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NEWS Monday July 8th - Monday 15th July 2002
Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
| Tuesday | |||||
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Telenor
acquires Song |
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Telenor acquires Song
By Goran Sellgren
Norwegian state-dominated telco Telenor is eyeing its neighbouring Swedish market with a view to taking control of the crisis-ridden Song Network. The Swedish broadband, data and telecommunications operator (formerly Tele1 Europe) is on the verge of bankruptcy.
The deal is that Song Network will make a new share issue, through which Telenor will become the biggest shareholder in Song, with over 40 per cent of the shares. For its part, Song Networks will buy Telenor's Swedish affiliate Telenor Business Solutions. Telenor may increase its ownership of Song to 85 per cent within the next four years.
Song Networks was founded in 1995, with the business idea of 'offering the best broadband solutions for data communication, Internet and voice to businesses in the Nordic region.' The company is active in all four Nordic countries and claims to be 'the only pan-Nordic operator investing in local access networks with broadband capacity for businesses.'
Today Song Networks has around 1,000 employees in the Nordic countries, with a total of 34 local offices; its head office is based in Stockholm.
Anna Cartridge, Head of Information at TBS said, "TBS has a strong position in the Swedish telecom market, while Song's strength is infrastructure. Today we are buying network capacity from Telia, so the merger with Song will have a vital effect on our costs."
The deal comes as a gift from above for Song's MD, Peter Loefgren. For several months his company has had the dark clouds of a financial crisis, and even bankruptcy, hovering above it. Now the company is surviving, even if several financial analysts have expressed their doubts about the deal.
For Telenor this deal is another chance of hitting back at Sweden. Previously, plans to merge Telenor with its Swedish counterpart, Telia - at that time 100 per cent state control - capsized, due to discord at the highest political levels. Since then Telenor has made several major deals in Sweden, including acquiring one of Sweden's leading cable operators, Sweden On Line (SOL). The company has also put Per Tengblad, a Swedish media veteran and former MD of DTH operator Canal Digital - owned by Telenor since last year -, as Director of Telenor's broadband operations in Sweden.
Meanwhile Telia has recently formed an alliance with another Nordic telco, Finnish Sonera, a former state-monopoly. According to reports in the last few days the EU Commission is going to give its green-light to the merger, provided Telia makes some sacrifices, like selling off its market-leading cable TV operation, Com.hem, and its interests in Finnish mobile telephony.
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Liberty court case postponed
Bondholders at UK cableco Telewest, including Angelo, Gordon & Co, have seen a postponement until Thursday, July 18, 2002, of any decision concerning their US lawsuit alleging that a bond offer from John Malone's Liberty Media is "illegal." Liberty had earlier extended the deadline for its offer to 5:00 pm, New York City time, Friday, July 19, 2002.
The New York lawsuit alleged that the offer had been, "disseminated by means of an offer to purchase which contains material omissions and misrepresentations."
Liberty Media has said it believed its offer complied with the relevant rules and was extend the deadline to give bondholders time to reconsider the allegations. Liberty TWSTY Bonds is also amending its offer to permit holders of Telewest's notes and debentures to withdraw their tender of such securities at any time prior to the expiration date of the Offer.
Telewest confirmed last month that it was considering a debt-for-equity swap to resolve its E8.3 billion debt, and Liberty, which owns 25.1 per cent of the company's share capital.
"... holders of Telewest notes and debentures (have been given the extension) to have adequate time to review the supplement and evaluate for themselves the merits of the offer in light of the allegations made in the lawsuit," Liberty Media is reported as saying.
A new document has been put out which summarises the allegations laid out in the lawsuit and confirms the extension of the offer.
Liberty Media previously announced it had received offers for 17 per cent of Telewest's bonds, up from the 16 per cent it announced at the end of last month. Its offer is conditional on it gaining 20 per cent of the bonds. If successful, it would be able to control the terms of a planned debt-for-equity plan.
Cob Stenham, Telewest's Chairman, stayed on the fence when he wrote to shareholders saying that the company could not yet determine "whether a restructuring on Liberty's terms would be beneficial or whether completion of the offer is beneficial or detrimental to the holders of the notes."
Liberty issued a statement saying that "Holders of the securities subject to the Offer who have previously validly tendered securities pursuant to the Offer and not properly withdrawn such securities will be deemed to have validly tendered such securities for purposes of the Offer, as amended, and need not take any further action. Holders of Telewest's notes and debentures may withdraw their tender of such securities at any time prior to the expiration date of the Offer."
It is also noted that the Offer is being made solely by the Offer to Purchase dated June 12, 2002, as amended and supplemented by the Supplement to the Offer to Purchase, dated July 10, 2002 and the related Letter of Transmittal.
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Gazprom buys out Gusinsky
Russian conglomerate Gazprom, the country's natural gas provider, has consolidated its shares ownership in its media holdings, buying out the shares of exiled former media-magnate Vladimir Gusinsky, who previously avoided extradition from Spain to face charges over his dealings with the company.
Gazprom is to sell off its media assets by the end of this year, and total ownership is seen as making the deal more attractive to potential investors. Earlier media deals by Gazprom, whose media holdings include formerly independent NTV television, had previously been accused of political motivation, allegedly backing the current government and stifling media opposition. A change in regime at NTV then the forced liquidation of TV6 contributed to such criticism.
The head of Gazprom, Alexei Miller, says that the sale will relieve Gazprom-Media, of debts that NTV and other media outlets had owed to other separate Gusinsky-run companies. But he has not disclosed who the potential buyers might be or the total worth of the companies.
The controversially appointed NTV head, Boris Jordan, who now heads Gazprom-Media, was reported by AP as saying that the media conglomerate, "will continue to work to develop the companies...both in terms of their economic viability and in their capacity as independent media."
Gusinsky had been accused of misrepresenting the assets his Media-Most company to obtain a E262 million loan from Gazprom. A Spanish court refused to extradite Gusinsky saying the grounds for the case did not amount to a crime in Spain. Gusinsky founded NTV, Itogi magazine, and the Segodnya newspaper, all now Gazprom owned, plus he had a stake in Echo of Moscow radio via Media-Most.
Gusinsky appears reconciled to the deal, though commented, "I am proud that we were able to create an independent media group which was able to take a leading position in Russia. I hope that the current management of the group and in particular the management at NTV continue that tradition."
