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Our Latest Issues
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Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Tuesday Monday 15th June
Carter to resign
Blavatnik saves Setanta?
NGNs ‘open’ under EC proposals
Cable nets look to online
CNN cross platform advertising success
Western broadband growth healthy
Rosen joins Eutelsat as Deputy CEO
Coship raises funds for STB production line
KDDI on-demand via SeaChange
Exterity IPTV encoder for IP networks
The communications minister Lord Stephen Carter is to leave his job after this week's Digital Britain report is published. It is being reported that Carter will leave the government by the end of next month to return to the private sector.
Carter has been in the role 18 months after a fraught spell as Downing St chief of staff. His departure will increase speculation that he is in the running for ITV chief executive. He is a former CEO of Telewest, one of the predecessors to Virgin Media.
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Blavatnik saves Setanta?American investor Len Blavatnik is offering £20 million (E23.4m) to buy some time for the beleaguered sportscaster. However the BBC reports he is demanding a 51% stake in return.
Blavatnik is also involved with Top-up TV, the pay-tv channel on Freeview, and is said to have strong Russian connections.
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NGNs ‘open’ under EC proposals
The European Commission is recommending that rules governing the emerging next-generation broadband services - specifically, those around competitor access to infrastructure and wholesaling of broadband access - should be developed through a "common approach" across the continent. If national telco regulators find that a dominant telco has significant market power over the faster lines, they should assess whether competitors should get access to both the ducts that carry lines and access to the lines under wholesale agreements.
The same would apply to cable nets where they are dominant, as has already happened in The Netherlands. Despite this, the cable industry has reacted positively to the fact the new recommendation includes mechanisms to allocate the investment risk between investors and operators seeking access to NGNs.
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Cable nets look to onlineAccording to research from The Diffusion Group US cable networks are becoming much more active in regards to online video distribution strategies, even at the cost of straining relationships with their Pay-TV platform partners.
"Cable networks have libraries filled with high-demand video content, but in many cases the content can only be enjoyed via Pay-TV outlets such as cable, satellite, and telco-TV operators. Such is the nature of the licensing agreements now in place," notes Colin Dixon, senior partner and director of TDG's broadband media practice. "It is important that, as these carriage agreements are renegotiated, content studios assert their right to establish a credible branded video presence in these emerging conduits, independent of traditional TV operators."Dixon notes that, given the amount of money content networks generate from licensing content to Pay-TV operators, they have been reluctant to push too hard for risk of upsetting this long-standing and mutually beneficial relationship. However, new technologies and shifting consumer behaviour are causing content purveyors to re-evaluate the importance of these relationships.
But Pay-TV operators are not resting on their laurels. As report author and contributing analyst with TDG, Pam Allison, notes, "Powerful Pay-TV operators such as Comcast and Time Warner Cable are launching initiatives such as 'TV Everywhere' for several reasons, one of which is to offer cable content online to operator-owned portals that can only be accessed by their Pay-TV subscribers. At the same time, powerful TV brands such as ESPN and MTV have no problem ruffling the feathers of these incumbent operators. Many major content developers are creating their own online video outlets and partnering with other online aggregators for distribution. The tension between content owners and distributors is mounting."
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CNN cross platform advertising successFindings released from a new study by CNN International suggest that brands that choose multimedia campaigns to communicate their advertising messages are more memorable to consumers and are more likely to enhance perception of their brands. The results carry weight for brands that place their advertising in an engaging environment, prompting an emotional response from the audience.
The CASE study (Cross-platform Advertising Study on Effectiveness and Engagement) consisted of a rigorous two stage approach. Stage one involved a multinational online questionnaire exposing consumers to diverse media experiences to measure cross-platform effectiveness. Stage two measured attention and engagement through a variety of techniques including biometrics, eye tracking and in depth interviews.
"We wanted to show that by complementing advertising on CNN TV with ads on CNN.com and CNN mobile, an advertiser can markedly increase campaign re-call leading to positive shifts in brand attitudes’, commented Didier Mormesse, SVP Research, CNN International. "The fact that these respondents were not primed for an advertising study makes these results even more poignant."
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Western broadband growth healthyAgainst the backdrop of a maturing broadband market and a challenging economic environment, Western European broadband is in relatively good health, according to a report published by analyst firm Strategy Analytics.
Sixty-one per cent of Western European households had broadband connectivity in their homes at the end of 2008; this number will grow to exceed 80 per cent by 2013, according to the report. The majority of these connections are through DSL technology, though given the ambitious fibre roll-outs in the region, Strategy Analytics foresees the Fibre (FTTx) share of connections growing to 9 per cent by 2013.
"The excitement in the Western European market today is clearly about Fibre," said Ben Piper, Director of the Strategy Analytics Multiplay Market Dynamics Service. "As France, Germany, and other countries position themselves for major fibre roll-outs, we are forecasting the total number of FTTx connections in Western Europe to grow by 47 per cent in the next five years."
