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Our Latest Issues
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Tuesday
Friday 5th September
VOD will be big, but should consolidate
Slow uptake for BIS, VOD coming
RTL eyes btv
DirecTV to launch HD DVR with TiVo
51.6m mobile TV users this year
Russia DTV stumbles
CHT lowers IPTV target
Oz government seeks to boost DTV take-up
Irish R&D investment for ARRIS
E! Entertainment for Korea
HomePNA tops TelcoTV in North America
LG blu-ray player with net streaming
QuickPlay powers Cricket Communications
StreamGuys introduces RevenueStream
VOD will be big, but should consolidateA major consumer study into VOD by Essential Research has been developed in consultation with industry players – including the BBC, Virgin, C4, ITV and MTV - to understand consumer attitude and desires for VOD services, content and platforms and to understand what lies ahead. Key findings included:
- Current VOD services are the tip of the iceberg. VOD – in its broadest sense – will have a seismic impact on TV viewing, but this will be to the enormous benefit of audiences and many sectors of the industry.
- The media industry needs to stop thinking ‘Internet versus TV’ and start considering on-demand simply as a new way for consumers to choose what to watch.
- The over-riding consumer demand is for a consolidated VOD platform – a familiar one-stop-shop destination for all VOD content. The current proliferation of VOD services will see winners and losers as audiences migrate to aggregated content portals.
- At the same time, consumers also expect an integrated approach to delivery of linear, recorded and on-demand TV – for consumers ‘what I want to watch’ is about the content not the delivery mechanisms after all.
- Currently, the only parties benefiting from competing proprietary VOD portals are illegal streaming and file-sharing providers – they already aggregate content which attracts consumers. The industry must collaborate to provide a genuine, legal service alternative for audiences.
- Channel brands will increasingly be fighting a head-to-head battle with studios and production companies for VOD rights – without these, some channels will not survive.
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Slow uptake for BIS, VOD coming
From Sotires Eleftheriou in ParisThe Bis TV satellite platform is to introduce a ‘catch-up tv' and a VOD service via the Internet before the end of the year. The announcement was made during the autumn press conference of the French AB group, which owns the platform. The seven-day catch up service will be known as RepeatLAB and the VOD service with a catalogue of some 30,000 hours of programmes, as TvodLAB.
AB launched Bis TV in December 2007 as a low cost (E4.90 per month) subscription service to carry the French DTT channels, plus channels providing content from AB’s catalogue of series and films. However, M6 refused to allow its channels to be carried on the platform but in July this year was ordered by the CSA to make a carriage proposal within six weeks.
AB Group’s director Jean-Michel Fava revealed that the service had only about 60,000 subscribers, way below the target of 200,000 in the first year.
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RTL eyes btvGerman TV network RTL’s owner Bertelsmann is reportedly preparing to buy bTV , the most successful TV station in Bulgaria, currently owned by News Corp. Reports say the company is ready to meet Rupert Murdoch’s valuation of E1.1 billion for the commercial broadcaster.
News Corp has decided to dispose of all its TV operations in Central Europe, and bTV, as the most profitable, has been widely touted as the first to be sold.
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DirecTV to launch HD DVR with TiVoDirecTV and TiVo, creator of television services for digital video recorders (DVR), have extended their current agreement, which includes the development, marketing and distribution of a new HD DirecTV DVR featuring the TiVo service, as well as the extension of mutual intellectual property arrangements.
Under the terms of the non-exclusive arrangement, DirecTV and TiVo will work together to develop a version of the TiVo service for DirecTV's broadband-enabled HD DVR platform. The product will support the latest TiVo and DirecTV features and services, including TiVo's Universal Swivel Search and TiVo KidZone. TiVo will develop the new HD DVR for an expected launch in the second half of 2009.
DirecTV will continue to develop and offer its own portfolio of set top boxes as primary offerings to both new and existing customers. This new TiVo box will be offered as an alternative choice to those who wish to pay extra extra for the services.
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51.6m mobile TV users this yearOn the basis of monthly adoption data for all commercial Mobile TV networks since May 2005 up until March 2008 or later, TeleAnalytics Mobile TV Tracking Service 5 calculates that by the end of 2008, the total number of mobile TV users globally will hit 51.6 million.
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Russia DTV stumblesThe adoption of Russia's state-funded programme for the switch to digital TV, scheduled for completion in 2015, is to be postponed. The information technology and communication ministry, which was supposed to present all of the programme's details this autumn, said it now needs until the end of the year.
The most crucial unsolved issue is whether all the population will be supplied with digital equipment free of charge, as earlier announced. Meanwhile, industry players say that technological challenges also may arise when it comes to switching 50 million households to digital.
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CHT lowers IPTV targetTaiwan incumbent carrier Chunghwa Telecoms’s IPTV received a strong boost from the Olympics, though numbers were still below target. It’s now revised its year-end sub target from 1.2 million subs to 800,000.
