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NEWS Monday July 1st - Monday 7th July 2002
Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
| Tuesday | |||||
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ITV
main looser in DTT award
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ITV
main looser in DTT award
By Tony Morbin, 4th July 2002
Now that the BBC-led consortium ' called Free To View', has been awarded
the UK digital terrestrial television licence, (see News Archive, and
further details below), its main rival among the six bidders, ITV, is
facing increasing difficulties.
ITV in a consortium with Channel 4 had bid for the DTT licence despite
having lost more than E1.5 billion in the failure of ITV Digital, the
precursor DTT platform jointly owned by Carlton Communications and Granada.
After dominating UK TV for some 20 years, ITV now finds its self third,
after the BBC and BSkyB, without its own platform or digital route, and
with limited resources. It faces declining advertising revenue, has been
weakened by losses at ITV digital, and faces increasing competition from
Channel Four, and to a lesser extent, Channel 5 and the proliferation
of new channels which are also taking market share and advertising revenues.
In addition, ITV's head of programming, the highly respected David Liddiment
quit the previous day (Wednesday 3/7/02), following the earlier departure
of ITV Chief Executive Stuart Prebble, adding to the company's woes. ITV's
bidding partner Channel 4 also faces problems, and as it will now have
to review the future of its loss-making FilmFour and E4 pay services.
While some commentators suggested the failed bid could delay a Carlton/Granada
merger, Tony Ghee, analyst at Ashurst Morris Crisp, commented to advanced-television,
"A merger of ITV is now inevitable. It may also then become more of a
take-over target for some international conglomerate, but who is going
to buy it that can do a better job? Liberty Media? Their expertise is
not really in content. ITV is certainly in a difficult place. But the
BBC is going to need ITV and Channel 4 content for its platform, including
ITV 3, and particularly the ITV sports rights."
BBC Director General Greg Dyke commented, "We believe that a simple, entirely
free-to-view digital option has the best chance of success with consumers,"
but he too has previously hinted that the corporation would still consider
a premium pay option.
Both the Government and the regulator previously indicated that they favoured
pay TV on the digital terrestrial platform, despite rejecting the ITV
option which had a pay element. In addition, there are no technical constraints.
Martin Bell, Director of Communications at the UK's Digital TV Group commented,
"It a straightforward option to add conditional access at a later date;
its easier and cheaper than the ITV Digital rout of subsidising boxes."
For more
information go to:
UK
Digital Terrestrial Television Awards
Vivendi's new head
Continued from front page ...............
Jean-Rene Fourtou, Vice Chairman of the pharmaceutical company Aventis, has been officially appointed as the new head of French media giant Vivendi Universal.
But even with the departure of Jean Marie Messier signalling a change in forward strategy, the media conglomerate's shares kept falling.
The company, which has E19 billion debt, will have to pay back of E6 billion in loans by the end of this year. Consequently Messier's departure is not enough to restore investor confidence. Vivendi's board is now expected to see a wider reshuffle, and has met to draw up a rescue plan for the company. Fourtou promised a financial and strategic diagnosis in three months.
"In the next two weeks all possible measures will be taken to improve the situation, particularly in respect of the short-term cash position. I have every confidence the company has the strength to address its liquidity issues," Fourtou said.
Vivendi is thought to be negotiating with banks and creditors about emergency funds to bridge its short-term needs, estimated at E2 billion to E3 billion.
Messier, didn't attend the Wednesday (03/07/02) board meeting to confirm his departure and appoint a new Chairman. However, in a statement to Vivendi employees, Messier insisted that the shape of the company should be protected.
Messier said, "Vivendi Universal must go on. Partial disposals are necessary but the core must be preserved: a major media and communications company, the only truly global and multicultural company."
Messier is expecting to get a pay-off of up to E20 million and he also wants to keep using the company apartment bought for him in New York.
It is expected that Vivendi will dispose some of its assets to raise cash. It is speculated that the Canadian Bronfman family could grab back Seagram - which included Universal Studios and Universal music - which it sold to Vivendi two years ago for what was seen as a bargain price of E34.8 billion.
Vivendi shares went down 26 per cent on Tuesday and kept sinking another 22 per cent to E13.90 in Paris on Wednesday, taking its market value to E15 billion.
Michel Pebereau head of BNP Paribas, Vivendi's biggest lenders, denied rumours that the group was in danger of insolvency in an attempt to calm the investors, but the plans for the future are still unclear.
More bids for Kirch
US billionaire Halm Saban, founder of media asset investment company Saban Capita Group, has filed a non-binding offer for KirchMedia assets.
Next Monday (8/07/02) is the deadline for interested parties to present their indicative offers. Bids worth at least E2 billion will get access to the data room, but some investors argue that they should be allowed limited access to the data room before giving even an indicative price. This discrepancy might delay Monday's deadline.
Last year Saban earned E1.4 billion after selling his 49.5 per cent stake in Fox Family Worlwide to Walt Disney.
The FT reported that Saban has been in talks with potential partners in Germany wanting to form a bidding consortium. Apparently his idea is to keep KirchMedia's broadcasting and library assets integrated to maximise performance.
It seems that mostly US and German investors choose to team up to bid for the German media conglomerate. There is, for example, German Commerzbank, one of Kirch's largest creditors and US-based Columbia Tristar - owed by Sony. The German publisher Heinrich Bauer and Alex Springer, who owns an 11.8 per cent stake in ProSibeSAT.1 are reported to have a good chance in the bid for KirchMedia. However commentators see the possibility of Saban and Springer coming together.
HK Digital TV planned
By Owen Hughes
(all figures in this report US dollars)
The newly-launched Hong Kong Broadband Network says it will launch digital TV services with up to 180 channels by the end of the year over an Ethernet network - potentially offering the first serious challenge to dominant pay TV platform i-Cable.
Hong Kong Broadband chairman Ricky Wong said the system will allow subscribers to watch TV and write e-mails, telephony, as well as using interactive services like betting, if officials allow online wagers.
The company is a subsidiary of the City Telecom Group that already provides Internet access for broadband and dial up users with 110,000 and 430,000 subscribers respectively. The fibre optic network was built at a cost of $134 million, and the company says it will spend a further $50 million on upgrades in the next 18 months. The network currently reaches 900,000 homes, or around 40 per cent of the 6.5 million population, and is forecast to reach 1.2 million by the end of 2002.
