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Our Latest Issues
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Tuesday
Friday 14th May
Liberty Global partners up for IP multimedia home gateway
BT expands super-fast net, goes for games, more IPTV
BT Vision readies Sky Sports for DTT
Hunt takes UK Culture brief
US Trade Commission: ‘regulate targeted ads yourself’
Capablue cover Canvas for Five
TW ‘TV Everywhere’ for Verizon
Cisco buoyed by higher web traffic
Sony streams World Cup content
Singapore content investment at risk
CIMM common Lexicon for STB measurement
ActiveVideo and This Technology monetise iVOD
Liberty Global partners up for IP multimedia home gatewayLiberty Global has announced plans to work with Samsung, Intel Corporation, NDS and Nagravision to build a new common IP gateway device for its European digital TV customers. The multimedia home gateway will be an all-IP platform capable of distributing video, voice and data content throughout the home and to multiple video displays. The user interface will seamlessly integrate video content, widgets, apps, and an advanced search and recommendation engine.
Samsung will build the multimedia home gateway, which will be powered by the Intel Atom CE Media Processor. The middleware and the user experience will be provided by NDS, based on Flash Technology. Nagravision will provide the conditional access solution through NAGRA Media Access. This solution will support MoCA and WiFi, and participate in the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) ecosystem.
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BT expands super-fast net, goes for games, more IPTVBT has confirmed that it will expand its roll-out of next-generation broadband to bring super-fast services to two-thirds of the UK. Originally its fibre services, offering speeds of up to 40 megabits per second (Mbps), were due to reach around 40 per cent of the population by 2012. Another £1 billion (E1.16 billion) (on top of the £1.5 billion already announced) investment will see the project roll out to a further 20 per cent of the population by 2015. The first four million people will be connected by the end of the year.
The announcement came as the telco reported a pre-tax profit of £1 billion for the year to March, compared with a loss of £244 million in the previous year. The company reported consumer-facing division BT Retail’s revenue was down 4 per cent to £2 billion and group revenue was down 3 per cent to £5.35 billion.
CEO Ian Livingston said, "We’re investing in the future of our business, enhancing our TV offering and building on opportunities in our Global Services business. Assuming an acceptable environment for investment, we see the potential to roll out fibre to around two-thirds of the UK by 2015. This will take our total fibre investment to £2.5 billion, which will be managed within our current levels of capital expenditure."
Underlining its commitment to entertainment BT has bought a 2.6 per cent stake in cloud computing gaming consortium OnLive in a bid to increase its TV related offering and tap into the £2 billion gaming market. OnLive has been seven years in development and officially launches in the US this summer following a successful beta trial.
Gavin Patterson, CEO of BT Retail, said, "Entertainment will be at the heart of what we offer customers in the future. The partnership with OnLive complements BT Vision. Our customers will have access to a huge catalogue of games, available instantly on their TV or PC."
The deal was announced as the company reveals BT Vision subscriptions rose to 467,000 from 451,000 the previous year.BT said it’s committing a further £200 million over 2010/11 towards improving BT Vision and adding consumer products.
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BT Vision readies Sky Sports for DTTBT has confirmed that, after Ofcom’s pay-TV review, it has reached a deal with Arqiva, the communications infrastructure and media services company, for DTT capacity so that it is in a position to offer Sky Sports 1 and 2 to its BT Vision customers.
BT is aiming to bring Sky Sports 1 and 2 to viewers in time for the new 2010/11 Premier League season, though if it sells discounted packages it will risk Sky overturning Ofcom regulated wholesale pricing.
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Hunt takes UK Culture brief
From Colin Mann in LondonAs anticipated, Jeremy Hunt has been named Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport in the new Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government. Having shadowed the role in opposition, Hunt retains his existing brief in the new cabinet, but also gets specific responsibility for the smooth running of the 2012 London Olympics. The Liberal Democrats are expected to have one minister in the new department, although it is understood responsibility for media is likely to go to a Conservative.
While in opposition, he made a number of pronouncements attacking the BBC, suggesting in September 2009 that the corporation should recruit more Tories to its news division in order to counter an "innate liberal bias". He subsequently suggested that the Conservatives would abolish the "failed" BBC Trust and was considering ripping up the corporation's royal charter. Hunt indicated that it was a matter of when – not if – a Tory government would tear up the BBC's governance structure. His party leader and new Prime Minister David Cameron, was more supportive of the BBC during the election campaign, suggesting that such issues are not prominent in the new administration’s policy thinking.
In terms of media policy and regulation, Cameron suggested in July 2009 that the role of comms regulator Ofcom be considerably slimmed down. Cameron suggested that a number of quasi autonomous non-governmental organisations – so-called ‘quangos’ - be scrapped or streamlined to save money and become more accountable. He said Ofcom could be slimmed down by a "huge" amount. "Give Ofcom, or give a new body, the technical function of handing out the licences and regulating lightly the content that is on the screens," he added. "But it shouldn't be making policy, it shouldn't have its own communications department," he said, pointing out that the head of Ofcom is paid almost half a million pounds
The new administration must address the detailed implementation of the ‘Digital Britain Act’, which was rushed through Parliament prior to its dissolution in advance of the General Election. The seven-page coalition agreement between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservative party includes a promise to reform the UK's libel law, but there is nothing about repealing the Digital Economy Act. move criticised by both parties while in opposition.
The coalition statement mentions nothing about any wider review of media ownership laws or changes to regulator Ofcom. Political insiders suggest that the Conservatives will have to forgo some of their more radical plans for the media industry, to allay the fears of their new partners about their intentions towards the BBC, and instead concentrate over the coming months on legislation to cut public spending and reduce the deficit. There is no mention of the BBC in the coalition manifesto. The Conservatives' technology manifesto, published in March, indicated that they wanted to use part of the licence fee to pay for broadband. The Liberal Democrats were ambivalent about the levy.
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US Trade Commission: ‘regulate targeted ads yourself’Federal Trade Commision Chairman Jon Liebowitz told cable operators in Los Angeles for the NCTA show that the commission is not interested in regulating behavioural advertising so long as the industry is making "progress" toward self-regulation.
"So long as self-regulation is making forward progress, the FTC is not interested in regulating in this area," he said at a keynote speech at a plenary session on advertising at the Cable Show. He also said the commission has "great hopes" for proposed self-regulatory guidelines proposed by direct and online marketers in conjunction with the Better Business Bureau.
