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Our Latest Issues
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Tuesday
Friday 6th November
EU ‘compromise’ on file-sharers
News Corp lifts guidance, says not interested in NBC
ITV sees ads strengthening
Lord Burns named C4 chairman
Liberty Global Q3 losses narrow
RVU welcomes first promoter members
Australian rights case ‘we have no right to disconnect’
Eutelsat sees growth
OpenTV launches beta test for SDK
EU ‘compromise’ on file-sharersThe European Parliament and Council will include in its Telecoms Reform Package an entitlement for all broadband customers in all 27 EU states to be put through a "fair and impartial procedure" before being disconnected. The outcome is a compromise agreed after intense lobbying from ISPs in one side and rights holders on the others.
Some members of the Parliament felt nobody should lose their connection until after they had been prosecuted in a court for illegally downloading content. So far it is less than clear exactly what will constitute a "fair and impartial" procedure.
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News Corp lifts guidance, says not interested in NBC
News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch said he doesn't plan to rush into any huge acquisitions, including NBC, as News raised its fiscal 2010 earnings outlook following better-than- expected first-quarter results amid an improving ad market.
The company declined to comment on the Travel Channel negotiations, citing disclosure agreements. Murdoch said the company will be disciplined in pursuing acquisitions. "We are not going to go rushing into huge things unless we see a really wonderful fit," he said.
The comments came as Comcast is holding talks with General Electric about taking a majority stake in media conglomerate NBC Universal.
News Corp revealed an 11 per cent increase in profits to $571 million for the three months to September, aided by Twentieth Century Fox's blockbuster takings for Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, the highest grossing international animated movie of all time.
Murdoch's cable television stations enjoyed a 41 per cent surge in profits to $495 million. But News Corp continues to struggle with its digital offerings. Murdoch revealed that the social networking website MySpace has failed to deliver on a minimum level of web traffic it guaranteed under an advertising tie-up with Google three years ago. As a result, it will not receive all of the $900 million that Google had agreed to pay for the right to offer search and advertising on MySpace.
Meantime Murdoch also admitted that plans to charge from next June for his newspapers (where ad sales have plummeted) content would likely be delayed.
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ITV sees ads strengtheningSigns of an improvement in Britain’s television advertising market emerged after ITV forecast that it would end the year with the best rate of advertising growth since 2007, and reported the early repayment of £75 million (E83.5m) in debt.
The group said there had been an unexpected improvement in advertising since it last updated the market in October. "Last month we were looking at October NAR [net advertising revenue] down 3 per cent, with November in a similar place," said John Cresswell, chief operating officer of ITV.
"We now expect ITV NAR to be flat across the fourth quarter. In November, we’re now looking at revenues being down around 1 per cent, and for December we expect revenues to be up by 4 per cent.
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Lord Burns named C4 chairmanOfcom has confirmed that Lord Burns will be the next chairman of
Channel 4, and will join the broadcaster's board immediately for a handover period before Luke Johnson's departure in January.He will join Channel 4 immediately as chairman-designate, working with Johnson to find a new chief executive to replace Andy Duncan. Duncan is expected to leave Channel 4 before the end of the month, while Johnson departs on January 27th.
Burns is best known in the media industry for leading a review of the BBC's role for the government in late 2006. Prior to this he was chief secretary to the Treasury.
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Liberty Global Q3 losses narrowLiberty Global’s third-quarter loss - its fifth in a row - narrowed on higher sales and smaller effects of foreign-currency exchange. Chief Executive Mike Fries said the company demonstrated consistent growth in operating cash flow in the first three quarters of the year and expects to be at the high end of its forecast for 2009. He added the fourth quarter is expected to be the strongest of the year in subscriber additions.
The broadband and cable holding company has seen revenue grow as customers subscribe to service bundles and move to digital services.
Liberty Global reported a loss of $120.3 million compared with a year-earlier loss of $308.9 million. Revenue rose 7.2 per cent to $2.82 billion.
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RVU welcomes first promoter membersThe RVU Alliance has announced that Motorola, Humax, Thomson, Pace, Entropic, NXP Semiconductors, and JetHead Development have joined as the first Promoter members. The RVU Alliance encourages the rapid, broad and open industry adoption of remote user interface technology optimized for thin-client networked CE devices in the home
"The newly formed RVU Alliance is capturing the interest of a wide range of companies representing content service providers, consumer electronics manufacturers and technology firms," said Henry Derovanessian, chairman of the RVU Alliance board of directors. "We welcome other companies to look into the RVU technology and see what it can do for them."
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Australian rights case ‘we have no right to disconnect’Australian ISP IINET chief Michael Malone has told the NSW Federal Court that the ISP's service agreements did not provide it with sufficient contractual rights to take action against customers who infringe copyright online. Malone made the comments during cross-examination by lawyers representing a loose coalition of 34 entertainment companies – represented by the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft -- pursuing a landmark copyright claim against the ISP. The studios claim that iiNet authorised its customers to illegally share movies on its network by refusing to act on a series of infringement notices the studios' online piracy investigators began sending to the company in July 2008. However, Malone told the court he believed that laws regulating the way that carriers can use customer information prevented iiNet from helping content owners enforce their copyrights.
AFACT lawyers have questioned the sincerity of the ISP's legal view. They argue that the telecommunications laws allow carriers routinely to use service agreements to secure customer consent to use their information for ordinary business activities, including disconnection.
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Eutelsat has reported that it’s Q3 profits grew 11.6 per cent to E226.7 million. Video Applications registered sustained increases in revenue (+8.5 per cent) to E180.8 million. TV channels broadcast by Eutelsat's fleet grew by 4.7 per cent), as Eutelsat further consolidated the commercial strength of its nine video neighbourhoods.
In total, the number of HDTV channels broadcast by Eutelsat's fleet rose by over 60 per cent during the period to break the barrier of 100 channels. With a share exceeding 40 per cent of HDTV channels broadcast over Europe, Russia and the Middle East, Eutelsat reinforced its pole position in this growing market.
