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Our Latest Issues
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Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Tuesday
Friday 1st May
Sky puts in boom quarter, 1m+ on HD
Portugal launches DTT on 29 locations
Hulu breaks into Top 3 video sites
Internet-enabled TVs in demand
Viacom down 1/3
Sirius protects itself from takeover
KDG chooses NDS for digital TV platform
Eutelsat's Tooway in Britain
MPAA appoints Mandil
Sky puts in boom quarter, 1m+ on HDBSkyB has delivered profit gains in the last quarter as more customers signed up for its high-definition digital services. Pre-tax profits rose 13 per cent to £63 million (E70m) between January and March. It added 243,000 customers for its Sky+HD service, but with churn the net gain down to 80,000 new customers. Revenue was up to £1.4 billion, from £1.25 billion in the same period last year.
Sky now has a total of 9.3 million customers, with five million of those now subscribing to Sky+. More than one million subscribers now have Sky's high-definition service. Customers with triple play from Sky are now about 15 per cent of the broadcaster's total users, up from 9 per cent a year ago.
"Looking ahead to the rest of 2009, we expect conditions to remain challenging," BSkyB said. "In difficult times, customers are making careful choices."
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Portugal launches DTT on 29 locations
From Branislav Pekic in RomeDigital Terrestrial Television (DTT) broadcasting in Portugal started on April 29th on a total of 29 locations, representing a 40 per cent population coverage.
Portugal Telecom, which has been selected as the network operator, managed to launch the service in more than the 10-12 regions originally announced. The free-to-air DTT multiplex currently includes national TV channels RTP1, RTP2, SIC and TVI, as well as two channels (RTP Madeira and RTP Açores) that are available in the Autonomous Regions. It will also carry a 5th national TV channel in the future as well as a HDTV channel.
MPEG-4 digital set-top boxes are available at prices ranging from E30 to E90. Portugal Telecom’s mobile unit, TMN, is also making available a mobile broadband USB pen drive for E149 that serves as an antenna for the reception of DTT on computers.
According to Portugal Telecom’s executive president, Zeinal Bava, 80 per cent coverage of the population will be achieved by the end of the year, with an ASO target of 2010. The operator estimates that out of the 4.5 million households, 47 per cent or 2 million are potential DTT customers as they do not currently subscribe to pay-TV via cable or satellite.
The locations where DTT launched are: Alcochete, Almada, Alpiarça, Amadora, Barreiro, Benavente, Chaves, Coimbra, Entroncamento, Évora, Faro, Funchal, Gaia, Golegã, Lisbon, Mangualde, Matosinhos, Moita, Montijo, Oeiras, Olhão, Palmela, Ponta Delgada, Porto, Salvaterra de Magos, Seixal, Sintra, Torres Novas and Viana do Castelo.
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Hulu breaks into Top 3 video sitesComScore has released March 2009 data from the comScore Video Metrix service, showing that US Internet users viewed 14.5 billion online videos during the month, representing an increase of 11 per cent versus February.
Google Sites once again ranked as the top US video property with 5.9 billion videos viewed (40.9 per cent online video market share), with YouTube.com accounting for more than 99 per cent of all videos viewed at the property. Fox Interactive Media ranked second with 437 million videos (3.0 per cent), followed by Hulu with 380 million (2.6 per cent) and Yahoo! Sites with 335 million (2.3 per cent). March represented the first time Hulu has cracked the top three in the ranking of videos viewed.
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Internet-enabled TVs in demandDemand for Internet-enabled televisions is growing rapidly, according to a study by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). The study "Net-Enabled Video: Early Adopters Only?" found that about half of prospective TV buyers say they are likely to purchase an Internet-connected TV.
The study reveals numerous ways consumers would use an Internet-enabled TV. Nearly half (48 per cent) of US online adults would use their web-enabled TV to find out more information on upcoming shows and identify a song that played during the show. Forty-four per cent also would use the web to find out more information about the actors featured on-screen. Having anytime-access to content, and accessing the Internet and television broadcasts together were the top benefits of an Internet-enabled TV, according to consumers.
The study also found that most adults are already online while watching TV. Almost a third of online adults (30 per cent) say they always or usually surf the Internet while watching television and another third (32 per cent) say they sometimes do.
