|
|
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
Our Latest Issues
Visit our archive to access more than 200 features! 
|
Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Tuesday
Friday 12th June
France 'three-strike' system vetoed
BT: No free lunch for content players
Setanta stays afloat
Kudelski not interested in selling OpenTV stake
Five HD on DTT
Italy: 600,000 IPTV users
UK gets 24% of advertised mobile broadband speeds
Illegal downloads lose economy £12bn a year
2.8m US homes not ready for switchover
Sky News going HD
Thomson selected by PCCW for 'eye 2'
France 'three-strike' system vetoedFrance's highest legal authority struck down a key provision of the controversial law that would have cut off Internet access to people who repeatedly download copyrighted content illegally.
The council rejected the core portion of the measure, under which a newly created agency, acting on the recommendations of copyright owners, would have been able to order Internet service providers to shut down the accounts of pirates who ignored two warnings to stop.
The council said the proposal was contrary to French constitutional principles, like the presumption of innocence and freedom of speech. The latter right "implies today, considering the development of the Internet, and its importance for the participation in democratic life and the expression of ideas and opinions, the online public’s freedom to access these communication services," the council said.
Christine Albanel, the culture minister, said she would suggest to President Sarkozy that the law be modified as the council demanded, reserving for judges the decision to cut off Internet access. She said she regretted the loss of an opportunity to "decriminalise" the process by giving the new agency that power.
Albanel added that warning letters would begin going out to downloaders as planned in the autumn. But critics of the legislation said that without the threat of disconnection, the new agency would be toothless.
"All we have now is a big tax-sponsored spam machine for the entertainment industries," said Jérémie Zimmermann, director of La Quadrature du Net, a Paris-based group that has campaigned against the measure.
Back to top
BT: no free lunch for content players
BT has told video streaming sites that they will have to contribute to the cost of upgrading its broadband networks if they want consumers to enjoy a good level of video quality in future. BT Retail MD John Petter told the FT: "We can’t give the content providers a completely free ride and continue to give customers the [service] they want at the price they expect." Petter wouldn’t say how much BT was losing to traffic overloads but did say "if it wasn’t a significant sum, we wouldn’t be focused on it".
The BBC complained last week that BT’s practice of capping broadband speeds on its basic Option 1 broadband package at nights from "up to 8Mbps" to just 896 Kbps to cope with bandwidth pressure was stifling use of its watch-again iPlayer service. But BT is not in a mood to back off just ahead of the release of Lord Carter’s Digital Britain report. It wants assurances from content owners and government that it won’t have to shoulder the full financial burden of creating universal web access.
Back to top
Setanta stays afloatSetanta co-founders Michael O'Rourke and Leonard Ryan have won additional breathing space to try to push through a last minute refinancing rescue package to save the company from going in to administration. The Irish pay-TV broadcaster's next pressing deadline is a £30 million (E35m) payment to the English Premier League due next week.
Setanta's founders are working through a number of options, thought to include raising £40 million in new investment and looking at selling some, or all, of its international operations in Ireland and the US.
The company needs £100 million to secure its future but its City backers, including private equity houses Doughty Hanson and Balderton, have refused to make more than £50 million available. The latest rescue effort is being led by the company's advisers, investment bank Close Brothers and accountants Deloitte.
Setanta, which missed a £3 million payment to the Scottish Premier League last week, is also understood to have held talks with BT and ESPN over investment in the company. BT Vision, the broadband TV venture, said that as a "precaution" it was suspending sales of Setanta Sports subscriptions.Other partners including ITN, which produces the broadcaster's rolling news service Setanta News, and Virgin Media, a joint venture partner in the Setanta Sports News service, are both "monitoring" the situation.
If the company goes into administration, Disney-owned ESPN is regarded as the most likely buyer for parts of the operation.
ITV, with which Setanta jointly owns the UK rights to the FA Cup and England's home football internationals, could also benefit if the pay-TV business goes under.Under the terms of the FA deal, ITV would reportedly pick up rights to eight England friendly internationals at a significant discount on the estimated £5 million Setanta is thought to have paid for each match.
Back to top
Kudelski not interested in selling OpenTV stake
The ‘round robin’ on the OpenTV non-takeover by its biggest shareholder continues. The Kudelski Group, has commented on Discovery Group’s recommendation that OpenTV buys out Kudelski Group’s stake in OpenTV:
"The Kudelski Group confirms that it is not interested in selling its shares of OpenTV...Kudelski Group reiterates its commitment to remain OpenTV’s controlling shareholder and to protect its investment by undertaking all necessary measures to ensure its long-term success."
Earlier this month OpenTV’s other shareholders, including Discovery, rejected as inadequate an offer from Kudelski for the whole company.
Back to top
Five HD on DTTOfcom announced that it has made a provisional decision to reserve capacity in principal to the broadcaster, to provide new HD services on DTT from 2010. Ofcom’s decision to award a HD licence to Five is subject to it resolving certain key criteria related to its application. These must be resolved before the year end.
This decision should mean that Five will join the other public service broadcasters, the BBC, the channel 3 licensees (ITV, stv and UTV), and Channel 4 and S4C, in launching four HD services on DTT in total.
Back to top
Italy: 600,000 IPTV users
From Branislav Pekic in RomeThe "New Media: Challenges and Opportunities of Development for the Italian Market" study from Ernst & Young has revealed that IPTV penetration remains low, with only 600.000 users in Italy, compared to the estimated 5 million for DTH platform Sky Italian and DTT pay-TV operator Mediaset Premium.
