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Our Latest Issues
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Tuesday
Friday 22nd January
BSkyB loses ITV appeal
YouTube movie rentals
Croatia starts analogue switch-off on Jan 26
STB market mixed in 2009
FCC rebuffs cable firms on sports
Coming soon: Boxee Payments
Over 1bn broadband subs by 2013
Visiware games on TELUS
BSkyB loses ITV appealPay-TV operator BSkyB has been ordered to reduce its stake in commercial broadcasting rival ITV by the UK court of appeal.
In the fourth ruling since BSkyB acquired the shareholding in November 2006, the court ruled that Sky must sell the stake down to less than 7.5 per cent, which could entail the satcaster facing a potential loss of £500 million (E577m). It bought the stake for £940 million in 2006, effectively blocking NTL, now Virgin Media, from buying ITV.
The Competition Commission had already ruled that Sky's stake gave it undue influence in the UK media and was not in the public interest.
The three court of appeal judges, Lord Justice Rix, Lord Justice Lloyd and Mr Justice McKay said: "Sky's appeal on competition issues is dismissed, so the direction that it must reduce its shareholding to less than 7.5 per centwill stand." Previous appeals had also been dismissed as being without substance. The company can still appeal further to the Supreme Court however. Lord Justice Lloyd, giving the ruling of the court, refused permission to take the case to the Supreme Court but Sky can apply directly for a hearing.
In a brief statement, BSkyB said the company noted the decision by the Court of Appeal, and would review the judgement and order carefully and consider next steps in due course. It is understood that BSkyB has already held talks with a number of potential buyers, which are thought to include RTL, owner of Channel Five, and Italy's Mediaset.
BSkyB’s shares were purchased at 135p, but the intervening years have seen ITV's share price drop to a low of less than 20p. It closed at 57.85p on January 20th, valuing BSkyB's stake at some £402 million. BSkyB has already accounted for the loss in value of the last 18 months, in July 2008, writing down the value of the stake by £616 million in a non-cash accounting impairment charge, and in 2009, reporting £191 million writedown.
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YouTube movie rentalsYouTube will make its debut as a movie rental outlet in the US this week to help promote some of the films that will be shown at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival in Utah.
It is part of a test that YouTube hopes will encourage more studios to rent movies through its site, eventually creating a new financial stream.
The first five films available to rent through YouTube will cost $3.99 for a 48-hour viewing period. Movie studios will be able to set their own prices, with rental viewing windows ranging from one to 90 days. YouTube will get an unspecified commission from each rental.
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Croatia starts analogue switch-off on Jan 26
From Branislav Pekic in RomeDigital Terrestrial Television will replace the analogue signal on January 26 in so-called region D5 of Croatia (Istria and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County) where already 70 per cent of the population is prepared for its arrival.
The analogue switch-off will involve the national broadcasters, although viewers in these areas will for some time still be able to watch local TV channels.
The Croatian Government has issued around 1.1 million vouchers for the purchase of the DVB-T receivers and they can be used by the end of this year, by when the whole transition process to DTT should be completed. According to available data, 53 per cent of Croatian households are already equipped with integrated TV sets or digital boxes.
By the end of March, three specialised DTT channels should be on air, broadcasting experimentally six months, before fully launching at the end of 2010, under the condition they receive a concession. They will join the existing national broadcasters (HRT 1, HRT 2, TV Nova and RTL Televizija) that are already available in DVB-T.
After the D5 region, the timetable calls for the analogue switch-off on March 3 in the region D3 (Medjimurje, Varazdin and Koprivnica-Kri_evci), D7 (Zadar and Sibenik-Knin) and D9 (Dubrovnik-Neretva). On July 20th it will be the turn of region D2 (Bjelovar-Bilogor, Virovitica-Podravina, Pozega-Slavonia and Brod-Posavina) and on August 17 the digital signal arrives in the region D6 (Karlovac) and D8 (Split-Dalmatia). Last in line, on October 5, is the region D4 (City of Zagreb, Zagreb County, Sisak-Moslavina, Krapina-Zagorje).
Earlier this month, Croatian telecommunications regulator HAKOM invited expressions of interest for the transmission of specialised DTT channels on digital multiplex B. One of the conditions is that the channels should be on the air by February 28th, an extremely short deadline which favours the national broadcasters or Croatian thematic channels that are already available on satellite (such as Croatian Music Channel, Mini TV, 24Sata.TV or Kapital Network).
