 |
|
|
||||||
 |
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
MONDAY 23 APRIL 2001
Granada
and Carlton integrate ONDigital
Murdoch in talks with
General Motors
UPC's debt downgraded
BBC launches new pilot
Granada
and Carlton integrate ONDigital
Granada and Carlton Communications in the UK are about to announce the
integration of ONdigital, their digital terrestrial television joint venture,
into ITV Digital, creating a single media company whose interests span
free-to-air, pay-TV and new media. Some analysts suggest this could be
a precursor to the merger of Granada and Carlton.
Stuart Prebble, ONdigital's Chief Executive, will be appointed as ITV's
new Chief Executive, a post which has been vacant since Richard Eyre quit
18 months ago. Prebble was Chief Executive of Granada Sky Broadcasting,
a joint venture with rival BSkyB, and later headed Granada's pay-television
operations.
The units will also create a subscription-only sports programming package,
dubbed the ITV Sports channel, to take on the hugely popular Sky Sports
franchise of BSkyB. ITV has the rights to the UEFA Champions League, the
Nationwide League and the Worthington Cup, although BSkyB has the lucrative
rights to Premiership football matches. Also, the existing digital channel
ITV2 is to be revamped and children's and film channels may be established.
Further online development is also planned via itv.com.
The plan to build tighter links between ONdigital and ITV comes as at
a critical time for the pay TV business which is finding it difficult
to compete with the vast resources of BSkyB. It is forecast that OnDigital
will announce this week that subscribers are up 33,000 in the last quarter
- a little above one million.
Murdoch in talks with GM
Rupert Murdoch to meet senior executives of General Motors next Monday in a bid to kick-start News Corporation's stalled merger with satellite-TV subsidiary, DirecTV according to press reports today (Monday 23).
News Corp executives hope a final decision on DirecTV's future will be made within a week or two of the Detroit meeting - at which News Corp President Peter Chernin, and Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer are expected to be present.
Hughes, the GM subsidiary which controls DirecTV, had sought alternative proposals to News Corp putting its pay-TV interests into Hughes in return for a minority stake in the enlarged group which would be valued at $60 billion. The original offer entailed up to $8billion cash going to GM. Alternative options included Hughes being spun off as an independent company - an option favoured by Hughes' Chairman, Michael Smith - but there are few backers willing to oppose Murdoch.
GM's determination to get a cash return from its investment in Hughes has resulted in the subsidiary exploring a possible sale of its 81 per cent shareholding in Panamsat, the satellite operator, while Murdoch has sought outside investors to make a cash offer.
European cableco UPC is disputing a downgrade of its debt rating (the company has $8.4 billion debt) which has resulted in a further 13 per cent fall in its share price.
UPC's debt downgraded
Last week Moody's investors Service said that the company faced a funding gap next year - and that although expenditure cuts and reduced costs, the resulting slowdown in building its infrastructure would reduce its future revenues. This would mean getting more revenue from existing subscribers, causing Moody's to doubt that future revenue targets would be met.
UPC chairman Mark Schnieder said, "We fundamenatlly disagree with this anlaysis," insisting that the company continued to meet its targest and had "significant liquidity in place" to fund its operations.
BBC
launches new pilot
The BBC has commissioned a six-programme current affairs pilot to be called
Four by Four, which will look at a single story from four different perspectives.
Edited by the head of BBC Manchester's current affairs unit, David Stanford,
Four by Four will air on Monday night at 7.30 pm.
The BBC has been experimenting for some time with different current affairs
formats in a bid to find an enduring popular format.
Head of current affairs Peter Horrocks has expressed his intention to
develop a new generation of strong, popular current affairs programmes.
TUESDAY 24 APRIL 2001
DoCoMo
in deal with Vodafone
FCC gauges DTV transition
so far
Vivendi's new co-chief officer
Yahoo unveils broadcast site
Vivendi/RTL in soccer
cup bid
Cap for player salaries?
Win for Canadian grey DTH
Indonesia introduces ADSL
Nortel's losses blossom, jobs
fall
DoCoMo
in deal with Vodafone
Japan's NTT DoCoMo and the British-based Vodafone Group are in talks to
try and take the lead position and dominate the future of mobile communications
in Asia, Europe and the United States.
DoCoMo will become the first cellphone group to launch 3G services in
Tokyo in May. Investors have rewarded DoCoMo by propelling its market
value not only above that of its parent but also above Vodafone's amid
hopes it will dominate the mobile data world as the first 3G-compatible
networks level an international playing field.
Europe, Asia and parts of the United States are adopting the same W-CDMA
(wideband code division multiple access) standard of 3G technology, which
is billed as minimising interference and noise and offering stable, high-quality
voice and multimedia services.
FCC gauges DTV transition so far
Roy Stewart, Mass Media Bureau Chief at the US Federal Communications Commission, said that the ongoing transition from analogue to digital broadcasting should be marked, "By results, not adherence to timelines." Stewart also cited a number of requirements to be completed for the transition, like the establishment of a table of station allotments, service rules, and the 8-VSB standard.
According to the FCC, there are 190 digital stations on the air, which cover 64 per cent of all US TV households. Stewart said there are still challenges ahead for the broadcaster's digital TV roll-out, which include a lack of digital content and the high-cost of digital television sets.
Vivendi's new co-chief officer
Vivendi Universal has promoted Agnes Audier to co-chief operating officer of Vivendi Universal Net. Previously, Audier was in charge of strategic planning and business development.
Yahoo unveils broadcast site
Yahoo Inc planned to unveil a new broadcast site yesterday (Monday 23) offering a selection of audio, video and multimedia content . The service will add to its offering of media by compiling it all in one place and by adding content from some new partners.
Walt Disney Co's ABCNews.com will provide entertainment programming and breaking news content; AdventureTV.com, will offer programming on wildlife and indigenous cultures; and ClassicMovies.com full-length feature films.
Yahoo said it was committed to making its site a prime destination for entertainment. Ellen Siminoff, Yahoo Senior Vice President said, "Part of our strategy is to become the premiere entertainment site on the Web.''
With this move Yahoo says it is also hoping to attract advertisers to its site by offering them an opportunity to run the same sort of spots they air on television rather than just plain banner ads, and by offering them the opportunity to put up the kind of creative ad unit that people haven't yet been able to offer on the Web.
Vivendi/RTL in soccer cup bid
Vivendi Universal and RTL Group, the pan-European broadcaster, have agreed to take control of ISMM, the sports marketing group that owns the non-European broadcasting rights for the next two football World Cups.
The three companies reached agreement last week in Switzerland and "immediately told the International Football Association (Fifa)," according to the FT Deutschland.
Vivendi and Bertelsmann-controlled RTL will invest SFr100m ($58.7m) in ISMM, up from a previous offer of SFr70m, to help the troubled group avoid bankruptcy. Kirch, the German media conglomerate, already owns the European television rights to the two tournaments, and has now been given first option on the worldwide rights in the event of an ISMM bankruptcy.
Kirch was seen as a possible bidder for ISMM, but by waiting for the company to go bankrupt, it could acquire the rights at a lower price. ISMM is appealing against a decision in the Swiss court that prevents it from postponing bankruptcy.
Cap for player salaries?
On of the drivers of EuropeanTV soccer rights inflation could be tempered following a proposal by Uefa, European soccer's governing body, to discuss salary capping.
"We want to start a debate with European football. Unless we are alive and alert to these issues, then inevitably the bubble will burst and the consequences for leading clubs will be very severe," said Mike Lee, Uefa's communications director.
Speaking at the Sport Business conference in London, Lee noted that several US sports, such as basketball and American football, employ salary capping to maintain financial stability and prevent wages from growing out of control.
Accountants Deloitte & Touche noted that without any change, player wages would form 100 per cent of the English Premier League's turnover by 2007 at current growth rates.
Peter Ridsdale, the chief executive of Leeds United, commented, "Any artificial salary cap could result in the best European players leaving to play somewhere else."
In a separate move, EU competition authorities ruled that national football associations could block television broadcasts of games for two and a half hours during the weekend to help clubs draw crowds to their stadiums.