Rosen joins Eutelsat as Deputy CEOThe Board of Eutelsat Communications has unanimously approved the proposal from its Chairman Giuliano Berretta to nominate Michel de Rosen as Deputy Chief Executive Officer.
Rosen joins Eutelsat Communications on July 1st. He will collaborate closely with Giuliano Berretta in advance of assuming the position of Chief Executive Officer after the General Assembly of Shareholders which will take place in November 2009. Rosen was CEO of Rhône-Poulenc Rorer (USA) from 1993 to 1999. From 2000 to 2008 he was Chairman and CEO of ViroPharma in the US.
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Coship raises funds for STB production lineChinese digital set-top box manufacturer Coship Electronics has received conditional approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) for a private placement, the value of which Coship estimates will not exceed RMB 430 million (E45m). Approximately 77 per cent of the funds are be used to build capacity for annual production of 2 million HD digital STBs, 4 million sets of DBS receiver equipment, and 2 million bi-directional interactive digital STBs. Coship's planned construction line will be used exclusively to produce middle and high-end products.
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KDDI on-demand via SeaChangeSince launching its on-demand television wholesaling business using technology and services from SeaChange International less than two years ago, Japanese telecommunications giant KDDI is now enabling 17 cable television operators across the country to offer on-demand movies and television to their viewers. KDDI is currently offering more than 6,000 titles regional and international on-demand content to Japan’s major cable operators throughout multiple regions.
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Exterity IPTV encoder for IP networksExterity, a specialist in network IPTV, has upgraded its existing AV Encoder and launched the new Exterity IPTV Encoder. The MPEG-2 encoding module is blade-based, and unlike the previous AV Encoder, is able to support widescreen encoding (16:9 aspect ratio). It allows content from devices such as a digital camera, satellite set-top box or DVD player to be streamed as a channel on the building’s IP network, and is ideal for use as part of any IPTV deployment.
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Tuesday 16th June
EPL could sell Setanta rights
Virgin and Universal unlimited music and policing deal
Online ads contributes $300bn to US economy
VTV, French Canal Plus team up in DTH service
Oz demands controls on IPTV output
Safaricom mobile TV for Kenya
CA: $1.4bn in annual Revenue by 2014
Disney XD UK bound
VTC selects Tandberg
Despite receiving some money against the £35 million (E41m) it is owed, the English Premier League has told Setanta if it does not pay the balance by June 19th, it will put its remaining games – 46 live matches in the 09-10 season - out to tender.
"In view of the shortage of time before the start of next season, the Premier League has determined, with the agreement of Setanta, that it shall today issue its invitation to tender in respect of the 46 UK live matches for the 2009/10 season only," the league said. "The bid deadline has been set for June 22nd, but we will give all prospective bidders notice late on June 19th, if Setanta have met their conditions, thereby negating the need for bids to be submitted."
Meanwhile following last week’s offer of a takeover from US investor Len Blavatnik, there is now said to be interest from Dutch media firm Endemol which is interested in leading a consortium to take 49 per cent of Setanta.
Setanta, which suspended taking new subscribers last week said: "All of our channels are still broadcasting across all platforms and our subscribers can continue to enjoy our programming. We are taking subscriptions from new customers... both online and at our call centres."
Setanta has around 1.2 million subscribers, but that is short of the estimation of industry analysts, who say it needs 1.9 million to break even. Deloitte has been lined up as administrator if Setanta's efforts fail.
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Virgin and Universal unlimited music and policing dealVirgin Media and Universal Music have unveiled plans for a digital music service designed to bring about a rapid and permanent change in the way UK consumers buy and listen to music.
The service will enable Virgin Media broadband customer to both stream and download as many music tracks and albums as they want from Universal Music’s entire catalogue, in return for a monthly subscription fee. Downloaded music will be theirs to keep permanently and to store on any compatible device. An "entry level" offer will also be available for customers who download music regularly, but may not want an unlimited service.
As part of the deal, Virgin has pledged to aggressively police usage to stop the MP3 tracks turning up on file-sharing networks. Universal will inform Virgin if its tracks are being downloaded excessively by a Virgin user who will ‘take various steps’ to deal with the subscriber. The last resort would be a temporary suspension of a customer's internet connection if that person consistently ignored warnings about their activity.
The service is intended to launch later this year. Virgin Media is negotiating with other UK major and independent music labels and publishers to ensure it can offer a complete, compelling catalogue by the time it launches.
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Online ads contributes $300bn to US economyInteractive advertising is responsible for $300 billion of economic activity in the US, according to a study released by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).
The advertising-supported Internet represents 2.1 per cent of the total US gross domestic product (GDP). It directly employs more than 1.2 million Americans with above-average wages in jobs that did not exist two decades ago, and another 1.9 million people work to support those with directly Internet-related jobs. A total of 3.1 million Americans are employed thanks to the interactive ecosystem.
