NEWS MONDAY 21st - Monday 28th January 2002

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Weekend news Saturday 26th to Monday 28th

Norwegian DTT 'super giant' revived
Granada uses Ebone delivery
EuroNews adds Dutch cable viewers
Kirch negotiates with lenders
Australian cartel investigation
NTL restructure 'eagerly awaited'
News Corp No3 resigns
SpectreView used by Sogecable
TV Globo selects Tandberg
Technology tour for Arris

Norwegian DTT 'super giant' revived

The grand plans for a Norwegian 'super giant' to be the hub around which a national DTT system should be created have been brought into daylight once again.

But now the main players have been reduced to two: public service broadcaster NRK and its private commercial rival TV2. Telenor, the earlier third partner, seems to have stepped back, but will of course still play an important part in creating a Norwegian DTT system.

The latest move was made on Tuesday by the new MD of NRK, John G Bernander, when he participated in a hearing, organised by the Culture Committee of the Norwegian parliament. "Only a terrestrial digital transmitter system, backed and supported by NRK and TV2, will manage to provide digital television to all Norwegian citizens," Bernander claimed. He also referred to NRK and TV2 as the only media players in Norway with well-defined public service remits.

He adds, "The new company has to cooperate strategically to develop an EPG which will serve as a guide to the digital content. The EPG is the very key in the digital world. I am convinced that a national DTT system will be more flexible, less vulnerable than other solutions. Furthermore, a national DTT system will also secure NRK's and TV2's presence, both regionally and locally."

Bernander foresees between 15 and 20 new services in a future DTT network. Like his Swedish colleague, the new MD of Sveriges Television, Christina Jutterstroem, Bernander also wants NRK to become an active player in a rapid distribution of cheap and simple set top boxes.

Also within TV2 there are moves towards the establishment of a national DTT system. On Wednesday (23/01/02) Jan Erik Knarbakk, the Chairman of the powerful media group Schibsted - owner of 33 per cent of the shares of TV2 - voiced his strong support for the project. "But as it is a more cultural than a commercial venture I find it crucial that the government gives strong financial backing," he said.

Representatives of Danish Egmont, which owns another one-third of the shares of TV2, are also now voicing strong support for the plans.

The reason for Telenor stepping down as an official, active partner in the project is probably that Telenor has frequently been criticised for growing too fast, and into too many new directions in the Norwegian media world. These already include active and dominant interests in both cable TV and satellite systems ownership, and now 100 per cent ownership of Canal Digital (one of two main players in Scandinavia), as well as interactive operations
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Granada uses Ebone delivery

Granada Sky Broadcasting (GSB), one of the UK's best known satellite, cable and digital broadcasting companies, is using Ebone's streaming media service to provide video and audio content, initially, for its motoring and life-style website Men and Motors.

This is the first time GSB has delivered streaming content over the Internet. A key part of the service provided by Ebone is a web-reporting tool that is helping GSB improve customer service by providing detailed information on service use.

The move by GSB is indicative of the dramatic growth in Internet streaming and the convergence between traditional and modern media technologies.

According to Forrester Research BV, in the last few years Internet streaming and broadcasting markets have seen tremendous growth. Content is expected to be the main driver for mass-market penetration from 2003.

Research organisation Jupiter MMXI predicts that the number of European broadband households will double in 2002, with the UK and Italy seeing a threefold increase.

Ebone helps many media companies improve the way they reach existing customers, and attract new ones, by using media streaming and other broadband services. In addition to GSB, these include Capital Radio, Real Media and Yahoo! Europe.

Operating what it says is Europe's largest broadband and IP network with high performance IP streaming media capability, Ebone is able to connect vast numbers of users to GSB's website and give them extremely high-quality audio and visual content.

"We wanted to digitise and stream our programmes over the Internet, but to start the process we needed a provider with the experience, expertise and guaranteed service reliability that Ebone has demonstrated in streaming media. Critical for us is the sophisticated reporting mechanism that Ebone provides. This gives us essential audience information such as location, what services and features they use, site navigation and return visits, which enables us to continually develop and deliver the best possible service to our users," said Adrian Sill, Web site manager, Granada Sky Broadcasting.

"The broadcast industry is on the brink of revolution which will deliver a wealth of new and varied content to consumers in the workplace and at home," said Ina Pontoppidan, Ebone's Vice President, strategic sales development, media. "But its success hangs upon the provision of effective broadband technology and streaming media services. That requires expertise and in-depth knowledge. With customers such as GSB and other blue chip organisations, Ebone is one of the few players with the experience to bring solutions to the market."

GSB has three cable and satellite television channels - Breeze, Granada Plus and Men and Motors - all of which have complimentary websites. For Men and Motors, this offers exclusive content not seen before on the channel using streaming services. Ebone enables GSB to provide its customers with an on-demand streaming service (100 concurrent streams) for the exclusive Men and Motors programming content. Clips from the channel are available at a variety of Internet connection speeds for users of the site.