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Viacom profits fell 34 per cent in the first quarter, hurt by a global advertising spending slowdown. The company reported first quarter net profit of $177 million, down from $270 million, a year earlier. Revenue fell 7 per cent to $2.91 billion.
Advertising at Viacom’s cable networks, which as a sector is considered the most resilient compared with newspapers or local television broadcasters, fell 9 per cent in the US and 11 per cent globally. A stronger US currency hurt film exports, which led to a 4 per cent negative impact from foreign currency exchange, the company said.
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Sirius protects itself from takeoverThe board of directors of struggling satellite radio provider Sirius XM has approved a "stockholder rights plan" that would effectively prevent the weakened company from hostile takeovers. According to the terms of the plan, known in financial circles as a poison pill, any attempt to buy up more than 4.9 per cent of Sirius' stock without board approval would trigger limitations on the buyer's voting rights as well as their stake in the company. The plan includes an exception for Liberty Media, which already owns a 40 per cent stake. Sirius execs hope to win shareholder approval for the plan with a vote on June 30th.
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KDG chooses NDS for digital TV platformNDS has announced that KDG, Germany’s largest cable network operator and biggest triple play provider, has selected NDS as end-to-end solution provider to enhance its digital TV platform.
KDG operates cable networks in 13 German states and supplies its television and triple play services to approximately nine million connected households in Germany. NDS’ technologies will enable KDG to introduce new services for the development of its digital TV business. The NDS end-to-end solution for KDG will support both standard and high definition digital TV services as well as enabling future enhancements to help KDG deliver a superior viewing experience to its subscribers now and in the future.
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Eutelsat's Tooway in BritainEutelsat Communications, the European leader for satellite communications, has launched its Tooway consumer Internet access service in the UK.
Using satellite technology available from just £29.99 per month (E33.4), Tooway can now offer the UK’s rural homes, and those in slowband areas, access to 2 megabit per second (2Mbps) broadband services without the need for any existing telephone line. The service is also triple play-ready, allowing distributors to offer additional TV and IP telephony services using the same equipment.
Tooway will be delivered in the UK via a network of certified local distributors.
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MPAA appoints MandilThe Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has named Daniel M. Mandil as Senior Executive Vice President, Chief of Legal Affairs and Intellectual Property Protection. Mandil will oversee all legal affairs for the association and all its projects and programmes relating to anti-piracy and intellectual property protection on a global basis. Mandil will also be the association's corporate secretary.
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Thursday 30th April
Time Warner Cable profits drop
Spain urges single pay DTT STB
CME takes a tumble
F1 on Spanish mobiles
IAB updates online standards
Korea's IPTV firms sign $173m Peruvian deal
Chunghwa IPTV subs up
Celeno and TI wireless HD for the home
Time Warner Cable profits dropTime Warner Cable has posted a drop in first quarter profit due to rising programing costs and expenses related to the separation from its parent Time Warner Inc. The second largest US cable operator's net profit fell to $164 million, from $242 million a year ago. Revenue rose 5 per cent to $4.4 billion.
These are the first set of financial results by Time Warner Cable since completely separating from former parent Time Warner Inc on March 12th of this year. The cable company said it added 36,000 basic video subscribers as well as 121,000 digital video subscribers during the quarter. It also added another 225,000 high speed Internet subscribers and 166,000 phone subscribers.
Meanwhile, mirroring Sky’s Green Button move (Daily News 29.04.09), Time Warner Cable is marrying its interactive-TV capabilities with its video on demand service to create Promotions On Demand, a new VOD technology that enables viewers to request more information or coupons from advertisers through their remote control.
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Spain urges single pay DTT STB
From David Del Valle in MadridThe Ministry of Industry has urged TV operators and electronic manufacturers to reach an agreement to market a single set-top-box able to receive pay DTT services to avoid the proliferation of different DTT devices.
To this end, TV networks and manufacturers have set up a working group to find a suitable solution so that one single DTT device is able to receive pay services and HD transmissions. "It would be a horizontal solution supported by all involved players", said the General Director of Impulsa TDT, Andres de Armas.