CHT’s coverage of the Beijing Olympics boosted MOD or IPTV subs by around 15 per cent during August and the company currently has about 570,000.
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Oz government seeks to boost DTV take-up
Australian Communications Minister Stephen Conroy says restrictions on televised sports will be reviewed in an effort to encourage the take-up of digital television.
Conroy stated the success of digital television depended on changes to sport broadcasting rules, and the rule that bans major sporting events from being broadcast on any digital channels that the three networks can launch next year will be reviewed.
He added the government would complete a funding plan by the end of the year under which needy Australians would get financial help to replace analogue TV sets, addressing worries viewers would not be prepared for the analogue switch-off deadline of 2013.
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Irish R&D investment for ARRISThe Irish Government has confirmed that ARRIS Group, developer and manufacturer of products for the global cable TV industry, is to undertake a strategic Research and Development investment for high value video products for the cable industry at its Irish operations in Cork.
The E4.5 million investment, supported by IDA Ireland, will strengthen the R&D effort in Cork by adding new skills and technologies that will significantly advance the potential for technical innovation within the Company's Irish operations.
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E! Entertainment for KoreaComcast International Media Group (CIMG), and SBS, one of Korea's largest multiple program providers, will launch a localised version of the popular E! Entertainment Television channel in early 2009. SBS will operate the new Korean language, pay TV network as the general entertainment and lifestyle channel E! Entertainment Television.
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HomePNA tops TelcoTV in North AmericaThe HomePNA Alliance has reported that four of the five leading North American telcos are deploying its technology and that HomePNA was installed in more North American homes in the last quarter than any other coax home networking solution. In addition, HomePNA announced that Canadian telco TELUS has chosen the HomePNA 3.1 technology for its TELUS TV service offering.
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LG blu-ray player with net streamingLG Electronics will next month launch the BD300 Network blu-ray disc Player, featuring access to disc-based and networked home video entertainment. The BD300 is the world's first blu-ray disc player that instantly streams movies and TV episodes from Netflix.
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QuickPlay powers Cricket CommunicationsQuickPlay Media, provider of mobile TV and video solutions, has revealed that Cricket Communications, a subsidiary of Leap Wireless International, is leveraging its OpenVideo media management platform to power its new Cricket video service for its customers. Cricket’s video service includes a wide variety of popular content including music videos, sports, comedy, entertainment, animation, as well as specific items targeted to Hispanic audiences.
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StreamGuys introduces RevenueStreamStreamGuys., a streaming media and content delivery provider based in northern California, has launched RevenueStream, a new subscription-based service available to broadcasters and service providers who wish to offer premium audio and video content over the Internet. RevenueStream allows broadcasters and service providers to monetise programming over the web in lieu of an ad-supported model, delivering first-rate content at premium quality.
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Thursday 4th September
Spain postpones pay DTT to 2009
Liberty spin off Entertainment
GTV funding
People ‘can’t live’ without their DVRs
China and India top mobile TV audiences
Germans embrace DTV
SARFT to establish CMMB
Philips takes over Teletrax
MTV joins GlobeCast on Eurobird 9
Five teams with Brightcove
Vizimo debuts
TELUS selects CopperGate
Spain postpones pay DTT to 2009
From David Del Valle in MadridPay TV content on DTT will not happen until 2009, according to the Goverment. The Minister of Industry, Miguel Sebastian, said that "it is still too early" for the Goverment to allow pay DTT services, and made it a precondition that there was a "consensus" amongst all parties, which he hopes can be reached next year.
"It is early to make a decision, but we want a common agreement in the sector and we are confident that it will happen in 2009. That is why it is still too early to make regulatory decisions", he concluded.
Spanish legislation currently prohibits the distribution of pay TV content on the DTT platform. Some TV operators are lobbying the Administration to chang the law. The most enthusiastic is the commercial channel La Sexta through its main shareholder Mediapro which recently announced the launch of a pay-TV channel dedicated to sports (mainly football) to be distributed on DTT.
Recently, Jaume Roures, the president of Mediapro, shareholder in La Sexta, warned that the TV sector will go through a crisis if no pay TV content is allowed on DTT. "40 TV free-to-air channels cannot be financed by advertising" he said, at a time when ad revenues have fallen 4.1 per cent to June.He doubts that the analogue switch-off can take place in 2010 as it is scheduled underlining that the DTT audience share is still too low. Today, Catalonia, north east of Spain, is the Spanish region with the highest DTT penetration, representing 49.7 per cent. Madrid and Canaries are the second and the third with 48.4 per cent and 44 per cent, respectively. On a national level, DTT has a penetration of 34.8 per cent in the country.
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Liberty spin off Entertainment
Liberty Media Corporation has authorised its management to proceed with development of a plan to distribute to the holders of Liberty Entertainment tracking stock shares of a subsidiary that will hold the businesses and assets currently attributed to the Liberty Entertainment group.
