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NEWS MONDAY 7th - Friday 14th January 2002
Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Weekend Friday 11th to Monday 14th January
Malone
threatens German withdrawal
World
Cup channel for Italy
Successful
month for Neun
HK rollout delay OK'd
Stream crunch arrives
BCE launches VoIP trials
Canadian
ownership relaxation 2003?
Irdeto protects Playboy in
Europe
iTV standards may bypass Microsoft
Lay offs at Disney's ABC
NTL debt restructuring
Malone threatens German withdrawal
Liberty Media has maintained its threat to back out of plans to acquire 10 million German cable TV homes in a €6.75 billion ($5.5 billion) deal with Deutsche Telekom AG if the Kartellamt (German cartel office) persists with its demand that Liberty opens up the system for telephone services.
If the authorities are really interested in true competition in the future they should be very careful, Liberty Media's Chairman John Malone said during a media conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. It would be unwise to invest the huge sums required to upgrade the German cable systems in a market that has not yet proven that it will accept the new service, he added. If this argument doesn't convince the antitrust authorities Liberty would not be the right company for the German market, he concluded.
World Cup channel for Italy
After months of negotiations to buy sports rights for the next soccer World Championship in Korea and Japan, Italian broadcaster RAI is now planning to dedicate a whole channel to cover the event. At the general meeting to approve the budget for 2002, Director at RAI, Stefano Balassone, announced that after having spent €150 million for the World Championship's rights, the broadcaster won't be able to spend €60 million to buy the rights for Italian Championship 2002.
If Mediaset, President Berlusconi's group, will confirm its disinterest in soccer, next Italian football season will be a prerogative of payTV.
Successful month for Neun
The German 'interactive' TV venture Neun Live reports that December has been the most successful month since the relaunch of the channel.
A total of 6.54 million people called during the month to respond to telephone surveys and games. One show passed 200,000 calls - a first in German TV. Some 200,459 calls were received during the music show Neun Live Plattenteller (turn table) on December 30.
The channel plans to expand through the introduction of four more new program formats by the end of January including a do-it-yourself call-in format and an interactive soccer show. The channel is jointly owned by the German home shopping group Home Shopping Europe and the German KirchGroup's commercial TV holding ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG which intends to break even by 2003.
Many industry observers, however, are sceptical about the business model, since the already small market share of this niche sector has been further marginalised since the relaunch in September. But the Neun Live General Manager, Christiane Salm zu Salm, stresses the point that market share doesn't matter for the channel since it doesn't depend on advertising revenues but on the revenues generated by the calls from the audience.
HK rollout delay OK'd
In the same week that a senior Hong Kong regulator expressed disappointment at the slow rate of rolling out competing pay TV services, another government official has given permission for a would-be player to delay their rollout for a year.
Broadcasting Authority chairman Norman Leung Nai-pang has allowed Pacific Digital Media to delay its pay TV service by 12 months, saying that the company's Taiwanese parent had experienced delays in its merger plans.
Pacific Digital Media will now introduce two new channels (a religious and an entertainment channel), instead of the 20 it planned to launch by the official deadline of February 23. The company had a €71,845 ($64,000) fine levied against it by the authority for failing to meet a deadline to begin operations in August 2001.
Eva Cheng, Deputy Secretary of the Information Technology and Broadcasting Bureau, said officials were 'disappointed' at what they believed was the slow pace at which competition was affecting Hong Kong's pay TV sector.
i-Cable has had a monopoly since it launched in November 1993. Hong Kong issued five licences for competing pay TV services in July 2000, but none of them has begun commercial operations and two dropped out saying it was not economically viable.
Leung added that licence holder Yes TV would launch six channels next month, nine months after it started a trial to 300 homes.
Stream crunch arrives
At the general meeting of Italian pay TV company Stream (Telecom Italia and News Corp), due January 16, shareholders will have the opportunity to question the huge losses, accumulated since 1998, which now reach one third of the social capital.
This level of debt implies the application of the article 2446 of the Italian Civil Law, which imposes on shareholders the duty of covering the debt or invoking the dissolution of the society. According to analysts, January 16 could be the right moment to seriously decide on the future of the platform, in view of the deal between Vivendi-News Corp to enable Telepiu to buy Stream.
Vivendi Universal Chief Executive Officer Jean-Marie Messier is reported to have said he expects a deal to buy Rupert Murdoch's stake in Italian TV provider Stream to close soon, perhaps within days.
"It's definitely a question of weeks if not days,'' he told Reuters after speaking to a group Los Angeles business leaders.
Last month, Messier said that Vivendi would pay less than €674 ($600) per Stream subscriber, valuing the total acquisition at below €539 million ($480 million).
Vivendi owns Stream's larger Italian rival Telepiu and has been in talks with Murdoch's News Corp after regulators appeared ready to block an original deal that would have merged the Italian pay TV operations.
Vivendi placed 55 million shares earlier this week in a deal that raised some €3.25 billion ($2.94 billion) for the world's second largest media company but has also weighed on its stock price.
BCE launches VoIP trials
Jean Monty, the CEO of Bell Canada Enterprises, the holding company that
controls Canada's largest telco, Bell Canada, told a Salomon Smith Barney
investors conference in Scottsdale, Arizona that BCE's ten year, C$10
billion (€7 billion) odyssey to become a content provider focused
on the Internet will be complete in 2004.
The next challenge, said Monty, is to convince the investing public that
Bell can produce solid earnings from its convergence strategy. Over the
last decade BCE has acquired or developed internet and DTH assets in the
shape of Bell ExpressVu and Sympatico/lycos, print in the form of national
daily 'The Globe & Mail' and broadcasting assets in national broadcaster
CTV and its stable of cable channels.
At the same time Bell Canada said it would become the first telco in North
America to trial Nortel's new VoIP products which enable video calling,
telephone, Internet and video services over off-the-shelf components.
Canadian ownership relaxation 2003?
In a speech to investors at a Salomon Smith Barney investors conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, Ted Rogers the founder and CEO of Rogers Cable said that he thought foreign ownership restrictions on Canadian cable and telecommunications companies would be relaxed by mid-2003, "give or take a year."
Rogers, went on to say he thought the regulations would be relaxed sooner rather than later. Foreign ownership is capped at a maximum of 46.7 per cent, a combination of smaller stakes at both the holding and operating levels. Canadian cable czars have long complained the ownership restrictions have made it difficult for them to raise cash and as a result kept stock values at discounted levels compared to American cable.
Irdeto protects Playboy in Europe
Playboy TV International (PTVI) has selected encryption specialist Irdeto Access to support the roll-out of its new adult service to the pan-European market.
Spice Platinum, the new adult television service from PTVI, was launched on September 1st 2001 and is reported to have exceeded predicted demand in Europe since then. The success of the service in its first quarter of operation has resulted in additional orders for smart cards, quadrupling the capacity of the system at launch.
Spice Platinum was launched on the Eutelsat Hotbird 5 satellite to cable and direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV subscribers across Europe. The Irdeto M-Crypt system has been installed at a Spice Platinum playout facility in The Netherlands, giving operators the choice of carriage as a premium monthly service or pay-per-night.
"PTVI chose Irdeto M-Crypt, Irdeto Access' compact conditional access system, because it offers us outstanding security coupled with ease of use, DVB compliance and straightforward integration," said William Campbell, Director of European Operations for PTVI.
"Another key reason to go with Irdeto Access is the company's dominant position in Europe, which means there is a large installed base of DTH receivers capable of accepting an Irdeto Access smart card or Common Interface Conditional Access Module (CICAM)."
