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Our Latest Issues
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Tuesday
Friday 5th February
‘Canvas isn’t working with the industry’
Australia file share case blow to studios
C4 and BT Vision look to pre-roll ads
Blavatnik joins bidding for MGM
TellyLinks targets TV web-watchers
CBC seeks funding
China video sites co-op on films
UHD video and 3D video on the horizon
Jilin launches on-demand services with Espial
‘Canvas isn’t working with the industry’The Digital TV Group, which represents more than 100 companies is concerned that Project Canvas is failing in its core promise to create an open, industry-wide technology standard for the service.
In a submission to the BBC Trust as part of a final consultation on Project Canvas the DTG said that there is "widespread concern" that the venture's partners are developing critical technology standards that do not involve key players such as manufacturers of set top-boxes and TVs.
Canvas, whose other partners include ITV, BT, Channel 4 and Channel Five, was given provisional approval to launch by the BBC Trust in December subject to a final public consultation. A key pledge has been that the technology underpinning the service would be an open specification.
However DTG, which represents dozens of manufacturers and technology companies as well as broadcasters such as Freeview and BSkyB, says that there appears to be a "parallel process" taking place where Canvas and its preferred technology partners are developing a separate standard.
"The DTG's membership continues to raise concerns regarding the Canvas project, especially regarding the joint venture's commitment to engage with the industry," the body said in its submission to the BBC Trust. "There remains widespread concern in the industry that there is a parallel process in place with a Canvas specification being developed by the joint venture and its innovation partners separately from, and regardless of, the DTG's Connected TV specification work."
DTG now calls for it to be made mandatory that Canvas cooperates with the industry. The Trust’s provisional approval only stipulates it [BBC/Canvas] should use ‘best endeavours’ to integrate.
"Feedback we have received from our membership indicates that the consensus among our members is that only a mandatory requirement for the Canvas joint venture to engage with industry to deliver an agreed specification can achieve widespread market success and represent the best interests of the UK consumers and TV licence fee payers," said DTG.
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Australia file share case blow to studiosAustralian ISP iiNet has won a major legal battle over whether it should be held responsible for its customers downloading content illegally.
The case, brought by the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT), could have had major implications for the way internet providers police their users. If AFACT had won, providers would likely have been forced to penalise or disconnect users who illegally downloaded copyrighted material such as movies and songs.However a Federal Judge found iiNet was not responsible for the infringements of its users. "It is impossible to conclude that iiNet has authorised copyright infringement... (it) did not have relevant power to prevent infringements occurring," Justice Cowdroy said in his judgment.
In a statement released shortly after the decision, iiNet welcomed the ruling. We do not, and never have supported, encouraged or authorised illegal sharing or downloading of files in breach of the copyright laws."
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C4 and BT Vision look to pre-roll adsChannel 4 will run pre-roll ads on the BT Vision TV-on-demand service from mid-year following increased demand from advertisers.
The broadcaster is in talks with BT Vision to become the first channel on the platform to run pre-roll ads with its on-demand content, as inventory on rival platforms, including Virgin Media, becomes squeezed.
Channel 4 is keen to extend the range of inventory it can offer, with various brands buying up 90 per cent of its pre-, mid- and post-roll space on Virgin Media. Channel 4 charges £19,000 (E21.7k) for 950,000 views.
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Blavatnik joins bidding for MGMBillionaire Len Blavatnik is among the second-round suitors for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), according to reports.
Lions Gate Entertainment, Time Warner, Liberty Media and Elliott Management, working with Hollywood financier Ryan Kavanaugh, also are in the bidding.
Advancing to the second round gives suitors access to more detailed information before making a formal bid for the Los Angeles-based studio, which owns a 4,100-film library and is exploring a sale after failing to make payments on $3.7 billion of debt. Last week, lenders extended a moratorium on interest payments to March 31st, allowing more time for negotiations.
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TellyLinks targets TV web-watchersJeff Henry, former ITV executive, is preparing to launch a new venture bringing together television programming with the internet that claims to be the equivalent of an iPhone app for TV. TellyLinks.com is to launch this week on Channel Five. Henry said the idea is that while people are watching a TV show TellyLinks.com will deliver live up to 150 web links relevant to the action as it is happening on screen.
The concept will launch with a sponsorship deal on Five US drama ‘Numb3rs’, with Tellylinks delivering hundreds of links to a range of information synchronised with the show's content.
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CBC seeks fundingChina Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), the national operator of CMMB mobile TV, has said that the company is preparing a round of equity financing in order to fund nationwide network construction. The targets of this round are 100 per cent state-owned corporations. CBC is currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT). Guo said that the company's capital previously came mainly from SARFT's own funds and from bank loans, with total investment in the RMB 1.5-2 billion range. However, to complete future deployment, additional investment is needed.
The funds will primarily be used to build a nationwide operations system, nationwide unified technical support system, content platform, and for market expansion. According to informed sources, CBC's network and operational system construction over the next five years will require at least RMB 1 billion.