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STB market mixed in 2009
The Asian market for set top boxes (STB) is estimated to have seen over 40 per cent growth in shipments in 2009, according to In-Stat’s market estimates. Meanwhile, the European market saw unit shipments slip 11 per cent in 2009. The North American market was up 2.5 per cent, primarily due to a temporary surge in DTT set top box shipments. Across all regions, except Asia, HD boxes are growing, while standard definition boxes decline.The rapid growth in Asia is being driven by a surge in satellite set top box shipments, in conjunction with strong IPTV STB growth. Europe is seeing shipment declines across all box types, including IPTV, satellite, cable and terrestrial.
Research by In-Stat found the following:
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- Worldwide digital set top box product revenue was $4.4 billion in Q3 2009, on track to hit $19 billion for the year.
- IP STB shipments to telco TV service providers are slowing down as telco TV subscriber growth matures and moderates.
- In-Stat estimates 2009 North American cable set top box shipments declined by over 3 million units.
FCC rebuffs cable firms on sportsThe Federal Communications Commission has voted to stop cable operators from withholding local sports channels from rivals in the US, potentially giving consumers more choice of pay-TV providers.
Federal law requires cable operators to offer access to channels they partially or wholly own to rivals at reasonable rates. But the law includes a loophole that allows cable companies to deny access if the channel's video feed doesn't travel via satellite at some point between the TV studio and the consumer's home.
Satellite operators and phone companies had complained that the loophole put them at a competitive disadvantage since many consumers want to watch live local sporting events from home.
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Boxee has confirmed that it will soon offer pay content through its STBs.
"We plan to release a Payment Platform this summer where users will be able to make purchases with one click on the remote. The content partners we launch with will offer shows, movies and channels that were previously not available to Boxee users. The content owners will be able to package and price as they wish, including pay-per-view and subscription. Content partners will have the flexibility to decide what they make available, whether it’s premium content, content from their existing library, or extras that will never make it on air".While details are still to-be-determined, Boxee will charge a small fee (i.e. lower than the 30 per cent charged by many app stores) for transactions which it enables. "This beginning to the Boxee business model ties our success as a business to the success of our partners."
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Over 1bn broadband subs by 2013During 2009 an average of 8.8 million new broadband subscribers worldwide signed up for service each month. By 2013, In-Stat forecasts that the number of global broadband subscribers will surpass 1 billion.
Research by In-Stat found the following:
- As of December 2009, there were 578 million worldwide broadband subscribers, an increase of 99 million over the year-end 2008 subscriber total.
- DSL, mobile wireless, and cable modem service are the leading access technologies, providing 89 per cent of worldwide broadband connections.
- Mobile wireless broadband is the second largest access technology (behind DSL) with 18 per cent of total subscribers.
- Over the next few years, the number of households with multiple broadband connections will increase significantly. These multiple connection households will commonly have a wired broadband access technology, like DSL or cable modem service, along with a mobile wireless broadband connection.
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Visiware games on TELUSVisiware, a worldwide publisher of games for pay television, has confirmed the availability of its interactive TV game services on TELUS Satellite TV, one of Canada’s leading telecommunication companies, in the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. Visiware’s game services – including up to 44 daily titles – can be accessed 24/7 via the Game Galaxy portal on TELUS.
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Thursday 21st January
DTT for 12m Italians postponed until Sept
Microsoft sues TiVo
DT makes the million
India: no new TV channels
Sirius gains
Hong Kong DTV penetration rate up 40%
Nagravision, DISH deal
Media consumption rising among US young
Bollywood film leaked on YouTube
Latvia to make DTV switch with Grass Valley
Bridge Technologies appoints Sunteq
DTT for 12m Italians postponed until Sept
From Branislav Pekic in RomeThe launch of DTT in Italy’s Lombardy and Eastern Piedmont regions will be delayed from April to September. The Government aims to avoid the replication of the problems that occurred in Lazio last November. In view of the regional elections in March and the World Cup in South Africa the risk was too great that over 12 million Italians in the country’s most populous regions would be left "in the dark".
Meanwhile, many local TV channels in Lazio and Rome are at risk of closure. The combined effect of the economic crisis and the transition to DTT has put small broadcasters on their knees. The Analogue Switch Off has been taking place without clear rules on the positioning of the channels in the digital multiplexes, offering a privileged line-up for RAI and Mediaset and poor visibility for the others. The figures confirm this: RAI in particular, but also Mediaset, have seen a dramatic increase of viewers, while local channels have experienced a drop of around 10 per cent in audience.
According to some reports, Italian public broadcaster RAI is preparing a re-launch of its DTT offering, with a couple of new channels (including one in High Definition) plus a rebranding of the existing ones. The complete 12-channel line-up should be as follows: RaiUno, RaiDue, RaiTre, Rai4, Rai5 Extra, Rai Movie, RaiNews24, Rai Sport, Rai Sport2, RaiStoria, Yoyo, Gulp and Rai HD.
