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Our Latest Issues
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Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Tuesday Friday 14th November
BT to cut 10,000 jobs but BT Vision going strong
Premiere suffers hack losses
Intelsat reports Q3 revenues up 10%
US military’s own YouTube
HDTV sets in a third of US homes
Facebook phone from 3
Nokia Siemens next-gen IPTV Solution
Sky price comparison site
Sezmi completes personal TV trials
GlobeCast named as a ‘Top Teleport Operator’
BT to cut 10,000 jobs but BT Vision going strongUK telco BT has announced it will be cutting 10,000 jobs following a gloomy Q2 report. The company said it had already cut 4,000 jobs, leaving a further 6,000 to go between now and March, adding that it was not planning any compulsory redundancies. BT said it was reducing its dependence on consultants and contractors, cutting those jobs by 12 per cent whereas direct staff numbers will come down by 4 per cent.
BT, which has a global workforce of 160,000, said it will achieve the reduction in its direct staff largely through natural turnover, pointing out that reductions in previous years have been through voluntary schemes.
The announcement came as BT reported an 11 per cent fall in second quarter pre-tax profits to £590 million (E748m). Revenues were 4 per cent higher at £5.3 billion.
Meantime, BT Vision added a further 58,000 subscribers on the quarter taking the IPTV service into a total of 340,000 households.
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Premiere suffers hack lossesThe continuing costs related to the hacking of its encryption system took Premiere to its fourth consecutive quarterly loss in the third quarter. A negative EBITDA of E27.2 million in Q3 2008 compared to the positive E22 million in the same quarter of last year.
Increased costs on transmission, hardware and sales pushed operating costs up to E271.8 million, from E225.5 million 12 months earlier, as the German pay-TV platform switched encryption to a combination of Nagra and NDS systems. Premiere recently announced that its encryption system was again fully secure.
Premiere is currently negotiating a restructure of its debt following several blows including re-stating profits after admitting its subscriber count had been inaccurate. Under Premiere’s revised subscriber accounting method, which has reduced overall subscriber levels to the benefit of average subscriber revenues, Premiere had 2.411 million subs at the end of Q3. ARPU was E23.92.
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Intelsat reports Q3 revenues up 10%Intelsat has reported revenue of $598.5 million and a net loss of $179.3 million for the three months ended September 30th, 2008. The company also reported EBITDA of $406.3 million.
"Intelsat's third quarter results showed strength and stability as we improved revenue by 10 percent, grew Adjusted EBITDA by 11 percent, and increased our contract backlog to a company-record $8.7 billion at quarter end," said Intelsat CEO Dave McGlade. "We are satisfied with our business performance. Given the uncertain economic environment, we are operating with a heightened awareness of the potential impacts to our business, and thus are carefully monitoring our key performance indicators."
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US military’s own YouTubeThe US military has launched an official video-sharing site for American forces and their families called TroopTube, built by Seattle-based startup Delve Networks. Part of the technology of this site compresses video into a package to suit the viewers' web connections, a clever solution to the bandwidth problem. It also includes a video search service, which works by transcribing the audio from each clip - which is then scanned by the Pentagon for copyright infringement, taste and any security risks.
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HDTV sets in a third of US homesConsumer research from Leichtman Research Group has found that 34 per cent of households in the US have at least one high definition television (HDTV) set – approximately double the percentage of households that had an HDTV set two years ago.
The growth of HDTV sets was largely driven by on-going consumer purchasing of TV sets coupled with a dwindling supply of lower-end non-HDTV sets being sold. Overall, 22 per cent of all households purchased a new TV set in the past 12 months, with 43 per cent of this group spending over $1,000 on a new TV.
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Facebook phone from 3Mobile phone company 3 is hoping to capitalise on the success of Facebook with the release of a new handset in time for Christmas that integrates the social networking site with all the traditional functions of a mobile phone.
The INQ1 puts users in touch with their social networking circle at the touch of a button. The phone is aimed squarely at users who find "smartphones" such as the iPhone, Blackberry Storm and G1 too expensive, but still want to use social networking, e-mail and instant messaging as well as surf the mobile web.
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Nokia Siemens next-gen IPTV Solution
Nokia Siemens Networks is putting the power of bringing advanced IPTV applications and services in the users’ hands with its latest IPTV software release, Home Entertainment Release 3.0.The new offering will allow for full User Interface (UI) customisation, flexible third party application integration and powerful management tools and verification processing. Operators can differentiate their services and overcome the constraints of proprietary vendor development timelines that is typical in today’s IPTV environment, and leverage a more open model that allows for development by the operators own staff, third party developers or a more open vendor community.
Traditional IPTV development has been a closed exercise, primarily the responsibility of vendors based on proprietary architectures. Leveraging an open model, Nokia Siemens Networks is offering an intuitive Software Development Kit (SDK) that allows for third-party customisable User Interface development on HTML and Java platforms, operators can customize and enhance their offerings themselves. Nokia Siemens Networks is decoupling the User Interface layer from the application layer by using ready-to-use building blocks like so-called Scriptables and Plug-ins, allowing for Internet Web2.0 type applications to integrate within an IPTV system quickly and cost effectively.
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Sky has become the latest entrant into the price comparison market following the launch of an online shopping service. The service, provided by Digital Window, allows visitors to compare over 3.5m products from high street retailers including Comet, Woolworths and Next. Users then go through to the retailers' sites to buy.
The move into online shopping comes as Sky launches a Christmas site, sponsored by Marks & Spencer, which includes TV listings the period, games and gift ideas. Sky recently added new sites to its portfolio including Sky Motoring, Sky Travel and Sky's entertainment portal.
Andy Jonesco, MD of Sky Online Business Unit, said, "Sky Shopping offers a fantastic online retail experience made even richer and more relevant by targeting products by site editorial. The launch of the Christmas hub also shows our agility in creating bespoke seasonal sites which can harness the rich and diverse editorial from elsewhere on the portal."