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China video sites co-op on filmsChina's two leading video websites, youku.com and tudou.com, will cooperate to set up a video broadcasting exchange network. The two websites will share videos including films and TV series that they have bought exclusive copyrights to, the two companies announced.
"This cooperation will be a milestone for the country's video websites industry, and it may surprise everyone here," Gu Yongqiang, CEO of youku.com. "We need to make the economic pie bigger and share it, rather than engage in cutthroat competition."
Wang Wei, CEO of tudou.com, said the two used to be competitors and experienced a "seriously difficult period" together, but he thought the cooperation would help the sites step forward shoulder to shoulder.
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UHD video and 3D video on the horizonAs HD video has hit its stride worldwide, the TV and film industry are looking ahead to the next new thing. 3D TV and Ultra-HD (UHD) are on the horizon, according to market research firm In-Stat.
3D video is already out of the gate, with growing proliferation of 3D films in theatres. Pay TV operators are in the early stages of deploying 3D TV capability. Early 3D TVs and 3D Blu-Ray players will ship in 2010. In-Stat projects worldwide 3D TV shipments will reach 41 million in 2014. 3D Blu-ray player shipments will track closely with 3D TVs.
UHD will take considerably longer to roll out, but has started to garner interest and discussion among long-term planners in the TV, film and technology industries. In-Stat believes the first UHD broadcasts will start around 2017. UHD TVs will reach about 5 per cent household penetration in some regional markets in the early 2020s. Technology companies and equipment manufacturers will need to have solutions available ahead of time to support the long term opportunity.
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Jilin launches on-demand services with EspialEspial, provider of digital TV software and solutions, has confirmed that Jilin Cable Network has selected Espial MediaBase to power their on-demand services. Jilin Cable Network is located in the central part of northeast China and serves three million TV subscribers. Using Espial MediaBase, they already offer VOD, TV On-Demand (TVOD), Network Personal Video Recorder and Timeshift-TV services to hundreds of thousands of subscribers using more than 60 Time-Shift TV channel captures. Jilin Cable Network is planning an aggressive expansion and will offer these on-demand services to their entire base of 3 million subscribers over the next several years.
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Thursday 4th February
Sky Italia and Deutschland cloud News Corp results
Italy plans TV rules for Internet videos
Time Warner profits rise
Comcast exceeds expectations
Low key start for YouTube rentals
Winter Olympics ‘a cross platform lab’ for NBC
Verizon's "unprecedented coverage" of Winter Olympics
OMVC, Harris, Rentrak to measure mobile TV patterns
DirecTV DVR Scheduler app surpasses 1m
Widevine, Qtv enable Internet video on PS2 and mobiles
Eurosport HD on Virgin Media
Sky Italia and Deutschland cloud News Corp resultsNews Corp returned to profit with $254 million for the three months to December, compared with a $6.4 billion loss a year ago – down to major asset write-downs.
"Content is not just king, it is the emperor of all things digital," said chairman Rupert Murdoch. "We're on the cusp of a digital revolution from which our shareholders will profit handsomely." In a reference to hyped technology such as Apple's iPad and Amazon's Kindle, Murdoch said such "ingenious and fabulous devices" would be "unloved and unsold" without -creativity from companies such as his own, adding that they were powered by content – not by batteries.
The company's Twentieth Century Fox film studio saw its profits surge from $112 million to $324 million, aided by strong DVD releases. Still to come are the box office receipts from Avatar.
The group's television stations also turned in higher earnings and are the subject of an initiative by News Corp to get cable networks to pay more to transmit Fox programming. But MySpace continues to struggle after losing a battle for dominance to Facebook. Murdoch admitted MySpace's is "still not where we want it" despite job cuts and a refocusing on entertainment.
And Murdoch conceded there were other areas of News Corp’s business not performing as well as he would like. "Sky Italia is faced with a tough economic environment and increased competition. But we're certainly enthusiastic about the potential of this business given the high quality of our service and the low penetration of pay television in Italy."
"The second is our affiliate Sky Deutschland. We've great confidence that the new management team headed up by Brian Sullivan who helped build BSkyB into a power house, would be able to make head way in yet another big market, with very low pay-TV penetration. As proof of our confidence in this business, we just increased our stake by 5 percentage points. Despite the challenges in these markets, we remain firm in our commitment to pay-TV around the world."
Sky Italia generated a segment operating loss of $30 million as compared to income of $10 million in the second quarter a year ago. Sky Italy continues to operate in an extremely challenging business and economic environment and subscriber growth is clearly below our expectations. However, it is important to note that this is a very profitable business, but we remain confident in the longer term growth in this under penetrated market.
For the quarter total revenue declined by 2 per cent against the prior year's quarter. Monthly ARPU in the quarter averaged around E43 down on last year's E45 and this reflects the lower average tier mix, reduced pay per view revenue, and price promotions.