Win for Canadian grey DTH
On April 20, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled in favour of grey market DTH resellers, stating unanimously that the Canadian government cannot prohibit Canadians from purchasing foreign programming.
Estimates of the size of the grey market in Canada range from 300,000 to a million. At the high end, those estimates equal the number of legitimate subscribers to Canada's authorised DTH services, Star Choice and Bell ExpressVu.
The decision stems from a raid made by the RCMP on an electronics dealer in Lindsay, Ontario. An earlier ruling by the British Columbia Court of Appeal had also ruled that Canadians could legally purchase US satellite programming. The government has appealed the British Columbia decision and the Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to hear the appeal. In recent years Industry Canada has cracked down on grey market electronics stores selling EchoStar and DirecTV.
Indonesia introduces ADSL
In its new Multi Media Access (MMA) project, PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom), Indonesia's largest telecom operator, will provide high speed Internet access for broadband services in the greater Jakarta and East Java area - including 20,000 Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Lines (ADSL) supplied by Alcatel.
Alcatel's ADSL solution will cover north, west and central Jakarta as well as the Tangerang area amd be, centred around Alcatel's 7300 ASAM DSL Access Multiplexer (DSLAM), its 7410 broadband Remote Access Server and Service
Management Center.
"Internet users today increasingly demand far more than traditional dial-up connections. They want high speed and "always-on" Internet access. By deploying ADSL in our MMA project, which provides downstream speed of up to two megabits per second, we can cost-effectively provide our customers with a wide range of integrated data, voice and video services," said Syailendra, Director of the PT Telekom MMA project.
According to a report from the Dell'Oro group by the end of 2000, Alcatel has supplied 53 per cent of the ADSL market, having shipped 7.7 million xDSL lines internationally.
Alcatel has also been awarded a contract by PT.
Telkom to provide a Cable TV Multimedia Network for the Jakarta and Surabaya area (East Java). Alcatel will supply its HFC (Hybrid Fiber Coax) Core Platform for distributing video, Cable Modem Subsystem and Cable Telephony Subsystem.
Nortel's losses blossom, jobs fall
Nortel Networks announced the results of its first quarter, and they weren't pretty. For the quarter ended March 31st the company lost US$2.58 billion, compared to $730 million for the same period a year earlier. Also the company announced another 5,000 job cuts, bring the total to 20,000 or 21 per cent of the company's total workforce since John Roth took out the axe and started chopping.
Having learned from its past mistakes, Nortel declined to issue any predicitions for the next quarter or for the year, citing customer and market uncertainty. Whatever the past, Nortel CEO Roth said that the future may look brighter. Existing fibre optic capacity should be filled within the next four months and demand for the company's products should increase. The key will be whether or not Nortel's customers will be able to find financing. And this will largely depend on whether or not the American economy sails out of the doldrums.
WEDNESDAY 25 APRIL 2001
New
head for Excite@Home
MTG/Viasat
and Telia's Com.hem join forces
Zone
Vision agrees with Broadcasting Gaia
nCube
and Orca deliver internationally
GE
Americom orders Alcatel trio
France
to invest in DTT
SMI
Media Invests in Two Way TV
Pace
in partnership with NDS Group
Alliance
to launch 8 new channels
AT&T
FQ's loss
Canal
Plus decides on ISMM
Broadband
provider Excite@Home has appointed Patti S Hart, 44, as chairman and chief
executive officer, succeeding George Bell, who announced his resignation
from the company and the Board.
Hart, who was recently named one of Fortune magazine's, '50 most powerful
women who influence corporate America,' recently served as chairman, president
and CEO for Telocity, Inc, a Silicon-Valley-based digital subscriber line
(DSL) telecommunications provider. Launched in 1997, Telocity served as
one of the leading broadband residential companies that offered consumers
high-speed Internet access through DSL technology. At Telocity, Hart built
the board and executive leadership team and took the company public in
2000.
Commenting on her decision to join Excite@Home, Hart said, "Like no other
company, Excite@Home has every asset to take advantage of this huge market
opportunity. The network, partnerships and client software working in
concert create a broadband powerhouse like no other. My job is to weave
these parts together, take advantage of the huge untapped potential, execute
on the business plans and drive towards superior service and profitability."
"George Bell announced his resignation from the company after five years
of service, first as president and CEO of Excite, Inc. and after the merger
between @Home Network and Excite, as chairman and CEO of Excite@Home.
George has brought Excite from a start up to today's Excite@Home, the
leader in broadband; for that we thank him and wish him well," said Dan
Somers, president of AT&T Broadband and a member of the Excite@Home Board
of Directors.
MTG/Viasat and Telia's Com.hem join forces
Scandinavian market-leading cable operator Com.hem (a division of Swedish Telia) announced on Monday (April 23) that it will now share its newly acquired exclusive PPV rights to the Swedish football Premier League (Allsvenskanof), with former arch-rival Viasat, an affiliate of Modern Times Group, MTG.
Com.hem and Viasat have announced cooperation over the rights to the most attractive Swedish domestic top level football matches: over a three year period Com.hem and now Viasat will be able to offer their digital subscribers more than 400 matches, all broadcast live.
The deal will also mean the introduction of the new Viasat PPV service Viasat Ticket. During the past few years Viasat and MTG have offered occasional PPV services. Com.hem has made PPV an increasingly important part of its operation, starting with movies and expanding into musical events and sports.
Com.hem was a pioneer in digital television in Scandinavia, launching its services in November of 1997. But so far interest from customers has been moderate. Late last year Com.hem converted some 100,000 of its 1.3 million Swedish households ato its digital services. The football deal, announced over a month ago, should have already made a considerable positive effect on the Com.hem digital performance.
For years MTG and Viasat had a sceptical attitude towards digitisation in general. An announcement last summer changed that policy, and in the last few months, Viasat has made major efforts to convert its million DTH subscribers to digital services. According to recent reports from Viasat over a third of its customer base have swapped their old analogue set top-boxes for new, and free, digital ones. The figures for new subscribers are also, 'considerable' according to MTG. Viasat now claims the title of 'the biggest digital TV player in Scandinavia.'
Since its launch in the late Eighties MTG has been actively and methodically challenging the Scandinavian media establishments, such as the former state monopolies Telia, and its television counterpart SVT. Several years ago rumours were that Telia and MTG were involved in close cooperation discussions in the satellite television area. Then some months ago MTG's telecom sister Tele2/Netcom decided to form a joint venture with Telia, letting the former monopoly in as a partner in the licence that Tele2 had just won.
Zone Vision in deal with Broadcasting Gaia
Zone Vision, a joint venture partner of the Spanish Private Media Group and an operator of the Private Blue channel on BSkyB and Telewest in the UK, has entered into an exclusive arrangement with Broadcasting Gaia Ltd, to distribute a second Private branded adult TV-Channel 'Private Girls' on the BSkyB platform on a Pay-per-Night basis.
Private Girls offers a channel dedicated to girls only, offering all the glamour, excitement, high quality and big budget productions of Private Blue.
Berth Milton CEO of Private Media Group said, "With the TV-Channels Private Blue and Private Girls our commercial presence has increased on UK television. The second Private branded channel gives us even broader visibility and recognition in the UK. Furthermore, it is partly thanks to the enormous expansion of our broadcasting of 467 per cent in sales for 2000 compared to 1999 that our overall net profit increased 171 per cent in the same period. We expect this hyper growth in broadcasting to continue."
nCube and Orca distribute worldwide
nCUBE and Orca Interactive LTD, a wholly owned subsidiary of Emblaze Systems Ltd announced an agreement that will provide network service providers worldwide with a hardware and software platform that will enable multi-channel streaming media solutions over any network or device.
The result of the agreement will be a pre-integrated system featuring components from nCUBE and Orca including nCUBE's n4 streaming media appliance, its nABLE application and Orca's RiGHTv Core, XVOD eXtended Video-on-Demand and XBIP, Broadcast-over-IP software technology.
The combination of nCUBE's n4 server, which can scale from 100 Mbps to 128 Gbps of streaming media from a single system, and Orca's multi-channel streaming solution software, is designed to create a platform that supports delivery of content through multiple network architectures to multiple media channels including TVs, PCs and mobile devices including wireless phones and PDAs. The operator enters content once into the management system. Content which has been loaded can be seen over any network from any type of device without modification say the companies.