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OpenTV launches beta test for SDKOpenTV has confirmed the launch of a beta testing program for its new Software Development Kit, the OpenTV SDK Development Suite C2.2. The program will allow developers to have early access to OpenTV’s new SDK starting this month and create applications for interactive television using all the latest functionality of an OpenTV-enabled set-top box. The new SDK will be released to the public at no cost in March 2010.
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Thursday 5th November
Canvas will cost £115m, no need for owners to be PSBs
7.7m IPTV subs in France
Asia TV subs higher than rest of world combined
OpenTV posts "solid" Q3
BBC iPlayer on Freesat this month
Telecom Italia Media gives up on sale of digital multiplexes
Pace on track
Comcast profit up 22%
Time Warner boosted by cable growth
SeeSaw hires Rennie
Thomson iDTV for Canal+ VOD
Canvas will cost £115m, no need for owners to be PSBsBBC executives have told the BBC Trust, which is examining the Canvas project, that its total cost over its first four years will exceed £115 million (E128m) including over £48 million of marketing costs.
To help attract new shareholders and spread that cost executives have proposed the stipulation that the company must be controlled by PSBs should be dropped. Originally controlling shares of 66.7 per cent were stipulated to be in the hands of PSBs; BBC, ITV, and Five had signed up so far. Thrity three per cent was reserved for ISPs, just BT has joined. However the BBC believes it can attract at least two more partners if all partners are treated equally but it does propose that PSB type obligations be written into the Shareholders Agreement.
While the BBC Trust is considering whether to greenlight Canvas it has refused to conduct a full market impact study. Sky has complained and warned it believes Canvas may well breach UK competition law and European state aid regulations.
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7.7m IPTV subs in France
From Sotires Eleftheriou in ParisAccording to the latest figures from the ARCEP, the French telecoms regulator, the number of Internet subscribers in France reached 19.4 million at the end of Q2 2009, with 18.7 million via broadband – an increase of 12 per cent in one year. The rate of growth has nevertheless slowed down, from an annual 3 million in 2006 to an annual 2.5 million in 2008.
The number of ADSL subscribers had reached 17.6 million, an increase of 1.7 million over the previous year. 44 per cent of these subscribers, i.e. 7.7 million, can receive TV via ADSL, an increase of 2.5 million over the previous year (+48.5 per cent). Income from Internet was E 1.5 billion, 90 per cent of which was from broadband. The annual growth rate of broadband access remains high (10.9 per cent) in spite of a slight slowdown since the end of 2008. ARPU has been stable over the last two years at E23.9 before tax.
Meanwhile, the Minister for rural and town planning, Michel Mercier, announced that he was asking the government to provide a minimum of E1 billion in the form of a loan for the development of fixed and mobile broadband. Mercier pointed out that this is the only loan he has requested from the Commission de reflexion sur le grand emprunt. The Commission is to report to the government in mid November. The funds would be used for local projects that would not otherwise be economically appealing for the telcos, such as improving broadband and mobile access to rural areas.
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Asia TV subs higher than rest of world combinedThe Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) has published new data for subscription TV penetration across the Asia Pacific, noting that the region now has 326 million pay-TV, up 26 million homes in 2009.
According to CASBAA estimates, backed by global data, subscription television in Asia Pacific now reaches more homes than the rest of the world combined. Digital pay-TV subscription households now account for over 115 million homes.
China and India have spearheaded much of the growth, accounting for 90 per cent of all Asian pay-TV subscribers in 2009. India now has 19 million digital pay-TV households, while China represents 69 million digital video connections. Overall Asian digital penetration stands at 35 per cent across 14 markets.
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OpenTV posts "solid" Q3OpenTV has announced financial results for its third quarter ended September 30th, 2009. "OpenTV`s third quarter results demonstrate solid operational improvements achieved in what is still a challenging global economic environment," said Ben Bennett, OpenTV`s Chief Executive Officer. "The company is focused on building and delivering its suite of next generation products, which are critical for our long-term success. We remain on track to achieve our full year 2009 financial guidance."
For the quarter revenues were $31.8 million, an increase of 18 per cent compared to $26.9 million for the third quarter of 2008. Royalties and licenses revenues increased 25.5 per cent to $20.7 million. Services and other revenues increased 7 per cent to $11.1 million. Adjusted EBITDA, before unusual items, increased to $4.4 million for the quarter ended September 30th, 2009, compared to $3.7 million for the third quarter of 2008.
OpenTV is currently resisting an offer from Kudleski its biggest shareholder and it said - contrary to Kudelsi claims - that investment in R&D was significantly up. "If you look at our plan for 2009, where other companies have been letting people go, we’ve been recruiting. Our plan is for an almost 20 per cent increase in that[R&D] headcount."
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BBC iPlayer on Freesat this monthThe BBC has confirmed that it will start beta testing its popular iPlayer service on Freesat from the end of this month. BBC’s iPlayer debuted on Virgin Media’s cable service last year, but this will be the first subscription-free platform to get the fully-fledged version of iPlayer.
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Telecom Italia Media gives up on sale of digital multiplexes
From Branislav Pekic in RomeThe Board of Directors of Telecom Italia Media has decided to suspend the process of selling TIMB (Telecom Italia Media Broadcasting) which operates two national digital terrestrial TV multiplexes in Italy.
The reasons cited for the move are the lack of adequate bids and the recent regulatory changes that could increase the value of the digital multiplexes in the future for the group. The Italian government was also allegedly opposed to the sale as assets such as digital multiplexes are being mostly targeted by foreign investment funds.
On September 30th, the two digital multiplexes covered respectively 76.11 per cent and 87.11 per cent of the Italian population. TIMB reported a 3.5 per cent increase of revenues to E35.4 million during the first nine months of 2009, thanks to higher revenues from leasing space on the multiplexes to third parties.
Only last week, Telecom Italia Media said it was claiming E240 million in compensation from the Italian government over the allocation of DTT frequencies in the Val d'Aosta, Western Piedmont and Trentino Alto Adige regions. The company was disappointed by the awarding of fewer frequencies in these areas, due to a change in the awards process after pressure from the European Commission.
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Pace on trackSet top box maker Pace said it was on course to meet management expectations as it delivered a bullish trading update. "As anticipated in the half yearly statement, average selling prices are increasing in the second half of 2009 when compared to the first half due to a greater proportion of HD PVRs in the product mix. Operating margin for the full year is expected to increase slightly over the first half."