Sky Italia's net subscriber base declined by 63,000 compared with the previous quarter, as total quarterly gross editions of 150,000 were more than offset by churn. There are now 4.75 million subscribers.
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Italy plans TV rules for Internet videos
Italy's government is forging ahead with plans to extend television-broadcasting regulations to websites that host videos. The draft decree, expected to take effect early this month, would force sites to operate more like traditional TV broadcasters within Italian borders.
It seeks to "establish a principle," Paolo Romani, Italy's deputy minister of communications, said in an interview. "If you use copyrighted material, your site becomes an editorial product, a broadcaster that is placed at the same level as other broadcasters."
Under the proposed rules, sites would have to gain permission to host copyrighted videos, such as TV programmes, that users often post on sites like YouTube. They would also be required to obtain broadcasting licenses from Romani's office, and would become liable for any libellous material in posted videos.
The Italian plan is the first time a European government has tried to hold Internet companies responsible for content generated by users, said Stefan Krawczyk, a spokesman for the European Digital Media Association, a trade group whose members include Google, Yahoo Amazon and Microsoft.
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Time Warner profits riseTime Warner said its net income rose to $627 million, in the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with a $16 billion loss in the year-earlier quarter (based mainly in writing down AOL value).
The company said adjusted operating income rose 35 per cent to $1.5 billion, matching analysts' expectations. Sales rose 2 per cent to $7.3 billion.
Time Warner's television networks, which include CNN and other Turner programming, also performed well in the quarter. Sales grew 4 per cent on an 11 per cent rise in cable subscriptions, which more than offset a 4 per cent drop in advertising sales.
Meanwhile, in its first quarterly filing since splitting from Time Warner, AOL Inc. said that it swung to a profit in the fourth quarter from a year earlier. The company reported net income of $1.4 million. That compares with a loss of $1.9 billion in the year-ago quarter.
There were sharp declines in AOL's subscriber base. Subscription revenue plunged 28 per cent, while advertising sales were down 8 per cent. The company continued to lose subscribers as users flock to higher speed Internet connections. AOL's subscription base fell 27 per cent to about 5 million from 6.9 million a year earlier.
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Comcast exceeds expectationsComcast the number one US cable operator, reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on as it added more Internet and phone subscribers. Net profit rose to $955 million from $412 million a year earlier.
Revenue rose 2.9 per cent to $9.07 billion as the cable company added a net 247,000 high-speed Internet customers and 243,000 digital phone subscribers in the fourth quarter. It lost more than 199,000 basic video subscribers during the quarter.
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Low key start for YouTube rentalsYouTube last month went into the digital movie rental business with five independent films tied to the Sundance Film Festival. The company said the five films, which were available for 10 days, received a combined 2,684 views.
At $3.99 per rental, YouTube netted $10,709.16. But Google-owned YouTube said it was happy with the test. "It definitely exceeded our expectations given all the barriers," said Chris Dale, a YouTube spokesman. Dale said watching any kind of film online, let alone independent films, remains a relatively new and untested experience.
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Winter Olympics ‘a cross platform lab’ for NBC
NBC Universal plans to measure audience exposure across all of its media platforms to provide "unprecedented insight into consumer cross-platform behaviour and advertising effectiveness" during the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The effort will build on the pioneering research conducted during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.NBCU says it will launch its second Olympic research lab during the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, partnering with some of the country's leading research providers to develop state of the art media measurement techniques, including the first-ever statistically projectable single source measurement of TV and Internet use. In addition, NBCU will again issue a daily TAMi (Total Audience Measurement Index) to measure total Olympic exposure across all media platforms throughout the 17 days of coverage.
The company said it will build on the findings from its "billion-dollar" Beijing research lab and conduct a new series of studies to take its understanding of cross-platform media use to the next level. In addition to tracking consumer behaviour, the research will incorporate various methodologies to demonstrate to advertisers the effectiveness of their Olympics buy.
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Verizon's "unprecedented coverage" of Winter Olympics
Verizon, in an agreement with NBC Universal, has announced a multi-platform content offering that will make the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games available to Verizon‚s FiOS TV, broadband and wireless customers.
Beginning with the opening ceremony on February 12th, Verizon will offer subscribers access to content across multiple platforms, including an enhanced, interactive TV experience, video on demand, HD TV, broadband and Verizon Wireless‚ V CAST service. FiOS TV customers will be able to watch NBC Universal’s more than 835 hours of Winter Olympics programming, representing the most total hours - and the most live hours - ever for a Winter Olympics.
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OMVC, Harris, Rentrak to measure mobile TV patternsThe Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC), a broadcast industry organisation dedicated to accelerating over-the-air Mobile Digital Television, is teaming with Harris Interactive, a global market research firm, and Rentrak, a specialist in multi-screen media measurement, to study consumer usage habits during OMVC's Mobile DTV Consumer Showcase in Washington.
