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Tuesday
Friday 2nd July
HbbTV spec approved, looks for membership
Sky rains on BT’s sport price parade
Mediaset retaliate to Sky Italia price cuts
Hulu Chief sees online TV mostly supported by ads
Pirelli to sell broadband unit
Carlyle pay-TV sale stalls
Sales record for digital STB
Eutelsat appoints Wallace as Chief Commercial Officer
OTT video providers jockeying for position
World Cup kicks off US mobile video market
Viasat brings Premier League to Denmark
AT&T ‘My Multiview’ app
HbbTV spec approved, looks for membershipThe HbbTV (Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV) consortium announced the approval of version 1.1.1 of its specification by European standards agency ETSI. The approval of the specification, listed as ETSI TS 102 796, coincides with the formal establishment of the HbbTV consortium. The consortium charter, signed by all of the founding members, signals the opening of the consortium for membership for organisations wanting to become involved in the group’s activities and is a significant development for HbbTV.
The membership charter details such areas as the operational framework, activity scope, IPR policy, membership fees, voting procedures and associated terms. The opening of HbbTV membership enables new participants to actively contribute to the requirements, maintenance and development of the specification and to have early access to updates as the specification evolves. Members will also be able to contribute to the development of the HbbTV test suite, certification regime and promotion of HbbTV as a format.
HbbTV was first announced in August 2009 with the aim of harmonising the delivery of broadcast and broadband services through connected TV’s and set-top boxes, it now lists over 60 supporters from broadcasters, software providers and CE device manufacturers.
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Sky rains on BT’s sport price paradeBT has publicly launched its new Sky Sports 1 and 2 prices (£16.99 (E20.7) a month for both) but hours earlier, Sky had announced an increase in the retail prices it would charge its own customers for the channels. Under the complex retail-to-wholesale price regulation imposed by Ofcom, the wholesale price to BT will return to roughly the levels before the ruling and this means BT will be selling Sky Sport subscriptions at a loss as the new wholesale price for a two channel package will be £19.07.
BSkyB is raising the price by 1 per cent to 26 per cent depending on the customer’s channel combination. Ian Patterson, CEO of BT Retail, admitted the hike meant BT would be selling at a loss, but he hoped it would encourage customers to switch suppliers and he maintained BT would make a profit from Sky Sport over the long term. Both BT and Sky are challenging the Ofcom ruling in the courts, Sky wants the restrictions removed, while BT believes they should be tightened and the wholesale prices lowered further.
The wholesale price increase will similarly affect Virgin Media.
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Mediaset retaliate to Sky Italia price cutsMediaset, the Italian broadcaster says that it will cut pay-television prices after cuts by rival Sky Italia.
Sky Italia said it’s cutting the entry-level price for packages of movies and soccer and other sports by 26 per cent as competition increases. It will offer channel groupings at E29 a month, which compares with the E26 list price, excluding promotions, that Mediaset’s pay-TV service offers for packages that include soccer channels.
Mediaset said it is offering a promotion of its soccer and film package at E14 a month until the end of 2010. "The competition between us and Sky is good for customers, but our offerings remain more competitive than Sky’s" he said.
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Hulu Chief sees online TV mostly supported by adsHulu Chief Executive Jason Kilar has said that he believes most premium media content in the world will be available online five or 10 years from now in a free, ad-supported ubiquitous model.
The comments, made in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires, came one day after Hulu launched its long-awaited online subscription offering--Hulu Plus--a service that costs $9.99 a month and allows customers to watch a broader array of TV shows.
Already, Kilar said subscription requests for Hulu Plus have "vastly exceeded" internal expectations. Hulu, the No. 2 online destination for video content behind YouTube, launched its subscription offering as a conviction grows in the traditional media business that creators of news and entertainment content can't rely on advertising revenue alone to support a thriving business online.
Kilar said that some content will fare well under a subscription model, and he pointed to the success of Time Warner Inc.'s (TWX) premium cable network HBO as an example, but he's convinced that most media content in the future will not exist behind a pay wall.
As for Hulu itself, Kilar said both its ad-supported and subscription businesses will be "significant," but he's not sure which one will end up providing the site's largest source of revenue. "Ultimately, it's the consumer that's going to decide, and we're very comfortable with that," he said.
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Pirelli to sell broadband unitPirelli, Europe’s third- largest tyre maker, will sell its broadband communications unit as part of a reorganisation that includes a spin-off of real estate assets, Chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera said.
Pirelli is examining at least five offers for the maker of STBs and network adaptors, Tronchetti Provera said in an interview. The sale, targeted for this year, will complement a spinoff of Pirelli Real Estate that would result in two companies directly held by Camfin, Pirelli’s largest shareholder, he said.
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Carlyle Group’s $1 billion deal to sell a pay-TV operator to Taiwan Mobile is in limbo after it failed to obtain regulatory approval ahead of a deadline. Taiwan Mobile said both sides had decided to allow the original sales agreement to lapse after Wednesday’s deadline but were looking for options to address regulatory concerns and wanted to complete the sale.
The US private equity fund announced plans last September to sell Kbro to Taiwan Mobile, the country’s second-largest phone carrier. By acquiring Kbro, Taiwan Mobile would have also become the island’s biggest cable-TV operator with 1.6 million customers. In return, Carlyle would have received $12 million and a 15.5 per cent stake in Taiwan Mobile.
Taiwan regulators have held up the deal because it breaches rules on government ownership of media companies.
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Sales record for digital STBThe European market for digital STBs is set to rise by an estimated 9.6 per cent to E2.2 billion in 2010 according to the European Information Technology Observatory (EITO). The number of sold devices is expected to increase by 6.3 per cent to 32 million compared to the previous year.
