 |
|
|
||||||
 |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
NEWS Monday 16th - Monday 23rd September 2002
Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
| Tuesday | |||||
Vivendi
granted E3bn loan
Cyber
horseracing TV Channel
ITV
invests in programmes
New
European chief for AOL
BT
in broadband advertising
Quebecor
suits against Chagnon
Casbaa
gets new members
Telco
to deliver TV
Vivendi granted E3bn loan
French media group Vivendi Universal has won about six months respite from its financial problems having secured an E3 billion loan while it sells assets to reduce its E20 billion debts.
The creditor banks in the refinancing are Credit Agricole, Natexis Banques Populaires, BNP, CDC Ixis, Credit Lyonnais, and Societe Generale from France, along with ABN Amro, Citigroup, Royal Bank of Scotland, Credit Suisse First Boston and Sumitomo Mitsui.
This E3 billion medium-term credit replaces an E1 billion facility agreed in July.
The deal has been agreed only days before Jean-Rene Fourtou, Vivendi's Chief Executive, is due to outline his disposal strategy to investors (Wednesday 25/9/02, also see News Archive). He is expected to say the group should sell out of Vivendi Environnement, retain a controlling interest in its US media businesses and maintain or possibly increase its position in French telecoms and retain control of Vivendi Universal Entertainment, reported the FT.
But Vivendi Environment - valued at E3.4 billion - has an 18-month lock-up agreed at the time of a share placement in June.
Vivendi also said that Philippe Germond, its Deputy Chief Operating Officer, would be leaving at the end of the year to join Alcatel as Chief Operating Officer. Germond is also Chairman and Chief Executive of Cegetel - in which Vivendi has expressed an interest in increasing its stake - thwarting Vodaphone plans for a takeover.
Back to top
Cyber
horseracing TV Channel
Autum sees the launch of I-Race, believed to be the world's first fully
computer-generated TV channel. The project is a joint venture between
the UK's second biggest cableco, Telewest, and VIS Entertainment, a computer
games developer.
Virtual horseracing will be broadcast in VIS iTV round the clock generating
real-time races every 10 minutes and viewers can participate either by
betting or buying a horse to play the I-Race management game.
VIS iTV has developed innovative, groundbreaking technology to broadcast
animated races in real time so the results are completely unknown until
the horses cross the finishing line. Each horse has a unique set of characteristics
and racing preferences to determine form. What are promised to be stunning,
life-like digital graphics and live commentary are also utilised to capture
the excitement of one of the UK's most popular sports.
I-Race only accepts pools bets so there is no vested interest in the outcome
of each race. All results are calculated by a state-of-the-art computer
that takes into account numerous different factors including weather,
track conditions, abilities and form.
VIS iTV use Orbis as the technology partner for I-Race due to its extensive
experience and success in interactive betting technology.
Charles Malir, Marketing Director at Orbis is being reported as saying,
"Sports betting has already established itself as a hugely popular activity
for digital TV viewers. I-Race is a natural extension of this and I believe
that adding the opportunity to actually own and manage your own racehorse
will be an incredibly compelling proposition, adding fun and excitement
to the online betting experience. Orbis is of course already associated
with leading edge developments in online sports betting and gaming, and
we are delighted to be partnering with I-Race for another world-first."
Back to top
ITV
invests in programmes
UK terrestrial operation ITV is to spend a record E1,345 million on programming
in 2003, said Granada Chairman Charles Allen at a conference in Barcelona
on Wednesday (18/9/02). The rise is in response to criticism from advertisers
that the network is falling behind in the ratings from BBC One.
Although the budget is six per cent higher than the one for 2002, it will
still be almost E317 million less than that of its main rival. BBC Director-General
Greg Dyke recently announced an extra E85.5 million for BBC One programming
in the current financial year, taking the total budget to E1,609 million.
The rise in ITV's spending will be subject to endorsement from Granada's
fellow licence holder Carlton.
Back to top
New
European chief for AOL
US Media giant AOL Time Warner named Philip Rowley as President and Chief
Operating Officer of AOL Europe. The new role has been created to boost
revenues in the loss-making European division.