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VTV, French Canal Plus team up in DTH serviceThe Vietnam Television Station (VTV) and the France’s Canal Plus have set up a joint venture to provide a DTH pay-TV service. The JV will concentrate on building a national DTH transmission infrastructure system in order to offer various channels at rational charges to home audiences. It also looks to increase the productivity of Vinasat, Vietnam’s first satellite, and combat against unlicensed reproduction.
VTV is currently providing 21 DTH channels. It plans to increase the number of DTH channels to 36 by the end of September and to 52 by the end of this year, which will cover all parts of the country.
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Oz demands controls on IPTV outputAustralia’s free-to-air TV networks have called on the federal government to impose tough new regulations on future Internet TV services to prevent them grabbing premium sport and other content.
Free TV Australia, representing the Seven, Nine, Ten, ABC and SBS networks, argued the anti-siphoning content rules for pay-TV should include IPTV.
In its submission on regulatory reform related to the National Broadband Network, Free TV also said it would be concerned if IPTV services "with significant market power were able to exclusively acquire the digital rights to premium content".
"This would not only have a negative impact on the market for content but would also reduce competition and choice for consumers in other markets," the networks argue.
The NBN will deliver super-fast Internet speeds that will make true IPTV possible for the first time. The government has said it intends to wait "until the NBN is more advanced before launching a full-scale review of convergence-related issues". The anti-siphoning rules, which give free-to-air TV the first pick of major sports broadcast rights, are due to be reviewed this year.
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Safaricom mobile TV for KenyaSafaricom subscribers in Kenya can now watch DStv’s menu of TV programmes from certain Nokia mobile phones. As part of an introductory offer, they do not have to pay any extra cost for the service till April, 2010, as long as they have the right devices.
The service follows the signing of a partnership between Safaricom, Nokia and DMTV. This will enable the subscribers to access the service, dubbed DStv Mobile, through DVB-H enabled Nokia phones.
To receive the service, which will give access to TV channels offered by pay TV firm DMTV, Safaricom subscribers will be required to have a Nokia handset specially configured to receive DVB-H broadcasts and programmed for that purpose in Kenya.
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CA: $1.4bn in annual Revenue by 2014
In 2008 Conditional Access technologies earned revenue of nearly $1.3 billion worldwide and will continue to grow, adding nearly $105 million more in annual revenue by 2014, according to a new study from ABI Research. Cable generated the bulk of the revenue, followed by satellite and telco. This can be largely attributed to new deployments in the cable market and the momentum this segment has gained in regions other than North America where cable and satellite are mature markets.
"The recent and current financial crisis does not appear to be hurting Conditional Access and Digital Rights Management technology markets," comments ABI Research industry analyst Zippy Aima. "The continuing explosion in digital entertainment production and consumption, combined with the expansion of new distribution methods such as over-the-top video and telco TV, will support steady growth in the technologies needed to protect that content."
Other drivers include demand for secure high-definition content, and the ability to share content across multiple devices in a "connected" home.
While overall revenue shows a modest increase over the study’s forecast period, the major changes will be in the revenue share contributed by each of the three platforms, cable, satellite and telco TV. While the former two show slight, fluctuating growth, telco TV is the real engine of this market, showing approximately a 15% increase to 2014.
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Disney XD UK boundDisney has confirmed it will replace Jetix with its Disney XD brand in the UK this August. The company has been gradually phasing out Jetix, having taken full control of the channel last year, and introducing Disney XD in its place.
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VTC selects TandbergVietnam Multimedia Corporation (VTC) has selected Tandberg Television, part of the Ericsson Group, to provide the encoding, multiplexing and modulation for ten HD and 32 standard-definition channels that are simultaneously played out over satellite and digital terrestrial networks. The Vietnamese broadcaster and platform operator combines MPEG-2 SD and MPEG-4 AVC HDTV channels in the same Tandberg Television Multiplexer Transport Stream and the content is modulated using DVB-S2 for satellite and DVB-T for digital terrestrial television.