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EuroNews adds Dutch cable viewers

Pan-European news channel EuroNews has concluded an agreement with ESSENT one of Holland's major cable operators. Since 1st January 2002, ESSENT has made EuroNews available on all its cable networks and has been distributing the English version of EuroNews to 1.5 million homes.

The deal brings the number of homes that can receive EuroNews in the Netherlands to over 3.2 million - more than 50 per cent of all cable homes in the country.

The largest cities included in this deal are Groningen, Enschede, Den Bosch and Tilburg. EuroNews has increased its distribution in the Netherlands by 188 per cent since the beginning of 2001.
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Kirch negotiates with lenders

Germany's Kirch Gruppe is reported to be in talks with Axel Springer to postpone a €767 million ($675 million) payment due this month.

Despite €5.62 billion to •6.14 billion in debt and a further €2.56 billion in contingent liabilities, the FT reports that the German media group is having some success in fending off its creditors.

An agreement with Axel Springer, including postponement of exercising its €767 million put option against Kirch Media, is expected in the next two weeks - as Kirch would find it difficult to pay if no postponement was forthcoming.

Dresdner Bank had threatened to call a €460 million loan in December but then agreed to keep the credit line open until April.

The biggest threat to Kirch's future is a put option held by Rupert Murdoch's 22 per cent stake in Kirch pay-TV unit Premiere remains a threat as Murdoch could force Kirch Gruppe to buy back the share for €1.74 billion in October - but a more subtle deal is expected to emerge from negotiations between Mr Murdoch and Mr Kirch, including a takeover of Premiere.
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Australian cartel investigation

Australia's competition watchdog will investigate whether or not the proposed alliance between the country's second and third-ranked pay-TV platforms will breach national regulations.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has written to companies seeking comment on the potential impact of Austar's sale to Optus Vision sale on the pay TV industry, telecommunications and Internet service provision markets.

In a letter to Austar the ACCC notes that reports that Austar is seeking to ally with Optus, which was bought by Singapore Telecom last year, as well as having discussions with Foxtel, the market leader, have prompted it to take action.

ACCC commissioner Ross Jones wrote that the commission, "intends to examine the competitive consequences of these possible acquisitions in order to determine whether any issues might arise."

Austar has confirmed that it has been in high-level talks with Optus since November, but that no concrete results have emerged. A union of the two platforms would create an operator with nearly 700,000 subscribers, compared to Foxtel's 760,000, although programming and channel-sharing agreements between Austar and Foxtel would have to be unravelled before the former could link with Optus.
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NTL restructure 'eagerly awaited'

Despite $17 billion of debt and a further $5 billion in other liabilities and record lows for its shares, UK cableco NTL insits it will be saved through its yet-to-be-announced restructure, emphasising it remains fully-funded through 2002 and will meet all financial obligations to creditors this year.

A vast and complex corporate restructuring is forecast for this year - not this month as earlier expected - with the aim of emerging with a positive cash flow, a simpler structure, and reserves to cover contingencies. A main aim of any restructure is to cut interest payments, which were more than $1bn in the first nine months of last year.

In addition to a partial debt write-off or a debt-for-equity swap, moves to improve cash flow are forecast to include reducing the planned $1.3 billion spend up to September 2002. However, revenues have be sufficient to achieve operational break-even, scheduled for 2004. Both cost-cutting and a new equity investor are sought.

NTL bonds trade at about a 30 to 35 per cent discount to face value. NTL has not breached its covenants and the FT reports that it is on target to meet its fourth-quarter ebitda guidance of £152 million ($220 million) and its obligations.

However, the company had only $520 million of cash and cash equivalents at the end of September and will have to resort to undrawn bank facilities of $1.4 billion, to meet interest payments due in April.

France Telecom, which has about $5 billion in NTL convertible bonds and obligations to buy preferred stock, is owed $518 million (due in May) for NTL's 27 per cent stake in French broadband company Noos. Most of the remainder is in funds holding $9 billion in NTL bonds of equal seniority. Bond interest payments of $113 million are due within a month.

While CEO Barclay Knapp continues to project an optimistic outlook - backed by main lenders and some bondholders, many analysts and more critical bondholders and shareholders take a totally pessimistic view, some already pushing for bankruptcy proceedings.
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News Corp No3 resigns

News Corp number three and head of the company's global satellite TV operations, Chase Carey, resigned on Thursday (24/01/02), increasing the roles of Lachlan and James Murdoch.

Pursuit of US satellite TV broadcaster DirecTV is now seen as over as Mr Carey would have run the combined operations - Sky Global Networks - which would eventually have had its own IPO.
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SpectreView used by Sogecable

Spain's largest Pay-TV Group Sogecable is to use IPV's SpectreView browse technology, incorporated into systems from Ascential and Virage, to enable low resolution browsing of media assets prior to transmission on TV or the Web.