The move follows a widespread management renovation in the Internet business
after a year of shrinking advertising revenues. Next week there is also
a crucial board meeting where it is suggested there will be renewed calls
for AOL Chairman Steve Case to go after the failure of the AOL/Time Warner
marriage.
Rowley was previously the Chief Financial Officer of AOL Europe and will
now have day-to-day control of AOL's UK, French and German divisions.
He said the near-term objective was to "boost the value of our business"
by increasing "member revenues and satisfaction."
The company is aiming to halve losses to E300 million this year and grow
revenues from E800 million to E1.01 billion and told the market last month
that it was still on track to meet its full year targets.
Back to top
BT
in broadband advertising
BT is spending E15.8 million in a TV advertising campaign to promote the
potential of broadband. The former PTT says it wants to double the number
of people taking up broadband to 24,000 a week in a bid to have a million
subscribers by next summer.
Starting this Sunday the UK will be shown a 10-day high-profile advertising
campaign promoting the benefits of high-speed Internet access. BT has
focused on increasing its share of the market since its new Chief Executive,
Ben Verwaayen, joined in February.
The group currently has 350,000 broadband users on its network, either
through its own product or other Internet service providers such as Freeserve.
It will launch a new broadband package, BT Broadband, in October and plans
to showcase the product through a tie-up with Carphone Warehouse.
Back to top
Quebecor
suits against Chagnon
Canadian media and printing group Quebecor and its cable television subsidiary
Videotron have filed a E15 million suit against former Videotron Chief
Executive Claude Chagnon for alleged insider trading, the FT reports.
The suit, filed on Wednesday (18/9/02), alleged Chagnon accepted 1.2 million
Videotron stock options in January 2000 when he had privileged information
that Toronto-based cable and mobile phone company Rogers Communications
was preparing a take over bid for Videotron.
Quebecor eventually won a bitter takeover battle for Videotron in October
2000 with a C$3.5 billion bid which was backed by Quebec's pension fund
manager, the Caisse de depot et placement.
MChagnon described the allegations as groundless - and coming more than
two years after the fact. He said all appropriate corporate governance
procedures had been stringently followed at the time his compensation
package was approved. The package had been discussed as early as Autumn
1999, and was approved by the board before the Rogers bid was made, he
said.
Videotron, the dominant cable operator in Quebec, has also been hit by
a bitter strike by its 1,500 technicians, who oppose a restructuring which
would see them moved to a separate company. The strike has seen several
incidents of sabotage, in which the company's cables have been cut.
Back to top
Casbaa
gets new members
The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) has announced
17new memberships taken out in the past six months.
The addition of 15 Corporate Members and 17 Associate Members since the
beginning of 2002, and the widening membership is seen by the Association
as an endorsement of its role in promoting and growing the cable and satellite
industry in Asia.
The new CASBAA member companies are MediaCorp News; CLSA Emerging Markets;
DST Innovis; Eutelsat SA Broadband Network and Singapore Cable Vision
along with new Associate members, Churchill Whitfield; CMM Intelligence;
On Media; Mindshare; NTL; Haldanes; RR Satellite Communications; Lehman,
Lee & Xu; Telecom Venture Group and Vivendi Universal.
"With our enhanced services, including the on-going dialogue with the
advertising industry, our anti-piracy activities, our research initiatives
and the greater participation of individual members via our committee
system we see CASBAA playing an ever more important role on behalf of
the industry and its constituents," said Simon Twiston Davies, CEO CASBAA.
"I believe the sectoral focus of the new members of the Association is
a general indicator of the breadth of our work and its perceived effectiveness.
We have new members drawn from the cable broadband business (HK Broadband
Network, SCV and NTL), the satellite sector (Eutelsat and RR Satellite),
the advertising sector (Mindshare); the channel sector (MediaCorp News
and On Media) and the legal, financial and technical services sector (Lehman,
Lee & Xu and Haldanes as well as CLSA and CMM Intelligence). The new members
are drawn from Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, China, the United Sates and
France."
The Association will hold its third Korea Market Visit in Seoul (October
9-10) and its ninth China Summit in November (date tbc) as well as the
annual CASBAA Convention December 3-6 in Singapore.
"The CASBAA Convention 2002 will be the best ever," said Twiston Davies.