Wong said the quality of TV pictures delivered over his network are, "as good as DVDs and much better than cable TV," an apparent challenge to i-Cable which has 560,000 susbcribers. i-Cable has not faced any meaningful competition since it went on air in 1993. Out of five would-be competitors issued licences two years ago, two have dropped out, one remains in limbo as it tries to seek investors and the others have started very limited services.
Wong made it clear that existing i-Cable subscribers were a target for Hong Kong Broadband, saying that it would cost users $45 a month for TV, broadband and a telephone line, compared to nearly $70 for broadband access, i-Cable subscription and a line lease.
However while Hong Kong Broadband says that it is in talks with content providers worldwide, the company has yet to name a single channel provider.
Scientific-Atlanta cuts output
Scientific-Atlanta Inc, the US head-end to set top cable technology company, has closed down the third production shift at its facility in Juarez, Mexico last week, resulting in the loss of approximately 1300 jobs, approximately 30 per cent of the company's employees in Juarez.
The company says that due to current economic conditions, the company no longer needs the third shift to satisfy demand. Scientific-Atlanta adds that it is currently is evaluating the need for any additional restructuring in other parts of the company due to reduced demand
for its products.
Back to top
NTL buys Two Way licence
UK cableco NTL is adding Two Way TV's Ark technologies to its digital network following a licensing deal between the two companies.
This enhancement of NTLs digital TV interactive services, combines with its recently introduced a simpler tariff and improved the reliability of the service. Two Way TVs Ark system enables digital TV viewers to join in with programmes to vote, play along with game shows and interact with live programming such as sports events and awards shows.
The full Ark suite licensed by NTL is a package of client and server-side modules which have been deployed internationally, and which allow broadcasters to trigger, play-out and control tightly synchronised eTV services, manage return-path components and introduce pay per use and billing functionality.
The NTL deal is similar to a recent technology agreement with Telewest. Jeremy Davies, Director of Content, NTL, said, "We are improving our digital TV product every day the first phase was building the strongest channel proposition in cable, the next phase is developing the most exciting interactivity in digital television.
"We looked at the options for providing the most advanced interactive capability possible and Two Way TV was the only team with all the right pieces. Its Ark system, once integrated into our networks, enables non-technical people to quickly add and operate sophisticated interactivity linked to programmes as they're broadcast. Our goal is to meet the demands of our subscribers and keep things as simple as possible for broadcasters and developers.
Two Way TV Commercial Director Jean de Fougerolles said, "Two Way TVs aim is to make our unique Ark eTV technology available to all broadcasters in the UK. NTL and Telewest can now offer a single integrated solution, removing technical and operational obstacles and allowing broadcasters to focus on creating compelling interactive programming for their viewers."
The deal is another step along the road for Two Way TV in becoming primarily a technology enabler, having moved from initially being an interactive TV channel provider.
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NDS supplies Bloomberg
Pay TV technology
company NDS, a News Corporation company, is to supply Financial broadcast
network Bloomberg Television international its Value@TV suite of applications,
an interactive infrastructure for television.
The first interactive broadcast combining Bloomberg's services with NDS's
applications will launch on the UK's Sky Digital platform. Other countries
will follow in 2003.
The partnership with NDS is designed to enable Bloomberg to enhance its
interactive services, which have already been deployed in the UK and US
cable markets.
Initially, viewers will be able to customise their personal stock portfolios,
look up latest share prices, vote on stock market issues, create personalised
financial news headlines and view stock market indices, whilst still able
to watch the Bloomberg broadcast channel. Future versions may introduce
further services by synchronising activity with the broadcast content
and could include options such as fantasy stocks and shares.
Michele O'Brien, Director of Interactive Television, Bloomberg, comments
"Bloomberg Television is a 24 hour global financial news network committed
to providing its audience with the most advanced services possible and
we see interactive television as a key driver to the rapid growth of our
distribution. These value-added services, customisable to individual needs,
clearly deepen our relationship with our viewers; a valuable audience
of serious investors with considerable purchasing power."
"NDS looks forward to working with Bloomberg and to using its proven experience
of delivering compelling TV solutions on different middlewares to provide
Bloomberg's viewers with added value services," says Paul Thompson,
Vice President Interactive TV, NDS Europe.
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to top
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Pace
share slump
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Pace share slump
By Tony Morbin
UK set top and home gateway company Pace Microtechnology saw its shares slump 40 per cent yesterday - down 29.75p to close at 42.5p - after it announced that this year's profits will be £1.7 million ( E2.6 million) lower than expectations due to a 'discount' given to BSkyB, while its profits for the current year to the beginning of June would be £8 million (E12.4 million) down.
The company would not provide official figures for the level of discount, though industry estimates range from E51 to E155 for the E466 box - with 25,000 boxes already supplied under the deal. Talking to advanced-television.com, Andrew Wallace, Pace's Marketing Director emphasised the positive, suggesting that the main point was that there were long term agreements made; a major new deal for the supply of digi-boxes, and a revision to the existing agreement to supply Sky+ Personal Video Recorder boxes.
The official company statement says, "for the period 1 June 2002 to 31 March 2003 and for a limited number of units, Pace will invoice an amount on shipment that is below the product cost. Pace will also receive a monthly payment from BSkyB in respect of each Sky+ monthly subscription paid by a customer over an agreed period following the installation of the box. These monthly receipts will be accounted for as income as they become receivable."
Also, the E2.6 million reduction in profit was a one off. "We were looking for a long term agreement and now have a supply deal running to 2004 which includes a revenue share with BSkyB," added Wallace. Wallace said that Pace would not be releasing the level of revenue share that it would obtain from the E15 per month that subscribers who have bought a box subsequently pay. "The deal is profitable over the longer period due to access to the revenue streams, for slightly more than three years," added Wallace. The company says that the Sky+ boxes will be cash and profit positive to Pace from at latest 1 April 2003 when new shipments will be on usual trading terms. However, this assumes low levels of churn for the new service, with one analyst, assuming an £80 subsidy, suggesting profits would only occur in the third year, hence Pace appears to be taking a disproportionate level of risk in the deal.
However, there has been an overall decline in the media market, coupled with the demise of major UK customers; collapse at DTT provider ITV Digital, and a halt in supply to cableco NTL - resumed with payment on a monthly basis - and fears that cableco Telewest may also restructure. As a result BSkyB found itself in a position to dictate terms - and appears to have taken full advantage of the fact.
The subsidy provided for the current boxes will not necessarily be the same for those going forward, said Wallace, implying that it would be less.