Graham Kill, CEO of Irdeto Access, comments, "Irdeto M-Crypt is the ideal compact content protection solution for broadcasters wishing to generate revenue from ethnic, niche or specialised content and we are very pleased to support such a strong brand as PTVI in their new venture."
iTV standards may bypass Microsoft
A new report by the451 says that the advent of MHP (Multimedia Home Platform) in the US and Europe will be the catalyst to finally help create a sustainable Interactive TV 'ecosystem.'
MHP, which is based on Java technology, was developed by the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) project as a standard that would permit interactive services to run on terrestrial, cable and satellite networks in Europe. The standard is now being adopted in the US and other parts of the world. The report suggests that the resulting global standard will help give rise to a viable market for vendors, network operators, developers and content creators.
The development also presents significant risks for technology vendors, including middleware suppliers like Microsoft, OpenTV, Liberate Technologies, and hardware companies like Motorola and Scientific-Atlanta. "Many vendors will be stuck pushing proprietary solutions, and they need to support MHP or risk being marginalized in the iTV market," says the report. Microsoft's expensive foray into iTV could result in the world's largest software company being no more than a bit player in a fast-growing new market, though it does have some options that could work suggests the451. But to do so it needs to change course quickly says the report.
Based on interviews with CTOs and other senior executives, the451 reports that significant scepticism (and, in many cases, ignorance) about the standard does exist. However, events in the last three months indicate MHP is gaining significant ground. CableLabs, the US cable industry's research arm, has just finalised the OpenCable Application Platform (OCAP) software specification that is based on MHP (see ATV news archive). Cable operators need to have the confidence and innovation to make MHP work, or they risk falling behind satellite operators in the offering of advanced services, according to the report.
The451 says its report offers the first comprehensive analysis of the impact of MHP on the iTV market. The 110-page report examines the true importance of MHP and when its effects will be felt. Key companies are profiled, including cable operators, hardware vendors, middleware vendors, content and application developers and tool and Java Virtual Machine (JVM) suppliers. Each is assessed on their capabilities with regard to MHP.
The451 says it analyses the entire value chain and identifies strategies the winning companies will need to pursue. The report details MHP's background and its future impact on the wider iTV deployment scenarios. It argues that much of the current scepticism around MHP is ill-conceived, and is spread by those with the most to lose from open standards. The451 say that the report analyses the key decisions that industry players need to make, and provides actionable advice on becoming a leader in this market.
Companies profiled include AT&T, Comcast, AOL Time Warner, EchoStar, Liberty Media, Kirch Group, RTL and UPC among network operators; Microsoft, Liberate Technologies, OpenTV, Canal Plus Technology and Sony among technology vendors; and application developers such as NDS, Agency.com, Intellocity, MetaTV, and TiVo.
While ATV has not viewed the full report, the preliminary findings do appear at variance with current roll outs of interactive TV, and contradict the current and medium term expectations of industry players spoken to by ATV - who put low cost technology at a premium. However, few doubt the long term importance of MHP.
Lay offs at Disney's ABC
Three months after Walt Disney Co acquired the Westwood headquartered ABC Family channel in a $5.2-billion deal with News Corp and Saban Entertainment it now plans to cut some 300 employees - half the staff -particularly administrative and support staff
Disney is reshaping ABC Family as a secondary outlet for a range of programs, requiring fewer people to run and market the cable channel.
Disney cut 4,000 jobs last year and posted a net loss of $158 million for fiscal 2001.
The ABC Family channel gives Disney an additional 81 million subscribers in the US, and features a mix of kids and family programs and the televangelist Pat Robertson's talk show.
NTL debt restructuring
Credit Suisse First Boston is to advise the UK's largest cable company, NTL, on options for restructuring its $17bn debt, the first real evidence that such a move is going to be made.
NTL shares fell almost 16 per cent on Thursday (10/01/02) from 90 to 76 cents over concerns about the company's ability to meet revenue forecasts.
A large-scale debt for equity swap is considered to be the company's most likely option, though an equity from a strategic partner is also a possibility.
About 30 senior NTL bondholders held a joint conference call on Wednesday to co-ordinate their claims, pressing the company for an outline of the terms of any restructuring plan. The company's bank lenders include Bank of Scotland, Barclays, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Royal Bank of Scotland. France Telecom is another large creditor, which holds $5 billion of convertible bonds.
The appointment at NTL is being urged by some who believe the current management would be over-stretched by the complexity of any restructuring.
NTL's Chief Executive, Barclay Knapp, and Chief Financial Officer John Gregg, have been criticised for not starting the process sooner, and have been urged to appoint a chief restructuring officer.
Full-scale restructuring could take about a year to complete due to NTL's intricate network of subsidiaries. There has been speculation that NTL faces a cash crunch over the next 12 to 18 months.
The Financial Times newpaper reports that NTL is cutting 4,000 jobs and reducing spending this year to improve its cashflow.
Boxer
slashes jobs and spending
Name changes
at Kirch
New plus
in German music TV
France
Telecom digital orders up
HK
TV looses lustre
BT
backtracks on broadcasting
Endemol
not for sale
Australia
relaxes ownership laws
RTL buy-out not straightforward
Jerry
Glover 1961-2001
Boxer slashes jobs and spending
Boxer, the Swedish DTT set top box distribution organisation, is facing a major internal restructure, including cost-cutting, with the intention of shaving off 50 million krona (€ 5.4 million) from the company's budget, including making almost half of the staff redundant - some 30 jobs out of a total of 71.
Boxer's own DTT portal will also soon be closed down, and in the future Boxer will cease distributing its own STB boxes and will instead rely upon cooperation with the various box manufacturers.
This move is a result of an ongoing crisis (reported previously by Advanced Television) at Teracom, the state-controlled owner-operator of all Swedish terrestrial television and radio transmitters. Some months ago Teracom courted the Swedish government for a major (multi-billion krona) rescue package. This was refused and instead Teracom was told to save money by making a number of internal budget and other cost-cutting reductions.
One of the first companies to be hit by this policy is Boxer, a company set up by Teracom in 1999, in which Swedish insurance giant Skandia is a 30 per cent shareholder. Teracom has indicated it would be willing to sell further parts of the company, as long as Teracom can still keep a majority control of 51 per cent of the company's shares.
Plans are also imminent to merge Boxer with Teracom's DTT platform organisation, Senda. Christer Fritzson, MD of Boxer since last summer, also backs the plans drawn up by Christina Jutterstroem, the new MD of Sveriges
Name changes at Kirch
Various name changes are to be made within Media AG, part of Germany's KirchGroup, in preparation for the internal merger of Kirch Media AG with its commercial TV holding ProSiebenSat.1.
While the profitable core business formed by the group's TV production, program sales and channel businesses, will retain its current name Kirch Media AG, the group's holding company, Kirch Holding, has already been named TaurusHolding. Taurus was the old brand of Leo Kirch's old core companies. The Kirch branding was introduced in the late 80s to strengthen the group's identity.
The third group under the holding company, Kirch Beteiligung (Kirch interest), in which the group's strategic interests, which fit in neither of the major assets, are bundled, will shortly be renamed into TaurusBeteiligung. The Pay TV unit Kirch Pay TV, however, will be named Premiere Medien. The biggest asset in this unit is the digital platform Premiere World, which will now provide the branding for the entire section.
New plus in German music TV
Robin Williams' "Let Me Entertain You" opened Germany's newest music channel Viva Plus on Monday (7/01/02) then the four new VJs were introduced.
"We are a different type of music TV," they promised to their audience. The "CNN of music TV" is the branding that the VIVA Media founder and CEO Dieter Gorny prefers to give to his newest baby.
