In April, Liberty Media boosted its stake in DirecTV to 48 per cent after buying nearly $2 billion of the company's stock. In February, DirecTV said it is expecting $20 billion of US revenue in 2010. The company said at the time it anticipates cumulative net subscriber additions of 1.5 million to 2 million over the next three years.
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Orange is closing on 1.5 million subscribers to its IPTV service in France. According to Q1 numbers from parent France Telecom, Orange has 1.41 million subscribers in Europe as of March 31, 2008, up from 770,000 for the period a year earlier.
The VOD service was a big winner with paid downloads at 1.064 million in Q1 up from 401,000 a year ago.
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Microsoft to stay aloneMicrosoft Chairman Bill Gates has said the company isn't pursuing other deals following the withdrawal of its $47.5 billion takeover bid for Yahoo. He said that the company put "a lot of effort" in the talks with Yahoo and has decided the two should pursue "independent paths."
Microsoft withdrew its three-month-old unsolicited bid for Yahoo, after seeing the impasse with Yahoo's board over a mutually acceptable sales price. "Now at this point Microsoft is focused on its independent strategy," Gates told reporters.
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ZON TV Cabo adds 13,000 clients and new channels
From Branislav Pekic in RomePortugal’s ZON Multimédia has added 13,400 new clients for its pay-TV service ZON TV Cabo in the first quarter of this year, representing a 60.3 per cent increase of net additions on the same period in 2007.
The percentage of subscribers to the digital service "Funtastic Life" rose from 20 per cent to 26 per cent of the total pay-TV client base. The number of subscribers for the Premium TV channels grew 5 per cent (6 per cent for the Sport TV1/Sport TV2 package). ARPU was E25.60, a 2.5 per cent increase on last year. The audience of cable TV channels continued to grow, from 13.2 per cent to 13.8 per cent of total TV consumption in Portugal.
The operator has just added four new channels (E! Entertainment, Boomerang, mvm and France 24) and is planning to launch the new Sport TV3 channel, "dedicated to young and female viewers", at the beginning of June. In order to compete more effectively with Portugal Telecom’s Meo triple-play service, ZON TV Cabo will introduce the Box Zon, a digital receiver capable of recording more than 100 hours of programs (compared to 60 hours for Meo).
ZON TV Cabo has 80 per cent of the Portuguese pay-TV market, with over 1,5 million clients.
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Channel 4 is said to be interested in purchasing a chunk of spectrum on the second national digital radio multiplex to use in the launch of mobile TV services. It could bid for some of the 22 per cent of the second multiplex's bandwidth that is reserved for non-radio services such as mobile TV.Such a move by Channel 4 could be lucrative for 4Digital Group, which holds the licence for the second multiplex. BT Movio, which provides technical services to mobile TV operators, used to lease capacity from Digital One at a cost of £5 million (E6.2m) per year.
It also emerged that 4Digital Group has given BSkyB until the end of June to decide whether it will participate in the multiplex. BSkyB planned to launch Sky News Radio, but in October its partner Global Radio pulled out and it has since been seeking a new commercial partner.
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Cablevision is close to an agreement to buy the Sundance Channel, jointly owned by NBC Universal, CBS, and actor Robert Redford, in a cash and stock deal valued at close to $500 million.
A purchase of Sundance will strengthen Cablevision's position in the independent-film programming arena as the cable operator already owns another film channel, IFC. At the end of 2007, IFC was available in 42 million homes compared with 28 million for Sundance, according to SNL Kagan.
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Spain's ONO and Antena 3 VOD deal
From David Del Valle in Madrid
The Spanish broadcaster Antena 3 TV and the largest cable operator in the country ONO has reached an agreement to distribute on VoD the main and most successful Antena 3's TV series through ONO's Ojo Videoclub service.
ONO's 1 million pay-TV subscribers will be able to enjoy TV series like La Familia Mata, Fisica o Quimica, El sindrome de Ulises or Los hombres de Paco, among others.