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Sezmi completes personal TV trialsSezmi Corporation, creator of the first complete personal TV system, has announced the conclusion of technical trials for its new television service, marking a significant milestone in the company's efforts to improve the way consumers experience television and Internet video.
Successful technical trials in Seattle have substantiated the seamless operability and broad scalability of Sezmi's advanced video distribution technology. The company demonstrated that its FlexCast technology combines the efficiency and scale of terrestrial digital broadcast delivery with the interactivity and access of existing broadband infrastructure.
Sezmi's transformational platform opens additional revenue streams to broadcasters. Sezmi licenses broadcasters’ spectrum to distribute, or datacast, popular television and internet video content to its subscribers.
The local Seattle broadcast partners include Fisher, Tribune, and Daystar, over whose spectrum Sezmi operates in the metropolitan area.
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GlobeCast named as a ‘Top Teleport Operator’The World Teleport Association’s 2008 ‘Top Teleport Operators’ league has been announced, and for the fourth year running, content management and delivery company GlobeCast enjoys a high ranking on both the ‘Global Top Twenty’ and ‘Independent Top Twenty’ categories.
The list, which provides a unique look into the diverse teleport sector of the global communications industry, is conducted by surveying teleport operators around the world on their facilities, services and business results. According to the World Teleport Association, these rankings provide a unique insight into the often unappreciated realities of the teleport sector.
GlobeCast came second in the ‘Independent Top Twenty’ category, which excludes operators and recognises companies based on revenue from all sources.
In addition, GlobeCast was sixth in the ‘Global Top Twenty’, which ranks companies based on revenues from all customized communications sources and includes operators of teleports, satellite fleets and fibre networks.
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Thursday 13th November
Virgin cuts 15% of workforce to fill debt gap
Spanish renew DTV campaign
Sky and Discovery go to court over ads
Anti piracy not all about enforcement
NXVision turns mobiles into remote TVs
BBC Future shuffle
Sky sells own mobile ads
Private Media Group posts Q3 losses
Motorola and BlackArrow on-demand advertising
Warner close home video in South Korea because of piracy
FastWeb expands with Eutelsat
Woolfe leaves Sky for Five
Thomson Launches New nDVR Solution
Harmonic for MTS Allstream
Orca teams with Yuxing for STB
Virgin cuts 15% of workforce to fill debt gapVirgin Media announced a programme of 2,200 job cuts, or 15 per cent of its total staff, as part of a restructuring operation. The company claimed it would improve efficiency "significantly", and that cuts would be implemented mainly between the end of 2009 and the end of 2010.
The move by Virgin, which employs 14,600 staff, is seen as necessary if it is to continue to service its recently rescheduled debt burden. It intends the move to improve cash flow by £120 million (E152m) by 2012. Neil Berkett, chief executive, said: "These changes are critical to ensuring Virgin Media is positioned to compete effectively and deliver on our customers’ changing expectations."
However it’s hard to see how cuts won’t adversely affect customer service, where cable operators have been consistently poor in the past and if there is a negative effect on churn that will hit cash flow.
The company said that it would discuss details of the job losses with its staff. They could include streamlining call centres that have until now operated separately for the different customers of the cable companies that merged to form Virgin Media, NTL and Telewest.
Last week, Virgin Media announced third-quarter results that were in line with expectations. A few days earlier, it said it had been successful in its efforts to persuade creditors to put back the due dates on amortisation payments of £4 billion (E5bn) from 2010 to 2012.
One analyst told the FT: "The fact is that they still have to find £4bn by then and, at current rates, they will be able to add £1.8 billion of cash flow to their cash pile of £500 million, leaving them £1.7 million short. These savings will go towards that. I don’t think there is anything they can do to close the gap completely but they have to do something."
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Spanish renew DTV campaign
From David Del Valle in MadridSpain is to inject another E6 million into a new media campaign during Christmas to raise public awareness of the advantages of DTT with view to the forthcoming analogue switch-off in 2010.
In 2009, the Administration will allocate a E75 million budget for the development of DTT which is currently in 8.4 million homes via all distribution platforms (DTT, cable or IPTV), representing 52 per cent of all Spanish TV households, of which 6 million, 37 per cent, get the signal only through a DTT device, according to the latest report from Impulsa TDT.
Currently, DTT pulls in an average share of 18.3 per cent, with a daily reach of 8.7 million viewers who spend an average of 104 minutes a day watching DTT, above all thematic TV channels with a share of 19 per cent.
So far, 13 million DTT devices have been sold, with new 546,000 equipments in September. Six million devices are external set-top-boxes, with sales amounting an average of 175,000 units every month. Despite increasing public awareness of the imminent analogue switch-off in 2010, analogue TV sets are still being sold representing 10.9 per cent of all sales.
According to Fenitel, the Installers Association, 61.8 per cent of all buildings in Spain have been adapted to DTT, with 479,000 still to be done. Pro DTT Association, Impulsa TDT, is urging to speed up the adaptation as the progressive analogue switch-off will affect five million people by June 30th, 2009 and 15 million by December next year.
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Sky and Discovery go to court over ads
Discovery has taken BSkyB to the High Court over a disagreement about the companies' advertising sales contract.Sky Media has sold advertising for Discovery's TV channels since 2006. The current deal expires at the end of 2009.
It is understood that the dispute centres on a clause that allows Sky Media to cap the amount of money Discovery receives when its channels' commercial impacts reach a certain level. This issue has become more pressing given that Discovery plans next year to launch its first channel on Freeview. The move is expected to significantly increase the amount of commercial impacts Discovery's portfolio attracts. However, it is understood that, under the current advertising sales contract, Discovery would struggle to reap the maximum benefit from its extra impacts.