"Orca's software helps to extend VOD technology to create value-added movies-on-demand and scheduled broadcast services, providing new revenue opportunities," said Mike Pohl, President, nCUBE.
"We are pleased that Orca's iTV applications will be incorporated with nCUBE's n4 and nABLE application. This pre-integration of hardware and software will provide service providers a vehicle from which they meet the increasing demands for streaming media," said Haggai Barel, Chief Executive Officer, Orca Interactive.
GE Americom orders Alcatel trio
By Chris Forrester
Despite being in the middle of its takeover by SES Global, GE Americom is steaming ahead with its largest-ever single satellite contract, announced on April 23. Three satellites were ordered from France-based Alcatel Space. Two of the craft are for ®build and launch• contracts, while a third is a ground-based spare.
Alcatel will use International Launch Services (ILS) to launch two of the satellites (in 2002 and 2003). The contract allows for Proton launches with the ILS ®guaranteed launch back up• of Lockheed Martin-built Atlas V in the event of any significant Proton launch delay. However, the Khrunichev-built Proton is proving to be a remarkably reliable launcher, with 14 missions in 2000, all successful. This is the first geostationary transfer orbit launch contract awarded directly to a US launch services company by Alcatel.
GE2E, a 40 transponder craft, will go to a mid-Atlantic position at 24 deg West targeting the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean and using Alcatel's Spacebus 4000 platform. Another craft, GE3E, is being built as a back-up ground spare. Alcatel's third contract covers a 48 transponder craft (24 in C-band, 24 in Ku) destined for 79 deg West, above Ecuador, and ideally placed for the Americas, is slated for in-orbit launch next year.
ILS has now launched four Alcatel Space-built spacecraft. With the addition of these extra two for GE Americom, there are another six launches of Alcatel satellites in their backlog. GE Americom contracted with ILS last year for two launches slated for 2003. In addition, the GE-1A and GE-6 satellites were launched successfully aboard Proton within three weeks of each other last October. Alcatel Space is a jointly owned subsidiary of Alcatel (51 per cent) and Thales (49 cent) and last year generated revenues of E1.4 billion.
GE Americom is already a monster organisation, with 17 wholly operational craft in its fleet, as well as another pair of craft involved in joint ventures (covering the AsiaPacific and Latin American regions). When SES Global takes over the combined outfit it will control a massive fleet of 28 satellites, plus another 13 in joint-venture companies that includes AsiaSat where SES has 50 per cent control. In other words these 41 satellites make the SES+GE fleet almost twice the size of their next nearest competitor, PanAmSat.
Whether all of these satellites will stay in their current positions will become clearer once the GE and SES deal formally closes, expected by the end of this year. According to a report from investment bankers Dresdner Kleinwort, the overlap of footprints between SES and GE 'creates scope for improving co-location and reducing maintenance costs.' The bankers suggest SES might delay launching some new satellites, filling any gaps by 'moving satellites into new orbital positions.' This theory is fine, and could well happen, except the example given is that of Sirius 2 and GE-1E 'both at 5 deg East' say the bankers, not realising they are one and the same ®bird!
France to invest in DTT
French public sector channel France 3 is planning to invest FF400 to FF500 million in creating eight local interest channels, managed entirely by France 3, over the next three years, using part of the billion francs that the government recently accorded to France Television for the development of its DTT projects.
Three of the channels are to be launched when DTT starts in France at the end of next year, the remainder before the end of 2004. Each channel will have a target area of around six million people. Programming will be regional magazines, documentaries and local news. The plan is for three hours of new programming a day, with repeats making up the total of 17 hours of programming a day. France 3 intends to work in co-operation with other partners, such as regional press, which is planning to launch channels itself.
The operating budget of each channel is estimated at FF 65 million a year, making a total of around FF500 million francs a year when all the channels are in service. The funding of the operating budget is under discussion with the government, and should be settled by this summer. France 3Øs overall operating budget is FF6.5 billion a year.
SMI Media Invests in Two Way TV
Swedish investment house SMI Media Invest is to put £12 million into interactive television entertainment company Two Way TV. It will become a new shareholder with a significant minority interest and two of its directors will join the main board.
SMI Media Invest is a specialist investment fund focused on new and dynamic companies in the digital interactive TV sector across Europe. This investment will fund the continued rollout of Two Way TV in the UK across all digital television platforms including satellite, which the company says will take it forwards towards break-even.
Two Way TV offers an interactive games channel which is deployed on a number of digital cable and satellite networks around the world. In the UK, it has distribution to almost a million pay-per-play digital cable homes and will soon launch on digital terrestrial platform OnDigital.
In addition to pay-per-play revenues, Two Way TV is also starting to attract advertisers and sponsors such as Cadbury, Domino's Pizza, and Sportal.
Two Way TV Chief Executive Simon Cornwell says, "This major investment from SMI Media Invest will enable us to continue our roll-out across all the major broadcast platforms in the UK and launch new interactive services. Broadcasters around the world are focusing on the power of interactive games in building loyal audiences and new revenue streams. We will now be able to move forward at a steady, confident pace towards break-even."
SMI Media Invest Chief Executive Michael Werner comments, "Two Way TV is the world leader in interactive games for digital TV. Linked to our portfolio of companies who are all leaders in digital TV technology and content, we believe Two Way TV will be perfectly positioned to capitalise rapidly on the fast-growing market for interactive TV. We look forward to working with Two Way TV to build their business in the UK and beyond."
Pace in partnership with NDS Group
Pace Micro Technology plc and NDS Group plc have established a partnership to provide IP television operators with a 'secure content solution' for entertainment delivered into consumer homes over IP networks. The companies are integrating NDS' Synamedia encryption with Pace's DSL4000 home gateway to develop secure video-on-demand and IP television.
Pace's DSL4000 enables broadband IP network operators to deliver entertainment services through the television and create new revenue opportunities in the home. The Pace platform has been developed to enable IP operators, in particular those using DSL networks, to deliver broadcast television, video-on-demand, Internet browsing and email. To ensure that valuable entertainment content is secure, Pace's DSL4000 will now decode encrypted IP content, delivered through NDS' Synamedia solution which enables encrypted IP television and video-on-demand over ADSL and other broadband networks.
Alliance to launch 8 new channels
Alliance Atlantis Communications CEO Michael MacMillan is confident that his Canadian company will launch at least eight new cable channels this Autumn. The company will definitely launch Health Canada Network and Independent Film Channel Canada, which are tier one channels and as such mandated for carriage by cable and satellite systems.
In addition to the two tier one channels MacMillan believes that BBC Canada, BBC Kids and National Geographic Canada will find carriage, along with an additional three Alliance backed movie channels. Federal regulator the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission licenced 20 tier one channels and 260 tier two channels last year. Tier two channels are responsible for making their own arrangements with distribution platforms. Tier one channels must be carried, once the financial arrangements are worked out.
AT&T FQ's loss
Telephone
and cable television giant AT&T, which plans to break into four separately
traded companies beginning this summer, reported a net loss of $366 million
in the first quarter, or 10 cents a share, compared with profits of $1.74
billion, or 54 cents a share a year ago.
AT&T Chairman C Michael Armstrong said that the business, along with others
in the industry, continues to feel the impact of declines in long distance
voice revenue. "We're focused on managing for profitability, paying down
debt and executing on the strategic investments we've made in our next
generation of end-to-end broadband businesses.''
First-quarter revenues rose 5.4 per cent to about $16.76 billion as growth
in its wireless and broadband units offset shrinking sales in its core
consumer and business long-distance operations. Sales to consumers plunged
16.2 per cent to $4 billion, while business sales fell 1.1 per cent to
$7.2 billion as pricing pressures offset an increase in calling volumes.
Wireless revenues jumped 46.2 per cent to $3.2 billion. Average monthly
revenues per wireless customer fell 7.4 per cent to $62.20, due to competitive
pricing pressures, expansion into a broader base of the consumer segment,
and recent acquisitions.