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Wednesday 17th June
‘Digital Britain’ report published
NBCU raises anti-piracy profile
IPTV market up nearly 24m
Streaming will generate $78bn over 6 years
PM: Internet as vital as water or gas
A ‘more digital’ Britain to emerge from downturn
Cable broadband market holding steady
Free is best way to make music piracy redundant
Blu-ray fails to offset DVD decline
J:COM May subs
Five and Brightcove online initiative
AORA uses Tandberg encoding
Verimatrix secures Beltelecom
‘Digital Britain’ report published
From Colin Mann in London
The UK government has published its Digital Britain report, which sets out the importance of the Digital Economy to the nation’s economic future, and how it will drive future industrial capability and competitiveness. It makes the case that the United Kingdom’s communications infrastructure and increased Digital Participation are key to building a 21st century knowledge economy, and must be considered essential objectives if Britain is to become world-leaders, and reap the benefits of this rapidly transforming sector.Digital Britain measures include:
- Steps to strengthen and modernise the UK’s Digital Infrastructure so the UK can compete and lead globally
- Universal access to today’s broadband by 2012, creating equal access for all and a fairer digital future
- A fund for investment in the next generation of superfast broadband to ensure it is available to the whole country, not just some of it
- Digital Radio Upgrade by 2015
- Accelerating current and next generation mobile coverage and services
- Proposed new role for sectoral regulator Ofcom to carry out a full assessment of the UK’s communications infrastructure every two years
- Steps to ensure that everyone can share in the benefits of Digital Britain
- Three year National Plan to improve Digital Participation
- Programme of Digital Switchover in public services
- A new Digital Inclusion Champion: Martha Lane Fox
- Revised Digital remit for Channel 4 and key role for BBC
- Guaranteed funding for three years for targeted marketing and outreach
- Steps to make the UK one of the world’s main creative capitals
- Robust legal and regulatory framework to combat Digital Piracy
- Digital Test Beds to promote innovation, experimentation and learning around creation and monetisation of digital content
- TV Licence Fee: consultation on contained contestability, primarily to secure news in the nations, regions and locally
- A new direction for Channel 4, championing new talent across all digital media
- Guidance note and clarification on the media merger regime and an enhanced evidence role for the regulator in local mergers
- Support for Independently Funded News Consortia
Some of the decisions require action, which will be carried out immediately; some require further consultation or legislation. The Report clarifies areas the areas where legislative change is needed. A Bill will be introduced as soon as Parliamentary time allows.
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NBCU raises anti-piracy profile
Signalling an increased emphasis on intellectual property rights, NBC Universal is moving one of its senior communication executives, Cory Shields, to a newly created position of executive vice president for global policy strategies.For the past three years, Shields has been the main public relations adviser to the NBC Universal chief executive, Jeff Zucker. "One of the most important issues facing this company and indeed every media company is the protection of intellectual property," Zucker told staff in a note announcing the appointment.
NBC has been among the most active of the media companies in arguing for protection of its copyrighted material. The company has challenged Web sites such as YouTube for posting comedy videos from shows including ‘Saturday Night Live’. NBC was also a strong backer of the Pro Intellectual Property Act signed in 2008.
NBC’s anti-piracy efforts are headed by its corporate counsel, Rick Cotton, who said that it had "become clear that we need a senior executive who can serve as our dedicated communications strategist on IP issues."
Shields is expected to be the contact person for NBC’s intellectual property legislative agenda in Washington as well as internationally in London and Brussels.
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IPTV market up nearly 24mThe Broadband Forum has published the latest broadband and IPTV statistics, which show impressive growth in the face of the global economic downturn. Its report, prepared for the Forum by industry analysts Point Topic, shows that global broadband grew by 16.6 million lines in the first quarter 2009 alone, while IPTV subscribers approach 24 million, with expansion mainly in Europe and also North America.
Europe headed the continued IPTV success story with almost 10 percent growth over the last quarter and a 56.2 per cent year-on-year improvement. Eastern Europe is aggressively rolling out IPTV with new services across the region, including in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Russia.
"Growth is high in Eastern Europe because IPTV take up is still relatively low when compared to other regions such as North America and Asia Pacific," said John Bonsell, a Senior Analyst with Point Topic. "This is good news for operators and subscribers, because there is plenty of potential for growth coupled with a wide range of IPTV services, so cost should remain low."
In terms of technology, DSL continues to be the most popular broadband access technology, although fibre grew by more than three million lines to reflect a 12.4 per cent share of the market, while wireless showed a healthy proportionate increase over one million lines to a total of 5.58 million.
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Streaming will generate $78bn over 6 yearsStreaming video and music distributed across the Internet, an IPTV network, or a mobile handset will generate more than $78 billion in network-derived and content-derived revenue into the US markets over the next six years, according to a study from The Insight Research Corporation.
The study also estimates the revenue from the various types of content-derived revenues, along with associated advertising revenue. The streaming market is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 27 per cent over the next five years, driven by on-demand audio, on-demand video, and the accompanying advertising revenue.
"Over the past seven years as we've tracked the developments in streaming it has evolved from an esoteric niche to a mainstream market," noted Robert Rosenberg, Insight Research president. "What we predicted way back when is coming to fruition. The advertising revenue that long supported traditional TV is gravitating to this new medium, putting downward pressure on traditional TV distribution schemes," he concluded.
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PM: Internet as vital as water or gas
Foreshadowing the publication of the ‘Digital Britain’ report, Prime Minister Gordon Brown described a fast Internet connection as "an essential service, as indispensable as electricity, gas and water".
Writing in The Times, Brown said the digital revolution was changing lives beyond recognition and that investment now in the information and communications industries could underpin the UK’s emergence from recession to recovery and cement its position as a global economic powerhouse.
He expressed a determination for Britain's digital infrastructure to be world class. "For me, it is all part of building Britain's future beyond the difficult, short-term economic conditions," he wrote. This included developing the next generation of communications networks - fixed, mobile and broadcast.