The market for STBs has been developing very differently this year in the five biggest EU countries. The most growth has been seen in France. According to EITO, the market volume in France is growing by an estimated 86 per cent to E320 million. The German market is predicted to increase by 38 per cent to E720 million; the Italian market 29 per cent to E500 million. The UK and Spain, on the other hand, should expect a drop in revenues of 32 per cent – down to E160 million and E105 million, respectively. The main reason for this is that the digitisation of television reception in these countries has already been completed to a large extent.
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Eutelsat appoints Wallace as Chief Commercial OfficerEutelsat Communications has announced the appointment of Andrew Wallace as Chief Commercial Officer. Wallace has been appointed to head up Eutelsat's overall sales and marketing activities. His role will include leadership of the Group's infrastructure and Value-Added Services businesses.
Wallace has been Marketing Director at Pace, the world's largest digital TV set-top-box developer.
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OTT video providers jockeying for positionIndustry participants in the OTT video market are positioning themselves for what is anticipated to be a high-growth market with multi-billion dollar revenue streams, reports In-Stat . Companies such as Netflix, Blockbuster, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, YouTube, and Hulu are all vying for a piece of the action.
"OTT video is happening now, with over 37 million broadband households in the US downloading online video content," says Keith Nissen, In-Stat analyst. "The growing adoption of both OTT video consumption and web-enabled consumer electronics promises to further expand the opportunity content producers and OTT retailers."
Research by In-Stat found the following:
- US broadband households that view OTT video will grow from 38 million in 2009 to 81 million by 2014.
- Revenue from OTT video will more than quadruple by 2014 as it approaches $20 billion.
- A primary success criteria for OTT video services is access to unique, first-run TV and movie content.
- Over one-third of the 18–24 year old adult households stream full-length OTT video on a regular basis, compared to less than 10 per cent of adult households in the over 45 year-old age brackets.
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World Cup kicks off US mobile video market
The FIFA World Cup has helped to kick off the US market for video service on mobile phones, spurring a 12.7 per cent increase in subscriptions in 2010, according to Screen Digest. US mobile VOD and mobile TV active subscribers are set to rise to 3.5 million in 2010, up from 3.1 million in 2009. Subscribers are expected to continue to expand during the following years, reaching 5 million by 2014.
ESPN has cashed in on US World Cup fever, with the sports broadcaster reporting 8.2 million visits to its World Cup mobile web app and content. The company also reported generating more than 50.4 million page views and 550,000 video streams related to the World Cup.
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Viasat brings Premier League to DenmarkModern Times Group (MTG), the international entertainment broadcasting group, has confirmed that its TV 2 Sport joint venture with TV 2 in Denmark, will launch two new TV 2 Sport Premier League pay-TV channels, which will provide live coverage of Barclays Premier League football matches for the next three years. This follows the earlier announcements by Viasat of the acquisition of the exclusive rights to English Premier League football in Sweden, and the carriage of three TV 2 HD channels featuring live coverage of Premier League games in Norway. Viasat will therefore be the only pan-Scandinavian pay-TV operator to offer Barclays Premier League coverage to its subscribers in all three countries.
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AT&T ‘My Multiview’ appAT&T has announced the launch of My Multiview, the latest TV app from AT&T U-verse that lets customers choose the channels displayed on screen in their Multiview.
Users can create their own Multiview by selecting up to 55 channels as favourites and can then watch up to four channels at one time and control which channel appears as the main picture with audio. Instead of browsing through the programme guide or surfing one channel at a time, users can tune to My Multiview to scroll through the picture-in-picture screens to see all their selected channels.
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Thursday 1st July
Project Canvas timeline revealed
Online viewing field tests for BARB
Hulu launches $10 subscription service
ONO goes next-gen with TiVo
Big Brother eyes Five bid
Phorm decamps to Brazil
TRAI recommends change to foreign ownership rules
Echostar goes HD streaming
Al Jazeera on Freeview
Consumers increasing "entertainment time" online
Project Canvas timeline revealed
From Colin Mann in LondonRichard Halton, IPTV Programme Director at the BBC, has given further details of the nest steps in the Project Canvas proposition, following the authorisation given by the BBC Trust.
Halton told delegates at the Marketforce/Institute of Economic Affairs Future of Broadcasting conference that the existing partners (the BBC, Arqiva, BT, Channel 4, Five, ITV and Talk Talk) will formalise an independent joint venture during the summer; the final aspects of the common specification will be shared in August 2010, with the programme for engaging content and service providers established in the autumn of 2010.
"It is genuinely a joint endeavour, jointly funded by the partners," he said. "What you’ll now see from them is the articulation of the consumer proposition." He predicted that once Canvas – rumoured to be called ‘YouView’ when commercialised – was established, video on demand would go from being a subset of peoples viewing to being core. "I believe VOD delivery will become the fabric of our daily TV consumption."
A key rationale of the proposition, according to Halton, was that it would sustain an open horizontal market for consumer electronics manufacturers who wished to create devices that offered free TV services. He anticipated the first devices would be high-end models including HD and PVR capabilities retailing at around £200.
Speaking at the same event, Cindy Rose, Executive Director, Digital Entertainment, Virgin Media, said that she believed that the cable operator should be able to build a ‘Canvas’ set-top box that would allow Virgin Media’s pay-TV services to work alongside Canvas’s free proposition.
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Online viewing field tests for BARB
From Colin Mann in LondonTV viewing measurement body BARB is to launch a series of field tests to measure TV viewing via laptops and PCs in the UK. The field tests will run for six months.