Canal
Plus decides on ISMM
Canal Plus, the French pay-TV group, part of Vivendi Universal, is in
talks about raising E100 million to rescue ISMM, the Swiss company responsible
for selling more marketing and broadcast rights to the next two soccer
World Cups.
If Canal decides against making a move, the alternative for ISMM is bankruptcy,
with companies vying to pick off its sports rights assets.
THURSDAY 26 APRIL 2001
BBC
chairman moves to BT
Lucent in deal with Siebel System
Media 100 explores MPEG-4
SLEC gets extension on F1's rights
Vivendi confirms interest in
ISMM
DoCoMo delays 3G launch
Bertelsmann and EMI close
to music merger
GG Media signs six courses
Philips acquires US-Israeli start-up
BBC
chairman moves to BT
In a surprise
move announced late yesterday, Sir Christopher Bland, current chairman
of UK broadcaster the BBC, revealed that he is to become chairman of the
former UK incumbent telco British Telecom, replacing the current BT chairman,
Sir Iain Vallance, who had been heavily criticised by shareholders.
Bland will combine his two-day-a-week role at the BBC until after the
general election, widely expected to be in June, with his new role at
BT which starts on May 1st.
Vallance was seen by analysts to have failed to translate BT's strengths
in fixed line telephones to the mobile and Internet spheres, fail to build
up overseas alliances efficiently, and leave itself saddled with £30billion
of debt. Officially Vallance is not due to retire until next year. In
contrast, Bland is seen as someone willing and able to perform radical
restructuring.
Bland will continue in an honorary role (chairman emeritus) at the BBC
for the next year.
Lucent
in deal with Siebel System
Lucent Technologies has signed an agreement with Siebel Systems, Inc,
a provider of eBusiness applications software, to join the Siebel Alliance
Program as a Premier Software Partner.
The companies are integrating the Lucent Arborç/BP Billing Platform and
Arborç/OM Order Management software with Siebel eCommunications to create
a comprehensive solution that will enable service providers to capture
a single view of the customer.
The integrated solution aims to open new revenue streams for service providers
and improve their profitability through targeted marketing activities
and improved customer service. The combined software platform will also
help service providers minimise deployment risks, shorten deployment times
and reduce deployment costs.
"This announcement is good news for customers looking to expand their
marketing flexibility and customer-facing eBusiness capabilities,particularly
when offering mobile, 3G and IP services," said Bob Kiburz, general manager
and vice president of Billing and Customer Care in Lucent's E-Services
Group.
Designed specifically for the communications industry, Siebel eCommunications
is a comprehensive family of eBusiness applications that allow organisations
to manage, synchronise and co-ordinate all customer touch points including
the Web, call centre, field organisation and distribution channels.
Media 100 explores MPEG-4
Media 100 Inc, a provider of digital media design and delivery solutions, will explore MPEG-4 encoding capability for its Cleaner streaming application platform. Media 100 is working with PacketVideo Corporation, wireless multimedia, and DiamondBack Vision, a developer of the MPEG-4 video encoding technology, to bring MPEG-4 open standard encoding capabilities to future versions of Cleaner, Media 100Øs industry-standard streaming solution.
At the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference this week, Media 100 will showcase an technology demo of Cleaner preparing digital media files in MPEG-4 for delivery on a hand-held device and a desktop system.
"PacketVideo is pleased to partner with Media 100 to deliver the richest possible content experience on wireless devices to mobile professionals and consumers," said Robert Tercek, president of PacketVideo's Applications & Services Division.
SLEC gets extension on F1's rights
The Federation Internationale de l'Automobile, granted on Tuesday (April 24) a 100-year extension of the broadcasting and commercial rights to Formula One to a company controlled for the 75 per cent by German media groups Kirch and EMTV.
Kirch said its part-owned SLEC holding company, founded by F1 promoter Bernie Ecclestone, paid $309 million for the rights from 2011.
The deal left uncovered the concerns of big car makers taking part in F1 mainly because of fears that Kirch and EMTV might seek to end the free-to-air TV broadcasts that attract 300 million spectators for each race. Kirch renewed its assurance that F1 broadcasting would remain free-to-air, with pay-per-view as an option for better coverage. "SLEC and Kirch Group have confirmed that the championship will continue to be shown on free-to-air television,'' the FIA said in a statement after an extraordinary meeting in Paris.
Losing the long-term rights would have been a huge blow for Kirch and EMTV who paid Ecclestone millions of dollars for a 75 per cent slice of SLEC. The holding previously only held the commercial rights to Formula One until 2010.
Vivendi confirms interest in ISMM
Jean-Marie Messier, Vivendi Universal chairman, confirmed the group's interest in buying ISL, the sports marketing agency that is part of Switzerland's ISMM.
The cantonal court of Zug is expected to make a final ruling on the company's future by early next week. ISMM recently applied to the court to postpone its bankruptcy, but the application was rejected, prompting the company to appeal.
Buying ISL would boost the pan-European sports rights and marketing firm that Vivendi is trying to form by merging its Sport Plus unit with Ufa Sports.
"The purchase of ISL, which is in liquidation, does interest us, but it assumes favourable conditions for legal security," Messier said. "ISL would reinforce the joint venture we want to form equally between Canal Plus and RTL Group on a pan-European basis...I am very optimistic that we can conclude an accord with Bertelsmann before the end of the first half."
Vivendi has indicated it is keen to set up its own sports channel after the sale of its interest in Eurosport to TF1, the French TV station.
Vivendi has also reached an agreement with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp to merge their Italian pay-television businesses Telepiu and Stream, in a move that should help stem losses at the two Italian operations. The two groups have incurred millions of dollars of losses since their launch after dishing out huge sums to secure exclusive deals to broadcast soccer.
"We have concluded an agreement for the merger of Telepiu with Stream on the basis of the relationship between the existing subscribers. Canal Plus will hold two-thirds and Rupert Murdoch a third," Messier commented.
DoCoMo delays 3G launch
NTT DoCoMo admitted on Tuesday (April 24) that the launch of a commercial 3G service would be delayed by at least four months to iron out technical problems, including difficulties maintaining connections when customers move between radio base stations.
Another worrying issue identified by DoCoMo is the failure to agree on a common set of 3G technical standards among operators in Europe and Japan. A shortage of manufacturers able to produce 3G handsets has also hampered the large-scale trials needed to ensure mass market reliability.
Bertelsmann and EMI close to music merger
Bertelsmann and EMI Group are still committed to a music merger after five months of talks, but antitrust issues are still standing in their way, said Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Middelhoff.
Middelhoff said that antitrust issues were not relevant to Bertelsmann-EMI merger plans given dramatic changes in the media landscape over the past year. "In reality, it's been a done deal since October. What we need to do now is find a workable situation anti-trust-wise. Both sides desperately want to realise this merger."
GG Media signs six courses
GG-Media, an 'outsider' UK horseracing media group, said it had signed contracts with six courses representing 150 race fixtures a year.
The group, created earlier this month by a track chairman unhappy with terms offered by rival consortium Go Racing, extended its acceptance deadline by two weeks to May 9.
If the 26 tracks GG-Media originally targeted had signed, the deal would have been worth £67 million ($96 million) over five years.
Philips
acquires US-Israeli start-up
Dutch electronics giant Philips is acquiring US-Israeli start-up Veon
Ltd, a developer of interactive content for broadband e-commerce and entertainment
applications.
"The acquisition will strengthen Philips' lead in the emerging market
of MPEG-4 (video) delivery to various consumer plafforms, including PCs,
set-top boxes, PDAs and mobile devices,'' Philips Vice-President Ahmad
Ouri said.
FRIDAY 27 APRIL 2001
Moody's and Standard & Poor rates SES
Anystream boosts integration
Scopus' installation over DS-3 link
ProSiebenSat.1 media hopes for the second half
Bertelsmann boosts VIVA share
Unbundeling Premiere World
TV Co chooses nCube
VEIL Interactive broadcasts TV with Cybiko
New launch for TM3
FutureTV launches t-print service enviroment
Viacom's record results
ZAQ Interactive to use Motorola set-top boxes
MTG/Viasat makes record ice-hockey investment
Yes Television signs Hong Kong content
Two horse race still running
Liberty Media/UnitedGlobalCom get EC OK
NTL bonds fall 4 points
Moody's and Standard & Poor rates SES
Credit rating
agencies Moody's and Standard & Poor's announced the results of their
credit rating reviews for SES on a standalone basis, and pro forma for
SES Global, the newly created company that will acquire 100 per cent of
US satellite operator GE Americom as well as the interests of the existing
SES Group.
