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Our Latest Issues
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Tuesday
Friday 7th November
Virgin reveals cost of Sky Deal
IPTV to capture 14% of all TV subs by 2013
News Corp suffers as ad revenues fall
Croatian triple-play operator B.net seeks new owner
Cablevision loses subs to FiOS
Liberty Global posts Q3 loss
UTV slams C4 radio DAB pull out
RTL holding steady
CCTV signs with GlobeCast
blinkx Partners with ExitReality
NXP and Pegatron hybrid DVB-T TV tuner card
Virgin reveals cost of Sky DealAnnouncing its quarter numbers Virgin Media revealed the cost of settling the carriage dispute with Sky. Virgin will pay Sky approximately £38 million (E48m) a year over the course of the contract to June 2011. However, Sky will pay Virgin an increased amount of £24 million a year to keep its channels (Living, Trouble and Bravo) in the Sky DTH pay bundle. The cable carriage fee is made of a £30 million guarantee plus capped performance related payments.
Meanwhile, Virgin says that one of its two Sit-up shopping channels will no longer be carried on the Freeview DTT platform from next January having been outbid in the re-advertisement of the capacity.
The cablenet added only 8,300 new customers in the quarter, but among its existing base added 68,700 new broadband customers, and the number of subs taking its top tier broadband product has grown 78 per cent year-on-year. 19 per cent of customers now take the 4Mbps broadband product and 10 per cent receive 20 Mbps. In total 3.88 million subscribers take a broadband service.
Triple play penetration reached a record 54.7 per cent, up 7.7 per cent on 12 months ago. 43,800 subscribers were added for the V+ PVR bringing the installed base to 468,700 or 14 per cent of available digital subscribers: 3,407,900 of its total 3,576,500 TV subscribers.
Total revenue in the quarter ending September 30, 2008 was £991.1 million, just ahead of Q2, but down from the £1,006.2 million of September 2007. The company attributes the fall to reduced mobile and business revenues. ARPU was stable at £41.94.
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IPTV to capture 14% of all TV subs by 2013IPTV's share of the overall pay TV subscriber base will grow from 3 per cent in 2008 to 14 per cent in 2013 at the expense of cable TV's share, which will decline from 76 per cent to 61 per cent over the same period, according to a Media Forecast service by Pyramid Research.
"IPTV operators continue to make strong strides in gaining pay TV market share," comments Ozgur Aytar, Senior Research Manager, Broadband & Media. "Pyramid Research estimates that IPTV will drive a global total of nine million net subscriber additions in 2008, 40 per cent of which will come from markets in the Asia/Pacific region."
The Forecast also reveals that, with an increasing number of telcos deploying fibre amidst an increasing need to replace their fixed telephony business, FTTx networks are expected to account for close to 30 per cent of IPTV revenues in 2013.
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News Corp suffers as ad revenues fallRupert Murdoch has drastically cut forecasts for News Corp, predicting lower ad revenue will see it suffer double-digit declines in operating income for this fiscal year, rather than the 4-6 per cent growth previously forecast.
News Corp said it expects a low to mid-teens percentage drop in operating profit from the $5.13 billion it recorded last year.Net income fell to $515million from $732million a year earlier, driven in large part by a writedown of News Corp’s stake in Premiere. The group had built a 25.1 per cent stake in the German pay-television group before it delivered a profit warning in October.
Sky Italia raised operating income from $48 million to $165 million, while gains in affiliate fees and advertising revenues lifted operating income from the cable network group that includes Fox News by 31 per cent. Revenue growth at Fox Interactive Media, which includes the MySpace social networking site, slowed to 17 per cent, against a previous forecast of 30 per cent. News Corp’s local television stations saw a steep fall in profits, as higher political advertising on Fox was not enough to offset a weaker advertising market.
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Croatian triple-play operator B.net seeks new owner
From Branislav Pekic in RomeCroatian triple-play operator B.net, owned by Austrian concern Bewag, has announced an international tender which will result with a change of ownership by the end of the year.
According to the president of the Board of B.net, Adrian Je_ina, several non-binding bids have already been received, mostly from foreign companies, with binding bids expected in December. Operations director, eljko Batisti, said that B.net invested around E10 million over the past year in improving the quality and expanding the coverage of the network infrastructure and the content/program packages. By the end of 2008, 55 per cent of B.net users will be on the digital platform, with a complete switchover from analogue to digital expected by 2011.
Since introducing fixed telephony and internet to the existing cable TV service, over the past year B.net boosted subscriber figures by 40,000 to a total of 250,000 users/households. The operator plans to add at least 30,000 net subscribers during 2009.
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Cablevision loses subs to FiOSCablevision Systems swung to a profit in the third quarter helped by additions to its Internet and phone subscribers during the period.
The company had a net profit of $27.1 million, compared with a loss of $79.3 million a year ago. Revenue grew 15.4 perc ent to $1.745 billion partly bolstered by the additions of Newsday newspaper and Sundance cable network, which it bought earlier this year.
Cablevision, which faces fierce competition from Verizon Communication’s FiOS TV digital service, lost 19,000 basic video subscribers during the quarter.
Cablevision added 58,000 digital phone subscribers and 31,600 high-speed Internet subscribers. Cablevision also added 25,000 digital video subscribers during the quarter.