With more than 30 television stations now transmitting Mobile DTV signals throughout the country, the number of local broadcasters upgrading to enable the newly-minted Mobile DTV standard is expected to mushroom throughout 2010.
During the Washington, D.C. Consumer Showcase, OMVC is planning an evaluation of quantitative and qualitative usage for each of the selected device platforms. The purpose of the Showcase is to understand factors that may motivate greater usage of Mobile DTV, early adoption, propensity to tolerate pay services, interactive services and usage patterns, as well as to learn more about the core qualitative aspects of the user experience from pre-adoption to post-usage insights.
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DirecTV DVR Scheduler app surpasses 1mLess than one year after its debut for the iPhone and iPod touch, more than 1 million users have downloaded the DirecTV DVR Scheduler app. The app is now available on Android devices and the Palm Pre and Pixi.
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Widevine, Qtv enable Internet video on PS2 and mobilesWidevine and Qtv have announced that they will partner to bring Widevine’s video optimisation and multiplatform Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology to the Qtv Internet TV Media Player for the television, mobile phone and personal computer.
The Qtv Internet TV Media Player gives consumers the unique ability to access and play both personal and Internet-based content from their TV, mobile phone and computer. When it is released in the next few months, it will have the largest installed base of supported devices of any media player. Qtv leverages the Sony PlayStation 2 (PS2), the world’s most popular game console, as a TV set-top box. A PS2 is already connected to the TV in over 40 million US households and over 140 million households worldwide. The Qtv media player also supports over 1,100 models of mobile phones and most computer operating systems, with support expanding to new networked TV devices and mobile phones
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Eurosport HD on Virgin MediaVirgin Media has confirmed a deal with Eurosport to offer its 3.7 million TV customers Eurosport HD as part of its growing range of HD channels on its TV service. The addition of Eurosport HD signals the first of several new HD channels due to launch on Virgin Media over the coming months, all available at no extra cost for customers on Virgin Media’s ‘XL’ TV package. The channel will launch in April.
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Wednesday 3rd February
Canvas will drive connected TV
"Virgin’s got the beating of BT and Sky"
Intelsat 4 anomaly
Euro consumers seek content control and customisation
Subscribers will switch for discount
Japan regulators probing KDDI over Jupiter deal
Asia-Pacific to drive global mobile TV market
Aksh Optifibre to invest in IPTV
Romsat providing Conax security for Ukrainian TV
Spectrum HD analogue to IP video encoder
Canvas will drive connected TVRichard Halton, BBC programme director for Project Canvas, has said it could accelerate growth in the market for connected TV devices by 70 per cent up to 2015. Canvas could also, he said, lead to between 500,000 and 870,000 homes going online, delivering a value of £300 million (E344m) over six years at today’s prices.
Talking about standards for the platform being developed with the Digital Television Group, he told an Informa event that applications "will only work if there is a reasonable common platform across devices". This meant a common hardware profile for hybrid devices. On the software side, he said there would be a range of hybrid on-demand platforms in the market, but that Canvas was "trying to create a platform like Freeview." He said the BBC was working with consumer electronics manufacturers as well as ISPs and content providers.
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"Virgin’s got the beating of BT and Sky"Virgin Media has claimed it can outpace BT on broadband speeds, reach parity with Sky in the range of its programming and has no pressing need to sell assets, so says CEO Neil Berkett laying out growth plans and forecasting a profitable future.
Virgin Media secured an advantage over BT last year by offering customers download speeds of up to 50 megabits per second. Berkett told the FT: "Am I comfortable that the superior position we’ve taken in broadband is sustainable? Absolutely." He said that Virgin Media could increase download speeds on its network to 100 mbps within six months of taking a decision to do so. "By the time [BT] have critical mass [at 40mbps], we would have moved to 100 mbps."
Berkett also claimed that a deal with TiVo would give Virgin Media customers a viewing experience superior to BSkyB’s. He hinted TiVo technology in Virgin Media set-top boxes would provide an all-encompassing way of watching, and interacting with video whether broadcast or online.
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Intelsat 4 anomaly
A few days after Eutelsat’s problems, Intelsat has announced that its Intelsat 4 satellite (IS-4), located at 72° East Longitude, experienced an anomaly on February 1st. Intelsat is working with affected customers to identify restoration capacity.
Intelsat and Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems, the manufacturer of the IS-4, are working together to identify the cause of the anomaly. Launched in 1995, the Boeing 601 satellite was expected to reach its end-of-service life later in 2010. Intelsat previously disclosed that the IS-4 had experienced the failure of its satellite control processor (SCP) and was operating on its backup SCP.
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Euro consumers seek content control and customisation
From Colin Mann in LondonA survey of European consumers has revealed pan-generational consumer demand to further control and customise the content experience. The 2010 European Media Engagement Barometer, commissioned by Motorola’s Home and Networks Mobility business, shows that 87 per cent of UK consumers regularly share content across devices while at home and on the move. The research also suggests that with such a wealth of content available, consumers need more assistance in finding content relevant to their lives; 69 per cent of Europeans are frustrated by searching through so many options to find the content they care about.