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Artsworld
'killed by BBC4'
UK highbrow cultural pay-TV channel Artsworld is closing at the end of
the month after being unable to raise new funding from shareholders in
the face of competition from BBC Four, the pubcaster's new arts and documentary
channel, described by Artsworld as, "lavishly financed by increased
licence fees."
Launched 18 months ago by Sir Jeremy Isaacs, the former General Manager
of the Royal Opera House and founding Chief Executive of Channel 4, Artsworld
had reached 100,000 subscribers each paying E9.4 a month. It was attracting
new subscribers at a rate of 3,000 a month, hence would have needed just
over a year to reach its target breakeven figure of 140,000 subscribers
- but was unable to come up with the E6.2 million funding gap needed to
continue. Despite previous statements that the channel could compete with
the BBC, ultimately investors were unconvinced.
The company
issued a statement saying,"Artsworld has not been able to secure the further
funding necessary to continue operating. By closing the channel now, the
company is in a position to honour its obligations to creditors and staff.
However, it remains possible that a purchaser or new investor may come
forward."
Artsworld was broadcast on digital satellite channel and backed by BSkyB,
which is believed to have withdrew its support for the channel when BSkyB
backed the BBC's Digital Terrestrial Television bid. There is still a
commercial arts channel available on cable - Performance - owned by Daily
Mail and General Trust.
The BBC was granted government approval last September to turn BBC Knowledge
into BBC Four with an annual budget of E39 million. Newspaper reports
say the channel has yet to attain large audiences, with some documentaries
seen by just 5,000 viewers.
Plans to turn BBC Choice into BBC Three, a digital channel aimed at young
adults, are expected to get approval later this month.
Commercial broadcasters, educational software providers and online publishers
have launched campaigns against the BBC providing publicly funded competition
in areas that they say should be served by the commercial market. An Artsworld
investor quoted by The Times newspaper commented, "There is a public policy
issue here." BSkyB, which at one time led such criticism, now appears
comfortable with the BBC's activities as long as it stays out of pay-TV,
and it is now only likely to object to competition from the BBC if it
entered the commercial market.
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AT&T/Comcast deal
On Wednesday (10/7/02), shareholders of the US' third largest cable company, Comcast, approved the purchase of AT&T's cable operations, a plan that has been under discussion for a year. The question now is how cities and local governments are going to be organised and whether they will allow a transfer of control of their cable franchises from one company to another.
According to AT&T, 89 per cent of local franchise authorities that require consent for any switch approved the change of control or have let a 120-day clock on any action expire. In cases where local franchising authorities do not take final action within 120 days of receiving an application, the change of control is automatically deemed approved, the company said.
In the next four weeks local franchising authorities that haven't yet consented to the change of control will have to take a position in the subject. Already Chicago, Dallas, Fort Lauderdale, Portland, Sacramento and Seattle have accepted the change of control.
Less than two per cent of local franchising authorities have denied the requested change of control, AT&T Broadband said, adding that it believes the denials surround issues other than legal, technical and financial qualifications tied to the new company.
Comcast agreed to acquire AT&T Broadband in December 2001. The result will be the creation of the US' largest cable operator.
*There are also rumours that another arm of AT&T, AT&T Wireless would merge with Deutsche Telekom's mobile phone unit VoiceStream Wireless in an estimated E10 billion deal. As a combined company they would become the second largest wireless company in the US, ahead of Cingular Wireless and just behind Verizon Wireless.
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Foxtel open for third parties
By Owen Hughes
Foxtel has outlined a network access structure that will open its network to third parties to meet objections to its programming alliance with fellow Australian pay TV provider Optus.
Foxtel lodged the proposals with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) this week after its initial plan to link with Optus was refused on anti-competition grounds by the commission at the end of June.
The new agreement includes an undertaking that Foxtel will spend E282 million to upgrade the network from analogue to digital in the second half of 2003 and that it will both provide rival content providers access to the network, and provide programming to regional broadband providers. Foxtel is proposing creation of a transparent access tariff that will take into account the cost of developing and then upgrading the network.
In another compromise, Foxtel has agreed to drop its earlier demand to have the first and last right of refusal to buy Optus' high-speed cable network should owners Singapore Telecom put it up for sale.
But Foxtel is refusing to provide content to national media companies, including John Fairfax Holdings and the Seven Network. Another possible impediment is that Foxtel's 50 per cent shareholder, the dominant telco Telstra, is adamant that it will not sell its stake.
The ACCC said that Telstra's position as Australia's main telephony provider and a pay TV provider is a problem. Reports suggested that Foxtel is trying to come up with undertakings that it will behave like a pay TV company, and not a telephony provider defending its market share.
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S-A
Prisma accelerates com hem
Sweden's largest cable operator, com hem, with 1.4 million subscribers,
is deploying Scientific-Atlanta's Prisma G10 CMTS (Cable Modem Termination
System), designed and developed by Juniper Networks for Euro-DOCSIS capability,
to offer higher bandwidth to its customers in the country's eight largest
cities.
As demand grows for cable modems with broadband voice, video, and data
services in com hem's service areas, the company plans to leverage the
scalability of the Prisma G10 CMTS through what it describes as fast,
easily implemented software and hardware upgrades. Because the Prisma
G10 CMTS can allocate multiple channels per port, it supports up to 40
Mbps per upstream port compared to the typical 2.5 to 5 Mbps per port.
The company says that this dramatic increase in bandwidth delivers more
cable modems and more services per physical port when compared to legacy
solutions - translating into a lower CMTS cost per modem and higher ROI
rewards for cable operators.
Jens Persson, technical manager at com hem comments, "Our customers rely
heavily on the Internet and we need to provide them with a fast, reliable
cable modem service. The Prisma G10 CMTS helps us meet that need and opens
the way for us to quickly expand services in the future."
"The focus of our data delivery strategy is to provide products and systems
that enable cable operators to extract the most value from their networks,"
said Paul Connolly, Vice President of Marketing and Network Architectures
at Scientific-Atlanta. "The combination of better RF performance and scalability
via dynamic channel assignment provide unique advantages that our system
gives to our customers to help them overcome any capacity issues."
| Key features of the Prisma G10 CMTS are described by SA as: |
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Edinburgh
Festival shortlist
The Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival (GEITF) has revealed
the shortlist for its new Channel of the Year Award initiative.
All five UK terrestrial channels are shortlisted, along with six non-terrestrial
channels, E4, Sky News, Sky One, UK Style, The Discovery Channel and Bravo.