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Liberty Global posts Q3 lossInternational cable operator Liberty Global has reported a 17 per cent increase in third-quarter sales. Operating cash flow, which the company considers its key operational measure, rose 27 per cent to $1.17 billion in the quarter, helped by factors including organic growth and foreign exchange movements. Revenue was $2.65 billion from $2.26 billion, and Net loss of $309 million as compared to net earnings of $40 million, as last year’s third quarter results included a gain on disposal of assets of $553 million.
President and CEO Mike Fries said, "We remain focused on driving penetration of advanced video and broadband services and on managing our cost structure and capital spending. As a result, customer ARPUs6 are up approximately 10 per cent in Europe and our penetrations and bundling ratios continue to reach new highs.
We also delivered rebased Operating Cash Flow growth of 14 per cent and free cash flow growth of 143 per cent on a year-to-date basis. Setting aside challenging competitive conditions in certain areas, we believe our results reflect the relative stability inherent in our subscription-based business, which has historically been resilient to difficult economic conditions."
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UTV slams C4 radio DAB pull outBelfast-based media group UTV, owner of TalkSport, has criticised Channel 4 for pulling out of the 4Digital consortium, saying its decision has scuppered the launch of any digital radio services for the "foreseeable future."
UTV said it was surprised by Channel 4's move to pull out of launching digital radio services on a new multiplex owned by 4Digital, in which the broadcaster was the largest shareholder, and that the decision was "unilateral".
"This decision undermined the business model upon which the consortium's application was based and, consequently, it would seem unlikely that the multiplex will launch in the foreseeable future," UTV said.
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RTL holding steadyRTL Group Q3 figures show revenue steady at E4.05 billion and EBITDA profits up slightly to E577 million.
The company said TV advertising market conditions were very mixed in the reporting period with Germany and the Netherlands reporting positive growth. Elsewhere, net TV advertising markets were down year-on-year with Spain and France reporting the most severe decline. RTL Group’s operations continued to outperform the markets in many countries, most notably in Germany and France (TV and radio).
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CCTV signs with GlobeCastChinese broadcaster CCTV has chosen GlobeCast for its distribution to the European market of its French language channel CCTV-F.
CCTV-F features news, tourism and educational programmes as well as Chinese performance art. Catering to an international audience, the programmes carry French subtitles with some news programmes hosted by French-speaking journalists.
GlobeCast receives CCTV-F’s signal at its technical operation facility in Paris, where it is encoded and multiplexed for uplink. GlobeCast is also providing monitoring services to CCTV-F. CCTV’s choice of GlobeCast is ideal, as the channel will share a neighbourhood with leading international broadcasters such as France 24, Russia Today, Al Jazeera English and NHK World TV.
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blinkx Partners with ExitRealityVideo search engine blinkx has formed a partnership with ExitReality, the company ‘that converts the Web into three dimensions.’ Users of ExitReality will now have access to millions of hours of Internet video to view and share in 3D spaces, courtesy of blinkx.
Gartner analysts have predicted that 80 per cent of all active Internet users will have a virtual-world presence by 2011, a potential not lost on either company. It has also been noted that visitors stay longer in 3D virtual worlds than on 2D Web sites, giving media companies and advertisers new opportunities to engage potential customers.
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NXP and Pegatron hybrid DVB-T TV tuner cardNXP Semiconductors, the independent semiconductor company founded by Philips, has revealed that the collaboration project with Pegatron, a design, manufacturing and service company, has achieved what they claim is the world’s first Hybrid DVB-T TV tuner card in half the size of a minicard. Additionally to the latest generation multistandard TDA18271 silicon tuner from NXP, Pegatron adopted the SAA7231NE A/V decoder that supports reception of both Analogue TV and DVB-T signals from different sources and features the lowest power consumption, which made it possible to develop the Hybrid DVB-T solution.
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Thursday 6th November
Orange UK scraps IPTV plans
ITV revenue drops, combines TV and online
FCC OKs use of white spaces
BBC tries behavioural ads
Time Warner up but forecast down
6.5m watched mobile video in August
Pace on target
Video games will outstrip TV
Eutelsat posts 7% rise
Li wants to take PCCW private
Warner Bros movie downloads in China
Pizza and movies on OZ TiVo
emuse and Deutsche Telekom launch Videoload Presenter
TV Everywhere launches VidZapper
Orange UK scraps IPTV plans
Mobile operator Orange has slowed its fixed-line broadband roll-out in Britain and scrapped plans for its IPTV service as it grapples with the most competitive market in Europe.Tom Alexander, chief executive of Orange UK, which is owned by France Telecom said the company had scaled back the broadband roll-out to focus on improving the quality of service rather than simply going for growth. It is also building out its own broadband network, rather than renting lines from BT, which will allow it to take more control and secure better profits.
He also admitted he was unhappy with the quality for the proposed IPTV service. Alexander said Orange had run a trial of the TV service in Britain following its success in France and said it had been ready to roll out. But they had decided it was too similar to a TV offering from BT, BT Vision, and wanted to rethink how the service should work both in terms of content proposition and business model.
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ITV revenue drops, combines TV and onlineITV has reported a 5 per cent decline in broadcasting revenue in the first nine months this year and expects a drop of 9 per cent in TV ad revenues in the fourth quarter as the financial downturn hits advertiser budgets.
Overall, ITV reported that total revenue to the end of September declined by 1 per cent year on year to £1.47 billion (E1.86 billion). However ITV said its share of TV advertising has increased for the first time in decades: Net advertising revenue was down 2.5 per cent to £1.04 billion in the first nine months against a total TV market down 3.2 per cent.