BSkyB said: "This action is a means to resolve a disagreement over the interpretation of a contractual clause. We look forward to continuing our relationship with Discovery, which remains a valued part of Sky Media's channel portfolio."
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Anti piracy not all about enforcementDetica, the business and technology consultancy, has urged the UK Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) to shift the focus of its consultation process away from enforcement when considering legislative options for addressing illicit peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing.
Andy Frost, Director of Media at Detica, says: "While we commend BERR’s focus on upholding copyright, we believe the practicalities of enforcement will prove too costly and time-consuming for the ISPs to administer. The best solution will be one that meets the needs of the broader community of artists, consumers and labels — and the ISPs that bind them — and not one that fixates on the labels and the hardcore criminal minority that threatens them."
Detica insists that stronger collaboration between Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and the entertainment industry is the only way to make it easier for consumers to download music and films legally whilst also providing ‘fair trade’ for artists.
Frost continues: "The spirit of the BERR consultation document appears to be overly focused on protecting the interests of record labels who own the copyright material and are being threatened by an explosion in unlicensed P2P file sharing. Of course, labels have a legitimate interest in seeing the authorities resolve this issue, but the reality is that the digital marketplace is very complex. Any solution will need to encapsulate the needs of other stakeholders too, especially artists and consumers who are not necessarily able to demonstrate such a united front to the Government".
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NXVision turns mobiles into remote TVsSoftware developed by NXVision will turn mobile phones into remote TVs allowing users to view their favourite programmes live or pre-recorded anywhere in the world.
The technology will enable smart handsets to receive live broadcasts from digital satellite, cable, IPTV or Freeview TV set top boxes. The system will turn handsets into remote TV controls enabling mobile viewers to change channels or programme the STB to record a programme that can be streamed ‘live’ to their handset using NXVision Placeshifting or recorded and ‘pushed’ to their handset using NXVision Sideloading for viewing at their leisure – anytime, anywhere.
NXVision has been assisted by Wireless Innovation, in successfully testing the new product and providing essential market intelligence.
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BBC Future shuffleBBC Future Media & Technology director Erik Huggers and chief operating officer Kerstin Mogull are shuffling personell, in what looks like further multimedia integration and a response to BBC.co.uk overspending.
Anthony Rose, who was brought in from KaZaA last year as head of media technology, becomes controller of the Vision & Online Media Group.
User experience controller Richard Titus becomes controller of Audio & Music and Mobile Media, following previous mobile head's Matthew Postgate's recent departure to lead R&D. Rahul Chakkara remains FM&T's TV controller (responsible for red button interactivity) and Nic Newman remains journalism and digital distribution controller.
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Sky sells own mobile adsSky has taken control of its mobile inventory, and will sell mobile ads around its content across T-Mobile and Vodafone portals, to give advertisers a "single buying point on Sky." The pay-TV provider’s recently appointed head of mobile Tim Hussain told NMA that the deal with the two operators meant that advertisers could "buy a Sky customer wherever that customer is." Sky, which rolls out its first ads this week from advertisers Fiat and Addidas, is also trying to hash out deals with O2, Orange and Three.
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Private Media Group posts Q3 losses
Adult entertainment specialist Private Media Group has announced its results for the three months ending September 30th, 2008. It reported net sales of E4.6 million compared to net sales of E7.5 million for the three months ended September 30, 2007, a decrease of E2.9 million. "Due to the comparatively weaker dollar and the restructuring of our web sites, Internet sales decreased by E0.2 million to E1.1 million. Broadcasting sales decreased E1 million to E1.5 million as a result of the absence of sales of E1 million from a non-recurring title licensing deal for German speaking Europe in 2007" said the company.
Wireless sales decreased E0.3 million to E0.4 million in the period as a result of a reorganisation of content delivery structure. Going forward, the company has said it expects Internet, wireless and Broadcasting sales, in particular, to increase.
Motorola and BlackArrow on-demand advertisingMotorola is accelerating the delivery of personalised media experiences through a collaboration with BlackArrow, the independent provider of multiplatform ad-management systems.
The companies are working together to deliver a powerful, SCTE 130-compliant addressable advertising solution that enables advertisers and content providers to exert exacting control over ad placement and generate revenue through additional advertising opportunities. Through this integration, ads can be selected in real time by BlackArrow’s ad decision server and added dynamically to on demand content using the Motorola B1 on demand server.
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Warner close home video in South Korea because of piracyHollywood studio Warner Brothers will end its home video and DVD business in South Korea at the end of the year due to rampant piracy. The US producer of film and television entertainment will instead focus on its digital distribution 'pre-DVD' business.
It is the last remaining Hollywood company to withdraw its home entertainment business from South Korea. In October the studio announced plans to become the first in Hollywood to make movies available through video-on-demand in South Korea, two weeks before DVD releases.
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FastWeb expands with EutelsatFastWeb has signed an industrial agreement with Eutelsat Communications via its Skylogic broadband subsidiary that will allow FastWeb to extend the coverage of broadband service through satellite connections.
FastWeb's network currently reaches 50 per cent of the population. Thanks to the satellite connectivity provided by Eutelsat's Tooway service, broadband access will in the future be available to companies, local governments and homes located in areas which were previously impossible to reach. FastWeb's services will have the potential to be extended to areas where no broadband provider is present - representing approximately 6 per cent of Italian territory - thus enabling the elimination of the infrastructural digital divide.
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Woolfe leaves Sky for FiveSky1 controller Richard Woolfe is leaving to join Channel Five in a senior programming role. The new Five chief executive, Dawn Airey, has persuaded Woolfe to join the terrestrial broadcaster as channel controller. Woolfe will be in charge of commissioning, scheduling and strategy for Five's main terrestrial channel.
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Thomson Launches New nDVR SolutionThomson has launched the latest version of its SmartVision Video on Demand (VoD) server. SmartVision VoD version 6 offers both IPTV and cable operators the solution they need to maximise network digital video recording (nDVR) opportunities and thus drive new revenues.