For the first time ever both a terrestrial and non-terrestrial channel
will be recognised at a high profile Edinburgh event.
The judging panel, which sat this week, includes Ruby Wax, Michael Grade,
Matthew Freud, Charlie Parsons, Nina Wadia, Dermot O'Leary, Jaci Stephen,
Anthony Fry and Emily Bell and 2002 Advisory Chair, Charles Brand, who
chaired the panel. The final judging followed a massive survey of the
UK's channel editors and programme controllers that has helped form the
shortlist for this important award.
Programme Controllers and Channel Editors of every channel broadcast in
the UK were asked to vote anonymously on their selection for best terrestrial
and non-terrestrial Channel of the Year, other than their own.
The Channel of the Year panel were asked to judge channels on their programming,
ratings success, channel direction, innovation, ideas, promotion, marketing
and business models. The awards ceremony will be a specially produced
session at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre on Saturday afternoon
at the 2002 Festival (23-25 August).
Commenting on Channel of the Year, Festival Director Sarah Barnett, said,
"The meeting of the judging panel proved to be a very eventful and colourful
session, full of surprises, not to mention a lot of raised voices! We
were lucky to have a great mix of people on the panel this year, all of
who had really strong and diverse views, so there was quite a lot of healthy
argument and debate. I think it will make for a fascinating session up
in Edinburgh."
The Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival is open to anyone
working in the UK broadcasting industry and offers delegates a varied
programme of sessions, screenings, masterclasses, interviews and keynote
lectures from leading UK and international media figures. The Festival
takes place at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre from 1pm
on Friday 23 August to Sunday 25 August 2002.
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Telecom Italia joining new platform |
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Telecom Italia joining new platform
News Corporation appears to have persuaded Telecom Italia to invest about E400 million in a new Italian pay-TV platform, combining their jointly-owned Stream operation with Vivendi Universal's larger pay-TV operation Telepiu, creating an Italian pay-TV monopoly.
Local newspaper Corriere della Sere reports that Rupert Murdoch will present plans for the platform to News Corporation board members this week.
Apparently Telecom Italia is expected to acquire a 19 per cent stake in the new platform, with foreign and Italian banks understood to control a further 31 per cent.
Tarak Ben Ammar, a consultant reportedly close to Murdoch, was reported as saying, "This week, News Corp will complete the business plan, which we will present to all interested parties."
"Telecom Italia has said yes to the concept, to the project, but it can't buy more than 19 per cent. It intends to put in E350 million to E400 million. The remaining 31 per cent will be split between the banks, of which are half Italian and the rest foreign. We will soon know how it will go: everything will be resolved within the next 30 days or it will be nothing," Reuters reported Ben Ammar as saying - emphasising that no debt for shares is involved in the deal.
Any proposed consolidation of pay-TV platforms in Italy would first have to be submitted for review to the EU competition regulator, commissioner.
Telecom Italia is limited by antitrust regulations from controlling more than 19 per cent of the consolidated platform because the group currently controls two public free-to-air channels through Seat Pagine Gialle.
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Vivendi investigation underway
Vivendi's accounts our being put under the microscope as an official investigation into the French media giant began on Tuesday, ahead of an expected E1 billion deal with banks to resolve its immediate liquidity crisis.
This inquiry by French stock market watchdog, the Commission des Operations de Bourse, dates back to the start of 2001. The regulator is reportedly concerned about the extreme financial pressure the company was under over its bank debt. Apparently this had been concealed, but the company's cash shortage was the straw that broke the camel's back and resulted in Jean-Marie Messier loosing his position as Chairman and Chief Executive at Vivendi.
Credit ratings agencies said that Vivendi has E6 billion of debt to mature this year and a further E3 billion in the first half of 2003. Its cash and existing bank facilities only covered about E2.4 billion. This is why Moody's Investors Services said that without cash the group's long term debt is in a high-risk 'junk' status.
There has been no official announcement about the bank deals that the company had been planning, but it seems that Vivendi secured a new E1 billion loan from a consortium of six banks, led by Societe Generale and BNP Paribas. The group also reached agreement on rolling over E3 billion of existing debt, due to be repaid as early as the end of this month. Vivendi shares rose 1.7 per cent to E18.31.
"Last week's disclosures [on debt] came as a big shock," said Roger Appleyard, a credit analyst at ABN Amro, reported in the Independent Newspaper, adding, "These latest loans should see Vivendi through to the end of this year but they've still got to sell something. They can't just keep refinancing, otherwise there'll just be another crisis at the end of this year."
Meanwhile new CEO Jean-Rene Fourtou and the rest of the board are reviewing the company's assets in order to sell some of its diverse collection of companies. One of the most obvious disposals it could make is its stake in SFR, the French mobile phone operator, to Vodafone, which has stated that it would like to acquire this business.
Vivendi's US and French media assets could be up for grabs, as could its remaining 43 per cent interest in its water business. However Vivendi Environnement shares are a politically sensitive issue in France because of the extent of the company's involvement in the country's water services.
Moody's is expecting swift action, and said that even the Ba1 junk rating it has assigned to Vivendi is dependent on urgent financial and corporate restructuring. "In the absence of a resolution to Vivendi Universal's liquidity issue in the very near term the company faces a worsening liquidity situation which could result in further severe downward migration of the ratings," Moody's said.
Details about the terms of the mew loans will be sought before further changes are made to the Vivendi credit rating.
Vivendi Universal, whose E18bn corporate debt was the biggest in French history, now needs to start selling assets acquired under its recent spending spree à and decide which elements most fit in with its future direction and strategy.
The COB investigation follows confirmation last week that the regulator had forced Vivendi to change the way it had planned to treat the proceeds from the sale of its stake in satellite broadcaster BSkyB in 2001as its earlier method would have inflated its 2001 accounts by E1.5billion.
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Ofcom faces funding gap
The UK parliament has been warned that its proposed combined media and communications regulator, Ofcom, will not have enough funding to pay for competition investigations.
A parliamentary committee chaired by Lord Putnam looked at the establishment of Ofcom, which replaces five current regulators, and concluded that there was a multi-million pound shortfall in its proposed budget.
Some revenue inherited from current regulators, such as telecommunications licence fees, cannot be used to pay for the complex competition cases expected to be undertaken as this is banned under an EU directive - though such monies provide 95 per cent of funding at the current telecom regulator, Oftel. In addition, the FT reports that BT and others acre calling for a reduction in the licence fees which currently total E28 million per year.