The transaction would be effected as the redemption of all outstanding shares of Liberty Entertainment tracking stock in exchange for shares of the subsidiary. The subsidiary, which would become a separate public company, would be called Liberty Entertainment, Inc.
"We believe converting the Liberty Entertainment tracking stock to an asset-backed security will create a stronger currency and allow greater flexibility to pursue our strategic objectives," said Greg Maffei, president and CEO of Liberty.
If the transaction is completed as currently contemplated, Entertainment will be comprised of approximately 50 per cent of The DirecTV Group 100 per cent of Starz Entertainment, FUN Technologies, and Liberty Sports Holdings, 50 per cent of GSN and 37 per cent of WildBlue Communications, Inc. The company would assume $2 billion of debt mostly associated with the acquisition of DirecTV in April.
Gateway Group has secured an additional $35 million funding for GTV, its Africa pay-TV platform GTV. This brings the total amount of money invested into the GTV business to $200 million. Julian McIntyre, founder and managing director of GTV, said pay-TV represented the next great investment opportunity on the African continent. "We have demonstrated our commitment to GTV with almost $200 million of investment to-date and following the extraordinary success since launch, we are committed to further long-term financing".
GTV is currently available in Botswana, Cameroon, DRC, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and is commencing a phased rollout across sub-Saharan Africa.
At the same time, Gateway is selling its telecommunications business to the African mobile operator Vodacom.
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People ‘can’t live’ without their DVRsMore than 70 per cent of DVR owners say that they cannot live without their DVR, according to a survey commissioned by NDS, provider of technology solutions for digital pay-TV.
According to the survey, which asked respondents to rank relative importance of a list of household appliances, apart from the washing machine and the microwave oven, no other household item was deemed more essential than the DVR in today’s homes. Intriguingly, Italians surveyed also ranked the hairdryer higher than a DVR. And when it comes to essential technology gadgets, the DVR is second only to the mobile phone as the item they can’t live without. The vast majority of respondents would rather give up their landline phone, dishwasher, radio and MP3 player than their DVR.
More than three quarters of DVR owners with families in the US, Italy and Australia also feel that having a DVR has improved their family relationships, eliminating arguments over TV and allowing for the whole family to join the dinner table. In Britain, the figure was around two-thirds.
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China and India top mobile TV audiencesChina and India have the largest mobile TV audiences, according to a new global survey carried out by Telegent. Close to three quarters of respondents to the survey in both countries confirmed that they watch mobile TV.
Following the opening of the Olympics, Telegent conducted a global survey to discover people’s attitudes towards mobile TV and their attitudes to watching coverage of the games on their mobile phone. The survey revealed that 72 per cent of Chinese consumers surveyed have watched mobile TV, making it the highest ranked country in terms of overall viewing experience of television on a mobile phone. China only won by a narrow margin as India, with 71 per cent, came in at a close second.
While 60 per cent of surveyed mobile TV users reported watching the news on their mobile phone, and 33 per cent reported watching sport, global events such as the Olympics garnered a significant increase in mobile TV viewing interest. A global average of 88 per cent of mobile TV users were interested in watching the Games on their mobile phones, which included a 95 per cent of mobile TV users surveyed in India, followed by Thailand at 93 per cent, and Brazil and China at 89 per cent. In the US the figure was 87 per cent and in the UK it was 80 per cent.
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Germans embrace DTVGerman homes are rapidly switching to digital TV, with 46.7 per cent currently receiving programmes digitally, up nearly 7 per cent from last year, according to the 2008 digitalisation report from Germany’s media authorities.
The proportion of digital households fluctuates with reception methods - 95.1 per cent of terrestrial households have moved to digital TV compared with 86 per cent in 2007. The remaining analogue terrestrial channels will be switched off before the end of 2008.
The proportion of digital satellite households rose eight per cent from 2007 figures to 65.7 per cent, while cable is somewhat lagging with just 21 per cent of cable customers using digital reception.
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SARFT to establish CMMBA spokesperson for consumer electronics manufacturer the Shinco Group has stated that the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) is considering establishing a CMMB operating company to help commercialise the CMMB mobile phone TV market. Although specific plans were not made clear, it was said that the new company would consider charging a monthly fee of RMB 5-10 for access to mobile phone television.
SARFT has begun broadcasting CMMB signals in 37 cities nationwide, with reception currently free of charge.
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Philips takes over TeletraxRoyal Philips Electronics has assumed full ownership of its former joint venture Teletrax, the world’s first global broadcast intelligence company. Philips plans to combine Teletrax with its Content Identification business thereby creating a new unit which offers best in class technology and proven service expertise. This new pairing will provide full end-to-end solutions for content owners and distributors, and positions it uniquely in the growing market for audio and video content tracking, recognition, monitoring and monetisation services.