SpectreView partners Ascential and Virage have configured the core technology to meet the specific needs of their customers. The new system allows Sogecable to simultaneously and automatically encode video from its 200,000-hour archive of content, creating both high-resolution production quality video and low-resolution browseable video in a single, time-saving pass. SpectreView technology implemented in the system allows editors, journalists and researchers to easily browse the library, with instant access and preview capabilities for video clips, which are assembled for television content.
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TV Globo selects Tandberg

Brazilian broadcaster TV Globo, a subsidiary of the Globo Group and a leading broadcaster in the Latin American market, has bought a complete end-to-end Tandberg Television solution for nationwide digital distribution.

The system, scheduled for launch in summer 2002, will replace the network's analogue network for national distribution from its Rio de Janeiro studios to Rede Globo's affiliate stations throughout Brazil. It will deploy Tandberg Television developed satellite modulation solutions, which will enable TV Globo to save bandwidth and lower the satellite transponder costs for the network.

Liliana Nakonechnyj, Director of Telecommunications at TV Globo explained that the network selected the Tandberg Television solution following extensive testing in trials with competitive systems. The testing focused on video quality, performance, ease of use, and management and control capabilities. Tandberg Television's ability to provide a complete end-to-end solution proved highly beneficial to TV Globo."

"Ability to provide a complete solution, combined with its leadership in 8PSK satellite modulation, encoding quality and system management and control, proved to be the ideal solution to replace our analogue distribution system," said Nakonechnyj.

The heart of the system is a Tandberg Director network management and control system, which provides security for all network distribution from a single NT platform. The fully redundant video compression system is comprised of Tandberg Television E5720 encoders, MX5620 multiplexers and SM5600 8PSK satellite modulators.

Eric Cooney, COO of Tandberg Television attributes the selection of the Tandberg Television equipment to the flexibility it will provide for TV Globo, saying, "With improved video quality, state-of-the-art 8PSK modulation, and Tandberg Director network management and control, TV Globo will greatly enhance its distribution capabilities following the launch of its new end-to-end digital solution. We look forward to further development of our relationship with TV Globo."
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Technology tour for Arris


Telecommunications technology company Arris is rolling out its first 'Arris Advantage Event', a series of technology conferences on tour in Europe commencing in Madrid (27th February) followed by Amsterdam (1st March), Frankfurt (4th March), Paris (6th March) and Copenhagen (11th March). The events are aimed at senior commercial and technical managers within European Multiple Systems Operators (MSO's), describing how they can make money out of data and telecommunications.

Rob Sherwin, Arris Director of Marketing & Communications, Europe comments, "This region represents a strategic market for Arris. Our multi-city tour will illustrate with commercial examples how Arris technology and expertise can assist MSO's in quickly developing revenue-generating services using Arris Telephony over IP (ToIP) and broadband data delivery technology and services."

Arris notes that deploying voice services presents significant challenges for which operators are likely to need a partner with proven cable telephony expertise to help them navigate to suitable solutions. Arris says that through its CompleteVoice program, operators are provided with a comprehensive suite of programs for planning, installation and support of Telephony over IP (ToIP) and circuit-switched networks, reducing time to market in offering subscribers carrier-grade voice services.

The conference also aims to provide operators with insight into building their networks to meet performance and market demands. This includes solutions for fast and simple service activation and subscriber maintenance, which will keep customer satisfaction high and costs low.

The conference will close with a discussion on the future in broadband cable, including the networked home, bringing fibre further into the local network, and new revenue prospects in SOHO/business markets.
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Friday 25th January

ZDF in Al Jazeera agreement
Fox Kids in SMS venture
New COO at Tandberg
Sigma targets €200 m cable OSS mkt
Liberty ambitions raise fears
Viaccess secures Korean channels
Premiere subs could fall
MTV Thailand launched
Yes HK partner quits

New COO at Tandberg

Digital TV opens solutions provider Tandberg Television in Norway, has promoted Eric Cooney, its Vice President and General Manager Americas, to the position of Chief Operating Officer.

Eric Cooney will retain ultimate responsibility for the Americas business unit and in his new role as COO, Cooney will oversee the company's world-wide engineering, research and development, product management and business development.

"Eric has the experience and industry knowledge to enable him and his team to develop and drive Tandberg Television's vision through new product development, partnerships and acquisitions. I believe his results-oriented leadership style will enable him to succeed in his new role as COO," says Gwyn Pugh, Tandberg Television President and CEO.

Since joining Tandberg in 1997 Cooney has successfully lead the Americas team through a period of success and expansion, growing its share in satellite, terrestrial broadcast, telecommunications, and cable market segments. Cooney holds a Masters Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Southern California and a Masters in Nuclear Engineering from the United States Navy.