Currently 50.7 per cent of TV households have DTT services. In February 576,000 DTT receivers were sold of which 283,000 were iDTVs. A total of 17 million DTT receivers have been sold since the launch of services. DTT coverage already reaches 93.5 per cent of the population.
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CME takes a tumbleCentral European Media Enterprises (CME) has announced less than impressive financial results for the three months ended March 31st, 2009.
Net revenues for the first quarter of 2009 were $141.2 million, a decrease of 37 per cent, compared to the first quarter of 2008. Operating income for the quarter fell $130 million to a loss of $84.5 million and includes an impairment charge of $81.8 million relating to the company’s Bulgarian operations. Net income from continuing operations decreased $62.4 million to a loss of $46.7 million.
Adrian Sarbu, President and Chief Operating Officer of CME, commented: "The first quarter of 2009 was the toughest in our history across all markets. We foresaw this trend and have managed our sales and costs to limit the impact of the decline in advertising spending. Our leadership remains strong and our advertising share in our core markets increased. Our main priority for the quarter, liquidity, was successfully addressed. Time Warner agreed to invest US$ 241.5 million in CME. I see this as a sign of confidence in our markets, people and strategy for the future."
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F1 on Spanish mobilesMovistar and Vodafone are to broadcast race coverage of Formula 1 via mobile phones in the Spanish market. They will work with the rights-holder La Sexta and will provide practice and qualifying free, but will charge for the race coverage. Formula One has agreed similar deals in various other national markets but the services have yet to begin.
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IAB updates online standardsThe UK Internet Advertising Bureau has updated its best practice guidelines for online video advertising in a bid to standardise usage of ad formats in the emerging sector.
The guidelines have been produced by the IAB Video Council, which includes representatives from YouTube, Guardian, Sky, Channel 4, Bauer, Telegraph, Microsoft, Yahoo and the BBC, with the aim of creating a single point of reference for marketers.
The guidelines for advertisers recommend size, positioning and length of formats such as pre, mid and post-roll ads, interaction in video ads, in stream overlap ads, in-text video adverts and companion adverts.
It also includes guidance for marketers using product placement and brand-funded content, branded video player skins, video adverts in social media and video sub-sites.
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Korea's IPTV firms sign $173m Peruvian dealKorea Digital Media Industry Association has revealed that Korea's consortium of IPTV firms had signed a $173 million contract with its Peruvian counterpart to establish an education system utilising IPTV technology in Peru. Korea will be paid in minerals, including copper, zinc and molybdenum.
In the first phase of the project by 2010, the Korean consortium will construct IPTV networks extending 300 km while connecting a million households in its capital Lima and neighboring areas, and establish a broadcasting center. In the second phase, more IPTV facilities and infrastructure will be constructed to connect Lima and four other cities stretching 2,200 km.
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Chunghwa IPTV subs upTaiwanese telco Chunghwa Telecom had reported that it now has 686,000 subscribers to its IPTV service 'Multimedia-on-Demand' as of the end of the first quarter of this year – adding approximately 10,000 customers during the three month period and giving a 57.6 per cent year-on-year increase.
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Celeno and TI wireless HD for the homeCeleno Communications, provider of semiconductors for multimedia Wi-Fi home networking applications, is working with Texas Instruments to enable next-generation cable modem gateways with wireless HD technology for Cable HD IPTV applications. Celeno's high-performance CL1300 Wi-Fi chip is now interoperable with Texas Instruments' Puma 5 family of DOCSIS 3.0 products.
The joint technology enables MSOs to address next generation Cable IPTV whole-home distribution requirements and multi-room DVR use cases with robust, wireless HD home networking. Cable MSOs can benefit from the advantages of HD Wi-Fi such as: flexibility to address STB's in coax-less rooms, video distribution to devices beyond STB's (e.g., portable devices and personal computers), and reduction of installation expenditures.