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Microsoft sues TiVoMicrosoft is suing TiVo alleging infringement of patents for a system that displays programme information and a secure method for buying and delivering video programmes.
TiVo, which has 2.7 million direct DVR subscribers, is using portions of the two Microsoft patents in its products or components, including set-top box products, subscription services and software, without a licence, according to a complaint filed in federal court.
Microsoft seeks a court order declaring its patents are valid and blocking TiVo from infringing them, as well as unspecified monetary damages.
"We remain open to resolving this situation through an intellectual-property licensing agreement, and we have initiated discussions to engage TiVo in negotiations," Microsoft said.
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DT makes the millionDeutsche Telekom reached its target of one million IPTV subscribers for its T-Home Entertain by the end of 2009. It is now aiming to add another 500,000 customers.
DT said that by expanding its HD channel line-up and HD on-demand, it aims to become Germany’s leading HD platform. In February public channels ARD, ZDF and ARTE will be added in HD.
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India: no new TV channelsThe Indian government has suspended permission for the launch of new television channels in the country, citing scarcity of spectrum. The ministry of information and broadcasting has suspended fresh permissions for new television channels, affecting the roll out plans of up to 170 channels, applications for which are pending with the ministry.
In a communication put up on its website, the ministry has said it will not accept applications for permission to uplink and downlink television channels from and in India. The ministry had recently sought the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), on whether the government should cap the number of television channels.
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Sirius gainsSirius XM the now sole satellite radio player in the US, added 257,000 net new subscribers for the fourth quarter 2009 and reported $100 million free cash flow for the full year. Mel Karmazin (CEO) noted that 2009 is the first year ever for Sirius XM to report positive free cash flow for an entire year. The company’s subs base now stands at 15.7 million.
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Hong Kong DTV penetration rate up 40%About 46.5 per cent or 1.06 million households, receive digital terrestrial television services in Hong Kong according to a December survey, showing the penetration rate has grown more than 40 per cent since the end of 2008.
Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Rita Lau said the service take-up rate has been growing steadily and the two domestic free TV licensees - Asia Television (ATV) and Television Broadcasts (TVB) - have been making good progress in expanding their digital TV coverage in phases.Coverage had been extended to 85 per cent of the population by the end of last year, and will cover all of Hong Kong by 2012. Lau said the Government will carefully consider the question of analogue switch-off and will make proper arrangements to ensure a smooth migration from analogue to digital.
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Kudelski Group’s Nagravision has secured a Conditional Access System agreement with US digital satellite platform DISH Network.
DISH Network recently completed a migration of its more than 14m subscribers to Nagravision’s new generation security technology. The new ten year agreement with Nagravision and NagraStar aligns DISH Network’s and Nagravision’s interests to optimise the resilience of DISH Network’s security solutions, including the deployment of next generation security smart cards in addition to a broader scope of signal protection covering traditional and emerging piracy threats.
André Kudelski, president and CEO of the Kudelski Group. Said that mutual commitment enabled customisation of Nagravision’s solution roadmap to address DISH Network’s specific needs over the next few years and support its growth.
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Media consumption rising among US young
The amount of time young people spend with entertainment media has risen dramatically, especially among minority youth, according to a study released by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Today, 8-18 year-olds devote an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes (7:38) to using entertainment media across a typical day (more than 53 hours a week). And because they spend so much of that time ‘media multitasking’ (using more than one medium at a time), they actually manage to pack a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes (10:45) worth of media content into those 71ž2 hours.The increase in media use is driven in large part by ready access to mobile devices like cell phones and iPods. Over the past five years, there has been a huge increase in ownership among 8- to 18-year-olds: from 39 per cent to 66 per cent for mobile phones, and from 18 per cent to 76 per cent for iPods and other MP3 players. During this period, cell phones and iPods have become true multi-media devices: in fact, young people now spend more time listening to music, playing games, and watching TV on their cell phones (a total of :49 daily) than they spend talking on them (:33).
For the first time over the course of the study, the amount of time spent watching regularly-scheduled TV declined, by 25 minutes a day (from 2004 to 2009). But the many new ways to watch TV–on the Internet, mobile phones, and iPods–actually led to an increase in total TV consumption from 3:51 to 4:29 per day, including :24 of online viewing, :16 on iPods and other MP3 players, and :15 on cell phones. All told, 59 per cent (2:39) of young people’s TV-viewing consists of live TV on a TV set, and 41 per cent (1:50) is time-shifted, DVDs, online, or mobile.