Thomson’s SmartVision VoD 6.0 introduces a new family of streaming accelerators that double the capacity of the previous generation of VoD servers. With a total streaming capacity of up to 16 Gb/s, each video server unit is now able to record more than 200 TV channels that can be time shifted to a large number of subscribers.
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Harmonic for MTS AllstreamMTS Allstream, a wholly owned subsidiary of Manitoba Telecom Services, has selected Harmonic's MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) high definition and standard definition video processing solutions for an IPTV service expansion. The upgrade will enable MTS Allstream to deliver equivalent MPEG-2 quality at half the bandwidth and a broader HD and SD channel line-up to its customers in Manitoba, Canada, further enhancing MTS Allstream's advanced and differentiated multi-service offering.
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Orca teams with Yuxing for STBOrca Interactive has formed partnership with Chinese STB vendor, Yuxing, in developing an advanced, pre-integrated IPTV solution. Already selling, the integrated solution is based on Orca’s RiGHTv middleware, allowing the ramping up of additional services and applications according to customer requirements. The solution offers HD, MPEG-4, and CPVR, based on Orca’s SUI software development kit, the scalable middleware allows operators to tailor user interfaces and services to their specific local needs.
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Wednesday 12th November
Highfield jumps from Kangaroo to Microsoft
Dish Network sees drops
Steady growth continues in IPTV market
Online TV profits hard to get
Zon profits dip
Blockbuster VOD STB
Mediaroom-powered services surpasses 2m subs
AEPOC welcomes EU CA Directive
SIDSA and Aljazeera Sport pay-TV deal
ADB STB certifies with Minerva
Tandberg IP HD
Latens strengthens IPTV offering with Amino
Highfield jumps from Kangaroo to MicrosoftProject Kangaroo’s set back continue as CEO Ashley Highfield leaves the online venture before launch to become managing director for Microsoft UK's online operation. He will be replaced on an interim basis by Rod Henwood, the former Channel 4 business director responsible for launching 4oD, the channel's on-demand service, while a search for a replacement is conducted.
Highfield started at Project Kangaroo in July having left his BBC role as head of future media earlier in the year. Project Kangaroo was originally meant to launch later this year but has been delayed, probably until mid-2009, while the implications of the BBC, ITV, C4 venture for the UK broadband TV market are investigated by the Competition Commission.
At Microsoft, Highfield will officially take the role of managing director and vice-president of consumer and online UK.
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Dish Network sees dropsDish Network has seen its third-quarter profits shrink 54 per centand its subscriber numbers decline for the second quarter in a row. Dish, the second largest satellite operator in the US, generated $92 million profit on $2.9 billion in third-quarter sales. That compares to $199.7 million profit on $2.7 billion revenue in the third quarter of 2007.
Dish Network lost about 10,000 subscribers during the quarter ended September 30th, dropping the company to nearly 13.8 million subscribers.The company blamed much of the financial slide on much lower revenue from its securities investments.
Meanwhile, Dish Network has confirmed its’ much anticipated DTVPal DVR will be available for pre-order in the US from November 19th with sales projected to begin in mid-December. The DTVPal DVR claims to be the only digital-to-analogue converter box sold in the US that offers digital video recording functionality.
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Steady growth continues in IPTV market
Multimedia Research Group’s latest IPTV Global Forecast shows that global IPTV subscribers will grow from 20.4 million IPTV subscribers in 2008 to 89.6 million in 2012. To drive this growth, IPTV Operators worldwide are expected to continue investing in improved Quality-of-Service, ease-of-operation, HD content, exclusive programming and time-shifting as differentiating features.
In Europe, for example, steady IPTV subscriber growth continues while more HD channels are being offered to Western and Eastern European subscribers. By 2012, European subscribers will still be slightly ahead of Asia, with Europe maintaining 41.5 per cent of the worldwide subscriber market and Asia, 35.8 per cent.
By 2012 North America will have only about 17 per cent share of the total worldwide subscribers, however it will dominate the global market in terms of gross service revenue at about $13 billion, due to higher ARPU. Together, Verizon and AT&T are projected to have about 3 million subscribers by the end of 2008, and they should continue their rapid growth into 2012. Smaller U.S. and Canadian Operators are following similar strategies.
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Online TV profits hard to getDespite the popularity of online video, new research shows that European content owners are struggling to turn a profit as delivery costs in many cases exceed advertising revenues. By comparison, businesses in the US have been more successful at making money from online content, having negotiated better technology distribution deals and established more effective advertising strategies that include sponsorship and run of site, rather than the inventory based deals that prevail in Europe.
Screen Digest Head of Broadband Media Arash Amel forecasts that - despite the large audiences, online TV in the UK will represent less than 2 per cent of total TV revenues by 2012. A combination of the limited reach, underdeveloped advertising sales strategies and prohibitive costs from online video services in the UK are responsible. Amel further asserted that only 10-15 per cent of all online video consumed in the UK is actually monetisable with content from the BBC’s online services and user-generated video from YouTube combining to dominate online video consumption in the UK.
According to Amel, "The current economic model for ad-supported online video distribution in the UK is not working. Commercial UK ad-supported online video platforms are generally loss making, or providing very low profit margins, because of a failure to sell advertising effectively or syndicate their platforms. But the critical question bubbling under the surface is who will pay for the bandwidth. With data transfer costs continuing to rise in relation to falling broadband prices, and so much online video in the UK now either not directly monetisable or loss making, the online video value chain whether for video delivery or service provision will face critical challenges."
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Zon profits dipPortugal's cable TV and Internet company Zon has posted a 2 per cent drop in net profit for the January-to-September period as higher financial costs offset a rise in revenue. The country's leading cable operator said net profit slipped to E50.9 million - slightly below market consensus.