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Wednesday 29th April
Sky long form 'Green Button' advertising
Canal Plus launches Canal Ready
Phorm on defensive
Online ads will grow
Creditors give Thomson breathing space
Verizon reports profit
Hunt joins Freeview
KPN subs up
DOXTV selects NDS technology
Thomson gateways achieve DOCSIS 3.0 certifications
Sky long form 'Green Button' advertisingTo extend the range of creative opportunities available to brands through TV advertising, Sky is launching Green Button advertising, a service which allows viewers to easily watch and access extended - or long form‚ advertising. Built on the same underlying technology as the Green Button programme reminder service, advertisers will be able to encourage viewers to press the Green Button on their Sky remote to book longer-form content into their Sky Guide or to record content onto their Sky PVR.
Through the Green Button, viewers will be offered the opportunity of watching extended versions of ads, finding out more about particular products or services, or accessing related behind-the-scenes or exclusive footage. Green Button content can range from 2 minutes to 2 hours and the service even allows for the series-linking of advertising content, for those brands wishing to create episodic advertising.
Each piece of advertiser created programming will be made available to Sky homes with standard digi boxes twice a day - viewers will be prompted with an on-screen reminder to watch a selected ad when it becomes available . In 4.6 million Sky+ homes, viewers will have the opportunity to have the ad stored on their Sky+ planner for playback at a time of their choosing.
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Canal Plus launches Canal ReadyFrench pay TV group Canal Plus has announced the launch of the new 'Canal Ready' label to be placed on new TV equipment. The label is intended to inform consumers about the compatibility of the product they are about to buy with the group's services.
Canal Ready will feature on satellite and DTT set-top boxes as well as TV's with integrated CI+ standard access control modules by the summer. It may later be extended to other TV reception products such as computers, game consoles and mobile phones.
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Phorm on defensive
The UK Home Office has been accused of colluding with online ad firm Phorm on "informal guidance" to the public on whether the company's service is legal. E-mails between the ministry and Phorm show the ministry asking if the firm would be "comforted" by its position. The messages show Phorm making changes to the guidance sought by the ministry.The Home Office said "We have repeatedly said since these documents were released a year ago that the Government has not endorsed Phorm or its technology. We are committed to protecting the privacy of UK consumers and will ensure any new technology of this sort is applied in an appropriate and transparent manner, in full accordance with the law and with proper regulation from the appropriate authority."
The e-mail exchanges were released under a Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request. The exchanges between the Home Office and Phorm date back to August 2007, in which the ministry asks the company for more information about the technology following a request made by Phorm for a view on its technology.
The Home Office has said previously that exchanges were about helping the department understand "public safety considerations and legal obligations" about behavioural advertising in general.Meanwhile, Phorm has launched a website to explain how its 'Webwise' service tracks users' online surfing habits and delivers relevant adverts while still ensuring the data collected remains anonymous
According to Phorm, over the last year the service "has been the subject of a concerted campaign orchestrated by a small but dedicated band of detractors who appear determined to harm our company, irrespective of the facts, and the potential benefits to UK consumers and websites and advertisers".
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Online ads will growInterpublic Group's Magna forecasts the US market for online video will grow by 32 per cent this year, rising from $531 million in 2008 to $699 million in 2009. Brian Wieser, Magna's SVP, global director of forecasting, says the researcher expects online video to generate slightly more than $1 billion in net advertising revenues for video content by 2011. That represents a compounded annual growth rate of 36 percent for each year between 2006 and 2011.
Weisner says the reasons for video's resilience include the fact that marketers are attracted to targeted content, and online can pinpoint viewers better than TV. Plus, he says, the increasing amount of premium web video from the big media companies has pulled advertising along with them. The forecast comes even as major video players like YouTube and Hulu continue to struggle with the prospect of becoming viable businesses.The problem for online advertising remains that online video's scale will still be fairly small in the overall scheme of things, as top-tier ad inventory will continue to be limited. Plus, while targeting has its benefits, marketers still want mass, Wieser noted. For a point of reference, during 2008, "490 billion person-hours" of traditional TV were consumed, he said, citing Nielsen numbers. That's about 244 times greater than the consumption of premium online video. So, even if the forecast's growth rates hold up over the next three years, traditional TV would still account for 98 times more consumption and all the ad dollars that go with it.
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Creditors give Thomson breathing spaceThe main creditors of Thomson have given the loss-making French media technology group a waiver until June 16th to restructure its debt. The company, which had warned it would breach its debt covenants, now has until its June 16th annual shareholders meeting to continue discussions on how to shore up its balance sheet.