"With speakers such as Subhash Chandra (Zeefilms) of India and Liu Changle
(Phoenix TV) of China we are covering the two of the largest pay-TV markets
in the world. With contributions from the likes of Christie Hefner of
Playboy and Chris Cramer of CNN International we will provide insights
into the content drivers of our industry. Top that off with one of the
best media parties in the business and you have a fabulous few days at
the end of our year."
Back to top
Telco
to deliver TV
Canada's second-biggest phone company, Telus Corp plans compete with the
cable industry by offering a digital TV service via telephone lines to
its customers in British Columbia and Alberta.
Initially the service - tentatively called 'IPTV' (Internet Protocol TV)
- will be available in 16 cities, including Victoria and Calgary with
roll-out over the next two years.
It will be delivered through a E500-million ADSL network under construction
in the two provinces, enabling Telus to compete against cableco Shaw Communications
Inc for high-speed Internet and TV services, enalbing the company to offer
the triple play of video, voice and data.
Local reports quoted James Goliath, vice-president of multimedia at Telus
as saying, "[Television] is the one big outstanding service that we don't
have in our portfolio today. This is the one core communication service
that we haven't participated in that we can participate in now."
By the end of 2004 Telus hopes to offer the digital TV service to its
326,000 high-speed customers in Calgary and Alberta provinces after testing
and trials are completed.
Back
to top
Thomson
buying Canal+Tech
BSkyB
about to get Telepiu
Nostalgia
TV delivers happy history
TV
text two way on Sky
French
ditch Finnish DTT?
Filipino
catv price rise
Vivendi
retains US media
Thomson buying Canal+Tech
Following on from last week's speculation that Vivendi Universal is to sell its Canal Plus Technologies set-top decoder business to Thomson Multimedia SA (See news archive), further reports strengthen the rumour that this will indeed happen.
According to a report on Annova, the sale was announced at a Canal Plus works council meeting yesterday (18/9/02). Regulatory approval will still be required, but as this deal would provide an all French solution, it would be expected to be allowed. During IBC many commentators suggested that such a deal would indeed be politically desirable and could be driven by such considerations, rather than on purely commercial grounds.
When questioned by advanced-television, Canal Plus spokespersons declined to confirm or deny the rumour during IBC, but did reconfirm that the company was for sale, and that the Thomson option was preferable from a staff viewpoint, compared to some alternatives which would have been likely to result in more redundancies.
One previous potential bidder was BSkyB subsidiary NDS. When questioned about the deal during IBC, NDS CEO Abe Peled responded, "We'd be interested at the right price - not the rumoured E200 million figure. (However) A Thomson/ CanalPlus deal would result in a closed system with second rate conditional access."
When one of the audience suggested that this was just his opinion (on the CA system), he responded, "Its not opinion - its based on knowledge." Which was a pretty controversial comment given that the CanalPlus/NDS lawsuit alleging NDS piracy of the MediaGuard conditional access system has simply been suspended on the assumption of a deal between BSkyB and Vivendi to merge Italian pay TV platforms Stream and Telepui respectively (Full interview with Abe Peled of NDS to follow in advanced-television's IBC review). Clearly Peled believed the Telepiu deal was about to go ahead (see below).
Back to top
BSkyB about to get Telepiu
Yesterday (18.9.02) News Corporation was reported to be about to sign a E1 billion deal with Vivendi Universal to buy the Italian pay-TV business Telepiu, which it is expected to then merge with its own carrier Stream, to dominate the Italian PayTV market.
Over the past three months of negotiations the price fell from E1.5 billion as Murdoch took advantage of Vivendi's worsening financial difficulties. Among objectors are the soccer clubs, as a single entity would eliminate previous Italian football broadcast rights bidding wars which drove up valuations to a level that crippled the broadcasters.
Italian regulators previously opposed a merger when it the single platform would have been controlled by the world's two biggest media groups - and now are likely to find themselves with just Murdoch owning a pay TV monopoly.
Last weekend, advanced-television.com asked BSkyB subsidiary NDS CEO Abe Peled, what would be the legal situation if the Telepui deal did not go ahead - as it is this which prevented a multi-million pound lawsuit with Canal Plus. Peled responded, "We believe the Telepui deal will go through. If it did not, the legal action would continue and we would defend ourselves vigourously - but we do not expect that to be the case. We are very confident we'd win, but it costs money - $2 million in three months - with expensive Californian litigation, as well as using up management time."