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Bollywood film leaked on YouTubeA rough cut of unreleased Boolywood movie ‘Tera Kya Hoga Johnny’ has surfaced on the Internet, putting the spotlight on a thriving bootleg industry that sees Bollywood lose up to $400 million in revenue annually.
The film was slated to open in Indian cinemas this summer — but found its way to YouTube this week.
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Latvia to make DTV switch with Grass ValleyGrass Valley is assisting Latvia State Radio and Television Centre (LVRTC) to make the switch from analogue to digital transmission by installing an advanced DVB-T network that features encoding, multiplexing, and nationwide distribution technology and systems from Grass Valley.
The LVRTC is the technical DVB-T service provider for Lattelecom, the main incumbent Telco organisation in Latvia, responsible for the nationwide deployment of DVB-T to provide terrestrial broadcasting of radio and television programmes covering the entire territory of Latvia.
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Bridge Technologies appoints SunteqBridge Technologies and Bratislava-based digital audio and video technology specialist Sunteq have partnered to distribute and support Bridge Technologies' VideoBRIDGE product range in Slovakia. Sunteq will supply VideoBRIDGE's award winning IP probes for digital TV monitoring to broadcasters, telcos, and network operators throughout the country, providing the most advanced headend to set-top box monitoring solution available in the industry.
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Wednesday 20th January
Live sport on YouTube and Xbox
Virgin new music service – and anti-piracy
News Corp ups Sky Deutschland stake
France lends E2bn for web speed
‘Linear TV will be fine’ Deloitte
Carphone TV will wait for Canvas
TV Numeric acquires TNTop
ITV two new channels disappointment in ads
blinkx climbs Nielsen list
Live sport on YouTube and XboxYouTube is to start broadcasting live sport matches for the first time after agreeing a deal to show Indian Premier League cricket. The site is now selling a sponsorship package for the coverage and will show 60 matches from the league.
Last month YouTube launched a sports hub featuring official video content from some of the world’s leading sports organisations and events including the Paralympic and Commonwealth Games. The live Indian Premier League (IPL) coverage is due to start in March. YouTube will split revenues from the sponsorship rights with the IPL.
Meanwhile reports say Microsoft has held talks with Walt Disney about a programming deal with ESPN. For a per-subscriber fee, ESPN is to provide live streams of sporting events, similar to the ones available through ESPN 360, a service that is available from some high-speed Internet providers. Microsoft could also create some interactive games in association with ESPN.
Twenty million members of Xbox Live can surf Facebook, browse an online mall of movies and TV episodes and, if they pay, watch Netflix.
Nearly 60 per cent of American homes now have at least one console, according to Deloitte, up from 44 per cent three years ago.
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Virgin new music service – and anti-piracy
Virgin Media is to launch its music-download service this summer. The company is said to be planning to back the initiative with a cross-platform ad campaign aimed at attracting more customers to Virgin Media's broadband package.
MusicFish will offer Virgin Media customers the opportunity to stream and download music and video content as part of their broadband package. Virgin Media agreed a deal with Universal Music in June, but has yet to sign up other major labels, although discussions are ongoing.
Virgin Media is trying out new technology that can automatically detect if a customer’s broadband connection is being used to download copyrighted files illegally. Called deep packet inspection (DPI), the detection technology categorises all Internet traffic that passes over a customer’s connection — be that email, general web surfing or online gaming. Traffic identified as filesharing is subjected to a deeper scan and is said to be checked against a database of music and, potentially, films. Detica, the firm that runs the system for Virgin Media, claims it can tell within seconds whether the specific data being downloaded are, say, family photos or the latest Kings of Leon album.
Virgin and Detica insist that DPI is — for now — being used only to measure the level of illegal filesharing, not to spy on customers. Indeed, they say the key piece of information — the IP address — is ignored in the process.
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News Corp ups Sky Deutschland stakeNews Corp is to increase its stake in German pay-TV provider Sky Deutschland from 39.96 per cent to 45.42 per cent via a Sky Deutschland share issue. News Corp will invest E110 million aimed at its marketing and sales activities, including direct marketing to subscribers, and to expand its HD offer. The pay-TV provider plans to add four new HD channels to its line-up by mid-2010.
Sky Deutschland expects EBITDA for 2010 to be in the range of a loss of E130 million to E170 million. It is predicting operating cash-flow breakeven on a monthly basis in 2011 at a subscriber level of between 2.8 million and three million.