Ojo clients can select the programming they want, and in some cases watch some shows before being broadcast by the terrestrial network.
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Spain face EC punishment over TV advertising rulesThe European Commission has taken the next step in proceedings against Spain for not complying with television advertising restrictions. The infringement procedure, started in July 2007, is based on a monitoring report that found that the main TV channels in Spain, both publicly funded and commercial, failed regularly and by some margin to restrict advertising and teleshopping spots to 12 minutes per clock hour.
"Spain has not taken the measures required to ensure compliance with the European limit of 12 minutes of spots per clock hour. I am calling on the Spanish authorities to take urgent steps to come into line with the TVWF Directive. If they don’t, I will ask the Commission to refer this to the Court of Justice", said Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding.
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RTL hit by ad declinePan European broadcaster RTL, owner of Channel Five, has admitted that the TV advertising market in the UK has been tough in the first quarter of 2008, as it reported an overall drop in underlying revenue of 2.9 per cent to E1.323billion.
RTL said that its German broadcasting business had performed well, while the UK and France were responsible for the revenue dip.
However, the company, which owns more than 70 TV channels and radio stations across Europe as well as production arm Fremantle Media, said it had a "good start" to 2008, reporting a boost in profits of 8.7 per cent to E188 million for the period.
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TV and web combo ads more effectiveResearch from Thinkbox and the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) has shown that using TV and online together in advertising campaigns is significantly more effective for advertisers than using either in isolation. Their combined use produces major benefits for advertisers, including increased positive brand perception amongst consumers – some 50 per cent higher – as well as significantly greater likelihood of purchase.
Conducted by Q Media Research, the UK sample focused specifically on ‘digital consumers’; people who own a digital TV and use broadband Internet, and are medium to heavy users of each. Because the study focuses on the most ‘tech-savvy’ of the UK population – around 25 per cent of its total – the results provide an indication of how future media consumption and consumer behaviour may develop. In terms of their precise media usage, 64 per cent of the sample stated that they sometimes watch TV while using the Internet, whilst 48 per cent stated that they did this most days.
Key findings from the study revealed that using TV and online together results in 47 per cent more positivity about a brand than using either in isolation. The likelihood of buying or using a product increases by more than 50 per cent when TV and online are used together.
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IPTV underdeveloped in AustraliaThe Australian market for IPTV and Internet video is less developed than many other international markets, with fewer than five IPTV providers and fifteen Internet video providers offering full-length professional content directly to consumers, according to a report by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
Industry participants interviewed for the study believed that IPTV and Internet video will become more common in Australia in the future but there was disagreement over the actual timeframe, with estimates ranging from 18 months to three years.
Internet video providers believed that capped plans for broadband access and the cost of downloads were important barriers to take-up and deployment. Capital expenditure requirements were cited as a major barrier for potential IPTV deployments, although this may become less important with a national fibre to the node (FTTN) network rollout.
New York cracks down on piracy
New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has declared the state will ramp up its crack down on movie piracy, which estimates costs the state $2.6 billion and thousands of jobs.
Cuomhas announced the Piracy Protection Act, which would make movie piracy a misdemeanour, then a felony for a repeat offence, which means potential jail time. Cuomo said he was going to create a special deputy attorney general post, and get the Organized Crime Task Force more involved with film and other intellectual property theft. The second part, he said, would be to increase enforcement.
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Alcatel-Lucent and Quantum co-operate for DVB-SHAlcatel-Lucent and Quantum, supplier of mobile multimedia devices and software, are setting up a co-operation in the Mobile TV market. The objective is to develop terrestrial or hybrid (terrestrial and satellite) mobile broadcast solutions adhering to the new DVB-SH mobile broadcast standard. This co-operation will allow both companies to develop new mobile TV business opportunities related to mobile TV access worldwide on Portable Multimedia Players (PMP), and Automotive digital set up boxes.