The Treasury currently provides an E1.25 million top up to Oftel, but Ofcom's funding has not yet been established. A Chairman and board for Ofcom is due to be appointed over the next few months.
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C4 condemns £320m ITV ad deal
UK terrestrial Channel 4 has registered a protest with the commercial television regulator accusing ITV of breaking competition rules after signing a E500 million deal with Unilever - the largest in the UK media history.
Current UK media rules state that two separate companies, in this case ITV's main companies Carlton and Granada, cannot operate as a single sales house. Channel 4 believes the companies got the Unilever contract by offering ITV as a package.
ITV's four-year agreement with food and toiletries manufacturer Unilever gave the company coverage across the ITV network.
Following two years of tremendous decline in the TV advertising market, which has hit Channel 4 as much as ITV, the prospects of seeing ITV leaping ahead with a secured E500 million contract for four year is unthinkable for Channel 4.
A Channel 4 source was reported as saying, "They're already acting as if a single ITV is a reality. How could they have signed this deal when they are not allowed to trade as a single organisation? How could this be allowed to happen? There is a real lack of engagement here with competition regulation."
Channel 4 is now considering its legal options, after receiving a response from TV regulator the ITC that it believes to be 'inadequate'. The measures could include taking the matter to the Office of Fair Trading.
"[ITV] secured a mass market premium by offering Unilever a chance to reach the whole ITV audience," said the Channel 4 executive.
A spokeswoman for Granada said Unilever had negotiated separately with Granada and Carlton's ad sales houses. "This was two separate deals, one with Granada, the other with Carlton. It was Unilever that aggregated them, allowing them to buy across ITV," she said.
The new media ownership rules, which will not come into effect until next year, will allow a single ITV, but a Carlton-Granada merger would still need to pass competition law.
*Channel 4 also has its own internal money worries. The broadcaster's wage bill has increased nearly fourfold in 10 years. Staff numbers have swelled and terms and conditions have generously kept up if not outstripped the competition with employees on an average pay packet of £51,000 (E80,000) a year - twice the national average. Channel 4's boss Mark Thompson will have to review C4 personnel and some heads may roll.
*Channel Four has cut its film budget from E48 million to E16 million as part of a spending squeeze announced this week.
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ACTV, Liberty Media agreement
ACTV Inc in the US has signed an amended agreement with Liberty Media Corporation for the acquisition of the outstanding shares of ACTV common stock by Liberty or one of its controlled affiliates.
The amended agreement extends the exclusive period during which the parties will negotiate definitive agreements to August 15, 2002. The consideration to be paid to acquire the ACTV shares will be $1.65 per share and will be payable in cash, publicly traded common stock of the acquirer or a combination thereof. The agreed valuation compares to an initially proposed price of $2.00 per share and said to reflect changing conditions in both the digital media industry and the broader market since the companies signed their initial letter agreement.
Any transaction will also require ACTV shareholder and regulatory approval.
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iTV company in administration
Australian iTV company Ice Interactive has been put into voluntary administration by directors of its parent company, Perth-based Burdekin Resources.
Ice's claim to fame is its August 2000 pilot program of households in New South Wales which it says was the first deployment of connected two-way interactive television in Australasia. It also says it broadcast the first enhanced TV program in conjunction with WIN Television and the first fully interactive TV commercials with a host of advertisers.
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£29
DTT box planned |
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£29 DTT box planned
By Tony Morbin
Interactive television technology company TVcompass in the UK is challenging not only the set top box pricing model, but also current technology and revenue models with its plans to sell a Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) Set Top Box (STB) and interactive TV remote for £29 (E45) by Spring 2003.
Manufacture of the boxes and remotes has been outsourced to an un-named Far Eastern company. In addition to receiving digital terrestrial signals via an aeriel to the set top, the remote will use GPRS for data backhaul, Bluetooth wireless technology to communicate between the two devices, with an infra-red capability on the remote to allow interaction directly with the TV set. The remote has been described as having a larger screen than most mobiles, comparable with colour PDAs, with the main difference being that you can't speak into it.
Stephen Voller, CEO of TVcompass, said, "It will obviously cost more than £29 (E45) to make the TV remotes and set top boxes, and then ship them to customers. But because our system offers further revenue opportunities from shopping, travel, gambling and advertising we are in effect subsidising the cost of the hardware to the consumer through these additional services."
Voller declined to reveal what level of subsidy was being provided, though the price has already been agreed, but he also suggested that the 'low cost' benchmark of £99 currently offered by competitors such as Pace and Gundig probably entailed them loosing money by supplying retailers at a cost of around £60 (E90).
There are often two to four TV sets in most UK households, but even those subscribing to pay TV usually have only one of their TV sets are connected to the pay TV service. Consequently Voller sees his company's low pricing - three sets for less than £100 - as being a "no-brainer."
"The opportunity for our boxes is on every TV in the house. So even if you already have satellite or cable, then you can use our box on a TV set in the kitchen or bedroom. Our £29 package will give the viewer 24 channel TV, digital radio and full interactivity without a monthly subscription or the need to plug the box into a telephone line," says Voller. The company is targeting some 40 per cent of UK households - ten million homes - but wants to sell more than one device into each.
TVcompass says its STB and TV remote will provide access to the full 24 free-to-air DTT channels on any type of TV, as well as Digital Radio channels and full interactivity via the TV remote. Interactive functions will include the ability to book flights and holidays via the TV remote, and home shopping via TV. Also SMS messaging on the TV and voting to interact with programs like 'Big Brother' will be possible.
Services such as UK Online, the Government's information service, will be accessible as will a full TV listings EPG for all DTT channels and digital radio channels.
(See complete report)
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France
Televisions' DTT fear
By Eleftheriou Sotires
Jean-Jacques Aillagon, the new French Minister of Culture and Communications,
answered several questions on broadcasting at his first press conference
as a Minister last week. He said that he was pleased at the CSA's decision
to delay the allocation of channels until the end of October, in view
of the large number of candidates, as this gives time for more consultation
with the industry. He emphasised that the new government is not anti-DTT,
as some recent press reports have suggested.
He was less positive on the role of the public service, France Television,
in DTT. France Televisions has been earmarked eight DTT channels by the
previous government. Allagon said that he was concerned that this could
result in financial difficulties and argued for reducing the number of
DTT channels for France Televisions to six. The government has already
given France Televisions a one off grant of E152 million for its DTT plans.