Moody's Investors Service has assigned an issuer rating of Baa1 on SES
(stand-alone). Following the completion of the GE Americom acquisition
by SES Global, MoodyØs expects to set this rating to Baa2 with a stable
outlook.
Standard & Poor's has announced an indicative 'BBB' long-term corporate
credit rating, outlook stable, for SES Global following the acquisition
of GE Americom. At the same time, Standard & Poor's has also assessed
the stand-alone credit quality of SES, which would likely be assigned
a 'single A minus' long-term rating should the proposed SES Global transaction
not proceed. (Also
see earlier analysis SES)
Anystream
boosts integration
Anystream has introduced its Agility Workgroup 1.5 system to enable integration
with video production and broadcast equipment.
Clients naming Agility Workgroup as their encoding solution of choice
include: Fox News (New York); RTL New Media, one of Germany's largest
media companies based in Cologne; VTR, one of London's largest post-production
facilities; Clipstream, (London, a VTR division); BAY 6 Productions (Phoenix);
Concept AV (Berlin); Gotham Pictures (New York); Frame by Frame (San Diego);
Mindblazer (Charlotte, NC); Premier Studios (Lenexa, KS); Native Film
und TV (Dortmund); Newstream.com, a BusinessWire/MediaLink venture (New
York); and Techo Video and Film (Zurich).
Anystream also unveiled its latest product, Agility Workgroup 1.5, at
the NAB trade show in the US. A primary capability of the new release
is VTR Emulation, which enables broadcast industry professionals to control
Agility Workgroup 1.5 from any professional video system via RS-422 protocol.
"Video production environments of all sizes are looking for the best way
to produce streaming media more efficiently, and for the opportunity to
create new revenue sources. The Agility Workgroup product line enables
our clients to meet all of these objectives, via a technology-agnostic
software platform that delivers so much output for so little incremental
cost that our clients can afford to be creative with their extra processing
power," said Samir Gulati, Anystream vice president, marketing.
Scopus
installs over DS-3 link
Scopus, a supplier of digital compression technology to the broadcast
industry, has completed an installation with its distributor Video Engineering
(Honolulu) connecting MiracleNet's playback control center on Oahu to
a remote satellite uplink location over a DS-3 link. MiracleNet is an
international television network with Christian/Education based programming
covering major parts of Asia.
Typically DS-3, fibre, and other cable solutions compete with satellite
to move signals between locations. In this case they are working together.
Due to the satellite uplink site's remote location, it was not practical
to locate the control centre there since daily access to editing and program
acquisition equipment was required. The solution was to establish a dedicated
DS-3 fibre link running through the Koolau mountain range to the uplink
site.
A Scopus E-1100 MPEG-2 Encoder takes video and audio from the Miraclenet
server at the Program Distribution Center and sends it over a DS-3 circuit
to the uplink site where a Scopus IRD-2800 decodes the signal and passes
it to the uplink equipment.
ProSiebenSat.1
media hopes for the second half
Declining advertising revenues and higher investment in programming caused
a decline in profits for the first three months of 2001 for the German
TV group ProSiebensat.1 Media AG. The pro forma figures say profit would
about E5 million below the original projections of the group. Revenues
were shrinking by two per cent to E513 million.
The group runs the TV channels ProSieben, Sat.1, Kabel 1 and the news
channel N24. But the period of decline will soonbe over says the group's
CEO Urs Rohner. From June onward advertising revenues are forecast to
rise again significantly. For the entire year ProSiebenSat.1 expects a
four per cent increase in TV advertising expenditure. However, the increase
in revenues would be higher, Rohner predicts.
Bertelsmann
boosts VIVA share
The German media group Bertelsmann intends to take over 31 per cent of
the German music channel VIVA. This could follow the successful merger
of the Bertelsmann Music Group, BMG, and the British music group EMI,
which already holds 18.9 percent of the channel's shares.
Bertelsmann could then acquire an additional 12.1 per cent from the German music group Edel Music which has been trying to sell its stake for some weeks now. The alliance of Bertelsmann, which is already tightly linked to the US internet music venture Napster, with VIVA would open opportunity for VIVA to sell music via the web, said Dieter Gorny, CEO of the publicly listed music channel.
Unbundeling
Premiere World
According to German business rumours, Deutsche Telekom AG and Liberty
Media hope to close their negotiations successfully on the takeover of
Telekom's six regional cable companies within the next two to three weeks.
Liberty Media is already negotiating with KirchGroup to take over its
Premiere World digital bouquet for Liberty's new cable asset that then
will reach more than 10 million homes, news reports say. For the first
time a cable operator would be allowed to use single channels out of the
bouquet.
TV
Co chooses nCube
TV Co Ltd, a Korea-based interactive TV service provider, has chosen nCUBE
Corporation to be VOD server provider for It's TV, formerly Genesis Multimedia
Corporation.
It's TV plans to offer DVD quality Video-On-Demand (VOD) movies and television
over their IP network to more than 500,000 consumers by 2003.
It's TV, having recently completed the trial stage of the deployment in
December 2000, expects to use the 96 servers to reach 88,000 homes by
year-end 2001. The company is scheduled to scale-up to a half million
subscribers by 2003. It's TV will broadcast TV channels over the company's
IP network as well as provide full video-on-demand and interactive services
in DVD-quality picture (4Mbps MPEG-2).
Jin-Wook Kim, It's TV Chief Executive Officer, said, "We believe we will
be bringing an exciting television viewing opportunity to the market that
our consumers will respond very strongly to. We want to make sure we can
respond quickly to their appetite in a timely fashion, that means we want
to have no worry about capacity."
VEIL/Cybiko
in mobile Interactive TV deal
VEIL Interactive Technologies, provider of wireless data transmission
delivery systems for interactive television, and Cybiko, a developer of
hand-held electronic devices for the youth market, will begin discussing
the potential joint development of VEIL's interactive technologies for
broadcast television for use with the Cybiko handheld computer.
The Cybiko handheld computer combines instant messaging, email, interactive
gaming and personal information manager capabilities in an all-in-one
device designed especially for 'teens and tweens.'
"VEIL Interactive Technologies offers Cybiko the potential to expand our
offerings in ways that will include iTV capabilities with our handheld
computer," said Don Wisniewski, President, Cybiko Inc.
New
launch for TM3
Germany's former womens channel and later soccer channel, TM3, is going
to invest about DM 100 million to relaunch in September. The new name
and design will be announced in late August on 'TeleMesse,' an event where
German commercial TV channels present their program innovations to advertisers.
Only about 70 per cent of revenues are supposed to come from advertisements.
The other third from telephone fees, teleshopping and other transaction
fees performed by the viewers. The programming will mainly consist of
live formats. These programs will be launched from now onward, continuing
during the summer.
The process will start with a Travel and a Celebrity Quiz and an Animal
show. The TM3 channel's new general manager, Christiane zu Salm hopes
to reach break even by the year 2003.
FutureTV
launches t-print service enviroment
FutureTV, a developer of software solutions for the interactive television
industry, launched its embedded t-print service environment at the NAB2001
exhibition in Las Vegas,
The MediaCore Service Platform with t-print enablement allows printable
material (such as background materials, pictures, coupons and vouchers)
to be associated with media assets and directly delivered to the living
room for output on a printer such as the HP e-printer e20.
Ricky Rand, CEO of FutureTV said, "We see print enablement as a logical
progression to further enhance the capabilities of iTV, and the HP e-printer
e20 allows us to demonstrate these enhanced services in a living room
environment."
Viacom
achieves record results
Viacom Inc has reported record results for the first quarter ended March
31, 2001.