Zon said nine-month net revenue rose 8 per cent to E570.4 million. In the third quarter alone, Zon's profit fell 15 per cent to E9.7 million while revenues rose 9 per cent to E193.1 million.
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Video rental giant Blockbuster plans to rollout a consumer set-top box in time for the Christmas shopping season in the US that will deliver movies over the Internet to via its Movielink service. Blockbuster acquired Movielink, a video-on-demand service initially launched with backing from the Hollywood studios, in 2007.
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Mediaroom-powered services surpasses 2m subsSubscribers to TV services powered by the Microsoft Mediaroom IPTV and multimedia software platform have more than doubled, reaching over 2 million subscriber homes and powering services on nearly 4 million set-top boxes worldwide. In the past quarter Mediaroom customers have connected 500,000 new subscribers across the globe.
AT&T is one of Microsoft’s fastest-growing Mediaroom customers with 781,000 AT&T U-verse subscribers as of the end of the third quarter.
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AEPOC welcomes EU CA Directive
AEPOC, the European Association for the Protection of Encrypted Works and Services, officialy welcomes the European Commission’s report on Conditional Access and the CA-Directive 98/84/EC. AEPOC is particularly pleased to see that the Commission has taken up one of AEPOC’s major points: The adoption of penalties for the possession of pirate systems by private individuals. Such penalties are currently not provided for by the CA-Directive.
The Commission will now be setting up an expert group, consisting of government representatives from the 27 EU Member states, and proposes that the EU ratify the Council of Europe’s European Convention on the Legal Protection of CA-based services. The Commission criticises the slow growth of cross-border services, e.g., the enabling of viewers that live away from their country of origin to access services from their home country.
AEPOC’s suggestion is to clearly separate any issues of audio-visual piracy from this matter. Currently, Pay-TV operators distribute usually audio-visual content on a territorial or linguistic basis. However for cross border services, where there is a consumer demand, rights for specific territories can always be obtained by contractual agreement.
AEPOC President Jean Grenier commented: "AEPOC is very satisfied to see this Commission’s report on CA addressing most of AEPOC’s major concerns and suggestions for the future development and legal protection of innovative audio-visual services in a clear-cut and very focused approach. The Commission’s verdict opens up the way to discuss making the personal use of piracy tools illegal – an important deterrent for individuals to step back from piracy equipment."
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SIDSA and Aljazeera Sport pay-TV deal
SIDSA, the International DVB technology provider, has signed a 10-year contract with Aljazeera Sport to protect the broadcaster’s pay-TV content against piracy using its new-generation Conditional Access System, KeyFly 2.0 Xtreme. Aljazeera Sport has renewed its confidence in the technology of this Spanish company which, over the last three years, has been successfully protecting its content from hackers.
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ADB STB certifies with MinervaAdvanced Digital Broadcast (ADB) has announced its ADB-2500W advanced standard definition (SD) IPTV set-top box’ certification with Minerva Networks’ iTVManager 3.2 middleware platform. Consequently, the ADB-2500W is now fully supporting the entire Minerva ecosystem, which includes iTVManager versions 2.1, 3.1 and 3.2.
The ADB-2500W offers operators an MPEG-2/MPEG-4 Standard Definition product and will also support whole home DVR via DLNA. The STB is also compatible with the industry's leading conditional access/digital rights management (DRM) and VOD systems.
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Tandberg IP HDTandberg Television is continuing to deliver the HD advantage to service providers seeking to satisfy subscriber demand for HD content. The company says its enhanced iPlex high-density, multifunctional, high-performance Video Processing Platform provides even greater compression quality for the delivery of HD programming.
"We believe that HD is critical for the success and adoption of IPTV in the US and that by offering a variety of HD programming and on-demand content, service providers can remain competitive as they strive to deliver high quality, high value, personalized television services," said Ian Tapp, Senior Vice President of Business Development, at Tandberg Television.
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Latens strengthens IPTV offering with AminoLatens has announced that Amino Communications has successfully integrated the company’s software conditional access with the AmiNET530 Digital Video Recorder (DVR) set-top box. Amino Communications is a leading IPTV platform supplier, and this integration adds to the range of Amino IPTV STBs fully protected and enabled by Latens software conditional access.
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Tuesday 11th November
Sky online TV service
Reding seeks to boost mobile TV
C4 shuts red button and mobile ad depts
Spain TV bankrupt?
UEFA and Sky challenge foreign TV football
BitTorrent lay-offs
MGM movies on Youtube
blinx narrows losses
Circuit City in Chapter 11
TV search saves viewers a week a year
Foxtel IPTV coming to Oz
CloverLeaf and Accedo IPTV games for indie telcos
Sky online TV serviceBSkyB is to launch an online subscription service allowing consumers to watch channels including Sky Sports via the Internet for the first time. Mike Darcey, BSkyB chief operating officer, said the new service would be launched "in the next few months". The online channels will be made available on the Sky Player and viewers will not have to be Sky TV or Sky Broadband customers to sign up.
"Until now, Sky Player has been a 'bonus' for existing Sky customers. This will continue but in its new guise there will also be access on PC for a dedicated subscription service," Darcey told the Guardian. He said that Sky would offer its sports channels on the subscription service but that other content, such as Sky1 and movie offerings, had not been confirmed as the broadcaster had to reach deals with US content owners.
Darcey said that the experience of watching TV online had developed to a point where, for many people, the quality was now good enough to launch a broadband service. "It may not be good enough for some, but for others it is," he added.
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Reding seeks to boost mobile TVThe European Commission is set to present a new guidelines aimed at paving the way for the spread of mobile television in Europe "within a few weeks," EU Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding has said. She gave positive signals on advertising on mobile handsets, but warned of dangers regarding invasion of privacy.
Brussels pushed European industry to seize the opportunity presented last summer by the Olympic Games in China and the European Football Championships to launch new national mobile television services.