Pace publishes its financial results next Monday, with some suggestions that it will cut its 950-strong workforce by some 10 per cent - having already halted UK manufacturing, which is now conducted overseas.
Wallace rejected market suggestions that Pace's current financial performance would put pressure on its Chief Executive Malcolm Miller to quit, commenting, "Malcolm is very focussed on the job in hand and has an excellent track record, so there is no question there."
Regarding today's DTT licence awards, Wallace commented, "We don't have a preferred bidder as our adapters will work with any of them. We expect to see a mix of free to air with some pay element, whether that's subscription or pay per view."
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Telepiu
offer cut by Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation has reduced its E1.5 billion offer for
Vivendi Universal's Italian pay-TV arm, Telepiu, by a third.
The decision to lower the offer is described as having nothing to do with
taking advantage of Vivendi's current financial situation and was described
as simply being "economic sense". In fact there was already speculation
that the value of the deal was far less than earlier proposals (See ATV
Archive).
News Corp has been seeking an investor willing to take 50 per cent of
the shared entity but its current partner in its Stream Italian Pay TV
service, Telecom Italia, is believed to be reluctant to invest the E300
million required, particularly as the service is expected to continue
making losses for some years - having lost a combined E750 million over
the last year. By reducing the cash element of the new offer (which also
includes debt) to about E650 million, the equity requirement from any
new investor would be reduced.
Back to top
Late-news
7.30am 4/7/02:
UK DTT to be 'free-to-air'
A consortium led by UK public broadcaster the BBC and transmission company
Crown Castle, with satellite operator BSkyB providing some programming,
has been awarded the country's re-tendered digital terrestrial television
licences today (4/7/02) by the Independent Television Commission (ITC)
- as commentators expected (see News Archive).
The new service comprises 28 free channels which viewers can see by purchasing
a E150 digital set-top box, or an existing ITV Digital box. Although no
pay services are included in the bid, it is forecast that these will be
added in some form - subscription or pay per view - in the future. The
licence will run for 12 years and the service is expected to be up and
running within months.
The main criteria for the award appears to have been ability to convert
viewers to digital TV over the long term, with Sir Robin Biggam, the chairman
of the ITC commenting, "The commission believes that the BBC/Crown Castle
application is the most likely to ensure the viability of digital terrestrial
television. It will target those viewers who have not been so far attracted
by digital TV and will help facilitate the move towards digital switchover."
A factor supporting this view is the BBC's plan to spend E30 million marketing
the new platform, including cross-promotion on terrestrial television.
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to top
Licences
withdrawal for Broadnet and Landtel
By Sotires Eleftheriou
ART, the French telecoms regulator, has partially withdrawn the Radio
Local Loop authorisations for Broadnet France and Landtel France.
Broadnet retains its licence for the Paris region and Landtel for the
Paris and Aquitaine regions. This is the outcome of ART checking the deployment
at the end of 2001, following which it initiated procedures against four
companies on March 8: Landtel France, Broadnet France, XTS Network Carribean
and XTS Network Indian Ocean, due to delays in roll-out by the four companies.
The procedure against the two XTS companies has since been dropped, as
their lack of deployment was explained by the lack of availability of
equipment for the band they have been awarded (3.5 GHz).
ART awarded the wireless local loop licences in the middle of 2000. This
technology aims to provide an alternative means of high speed data access,
particularly useful for small and medium sized companies. At the end of
2001, a year and a half after the licences had been awarded, the state
of play of wireless local loop varied widely across the country. 175 base
stations had been installed; 17 mainland regions and one over-seas department
had at least one wireless local loop operator and a service is available
in some 30 towns. Around 1000 clients use the service.
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State
of deployment of WLL
(26 GHz band) |
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| Operator | Number of regions Deployed | Number
of regions licensed |
| Firstmark |
13
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22
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| Squadron |
10
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22
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| Altitude |
2
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2
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| Belgacom |
7
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9
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| Broadnet |
1
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15
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| Landtel |
2
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7
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Norwegian
DTT licences tendered
By Goran Sellgren
Norway finally appears ready to join its Nordic brethren Sweden and Finland
in jumping on the DTT bandwagon.
Norway's Minister of Culture, Valgerd Svarstad, has put 15 to 18 digital
terrestrial channels out for public tender. Norway's two leading operators,
public service NRK and its private rival TV2, will both, as expected,
be guaranteed space in the Norwegian DTT project, as will an unspecified
number of local services.
NRK and TV2 have already entered into an alliance, Norges Television ("Television
of Norway"), as previously reported in Advanced Television, to secure
a dominant position in the digital future of Norway.
NRK and TV2 will also be given priority with regard to expansion of the
transmitter network. Those channels will be the first to reach a national
audience, according to the rules, now stipulated by the Ministry of Culture.
"This all sounds very sensible," is the first comment made about the government
conditions by one of the principal players, Kaare Valebrokk, VD of TV2.
The Norwegian DTT network will primarily be used for television purposes,
but capacity will also, according to the Ministry, be reserved for other
services, like telecom and data.
The future licencees will enjoy an unusually long licence period: 12 years.
On the other hand the candidates have only a number of months to give
the finishing touches to their applications. Applications are expected
to be handed in before October 1. Selection of the applicants will be
made by a 'beauty contest', whereby the applicants will be judged by factors
like financial stability, programming content, timetable for transmitter
expansion, strategy for decoder distribution, costs for the public, technical
solutions, competition aspects etc.
Licencees are also expected to accomodate a public, 'open' channel.
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Revenue
share TV channel
Simply Television's planned new TV channel, Simply Nature, which launches
on the Sky Digital platform this summer (Channel 579), is to take the
unusual step of sharing revenues with a content provider, the specialist
nature film library, Parthenon Entertainment.
Simply Nature will transmit from 8pm until 1am, offering Sky Digital viewers
what the company describes as "a diverse mix of quality nature documentary
programming."
Simply Television's exclusive and novel deal with Parthenon Entertainment
entails the provision of editorial programming in return for revenue share.
Parthenon Entertainment Ltd is a new independent factual production and
distribution company, launched by Carl Hall, the former Managing Director
of HIT Wildlife. The company has signed a multi-year deal with HIT Entertainment
to distribute its 280-hour library of wildlife and factual programming.
In addition, Parthenon is in production with a further 30 hours of programming
for this year alone with contracts in place with both National Geographic
and the Discovery Channel.
Simply Nature will launch with a preview service on July 22 for approximately
six weeks, before the channel's official launch on September 2 2002. The
launch schedule will include conventional documentary series as well as
one-off specials including shows never seen before in the UK.