VIVA Plus GmbH is a joint venture of VIVA Media which holds 51 per cent and AOL Time Warner. The new channel replaces the previous all VIVA venture VIVA2. Its international correspondents aim to provide 'the newest and hottest news from the music business' for an hourly news update. There are currently four correspondents in the four 'Pop metropolises' of Berlin, Hamburg, London and Los Angeles with Barcelona and Tokyo to be added to this list in summer.
The plan is to increasingly introduce interactive features that allow the audience to interact with the channel staff directly. In the beginning this can only be done via the Internet, ie by electing a daily Top Ten Video Clip chart. VIVA plus has 60 employees, and investment is believed to be around E15 million.
The 32-year old General Manager is Dominik Kaiserm, a Swiss national was previously in charge of the Zurich Techno event 'Street Parade.' While the VIVA core channel is targeting a teenage audience, VIVA 2 is meant to reach a target group that's a little bid older. However, German media reports of the first reactions of this target group were not very encouraging. The channel has been drowned by email complaints about the quality of the music on air and the anchors. Kaiser, however, sees no need for an early reaction. The audience would need some time to get used to the new offer, he said.
France Telecom digital orders up
France Telecom Cable has ordered 100,000 ICD 500 digital decoders from Sagem.
These decoders have a particularly small footprint and enable interactive services and games. Delivery should begin in the middle of this year. France Telecom Cable had already ordered 50,000 digital decoders from Sagem in February 2001.
France Telecom Cable is the second largest cable operator in France, with a total of 800,000 subscribers as at 30 September 2001, of which 109,000 were for digital TV and 39,000 for cable Internet.
HK TV looses lustre
The Hong Kong government is blaming the Special Adminstrative Region (SAR)
of China's recession for the sharp drop in interest in running domestic pay TV platforms although conversely there is strong interest in licences to operate services aimed overseas.
Eva Cheng, deputy secretary of the Information Technology and Broadcasting Bureau, the SAR regulator, admitted that officials were 'disappointed' at what they believed was the slow pace at which competition was affecting Hong Kong's pay TV sector. She felt that the tech wreck and Hong Kong's stagnant economy meant companies were reluctant to invest in capital intensive investments without a clear pay-back date.
In July 2000 Hong Kong issued five licences for pay TV operations in the SAR. Since then two of players have dropped out, one has repeatedly asked for its start date to be pushed back, another is still seeking funding and the fifth is still in an experimental stage nine months after a trial launch to 300 homes.
But Cheng was quoted as saying "We are very surprised by the strong interest of local-based broadcasters in non-domestic TV licences. We just issued eight non-domestic TV-licences. Six of them are new players, and two are seeking to renew licences."
She used this as evidence to support her belief that Hong Kong was now seen by the industry as the region's premiere broadcasting hub. More specifically it was seen as the launch pad for services into China, given the mainland's apparent liberalisation of the sector that has seen three companies given landing rights for channels into the south of the country.
BT backtracks on broadcasting
BT Chairman Sir Christopher Bland has backtracked on his earlier statements that the telco should become an integrated broadcaster, and now says that its moves to deliver broadcast video come last in its top three priorities.
Development of high speed internet access via ADSL and retantion of traditional voice telephone business are put as the top priorities.
It was confirmed that BT's capital spending budget, which starts in April for the next financial year, will not include any element for updating of the network to full broadcast capability - though Bland suggested that it was an issue which needs to be reconsidered every few months.
At the same conference in Arizona, run by Salomon Smith Barney, Rupert Murdoch said he doubted that telcos could make a profit by simply being the distribution service for broadband without also supplying content.
Endemol not for sale
Dutch TV production company Endemol Entertainment has denied romours that its Spanish owner Telefonica was considering selling it.
Endemol Chairman John de Mol said that talks between Telefonica and RTL, Europe's biggest commercial broadcaster, entail extend existing relationships, possibly through joint ventures or strategic alliances. However, de Mol added, "You cannot look further than six months so I cannot say it will never happen."
Telefonica paid E5.5bn ($4.9bn) for Endemol in 2000 at the height of the dotcom boom, and is reported to have received some 20 inquiries from potential buyers over the last year.
De Mol also said that the company's strategy is to shift half its business to supplying content for mobile phones and the Internet within three years. "People will be amazed by the development short-term in mobile and a little later in internet. UMTS is going to change the world, " said de Mol.
Telefonica, along with Vodafone of the UK, was described as one of only two European telecommunications groups with the finance and infrastructure to support the convergence of content provision over UMTS.
Endemol is reported to be discussing content deals with other telecoms companies, including KPN in the Netherlands, and with cable companies, including UPC.
Australia relaxes ownership laws
New laws overturning cross-media and foreign ownership restrictions are to be introduced into parliament within coming months.
Current laws prevent media owners from controlling television stations and newspapers in one market while foreign ownership limit individual holdings to 15 per cent in free-to-air television, 20 per cent in pay TV and 25 per cent in major newspapers.
The government wants to ditch foreign ownership restrictions and to allow exemptions to cross-media laws.
RTL buy-out not straightforward
Bertelsmann of Germany's planned buy-out of pan-European broadcaster RTL is not expected to get a smooth ride as several institutional investors do not want to accept the group's proposed offer.
Alain Georges, Chairman of Luxembourg-based BGL Investment Partners, a minority investor, is reported in the FT newspaper on Wednesday (9/01/02) as saying that the price of E44 agreed last month by Pearson for its 22 per cent stake in RTL was "unacceptable."
Next month the same offer will be put to RTL's minority shareholders.
Bertelsmann says it is unlikely to raise its price, and if it did, it would be forced to increase the £1.5 billion ($2.15 billion) paid to Pearson. Bertelsmann wants to clear up all minority interests ahead of its planned flotation.
Jerry Glover 1961-2001
Jerry Glover, a veteran of the UK cable and satellite industry, died last month (December 23) at the age of 40 following a climbing accident in Mexico.
Glover launched The Travel Channel in Europe, and was a founding executive at Granada Sky Broadcasting, as well as a former Managing Director of National Geographic Channel Europe. In 1999, he became Commercial Director of Yahoo! Europe, and in April last year became Senior Vice President of interactive marketing for AOL Europe.
TiVo
launches series two
CSA
questions Canal + capital
Logomania
in plural
PPV
on Nordic Canal Digital
AOL/AT&T stake tussel
Vivendi share flop
Infogate
Online in Asia Pacific
AOL ISPs approved
EchoStar
merger opposed
TiVo launches series two
US-based TiVo announced on Tuesday (8/01/02) a second-generation set-top box, the TiVo Series2 and alliances with several services companies. Although the company's software and subscription service are at the heart of its digital video recorders - which can store television shows on a hard drive and pause live broadcasts - TiVo has been facing competition in the PVR market from Sonicblue's ReplayTV set-top box, Microsoft's UltimateTV service for satellite networks and other developing DVR technologies.
With the new set-top box and services TiVo is aiming at distinguishing itself from its competitors while creating a hub for home entertainment with a more comprehensive product.
TiVo Chief Executive Mike Ramsay said, "We continue to focus on entertainment services, not more technology, not more individual features. This is intended to be really easy and effortless."
TiVo Series2, will be available in February for $399 (€449) and will come with a 60GB hard drive, enabling 60 hours of recording capacity. The Series2 will also come with two USB ports for connecting to digital cameras, MP3 players or CD players. TiVo is taking preorders on its site.
The company has been making the most of its money through subscriptions to its DVR service but has recently stepped up its efforts to licence its technology. TiVo recently signed up Sony as a licensee.
TiVo also signed alliances with companies to enable its Series2 box to store and play digital audio and display digital images, as well as to let viewers play online games and upload video-on-demand. The new services should be available on the boxes by the 2002 holiday season, according to the company.