"The goal we now all have is to be able to announce the principles of a deal on June 16th," Chief Executive Frederic Rose told reporters during a conference call. Rose is also taking on the additional role of chairman of the board, the group said in a statement announcing the waiver.
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Verizon reports profitUS telco Verizon Communications has reported that its revenue and earnings continued to grow in the first quarter 2009 and that it continued to generate strong cash flows. Despite the general economic climate, sales remained strong for wireless, FiOS and strategic business services.
Verizon's total operating revenues grew 11.6 per cent to $26.6 billion, compared with the first quarter 2008, as the company added revenues from its acquisition of Alltel Corporation in early January 2009.
- Verizon added 299,000 net new FiOS TV customers. The company had 2.2 million FiOS TV customers, an increase of 83.8 per cent compared with the first quarter 2008.
- FiOS TV sales penetration (sales as a percentage of potential customers) increased to 22.9 per cent, compared with 18.7 per cent in the first quarter 2008. FiOS TV service was available for sale to 9.7 million premises by end of the quarter.
- Verizon added a record 298,000 net new FiOS Internet customers. The company had nearly 2.8 million FiOS Internet customers, an increase of 55.5 per cent compared with the first quarter 2008.
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Hunt joins FreeviewFreeview has appointed Tim Hunt as Director of Marketing Communications. Hunt replaces Rob Farmer who joins ITV as Director of Viewer Marketing at the beginning of May. As Director of Marketing Communications, Hunt will be responsible for shaping and leading the integrated marketing and PR campaigns for Freeview, the UK’s largest television platform.
Before taking up his new role at Freeview, he was the Marketing Director at Project Kangaroo, the proposed video-on-demand joint venture between Channel 4, BBC Worldwide and ITV.
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KPN subs upDutch telco KPN added 60,000 subscribers to its pay-TV services in the first quarter of 2009 giving them a total of 835,000. The company now has a 12 per cent share of the Dutch television market.
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DOXTV selects NDS technologyNDS has confirmed that DOXTV, a value-added TV service provider in China focusing on international movies and TV programmes, has chosen an end-to-end suite of NDS technologies to protect and enhance its business. DOXTV is using VideoGuard conditional access, MediaHighway middleware, as well as secure NDS XTV digital video recorder (DVR) technology with push video on demand capability, to offer a full range of high-quality programming and technology to Chinese pay-TV providers.
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Thomson gateways achieve DOCSIS 3.0 certificationsThomson has confirmed that its cable modems and VoIP gateways have received the DOCSIS 3.0 and EuroDOCSIS 3.0 certifications. Pascal Portelli, Vice President Broadband & Connected Devices at Thomson commented: "Thomson is proud to achieve the first EuroDOCSIS 3.0 certification in the industry. Given our strong presence with European cable operators, we expect to be a driving force behind the deployment of ultra-broadband offerings in Europe. We also achieved two DOCSIS 3.0 certifications in the US, with the first modems and eMTAs capable of bonding 8 downstream channels. Speeds of over 300Mbps are now commercially available throughout the world with Thomson cable CPEs."
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Tuesday 28th April
Five eye Brazilian DTT multiplex
Spain: Private TV tax to finance public TV
Global pay STB market to peak in 2012
Radio Council UK
Canadian cable up 16%
Netflix: More streaming deals coming
NDS licenses Macrovision EPGs
Dolby and Arqiva electronic delivery to cinemas
Televeo using Velocix
Cisco and Avail solution accelerates IPTV launches
Five eye Brazilian DTT multiplex
From Branislav Pekic in RomeFive foreign companies have so far expressed interest in the DTT multiplex operator licence for the Brazilian publicly-owned TV channels.
Marubeni (Japan), Next Generation Broadcasting (Sweden), Screen Service (Italy), TDF (France) and Abertis Telecom (Spain) are all likely to take part in the public consultation which will define the obligations for the network operator that will be responsible for the construction, management and maintenance of the DTT network. The network will be used by the state-owned broadcasters TV Brasil, TV Justiça, TV Senado, TV Câmara, as well as channels belonging to the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Communications.Marubeni has been interested in the issue from the very start, even consulting the Brazilian government how to proceed with the technical studies to make the network operator viable. For its part, NGB’s strategy consists in the creation of a services operator for digital TV, free-to-air and pay-TV, with the financial support of the Swedish pension funds and technological expertise in the exploration of multi-channel programming.