BARB CEO Bjarne Thelin revealed at the Marketforce/Institute of Economic Affairs Future of Broadcasting conference that it is recruiting a temporary panel for the project, comprising 75 homes, which will each be fitted with a ‘virtual meter’ to track viewing and for viewers to register when they’re accessing audiovisual content. The meter is designed to replicate the set-top meter used by BARB’s in-home viewing panel of 5,100 homes.
The aim of the panel is to test the meter in real-life situations and gather technical, response, data and attitudinal factors that may emerge from the use of this technique. If successful, BARB will consider rolling out the same measurement technique across its main panel.
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Hulu launches $10 subscription serviceAs expected Hulu has launched a subscription service with access to older and full screen episodes of popular television shows. More recent episodes of the shows will remain free on Hulu's ad-supported website. But for $9.99 a month, subscribers can get the entire current season of shows from broadcasters ABC, Fox and NBC, as well as all the past seasons of several series.
The new site is initially available by invitation only on PCs, Apple's iPad and iPhones and certain Samsung Blu-ray players and TVs. It's coming soon to Sony’s PlayStation 3 and some of its TVs and Blu-ray players, and there are plans to launch on Microsoft's Xbox early next year.
The paid section will show the same number of ads to viewers as on the free site, but it has more content available. Subscribers can watch shows in HD — at up to 720p, compared with 480p for free.
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ONO goes next-gen with TiVo
ONO, the largest cable operator in Spain and a leading provider of broadband communication and entertainment services, and TiVo , the creator of television services for personal video recorders, have signed a strategic agreement to deploy 'next generation TV' in Spain. Through the combination of its modern fibre optic network and TiVo's television user experience, ONO will be able to offer Spanish homes an advanced video service, in a seamless convergence between Internet and traditional television content.
This partnership establishes ONO as the exclusive distributor of TiVo's advanced television services in Spain. Similarly, TiVo will become the exclusive software provider for all next generation set top boxes deployed by ONO, including both PVR platforms and traditional ‘non-PVR’ set top boxes. ONO and TiVo also expect to collaborate on solutions that make the TiVo experience available to consumers beyond ONO's cable footprint in conjunction with terrestrial and Internet delivered content - though specifics of these plans were not disclosed.
ONO and TiVo will also be working with other technology providers such as Nagravision and Cisco to implement and subsequently launch ONO's next generation TV platform.
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Big Brother eyes Five bidBig Brother creator John De Mol has been linked with a bid for Channel Five, which has been put up for sale by RTL. De Mol is reported to be working with Greek broadcaster Antenna on a joint bid that was submitted to RTL before last week's deadline for submissions, through his investment company Cyrte Investments. Cyrte Investments owns around a third of Endemol, the Dutch Big Brother producer co-founded by De Mol in the 1990s.
It is thought that if the joint bid with Antenna is successful, De Mol would provide content for Five.
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Phorm decamps to BrazilBehavioural ad targetting company Phorm is moving operational activities to Brazil, where it has its solitary customer, and is seeking local equity investors there for another fundraising. The company has raised a total £51.96 million (E64.2m) since July 2005. Its only income so far has been $1.6 million from Brazilian ISP Oi, which is now using Phorm’s Webwise Discover service to monitor browsing and serve them targeted ads through UOL, Terra and IG portals.
In the latest funding, Phorm aims to protect its London holding company from further stock dilution by attracting funds only to the Brazil division - a tactic it says it will also use in any future overseas markets.
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TRAI recommends change to foreign ownership rulesIndia’s Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) is recommending that its current foreign ownership rules for broadcasters be revised. It has recommended to government that the current 20 per cent foreign ownership rules be relaxed, and reset at 74 per cent. Exceptions would be local cable operators (capped at 26 per cent) and FM radio operations. News and current affairs TV channels would also stay capped at 26 per cent.
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EchoStar has entered into a long-term service agreement with XStreamHD, which promises to deliver full HD video direct to the home. EchoStar and XStream have been working together for the past two years testing the transport technology which transmits in a 1080p format from the AMC-16 satellite at 85º West.
According to the XStreamHD the service will include "movies, music, electronic games, broadcast HDTV, and more - when it's most convenient, anywhere in the home, and at the quality today's home theaters were designed to support." Product launch is expected by the end of summer. Equipment costs for the service range from $399 to $699 plus a small dish. In addition, XStream lists a $9.95/month service fee. Requested programming is downloaded to the equipment for viewing (or playing or listening) at any time.
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Al Jazeera English, the Qatar-based news channel, will double its availability in UK homes by launching on Freeview today. The service launched on Sky's pay-TV service in late 2006 and went free to air on the Freesat digital satellite service in May 2008.
"This is a breakthrough for us; it will give us substantial reach to more than 80 per cent of homes in the UK," said Al Anstey, director of media development for the al-Jazeera Network.
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Consumers increasing "entertainment time" onlineMetacafe has published the findings of its annual sponsored study on online video consumption that found consumers are increasingly turning to the Internet for entertainment. The research, conducted by Frank N. Magid Associates as part of the Magid Media Futures 2010 study, found that half of respondents now watch online video weekly or more often, an increase from 43 percent in 2009. Viewers aged 18 to24 accounted for the greatest increase in weekly online video viewership. Consumers also said they expect to watch more video online over the coming year.
"The dramatic increase we have seen over the last year in viewership from the coveted and traditionally hard-to-reach 18 to 24 year-old demographic raises the stakes for online video ad spend," said Erick Hachenburg, CEO of Metacafe. "These consumers are the ‘entertainment drivers’ that define pop culture and determine breakout hits in the social media world, making them an especially valuable audience for advertisers."
The research also provided insight into the type of content preferred by consumers online. Short, professional videos accounted for eight of the 10 most popular video genres, including music videos, movie previews, clips of TV shows, sports and comedy. Consumers overwhelmingly said watching short, professional videos online is just as entertaining as watching full-length TV shows on television. More than one in four respondents also stated short form online videos are more entertaining than full-length TV shows. Ads in online video content are also increasingly seen as equally or more acceptable than TV ads.
