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Our Latest Issues
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Tuesday
Friday 6th February
Sky: ‘Ofcom must back off’
Zon triple play gains
Congress postpones US switchover
1m Xbox members use Netflix service
US online video viewing surges
CASBAA: Online video shaping the future of TV
QuickPlay sees mobile TV usage rise
Telstra and AFL protect online rights
Cross-platform services way ahead for cable
Sky: ‘Ofcom must back off’BskyB followed up securing a further three years of live Premier League football with a vitriolic response to media regulator Ofcom’s consultation on the UK pay-TV market, accusing it of "serious flaws" and "perverse conclusions."
Responding to Ofcom's second Consultation Document on pay TV which was published last September and said: "Retail competition that we see in pay TV as a result of limited distribution of premium content is likely to manifest itself in terms of reduced choice, reduced retail innovation, reduced platform innovation or higher prices." It suggested Sky may have to be forced to sell channels wholesale to third parties and at fixed prices.
In its response Sky said that the regulator is "proposing the imposition of radical and highly interventionist regulation of a sort unseen in any developed market economy." It claimed the proposals "have the potential to introduce long-term distortions in the sector, resulting in significant economic costs and, ultimately, a worse outcome for consumers."Sky alleges that Ofcom has failed to assess the UK pay-TV market properly and has rejected established competition law and practices. Sky denies it has restricted the supply of channels and says it has no incentive to restrict supply. On pricing it says that its offers are comparable with those of operators in other countries and that forcing it to sell channels to other parties on pre-set terms is asking Sky to subsidise competitors. The recommendations could also reduce competition for premium rights, Sky adds.
Sky’s calls for Ofcom to ‘step back’ : "It is time for Ofcom to take a step back from the details of its Consultation Document and review its position with an open mind."
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Almost a quarter of Portuguese pay-TV operator Zon Multimedia’s subscribers took triple-play services at the end of 2008. That’s a 400 per cent growth on a year earlier. Zon credited the growth in triple-play customers to the launch of the ZON3 bundle in May, which includes over 90 channels, a minimum of 8Mbps broadband speed and unlimited broadband and voice traffic for E50 per month.
The operator ended 2008 with 2.834 million RGUs, a net increase of 144,400 year-on-year as it continued to push digital services. It added 114,000 digital subscribers during 2008, giving it a total of 496,000 at the end of the year. The company said it had deployed 100,000 Zon Box HD DVR set-top boxes by January 20 and it now offers six HD channels with plans for more launches in the first quarter of 2009. Basic subscriber numbers fell 22,000 to 1.525 million.
Zon added 28,000 net broadband subscribers in the final quarter, ending 2008 with 479,000, which it said surpassed targets set at the start of the year. Telephony customers reached 327,000, with the operator adding 73,200 during the year.
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Congress postpones US switchoverAfter weeks of debate, US Congress has confirmed it will give consumers four more months to prepare for the upcoming transition from analogue to digital television broadcasting.
The House voted 264-158 to postpone the shutdown of analogue TV signals to June 12th, to address growing concerns that too many Americans won't be ready by the February 17th deadline that Congress set three years ago.
The Nielsen Co. estimates that more than 6.5 million US households that rely on analogue TV sets to pick up over-the-air broadcast signals still are not ready. People who subscribe to cable or satellite TV or have a newer TV with a digital tuner will not be affected.
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1m Xbox members use Netflix serviceOnline DVD company Netflix has said that one million Microsoft Xbox 360 video game console users have activated Netflix's movie streaming service in the past three months since the two companies formed a partnership.
Netflix said the Xbox LIVE community has watched 1.5 billion minutes of movies and TV episodes through its Watch Instantly video service, but did not say how many subscribers it has actually gained from the partnership.
Netflix last month said its stronger-than-expected quarterly results were propelled by growth in its Web video streaming service and that streaming was "energising" its growth.
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US online video viewing surgescomScore has released data from its Video Metrix service showing that US Internet users viewed a record 14.3 billion online videos during December, representing an increase of 13 per cent versus the previous month. YouTube led the growth charge, accounting for 49 per cent of the incremental gain in videos viewed versus November.
In December, Google Sites once again ranked as the top U.S. video property with 5.9 billion videos viewed (41 percent 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 445 million videos (3.1 per cent), followed by Yahoo! Sites with 330 million (2.3 per cent) and Viacom Digital with 291 million (2.0 per cent). Hulu continued its growth trajectory, climbing 6 per cent versus November to 241 million videos viewed.
Nearly 150 million U.S. Internet users watched an average of 96 videos per viewer in December.
Other notable findings from December 2008 include:
- 78.5 per cent of the total US Internet audience viewed online video.
- The average online video viewer watched 309 minutes of video, or more than 5 hours.
- The duration of the average online video was 3.2 minutes.
- The duration of the average online video viewed at Hulu was 10.1 minutes, higher than any other video property in the top ten.