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A ‘more digital’ Britain to emerge from downturn
Bruised by the recession, the UK entertainment and media (E&M) market will experience a cumulative seven per cent decline in revenue from 2008 – 2010 from $92 billion to $85 billion, a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) report has suggested.
A decline in advertising and change in consumer spending behaviour will push the market to its lowest revenue figures since 2005. However from this point E&M will flourish with consumer spend driving an increase to $98 billion in 2013, ensuring the UK will be snapping at the heels of the market leaders, Germany, who will in turn experience an 8.6 per cent rise from 2010 to 2013 ($90 billion to $99 billion).
Phil Stokes, head of E&M at PWC, noted that E&M growth slowed to 1.5 per cent in the UK in 2008, with PWC expecting a cumulative 7.2 per cent decline over the next two years as the economy continues to struggle. "Although we expect a rebound beginning in 2010, Internet access, Internet advertising, TV subscriptions and licence fees, filmed entertainment and video games will be the only segments that will be larger in 2013 than in 2008," he predicted.
Over the next five years, digital technologies will become increasingly widespread across all segments of E&M. However, companies are still struggling to adapt their current business models to ensure that they are monetising their digital content and capturing the revenues.
The UK Internet access market (wired and mobile) will increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of seven per cent from 2009 to 2013, an overall rise of 40 per cent ($10.3 billion to $14.4 billion spend).
Stokes explained, "Despite the recession, the rate with which we are becoming globally connected on a digital level has not eased up. We now expect constant and remote availability, and this new form of millennial ‘electricity’ must always be on, demanding a higher rate of Internet access across the UK. Growth in mobile access is allowing consumers to access the Internet from any location and is giving rise to popularity of high-end devices such as smartphones and iPods that combine mobility and access. Our anytime, any place, any device demands as consumers can be satisfied by businesses that listen to, understand and satisfy our individual needs – and those that don’t will pay the price," he concluded.
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Cable broadband market holding steadyCommunications market research firm Infonetics Research has released the first quarter) editions of its Cable Broadband Aggregation Hardware and Subscribers and Broadband CPE and Subscribers reports.
Jeff Heynen, Directing Analyst at Infonetics Research, said that on the heels of record-high revenue in 2008 ($1.23 billion), the cable broadband hardware market held steady in the first quarter of 2009, while the cable CPE segment dropped. "This first quarter slowdown points to a challenging 2009, in which an ailing economy and aggressive telco competition will make adding new broadband subscribers difficult. Still, compared to the overall bloodbath in telecom equipment spending in 1Q09, the cable broadband market was somewhat of a bright spot, and proves that cable operators remain committed to expanding their DOCSIS 3.0 footprint, transitioning from T-CMTS and I-CMTS to M-CMTS architectures, and introducing hybrid IP/QAM video services to support tru2way and DVB-MHP services."
Highlights of the report include:
- Worldwide cable broadband hardware (CMTS, universal edge QAMs) revenue held steady in 1Q09 from 4Q08, down just 0.2%
- CMTS sales actually inched up a bit (0.9%) in 1Q09 from 4Q08
- Operators are expected to take as much of a break as they can in 2009 to digest all the downstream capacity they deployed in 2008, and also to be more strategic with their DOCSIS 3.0-related rollouts
- Although Cisco leads the overall worldwide market, Arris extended its key revenue share lead in the pivotal North American market by nearly 7 percentage points
- Sales of broadband customer premise equipment (CPE), including DSL, cable, residential gateways, and voice CPE, dropped 8 per cent sequentially in 1Q09 to $945 million
- Growth in the broadband CPE market is expected over the next few years as service providers deploy more integrated (and more expensive) home networking devices to deliver bundled voice, data, and video services with guaranteed QoS.
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Free is best way to make music piracy redundantTwo in three (64 per cent) Brits are illegally listening to and sharing music online because they do not know how to do so legally, according to research by British online jukebox We7.
Educating and raising awareness of what is legal and what is not online, as well as providing a music choice that is free to consumers is the best way to beat piracy, according to We7.
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Blu-ray fails to offset DVD declineHollywood’s expensive gamble on Blu-ray technology has failed to prevent a sharp decline in home entertainment sales, dealing a blow to the film industry as it grapples with the global economic downturn.
The industry’s revenues fell by more than $2.6 billion in 2008 as sales of standard DVDs tumbled, according to a new report from Screen Digest, a research group.
Global revenues from standard DVD and Blu-ray rentals and sales were $26.4 billion in 2008, with two-thirds of that figure coming from DVD sales, which fell almost five per cent. Although Blu-ray sales were up, Screen Digest said the format "barely made a dent in the missing revenue".
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Jupiter Telecommunications (J:COM), the largest multiple system operator (MSO) in Japan based on the number of customers served, has announced that the total subscribing households as of May 31st, 2009 served by J:COM’s 23 consolidated franchises reached approximately 3.21 million, up 461,500, or 16.8 per cent since May 31st, 2008. Combined revenue generating units (RGUs) for cable television, high-speed Internet access and telephony services reached approximately 5.75 million, up 850,000 or 17.4 per cent since May 31st, 2008. The cable television digital migration rate as of May 31st, 2009 increased to 84 per cent from 72 per cent as of May 31st, 2008.