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Premiere renews partnership with KDGPremiere has renewed its partnership with cable TV operator Kabel Deutschland until end-2012, guaranteeing it access to nine million homes. The German pay-TV company said in a statement it will continue to handle clients of Kabel Deutschland on its own.
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Two Way rebrands negateTwo Way TV has rebranded as Two Way Media, to reflect its status as an interactive production company focused on creating and distributing cross media TV shows and games.
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Wednesday 7th May
Zune TV downloads
Freesat launches
E95bn boost for EU if spectrum used for mobile broadband
UTECA demands new TV action plan
CMMB commercial trials in Asia
CITEL includes DVB
Viacom on song
ROK acquires Jalipo
SeaChange partners with AirTies
Granada HD for Chungwa
blinkx advanced media platform
Zune TV downloadsMicrosoft Corp’s Zune portable media device and rival to iPod, is offering TV show downloads – including content from NBC (not available on iTunes.) More than 800 TV episodes will be available at the Zune store for the equivalent of $1.99 (E1.28) in Microsoft points that must be purchased in advance.
Zune is also introducing a new technology that will let users to legally share portions of their song libraries with other Zune users. The music-sharing function for Zune underscores how Microsoft is seeking to set itself apart from Apple, which dominates the portable-music and movie-player market.
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Freesat launches
From Colin Mann in LondonThe digital satellite television service from ITV and the BBC has launched across Britain offering high definition programming and more than 80 channels for no monthly fee. Freesat, will be available in 98 per cent of households, the broadcasters also hope the addition of high definition channels on a free-to-air service will increase interest in HD programming.
"The launch of Freesat is the final piece in the digital jigsaw and will ensure that all viewers in the UK have access to free-to-air digital and high definition television," ITV Executive Chairman Michael Grade said. "Now everyone in the UK can experience the benefits of digital television: more choice of channels, interactivity and the extraordinary picture quality of HD."
"Freesat is guaranteed subscription-free," confirmed the service’s MD, Emma Scott. "It will be the first time that those people outside the Freeview coverage area will be able to receive additional channels in this way."
Set-top box prices will start from £49 (E62), with a high definition box available from £120 plus installation costs from around £80. The channels initially available will include all those from the BBC, including BBC HD, ITV, Channel 4, Al-Jazeera English and digital radio. Freesat executives anticipate this figure rising to over 200 by the end of 2008. The ITV HD channel will launch exclusively on Freesat shortly.
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E95bn boost for EU if spectrum used for mobile broadbandThe European economy would receive a financial boost of at least E95 billion over the next 20 years if one quarter of the UHF band were instead allocated for mobile broadband services, according to a study by Spectrum Value Partners.
The report - which was commissioned by Ericsson, Nokia, Orange, Telefónica and Vodafone - has made an economic analysis of the costs and benefits of allocating different quantities of UHF spectrum for mobile broadband and broadcast use throughout Europe. Although the size of the benefits differ between individual Member States, the potential E95 billion windfall to the European economy represents additional value specifically associated with the use of the UHF spectrum. It is in addition to the E2.5 trillion generated by the European mobile industry using other spectrum in the same period between 2008 and 2027.
The study also shows that, with the remainder of the band, broadcasters are expected to generate more than E750 billion for the European economy during the same period, reflecting the large individual and social benefits from terrestrial broadcasting. It assumes that all existing free-to-air analogue broadcast TV channels will continue to be provided in either HD or standard definition formats and finds that the majority of the value which could be created by broadcasters is already provided by existing analogue channels rather than by the launch of new digital-only channels.
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UTECA demands new TV action plan
From David Del Valle in MadridThe Private TV Association UTECA has urged the new Administration to implement a new action plan over the Spanish TV industry, approved by consensus with the opposition, to guarantee the "viability" of the TV sector.
The main reform, says UTECA, should be made in the public television by gradually reducing its advertising revenues to avoid unfair competition in the market (as the public TV stations are financed by a mix of ad revenues and state subsidies). "If no measures are taken, we are going to suffer from the consequences", said Alejandro Echevarria, president of UTECA. He explained that today the ad market amounts to E3.3 billion, of which E1.2 billion goes to public television (financing 37 per cent of its operation costs), giving rise to a "non-viable business model".