The operator of the public DTT multiplex is likely to receive a government endowment of BRL1.5 billion ($750 million) until the end of the 18-year contract.
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Spain: Private TV tax to finance public TV
From David Del Valle in Madrid
The Spanish Government looks likely to approve a new tax on private networks to finance national public broadcaster RTVE to compensate the total abolition of advertising on the channel, possibly from next July.
The new tax would represent around 3 per cent of their revenues, around E140 million, and would be added to the current 5 per cent they are paying by law to finance the production of Spanish and European films and TV shows.
Moreover, other players like IPTV operators (Imagenio, for example) or even mobile companies with a TV offer would also have to contribute 0.9 per cent of their revenues, around E190 million to finance RTVE. To complete RTVE's budget, apart from an annual state subsidy of around E555 million, the Government plans to dedicate part of the tax that operators pay for the use of spectrum, around E250 million. Unlike France and UK and other European countries, the Administration rules out an annual tax for having a TV set.
With all these measures, the Administration hopes that advertising on RTVE is eliminated by next July, with the other broadcasters taking advantage of a larger TV advertising pie that amounts to E3 billion every year.
The Private TV Association UTECA, has protested against the tax as "private TVs cannot stand any more burdens", according to Jorge del Corral General Secretary of the Association who hopes to have further explanation from the Government in a meeting very soon.The Head of Spain’s Telecommunications Market Commission (CMT), Reinaldo Rodríguez, has come out against taxing telecoms operators to help fund public broadcaster Radio Televisión Española (RTVE), saying such a move would not be logical. Rodríguez said: "Financing the public national broadcaster should come from the audiovisual sector and not from the telecommunications sector."
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Global pay STB market to peak in 2012Screen Digest forecasts that the global pay TV set-top box (STB) market will peak within the next four years, reaching annual shipments of 127 million units in 2012, before the market declines in 2013.
The continuing thrust by pay TV operators to convert their customers from analogue to digital and upgrade them to high definition and PVR services is driving the demand for new set-top boxes. Screen Digest forecasts the market will grow from 104 million units in 2008 to 127 million units in 2012, in this time reaching over E10 billion in value. However this will be followed by a decline to 119 million units in 2013 although market value will be largely unchanged. In addition to the pay TV market, there will be almost 70 million units shipped in the global free-to-air market in 2013. Much of this new unit demand will be driven by service extensions and digitisation of pay TV platforms in Eastern Europe and the major emerging BRIC markets.
Although growth to 2012 will be driven by all platforms, the decline in 2013 will be primarily caused by a drop in demand from Chinese cable operators following the rapid growth in the next few years. These low-value boxes will impact the global volumes but will have little impact on revenues which will continue to grow across all other regions. In addition, IPTV is expected to experience a significant decline in 2013 from 12 million units shipped to 10 million units. Between these two trends the global industry volume will fall by almost 7 million.
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Radio Council UKThe Radio Council will develop various cross-industry technologies including an online live radio player to stream all live UK radio, an electronic programme guide and exclusive digital-only content. The initial members of the leadership group are the BBC, the three largest commercial radio companies, GMG, Global Radio and Bauer Media, and industry organisation RadioCentre, which will represent the remainder of the commercial radio sector.
The Radio Council will work with Government to appoint a chief executive for the Digital Radio Delivery Group, which will focus on coverage, devices, platforms and marketing for the digital switchover.
The initial chair of The Radio Council, which will meet quarterly, will be Tim Davie, director of BBC Audio and Music. The chairmanship will rotate between the BBC and the commercial sector each year. Davie warned this week the radio industry faced managing a permanently declining audience unless it acted to enhance technology and audience appeal. Davie said the partnership between the BBC and commercial radio was "crucial to the future of the medium" and the BBC and commercial radio had to work together as the media environment changed to make sure radio remained as popular and relevant as ever.