TiVo has aligned itself with RealNetworks and that company's RealOne Player to manage and stream audio content from the Internet. The company also signed agreements with Jellyvision to bring online games to its set-top box and Radiance Technologies to bring video-on-demand capabilities to the Series2.
"The impact of all this is that we certainly feel that we are yet again redefining what home entertainment is all about," Ramsay said.
CSA questions Canal + capital
The French broadcasting regulator, the CSA, is to ask the government to file with the Conseil d'ETat (Council of State) on whether the shareholding of Canal Plus is in keeping with French law, notably concerning its deal with USA Networks.
Vivendi-Universal boss Jean-Marie Messier wrote to the CSA, as did Perre Lescure, assuring them that the deal does indeed respect French legislation. This follows a letter from CSA President Dominique Baudis to Messier in December asking whether the deal was in keeping with Article 40 of the 1986 broadcasting act, which stipulates that terrestrial TV channels cannot have more than 20 per cent of their capital held by persons outside the European Union.
JMM's reply points out that the deal between USA Networks and Vivendi Universal concerns the merger of two American companies, Universal Studios Group and USA Networks. While both are part of Vivendi Universal, it has no impact on the organisation outside the USA.
Logomania in plural
France Televisions (formerly France Television) has changed the logos on its three terrestrial channels as well as adding an 's' to its name.
It has also harmonised the channels' names, changing La Cinquieme to France 5. The cost of the operation was in the region of 15 million francs - over €2 million. A dinner party on Monday night (7/01/02), with some 280 members of the production teams, was reported to have been extremely convivial and lasted well into the night.
PPV on Nordic Canal Digital
Canal Digital, one of two leading Nordic DTH platforms, has announced a new variety of pay-per-view content. Within a few weeks Kanal5, the Swedish arm of SBS Broadcasting, will start a second round of 'Big Brother' after over a year's hiatus.
But his time the fans will also be able to follow the drama on a 24 hour basis: Canal Digital has signed a deal to get a round-the-clock access to the house in central Stockholm where this year's participants will be locked in for 112 days.
For this Canal Digital will charge a fee of 199 krona (£14/€22). The offer is open for all subscribers to the Canal Digital Family Package, and/or for all Canal + subscribers.
Canal Digital has already tried this concept on its audiences in Denmark and Norway, but now it is going to be a full scale event. "We are indeed most anxious to see the reaction from our Swedish audience," Caroline Ullstrand, Head of Marketing at Canal Digital Sweden, comments.
AOL/AT&T stake tussel
AT&T says it may sell its 25 per cent AOL Time Warner stake to the public rather than selling to AOL Time Warner. This would force AOL to turn TWE into a separately traded public company.
For two years Michael Armstrong, Chairman of AT&T, tried to get AOL to buy back the TWE stake to reduce the telecoms company's debts. But failure to persuade AOL to buy-back resulted in resumption of the public sale option.
Following AT&T's agreement late last year to sell its cable operations to Comcast - for $47 billion (€53 billion), and assume some $25 billion (€28 billion) of AT&T debt, relations with AOL Time Warner have deteriorated.
Brian Roberts, the Comcast Chief Executive is set to run the merged AT&T Comcast cable empire as Chief Executive, with C Michael Armstrong as Chairman.
AT&T plans to set up a special committee of its board members to review possible conflicts of interest over the role of its Chairman and Chief executive, Michael Armstrong. Armstrong will continue to head AT&T during the year that it is expected to take to complete the cable sale - even though the cable business he will then head will compete directly with AT&T's traditional consumer telephone business.
Vivendi share flop
Vivendi Universal's attempt at a five per cent placing in the market on Tuesday (8/01/02) flopped when a fall in the group's share price left underwriters holding a significant amount of stock.
Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank underwrote the share placement at €60 to €61 per share, according to Vivendi Universal, but saw the shares fall over five per cent on Monday to close at €59.20. They fell a further €0.40 on Tuesday, closing at €58.80.
Deutsche Bank is believed to have underwritten 60 per cent of the placement and Goldman Sachs 40 per cent. Market reports suggested around 30 per cent of the 55 million shares remained unsold.
Infogate Online in Asia Pacific
Israel-based Infogate Online Ltd, a broadband content on-demand technology provider signed a distribution agreement with Ideal Systems Asia Pacific Ltd, an integrator for the cable, TV and satellite broadcasting industries.
This agreement, which became effective last month, follows the announcement by Ideal, that it has won a joint sale worth several hundreds of thousands of dollars with a projected potential of over $5 million (€5.6 million) over the next three years.
Infogate's OnDema, introduced early in 2000, is a software platform providing an integrated solution for the deployment and management of Added Value Services over broadband networks. OnDema enables multiple content providers simultaneous access to public and private network providers and the transparent management and delivery of rich, interactive content to broadband subscribers.
Peleg Hadar, Vice President of Business Development, Infogate Online commented, "Ideal's commanding marketing presence in this territory will enable Infogate to expand its market reach to those Asia Pacific customers searching for an end-to-end solution for Added Value Services over broadband networks."
"We are very excited to have the opportunity to add Infogate's OnDema to our extensive line of products to the broadcaster community," responded Jim Butler, Managing Director, of Ideal Systems Asia Pacific Ltd.
Under this agreement, Ideal will promote Infogate's OnDema platform in the Asia Pacific market, including Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Thailand and India. Ideal will also provide integration, customer services and training in these countries.
AOL ISPs approved
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has endorsed several Internet service providers (ISPs) which AOL Time Warner invited to provide competitive Internet access through its cable systems.
The FTC approval of four ISPs - three of them regional service providers - helps facilitate AOL's compliance with open- access conditions attached to regulatory approval of the America Online/Time Warner merger.
EarthLink, Juno Online Services and High Speed Access Corp have been joined by Inter.net for service in all AOL Time Warner cable divisions, along with three regional providers: New York Connect, for New York City; Internet Junction, for Tampa Bay and Central Florida; and South Texas Internet Connections, for San Antonio, Houston, and Austin, Texas.
The FTC also said that it has received an application from AOL to approve its pact with unaffiliated ISP Web One for service through its Kansas City cable system.
Further agreements with regional ISPs are awaiting FTC approval.
EchoStar merger opposed
"The continued separation of EchoStar and DirecTV is the only hope of having three competitors for television service to the typical home (with cable as the third)," said The Writer's Guild of America in its submission to the US Federal Communications Commission, calling on the commission to reject the proposed merger.
Some 17 million US subscribers would be served by the combined company.
Combined ownership of the broadcast and cable networks is also opposed by the Guild which wants to be consulted on relaxation of rules restricting the ownership of television stations and networks.
Pace
profits up
Telenor
/ Canal+ battle
China TV channels' relaunch
nCube
largest digital deployment
ABC co-chairman quits
Ad rates firming: Redstone
Eutelsat
increases coverage
Award
win for SeaChange
Pace
profits up
In the six months to December 1, UK set top and home gateway technology
company Pace Micro Technology recorded a 17 per cent increase in interim
pre-tax profits at £20.9 million (€33.8 million), compared to £17.8
million (€28.8 million) in the same period in 2000.
Turnover rose 4.9 per cent to £215.8 million (€349 million) compared
to £205.8 million (€332.8 million) during the same period in 2000.
A major contribution was made by significant volume shipments to the US
which began in October and November of 2001 following successful trials
with US cable operators Time Warner and Comcast, reported John Dyson,
Pace Finance Director. Pace says it expects to achieve a 15 per cent share
of the US cable market within two years.