"In tough economic conditions, operationally we continue to perform strongly and we expect to hold our share of UK television advertising year on year for the first time in over 25 years," said Grade.
Online revenues, which contributed just £25 million in revenues in the first nine months, grew 6 per cent. And ITV announced it was dropping its separate online unit and bringing its assets under the broadcasting umbrella under the direction of ITV Director of Television, Channels and Online, Peter Fincham.
The restructure will see all of ITV’s online assets which include video streaming and ITV programming – ITV.com, ITV Local, project Kangaroo, Friends Reunited, as well as Interactive and Gaming – fully integrated with ITV’s family of broadcast channels.
ITV.com has had a record breaking month after hitting 8.3 million unique users in October and doubling its users since re-launching last year. Video views continued to grow, with over 12.5 million videos viewed in October, an increase of 550 per cent year on year.
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FCC OKs use of white spacesAs expected the FCC Federal has approved a plan to open up unused, unlicensed portions of the television airwaves known as "white spaces" to deliver wireless broadband service.
The vote by the Federal Communications Commission is a victory for public interest groups and big technology companies, including Google and Microsoft. They say white spaces have the potential to bring broadband to rural America and other underserved parts of the country.
Meanwhile, the Commission unanimously approved the combination of WiMax spectrum of Sprint Nextel and Clearwire to create a new wireless company that includes Google, Time Warner and Comcast, and that plans to create a new network that would deliver broadband and data services, saying it was unlikely to create competitive harms in any markets.
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BBC tries behavioural adsBBC Worldwide is set to trial behavioural ad targeting on international site BBC.com.Tom Bowman, BBCWW’s VP of digital ad sales, said: "We’re investigating bringing in behavioural targeting on a global basis across BBC.com. We’re talking to three or four different suppliers." Head of global ad sales Chris Dobson said that BBCWW’s UK sites could be set for the behavioural treatment too. He told NMA: "We’re testing it first. We intend to roll it out extensively across most components of the sites, including UK sites and BBC.com outside the UK."
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Time Warner up but forecast downTime Warner has announced third quarter profits which beat analyst expectations, buoyed by higher advertising revenue from its Turner cable networks and subscription revenue at its HBO networks. But it has cut its full-year profit forecast because of severance charges from its Time Inc. publishing division and the reorganisation of its New Line Cinema films unit.
The group earned $1.1 billion in net profit. This was 25 per cent higher than the 24 cents per share earned in the same period last year. Revenue was $11.7 billion, compared with expectations of $11.86 billion. AOL revenue fell 17 per cent to $1 billion, from a 26 per cent decline in subscription revenue and a 6 per cent decline in the online ad sales. It lost 634,000 dial-up Internet subscribers, ending the quarter with 7.5m US subscribers.Cable networks revenue rose 7 per cent to $2.7 billion from a 10 per cent gain in subscription revenue and a 9 per cent rise in ad revenue. Operating income before deprecation and amortisation rose 21 per cent.
Revenue at Time Warner Cable, expected to separate from the company early next year, rose 8 per cent to $4.3 billion on a 9 per cent rise in subscription revenue, 4 per cent growth in video revenue and 12 per cent rise in broadband sales. Phone services sales rose 37 per cent while ad sales rose 1 per cent.
Time Warner Cable lost 31,000 basic video subscribers, but added 124,000 digital video customers, 214,000 broadband subscribers and 200,000 residential digital phone customers.
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6.5m watched mobile video in August
comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, has reported that 6.5 million Americans tuned into mobile video in August. Among the top operators in the US, AT&T claimed the most mobile video viewers, with 4.4 per cent of subscribers accessing either programmed or on-demand mobile video.
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British digital TV set-top box maker Pace said it was on target to meet expectations for 2008, but currency fluctuations would dent profitability in 2009. Shares in the group, which supplies 17 of the top 25 global pay-TV operators including BSkyB, were up 4 per cent, as it said demand for its products was strong, and it was confident revenue growth would continue into 2009.
Chief Executive Neil Gaydon told reporters the company was benefiting from the emergence of high-definition television, as well as the switch from analogue to digital broadcasting. The pay-TV industry was not immune to the downturn, he added, but he believed people would continue to spend on home entertainment to compensate for going out less.
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Video games will outstrip TVUK sales of games will outstrip music and video for the first time in 2008, says a report from Verdict Research. A huge shift in consumer attitudes has turned video games into the UK's most popular form of entertainment, say the retail analysts. It predicts spending on games will rise by 42 per cent to £4.64 billion in 2008, with sales on music and video at £4.46 billion (E5.65 billion).
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Eutelsat posts 7% riseEutelsat, the world's third-biggest satellite operator, has reported it was shielded from the impact of the economic crisis and it confirmed its financial goals after a 7 per cent rise in fiscal first quarter sales.
Eutelsat has a market share of 13-14 per cent in the world and is leader in Europe with a share of 33 per cent. Eutelsat said its sales rose to E226.7 million in the quarter ending on September 30th , up 7.5 per cent at constant currency exchange rates compared with the same period in 2007.