Expectations were high, because Europe's average penetration rate of mobile phones is 111 per cent and the television market grows exponentially during important sports events. Yet, the new services were not widely taken up by European users. "The industry was not ready," commented Commissioner Reding.At the moment, mobile TV services based on the Commission-backed standard DVB-H are only in place in Italy, Austria, the Netherlands and Switzerland. France and Finland are expected to be the next to launch new services.
To help the spread of mobile television across Europe, the Commission will present a communication "within a few weeks," said the commissioner. The initiative plans to give clear guidelines to the industries involved in the business, she explained. It will also try to facilitate collaboration among broadcasters and telecom operators to ease them out of the conflict that has been a feature of dialogue so far.
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C4 shuts red button and mobile ad deptsChannel 4 is to shut down its red button and mobile ad departments as part of its plans to save £100 million (E127m) over the next two years. Channel 4 will stop serving interactive TV and mobile ads from 31st December 2008.
Channel 4 has already closed 4DS, its online ad sales house, as part of its cost-cutting exercise.
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Spain TV bankrupt?
From David Del Valle in Madrid
UTECA, Spain's private TV Association, has urged the Government to take the necessary measures to revamp the TV market as "the system is heading for bankruptcy", according to Maurizio Carlotti, Vice president of Antena 3 TV, member of the Association along with Tele 5, Sogecable, Net TV and Veo TV.
He said that the proliferation of DTT channels and the "unfair competition" from public TVs (by being financed via ad revenues and state subsidies) have doubled the cost of the TV system up to E4 billion and now - due to the ad revenues fall - "we are reducing costs and that will imply a cut in quality". To tackle this gloomy outlook, UTECA has urged the Government to approve a new overall TV law that rules the whole market and asked for significant changes in the public TV model and DTT.
UTECA has proposed to reduce by half the number of DTT multiplexes awarded to the state-owned group RTVE (from 2 to 1) and to Regional TVs (from 2 or even 3 to 1) as, if not, the 45 to 54 DTT channels available in the market in the future will find it difficult to survive. It has also asked to accelerate the awarding process of the multiplexes instead of waiting until 2010, the analogue switch-off deadline, for exploiting the definitive 1 multiplex that each operator (except for RTVE with 2 now) will be able to operate. The Association is for lifting the obligation to reach a 96 per cent DTT coverage and for the financial aid from the Government to extend the DTT coverage. Today, DTT coverage reaches 89.15 per cent but only 38.8 per cent homes have access to DTT, with a penetration of 12.4 per cent. Finally, to sustain the DTT model, UTECA has claimed that pay services should be authorised as well as HDTV should be developed by private broadcasters ruling out RTVE as the main driving force behind it.
As for a new public TV model, UTECA has proposed to eliminate its ad revenues, to impose percentages on particular (Spanish or European) programming, and limit the acquisition of sports TV rights to minority sports. The Government reduced to 11 minutes per hour the ad time on public TV for this year; to 10 in 2009 and 9 in 2010, but the total elimination of ad revenues is ruled out for now. Currently one third of all ad revenues go to public TV in Spain, covering around 72 per cent of their costs. Public TV lost more than E945 million in 2007, whereas private TV made a profit of E512 million, according to a report made by Deloittes. The study reveals that public TV in Spain annually costs around E1.5 billion, E170 per home.
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UEFA and Sky challenge foreign TV footballRepresentatives from UEFA and four pay broadcasters have stood side by side in the English High Court to push for the chance to have their say in the European test case on foreign satellite football.
The Football Association, Setanta, BSkyB, Canal + and the Motion Picture Association have applied for a late intervention into the landmark case, between the Premier League and QC Leisure, in a bid to defend their commercial interests.
The case against QC Leisure will be heard in the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in conjunction with Portsmouth licensee Karen Murphy’s appeal against a conviction for screening foreign satellite football in her pub.
Mark Brealey QC, speaking on behalf of UEFA, warned that if excluded from the test case, expected to be heard next summer, the body could launch a separate case to challenge the final verdict. "The Premier League is interested in the Premier League. It can present a similar solution but it has no interest in the Champions League." He said. "If refused this intervention UEFA could bring a similar claim of its own. All that UEFA is doing [by launching the intervention] is by-passing the need to bring a separate claim raising similar issues, wasting the courts time and burdening the defendants."
The intervening parties have offered to limit their involvement to observation and a 15 minute presentation each.
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BitTorrent lay-offsAs an open-source technology protocol, the file-sharing system BitTorrent represents about half the world’s Internet traffic by some measures. But the San Francisco company, BitTorrent, is showing signs of serious trouble while it tries to commercialize the technology.
BitTorrent has informed about half its employees, or 18 people, that they were being let go, according to a person familiar with events inside the company. That is in addition to a 20 per cent staff reduction in August. In addition, a co-founder, Ashwin Navin, said yesterday that he was leaving the company, although he informed the board of directors of his exit in March.
A person with knowledge of BitTorrent’s plans also said the company would soon close its BitTorrent Entertainment Network, once conceived as a rival to iTunes. The company, with its remaining 20 employees, will focus on BitTorrent DNA, a content delivery network that helps media and video game companies distribute their products cheaply over the Internet.
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YouTube will show full-length television shows and films from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's archives in its latest step to boost advertising revenue by adding professional programing.
The new partnerships put YouTube in more direct competition with Hulu, the online video site owned by News Corp and NBC Universal. YouTube in October forged a similar partnership with CBS to run full-length archived shows, including 'Star Trek','Young and the Restless' and 'Beverly Hills 90210'.