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CASBAA: Online video shaping the future of TVThe Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) has released the full version of a study of Online Video in China, Japan & Korea. According to CASBAA, China, Japan and Korea will drive the next wave of online video development. China will draw further attention as it emerges as the largest wired broadband market in the world with 190 million connections in 2012.
CASBAA research shows that home access accounts for 74.1 per cent of all connections in China, whilst Internet Cafés are the source of access for almost 40 per cent of the youth market. Some 75 per cent of respondents to a survey conducted by the China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC) indicate that they share the network video of all kinds with other ‘netizens’.
Meanwhile, 33.2 per cent of South Koreans are watching movies online in some form and, according to a recent survey by the Korean Film Council, this is having a devastating effect on the domestic DVD and movie industries. Some 47 per cent of the all respondents had illegally downloaded feature movies without paying, or paid less than 50 cents per title during the past year.
Nevertheless, according to CASBAA, online video advertising represents a strong growth opportunity as audiences migrate to the web. Tudou, a popular video sharing site in China, claimed that advertising revenue reached $1.65 million in the first half of 2008. Other sites drawing big audiences include Nico Nico Douga (Smiley Smiley video) in Japan, and Pandora TV in Korea.
Ultimately China’s online population will surpass Korea‚s more developed digital advertising market, but the sophistication and maturity of the Japanese market will support its continued growth. Overall, online advertising for China, Japan and Korea is forecasted to grow from $10.3 billion in 2009 to U15.1 billion in 2012.
Despite the current uncertainties over rights, regulation and business models of online video services, the emerging online video landscape offers opportunities for content owners, broadcasters, advertisers and subscription television players."It is time for the TV industry to review new strategies to provide offerings to this new breed of customers," said Simon Twiston Davies, CEO of CASBAA.
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QuickPlay sees mobile TV usage riseQuickPlay Media, provider of mobile TV and video solutions has unveiled the findings of its latest quarterly consumer consumption analysis. The results aggregate usage statistics from 15 representative QuickPlay-powered services over the fourth quarter of 2008 demonstrate that mobile users continue to show tremendous interest in streaming and downloading mobile TV and video content.
The findings, compiled from 1st October through 31st December2008, revealed that the number of streams viewed in the fourth quarter of 2008 more than doubled from the previous quarter. Downloads also experienced momentum over this timeframe, with the average number of downloads per user increasing by approximately 50 per cent.
The growth in consumption of streams can be largely attributed to the launch of popular new services, in particular YouTube content available on Telus Mobility. A decline in streams per user, which occurred over this same period, can be linked to the growing adoption of live TV services that tend to generate longer views but fewer streams.
Total live TV and video streams viewed grew 118per cent from Q3 to Q4 2008, compared with a 27per cent increase from Q2 to Q3. Average download per user experienced its best quarter of 2008 with an average of 6 per user vs. 4.1 per user in Q3. Total video downloads showed an increase of 73per cent from Q3 to Q4 vs. 87per cent from Q2 to Q3
In addition, consumers continued to show preferences in the types of content they stream and download. Popular live TV streaming genres were news, music video, most-watched television programs and weather, while video streaming favourites included music and movie previews. For downloads, music, sports and comedy represented some of the top categories.
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Telstra and AFL protect online rights
The Australian Federal Court has made final orders in a case brought by Telstra to enforce Telstra's exclusive right to broadcast AFL (Australian Football League) content on mobile phones and over the internet.Telstra and the AFL had brought the case against News Limited, whose newspaper subsidiaries unlawfully posted hyperlinks to AFL video files on YouTube, undermining the exclusive rights granted by the AFL to Telstra and jeopardising revenue that the AFL uses to fund development of the game. Following an agreement by the parties to settle the case, the Federal Court declared News' conduct to be infringing and accepted an undertaking by News not to provide hyperlinks to infringing AFL footage on YouTube or other similar websites.
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Cross-platform services way ahead for cableResearch firm Light Reading has compiled a report that scopes out the types of cross-platform services that cable operators may roll out, focusing on service features and the emerging technologies that will support them.
Even though it will cost more to implement new technologies, cable operators are likely to move to cross-platform technologies to improve their competitive positioning versus telco rivals, the firm says. "In the short term, cable will benefit from simple applications running on application servers and existing infrastructure," notes Craig Leddy, research analyst with Light Reading. "In the long term, most cable systems will require comprehensive content management systems and service layers that provide a broad, integrated platform to deliver content and apps tailored for multiple devices, as well as the back-office processes to manage them."
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Thursday 5th February
Kangaroo shot down by Competition Commission
Sky pays £1bn+ to retain Premier League rights
Tiscali sells to BS
Time Warner reports more write-offs
Farewell PCCW
Chellomedia channels see record growth, VOD
Viasat brings TV1000 to US
DiBcom launches mobile TV solution
STMicroelectronics acquires NXP stake in ST-NXP
Technisat joins retra
Kangaroo shot down by Competition Commission
From Colin Mann in LondonThe UK’s Competition Commission has decided to block the proposed video on demand (VOD) joint venture between the BBC through BBC Worldwide Limited (BBCW), ITV plc (ITV) and Channel Four Television Corporation (C4)—UKVOD, also known as ‘Project Kangaroo’. It has concluded that none of the other remedies proposed could remove the threat to competition in the VOD market.