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MTV joins GlobeCast on Eurobird 9MTV has become the first major broadcaster to benefit from GlobeCast’s recently acquired second transponder on Eutelsat’s Eurobird 9 satellite after calling on the content management and delivery company to provide distribution and capacity for MTV Portugal.
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Brightcove, the online video platform, has entered into a company-wide agreement with UK terrestrial broadcaster, Five, enabling them to incorporate advertising-supported video content across their online properties. The first websites to launch online video using Brightcove include Five News, Football Italiano, and soap opera Neighbours.
Under the terms of the agreement, any Five website producer can take advantage of the Brightcove online video platform to program online video content, create Flash-based video players for their websites, target advertising into the content, and access analytics on viewing behaviour. Five plans to offer promotional clips and highlights, website exclusives, and user-generated videos for special news features.
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Vizimo debutsVizimo, a service that enables the discovery, viewing and management of media programming that is most relevant to individual interests, tastes and needs, has debuted. Initially launching in the United Kingdom, Vizimo is available for more than 200 mobile phone models and will be expanded to other countries and handsets later this year.
Vizimo enables users to discover, plan and discuss media consumption across both scheduled broadcasts and the vast body of video content that is increasingly available on demand. Vizimo uses automated content analysis, profiling and social networking to guide users to TV programming and content of interest. It also offers tools that allow users to set recordings and reminders, and to engage in discussion about content.
Vizimo works with broadcasters and media providers to foster a multi-level relationship with customers that leverages interaction and its proprietary recommendation and profiling platform. The company enables partners to accelerate the adoption of converged media services via mobile, Internet and television, and is currently running trials with leading European media providers, plus an invitation-only beta trial directly with end users.
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TELUS selects CopperGateCopperGate Communications, a leading provider of home networking chipsets for triple play IPTV over existing wiring, announced that TELUS has selected CopperGate's HomePNA 3.1 technology integrated into set-top boxes and residential gateways for its TELUS TV service. TELUS is a leading provider of high-speed Internet, voice, and wireless communications services in Canada.
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Wednesday 3rd September
Verwaayen to lead struggling Alcatel Lucent
100m Europeans have broadband access
BBC sends HD over DTT using DVB-T2
Telefonica launches Imageno on FFTH
Ofcom changes TV ad rules
New shows on Hulu
Tata Sky chooses NDS
Telekom buys Netkom
German pubcasters want digital quick
Verwaayen to lead struggling Alcatel LucentIn a surprise move Alcatel Lucent has named Ben Verwaayen, former head of British Telecom as CEO, and Philippe Camus, co-managing director of Lagardere media group, as the new chairmran, charged with attempting to restore the troubled telecoms equipment group to health.
The company said it had chosen "experienced business leaders" who understood the industry. "Philippe Camus has experience in several high-tech global industries, including the fast-growing media sector, as well as in managing multi-cultural environment," the group said in a statement.
"Ben Verwaayen’s years of experience in this industry have given him great insight into Alcatel-Lucent. He also has deep understanding of the industry trends and customer needs and is fully committed to innovation, technological excellence and unsurpassed customer service."
After the ill-fated Franco-American merger the group has suffered six consecutive quarters of losses.
Verwaayen, who left BT in June, is a former Lucent executive and so knows the American business well. The 56-year-old spearheaded BT’s push into broadband and during the first half of his tenure he received plaudits for transforming its operating performance and increasing its market value. Latterly however sluggish growth cast a cloud over his achievements.
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100m Europeans have broadband accessEurope now has over 100 million broadband subscribers according to the latest Broadband Scorecard released today by the European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA). The results of its twice-yearly survey also show that altnets, or competitive providers, and not the large incumbents which own much of the telecom infrastructure, are leading in provision of super broadband connection speeds above 10Mbits/sec, as well as driving the uptake of high-tech services.
According to ECTAS, speeds and services have become the next broadband battleground.
In Sweden, the leader for super broadband services where one in 10 people subscribe to a super-fast connection, 70% of the high speed services were provided by competitors compared with just 20% by the incumbent. The results are similar for all other countries surveyed.
However, while competitors dominate in offering high broadband speeds, the access lines over which broadband services are provided continue to be controlled predominantly by incumbent operators. Only 18% of broadband services across Europe were supplied via an alternative parallel network to the incumbent – usually cable. The remaining competitive services rely on regulated access to the incumbent network such as local loop unbundling.
Innocenzo Genna, chairman of ECTA said the results showed that it is largely competitive providers and not the incumbents who are bringing very high speeds and new services into the market. "However, consumers’ choice to switch to an operator offering faster and better services depends on regulators enforcing effective access so that the line can be used by multiple companies and not just the owner of the line. A real concern is that consumers in some cities or even entire countries could find that the choice they have today reduces and speeds stagnate because policy-makers decide that access to fibre networks is not needed," he said.
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BBC sends HD over DTT using DVB-T2Engineers from BBC Research & Innovation have succeeded in demonstrating a working real-time demodulator capable of receiving signals compliant to the DVB-T2 standard for the first time.