Echevarria also asked the Administration to ban public TV from offering pay-TV services on DTT and urged to lift the obligation of a minimum DTT coverage of up to 96 per cent, limiting it to 90 per cent and the rest being financed by Government.
He also demanded new overall TV legislation for the whole sector and urged the Government to lift the obligation to dedicate 5 per cent of TV's revenues to cinema productions.
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CMMB commercial trials in Asia
According to the State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT), mobile CMMB TV will soon be launched in commercial test networks in Beijing, Shenzhen, and Shanghai. During the testing, seven free channels (CCTV-1, CCTV-3, CCTV-Olympic Channel, CCTV-News, CCTV-Kids Channel, and the English-language CCTV-9) will be available, as well as one channel local to the region in which testing is taking place.
The first CMMB terminals will come to the market this weekend in the form of USB dongles that can be used to enable TV-watching on notebook computers. In the future, such terminals will integrate mobile file storage and other capabilities. Under the SARFT roadmap, PMPs, mobile phones, SD card dongles, and Bluetooth receiver devices for CMMB should be on the market by the time the Olympics starts this summer.
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CITEL includes DVBThe DVB Project has reported that the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL), a body of the Organisation of American States (OAS), has decided to include the standards for digital terrestrial television DVB-T (fixed reception) and DVB-H (mobile TV) as official standards within the CITEL implementation guidelines.
The CITEL Digital Terrestrial Broadcasting Implementation Guide‚ is intended to aid OAS member states planning to implement digital terrestrial television (DTT).
The incorporation of the DVB-T and DVB-H standards in the CITEL guide has been accelerated as a result of the adoption of the standards by Uruguay, a member of the OAS. Uruguay adopted the DVB-T and DVB-H standards in August 2007 and has already launched some DVB-T services, while DVB-H trials are under way.
The selection of a DTT system is now at a critical stage for a number of countries in the region, including Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela and Chile. During recent months, significant efforts have been made by the DVB community to propose DVB-T and DVB-H as the best options for the transition to DTT in Latin America. The inclusion of DVB standards in the Guide is seen as an important endorsement that supports these activities.
Many other countries in the region, including the Bahamas, Barbados, Bolivia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, and Paraguay are also addressing their requirements and making plans for the introduction of DTT services.
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Viacom on songViacom’s quarterly net profit rose 33 per cent, beating Wall Street forecasts, on strong sales of the ‘Rock Band’ video game and higher advertising revenue at MTV Networks. The company said it has seen no slowdown yet in US advertising, temporarily addressing concerns that the credit crisis will lead to an advertising recession. First-quarter profit rose to $270 million, from $203 million a year earlier.
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ROK acquires JalipoROK Entertainment has acquired 100 per cent of the issued and to be issued share capital of Jalipo for total consideration of 600,000 ordinary shares.
Jalipo Media Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Jalipo Ltd and the only operating function therein, is a UK Registered IPTV company which offers live streaming of TV content over the internet. Jalipo is the first online marketplace for TV and video, allowing content owners to use the Internet to offer their channels, video-on-demand and live events direct to viewers around the world.
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SeaChange partners with AirTiesSeaChange announced that it is partnering with AirTies, a strategic international developer of wireless networking and broadband Internet access solutions with a current installed base of 2.6 million residential gateways.
SeaChange and AirTies are partnering to deliver next generation in-home wireless distribution of high-quality video and data services. The resulting solutions will expedite the deployment of advanced IPTV services by eliminating truck rolls and quickly enabling televisions and personal computers with sophisticated, wireless data and video applications within each home.
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Granada HD for ChungwaGranada International, part of the UK’s largest commercial broadcaster ITV, has sold more than 300 hours of high definition programming to Chunghwa Telecom in Taiwan. The programming will be available through the company’s Multimedia On-Demand (MOD) IPTV-VOD service.