Cable Networks' pro forma EBITDA of $365 million increased 17 per cent, on pro forma revenue growth of three per cent to $999 million. These pro forma results assume the acquisition of the CBS Cable Networks, TNN and CMT, and the acquisition of BET, had occurred on January 1, 2000. Infinity's pro forma revenues of $835 million and pro forma EBITDA of $322 million decreased 4 per cent and 5 per cent respectively, reflecting difficult comparisons with the first quarter of 2000, which benefited from an exceptionally strong advertising environment including very strong demand from Internet companies. Pro forma corporate expenses, excluding intersegment profit eliminations, decreased 46 per cent to $24 million.
ZAQ
Interactive to use Motorola set-tops
ZAQ Interactive Solutions Inc, a software provider for interactive marketing
solutions on various platforms announced yesterday (April 26) that its
interactive TV game services offering now runs on the Liberate TV Platform
software in conjunction with the Motorola DCT-2000 set-top box.
"The marriage of such set-top boxes and the Liberate software platform
represents a tremendous opportunity for ZAQ's interactive TV offering,"
said Pierre Rinfret, Executive Vice-President, Corporate Development at
ZAQ. "With ZAQ's game services, network operators are able to generate
added revenue, and furthermore position themselves for further growth
of their respective customer bases."
The group has also established an interactive-marketing agency in Paris
with devarrieuxvillaret, a French advertising agency and a subsidiary
of Havas Advertising, an advertising group
The principal mandate of the agency is to provide consultancy services
and technological solutions in the area of interactive marketing to large
French businesses and organisations. To obtain and fulfill its mandates,
it relies on devarrieuxvillaret's 'me-marketing' (relational-marketing)
and advertising expertise, and on ZAQ's expertise in the development and
integration of multi-platform technological solutions for interactive
marketing.
The core team developing the agency's offer and clientele is composed
of four managers from French and European interactive agencies. 'devarrieuxvillaret//zaq'
has already recruited two clients: the Societe nationale des chemins de
fer (SNCF) and France Telecom.
MTG/Viasat
in record ice-hockey investment
Modern Times Group, MTG, the Swedish-based media group, currently operating
18 TV channels in eight countries, continues its heavy investment in sports.
The group will soon launch its biggest project ever sports investment
around the up-coming ice-hockey world championships in Germany on Saturday
(April 28) according to MTG's Petter Nylander.
During the two-week event MTG and its DTH arm Viasat will be broadcasting
ice-hockey 24 hours a day, on MTG's generalist flag-ship TV3, the sports
pay service Viasat Sport, and in addition also on three newly created
services for the Viasat digital operations, Hockey Xtra.
But this is the very first time that MTG is using all its present distribution
channels: the hockey event will possibly also be broadcast via MTG's Internet
portal everyday.com, MTG's various radio stations, mobile phones, teletext
and via palm computers. Coverage by MTG's morning tabloid Metro is also
guaranteed.
The main focus will be on Viasat's digital services ° launched last autumn
and so far with over one-third of Viasat's 1.2 million Nordic subscribers
covered. The new Hockey Xtra services will offer continuous summaries
with all the highlights on Xtra 1, Xtra2 contains interviews, reports
and portraits of leading players plus several games in cooperation with
the state-controlled games giant Svenska Spel (Swedish Games). Xtra 3
focuses on 'express repeats,' of all live matches on TV3 or Viasat Sport
with a one minute delay, and also full repeats of all the matches of the
Swedish national team Three Crowns.
"We are now experiencing a technical shift of system by the introduction
of digital television," comments Petter Nylander, who is also MD of TV3.
"Our audience wants to see an obvious benefit of digital television, so
we will do our best to accommodate this, by transmitting some 1500 hours
of hockey-related television. Of course it is important for us to get
many viewers for TV3 and Viasat Sport, but the main object for us now
is to increase penetration of digital TV for Viasat."
MTG has held the rights to the ice-hockey world championships since 1989,
when TV3 shocked Sweden by luring away the highly attractive event from
public service broadcaster SVT - the final public break-through for the
private challenger. MTG is hoping the same trick will work again for Viasat.
Yes
Television signs Hong Kong content
Yes Television, the domestic pay television programme service licencee
in Hong Kong, is finalising plans for the launch of its pilot service
in May this year. Yes says that the service will be the first in Hong
Kong to combine true video on demand (VOD) with broadcast television and
Internet access.
VOD content for the pilot service will include programmes from Buena Vista
International Inc., BBC Worldwide, IMG/TWI Sports, Hallmark Channel, NME
Concerts and MTV Networks Asia. CNBC Hong Kong will provide international
content and Mei Ah Film Production, Power TV, CETV (an AOL Time Warner
Channel), Sun TV, Regentact and Universe Films will provide local content.
The broadcast service will feature two new entertainment channels which
will be launched for the first time in Hong Kong during the pilot ° the
Hallmark Channel, an English language entertainment channel, and the Power
TV Zhong Tian Channel, a Chinese entertainment channel. Hallmark InteractiveØs
launch of its interactive video greetings service and its Crayola Kids
Club will also be a first for Hong Kong.
"We are moving full steam ahead and with strong support from our suppliers.
We will adhere to our pledges of providing digital broadcast pay TV and
interactive services to Hong Kong consumers in summer this year," said
Ms Lanny Huang, Vice President - Content for Yes Television in Asia.
Yes Television's Hong Kong content team is supported by colleagues in
the UK, the US and Australia. "We have a strong team of buyers world-wide
actively searching for the best content to give our customers a top quality
viewing experience," said Ms Huang.
Yes Television will also be showing the highly-rated Cantonese drama series,
"The Yong Zheng Dynasty", for the first time as 'time-free TV' with true
VCR-like features. Viewers can stop, pause, rewind and fast forward whenever
they wish.
The company has chosen the Taikoo Shing and Kornhill areas for its pilot
service. It will conduct a focus group study to get first-hand information
on viewersØ response to the service.
Yes Television is a leading broadband solutions provider for interactive
television, which has developed a highly flexible solution delivering
a range of broadcast, VOD, Internet, e-commerce and e-mail services to
its customers using broadband Internet technology. The service operates
over both DSL telephony and cable networks, enabling network operators
and pay-TV operators to deploy interactive TV rapidly in their domestic
markets.
True VOD is offered by Yes Television, enabling viewers to watch what
they want, when they want, using functions normally associated with a
VCR - such as pause, stop, play, fast forward and rewind.
Yes Television was established in 1995 and has offices in London, Cardiff,
Hong Kong, Melbourne and Los Angeles. Yes Television is preparing for
a commercial roll-out in Hong Kong following the award of the pay TV licence.
Yes Television is active in a number of key international markets. The
company recently launched Easy Television, the largest IP-based interactive
television platform in Australia, through Total Television, its joint
venture with CableandTelecoms. The roll-out will be one of the largest
deployments of on-demand services in the world.
It is currently running a pilot service over the BT ADSL network in the
Chiswick and Hammersmith areas of London. Other deployments in the international
markets are expected to be announced in the near future.
Two
horse race still running
In the fight for UK TV horseracing rights, the early leader, Go Racing,
(a consortium of Channel 4, BSkyB, and Arena Leisure is fighting back
against rival consortium, GG-Media (led by investment bank Fleming Family
and Partners) which this week announced a £67 million bid for 5-year media
rights to 26 smaller UK racecourses.
Go racing has sought to assure the smaller courses that its £400 million
10-year bid to cover 59 courses will not leave them worse off. The offer
included a minimum £320 million to racing over the decade, an additional
£80 million on marketing, and a further income, dependent on profits earned
by Go.
Liberty
Media/UnitedGlobalCom get EC OK
The European Commission approved on Wednesday plans by U.S. cable TV firm
Liberty Media to acquire control of UnitedGlobalCom (UGC), parent of Dutch
cable operator UPC, announcing, "The transaction does not lead to any
competition concerns in Europe."
Under the deal, Liberty Media will inject $1.4 billion cash into UGC,
which then would use E1 billion ($894.5 million) to buy a UPC rights issue.
EU regulatory approval has helped ease funding concerns for the indebted
UPC - with Liberty ensuring UPC's cash flow for cable upgrade to 2002
according to Reuters.