Peter Freeman, Competition Commission (CC) Chairman and Chairman of the inquiry group, said that after detailed and careful consideration, it had decided that the joint venture would be too much of a threat to competition in the developing market and had to be stopped.
The CC noted that without the joint venture, BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4 would be close competitors of each other and thought that viewers would benefit from better VOD services if the parties - possibly in conjunction with other new and/or already established providers of VOD - competed with each other.After careful consideration of a combination of measures aimed at removing the wholesaling activities of the joint venture and safeguarding commercially sensitive information, the CC was not persuaded that these measures would overcome the risk that membership of this joint venture would influence the parties’ commercial decisions, particularly in relation to the wholesaling of VOD content.
"We looked closely at the possible benefits to viewers, which this joint venture might bring," said Freeman. We found that these and other benefits could come just as well from other projects that were less damaging to competition. We expect these alternatives to be much more likely to develop in the light of our decision.
It is understood that the venture - which employs some 50 staff – will be disbanded and that the venture’s partners will not appeal the decision. A BBC spokesperson said: "We are disappointed by today's decision that prevents the partners taking Kangaroo forward. However, we remain absolutely committed to delivering distinctive quality BBC programmes online and will continue to drive innovation through our successful iPlayer platform. ITV’s executive chairman, Michael Grade, had previously suggested that it would concentrate on its ITV.com service. Channel 4 has yet to confirm its online TV market plans.
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Sky pays £1bn+ to retain Premier League rightsBSkyB has reportedly agreed to pay in excess of £1 billion (E1.112bn) to retain the live television rights to the majority of the biggest football matches in the Premier League from 2010 until 2013.
Following auctions of the rights at the Premier League's headquarters, it was announced that Sky had won four of the six packages on offer, each of 23 games. It is believed that the broadcaster, which has both helped fuel the Premier League boom over the past 17 years and hugely benefited from it, has again secured the first choice of the best matches and will air 92 games per year.
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Tiscali sells to BSMilan based BS Private Equity and BS Investimenti are to acquire Tiscali's international network business for E47 million.
Parent group Tiscali has been in play for much of the last year, with BSkyB still believed to be in negotiations regarding the purchase of its UK activities with a price tag of up to £500 million. Others to have been linked with the sale include Vodafone, BT, Wind and Italy's Fastweb, while Carphone Warehouse was said to have revitalised its interest last September after pulling out of the auction earlier in the year.
Tiscali International Network supplies Internet connectivity on three continents and had EBITDA of E10 million on sales of E35 million in 2008.
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Time Warner reports more write-offsTime Warner has reported a $16 billion operating loss for 2008, blaming it mainly on a $24.2 billion writedown of the value of assets. A year earlier, the owner of internet firm AOL, Warner Bros movie studios and CNN made an operating profit of $8.9 billion.
Fourth-quarter operating loss amounted to $22.2 billion, down from a profit of $2.3 billion a year earlier. Results were hit by the charge related to the shrunken value of Time Warner Cable assets. Time Warner Cable became a separately traded company in 2007, although Time Warner kept an 84 per cent stake. "Structurally, we'll complete the Time Warner Cable separation soon," said Time Warner chief executive Jeff Bewkes. The separation is expected to be completed by 31st March.
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Nine years after PCCW paid HK$218 billion ($28bn) in cash and shares for Hongkong Telecom, then controlled by Cable & Wireless of the UK, minority investors met to approve a buy-out offer from Pacific Century Regional Developments, Richard Li’s Singapore-listed holding vehicle, and China Unicom, PCCW’s second largest shareholder.
The majority of voters backed the $2 billion, HK$4.50-a-share bid. In doing so they ushered one of Hong Kong’s most controversial companies off the public stage after a tumultuous decade.
At the peak of the dotcom bubble PCCW and Hongkong Telecom had a combined market capitalisation of HK$491 billion. Prior to the vote PCCW was valued at just HK$28.2 billion.
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Chellomedia channels see record growth, VODChellomedia’s Dutch premium channels Film1 and Sport1 have announced a record subscription growth with 360,000 subscribers as of 1st February. This figure is 10 per cent higher than last year and is the highest since the introduction of pay TV in the Netherlands.
Film1 also announced the success of its subscription video on demand service, Film1 On Demand, a library of more than 100 movies, from which subscribers on the UPC digital platform, can select movies being shown on the linear channels. Over a million movies have been viewed since the launch in August 2008, an average of 200,000 films per month.
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Viasat brings TV1000 to USViasat Broadcasting has launched its TV1000 Russian Kino premium movie channel on Time Warner Cable, the second-largest cable operator in the US. TV1000 Russian Kino, broadcasts in 12 countries in Eastern Europe, is now also available for the Russian language speaking population of the US. Time Warner Cable New York City customers can subscribe to TV1000 for $9.95 each month.