Following the approval of the standard by the DVB on June 26th, and then the successful test transmissions from Guildford on June 27th, the achievement is a significant milestone in the delivery of HD over Freeview. This is the first time anywhere in the world that a live end-to-end DVB-T2 chain has been demonstrated.
The standard will be further demonstrated at the IBC event in Amsterdam later this month.
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Telefonica launches Imageno on FFTH
From David Del Valle in MadridTelefonica is launching Trio Futura 30 Megas through its latest generation network FFTH a new service at a speed of 30 Megabytes that includes the triple play and the Imagenio's family package with 60 channels and a DVR service. The monthly fee is E42.95 over the next three months and E85.95 from January.
The company is also launching Trio Futur with a speed of 10 Megabytes and three options that include Imagenio's family and basic packages and a DVR option from E32.95 until the end of the year and from E65.90 from January.
Meanwhile, the CEO of Telefonica Julio Linares, said that the company is not studying the acquisition of Prisa's pay-TV platform Digital at this time. Linares said: "Obviously we study all opportunities and we would make a decision at the right time... that time hasn't come yet."
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Ofcom changes TV ad rulesOfcom has relaxed restrictions on TV advertising to make commercial breaks less disruptive for viewers and more lucrative for broadcasters. Broadcasters are no longer required to leave 20-minute gaps between breaks within programmes, and can show one more break in a typical movie broadcast.
But prospects for an overall increase in advertising are diminishing. Stewart Purvis, partner for content and standards at Ofcom, the communications regulator, said the previous rules annoyed viewers by encouraging advertisers to bunch breaks together. The 20-minute rule was designed to avoid frequent interruptions, but saw broadcasters insert breaks shortly after the start and near the end of an hour-long programme. He said the new rules would allow flexibility for broadcasters to schedule breaks "more sympathetically to the way the programme is edited and cut".
Further tweaks to advertising rules removed restrictions dating back to the 1950s on commercials in half-hour long documentaries, current affairs and religious programming that Ofcom felt "may discourage broadcasters from scheduling such programmes".
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New shows on HuluNBC is giving users of Hulu, the video-streaming site it cofounded with News Corp., a sneak peek at some of its fall shows, streaming them before they debut on the network. The series premiere of Knight Rider and the season premieres of Chuck, Life and Lipstick Jungle will be available on Hulu one week before they appear on NBC's primetime lineup.
The Hulu Fall Lineup will premiere new episodes of primetime shows for seven straight weeks.
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Tata Sky chooses NDSNDS has confirmed that Tata Sky, the leading Direct-to-Home (DTH) service provider in India, has launched India’s first EPG in the Hindi language in partnership with NDS. Hindi is spoken by 40 per cent of India’s 1 billion population.
Vikram Kaushik, Managing Director and CEO of Tata Sky Ltd. said, "We are the first company in India to introduce this advanced technology that will give subscribers the flexibility to choose the language in which they want to view their daily TV programme listings at the press of a button. The new EPG reinforces our commitment in building a state-of-the-art DTH operation in India, and we are confident that it will attract viewers from all over India to the Tata Sky platform."
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Telekom buys NetkomSlovenia's leading national telecom operator Telekom has bought Bosnian cable television operator Netkom for E1.3 million. "This is the first step towards expanding our network and providing an end-to-end service in the field of communications, including telephony, Internet and multimedia services (in Bosnia)," it said in a statement.
Telekom, Slovenia's second-largest listed company, with a market capitalisation of about E1.5 billion, already owns Bosnian telecom operator and Internet provider Aneks.
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German pubcasters want digital quickGerman public service broadcasters ARD and ZDF want a fast analogue switchover on satellite in order to introduce HD broadcasts in 2010, as keeping analogue and both SD and HD transmissions on air would be too expensive, they claimed at IFA in Berlin.
Andreas Bereczky, production director at ZDF, said the public broadcasters are on track for HD deployment. Bereczky acknowledged that there are indeed a lot of HD ready and full HD flat screens in German homes, but still very few HD capable receivers in the marketplace. That is why the public broadcasters have opted for a better SD quality rather than to quickly start HD broadcasts. But ARD and ZDF are now contemplating a faster analogue switch-off on satellite in order to make room for HD transmissions.
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Tuesday 2nd September
MTV going HD
Motorola and Deutsche Telekom IPTV service
India DTH benefits from cable war
Chinese online traffic exceeds US
Canal+ up
Sislink secures Eutelsat
Mogull takes BBC technology role
Shareholders inject E5.5m into Setanta
HFCL Infotel Punjabi IPTV
Winbox and CinemaNow Partnership
Frontier Silicon's multi-profile DAB receiver
KAON hybrid-receiver for Tele Columbus
Bridge adds Enterprise-Level
MTV going HDMTV Networks International, owned by Viacom, is launching its first ever international HD service - MTVNHD. The channel will premiere on September 15th and will be available in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Poland and Sweden.
