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Tuesday
Friday 24th October
BSkyB faces ‘a perfect storm’
Mediaset to launch IPTV pay-TV service
NDS profit slump
Darty to launch virtual fibre HD service
US cable will lose unhappy subs
Gates backs white spaces agenda
Freesat+ PVRs in November
CHT reduces IPTV target
Digialist Integrates against pirates
Hautefort appointed President of Pace France
Canada BroadbandTV ‘tops’ YouTube
BSkyB faces "a perfect storm"BskyB is facing a "perfect storm" according to a melodramatic note from broker Collins Stewart on the day Sky shares plumbed a three-year low. The on-coming recession, threats from changing technology and tighter regulation threaten to demolish its core business model, says the broker. It warns Sky risks missing its target of 10 million pay TV subscribers by 2010.
The report said subscriber growth would stall, leaving BSkyB 600,000 customers short of its 10 million target by the end of 2010. "We believe BSkyB faces greater threats to its business model than ever before," said the report. "Recession, technology shift and regulation could together combine to make the perfect storm."
If consumers do cut back on subscriptions then BSkyB's average revenue per user will fall, meaning profits could tumble. Others argue TV subs are prone to be counter-cyclical in recession.
Collins Stewart lists among Sky’s other woes the threat of regulation forcing it share more TV rights, relative underperformance in its broadband product, and internet VOD. It says 20m UK homes will have access to internet VOD in three years and it agrees with Continental’s prediction (See: ATV news 23.10.08) that at least 13 per cent of TV subscribers will desert to Internet VOD.
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Mediaset to launch IPTV pay-TV service
From Branislav Pekic in RomeItalian broadcaster Mediaset plans to launch its pay-TV service, Premium Gallery, currently available exclusively on DTT, on Telecom Italia’s IPTV platform Alice Home TV.
Speaking during a Parliamentary enquiry, Mediaset president, Fedele Confalonieri, announced that the pay-TV channels Joi, Mya and Steel will be available on Alice Home TV from January-February 2009, together with two VOD services: one with content from the Mediaset library and a second with hit movies and TV series from Warner and Universal including "Dr House", "Life", "Monk" and "Nip/Tuck" "Lipstick Jungle", "The Closer", "Gossip Girl" and "Men in Trees".
Confalonieri said that currently 50 per cent of Italian families have at least one digital TV platform (satellite, DTT and IPTV); 8 million households have a satellite dish, out of which 4.55 million subscribe to Sky Italia; 7 million families have DTT (30 per cent) equal to around 16,6 million individuals; 360.000 families have IPTV (1.5 per cent) which equals to around 850,000 individuals. He added that an estimated 1,5 million new Italian families will be equipped to receive digital terrestrial over the next 12 months.
On September 30, Mediaset Premium had a total of 2,233,732 active smart-cards in pre-paid mode, 5,486,367 activated top-ups (January-September 2008), 228,262 active smart-cards in easy pay mode. Overall net revenues from pay-TV services on September 30 amounted to E365.5 million.
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CA technology company NDS has reported a drop in revenue and net profit for its fiscal first quarter. Revenue for the quarter fell 11 per cent to $182.2 million, from $204.8 million in the corresponding quarter. Revenue from conditional access fell 19 per cent, and revenue from integration, development and support services increased by 4 per cent.
The company attributed some of the revenue decline to a trend among some of its customers to recycle the set-top boxes and smart cards when a customer leaves, and reusing the box and smart card for new customers. This practice reduced the demand for new NDS smart cards.
NDS recorded increased revenue from IPTV customers, and from gaming applications and residential gateway devices. Net profit fell to $13.38 million a drop of 71 per cent from 46.29 million in the corresponding quarter. The company claimed that currency fluctuations increased revenue by about $1 million, while cutting its operating profit by about $8.1 million for the quarter.
NDS chairman and CEO Dr. Abe Peled said: "NDS's results this quarter reflect lower revenues from several large customers whose CA contracts have been renewed with certain volume discounts and new pricing to reflect different smart card change-over policies, as well as smart card recycling by certain customers. This is in line with our guidance for fiscal 2009. In addition, our results have been impacted by unusually large currency fluctuations during the period. At this point, the worldwide economic uncertainty has not been reflected in our operational results or outlook; however, we remain cautious and are monitoring the field results closely."
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Darty to launch virtual fibre HD service
From Sotires Eleftheriou in ParisFrench retail chain Darty (owned by the UK Kesa Electricals group) is to launch an ultra high speed (100 Mb/s) service on November 4th, using Completel-Numericable’s optical fibre and cable network.
Completel-Numericable had already announced in September that it was going to make its network available to other operators. Darty has been operating a triple play ADSL service for two years using Completel (now merged with Numericable) ADSL network, for which it has 150,000 subscribers. The new high speed service has a potential reach of 8 million homes – 2.7 million homes are already passed by fibre, to reach 4 million by the end of the year, plus 4 million cable. The cost will be E30 per month, plus E5 for the HD TV decoder and E3 for the modem. A PVR with 160 GB hard disc will be available as an option for E5 a month. The service includes VOIP with unlimited calls to landlines in 44 countries and 60 SD TV s (with another 40 channels optional) and 15 (20 in 2009) HD TV channels.
Darty intends to use its reputation in brown goods for its quality of service as its main marketing point, as well as its strong presence in the high street. Its 8 point charter includes a 24/7 hotline and free home installation and maintenance. Darty’s target is to reach the breakeven point, 300,000 subscribers, before April 2010.
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US cable will lose unhappy subs
US cable TV could see a mass migration away from its services, according to a report by Parks Associates, if providers do not improve their consistently low satisfaction ratings among subscribers.
The report reveals that subscribers to satellite television and telco/IPTV are significantly more likely to be satisfied with their services than both basic and digital cable subscribers. These market conditions leave cable carriers vulnerable to subscriber churn, and the survey recommends they quickly enhance advanced services like video-on-demand to reverse this trend.