"Tandberg Television is in an extraordinary position to take advantage of long-term growth opportunities in the digital broadcasting industry. The engineering expertise, market knowledge, brand recognition and broadcast customer base combine to provide an ideal platform for growth. With this innovative, highly motivated team of professionals, I am confident we will drive Tandberg Television's future success," says Cooney.

Al Nunez, formerly Director of Sales, Tandberg Television Americas, has been promoted to Vice President of Sales and Operations Americas and Joe Greene, formerly Operations Manager, Tandberg Television Americas, is now the Director of Operations for the Americas.
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Sigma targets €200 m cable OSS mkt

Sigma Systems, a leading provider of service management solutions to support the 'triple play' of interactive video, voice and data for cable operators, opened its European headquarters yesterday (Thursday 24/01/02) and announced its first European customer deployment with @Home Benelux BV in Holland.

Sigma, whose Operations Support System (OSS) solutions enable cable operators to deliver and provision differentiated multiple services, is initially targeting the European cable OSS market, which is estimated by Yankee Group to be worth over €200 million. Sigma notes that the European cable market - currently serving more than 60 million subscribers, generating €9.6 billion in annual revenue - has reached the critical phase of its evolution. Broadband cable services are now competing head-to-head with other broadband technologies, and cable operators now have a finite window to win market share, and meet the ever-increasing demand of 180 million TV households to join the nascent broadband revolution in Europe.

The company says that the expansion of Sigma is therefore very timely, with European cable operators facing the new and complex challenge of converging multiple video, voice, and data services into an integrated subscriber offering.

Sigma's track record is based on its experience in North America, where its combined customer base currently addresses over 35 million subscribers.

With the Yankee Group predicting that 2002 will be the year when MSOs must move towards offering a personalised TV portal service to subscribers , Sigma says its Service Management Portfolio enables operators to deliver the single view subscribers demand across all video, voice and data services.

Richard Hubble, Managing Director Europe, Sigma Systems, commented "Today, operators must roll-out differentiated and personalised services, delivering the triple play of video, voice and data. However, this proliferation of services is exponentially increasing the complexity of the network for MSOs, and posing real challenges for them when it comes to provisioning new services to subscribers whilst keeping operational costs down. Sigma is launching into Europe with the express mission of helping European cable operators maximise the return on investment from their network infrastructure, and helping Europe's cable subscribers experience the full benefit of today's exciting new interactive broadband services."

Hubble also emphasised to advanced-television.com that its US customers such as Cox were full triple play providers catering for mass markets - with Cox - in addition to having 6.2 million cable TV subscribers, has 900,000 high speed data subscribers, and growing at 9,000 per week, and 400,000 telephony subs, growing at 5,000 per week.

At the European launch, Sigma annouced that @Home Benelux, the Netherlands' second largest high speed Internet service provider, now wholly owned by Essent Kabelcom BV, has successfully used Sigma's OSS software to automate the provisioning of its high speed Internet offering. The company's now 110,000-strong subscriber base can receive broadband Internet access at home through their cable TV modems and personal computers.

"Our challenge was to roll out high speed Internet services to our subscribers both quickly and cost-effectively, to respond to the increasing demand for broadband services," comments @Home Benelux Director of Operations, Chris Gray. "Sigma Systems' service management software offered us a core workflow and provisioning engine that allowed us to quickly and easily define and roll out broadband Internet services. We chose Sigma's solution two years ago to launch our service, and our subscriber base reached 100,000 customers before the end of last year. Sigma's software was integral to the success of our network architecture."

"By enabling us to scale-up to meet rapid subscriber growth, while at the same time allowing us to define and add new services, Sigma's software has helped us build our business and meet strategic objectives," said Frans Goettsch, CFO, @Home Benelux.

"Our partnership with @Home Benelux and Essent Kabelcom is of key strategic importance to our launch into Europe and is testament to the increasing demand for residential broadband services delivered via cable," said Hubble.

In an interview with advanced-television.com on Thursday (14/01/02 - yet to be published) Hubble emphasised that the biggest savings for cable operators achieved by the service were in reduced call centre demand through self provisioning, reduced CSRs, less technical support due to the automation of the system, and increased revenues through upselling and impulse purchasing.
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Liberty ambitions raise fears

The German Kartellamt's (cartel office) doubts about approving Liberty Media's acquisition of more than 10 million cable TV homes from Deutsche Telekom AG for €5.5 billion appear unlikely to be resolved by the close of the investigation period on February 28.

"We still need to be careful," the Director of the Kartellamt, Ulf Boege, said in a German newswire interview. "The intended acquisition of the Premiere stake was only one of three issues we are investigating," he added. He even doubts that the surprising withdrawal of the announcement of intent to take a Premiere stake two weeks ago, was meant to appease his authority as many in the industry have suggested. "We are keeping up the talks with Liberty," he said, adding, "Nothing is decided, yet."