Meanwhile, Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, already one of the major investors in News Corp, is reportedly looking to strengthen his ties. Alwaleed reportedly met with Murdoch last week to discuss an agenda including a potential News Corp investment in Alwaleed’s Rotana Media Group, which includes a number of satellite channels. Alwaleed currently holds 5.7 per cent of News Corp shares, making him the second largest shareholder.
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France lends E2bn for web speedThe French government will provide E2 billion of soft loans to improve the country's high-speed access, as part of a national loan programme to boost the economy through investment in infrastructure.
Prime Minister Francois Fillon said the government would make a series of low-interest loans to telecommunications groups, to encourage them to develop fibre-optic networks outside major cities. "We are at the dawn of the era of high-speed Internet and fibre-optic networks. However, 500,000 French people don't have access to high speed Internet at all. This is not acceptable."
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‘Linear TV will be fine’ DeloitteAccording to the Deloitte 2010 TMT Predictions, the TV and its fixed schedule will remain a central part of the entertainment experience despite the growing demand from viewers who want to watch individual programmes when they want them.
The forecast is counter to many expectations as analysts have long expected on demand to take the upper hand. But Deloitte said the traditional linear system of delivering television and radio was still easier and sufficient for the majority of consumers.
"Our estimate is that over 90 per cent of all television watched and over 80 percent of all audio content consumed will be via traditional broadcast," the report said. "Linear will prevail despite the proliferation of technologies, such as digital video recorders, pay-per-view, on-demand television, podcasts, and online music services, all of which permit viewers and listeners to opt out of the broadcasters' schedules."
Deloitte does not expect a host of new TVs geared to the Web to rush to market. Instead, Deloitte expects the so-called convergence to be driven by the user, with viewers accessing the Internet through laptops, Netbooks, smart phones and games consoles while they watch the television.
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Carphone TV will wait for CanvasCarphone Warehouse is delaying its IPTV proposition until there is more progress on Project Canvas, saying it would be "foolhardy" to invest in its own TV proposition against incumbent offerings big TV operators.
The comments were made during a trading update today, when CEO Charles Dunstone said earnings are expected to be at the top end of earlier estimates.
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Numeric acquires TNTopThe French DTT distributor TV Numeric is to acquire one of its top competitors - TNtop TV, the French subsidiary of the UK’s Top Up TV. TV Numeric says it intends to harness the acquisition to launch push-VOD systems on DTT. The company is currently preparing its first push-VOD technical tests in areas of Normandy.
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ITV two new channels disappointment in ads
UK’s ITV has been given the green light to launch two new channels – a time-shifted channel and a high definition channel – following a report by The Competition Commission. However, the network is angry the Commission has only agreed smallchanges to the system of contract rights renewal (CRR), the way in which advertising is sold.Diana Guy, deputy chairman of the Competition Commission, said: "We found there is a strong case for widening the definition of ITV1 in the CRR undertakings to include both ITV+1 and ITV1 HD and this has been largely supported by ITV and other parties. We believe that this change will go a considerable way towards reducing the unintended costs to ITV of the current system." However, ITV said in a statement: "CRR distorts the market and the fundamental relationship between advertisers and free-to-air broadcasters."
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blinkx climbs Nielsen listblinkx, the world’s largest video search engine, has been ranked a top online brand by the Nielsen Company. blinkx joins the ranks of YouTube, Hulu, and Yahoo as a top online video site in a recent report based on video streams for December 2009.
In addition to its ranking of top online brands, Nielsen reports that overall online video usage is on the rise. In the past year, the total number of video streams has gone up 11.8 per cent, while the amount of time logged watching online video per viewer has increased 13.2 per cent.
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Tuesday 19th March
Ofcom ready to rein in Sky as rivals prepare price cuts
EC puts RTVE in limbo?
UK media M&A all time low but looking up
Orange must rethink IPTV strategy
Ofcom considers deregulation of TV advertising rules
Call for study of threat from offline file-sharing
Proposed web video restrictions outrage Italy
Deutsche Telekom sets fibre-optic infrastructure charges
Sony and Voddler on-demand movie deal
Ofcom ready to rein in Sky as rivals prepare price cutsA board meeting at Ofcom is set to approve the regulator obliging Sky to cut its wholesale prices on its sports channels. In choreographed weekend interviews BT set the ground claiming it would definitely significantly undercut Sky with its retail price if it gets access to the channels at the kind of prices put forward by Ofcom.
BT’s head of retail division Gavin Patterson said it hopes to start offering Sky Sports 1 to customers of its BT Vision service for £15 (E17) a month. Sky customers currently pay at least £25.50 for the channel and most satellite households are paying upwards of £36 a month for a full package of sports and premium movie channels. "The case is crystal clear – the customer benefits if they get more choice," said Patterson. BT Vision doesn’t currently carry Sky Sports and has amassed just 436,000 subs.