"Cable subscribers are generally less satisfied, which creates opportunities for satellite and telco/IPTV providers to grab customers," said Kurt Scherf, vice president, principal analyst, Parks Associates. "Although cable operators have improved service efforts, cable operators will still haemorrhage subscribers unless they are perceived as offering leading-edge features at equal or better value. In today’s economic climate, carriers cannot afford to ignore these findings."
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Gates backs white spaces agendaFCC Chairman Kevin Martin has stated that Microsoft founder Bill Gates has signalled his approval of the FCC white spaces agenda as the Commission moves to approve allowing devices to use the spaces and disappoint broadcasters who have warned of signal interference. According to the FCC, Gates praised the FCC's recent conclusion that laptops and other devices can be allowed to share the so-called "white spaces" between TV channels.
"Mr. Gates observed that adopting the flexible operating rules advocated by the White Spaces Coalition (of which Microsoft is a member) is essential in enabling white space devices that will provide affordable broadband opportunities and create new markets for innovative applications and services, Mr. Gates also emphasised the need to conclude this proceeding on November 4th to allow companies to begin the process of bringing the benefits of white spaces to consumers."
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Freesat+ PVRs in NovemberThe first PVR to carry the Freesat+ brand will go on general sale in the UK next month. The Foxsat-HDR has a 320GB hard drive that can store up to 80 hours of HD programming, or up to 200 hours of standard definition shows, while the eight day on-screen electronic programme guide claims to make it easy to scan the Freesat TV schedule and plan your viewing. The twin tuners means you can record two Freesat channels at the same time, while there's also series recording, radio recording, schedule tracking, split recording and the ability to "live pause" with instant rewind.
Taiwan carrier Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) has further reduced the target number of its MOD (multimedia on demand) based IPTV subscribers for the end of 2008 from 800,000 to 700,000. In July, CHT lowered the target number from one million to 800,000. The company currently claims about 603,000 subs with activation rates at less than 40 per cent for linear pay channels.
Meanwhile, CHT plans to shift more than 3,000 users currently testing an MSTV, Microsoft-developed IPTV, MOD system to the Alcatel-Lucent-developed OMP (open media platform). CHT originally planned to switch its user base to MSTV in place of OMP but has not yet committed to the decision. Currently there are more than 80 channels available on CHTs OMP system but fewer than 40 channels through MSTV.
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Digialist Integrates against piratesDigialist Ltd, a digital television design house and system integrator, announced that it has integrated the NexGuard forensic watermarking technology from Thomson and Conax Chipset Pairing its low-cost MPEG-2
set-top-box reference design.
The Digialist reference design supports Terrestrial, Cable and Satellite DVB transmissions using only a single antenna input. The reference design is powered by the Digialist Media Engine, a state-of-the-art DVB software stack. All Digialist reference designs are turnkey solutions, which are targeted for mass-production and can easily be adjusted for various market needs.
"Integrating Conax Chipset Pairing and Thomson’s NexGuard technologies into the Digialist reference design offer customers´ turnkey solution of advanced security as a way to secure their digital television assets from content theft and illicit redistribution," said Pasi Vänttinen, President of Digialist.
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Hautefort appointed President of Pace France
Pace, developer of digital TV technologies, has announced the appointment of Mathias Hautefort as the new President of Pace France. Mathias joins Pace from Atari, the gaming company, where he was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, responsible for Worldwide Distribution and Operations.
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Canada BroadbandTV ‘tops’ YouTubeBroadbandTV, North America's leading online distribution and monetisation agency for video content, has topped YouTube Canada's Entertainment Most Viewed Charts this past month by taking spots at #1, #2 and #4.
BroadbandTV's YouTube portfolio includes 20 channels with more than 7000 uploaded video assets. All together, BroadbandTV's content licences garner more than 13 million monthly views. With a dramatic 17 per cent month over month growth rate, BroadbandTV is creating a large and valuable inventory of contextually relevant advertising impressions. Advertisers can choose which video content they would like to have their ads associated with.
"BroadbandTV is delivering viewer democracy by providing various genres of premium content to satisfy audience's demands," said Shahrzad Rafati, BroadbandTV's Founder and CEO. "Our leading edge 'Opti-Find' technology ensures that all video assets that are uploaded are fully optimised and meta-tagged such that they can be indexed and discovered by consumers who use search functions to connect with their content."
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Thursday 23rd October
HD Freeview for London by 2010?
U-verse up 232,000
P2P traffic is 60% of upstream, 20% of downstream
China digital ad spend boom
Interoperability through ‘Marlin Partner Program’
Sky Italia keeps Olympics
Fewer US viewers after switchover
Viasat download VOD
CME buys out Studio 1+1
Bebo launches interactive show
Disney sues Lehman
Motorola accelerates IPTV deployment
Etisalat combo
Griffiths for Eircom
HD Freeview for London by 2010?Londoners could be able to see Freeview in HD from 2010 after Ofcom outlined a proposal for a pilot scheme that could speed up the roll-out of HD services by two years.
Ofcom has launched a consultation, in response to a request from the BBC, to look at temporarily reassigning some spectrum frequencies to allow some high density population areas to receive Freeview HD TV more quickly than had been planned.
London, along with Tyne Tees and Ulster, had been lined up to receive Freeview HD services at the end of the phased roll-out of the enhanced broadcast technology in 2012 ahead of the London Olympics. Ofcom has looked at London as a "case study" as the most likely region for the accelerated roll-out of Freeview HD services, because it is "one of the metropolitan areas identified by the BBC and one of the most congested geographic areas".