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Li wants to take PCCW private
Richard Li and his Chinese state-owned partner have offered to take the tycoon’s Hong Kong telecommunications company private, in a cash deal worth US$1.9 billion. Li and China Unicom will offer minority shareholders in PCCW, HK$4.20 a share, a 53 per cent premium to PCCW’s last close – a record low of HK$2.75 – reached before they were suspended from trading on October 14th. PCCW terminated an auction on October 13, saying the bids received were not attractive enough.Li and his Singapore-listed holding company, Pacific Century Regional Developments, control 28 per cent of PCCW, while China Unicom is the company’s second-largest shareholder with a 19.9 per cent stake.
Their offer values PCCW at US$3.6 billion – a far cry from the US$28.5 billion PCCW paid to acquire Hong Kong’s telecom incumbent from Cable & Wireless eight years ago. In 2006, foreign bidders were prepared to pay about US$7 billion for PCCW’s core telecom and broadband assets before the Chinese government vetoed the sale on nationalist grounds.
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Warner Bros movie downloads in ChinaIn an attempt to make headway against rampant film piracy, Warner Bros will distribute newly released films online in China. The studio has struck a deal with Union Voole Technology in China to offer new movies, as well as those that have never been seen in Chinese theatres, at rental prices ranging from 60 cents to $1. The inexpensive video-on-demand service seeks to entice China's estimated 253 million Internet users to pay for Hollywood fare rather than download illicit copies.
The rapid growth of Internet access in China presents a way for the studios to establish a legitimate business in China, where an industry study estimated 93 per cent of the movies sold in the country are counterfeit.
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Pizza and movies on OZ TiVoAustralian TiVo users will soon be able to buy groceries, order pizza, book a table at a restaurant, check flight information and access an array of on-demand TV and movie content using little more than their television remote.
Minicola said a desire to have TiVo on the market before the Beijing Olympics, and a need to keep the proposition simple for consumers, meant it was released without many of its most desirable features. But, from November 17th, users will be offered a free movie every week until March 1st next year.
TiVo will then have an online movie store with more than 100 movies as well as a large selection of TV shows and some music content such as video clips, interviews and concerts.
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emuse and Deutsche Telekom launch Videoload Presenteremuse and Deutsche Telekom have launched the latest in a series of developments to the IPTV service T-Home Entertain. Videoload Presenter ‘Entertain Inside’ is a new 24/7 application that will offer subscribers VOD content recommendations, trailers, reviews and promos.
The service provides customers with improved user experience when browsing and purchasing VOD content, or when researching the service itself. The system also enables new marketing and promotional opportunities to increase the uptake of premium VOD content.
The Videoload Presenter ‘Entertain Inside’ was developed by emuse in the Microsoft Mediaroom environment enabling T-Home to logically group together VOD content in a number of sections. The system also facilitates full measurement whereby usage and subsequent VOD purchases can be tracked and quantified.
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TV Everywhere launches VidZapperTV Everywhere has announced the release of VidZapper, a low cost video content management system. The new service allows web video and Internet TV channel operators to combine professional, user generated and third party hosted content and will be available through a global network of resellers, who will provide support and management services for the software.
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Wednesday 5th November
Sky back on Virgin
Grade targets Kangaroo critics
Freeview campaign launch
Ariane launch decline
Facebook hits surpass BBC
China Telecom 1.5m+ IPTV subscribers
Virgin secures debt delay
Viacom profits hit by advertising
UKTV more online
MSN launches interactive drama
News Corp sells TV Puls shares
IDC and OpenSky roll out digital cinema
NDS for Tata Sky+
New Tektronix MPEG test analysers
Sky back on VirginSky Channels will return for Virgin Media customers from November 13 after the cable TV company and BSkyB reached a deal to end their 18-month split over distribution. The companies said they have agreed two new carriage deals and will drop high court proceedings against each other.
From November 13th, Sky's basic package of nine channels - which includes Sky1, Sky2, Sky3, Sky News, Sky Sports News, Sky Arts and Sky Real Lives - will return to Virgin Media's 3.6 million cable TV households. The second agreement is a new deal for Virgin Media TV's basic channels, including Living, Bravo, Trouble, Challenge and Virgin 1, to continue to run on Sky's digital satellite TV service. Both deals will run concurrently until June 12 2011.
BSkyB's basic channel package was removed from Virgin Media homes in March last year after a row over the price the cable company should pay to distribute them. Virgin Media subsequently filed high court proceedings, claiming that Sky was abusing its dominant position in the pay-TV market and had levied "onerous" rates for the carriage of the cable company's channels on its satellite TV service.
The loss of Sky1 from the Virgin Media's 3.6m households stripped away about one-third of the entertainment channel's audience. Sky Media saw about 8 per cent of the commercial advertising airtime it could offer customers disappear after Sky's channels were taken of Virgin Media's service, costing the operation about £25 million (E32m).
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Grade targets Kangaroo criticsITV executive chairman Michael Grade has hit back at critics who have suggested the proposed online TV service Kangaroo is in breach of competition rules. Briefing reporters, Grade invited critics to join the commercial broadcaster in the production of original content.
"There’s been a lot of misinformation about Kangaroo and in the normal course of events you want to get your point of view across to people who complain or raise objections," said Grade. "But for people who don’t invest a halfpenny in British content, to complain about it seems to me a bit rich, maybe they’d like to put some money in to the British production sector then maybe they can have a say. But to expect us to make all the investment, take all the risks, and then hand it all over to them, why should we?"
Kangaroo, backed by ITV, BBC and Channel 4 will be largely ad-supported and include catch-up TV, archive material and movies, all delivered from a single portal. Its proposals are currently before the Competition Commission with a decision expected in February. Criticism has mostly come from VOD providers including Virgin Media, BT and Tiscali.