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Canadian cable up 16%The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has released summaries for Canadian broadcasting distribution companies. Revenues in this sector of the broadcasting industry have climbed steadily over the past five years and surpassed $10 billion for the first time ever in 2008.
Total revenues for cable companies rose from $7.10 billion in 2007 to $8.24 billion in 2008, which represented an increase of 16.1 per cent. In 2008, the number of Canadian households that obtained basic-television service from a cable company totalled 7.9 million subscribers, an increase of 2.9 per cent from the previous year.
During the same period, the profits before interest and taxes (PBIT) of cable companies went from $1.5 billion to $2.1 billion. While expenditures increased by 7.8 per cent, the PBIT margin improved from 21.2 per cent in 2007 to 25.3 per cent in 2008.
Total revenues for direct-to-home (DTH) satellite distribution and multipoint distribution system (MDS) companies increased by 10.8 per cent between 2007 and 2008, or from $1.85 billion to $2.05 billion. The number of subscribers to basic service rose by 2.6 per cent in one year to reach 2.7 million.
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Netflix: More streaming deals comingNetflix CEO Reed Hastings has said to expect more Internet streaming deals to come from the movie rental company - both for content and for gadgets that help play back streaming videos onto TVs.
In terms of content, Hastings said the company would continue to invest in new movies and TV series, especially via deals with cable and broadcast networks. And he said that the company had a "tremendous amount" of consumer electronics deals on the way. The company is working with everyone you'd expect, he said. "Netflix streaming is currently available on PCs and Macs, Microsoft Xbox 360s, Samsung and LG Blu-ray players, Roku players, TiVo DVRs, Vizio TVs, etc. We expect an edition for Yahoo's TV widget platform later this year. We'd also like to see it on the Nintendo Wii and/or Sony PS3, but it's currently exclusive to the Xbox," commented Hastings.
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NDS licenses Macrovision EPGsNDS Group has entered into a multiyear licensing agreement for Macrovision Solutions' electronic programme guide patents. Under the agreement, NDS will be able to offer licensed EPGs to its pay-TV platform operator customers in specified countries.
"We believe operators will benefit from having the option to license Gemstar's EPG patents alongside NDS' own leading technology and service offerings," NDS chairman and CEO Abe Peled said. "We are therefore pleased to join Gemstar's patent-licensing programme to enhance our market offering for our customers' benefit."
Macrovision has rights to or claims on more than 4,000 issued and pending patents worldwide. The company acquired Gemstar-TV Guide International last year in a deal worth $2.8 billion. Macrovision has numerous licensees for the TV Guide patents, including Time Warner Cable, DirecTV, Scientific Atlanta (now part of Cisco Systems), TiVo and Verizon.
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Dolby and Arqiva electronic delivery to cinemasDolby has launched Dolby Direct Distribution Services - a pan-European satellite content delivery network for digital cinemas. The service is provided in association with Arqiva and uses satellite to distribute feature movies, trailers, and advertising content direct to their participating exhibitors and cinemas throughout Europe.
Dolby Direct Distribution Services will simplify the cinema distribution process, eliminating physical delivery and manual upload of digital content onto individual cinema servers.
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Televeo using VelocixVelocix, provider of a digital asset delivery network, has announced that Televeo is using its digital delivery services to stream premium content. With Velocix, Televeo is able to ensure high performance, scalable delivery of video content from National Geographic, Fox and other leading publishers. Using the H.264 codec in conjunction with the Velocix Video Flash Streaming Service, Televeo is able to achieve the quality that their viewers demand.
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Cisco and Avail solution accelerates IPTV launches
Cisco and Avail Media have announced an agreement that will help enable service providers to easily, quickly and cost-effectively offer IPTV services to their subscribers using an innovative solution that combines the Cisco IP Next-Generation Network (IP NGN).The solution is designed to help service providers meet the challenges of transforming themselves from voice and data providers into "experience providers" that can offer any-play services anywhere, anytime. By taking advantage of Cisco and Avail Media technologies, partnerships and experience, service providers can add IPTV to their portfolios and converge all their services over a single Internet Protocol (IP) network. This capability enables service providers to gain significant cost efficiencies, generate new revenue, and establish long-term competitive advantages.