The survey reveals how Europeans are consuming a wealth of video content. 70 per cent of UK consumers watch live television on at least a weekly basis (compared to a European average of 62 per cent). But, increasingly viewers in the UK are accessing content through other mediums: 52 per cent are streaming Internet video, 34 per cent watch television on-demand and 29 per cent are downloading video from the internet at least once a week, illustrating that consumers will seek out content from a variety of places to enjoy on their own terms.
Sweden is the only country where live TV does not dominate viewing preferences. Swedish respondents stated they would rather watch live/streaming Internet video (48 per cent) compared to live television (28 per cent). Consumers are also demanding improved quality of experience. 54 per cent of British consumers questioned would like more HD programming to be made available.
Steve McCaffery, vice president, Motorola Home and Networks Mobility, EMEA, said the research indicated the onset of a new era for TV – ‘the Internet Era of TV’. "The Internet, social networks and smartphones have changed how consumers of all ages engage with content. It’s now on their terms. What this tells us, as an industry is that we must continue to develop solutions and services that make the consumer experience as intuitive, individual and interactive as possible, " he said.
Over half of those asked in the UK were interested in TV applications that customise the viewing experience. The findings also show that across generations consumers are engaging with social networks and would like to be able to use their television set to recommend programmes to likeminded people. For example, 45 per cent of Millennials would like to make content recommendations to family, friends and colleagues via their television. All generations currently engage with social networks, Millennials (99 per cent), Generation Xers (99 per cent) and Baby Boomers (93 per cent).
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Subscribers will switch for discount
Over two-thirds of American pay television subscribers would be willing to switch providers if offered a price discount of 20 per cent, according to a report just published by Strategy Analytics. While Cable customers were the most likely to churn, only half as many (33 per cent) of Telco TV/IPTV subscribers would switch. The report, "Digital TV Customer Satisfaction: US Survey Results 2H'09," surveys 856 digital pay television subscribers in the US.
Overall, respondents reported high satisfaction with their current digital television provider, with 71 per cent claiming to be "somewhat" or "very" satisfied. There was a marked difference, however, among access platforms. Telco/IPTV customers reported 95 per cent overall satisfaction, compared to 78 per cent for Satellite, and 67 per cent for Cable. Fewer than 22 per cent of subscribers—irrespective of platform—felt they were getting "value for money" that exceeded expectations.
"The value-for-money result was perhaps the most important finding of this study," noted Ben Piper, Director of the Strategy Analytics Multiplay Market Dynamics service. "A growing number of customers are beginning to question the value of a "traditional" pay TV subscription in light of expanded "over-the-top" offerings, such as Hulu and Netflix."
While Telco TV/IPTV is expected to make impressive strides in the upcoming years, the platform's success is certainly not a foregone conclusion, according to Piper. In a highly penetrated market such as the United States, growth will not be organic. Rather, Telcos will need to articulate a compelling case for users to switch.
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Japan regulators probing KDDI over Jupiter dealThe Japanese Financial Services Agency has started an investigation into KDDI over its planned purchase of Jupiter Telecommunications shares from Liberty Global, according to reports in Japanese newspapers.
The FSA is asking KDDI to change the planned purchasing method for the shares to a tender offer, the report said, as the transaction in its current form may violate the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law and could result in more than Y80 billion in penalties.
KDDI said last week it has agreed to purchase a 38 per cent stake in Jupiter Telecommunications from Liberty in a deal valued at $4 billion. KDDI is already Japan's second-largest cable TV company by subscribers, and the deal would give the combined group roughly half of Japan's cable TV market.
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Asia-Pacific to drive global mobile TV marketAccording to the research report "Global Mobile TV Forecast to 2013" by RNCOS, the number of mobile TV subscribers are projected to grow at a CAGR of over 45 per cent between 2009 and 2013 to reach around 450 Million by end-2013.
The study predicts that Asia-Pacific region will dominate the global mobile TV market, constituting around 67 per cent of the subscriber base by end-2013. We have highlighted and prudently evaluated various factors that will make the region the fastest growing CCTV market in the world.
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Aksh Optifibre to invest in IPTV
Indian IPTV provider Aksh Optifibre Limited said it is planning to invest Rs 150 crore (E23m) in the IPTV business over the next three years."We have already invested Rs 150 crore in this business so far. In the next three years we will invest another Rs 150 crore to ramp up our business," said Dr K.S. Choudhari, managing director. Aksh Optifibre and MTNL's IPTV service iControl, which has a subscriber base of over 30,000, also announced plans to strengthen their operations in Delhi. iControl expands its partner ecosystem by bringing onboard channel partners.