Grade said that there was no reason ITV should give its content away to third parties. "We live in a dream world in this country, where you can win through regulation and politics what you can’t win commercially."
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Freeview campaign launchFreeview is launching its first national TV campaign to promote the Freeview+ personal video recorder. The campaign features well-known TV personalities including Gordon Ramsey. Freeview is emphasising the lack of subscription for its PVR product, comparing it with the subscription-based alternatives. Although Virgin Media still charges a monthly £5 fee (E6.3) for its V+ PVR, Sky has dropped additional fees, though viewers still require a Sky subscription in the first instance.
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Ariane launch declineLower consumer demand for luxury telecoms services will force service providers to launch fewer and smaller satellites, according to the chief executive of Arianespace, the world’s leading satellite launcher.
Jean-Yves Le Gall said he expected between 15 and 20 launches of satellites worldwide next year, down from as many as 25 this year. He said orders would also drop next year, even though existing orders were unlikely to be cancelled since about 80 per cent of the financing for satellite projects is normally secured at least a year before launch.Le Gall said his European satellite launching consortium was still on track for 35 launches in the coming three years, 25 of them using Ariane rockets and 10 using Russian-built Soyuz rockets, following an agreement struck in September with Roskosmos, the Russian space agency.
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Facebook overtook the BBC's network of websites in September to become the UK's fifth most popular online destination, according to figures from web measurement firm comScore.
The social networking site saw its UK traffic rise 80 per cent from September last year to 18.4 million unique users the month before last. Traffic to the BBC's websites, including news, sport and its programming sites, fell slightly by 2.7 per cent year on year to 18.2 million unique users, according to comScore's figures.
The two sites still trail Yahoo, Microsoft and eBay as the most visited in the UK but Google, whose network includes YouTube, still claimed the top spot with 31.8 million unique users during September.
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China Telecom 1.5m+ IPTV subscribersChina Telecom surpassed 1.5 million IPTV subscribers by the end of the third quarter of this year, according to Interfax China, compared to 940,000 subscribers reported in May of this year.
The service is provided in co-operation with Shanghai Media Group and has been available in major cities across China since 2005, offering broadcast and on-demand content.
China Telecom expects to reach 2 million customers by the end of this year.
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Virgin secures debt delayVirgin Media cable television group has won approval from its lenders to delay large repayments on its £4.3 billion (E5.4 billion) debt pile. The new debt schedule delays £2 billion of repayments due between now and 2012, and eases the pressure on the group amid the global economic slowdown.
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Viacom profits hit by advertisingViacom’s third-quarter profit fell 37 per cent, hurt by lower global and domestic advertising. The weaker global advertising market led to a worldwide 2 per cent decrease to $1.16 billion in advertising revenue.
"We have had to adjust to the realities of a serious economic downturn," said Philippe Dauman, chief executive of Viacom.
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UKTV more onlineThe Virgin Media TV and BBC Worldwide-owned broadcaster is substantially increasing the amount of video content if offers online as part of the relaunch of its portfolio that last month saw the debut of new TV channel, Watch.
UKTV is investing in short-form video content for all new commissions, such as its comedy panel show, Argumental, on Dave. The majority of this new content will be exclusive to the web.
However, UKTV has no plans to completely replicate the content on its broadcast channels online. Instead, its online video presence will consist of so-called "short-form" clips and additional content around its TV shows. The short-form online video content will only relate to shows commissioned by UKTV and not to BBC-owned content, as the corporation retains online rights to its own shows.
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MSN launches interactive drama
MSN has launched an interactive online drama, partnering with Big Brother producer Endemol on an exclusive five-week science fiction series that claims to be the next generation in online TV.
The storyline is woven into MSN's interactive tools, including the social networking site Spaces, its instant messenger tool Live Search, and features developed using the development platform Silverlight. Visitors to MSN's site need to download Silverlight to watch the drama.
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News Corp sells TV Puls shares
News Corp has reached a deal to sell its 35 per cent share of Polish broadcaster TV Puls. News Corp. sold its stake to the remaining shareholders of the company for an undisclosed sum.
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IDC and OpenSky roll out digital cinema
International Datacasting Corporation (IDC), provider of advanced solutions for the distribution of broadband multimedia content via satellite, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), with OpenSky, based in Italy, for the provision of IDC's broadband satellite technology for the rollout of a new digital cinema distribution network in Europe. The MOU has been consummated with an initial order of uplink broadcast equipment and an initial deployment of IDC's satellite receivers to multiple theatres across Italy.
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NDS for Tata Sky+Indian Satellite TV provider Tata Sky has selected the XTV DVR solution from NDS for its Tata Sky+, its new-age service which offers full Personal Video Recorder functionality. According to NDS, Tata Sky+ will enable viewers to record live TV, play back, pause and rewind live broadcasts, and allows to store up to 45 hours of programming.
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New Tektronix MPEG test analysersTektronix has announced two new models in the MTS400 MPEG Analyser Series. The midrange MTS415 and the portable, entry-level MTS400P models provide first line diagnostics with integrated cross layer fault analysis and error logging. Additionally, the company announced an enhancement to the MTS430 and new Tclips test streams. The analyxers add to the portfolio of video test equipment and solutions from Tektronix with a wide range of supported DTV and IP Video related standards including MPEG, DVB, ATSC, ISDB-T, ISDB-TB, IPv4 and IPv6. The new additions advance the development and deployment of next generation DTV and IP Video networks and services.