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U-verse up 232,000
AT&T has enjoyed strong growth in its U-verse TV subscribers, with a net subscriber gain of 232,000 to reach 781,000 in service; on track to exceed 1million subscribers in service by the end of 2008.The news came as part of AT&T results which showed heavy spending on their iPhone launch. The company said it earned $3.23 billion, in the July-September period, up from $3.06 billion in the same period a year ago. Revenue rose 4 per cent to $31.3 billion from $30.1 billion a year earlier.
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P2P traffic is 60% of upstream, 20% of downstream
Sandvine, provider of intelligent broadband network solutions, has released a global Internet traffic trends report based on millions of subscribers from around the world.Report findings include real proof of the inevitable shift in consumer behaviour as online entertainment-based applications such as gaming, video streaming, social networking and VoIP communications dominate peak evening hours between 6:00 and 11:00pm. These real-time, interactive applications increase up to 50 per cent per subscriber during the peak evening hours.
"Our research implies that families are spending more of their leisure time during evening hours on Internet-based entertainment and communication such as YouTube, Xbox Live and Skype," said Dave Caputo, Sandvine co-founder, president and CEO. "Not only does this signal a dramatic shift in consumer behaviour but emphasises the rapid evolution and real strain placed on the Internet."
According to the research, peer-to-peer (P2P) traffic remains dominant in the upstream direction totalling 61 percent of network traffic and is also responsible for more than 22 percent of downstream bandwidth consumption worldwide. The study indicates that the amount of P2P traffic per subscriber maintains a relatively high steady state during times when networks are facing their highest volumes of traffic.
"Bulk bandwidth applications like P2P are on all day, everyday and are unaffected by changes to network utilisation," said Caputo. "This reinforces the importance of protecting real-time applications that are sensitive to jitter and latency during times of peak usage. Effective network traffic optimisation techniques use sophisticated policies that balance network capacity, application requirements and subscriber quality of experience in real-time."
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China digital ad spend boomThe Chinese love affair with the Internet will see digital ad spend increase 40 per cent to $5.2 billion next year, making the booming Asian online economy roughly the same size as the current UK market, according to a report.
The study by KPMG estimates that the total ad spend on all media in the Chinese market will grow by 22 per cent this year and 19.5 per cent next year. By the end of next year, the Chinese ad market will be worth $37.85 billion, a year-on-year increase of more than $6 billion on 2007.
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Interoperability through ‘Marlin Partner Program’
Over twenty-five leading Technology Solutions Providers, System Integrators and Content Management companies have joined forces to create the Marlin Partner Program (MPP). Members of the program can now deliver technology solutions to service providers and consumer device manufacturers who want to make digital content interoperable between consumer electronics devices that include mobile phones, set top boxes, media players and PCs.The MPP allows providers of mobile, broadband, broadcast and IPTV services, and manufacturers of networked consumer devices to deploy more flexible and useful products and services where consumers can move protected content between devices. MPP companies would provide the various technical components necessary for customers to deliver Marlin solutions and integration services to network operators, service providers and device manufacturers.
The MPP is launching with global technology leaders including Consumer Electronics companies, Systems Integrators, Content Management, and Security companies. Initial partner companies include: 24-7 Entertainment, Cloakware, CoreMedia, CoreTrust, DigiCAPS, Digital Keystone, dprotech, EGC&C, Fasoo, Fujitsu, Hitachi, icube, INKA Entworks, MarkAny, MPS Broadband, SafeNet, SecureMedia, Tata Elxsi, Teruten, Triple IT, Valups, Verimatrix, VIT Infotech, Wisembed, and Wyplay.
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Sky Italia keeps OlympicsThe International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced an agreement with SKY Italia for the broadcast rights within Italy for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games and the Games of the XXXI Olympiad in 2016. SKY Italia will also be the broadcaster for the Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 Olympic Games.
SKY Italia, Italy’s leading digital satellite television network, acquired the rights across all broadcast platforms, including free-to-air television, subscription TV, Internet and mobile phone.
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Fewer US viewers after switchoverA recent ABI Research consumer survey of US terrestrial television viewers revealed that after analogue broadcasting comes to an end, a majority (70 per cent) will attach a digital converter box to their antennas. 10 per cent will switch to cable or satellite services, while a surprising 20 per cent will let the TVs they used for analogue reception "go dark."
According to principal analyst Steve Wilson, "Our survey data suggest that the net result of consumers’ choices after analogue switch-off will be a drop in overall terrestrial viewing. Terrestrial viewers tend to be more likely to use alternative video entertainment forms such as DVD rentals and broadband video and the transition may push them further in that direction."
The survey also examined the preferences of those viewers who have upgraded to HD television, and found that while satellite HD services are attracting more subscribers, these viewers are not deserters from cable; rather, they are former users of terrestrial and telco TV services.
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Viasat download VODViasat hasrevealed details of a new video on demand service where its satellite subscribers will be able to download movies and TV series and view them instantly, or save the content to view later, utilising the ViasatPlusHD box's built-in hard drive. Viasat subscribers can therefore watch all the current movies on the six thematic TV1000 channels anytime or choose from a library of (initially) more than 150 other movies and TV series.
ViasatOnDemand as a premium service for the ViasatPlusHD subscribers will be launched in Sweden this week, in Norway and Denmark next week and in Finland later this year. The ViasatPlusHD box needs to be connected to the subscriber's broadband socket and due to progressive download the quality is guaranteed. If a customer chooses to view the movie or series instantly he or she will be able to; however if the broadband connection is too slow for instant viewing, the box begins downloading while the viewer waits a short time before watching their chosen programme/film without interruptions. The subscriber accesses the content by clicking on the ViasatOnDemand button on the remote control.
All the movies currently available on the TV1000 channels are available for free to those subscribers that have the movie package. Other movies and series will be priced between 19 and 49 Swedish kronor per title. The content is available in standard definition.
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CME buys out Studio 1+1
Central European Media Enterprises (CME) has confirmed that it has completed the purchase of the remaining 10 per cent of the Studio 1+1 group following the exercise of its call option. CME now owns 100 per cent of the Ukrainian television station.