Over 300 hours of programming has been commissioned for the channel, providing viewers with an enhanced music and kids’ entertainment experience across MTV, VH1 and Nickelodeon among other MTVNI brands.
MTVNI intends to extend the MTVNHD service to France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the UK, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela before the end of the year.
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Motorola and Deutsche Telekom IPTV serviceMotorola and Deutsche Telekom have revealed a collaboration to deliver IPTV in Germany with Deutsche Telekom using Motorola’s HD-ready IPTV set-tops for its "T-Home Entertain" services. The collaboration will enable T-Home customers to access a variety of multimedia applications in addition to standard TV offerings using a high-quality, optimised Motorola set-top which is already equipped for future services.
Within the scope of the contract, Motorola will provide T-Home with its VIP1616E set-top - known to T-Home customers as Media Receiver 300 Typ A. With the device, subscribers to T-Home’s Entertain service will be able to view sporting content in full HD. Moreover, T-Home viewers can use the device’s electronic programme guide to plan, record, and store what they want to watch.
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India DTH benefits from cable warThe direct-to-home (DTH) operators in India are set to capture 72 per cent of the 25 million new subscribers in the next three years through intense competition between the cable and DTH firms, according to a report from international media research firm Media Partners Asia (MPA).
These new consumers will have access to digital pay television service, either DTH or cable, the report adds. Currently, there are about 80 million cable homes in the country with most subscribers receiving analogue cable transmission with poor video and audio quality. By 2010, the digital subscribers are likely to corner nearly 25 per cent of the overall cable market, up nearly three times from the existing 8 per cent.
Of the 25 million new subscribers added till December 2010, there will be about 18 million DTH subscribers, up nearly three times from 6.3 million subscribers in the current month, while a total of 7.2 million digital cable subscribers will be added by the cable firms, a six-fold increase from the existing 1.2 million.
Chinese online traffic exceeds US
Daily online traffic on the website of China's largest broadcaster surpassed that of the leading US broadcaster and online channel during the Olympics, according to WebTrends Analytics.
Spurred by national pride and massive growth in Internet adoption in China, CCTV.com, the site run by national broadcaster China Central TV, drew more than 100 million unique visitors during the 2008 Olympic Games. WebTrends Analytics documented an average of more than 6 million unique visitors each day. In comparison, NBC, which maintained broadcast rights to the Games in the US, reported an average of 4.3 million unique users a day on its Olympics website. Yahoo!, which also featured extensive online video from the Olympics, averaged 4.7 million, according to media accounts.
"The Beijing Olympics marked the coming of age for the Internet in China," said Alex Yoder, CEO of WebTrends, a leading provider of web analytics and online marketing solutions. "CCTV.com attracted more than 100 million online visitors for the Olympic Games by providing the right content at the right time for a large and ever-growing online audience."
Vivendi SA Monday reported a 12 per cent rise in second-quarter net profit, as strong growth at pay-TV broadcaster Canal+ and video-game unit Vivendi Games more than offset shrinking profits at Universal Music Group.
Net profit for the three months ended June 30 rose to E667 million from E594 million a year earlier. The company reported last month that sales grew 15 per cent to E5.99 billion from E5.2 billion a year earlier.
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Sislink secures EutelsatSISLink, European supplier of satellite uplinks, has signed a contract with Eutelsat Communications for a total of 4,000 hours of capacity in average 9MHz slots on a range of Eutelsat satellites until June 2009.
The capacity will be made available on request to SISLink on a real-time basis via a range of Eutelsat satellites providing reach across Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and central Asia. Uplinks in both Standard Digital or HD will be delivered back to SISLinks' teleports in the UK.
Mogull takes BBC technology role
The BBC has created the new role of chief operating officer for the future media and technology department, promoting Kerstin Mogull, the corporation's deputy director for policy and strategy, to the role.
Mogull takes up the new position immediately. She will be responsible for ensuring the department works effectively with the BBC's News, Vision and Audio & Music divisions, and the BBC Trust, as well as the FM&T's overall management and governance. She will also ensure the department doesn’t again manage to exceed its budget by £36 million (E46.8m).
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Shareholders inject E5.5m into SetantaA number of shareholders in pay-TV channel Setanta Sports have poured an additional E5.5 million into the company. While the company has continued to spend heavily on acquiring sports rights in recent months, the latest allotment of shares is reported to be a ‘‘tidying-up exercise’’, rather than a formal fundraising exercise.
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HFCL Infotel Punjabi IPTVHFCL Infotel will roll out IPTV services in the Punjab state in the next three months, the The Economic Times has reported. HFCL Infotel has signed an agreement with Smart Broadband Services, allowing HFCL to use Smart’s infrastructure to launch its IPTV services. In the first phase the operator has stated that it hopes to sign up 20,000 users, and has reiterated its plans to launch GSM services in Punjab next year.