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Tuesday 4th November
TV and Internet use overlap
Sky closes in on Tiscali
MTV uploads for MySpace
Portugal launches 5th TV channel tender
Sky £15m ad spend for Xmas
Oz pay-TV cries foul over switchover
Split screen choice
Orca joins with BCC in Russia
Vecima invests in Redline
Nearly a third of all US household Internet activity takes place while the user watches television, suggesting new and old media often share rather than compete for attention, the Nielsen Company reports.
In fact, the study found that heavy Internet users are among the most dedicated of TV viewers, spending more than 250 minutes a day in front of the TV, compared with the 220 minutes of television watched by people who never go online.
The findings would appear to be good news for broadcasters who worry the Internet is siphoning away viewers, and with them advertising dollars. It also helps explain the apparent paradox between rising TV viewership overall and the growing popularity of new media.
"TV usage is at an all-time high, and yet there's a lot more people using the Internet, and where does the time go, and part of the answer is that it's happening simultaneously," Nielsen’s Gary Holmes said.
The report, the first of its kind by Nielsen's media measuring service, was based on a sample of 3,000 people in more than 1,000 households during the month of May.
Average TV viewership still dwarfs online activity in the home - 127 hours vs. 26 hours per month among those who use the Internet, with video streaming on the Web accounting for just two hours and 19 minutes.
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Sky is reportedly in exclusive talks to acquire Tiscali’s UK business. Sky has tabled an offer of £450 million (E571m) for the UK business after last rival Carphone Warehouse pulled out of the auction.
The acquisition would be a major boost to Sky’s broadband services, making it the third largest provider after BT and Virgin Media. The British operations of Italian telecoms company Tiscali have been up for sale since a strategic review of the company in February.
The auction, which began in April, has been delayed by disagreements over Tiscali’s valuation and other bidders, reportedly BT and Vodafone, have pulled out of the drawn-out process.
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MTV uploads for MySpaceMySpace US users can now upload MTV Networks videos without fear of having them taken down. News Corp’s MySpace social network has signed a deal with Viacom’s MTV Networks and online video technology company Auditude to allow the automatic identifying of online video clips uploaded by its hundreds of millions of users. Auditude’s system will also let content owners automatically to attach relevant online advertisements to these clips, making the profiting from user-uploaded videos much less complicated.
An internal study conducted by Auditude, which is also working with Time Warner’s Warner Bros, showed viewers had uploaded 20 times the number of video clips compared with those uploaded by content owners, while viewership of those clips uploaded by viewers were six times higher than the same clips uploaded by content owners.
"There was a disconnect between what audiences were doing and what content owners were doing," Adam Cahan, chief executive of Auditude, told the Financial Times. "What we wanted to do was include what users were doing and bring them into the process and turn what they’re doing into a form of syndication."Viacom is suing YouTube for $1 billion because it doesn’t prevent users uploading unauthorised clips. YouTube says it takes down clips when content owners complain and this complies with current law.
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Portugal launches 5th TV channel tender
From Branislav Pekic in RomeThe Portuguese Government has announced a tender that will award a license to a new free-to-air TV channel, which will be distributed exclusively by digital terrestrial television.
Interested parties will have until 21 January 2009 to submit their bids to the country’s media sector regulator, the Regulating Body for Social Communications (ERC). According to the timetable established by the Government, ERC’s final decision must be made by mid-April 2009.
During the evaluation of the bids, the ERC will award 50 per cent of the points for the quality of the programming and guarantees of pluralism; 30 per cent for the diversity of the programme offer; 10 per cent for the amount of European and Portuguese language programmes; and 10 per cent for the fullfilment of the TV law and human resources.
Companies that have so far expressed interest in taking part on the tender include Zon Multimédia (owner of pay-TV operator TV Cabo), and publishers Cofina and Controlinveste (owner of the Sport TV pay-TV channels), which are studying the possibility of forming a single consortium.
The license for the 5th TV channel will be awarded for 15 years and can be renewed. The winner on the tender will have to start broadcasts by April 2010.
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Sky £15m ad spend for XmasBSkyB is to launch a Christmas advertising campaign worth as much as £15 million (E19m).
The satellite broadcaster, which unveiled better-than-expected subscriber and revenue numbers in its results for the three months to the end of September, is launching the media blitz with the tagline "Come home to Christmas with Sky". The TV ad, created in-house by Sky focuses on the range of movies the satellite company offers.The TV campaign will be supported by online, direct marketing, print and outdoor advertising.
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Oz pay-TV cries foul over switchoverRelations between pay television and the free-to-air networks in Australia are heading for a new low, with a dispute brewing over the government's planned switch-off of analogue TV services by 2013.
Austar chief executive John Porter said that pay TV had been all but excluded from the planning and marketing of the switch to digital technology after pressure on the government from the free-to-air networks. "How can you have a digital migration strategy without including pay TV?" he asked at a luncheon in Sydney. "We have millions and millions of capital invested in regional Australia. We have a lot to offer if we were only invited to the table."
Australian Communications and Media Authority data showed that only 42 per cent of households were watching digital TV, but that figure jumped to 54 per cent if pay-TV viewers were included, Porter said.
Austar is in talks with the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, seeking to get more involved, fearing the marketing could otherwise lead consumers to buy digital set-top boxes and other devices to watch the new commercial multichannels, without making clear they could also receive digital services through pay-TV platforms.