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Wednesday 30th June
DirecTV: World’s first 3D TV channel
BBC admits £22.5m on iPlayer so far but won’t reveal total
Portugal’s ASO will switch 70% in January 2012
FCC to auction more spectrum
Sky: Ofcom outdated while we lead innovation
Pirate Bay backer winds up
Ofcom product placement timetable
1 in 5 TVs sold in US will be 3D in 2013
Free adds catch-up service
Vintage TV portal
Discovery appoints Recka
DirecTV: World’s first 3D TV channelDirecTV plans to launch the world's first 24-hour 3DTV channel, sponsored by Panasonic, on July 1. The companies declined to specify programming that will be available on the N3D service before it launches but they named several programming partners it was working with to supply content for N3D, including AEG/AEG Digital Media, CBS, Fox Sports/FSN, Golden Boy Promotions, HDNet, MTV, NBC Universal and Turner Broadcasting System.
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BBC admits £22.5m on iPlayer so far but won’t reveal totalBBC iPlayer has cost the license payer £22.5 million (E27.6m) so far and will have annual running costs of about £5.2 million a year going forwards. The figures were revealed under the Freedom of Information Act.
The details revealed pre-launch costs were £5.7 million, development of £4.8 million since launch and current running costs of £4 million a year. However the BBC says some iPlayer related costs are accounted for in other department budgets, which it won’t reveal, and it also won’t reveal license fees to the likes of Microsoft and Siemens.
Meanwhile the BBC iPlayer has been optimised to run on mobile phones running Android 2.2 'Froyo' operating system, a move that will enable users to use the catch-up service on their handsets. The Android 2.2 operating system is the only version that will support the service as only it brings Flash 10.1 support, which is capable of supporting the BBC iPlayer.
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Portugal’s ASO will switch 70% in January 2012
From Branislav Pekic in RomeThe first phase of the analogue switch-off (ASO) in Portugal is scheduled for January 12th 2012 and will regard 70 per cent of the population and 39 per cent of the territory, according to the country’s National Communications Authority (Anacom).
The second phase, scheduled for March 22nd 2012, concerns the Autonomous Regions of Azores and Madeira and corresponds to about 5 per cent of the population. During the third and last phase, due to take place on April 26th 2012, analogue broadcasts will cease in the rest of mainland Portugal, covering the remaining population.
The first ASO pilots will take place in January 2011. All four national TV channels - RTP1, RTP 2, SIC and TVI – are available on digital terrestrial since last year, currently reaching some 85 per cent of the population.
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FCC to auction more spectrumPresident Obama has signed a memorandum that commits the US to making an additional 500MHz of government and commercial spectrum available for auction and for unlicensed use within the next 10 years. This goal of getting 500MHz more spectrum in the hands of wireless broadband providers over the next decade is a key part of the National Broadband Plan that the FCC presented to Congress earlier this year.
Obama called on the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and other government agencies to work together with the FCC in identifying spare spectrum and getting it to auction so that it can be used most efficiently.
"Putting this plan into action requires exactly the kind of cross-government collaboration outlined by the Administration," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement. "By taking these important steps, we can tackle the looming spectrum crunch, lead the world in mobile broadband, and drive our global competitiveness and innovative capacity. If we stand still, we run a real risk to our goals of supporting private investment and a thriving economy."
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Sky: Ofcom outdated while we lead innovationOfcom’s approach to regulation of TV is reminiscent of "1970s-style industrial planning", says Mike Darcey, chief operating officer of BSkyB. He told the Future of Broadcasting conference in London that Ofcom’s wholesale price regulation failed to take account of changes in the marketplace.
"The nature of competition has changed forever. But Ofcom still approaches pay TV as if it exists in a bubble, not far moved on from the OFT analytical framework in 1996. Its fixation with competition between broadcast platforms, ignoring even the now widespread bundling of pay TV with broadband and telephony, belongs more in the last decade than this one, let alone the next."He said, Ofcom’s regulation showed it took for granted the risks undertaken by Sky in creating its platform. "The effect of Ofcom’s intervention is to give a leg up to those businesses with little or no interest in investing in content themselves. In Ofcom’s world, whether or not this was their intention, it seems that Sky would even be forced to supply a business seeking to use discounted sports to drive traffic to an online adult site." He said Ofcom was making a major mistake in shifting value from content creation to distribution and warned that if its competitors weren’t satisfied with the outcome they would use the precedent to come back in search of more subsidy and regulation.
He noted that Sky’s appeal was well underway but warned it is likely to take over a year to reach conclusion.
He also emphasised Sky’s commitment to 3D, and said. "Up to now some people are not convinced about 3D, believing it to be a passing fad, a bit of a gimmick. That’s fair enough, and they are entitled to their view. But I suspect that they are roughly the same industry sages who were questioning the significance of HD in the not too distant past."
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Swedish anti-copyright group Piratbyran, which gave rise to the popular file-sharing website The Pirate Bay has disbanded. Marcin de Kaminski, a founder of Piratbyran, which means "piracy bureau" in English, told BBC News "we don't feel we are needed" any more.
A spokesperson for the Swedish computer games industry said the decision showed "the discussion has moved on". Piratbyran first emerged in 2003, as a response to the Swedish body Antipiratbyran (anti-piracy bureau), which works to counter the sharing of copyrighted materials online.
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Ofcom product placement timetable
Media regulator Ofcom has set out a timetable for the introduction of product placement on commercial TV and radio (see ATV news 29/06/10) by the end of 2010.