*The Kartellamt is also reported by Europemedia to have received representations from RTL Group which is worried that Liberty Media's acquisition of the Deutsche Telekom's cable network would affect its viewership figures.

Liberty Media is expected to introduce extra fees for each channel subscribers receive through cable. This would seriously reduce the audience numbers for its channels, RTL Group and its main owner Bertelsmann told the Monopolies Office.

Another threat outlined by Bertelsmann and RTL Group is that Liberty Media could introduce a special device needed for cable reception in the future.
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Viaccess secures Korean channels

Viaccess, a France Telecom company which provides conditional access for pay television and protection of broadcast content over broadband networks, has won a new contract with IP and TV broadcaster GlobeCast North America.

Last year both companies partnered to broadcast the programs of KISB (Korean International satellite Broadcast) using the Viaccess conditional access technology for securing access by North American viewers.

Korean International Satellite Broadcast has been broadcasting the programs of the two Korean terrestrial channels KISB 1 and KISB 2 since December 2001, using Viaccess' conditional access solutions in the United States, through the GlobeCast North America platform of Culver City (California). KISB programs are broadcast in DTH (Direct To Home) to a US-based Korean audience of currently 10,000 subscribers throughout the USA.

KISB is the second Asian TV provider to trust Viaccess for the management of its channels access rights in North America.

" These two new successful contracts in North America, a market dominated by domestic technologies, demonstrate the economic and functional benefits of the Viaccess offer, and the high level of qualification of our experts," says Volcy Lesca, Viaccess Executive Vice President, International Sales.
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Premiere subs could fall

Subscription fees at German digital platform Premiere World, which remain far from break even, could fall even further.

This prospect was hinted at in a newspaper interview by the Premiere World supervisory board Chief Peter Mihatsch. The comapany hopes to bring the venture close to break even by the end of this year. However, up to the end of last year Premiere reported 2.41 million subscribers, and in the interview Mihatsch talked about, "almost 2.5 million."

After the relaunch almost three years ago, Kirch Vice Chairman Dieter Hahn had said break even was expected by the end of 2001 when it was forecast it would have about 3.5 million subscribers. Kirch's partner in the venture, Rupert Murdoch, who owns 22 per cent of Premiere via BSkyB, said in another interview that he had considered taking control of Premiere this fall, should Premiere fail to meet the target figures outlined when BSkyB acquired the Premiere stake two years ago. This option was granted to Murdoch in the original contract, with Kirch having the alternative option of paying back the purchase price plus interest - an estimated €2 billion to €2.5 billion.
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MTV Thailand launched

MTV Asia has formed a joint venture with Ten Music Television (TMT), a Thai company specialising in the production of music television programs, to create MTV Thailand, which will deliver more relevant programming for the Thai youth audience.

Following the renewal of a distribution deal with United Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) effective from November 1, the joint-venture will be launching a 24-hour MTV Thailand channel with more locally-produced shows to complement the existing international and regional shows. More hours of Thai-language programming will be rolled out progressively throughout 2002.

"This past year has been an eventful one for MTV Asia. We launched MTV Philippines in January, MTV Korea in July, and we wrapped up the year on a festive note with the joint venture to launch MTV Thailand, as well as winning the coveted title of 'Broadcaster of the Year' at the Asian Television Award," said Peter Bullard, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, MTV Southeast Asia and Network Group. "MTV Thailand will continue MTV Asia's commitment to making our programmes and content relevant to the local youth. We are pleased to be working with TMT as we share a common vision of bringing the best of both local and international music and lifestyle entertainment to Thai audience."

Bullard indicated that the launch of MTV Thailand is part of MTV Asia's ongoing localisation plan in Asia. MTV Thailand will join MTV Southeast Asia, MTV Philippines, MTV India, MTV China, MTV Korea and MTV Mandarin in the list of MTV channels dedicated to the viewers of this region.

Commenting on the joint venture, Jacqueline Fernandez, Managing Director of MTV Thailand said, "I'm delighted to be working with such a powerful global media brand and youth marketer. MTV will bring in its distinctive programming expertise, while Ten Music Television will contribute its knowledge about the needs and demands of the youth market in Thailand. Together, MTV and TMT will be a formidable partnership in Thailand."

MTV Thailand is being aired via United Broadcasting Corporation on Channel 49 in Thailand.
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Yes HK partner quits

Hong Kong's pay TV policies have been thrown into disarray after a local utility company withdrew from a joint venture with the UK's Yes TV to run a platform in the Special Administrative Region (SAR) of Hong Kong.

CLP TeleCom - a subsidiary of electricity utility CLP Holdings - pulled out of the joint venture weeks before Yes TV was due to launch its Hong Kong operation on February 22. CLP said that the current economic conditions in Hong Kong were not conducive to starting a pay TV operation.