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Bebo launches interactive showSocial networking website Bebo has launched an interactive show for teens, entilted ‘Chelsey: OMG!’. Two three-minute episodes of the show will be screened on Bebo.com each week, along with additional footage featuring Chelsey and other characters. Characters will then use the social network to interact with Bebo users, filming personal responses to questions and posting messages to the site.
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Disney sues LehmanWalt Disney has become the latest company to call for an investigation into the dealings of investment bank Lehman Brothers before its collapse. Disney says it is owed $92 million and wants to know how money was moved between Lehman Brothers Commercial and its parent company before bankruptcy. US court papers filed by Disney called for an examiner to be appointed to investigate the transactions.
"When creditors lose money, they deserve to know why and how," said Martin Bienenstock, Disney's lawyer. Disney's request for an examiner will be heard on 5 November.
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Motorola accelerates IPTV deploymentMotorola has launched remote device management for its IPTV set-tops. It says its NBBS device management system will now enable service providers to accelerate the delivery of personal media experiences with new services, improved customer satisfaction and lower operational costs with fewer truck rolls.
Motorola NBBS is a scaleable, carrier-grade software platform that enables operators to remotely access, configure, monitor and troubleshoot a full portfolio of consumer devices, home networks and services. These include gateways, modems, webcams and now IP set-tops - namely, the VIP set-top series, adding more flexibility for service providers. The NBBS platform increases revenues by accelerating new service introduction.
Motorola’s VIP set-top platform encompasses a robust line of all-IP or hybrid high definition and standard definition set-tops with built-in digital video recorders for diversified programming options, interactivity and video on demand for TV viewers.
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Etisalat has launched its All-in-One service that offers benefits of Convenience, Coverage and Value to its customers by combining three of Etisalat's most popular services - fixed Broadband Internet, Broadband TV and Landline services - delivered by a single access network.
Through All-in-One, Etisalat will provide combined services to its customers through a single account enabling greater convenience by bundling its three most popular fixed services: broadband Internet, TV/Video services and Landline. An intelligent offering, All-in-One will deliver significant value to Etisalat's customers through its integrated customer service, combined value-added services, one-time installation and single bill/payment.
"In future, Etisalat will be introducing several innovative services with All-in-One like High Definition TV, Video on Demand with thousand of titles to choose from, service combining TV with Voice and Internet with TV and many more such creative combinations that will change the traditional way broadband and TV/Video services are consumed and enjoyed," said the company.
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Irish telco Eircom is hiring former BT Vision technology director Richard Griffiths to lead VOD and IPTV strategy as TV and entertainment director. Eircom is examining multi-platform delivery via streaming and progressive download and it is in the middle of a E1 billion broadband network upgrade that will see fibre-to-the-kerb delivery of 25Mbps speeds that can support high-quality IPTV.
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Wednesday 22nd October
Pay TV will feel squeeze
P2P traffic to grow 400% by 2012
Anacom awards FTA and pay-TV DTT licences to PTC
DVR boom
C4 shuts digital sales
Flemish DTT tender
Technology leaders call for standards clarity
Five extends reach with BBC
ATIS releases key standard
Philips Content Identification now Civolution
ESPN360 comes to UK
WIN and Command deliver interactive 3G
Red Bee acquires Mundovisión
Pay TV will feel squeezeAlmost a quarter of UK pay-TV customers are considering cutting back or dropping their subscription packages as the credit crunch takes hold. A report by Continental Research found 24 per cent of pay-TV customers surveyed planned to reduce the amount they spent on services such as movie and sports channels over the next year. The report found that 6 per cent of TV viewers had decided not to buy additional services directly because of the economic slowdown.
Freeview looks likely to prove popular with cash-strapped consumers. With Continental Research reporting that 15 per cent had chosen subscription-free Freeview because of cash concerns. Thirteen per cent planned to get Freeview in the next year for the same reason.
"One of the truisms about how consumers respond to a challenging economy is that they go out less and therefore by implication spend more time at home watching TV," said Tim Barber, associate director at Continental Research. "Our research suggests Freeview is going to benefit from consumer worries about the credit crunch at the expense of some of the paid-for services."
Around 8 per cent of all consumers surveyed said they planned to switch to a cheaper TV package, such as dropping movies or sport, while seven per cent said they would completely drop additional pay channels.
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P2P traffic to grow 400% by 2012P2P Internet traffic, despite having grown at pace for years, will grow almost 400 per cent over the next five years, according to MultiMedia Intelligence. Growing from a level of 1.6 petabytes of Internet traffic per month in 2007, P2P Internet traffic will grow to almost 8 petabytes per month by 2012.
P2P data currently represents 44 per cent of all consumer traffic over the Internet and 33.6 per cent in North America. Although the base of legitimate P2P traffic is starting quite small, legitimate P2P traffic is expected to grow 10 times as fast as illicit P2P traffic. Content owners increasingly see P2P as a cost effective way to distribute digital entertainment services and content.
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Anacom awards FTA and pay-TV DTT licences to PTC
From Branislav Pekic in RomePortugal’s telecoms regulator (Anacom) has confirmed the decision of the broadcasting sector regulator (ERC) to award to PT Comunicações (PTC) the licences for the free-to-air and pay-TV digital multiplexes.
PTC now has to ten working days to pay the E2.5 million security deposit, as required by the tender regulations, after which Anacom will have 15 working days to formally award the licence for the use of frequency spectrum.
PTC was the only bidder for Multiplex A, which will carry free-to-air channels. In regards to the tender for Multiplexes B to F, which will distribute pay-TV channels, Airplus TV has challenged the jury’s results claiming that the evaluation of the two bids contained "distortions" and was "biased" in favour of PTC. The Swedish company now says it will initiate court action as it believes that its offer of services is "more competitive, more varied and closer to the needs of Portuguese consumers".