"Therefore, given current market strengths, Pace's position and good order visibility, the group continues to be confident in management's expectations for the full year 2009." During the period, Pace announced a series of HD contract wins with operators that included Europe's largest cable TV company UPC Broadband, satellite operator Viasat in Scandinavia, Brazil's NET Serviços and new customer Sky in Germany.
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Comcast profit up 22%Comcast Corp's quarterly profit rose 22 per cent, beating expectations, as it sold more phone and Internet subscriptions, helping the top US cable operator fight competition from phone and satellite companies for video subscribers.
It reported 361,000 new high-speed Internet customers and 375,000 new digital phone subscribers in the third quarter, offsetting the loss of 132,000 basic video subscribers.
The company made no mention of the talks over NBC as it posted net profit of $944 million up from $771 million, a year earlier. Revenue rose 3 per cent to $8.80 billion.
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Time Warner boosted by cable growthTime Warner raised its profit outlook for 2009 boosted by better than expected results at its cable channels and films division, even as it reported a 40 per cent lower net income for the third quarter.
The owner of CNN and the Warner Bros movie studio said it will take a $100 million charge for restructuring at its publishing division in the fourth quarter, which continued to face steep declines in advertising and subscription revenue.
Time Warner net profit fell to $661 million from $1.1 billion from the year ago period when it still owned a cable services division. Revenue fell 6 per cent to $7.1 billion. Revenue at its cable networks rose 5 per cent to $2.9 billion and operating profit before depreciation and amortisation rose 9 per cent, from higher affiliate fees paid to them by pay television providers. Advertising fell 1 per cent to $768 million, less severe than some projections.
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SeeSaw hires RennieSeeSaw, Arqiva’s VOD service based on Kangaroo technology, has appointed Channel 4's Matt Rennie as commercial director.
Previously, Rennie worked in a business development role at Channel 4, where he led content distribution, managing commercial relations with distribution partners such as YouTube and Virgin Media. He joins a senior SeeSaw management team that includes chief executive Pierre-Jean Sebert and platform controller John Keeling, who was appointed in September.
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Thomson iDTV for Canal+ VOD
Canal+ and TV set manufacturer TCL have unveiled the first Thomson TV set allowing direct access to the CanalPlay video on demand platform.The partnership, unprecedented in France, represents a breakthrough in access to content on demand among the next generation of connected televisions. Available as of November, the new Thomson mywishTV LCD TVs are the first Internet-enabled sets to provide direct access to the Canal+ Group’s VOD platform. The deal reflects Canal +’s wish to facilitate access to such offers on all new connected media via strategic collaborations with leading market players.
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Wednesday 4th November
Paramount: Search, advertisers and banks must stop helping pirates
blinkx rights issue as losses mount
File sharers also biggest content spenders
NBC Comcast deal closer?
News Corp dropping Travel Channel bid?
CIMM audience measurement to meet with STB data firms
Cisco to acquire Chinese STB business
Kudelski extends OpenTV offer
SeeSaw unveils idents
Best Buy online movie store
ITV Friends sale referred by OFT
Boxer goes triple play
Grass Valley for Telefonica
Jinni joins NDS Recommendation Engine Partner programme
Paramount: Search, advertisers and banks must stop helping piratesParamount has sent a blunt letter to the FCC outlining its view on online piracy and it is taking aim at the major search engines, advertisers and transaction companies that, it says, associate with pirates.
It says that it has evidence that following the worldwide release of Star Trek, the movie was illegally downloaded by some 5 million IP addresses, each taking their files from one of six copies of the film illegally recorded by camcorder.
The letter also states that: "Just five years ago, one had to be computer literate and exceedingly patient to pirate movies. Today, literally anyone with an Internet connection can do it. Clunky websites are being replaced by legitimate looking and legitimate feeling pirate movie websites, a perception enhanced by the presence of premium advertisers and subscription fees processed by major financial institutions. It is clear that piracy has advanced from geek to sleek." Paramount is also pointing the finger at the big search engines as well, such as Google and Bing. It points out that currently a third of all sites in the Internet's top 100 play host or link to pirated content.
"The flood of stolen content currently available online – including every major theatrical film within hours of release – poses an immediate threat to the motion picture industry, which in 2007 supported 2.5 million jobs, $41.1 billion in wages, and had a trade surplus of $13.6 billion." concludes the letter with Paramount believing that: "content creators must have the legal and regulatory flexibility to use technological tools in partnership with Internet service providers to stem the tide of online copyright theft."
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blinkx rights issue as losses mountThe video search company blinkx is offering increased stakes to existing shareholders to raise £5 million (E5.5m) after burning through £13 million of its cash reserve in the past year on infrastructure costs.
blink has seen its cash reserve plummet from $32 million to $10.7 million in the year to the end of September. In the six months to the end of September the reserves fell by $8 million. The share placing will see blinkx's largest shareholder, Autonomy, from which the company demerged in 2007, increase its stake from 19 per cent to 26 per cent.
Revenue at the video search company doubled to $13 million in the first six months of the year, but losses also doubled year on year to almost $7million over the same period. The company said that gross profits were up 88 per cent year on year in the first six months of 2009 to $8.48million.
blinkx said that the number of ad campaigns running around video content had increased 238 per cent year on year and the number of video streams delivered through partnerships increased by more than 170 per cent.
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File sharers also biggest content spendersPeople who download music illegally also spend an average of £77 (E85) a year buying it legitimately, a survey has found, while those who claimed not to use peer-to-peer filesharing sites spent a yearly average of just £44.
Almost one in 10 of those questioned aged between 16 and 50 said they downloaded music illegally. However, eight out of 10 of that group also bought content packaged or online. A total of 1008 people in the UK took part in the online poll commissioned by researchers Demos.
The optimum unit price for the survey group as a whole was 45 pence for an individual track, with just 2 per cent saying they would pay more than £1.
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According to the NYT NBC and Comcast have moved closer to a deal giving control of NBC Universal to Comcast, and a formal announcement could be made sometime next week.