UPC shares hit a high of E6.54, before scaling back slightly to E6.45,
a gain of 7.50 per cent at 1340 GMT. UGC's stake in UPC rises to about
60 per cent from its current 51 per cent, if no other UPC investors take
up the rights issue. Reuters reports that Liberty originally agreed to
pay E8 per UPC share, well above its current trade.
Liberty's stake in UGC would increase to a 43 percent
economic interest and a 81 percent voting interest, effectively giving
Liberty control of both UGC and indirectly of UPC.
A further E2 billion is needed to complete the upgrade and rollout of
UPC's planned European digital network.
Liberty has stakes UK cableco Telewest and Ireland's Chorus while UPC
has a significant presence in the Netherlands, Austria and Norway.
NTL
bonds fall 4 points
Bonds issued the UK's lead cable company NTL fell four points on Wednesday,
as fears of an imminent downgrade in its credit ratings and funding concerns
worried high-yield investors.
NTL's E300 million 12.375 per cent bond due February 2008 slipped to 85
percent of face value, dealers said, as it became the latest victim of
souring sentiment in the European high-yield cable sector. The move followed
the cut by Moody's Investors Service in UPC's senior unsecured debt ratings
two notches to Caa1 from B2 on Friday, sending its bond price sharply
lower. Moody's currently rates NTL's bonds B2, but has them on review
for possible downgrade.
NTL is reported to have funding to last it until the fourth quarter of
2001.
WEEKEND FROM FRI 27 TO MON 30 APRIL 2001
Berlusconi
a monopoly broadcast threat?
OpenTV
Q1 results announced
MTG
to acquire soccer club
DoCoMo's 3G service turns a
profit
News Corp returns ePartners'
investments
Eutelsat
on the future of broadband
Legardere
not interested in iTelevision
Bland
quits BBC board
EchoStar sues DirecTV
Berlusconi a monopoly broadcast threat?
By
Carla Rumor
With just
two weeks until the Italian general election, commentators are asking
what would be the future of the entire country's broadcasting system,
if media magnate and parliamentary candidate Silvio Berlusconi became
prime minister. it is suggested that the conflict of interest between
his public and private roles could prove untenable.
Berlusconi is the world's 14th richest person. Fininvest, one of Europe's
largest multimedia groups, is 100 per cent owned by him and his family,
employing 20,000 people. Mediaset, Italy's main private commercial television
network, has three channels which command 42 per cent of the national
television audience, narrowly ahead of the three channels operated by
state broadcasting rival RAI. Mediaset has just reported a net profit
for 2000 of E423 million ( 264 million) on revenues of E2.36 billion.
Other prized
assets in the Fininvest group include Mondadori publishing house, expected
to report revenues of E1.5bn for 2000. Mediolanum, the financial services
group, has joined the elite circle of Mediobanca, taking a two per cent
stake in the Milan investment bank that is at the heart of Italian big
business. Plus the AC Milan "Serie A" soccer club, Spanish TV group Telecinco,
and the Medusa film production company.
For seven years, Berlusconi has been hounded by public prosecutors seeking
to have him jailed on charges of bribery and tax evasion relating to his
business activities. He has been vilified by Italy's leftwing press, which
caricatures him as an egotistical godfather.
If he wins the election, Berlusconi would have direct political authority
over the state television and broadcasting network RAI. One man will be
perceived to be in charge of almost the entire broadcasting system in
the world's sixth-largest industrialised economy.
This is a prospect that some of Italy's European partners would find hard
to understand or accept. It would hamper Berlusconi's clearly expressed
determination to forge good relationships with other European governments
if he wins power.
At Fininvest three options are being discussed. First, Berlusconi could
set up a 'blind trust', an idea he has frequently proposed. That would
give a legal framework to the arms-length management of Fininvest and
Mediaset which Berlusconi currently claims.
The second option would be the outright sale for cash of Mediaset. Buyers
are expected to queue up for Berlusconi's 48 per cent stake, which currently
carries a market value of about $7billion. "Any of the major content providers
- News Corp, Bertelsmann, Vivendi, Kirch - would be keen to get their
hands on a TV distribution network this size in a country like Italy,"
says one executive.
The third option would be to merge Mediaset into a new pan-European group
in which Fininvest and the Berlusconi family retain, say, a substantial
minority stake. In recent days there has even been a pointer to this option.
Murdoch and Messier have just agreed to combine their heavily loss-making
pay-TV interests in Italy.
If he wins the election, Berlusconi will be under pressure to take a decision.
It will depend on the size of his parliamentary majority. He will want
to see whether his administration has a decent life-expectancy. He will
gauge the pressure on the conflict of interest issue coming from Europe.
And he will sound out the views of his son and daughter and his intimate
circle of friends and business associates.
OpenTV
Q1 results announced
OpenTV Corp, the interactive television and media solutions company, has
announced financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2001, with
revenues of $22 million compared to $11 million reported for the quarter
ended March 31, 2000. First quarter 2001 results include the impact of
OpenTV's acquisition of Spyglass, which closed on July 24 2000.
The Company's pro-forma operating expenses for the quarter ended March
31, 2001 were $38 million compared to $16 million for the quarter ended
March 31, 2000. Included in first quarter 2001 pro-forma operating expenses
was a one-time $8.4 million marketing expense related to promoting BSkyB's
forthcoming OpenTV-enabled set-top box with personal video recording capability
as supported by an embedded 40 GB hard drive.
OpenTV's pro-forma net loss, excluding the aforementioned one-time marketing
expense, was $3.6 million, or $0.05 per share, for the quarter ended March
31, 2001, compared to a pro-forma net loss of $2.4 million, or $0.05 per
share, for the quarter ended March 31, 2000. Including the one-time marketing
expense, the company's pro-forma net loss for the quarter ended March
31, 2001 was $12 million, or $0.18 per share.
CEO James Ackerman said, "We continued to deliver strong results with
our core platform technologies, while further positioning the company
to take advantage of the growth potential in iTV. I am very excited about
the opportunities that lie ahead for OpenTV, and I firmly believe we are
well-positioned to extend our global iTV platform leadership, while moving
up the iTV value chain to deliver a complete iTV solution to our customers."
OpenTV has begun providing revenue and pro-forma operating profit/(loss)
results separately for its two major lines of business: core platform
products and services, and applications.
The company's core platform business line includes products and services
that enable OpenTV customers to develop and manage a complete iTV solution,
including middleware, licensed platform products such as OpenStreamer,
Device Mosaic, and development tools, and associated professional services.
The company's application business, OpenTVi, includes iTV application
products and solutions such as OpenTV Publisher, other individual iTV
application engines and customised applications, and will also include
the Service Platform Suite.
In the United States, OpenTV is making substantial inroads to bring interactive
television to the country, working with both cable and satellite networks.
OpenTV became the most widely deployed and activated middleware solution
in the United States when it announced in April that EchoStar's DISH Network
has now shipped over a million OpenTV-enabled satellite receivers. In
addition, during March OpenTV launched its initial set of iTV services,
including interactive games and on-demand information services, on the
Motorola DCT-2000 set-top box through USA Media Cable's network in Half
Moon Bay, California.
MTG to acquire soccer club
Modern Times Group, MTG, the Stockholm-based media giant, is expanding even further into the world of sports, going from televised and virtual versions to the real world. On Wednesday (April 25) it became obvious that Jan Stenbeck, the New York-based multi-billionaire controller of MTG, is doing a 'Silvio,' buying himself a major football club.
MTG and Stenbeck
now control 17 per cent of the shares of Djurgaarden Football, the public
company formed some years ago around one of Sweden's oldest and biggest
football clubs, again playing in the Allsvenskan, Sweden's counterpart
of the Premier Leage. Djurgaarden is one of the big three football clubs
of the capital of Sweden and has a very active and successful ice hockey
division, which is not yet part of this new deal.
MTG is investing seven million krona (£500,000) for this entry ticket
into the world of sport. The initiative comes from the football club and
some of its major shareholders. " For a while we have actively sought
the support of a leading media operator, in order to develop the trade
mark of our club," Bo Lundquist, Chairman of Djurgaarden, comments. "We
have to identify new sources of income, and we are happy about this deal,
which we look upon as a most long-term relation where we will be able
to develop new products and services together with MTG."