Leibowitz highlighted one of the online marketing industry's self-regulatory proposals, which is to explain information-collection practices using common language, and preferably plain language, Leibowitz suggested. "Today, few of us can comprehend the amount of personal data we’ve left open for capture on the Internet, and disclosure forms are most often written by lawyers, paid, it seems, by the syllable. The consent half of 'notice and consent' rarely reflects a consumer’s conscious informed choice."
Leibowitz said that he did not want to shut down responsible businesses, including online marketers and behavioural advertising.
Leibowitz said he had warned that Congress would step in if the industry did not adequately protect consumer information. Leibowtiz reiterated the FTC's own suggestions for self-regulatory principles, which are 1) inform consumers in plain English and large type what information is being collected and let them choose whether they want that data collected; 2) store that data securely; 3) explain any policy changes clearly; and 4) sensitive data collection must be an opt-in regime, meaning companies have to get affirmative consent.
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Capablue cover Canvas for Five
UK commercial channel Five has appointed digital product development company Capablue to handle strategy and technical requirements for Project Canvas. Capablue will help define Five’s position within the Canvas partnership, which involves representation on the central programme board, and make sure its existing systems integrate with the platform.
The proposed IPTV service from broadcasters the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five, ISPs BT and TalkTalk, and Arqiva, is still pending approval from the OFT, which will announce its decision on May 19th.
Paul Thornton-Jones, Five’s digital controller of VOD and technology, said, "We’re very pleased Capablue will be working with us on what will be a milestone in British broadcasting history. This needs to be managed very carefully by all partners involved. Capablue’s proven expertise in delivering platforms and technology for IPTV will ensure Five’s role in this project is a valuable contribution to its success and our future plans."
Tom Cape, MD of Capablue said "We have a great deal of expertise in this area, having played a major role in the development of several broadcasters’ VOD projects, Seesaw and more recent work on the Open iPlayer project. We’re delighted to be working with Five on this exciting service and will be able to draw from our skills, as well as experiences, to ensure the successful delivery of its objectives for Project Canvas."
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TW ‘TV Everywhere’ for Verizon
Time Warner and Verizon are making new television programming available online to Verizon's FiOS TV customers. As Time Warner expands its online TV content, the company is partnering with Verizon to bring FiOS TV subscribers TV Everywhere.Beginning in June, FiOS TV customers will automatically receive free, unlimited online access to popular content from Time Warner's Turner networks – TNT and TBS – with plans to bring the same content to mobile devices in the near future. Verizon is working with a number of content providers to test and make available soon to FiOS customers a significant amount of additional online programming from a variety of content providers, including FOX News, CBS, MTV Networks, Hallmark Channel, Smithsonian Channel, the Tennis Channel and more. These channels will join other online video services already available to FiOS customers. These services include Time Warner's HBO, which launched HBO Go to FiOS customers in February.
Once the new Turner content launches for FiOS subscribers, programmes will be available free of charge within 24 hours after an episode airs on live television. These programmes will be available with HD video quality for the consumer. Turner expects to launch additional networks during the remainder of the year.
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Cisco buoyed by higher web trafficCisco Systems, the world's largest maker of networking equipment, has reported stronger than expected sales and profits, completing what chief executive John Chambers called "probably the strongest quarter we've had in our history".
Sales rose 27 per cent to $10.4 billion, while profits rose 63 per cent to $2.2 billion. This is the second consecutive quarter of growth for Cisco after revenue fell for four straight quarters during the recession.
The rise in sales was fuelled by increased demand from businesses grappling with ever-higher volumes of Internet and video traffic.
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Sony streams World Cup contentSony has confirmed that it will start streaming the FIFA World Cup Collection to Bravia TVs and Blu-ray Disc players across Europe via its BRAVIA Internet Video platform from late May.
Owners of a BraviaTV, Bravia Home Theatre or Sony Blu-ray player with BRAVIA Internet Video will be able to view the Top 20 World Cup Moments, check out legendary World Cup stories and anecdotes, watch a selection of World Cup films and view profiles of classic football players.
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Singapore content investment at riskSingapore’s future as a regional media hub is under threat as a result of new government rules for the pay-TV industry, according to the Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA), which represents the interests of 130 content producers, pay-TV platform operators and equipment-and-service suppliers across 16 Asian markets.
According to CASBAA, the latest "Media Conduct Code" mandates that key Singapore pay-TV programming is shared between cable operators StarHub and SingTel, depriving content owners and creators of their freedom to negotiate contracts in a competitive market. "Most importantly it is consumers who will be the losers, with long-term access to a whole generation of new video content jeopardized," said Simon Twiston Davies, the CASBAA CEO.
Ultimately, the new regulations violate Singapore’s international commitments to the likes of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) copyright agreements," said CASBAA.
CASBAA also believes that if providers cannot negotiate free and fair contracts and conditions in Singapore, the pace of investment in creative content, additional channels and technological advances (such as high-definition TV and even 3-D TV content) could be shut off.
"Over more than a decade, Singapore has made the most notable progress in the region when attracting international content companies to the country," said Twiston Davies. "Yet the ‘cross-carriage remedy’, insisting on the sharing of high value programming, damages the interests of every content owner and distributor."
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CIMM common Lexicon for STB measurement
The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) has introduced the CIMM STB Lexicon, a common set of more than 800 terms for use in analysing and processing STB measurement.The CIMM STB Lexicon will provide a shared, foundational language to inform CIMM's forthcoming STB pilot projects. The Lexicon will also support broader industry innovation and collaboration among end users of STB data, including television content providers, media agencies, and advertisers.
"Analysis of set-top box data remains in its formative stages, and getting to the next level in data collection, aggregation, and measurement will require that everyone in the industry speaks the same language," said Jane Clarke, Managing Director, CIMM. "With the CIMM STB Lexicon, we're providing a strong foundation for cross-industry collaboration around set-top box data as it becomes increasingly available."
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ActiveVideo and This Technology monetise iVODActiveVideo Networks, a specialist in cloud-based interactive television and This Technology have announced a joint initiative to enable cable system operators and programmers to improve monetisation of and control over advanced VOD advertising to help grow the iVOD category.
The two companies are leveraging the capabilities of the ActiveVideo CloudTV platform and This Technology’s Metamore and Spotbuilder software to create an SCTE 130-compliant ad serving and delivery solution that enables operators and programmers to dynamically target traditional, Web-based and interactive advertising in conjunction with viewers’ on-demand activity.
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Thursday 13th May
Astra condemns Hispasat DTT
ITV's ad rules stay… for now
La5 DTT launches as Mediaset improves revenue
More pay-TV subs in US
Comcast: Neutrality rules not a worry
Sky Deutschland wants 400,000 more subs
Chernin plans alternative studio?