The issue is particularly pressing for the regional pay-TV provider as the analogue switch-off will start in regional Australia in 2010 before moving to the cities.
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Can’t decide to what to watch? Now you can watch two programmes simultaneously. Texas Instruments, the maker of the DLP Cinema chip, is developing technology that might fix the problem.
The company outlined some of its early developments that use 3-D technology for home entertainment at the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers Technical Conference and Exhibition. One development, which TI expects to begin to preview at year's end, is processing technology that if incorporated in a third-party home entertainment system could allow for 2-D, 3-D or "dual view mode" on the same TV. Dual view mode, similar to 3-D, combines two images, but they are different images.
Tim Simerly, video systems architect at TI, said that each viewer would wear different glasses - one exposing only programme "A" and one allowing the viewing of only programme "B." At least one viewer would need to wear a headset in order to get the correct audio.
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Orca Interactive and BCC Company, a leading systems integrator in Russia, have joined forces to deliver a wholesale IPTV solution across Russia. The highly customisable solution is already deployed by the Russian regional incumbent operators North-West Telecom, Sibir Telecom and Southern Telecommunications Company, and Orca and BCC plan to continue marketing the new offering throughout Russia, thus opening up currently localised IPTV services to the masses. The move also marks Orca’s entrance into the Russian wholesale market, representing a new revenue driver for the middleware company.
The joint wholesale solution enables operators to generate new revenues by providing unique broadband access and TV services to their subscribers under their own brand. (to other, local operators and service providers in Russia, who subsequently deliver these services). Each regional operator's service leverages TV channels, on-demand content, authentication and reporting that are sourced by a super-headend based in Moscow.
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Vecima invests in Redline
Vecima Networks a provider of equipment supporting broadband access to cable, wireless and telephony networks, announced it has acquired common shares of Redline Communication Group, bringing Vecima to 11.37 per cent of Redline.The shares were acquired for investment purposes. Vecima believes its investment in Redline will ultimately pay off as the financial markets stabilise and technology roadmaps become clear. Vecima, which is acting alone in its investment acquisition, may increase its investment to less than 20 per cent of Redline's common shares.
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Monday 3rd November
BSkyB posts 25% profit rise
Kangaroo: "We won’t pose a threat"
BSkyB won’t have to sell all ITV stake
BT shares plunge on profit warning
Orange drops Phorm
Rising DVR use will hit DVDs, not TV
Google commission for video ads
DRDB expands role and team
NBC Universal mobile portal in Japan
ADB to supply DVB-T DVRs to Grundig
POP movie vending machines
Entone selected by ITC
BSkyB posts 25% profit riseBSkyB has answered recent downbeat analysis with a better than expected 25 per cent increase in first quarter profits and the addition of 87,000 new customers, which takes the broadcaster past the nine million mark for the first time.
Chief executive, Jeremy Darroch, said the business, which now has 9.067 million subscribers, had its best first quarter performance in terms of customer numbers for five years.
Sky has seen some of its users trade down from its more expensive television packages as the credit crunch bites. However, Darroch added that this has been offset by Sky's success in persuading customers to take more than one of its three services - TV, broadband and home telephony. At present just 12 per cent of Sky's customer base is signed up to its triple-play offer.
"We are not complacent, I don't think that any consumer business is going to be entirely immune to a sustained downturn. That said, we are relatively well positioned as a business," he said.
In the three months to end September, Sky increased operating profits by 25 per cent to £179 million (E227m) as revenues increased 5 per cent to £1.25 billion. Analysts had been expecting profits of about £176 million and forecasting 68,000 new customers.
Darroch said the company is still "on schedule" to have 10 million customers by the end of the decade.
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Kangaroo: "We won’t pose a threat"Project Kangaroo, the joint venture between ITV, Channel 4 and BBC Worldwide to provide an online video on-demand service, will not pose a threat to competition, the project has said in its submission to the Competition Commission’s inquiry.
In 73 page rebuttal of competitors claims, Kangaroo insists it will not reduce competition in the nascent market for online video. Most of Kangaroo’s content will be free to view and supported by advertising, which it hopes will deflect criticism that its dominance could affect pricing. Its members will compete with each other to sell advertising against their own content, and also compete to acquire online rights from production companies.
Kangaroo hopes this will deflect calls from Pact, the association of independent producers, to open its entire library to rival services. The submission also forecast that more than 90 per cent of content that can be paid for to own, as opposed to viewed online for free, will be available elsewhere.
The shareholders emphasise that their share of viewing in traditional television "is no guide to their positions in (VOD) markets, because of competition from the likes of Microsoft, Apple, Lovefilm, Virgin Media and Sky". It said many of these services could be subsidised and offered free to consumers as add-ons to more profitable bundles, whereas Kangaroo had to stand alone.
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BSkyB won’t have to sell all ITV stakeVirgin Media has had a competition tribunal appeal rejected that, if upheld, could have resulted in rival pay-TV broadcaster BSkyB being forced to sell its entire 17.9 per cent stake in ITV.
Last month Virgin Media lodged an appeal arguing that the Competition Commission failed to properly consider special rules governing the plurality of media ownership in the UK when reaching its decision to force Sky to sell down its stake in ITV to less than 7.5 per cent. The Competition Appeal Tribunal has turned down the appeal to have the plurality issue re-examined, which could theoretically have resulted in Sky being forced to sell its whole ITV stake.