It says the two companies reached a tentative agreement that Comcast would own about 51 percent of NBC Universal, contributing several billions of dollars in cash and its own stable of cable networks to the new venture.
G.E., which currently owns 80 per cent of the entertainment company, would retain the other 49 per cent and would contribute about $12 billion in debt to the new entity, though it is expected eventually to sell its ownership interest over several years.
The main remaining issue is the negotiations with Vivendi that owns 20 percent of NBC Universal. Talks with Vivendi are continuing, focused largely on how to reach an acceptable valuation of NBC Universal. Vivendi’s chief executive, Jean-Bernard Lévy, said at an industry conference last week that his company might seek to sell its stake in NBC Universal through an initial public offering. Under the terms of its agreement with G.E., Vivendi has the right from mid-November to mid-December to sell its stake in NBC Universal.
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News Corp dropping Travel Channel bid?
News Corp may drop out of bidding for the Travel Channel because it isn’t willing to pay the $1.1 billion being sought by owner Cox Communications, according to reports.
Offers for the channel have climbed since Cox kicked off bidding in June after it had received unsolicited inquiries for the network. At the time, Travel Channel Media had an estimated worth of $600 million to $700 million. Scripps Networks and News Corp led the bidding last week with offers of about $800 million.
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CIMM audience measurement to meet with STB data firmsThe Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement has confirmed it will meet with five of the research firms currently providing set-top box data as a first step towards figuring out how the data could be used to measure TV audiences. The five companies asked to participate in the proprietary meetings are Nielsen, Rentrak, TiVo, TRA and TNS Media Research.
Formed in September, CIMM’s 15 members are seeking alternatives to traditional TV measurement by pooling funds and soliciting new research. At the meeting, CIMM hopes to solicit feedback from the companies about the RFP recently posted on the organisation’s Web site and how they would like to work with CIMM going forward.
CIMM is also hoping that through a series of meetings, it can depart from the typical RFP process of awarding a single contract and instead foster a collaborative relationship among the research and data providers to identify multiple projects that would meet the RFP.
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Cisco to acquire Chinese STB businessCisco has announced a definitive agreement to acquire the set-top box business of DVN Limited. Listed in Hong Kong with major operations in China, DVN is a market and technology expert in digital cable solutions in China.
Under the terms of the agreement, Cisco will pay up to $44.5 million for the set-top box business of DVN. Of this amount, approximately $17.5 million will be paid up front, with an additional maximum amount of $27 million to be paid over four years based on the achievement of specific sales milestones. The acquisition is expected to close in the first half of calendar year 2010 subject to standard closing conditions, DVN shareholder approval and regulatory approvals.
In addition to the acquisition, Cisco has entered into a go-to-market alliance with the remainder of the DVN organisation -- which will continue to be led by current DVN CEO Terry Lui -- in order to utilise the company's middleware and advanced applications as well as integration and support services.
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Kudelski extends OpenTV offerThe Kudelski Group has extended the expiration date of its tender offer to acquire all outstanding Class A shares of OpenTV Corp not already owned by Kudelski or its subsidiaries for $1.55 per share in cash. The tender offer, which commenced on October 5th, 2009, and related withdrawal rights are now scheduled to expire at 11:00 pm New York City time on Thursday, November 12th, 2009. The tender offer was previously scheduled to expire on November 6th, 2009.
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SeeSaw unveils identsThe online TV service SeeSaw has unveiled its brand identity as its parent company, Arqiva, steps up plans to launch in the UK.
SeeSaw, built from the assets of ITV, Channel 4 and BBC Worldwide's defunct Project Kangaroo video-on-demand venture, will be represented by a pair of ‘play’ triangles of the type typically seen when using digital TV services. The company said that the brief animated idents, the first of which is called ‘fish’, aimed to "bring to life the concept of customers being able to play on-demand programming". The fish ident is meant to have a "playful tone of voice which reflects the brand's light-hearted personality".
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Best Buy online movie storeBest Buy of the US, the world’s largest electronics retailer, has confirmed it will be launching an online store for movies and television shows that will compete with Apple’s iTunes. The service will use technology licensed from Sonic Solutions. Sonic’s Roxio CinemaNow system will be installed on televisions, computers, Blu-ray players, set-top boxes and mobile phones sold Best Buy.
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ITV Friends sale referred by OFTITV has said it is "disappointed" by the OFT's decision to refer the planned acquisition of Friends Reunited by Brightsolid Group to the Competition Commission.
ITV is trying to sell Friends Reunited to Brightsolid, a subsidiary publisher DC Thomson, in August for £25 million (E28m) - taking a hit of £145 million.
The OFT said Brightsolid, which runs websites Find My Past.com and 1911 Census.com, and Friends Reunited which owns Genes Reunited.com, are "two of the three largest suppliers of online genealogy services in the UK".
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DTT operater Boxer has announced plans to add broadband and telephony; Boxer Trippel will be launched initially in Sweden in early 2010.
Per Norman, CEO says "Our customers want broadband and telephony, but most important is that they easily have good TV reception. Therefore, it makes sense that we are a TV broadcaster who has broadband and telephony, not a telecommunications and broadband company that has added television."
The price for the Boxer Mix package that includes speeds of up to 2 Mbps is SEK 399. Speeds of 8 Mbps and 24 Mbps are also available at SEK 439 and SEK 489.
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Grass Valley for TelefonicaTelefonica, the Spanish national telecoms provider, is adding the latest Grass Valley ViBE EM2000 MPEG SD encoders to its IPTV headend. The EM2000, based on the customer-designed Grass Valley Mustang compression engine, uses processing power to deliver MPEG-4 compression of standard definition television signals in smaller bandwidths with superior picture quality.
Grass Valley provided the complete headend for Telefonica’s IPTV service in a turnkey contract in 2006. With this order, Telefonica has now returned to Grass Valley to update the headend with ViBE EM2000 SD encoders.
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Jinni joins NDS Recommendation Engine Partner programmeNDS has confirmed the launch of its Recommendations Engine Partner Programme. Jinni, an innovative semantic discovery service for premium video content, is the first company to join the programme.