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DiBcom launches mobile TV solutionDiBcom, provider of mobile TV solutions, has launched its new platform offering device manufacturers a flexible and powerful solution to the problem of multiple standards worldwide for fixed and mobile TV. This versatile platform, known as ‘Octopus’, is based on a programmable architecture that enables one design to be seamlessly and cost-effectively targeted at many existing and upcoming Mobile TV standards. The first commercialised version is fully compliant with the most widely deployed standards today: CMMB, DVB-T, DVB-H, DVB-SH, ISDB-T (1SEG & Full-SEG) and T-DMB. Other emerging standards such as ATSC M/H, DVB-T2, and any others will follow.
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STMicroelectronics acquires NXP stake in ST-NXPNXP Semiconductors has confirmed that STMicroelectronics has purchased NXP's 20 per cent stake in ST-NXP Wireless. On August 20th 2008, STMicroelectronics and Ericsson Mobile Platforms announced an agreement to merge Ericsson Mobile Platforms and ST-NXP Wireless into a 50/50 joint venture. STMicroelectronics indicated at that date that it expected to exercise its call option to buy NXP's 20 per cent of ST-NXP Wireless before the closing of this transaction.
The agreed purchase price is $92 million, based on the performance of ST-NXP Wireless business in the last twelve months.
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retra has welcomed TechniSat as a new associate member. By joining retra, TechniSat says it demonstrates its commitment to supporting the independent electrical retail sector throughout 2009 and beyond. John Norton, UK Sales Manager for TechniSat, said: ‘We see our membership of retra as an essential step in developing the relationships with retailers that will allow us to introduce the TechniSat brand to the UK and launch exciting new products in the coming months.’
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Wednesday 4th February
News Corp mixed bag
KDG adds 83,000 digital TV subscribers
ITU IPTV standard for growth
FTTH upgrades on in recession
South Korean super-broadband
Perform launches sports PPV portal
NBC: TV shows boost mobile TV usage
UK satellite launching?
MGM appoints Hogg in AP region
Latens CA integrates Entone
News Corp’s DTH pay-TV and TV networks boosted an otherwise lacklustre set of results that saw $953 million operating income for the first quarter against $1.05 billion a year ago.
SKY Italia generated operating income of $165 million, an improvement of $117 million versus a year ago with net subscriber additions of 359,000 over the past 12 months. Cable Network Programming operating income was up 31 per cent led by affiliate and advertising revenue gains at the Fox News Channel, FX and the Big Ten Network, as well as continued expansion of the Fox International Channels.
Fox Interactive Media grows revenues 17 per cent on strength of advertising and search revenue growth at MySpace.Television operating income declined due to lower advertising revenues at the Television Stations and the sale of eight television stations.
Commenting on the results, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rupert Murdoch said: "I’m pleased that our cable group continues to perform extremely well, SKY Italia remains a top performer and Fox Interactive Media is seeing revenue growth even in the face of negative macroeconomic conditions around the globe, including weak advertising markets. All media companies are being tested and the year ahead will be difficult. I am confident that our long-term strategy of cultivating diversified assets at different stages of development, judicious investment of our capital and a strong balance sheet will guide us through these difficult times."
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KDG adds 83,000 digital TV subscribersKabel Deutschland (KDG) achieved 11 per cent growth in digital subs to 846,300 out of its nine million TV subs. KDG had 1,240,700 Internet and telephony RGUs at year end, up 105.2 per cent year-on-year, with 163,200 added during the final quarter. Internet customers were 624,700, while phone customers numbered 616,000.
The company had 11.386 million RGUs in total at the end of December, up 8.4 per cent. Subscribers took an average of 1.25 services compared to 1.16 at the end of December 2007. KDG said it expected EBITDA of E565 million for the current financial year (ending March 31st), with capex forecast at E385 million.
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ITU IPTV standard for growthThe ITU says its new standard will presage the day when customers can buy a box at retail pug it in. It believes this is very important as IPTV, defined by ITU-T as "multimedia services such as television/video/ audio/text/graphics/data delivered over IP-based networks managed to support the required level of quality of service (QoS)/quality of experience (QoE), security, interactivity and reliability", is one of the most significant business cases and drivers for the deployment of next generation networks (NGN).
The standard, Recommendation ITU-T Y.1901, specifies high level requirements for the support of IPTV services, including requirements concerning service offering, QoS/QoE, service and content protection, middleware, content, network and end system aspects. Y.1901 and previously approved Recommendation ITU-T Y.1910, "IPTV functional architecture", plus various other IPTV related ITU-T Recommendations, constitute an initial set of IPTV standards enabling equipment vendors, including consumer electronics suppliers, to roll-out standardised IPTV products. Deployment of ITU-T compliant products will enable service providers to offer value added services like traditional (linear) TV, video on demand (VoD) and interactive TV over IP-based managed networks such as NGN.