Meanwhile, Portugal’s Minister for Parliamentary Issues, Augusto Santos Silva, has confirmed that the launch of the tender for the awarding of a licence for a fifth national TV channel can be expected "very soon". The new free-to-air TV channel will be available only on DTT. But the CEO of Spain’s Prisa group (owner of Portugal’s TVI channel), Juan Luis Cébrian, believes that there is no space for a new TV channel on Portugal’s audiovisual market. Speaking during a conference call with analysts, he also said that the Portuguese Government has not reached a final decision on the awarding of this licence and that negotiations are still underway with the main public and private broadcasters and cable operators.
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DVR boomThe DVR/PVR sales boom is finally happening. Equipment prices have fallen rapidly – so much so that many platforms feel comfortable about offering subsidized or even free boxes. Operators want their subscribers to take DVRs as they register very highly in consumer satisfaction indexes and thus help to ensure loyalty.
DVR competition between operators is intensifying, according to a new report from Informa. Who can offer the largest capacity, with HD compatibility and push VOD services too? By end-2008 the company forecasts 56.1 million installed DVRs around the world. The Global DVR Forecasts report states that this represents 5 per cent of TV households and 18 per cent of digital TV homes. The forecasts claim 20 million added DVR homes in 2008, and 25 million more in 2009. The report predicts 208 million DVR households by 2013. The top five countries will account for two-thirds of this total.
North America will contribute three-quarters of the 2008 total, down from 81 per cent in 2007. Its share will continue to fall – reaching 48 per cent by 2013. However, its 99.4 million DVR homes by 2013 will be more than double the 2008 figure.
Western Europe will record impressive growth, up from 8.6 million at end-2008 to 48.2 million in 2013. The UK will remain the top nation in the region, with 13.2 million DVR homes by 2013. It will be followed by France (7.9 million), Italy (6.8 million) and Germany (6.3 million).
Growth in the Asia Pacific region will be even more impressive than Western Europe, rising from 3.1 million at end-2008 to 45.1 million in 2013. It is likely to overtake Western Europe in 2014.
By 2013, Japan will have 13.8 million DVR homes – ranking it second in the world. Other major Asian contributors include China (11.9 million), Korea (6.5 million) and India (4.3 million).
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Channel 4 is to close 4DS, its third-party digital ad sales arm, with the loss of up to 10 jobs. 4DS was launched in March 2007 as a stand-alone business selling advertising on third-party websites. However, Channel 4 now wants to focus its digital sales efforts into its own core digital assets - 4oD, channel4.com and E4.com.
Meanwhile, News International has merged its digital sales teams to sell across all digital titles, including TheSun.co.uk, Newsoftheworld.co.uk,Timesonline.co.uk and the londonpaper.com.
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Flemish DTT tenderThe Flemish Government is to open a tender for seven DVB multiplexes and one DAB multiplex. The licence will be issued following a tender process. Flanders has a total of eight multiplexes for television (DVB), and three for digital radio (DAB). The government has already issued one DVB and one DAB multiplex to the public broadcaster VRT.
The government intends to issue all the new DVB multiplexes to a single applicant. At least one of the multiplexes needs to be used for DVB-H in order to promote mobile TV reception. Flanders will switch off its analogue terrestrial television signals on November 3. It is thought about 60,000 homes that only receive television over the air will be affected. A further 80,000 to 180,000 homes with dual reception mode will also lose their analogue signals.
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Technology leaders call for standards clarityThe first-ever Global Standards Symposium has concluded in South Africa with broad agreement on the need to take aggressive action to streamline standards work and end the duplication of efforts within the sector. The one-day symposium brought together government Ministers, diplomats, senior executives from the private sector and lead officials from other standards bodies.
Opening the Symposium, ITU standards chief Malcolm Johnson said that clarity and efficiency must be brought to bear as the standardisation scenario gets more complex by the day. "We must ensure we all pull together and avoid duplication of effort and waste our increasingly limited resources. Even large organizations are having difficulty resourcing this effort, so how can small organisations, especially from developing countries, hope to play a role?"
Industry and standards leaders argued that the bewildering array of standards bodies is costly and inefficient. It is estimated that there are over 300 ICT standards bodies in existence today.
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Five extends reach with BBCChannel Five has struck a deal with the BBC to extend the availability of its main network on DTT service Freeview to rural households. Five's main network will now be broadcast on the BBC's Freeview Multiplex B when switchover begins in the Border region - covering Cumbria and the Scottish borders - next month.
This means that Five shows will be available as widely in rural areas around the country on Freeview as the other four public service networks.
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ATIS releases key standard
ATIS has released a new standard created by the ATIS IPTV Interoperability Forum (IIF): "Network Attachment and Initialisation of Devices and Client Discovery of IPTV Services (ATIS-0800017)". This document specifies the initial set of activities that prepare devices in the consumer domain to receive and consume IPTV services. It is a foundation specification addressing fundamentals such as the initialisation and attachment phases for the Delivery (home) Network Gateway (DNG) and the IPTV Terminal Function (ITF), which includes the set top box. Comprehensively, it covers network attachment, service provider discovery, service provider attachment and services discovery procedures."By providing the critical groundwork to coordinate the efforts of virtually every element of the IPTV ecosystem this standard brings the next evolutionary step in entertainment television ever-closer to wide-scale deployment," said Susan Miller, President and CEO of ATIS.
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Philips Content Identification now CivolutionThe company formerly known as Philips Content Identification, a player in content identification services, has announced the completion of its spin-out from Philips Corporate Technologies. The company will operate under the new brand name Civolution. The spin-out includes Teletrax, the global broadcast intelligence company and former joint-venture of Philips and Medialink.
Prime Technology Ventures (PTV), a leading independent pan-European venture capital firm headquartered in The Netherlands, has provided funding for the new Civolution company through its PTV III fund.