Back to top
Nostalgia TV delivers happy history
Simply Television is adding a tenth channel to its Shopping-led portfolio of UK channels, with the launch of Simply Nostalgia on the Sky Digital platform on Monday (23/9/02).
Simply Nostalgia is a 50:50 joint venture between Simply Television and History Television International Ltd (HTI) - but as the name suggests, it is taking a scrap-book rather than text-book approach to history.
The channel aims to provide an insight into 20th Century Britain from an emotional, rather than academic, aspect. Content will be provided by producer and distributor HTI which licenses its content from all the major UK moving image archives including British Pathe, BBC Worldwide and British Movietonews.
Scheduling will include 'appointment to view' features, such as Monday to Saturday screening of 'The Nine O'clock News from Fifty Years Ago' using the actual British Pathe newsreels from that week, along with iconic social history events, such as the 1953 Coronation.
Initially broadcasting from 7pm-midnight every night, the channel (Sky digital channel 580) will particularly target the 40-64 year old age group. "I've found myself engrossed in the test transmissions, and if that content works equally well for the rest of the audience then we will extend the remit of the channel and the time broadcast, considering daytime transmission after testing for a quarter (year)," Sian Ellis-Thomas, Director of Business Development at Simply TV told advanced-television.com.
It is a free-to-air channel which will not be funded by carriage fee, but by a mix of advertising and transactional sales. The advertising will include both short form ads from third parties and short and long form advertising from Simply TV - both specifically targeted for the Nostalgia audience, and from sister channels in the group. "We are our own advertisers, and will create promotions to suit our audience demographic and the programme output of the channel, including anniversary and birthday packs which would include a Newspaper of the day of birth, commemorative memorabilia etc. These will be both our own and third party products. That's our primary business," adds Ellis-Thomas.
No figures were given for the level of investment or anticipated break-even date, but Ellis-Thomas noted that this was not a traditional broadcast channel that had to pay millions for content, and it would not be seeking celebrity endorsement via big name presenters.
Aware that the History market is about to become increasingly crowded, with a new History channel coming out from UKTV, Henry Scott, Simply Television's Managing Director said, "Despite the fact that the schedule is inundated with programmes of a historical/political nature, we feel that real life social history is an area that by and large has been by-passed. Via this deal, viewers of Simply Nostalgia will be able to get a real feel of how previous generations lived."
Andy Goodsir, Managing Director of HTI adds, "We have been looking for a platform to exhibit our social history portfolio for some time and Simply Nostalgia gives us that opportunity in a way which makes both editorial and commercial sense." The name Nostalgia, while perhaps seen as a little downmarket, was chosen specifically to differentiate the channel from more formal offerings.
Negotiations for carriage on both NTL and Telewest cable networks are underway, but the company is not talking to the new BBC-led DTT venture until numbers make it worthwhile.
The company's flagship channel, Simply Shopping, won carriage on cableco NTL this week (17/9/02), giving the channel 100 per cent carriage on the UK payTV market (including Sky, and Telewest, agreed two months ago). The shopping channel's live output on Friday is to be extended to Saturday and Sunday too.
Back to top
TV text two way on Sky
A new two-way text messaging service has been developed for Sky digital satellite viewers in the UK by the communications and Internet company Thus, and Sky Interactive.
Currently, Sky digital customers can send text messages from their TV to any UK mobile number through a 'message to mobile' service within the Sky Active portal. The new service enables mobile phone users to respond to a Sky Active text, sending a message back to the viewers' TV.
Thus and Sky Interactive have collaborated to enable two-way text messaging in what they say is a first for interactive television in the UK. Sky Active viewers will also be able to set up multiple accounts so that each household member can send, and receive their own text messages.
This new send and receive SMS Message service takes advantage of Sky Interactive's enhanced-WML micro-browser technology, connecting via the Sky Interactive online infrastructure to an interface managed by Thus.