In its initial findings, Ofcom decided Sky must be forced to drop the price of Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2 from the £13.48 it currently charges -Virgin Media to somewhere within the range of £9.41 and £11.24 per channel, while a bundle of both channels and Sky Movies – which currently costs Virgin £23.40 per subscriber – should come down to between £16.98 and £20.43, a 27 per cent discount on current prices.
Sky is likely to fight these enforced cuts through the courts, just as it has fought the Competition Commission’s decision it must sell its stake in ITV.
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EC puts RTVE in limbo?
From David Del Valle in Madrid
The European Commission (EC) has urged Spain to put on hold the new RTVE's new financial regime until its probe into the new Spanish legislation to determine whether it is compatible or not with the EU Treaty has concluded.
Until then, RTVE, which ceased broadcasting advertising from on January 1st in accordance with the new legislation, will not be able to be financed by taxes on free-to-air TV channels (3 per cent of their revenues), pay-TV channels (1.5 per cent of their revenues) or telco companies (0.9 per cent of their revenues).
The EC started an inquiry at the end of 2009 questioning whether the taxes amounted to financial aid and whether those taxes are compatible with the Treaty. The EC has summoned Spain to provide all requested information within a month.
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UK media M&A all time low but looking up
In 2009 UK media deals hit their lowest levels since the dot com crash as deal volume fell 36 per cent on the previous year, PricewaterhouseCoopers has reported.
But the transformation of traditional media companies, continued reduction of debt levels, and a steadily strengthening economy all signpost a rise in M&A activity in 2010.
Just 29 media transactions totalling E2.7 billion were completed in the UK in 2009. Deal volume and value fell 36 per cent compared with 2008 when 45 deals worth a E4.1 billion were recorded.
A total of 90 deals worth a combined E6.3 billion were completed across Europe last year. This represents a year-on-year fall of 33 per cent by volume and 63 per cent by value. In 2008, 135 deals totalling E17.1 billion were recorded.
Andy Morgan, TMT corporate finance partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, said: "Trade buyers might have been expected to make a bigger splash last year given the generally low level of PE competition. But only exceptional assets were saleable and, with all but the most desperate vendors unwilling to countenance credit-crunch pricing, negotiations often ended in deadlock."
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Orange must rethink IPTV strategyA decision by France's Competition Council on carriage of exclusive content could have repercussions on the entire IPTV industry, according to Strategy Analytics. The report suggests that Orange will need to fundamentally alter its marketing strategy to stay competitive.
Orange has pursued an aggressive content strategy in recent years, spending over E200 million to acquire exclusive rights to sports and other content, packaged under its Orange Sport and Orange Cinéma Séries brands. The strategy has been largely effective, and has led to rapid growth of its pay TV segments. The new ruling – proposing content should not be exclusive - threatens to remove content altogether as a differentiator for the provider.
"Content exclusivity remains among the most powerful weapons in the television provider’s arsenal, and recent events in the French market may point to stronger regulatory oversight of content in other markets worldwide," said Ben Piper, Director of the Strategy Analytics Multiplay Market Dynamics Service. "If that happens, operators will need to shift focus to non-content differentiators."
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Ofcom considers deregulation of TV advertising rulesOfcom is considering further relaxing the TV advertising rules, Chief Executive Ed Richards commented: "Ofcom is committed to reducing its regulatory burdens. In the last few years the TV sector has moved on with substantial increases in the take-up of digital services and in the number of available channels, and consolidation in the advertising buying sector. If regulations have no public interest then they should be removed; that is what we will be considering here."
Ofcom will review whether commercial broadcasters should continue to face certain restrictions in the way they sell advertising, including the requirement on public service broadcasters (PSBs) that they sell all their advertising minutes.
Alongside this Ofcom will consider whether advertising minutage and break pattern rules for PSBs and other channels should be harmonised.
Ofcom plans to publish the consultation over the next few months. If changes are made, Ofcom hopes that these can be published in the autumn of 2010, when broadcasters and advertising buyers negotiate terms for the next 12 months, and brought into effect from 1 January 2011.
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Call for study of threat from offline file-sharingThe Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property (Sabip), a body set up to advise the UK government, has been looking into "offline" copyright infringement after its research last year into online piracy threw up questions about how consumers get films, music and games for free.
"There's a whole big question here around what is happening offline digitally, the swapping of discs and data in that world. There's a lot of it going on," said Sabip board member Dame Lynne Brindley.