The exact allocation for France Televisions will be announced in September.
Aillagon confirmed that there are no plans to privatise France Televisions.
Finally, he announced that France would be brought in line with a request
from the European Commission to allow advertising for more sectors, beginning
with publishing and films. This will bring in additional funds for forthcoming
DTT channels.
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AOL/TW
gets new credits
By Geny Caloisi
US Internet and media giant AOL Time Warner Inc has agreed two new long-term
revolving credit facilities, securing E10 billion to replace two bank
credit facilities that would have expired in autumn.
Investors have been concerned the company's debt levels could damage its
efforts to revive growth, especially following the turmoil the media market
has experienced lately. Also the bond market has had worries after the
company's short-term debt increased when it acquired Bertelsmann AG's
stake in AOL Europe for about E7 billion, which used commercial paper
and borrowings under its revolving bank credit facility.
Through a syndicate of 27 financial institutions that provided almost
E12 billion in commitments, the company is going to have E6 billion, five-year
revolving credit facility and E4 billion, 364-day revolving credit facility
with a two-year term-out option. The five agents for the credit facilities
are ABN AMRO Bank, Bank of America, BNP Paribas, Citibank, and JP Morgan
Chase Bank.
AOL Time Warner had an E5 billion, 364-day revolving credit facility that
would have expired by the end of September and an E7.5 billion, five-year
revolving credit facility with the deadline of November. The two new credit
facilities will replace the previous ones and will serve to backup AOL/TW
liquidity.
Chief Financial Officer Wayne Pace said in a statement, "We are committed
to preserving the integrity of our balance sheet, including our strong,
investment-grade credit ratings, and delivering clear and complete information
to our investors." He added, "These new bank credit facilities provide
us with sufficient resources and flexibility to both operate our businesses
and take advantage of strategic opportunities over the next few years."
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No
hope for Chinese rivals
By Owen Hughes
China Central Television's head of sport has warned competing channels
that they, "don't have a hope" of wresting the rights to major events
from the state broadcaster.
Ma Guoli was commenting after the nine-channel network posted record viewing
and advertising revenue figures from its exclusive coverage of the World
Cup.
Ma was quoted by China's media as saying of China's city and provincial
channels that are delivered via satellite to other parts of the country
"Under our present system, they have no hope. They present no threat to
us. Perhaps the sports channels in Beijing and Shanghai will survive.
"With news, documentaries and soap operas, you have many different sources.
But sports is a monopoly. There is only one event," he added.
Late last year a company called the Mass Media Communication International
Group said it had paid E12 million for the rights to the 2002 finals.
Angry CCTV officials warned Chinese broadcasters against having any dealings
with the company that was forced to relinquish the rights.
The comments by Ma underline that while China is opening up under its
WTO membership, there are a number of areas, including TV, that will remain
off-limits to foreigners for some time to come.
During the World Cup, the sports channel's ratings grew from two per cent
of the audience to as high as 20 per cent, or 240 million viewers, with
an aggregate four billion people tuning in during the tournament. Advertising
revenue reached E48 million, compared to the E25 million CCTV paid for
the rights to the 2002 and 2006 final.
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Greek
CID target TV pirates
Content protection systems specialists Irdeto Access report that among
its varied anti-piracy initiatives it has held an anti-piracy seminar
in partnership with MultiChoice Hellas specially created for executives
of the Digital Evidence Investigation Department of the Graphology Lab
of the Hellenic Police Crime Investigation Division (CID).
The July 8 special seminar was attended by executives of the Hellenic
Police CID who are investigating illegal smart cards, as well as other
evidence related to pay-TV copyrights issues. The CID Digital Evidence
Investigation Department and the Hellenic Police Security Services play
an important role in supporting the contribution of Greece in such pan-European
initiatives as EU's Directive on Copyright Harmonisation as well as the
European Council's Cybercrime Treaty.
Irdeto Access has been driving a systematic approach towards piracy seminars
together with the European Association against Pay -media Piracy (AEPOC).
"Irdeto Access welcomes the opportunity to share its world-wide experience
in combating pay-media piracy with the CGU." Says Graham Kill, CEO of
Irdeto Access. "Effective content security systems depend on good security
technology as much as they do on good law enforcement. For Irdeto Access'
customers as well as for Irdeto Access the opportunity to support the
Greek authorities in their drive to take action against the theft of content
is highly valued. Our customers expect us, and depend on us, to protect
their content in a variety of ways. With the help of the legal authorities
we can form a united front against piracy."
Irdeto Access is a founder member of the European Association against
Pay-media Piracy, AEPOC. AEPOC Secretary General, Davide Rossi, said,
"We welcome the initiative taken by the CGU. AEPOC is pleased, through
its members, such as Irdeto Access to provide information and support
to the anti piracy units of law enforcement agencies in Europe."
Broadcast Technology Manager of MultiChoice Hellas, Dimitris Pavlidis,
said that with its technical know-how and experience, MultiChoice Hellas,
a pioneer in the provision of services to satellite digital pay-TV, is
actually supporting all actions taken to the aid of local authorities
in their fight against piracy.
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Chinese
channel buy
A multimedia company controlled by Hong Kong's richest man is set to take
nearly a third of the Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China's second-ranked
TV station, Asia Television (ATV).
Tycoon Li Ka-shing's Tom.com is said to be prepared to pay E141 million
for a 32.75 per stake in ATV, according to Chinese-language media in Hong
Kong.
Tom.com will buy the stake that is currently owned by Lai Sun Development.
In June, Today's Asia, a company controlled by Liu Changle, the Chairman
of Phoenix Satellite TV that airs entertainment and news programming into
China, acquired a controlling 46 per cent stake in ATV. As share trading
in Tom and Lai Sun was suspended by the Hong Kong exchange, executives
with either company refused to make themselves available for comment.
Tom.com began life as an Internet portal and it has since broadened its
scope into book and magazine publishing, audio and visual content and
outdoor advertising.
The combination of Phoenix and Tom.com to take over the perennially under-performing
ATV has led many to suggest that the new owners could galvanise its fortunes.
China has been identified as an immediate target since tens of millions
of mainland viewers already watch ATV's signals through signal overspill
from Hong Kong. Another suggestion is that ATV's production facilities
and artistes could be used by Phoenix as a content facility.