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blinkx advanced media platformblinkx, the world’s largest video search engine, has confirmed the availability of the blinkx advanced media platform, a video content management solution that leverages blinkx’s patented Conceptual Recognition Engine (CoRE) technology to enable media companies to unlock the potential of video assets and maximise their monetisation. From the digital domain of the Internet and content management systems, to the offline world, the media platform solves the problems inherent in video processing and delivery.
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Monday 5th May
Comcast profit, but getting tougher
ZeeVee PC to HDTV
Cabovisão to launch digital platform
iTunes movies same day as DVD
Astra bales on Entavio
Digital Plus Movil on Orange
Telcos ask TRAI to fix IPTV channel prices
Canal and TV Vlaanderen HDTV bouquet
TPSA adds IPTV subs
ITV fumes over Airey
Comcast profit, but getting tougherComcast has reported quarterly profits of $588 million excluding one-time gains, compared with $537 million last year. Last year, Comcast posted a $300 million gain from the dissolution of a cable partnership with Time Warner Cable.
Revenue was up 14 per cent to $8.39 billion in the latest quarter. Revenue rose as people spent more on cable television, which helped offset lower spending on the company's phone and Internet services. Operating income was up 23 per cent to $1.55 billion while free cash flow - an important indicator for debt-laden industries such as cable - soared by 59 per cent to $702 million. But the slowing economy seems to have exerted a drag on signing new customers: Comcast added 1.46 million lines of service in the quarter, down 20 per cent from a year ago. The number of basic subscribers fell by 57,000, versus a gain of 83,000 a year ago. Digital cable added 494,000 subscribers compared with last year's 658,000.
The company added 492,000 new high-speed Internet customers, down 16 per cent year-over-year. But its digital voice service added 639,000 new customers, up 9 per cent from last year. Its circuit-switched phone business, which Comcast is exiting, lost 110,000 customers. Customers spent an average of $63.46 for cable TV, up from $59.97 in 2007's first quarter. Cable TV revenue rose by 5 per cent to $4.71 billion. For Internet service, where Comcast faces more competition, customers spent an average of $42.18, down from $43.08. Revenue for this business rose by 12 per cent to $1.75 billion. For digital phone service, subscribers spent $40.24, down from $42.44. Revenue, however, more than doubled to $573 million as the company poached customers from phone companies.
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ZeeVee PC to HDTVStartup company ZeeVee has launched the ZvBox, a new consumer electronics product for watching any Internet TV, online video, or computer content on HDTVs at home.
Priced at $499 the ZvBox plugs into the PC VGA output and creates a channel received by the HDTVs QAM capable tuner. The OTT service can be viewed as is or a Zv remote can be used to show optional interface icons to take you straight to Hulu, Joost, Netflix, etc.
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Cabovisão to launch digital platform
From Branislav Pekic in RomePortuguese cable operator Cabovisão will launch its digital platform at the beginning of May.
The new service will permit clients to select the moment when to watch their favourite programs, higher audio and video quality as well as internet access functions and game consoles that can be accessed via the remote control. The Cabovisão Digital package will provide more than 80 TV channels for E28.99 a month.
During the promotional period, the triple-play operator will offer new clients three months free viewing of the Sport TV channel, which coincides with the Euro 2008 and Beijing Olympic Games. Those acquiring the triple-play package will get an additional E10 discount during nine months.
Portugal’s second largest cable operator, Cabovisão, is owned by Canada’s Cogeco Cable and has a total of 712,544 customers (301,660 for the basic cable service).
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iTunes movies same day as DVDApple has announced that new movie releases from major film studios and premier independent studios are now available for purchase on the iTunes Store on the same day as their DVD release. New releases and catalogue titles will be available from 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment and First Look Studios. New releases will be priced at $14.99 and most catalogue titles at $9.99.
The movie service is currently only available in the US but Apple intends to go global with the service over the coming months.