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Monday 27th AprilJoost seeks buyer?
Canvas could face competition probe
RealNetworks DVD copying software on trial
SES sees core profits rise
TeliaSonera surpasses 0.5m subs
Orange strikes Wikipedia deal
Reports in the US say online video platform Joost is actively seeking a buyer and has told cable and satellite providers that it could be their online video solution. Time Warner Cable is one of the companies that has expressed interest in Joost say the reports.
In the online video sector, Joost has fallen far behind leaders like YouTube and Hulu. Although performance has improved since it abandoned its desktop player approach, Joost has struggled for traction with viewers, advertisers and content owners. In a recent blow Sony Pictures didn’t renew its licence with Joost.
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Canvas could face competition probeUK regulator Ofcom has said the broadband TV joint venture between the BBC, ITV and BT, could face a competition investigation. Ofcom, in its submission to the BBC Trust, has warned that the venture could find itself the subject of the same regulatory scrutiny that earlier this year spelled the end for Project Kangaroo.
Project Canvas partners have been desperate to avoid association with Kangaroo saying the venture aims to be an open platform for all content owners to bring catch-up and on-demand TV to services such as Freeview and Freesat.
Controversially, the BBC Trust has decided Project Canvas will not require a full public value test, which would entail Ofcom conducting a market impact assessment of it on how it would affect commercial rivals. The trust says the venture is only subject to its own review as it is not a new BBC service but a joint venture operating platform."We recognise that there may be a future role for the OFT and/or Ofcom to assess the arrangement under relevant merger or competition law... We recognise that the trust has determined that Canvas is a non-service activity and has decided not to adopt a full public value test in assessing the application. However, at this stage, we thought it might be helpful to highlight a few high-level issues that we believe the trust will wish to consider in detail in delivering its assessment of the proposals," said Peter Phillips, partner, strategy and market developments at Ofcom.
The regulator highlighted five areas of potential concern: technical standards; partnership arrangements with other companies; availability of Project Canvas to TV services other than Freeview or Freesat; navigation; and that quality standards for programmes made available via the online venture are "justifiable, non-discriminatory, transparent and proportionate".
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RealNetworks DVD copying software on trialRealNetworks has said it wants to help increase DVD sales by allowing people to copy their movie discs. Hollywood studios say that idea will only hurt their already struggling business. The two sides are now squaring off in federal court.
The case is ostensibly about RealDVD, a $30 software program that allows users to save digital copies of Hollywood DVDs to their computers — a capability the movie industry strenuously objects to, worrying that it will stimulate piracy and undermine the budding market for digital downloads.
That software, which the company refers to by its internal name, Facet, would allow companies like Sony, Samsung and Toshiba to sell DVD players capable of making digital copies of all discs, even rental movie DVDs that have anticopying software. The owners of those devices could save copies of their DVDs to watch later — much as people use digital video recorders like TiVo to save live television programmes.
Real has built a prototype of a Facet device that runs on the Linux operating system, which is used in many digital set-top boxes. The device can hold about 70 movies, which take up to 20 minutes to copy.
The major studios through the Motion Picture Association of America, won a temporary injunction in October that required Real Networks to stop selling the RealDVD software.
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SES sees core profits riseSES has reported a 12.2 per cent rise in its first-quarter core profit, maintained its full-year forecast and said it signed a E2 billion credit facility. SES, the world's second-largest satellite operator, said that EBITDA rose to E308.9 million.
SES repeated its forecast of revenue growth between 3 per cent and 4 per cent on a like-for-like basis and an 82 per cent margin for its main infrastructure business.
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TeliaSonera surpasses 0.5m subsNordic telco TeliaSonera has revealed that it added 32,000 IPTV subscribers in the first quarter of 2009 across all its markets, including 9,000 new customers in Sweden alone, to reach a new total of 509,000.
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Orange strikes Wikipedia dealOrange has signed a deal with Wikimedia to provide its users with co-branded content that will be accessed through specific Wikipedia channels on Orange's mobile and Internet portals. Orange will place ads alongside Wikipedia content and the two will share the ad revenues.
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