Through the Recommendation Engine Partner Programme, NDS will offer the services of Jinni as a partner to its customers in recommendation engine based initiatives. Incorporating a recommendations service enables operators to offer additional content to consumers based on their current viewing profile, providing them with a powerful way to encourage subscribers to try new programmes and premium services.
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Tuesday 2nd November
Kudelski attacks Arcadia OpenTV letter
Cabovisão protests Zon’s ‘abuse’ of dominant position
Virgin chief: market has failed
Telefonica to pay E1bn for HanseNet
Online video viewing records
Study sees problems with TV Everywhere
Ultra HDTV critical mass delay?
Piracy threatens China Internet development
Piracy attracts additional revenue for music industry
StarHub STB for EPL?
Bahrain crackdown on TV 'pirates'
Philips STBs for retail
Tandberg Television TiVo VOD solution
Kudelski attacks Arcadia OpenTV letter
The latest development in the Kudelski Group’s efforts to acquire all outstanding Class A shares of OpenTV Corp has seen the digital security and convergent media solutions specialist reveal its comments on a letter issued to OpenTV shareholders by Arcadia Capital Advisors, LLC, which it describes as "a short-term opportunistic shareholder," regarding the tender offer commenced by Kudelski on October 5, 2009 to acquire the shares.
Kudelski encouraged OpenTV shareholders to disregard inaccurate and misleading statements recently made by Arcadia and reserved its specific commentary on and rebuttals of such letter for a later time. "Arcadia’s rhetoric clearly ignores the competitive challenges OpenTV is facing and the business fundamentals of the company," said the Kudelski Group. Kudelski also encouraged OpenTV shareholders to keep in mind a number of ‘key elements’, including the warning that Kudelski would not overpay for an asset it has controlled since 2007 "and whose value is at significant risk" it suggested.
Kudelski said it was convinced that Arcadia was just repeating many of the assertions, which appeared to be inaccurate, previously made by Discovery Group regarding OpenTV’s value. Discovery Group, which recently sold more than 7 million shares, or the majority of its OpenTV shares, for an average sale price below US$1.55, had six months ago strongly and publicly advocated that OpenTV’s fair value was US$2.00 to US$2.50.
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Cabovisão protests Zon’s ‘abuse’ of dominant position
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
Portuguese cable operator Cabovisão has presented a formal complaint to the country’s Competition Authority against what it sees as an abuse of dominant position in the content sector by Zon Multimedia.
The suit, according to vice president Jules Grenier, brings together, under the same charge, a set of evidence against the actions of Zon on the pay-TV market. In Cabovisão’s opinion, there is excessive horizontal and vertical integration that prevents customers of other pay-TV operators from having competitive conditions, particularly in terms of promotions of premium channels SportTv and TVCine that are controlled by Zon.
Cabovisão’s complaint is against the resale prices of the SportTV and TVCine channels, as well as obligations established for other operators to carry these channels, such as payment of a minimum of subscribers, which is over the number of Cabovisão customers, leading the operator to lose both customers and market share.
Zon has responded by saying that Cabovisão has "market conditions similar to those of other operators," but nevertheless was the only one to lose pay-TV customers in the last two years, when the market increased by 500,000 subscribers.
The pay-TV market leader also points out that its subsidiary Sport TV "has its activity regulated and accompanied by the Competition Authority, where are deposited all contracts for the supply of the channel with no questions raised so far." As for the complaint about Cabovisão’s ‘exclusive content’, Zon points out that TVI 24 is owned by TVi and not by Zon, while "advanced" negotiations are already underway with Cabovisão to provide the TV Cine HD channel.
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Virgin chief: market has failed
From Colin Mann in London
Neil Berkett, CEO of UK quad-play operator Virgin Media, has argued against a newspaper article that suggested that comms regulator Ofcom was punishing Sky in its review of the pay-TV market and should leave the broadcaster alone.
In the October 30 article about the pay-TV market, City A.M.’s David Crow suggested that, by forcing Sky to wholesale its premium sports and movie channels to competing pay TV retailers, media regulator Ofcom is punishing Sky’s success. He compared Sky’s investment in sports and movies to carmaker Toyota’s investment in hybrid fuel vehicles. Both companies had to go through lean years initially. They took a risk, it paid off and they should be rewarded for it. As a result, Crow argued, the regulator should leave the broadcaster alone.
Berkett, responding in the November 2 edition of City A.M., said the analogy was "superficially compelling" but missed the point. "Ofcom’s proposals are an attempt to inject fair and effective competition into a market that is not working in consumers’ interests," he argued. "Sky’s overwhelming control of premium broadcasting rights means prices are higher than they need to be, consumers choice of provider is restricted and innovation has been constrained by the limitations of Sky’s satellite technology."
Berkett suggested that without intervention, the pay-TV market would be stuck in a vicious circle. "Thanks to its overwhelming control of premium pay-TV channels, Sky has accumulated around eight times as many premium subscribers as all its competitors put together. This fundamentally affects the economics of rights auctions because Sky knows it can monetise any rights it purchases far quicker than any competing pay TV operator. In short, the way the market is currently structured gives Sky an in-built advantage in any rights auction. This has led to the self-perpetuation of Sky’s dominance.
Berkett concluded by asking the reader to imagine if Toyota had secured exclusive deals with key component manufacturers, which prevented any other manufacturer making comparable cars and simultaneously refused to let any other business retail its cars. "Action would be needed to protect consumers in such a market. That is why Ofcom is proposing to intervene here. Not to punish success but to remedy a market that has failed."
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Telefonica to pay E1bn for HanseNet
Spanish telco Telefonica is set to close a deal to buy German broadband operator HanseNet from Telecom Italia for between E900 million and E1 billion, El Economista reported, citing sources close to the deal.
The telco revealed October 30 that it was in the final stages of closing a purchase, with analysts estimating a sale price of between E1 billion to E1.5 billion.
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Online video viewing records
Digital world measurement specialist comScore’s September 2009 data from the comScore Video Metrix service reveals that more than 168 million US Internet users watched online video during the month. Online video viewing continued to reach record levels in September with nearly 26 billion videos viewed during the month, as Google Sites accounted for more than 40 per cent of videos viewed online by Americans.