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Winbox and CinemaNow PartnershipCinemaNow, provider of digital movies and TV shows across multiple platforms, has partnered with technology provider Winbox to allow the delivery of CinemaNow content over broadband directly to televisions via OEM set-top boxes built on the Winbox technology platform.
Under the new partnership, Winbox and CinemaNow will provide a seamless, fully integrated platform for the electronic delivery of movies, TV shows, music and software to consumers via broadband Internet connection.
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Frontier Silicon's multi-profile DAB receiverFrontier Silicon, supplier of digital radio technology, is enabling manufacturers around the world to produce a single low-cost digital radio receiver with full Europe-wide compatibility. This is being made possible for the first time through the alignment of broadcasters, regulators and technology providers in defining the minimum requirements for receivers - an unprecedented initiative that is creating the right conditions for the successful launch of digital radio across Europe.
Frontier Silicon is working in close collaboration with the international digital broadcasting standards body, WorldDMB, as a member of the Receiver Profile Task Force. This group has been formed in response to requests from German, French and UK broadcasting industries and regulators to define a set of common Eureka-147 standard-based receiver profiles. The European Broadcasting Union and EICTA, the representative body of the European consumer electronics technology industry, have requested these minimum profiles to enable the proliferation of low-cost unified receivers across Europe as broadcasters introduce their planned digital services.
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KAON hybrid-receiver for Tele ColumbusThe Tele Columbus Group, Germany’s third-largest cable operator, has chosen KAON Media Enterprise as prime vendor for the development of an HD PVR hybrid receiver to be launched in Q1 of 2009 in the German market. KAON will develop an innovative HD PVR solution that combines both DVB as well as IP-streaming content. The solution aims at integrating different PayTV platforms and services using advanced Middleware Technology and NDS VideoGuard encryption solutions.
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Bridge adds Enterprise-LevelBridge Technologies has released Reports, an optional module for its VBC server system providing in-depth reporting capabilities for digital TV applications. Reports offers full, enterprise-level reporting capabilities for Service Level Agreement (SLA) compliance, and proof-of-carriage documentation for service providers and telecoms. Reports can be generated and individually output from the system from any time period — the previous 24 hours to the last two years — with system aggregation views and individual site views. Easy-to-understand graphical representation makes Reports a valuable tool for nontechnical staff, and the optional trending display is excellent for engineering's evaluation of the status of sites or of the system, says Bridge.
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Monday 1st September
Kangaroo rejects cartel tag
Bertelsmann considers sale of RTL stake
Comcast names limit
US cable offers election channel
Kudelski Group reports Q1
Colombia chooses European DVB-T standard
PCCW IPTV for Indonesia
Podcasts influence media consumption
WIN VOD platform for T-Mobile
Hobson in at Kangaroo
Vestel DivX STB
Red Bee broadcast BBC Africa channels
BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4 have rejected concerns their Kangaroo VOD JV would allow them to operate an online video cartel. In a submission to the Competition Commission’s inquiry just published, the JV trio claim: "This concern centres on the argument that the parties have strong market positions in respect of rights over UK TV content and that UK TV content is unique… Both of these propositions are misconceived."
The inquiry has had submissions from Joost, Lovefilm owner Arts Alliance Media, the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) and the Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television (PACT), over Kangaroo’s ability to set prices for wholesale content and advertising. But Kangaroo retorts that its strength in conventional TV would not be replicated in VOD because "much UK linear content, such as sport, news, talent shows and soap operas is unsuitable for VOD".
They claimed Kangaroo would not result in consumer prices rising because VOD platforms like those offered by Apple, Sony and Microsoft are incentivised to set low prices in order to sell their hardware. Since it is not in the business of selling hardware, Kangaroo said it will offer archive content that wouldn’t otherwise get an airing.
It also argued it "will face strong competition: It cannot be doubted that players such as Apple, Sky, Amazon, Microsoft and Sony have the know--how and resources to make highly competitive offers for VOD rights if they should wish to do so. Independent production companies such as Endemol are large and sophisticated organisations that are perfectly capable of taking advantage of commercial opportunities by separating linear and VOD rights."
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Bertelsmann considers sale of RTL stakeBertelsmann has hinted it could sell 15 per cent of RTL, the TV group, to finance a large acquisition, possibly commercial broadcaster ITV.
In the first six months of the year, Bertelsmann saw operating earnings before interest and taxes fall 7.8 per cent to E681 million. The company said economic woes would also drag full-year operating numbers below last year’s. Bertelsmann owns 90.3 per cent of RTL and long eyed buying out minorities to gain full control, making the sale of individual TV assets much easier. But Luxembourg authorities blocked a last attempt in December.
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Comcast names limitComcast has set 250 GB per month as the limit for residential Internetsubscribers' data usage, effectively quantfying the threshhold for "excessive use." Comcast has for several years contacted the heaviest users and warned them they needed to upgrade to a commercial service or cut back usage below that threshold, the company says, but it had not informed them of what the threshhold was.