Y.1901 has been developed with a truly international effort at ITU-T IPTV-GSI (IPTV Global Standards Initiative) events, with the active participation of administrations, service providers and equipment vendors from a large number of countries, including, but not limited to Canada, China, France, Japan, Korea, United Kingdom and United States.
ITU-T standardisation activities related to IPTV continue in various ITU-T Study Groups, in cooperation with relevant standard developing organisations, forums and consortia, including ATIS IPTV Interoperability Forum, ETSI TISPAN, Broadband Forum, Digital Video Broadcasting project and Home Gateway Initiative.
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FTTH upgrades on in recessionDespite the difficult financial climate, the progression of fibre upgrades is now inevitable, according to a report from Pyramid Research, the telecom research arm of the Light Reading Communications Network.
"We found that telcos' need for fibre to the home remains strong, especially in developed markets, where deployments are driven by the maturity of the broadband markets and a proliferation of IP-based video, TV and interactive applications," notes Özgür Aytar, Senior Research Manager at Pyramid Research and co-author of the report.
The report also found that with mobile operators now offering broadband at speeds and prices equivalent to entry-level ADSL subscriptions, telcos have little time to procrastinate. "After losing the voice game to mobile players in the early 2000s, fixed-line operators can hardly allow the same to happen with the broadband business, which has kept them afloat when voice revenue tanked", adds Aytar.
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South Korea will install a nationwide super-broadband infrastructure by 2013 which would enable the downloading of a feature film in one or two seconds. The project unveiled by the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) will require investment of 1.3 trillion won from the government and 32.8 trillion won from the private sector.
'South Korea will be the first in the world to build such a network nationwide for commercial use,' Rha Sung-Uk of the state-run National Information Society Agency commented.
"You can download a movie in one or two seconds through an upgraded optical fibre cable extended to every household," Rha said. "It will allow users to engage in e-commerce or use Internet protocol phones while watching ultra high-definition TV programmes." The existing wireless network will also be rebuilt for faster data transmission and multiple services, he said.
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Perform launches sports PPV portalDigital sports specialist Perform has launched ‘Omnisport’ - a new online pay-per-view sports portal, featuring official live and on-demand video action from top sporting competitions around the world.
The site will stream over 4,500 live sport events per year and will feature top football competitions including the UEFA Cup, World Cup 2010 qualifiers, Hyundai A League, Serie A, Asian Champions League, as well as ATP and WTA tennis, PDC Darts, European Basketball and many more.
Promoted through Perform’s in-house digital marketing team, Omnisport is also being made available as a co-branded product for major media groups globally who will help fund local language versions and marketing budgets in return for a share of revenues generated from their user base.
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NBC: TV shows boost mobile TV usageNBC Universal said its television shows are driving a large portion of mobile video usage for its mobile phone programming. The US media company reported that NBC.com generated more than 60 per cent of traffic to NBCU programming on mobile phones.
NBC also said that its share of usage on mobile phones jumped to 11 per cent of all mobile video views at the end of 2008, more than double the year-ago figure. That puts NBCU second in mobile video usage to Viacom, NBCU said.
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UK satellite launching?On the day Iran announced it has launched a satellite, two British companies are involved in discussions about developing a low-cost rocket capable of putting small satellites in orbit.
The idea is being promoted by SSTL best known for its Earth observation spacecraft, in conjunction with Virgin Galactic. It is 38 years since the UK government abandoned its successful satellite launcher programme, Black Arrow.
The new venture would be an entirely commercial exercise. It would see a two-stage rocket launch from underneath a carrier aircraft. The concept would look similar to the US Pegasus system, which uses a former airliner to lift a booster to 40,000ft, before releasing it to make its own way into orbit.
"In 1971, we cancelled our launch-vehicle programme and have never gone back into it despite the fact that launch vehicles are an essential part of a healthy space industry," said Adam Baker from SSTL (Surrey Satellite Technology Limited).
"If we had our own launcher - something modest, not an enormous vehicle - for a reasonable price, we could service our own needs, both scientific and military, and we could also sell the service on the open market."
SSTL's ideas are being developed with Virgin Galactic, the company set up by billionaire Sir Richard Branson to take fare-paying passengers on short, weightless hops above the atmosphere.
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MGM appoints Hogg in AP region
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM) Worldwide Television operation has named Ian Hogg Senior Vice President and Managing Director for the Asia-Pacific territory. In his new role, Hogg will oversee the distribution of MGM film and television properties on a variety of platforms including pay-TV, basic, free TV and digital media in the Asia- Pacific region.
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Latens CA integrates EntoneEntone, the IPTV connected home company, has announced that their Amulet IPTV receiver and award-winning Hydra IP video gateway are successfully integrated with Latens software Conditional Access security system. This collaborative effort will enable telcos to quickly and easily deploy a more efficient and enhanced IPTV solution.