"We are of the view that for the tribunal to remit the plurality issue to the Commission and the secretary of state would serve no useful purpose as, whatever their findings on that issue, there is no realistic prospect that an additional or different remedy would be recommended or imposed."
Virgin Media has one month to lodge an appeal over the CAT decision.
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BT shares plunge on profit warningShares in BT have plunged by 25 per cent to their lowest-ever level after it shocked the City with a profits warning. Shares sank below the price they floated at in 1984 after the telco admitted in an unscheduled trading update that earnings at its Global Services arm will be much lower than expected. The shortfall means the group will fail to match last year's profits. It blamed rapid expansion at the division, which provides IT and outsourcing services to firms around the world.
BT chief executive, Ian Livingstone, said the performance at Global Services was "particularly disappointing", and the management is being changed. "We remain committed to providing world class networked IT services to our customers. We now need to focus on improving the operational efficiency of this business to drive shareholder value," said Livingstone.
The financial hit means that BT will not achieve its target of growing earnings, on an EBITDA basis, this financial year.
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Behavioural ad targeting network Phorm has lost another likely client - Orange has decided against it on privacy grounds. Orange’s online ads SVP Paul-François Fournier said: "Privacy is in our DNA, so we need to be honest and clear about what we are doing. We have decided not to be in Phorm because of that. The way it was proposed, the privacy issue was too strong."
Guardian News & Media had earlier considered adopting Phorm, too, but backed down over fears the privacy aspect didn’t sit well with its brand image.
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Rising DVR use will hit DVDs, not TVThe rising popularity of digital video recorders seemed to spell doom for prime-time TV because the technology lets viewers skip ads, but a study has shown DVRs are probably replacing DVD viewing, not TV.
More than 90 per cent of people surveyed in May by Knowledge Networks Inc., a market research firm, said they typically watch TV during the prime-time hours of 8 p.m. to midnight, a rate similar to what the company found four years ago. But 19 per cent of respondents now have DVRs, five times the proportion in 2004.
"Increased DVR usage seems to come at the expense of watching purchased video," said David Tice, director of The Home Technology Monitor at Knowledge Networks, who noted that DVD sales have been falling for several years. Tice says viewers are not as tied to broadcast programmes or schedules as before. People want to be entertained, usually having just had dinner and before going to bed, and if they can't find anything on TV, they'll watch video on their DVRs and from other sources.
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Google commission for video ads
Google is to introduce agency commission for video advertising to encourage increased investment and progress within the sector. The company says it will launch an "incentivisation programme" to show Google's commitment in developing video advertising opportunities across its network, including YouTube.
Jonathan Gillespie, Google head of media solutions and YouTube in the UK, said, "We believe that online video specifically is going to be the next stage of evolution in the display marketplace."
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The DRDB (Digital Radio Development Bureau), is to become the central consumer marketing point for digital radio, taking on the role previously handled by individual multiplex operators. Digital stations will continue to be marketed by broadcasters, while the DRDB focuses on promoting the digital radio proposition to consumers. The DRDB’s new role will also include the evolution of the technical platform, new sector development, including in car, and digital radio strategy working with shareholders, Ofcom and Government.
To support this new role, the DRDB has confirmed the appointment of Diane Wray, to the role of Director of Marketing with immediate effect. Wray comes to the digital radio trade body from MXR, operator of the regional DAB multiplex network where she has spent seven years successfully leveraging the company’s portfolio of DAB radio stations across all consumer media.
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NBC Universal mobile portal in JapanNBC Universal has launched its new mobile portal in Japan to coincide with the theatrical run, in Japan, of the blockbuster movie ‘Wanted’. It is set to offer downloadable content and services to mobile customers via a number of operators, including NTT Docomo, KDDI-au and SoftBank Mobile.
NBC Universal will distribute and market its content and services under the ‘Universal Mobile’ brand. The service will allow access to content from a number of NBC Universal film and TV properties.
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ADB to supply DVB-T DVRs to GrundigAdvanced Digital Broadcast (ADB) has confirmed it will supply its latest DVB-T digital video recorder platform for the Norwegian market under its agreement with Grundig. The DTR 8860 VOD is the first-to-market to fully support RiksTV’s push-VOD service, which is using the pVOD solution from Osmosys. RiksTV plans to launch its new push-VOD service in early 2009. Those DVR’s already in customer homes by then will be upgraded via a software download. All products shipped in 2009 will come fully integrated with the push-VOD applications.
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POP movie vending machinesPOP, a vending machine for the 21st Century, allows customers to purchase the latest DVD or Blu-ray releases, buy games, watch movie trailers, read reviews, or check the POP charts. Using an interactive touch screen, customers simply select the DVD, Blu-ray or game they wish to buy, swipe their credit or debit card and their product pops‚ out.
POP has been in development for several years and is the first of its kind in the UK to offer customers a total entertainment retail solution for DVDs to own, through vending. The technology and interface used is bespoke to POP.
POP portals will be located in popular entertainment destinations, such as cinemas and gyms, and POP plan to also locate machines in shopping centres, universities, department stores, train stations and airports and also entertainment venues.
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Entone, the IPTV connected home company, has revealed that its Hydra IP video gateway has been chosen by Interstate Telecommunications Cooperative (ITC) for their IPTV rollout.
ITC provides local telephone, digital television and broadband services to subscribers in South Dakota and Minnesota.
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