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ITV
blew DTT option |
|
ITV blew DTT option
BBC Director General Greg Dyke told the UK press that the ITV companies Carlton and Granada could have joined the winning consortium with BSkyB and Crown Castle in the digital television licence bids, but chose to go it alone and failed.
"We'd have happily brought ITV into the deal, but they didn't want to come. They wanted to control the channelling line-up, which was unreasonable and we didn't want that," said Dyke in an interview with The Observer newspaper.
Dyke added, "They thought they had a stronger hand than they actually had. It's all a game of negotiation and bluff, isn't it? When it came to it, they weren't as strong as they thought."
The offer to Carlton and Granada was made after they closed ITV Digital this year, at a loss of more than E1.55 billion investment and entanglement in an ongoing E277 million legal dispute with the Nationwide Football League.
Although it is suggested that ITV believed the offer of just a few channels would be uneconomic, the news that they rejected an offer which would have put them on the winning side has fuelled criticism of the company's strategic leadership under Chairmen, Michael Green of Carlton and Charles Allen Granada, as the channels have been loosing audience share to the BBC and suffering financially during the advertising downturn.
* Following on from BSkyB's deal to buy the Nationwide League soccer rights (See last week's News Archive) , the BBC has agreed a E37.3 million two-year deal with the Scottish Premier League, with E12.44 million going the 'Old Firm' giants of Rangers and Celtic whose games will be shown free-to-air across the UK.
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180
jobs go at Pace
By September set top technology company Pace Micro technology will have
cut its 970 staff by up to 180, primarily in the UK, including its previously
sacrosanct engineering staff, as part of 20 per cent cost reductions across
the board following a one third drop in revenue from E814 million a year
earlier to E547 million.
Andrew Wallace, Marketing Director of Pace confirmed the company's widely
anticipated poor results for the year to 1 June yesterday (8/7/02), showing
profits before tax and one-off expenses were E20 million, down from E69
million the previous year.
The company has been shaken by severe instability in the market, particularly
the UK, with Pace Chief Executive Malcolm Miller adding that, "Turbulent
conditions in the broadcasting market have caused delay and disappointment.
Wallace noted that the set top box market has fallen from 35 million units
world-wide in 2,000 to an expected 29 million this year - on top of reduced
margins in the industry.
Pace shares were well below their May 2000 peaks of over £12 (E18.6),
at less than £1 even ahead of last week's renegotiated deal with BSkyB
to sell Sky+ set tops below cost. (Also see News Archive) That deal cut
Pace profits by about E12.5 million next year, but is intended to generate
cash in the longer term by increasing subscriptions to the Sky+ service.
The company saw its shares fall some 40 per cent last week, and shares
were pushed down a further 28 per cent, down 14p to 35p in early trade
on Monday before recovering to stand at 40p at 0800 GMT.
A sustained advertising downturn and serious financial problems in the
European cable industry, plus the collapse of digital terrestrial operator
ITV Digital have all contributed to reduced investment in the industry.
The company's supply deal with cableco NTL was suspended ahead of the
company's May move into chapter 11. The 300,000 box order - some E37 million
of the E58 million recorded stock - is now being supplied at the rate
of 30,000 boxes per month, with NTL stock value down to E30 million now
Wallace noted that E17 million of exceptional costs was investment in
launching the US office, which has just shipped a quarter million order
to Time Warner Cable, with hopes that a major order to Comcast by the
end of the year could be followed by that company's AT&T cable purchase.
A similar amount of investment is expected in North America this year,
with the UK expected to fall from being the company's major market by
far, to accounting less than half of revenues by the second half of next
year.
In the UK Wallace confirmed that in addition to BBC/BSkyB/Crown Castle
promotion of their new digital terrestrial service, Pace too will - more
modestly - market its DTT boxes/adapters for the market, "when it proves
worthwhile." It has forecast sales of 300,000 units in the DTT market
for the coming year - which it had estimated as being 60 per cent of the
market, though accepts that over estimates put the overall market as larger
than earlier forecasts.
Ending a gloomy set of figures on an upbeat note, Wallace concluded that
the company was still in profit, despite the reduction, and remained in
the world's top five, a quintet who had retained relatively stable market
share for the last four to five years, and that it looked forward to growth
in the US and via its range of new products including the Puma twin tuner
set top for viewing two channels simultaneously, via satellite.
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Vivendi
debt lifeline
Debt-laden French media giant Vivendi Universal is close to completing
a deal to obtain short-term cash, as its new head, Jean-Rene Fourtou,
promised last week.
After a tough week, with its shares dropping 26 per cent on Tuesday (02/07/02)
and another 22 per cent the following day, they climbed seven per cent
after the group announced that a deal with its creditors was imminent.
As advanced-television.com reported last week, the emergency funds that
Vivendi is negotiating with banks and creditors is estimated at between
E2 billion to E3 billion.
Moody's Investors Service said earlier on Monday (8/07/02) that without
a short-term funding deal, Vivendi could face further downgrades after
the ratings agency slashed the group's long-term debt to high-risk 'junk'
status last week, reported Reuters.
Vivendi shares, which have lost 70 per cent so far this year, were trading
2.4 per cent higher at E17.41 in Paris at 08.30 GMT, shortly after rising
as much as seven per cent.
"Vivendi Universal confirms that it is in active negotiations with its
main credit banks to address...short-term liquidity concerns. The company
expects to conclude an agreement very shortly," Vivendi said in a brief
statement.
The market still awaits Vivendi's next move on the expected selling of
some of the assets that its previous merger-enthusiast CEO, Jean Marie
Messier, put together. The move may include the sale of its stake in French
telecoms arm Cegetel - an asset UK mobile giant Vodafone Group Plc has
made clear it would be interested in.
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ESPN
expands in Europe
Italian DTH platform Telepui Digitale has incorporated US ESPN Classic
Sport channel since 1st July. More than 1.9 million subscribers now have
access to ESPN's sports programming.
The network will be available in Italy 24 hours a day featuring events
from both international and Italian sports history, including Italy's
victory in the 1982 World Cup over Germany.
ESPN owns 70 per cent of the company and Sports Capital Partners own the
remaining 30 per cent. The Italian launch is part of ESPN's European expansion
which saw the channel's French channel start up earlier this year.
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Liberate
appointments
Coleman Sisson has been appointed to Liberate Technologies' Board of Directors.
Sisson will continue his role as President, while his responsibilities
as Chief Operating Officer will be assumed by Don Fitzpatrick.