Intelsat ‘restrained’ as satellite wanders
Experian and BSkyB form database JV
Magyar Telekom IPTV prospers
ITN appoints mobile man
Avail-TVN 3D programming
Solaris European licence progress
Ericsson helps consumers navigate VOD libraries
SeaChange Intelligent Video Platform 2.0
Cox whole home DVR service on Cisco STBs
MTV renews Arqiva contract
OpenTV unveils beta EclipsePlus/xG OnDemand
Astra condemns Hispasat DTT
From David Del Valle in MadridSES Astra in Spain has condemned the Spanish Government for the "inadequate" deployment of DTT and in particular its "a very costly" deal with Hispasat for satellite DTT distribution.
Luis Sahun, director of Astra Spain, says Hispasat "will not allow viewers to have access to pay DTT channels and 3D". He also claims the satellite cost is "exorbitant" at E1bn over 10 years. He says the best solution would be DTT/DTH STBs "with no restrictions in the reception of the signal as in France and the UK" with an estimated satellite cost of E62 million over the next 10 years.
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ITV's ad rules stay… for nowITV1 is to remain bound by restrictions on how it can sell advertising airtime, the UK Competition Commission has ruled – but it added that the mechanism should be dropped at some point and that the entire UK TV ad sales market needs a review.
The commission stood by its provisional decision in September to retain the contracts rights renewal system, which controls ITV1's advertising rates to stop the broadcaster abusing its dominant position in the market. ITV has consistently argued that the system, introduced as a condition of the merger of Carlton and Granada in 2003, is a "straitjacket" preventing the company's recovery. The commission said today that ITV had "overstated the cost and distortions" imposed by CRR.
"ITV1 remains a 'must have' for certain advertisers and certain types of campaign," said Diana Guy, chairman of the CRR review group at the Competition Commission. "Despite all the changes in this market, no other channel or medium can come close to matching the size of audience that ITV regularly provides. So the essential reason for the CRR undertakings remains: to protect advertisers and other commercial broadcasters."
Adam Crozier, the chief executive of ITV, said that the ruling was "out of touch and damaging for the interests of creative Britain".
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La5 DTT launches as Mediaset improves revenue
Mediaset’s La5 female-oriented channel has launched on DTT as the Italian group announced Q1 results. Pay-TV revenues amounted to E115.1m, up 59.5 per cent year-on-year. As of March 31st 2010, there were around 4.1 million active cards in the market, compared with around 3.3 million at the same point of the previous year.
Mediaset posted a domestic net profit of E65.2 million for the quarter, up from E47.4 million a year earlier, on revenues of E907.9 million, up 14.5 per cent. Globally, the group turned over E1.1194 billion for the quarter, up from E952.4 million in 2009. Pre-tax profit was E123.4 million, up from E77.1 million. The company said it expected to see growth of over 5 per cent in the Italian ad market this year.
The company plans to launch another new channel aimed at young male viewers with the working title Italia 2, along with a 24-hour news channel, by the end of the year.
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More pay-TV subs in USDespite talk of ‘cord cutting’, a report released at NCTA shows a new record of almost 100 million Americans were paying for premium TV services at the end of 2009.
SNL Kagan, in partnership with MediaBiz, has released a report on the US multichannel video market, which analyses subscriber counts, penetration and operator performance nationwide and by market.
According to the report, the multichannel video market expanded from 97 million video subscribers at year-end 2008 to 99.9 million as of year-end 2009; however, performance was mixed among the three distribution categories. Cable subscribers slipped from 62.6 million to 62.1 million, while DTH subscribers had a healthy increase from 31.3 million to 32.7 million. Telco showed the biggest gains, with video subscribers growing 65 per cent, from 3.1 million to 5.1 million.
The analysis shows that cable is still the dominant provider in the top ten markets in the US.
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Comcast: Neutrality rules not a worryBrian Roberts, chief executive of Comcast, said at NCTA he was not concerned about increased regulation from the Federal Communications Commission, which is seeking new authority to regulate cable and telecoms groups. The FCC is seeking to impose tougher regulations on high-speed internet providers to guarantee that all content creators would be treated equally over the services.
Roberts said "We don’t believe the government is trying to turn back the clock." The FCC is seeking broad new legal authority over broadband, but it has pledged to interpret its power in a limited way.
Meanwhile Roberts expressed confidence of gaining approval within the next six to 12 months for the Comcast takeover of NBC Universal.
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Sky Deutschland wants 400,000 more subs
Sky Deutschland is targeting a rise of 400,000 subscribers in the next twelve months as it aims to reach profitability but the News Corp owned platform lost 1,000 subscribers in Q1 this year. Chief executive Brian Sullivan briefed investors that it was looking to grow its subs base from 2.47 million to 2.8 million in the next twelve months. The operator posted a deeper loss for the quarter than last year; E97 million against E80 million.
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Chernin plans alternative studio?Peter Chernin, former number two at News Corp, is reported to be in the early stages of assembling his own studio intended to meld original content, like feature films and television series, with cutting-edge technologies for delivering entertainment.
Plans include a traditional production company, Chernin Entertainment, that will make films and TV series, and a start-up venture that will scout for investment opportunities in new technology, in developing countries and in the traditional media world.
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Intelsat ‘restrained’ as satellite wandersIntelsat reported revenue of $621.1 million and a net loss of $102.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2010. "First quarter 2010 performance was as anticipated in light of the previously reported events that are restraining our growth in the first half of 2010," said Intelsat CEO, David McGlade.
"Our confidence in our business is well-founded. Our attractive contract backlog, which increased to $9.5 billion at the end of the first quarter, provides stability to our business and visibility into our future revenue streams. Our goal is to deliver sustainable growth over the long term."
Meanwhile out of control satellite, Galaxy-15 is drifting towards SES World Skies’ AMC-11 craft. All traffic had successfully been shifted from G-15 to G-12. Intelsat said they will likely have to suffer an "impairment loss" of $142.4 million for the satellite. The bigger risk is it will begin interfering with AMC-11 signals (as it can’t be shutdown at the moment) leaving Intelsat open to compensation claims.
Experian and BSkyB form database JV
Experian, the global information services company, has reached agreement to divest part of its UK database marketing activities to a newly formed business venture with British Sky Broadcasting (Sky). The transaction is expected to complete on 30 June 2010
The new company, in which Sky will hold a majority stake, will provide consumer and media insight services and customer management capabilities to a number of large hosted database clients, including Sky. The company will operate under a new brand, which will be announced in due course.