Inviting submissions for a final consultation, Ofcom said it planned to publish final proposals on revising the broadcasting code to allow TV and radio product placement by the end of the year. The consultation closes on September 17th.
Legislation clearing the way for Ofcom to revise the broadcasting code was approved by parliament in the final days of the Labour government and came into force in April, after the regulator conducted an earlier consultation. The coalition government is backing the relaxation of product placement regulation.
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1 in 5 TVs sold in US will be 3D in 2013By 2013, one in five new TVs sold in the US will be 3D, according to In-Stat. Year-over-year shipment growth will be 231 per cent between 2010 and 2011, resulting in a doubling of the US installed base of units for 3DTVs from 2010 to 2011."
"High definition did create a wave of activity in the US market, not seen since the introduction of colour," says Stephanie Ethier, In-Stat analyst. "3DTV promises to be the next significant innovation wave for living room entertainment."
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Free adds catch-up serviceFrench telco Free has added a catch-up TV service to its IPTV platform 'Freebox'.
The service, branded 'Freebox TVREPLAY', is available at no additional cost, and enables subscribers to revisit programmes from 33 channels within seven days of their broadcast, with 22 channels available immediately and a further 11 channels available from August.
The telco had an estimated 3.55 million customers for its Freebox service by the end of 2009.
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Vintage TV portalVintage TV is to unveil a new website to coincide with the launch of its 24-hour digital channel, which will air on Sky and Freesat from 1 September. The channel, aimed at the over-50s, will cover music and popular culture across five decades from the 1940s to the 1980s.
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The site, vintage-tv.tv, will feature selected video content from the TV channel, as well as bespoke web content including behind-the-scenes footage of concertsVintage TV founder and CEO David Pick said, "Online is critical to us and core to our strategy as it represents the convergence of all media. We want to establish an online Vintage community."
Discovery appoints ReckaDiscovery Communications has confirmed the appointment of Rex Recka to the position of Vice President of International Programme Enterprises - Acquisitions for Discovery Enterprises International.
In this newly created position, Recka will work alongside Discovery’s US and international programming and development teams to evaluate and identify key specials and series for international syndication and co-financing opportunities to third-party broadcasters. Recka returns to Discovery after serving as Vice President of Business Affairs, Partnerships and Syndication at Cox Communications.
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Tuesday 29th June
Ofcom publishes product placement rules
Sky Sports 1 and 2 on BT Vision
BBC chief: IPTV could be game-changer
Sky Italia kicks off football pricing war
Sky Sports subs score more
3D TV to represent over 86% of all PDP TVs in 2013
Fairfax: Computer 'won't lose' in online TV battle
Telstra eyes acquisitions
France 24 expands distribution
TechniSat Freeview HD digital receiver
Ofcom publishes product placement rulesOfcom has published proposed new rules to allow product placement on TV. It is also proposing to liberalise the rules on paid-for references to brands and products in radio programmes. Both sets of proposals are designed to enable commercial broadcasters to access new revenue streams where possible, whilst protecting audiences.
The proposals include:
- restrictions on the types of products that can be placed;
- details of the types of programmes in which products can be placed; and
- the way in which products can be included in programmes.On television, the proposals also include a requirement for broadcasters to let viewers know which UK-produced programmes contain product placement through the use of an on-air symbol at the start and end of programmes.
In accordance with the legislation, product placement will be allowed in films, TV series, entertainment shows and sports programmes. But under the law it is banned in all children’s and news programmes and in UK-produced current affairs, consumer affairs and religious programmes.Product placement of tobacco, alcohol, gambling, foods or drinks that are high in fat, salt or sugar, medicines and baby milk is also banned. Separately, Ofcom is proposing to prohibit the paid-for placement of products and services that cannot be advertised on television, such as weapons.
The proposed rules also clarify that product placement must not impair broadcasters’ editorial independence – e.g. storylines in programmes cannot be paid for. A broadcaster could not, for instance, accept payment from an insurance company to feature a storyline about a house burning down and the homeowner not being insured.
In its radio proposals, Ofcom is consulting on options that include loosening the regulations on paid-for references to products and services in programmes. The proposals set out to protect listeners by making sure that these commercial arrangements are clear and transparent.
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Sky Sports 1 and 2 on BT VisionBT and Sky have signed a deal that will allow BT Vision customers to watch Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2. Customers will be able to view the channels from August 1st, in time for the start of the domestic football season.
In March, Ofcom ruled that Sky would have to cut the price it charged rivals to show its premium sports channels. BT is yet to reveal its pricing. In the past it said it would charge about £15 a month for Sky Sports 1, but Ofcom's charges were higher than it expected.
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BBC chief: IPTV could be game-changer
From Colin Mann in LondonComing less than a week after the BBC Trust game the go-ahead for open IPTV platform Project Canvas, the corporation’s COO, Caroline Thomson, has suggested that IPTV could be a game-changer for broadcasters.
She told delegates at the IEA/Marketforce Future of Broadcasting Conference that it would only work if broadcasters learned that it needed to ensure that the service was of an acceptable quality and that they worked with the supply industry to make it an uncomplicated experience. "I have five remote controls for my TV. I control distribution for the BBC. Even I don’t know what all the buttons are for," she admitted.
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Sky Italia kicks off football pricing warRupert Murdoch’s Sky Italia has instigated a price war over football in an attempt to counter losses to its archrival Mediaset, controlled by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
The satellite broadcaster, 100 per cent owned by News Corp, is set to adopt the same ‘Sky’ branding as British Sky Broadcasting, a move analysts said was significant in the light of the Murdoch group’s recent move to buy up the 60.9 per cent of the UK arm that it does not already own.