The news comes in the same week a Hong Kong newspaper reported that another pay TV licence holder, Galaxy, had asked to delay its launch until September because it could not find investors. Galaxy is owned by terrestrial TVB whose dominance of the local market means it has to sell 50 per cent of the company before it is allowed to go on air.

Hong Kong awarded five pay TV licences in July 2000 and since then two would-be players have dropped out, a further two - Galaxy and Pacific Digital Media - have repeatedly delayed their launches, and now Yes TV has lost its local partner. It leaves i-Cable as the de-facto monopoly pay TV provider since it began operations in 1993.

Yes TV Chairman and Chief Executive Thomas Kressner said yesterday a commercial trial of pay-television services would go ahead next month.

Kressner said that compression technology advances and cheaper set top boxes will let the project breakeven ahead of schedule, but analysts warned that the costs of leasing capacity will hit Yes TV's bottom line.

Technology general manager Nigel Harper said it would cost $32 per subscriber to lease a five-megabite telephone line to carry Yes TV's interactive pay-television services. By comparison i-Cable charges $38.50 for its basic package of 15 basic channels on the microwave delivery and 21 via fibre.
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Thursday 24th January

Mediaset in APTN deal
Swedish digital TV uptake
Berlusconi - 'scandalous coverage'
Vivendi ownership in breach?
Microsoft eliminates TV division
Netscape to sue Microsoft
Canal Plus interface leaked
Austar in black in 2002
London Satellite exchange deals
Convergys ICOMS for AT&T broadband
Mergers for US cablecos
Irdeto's Indian distribution

Swedish digital TV uptake

Digital television made significant gains in Sweden during 2001 with the number of households owning digital receivers rising by five per cent from 13 to 18 per cent according to a recent report from independent media analyst group Mediavision. To date this only covers set top boxes as integrated sets have not yet been introduced.

Mediavison has also monitored purchasing plans among Swedish households for 2002, and if the intentions expressed are realised digital take up will increase to 30 per cent or more by the end of this year.

Interest in interactive services is also increasing. Among households equipped with some kind of digital STB the number of users of interactive services went up from 31 to 41 per cent. The most popular interactive service appears to be pay-per-view, introduced years ago by the leading cable operator, Telia's Com-hem.

The two competing DTH operators, Canal Digital and MTG's Viasat, offer an increasing number of PPV services. Traditionally movies have been the bread-and-butter of PPV, but in the last year Viasat successfully introduced professional boxing, and both Com.hem and Canal Digital have, with equal success, brought on music concerts and other sports events.

The DTH platforms are still far ahead in the Swedish digital race, with more than half a million subscribers together, with Com.hem and the DTT platform Senda lagging behind with some 100,000 households each.

During the last few weeks UPC Sweden - with its cable market concentrated to the greater-Stockholm area - is finally implementing 1999 plans to digitise its network (some 255,000 plus households) realised; the Liberate-based STCs (set top computers) are currently being biked out to customers who have signed up for digital reception.
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Canal Plus interface leaked

Satellifax reports this morning that a preview of the interface of the forthcoming, delayed, Canal Plus second generation terminal can be seen at www.gedeon.com/projects/cplus.htm

Wednesday 23rd January

Films on broadband
TV6 now off air
UK leads European digital TV
BSkyB in iTV travel booking
Scopus supplies SES Global
Sun/Strategy in iTV agreement
New VP at MTV

Films on broadband

Downloading of films appears to be a major attraction for Swedish broadband users according to a user survey just published by Telia, Sweden's leading telecom operator. Telia, in partnership with the Gallup Institute, reports that more than every third broadband user is downloading movies over the Internet. As many as three out of four broadband customers use their new facilities to download various music services.

The survey also shows that Internet use in general increases dramatically when customers get access to broadband: as much as 67 per cent of the users have increased their 'on line' presence with more than two hours a day, or more. 78 per cent of the users interviewed claim that broadband is now a complement to 'other media.'

"On one hand I find it fantastic that broadband is so popular and is used so frequently. On the other hand I can fully understand that film- and music companies get worried about violations of the copyright laws," Indra Aasander, Head of Telia Internet services, comments.

"But now it's up to the film and music industry to create digital strategies, because that is nothing Telia or other broadband actors can do to prevent users to swap copyright- protected material with each others.

Telia is one of Sweden's leading broadband Internet suppliers. Others are Telenordia (today wholly owned by Norwegian Telenor, after British Telecom , BT, was bought out in 2001), both using ADSL technology, and UPC's Chello, using cable modems.

TV6 now off air

On Tuesday (22/01/02) the Russian government prevented further broadcasting by the TV6 station which went off the air overnight to be replaced by a sports channel on its usual frequency. The closure ruling was based on an expired law that had allowed minority shareholders - in this case an oil company pension fund - to seek the breakup of unprofitable companies.

Press Minister, Mikhail Y Lesin, was reported to be surprised at the court order and said he had no choice but to revoke the network's broadcast license and give it to new operators.