Phil Male, Thus Chief Operating Officer, commented, "Thus provides more than standard services. With a specialist development team amongst the best in the world, we are able to work closely with customers to add value to their business by enhancing existing services, and helping to develop entirely new revenue streams.
"We are delighted to expand our relationship with Sky Interactive. TV viewers who send text messages will no longer be having a one-way conversation - they can get a reply without getting out of their chair. The functionality we've added is designed to encourage increased use of the text messaging service.
Commenting on behalf of Sky, Miles Pearce Head of Communications said, "The 'Your Mobile' area in Sky Active is extremely popular with Sky viewers, being able to reply to TV text messages was an inevitable progression and just one of a range of new and enhanced services planned."
Digital satellite viewers can either press RED whilst watching a Sky channel or press the Interactive button on their Sky remote.
'Message to Mobile' is listed in the 'Your Mobile' section under the 'Interactive Services Menu (ISM)'. The service costs 10p per minute.
Sky Active already incorporates enhanced TV applications such as Sky News Active, Sky Sports Active, Sky Movies Active and services such as email, SMS messaging, games, banking, shopping, betting etc while Sky Gamestar hosts over 25 TV games including Space Invaders, Tetris, a Cartoon Network branded games area and most recently launched Worms.
Back to top
French ditch Finnish DTT?
By Goran Sellgren
The Finnish terrestrial transmitter network, Digita, is facing major ownership changes. Originally owned by Finland's public service broadcaster YLE, Digita in 2000 let French TDF in as a major shareholder, initially with a 49 per cent share ownership, and an option to increase ownership to 90 per cent by the end of 2003.
Until recently (July of this year) TDF was a wholly owned subsidiary of France's debt-ridden France Telecom. Then, in July, France Telecom sold TDF to a consortium of London-based risk capital group Charterhouse Development Capital, CDC, its French partner CDC Ixis and French savings-bank group Caisse des depots.
Now TDF is a holding company with France Telecom holding a 36 per cent share, Charterhouse and CDC Ixix controlling 45 per cent and Caisse des depots controlling 19 per cent of the shares.
According to the deal the changes of ownership will not affect TDF's engagements in other companies. Effects of the recent change of ownership on the very modestly successful Finnish DTT network remains an open question.
Back to top
Filipino catv price rise
By Owen Hughes
Cable TV subscribers in the Philippines are going to have to pay in excess of 20 per cent more to access channels under a price rise being blamed on the rising cost of content as the national currency, the peso, continues to fall in value against the dollar.
The largest multi-system operator in the Philippines, Beyond Cable Holdings, has warned subscribers to expect that average subs will rise to $14 from the current $11.50. There are around 700,000 cable subscribers, representing 40 per cent of homes passed, but only 10 per cent of all TV households.
Beyond said that in a bid to cushion customers against the rise it wanted to look at strategies like pay per view, although this is dependent on upgrades to the systems that many operators are unable to finance given the slow current economic outlook. The company added that it would also look at a 'currency board'-style tariff that will adjust subscriptions on a monthly basis according to the strength of the peso against the dollar.
Pricing is a sensitive issue in the Philippines where legitimate operators have to battle for market share against those running pirate systems. For years channel providers have fought running battles with operators over fees and accusations of under-reporting of subscriber numbers. In March News Corp's Star settled a long-running dispute with Beyond over what it claimed was an unpaid bill of $3.5 million for supplying channels.
Back to top
Vivendi retains US media
During next week's September 25th board meeting Vivendi Universal Chief Executive Jean-Rene Fourtou is expected to present a long-term plan keep the company's US media and communications facilities and sell the remaining 40 per cent of Vivendi Environnement its water utility - formerly the core of the company - as soon as possible.
Press reports suggest that Fourtou wants to retain the 44-per cent stake it owns in French telecommunications company Cegetel and later seek a majority interest. Surprisingly, especially for US industry watchers, Fourtou also appears to want to retain Universal Music Group; Universal Studios, and video game unit Vivendi Universal Games. Vivendi Universal Entertainment is valued at about E15 billion and Executives there are reported to prefer that the US organisation be spun off.
Difficulties in this plan include the French government's reluctance to allow the sale of the water utility to a foreign owner and also Vivendi's partner in Cegetel, Britain's Vodafone Group Plc would also like full control of that company.