Google Sites continued to rank as the top US video property in September as it delivered nearly 10.5 billion videos viewed, or 40 percent of all videos viewed online. YouTube.com accounted for 99 per cent of all videos viewed at the Google Sites property. Hulu ranked second with 583 million (2.2 per cent) followed by Fox Interactive Media with 547 million videos viewed (2.1 per cent) and Viacom Digital with 513 million (2.0 per cent).
More than 168 million viewers watched an average of 154 videos per viewer during the month of September. Google Sites attracted more than 126 million unique viewers during the month (82.7 videos per viewer), followed by Fox Interactive Media with 58 million viewers (9.4 videos per viewer) and Yahoo! Sites with 57 million viewers (7.5 videos per viewer).
Other notable findings from September 2009 include: The average online video viewer watched 9.8 hours of video; 125.5 million viewers watched nearly 10.3 billion videos on YouTube.com (82.4 videos per viewer); 45.6 million viewers watched 424 million videos on MySpace.com (9.3 videos per viewer); The average Hulu viewer watched 15.1 videos, totalling 1 hour and 32 minutes of videos per viewer, and the duration of the average online video was 3.8 minutes.
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Study sees problems with TV Everywhere
A report from media researcher Interpret suggests that if cable operators are successful with their TV Everywhere initiative - which could allow cable subscribers to access their favourite cable content on other devices, but which would also require that they are cable customers in order to view the content - would leave 7.7 million viewers unable to access TV programmes online. Currently, 11 per cent of all US active streamers of video, or 7.7 million, do not subscribe to cable or satellite. Those viewers would be unable to access content online without subscribing to such a service.
The group most affected would be those in the lower average-income bracket, and especially adults in the 18 to 34 demographic many of whom stream video online rather than pay for cable or satellite service.
The average income of all age groups that only stream video online, rather than watching television, is $42,314, compared to the $60,054 average income of those who both stream video and subscribe to a cable or satellite service.
Other findings from Interpret suggests that 12 per cent of males 18 to 24 only stream video online (rather than subscribing to a cable or satellite service); 14 per cent of males 25 to 34 only stream video online; 11 per cent of females 18 to 24 only stream video online; 15 per cent of females 25 to 34 only stream video online.
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Ultra HDTV critical mass delay?
While the market for High-Definition TV (HDTV) has hit the mainstream, the industry has already started speculating about the commercialisation of Ultra-High Definition (UHD), according to market research firm, In-Stat, which believes there will be a lengthy time period before the UHD market reaches a critical mass of five per cent household penetration.
In-Stat suggests, however, that as the initial market debuts over the next five to ten years, there will be ample opportunities for technology companies, manufacturers, service providers and media companies to experiment with business models and strategies to make UHD a strong business in the long term.
"UHD formats provide between four and sixteen times the resolution of Blu-ray or 1080p high definition as well as 22.2 multichannel three-dimensional sound," says Michelle Abraham, In-Stat analyst. "This is a vast improvement over the currently available end user viewing experience in the home."
As originally proposed, UHD comes in two levels of resolution: 7680 x 4320 pixels (i.e., 8K resolution), and 3840 x 2160 (i.e., 4K resolution).
Recent research by In-Stat also revealed that the rising popularity of high resolution digital cinema will expose consumers to high resolution content. Then, early UHDTVs will be made available to provide a digital cinema high resolution viewing experience in the home. Ultimately, broadcasters will start offering UHD content to an addressable market of UHDTVs, between 2017 and 2022.
In-Stat expects the total installed base of UHDTVs in Europe to approach five per cent household penetration until 2021, and increase to over 28.2 per cent penetration by 2025. In Asia-Pacific, Japan will be among the early adopter countries.
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Piracy threatens China Internet development
Online piracy could stifle innovation by the country's own dynamic Internet industry, the chief executive of one of China's oldest Web companies has suggested. "China needs to clean up piracy on the Internet or face a lag in innovation," Charles Zhang, chief executive of Sohu.com said at the China Internet conference Beijing.
"The Internet in China has reached an intense and more developed stage," he said. "Protecting intellectual property is becoming even more important ... solving piracy on the Internet will help the piracy situation in China."
In September, Sohu was one of several companies that led the formation of an alliance with 110 Internet video copyright owners set on tackling Internet piracy in China. Zhang also blamed piracy for hindering development of a vibrant movie industry in China, where illegal CDs are usually available within days of a movie's theatrical release for the equivalent of less than $2.
"If we don't solve the problem of piracy, no one will buy movies or watch TV shows," Zhang said. "Everyone will watch it on the Internet, and this will pull down the innovation streak in China."
China is one of the world's fastest-growing film markets, but it has also been one of the toughest for foreign film makers because of piracy and strict limits on the number of films they can export to China each year.
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Piracy attracts additional revenue for music industry
Illegal file-sharing brings £200 million in additional revenue to the music industry every year, according to research by UK think tank Demos. However, a poll conducted by Ipsos MediaCT for Demos found that use of peer-to-peer file-sharing sites does not necessarily diminish the popularity of legal download services.
In the survey of 1,008 online adults aged 16 to 50, 83 per cent of people who admitted to regularly downloading music illegally said that they purchased the same amount or more material from legal sites.
A further 42 per cent of respondents said that they used illegal download sites in a "try before you buy" capacity, which suggests that the popularity of file-sharing could be harnessed to improve legal sales.
On average, regular illegal file-sharers spent £77 per month (E85.27) downloading music tracks from legal sites, which is around £30 more than the people who claimed never to use illegal sites. Accordingly, Demos estimated that illegal downloaders provide the digital music industry with £200m in extra revenue per year.
The organisation further found that two thirds of users would stop accessing pirated material if viable and affordable legal alternatives were available to them.
When asked about punishments for illegal file-sharing, 61 per cent of users would stop accessing illicit sites if they were faced with a fine, and 23 per cent would cease the activity following the disapproval of friends and family. Among the people who claimed not to use illegal music download services, only a third backed the government's plan to cut off persistent offenders.