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Magyar Telekom IPTV prospersHungarian telco Magyar Telekom has reported it now has 677,932 customers for its pay-TV services delivered within its home market via IPTV, cable and satellite - up 34 per cent from one year previously. This makes it the second largest pay-TV operator in Hungary. The telco said that it had 78,980 IPTV customers in Hungary by the end of last March, up 110 per cent from one year previously.
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UK TV-and-video news producer ITN Productions is hiring its first head of mobile - mobile ad net 4th Screen Advertising’s Miguel Tatay. Through ITN On, ITN has been providing video news to other services and through apps for the last two years.
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Avail-TVN 3D programmingAvail-TVN, the largest digital media services company in North America, has confirmed plans to launch a suite of 3D programming services by the end of 2010 for both VOD and linear. Operators will have access to transactional 3D-VOD content and a companion free on-demand service, both in stereoscopic 3D. In addition, Avail-TVN is planning two linear 3D channels – a transactional PPV channel offering movies, concerts, events, sports programming; and a free-to-the-consumer promotional 3D channel offering features, documentaries, music and specialty programming that will allow consumers to test their 3D sets and glasses.
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Solaris European licence progressSolaris Mobile, the Dublin based operator of new hybrid satellite and terrestrial wireless networks across Europe, has successfully been granted 18 year licences to operate Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) in France, Sweden and Germany. These latest European licence authorisations bring the total number of licences awarded to Solaris Mobile in member state countries to seven, which also include Finland, Luxembourg, Italy, and Slovenia. These licences will allow Solaris Mobile’s hybrid network to operate within the various EU countries and will enable the provision of voice and data services, TV, radio and other broadband services to mobile devices.
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Ericsson helps consumers navigate VOD librariesEricsson has unveiled the OpenStream Catalogue Gateway to help operators better promote the content in their VOD libraries and help differentiate their TV offerings.
The OpenStream Catalogue Gateway is part of a complete Ericsson on-demand solution that features the award winning OpenStream Digital Services Platform. The gateway is an open interface that works with third-party recommendation engines and Web portals to provide personalised and relevant recommendations for extensive on-demand libraries. When combined with Ericsson's OpenStream Marketing Manager, an operator can present subscribers with promotions that are applicable to their personal interests.
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SeaChange Intelligent Video Platform 2.0SeaChange has confirmed the availability of its Intelligent Video Platform 2.0, which includes support for Adobe’s new Flash Player 10.1 software and Flash Access 2.0 content protection, integrates Envivio’s 4Caster C42 encoders and enables HTTP live and on-demand streaming to the Apple iPad.
The open Intelligent Video Platform combines SeaChange’s Axiom On Demand content delivery system with its Axiom Adrenalin mobile video system to form a modular solution to deliver VOD and advanced advertising to any screen, anywhere, using a single, integrated platform.
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Cox whole home DVR service on Cisco STBsCisco has teamed with Cox Communications to deliver the Cox "Plus Package - featuring HD Whole Home DVR service with Cisco Explorer next-generation STBs. The Cox Plus Package also includes Cox's new Trio tru2way interactive programme guide and an expanded line-up of HD channels. The Plus Package is scheduled to be available to customers beginning in the second quarter of 2010 and to be rolled out to Cox's entire customer base by year-end.
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MTV renews Arqiva contractMTV has renewed its contract with Arqiva for the uplinking of two entire transponders. This provides distribution of MTV into Europe. Malcolm Campbell, Commercial Director at Arqiva Satellite & Media, said: "MTV has a number of distribution services with Arqiva and we are delighted that they have once again renewed this uplink service with us. Arqiva provides dedicated fibre backhaul between MTV’s facilities and our London Teleport where we uplink the two transponders."
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OpenTV unveils beta EclipsePlus/xG OnDemandOpenTV has announced the beta availability of its newest campaign management solution designed specifically to serve the on-demand television advertising marketplace. Scheduled for beta release in June 2010, EclipsePlus/xG OnDemand supports the back office requirements to monetise dynamic VOD inventory such as short-form (pre-, mid- and post rolls) and long-form (showcase) advertising.
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Wednesday 12th May
CSA seeks DTT pay and HD bidders
Telenor takes stake in C More
Eutelsat sees strong growth
DLNA will breakthrough this year
NEC develops ultra-fast piracy detection
Orange + T-Mobile = Everything Everywhere
86% do watch commercials...if no DVR
SelecTV brand for Canoe
BT launches film club
NDS extends Cox contract
Ensequence iTV platform with Softel, S & T and VDS
Vindica cash box for Boxee
CSA seeks DTT pay and HD bidders
France’s broadcasting regulator, the Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel (CSA), has issued a call for applications for three pay channels and two free channels in HD. It has also endorsed extending the coverage of the France O (overseas) service to any metropolitan area in the coming weeks.
The CSA opened a public consultation in June 2009 on the use of space made available by ceasing distribution of pay services AB1 et Canal J, and more broadly, the use of frequencies made available following analogue switch off (ASO). On May 4, it approved the conclusions of the consultation, which will allow new DTT services.France O will be available throughout the metropolitan area in the coming weeks. Transmission will take place on the DTT multiplex R1, while Arte, at its own request, will be moved to multiplex R6.
Space made available on multiplex R3 will be assigned to a new pay channel. The Council decided, following meetings on pay-TV held in March, to enrich the pay-TV offer.The CSA also deliberated on the allocation of multiplex R7 and R8, which will become available in 2011, as a result of ASO. Part of R7 will be set aside for two pay channels. In order to meet the demands of households possessing high definition receivers, two slots will also be allocated to free HD channels, in addition to the existing TF1, France 2, Arte and M6 services in HD.
The remaining R7 allocation will be will be decided at a later date. As for multiplex R8, it will ensure the continued transmission of "compensatory channels" reserved for the broadcasters of TF1, M6 and Canal + in exchange for the full analogue switch off.
Services authorised following the application process can begin broadcasting in 2011.
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Telenor takes stake in C MoreTelenor Broadcast has bought a 35 per cent stake of Scandinavian pay TV operator C More Entertainment which provides channels under the Canal + brand. Telenor will buy SEK787 million (E81m) of shares through a new issue.
As part of the deal some sports rights owned by Telenor, such as the FIFA World Cup 2010 in Denmark, have been sublicensed to C More Entertainment. "The Nordic co-ownership provides Canal+ with long term access to important content for its TV subscribers. Canal+ customers will be offered an increased selection of top quality sports, films and series," said the company.