Previously Simply Television focused on the development of retail-based
channels the deal with Parthenon represents a change in direction, developing
channels themselves and in partnership with brands, archives and other
entities looking for cost-effective ways to reach new audiences.
The launch of Simply Television's first pure editorial channel follows
its recent acquisition of London based production company Phoenix Television,
primarily a producer and distributor of Television News and Current Affairs
programming.
Simply Nature is the first of a series of editorial channels that Simply
Television plan to launch in the near future.
Commenting on the launch of the Simply Nature channel, Simply Television
Managing Director Henry Scott said, "We are extremely excited to be diversifying
our output to launch an editorial channel such as Simply Nature. The deal
with Parthenon Entertainment will enable both parties to explore this
innovative new method of procuring content and creating decent revenue
streams in a reciprocal, mutually beneficial deal. An exciting aspect
of this deal is that to date, revenue from wildlife programming has been
limited to straightforward broadcast rights and video sales. Together,
Simply Television and Parthenon are creating an entirely new revenue stream
and business model, hitherto unseen or attempted for this sort of programming,
based on non-traditional advertising income. The team at Parthenon has
a proven track record of producing pioneering nature and wildlife content
and we are confident that Simply Nature will offer the UK viewer an informative,
educational and exciting new voice in nature programming."
Back
to top
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Vivendi
share crash |
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Vivendi
share crash
A 10 per cent rise in shares on the announced imminent departure of Vivendi
Universal Chief Executive Jean Marie Messier on Monday was followed by
a 34.3 per cent plunge before the Paris bourse suspended trading on the
stock yesterday amid reports that the group tried to add E1.5 billion
in profits to its 2001 accounts. Le Monde newspaper claimed the group
had tried to break regulations by registering the sale of a stake in BSkyB
in its 2001 figures. Trading in the stock was halted in the early afternoon,
until further notice at E15.70 ($15.54).
Vivendi shares have lost 64 per cent of thier value since the turn of
the year. As a result the case for break-up of the conglomerate is even
stronger (Also see news archive). The shares trade at E16 whereas analysts
believe that a sum-of-the-parts valuation is nearer E40.
Yesterday Moody's, the American credit rating agency, downgraded Vivendi's
long-term debt to junk status, and said it was considering further downgrades,
citing concerns over Vivendi's ability to service its debt, its recent
acquisitions and its failure to complete sales of certain assets - while
the move itself will exacerbate Vivendi's difficulties in raising further
loans to pay off its E18.7 billion debt.
Jean-Rene Fourtou, Vice-Chairman of the supervisory board of French-German
pharmaceutical giant Aventis SA is reported to want more than the proposed
six months interim leadership of the company, with Credit Commercial de
France's Charles de Croisset and Societe Generale's honorary Chairman
Marc Vienot also cited as potential replacements of Jean-Marie Messier.
"I hear, I see the predators prowling, the advisers putting together break-up
plans," Messier told the French daily Le Figaro, as he called for his
mega mergers to be retained. But the expectation now is that Vivendi will
split geographically, with French assets Vivendi Environnement, Canal
Plus and the Cegetel telecoms operator remaining under French ownership
and Universal Music and Universal Studios returning to North America.
Back to top
DTT needs blockbuster appeal
The lack of big name movies and sport on digital terrestrial television will mean that the winner of the digital terrestrial TV licences due for award by the UK ITC on Thursday will struggle to convert the anti-digital rump of the population according to a new report commissioned by set top manufacturer Pace Microtechnology.
However, almost half of all viewers without digital television would convert if offered the latest movie releases, and more than a third would be persuaded by big sporting events.
The Guardian newspaper notes that this is not an approach adopted by the current bidders, with the BBC, backed by BSkyB and transmission company Crown Castle, pursuing free to air channels, and ITV and Channel 4's combination of free to air and "pay TV lite"does not include sports or movie channels, but would comprise more general subscription channels such as E4, UK Gold and the Discovery Channel.
The reason is that the cost of competing with Sky for sports rights is seen as a major factor in ITV Digital's demise ¯ hence the 'low cost alternative' approach.
But any of the bids will still face hardcore of consumers who do not believe in the benefits of digital television. On the positive side, the ITV debacle raised public awareness of digital TV and the analogue switch off date.
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Chinese satellite TV hacked
Supporters of the banned Falun Gong sect in China have hacked into a satellite carrying the state-run China Central Television's (CCTV) 10 channels, as well as 10 provincial channels in their most audacious hijacking of the country's television sector to date.
Viewers reported seeing a blurred image of a banner bearing the Chinese characters 'Falun Gong is good' as programming on the CCTV channels and an equal number of services aimed at individual provinces was interrupted for 20 seconds on a Sunday evening in June.
Other reports that have been confirmed by local public security authorities that said transmissions in some cities were interrupted for up to 15 minutes twice in a week. Rural areas also had their programming cut completely as officials blacked out TV screens to find out the source of the interruptions.
June's incidents follow others in January, March and April in other parts of China. In March, Changchun Cable TV operation in Jilin province that has 300,000 subscribers ran a documentary about Falun Gong for nearly an hour.
It has been suggested that Falun Gong supporters have been using a portable three metre diameter satellite dishes to interrupt transmissions. Chinese leaders regard Falun Gong as a major threat to the stability of the country and its practitioners are routinely imprisoned. However Falun Gong followers regularly stage demonstrations at key public events to the embarrassment of the government.
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Greek
sat capacity available
The Greece and Cyprus owned 39 deg East orbital spot sees the commencement
of commercial services this month from Hellas-sat 1, which is now touting
for new business to take up unused capacity.
Hellas-Sat 1 is offering coverage over the Balkans, Central and Eastern
Europe. The satellite is suitable for SCPC, SNG, and broadcasting as it
is reported to have high EIRP at beam centre.
The Hellas-Sat Consortium will launch Hellas-Sat-2 in early Spring 2003.
The operators say that the second satellite will have extremely powerful
coverage over Europe and will allow for interconnectivity with almost
every visible place in the Eastern Hemisphere.
Hellas-Sat-1 is currently being offered for one year leasing contracts
or in a package deal with Hellas-Sat-2 for a longer period.
The company says that its prices reflect the fact that it is an end-of-life
satellite despite its perfect health and stable position.
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AOL streams via Ultravox
AOL Time Warner is developing a streaming media technology which has called 'Ultravox.' It entails enhanced capability network routers increasing the efficiency of transferring digital media files.