"This research demonstrates that cutting file sharers off may not be the best solution for the government if they are intent on helping the music industry," said Demos digital rights and consumer trends researcher Peter Bradwell. "Politicians and music companies need to wake up to the changing nature of music consumption and embrace the demand for new business models that offer lower prices and easier access to music."
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StarHub STB for EPL?
Singapore cable TV operator StarHub has offered to carry telco SingTel's pay-TV content on its set-top box, which could mean that pay-TV subscribers will not need to switch set-top boxes or get another one to watch content from Singapore's two pay-TV players.
When news broke in October 2009 that SingTel had won the rights to pay-TV's crown jewels - live English Premier League football broadcasts, as well as sports channel ESPN - from StarHub, football fans complained that they would need a set-top box for StarHub programmes and a SingTel box for sports.
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Bahrain crackdown on TV 'pirates'
Authorities in Bahrain are planning a crackdown on companies who steal and redirect satellite TV broadcasts to illegal users, at knockdown prices. Experts are calling for a ban on the import of equipment, which allows rogue providers to do this - and for the culprits to be prosecuted.
The call came as the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority launched action to block the Dreambox service, which transmits satellite TV signals via the Internet.
But providers shrugged off the TRA crackdown, saying all they need to do to get round it was to change their Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.
The call for tougher action came from Dubai-based Arabian Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAA) chief executive officer Scott Butler and his deputy Ola Khudair. The AAA evolved from an anti-piracy campaign established by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) in 1996. Butler called for a crackdown on the import of equipment that makes it possible for operators to offer such services. "While the steps the government has taken are very encouraging, we need them to be doing a lot more," he said. "We have been assured there are several more steps on the way."
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Philips STBs for retail
Digital TV technologist Pace has confirmed the retail launch of its new range of Canal+ set-top boxes. All the devices are ‘Canal Ready’, meaning consumers can access free-to-air digital broadcasts, with the option to upgrade to Canal + and/or Canal Sat pay-TV channels including the recently-launched ‘Découverte’ offer.
The range includes two digital satellite set-top boxes and a high definition (HD) terrestrial set-top box. As part of Pace’s ongoing commitment to the environment, outlined in its recently-announced Low Environmental Impact standard, all three boxes are produced with a minimal amount of hazardous material and all have a ‘low energy’ mode to reduce energy consumption.
"The analogue switch-off is creating a lot of uncertainty among French consumers," commented Mathias Hautefort, Président de Pace France. "We’re focussed on making the transition as smooth as possible by creating a range of easy-to-use, environmentally-conscious products for Philips that allow consumers access to a huge range of entertainment choices."
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Tandberg Television TiVo VOD solution
Multimedia technologist Tandberg Television has confirmed that Hybrid Television Services (ANZ), the exclusive licensee of TiVo products in Australia and New Zealand, is deploying a complete suite of Tandberg Television software solutions to enable carrier class Video On-Demand to the television via broadband Internet.
Hybrid TV will give New Zealand customers access to a wide range of On-Demand movies and TV programming via its TiVo media device from November. CASPA On-Demand is the brand name for this world of broadband entertainment including new release movies, hit TV shows for the whole family as well as free music videos, artist interviews and music concerts. CASPA represents one of the first and largest implementations of true On-Demand to the television in Australasia.
"People want to watch television on the television. This is not only broadcast TV – but also includes TV content delivered over broadband. By enabling VOD movies and television content within the TiVo service we are giving our customers more than free-to-air television…we are providing it all without any late fees or trips to the video store," suggested Robbee Minicola, CEO at Hybrid TV.
The CASPA On-Demand service will be delivered using progressive download over a subscriber’s existing broadband connection and complements the free-to-air digital terrestrial television (DTT) services available via TiVo receivers in New Zealand and Australia.
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Monday 2nd November
EC legal pressure on UK over ad target protection
Travel could fetch $1bn
Online piracy tracker says some blame is on studios
Kudelski refreshes OpenTV offer
Apple introduces Apple TV 3.0 software
France multiplays drives FTTH interest
Belgacom posts strong quarter
Eutelsat's Tooway for Ireland's broadband scheme
Alcatel: Growth predicted
Living 2 becomes Living It
EC legal pressure on UK over ad target protectionThe Commission has moved to the second phase of an infringement proceeding against the UK over failure to provide its citizens with the full protection of EU rules on privacy and personal data protection when using electronic communications. The action stems from complaints over BT’s trial of the Phorm targeted advertising system.
"People's privacy and the integrity of their personal data in the digital world is not only an important matter, it is a fundamental right, protected by European law. That is why the Commission is vigilant in ensuring that EU rules and rights are put in place," said EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding. "Ensuring digital privacy is a key for building trust in the Internet. I therefore call on the UK authorities to change their national laws to ensure that British citizens fully benefit from the safeguards set out in EU law concerning confidentiality of electronic communications."
The Commission maintains its position that the UK is failing to comply with EU rules protecting the confidentiality of electronic communications like email or surfing the Internet, which are provided in the ePrivacy Directive 2002/58/EC and the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC. This follows a thorough analysis of the UK authorities' response to the letter of formal notice – the first phase in an infringement proceeding – sent to them by the Commission in April 2009.The Commission launched this legal action following its inquiry into the response given by the UK authorities to UK citizens' complaints about the use of behavioural advertising by internet service providers.
The UK has two months to reply to this second stage of the infringement proceeding. If the Commission receives no reply, or if the response presented by the UK is not satisfactory, the Commission may refer the case to the European Court of Justice.
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Travel could fetch $1bnCox Communications is expected to command close to a billion dollars for the Travel Channel. The company is entertaining bids from a number of media companies, including the News Corp and Scripps Networks and, reportedly, at least one of the offers exceeds $900 million.
When Cox was first approached about a potential sale in June, analysts said the channel could command $600 million to $700 million. The cable company retained Goldman Sachs to weigh its strategic options for the channel.News Corp already owns the National Geographic Channel and plans to convert its low-rated Fox Reality Channel into a spin-off wildlife destination called National Geographic Wild.
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Online piracy tracker says some blame is on studiosThe head of a company that tracks online piracy has suggested that the motion picture industry's own policies are at least partially to blame for the surge in illegal downloading -- especially overseas, where films are often released weeks - sometimes months - after they are available in the US.