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Better Digital Dividend for UK
GTV goes into liquidation
CBS for Top UP
Recession won't stop IPTV growth’
C4 pay freeze
Eutelsat launches France satellite broadband
Frontier $10m DAB investment
Impala Welcomes MHEG-5 in S. A. DTT Trial
Super Bowl may have added 2.6m HDTV sales
Amino ships 2m AmiNET STBs
Philips showcases Cinema 21:9 LCD TV
Appear TV and AMT achieve Russian CCC certification
NEC unveils STB reference design
Better Digital Dividend for UK
From Colin Mann in London
UK comms regulator Ofcom has revealed proposals to align more of the spectrum released as part of the UK's digital dividend with other European countries. This will allow new wireless services, particularly mobile broadband, to be launched in the UK and across Europe
Ofcom says that following the UK’s lead, a growing number of other European countries are to release a digital dividend, but within a slightly wider block of spectrum than the UK's, at 790-862 MHz (the so-called 800 MHz band). Finland, France, Sweden and Switzerland have already decided to release this wider block of spectrum of 72 MHz. Ofcom expects a number of other countries to do likewise.
Accordingly, Ofcom is consulting whether the UK should align more of the spectrum it is releasing with the digital dividend in other countries, so that the whole 800 MHz band becomes available for new uses. Ofcom believes that the net benefits to consumers could be worth £2-3 billion over twenty years.
These proposals would mean some changes to the spectrum used by digital terrestrial television (DTT) services and wireless microphones. Some DTT viewers may need to re-tune their digital set-top boxes or integrated digital televisions.
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GTV goes into liquidation
Gateway Broadcast Services (GTV), which broadcasts English Premier League football to tens of thousands of subscribers across Africa, has gone into liquidation.The company blamed "the current financial and global crisis" for the move. This had "severely interrupted the company's abilities to secure further funding." Television services have been stopped - with subscribers receiving a short message telling them the channel is off the air. The company said it had invested $200 million in the business but that "the economic crisis...has caused excessive demands on the business."
As well as the Premier League, GTV backed several domestic leagues, including Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda.
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A deal between CBS and Top Up TV will provide subscribers to the VoD service with drama, comedy and reality shows. Top Up TV customers will initially enjoy eight hours of programmes from CBS Paramount every week, rising to 11 hours a week within months.
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Recession wont stop IPTV growth’
Not even a global financial meltdown can stop IPTV. Despite the worldwide economic crisis, subscribers to telco TV will grow more than three-fold by the end of 2012, says In-Stat. In several key markets, like Brazil, Korea, and India, recent regulatory changes have given telco TV a real boost, the market research firm predicts.
"A number of new countries, including places as varied as Montenegro, Jordan, and Ghana, saw the launch of their first commercial IPTV offerings in 2008," says Michelle Abraham, In-Stat analyst. "Only a few markets, like Japan and Argentina, remain hamstrung by restrictions that hinder incumbent operators."
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Channel 4 has implemented a pay freeze for all staff for this year. The decision to freeze all staff pay was made in November and before weekend revelations that 91 staff at the company earn more than £100,000 (E111,000) per year. Channel 4 told staff at the time of the freeze, though a formal external announcement was not made.
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Eutelsat launches France satellite broadband
Eutelsat Communications and its partners Numeo and Sat2Way, have confirmed the immediate launch in France of broadband access at no more than E35 a month, equipment included. This new initiative is consistent with Action No. 1 of the "Digital France 2012" Plan announced by the French government in October 2008, which aims to guarantee broadband available to all homes in France by 1st January 2010.
The satellite broadband solution proposed by Eutelsat and its partners is based on the Tooway service which delivers downlink speeds to user PCs of 2 Mbps and on the transmit side of 384 kbps.
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Frontier Silicon, the leading supplier of DAB radio chips, announced the initiation of a $10m investment in a new advanced chip for digital radios. The technology, known as Chorus 3, delivers an ultra low-cost and lower-power device that will help drive the successful migration to DAB digital radio over the course of the next ten years.
This investment builds on the constructive proposals contained in last week’s interim Digital Britain report, including the Government’s endorsement of the digital migration of radio and commitment to DAB as the primary distribution network for future radio broadcasting.
With a 50 per cent saving on cost and a 50 per cent saving on power consumption, the chip is a greener form of technology and the first of its kind to support all types of DAB radio, which means that it is particularly suited to the car industry’s plan for pan-European design. The company, which supplies the technology for the majority of digital radios sold in Britain, anticipates that the new chip will be shipping to receiver manufacturers by early 2010.
Anthony Sethill, Chief Executive of Frontier Silicon, said: “The cost structure and performance of the new DAB chip will assist the Government’s aim to achieve the necessary criteria for a digital migration of radio by 2015. We now look forward to harnessing the success of this advanced DAB technology as we develop a concrete Digital Migration Plan with the Digital Radio Delivery Group.”
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Impala Welcomes MHEG-5 in S. A. DTT Trial
IMPALA, the International MHEG Promotion Alliance, is pleased to confirm the inclusion of MHEG-5, the globally successful interactive TV middleware, as a key part of the recently started DTT trial in South Africa.