The company says that various file formats and switching hardware are combined to enable 10,000 users to be supported out of a cheap switch, compared to 1,000 users on an expensive Sun Microsystems box or 100 users on a Microsoft Windows NT box.
Moving streaming software on to the router switch is seen as fundamentally changing the layout of the infrastructure required to do radio or video over the 'net.
AOL Time Warner currently employs RealNetworks streaming software technology for its audio and video offerings, but could be gearing up to replace them with its own Ultravox multimedia platform.
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Dish Ka-Band cut
The satellite location at 83 degrees and 121 degrees, has been made available for reassignment after the International Bureau at the US' Federal Communications Commission cancelled EchoStar's Ka-Band authorisation.
EchoStar failed to accomplish construction milestones for the orbital locations, including a condition that the company should commence construction of its Ka-Band system by January 2002.
The FCC also dismissed EchoStar's pending application in which the company was seeking to modify its Ka-Band licence to include a hybrid Ku/Ka-Band payload aboard one of its future satellites. The FCC order doesn't cover the 113-degree Ka-Band slot, which EchoStar acquired through its acquisition of VisionStar.
The company has been reported as saying that its bird, EchoStar IX, is already under construction and is expected to have the first commercial Ka-Band payload serving the United States. The satellite, being built by Space Systems/Loral, is expected to be finished late summer, and launch is set for sometime late Autumn.
EchoStar said in a statement that, "For the FCC to revoke the licence at this late hour based on an incorrect reading of the contract will have a chilling effect on the US satellite industry." The company said it will file a petition for reconsideration on the ruling adding, "We are confident that once the FCC takes a closer look at the facts, it will reverse its decision and will reinstate the Ka-Band portion of the licences."
The licences also have Ku-Band and C-Band portions, which according to a company spokesperson were not touched by the FCC order.
Ka-Band frequencies are expected to deliver satellite Internet/broadband services and some video offerings in the near future. This development in the satellite industry is attracting several companies, including PanAmSat and Pegasus.
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Berlusconi's dominance in question
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe is challenging Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's use of his Italian media dominance, asking for 'clarification' of his ban from state TV of two well-known personalities, the left-leaning political commentators Michele Santoro and Enzo Biagi.
As a businessman Berlusconi controls the largest private broadcaster in Italy, Mediaset, and as a politician he effectively controls the public broadcaster RAI,
Although Santoro and Boagi are critical of Berlusconi, this was not the reason for pulling off the programmes according to Italian news reports. Fabrizio Del Noce - news Director of RAI's main channel, said the shows were suspended because they fared poorly in ratings.
In a statement sent to The Associated Press on Friday, the international organisation said that Freimut Duve, its media representative, had written Berlusconi a letter asking for "clarification of the recent removal of two political programs."
Opposition members, the journalists' union and the commentators themselves all said it was a move by Berlusconi to silence critical voices.
Berlusconi directly or indirectly controls 90 per cent of Italy's television market and has long been beset by accusations that he has used his vast media influence for political gain, and that he uses his political office to further his business and media interests.
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Messier
quits Vivendi
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Messier quits Vivendi
Jean-Marie Messier is quiting his post as Chief Executive of French media and utility conglomerate Vivendi Universal, "So that Vivendi Universal stays," and it is expected that Jean-Rene Fourtou, vice chairman of pharmaceutical company Aventis will be appointed acting chairman for six months - with speculation now mounting that the company could be broken up.
Messier's six year reign ended when Vivendi Universal's two main banks, Societe Generale and BNP Paribas refused further loans, pushing the eight French board members to join the opposition to Messier led by the five US members. Just last week former supporter Bernard Arnault became the fifth director to quit the Vivendi board this year, reportedly in protest over Messier's managerial style. 'You cannot lead a company if the board is divided," commented Messier when he resigned.
The move was supported by Vivendi's biggest shareholder, the Bronfman family, whose 5.5 per cent stake in Vivendi, acquired in exchange for holdings in the Seagram conglomerate, has fallen in value by 67 per cent this year, from around E3.2 billion to E1.24 billion. The valuation for the company as a whole has fallen 80 per cent since the Seagram deal, from about E100 billion to less than E20 billion. Edgar Bronfman Jr, the Seagram heir who sits on the board, was among other replacement candidates, as was Barry Diller, the former Paramount and Fox media executive who heads up Vivendi Universal Entertainment, and Eric Licoys, the chief operating officer.
The main complaint was the failure of Messier's deal-making to improve the value of the company - in fact Vivendi has suffered the biggest corporate debt in French history (E18.6 billion), its valuation plumpeted; Messier also personally faced the wrath of the French public for his sacking of popular CanalPlus chief Pierre Lescure. The FT newspaper quotes Simon Hawkings, analyst at investment band Dredner Kleinwort Benson, summing up the market view saying, "We see break up as one of the main options for Vivendi Universal closing the gap between its current share price and the underlying value of its assets. The French government - which appeared keen to see Messier's departure as a way of avoiding a US takeover, remains concerned about the possible acquisition of Vivendi's French assets by foreign organisations.
Assets include
Vivendi Universal Entertainment (Film and US Cable TV); Universal Music
Group (recorded music); Canal Plus (European Pay TV); Cegitel (European
Telecoms); Vivendi Environnement (utility, including water supply). Each
of the assets is seen as highly saleable as stand-alone companies not
dependent on the others. By just selling the US interests, a clearly French
company could remain, but equally, there are potential buyers for each
segment with the FT suggesting Barry Diller for VUE, the Bronfman family
for UMG, several potential bidders for Canal Plus - Lagadere, TF-1, Vincent
Bollore, and Rupert Murdoch; Vodafone for Cegetel and RWE for Vivendi
Environnement.
*Messier is not the only French coporate giant in trouble; Michel Bon,
France Telecom's Chairman, has seen his company's shares fall 79 per cent
this year, and now faces the real prospect of re-nationalisation of the
company.
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RTL in n-tv swoop
By Dieter Brockmeyer
According German news reports RTL Group intends to take over the 47.3 per cent stake in the German news channel n-tv owned by the German group of the publisher Dieter von Holzbrinck.
It comes as no surprise that the Bertelsmann owned RTL Group is still interested in taking a lead in the news venture that remains dominated by AOL Time Warner - which controls over 50 per cent of the company via CNN and Time Warner. Earlier last year rumours were that AOL intended to give away half of this stake to RTL. The move was stopped due to complaints from Holzbrinck which itself took over the remaining stake of smaller share holders, then reached almost the same strength as AOL.