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Five and Brightcove online initiativeBrightcove, the online video platform, and UK broadcaster, Five, have launched an initiative that will allow five’s viewers to embed episodes of TV shows on their websites, social networks and blogs. Five becomes the first UK broadcaster to syndicate full episodes of popular programmes for catch-up viewing on third-party websites.
The initiative, which utilises the Brightcove platform, gives Five the ability to expand the distribution of long-form, ad-supported video content online and will also generate additional advertising income. The syndicated player initiative will be widely available later this year to third-party websites and to consumers who will be able to add embeddable video content to their own favourite places on the Web.
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AORA uses Tandberg encodingTandberg Television, part of the Ericsson Group, has revealed that Indonesia’s newest pay TV service provider, AORA, has selected Tandberg Television encoders and multiplexing for over 50 channels of standard-definition content, which are broadcast in MPEG-4 AVC over satellite. AORA will be using Tandberg’s award-winning Prekor pre-correction system for Satellite Modulation.
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Verimatrix secures BeltelecomBeltelecom, the national telecoms operator owned by the Belarus government, is securing its Premiere IPTV service with Verimatrix’s VCAS for IPTV. It helps enable interactive services like time-shift TV, VOD and parental controls. The operator is a major player of broadband services for the region. By the end of 2008, it controlled 78 per cent of the national ADSL market and 44 per cent in Minsk.
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Thursday 18th June
ESPN eyes Setanta’s football
Digital Britain draws BBC fire
VOD micropayments research
Ball joins BT board
Video is Asian satellite driver
CS Link increases capacity
Pure facilitates in-car switchover to DAB
WISI acquires A2B Electronics
Bradley-Jones named BBC.com managing director
Rentrak and Concurrent three-screen video analytics
ESPN, the US sports cable channel owned by Walt Disney, will bid for the Premier League rights held by Setanta in the event that the struggling media company is forced to relinquish them.
ESPN missed out on the rights when they were auctioned in February, with British Sky Broadcasting picking up five of the packages and only one going to Setanta. Since then Setanta has run out of cash and needs to complete a financial restructuring to stay afloat. The Premier League said this week it would re-auction Setanta’s rights if the company failed to make a £10 million (E11.8m) payment before the end of the week (19/06).
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Digital Britain draws BBC fireA central plank of the Digital Britain report – that the BBC license fee must help public broadcasting outside the BBC – has, as expected been shot down by the BBC.
Sir Michael Lyons said: "We recognise that there is work to do in never bigger than it needs to be. But we must also ensure that it remains strong enough to sit alongside the other big players in the broadcasting and media landscape: investing in high-quality journalism and other public service content, and supporting the creative economy.
We have to do this while helping others. That’s why, following a challenge from the Trust, the BBC has come up with an ambitious programme of partnerships to help the wider industry support public service content during tough economic times. The BBC will continue discussions with Channel 4 about a possible joint venture with BBC Worldwide that would create value for both parties.
On behalf of licence fee payers, the BBC Trust opposes top-slicing...The licence fee must not become a slush fund to be dipped into at will, leading to spiralling demands on licence fee payers to help fund the political or commercial concerns of the day. This would lead to the licence fee being seen as another form of general taxation. The Trust will not sit quietly by and watch this happen."
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A footnote in the Digital Britain report recommends £30 million (E36m) be set aside for research by its Technology Strategy Board (one of several new bodies it recommends to take up tasks outlined in the Report). One of the TSB’s priorities is collaborative research on a consolidated micropayment scheme for VOD.
While its preamble to the recommendation does make reference Virgin’s much vaunted 50 per cent plus usage, even though this is mainly free catch up, it makes no reference to Kangaroo, the consolidated VOD site that was banned on antitrust concerns.
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Ball joins BT boardTony Ball, the Chairman of Kabel Deutschland and former Chief Executive of BSkyB, has joined the BT Board as a non-executive director.
Between 1999 and 2003 he was Chief Executive of BSkyB plc, where he drove the rapid take up of Sky’s digital TV offering. During the past four he has been chair of private equity-owned Kabel Deutschland. He has helped build the company into Germany’s fastest growing high-speed broadband provider.
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Video is Asian satellite driverThe "Video in Demand" Asian satellite services report, released by CASBAA, shows a 9 per cent market growth in 2008/2009 with some 1,370 transponders currently in use across the region. This was the highest growth rate reported over the last eight years by CASBAA and partner Euroconsult of France. Despite some high regulatory barriers, several markets have been particularly dynamic in terms of capacity requirements, including India, China and Indonesia.
While the growth cycle has been partially challenged by economic uncertainty, the impact on Asian satellite services has been relatively limited, with video broadcasting the primary growth engine. Indeed, the growth in TV broadcasting transponder demand increased from 25 per cent in 2003 to 37 per cent in 2008.