Colin Dixon has been named Vice President of Applications and Content
at Liberate Technologies, and Jennifer Graham named Vice President of
Marketing Communications.
Dixon will have overall responsibility for the Liberate PopTV Program.
Graham will be responsible for all of Liberate's outbound communications.
"Liberate has always been fortunate in its strong management team, and
the new responsibilities for Coleman and Don take the greatest advantage
of their skills," said Mitchell Kertzman, Liberate's Chief Executive Officer.
"We value all our employees greatly, and it is important to reward talent
and dedication with advancement."
Sisson joins current Liberate Board Members Chris Bowick, Charles Corfield,
Dana Evan, Mitchell Kertzman, and David Nagel. Kertzman replaces David
Roux as Chairman of the Board. Roux served as CEO of Liberate in 1998
and as Chairman of the Board since that time.
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BBCi
extends interactive voting
GoInteractTV is to provide the BBC's interactive media organisation, BBCi,
with a TV return path infrastructure to allow interactive services such
as voting, short text messaging (SMS) and access to competitions on its
digital television service
BBCi is extending an existing contract citing collaborative interactive
successes such as the interactive voting service used for BBC's coverage
of the Oscars, and the live Question Time debate on the future of the
British monarchy.
"A key ambition of BBCi is to connect to audiences by offering users as
many opportunities as possible to interact with the BBC and one another,
no matter what platform they use," controller of BBC new media, Katharine
Everett was reported as saying by online provider Mad, adding, "This six-month
trial with GoInteractTV is a cornerstone of our plan to offer a two-way
relationship via our interactive television services."
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Telewest
control within Liberty grasp
BSkyB
buys Nationwide rights
Sea channel planned
China cuts BBC TV Feed
DTT boxes unsupported
DVB-MHP
receivers ready to roll out
Sigma
Systems arrives in Iberia
DITG
delivers channel interactivity
Telewest control within Liberty grasp
Both John Malone's Liberty Media, and dissident bondholders are about to enter formal talks with UK number two cableco Telewest about a financial restructuring of the E8.3 billion indebted company its Chairman Cob Stenham has told shareholders. In his letter to the shareholdes Stenham added, "...your board will continue to explore all available options in order to arrive at a solution which is fair and equitable to all of our stakeholders," but observers suggest the Liberty takeover is all but a done deal despite some bondholder opposition.
Shareholders now expect a repeat of the NTL debt-for-equity swap which could leave existing shareholders with just five per cent of the company - and the share price of 2.95p (E0.046) reflects market anticipation of just such a move.
Microsoft, which has been backing away from its earlier massive international cable TV industry investments, is reported to be discussing selling its 23.6 per cent stake in Telewest to Liberty. The deal is expected to go ahead within the next 30 days and is estimated to worth around E329 million (E2.36 billion less than it paid for the shares two years ago). As Liberty is already a 25 per cent shareholder in the company this move would give Malone control of the Telewest.
In addition, Liberty is reported to have bought about a quarter of the company's high-yield bonds. Some E3.67 billion of Telewest's debt is in such bonds and Liberty's buy up has consolidated its position ahead of the debt-for-equity swap. Liberty already has effective control of 26 per cent of the outstanding non-convertible bonds, giving it veto power over any restructuring plan.
One group of bondholders represented by law firm Cadwalader is taking legal action against Liberty over the price it paid for the bonds, claiming Liberty launched its tender offer while possessing privileged information obtained by having three representatives on the Telewest board.
The moves put on hold preliminary plans to sell the company's Flextech programming division, valued at about E940 million.
UK lead cableco NTL is reported to have lost 90,000 telephone customers and 140,000 TV customers during its debt restructuring, and competitors BSkyB and BT are expected to launch strategic marketing campaigns aimed at Telewest customers during restructuring, again seeking to capitalise on customer concern.
Liberty Media's E357million debt-for-equity proposal was rejected by Telewest bondholders last month.
Malone already controls the main European cableco United Pan-Europe Communications, via its parent UnitedGlobalCom and has shares in NTL which the market expects to eventually merge with Telewest. Malone is also expected to bid again for the main German cable systems being sold by Deustsche Telekom.
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BSkyB buys Nationwide rights
British Sky Broadcasting Group has further consolidated its grip on UK soccer via a £95 million (E148 million) four-year deal with the Football League to televise Nationwide League football, in addition to its existing Premiership soccer.
Sky gets the rights to screen 60 games a year, including live Nationwide League, Worthington Cup and LDV Trophy games, with the league getting E31 million in the first season and E39 million a year thereafter. This is the same price as Sky's previous five year E196 million deal agreed in 1995, and about a quarter of ITV Digital's E492 million over three years.
The partly unpaid deal with ITV Digital expired in August, and the League had no TV contract for next season. The League is still pursuing a E280 million claim against ITV Digital parents Carlton and Granada and is preparing a case against the whole ITV network for damages exceeding E780 million.
Matches will be broadcast live on Saturday evenings at 5.35pm, plus some Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons, and there may be a further highlights deal.
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Sea channel planned
Multithematiques and France Televisions are forming a joint venture called Planete Thalassa (divided 66 per cent and 34 per cent resepectively) to produce a channel of the same name, on all aspects of the sea.
Georges Pernoud will be President of the company whose manager will be Bruno Thibaudeau, head of Multithematiques. The new channel will deal with all aspects of the sea, including history, science, technology, sport, travel. It will begin broadcasting in the autumn, replacing the Planete 2 channel.
Planete 2 began last year as a scientific documentary channel to complement the group's main documentary channel Planete. Planete 2 itself replaced Forum Planete, a discussion/debate channel which discussed the issues raised in the documentaries on the main Planete channel. Forum Planete was said to have been dropped mainly because its content was unsuitable for export.
Thalassa gives France Televisions thematic channels a presence on the Canal Satellite bouquet. Its first programme schedules will be presented to the press in the autumn.
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China cuts BBC TV Feed
China has cut transmission of the BBC's Worldservice television channel after it mentioned the banned Falun Gong protest movement in a weekend.
The Chinese authorities have kept the network from broadcasting into China via the state-owned Sinosat one satellite since July 1.
The BBC is reported to be in touch with Chinese authorities "trying to clarify the situation."
BBC broadcasts can be seen illegally in China via other satellites than Sinosat broadcasting to the region. Sinosat one broadcast BBC television to about 60,000 hotel rooms in China mainly used by foreigners.