RTL's move would make sense for both RTL and AOL Time Warner. The US giant is trying to expand its reach in other new territories and is looking for a strong partner with an expertise in this region, CNN International boss Chris Cramer confirmed last year. RTL has this expertise in many markets in the area, and is also looking to expand into the news sector.
The sudden change in the Holzbrinck strategy should not come as such a surprise. Because of the difficult market situation this group is also cutting back its ambitions to its core business. However, at RTL in Cologne nobody was willing to comment on the newspaper articles. If price and conditions were right RTL would be interested, a spokesperson is quoted as saying. However, no contracts have yet been signed.
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Analogue and Digital
By Dieter Brockmeyer
The US owned business news channel CNBC Europe is expanding its reach in Germany by adding 1.6 million analogue cable homes in Baden Wurttemberg to its potential viewership.
In addition, German home shopping network RTL shop is now adding to its distribution. From Monday (July 1) it has become part of the digital RTL World bouquet televised via the digital Astra satellite across Europe reaching an additional 1.4 million digital satellite homes in Germany.
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No guarantee for Foxtel/Optus
By Owen Hughes
Foxtel and Optus have been told that their offer of third party access to their content and infrastructure isn't a guarantee of gaining Australian regulatory approval for the two companies' proposed alliance.
Professor Allan Fels of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) who turned down the proposals because of fears they were anti-competitive said in Sydney, "We haven't got a closed mind. Nor have we said we will necessarily agree to the proposal for content sharing, subject to access undertakings."
Foxtel and Optus are due to return to the ACCC at the end of this week with guarantees that the former will allow rivals to sell its content or run their own services over the Foxtel cable network.
Opponents of the alliance between the country's first-ranked platform Foxtel and third-ranked Optus have warned that they want concrete and legally enforceable measures before they can accept the move.
Fels also said that the commission may order dominant telco Telstra to sell its 50 per cent share of Foxtel before it can agree to the alliance because it owns the cable network over which the platform is distributed. "We have identified Telstra's role in Foxtel as being a source of problems for competition."
Up to now Telstra has insisted that it will not sell its share in Foxtel.
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Chinese talk content
By Owen Hughes
BritishSkyBroadcasting (BSkyB) and Vivendi Universal are among European media companies that have been in talks with state-run Chinese Central Television (CCTV)'s English-language news service on their platforms, according to China's broadcasting regulator.
The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (Sarft) said that it hoped to start transmissions in Europe in the third quarter of 2002 for the 24-hour CCTV-9 service.
CCTV-9 is already seen in 1.7 million US homes and a further 1.3 million in Africa. The US distribution was part of a deal that saw AOL Time Warner and News Corp agree to CCTV programming on their cable systems in exchange for landing rights for their Mandarin-language entertainment channels to cable systems in southern China.
Sarft say that the European distribution will not mean further openings for western programmers in China.
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DTT licence award this week
The BBC is increasingly tipped to be a winner when the July 4 award of the UK digital terrestrial television licences is made following the collapse of ITV Digital, owned by ITV companies Carlton and Granada.
A consortium comprising the BBC, BSkyB and transmission firm Crown Castle, is forecast to beat rivals Apax, a venture capitalist firm; Digital Terrestrial Alliance, a group that includes ITV and Channel 4; and SDN, which is led by Lord Hollick's United Business Media and NTL, the cable television operator.
The BBC bid is to deliver free-to-air channels with the possibility of a pay-television service in the long term.
Patricia Hodgson, the chief executive of the Independent Television Commission, was reported by the Observer newspaper to have come down in favour of the BBC consortium and will make her recommendation to the ITC ruling council on Wednesday. All the bidders met with the ITC for the last time on Monday (1/7/02) to make their final submissions. The winner and losers will be informed of the Commission's decision by fax on Thursday morning.
The Digital Terrestrial Alliance had sought to persuade the BBC that it could offer significantly lower transmission charges than the BBC's current partner, Crown Castle (See News Archive), saving E77 million over the life of the licence.
If the BBC bid is successful, the corporation has pledged a marketing campaign of up to E23 million to promote digital terrestrial TV - which would appeal to the government which has stuck to its 2006 - 2010 switch off date for analogue. However, the earlier assumptions that a subsequent sale of the analogue spectrum would raise billions for the exchequer have been scaled back in the wake of a telecoms collapse, and belief that the industry vastly overpaid for 3G licences.
NTL Broadcast is backing its bid for the DTT licences by emphasising that it includes the introduction of new multiplexing technology and accelerated roll-out plans for the platform using three multiplexes from 80 transmitters to provide improved coverage.
NTL Broadcast is named as preferred transmission supplier for the SDN, Digital Terrestrial Alliance and Freeview Plus bids. Unlike the BBC/Crown Castle bid, the NTL bids include building a new DTT network. The company says that while this would involve a delay for some viewers, it would deliver a stronger technical solution and a better viewing experience. BBC/Crown Castle's bid proposes an early resumption of services, which NTL says appears entirely reliant on the technology and network that was installed five years ago for ITV Digital.
NTL says it will provide an initial service covering at least 50 per cent of existing DTT viewers in a matter of months, with the 80-site core network finally covering up to 83 per cent of the UK population. ITV Digital's network only covered 68 per cent of the population.
NTL's bid would entail deploying new-generation high-performance digital compression technology with 'statistical multiplexing' which delivers up to six digital TV services per multiplex, rather than the four which the BBC says its technology would handle (assuming the more rugged 16-QAM modulation). Over the last four weeks NTL has conducted comprehensive subjective tests at its facilities in Feltham, west London with what it says are impressive results.
Steve Holebrook, business director at NTL Broadcast, said, "It's no wonder the BBC can only offer four services per multiplex if they plan to use five-year-old technology! We are intending to install the latest equipment to improve picture quality, channel capacity and reception. It would appear that the BBC feels it is more important to re-establish a service quickly than to spend the money necessary to improve the picture quality and offer a wider channel choice.
Holebrook adds, "We acknowledge that our network will take a little bit longer to roll-out but we believe it is important at this time to improve the quality, coverage and capacity of the DTT service to allow more people to enjoy the benefits of digital television."
*The cost of ITV Digital's collapse could now top E3.1 billion, a meeting of ITV Digital's creditors has been told - E1.24 billion more than earlier estimates.