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ESPN360 comes to UKESPN has confirmed the launch of its online video player ESPN360.com in the UK, a new service targeting sports fans. ESPN360.com was launched in over 40 countries in continental Europe in January 2008 and is the first dedicated broadband site providing live and on-demand top-tier US sports in the UK. The service offers free news, highlights, analysis and interviews from the National Hockey League (NHL), Major League Baseball (MLB), National Football League (NFL), Golf, Tennis and X Games.
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WIN and Command deliver interactive 3GWIN plc, provider of interactive mobile entertainment and information services, has signed a partnership agreement with Command Technology Group to jointly deliver interactive 3G video services to mobile phones.
The first exclusive joint video service Playview3G allows users on a 3G handset across any network to watch live streamed casino style mobile TV and place a bet on the game in real time without a break from the video stream. Playview3G builds on existing online and TV betting applications where users watch a TV channel with the option to bet using their home phone.
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Red Bee acquires MundovisiónRed Bee Media has continued its global expansion with the acquisition of Mundovisión, the largest independent subtitling and audio description company in Spain. Alongside the recent acquisition of Titelbild in Germany, the addition of Mundovisión consolidates Red Bee Media’s position as Europe’s largest supplier of subtitling, signing and audio description services to the media industry.
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Tuesday 21st October
Mediaset to sue YouTube
BBC iPlayer via Sky Player
Murdoch $5bn war chest
TI Media sells PPV ops to Airplus
ITV faces heavy fine if PSB stature dropped
IPTV operators weigh investment options
Carter will accelerate digital decisions
SES Astra HD output up 30% in 3 months
J:COM subs
Appear TV powers HFC IPTV solution
Belden CATV drop cables
Mediaset to sue YouTube
From Branislav Pekic in RomeThe president of Mediaset has confirmed that Italy’s leading private broadcaster is ''obliged'' to sue video-sharing site YouTube and its owner Google for copyright infringement.
''If an administrator believes his company has suffered damages he must take legal action because one day any shareholder could ask why no claim for damages was made,'' said Fedele Confalonieri, adding that the action was justified by both civil law and laws regarding intellectual property.
Mediaset announced in July it was suing YouTube/Google for E500 million for the unauthorized posting of 4,643 clips which it said was equal to 325 hours of copyrighted material, costing the broadcaster 315,672 viewing days. The E500 million does not include the group's losses from lost advertising revenues. At the time YouTube/Google issued a statement saying that it ''respects copyright holders and takes copyright very seriously. There is no reason for legal action and all the associated costs''.
Last month, Mediaset said it was ready to negotiate an agreement with YouTube to resolve their dispute and that the figure requested was designed to make a point on copyright laws and video sharing. Google/YouTube is also being sued by Mediaset's Spanish subsidiary Telecinco.
In a related development, Italian state broadcaster RAI this week signed an accord to make some of its substantial video archive available on YouTube.
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BBC iPlayer via Sky Player
BBC and Sky have confirmed that BBC iPlayer can now be accessed via Sky Player, Sky’s online TV service. The new version of Sky Player includes a series of BBC branded sections, with listings information and links to all TV programmes on the BBC iPlayer service.Sky Player, which offers users access to live and on-demand content from a range of channel providers, will now also offer access to content from all the BBC TV channels. BBC programme information for these channels will be listed according to its appropriate Sky Player genre. Once viewers select a BBC programme to view they will be transferred to the BBC iPlayer site for video playback.
News Corp has a $5 billion "war chest", Rupert Murdoch has said, highlighting his appetite for acquisitions while more indebted rivals struggle. "We are as well positioned as we can be to face what may well turn into a prolonged economic downturn," he told the media group’s annual meeting in New York. The group chairman highlighted eastern Europe as one of three regions, with India and the broader Asian market, in which he would seek to expand. The group is focusing on pay-TV platforms in Europe in spite of a profit warning from Premiere, the German company in which it has built a 25.1 per cent stake.
Asked if News Corp might buy assets from Viacom or CBS after Sumner Redstone, their chairman, was forced into a sale of non-voting stock last week, he said: "If they were at a very reasonable price, yes. But I’m not sure they have anything for sale."
Murdoch also described the decision by regulators to force British Sky Broadcasting, to sell most of its stake in ITV, the commercial broadcaster, as a "huge injustice".
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TI Media sells PPV ops to Airplus
Telecom Italia Media (TI Media) has agreed to sell its pay-per-view activities to Swedish group Airplus TV. The Italian operator will spin off the activities into a new subsidiary controlled by Airplus and in which TI Media will continue to hold 9 per cent. Telecom Italia will also provide bandwidth for transmitting the pay-TV channels at Airplus over the Telecom Italia Media digital network. The companies expect to finalise the agreement by the end of November.
The move is in line with Telecom Italia Media's strategy announced in August, to move away from pay-TV activities and expensive content purchases and focus more on its analogue channels and DTT. Airplus is already active in digital TV in Sweden, Finland and Spain.
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ITV faces heavy fine if PSB stature droppedUK broadcaster ITV faces fines of seven per cent of its annual net advertising revenue, and other penalties, if its plan to hand back its public service broadcasting licences to Ofcom. The broadcaster's net advertising revenue during 2007 was £1.22 billion (E1.57bn), meaning ITV fines could start at £80 million a year and rise until its licences expire in 2014.
Ofcom has confirmed that under Section 42(4) of the 1990 Broadcasting Act, PSB licence holders who fail to provide the service they are contracted to do face a financial penalty. Another section of the 1990 Act sets out the maximum penalty as whichever is the greater: £500,000 or seven per cent of the qualifying revenue for the last financial year.
Ofcom has been trying to keep the negotiations over the future of the ITV network low key and between itself, ITV and other interested parties.