Lara Kantor, Chairperson of The Digital Dzonga Advisory Council – set up to advise and oversee the process of migrating South Africa’s analogue system to digital – says, “Subject to successful testing and development of the profile to meet the needs of the South African market, it is our intention to use MHEG for DTT in SA.” Currently a group brought together by the free-to-air broadcasters running the DTT trial is working on the specification of a suitable MHEG Profile for the market. A commercial launch is planned for later this year.
At the launch of the trial Gab Mampone, Acting Group Executive of SABC, said, “This is an exciting time for South African TV viewers and the SABC is playing a leading role in the trial broadcast. The trial is an important milestone in the process of switching South African television viewers over to digital and is a critical phase in the in preparation for making DTT services available to the public.”
The founder members of IMPALA are Strategy & Technology (S&T), Cabot Communications and EchoStar Europe.
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Super Bowl may have added 2.6m HDTV salesSuper Bowl drove the purchase of some 2.6 million high-definition television units in the US, according to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). For the fourth year in a row, the Super Bowl retains the title of top driver for HDTV purchases.
This year is expected to be another record-breaking year for HDTV sales with 29.8 million HD sets expected to ship, out of a total of 34.5 million digital televisions sold in the US in 2009. This is up from 26.8 million HD sets sold in 2008. In addition to key sporting events like the Super Bowl, another factor driving this demand is the drop in the average wholesale price of sets. In the past five years, the average wholesale price for an HDTV has fallen nearly 50 per cent to $849 in 2009.
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Amino ships 2m AmiNET STBsIPTV set-top box supplier Amino Communications has revealed it sold its two millionth AmiNET set-top box in December when it shipped the milestone unit to a distributor in the Russian market. The AmiNET range of IPTV STBs was launched in 2002, and last year the company's new AmiNET130M model won Best in Show at the Telco TV event.
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Philips showcases Cinema 21:9 LCD TV
Philips has unveiled the Cinema 21:9 LCD TV, with an aspect ratio that Philips claims perfectly matches the cinema experience. The company says it will provide film fans with the chance to 'watch DVDs in the way the director intended'.The 56-inch LCD TV will be launched in Spring 2009.
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Appear TV and AMT achieve Russian CCC certificationAppear TV, a global provider of next-generation head-ends for broadcast and IP television, and AMT Group, a Russian systems integrator and official Appear TV partner for the Russian market, have announced at CSTB 2009 the successful CCC certification of Appear TV products for the Russian market.
The CCC certificate is issued by the Russian Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications, which governs the building of communications infrastructure and the licensing of its service operators. To maintain quality and interoperability of equipment within the industry, all equipment is required to be certified by the ministry, a process that involves a thorough review of equipment specifications, performance and manufacturing facilities.
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NEC unveils STB reference designNEC Electronics Europe has confirmed the availability of a complete cost and power consumption optimised manufacturer’s kit based on NEC Electronics’ EMMA3SL/LP MPEG-4 digital TV processor which drastically reduces the time to market of MPEG-4 standard definition set-top box.
The design is based on NEC Electronics’ 3rd generation MPEG-4 decoder IC, EMMMA3SL/LP and enables both FTA and Pay TV (DVB-T or DVB-S2) STB-applications from simple low cost to mid range with optional features such as CI+, embedded conditional access, simple PVR, Ethernet and USB2.0. It benefits from EMMA3SL/LP’s advanced security features defined to meet the most stringent security demands of Conditional Access Companies.
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Monday 2nd February
BBC may spend surplus on broadband plan
First Tele Help service on DTT
Thomson forced to sell Grass Valley?
Senate approves new bill for US switchover delay
Atlas new $283m VC fund
Joost on 1m+ iPhones
ESPN launches ESPN America in the UK
Free MTG channel for Denmark
Package to aid Oz switchover
Cisco preps whole-home DVR
ADB receives DivX Certification for STB
Cooney leaves Tandberg for Internap
BBC may spend surplus on broadband plan
A large percentage of the BBC's £130 million-a-year (E141m) digital switchover surplus licence fee money is expected to be taken by comms minister Lord Carter to help achieve his goal of getting broadband in every UK home by 2012.
It has been reported that the outline of a deal has been reached, although the full details have yet to be finalised, for £90 million to £100 million of the annual switchover surplus to be used to help the communications minister achieve his ambition of universal broadband access by 2012. The remaining £30 million to £40 million is said to have been earmarked for regional media.
Carter has stated the government aim to provide universal broadband and said Britain would work to provide Internet access to the whole country at around 2 Megabits per second through a mixture of fixed and wireless connections by 2012. Carter also intends to introduce legislation to force Internet service providers to crack down on Web piracy, will form a body to promote UK content and copyright, and will look to allow broadcasters to adapt to the changing times. His junior minister David Lamy said earlier this week it was ‘too complex’ to devise effective anti piracy laws for the Internet.
Currently, around 60 per cent of the country takes broadband, while some 99 per cent has access to it, but not always at the required 2 Mb speed. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said "Our digital networks will be the backbone of our economy in the decades ahead," Brown said. "It is as essential to our future prosperity in the 21st Century as roads, bridges, trains and electricity were in the 20th Century."