Hans-Holger Albrecht, the German MD of MTG since last autumn, points at
the possibilities the deal opens for his company, "To offer the Djurgaarden
fans content, new services and merchandising." In the latter area MTG
last October created a special new division, Modern Merchandising.
The first signs of MTG's entry into the Djurgaarden locker-rooms will
become visible on mobile phones screens where fans will soon be able to
download the Djurgaarden logo. Djurgaarden content will soon also be available
on MTG's interactive digital TV portal Everyday.tv.
Time Warner Cable and Juno Online Service Inc, which offers dialup service
and limited - wireless ricochet and DSL - broadband agreed to provide
Juno's Express Internet access service over TWC's cable systems.
Subject to FTC approval, the agreement is a prelude to offering broadband
to Juno customers as they become ready for it.
Juno spokesman Gary Baker said, "The first market hasn't been chosen yet.
Juno has completed months-long trials in Columbus, Ohio, but Baker couldn't
say if that's where service would launch first. Markets will be chosen
carefully to control implementation costs."
DoCoMo's
3G service turns a profit
NTT DoCoMo Inc is expecting its third-generation mobile phone service
to turn a profit by the second year of operation.
DoCoMo said this week it would formally launch its 3G mobile phone services
on October 1, four months later than planned, but expected nationwide
services to be available in early 2002.
DoCoMo President and Chief Executive Keiji Tachikawa told a news conference,
"We expect a profit in the second year, but cumulative profits won't appear
until the end of the fifth year."
DoCoMo said earlier it saw no change in its plans for 1.0 trillion yen
($8.19 billion) in capital expenditures over the three years to March
2004.
In addition, the telecoms giant said it was targeting six million customers
for its 3G mobile service by March 2004.
"We expect six million customers by March 2004 but we will have the capacity
for this number in March 2003," Tachikawa said.
DoCoMo shares closed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange at 2.52 million yen,
up 0.8 per cent compared with a 1.05 per cent rise in the broader market's
Nikkei 225 index.
News
Corp returns ePartners' investments
ePartners, the venture capital fund created by News Corporation said it
was limiting its investment to just $130 million, reducing it to just
20 per cent of the $650 million that was to be committed by investors.
Investors will be released from the balance of their capital commitments.
Mark Booth, managing director of ePartners said, "We raised our funds
in a very different economic climate than we find ourselves in today.
We do not believe that new investments can generate the type of returns
we expected at this time."
EPartners also said it was selling off its 40 per cent stake in a separate
fund it created with Japan's Softbank Corp. to invest in technology companies
in the United Kingdom. The Japanese firm was buying back the stake.
Separately, Softbank said it was merging its UK fund, Softbanks UK Ventures,
with its other European fund, Softbanks Europe Ventures.
The two funds, which were valued at over $1 billion when they were unveiled
last year, will now manage around $600 million out of its offices in London,
Paris and Munich.
Founded by President and Chief Executive Masayoshi Son, Softbank's fund
was hailed as a big shot in the arm for Europe's technology industry aiming
to invest in wireless firms and Internet start-ups.
Eutelsat
on the future of broadband
The future of broadband via satellite was the subject of The Broadband
Multimedia Conference held at the University of Bologna, organised by
satellite operator Eutelsat.
The highlight of the convention was the presentation of Open-Sky, a major
new initiative to build a new open standard multimedia and high-speed
Internet service.
Delegates from the telecommunications, government and broadcasting sectors,
ISPs and content providers discussed present and future broadband services.
An international array of speakers in the Internet and content provider
fields presented case studies of how they presently use satellite to deliver
their services.
In his keynote address Eutelsat Director General Giuliano Berretta outlined
his vision for the introduction of an open standard service platform delivering
rich media, audio and personal broadcasting services to users' PCs via
satellite. This new initiative entitled Open-sky gives consumers access
to a full range of interactive multimedia services including rich multimedia
content, fast file delivery, personal broadcasting services and high-speed
Internet access.
Open-Sky is already running from Eutelsat's W3 satellite at 7 degrees
East and carrying 20 unencrypted international video services that are
being streamed at speeds from 256 to 700 kilobits/s using MPEG4 encapsulated
over IP.
Eutelsat is investing significant revenue and resources to ensure the
success of the new platform and is partnering with multiple content and
service providers to deliver rich multimedia content to users.
The second day of the conference opened with a live duplex with Sir Arthur
C Clarke in Sri Lanka utilising a two-way Ku-band satellite link on Eutelsat's
SESAT satellite. Speaking to delegates, Sir Arthur spoke about how technology
developments are realising the dream of global communications. He said,
"The developments of communications now mean that the world is getting
smaller and smaller. Advances such as those provided by Eutelsat marks
the future of digital communication."
Speaking about the conference, Eutelsat's Director General, Giuliano Berretta
said, "At Eutelsat we believe that satellite will play an important
role for the delivery of multimedia broadband services - particularly
for those users who do not have access to other forms of high-speed access.
Initiatives such as Open-Sky demonstrate Eutelsat's commitment to being
a world-leader in the provision of satellite broadband services. We organised
our first Broadband Multimedia Conference to create an open exchange forum
to discuss the commercial, economic and technical potential for broadband
via satellite."
US Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Susan Ness said she
will depart the agency by June 1, making room for new FCC nominees from
President Bush. Ness, sworn in as a commissioner on May 23, 1994, served
seven years at the FCC.
"Although I do not know when the president will formally nominate or the
Senate will confirm these excellent choices, I believe that an orderly
transition is best accomplished by announcing when my time with the commission
will end," Ness said in a statement.
Legardere
not interested in iTelevision
The Lagardere Group has abandoned negotiations to take a stake in iTelevision,
the loss making rolling and local news channel owned by Canal Plus. Pierre
Lescure, President of the Canal Plus group, said in an interview with
the French Press Agency that the Lagerdere group will take a less forward
role in iTelevision. Lagardere already co-operates with Canal Plus, holding
stakes in DTH operator Canal Satellite and in channel producer Multithematiques.
The latter is along with the American group Liberty Media, which could
sell its stake if it finds its stake has been diluted too far when the
Universal thematic channels (Sci-Fi, 13th Street, etc) are absorbed.
In the last few weeks speculation has been growing that the group wanted
to buy into iTelevision. It appears that Lagardere and Canal Plus diverged
on the direction in which iTelevision should evolve. Lagardere wanted
Jerome Bellay, currently head of Europe 1, LagardereØs flagship radio
station, to take a major operational role in iTelevision.
Lescure added that the management of Canal Plus would take decisions on
the channel in the coming weeks. The entry of new shareholders is not
excluded.
Bland
quits BBC board
Sir Christopher Bland had to resign from the BBC board of governors due
to the potential conflict of interest arising out of his dual role of
head of both the public sector BBC and private sector BT, a situation
likely to prove untenable.
Bland was scheduled to stay on for a few months as part-time chairman
of the BBC - while holding the same role at BT - at the request of Downing
Street until a successor is found after the general election.
He said his role at the BBC would remain 'under review' in case potential
conflicts of interest or time pressures made it impossible to meet the
demands of both part-time jobs.
A government source said, "There are some areas which are a good deal
more sensitive than others. Our view is that the two jobs can be done
for a shortish period given the necessary safeguards are in place." BT
is also a significant supplier of services to the BBC.
EchoStar
sues DirecTV
EchoStar is suing DirecTV claiming that actions taken by the DBS provider
and its partners are anti-competitive. EchoStar said the US national retailers
it is now suing have mutually agreed that each will carry only the DBS
products and services of DirecTV, and not of any other high-power DBS
provider.
"By removing the principal threat to which individual acquiescence to
DirecTV's terms would otherwise expose any one of them - the threat that
a competing retailer of comparable statute would heighten competition,
and gain competitive advantage, by carrying EchoStar's superior products
and services - the boycott of DirecTV's high-power DBS competitor has
undercut the retailers' ordinary competitive incentive, and with it the
consumer benefits it ordinary generates."