According to Ernst & Young, the low level of IPTV penetration is linked to poor perception of the advantages and differentiated characteristics compared to more traditional media. The absence of a sufficient number of subscribers to the service also causes lower profitability and thus makes difficult the supply of premium content in an increasingly competitive market.
On the other hand, the number of Web TV services increased by 33 per cent compared to 2007, with 364 operators managing 633 Web channels. The auditing firm expects a continuous growth of Web TV and the quality of content supplied, driven by the increase of the average time spent in front of the computer and the large potential audience.
Although the mobile internet market in Italy grew by 14 per cent last year, it has a marginal impact on the fruition of video content. In fact, the penetration of mobile video consumers is only 4 per cent of total mobile users, with a very limited number of accesses (only 10 a month).
Back to top
UK gets 24% of advertised mobile broadband speedsResearch by Epitiro, the broadband communications authority, reveals that speeds delivered to UK mobile broadband users are significantly less than those advertised. The research covered popular broadband activities such as web surfing, downloading music and movies, VoIP telephone calling, Internet gaming and watching streaming video. Leading mobile broadband operators 3, O2, Orange, T-Mobile, Virgin Media and Vodafone were measured and Epitiro’s analysis revealed the following;
- UK mobile broadband users receive on average 24% of advertised download speeds
- The average download speed achieved with mobile broadband is just under 1 Mbps
- The average mobile broadband ping time (150 msec) exceeds the recommended ceiling (100 msec) for acceptable web-based game playing. Ping times are 3 times slower than equivalent fixed line broadband services which are less than 50 msec, on average.
- Web browsing is 34 per cent slower than speeds achieved on equivalent ADSL broadband services
- Trends in mobile broadband indicate TCP download speeds improving at a rate of 11 per cent over the test period
- Average mobile broadband speeds double to 1.8 Mbps at 3am on weekdays indicating that contention at the cell may be a limiting factor
- From the 750,000 TCP download speeds recorded throughout the 5 month period, several tests managed to exceed 3 Mbps indicating that higher speeds are possible
Back to top
Illegal downloads lose economy £12bn a yearThe cost to the UK economy of unauthorised downloads of digital content including software equates, as a conservative estimate, to £12 billion (E14bn) a year, according to a study into the economic impact of illegal file-sharing. commissioned by The Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property (SABIP).
Unusually the report spelled out its calculations and extrapolations. It found that on one peer-to-peer network at midday on a week day there were over 1.3 million sharing content. If each ‘peer’ in the network downloaded just one file a day that would equate to 0.47 billion items a year. This, according to the report’s authors, equates to £12 billion of lost revenue to digital content owners, based on their assessment of the value of an individual file.
Back to top
2.8m US homes not ready for switchoverIn its final update before the June 12th, 2009 deadline for converting all full-powered US television stations to digital transmission, The Nielsen Company reported that 2.8 million American households, or 2.5 per cent of the television market, are completely unready for the transition. Younger, African American and Hispanic homes are disproportionately unready, while the elderly are the most ready.
"Since February, when the US government postponed the transition for three months, the number of households that are completely unready has been cut in half – from 5.8 million to 2.8 million homes," said Sara Erichson, President Media Client Services, The Nielsen Company. "Given the importance that television plays in the day-to-day life of most people, we expect that most of the remaining unready homes will take the necessary steps to get ready once the stations make the final switch to digital transmission."
Back to top
Sky News going HDSky has confirmed that the launch of Sky News HD is scheduled to take place in Spring 2010 following an upgrade to studios, production facilities and news gathering operations in the UK and overseas. It will be the first UK news channel to broadcast in HD.
Back to top
Thomson selected by PCCW for "eye 2"Thomson has been selected by PCCW Hong Kong to provide a unique Wi-Fi enabled portable device as the platform for PCCW’s second generation 'eye service', an advanced multimedia over IP to the home service.
The Thomson Portable Media Centre, which will be branded by PCCW as the 'eye 2', will enable users to move seamlessly between IPTV channels, local and online music streaming and photo albums, video telephony as well as the complete range of online information and media services from PCCW.
Back to top
Thursday 11th June
Setanta looks to shareholders as Sky gives brush off
Discovery: OpenTV should buy out Kudelski
UK industry lobbies for pressure on illegal downloads
BT Vision chief quits
Phorm puts 20% on sale
Homes with no Web access don’t want it
New CEO for CableLabs
Cartoon Network online portal
Harmonic top encoder co
Arris expands addressable advertising capabilities
Setanta looks to shareholders as Sky gives brush offBSkyB refused a £50 million (E58m) lifeline to Irish pay-TV broadcaster Setanta which had offered access to its live rights for 46 English Premier League games next season as an add-on option to Sky Sports, in return for the cash.
Subsequently Setanta's founders Leonard Ryan and Michael O'Rourke have been in emergency talks with backers to secure financing to keep the firm going.
Meanwhile US sports broadcaster ESPN is also said to be interested in either buying the Irish firm for a nominal sum or simply bidding for its rights to the Premier League.
While Setanta says it is carrying on as normal while new backing is sought, it appears to have closed its online and telephone subscription sales services.