Currently, the service is available in Delhi, Mumbai and also the cities of Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
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Romsat providing Conax security for Ukrainian TVThe Kiev based system integration specialist, Romsat, has achieved a successful operation model for full-scale security hosting. An approved Conax security hosting partner, Romsat has provided security hosting to small regional digital TV operators in a variety of Ukraine cities remotely from Kiev, since 2007. Through the Conax model, approved hosting partners are able to offer full-scale security advantages at favourable pricing models to smaller operators, regardless of size or location.
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Spectrum HD analogue to IP video encoderSpectrum Signal Processing by Vecima, a supplier of signal processing platforms for more than 20 years, has announced the availability of a HD video encoder that enables service providers to cost-effectively deliver live, broadcast quality HD television over IP networks. Spectrum's video encoding solutions can be used in a number of applications in the video delivery market including IP television, remote security monitoring, digital programme distribution, and networked video.
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Tuesday 2nd February
ITV looks to PPV to make it safe
‘BBC must fund super-fast broadband'
Radio ‘scrappage’ for DAB?
Record year for Virgin on demand
Talk Talk names date for TV
French VOD market up 175% in two years
China Digital TV invests in OpenV
MPEG IC shipments on track to reach 2bn units
Philippines delays switchover
Pace Networks signs first Latin American partner
Viasat launches MTVHND
ST-Ericsson HD mobile viewing
NextBiT develops OTT STB for Chinese firm
ITV looks to PPV to make it safePlans for ITV to introduce a pay-per-view service for ITV2, 3 and 4 under new chief executive Adam Crozier seem to be firming up. ITV has said it will undergo a thorough strategic review which will rule nothing out, including a move away from the free-to-air advertising model to a much broader media platform by increasing its use of on-demand video.
Archie Norman, the recently appointed chairman is keen on developing a pay element and is unlikely to have hired an unsympathetic CEO. Norman has also said that he’s keen to address the high level of legislation the broadcaster is subject to, which puts it at a disadvantage compared to new media.
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‘BBC must fund super-fast broadband'
The Conservatives have unveiled plans to deliver a "nationwide super-fast broadband", part of which could be funded from the BBC licence fee.
Shadow chancellor George Osborne said a Tory government would deliver speeds of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) to the "majority" of homes by 2017. He said cabling in rural areas could be paid for by private investors, with the licence fee making up any shortfalls. The government has set a target that all homes should have access to speeds of 2Mbps by 2012.
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A radio scrappage scheme may be introduced to to persuade listeners to go digital.The radio equivalent of the car scheme could involve a 20 per cent discount on a new digital set if you bring in one of the 100 million or so analogue ones estimated to still be in circulation.
Industry executives hope that the idea will quash a potential rebellion among FM radio listeners as the deadline for switching off the analogue radio signal approaches. The government has set a date of 2015 for turning off the analogue signal, although that is regarded as an aspiration rather than a concrete policy objective and it is a target that few in the radio industry expect it to meet.
A spokeswoman for Digital Radio UK, the organisation set up to drive switchover, said of the scrappage scheme: "It is something we are looking at we want to do." Its members include the BBC, commercial radio stations and Arqiva, the company that owns the digital radio network and licences frequency to radio stations.
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Record year for Virgin on demand
Virgin Media saw a record breaking 2009 with over 750 million on demand views, an increase of 50 per cent on the previous 12 months. Over 59 per cent of Virgin Media’s 3.7 million TV customers are now regularly using the service, an increase of over a quarter of a million homes in a year.Since BBC iPlayer launched on Virgin Media in May 2008, its first TV platform, it has received almost 300 million views. Viewing has accelerated from 10.5 million views in June 2008 to a record 20 million views in December 2009. ITV Player enjoyed a strong end of year performance with 25 million views over the last three months.
Over 11 million movies were watched on demand throughout 2009. December saw a 29 per cent increase on November, driven by some family favourites including Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince, shown on demand on the same day as the DVD release, and Monsters Vs Aliens as well as hit films Public Enemies, Moon and The Hangover.
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Talk Talk names date for TVMore plans for Talk Talk TV were revealed as the company published documents about the demerger of its retail and telecoms interests. They reveal Talk Talk is likely to become a fully fledged TV operator in early 2011. It is involved in Project Canvas, the BBC-led consortium that is to launch an internet-connected TV set-top box before the end of the year.
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French VOD market up 175% in two yearsThe French VOD market continues to see growth, mainly driven by operator offers. According to preliminary figures from GFK, the VOD market grew to over E80 million in 2009, up from E53 million in 2008.
TV VOD represents from 80 per cent to 90 per cent of VOD revenues in France. In this market, Orange VOD holds the lion’s share in terms of enabled households, revenues and monthly buy rate. Dataxis Intelligence’s latest estimates show that the operator has a market share of more than 25 per cent in terms of revenues. On average, a VOD enabled household ordered 3.3 paying titles in 2009 from Orange VOD, compared to 3.1 in 2008.