Telenor said the deal presented today will enhance collaboration with C More’s parent company the T4 Group. "We are very pleased to present this deal. Telenor and TV4 Group complement each other well and, together, we are a perfect match to develop Canal+ further," said Erik Nord, CEO of Telenor Media and Content Services.
"Canal+ has developed very well since we acquired the company in 2008, and reported its best ever results last year. We are now creating even better opportunities for Canal+ to maintain its position as the Nordic region's leading TV channel in the premium segment, and are also enlarging our offer," stated Jan Scherman, CEO of the TV4 Group.
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Eutelsat sees strong growthEutelsat Communications has reported a strong revenue growth in the third quarter and the nine months ending March 31st, 2010. Expansion of HD services and increased satellite capacity helped nine-month revenues reach E776.3 million, while third quarter revenues touched E268.3 million after a 13.4 per cent rise.
Commenting on the Group's third quarter 2009-2010 revenue, Michel de Rosen, CEO of Eutelsat Communications said: "With a strategy focused on expanding satellite resources for regions with the strongest potential for expansion, Eutelsat has achieved double-digit sales growth across its entire portfolio of services for the third quarter of its financial year. This remarkable performance is a result of the sustained increase in demand in the regions covered by our fleet, and the increase in satellite capacity we have achieved with our new satellites as well as rapid redeployment of existing in-orbit resources."
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DLNA will breakthrough this yearStrategy Analytics predicts that over 2 billion DLNA-certified (Digital Living Network Alliance) products will be installed in consumers’ homes or pockets by 2014.
"Strategy Analytics forecasts 59 per cent growth in unit sales - to 200 million DLNA-certified devices in 2010 - rising to nearly 1 billion devices sold in 2014," said Peter King, the Connected Home Devices Service Director.
According to King, there are two key factors driving growth and global recognition at this time: Firstly, the involvement of the Service Provider community which wants to provide whole-home services and cut support costs And secondly, a software certification initiative, included as of 2010, which will enable legacy non-certified devices into the DLNA ecosystem within the home
King added, "DLNA progress still has many challenges, but it will be a huge step closer to empowering an interoperable network of CE, PC and mobile devices for use in and beyond the home if the work-in-progress project to protect premium content as it moves into multiple devices within the home comes to a successful conclusion."
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NEC develops ultra-fast piracy detectionJapan's NEC has developed a technology that can find illegal copies of videos uploaded to the Internet in seconds. This speed is attained by creating a comparison piece that is just 76 bytes from the original and compares it to the allegedly copied file. The technology is part of the MPEG-7 standard, and would help movie producers and Internet service providers identify pirates both faster and more accurately than in the past.
NEC says its technology has a 96 per cent success rate and a false alarm rate of 5 in one million under tests conduced by the ISO. It can accurately detect the validity of a video from a two-second, 60-frame snapshot. NEC maintains that an average home PC with a single-core 3GHz chip can match 1,000 hours of video in one second.
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Orange + T-Mobile = Everything EverywhereNew JV partners in the UK’s biggest mobile network have announced the holding company will optimistically be called ‘Everything Everywhere’ and, as usual, the name is surrounded by TMs as though putting these words together was an original thought they can now protect.
Thankfully, Orange and T-Mobile will continue as separate brands in the market but behind the scenes, the two brands will be run by one company; EE.
Tom Alexander, Chief Executive of Everything Everywhere, (formerly CEO Orange UK) said: "Up until a few years ago, mobile was just about voice and text – not now. Multimedia phones have already started to change the way our customers access the world – for entertainment, education, information – wherever they are, whenever they want."
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86% do watch commercials...if no DVRSome 86 per cent of US viewers stick with a given channel during the commercials, according to a study from the Council for Research Excellence (CRE), which tracked the live TV-consumption habits of 376 adults across over 750,000 minutes.The Video Consumer Mapping study showed little change in viewer behaviour before, during and after commercials.
The study showed that 11 per cent of viewers change channels during the four minutes before the commercial break, and 13 per cent change channels in the four minutes of programming after a commercial break. Only 14 per cent change channels during the actual commercial break.
"In short, when the commercials come on, people stay with the TV," said RJC Advertising VP/Media Director and CRE Media Consumption & Engagement Committee Chairperson Laura Cowan. "They only go the kitchen if they’re hungry, and they don’t fight over the remote."However, the study only followed live television, so DVR viewing—and the practice of viewers fast-forwarding through ads—did not figure into the research.
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The cable industry has announced the launch of "SelecTV," a consumer-facing brand that will appear on-screen to indicate the availability of interactive television content. The SelecTV brand promises a seamless and secure interaction between the viewer, the cable company and the programmer, advertiser or content sponsor across all major U.S. cable systems.
SelecTV is the result of an industry-wide brand initiative led by Canoe Ventures, an advanced digital television platform and services company, in concert with the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau (CAB), the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM), Cable Television Laboratories (CableLabs), and the nation's leading MSOs, including Bright House Networks, Cablevision Systems, Charter Communications, Comcast Corporation, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable, as well as national advertising and cable television programming partners.
"Working together, cable is introducing innovative ITV applications across the country with unprecedented scale this year. Canoe spearheading SelecTV on behalf of the industry has resulted in cable taking an important step towards delivering national ITV capabilities with one common face for the viewer," said Steve Burke, COO, Comcast. "Our industry's growing ITV capabilities enable content providers to engage with consumers in ways that are meaningful to them. With SelecTV, we are introducing a brand that reflects the value of what we deliver." "Canoe's mission is to advance the digital TV business," said Vicki Lins, CMO, Canoe Ventures. "Just as we're driving standardization of technologies to help scale a truly national ITV platform, we're leading the effort to promote wider adoption of our applications on top of this platform by ensuring a flexible yet consistent, quality user experience represented by the SelecTV brand."
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BT has confirmed the launch of a new and bigger on demand film subscription service, the first of its kind in the UK. BT Vision Film Club will now offer more than twice as many on demand movies for BT Vision subscribers to choose from every month.
BT Vision Film Club brings together a range of film services from major Hollywood studios, there will be over 60 films available every month with 14 films refreshed every week. Film fans can subscribe to Film Club for £6.99 (E8.13) a month or as an option within BT Vision’s Bronze, Silver and Gold viewing packages.
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NDS has extended its contract to continue professional services and integration work with Cox Communications. The NDS team will maintain its role as the prime integrator for next-generation applications and services for such solutions as Cox’s Trio, the tru2way-enabled advanced user interface and interactive program guide.