In Italy, a long-running battle between two of the most powerful men in world media will enter a new phase as Sky Italia sets a E29 ($36) a month entry point for viewers to receive its coverage of Italian Serie A football - a 25 per cent price cut.
That will match the price of Mediaset’s pay TV football package which had been set low by Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, and was one of three pressures that Tom Mockridge, chief executive of Sky Italia, blamed for his company’s first subscriber losses since launch in 2003.
As in most European countries, football is the main battleground of Italian pay-TV, where the Murdoch and Berlusconi companies dominate satellite and terrestrial platforms, respectively.
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Sky Sports subs score more
From Colin Mann in LondonMike Darcey, COO of BSkyB, has revealed that Sky Sports subscribers will benefit from even more choice, control and value through Sky Mobile TV and Sky Player.
Darcey told delegates at the IEA/Marketforce Future of Broadcasting Conference that subscribers to the Sky Sports Pack will be given bonus access from 12th July until the end of the year to both Sky Mobile TV – the most popular mobile TV service in the UK – and Sky's online TV service Sky Player.
This means that for a single monthly subscription Sky Sports Pack subscribers will be able to enjoy access to their chosen sports live across a range of platforms and devices including iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, PC, Mac, Windows Media Centre, Fetch TV, Sky HD and Red Button.
Subscribers will be able to watch coverage of live televised Barclays Premier League, Clydesdale Bank Scottish Premier League and Coca Cola Football League games, as well as live coverage of international and domestic cricket, PGA European Tour Golf, Guinness Premiership Rugby and a range of other sports. There will also be live breaking news from Sky News.
Darcey also took the opportunity to criticise regulator Ofcom’s proposed revision of the wholesale price BSkyB could charge other platforms. "In practice, this translates to Ofcom making content retailing a more attractive business by squeezing the rewards available in the riskier and more expensive business of content creation," he stated.
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3D TV to represent over 86% of all PDP TVs in 2013Displaybank, market research specialist, has revealed that the share of 3D Plasma Display Panel (PDP) TV is expected to represent over 86 per cent of all PDP TVs in 2013. According to a recently published report, the PDP industry is to gradually expand 3D capable products that allow technical benefit and increased profitability that most PDP TV will be equipped with 3D function in 2013.
Panasonic currently manufacture 3D TV in all HD and FHD models (excluding 37-inch) and Samsung SDI manufacture 3D TV in 50-, 58- and 63-inch FHD model. LG Electronics is preparing 50- and 60-inch FHD model to sequentially launch 3D PDP TV starting from July. PDP makers are expected to equip 3D function to 42-inch HD PDP TV products that comprise highest share, from next year and 50-inch HD 3D TV is expected to be launched within this year.
3D PDP TV is expected to appeal to consumers from more reasonable price perspective point as the product widens price gap from highly priced 3D LED LCD TV. Compared to LCD, PDP has relatively lesser cost increase factors that consequently lead to increased profitability on PDP industry such that the share of 3D PDP TV in all PDP TV market is expected to sharply increase.
Jusy Hong, senior analyst in Display research group at Displaybank noted "PDP industry suffers from lesser production capacity as well as marketing capability compared to LCD and from not having new investments that market expansion will become difficulty due to the limit in production even with the recognition coming from consumers. 3D PDP TV will remain at the limit of replacing 2D PDP TV under the limited PDP TV market."
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Fairfax: Computer 'won't lose' in online TV battleFairfax Media has released results of a survey conducted in Australia that it says debunks as myth that the computer will lose out to lounge-room screens in the battle for viewers of online TV.
Set manufacturers and television networks insist the main TV screen will ultimately beat the computer as the main way to watch full-length TV programs downloaded from the Internet.
But Fairfax's digital arm says a quarter of the 10,157 people that responded to a survey on online viewing said they watched full-length TV programmes or movies online, and 95 per cent of that viewing was done on laptops or personal computers, not through the TV.
Further, 64 per cent said they were watching programmes on their computers in the evenings.
"To me, that shows people are continuing to watch on their computers and at the very least the PC is the second screen at home," said Fairfax's head of video, Ricky Sutton.
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Telstra eyes acquisitionsTelstra is considering acquisitions as it tries to expand its product base, company chief David Thodey has confirmed. The Australian telco is interested in acquiring fresh capabilities rather than making so-called "bolt-on" acquisitions, which simply extend existing services, Thodey told ABC TV.
"We'll keep expanding our product portfolio out but there are new opportunities coming along that may provide opportunities for us to do acquisitions," Thodey said. "As the industry changes the needs of customers change, for example in the home, the digital home. How can you make it easier to connect your video and your broadband and your telephony? Those sorts of things are where we're looking."
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France 24 expands distributionAlready available to 125 million households in 160 countries, France 24 has signed a series of international broadcasting agreements, further strengthening its worldwide distribution. In France, France 24 is now available in three languages on the DartyBox platform, positioning it on all DSL platforms in France.
France 24 is also expanding in the rest of Europe: in Belgium, it is now available as part of the basic package of Belgacom; in Italy, the channel is launching its English version on SKY Italia; in the Czech Republic, it has signed an agreement with the operator UPC; and in Scandinavia, France 24 is expanding distribution thanks to the THOR 6 satellite and is available in the region on the Canal Digital package.
Distribution of France 24 is also expanding in Asia: in Thailand, the channel is now available on 75 national broadcasting platforms. In Indonesia, France 24 is now available on the Aora TV package and in the Philippines, France 24 is present in the bouquets offered by 17 national cable operators. In Macao, France 24 is launching on Macau Cable TV and is available in Hong Kong on Now TV and HKBN.
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TechniSat Freeview HD digital receiverTechniSat Digital has announced the release of the HDFV Freeview HD receiver for the reception of high definition terrestrial channels.