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First Tele Help service on DTT
From David Del Valle in Madrid
A Spanish consortium formed by Net2, ITA, SABIA, Inves and Mapfre have launched the first Tele domestic help service through DTT across the country. Called T-Asisto and using MHP technology, the service provides remote help to all those users who need any assistance at home.The application allows the viewer to manage through the TV set the technical alerts received from the Tele-Assistance terminal, their medical agendas (when to visit the doctor), SMS messages and access to general health information. In addition, the relatives of assisted people will be able to have access through DTT to monitor their activity through an application called T-Seguimiento.
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Thomson forced to sell Grass Valley?Thomson group has warned it is likely to breach certain debt covenants and needed to bolster its balance sheet, notably by selling more non-core activities.
The loss-making company said it would sell businesses which contributed around E1 billion to 2008 sales, including Grass Valley and PRN, for which it has already received expressions of interest, and focus instead on providing services to media content creators.
The group - which said it was in talks with its main creditors and potential equity investors - also confirmed it could seek assistance from the French government's E20 billion rescue fund. The fund is aimed at helping firms classified as strategically important cope with the financial crisis.
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Senate approves new bill for US switchover delayThe US Senate has unanimously passed another bill to delay the national transition to digital television. Earlier this week, the Senate passed another bill delaying the DTV transition, but the measure failed in the House of Representatives. The bill is essentially the same that previously passed the Senate, but with a few minor modifications from the House.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, and Texas Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison worked out the compromise bill. Hutchison said the delay was voluntary and television stations could go ahead if they wished with digital transmission on February 17 as scheduled and drop analogue transmission.
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Atlas new $283m VC fund
Atlas Venture, the VC house that’s backed ShozU, Songbird, Moo and Dailymotion, is starting a new $283 million venture fund. But the firm is also restructuring, with Boston-based partner Ahmet Ozalp and London-based Martin Gibson leaving the company.
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Joost on 1m+ iPhonesJoost, the global web video service, has revealed that more than one million iPhone and iPod Touch users have downloaded the free Joost application from Apple's App Store. Introduced last November, the Joost app enables iPhone and iPod Touch users to access thousands of hours of anime, comedy, drama, movies, music, documentaries, sci-fi and sports over their Wi-Fi connections.
Similar to the web-based version of Joost, the Joost iPhone App is ad-supported and free to all users.
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ESPN launches ESPN America in the UKFrom 1st February, the North American Sports Network (NASN) will officially become ESPN America. ESPN America will broadcast over 800 live and as-live sports events from Major League Baseball (MLB), National Hockey League (NHL) and NCAA college football and basketball. The channel will be available to sports to fans across the UK on both Sky and Virgin Media Platforms.
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Free MTG channel for DenmarkModern Times Group (MTG), the international entertainment broadcasting group, has revealed that it will launch a new free-TV channel in Denmark. TV3 PULS will be launched on Monday 23rd March as a broad appeal general entertainment channel targeting an audience of 15-49 year old men and women. The channel will be available in more than 50 per cent of Danish TV households from launch via satellite on Viasat‚s own DTH platform, in Denmark’s largest cable TV network ‘YouSee’‚ and on IPTV. Further distribution agreements will be added moving forward.
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Package to aid Oz switchoverThe Rudd Government has unveiled a pilot package to drive the availability of improved television services as Australia makes the transition to digital.
"This package focuses on Australia's leading digital television region of Sunraysia, centred on the city of Mildura in north-west Victoria, and will ensure that free-to-air digital television is made available to all viewing households." said Senator Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy.
The suite of measures includes:
- a package of in-home assistance to help targeted households
- a new satellite service to extend access to digital TV
- working with the local community to improve awareness and understanding of switchover
- a labelling scheme to help consumers to easily identify digital ready products, and
- a national call centre and a web site providing switchover information.The Rudd Government has designed a progressive timetable for digital television switchover starting with Sunraysia in 2010.
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Cisco preps whole-home DVRCisco Systems expects several cable providers in the second quarter to initiate field trials of its next-generation set-top, the Explorer 8600, the company's first to provide HD multiroom DVR features.
Multiroom DVR allows subscribers to access recordings on a master DVR from any other set-top in the home. The Explorer 8600 series, available with up to 500 Gigabytes of disk storage, supports the Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) 1.1 specification to distribute HD video over existing in-home coaxial cable.
Cable operators have been eager to introduce multiroom DVR, as both AT&T and Verizon offer it as part of their video services.
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ADB receives DivX Certification for STB
DivX, a digital media company, has confirmed the DivX Certification of the ADB-3810TW IPTV set-top box from Advanced Digital Broadcast (ADB). The newly enhanced STB will be available throughout Europe.
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Cooney leaves Tandberg for InternapInternap Network Services, a global provider of end-to-end Internet business solutions, has announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Eric Cooney president and chief executive officer, effective March 16th, 2009. Cooney was most recently president and chief executive officer of Tandberg Television, part of the Ericsson Group.
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