Nick Dargan of Deloitte & Touche, administrator to ITV Digital warned that creditors could only expect to get back E77 million from the company as several claims had not appeared on the balance sheet.
Some more had been treated as capital spending so the company's statement of affairs did not necessarily reflect the real losses.
BSkyB is owed E327 million, the Football League (E276 million) and transmission company Crown Castle (E257 million). Owners Carlton and Granada are also creditors and they are entitled to sit on the creditors' committee - something other creditors are wary of as they want an independent liquidator to be appointed.
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BT's Radio broadband VOD
BT Wholesale has launched a trial of mesh radio technology in Pontypridd, South Wales to deliver broadband services.
BT Wholesale chief executive Paul Reynolds comments that mesh radio has the potential to widen the reach of BT Wholesale's broadband delivery. "We are relentlessly pursuing all technological and partnership opportunities to bring broadband to more homes and businesses. This trial, with Radiant Networks mesh radio solution, will give us an extended look at the technology in a real-life situation and let us explore its suitability for BT to deliver broadband services in areas beyond the reach of ADSL."
The trial of Meshworks, a broadband mesh radio solution developed by Radiant Networks, through to December this year will evaluate the technology for BT Wholesale. Households taking part in the trial will receive interactive television and video-on-demand (VOD) content from interactive TV solutions provider Yes Television.
Mesh radio solutions work on the principle that the small radio antenna installed at each household or business, transmits on to neighbouring users to form a network or 'mesh'. This approach does away with the need for large antennae or masts used to transmit to each individual customer in traditional point to multipoint wireless solutions.
The trial covers an 80 km area around Pontypridd including Llantrisant, Beddau and Newtown Llantwit and surrounding villages. It will involve about 100 households mainly of employees of BT and Yes Television in a mixture of urban, semi-rural and rural settings, many of which are outside the current reach of ADSL.
BT Wholesale has enabled 1,117 exchanges for ADSL, including Pontypridd, covering 66 per cent of UK homes and businesses and 73 per cent of current internet users.
Reynolds added, "We have brought broadband to Pontypridd in one of the biggest ADSL roll-outs in history but we want to make it available to people beyond the town centre and to test its potential for similar areas across the UK.
"Together with our trials of high speed Internet by satellite, this trial shows our commitment to looking at ways of delivering broadband economically to more rural areas and extending the boundaries of broadband Britain," adds Reynolds.
Radiant Networks chief executive officer, Geoff Butcher said, "Connecting BT's customers to our Meshworks network in a real environment is a major step in demonstrating the deployability of our technology on a mass scale."
Yes Television will deploy its VOD software engine, enabling viewers to pause, fast forward and rewind high quality video content over the network.
Content from Yes Media includes more than 100 movies, with new titles added each month, and hundreds of music videos from a wide range of artists. Yes Television chief executive officer, Thomas Kressner, said, "Yes Television is committed to delivering TV services over any suitable broadband network on behalf of service providers. We have already delivered services over ADSL and HFC cable, and BT Wholesale's trial gives us the opportunity to do the same over mesh radio."
High speed internet will be added to the service for some participants. Video on demand provides the core content for the trial as its higher bandwidth demands provide a robust test of the broadband delivery mechanism BT Wholesale is evaluating.
Meshnetworks technology delivers up to 25 Mbps full duplex to end-users. Advantages claimed for the system include:
*Radio spectrum is used up to 50 times more efficiently, enabling massive increases in data capacity for end users at high customer densities. (600 customers/km2).
*It delivers near 100 per cent customer coverage enabling wide scale provision of services.
*Without base stations, it provides a more economic proposition to operators, reducing upfront investment and scaling costs with revenues.
*Radiant estimates that positive cash flow can be generated in less than half the time it would take with a conventional broadband network.
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Monday 1st July 2002
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ITV's £50m lure to BBC
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ITV's £50m lure to BBC
In move designed to bring the BBC into their digital terrestrial licence bid, UK terrestrials ITV and Channel 4 say that if the BBC supported their bid it could reduce BBC transmission costs by E77 million over the life of the licence, potentially cutting the cost of a television licence by £50 (E77).
The BBC - which has rejected the approach - is seen as the lynchpin for both main bidders - each of whom needs such a credible partner for different reasons. ITV is out of favour with the regulators for its handling of ITV Digital, which collapsed, while there are severe reservations about extending the reach of BSkyB into a free to air DTT platform as it already dominates pay TV via its satellite service.
The BBC consortium comprises transmission firm Crown Castle and BSkyB, bidding to provide a free-to-air platform with no pay-TV facility, and is seen by many as a 'dream ticket' combining BBC programming and credibility with BSkyB commercial capability. Also, critics of the regulator argue that BSkyB's expulsion from the DTT platform contributed to its demise, as BSkyB is such a ferocious competitor.
ITV and Channel 4 counter that their Digital Terrestrial Alliance would provide consumers with better choice as it includes a pay TV option, which the regulators have said that they would like to included in the DTT offering.
The DTA says it can save E6.8 million per year from the BBC's committed broadcast supplier, Crown Castle, as the DTA's broadcast supplier is less expensive. The BBC is reported to have committed to pay Crown Castle E5.8 million per channel per annum, to broadcast four of its channels in a 24 free-to-air channel bouquet. ITV/Channel 4 offered the BBC carriage at E4.1million per channel per annum, saving E1.7 million per channel - E5.8 million per year and E77 million over the 12-year life of the DTT licences.
The regulator, the Independent Television Commission, is due to award the licences by 4 July. ITV/Channel 4 are reported to have separately told the ITC that it regards Crown Castle's charges as excessive - as they would have to pay these charges the BBC consortium won the bid.
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Motorola/NDS DTV deployment
Motorola Inc's Broadband Communications Sector and NDS Group plc, a provider of technology solutions for digital pay TV, are combining their product offer to deliver what they describe as a cost-effective digital interactive television platform to the global market.
Motorola will offer the NDS iTV and conditional access solutions as an optional feature of Motorola's DVi1000 and DVi3500 DVB-based interactive digital set-tops. These solutions include NDS's Open VideoGuard conditional access solution, Core middleware, XTV personal video recorder (PVR) technology and various Value@TV iTV applications. In addition, Motorola will also offer the Ikonic+ Interactive Programming Guide.
The two companies are currently in the process of developing a DVB Simulcrypt capability with NDS's Open VideoGuard conditional access solution. This integration enables Motorola's MediaCipher conditional access technology and NDS's to work together in a single system.