While India remains the fastest growing market, now with more than 11 million DTH subscribers, nine Asian other countries now have more than 500,000 DTH connections. Nevertheless, an oversupply of Asian capacity is still a structural challenge. The fill rate has only recently reached 60 per cent for the first time last year and is still below a world average of around 70 per cent.
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CS Link increases capacitySES says that the Czech Pay-TV platform CS Link has increased its satellite capacity at Astra’s prime orbital position 23.5 degrees East by one additional transponder. The new capacity will be used to broadcast an enhanced programme package in both HD and SD formats. CS Link currently broadcasts 32 digital TV channels and 13 radio programmes in the Czech Republic, reaching 350,000 customers1. With this new agreement, CS Link will use four transponders on the ASTRA satellite system.
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Pure facilitates in-car switchover to DABUK radio manufacturer Pure is committed to facilitating the switchover to DAB in-car through a strong roadmap of in-car DAB devices and the continued promotion of the best selling in-car DAB radio, Highway.
The government’s Digital Britain report recommends that all new cars should come with a DAB radio by 2013 and leading manufacturers have already announced their support for this date.
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WISI acquires A2B ElectronicsWISI, a European provider of digital broadband reception and distribution technologies, has taken over Swedish A2B Electronics. The high-tech company develops, produces and markets headend products for digital TV. A2B Electronics will continue to operate as a separate entity within the WISI family of companies.
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Bradley-Jones named BBC.com managing directorBBC Worldwide has appointed Luke Bradley-Jones, the head of its digital operations in the US, as the new managing director of BBC.com.
Bradley-Jones, who has held the New York-based role of executive vice-president of digital media and business development for BBC Worldwide for the past two years, replaces Kym Niblock, who is leaving the corporation after nine years. He takes the official title of executive vice-president, managing director of BBC.com, the international version of the corporation's website run by BBC Worldwide.
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Rentrak and Concurrent three-screen video analyticsRentrak Corporation, a multi-screen media measurement and research company, together with Concurrent, a global leader in video and media solutions, has announced a partnership agreement that will introduce the industry’s first full-scale approach to collecting media data across operators which enables robust, cross-platform services reporting.
Through this partnership, operators, networks and advertisers will benefit from an efficient end-to-end data management and reporting model that is expected to speed industry adoption of addressable advertising solutions across converging platforms, including television, mobile devices and the Internet. With this approach, operators and content providers will have the ability to better monetize media information with advertisers through high quality, census-level and near-real-time data.
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Friday 19th June
Pay DTT OK’d, Prisa appeals
Phorm loses $50m
BT will expand hi-speed net
European TV market heats up
SPPF sues YouTube
Ofcom to crack down on 'babe channels’
MVR sells advertising on YouTube
Japan tightens copyright law
DirecTV employs INVIDI advertising technologies
Verimatrix secure CANTV in Venezuela
Pay DTT OK’d, Prisa appeals
From David Del Valle in Madrid
The Government is finalising a new set of TV regulations that will pave the way for the launch of pay DTT services, HDTV on DTT; will complete local TV map; allocate the final digital multiplexes and rule on aircraft mobile communications. Later on this year (before December 19th) it will also transpose the new European directive TV without Frontiers with new rules on advertising and International broadcasts.
All those rules will be approved separately regardless of the new Overall TV law (Ley General del Audiovisual) that the Government has failed to approve so far to regulate the whole TV sector. After many months of hot debate, the Government is to give the green light to pay TV services through DTT via a Royal Decree, a plan that has been fiercely criticised by established pay-TV operators like Sogecable, Telefonica or ONO and even telco companies Orange and Vodafone on the grounds that it will be to the benefit of "only a few audiviosual operators (namely DTT operators)" and to the detriment of satellite, cable and ADSL operators. Prisa, owner of pay-TV platform Digital+, has said it will lodge an appeal against government plans to allow all digital TV operators to broadcast a pay channel. Prisa said the changes would damage its TV interests, along with other pay-TV operators.The Administration is also putting emphasis on HDTV as the new development in DTT once the analogue switch-off takes place in April 2010. HDTV on DTT will be able to be operated by all those TV companies with at least one digital multiplex and an authorisation. Apart from the public group RTVE, with two multiplexes (four channels each), there will be other six private operators with one multiplex each from 2010: Antena 3, Telecinco, Sogecable, La Sexta, Veo TV and Net TV.
The Government will also urge the Electronic Industry to promote the sale of TV sets able to receive DTT and HDTV from April 2010 as a way to foster the development of HDTV. TVE has already announced that it will launch a specific HDTV channel.
Through a Royal Decree, the Administration will also allocate the final digital multiplexes with all the channels keeping their current frequency, except for La Sexta, Veo TV and Net TV, with new channels, 67, 66 and 68, respectively. DTT will use the frequency bands from 21 to 60, leaving channels from 61 to 69 (the digital divident) to bandwidth telco operators for mobile services.