"This is an essential part of our overall development. Pace will grow
its business by holding market share in the UK and growing it in the US
where at the moment it is very low but our goal is 10 per cent share in
the next two years and 15 per cent beyond that," he said.
Pace expects to ship about 500,000 units into the US in the second half
of 2002 at a rate of about 100,000 units per month.
The Sky Plus set-top box in the UK which is unsubsidised at £300 ($432/€485)
is taking off relatively slowly selling some 20,000 units over the past
12 months. However, Dyson suggests that in the long term this hard-drive
enabled device could replace the VCR with penetration of 25 to 40 per
cent of all households. Overall box shipments have increased by 17.2 per
cent to 1.2 million.
The group is to pay an increased dividend of 40p/€0.64 (35p), on
earnings per share of 6.82p (5.46p). Gross margins are up from 20.5 per
cent to 25.5 per cent.
Exclusive
PACE interview to be posted on the advanced-television site Friday 11/01/02.
Telenor / Canal+ battle
Telenor is facing a billion krone (€125 million) indemnity from former
partner and ally Canal+.
For several years Norwegian telecom giant Telenor and Canal+ were the
closest of allies, through their joint ownership of Canal Digital, one
of two leading Nordic DTH operators. But now, half a year after Telenor's
taking total control
of Canal Digital, the old partnership has changed into a legal battle
on highest level.
Just days ago Canal+ and its new principal, Vivendi, took Telenor to an
Oslo court, claiming a damage fee that could, if the court sides with
Canal+, cost Telenor an unbelievable 1.8 billion Norwegian krone (£135
million/€218 million). This is an amount almost as high as what Telenor
agreed to pay to Canal+ for 50 per cent of the shares of Canal Digital:
2.4 billion krone (€301 million).
The fight now mainly a dispute over how recent and present proceeds should
be divided before the deal can be definitely finalised. The former partners
are also quarrelling over the final price tag of the deal.
Telenor now refers to a clause in the agreement, stipulating that a finalisation
of the deal is pending an official approval from the EU commission. The
Norwegian competition authorities were highly critical to the deal for
several months, but then finally, weeks before Christmas, gave their official
blessing.
China TV channels' relaunch
Stations in southern China's newly-opened TV sector have relaunched six
channels to met the threat from foreign channels now permitted to broadcast
there.
Southern TV in Guangdong, (TVS) the prosperous Chinese province that borders
Hong Kong, announced that it is revamping channels carrying programmes
focusing on business, city life, movies, science and children's shows.
The move is to counter a feared migration of viewers to Rupert Murdoch's
new Star channels, AOL Time Warner's China Entertainment TV (CETV) and
services from Phoenix Satellite, part owned by News Corp. All have been
given landing rights to run on Guangdong cable platforms in the last three
months.
China's TV sector regulators say the area is a testing ground to gauge
local reaction to foreign services, and all parties also understand that
it is also a chance to make sure their content is not threatening to the
ruling Communist Party.
TVS was formed from the merger in July 2001 of Guangdong Cable TV and
Guangdong Economy TV. A spokesman for the company said the new channels
might take viewers and advertising away TVS. To counter the threat TVS
said it will be more flexible in offering advertising packages and in
working with foreign content providers.
Ironically foreign channels already have a significant presence in China
as Hong Kong's two free to air broadcasters TVB and ATV dominates ratings
in Guangdong. Its signals are not aimed at the province but are seen via
"accidental overspill." Although Hong Kong is part of China, the 1997
handover accord with the UK defines it as a Special Administrative Region.
However local cable operators usually substitute the Hong Kong-generated
advertising in favour of local inserts, which means that TVB and ATV's
Chinese income is patchy.
nCube largest digital deployment
nCube has announced that it has completed an intensive Digital Program Insertion (DPI) acceptance test in the US with Adlink, the Los Angeles Interconnect.
nCUBE's DPI Solution provides seamless digital-into-digital advertising insertion which gives local and regional cable advertisers the ability to target their digital subscribers. DPI also paves the way for additional revenue through advanced interactive addressable advertising.
"The Adlink deployment sends a very clear message to the cable advertising industry that nCube is clearly on top of the emerging DPI standard," said John A Boland, Vice President and General Manager for nCube's Advertising Systems Group. "Not only has nCube deployed the best technology, and demonstrated that we are the industry leader in digital-into-digital advertising insertion, we back up that technology with superb service and support. With an extensible platform that allows our customers to gracefully migrate to the new DPI standard using existing nCube equipment."
NCube's DPI solution forms part of what is described as the world's first commercial deployment of DPI. nCUBE teamed up with Adlink and Terayon Communication Systems to provide the solution. Adlink currently operates 12 DPI headends each with 40 digital networks serving in excess of 100,000 subscribers at AT&T Media Services in Los Angeles. In nine of these locations, nCube is inserting in 40 digital and 40 analogue networks from one server. This is believed to be the largest DPI deployment worldwide.
"We can expect a rapid deployment of more and more networks in the digital tier as operators strive to make the most efficient use of bandwidth," said Paul Woidke, Senior Vice President, Chief technology officer of Adlink.
ABC co-chairman quits
Stuart Bloomberg, Co-Chairman and 22-year veteran of Disney's ABC Entertainment Television, resigned on Monday (7/1/02) and Lloyd Braun, his fellow Co-chairman, becoming Chairman of the network.
ABC Executive Vice-President of Movies and Mini-Series, Susan Lyne, was promoted to the post of President of ABC Entertainment, reporting to Braun.
ABC has had poor viewing figures in the Nielsen ratings lately and there is speculation that the company is a takeover target.
Ad rates firming: Redstone
Viacom Inc Chairman Sumner Redstone was reported by Reuters on Monday (7/01/02) as saying he expected the company to post double-digit growth in 2002 cash flow amid 'firming' advertising rates and strong advertising volumes connected with the Winter Olympics and US congressional elections.
Viacom, owners of MTV, CBS, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, and Blockbuster, is also reported to be interested in buying the leading Hispanic broadcaster Univision Communications Inc, as well as Discovery Channel and some assets of Liberty Media.
"Media and entertainment is not the kind of industry you dismiss with a recessionary wand," Redstone told delegates at the Salomon Smith Barney Twelfth Annual Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Viacom generated about $2.7 billion (€3.026 billion) in free cash flow last year, up 42 per cent from the previous year, he said. Even after the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington, Viacom said it enjoyed solid advertising demand from auto makers, retailers and telecommunications companies.
Redstone also cited a seven per cent increase in first quarter advertising sales at Viacom's Nickelodeon children's network as evidence that the market was firming up.
In contrast, AOL Time Warner in its 2002 business model predicted no recovery, and suggested that the advertising market could decline in the first half of the year.
Eutelsat increases coverage
Satellite operator Eutelsat's recent penetration survey says that of the 122 million TV homes in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East equipped for cable and satellite reception, 98 million are watching programmes delivered by its Hot Bird and Eurobird satellites.
More than 1000 TV channels are now delivered through Eutelsat's capacity on 21 satellites, over 970 are digital. With Atlantic Bird 2, the new satellite launched in October 2001, Eutelsat is now delivering specially pre-packaged broadcast digital television programming for cable networks.
In 2002 the company is launching new broadcasting satellites, specifically HOT BIRD 6 and 7, to improve the in-orbit sparing capability at 13 degrees East and expand the capacity dedicated to coverage of Africa and available for the opening of new markets. In addition to its Ku-band missions, HOT BIRD 6 will also enable new services through its enhanced Skyplex capability and its Ka-band transponder capacity.