Eric Garland, the CEO of Big Champagne Media Measurement, said that piracy has spread from kids to their parents in European cities. "The reason I single out European cities," he said, "is because that's where people are forced to wait a long time to see content legally. In the digital world, we don't want to wait three months, six months. We're just not accepting that any more...we want it all, we want it right now and even (parents) are getting to the point where they say if it's not on, let's just fire up the computer and watch it. If they want me to wait six months, I've got other options. And people don't really have a conscious or qualms about that."
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Kudelski refreshes OpenTV offerThe Kudelski Group has issued a letter to OpenTV shareholders regarding the tender offer commenced by Kudelski in October valuing Open at $215 million. It states: "We firmly believe that our cash offer provides OpenTV shareholders immediate liquidity at a superior value to OpenTV’s future prospects, particularly given the Company’s current scale and R&D challenges and the significant amount of new investment required for OpenTV to remain competitive as a standalone, publicly-traded company."
"In addition to delivering fair value to shareholders of OpenTV, we believe the combination is also in the best interest of OpenTV’s employees, customers and partners because of Kudelski’s commitment to the sustainability of the business and Kudelski’s ability to invest in R&D and growth to ensure OpenTV has a strong future in the context of an intense, competitive environment."
Kudelski has also dropped certain conditions and effectively made its tender an all cash offer.
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Apple introduces Apple TV 3.0 softwareApple has launched its new Apple TV 3.0 software featuring a redesigned main menu that makes navigating content simpler, and makes accessing the selection of on-demand HD movie rentals and purchases, HD TV shows, music and podcasts from the iTunes Store even faster through their TV.
Users can now watch iTunes Extras and iTunes LP in full-screen with their Apple TVs, as well as listen to Genius Mixes and Internet radio through home theatre systems. The new Apple TV software is available immediately free of charge to existing Apple TV owners.
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France multiplays drives FTTH interestBy 2014, 50 per cent of households in France will subscribe to a triple-play offer as operators invest in FTTH to stay competitive, according to a report from Pyramid Research, the telecom research arm of the Light Reading Communications Network.
"Pyramid forecasts that 30 per cent of households in France will subscribe to a triple-play offer by the end of 2009, a number we expect to increase to almost 50 per cent by 2014," says Jan ten Sythoff, EMEA Manager at Pyramid Research and author of the report. "Pyramid expects quad-play adoption to gradually increase to make up 3 per cent of households by 2014," he adds.
Fixed-mobile convergence will become an increasingly important competitive focus over the next couple of years. "On the fixed side, investments into fibre will be key to maintaining a strong position in the fixed broadband sector; the development of FTTH is a key issue, and ARCEP, the regulator, is promoting cooperation in order to drive FTTH coverage," Sythoff, says. "On the mobile side, competition will increase with the launch of the fourth network, as well as increasing numbers of MVNOs."
Pay-TV competition has intensified with the entry of DSL and fibre operators, as content offers and packages are a key differentiator in triple-play bundles. "Orange has also started selling satellite TV as part of its triple-play packages, in order to provide nationwide TV coverage, not possible through its DSL network," Sythoff explains. "Cable operator Numericable is investing in fibre technology, and we therefore expect cable subscriptions to decline."
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Belgacom posts strong quarterBelgian telecom operator Belgacom has reported nine-month earnings which beat analyst forecasts and kept its full-year outlook. The former state monopoly said growing revenues for TV and data compensated for the decline in income from mobile and fixed line telephone services. Earnings were also boosted by the acquisition of Luxembourg mobile operator Tango and Internet provider Scarlet.
Overall earnings before EBITDA dropped 2 per cent to E1.488 billion. Belgacom TV said its customer base grew by 75,000 customers compared to 52,000 for the same period last year. By September 30th 2009, the total Belgacom TV customer base stood at to 663,000, including 88,000 second stream users. In one year, the Belgacom’s TV customer base grew by 220,000 customers, making it the key driver of the Belgacom revenue growth.
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Eutelsat's Tooway for Ireland's broadband schemeEutelsat Communication’s Tooway satellite broadband service has been chosen under Ireland's National Broadband Scheme to deliver high speed broadband connectivity to homes and businesses in rural Ireland.
Tooway distributor Satellite Broadband Ireland will deliver the service under its recently won contract from 3, the leading Irish mobile broadband provider running the National Broadband Scheme on behalf of the Irish Government. Under the scheme, Tooway's satellite broadband service will be delivered to up to 5 per cent of the 223,000 targeted buildings across rural Ireland. Those qualifying under the scheme will receive Tooway's 3.6 Mbps broadband service for E19.99 per month, following a one-off E49.00 installation & hardware charge.
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Alcatel: Growth predictedBen Verwaayen, chief executive of Alcatel-Lucent, said he expected the telecoms sector to return to low single-digit growth in 2010 and that the company was still on target to reach break-even at the end of the year.
His assurances come despite the fact that the Franco-American telecoms equipment maker reported a 9.3 per cent fall in revenues to E3.68 billion ($5.5bn) for the third quarter. Net losses deepened to E182 million from E40 million for Alcatel-Lucent in the same period last year.
To achieve the forecast break-even at adjusted operating level, the company will need to make operating profits of about E360 million in the fourth quarter compared with an E11 million loss in the three months to the end of September. Verwaayen said growth was being led by the US and China and by the newer sectors of telecommunications, such as next-generation mobile networks and high-speed broadband.
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Living 2 becomes Living ItVirgin Media TV is dropping its Living2 channel brand and renaming the channel Living It next month. The move follows problems making viewers understand that the channel is not a time-shifted version of sister channel Living. While Virgin Media's young female celebrity and style channel Living has a 0.6 per cent share of viewing, Living2 has just 0.2 per cent of viewing, according to Barb. Virgin Media is also working with Red Bee Media to refresh the onscreen identity of sister channel Living. Virgin Media has also launched its first online television channel under the Living celebrity and fashion brand. The Liv channel went live last week and offers free, short-form content accessed through websites and social-media platforms that agree syndication deals with Virgin Media.
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