Brindley, chief executive of the British Library, said existing research did not give a clear picture of consumer behaviour. While there was some data on the proportion of people buying counterfeit CDs, DVDs and video games – estimated at between 7 per cent and 16 per cent of the population – Sabip was concerned that more needed to be known about other copyright breaches, such as hard-drive swapping and files being shared by wireless Bluetooth connections.
"The need for research into this area is hugely important so we can understand consumer behaviour, to understand how to enforce copyright and to understand the scale of the problems we are experiencing," David Lammy, minister for intellectual property.
Sabip's review of available national and international research concluded: "Policy-makers urgently need a better understanding of how consumers behave in both the online and offline digital environment."
The review, conducted by BOP Consulting, also sought to show that consumers were "more interested in factors such as price, quality, and availability of material, rather than its legal status".
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Proposed web video restrictions outrage Italy
New rules to be introduced by government decree will require Italians who upload videos onto the Internet to obtain authorisation from the Communications Ministry similar to that required by television broadcasters, drastically reducing freedom to communicate over the Web.
The decree is ostensibly an enactment of a European Union (EU) directive on product placement and is due to go into effect at the end of January after being subjected to a non-binding appraisal by parliament.
Opposition lawmakers denounce dthe new rules -- which require government authorization for the uploading of videos, give individuals who claim to have been defamed a right of reply and prevent the replay of copyright material -- as a threat to freedom of expression.
"The decree subjects the transmission of images on the Web to rules typical of television and requires prior ministerial authorisation, with an incredible limitation on the way the Internet currently functions," opposition politician Paolo Gentiloni said.
Article 4 of the decree specifies that the dissemination over the Internet "of moving pictures, whether or not accompanied by sound," requires ministerial authorisation. Critics say it will therefore apply to the Web sites of newspapers, to IPTV and to mobile TV, obliging them to take on the same status as television broadcasters.
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Deutsche Telekom sets fibre-optic infrastructure chargesDeutsche Telekom has applied to the German Federal Network Agency to approve the charges for use of three elements of its fibre-optic infrastructure. The Group is offering access in multi-function cabinets for a monthly unit price. Telecommunications companies who use slots in the multi-function cabinet pay a corresponding portion of the unit price.
Niek Jan van Damme, Member of the Board of Management of Deutsche Telekom AG responsible for Germany: "We have developed a simple, transparent and fair pricing model. This makes it easier for our competitors to calculate their broadband investments. There is no doubt that Germany needs more fibre-optic infrastructure, but competitors must also contribute to the expansion."
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Sony and Voddler on-demand movie dealSony Pictures Television has signed a VOD deal with Voddler, the Swedish home entertainment service, to make movies from the Hollywood studio available on-demand to users of the on-demand service. The agreement means that Voddler users can immediately access a range of recent and library titles from the Sony Pictures feature film catalogue on a VOD and Advertiser Video-On-Demand (AVOD) basis.
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Monday 18th January
iPlayer: good for consoles, very bad for ITV, Trust Reviews
US Telcos want free hand for bandwidth shaping
DTH platforms maintain growth
Motorola stalls STB sale
TW consolidates HBO Central Europe
Britain 26th in global broadband race
Two Taiwan mobile TV licenses in 2010
Lagardere denies sales rumours
Wist IPTV service
iPlayer: good for consoles, very bad for ITV, Trust Reviews
The BBC has revealed that of the record 100 million iPlayer requests in December, 11 per cent were via games consoles, 75 per cent up on prior months. The news comes as The BBC Trust announces another consultation this time on specifics of the on demand services provided through iPlayer.
Consultations are open until March 12th and are invited on the seven day catch up, TV simulcasting and podcasts. Bookmarking series stacking are also on the agenda. There will be a separate review of the more controversial syndication of iPlayer to other platforms.
The (largely technical) review comes as PwC produces research warning that iPlayer is a major threat to commercial TV revenues. It predicts by 2014 15 per cent of viewing will have shifted to free VOD from linear channels, a percentage that represents £420 million (E475m) of advertising at today’s rates.
PWC says this revenue cannot be recouped in VOD advertising: users will not tolerate the 10mins per hour sold in linear, with only 3 mins per hour even if sold at the same rate (and the CPMs are lower today) £280 million would be lost.
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US Telcos want free hand for bandwidth shapingThe Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) has unsurprisingly supported the Federal Communications Commission’s recognition that its Internet policies should be subject to ‘reasonable network management’ and urged the Commission to continue to allow the industry to establish appropriate management techniques to meet evolving consumer needs.