Comcast says that to exceed that 250 GB threshold, a customer would have to dowload 125 standard-definition movies. The announcement comes three weeks before Comcast must report to the FCC on how it has managed Internet traffic and how it will better inform customers of that network management, the result of an FCC finding Comcast had violated the FCC's open access principles, including by not sufficiently informing customers about its network management practices.
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US cable offers election channelThe US cable industry has introduced an experimental political channel that gives advertisers a uniform way to buy time and measure the number of people watching.
Elections ’08 On Demand, lets people watch videos whenever they want, much the way they can on YouTube or the Web sites of television networks. Depending on where they live, people can tune into the channel to see an infomercial for Barack Obama, coverage of the Democratic National Convention, or historical clips like Lyndon B. Johnson’s "Daisy" ad.
So far the nascent channel offers only about eight hours of programming. But the participating cable companies, many of which joined a consortium this year called Canoe Ventures, say this effort shows that they can work together well. Canoe Ventures is trying to make cable television a more attractive place for advertisers; Elections ’08 is the first product it has worked on.
The channel is available in 32 million households, primarily the ones served by the six partners of Canoe Ventures: Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Cablevision Systems, Charter Communications, Cox Communications and Bright House Networks.
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Kudelski Group reports Q1Kudelski Group, parent of Nagravision, announced marginally increased sales and an operating loss for its first half year ended June 30th, 2008. Results were in line with expectations, as the transition to the service model is negatively impacting top line growth and profitability. At the end of June, the Group has delivered about 7 million swap cards in service mode.
Total revenues and other operating income came in at CHF 424.2 million (E262m), which is slightly up compared to the first half 2007. Kudelski reported an operating loss of CHF 18.5 million and a net loss of CHF 39.8 million. The Group forecasts to deliver a profitable second half, while the bulk of the economic benefit from the migration of cards to the service model is expected to materialise starting in 2009.
In the first half 2008, Nagravision expanded its global reach to 92.3 million active devices for conditional access.
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Colombia chooses European DVB-T standardColombia has chosen the European DVBT standard for its digital television upgrade, government regulators have confirmed. The upgrade will take place within 10 years, according to the National Television Commission. The upgrade is expected to attract about $150 million in investment to the country's public television networks and up to $60 million to Colombia's private networks. "This is without doubt the most important decision in Colombian television," Carolina Hoyos, president of the commission, told reporters.
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PCCW IPTV for Indonesia
Hong Kong’s PCCW has signed a deal with PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia - the country’s principal telco - to launch an IPTV service in the country.PCCW International has signed a memorandum of understanding with Telekomunikasi and its subsidiary PT Indonusa Telemedia, which already offers DTH and cable TV, to co-invest in Telkomvision. Services will include IPTV and transactional services as well as DTH broadcasts.
Telkomvision’s service intends to offer international and local content, complementing a successful nationwide DTH and cable service that has already attracted more than 140,000 subscribers. Despite a population of around 240 million and 53.5 million homes, just two per cent of the 40 million homes that have TV access own pay-TV.
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Podcasts influence media consumptionInternet users are increasingly time-shifting their media consumption by downloading podcasts to watch or listen later, according to a US study.
Research group the Pew Internet and American Life Project, found that 19 per cent of Internet users had downloaded podcasts to listen or view at a later date.A similar study in August 2006 found that just 12 per cent of Internet users had done this. An earlier study of downloading habits, in February and April 2006, found that just 7 per cent of users had downloaded a podcast in this manner.
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WIN plc, specialists in interactive mobile entertainment and information, have confirmed the launch of its new full-service video streaming platform with mobile network operator T-Mobile Germany. The service will make a broad range of streamed video content available to T-Mobile Germany’s 38 million subscribers. The new service will provide subscribers with a significantly improved mobile video experience, with a wide range of quality content. The offering includes new services such as a Bundesliga football video portal covering all games in the German top divisions.
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Hobson in at KangarooFolllowing the departure of Patrick Ugeux, ITV's project director of Kangaroo, Rob Hobson, executive business manager of ITV consumer, has taken on additional responsibilities as ITV's Kangaroo representative.
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Vestel DivX STBDivX, a digital media company, and Vestel A.S. have announced plans to release a new STB from Vestel supporting the high-quality playback of DivX video. The new STB is currently being certified by DivX and is the first DivX capable STB to be announced for the European market, expanding the DivX ecosystem in this important emerging category.
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Red Bee broadcast BBC Africa channelsBBC Worldwide Channels have awarded Red Bee Media the contract to provide playout services for four new channels launching in Africa, as part of the broadcaster’s ongoing expansion. From 1st September, BBC Entertainment, BBC Knowledge, BBC Lifestyle and CBeebies will launch in Africa.