Although it was launched more recently, cable VOD sees a strong growth among VOD users. With 4000 titles, Numericable’s library is now available to 1.95 million households. These subscribers viewed an average of 2.1 titles in 2009 and generated revenue of approximately E12 million Euros in 2009.
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China Digital TV invests in OpenVChina Digital TV, provider of conditional access systems to China's television market, has made a joint investment in OpenV, a leading Chinese online video company, alongside one of OpenV’s existing shareholders.
China Digital TV’s investment will be up to $14.5 million through which China Digital TV’s equity interest in OpenV would be approximately 25 per cent to 31 per cent, subject to certain performance adjustment mechanisms.
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MPEG IC shipments on track to reach 2bn units
As consumers access digital video on more devices, applications for MPEG digital video compression technology are expanding, particularly in portable devices, reports In-Stat. As a result, shipments of MPEG ICs, which support compression and decompression of digital video, will reach 2 billion units by 2013.
"Compression technology continues to improve, offering lower bit rates and higher quality, as well as lower cost and power," says Michelle Abraham, In-Stat analyst. "H.264 compression is finding a home in most new MPEG ICs targeting both line-powered and mobile devices."
Research by In-Stat found:
- Qualcomm was the leader in the mobile MPEG codec IC market for mobile handsets, while Zoran leads among "Other Mobile Applications", followed closely by Samsung.
- MPEG IC market share differs among the various types of line-powered consumer electronics, such as set top boxes, TVs, and DVD equipment. The leaders include Broadcom, MediaTek, NXP, Sigma Designs and STMicroelectronics.
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Philippines delays switchoverThe Philippines government may push back the deadline for the migration to digital terrestrial TV given the unresolved matter of which platform will be adopted. "2015 might be a stretch to achieve. We have to move it, but hopefully not 2020," Secretary Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) said.
The migration is important for consumers because those who still have analogue TV sets will have to buy STB to receive digital signals. Chua said the high price of STB remains the main issue for the delayed decision of the National Telecommunications Commission.
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Pace Networks signs first Latin American partnerPace Networks, a specialised division of digital TV technologies developer Pace, has signed Brazil-based Visionbyte as its first Networks Approved Partner (NAP) in the Latin American market. Pace Networks’ global partner programme supports the rollout of its MultiDweller distribution platform, which Visionbyte will use to extend the reach of SD and HD services to smaller towns and cities across Brazil. As an approved partner, Visionbyte will offer Pace’s MultiDweller technology to its cable operator customers, helping them to build their digital TV subscriber base in previously difficult-to-reach areas.
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Viasat launches MTVHNDViasat Broadcasting has strengthened its HDTV offering in the Baltic region with the launch of MTVNHD on its pay-TV platform. MTVNHD is an international high definition service dedicated to music and kids. An agreement has been signed with MTV Networks International for inclusion to Viasat’s satellite TV subscribers in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
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ST-Ericsson HD mobile viewingST-Ericsson, a global expert in wireless semiconductors and platforms, has launched a family of single-chip 1080p high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) transmitters to enable streaming of HD multimedia content from mobile devices to TVs. Consumers will now be able to easily connect their mobile devices to digital as well as old, analogue televisions to playback HD videos, photos, movies and games.
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NextBiT develops OTT STB for Chinese firmBangalore-based NextBiT Computing has designed and developed the Intellectual Property (IP) and solutions for an Over the Top (OTT) STB. The company will now deliver the first batch of 50,000 units to a China-based OEM by February 2010. NextBiT has added more features to the OTT STB to make it a complete converged communication and computing multimedia device.
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Monday 1st February
SeeSaw reveals content line up
Time Warner Cable returns to profit
US online game subs to double in 5 years
EC outlaw’s French telco tax to fund broadcasters
Worldwide should pay for BBC brand
Two-thirds of US consumers own HDTVs
Netflix posts positive Q4
China Mobile to launch CMMB service this month
Discovery launches new channels in India
SeeSaw reveals content line upSeeSaw, the online TV service from Arqiva, has revealed programming deals with broadcasters and independent production, including Channel 4 and Five.
SeeSaw has confirmed that Channel 4's content will be available on the service at launch including programmes such as Peep Show, The Inbetweeners, Skins and Grand Designs. The service has also struck a multi-year deal with Five for a variety of content including The Gadget Show, Neighbours and Home and Away and includes Five on Demand, the broadcaster's catch-up service.
Deals with Shed Media and Digital Rights Group have also supplied a raft of ITV content including series' Footballers' Wives and Bad Girls and dramas Doc Martin, and Kingdom.
SeeSaw has also announced plans to host a sport section on SeeSaw.com and has confirmed the first sport content deal with Perform to provide football programming based around the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
These deals follow the BBC Worldwide agreement announced in December, where SeeSaw confirmed a multi-year programming deal for BBC shows such as Classic Doctor Who and Mitchell and Webb.