ATIS cited the ongoing work of its Next Generation Interconnection Interoperability Forum, Telecom Management and Operations Committee, Network Performance, Reliability, and Quality of Service Committee and Wireless Technologies and Systems Committee to address myriad network management issues. Based on its network management experience, ATIS submits that available management tools ‘should not be unduly constrained by regulatory action.’
In its comments, ATIS also recommended that the Commission not impose regulatory mandates on the potentially new "managed" or "specialised" service category, which includes IPTV. Instead, ATIS urges the Commission to support collaborative, consensus-based and industry-driven developments of these services. ‘Such an approach would promote innovation in these nascent markets, and encourage wide-scale deployment of new services,’ it says.
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DTH platforms maintain growthEuroconsult has reported that growth in the satellite pay-TV market remained strong in 2009 despite the global economic downturn. According to the 4th edition of "Satellite TV Platforms, World Survey & Prospects to 2019, Growth through the Crisis", the number of TV Platforms in service increased to 113 in 2009 (+38 per cent in three years). Pay TV platforms combined currently reach 131 million subscribers and earned $70 billion revenues in 2009.
"Subscriber growth in the satellite pay-TV market has been robust, increasing 15 per cent worldwide," indicated Pacôme Revillon, CEO of Euroconsult. "Growth in emerging digital markets has been particularly strong with subscribers reaching the 60 million mark in 2009, a nearly five-fold increase over the previous few years" he added. "Looking forward, the market is expected to remain bright with Euroconsult forecasting roughly 235 million subscribers worldwide by 2019."
Nearly all markets, with the exception of Europe, saw revenue growth in local currency last year. However, more aggressive pricing strategies, both due to the crisis and to more intense competition, weighed down the average revenue per subscriber (ARPU), resulting in revenues growing more modestly than subscribers.
While the aggressive pricing strategy currently practised by many platforms drives subscriptions more than revenues in the short term, fee increases - which are very likely over time - should help securing long term revenue growth. This commonly-used strategy enabled platforms like Russia’s Tricolor TV to sign close to three million subscribers in only three years of operation with a basic package at around one dollar per month. Meanwhile, its rival NTV+ is still striving to reach the one million subscriber mark after more than a decade.
US reports say that yesterday’s sale of the EMEA end of the cable modem business marks the end not the beginning of the sale process for the whole $4 billion division. Motorola is rethinking as bids for the US unit have come in some way below expectations. Long term strategy remains to separate the handset, enterprise and home network divisions.
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TW consolidates HBO Central Europe
Time Warner is near to gaining the regulatory approvals needed to to complete its $160 million purchase Disney and Sony’s combined one-third stake in HBO Central Europe, which operates seven channels. The deal will complete its consolidation of ownership of all HBO international operations.
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Britain 26th in global broadband raceBritain has been ranked 26th in the world by Akamai’s ‘The State of the Internet’ report, with an average download speed of just 3.5 Mbps
South Korea has the fastest broadband by a large margin, recording a 14.6 Mbps average speed, while Japan occupies the second spot with an average speed of 7.9 Mbps. Sweden took the top position in Europe with an average speed of 5.7 Mbps, with Ireland closely following on 5.3 Mbps.
Despite other reports recently stating Britain’s average broadband speed to be slightly higher than 3.5 Mbps, such as broadband.co.uk which calculated it to be closer to 4.478 Mbps, this still would not have qualified the UK to make it into the top 10 fastest countries.
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Two Taiwan mobile TV licenses in 2010Taiwan's National Communications Commission (NCC) plans to issue Taiwan's first two mobile TV licences by the end of 2010, one to operate on Channel 35 (596-602MHz) and the other on Channel 36 (602-608MHz).
The two licensees will be allowed to choose a mobile TV standard between the Qualcomm’s MediaFLO and DVB-H.
NCC issued five trial broadcast licences for mobile TV at the end of 2006, with four licensees choosing DVB-H and the other using MediaFLO, the sources noted.
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Lagardere denies sales rumoursFrench media company Lagardere has denied rumors that the group is selling its stakes in European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co and Vivendi's Canal Plus Group.
There was speculation in the markets that Lagardere was going to sell its stakes in the two companies. Lagardere has said before that the company would eventually sell the 20 per cent it holds in Canal Plus France, a subsidiary of Canal Plus Group, which is owned by Vivendi.
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Wist IPTV servicePolish regional operator Wist, operating in the Rzeszow region, has confirmed the launch of its IPTV service. The system operates using the operator's ADSL2+ network. The operator also started providing VOD and PVR services. The new platform was designed and implemented by Polish firm Vector.
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