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blinx narrows losses
Video site blinkx lost $3.26 million between April and September – down from the $12.8 million loss recorded in the same period last year, when the company was spun off from Autonomy and floated on London’s AIM market.What started as just a video search index has added a glut of products this year - a white label video gallery for publishers, a TV guide for third party online video, 3D video and BBTV - its own online streaming TV application that it converted to a web service within just a few months of launch. It has grown revenue from $2.9 million in the period last year to $6.4 million this time around.
blinkx says it now has video library from over 420 producers and claims a 681 per cent annual UK traffic increase. For all the new product releases, blinkx’s core is its AdHoc video ads platform. Chandratillake remains confident: "We have taken a conservative view of the macro situation and balanced that against the strong growth of the online video market. We therefore believe that, in spite of the current macro-economic conditions, we expect blinkx to be able to report continued strong growth in the second half and beyond."
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US electronics firm Circuit City has filed for bankruptcy protection. The retailer filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors at the US bankruptcy court in Richmond, Virginia, where it has its headquarters.
The company said it had secured $1.1 billion in loans to provide working capital while it was under Chapter 11 protection. Last week, it said it would shut 155 of its 700 stores by the end of December, cutting 17 per cent of its US workforce. Circuit City has faced particularly tough competition from Best Buy, which has increased its market share.
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TV search saves viewers a week a yearAccording to a survey of nearly 2000 UK digital TV viewers, commissioned by Microsoft-s Connected TV Business, over a quarter of digital viewers (27 per cent) still rely on flicking through all the channels to choose what to watch, wasting more than one week per year channel surfing.
On average, digital viewers in the UK spend between two and three hours each day watching TV yet typically up to a quarter of that time is actually spent deciding what to watch. This adds up to over 3.5 hours each week spent channel surfing - over seven days per year. Despite this time investment, three quarters of digital viewers (73 per cent) say they still miss programmes they would have liked to watch because they find it difficult or time consuming to find out what‚s on. A further one in eight (14 per cent) say they often stumble across a great programme or series only to find they have missed the start or earlier episodes.
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Foxtel IPTV coming to OzAustralian pay-TV operator Foxtel has confirmed it will launch an IPTV service in the first half of 2009, which will be delivered to the currently inactive Ethernet port on the back of its 'iQ2' set-top boxes. The service will be available to all subscribers, giving them access to VOD and other interactive services.
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CloverLeaf and Accedo IPTV games for indie telcosCloverLeaf Digital, a US provider of interactive television applications and services, has signed an agreement with Accedo Broadband the Sweden-based IPTV games specialist, to distribute Accedo's Funspot games to North American independent telephone companies. With this agreement, CloverLeaf will now offer two leading advanced interactive TV services - Accedo's Funspot games and CloverLeaf's own DotDaily localised news and information walled garden.
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Monday 10th November
Huggers wants iPlayer international and social networking
Virgin considers content sale
Road map for France switchover
Sirius XM outlook
Disney earnings slow
Panasonic to buy Sanyo
DirecTV 3Q earnings rise 14%
Rambler lay-offs
Mobile video infrastructure market ramps up
Numericable creates next-Gen network with Juniper
UKTV streamlines with SintecMedia
Setanta seeks UK Chief
Latens launches ECO 4.0
Huggers wants iPlayer international and social networking
BBC Digital Chief Eric Huggers has set out his priorities for the development of the BBC's digital services saying the iPlayer should be opened up internationally, that bbc.co.uk needs to introduce more social media and that the corporation is working to develop industry standards so that content can be developed more easily for a range of different devices.
"The Internet is, by definition, a global medium, yet today we are artificially blocking international access to the iPlayer. That's a problem, in my mind, and a big challenge for the industry," Huggers said. "I know that bbc.co.uk is the third biggest web property in the country, yet every time I go there I feel completely alone. Instinctively, I know there are other people on the site so the idea is connecting audiences with programming and with each other, embracing that big theme of social media."
Huggers, who was appointed to to head the BBC's digital activities in July, replacing Ashley Highfield, said that the iPlayer is in a constant software development process more like that of a technology firm, with new features and functionality added every week.
The priority is to make the iPlayer available on as many digital platforms as economically possible, said Huggers. The iPlayer service available through Virgin Media's cable service alone served 49 million videos since June.
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Virgin Media is said to be considering selling off its content division – again. According to FT, the company is considering restructuring the business to become a set of communications platforms rather than producing any content of its own.
As part of the Telewest / NTL merger that formed Virgin Media, Telewest tried to sell Flextech (the content division) after NTL refused to accept what it saw an inflated value placed on the business. There were no takers but since then content has improved with the relaunch of several channels. However clear valuation is still hobbled by the key role of the BBC in the UKTV JV channels.
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Road map for France switchoverFrance’s minister for the digital economy Eric Besson, has set out the roadmap for analogue digital switchover. The aim is to achieve switch off by the end of November 2011. The first switch-off is scheduled for November 8th, with a pilot switch off in city of Coulommiers, a town of 20,000 inhabitants south-east of Paris. The process will be completed on February 4th, 2009.
Following a second pilot, the national switch off will start on May 31st, 2009 in the city of Cherbourg. From the end of 2009, two regions, one in the west and other in eastern France, will begin.
In the west, it will take place in the regions of Brittany (3,103,000 inhabitants), Pays de Loire (3,455,000 inhabitants) and Basse Normandie (1,453,000 inhabitants). In the east, it will be in Alsace (1,829,000 inhabitants), Champagne-Ardennes (1,337,000 inhabitants), Lorraine (2,343,000 inhabitants) and Franche Comte (1,151,000 inhabitants).
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Sirius XM outlookSirius XM released guidance for the company covering the next five years, figures that included subscriber projections that were lower than estimates provided in early September. The satellite radio company provided a mixed outlook for its business, a situation it blamed on the challenging economy.
Sirius XM said it expects to end 2009 with about 20.6 million subscribers, down from a previous estimate of 21.5 million released in September. Sirius XM said current economic conditions, "particularly the dramatic and recent slowdown in auto sales, have negatively impacted subscriber growth for 2008 and 2009.