BSkyB's chief executive, Jeremy Darroch, said it had been "talking to Setanta, and trying to work with them and help them", but that it could not agree to the Irish company's proposal. Under the current UK broadcast deal, which lasts for one more season, BSkyB holds four packages of rights to show live Premier League matches next season - a total of 92 games.
Setanta could act as a wholesaler - retaining the rights, but then selling on the football coverage, which rivals would show through their channels. It already does this for Virgin Media, which makes Setanta channels available as part of its more expensive packages.
Setanta, which shows cricket, golf and rugby union as well as football, has about 1.2 million subscribers, but this is only about 60 per cent of the number it needs, according to analysts. Consequently, the company is losing up to £100 million a year.
Back to top
Discovery: OpenTV should buy out KudelskiDiscovery Group, the largest independent shareholder of OpenTV, has sent a letter to the Board of Directors proposing that OpenTV offer to repurchase Kudelski Group’s 32 per cent economic stake for $1.35 per share.
Discovery’s recommendation follows Kudelski’s failed attempt to take full ownership of OpenTV.
Discovery points to recent disclosures by Kudelski that suggest that its primary ambition is to access cash at OpenTV, amounting to $114.2 million in order to pursue large-scale acquisitions. Because Discovery believes these acquisitions would not serve the best interests of OpenTV’s US shareholders, which hold a majority economic stake of 68 per cent, Discovery suggests that a better alternative would be for OpenTV to use about half its available cash to buy-out Kudelski for approximately $60 million.
UK industry lobbies for pressure on illegal downloads
The lobbying effort is backed by more than 15 organisations from the creative industries and, for the first time, Amicus/Unite and the Trade Union Congress. The coalition urges the government to ensure a tough stance is taken in the final Digital Britain report, due to be published by the communications minister, Lord Carter.
"Job losses will be felt right across the chain, from production to distribution, from technicians to manufacturers and from logistics companies to staff in high street shops. The government report is Gordon Brown's golden opportunity to tackle this growing threat and, at the 11th hour, to save the future of the UK creative industries."
Meanwhile, the threat of being disconnected by an ISP after being warned three times against illegal downloading would either definitely or probably deter a full 80 per cent of consumers, says The Digital Entertainment Survey by Entertainment Media Research.
Back to top
BT Vision chief quitsThe chief executive of BT Vision, Dan Marks, has quit to pursue his own interests. IPTV service BT Vision is at the centre of the UK telco’s efforts to move beyond traditional phone services. But Marks warned that without an acceleration to Ofcom’s review of the pay-TV sector, enabling BT to access BSkyB’s premium film and Premiership football content "on reasonable terms", it would be "quite challenging" for BT Vision to meet its 2 million -3 million subscriber target by 2011.
Marks, who is also deputy managing director of BT Consumer, joined from Universal Studios in 2005. He is the second CEO to leave after founding exec Andrew Burke, now at Amino. Many observers have questioned BT’s real level of commitment to IPTV, believing it’s approach is entirely focussed on preserving voice and broadband customers.
Marc Watson, director of content and business development at BT, is to replace Marks as CEO.
Back to top
A year after placing shares worth £32 million (E37m), Phorm, the ad targeting company, wants to sell 19.4 per cent of the company through a new share offering for £15 million.
In 2007, it burned through $22.4 million cash and made a $32.8 million loss. So far the controversial system has several trials but no confirmed contracts.
Back to top
Homes with no Web access don’t want itMore than 70 per cent of UK homes without Internet access have no interest in getting broadband or feel it would be too expensive to do so, according to research published from Ofcom. With Internet take-up in the UK running at about 70 per cent, and only another 5 per cent promising to get connected over the next six months, the ranks of the excluded represent more than one in five of the country's adult population.
The Board of Directors of CableLabs has named Paul Liao, the chief technology officer at Panasonic, the next CEO of Cable Television Laboratories Inc. Liao will take over from long-time head Dick Green.
Back to top
Turner Broadcasting is launching a new UK website for its kids’ channel Cartoon Network on June 16th, putting community interaction and personalisation at the heart of the site’s offering. Visitors to the site will have the option to customise their own versions of the site from a selection of backgrounds, choose avatars from a range of Cartoon Network characters, chat with their friends, watch exclusive content and play games to win virtual trophies.
Back to top
Harmonic tops encoder coAccording to Instat, Harmonic led the industry in encoder shipments in 2008, with 28 per cent market share, according to research from industry analyst In-Stat. In 2008, Harmonic shipped more than 12,000 encoding channels to broadcast, cable, satellite and telecom video service providers. The analyst’s findings, published in a new report entitled "Worldwide Real-Time Broadcast MPEG Encoder Market," confirms Harmonic’s global leadership in providing encoding solutions for all video markets.
Around the world, more than 60,000 MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) standard and high definition video channels have been provisioned using Harmonic’s DiviCom encoders since 1996. Eight of the 10 largest direct-to-home (DTH) satellite operators worldwide and nine of the top 10 cable operators in the US use Harmonic encoders. Harmonic compression solutions also power more than 6,500 telco IPTV channels around the world, and over 300 TV stations in the US broadcast their digital TV programs using Harmonic encoders.
Back to top
Arris expands addressable advertising capabilitiesArris has concluded a second series of interoperability test activities with several technology companies to help accelerate advertising revenue services for the cable industry’s addressable Advertising Insertion standard and solutions. The Arris products tested, at the CableLabs hosted Addressable Interfaces interoperability event, were: the ConvergeMedia Advanced Ad VOD ADM Plus, ConvergeMedia Management, ConvergeMedia Console and the ConvergeMedia Session & Resource Manager (SRM).