In an interview on state network ORT on Monday, Lesin said, "As of today, there are no legal opportunities for the TV-6 team to continue its work. We have made proposals to several companies. They are considering our offer to work temporarily on the channel."

Power to TV6 studios was cut off and the company's Internet and telephone lines ceased functioning. TV-6 officials have said they would appeal the court order and appeared to have been surprised when TV6 was not granted a 10-day grace period reserved for appeals.

"It looks like some kind of a television coup," TV6 General Director Yelgeny Kiselyov told Ekho Moskvy radio. "The authorities today showed that their single goal is to gag us."

Although President Vladimir Putin said that the state played no role in TV6's troubles and would not interfere with court decision, the fact that this closure eliminates independent TV criticism of the government has led many to describe the move as censorship.

TV6 management largely came from former employees of an earlier independent network, NTV, which was taken over by the government-controlled natural gas company Gazprom last summer.

TV-6 must now begin a six-month liquidation process and its broadcast licence will be revoked to ensure completion of the breakup.
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BSkyB in iTV travel booking

A remote booking travel service is to be launched in April by BSkyB as part of its interactive offering according to reports at Mad.co

This new service will form part of the broadcasterôs Sky Travel channel, enabling viewers to book flights and holidays using their TV remote controls.

The service will start with booking of scheduled flights via the TV, with package holidays and last minute offers being added later in 2002.

Travel agent, The First Resort, jointly owned by Netdecisions, Thomson Travel Group and Centrica, will partner BSkyB for the venture whose revenues will be split between Sky and The First Resort.
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Scopus supplies SES Global

Digital platform supplier Scopus is supplying international satellite operator SES Global with components from its CODICO product line including the E-1100 Encoder, which handles BISS standards and the 4:2:2 Integrated Receiver Decoder, model IRD-2800.

Due to strict corporate non-disclosure rules surrounding the formation of SES Global, Scopus received an expedited request from SES Global and within 48 hours supplied the required platform to an event site in Princeton, New Jersey.

SES Globabl spokesman Yves Feltes commented, "We literally approached Scopus less than two days before the event with our request and were supremely satisfied that Scopus was able to deploy the equipment so quickly and that the platform was 100 per cent reliable and met our standards."
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Sun/Strategy in iTV agreement

Strategy & Technology Ltd (S&T), a company specialising in open standard interactive television solutions, has made two new agreements with Sun Microsystems Inc. These agreements cover the use and sale of S&T technology, which the company says are expected to boost its worldwide sales.

A new agreement with Sun Microsystems Australia provides for Sun to sell S&T's software as part of its solutions for broadcasters and interactive TV authors in Australia and New Zealand who will use the DVB-MHP standard. Australian broadcasters and authorities recently committed to use the DVB-MHP standard in interactive digital TV in terrestrial TV broadcasts.

Sun is already working with several Australian broadcasters in providing demonstrations and MHP applications, S&T's software is being delivered to broadcasters as part of this process.

In a separate agreement, S&T will provide its software products to Sun resellers worldwide. S&T will also provide key software in a related development programme aimed at creating open interfaces for broadcasters in digital TV as part of Sun's Media Appliance Platform initiative.

"These agreements with Sun will bring benefits to S&T customers and dramatically increase the firepower of S&Tôs sales and support", said David J Cutts, director of S&T. "We are pleased to be working closely with Sun in developing the market for MHP systems in Australia. To have such a skilled and committed team supporting our solutions in this new market is really helpful for both us and our customers.

"We will work together to evolve the systems infrastructure required to make MHP really effective in the Australian market."

"Sun Microsystems Australia has been working with S&T on a number of projects during 2001 and have been impressed by their knowledge and the companyôs commitment to producing high quality software and services," said John Arnold, Sun's Manager for Media and Entertainment in Australia. "Our new arrangement with S&T means we will be able to push forward together to meet Australian Broadcasterôs need for MHP authoring, management and transmission equipment for interactive TV."

Sun Microsystems' Media Appliance Platform is a set of configurations of Sun systems and partner solutions for the interactive television (iTV), Video on Demand (VoD) and broadband Network Equipment Provider (NEP) markets. Strategy & Technology is working along with Sun and a number of other companies to develop the value-priced, scalable foundation that will allow NEPs, content providers and network operators to rapidly build and deploy interactive services based on multi-vendor open interfaces.

The Sun Media Appliance Platform addresses customer demand for open-systems solutions that do not rely on proprietary hardware and software that can lock in a customer. Rather, by standardising applications on open formats such as DVB-ASI, MPEG and DVB-MHP, customers benefit from the interoperability of multiple vendors, and they have access to a comprehensive solution that allows them to choose and integrate desired service offerings.

The media appliance platform will be available in three configurations - developer, broadcast and media-on-demand - which will share common application interfaces, enabling developers to build and deploy solutions with increased scalability. These configurations combine standards such as DVB-ASI and DVB-MHP, with the Sun Blade and Netra systems.