The HDFV is a premium product for the reception of the new Freeview HD service, offering viewers the opportunity to watch high definition programming from BBC HD, ITV1HD and C4HD via their existing TV aerial. The HDFV can connect to a home network using a fixed connection or wirelessly with the optional TechniSat WLAN Adaptor.
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Project Canvas gets green light
Kabel BW, Sky pact
Clearleap and Roku build bridge for MSOs, programmers
Ton up for YouTube
Digital dividend auction for Australia
UK DSO on track
Interest in interactive TV
Cricket’s Ashes to remain on pay-TV?
Project Canvas gets green light
From Colin Mann in LondonThe BBC Trust has today approved the BBC's involvement in open IPTV platform Project Canvas, subject to a number of conditions.
These include:
- Industry engagement: Completed elements of the Canvas core technical specification to be published within 20 working days from this final approval, and the Canvas partners to engage with industry on these and future elements of the technical specification. The final core technical specification will be published no later than eight months before launch of the first set-top boxes. The Trust will keep this process of engagement under review.
- Free-to-air: Users will always be able to access Canvas free-to-air, though they may be charged for additional pay services that third parties might choose to provide via the Canvas platform, for example, video on demand services, as well as the broadband subscription fees.
- Accessibility and usability: Accessibility and usability features, such as audio description, should be incorporated into the core technical specification and/or user interface as soon as reasonably possible; and appropriate information and signposting should be provided for users to help them make informed choices about the suitability of content wherever possible.
- Access to the platform for content providers and ISPs: Entry controls in terms of technical and content standards will be minimal, access will not be bundled with other products or services, listing on the electronic programme guide will be awarded in a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory manner; and quality standards for ISPs delivering Canvas will be set at a minimum level and applied in a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory manner.
- Legal compliance: Canvas will comply with all applicable laws including competition and state aid law.
- Cost: The BBC's involvement will not exceed the Executive's estimated costs by more than 20 per cent over a five-year period.
BBC Trustee and Chair of the Trust's Strategic Approvals Committee, Diane Coyle, said the Trust had concluded that Project Canvas would deliver significant public value for licence fee payers and that people with a broadband connection would be able to access a wide range of on-demand content including BBC iPlayer, free of charge, through their TV sets.” The Trust will review the BBC's involvement in Canvas against the conditions of its approval, twelve months after launch of Canvas to consumers.
The Digital TV Group (DTG), the industry association for digital TV in the UK, welcomed the decision. The DTG is currently working with the Canvas partners (BBC, Arqiva, BT, Channel 4, Five, ITV and Talk Talk) as well as Virgin Media, Sky and DTG Members to develop the UK specification for Connected TV devices and services, which will form the 7th edition of the DTG D-Book.
This open standard will provide an industry agreed baseline implementation that Canvas, Sky, Virgin and others can build on for trademark requirements to support their services.
“Following today’s decision the DTG is pleased that the Project can now move forward and is excited to be working with the Canvas partners and our membership to make Connected TV a reality for UK consumers,” said Richard Lindsay Davies, Director General of the DTG. “A vibrant and stable market in which multiple manufacturers can provide robust and reliable products and services based on core interoperability standards is key to the future of digital television in the UK,” he added.
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Heidelberg-based cable network operator Kabel BW and pay-TV provider Sky Deutschland are to expand their cooperation: The closer collaboration makes it possible to combine the CleverKabel Internet and telephone offers with the Sky subscription packages – for example, with live broadcasts of the Fußball Bundesliga. Marketing for the corresponding Kabel BW Entertainment offers gets underway in July.
“We are pleased that, within the scope of this cooperation with Sky, we can soon provide our customers package offers of fast Internet and telephone as well as the premium content from Sky. In this way, we position ourselves as THE entertainment provider in Baden-Württemberg,” said Harald Rösch, Chief Executive Officer at Kabel BW.
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Clearleap and Roku build bridge for MSOs, programmers
Web-based TV technology platform Clearleap and open streaming media platform Roku are teaming up to bring consumers volumes of premium television content - from movie libraries of major studios to popular programmes traditionally limited to pay-TV services.
The arrangement will leverage Clearleap's cloud-based universal video platform for content management and service delivery, giving pay TV operators and premium programmers a seamless opportunity to offer content and generate additional revenues with a branded Channel on the Roku player.
Clearleap’s platform will enable paid VOD transactions to post directly through viewer’s pay-TV subscription information, allowing Roku users to consume free or pay VOD titles fitting their subscription package, with transactions posting as part of their monthly TV service bill.
The partnership positions Roku as an attractive, low cost set-top box solution to the broader pay-TV industry that will work on any TV in any home environment. For Clearleap, the partnership signals its intentions to expand its platform from a cloud-based solution found inside cable and IPTV ecosystems, to a universal video technology platform designed for any type of operator and programmer focused on the ten-foot television viewing experience.
Clearleap co-founder and CEO Braxton Jarratt suggested the partnership illustrated a viable way to bridge pay-TV and Internet connected devices without abandoning the existing TV model.
The Clearleap/Roku managed IP VOD solution will be in multiple trials over the next six months, and the companies expect to launch a limited commercial deployment with a pay-TV operator by the end of 2010.
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Ton up for YouTubeMay 2010 data from the comScore Video Metrix service has revealed that 183 million US Internet users watched online video during the month. YouTube.com achieved record levels of viewing activity in May, with an all-time high of 14.6 billion videos viewed and surpassing the threshold of 100 videos per viewer for the first time.