Back to top
Wednesday 11th June
Sky wants no protected sports rights
Carphone: Pirates will always win
U-Verse deployment in decline
New German DTH uses Kiosk channels
Epix launches in beta
Screen cross-media solution
DVR STB shipments contract
Mobile TV solution market to decline in 2009
Five expands into online gambling
Envivio iLiveTV solution for iPhone
Sonic Solutions selects Widevine for video optimisation
Sky wants no protected sports rightsSky says the "crown jewels" list of sporting events reserved for free-to-air television amounts to a "tax on sport" that subsidises terrestrial broadcasters. In its submission to the government's review of the A list of sporting events that must shown on free to air TV, the pay-TV broadcaster also argues that the policy reduces competition for media rights. Sky believes sports governing bodies should be allowed to make their own decisions to maximise the value of their TV rights, free of political interference.
"Listing a sporting event against the wishes of the sports body responsible for it removes that freedom of choice and places a key decision in the running of the sport into the hands of government," BSkyB said in its submission to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.
"Listing an event against the wishes of a sports body means that it becomes a forced seller of its rights and denies it the ability to get a fair deal from its chosen broadcast partners. This amounts to a tax on sport to subsidise terrestrial broadcasters, at a time when sports are in need of greater levels of funding in order to invest in facilities and in their grassroots, and face pressure from the Government to increase levels of participation."
Back to top
Carphone: Pirates will always winCalls for Internet service providers to halt illegal file sharing are "naive", according to Charles Dunstone, the boss of Carphone Warehouse. He says the solution is education about the benefits of respecting copyright coupled with services that allow consumers "to get content easily and cheaply".
Dunstone said people had become "obsessed" by peer-to-peer file sharing but "there is a myriad of ways that you can share content on the Internet… If you try speed humps or disconnections for peer-to-peer, people will simply either disguise their traffic or share the content another way. It is a game of Tom and Jerry and you will never catch the mouse. The mouse always wins in this battle and we need to be careful that politicians do not get talked into putting legislation in place that, in the end, ends up looking stupid."
Carphone, now one of the UK’s biggest ISPs after the purchase of Tiscali, doesn’t want any three-strikes or similar propositions in the up- coming Digital Britain report.
Back to top
U-Verse deployment in declineAccording to UBS Research, AT&T is slowing the deployment of their "next-generation" VDSL IPTV service, U-Verse. UBS initially expected AT&T to pass 11 million homes in 2009, but has ‘re-guesstimated’ that AT&T will pass just 4-5 million homes this year. That would be down from 9 million in 2008. AT&T admits there's been a recession-related slowdown, but insists deployment remains "aggressive".
"Our U-verse build and expansion plans remain aggressive. We will continue expanding into new markets and turning up more households that are currently passed by our U-verse network. In a broader sense, we announced earlier this year that given the current economic environment, we are taking a conservative approach to managing our business."
Back to top
New German DTH uses Kiosk channelsA new DTH platform for Germany will launch with channels from the Eutelsat Kabelkiosk platform. AllesSehen will have two packages of channels available. One will offer 11 German language channels, a second, called US Entertain, will include a number of mainly English language channels, including America Unleashed and BBC Prime. In addition, viewers will be able to subscribe to the sports channel Sportdigital with the one or both of the packages.
Each package costs E9.90 a month with Sportdigital E4.90 if bought on top or E7.99 separately. Every subscriber will need a starter package for E29.90 that will include the smart card. The platform will be on Eutelsat Eurobird 9A and is scrambled by Conax.
Back to top
Epix launches in betaEpix, the joint venture cable channel being launched by Paramount Pictures, Lionsgate and MGM, unveiled a beta version of its streaming movie site. EpixHD, streams a selection of 100-plus movies without advertisements to an invited group of users. A spokesman for Studio 3 Networks, the name of the joint venture company behind the service, confirmed the launch, but didn’t provide other details on the service.
Back to top
Screen cross-media solutionViacom Brand Solutions, Pearl & Dean and MySpace are combining to launch Screen, a new cross-media commercial venture in the UK, offering brands a tailored TV, cinema and online advertising service. The three firms will collaborate on specific projects using their separate, existing sales teams.
The partnership will present advertisers and agencies with a one-stop-shop for cross-platform ads across TV, online and cinema.
Back to top
DVR STB shipments contractDell’Oro Group research has reported that the number of DVR-equipped pay-TV set-top box unit shipments contracted 20 per cent year-over-year in the first quarter this year and accounted for one-third of the total set-top box shipped during the quarter.
This contraction in the first quarter may be attributed to several factors. "First, the economy is reducing the demand for premium services such as DVR functionality," said Greg Collins, Vice President at Dell’Oro Group. "Second, growth in the set-top box market is coming from Europe and developing regions where DVR functionality is still new and not yet embraced by consumers. Third, multi-room DVR’s are at the very early stages of impacting demand for integrated DVR’s. Multi-room DVR’s offer end-users greater functionality and ease of use by eliminating the need to manage content on multiple set-top boxes. Furthermore, since the hard drive is often the most expensive and most failure-prone component of a set-top box, multi-room DVR’s also offer service providers lower capital and support costs".