Giuliano Berretta, Eutelsat CEO comments, "Satellites and digital technology have fundamentally changed the media landscape by opening up possibilities for thematic, regional and interactive programming, thereby dramatically enhancing consumer choice. New levels of compression, combined with our upcoming new television satellites will open a new chapter in broadcasting that will further empower consumers."
Eutelsat SA is adding to its fleet of 18 satellites and additional capacity on three other satellites with six satellites under construction planned to launch over the next two years.
Award win for SeaChange
SeaChange International Inc quotes the latest Frost & Sullivan annual US Video Server Market Report to back its claim to the country's market share leader in video server systems for the cable/telco market.
SeaChange won the 2001 Frost & Sullivan Market Engineering Leadership Award largely based on its progress in video-on-demand (VOD) deployments.
Frost & Sullivan says that SeaChange has reaped the benefits of its concentrated efforts in the cable vertical using its patented MediaCluster video server technology.
SeaChange remains the market share leader with over 47 per cent of the VOD server market based on revenues. Since early 2001, SeaChange has announced VOD deployments with major US cable operators including Adelphia, Cablevision, Comcast and Time Warner Cable.
Mukul Krishna, industry research analyst, Frost & Sullivan says that Seachange's early focus on VOD has helped them remain as the market share leaders in this space for the past two years despite tremendous competition and puts them in a strong position for defending market dominance in the future.
Reorganisation
at Tandberg
AOL
to cut 2002 forecast?
Norway
in iDTV broadcasts
Italy supports
Kabul cable
S-A acquires BarcoNet
shares
Swiss deploy Scopus
network
Canal Satellite
launches SMS
Korea Telecom uses
Tandberg
Messier's successor
French
Canadian digital
preview
Cablelabs
finalises OpenCable
Reorganisation
at Tandberg
Tandberg
Television in Norway announced the reorganisation of its corporate structure
and operations yesterday (7/01/02) in a move which it says is intended
to enable the company respond faster to market dynamics and maximise shareholder
value.
Key highlights
include:
Present UK site to become global management centre;
Simplified operations will reduce headcount and duplication of resources
and cut operating expenditure by NK 70 million (€8.76 million) per
annum;
New President and CEO appointed - Gwyn Pugh promoted to take helm yesterday;
New CFO appointed; Restructuring costs of NK 50 (€6.2 million).
Jan Chr Opsahl, Chairman of the board of Tandberg Television comments,
"We operate in the challenging and fast moving broadband, broadcast and
telecommunications industries and our business needs to be focused, innovative
and agile. To achieve this we have made a number of structural, operational
and management changes that the board believes will enable the company
to best grow its business and deliver value to our customers, our employees
and our investors."
The company's Southampton, UK site is to become its global management
centre.
The bulk of Tandberg's administration, customer support, R&D, manufacturing
and sales and marketing resources are already based in the UK, and the
facility will continue to perform all of these duties, as well as having
increased responsibility for supporting the corporate business and the
regional sales offices in the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe.
Tandberg's operations in Norway will serve as a strategic technology development
centre, leveraging the skills and expertise of the Norwegian R&D team,
especially in growing market sectors such as broadband and cable. In addition,
Norway will continue to be an important sales office serving both the
Nordic market and specific European countries.
Gwyn Pugh, Chief Operating Officer for the last 18 months, has been appointed
as Tandberg's new President and CEO, and will be based in the UK. He replaces
Joergen Bredesen, who is leaving the company.
In his role as COO Pugh's reorganisation of the company's supply chain
is credited with substantially increasing its global product delivery
and quality levels; Pugh has also managed other core functions such as
R&D, product management, customer services and systems integration.
Tandberg is also replacing Gunnar Gjortz, its current CFO, who is leaving
the company. Tim O'Connor will take the role of acting CFO.
Restructuring costs and revaluation of assets will be charged to the 2001
accounts at €6.2 million.
The negative cash effect of these charges is expected to be €2.5
million. The cash balance stands at €35 million.
AOL to cut 2002 forecast?
US-based media giant AOL Time Warner was expected to announce plans to buy out Bertelsmann of Germany's 49.5 per cent stake in AOL Europe. A deal signed in March 2000 gave Bertelsmann an option to sell its stake back to AOL at a pre-agreed value fixed during the height of the Internet boom, around $6.7 billion compared to a current market value of around $2 billion.
AOL's meeting yesterday (7/01/02) 'to discuss plans and outlook for the new year" was forecast to signal a cut in 2002 profit targets in line with slower growth from its Internet operations and the soft advertising market since the September 11. Analysts have cut 2002 Ebitda forecast from $11.25 billion to $10.66 billion, though Holly Becker, of Lehman Brothers, is reported to have held her 2002 forecast at $40.6 billion for ebitda of $11.6 billion.
Norway in iDTV broadcasts
NRK, the Norwegian Broadcasting Company, has formed a mutual co-operation agreement with Sublime Software to provide interactive content for digital television.
The agreement includes the sales of Sublime iTV Suite, used by NRK to create, manage and broadcast interactive, value-added service applications for enhanced TV broadcasts. Sublime Software delivers a set of pre-prepared application templates as well as installation and user training services, so that Norway can quickly set up functioning interactive television services. In addition, the two companies have agreed to deepen their partnership, to be implemented within the next three months.
NRK says it can now offer producers a way into low-cost interactive solutions, apply its network image on aired applications and continuously offer viewers all kinds of value-added services.
In Finland, the Sublime iTV Suite is already used extensively by MTV3, the second oldest commercial broadcasting company in Europe, which integrated the software system into their digital television production and broadcasting infrastructure.
Sublime Software is a global pioneer specialised in developing innovative video streaming solutions for the digital TV and cinema environments. The company is specialised in developing software tools used to create value-added content in the film and broadcasting industry, including interactive end-user applications, subtitling, entertainment, broadcasting and content distribution software.
Italy supports Kabul cable
Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's Prime Minister and media magnate, has offered to set up an entire TV and radio station for Afghanistan.
Offers of assistance, mainly for programming, have also been made to the country's interim leader, Hamid Karzai, by Iran, India, Turkey, Germany, Japan and China.
The United Nations's educational scientific and cultural organistion, Unesco, has set aside £24,000 to train technical staff.
The head of Afghanistan's TV station, Abdul Afiz, said he did not know what the Italian offer entailed, but added he would welcome modern broadcasting equipment.
"I had talks with an official from Italy but I'm not sure what was promised," Afiz said. "Once it gets here, we'll know more, but we're waiting for the transport to improve to be able to get it here."
Afiz also needs to replace high-quality antennae on a mountain top near Kabul which were destroyed during the US bombing.
Two hundred-watt regional transmitters were moved from outlying areas and mounted on the roof of a hotel, which managed to reach most of Kabul.
Afiz and his team hid some of their equipment when the Taliban swept to power in 1996 and banned all entertainment, including film and TV.
But within hours of the Taliban's retreat from Kabul on the night of November 12 last year Afghan TV was back on air with a female announcer.
With a new interim administration now in place, television has again become the main source of entertainment in Kabul.
On air between 6pm and 9pm with a blend of news, music, sport and movies, the station is watched by 500,000 viewers a night, according to Afiz. In pre-Taliban times the Afghan TV broadcast six hours a day.
But the broadcaster is suffering from a lack of funds - the station has no advertising and its main source of funding is the Ministry of Defence.
In return the Ministry gets a slice of military programming, broadcasting interviews with soldiers and highlights of the Northern Alliance's five-year battle against the Taliban.
Berlosconi said, "I never thought I would end up founding Telekabul."
S-A acquires BarcoNet shares
Scientific-Atlanta, Inc announced that at the closing of its tender offer on December 21, 2001, all convertible bonds, 256,604 warrants (99.4 per cent), and 27,561,827 shares (92.4 per cent) of BarcoNet had been offered.