"As for a five-year outlook, Sirius XM said it expects to finish 2010 with an estimated 22.1 million customers and 28.4 million listeners in 2013. Sirius XM also said it expects 2009 revenue to total an estimated $2.7 billion, unchanged from an earlier estimate released two months ago by the satellite radio company.
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Walt Disney has reported lower-than-expected profits for the fourth quarter after feeling the effects of the economic slowdown. The firm reported net earnings of $760 million down from $870 million a year ago. Revenue grew to $9.45 billion from $8.93 billion. Disney reported a sharp drop in hotel bookings and the tougher advertising climate hit its television networks. Its fourth-quarter results were also hit by a bad debt charge, as the firm set aside cash to deal with the consequences of the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers.
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Panasonic to buy SanyoJapanese electronic rivals Panasonic and Sanyo are starting alliance talks, which could result in Panasonic taking over the smaller company.
Panasonic said it wanted to make Sanyo its subsidiary, effectively creating Japan's largest electronics maker. Sanyo has been facing problems in recent years, cutting thousands of jobs and selling unprofitable operations.
"Panasonic and Sanyo will start discussions with the aim of maximizing both companies' corporate values by pursuing synergies between both companies," Panasonic president Fumio Ohtsubo and Sanyo president Seiichiro Sano said in a statement.
This week, Sanyo reported a 67 per cent drop in its July-September profit to 4.4 billion yen ($44m,) due to a stronger yen, rising material costs and falling gadget prices.
The same factors also contributed to a drop in Panasonic profit of 16 per cent to 55.5 billion yen for the same period. The two companies have historical ties, with their founders being brothers-in-law.
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DirecTV 3Q earnings rise 14%DirecTV Group, America's largest DTH operator with over 17 million customers, has reported that Q3 earnings rose 14 per cent, fuelled by growth in subscribers, higher prices and lower capital expenses.
"We are in a tough economy and a competitive environment," Chief Executive Chase Carey said in a conference call with analysts. But business has been good so far and, "overall, the impact is marginal," he said.
The company reported net income of $363 million, or 33 cents per share, up from $319 million, or 27 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Revenue rose 15 per cent to $4.98 billion from $4.33 billion, boosted by a 49 perc ent increase in Latin America to $658 million.
It added 156,000 net new US customers in the quarter, down from 240,000 in the same quarter a year ago. In Latin America, where DirecTV has stakes in local operators, net new customer additions fell to 79,000 from 161,000.
DirecTV added fewer US customers partly because a distribution agreement with phone company AT&T ended in April. The deal will be renewed starting in February.
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Rambler lay-offsRussia’s biggest web portals with three million daily users, is to lay off half its staff according to reports from Russia. The cuts are to come from non-core brands such as Rambler Telecom, Rambler-Foto and Rambler Vision and could affect as many as 255 staff. This is fallout from the Russian FAS anti-trust authority’s decision to block Google’s bid for contextual advertising firm Begun, in which Rambler has a 50.1 per cent stake. Rambler would have received $70.1 million in cash if the deal went through.
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Mobile video infrastructure market ramps upThe market for mobile video infrastructure will experience rapid growth rates over the next several years in spite of the economy, reports In-Stat. There are many ways to deliver video content to mobile devices; some of these require mobile video-specific infrastructure, such as broadcast out-of-band video services and cellular in-band video services, the high-tech market research firm says. Others, like Internet access and digital terrestrial broadcast TV, utilise infrastructure in place for other video services.
"In spite of the present economic turmoil, consumer interest in mobile video is growing, and service providers must build infrastructure to be in position when consumer demand recovers. Europe is the largest region for transmission revenue due to the number of countries that have launched, or plan to launch, mobile-specific out-of-band broadcast networks," says Gerry Kaufhold, In-Stat analyst. "Mobile video head-ends will drive growth for encoders and transcoders to support an increasing number of video channels and display sizes. When the Mobile Internet hits its stride, we'll see online videos being repurposed for mobile devices."
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Numericable creates next-Gen network with JuniperNumericable, is deploying Juniper Networks M- and T-series routing platforms, Integrated Security Gateway (ISG) platforms and FW/VPN security appliances for its next-generation network.
This IP-based network will provide a secure and reliable platform for the converged delivery of Voice, Internet, and cable TV across a single network. Numericable is one of the first European cable operators to migrate to a high-performance, all-IP backbone network, enabling it to cost-effectively accelerate the introduction of new advanced multiplay services such as VoD, HD TV and Internet services at up to 100 MB/s.
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UKTV streamlines with SintecMediaUKTV has rolled out an integrated management system across its broadcast portfolio, resulting in company-wide benefits - including implementing its ambitious network rebrand without bringing in extra staff and freeing up time to further craft its 10 channels' schedules.
Following a development and implementation process the new broadcast management system 'OnAir' from SintecMedia replaced two business systems (BSS and PRESET) and six internally developed systems. OnAir has given UKTV the power to manage its network scheduling more effectively, while reducing duplication of information and manpower. Set to save at least 18,500 man-hours on an annual basis, OnAir is currently being used by more than 140 staff out of 190 across the UKTV business and other suppliers.
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Setanta seeks UK ChiefIrish pay-TV operator Setanta has called in headhunters to find a chief executive for its Great Britain operation following the departure of Mark O'Meara. O'Meara and commercial director Mark Mohan, who have run the GB business while being primarily based in Ireland, stepped down in September.
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Latens launches ECO 4.0Latens has confrmed the 4.0 release of Latens ECOsystem IPTV middleware. ECO 4.0 has enhanced user features and a widened scope, offering many advantages for both operator and subscriber.
ECO 4.0 is IPTV middleware secured with Latens software conditional access. Built on open standards, ECO is highly customisable, allowing telcos to adapt the platform to their unique competitive demands and to continue to innovate as their business develops. It can also be deployed as a pre-configured system, allowing operators to get to market quickly and at a lower cost.