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Ensequence iTV platform with Softel, S & T and VDSEnsequence, the interactive TV company, has entered partnerships with interactive application streamer provider Softel, streamer provider S & T and broadcast automation vendor VDS to provide a single-source interactive TV platform for television service providers and programmers.
"We have been working with leading programmers and distributors to make TV content interactive for ten years. The Ensequence iTV Manager platform, which integrates with our partners' components, delivers our customers a truly comprehensive interactive TV offering that enables them to make as many ads and programmes interactive as they like," said Aslam Khader, Ensequence Chief Technology and Product Officer.
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Vindicia has announced that Boxee, which brings movies, TV shows and video from the Internet to the TV screen, has selected its CashBox billing solution to enable the new Boxee Payment Platform. Vindicia CashBox will enable Boxee content partners to offer premium content to Boxee users through a wide variety of payment methods and plans, from individual pay-per-view charges to premium subscription models.
Boxee users will also have the option to provide their payment information via credit card, gift cards, and PayPal for easy, one-click content purchases with the underlying security of Vindicia's PCI-compliant environment.
"Boxee is on the forefront of the trend toward new models of content consumption," said Vindicia Chairman and CEO Gene Hoffman, "proving there is great consumer demand for content delivered in more flexible ways, and a general willingness to pay for it. Vindicia was founded with the recognition that the underlying billing infrastructure is key to helping forward-thinking companies like Boxee monetize these new content delivery models."
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Tuesday 11th May
French football league TV channel
Orange TV back on after BT deal
Marks heads ProSiebenSat.1 new media
Italian providers confirm one net plan
Dish quarterly profit falls
FCC backs ‘anti-piracy signal’
Blinkbox on PS3
Qatar invests with Eutelsat
Bell will be "Canada’s biggest TV provider"
UK iPad price tag revealed
SingTel, StarHub win broadcast rights to World Cup
ROK brings World Cup to mobile phones across Africa
Cablevision rolls out CloudTV
DMC launching National Geographic Wild in Netherlands
French football league TV channelFrance’s football league, the LFP, plans to launch its own TV channel president Frédéric Thiriez has confirmed. Thiriez said they were talking with service providers including Numericable, SFR and Orange and also intend to see football on pay DTT.
Initially the channel will show League 2 games, but Thiriez said the LFP’s ambition was to create a channel that merited retaining the rights to League 1 matches when its current contract with Canal Plus and Orange expires in two years.
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Orange TV back on after BT dealOrange has revived its long-held ambition to offer TV services over the broadband network. The mobile operator, which has access to almost 30 million customers after a merger with T-Mobile’s UK arm in March, outsourced its fixed-line network to BT last month. It will now piggyback on BT’s more advanced network that extends its coverage to the entire country.
The BT deal means that a plan to offer TV services over the broadband network, originally slated for late 2007, is firmly back on the agenda, although a launch is not imminent.
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Marks heads ProSiebenSat.1 new media
ProSiebenSat.1, has announced a restructuring that sets up a New Media division under the leadership of Dan Marks, former head of BT Vision.
The division includes Christoph Bellmer as head of new TV and CEO of SevenSenses and Silke Kuisle as managing director of MyVideo and Arnd Benninghoff as CEO of SevenOne Intermedia.
"My goal in setting up the New TV division is to establish a new center of competence in which the different business models will complement each other," said Marks.
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Italian providers confirm one net plan
Italian ISPs Fastweb, Vodafone and Wind have again proposed a single fibre network infrastructure for the country. They already announced they would cooperate to take on Telecom Italia.
The CEOs of the three companies, Carsten Schloter, Paolo Bertoluzzo an Luigi Gubitosi, have lobbied the government to a single fibre infrastructure company. The three have also confirmed the launch of a shared-access fibre network in a 7,000 home test area in Rome.
The providers want an FTTH network to cover the country’s 15 largest cities within five years, based on a total investment of about E2.5 billion by all providers involved in the project. The network would be open to all public and private entities, including Telecom Italia but that would require a commitment to the stabilisation of the current local loop unbundling fees paid to Telecom Italia.
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Dish quarterly profit fallsDish Network has reported that first-quarter profit declined as increased operational and legal costs overshadowed a rise in subscribers.
Net income fell to $230.9 million from $312.7 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 5.2 per cent to $3.06 billion. Dish added 237,000 net new subscribers in the quarter. DirecTV said last week that it had added 321,000 subscribers.
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FCC backs ‘anti-piracy signal’The FCC has sided with anti-piracy groups in an order that will allow satellite and cable providers int the US to encode content sent to set-top boxes with a signal preventing it from being distributed online. The FCC order granted a waiver to its rule against "selectable output control," which enables video programming to disable certain audio and video outputs on set-top boxes.
The Motion Picture Association of America hailed the order for making it possible to distribute movie programming that is still in theatres without as much of a risk of piracy. "This action is an important victory for consumers who will now have far greater access to see recent high definition movies in their homes," said Bob Pisano, MPAA president.
Consumer advocates had a different view, arguing that leaks from set-top boxes to the Internet have not been a problem and that the order grants providers too much power over the television experience.
The Consumer Electronics Association said the order meant "any video copyright owner to unilaterally shut off video outputs on consumers' televisions."
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Blinkbox on PS3Blinkbox has launched its first movie streaming service for the Sony PlayStation 3 in the UK. Console owners can stream up to 6,000 movie and TV titles.
The deal is part of a wider campaign to establish Blinkbox as the leading provider of blockbuster movies in web-enabled homes. It has also overhauled its website so that users viewing on an internet-enabled TV can use the PS3 controller for navigation.
The new layout emulates the basic user-interface principles of existing PlayStation applications.
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Qatar invests with EutelsatictQATAR (a Sovereign Fund of the State of Qatar) and Eutelsat Communications have confirmed the signing of a partnership agreement to invest in and operate a new high-capacity satellite at Eutelsat's 25.5° East location, one of the two longstanding and anchored neighbourhoods serving fast-growing markets in the Middle East and North Africa regions.
To be launched at the end of 2012, the new satellite will provide both a significantly expanded mission and superior coverage and power across the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia to follow-on from Eutelsat's EUROBIRD˛ 2 satellite, which is currently operated at 25.5° East.
Qatar is the backer of the Al Jazeerah news channels.
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Bell will be "Canada’s biggest TV provider"Ma Bell plans to be the Canada's biggest TV provider within 5 years, outstripping cable companies by offering TV over the Internet. So promised BCE chief executive officer George Cope.