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IPTV operators weigh investment optionsAs they enter the growth stage of their industry, IPTV operators are moving past their underlying network capabilities and are focusing on real and value-added benefits for their customers according to ABI research. The future success of Telco-IPTV operators will be determined by a wide range of internal and external factors while they manage the expansion stage of their offerings and find their investment needs shifting as they target both existing and prospective customers.
"In the current economic climate, allocation of capital and resources is becoming a difficult proposition for all IPTV operators as they consider more fibre and back-office investments," says ABI Research principal analyst Robert Clark. Because of local pay-TV cultures, regulation and infrastructure differences, and the trend towards Multi-Play, web-based and interactive services integration, success for IPTV operators will be determined by their upcoming investment decisions.
"Broadband, mobile, online gaming and storage, and home networking, in addition to the professional and technical services support that can be required to deliver Multi-Play offers seamlessly, are becoming intricately tied to IPTV operators‚ success," adds Clark.
IPTV combined with Multi-Play is reaching a stage where content and service options still matter most, but as network offerings and device options proliferate consumers are also weighing the cost, value and ease of implementation in the home. Operators are only now beginning to offer IT support services to resolve in-home and self-service installation issues raised by subscribers.
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Carter will accelerate digital decisionsStephen Carter, the new minister for communications, technology and broadcasting has promised to accelerate decision-making in a number of key areas. "Whatever is going to happen to the macro-economy, we can all agree that, in the short- and possibly medium-term, the financial services sector is going to take some time to restructure," said Carter, in his first interview since taking the job. "So, from a UK plc perspective, this is an important sector and it becomes relatively an even more important sector."
Carter, the founding chief executive of the media regulator Ofcom, who most recently spent a turbulent 10 months as Gordon Brown's chief of strategy and principal adviser, will draw together work in existing areas of government and has promised to deliver swift conclusions on a number of pressing issues. These include the future of digital radio, the questions surrounding the next generation of broadband access and mobile phone networks, and the future funding of public-service broadcasting.
His report, Digital Britain, will also consider issues around the digital divide and look into whether there should be a guarantee of universal access to broadband for all consumers. He has promised to deliver a set of recommendations by January.
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SES Astra HD output up 30% in 3 monthsSES Astra has announced that the number of HD channels broadcast via the ASTRA Satellite System has increased significantly in the last three months. At the beginning of October 2008, the number of HD channels reached 55 – representing an increase of 13 channels or 30 percent since August. The SES group, including SES Astra, SES Americom and SES New Skies, today transmits a total of 137 HD channels.
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J:COM subsJupiter Telecommunications (J:COM) has revealed that the total subscribing households as of September 30, 2008 served by J:COM’s 18 consolidated franchises reached 2.9 million, up 288,000, or 11 per cent since September 30th, 2007.
Combined revenue generating units (RGUs) for cable television, high-speed Internet access and telephony services reached approximately 5.21 million, up 604,600 or 13.1 per cent since September 30th, 2007. The bundle ratio (average number of services received per subscribing household) increased to 1.79 as of September 30th, 2008 from 1.76 since September 30th, 2007. The cable television digital migration rate as of September 30th, 2008 increased to 75 per cent from 63 per cent as of September 30th, 2007.
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Appear TV powers HFC IPTV solutionAppear TV, a global provider of next-generation head-ends for broadcast and IP television, and HFC Technics, a system integrator and Appear TV partner based in Hungary, have confirmed the integration and commercial deployment of the Appear TV SC2000 IPTV head-end into the Smart-End end-to-end IPTV and Cable solution. The HFC Technics Smart-End solution powered by the Appear TV SC2000 is already providing three operators with more than 60 SD and HD television services.
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Belden CATV drop cablesBelden has introduced a series of CATV drop cables to provide CATV installers/system integrators with a readily available alternative which performs to the highest industry standards. They are designed for cable TV, satellite dish technology and broadband applications, where they deliver competitive price/performance when compared to cables of a similar construction.
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Monday 20th October
US shows to debut on Canal+ Cube
Ofcom awards licences for HD on DTT
Digital+ results up
Carter prepares UK digital action plan
Discovery Freeview channel but rejects net TV
Global broadband sub growth
Google shares jump on quarter
Malone goes shopping – again
MTV launches switch2one in Poland
Panasonic tru2way-enabled HDTVs
Camelot and ITV Lottery channel
Harris helps Google TV ads
US shows to debut on Canal+ Cube
From Sotires Eleftheriou in ParisThe Cube, the name given to the forthcoming new Canal+ satellite HD set top box will enable new episodes of cult US series to be downloaded in their US versions entirely legally, just a week after they are aired in the US and up to a year before they are broadcast in France on the main Canal+ premium channel. It will also be able to download previous three seasons of current series.
The Cube features a twin tuner, a 320gb hard disc drive (enabling 100 hours of HD or 300 hours of SD programming to be stored) and 5.1 digital sound. It will also feature an intelligent programme guide that will learn preferences and download shows likely to be to the taste of the subscriber from any of the 300 channels on the Canal Satellite platform. It is compatible with Canal’s second decoder option, using powerline transmission between the decoders. The Cube is available to subscribers for an extra E10.
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Ofcom awards licences for HD on DTTOfcom has confirmed its decision to reserve capacity for Channel 4 together with Welsh-language broadcaster S4C, and Channel 3 licensees (ITV, Channel TV, stv and UTV) to broadcast new High Definition services on DTT.
The announcement follows a tender process and means that these public service broadcasters will join the BBC in launching three HD services on DTT, expected to start with the Granada region from late autumn 2009, with nationwide coverage by the end of digital switchover (DSO) in 2012.
To access the HD programmes and new services on DTT, viewers will need an HD Ready TV set and a new HD set-top box that is capable of receiving the new services.
Ofcom also believes that a fourth HD service could be launched on DTT as soon as 2010. It expects to outline the process for awarding the licence for that service by the end of this year.