But first the company needs to finalise its debt restructuring plans and assure its finance as it sheds assets to clear E19 billion of debts. The seven banks involved in the refinancing talks are understood to comprise four French lenders - BNP, SocieteGenerale, Credit Lyonnais and Credit Agricole - along with Credit Suisse First Boston, Citibank and Deutsche Bank. Vivendi is close to finalising new loans of E3 billion including E2 billion of fresh cash, which would give Vivendi six months while it sells assets. Vivendi's water utility is valued at E3.4 billion but carries an 18-month lock-up agreed at the time of a share placement in June.
Fourtou has raised E500 million selling Vizzavi and the Express-Expansion magazines group, and is thought to be about to sell the Canal Plus Technologies to Thomson Multimedia for E200 million (see separate report today).
Back to top
French Cabsat channels fined
UK
Government OK's BBC3
Canal
Plus adds Meheut
Romanian TV licence lost
MPEG-4 to expand interactivity
Ultra wideband good for CATV
Taiwan's
new Total TV
Cablevision to sell cable TV
French Cabsat channels fined
By Sotires Eleftheriou
The French broadcasting regulator, the CSA, has inflicted financial penalties on cable and satellite channels that failed to fulfil their licence obligations in 2000.
Seven of the sanctions are for not respecting the quotas on European and French content. The channels affected are: Mangas, which had a fine of E 150,000 imposed upon it; 13e Rue, which was fined E100,000; AB1, E30,000; Action, E15,000; Cine Palace, Cinestar 1 and Cinestar 2, E10,000 each.
The CSA declared that the level of each fine had been adjusted in view of any improvement that was observed in 2001. The amount of improvement had enabled the fine to be dropped altogether in the case of Canal Jimmy and a number of other channels.
It also takes into account the difficult economic situation of thematic channels in general. The fines will be handed over to the COSIP, which provides financial support for the programming industry.
Finally, a number of channels in the AB Sat group (Action, Cine-Palace, Polar, Rire, Romance and XXL) were each fined E25,000 for failing to supply adequate information.
Back to top
UK
Government OK's BBC3
UK Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has approved the launch of BBC3 with
a series of stringent conditions designed to ensure the creation of a
channel that is 'genuinely distinctive, genuinely public service and genuinely
innovative.'
BBC3 will be a new digital channel aimed at the 25 to 34-year old market,
which will replace BBC Choice and will be launched in the New Year.
The conditions for the approval of BBC3 include commitments for:
*innovative and risk-taking programmes - 80 per cent of the service's
output must consist of programmes specially commissioned for BBC3 and
genuinely new to television;
*diverse and accessible programming - BBC3 must deliver a mixed schedule
of programmes, embracing drama, entertainment, news, current affairs,
education, music, the arts, science and include coverage of international
issues;
*use and foster home-grown talent - for example, 90 per cent of output
must be allocated to programmes made in the European Union/European Economic
Area, for first showing in the UK;
*use and foster the independent sector - 25 per cent of the service's
output must be commissioned from the independent sector;
*high standards - the quality of programmes on BBC3 must be of a high
quality and must not be at the expense of programmes for the same audience
on BBC1 and BBC2.
Jowell added that a review would be undertaken two years after launch
to ensure the conditions were effective.
Jowell said, "The BBC has now made the case for BBC3. It has been a long,
sometimes arduous process, but the negotiations have led to the toughest
set of conditions ever issued in giving the green light to a TV channel."
"I am determined BBC3 should be a distinctive public service channel that
is not competing with what is already out there in a vigorous market place.
The channel will be reviewed after two years to ensure this is the case."
BBC chairman Gavyn Davies thanked the Secretary of State for the approval
and added, "She has laid out some demanding conditions in the approval
but the Governors agree that BBC3 must be a high quality and distinctive
public service channel and we shall ensure that those conditions are met.
BBC3completes the BBC's portfolio of TV channels for the digital age and
will help promote digital take up."
Director-General Greg Dyke said, "BBC Three is central in our drive to
connect with young audiences. This has been a tough decision for the Secretary
of State and, looking back, I think she was right to push us to define
the channel more clearly. The new channel will be launched in the New
Year, and I'm confident that it will bring a new public service concept
to this currently underserved audience."