Bell Canada will start offering television to Internet subscribers in Toronto and Montreal later this year, he said, cities where the telco has recently opened its new Fibe fibre optic-based Internet service. Next year IPTV will be a "major initiative," he added.
Bell already has 1.8 million subscribers to its satellite TV service.
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UK iPad price tag revealedApple has revealed that the iPad, which will go on sale in the UK on May 28th, will cost £429 (E495) for the basic version. Prices go up to £699 for the top of the range 64GB device with both Wi-Fi and 3G network access.
Apple has already seen sales of the iPad pass 1 million after a month on sale, and will open its website for pre-orders of the device to Brits next week. Alongside the UK, the tablet computer will also be available on May 28th in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain and Switzerland.
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SingTel, StarHub win broadcast rights to World CupSingapore's pay-TV operators SingTel and StarHub have secured the broadcast rights of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The deal follows months of negotiations by the pay-TV operators.
The rights of the event would be the first high profile content that pay-TV operators will air simultaneously following a government regulation that allows pay-TV operators to carry content purchased by another player. Both StarHub and mio TV will also offer content on mobile and Internet.
ROK brings World Cup to mobile phones across Africa
ROK Entertainment Group, the mobile technology, applications and services company, has made an agreement with leading pan-African VAS aggregator, Groupe Digital Afrique (GDA), to deliver World Cup football content - supplied by Goal.com - to 25 countries and up to 45 Mobile Operators across Africa beginning 1st June.
The ROK-powered WAP service containing goal alerts and news, delivered to subscribers via SMS, along with World Cup ringtones, wallpapers and interactive shirts will be distributed into 45 Operators, such as MTN, Zain and Orange in 25 countries including South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana across Africa.
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Cablevision rolls out CloudTVCablevision Systems and ActiveVideo Networks, the global specialist in cloud-based interactive solutions, have announced that Cablevision has deployed and delivered more than two dozen new interactive channel experiences to its entire digital video customer base using the ActiveVideo CloudTV platform.
Cablevision is utilising CloudTV to offer an expansive menu of personalised television content - including hyper-local sports and news, advertising showcases, and mosaic programming - to approximately 3 million subscribers in the New York area.
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DMC launching National Geographic Wild in Netherlands
The Digital Media Centre (DMC), Europe’s leading provider of channel playout services, TV distribution and content delivery, is to launch a dedicated feed of the National Geographic Wild channel into the Netherlands. The new feed will launch on May 11th, marking the 60th channel launch for the DMC, which is owned by Chellomedia, the European content division of Liberty Global.
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Monday 10th May
Bright outlook from ANGA Cable
European boost for Liberty Global Q1
Increased investment and growth for online video
ITV lifted by ad revenues
Terrestrial 3D TV for Korea
1 in 5 confused about illegal downloading
Harmonic to acquire Omneon
HDTV out of reach for half of Spain
SARFT develops Internet TV standard
Bouygues joins Canal Plus complaint against FT
US spending more on consumer electronics
Telegent ships 80m mobile TV chips
Bright outlook from ANGA Cable
Despite taking place some three weeks earlier than its traditional late May date and suffering from some unseasonably miserable weather, the ANGA Cable Show managed to continue its success story in 2010 and closed with another record in exhibitor and visitor numbers.
For the first time 15,000 trade visitors attended the Trade Fair and Congress for Cable, Broadband and Satellite, this signifies a 10 per cent growth compared to 2009. 395 exhibitors from 31 countries were present in Cologne, 383 in the previous year. At the same time, 1,500 telecommunications and media experts attended the congress, which ran alongside the trade show.
Event officials suggest that ANGA Cable has indicated further growth in the cable and broadband industry. "With their modern HFC networks, cable operators have a competitive broadband infrastructure. Deployment of the DOCSIS 3.0 standard allows bandwidths of over 100 Mbps. With this, we will lead the field for all kinds of imaginable services and programme offerings. Also, cable has the footprint, capacity and customer base to become the strongest force to drive digital offerings’ growth and innovation", said Thomas Braun, President of ANGA Association of Cable Operators.
European boost for Liberty Global Q1
International cable operator Liberty Global has reported a first-quarter profit - its second in a row after five consecutive quarterly losses - on a $1.4 billion gain from discontinued operations. The company saw record subscriber growth for Internet and telephone services in Europe.
Chief Executive Mike Fries said the company saw strong demand for its advanced services, especially next-generation broadband products. During the latest quarter, Liberty Global completed its acquisition of German cable MSO Unitymedia and it sold its 38 per cent stake in Japanese operator J:COM. In addition, the Chilean earthquake destroyed 24,000 homes, resulting in the loss of about 15,500 customers.
Liberty Global reported a profit of $736.6 million, or $2.75 a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $298.7 million, or $1.08 a share. Revenue climbed 28 per cent to $2.18 billion, or 4 per cent excluding acquisitions and changes in currency values.
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Increased investment and growth for online videoBrightcove and TubeMogul have teamed up to develop a new quarterly research report with data and analysis focused on the online video market. For Q1 of 2010, the report suggests that the media industry is investing aggressively in online video initiatives, driving usage and engagement, and seizing new monetisation opportunities.
Among the findings:
- With a combined run rate of more than 700 million streams a quarter, broadcast networks grew by over 40 per cent in Q1 of 2010 compared to the same quarter in 2009. Web media brands topped 300 per cent growth across the same period.- Media companies ramp video production for online distribution. In Q1 of 2010, video uploads were up 190 per cent (359,256 videos) for newspapers, 60 per cent for magazines (43,554 videos), 64 per cent for music labels (24,538 videos), and 62 per cent for radio (5,730).
- Broadcast networks garner the most time viewed per video stream. Online video content from broadcast networks average 2:53 minutes watched per stream followed by music labels at 1:50 minutes and newspaper publishers with 1:41 minutes per stream.
- Increasing engagement is the number one reason media companies gave for adding video to their websites (76 per cent) followed by strengthening their brand (60 per cent), and increasing site visitors (55 per cent). Surprisingly, increasing advertising inventory ranked fourth in the list of top reasons for using online video (33 per cent).
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ITV lifted by ad revenuesITV has reported an 8 per cent year-on-year increase in TV ad revenue in the first three months, and is predicting a World Cup-fuelled 22 per cent surge in the second quarter, but has warned that the outlook in the second half remains "highly uncertain".
ITV chief executive Adam Crozier, giving his first management update since joining, said that the outlook for the "latter part of 2010 and early 2011 is tough with more testing year-on-year comparators and uncertain market conditions post-election".