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DTT
boxes unsupported
Some two million UK households with ITV Digital set-top boxes will be
able to receive the planned new BBC-led free-to-air digital terrestrial
offering when it comes on air in the next few months.
While the boxes are officially the property of the administrator, Deloitte
& Touche, it is virtually inconceivable that any efforts will be made
to have them returned. The BBC's Director of Marketing, Andy Duncan, has
confirmed that the BBC had no plans to buy the ITV Digital boxes as it
is not offering a subscription-based service. For the same reason, it
will not be offering any technical support to viewers with such boxes.
The logistics of returning the boxes are also uneconomic, as they would
entail locating the original purchasers (some 2.2 million, many of whom
will have moved house or disposed of their box), returning to visit houses
where no one was home, physically collecting and storing the boxes, checking
that they work, fixing them if they don't, cleaning them - then looking
for someone to bulk buy the second-hand products, which have to compete
with low cost next generation boxes now coming on to the market.
So apparent was this near impossibility that some cany consumers were
registering for the ITV Digital service as the company was collapsing,
signing up to pay on a monthly basis, so that after one £10 (E15.6) payment
they kept the box from the failed company.
A new generation of free to air digital boxes, costing E150 each will
be offered with pre-sales help from ServicesCo, which has been set up
by the BBC, Crown Castle and BSkyB to market their new service.
The BBC is keen for other digital licence bidders, such as ITV and Channel
4, to become involved in ServicesCo.
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DVB-MHP
receivers ready to roll out
The DVB Steering Board, the executive decision-making body of the DVB
Project, (a consortium of 300 industry bodies in over 35 countries) approved
the MHP (Multimedia Home Platform) Test Suite (Version 1.0.2a) at its
37th meeting.
This will now go forward to ETSI (the European Telecommunications Standards
Institute), and form the cornerstone of the MHP conformance process. Organisations
will shortly be able to run the tests on their MHP implementations and
gain the right to use the MHP logo.
MHP defines a generic interface between interactive digital applications
and the terminals on which those applications are executed. The standard
enables digital content providers to address all types of terminals ranging
from low to high-end set-top boxes, IDTVs and multimedia PCs.
Approval of the MHP Test Suite was needed to precede full rollout of the
new open standard for running applications and interactive services on
digital TV receivers.
Theo Peek, DVB Chairman, said, "The Test Suite is the final piece in the
jigsaw for our MHP specification. The Test Suite, a special testing software,
builds on the already completed technical standards, licensing agreements
and branding." This enables the many different equipment manufacturers,
broadcasters and service operators to produce MHP products and services
that will work together in a reliable and predictable way.
Peek concluded, Its completion will allow an implementer to use the MHP
logo on these products in readiness for the launch of MHP enabled receivers.
The first receivers are to be launched initially in the German and Scandinavian
markets during Autumn 2002.
"Furthermore, the measures the Board has put in place will ensure that
early MHP product can be upgraded to reflect advances in the Test Suite
before the end of the year."
Following successful completion of the Test Suite and notifying the results
to the MHP Custodian (ETSI), organisations can apply to use the MHP logo.
The Test Suite will be upgraded from time to time and redistributed by
the Custodian.
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Sigma
Systems arrives in Iberia
Cable service management solution provider Sigma Systems has opened its
Iberian network of offices in Madrid and Lisbon. This furthers the company's
expansion into Europe, having already opened up offices in London, Paris,
Amsterdam and Frankfurt earlier in the year.
In both Spain and Portugal, the 'triple play' of voice, data and video
services is already a reality for a number of cable operators. In order
for them to effectively compete on price and customer satisfaction with
incumbent service providers, cable system operators are increasingly seeking
cross-platform service management solutions that can provide them with
a single profile of each subscriber.
As operators expand their service portfolio, the number of interactions
with each subscriber increases not just correspondingly, but exponentially,
and without a single platform at the heart of their operations that can
automate the flow of information between all of the systems in the service
delivery chain, operational costs will soon escalate. "Manual processes
will simply not suffice in today's high growth, highly competitive landscape,"
says the company.
In Portugal, Sigma Systems will be working with companies such as Cap
Gemini Ernst & Young to strengthen their support network and local technical
expertise. An operational demonstration of Sigma's end-to-end service
management solution is already available in Cap Gemini Ernst & Young's
Lisbon office.
"The triple play proposition is certainly a strong one when offset against
Portugal's comparatively low penetration rates of fixed telephone lines
and very high per-minute costs. Furthermore, Portuguese propensity for
television viewing, with viewers on average watching 247 minutes of television
a day, compared with say 216 minutes in the UK and 187 for the EU as a
whole, puts cable operators in a very strong position to drive up revenues
from video and telephony offerings", says Richard Hubble, European Managing
Director, Sigma Systems.
Carlos Rydin, Sales Manager of Telecom Media Networks, a Business Unit
of Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Portugal comments, "From our work with cable
operators, we see an increase in the need for a single platform, capable
of automating and integrating all their underlying business critical rules
and processes."
Hubble adds, "Though current cable penetration rates in Spain and Portugal
are relatively modest, they are growing extremely fast, and the modernity
of the networks themselves - with 90 per cent in both countries already
two-way ready - means that local cable system operators are in a very
strong position to capitalise on lucrative triple play offerings."
He continued, "But with extended service offerings comes increased complexity,
and we see a real need for advanced service management solutions to simplify
this complexity. We look forward to extending our network of partners
and customers in Iberia and further growing Sigma's presence in the region
and throughout Europe in the coming months and years."
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DITG
delivers channel interactivity
The Digital Interactive Television Group (DITG) says it has developed
all the interactivity for an new entertainment and games channel, which
launched July 4 on the Sky Digital platform.
The Avago Channel format (Sky channel 235) integrates the broadcast and
interactive streams - believed to be a UK interactive TV first - with
all technology courtesy of DITG.
The interactive format for the games were custom-built to Avago's specification.
The channel also uses a combination of standard DITG products which are
designed to deliver interactive TV on the Sky network. These include DITG's
data streaming and broadcast synchronisation solution, xPlayer, set-top-box
application, xBrowser and return path and viewer response service, xResponse.
The Avago Channel will be broadcast live from DITG's digital studio centre
in Wapping, UK.
Neil MacDonald, sales and marketing director, DITG comments, "Our interactive
technology allows viewers to participate personally in the Avago Channel
game formats and have an online dialogue with the live studio. We have
allowed the Avago Channel to realise its vision of next generation entertainment."
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