On January 3, 2002, Scientific-Atlanta was to purchase all of these tendered securities in accordance with the terms of the tender offer for approximately $142 million in cash.
The offering will be re-opened from January 14 to February 1, 2002. If Scientific-Atlanta is successful in acquiring at least 95 per cent of the shares of BarcoNet, the company says it intends to conduct a 'squeeze-out' to acquire all remaining equity securities.
This transaction is expected to be completed in Scientific-Atlanta's third fiscal quarter, and will not affect its financial results for the second quarter, ending December 28 2001.
Swiss deploy Scopus network
Teleclub, a leading cable Pay TV operator in Switzerland, has deployed a complete end-to-end, digital play-out system from Scopus Network Technologies for the transmission of ten new cable Pay TV channels to Switzerland's German speaking population.
Teleclub's use of Scopus' digital platform in its Zurich centre will extend the cable operator's reach throughout Switzerland. It enables the addition of sports channels to the company's premium movie channels for the country's German speaking cantons. Scopus is working closely with Adernio, a Swiss systems integrator in this and other projects in Switzerland.
The end-to-end Teleclub system employs Scopus' CODICO product line. The platform integrated Scopus' E-1100 Encoders with 4:2:2 capabilities, RTM-3600 Statistical Multiplexers, IRD-2600 Integrated Receiver Decoders and NMS-4000 Network Management System. Other elements of Teleclub's system include Terayon's CherryPicker and an integrated conditional access system from NagraVision based on the DVB's simulcrypt protocol.
Thomas Muhlethaler, Adernio Managing Director said, "Scopus interoperability enables us to choose the best components and integrate these with those from Scopus to truly create best-built systems."
Dr Wilfreid Heinzelmann, member of the board of Teleclub AG commented, "Deploying Scopus platforms enables Teleclub to move closer to our strategic goal of bringing digital premium channels to all of our subscribers. The new premium services we can now offer will keep us ahead of our competition and on target for growth."
"Switzerland is an important European market for Scopus, and the system that we have created for Teleclub is an important milestone," remarked Chen Landau, Scopus Director of Sales.
Canal Satellite launches SMS
French satellite platform Canal Satellite has launched its first SMS service allowing its subscribers to send text messages to mobile telephones. Subscribers can use their remote controls and a virtual keyboard on their TV screen to access the service.
The system uses IDP's RegieLine 2.0 technology for publishing and updating interactive television applications in collaboration with Vizzavi.
IDP has integrated the application and developed the back-office tools that ensurs the transfer of the message to the Vizzavi platform. This in turn automatically forwards the message to the receiver¬s mobile telephone. IDP has also developed the virtual keyboard, which will now be the standard keyboard for all Canal Satellite applications created using RegieLine.
Korea Telecom uses Tandberg
Korea Telecom has signed a contract to expand its capabilities in content contribution by using an advanced Tandberg Television solution to link 29 television content providers around Korea.
Korea Telecom will provide a full chain of content contribution services to these 29 content providers distributed throughout Korea. Some 60 channels of television content such as sports, news, home shopping, and entertainment from these companies will be digitised and transmitted through Korea Telecom's facilities to Korea Digital Satellite Broadcasting, the exclusive DTH (direct-to-home) satellite television platform in Korea.
Tandberg Television's MA5300 ATM network interface, will allow Korea Telecom to use its existing nationwide network to carry high-quality video content and monitor performance remotely. Fred Schwabe-Hansen, Regional General Manager, Asia Pacific, Tandberg Television, said, "Our goal is to provide Tandberg Television equipment that can help a telecom provider expand and enhance its video-carrying business on the basis of its existing resources. We work with telecom companies throughout Asia-Pacific to design cost-effective and reliable solutions to help them create new and enhanced sources of revenue."
The complete system, supplied through Tandberg Television's business partner Mereta, consists of Tandberg 5710 encoders, Tandberg Television's MA5300 ATM network interface solution, TT 7050 multiplexers, and TT 1250 decoders.
Kelvin Wong, Regional Sales Manager, Asia-Pacific, Tandberg Television, said, "Tandberg Television specialises in providing cost-effective solutions that allow excellent video quality and ease of control. For this project, we decided to design a complete solution that can transmit high-quality video using a versatile choice of telecom interfaces. Korea Telecom's system is probably the largest-scale of its kind in Asia, and in order to meet its inherent high demands, we used equipment which provides good management and control to ensure ease of maintenance, ultimately creating better end-user reliability."
The overall system is being installed throughout January 2002. New services based on this system will be launched throughout 2002.
Messier's successor French
Jean-Marie Messier, Chief Executive of Vivendi Universal, says he has identified a French individual as his successor at the media conglomerate.
The name of his successor is reported to be written down on a piece of paper kept in an envelope in his safe.
However, Messier has said he would like to run Vivendi for a further 15 to 20 years, making the question of succession hypothetical.
Canadian digital preview
The 50 or so new digital cable channels launched in Canada just days before September 11 now face a terminal challenge. With the free preview period ending in most of the country business plans will be put to the final test as subscribers decide whether or not they want to pay for channels such as SexTV, PrideVision or Lonestar.
So far it doesn't look good as production houses and broadcasters try to find riches in a field of dreams. Only two million or so Canadians have access to digital television and the most popular of the new theme channels has proved to be Lonestar, which plays non-stop western reruns.
Jim Shaw, the head of Shaw Cable has said that he fully expects 50 per cent of the new channels to fail. Lonestar itself has only attracted a paltry 13,600 average viewers a minute. Some of the channels lacking in appeal have been clocked with less than 300 viewers a minute. Jim Shaw's predicted failure rate may prove to be optimistic.
However, even if SexTV, Lonestar and the rest fail, Canada's digital tier won't lack for replacements, the federal regulator licenced almost 300 digital channels when it decided last year to let the market decide what the market wanted to watch.
Cablelabs finalises OpenCable
The US Cable Television Laboratories, Inc has finalised the OpenCable Application Platform (OCAP) software specification.
Called OCAP 1.0, the specification is available to manufacturers, content developers, and the public through the OpenCable Web site. OCAP is intended to enhance the ability of consumer electronics manufacturers to build and market set-top boxes or integrated television receivers directly to consumers.
The OCAP specification is largely based on the European Multimedia Home Platform middleware specification created by the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) organisation.
Bland
pushes BT broadcast option
TF1
takes control of TPS
RTL share
increased
Delay in China
encryption
New figures at Kirch
Russian media
stakes sold
C7 'killers'
investigated
New DG at ORF
Bland
pushes BT broadcast option
The UK's former PTT, British Telecommunications, may become an integrated
broadcaster after loosing 20 per cent of its voice traffic to cable companies'
triple play of voice, video and data.
Sir Christopher
Bland (left), BT Chairman, and former Chairman of LWT and the BBC TV companies,
said he could envisage BT developing an integrated content and delivery
business similar to that of British Sky Broadcasting, the satellite television
operator controlled by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.
"At one extreme, we can be a distributor of other people's programmes,
just as the existing cable companies do. On the other extreme, we can
build a fully integrated model like BSkyB, which makes and distributes
its own programmes over its own and others' networks and also distributes
others' content," Bland was reported as saying in the UK press yesterday
(6/01/02).
BT's new Chief Executive Ben Verwaayen, is arriving in a week's time from
Lucent, and such comments by Bland are seen as a move to set the agenda
for development.
The government estimated it would cost BT £1 billion (€1.62 billion)
to upgrade all telephone exchanges in the UK to ADSL to deliver video
to its 21 million customers. In contrast, BT's retail business capital
expenditure in the six months to September 30 2001 was £48 million (€77.5
million).