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Time Warner Cable returns to profitTime Warner Cable the second-largest cable company in the US swung to a fourth-quarter profit after its year-ago results were dragged down by big write-downs related to its spin-off from Time Warner.
The cable company continued losing video subscribers and overall customers during the quarter amid rising competition and a weak economy. It was able to increase total subscription revenue by 4.2 per cent by adding high-speed Internet and digital phone subscriptions, but the company's subscriber growth continued to slow.
Time Warner Cable said total video subscribers in the fourth quarter declined by 105,000 to end the year at 12.86 million. Net income attributable to Time Warner Cable was $322 million, revenue rose 3 percent to $4.5 billion, in line with expectations.
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US online game subs to double in 5 yearsAmericans who play online games generated $2.8 billion in subscription revenue in 2009, and stand to pay an annual $5 billion in game subscriptions by 2015, market research provider Pike & Fischer projects in a new report.
The number of online gaming paid subscribers, which totalled approximately 19.4 million at the end of last year, will more than double to 44.5 million by the end of 2014, P&F senior analyst Tim Deal forecasts. The increase in usage will result from the rise in digital distribution of online games as opposed to retail boxed sales, along with an increase in broadband adoption, Deal says.
Although the number of online game subscribers will increase, average monthly online game subscription fees will drop from approximately $12 in 2009 to about $9.50 in 2014. This decrease will be fuelled by increased competition, increased subscription volume, and better cost efficiencies -- including an increase in digital distribution vs. retail packaged products, Deal says.
P&F says the increasing complexity of online gaming environments will heighten demand on broadband networks, giving Internet service providers an opportunity to boost revenues by adding higher-speed tiers for intense gamers.
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EC outlaw’s French telco tax to fund broadcastersThe European Commission has determined the French plan for a tax on telecom operators to finance public broadcaster France Télévisions is an administrative charge incompatible with European law, and has opened infringement proceedings against France. The Government has two months to reply to make representations.
Worldwide should pay for BBC brand
BBC Worldwide, the corporation's commercial arm, should be forced to pay as £60 million (E69m) a year for the right to use the BBC brand, according to Pact, the independent producers' trade body. Pact is also calling for BBC Worldwide to lose its preferential status in bidding for rights to the corporation's programming, in a report commissioned from research consultancy Oliver & Ohlbaum Associates.
BBC Worldwide gains huge commercial benefits by avoiding the usual business practice of paying an annual licence fee for use of the valuable BBC brand, according to the report. The report examines the structure of the deals to licence the use of the Virgin Media and Virgin Radio brands. Each deal is structured on the basis of paying an annual fee relating to revenues earned.
The report points out that the effect of an annual licence payment would be to reduce BBC Worldwide's value to any buyer by around 39 per cent.
Pact is also seeking to scrap BBC Worldwide's "first look" and "last look" arrangement with the public service arm of the corporation when bidding for programming rights. The commercial arm gets the chance to put in the first and last bids in this process.
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Two-thirds of US consumers own HDTVsA study from ORC examining US consumer awareness, has revealed that nearly two-thirds (62 per cent) now have an HDTV in their home, and another 12 per cent are looking to purchase one within the next two years. This brings the potential market penetration to nearly three out of four households.
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Netflix posts positive Q4Online movie rental outfit Netflix has reported results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2009. Netflix ended the fourth quarter of 2009 with approximately 12,268,000 total subscribers, representing 31 per cent year-over-year growth from 9,390,000 total subscribers at the end of the fourth quarter of 2008 and 10 per cent sequential growth from 11,109,000 subscribers at the end of the third quarter of 2009.
Of the 12,268,000 total subscribers at quarter end, 97 per cent, or 11,892,000, were paid subscribers. The other 3 per cent, or 376,000, were free subscribers. Paid subscribers represented 98 per cent of total subscribers at the end of the fourth quarter of 2008 and at the end of the third quarter of 2009.
Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2009 was $444.5 million, representing 24 percent year-over-year growth from $359.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2008, and a 5 per cent sequential increase from $423.1 million for the third quarter of 2009. Revenue for fiscal 2009 was $1.67 billion, up 22 per cent from $1.365 billion for fiscal 2008.
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China Mobile to launch CMMB service this monthChina Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), China's national operator of CMMB mobile TV, CBC general manager Sun Chaohui revealed that CBC and China Mobile will officially launch mobile phone TV service in early February.
CBC and China Mobile signed an agreement to cooperate by promoting CMMB service on TD-SCDMA handsets in May of last year. Although CMMB-enabled TD-SCDMA handsets began to hit the market in the last quarter of 2009, China Mobile had not previously announced an official date to launch or promote the service.
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Discovery launches new channels in IndiaDiscovery Networks Asia-Pacific, a division of Discovery Communications, has confirmed the launch of its two new channels Discovery Science and Discovery Turbo in India. The new networks will initially air on the Tata Sky DTH platform, but will soon be available on both analogue and digital platforms across the country.
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