The IP STB market was the only segment to grow year-over-year in the first quarter with Motorola and Cisco holding top spots. ZTE captured the third position with strong sales of inexpensive, standard definition products to China where IPTV is starting to gain momentum.
Back to top
Mobile TV solution market to decline in 2009The global market for mobile TV chipset solutions is likely to contract 20-30 per cent in 2009 due mainly to declining demand from the PC and automotive segments, according to Yannick Levy, CEO of DiBcom.
To cope with slack demand and varied standards in different markets, DiBcom and other solution vendors such as Siano Mobile Silicon are introducing integrated chipsets that are compatible with multiple technologies, Levy noted.
For example, DiBcom's latest Octopus platform is compatible with DVB-T, DVB-H, DVB-SH, ISDB-T, T-DMB and CMMB standards, said Levy, who added that the company will begin delivering samples of Octopus chipsets to clients in July-August.
DiBcom will outsource the Octopus chipsets to United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) using a 65nm process, Levy revealed. DiBcom has shipped over 15 million mobile TV solutions so far, and the company is also the top vendor in the DVB segment, Levy claimed.
Back to top
Five expands into online gamblingUK terrestrial broadcaster Five has struck a deal with digital gambling group PartyGaming to launch an online bingo and casino service. The service, which will be branded with the Five name, will launch within the next six months and will be promoted extensively by the broadcaster.
Back to top
Envivio iLiveTV solution for iPhoneEnvivio has launched iLiveTV – a complete mobile video encoding and distribution solution for evaluating, developing and deploying live and on demand TV video services for the iPhone. Taking advantage of the new iPhone OS 3.0 mobile video format, iLiveTV delivers everything mobile operators and content owners need to deliver TV to iPhone users. iLiveTV includes the Envivio 4Caster C4 world-class video encoding platform, content delivery server software and a web-based Cover Flow iPhone navigation portal.
Back to top
Sonic Solutions selects Widevine for video optimisationWidevine and Sonic Solutions have announced a value added reseller agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, Widevine adaptive streaming, interactive DVD/Blu-ray features and DRM will be used to help facilitate Roxio CinemaNow digital entertainment experiences on broadband-enabled consumer electronics (CE).
Back to top
Tuesday 9th June
Setanta on brink
Sweden Pirate Party gets Euro MP
C4 puts whole archive on net
IPTV forecast advises watchful optimism
Online distribution threatens TV ad revenue
PCCW eyes Chunghwa for IPTV
Bradshaw replaces Burnham
Zattoo drops MTV
CRTC calls for a national digital strategy
US views record 16.8bn online vids in April
IPTV in a nascent state in the Arab world
Pace HD STB for Viasat
BBC Prime joins GlobeCast platform
Humax selects ANT Galio platform
Two Way Games for myway
KidsCo in-car in Indonesia
Setanta on brinkThe board of UK and Ireland football broadcaster Setanta is meeting this week to assess whether it has any options other than placing the business in administration. Last week the company failed to pay the Scottish Premier League £3 million (E3.4m). The SPL has had to find £3 million from its own funds to distribute to the 12 member clubs to tide them over.
Setanta also has a much larger outstanding payment due to the Premier League in England - about £40 million due this month. Unless backers agree to supply more cash, Setanta is thought certain to be forced to call in administrators. Setanta first won the rights to broadcast live SPL matches in competition with previous rights holder BBC Scotland in 2004.
Setanta also has a shared deal with ITV for FA Cup and England matches and one package of live Premiership matches.
Back to top
Sweden Pirate Party gets Euro MPSweden's Pirate Party, striking a chord with voters who want more free content on the Internet, won a seat in the European Parliament. The Pirate Party captured 7.1 per cent of votes in Sweden, enough to give it a single seat. The party wants to deregulate copyright, abolish the patent system and reduce surveillance on the Internet.
"This is fantastic!" Christian Engstrom, the party's top candidate, told Reuters. "This shows that there are a lot of people who think that personal integrity is important and that it matters that we deal with the Internet and the new information society in the right way." Previously an obscure group of single-issue activists, the party enjoyed a jump in popularity after the conviction in April of four men behind The Pirate Bay, one of the world's biggest free file-sharing website.
The case cast a spotlight on the issue of Internet file sharing, a technique used to download movies, music and other content. The defendants have called for a retrial.
Despite the names, the party and the website are not formally linked. The party was founded in 2006 and contested a Swedish general election that year, but received less than one percent of the vote.
Back to top
C4 puts whole archive on netC4 is to put its back catalogue online free of charge – giving viewers the chance to watch every episode of its home-grown shows. From July, more than 4,000 hours of the channel's archived content – about 10,000 programme titles – will be added to the 4oD catch-up service.
The catch-up service currently offers viewers programmes for 30 days after they broadcast, and the move could put pressure on the BBC, which offers programmes via its iPlayer service for only seven days after they air.
Some of Channel 4's content will not be made available online because of rights or legal issues. US shows such as Friends will not be included, nor will Channel 4 News, because some bought-in news clips form part of a rights agreement which only allows the broadcaster to show them up to midnight on the day of transmission.
The archived content will be made available to PC, Mac and Linux operating systems users on a free, streamed basis. Jon Gisby, the director of future media and technology at Channel 4, said: "We were the first broadcaster to launch a comprehensive video-on-demand service in 2006, and since that time 4oD has become one of the UK's most popular VOD brands. We are extremely proud of the improved service and think the combination of fantastic content that's easy to find and view will prove compelling for all users."