BT's internet division Openworld abandoned plans to provide its own content,
preferring to focus on delivery, and this has thrown doubt on BT's liklihood
of becoming a content provider.
BT is reported to have held talks with BSkyB about joint billing and has
considered becoming a third partner in the digital terrestrial service,
ITV Digital, owned by Granada and Carlton Communications.
BT's board is reported to be considering a range of options following
the demerger of its wireless division, mmO 2, and the collapse of Concert,
its joint venture with AT&T.
Two months ago, BT applied to the Independent Television Commission for
a licence to distribute television programmes through its local telephone
lines.
Although Bland has suggested that the BT network will be providing programmes
within two years, commentators believe that the move is not such a high
priority for the organisation, and the likelihood of a fully integrated
'BSkyB' type service is considered remote.
During the Christmas period TF1 concluded a deal to acquire the 25 per cent share of TPS that had been held jointly by France Television and France Telecom (17 per cent by France Telecom and eight per cent by France Television).
The price
of the transaction was €195 million and the deal will be finalised
during the first months of this year. It brings TF1's share in TPS to
50 per cent. However, TF1 does not gain absolute control of the platform
since the other two shareholders, Suez and M6, which each hold 25 per
cent, form a single block since CLT-UFA withdrew in 1997.
Suez holds 37 per cent of M6 and therefore had previously been the largest
shareholder. Suez is now likely to withdraw from TPS and sell its share
to M6, leaving just two shareholders, TF1 and M6. Relations between TF1
and M6 have been somewhat tense for the past year, notably over M6's programming
of 'Big Brother' type programming after the two channels had entered a
gentleman's agreement not to do so. Both channels now run a similar programme
head-to-head.
Both France Telecom and France Television had already announced their
intention to sell off their share in TPS, so TF1 exercised its pr-emptive
right. France Television will use the money to help finance its DTT plans.
At the end of 2001 TPS, the second French DTH platform, had 1.1 million
subscribers. The price effectively evaluates the platform at E1020 per
subscriber. Break even is now set for 2004.
RTL share increased
This Christmas Eve the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann announced that it has bought an additional 22 per cent in the Luxembourg-based TV holding RTL Group from the British Pearson group.
The price was said to have been €1.5 billion, that is €44 per share. This step provides Bertelsmann with 89 per cent in Europe's largest channel provider and the biggest TV producer outside the US. The remaining 11 per cent are in free float but the German company already intends to offer this stake to the remaining share holders - also for €44 per share. Prior to that, RTL announced it had sold the Polish channel RTL7, including all program formats and library to the media group ITI, the main shareholder in the Polish channel TVN.
ITI intends to transfer RTL7 into a second TVN channel and has already applied for the license. RTL explained that the sale was made during the current economic situation as it had become impossible to reach break-even in the medium term.
Delay in China encryption
The launch of China's centralised encryption platform for foreign satellite
TV channels could be delayed until the third quarter of 2002.
Although the platform was due to have launched on January 1, the regulator, the State Administration for Radio, Film & TV (SARFT) which is running the service, said it had been delayed for "technical reasons."
Last year SARFT officials announced that all foreign channel providers would have to route their programming though the regulator's channel distribution agency, China International TV Corp (CITV). The move would allow SARFT to collect $100,000 (€112,000) a year in fees, and keep a close eye on content carried to Chinese viewers.
Now it appears that almost all of the details of the platform carried on the SinoSat 2 satellite have yet to be worked out, and none of the foreign channels earmarked to join it have actually signed an agreement with CITV.
Among the issues that have to be resolved are how channels will migrate from their existing satellites to the Sino Sat 2, the encryption process and how the costs of operating the platform will be shared.
In Hong Kong, the view among industry players is that China's desire to control content means that the platform will become reality, but not until Q3 of this year. Observers add that the channels have an interest in delaying the process as much as possible since they are locked into distribution contracts with other satellite companies, including AsiaSat and PanAmSat.
New figures at Kirch
Kirch Media AG - in which the core business of Germany's KirchGroup is bundelled - announced its nine months' figures as at 30th September 2001.
Disregarding a harsh decline in advertising revenues, increases in the program rights trading business enabled the group to reach a positive EBITDA of DM 469 million, down four per cent on the previous nine months figures. Revenues did go up by seven per cent to about DM 4.6 billion (€2.35 billion). Net debts were down by DM 100 million (€511 million) to 4.3 billion (€2.2 billion). The positive trend in the program business was mainly due to sales of the 2002 soccer world champions league. The current revenues of about 2.19 billion DM ( €1.12 billion) are already almost double the 1.48 billion DM (€757 million) price which Kirch paid to acquire the rights.
Russian media stakes sold
Exiled Russian businessman Boris Berezovsky is reported by today's FT to be in discussions with a Moscow-based fund management company to sell his $200 million (€224 million) majority stake in television network TV6.
Fellow exiled Russian media tycoon Vladimir Gusinsky is also seeing the end game the centre-piece of his former media empire, non-state channel NTV, where Gazprom, the Russian gas monopoly, is finalising a report with Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, to sell its sale stake.
Berezovsky is reported to be in talks with TPG Aurora to sell his 75 per cent stake in TV6 for about $140 million (€156 million), with a further payment based on financial performance though there are some doubts that the deal will be finalised.
Lukoil Garant, the pension fund of Lukoil, Russia's largest oil producer, which has a 15 per cent stake in TV6, (the remainder held by organisations linked to the city of Moscow) has been to force TV6 into liquidation. It says that the network is insolvent and that Berezovsky acted unfairly in appointing a new management team last summer. Berezovsky and his TV6 management team counter that Lukoil's move is a result of political pressure from the Kremlin.
While the government argues that both disputes are commercial, and that media independece requires economic self-sufficiency without control by influential oligarchs, critics counter that the moves are actually limiting the voicing of anti-government opinion.
C7 'killers' investigated
A judge has ordered that the losing party in Australia's biggest-ever sports TV rights deal be allowed access to the winners' documents amid allegations of collusion and misuse of market position.
Early last year Seven Network lost the rights to Australia's most popular winter sports, Australian Rules Football (AFL) after 45 years, and also National Rugby League rights. The AFL rights from 2002 to 2006 were secured with a $250 million (€280 million) bid that won the pay TV and free to air coverage for pay TV leader Foxtel and terrestrial Network Ten.
Foxtel, owned by News Corp, PBL and Telstra, won the pay TV rights for rugby league from last year to 2006.
Seven claims that the consortium was created to kill off its sports pay TV service, C7 and the legal ruling supported its allegation that it was also contrary to the Trade Practices Act. The judge also noted that the AFL will mean coverage will be carried on every pay and commercial free to air service in Australian, other than C7 and Network Seven.
In his judgment Justice Gyles said, "If the arrangements were designed with a purpose of being the removal of C7 as a supplier of sport on pay television, then it does not take very much imagination to appreciate that various breaches of the Trade Practices Act may have been involved."
Also at issue is the alleged existence of the so-called 'London Document' between News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch and his PBL counterpart Kerry Packer to divide TV rights in Australia.
New DG at ORF
Dr Monika Lindner (57) has been elected the new General Director of the Austrian public broadcaster ORF and replaced the old DG Gerhard Weis when New Year began.
Lindner was born in Gleiwitz, a city in Schlesia (now part of Poland), and studied Theater, Arts and Philosophy in Vienna before she joined ORF in 1974. In 1979 she became head of the press department before she was assigned to the DG's office in 1982. In 1998 she became Director of the regional studio Niederoesterreich (Lower Austria).
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