The Administration will also rule the local TV market laying out the conditions that local TV networks must meet to continue broadcasting. The aim is to clarify and put in order the Spanish local TV market that counts with more than 1,000 TV stations, many of them operating without a legal licence.
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Phorm loses $50mPhorm, the ad technology company, posted a pre-tax loss of $49.8 million in 2008, up from $32.8 million in 2007. However, the company insisted the launch of its controversial behavioural ad targeting technology in the UK is on track.
The company said that as at 31st December 2008, the company had net assets of $22.4 million, with cash and cash equivalents on hand of $23.2 million. It added that this, together with additional funds raised through a share offering of around 19 per cent of its shares this month, would enable it "to move forward to commercial deployment in the UK and Korea, while providing funds to support our business development efforts with ISPs in other markets".Phorm conceded that its behavioural ad targeting technology "is taking longer to deploy in the UK than originally anticipated". It is still trialling the technology with partners BT, TalkTalk and Virgin Media, but has yet to formally launch.
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BT is to examine expanding its superfast broadband network to cover 90 per cent of homes after ministers published plans to subsidise the roll-out of high-speed internet access across the country.CEO Ian Livingston told the Financial Times the government’s planned broadband tax meant BT could investigate going far beyond its existing commitment to provide a superfast fixed-line network for 40 per cent of households by 2012.
Livingston said: "We’re keen to get fibre to as many homes as possible – and so the levy is a positive step towards increasing availability. The devil will be in the detail, but, if the plans are workable, then it could be feasible that we [would] deliver somewhere in the region of 90 per cent coverage."
BT’s existing plans to roll out its fibre-based network to 40 per cent of homes by 2012 will cost it £1.5 billion.
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European TV market heats upWith the European Union’s economy showing signs of recovery, television sales in the region are expected to rise in 2009 as consumers continue to snap up LCD-TVs, according to iSuppli Corp.
"Television sales in Europe will rise to 51.97 million units in 2009, up 3.4 per cent from 50.2 million in 2008," said Riddhi Patel, principal analyst for television systems at iSuppli. "LCD-TVs, which will account for 79 per cent of the market year, will see their sales rise by a robust 17.5 per cent in 2009 to reach 41.1 million units, up from 35 million in 2008."
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SPPF sues YouTubeFrench independent labels collecting society SPPF has filed a lawsuit against YouTube for copyright infringement. The producers' body said that more than 100 music videos from its catalogue, which had been taken down by YouTube in 2008 following SPPF's request, were again available on the service in some form. SPPF is now seeking E10 million in damages.
Google-owned YouTube responded by pointing out that SPPF has not signed up to its Content ID technical measures to identify any infringement. In France, YouTube partners with organisations including Europacorp, AFP, and France 24 on Content ID to identify unauthorized use of content and then monetize or block it.
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Ofcom to crack down on 'babe channels’UK media regulator Ofcom is proposing to crack down on the amount of "sustained sex scenes and sexual language" shown on TV immediately after the 9pm watershed, to better protect younger viewers from explicit content broadcast free-to-air by so-called "babe channels" such as Playboy TV and Babeworld TV.
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MVR sells advertising on YouTubemyvideorights.com (MVR), the independent rights management company in the UK, has inked an agreement with YouTube that allows it to sell advertising in and around its content on the site. Under the deal, MVR who generate some 10,000,000 VOD views a month on YouTube alone, has the right to sell a range of advertising units around its content. MVR will initially be selling advertising inventory generated by UK viewing to UK advertisers but intends to roll-out globally.
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Japan tightens copyright lawJapan's upper house has approved a revision to the Copyright Law making downloading of pirated content illegal. The revision will go into effect on January 1st. Uploading of pirated music and video content is already proscribed, but downloading has been tolerated as long as it is for personal use. Legislators have prescribed no penalties for illegal downloads.
Illegal uploading of video content, particularly cartoons, is rampant at Japanese file-sharing and other sites, however, leading to large losses for Japanese production companies.
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DirecTV employs INVIDI advertising technologies
DirecTV will be able to provide advertisers with relevant local television advertising for the first time, using software developed by INVIDI Technologies Corporation, a specialist in advanced television advertising solutions. INVIDI’s Advatar software, in combination with DirecTV’s digital set-top boxes, will allow relevant local television advertising a based on geographic location and will position TV ads according to any marketer’s specifications.
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Verimatrix secure CANTV in VenezuelaVerimatrix has revealed that CANTV is the latest Americas customer to select the Verimatrix Video Content Authority System (VCAS) for IPTV. Through a reseller partnership with ZTE, VCAS for IPTV has been integrated with ZTE’s ZXBIV IPTV Eyewill solution for the CANTV deployment. In this initial deployment phase, CANTV plans to offer IPTV services with 140 channels to 67,000 subscribers, which is considered the largest IPTV project in South America. The Venezuelan state-owned operator CANTV is targeting 1.26 million IPTV customers within the next six years.