Back to top
IPTV forecast advises watchful optimismThe new IPTV Global Forecast Report - May 2009 from MRG, shows that 2008 actual IPTV subscribers ended up at about 1 million over its last forecast in late 2008, or 21.3 million, resulting in projected subscriber growth of 26.9 million in 2009 to over 81 million in 2013. Combined CapEx revenue plus service revenue will grow from $9.7 billion in 2009 to $25.6 billion in 2013.
The new IPTV forecast for 2009-2013 is both conservative and optimistic, based on very detailed semi-annual analysis that MRG does on individual Service Providers and on a country-by-country basis.
"The relatively strong market in 2008 caused CapEx transactions to flourish through the end of 2008," says Jose Alvear, MRG Analyst. "That anticipatory wave of orders kept vendors' pipelines full all the way through 2008, but in Q1/2009, many IPTV vendors reported single-digit reduction in revenues, which is reflected in our flattened 2009 forecast."
Yet, one positive indicator was strong IPTV subscriber growth of 583,000 combined for Verizon and AT&T in Q1/2009. Another is the large number of new IPTV Operators in Eastern Europe and the Rest-of-World (ROW) region, moving from 64 companies to 84. Countries like Colombia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Montenegro and the Russian federation have seen new growth in their operations
As the IPTV market matures, many innovations are emerging, including upgrades like DVRs and MPEG-4/H.264 compression, High-definition programming, and first class System Integration. "Professional services growth is brought on by stronger regional partnerships of vendors and resellers that continue to move into smaller markets," states Alvear. "Growth in System Integration and Professional Services will also be spurred by the growth of turnkey system sales where all the components and services are heavily pre-integrated."
Back to top
Online distribution threatens TV ad revenueTV networks risk losing ad revenue by distributing content on Hulu, YouTube, and other Internet video sites, Credit Suisse has warned in a report.
Since programmes on Hulu and websites owned by TV networks contain about one quarter of the amount of advertising that the networks run on TV, content suppliers will lose money online unless they increase the amount of ads that they sell, Credit Suisse says.
"Ultimately online viewing generates less revenue for TV networks than linear TV viewing. This is potentially dangerous as they move online," Credit Suisse analyst Spencer Wang commented.
While Wang says the natural response for TV networks would be to increase the amount of ads they place in online programmes, that move could reduce viewership. Increasing online ad loads will also put pressure on the CPMs [cost per thousand impressions] that networks receive for ads placed in TV shows that run online.
"Our view for the TV networks is it is potentially risky to move [content] online, and fairly uncertain," Wang said. Networks should hope that online viewing is incremental to the audiences they generate on TV, he added.
Back to top
PCCW eyes Chunghwa for IPTVPCCW, Hong Kong's dominant fixed-line operator, wants to cooperate with Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan's largest phone company by revenue, on Internet TV services, according to reports.
The two companies initially signed a letter of intent on IPTV in 2006 but Chunghwa Telecom was prevented from carrying out the agreement by Taiwan's restrictions on China-related investment and regulatory curbs on IPTV development.
Back to top
Bradshaw replaces BurnhamUK Health minister Ben Bradshaw has been appointed as the new culture secretary, replacing Andy Burnham, in a move that comes at a crucial time in the final run up to the Digital Britain report. Bradshaw, a former BBC journalist, is to take over as secretary for culture, media and sport after Burnham was moved to become health secretary in a cabinet reshuffle.
The culture department faces some crucial decision over the next few weeks, with the Digital Report set to be published on June 16th, although there is some speculation that may now be put back.
Tom Watson, the Digital Development Minister at the Business and Enterprise Department, quit and became the first minister to resign in Twitter.
Back to top
TV streamer Zattoo has now dropped MTV’s four German channels from the service, reportedly fearing further legal action. Zattoo has stopped airing MTV Networks’ MTV, Viva, Nick and Comedy Central channels, as well as Tele 5, a German channel showing US movies.
Back to top
CRTC calls for a national digital strategyThe Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has announced that, after a careful examination and a full process, it will maintain its approach for broadcasting content distributed over the Internet and through mobile devices. The Commission will continue to exempt new media broadcasting services from its regulation and monitor trends as they evolve.
"While broadcasting in new media is growing in importance, we do not believe that regulatory intervention is necessary at this time," said Konrad von Finckenstein, Q.C., Chairman of the CRTC. "We found that the Internet and mobile services are acting in a complementary fashion to the traditional broadcasting system. Any intervention on our part would only get in the way of innovation."
Secondly, the Commission was not presented with convincing evidence that would suggest additional support, as proposed, was needed for the creation and presentation of Canadian broadcasting content in new media.
Thirdly, given the dynamic nature of the new media environment, the Commission expects to review its approach within the next five years. In the meantime, the Commission will introduce a reporting requirement for new media broadcasting services to ensure that it has the best information available for future reviews.
Fourthly, the Commission will initiate a reference to the Federal Court of Appeal to clarify the status of Internet service providers (ISPs). The Court will be asked to determine whether the Broadcasting Act should apply to ISPs when they provide access to broadcasting content.