The broadcaster also pledged "incremental investment" in programming and its digital operation in the second half of the year to try to "provide a stronger platform going into 2011". It is understood that the cash boost will benefit ITV2 and daytime television and is considered a small "tactical reinvestment" given the buoyancy seen in the markets so far this year.
ITV has reported total group revenues up 6 per cent year-on-year to £450 million in the first quarter. Broadcasting and online revenues also rose 6 per cent year-on-year to £390 million.
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Terrestrial 3D TV for KoreaKorea will transmit its first stereoscopic 3D television programmes over terrestrial broadcasting networks on May 19th, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) has confirmed.
All four of the country's land-based television stations - KBS, MBC, SBS and EBS - will participate in the trial services, beginning with the 3D broadcasts of the 2010 Colorful Daegu Pre-Championships Meeting on KBS, which precedes the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships next year.
SBS is one of the media companies that will be involved in the global test for 3D television during the FIFA World Cup in June, as it owns the exclusive broadcasting rights for the tournament as well as the live 3D rights. SBS will provide 25 matches in live 3D from June 11th to July 12th. Until then, the KCC will allow three hours of live 3D programmes per day from May 19th to June 10th, and will expand the time slot to match the hours of regular television programming during the World Cup tournament.
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1 in 5 confused about illegal downloadingOne in five young adults don't see why they could ever have to pay for content on the Internet - and a similar number admit to being confused about what can be downloaded legally and what can't, according to a Microsoft survey.
The results show that for many, the distinction between copyright infringing sources and legitimate content sources is blurred, with 20 per cent agreeing with a statement that they access so much content for free (such as on iPlayer and YouTube) that they don't see why they should ever pay for content. Although, as Julia Owen of Life Academy points out, "four out of five saying they realise they need to pay for stuff is a good thing."
Furthermore, 21 per cent admitted that they were confused about what sources of online content were legal. Eighteen per cent said that true artists would want them to experience their work regardless of payment, while 17 per cent said that they refused to download illegally because it was theft.
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Harmonic to acquire OmneonHarmonic and Omneon have confirmed the signing of a definitive agreement in which Harmonic would acquire Omneon for some $274 million in cash and Harmonic stock. The proposed acquisition would combine Harmonic’s position in video delivery infrastructure with Omneon’s technology for the production, management and distribution of digital media.
"This proposed combination will position Harmonic to become a global leader in video infrastructure for the digital media industry," said Patrick Harshman, president and CEO of Harmonic. He noted that media companies are being driven by ever-increasing demand for video content coupled with consumers’ desire to consume video anytime and anywhere and that at the same time, the dramatic growth of video delivery over broadband and wireless networks was blurring traditional boundaries between content producers and service providers. He suggested that the combined company was uniquely positioned to capitalise on these trends and to accelerate revenue growth.
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HDTV out of reach for half of Spain
From David del Valle in MadridAround 12 million TV sets in Spain, 46 per cent of the total market, are not ready for HDTV and another 11 million need a special set-top-box to watch it, according to the Electronic Association, Asimelec.
Most of those 12 million are "old TV sets", capable of receiving DTT through a set-top-box but not ready for HD according to Jesus Casado, responsible for TV at the Association.
The Ministry of Industry is likely to approve a new Decree to oblige manufacturers to integrate HD technology in TV sets of more than 21".
In the meantime, broadcasters are carrying out the first HD transmissions and tests, with public broadcasters, TVE and Regional channels, leading the process. The digital DTH platform, Digital Plus, has announced that from January the company will distribute around 20 HD TV channels, which will be marketed as a HD platform, with channels such as TNT HD, AXN HD, Canal Plus Comedia HD, Canal Plus Accion HD or Canal Plus DCine, among others.
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SARFT develops Internet TV standardXia Xiaohui, deputy GM of CCTV's online TV station China Network TV (CNTV), has said that the company is working under the guidance of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) to draft industry standards for Internet television.
According to reports, SARFT will formulate a complete set of industry standards based on feedback from a select number of participating trial companies, while taking into consideration the internet TV industry's current overall state of development. The industry standard will cover video-on-demand, live broadcasting, content distribution, as well as administration models and oversight mechanisms. Xiaohui said he was unclear as to whether or not any other enterprises would participate in the drafting of the standard.
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Bouygues joins Canal Plus complaint against FT
Bouygues Telecom, a unit of building-to-broadcasting conglomerate Bouygues, has joined a complaint filed by Vivendi’s Canal Plus to the French competition authority against France Telecom.Pay-TV operator Canal Plus Group, a unit of Vivendi, last year filed a complaint before the competition authority against the French telecom giant for linking its telecom services with exclusive audiovisual content.
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US spending more on consumer electronicsThe average US household spent $1,380 on consumer electronics (CE) products in the past 12 months, an increase of $151 from last year, according to a study released by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). The average household spent 12 per cent more on CE devices in the past year, according to the study, which also shows that individual consumer spending is up 10 per cent from the previous 12 month period.
The average adult spent $794 on CE in the past 12 months, up from $725 in 2009. The average household reports owning 25 CE products, up from 23 products last year.
"Consumer electronics continues to be a bright spot as spending increased despite a tough year for the overall economy," said Brian Markwalter, CEA’s vice president of research and standards. "As consumer confidence climbs, along with the desire to own the latest technologies, consumers will continue to view CE products as necessities in their lives."
CEA’s study also shows that video products continue to be the top CE device consumers own, with HDTV ownership continuing to increase. Sixty-five per cent of US homes now own at least one HDTV, an increase of 13 percentage points from last year, making it the top industry growth driver of the past 12 months. Consumers also are buying HDTVs as secondary sets. The average household now owns 1.8 HDTVs, up from 1.5 in 2009. HDTVs are also the top product consumers say they want to purchase. Nearly one in four households (23 per cent) plan to buy a new high-definition set in the coming 12 months.
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Telegent ships 80m mobile TV chipsTelegent Systems has revealed that continuing growth in demand for its free-to-air mobile TV receivers has propelled it beyond a milestone of 80 million units shipped since it first launched its mobile TV receiver technology in mid-2007. Analyst firm Forward Concepts estimates that 78 million broadcast TV handsets were shipped globally in 2009.
"We have seen very rapid adoption of free-to-air TV handsets incorporating Telegent’s technology in emerging markets," said Samuel Sheng, Telegent’s president and chief executive officer. "Consumers globally have demonstrated that they place high value on the ability to receive live broadcast television on mobile devices."
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