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Astra bales on EntavioSES-Astra looks certain to give up on marketing the Entavio ‘platform’ direct to the German public. Instead it will work more closely with Premiere. "The offer was not attractive enough, there is too much overlap with Premiere Star," said CFO Mark Rigolle.
The introduction of the Entavio platform has always been controversial, politicians and consumer interest groups protested the introduction of encryption to channels that had been freely available. Astra now plans to offer Entavio as a b2b proposition possibly making it a package for small operators and taking on the Kabelkiosk offer from Eutelsat.
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Digital Plus Movil on Orange
From David Del Valle in MadridSogecable is launching Digital Plus Movil, the mobile version of its digital DTH platform, to all Orange's 3G customers. The initial offer is composed of 27 TV channels from all TV genre, including, from May 8th, a specific channel dedicated to bullfighting, Canal + Eventos Movil.
Amongst the channels -many of them owned and operated by Sogecable- are Canal Plus Movil, with a selection of the best Canal Plus' in-house programmes, apart from films, TV series and exclusive concerts; Canal Plus DCine, with just released films without ad breaks; and Canal Plus Futbol, with the Italian Football League. Digital Plus Movil will also offer adult content through Taquilla X Promocional, with a selection of Playboy content and Taquilla X with parental lock. Other channels are: Jetix, Jetix Extra, Cartoon, Boomerang, CANAL+ Comedia móvil, CANAL+ Deportes móvil, 40TV, Adult Swim, 40 Latino, Cuatro, CNN, CNN+, Del 40 al 1, PRO TV, Guiñoles, TVCi, Viajar, Caracol, Caza y Pesca móvil, Ecuavisa and Méteo.
This is the second agreement with a mobile phone company to launch Digital Plus through mobile phones. A similar deal was made with Vodafone whose Digital Plus service has now around 100,000 subscribers.
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Telcos ask TRAI to fix IPTV channel pricesIndian telcos planning to offer IPTV services want telecom regulator TRAI to fix prices for channels. BSNL, MTNL, Reliance and Bharti, have all urged the telecom regulator to fix channel prices.
TRAI chairman Nripendra Misra confirmed: "Several telecom operators providing IPTV services or planning to do so have approached us on this issue. They have said that since IPTV is an addressable platform to deliver content just like DTH, we should have similar regulations here too with regard to fixing of channel prices."
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Canal and TV Vlaanderen HDTV bouquetSES Astra has launched a new High Definition (HD) bouquet on Astra targeting the Dutch and Belgian markets. CanalDigitaal and Belgian sister company, TV Vlaanderen, will broadcast their new HDTV package via the Astra satellites at the 23.5 degrees East orbital position.
With the addition of the CanalDigitaal/TV Vlaanderen High Definition offering, there are now 34 HD channels transmitted via the Astra and Sirius satellites. The initial offering includes the documentary channels, Discovery HD and National Geographic HD, as well as the Dutch-based classical music and opera channel Brava HDTV. The launch of additional HD channels is planned for the near future. Furthermore, CanalDigitaal concluded an agreement with Dutch public broadcaster, NOS, for the HD transmission of the European Soccer Championship 2008 and the Olympic Games via Astra 23.5 degrees East.
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TPSA adds IPTV subsPolish incumbent telco TPSA has reported in its Q1 results that it added 9,000 subscribers to its IPTV service during the period to reach a total of 49,000. The company also reached 405,000 Livebox subscribers and a total of 2,079,000 retail broadband subscribers. Total revenues for the period increased 2 per cent year-on-year, while net profits rose 31.5 per cent to reach PLN 681 million (E198m).
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ITV fumes over AireyITV has reportedly threatened to take legal action against departing executive Dawn Airey, who quit her job as managing director of global content to rejoin Channel Five. However, with wider business interests at stake - such as the relationship between ITV and Five's owner, RTL Group, and the key programmes the latter produces for the broadcaster such as The X Factor – the matter is unlikely to end up in court.
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