Finally, the scope of the Commission’s examination of the new media phenomenon was limited given its mandate under the Broadcasting Act. The digital era presents many opportunities and challenges, which can only be addressed through a holistic approach. Many countries have already developed their own plans to respond to this environment. The Commission therefore fully endorses the National Film Board’s call for a national digital strategy.
"Canada needs a comprehensive national strategy to secure its digital future," said von Finckenstein. "Such a strategy is essential if we want to maintain a competitive advantage in this global environment."
Back to top
US views record 16.8bn online vids in AprilcomScore, a specialist in measuring the digital world, has released April 2009 data from the comScore Video Metrix service, showing that US Internet users viewed 16.8 billion online videos during the month, representing an increase of 16 per cent versus March. A significant increase in video viewing at YouTube during April contributed to the month’s sizeable gains.
In April, Google Sites once again ranked as the top US video property with 6.8 billion videos viewed (40.7 per cent online video market share), a 15-per cent increase versus March. YouTube accounted for more than 99 per cent of all videos viewed at the property. Fox Interactive Media ranked second with 513 million videos (3.1 per cent), followed by Hulu with 397 million (2.4 per cent) and Yahoo! Sites with 355 million (2.1 per cent).
Back to top
IPTV in a nascent state in the Arab worldFTA channels and piracy remain main obstacles facing IPTV uptake in the Arab region. Seven service providers in six countries in the Arab World offer commercial IPTV services in May 2009, up from four service providers in three countries offering IPTV in August 2007. As broadband adoption increases in the region, several operators in the Arab World have plans to implement IPTV in the near future, according to the Arab Advisors Group strategic research service.
IPTV is in its initial stage of penetration in the Arab World, and is still developing. Seven service providers in six countries in the MENA region offer commercial IPTV services. These are: Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Qatar and UAE. Reportedly, there are ongoing or planned projects by service providers and/or governments in seven other countries, which will, in the future, enable offering local IPTV services. These are: Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Tunisia, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
Back to top
Pace HD STB for ViasatViasat, part of Modern Times Group AP, the largest free-and pay-TV operator in Scandinavia and the Baltic States, has chosen to work with its long-term set-top box partner, Pace, to launch its next generation HD receiver. The DS830NV set-top box is a key product in Viasat’s HD expansion plans and supports MPEG-2 as well as H.264 content. The DS830NV gives Viasat the full flexibility to roll-out HD services to its growing subscriber base across multiple countries.
Roll-out of the new Pace set-top box will commence in Scandinavia this month. The DS830NV STB incorporates NDS conditional access and MediaHighway middleware and comes with an Ethernet port to enable the delivery of content over IP.
Back to top
BBC Prime joins GlobeCast platformBBC Worldwide has become the latest major broadcaster to benefit from GlobeCast’s second transponder on Eutelsat’s Eurobird 9A satellite after calling on the content management and delivery company to provide a distribution and capacity solution for its international channel BBC Prime.
BBC Prime, which was previously broadcast by GlobeCast from Eutelsat’s Hot Bird Satellite neighbourhood, has taken advantage of Eurobird 9A’s prime position at 9¾ East, which provides Direct-to-Home coverage of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, with the potential to reach more than 300 million TV households.
Back to top
Humax selects ANT Galio platformHumax, global manufacturer of digital set-top boxes, has selected the ANT Galio platform upon which to build a range of satellite, IPTV and Hybrid set-top boxes. ANT, provider of software and services for the delivery of digital TV, will deliver long-term compatibility to the industry’s evolving standards. The new Humax product range, based on ANT Galio Platform, is due to launch by the end of the year in reaction to market demand and will provide consumers with a range of new TV services and an enhanced end-user experience.
Back to top
Two Way Games for mywayTwo Way Media has signed a long-term licence deal for a collection of its popular interactive TV games with Indian IPTV operator Smart Digivision operating under the ‘myway’ brand. Myway, which recently launched commercial IPTV services in 54 cities, will offer games such as ‘Deal With It’ and ‘Picnic Antics’ to its growing customer base. Running on the SeaChange TV Navigator software, the games will be offered on a subscription basis to myway customers.
Back to top
KidsCo in-car in IndonesiaKidsCo, the international children’s channel owned by leading media companies NBC Universal, Cookie Jar Group and Corus Entertainment, has secured an agreement with M2V for KidsCo to be made available in-car in Indonesia via M2V’s MMDS pay television distribution system.
Back to top
Monday 8th June
Mediaset wants EC STB decision reversed
Spain: Deal to end soccer rights war
Boxer buys Plus TV
Mobile video service subs to grow five-fold
Vevo looks for funds
Another profitable quarter for SeaChange
Buena Vista HD for VUDU
DS2 and Cavium collaborate on HD distribution
Mediaset wants EC STB decision reversed
From Branislav Pekic in RomeItalian commercial broadcaster Mediaset has requested that the European Court in Luxembourg annuls the decision of the European Commission regarding the illegality of state subsidies for the acquisition of DTT decoders.
At question is the European Commission’s decision of 2007, that subsidies awarded by Italy for the years 2004 and 2005 for the acquisition of digital terrestrial decoders be stopped.
Italy’s 2004 Budget has foreseen a subsidy of E150 per decoder, with a total appropriation of E110 million, while the 2005 Budget had refinanced the E110 appropriation, but reduced the individual contribution to E70.
The complaint was presented to the European Commission in 2004 by rival broadcaster Centro Europa 7 and later also by DTH operator Sky Italia.