The previous proposal for BBC3 was rejected in September 2001. Jowell
said at the time that the BBC had not made the case for BBC3 - the proposals
were not distinctive enough. She offered the BBC the opportunity to put
forward fresh proposals for a replacement for BBC Choice. She referred
the BBC's second proposal for BBC3 to the Independent Television Commission
for an assessment of its commercial impact.
Back to top
Canal
Plus adds Meheut
Jean-Rene Fourtou, Vivendi Universal CEO, is said to be planing yet another
move at the top (See Monday 16/9/02) appointing Bertrand Meheut as Chief
Operating Officer at French pay TV group Canal Plus.
Fourtou and Meheut worked together at the chemical giant Rhone-Poulenc.
It has not been clarified if Meheut will replace COO Jean-Laurent Nabet,
who was named last April by former Vivendi Chairman Jean-Marie Messier
as part of the team to replace Pierre Lescure.
Back to top
Romanian
TV licence lost
Oglinda TV (OTV), a private Romanian TV channel has had its TV licence
revoked by the country's National Audiovisual Council (CNA).
In reports by RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau in EJC Media News, CNA Chairman
Serban Madgearu was quoted as saying that OTV, "has repeatedly broken
the audiovisual law by broadcasting programmes inciting hatred on racial,
religious, ethnic, and sexual grounds." Madgearu said the decision was
made independently of an appeal by Presidential Counsellor Corina Cretu
to revoke the licence.
The Greater Romania Party Chairman, Corneliu Vadim Tudor "vehemently"
opposed the decision saying that, in a gesture of "solidarity" with Oglinda
TV talk show host Dan Diaconescu, he is "resigning in protest" from the
Romanian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE). In contrast Romanian President Iliescu welcomed the decision.
Diaconescu said OTV will appeal against the decision in court - and has
threatened to reveal video cassettes proving high-level corruption among
ruling Social Democratic Party officials.
Back to top
MPEG-4
to expand interactivity
US based Envivio, a provider of end-to-end ISO MPEG-4 broadcast and streaming
solutions, is teaming up with French interactive TV software solutions
provider CanalPlus Technologies to develop MPEG-4 functionality within
CanalPlus Technologies' middleware portfolio to enable more interactive
services.
MPEG-4 is the new ISO standard for the delivery of compelling multimedia
and streamed content, such as advanced gaming, and promises to expand
the possibilities of the next generation of interactive television entertainment.
Integrated to CanalPlus Technologies' Mediahighway middleware system,
the Envivio solution hosts feature-rich, MPEG-4 interactive applications,
accessed directly via a digital set-top box.
CanalPlus Technologies and Envivio plan to offer a complete commercial
pay-TV solution, delivering rich and innovative multimedia content over
IP, satellite and wireless connections to a global audience.
Jean-Marc Racine, Executive Vice President Marketing, CanalPlus Technologies
said, "We needed a partner capable of providing an end-to-end MPEG-4 solution
to spearhead our future Pay-TV platform and Envivio's innovation and industry
expertise provided the ideal solution." He added, "By providing a higher
compression rate, the MPEG-4 encoding solution will enable network operators
to use less bandwidth, thus lowering their operating costs. This is aligned
with our strategy to offer cost-saving, state-of-the-art solutions to
our customers worldwide."
Back to top
Ultra
wideband good for CATV
Ultrawideband (UWB) radio technology is being promoted as the way forward
for cable TV. A single box connected to a cable-television system from
outside a house could supply signals to all the TVs or personal computers
within a home without wires.
UWB is forecast to take at least until Christmas 2003 to appear as a retail
product in the US, in February this year the Federal Communications Commission
gave it the go ahead for commercial development, and it has already been
adapted for a wired application to double cable-TV capacity. UWB is fundamentally
a wireless technology that uses radio signals, it can also be applied
to a cable-TV system's fibre and coaxial cable.
UWB was developed by military researchers trying to improve radar images.
It is able to transmit through walls and move tons of data in microseconds.
UWB is likely to be used for equipment linking personal entertainment
systems, computers and other household gadgets wirelessly.