US Internet users watched nearly 34 billion videos in May, with Google Sites ranking as the top video property with 14.6 billion videos, representing 43.1 per cent of all videos viewed online. YouTube accounted for the vast majority of videos viewed at the property. Hulu ranked second with 1.2 billion videos, or 3.5 per cent of all online videos viewed. Microsoft Sites ranked third with 642 million (1.9 per cent), followed by Vevo with 430 million (1.3 per cent) and Viacom Digital with 347 million (1.0 per cent).
Other notable findings from May 2010 include:
- 84.8 per cent of the total US Internet audience viewed online video.
- 144.1 million viewers watched 14.6 billion videos on YouTube.com (101.2 videos per viewer).
- The average Hulu viewer watched 27.0 videos, totalling 2.7 hours of video per viewer.
- The duration of the average online video was 4.3 minutes.
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Digital dividend auction for Australia
The Australian government is to release 126 Megahertz of broadcasting spectrum as a digital dividend, once the digital TV switchover is completed on December 31, 2013.
“This presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve communication services available in Australia,” said Minister Stephen Conroy.
The digital dividend will be released as a contiguous block of spectrum in the upper ultra-high frequency (UHF) band, comprising the frequency range 694 to 820 MHz inclusive. The size and location of the digital dividend were decided after public consultation through the Digital Dividend Green Paper, and the announcement will allow work on digital channel planning and auction of the spectrum to commence.
The digital dividend spectrum will be auctioned in the second half of 2012, to allow successful bidders to plan and deploy the networks that will utilise the spectrum.
Before the spectrum is released, the Department for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy and the Australian Communications and Media Authority will work with broadcasters to restack their television channels, relocating them out of the digital dividend spectrum.
ACMA Chairman, Chris Chapman, said that yielding the digital dividend would require the closest of co-operation with the free-to-air television industry. “Other uses of affected broadcasting spectrum will also require consultation and the development of options for future operations,” he explained.
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UK DSO on track
From Colin Mann in LondonExecutives from two of the bodies responsible for overseeing and implementing the UK’s digital switchover have confirmed that the mammoth project is going according to plan.
Mike Hughes, Broadcast Director for Digital UK, the independent, not-for-profit organisation established in 2005 to lead the implementation of digital switchover (DSO), said the major challenge in the process is maintaining existing services. “The plan is to replicate the coverage of the analogue network whilst minimising viewer disruption. This will clear fourteen UHF channels for future use.”
“The programme is on track and within budget,” revealed Peter Heslop, DSO Programme Director for Arqiva, the transmission provider for all UK terrestrial TV services and as such, responsible for implementing the DSO. “We cannot be early or late,” he admitted. The programme had remained on track despite the last three summers being among the wettest on record.
Innovations that had helped gain time included the use of specialist lifting helicopters and ground crews to position equipment at some of the 1,154 sites requiring upgrades as part of the process. “What could be done in one day would have taken many weeks,” he revealed.
The DSO project is being rolled out regionally between 2008 and 2012 as mandated by the UK government. The Border TV region switched over first, between November 2008 and April 2009, with London, Meridian, Tyne Tees and Ulster the last four scheduled for 2012.
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Interest in interactive TVResearch conducted for FourthWall Media has revealed that consumers are ready for their TV to do more, resulting in less reliance on their computers. The poll was conducted with 500 online interviews among TV watchers 13 to 65 years old.
Key highlights of the survey include:Nearly 90 per cent of TV watchers are interested in using interactive television applications.
- Over 70 per cent of respondents indicated they would be more interested in watching commercials if they were interactive.
- Nearly a third of respondents indicated they would spend less time on their computers if interactive TV applications were available to them.
- 89 per cent of TV watchers expressed interest in using interactive applications on their home televisions after reading descriptions of these services, with 48 per cent saying they are "very interested."
- 66 per cent of TV watchers, including 72 per cent of females and 74 per cent of those 13 to 20 years old, agree they would change the way they watch TV programming if they had access to interactive TV applications. For example, 34 per cent say they would watch more television than they currently do if they had access to interactive applications. Teens and heavy TV viewers (those who watch 7 or more hours a day) are especially likely to increase their TV viewing (42 per cent).
61 per cent of TV viewers would prefer to submit votes for reality shows such as ‘American Idol’ by using their standard remote control. The next closest device came in at 21 per cent.
- When given the option of looking up the phone number of a restaurant to make a dinner reservation, the Yellow Pages on TV app was selected by 37 per cent of respondents, compared to 34 per cent who preferred going online. Mobile search and the Yellow Pages book itself followed. Remarkably, using the Yellow Pages on TV application, to quickly find a merchant's phone number beat all the options
TV watchers responded most favourably to applications that provide a high level of convenience and personalised relevance. TV watchers were most interested in a weather application (52 per cent very interested), followed by an application providing local news and information (47 per cent very interested) and caller ID (44 per cent very interested).
- 73 per cent said they would be interested in an application that allows them to request additional information about a company or product after watching a commercial.
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Cricket’s Ashes to remain on pay-TV?According to the UK government’s sports minister, Hugh Robertson, funding cuts to sport make it even less likely that the so-called ‘Ashes’ cricket matches between England and Australia will be returned to free-to-view TV. Robertson said the economic picture made it even more important that sports had the freedom to sell their broadcast rights to whoever would pay them the most.
The previous Labour government had given broad approval to make the Ashes a listed event and available for free-to-air television, but a decision on a review by former senior football executive and broadcaster David Davies had not been taken before the May general election.
If this were the case, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) would be able to prolong its deal with BSkyB, with the Conservative administration seeking pledges on
Earlier in the year, Robertson observed that people were “just waking up to the fact that eighty per cent of the ECB's income comes from broadcast income and if you take that away you are going to decimate quite a lot of investment that's gone in to women's cricket and the grassroots. That's a brave if not a very foolish call to make."
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