Back to top
Spain: Deal to end soccer rights war
From David Del Valle in MadridSpain’s largest pay TV group Sogecable and Mediapro, main shareholder in commercial TV channel La Sexta, have signed an agreement to bring an end to their fierce war over TV football rights that has taken them to Courts.
The three years deal will allow Sogecable-controlled digital DTH platform Digital Plus to continue broadcasting Sunday games exclusively and offering matches from the Spanish League and the King’s Cup on pay-per-view. Similarly, La Sexta will offer free-to-air one match a week.
This football agreement forms part of a greater cooperation between both companies which are in talks to merge and set up a holding company including commercial TV channels Cuatro (8.6 per cent of average share) and La Sexta (5.5 per cent). Both parties have given themselves a period of one month to come up with the merger details.
Back to top
Teracom-owned DTT platform Boxer has acquired a majority stake in its Finnish equivalent PlusTV. Existing backers Baker Capital and IT Provider Funds will remain minority shareholders.
"PlusTV has established itself as a leading Finnish pay-TV operator and has great continued potential. We count on developing synergies between our businesses in Sweden, Denmark and Finland and to make use of best practices on all markets. With their combined strengths, all our companies will be strong players in increasingly competitive markets," says Per Norman, CEO of Boxer.
Launched in November 2006, PlusTV has 281,000 subscribers, a quarter of Finland’s now all digital terrestrial market. Boxer has a subscriber base of 680,000 in Sweden and Denmark.
Back to top
Mobile video service subs to grow five-fold
The global number of users paying for mobile video services will grow five-fold from 2008 to 2014, surpassing 534 million, with a substantial proportion of mobile net additions coming from emerging markets, according to a report from Pyramid Research, the telecom research arm of the Light Reading Communications Network.
Video is increasingly making its way into the mobile space across developed and emerging markets. "Pyramid Research estimates that the global number of users paying for mobile video services directly delivered to their handsets will grow five-fold from 2008 to 2014, surpassing 534 million at the end of the period," says Derek Medlin, senior analyst at Pyramid Research and author of the report. "This is equivalent to 8.5 per cent of all mobile subscriptions, up from the current 2.5 per cent level," he adds.
"The availability of improved devices and networks are contributing to a higher level of adoption and spending on mobile video services," says Medlin. "Pyramid Research believes that a substantial proportion of mobile net additions in the next five years will come from emerging markets, especially in Asia/Pacific, and will drive a 37 per cent growth in total mobile subscriptions from 2009 to 2014," he explains. Markets such as Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea already lead in terms of mobile video penetration of subscriptions, but Pyramid also expects important uptake in India in the next five years.
"Looking ahead, Asia/Pacific will remain in the top spot, attaining more than 281 million subscriptions by 2014, although we expect Latin America to grow at the fastest pace, increasing at a CAGR of 39 per cent from 2009 to 2014," Medlin says. "Because of intense competition in the video market, operators have to be creative when launching new services; to meet surging demand for video, mobile players are making network upgrades, reducing data charges, improving content, and offering more advanced handsets," he adds.
Vevo, the planned online music video service announced by Universal Music and YouTube in April, is seeking outside investment from advertisers after signing up its second large record label. Sony Music Entertainment announced that it would join Vevo, highlighting the proposed site’s "attractive, clean and intuitive environment that appeals to fans and advertisers alike".
Sony will take an undisclosed equity stake alongside Vivendi-owned Universal in the joint venture, which will pay Google’s YouTube video sharing site for services including helping to build the technological platform on which it will run. Vevo is expected to launch this autumn.
Universal and Sony said the partners were also "exploring additional strategic participation by third-party investors to join this innovative entertainment platform as equity partners".
Back to top
Another profitable quarter for SeaChange
SeaChange International, provider of software and hardware solutions for VOD television, has announced financial results for its fiscal 2010 first quarter ended April 30th, 2009. Total revenues for the quarter were $48.9 million, which was $3.5 million or 8per cent higher than total revenues of $45.4 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2009. Net income for the first quarter was $1.0 million, or $0.03 per share, compared with $0.3 million, or $0.01 per share, for the same period last year.
"We are pleased with our financial performance in the first quarter which marked our seventh consecutive quarter of profitability for the Company," noted Bill Styslinger, Chairman and CEO of SeaChange International. "We cemented our strong competitive position with our largest and growing telecommunications customer on the heels of signing a multi-year VOD and Advertising purchase agreement early in the first quarter, which produced substantial VOD server and software order strength throughout."
Back to top
Buena Vista HD for VUDUVUDU, provider of digital on-demand entertainment products and services, has confirmed that the VUDU service now offers titles from Buena Vista Home Entertainment for download-to-own in high definition. Available immediately, VUDU users can select from a collection of over 60 titles featuring recent hits,as well as past favourites. The selection of movies available to own in HD on VUDU will continue to expand as new titles are made available.
Back to top
DS2 and Cavium collaborate on HD distributionDS2, global supplier of high-speed powerline communications technology and Cavium Networks, provider of semiconductor products, have announced their collaboration to offer 1080p60 HD video distribution to flat panel displays using DS2 powerline networking devices. HD video distribution using DS2 and Cavium chips will be used by consumer electronic manufacturers, service providers, gaming console vendors and after market gateway and HDMI cable replacement vendors to connect multiple video sources with flat panel displays without wires.
Back to top