S&T will initially provide its TSDeveloper, TSPlayer and MHPExpress products in this arrangement, and will provide a reference implementation for a key part of the Media Appliance Platform architecture.
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Tuesday 22nd January

French DTT launch date slipping

The chances of French DTT launching on time at the end of 2002 are beginning to look increasingly difficult to attain. Calls for applications for commercial DTT services will be launched as soon as the government issues the relevant decrees, with a closing date of 45 days after the issue of the call. The government decrees were expected by mid-November 2002, but the last two have yet to be issued. It is thought that they will be published by the end of January.

Dominque Baudis, President of the broadcasting regulator CSA, said last week in his New Year address, that the launch target can be maintained. If the decrees are issued before February, this would bring the closing date for applications to mid-March. The CSA would then need four months to consider the applications, with the results being announced in mid-July. This would be followed by four months of negotiating the details of the contracts. So the framework could be set by the end of November, said Baudis.

Marc Rennard, Vice President of TDF, the broadcasting services provider subsidiary of France Telecom, was not so sure. In an interview with La Tribune he said that no one is telling the truth about the launch of DTT. TDF's role is to provide transmission services for the multiplex operators. The cost of transmission for a channel will be of the order of €2 million a year in the early stages, when it reaches 50 per cent of the population.

When coverage ultimately reaches 80 per cent of the population, the cost will be around a seventh or an eighth of the cost of transmitting an analogue channel.

On the question of the launch date, he explained that TDF could be technically ready by the time the CSA has completed the contracts, but that a more realistic date for a commercial launch is autumn 2003, as channel suppliers and publishers will need more time to finalise their service.

Rennard went on to say that he believes in the success of DTT provided that full effort is mobilised from now. "The path is strewn with hazards; the French approach is very complex and a great many points are still to be determined. There is no guarantee of success, but we are confident in the determination of the public service, new entrants and of course the existing operators."

Rennard (44) went on to say that he did not expect to see the switch-off of analogue during his professional career.

In 2001 TDF made an operating profit of €100 million on turnover of €750 million.
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Monday 21st January

Murdoch eyes Kirch's Premiere

Rupert Murdoch, who paid €1.5 billion ($1.33 billion) for a 22 percent stake in Germany's KirchPayTV, says he has not does ruled out increasing his stake in Kirch Group subsidiary, pay TV station Premiere World and could even take it over - but only in agreement with its owner Kirch Media.

Murdoch was reported in Germany's Welt am Sonntag newspaper on Sunday (20/01/02) as saying, "We are open to all options. Should we raise our stake, then we would want to take the management over," adding, "We will not take any hostile steps."

Murdoch met Leo Kirch, and said that the two of them held an open discussion on many themes, but no details were given. "It (Premiere) needs big steps to solve the problems, but it's possible," said Murdoch

Kirch's biggest problem is debt, with repayments falling due in April, including a €460-million ($406 million) loan package from Dresdner Bank, plus has billions of euros debt from Premiere World.

Murdoch could use his put option to force Kirch Media to buy back BSkyB's stake, but has declined to comment if he would use the option. He did say that were he to stay with the channel he would want another German partner in addition to Kirch.

Premiere World's subscriber base is 2.5 million homes and although it is the only substantial pay-TV platform in Germany, it made a loss of about €900 million last year.

US cable group Liberty Mediawithdrew an application to buy a stake in Premiere World last week.
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Videotron leaves associations

Quebec-based MSO Videotron, Canada's third largest MSO with 1.5 million subscribers, has announced that it has left the Cable Television Standards Council and is negotiating to reduce its fees with CPAC, the cable channel which covers the Canadian Parliament.

Late last year Videotron exited the Canadian Cable Television Association to save fees of roughly a million dollars. It is saving €70,000 (C $100,000) annually by leaving the Standards council which answers complaints by cable subscribers and tries to solve problems. Henceforward, Videotron subscriber complaints will be forwarded directly to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

The cutting whip is slashing at Videotron because of the debt acquired, €4 billion (C$5.4 billion) by Videotron's parent, Quebecor Inc when it succeeded in its hostile takeover in 2000.

Last month Videotron announced that it intends to cut annual operating costs by €21-€28 million (C$35-C$40 million).
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Look has a retake

Floundering Canadian wireless digital TV and Internet provider Look Communications Inc has announced that it will exit from bankruptcy protection in mid-February. Under the reorganisation, approved by the Ontario Superior Court in December, Look will provide secured creditors with 70 per cent of the company's stock, unsecured creditors with 25 per cent while current shareholders will retain five per cent ownership.

Going forward, Look will continue to develop the business of providing wireless TV, dialup and high speed modem access and web-based services and offer tailored solutions for the following niche markets, MDU's Soho and small business.

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