"By integrating NDS's digital TV solutions with our industry-leading line of DVi set-tops, we're creating a new realm of options and opportunities for our digital television customers," said Matt Aden, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Motorola's Digital Media Group. "Motorola has significant experience working with NDS's conditional access and middleware on our satellite platform, and we look forward to building upon our successful relationship."
"Our strategic agreement with Motorola marks a major breakthrough in the widespread use of iTV in the global digital television arena," said Dr Abe Peled, President and CEO of NDS Group plc. "Now, operators will have an even greater opportunity to select a best-in-class platform that is cost-effective and meets consumers' specific television-viewing needs."
The new Motorola DVi1000 set-top is an enhanced-broadcast, digital-cable platform that can be deployed at a comparable price point as an analogue cable set-top - while delivering more programming channels and the subscriber benefits that come with digital cable. In addition to receiving high-quality digital cable broadcasts, subscribers with a DVi1000 set-top receive an expanded channel line-up, improved user interface, and telco-return for impulse pay-per-view (PPV).
The Motorola DVi3500 set-top is a low-cost, advanced-interactive DVB-compliant digital decoder with an integrated EuroDOCSIS modem. The DVi3500 digital cable set-top can be deployed at a comparable price point as a typical advanced analogue cable set-top - while delivering more programming channels and subscriber benefits. The Motorola DVi3500 meets the needs of European operators who have deployed EuroDOCSIS cable modems. The companies emphasise that operators who deploy the DVi3500 can leverage their existing data network infrastructure to offer their subscribers Web-enhanced interactive digital services such as Internet access, session-oriented games, PC routing, and IP telephony.
*Motorola cuts 7% of workforce
Motorola is to make seven per cent of its workforce redundant - some 7,000 positions, to leave 93,000 jobs, after having cut staff from previously from 150,000. The move will cost Motorola around E1.92 billion, and was made primarily due to the ongoing poor semiconductor and telecoms markets.
The company had only just disclosed an extra E1.62 billion of charges that had increased its restructuring costs to E3.55 billion.
Motorola Chairman and Chief Executive Christopher Galvin described the restructuring as a return to the pre-dot.com era. The 7,000 job cuts are to fall across all operations and save the company some E100 million this year and E706 million a year going forward. However the company also announced that its sales for the three-month-period just ended, would "meet or slightly exceed" E6.4 billion, with profits expected in the third and fourth quarters as well as for the year after losing E3.9 billion last year. Sales are predicted to fall between five and 10 per cent this year.
David Devonshire, finance director, said the company expected to end the second quarter of the year with around E6.06 billion of cash.
Technology consultancy firm Cap Gemini Ernst & Young is cutting 5,500 more jobs - 10 per cent of the workforce - due to a slump in demand, having already seen 5,400 jobs or nine per cent of its workforce go last year.
Job losses will begin with the axing of 2,500 staff in telecoms and financial service divisions, and a further 3,000 posts, mainly in back-office functions, will go by January.
Cap Gemini's revenues are forecast to be stabilising, after dropping 15.3 per cent in the first quarter of the year.
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Merger opponents take the high ground
In the US religious broadcasters in the Coalition of Christian Broadcasters are opposing the proposed merger between EchoStar and DirecTV
The merger is being considered by the US Justice Department's antitrust officials as well as the Federal Communications Commission on the grounds of monopoly satellite supply. John Hagee, President of religious network GETV, has also asked regulators to reject the merger since "the corporate leadership of EchoStar is decidedly pro-pornography," with the religious lobby also aware of EchoStar's previous battles with must-carry regulations.
EchoStar insists it is complying with must-carry rules, and as a result it is broadcasting religious channels in local TV packages. Any combined DBS entity would provide local TV channels, including local religious stations, to all 210 TV markets in the country, the company said.
*Last week EchoStar and DirecTV aslo discussed any relationship the merged company might have with the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative. Post-merger, the combined company would honour NRTC's contractual rights on programming and no subscriber would be disenfranchised after closing of the deal said the Echostar represenatives, adding that all subscribers would have an opportunity to receive all services offered by the new company.
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NBC earnings up 15%
At an analysts presentation by General Electric Co (GE) subsidiary NBC Television the company said it expects pre-tax earnings to surge 15 per cent to E1.6 billion this year with the network's leading shows such as 'Friends,' driving up advertising sales, despite widespread gloom in the market. Pre-tax earnings earnings are forecast to rise to E1.9 billion in 2003.
As a result, NBC stations expected to deliver pre-tax earnings growth of 25 per cent in 2002, up from E554 million in 2001. Local ad sales, improved ratings and the E2.7 billion acquisition of Telemundo Communications Group Inc, the largest ever for NBC, all contributed to the figures.
However, NBC's cable television is expecting flat pre-tax earnings of E363 million - which the company says should be seen in the light of the worst ad sales market for 20 years. NBC said it is reinvesting in MSNBC and CNBC to reinvigorate their performance.
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Italian Premier censors TV?
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is calling on Italian Premier and media magnate Silvio Berlusconi for "clarification" of the removal from state TV of two well-known critics of his role.
Associated Press media representative Freimut Duve has written to Berlusconi asking for "clarification of the recent removal of two political programs" featuring left-leaning political commentator Michele Santoro and leading journalist Enzo Biagi, from state-run RAI's schedules.
Fabrizio Del Noce, the news director at one of RAI's main channels said the shows were pulled due to poor ratings, whereas opposition politicians and the journalists' union insist it was a move by Berlusconi to silence critics.
Berlusconi controls both largest private broadcaster, Mediaset. Italy's governing coalitions have always been in control of RAI. So now Berlusconi directly or indirectly controls 90 percent of Italy's television market.
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Tandberg Asian appointment
Tandberg Television, a supplier of open solutions for digital broadcasting, has appointed Graham Cradock, a digital broadcasting authority and leading expert in digital broadcasting networks, to the role of General Manager of Tanberg Television Asia-Pacific.
Cradock will take up the position in August of this year and be responsible for all commercial operations of Tanberg Television in the region, including northeast and Southeast Asia, Japan and Australia.
Gwyn Pugh, President and CEO of Tanberg Television said, "I am confident that Graham Cradock will lead our quickly-growing Asia-Pacific operations into continued success. Furthermore, I would like to give my wholehearted thanks and express my appreciation to Fred Schwabe-Hansen as he steps down from this role and takes on responsibilities with Tanberg Television's European operations. He has made a very important contribution to Tanberg Television in a career stretching over three decades."
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