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Spain’s Digital+ DTH pay platform upped its margins by 1.6 per cent on 2007 while subscriber revenues increased by 1.4 per cent to E859 million.
On September 30th, 2008, Digital+ had a total subscriber count of 2,061,000, a small increase on the 2,046,000 of 12 months previous, ARPU holding steady at E41.7 per subscriber. Despite the upturn in fortunes, pwner Prisa is still expected to sell-off Digital+ within the next few months.
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Carter prepares UK digital action planThe new minister for communications, technology and broadcasting, Stephen Carter, formerly of Ofcom and NTL, is to create a wide-ranging "action plan" for the digital media economy that could include greater regulation for the Internet.
Carter will prepare a report, called Digital Britain, which will look at "a range of issues affecting Internet users, such as user security and safety and a workable approach to promoting content standards". The report will "consider what future legislative and non-legislative measures are required to support the development of these critical sectors," according to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Last month, the culture secretary, Andy Burnham, said the government planned to crack down on the Internet to "even up" the regulatory imbalance with television.
Another area that the report will examine will be how to achieve "universal access to high-quality, public service content through appropriate mechanisms for a converged digital age". Also on the agenda are: broadband development, digital radio, investment in content, spectrum, the Internet, media literacy and IT skills, public service broadcasting and independent production.
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Discovery Freeview channel but rejects net TVDiscovery Communications has secured a channel position on Freeview, the UK’s digital terrestrial television platform. The deal with UK multiplex operator, SDN Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV, will see the channel launch in early 2009.
The channel will draw upon Discovery Communications library of factual, entertainment and lifestyle programming and also includes scripted acquisitions especially for the new channel.
Meanwhile, Discovery has rejected the Internet as a source of income for content producers. "We have opted not to put a lot of our content on to the web," said David Zaslav, president and chief executive of Discovery. "There is not a very strong economic model, number one, and, number two, from a viewership perspective, despite how aggressively others have gone on to the web, the take-up rate is not that strong."
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Global broadband sub growthBroadband services continue to be in high demand, attracting millions of new subscribers worldwide each month, reports In-Stat. Over the past 12 months, approximately 80 million new broadband subscribers signed up for high-speed access to the Internet, the research firm says. In terms of broadband access technologies, digital subscriber line (DSL) technologies continue to serve the greatest number of broadband subscribers worldwide, accounting for 55 per cent of total broadband connections.
"The increasing popularity of online applications such as downloading music files, watching TV programming, and playing online video games, are driving demand for 'fatter pipes' that provide ever-increasing amounts of bandwidth," says Mike Paxton, analyst.
By 2012, In-Stat forecasts that worldwide broadband subscribers will reach 876 million, almost twice the size of the current subscriber base.
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Google shares jump on quarterGoogle’s share price has soared, rallying 25 per cent from its low point of the day, as the Internet giant’s latest quarterly earnings proved resistant to the wider downturn in advertising markets.
Google’s pro forma earnings, excluding stock compensation costs – the basis on which most analysts assess the company – rose to $4.92 per share, ahead of Wall Street’s consensus forecast $4.81. Revenues net of traffic acquisition costs rose to $4.04bn, broadly in line with most forecasts.
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Malone goes shopping – againJohn Malone is eyeing the huge yields offered by the debt of other media and communications companies, echoing the tactics through which his Liberty Media built his cable empire in the US and Europe.Some of the most attractive opportunities thrown up by the global financial crisis were in debt, Greg Maffei, chief executive of Liberty Media, told FT.com.
"When you look at how these junk bond yields have spiked ... I think this will be looked back on historically as a pretty attractive time to be in high yield," he said. The group’s Liberty Capital offshoot "will be investing in a lot of debt," he added.
Maffei cooled speculation about its chances of exchanging a 103m-shares stake in Time Warner for ownership of the dial-up access business of AOL, Time Warner’s online brand.
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MTV launches switch2one in Poland
MTV Networks International has launched switch2one in Poland, a video on demand web portal which is operated in partnership with leading Polish telecoms operator, Netia.
Available immediately, Polish Internet users will be able to log on to switch2one and watch music and entertainment content subtitled/dubbed in Polish free of charge. Over 200 hours of programming and 7000 music video clips are currently available and there are plans to augment the service further with acquired content.
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Panasonic tru2way-enabled HDTVsPanasonic and Comcast have announced the arrival of the tru2way VIERA HDTVs and officially declared the tru2way platform active in Chicago and Denver.
The new Panasonic VIERA HDTVs are built with tru2way technology inside enabling consumers to access two-way digital cable programming, like video on demand, without a cable operator-supplied set-top box. Panasonic and Comcast have worked together to lead the development and deployment of tru2way technology and related products which are based upon specifications developed by CableLabs, the industry’s research and development arm.
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Camelot and ITV Lottery channel
ITV Local and Camelot have joined forces to bring the public the latest lottery news and films of lottery-funded projects in each UK region, with content produced by Initial (part of Endemol UK) on behalf of Camelot. Users of the new online channel can access films on how some of the 300,000-plus National Lottery grants awarded to date have benefited communities across the UK, as well as catching up on the latest draw results.
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Harris Corporation announced that its media inventory service will be integrated with Google TV Ads to create a new sales channel for broadcasters, cable networks and cable system operators. The Harris media inventory service provides an automated way for media companies using Harris Paradigm, OSi-Traffic, BMS and Novar traffic systems to supplement existing revenue by making inventory available to new advertisers through Google TV Ads. The service is currently available for use by cable networks using Paradigm traffic and can be easily adapted to other Harris and third-party systems.
"The media inventory service provides our customers with a new sales channel for their inventory, attracting new advertisers to television that were previously hard to reach," said Harris Morris, vice president, Media and Workflow, Harris Broadcast Communications. "We are excited to enable this new outlet for our clients to enhance their inventory value through Google TV Ads’ sales channels."
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