There are already similar technologies available, such as Bluetooth, which
is a class of low-powered radio devices that provide wireless communication
for electronics equipment. But the difference is that UWB uses far less
power than Bluetooth devices and sends vastly more data.
UWB transmitters emit radio signals in tiny pulses across a broad range
of the radio spectrum, but at very low power. Binary information is carried
by varying the time between the pulses, which are sent at the rate of
10 million to 40 million per second.
Bruce Watkins, president of US-based Pulse-Link, forecast that UWB wireless
technology will be particularly good for cable-TV operating systems because
it will double their capacity, for example on channels offerings.
"Operators could also expand offerings of video-on-demand services, provide
some high-definition programming or otherwise increase the array of available
products," Watkins said.
Although UWB can coexist peacefully with conventional radio signals, the
FCC's initial approval order put some limits on the amount of spectrum
over which the signal could be spread.
Back to top
Taiwan's
new Total TV
This autumn China Network Systems (CNS), is to launch Asia's first all
digital interactive cable TV services called Total TV (or Hudong TV in
Mandarin). The service is in its technical trial now and will be launched
in Taiwan in October.
Through Total TV digital set-top boxes, viewers in Taiwan will be able
to enjoy high-quality broadcast signals with DVD video and CD audio qualities.
Viewers will have access to an interactive information platform tailored
for the Taiwan market and a digital music platform with 30 different services.
There will also be four additional TV channels: TVB8, Channel [V] International,
Voyages and Adventure One. By simply pressing buttons on the remote control,
they will also be able to play games.
China Network Systems, a joint venture between Rupert Murdoch's Hong Kong-based
STAR regional satellite broadcaster and the Koo's Group, one of Taiwan's
leading business conglomerates, has access to more than a million households
in Taiwan, which has a total population of 23 million, through its 12
local cable system companies.
Total TV will also feature enhanced television functionality such as Favourite
Channel Selection, Interactive Program Guide and Parental Lock. More premium
services and interactive services such as home shopping, home banking
and stock trading will be added on to the platform, pending the approval
of the regulatory body in Taiwan.
Back to top
Cablevision
to sell cable TV
Cablevision Chairman Charles Dolan, said the company might sell its cable
TV systems serving three million people in the New York area, The New
York Times reported on Monday (16/9/02).
James Dolan Cablevision's CEO said that selling Cablevision's cable systems
might be an option, particularly if the other party were AOL Time Warner,
a major cable system owner in the New York area.
One particularly attractive scenario touted for the company would be to
combine Cablevision's systems with AOL Time Warner's cable operations
in Manhattan and the Bronx to create a New York area behemoth run as some
sort of joint venture, The Times reported.
In August, Cablevision said it would scale back capital expenditures to
between E570 million and E680 million from E1.2 billion, lay off seven
per cent of its staff, sell its Clearview Cinemas chain, seek a sale of,
or a strategic partnership for, its Northcoast Communications LLC wireless
operation and close 26 of The Wiz retail chain's 43 stores.
The Dolans said they have no plans to sell off Madison Square Garden,
the MSG Network, the New York Nicks and New York Liberty basketball teams
and the New York Rangers hockey team. They also said they planned to hold
on to all of their 82.1 per cent stake in Rainbow Media Holdings, which
includes the Bravo and American Movie Classics channels.
Back
to top
E!TV
joins Swedish DTT
Astra
5.2 deg E offers occasional use
Two
Way TV's bid to boost penetration
Shaw's new VOD service
Kirch
reviews bids
MobilCom wins government
lifeline
E!TV joins Swedish DTT
By Goran Sellgren
American E! TV and its sister service Style have joined the Swedish DTT line up which now totals 20 services. The decision made last Thursday (12/9/02) is one of the last taken by the Social democratic government ahead of elections on Sunday (14/9/02).
E!TV has now begun its DTT transmission, on the fourth DTT multiplex, adding another 300,000 potential viewers to its present 1.2 million subscribers in the four Nordic countries.
"To become part of the Swedish DTT system's basic tier is perfect for E!TV - we celebrated our second anniversary on the Nordic scene some weeks ago, and have also just presented a totally new on-screen profile," Ignas Scheynius, MD for E!TV Scandinavia, comments.
Scheynius is also MD of Millennium Group and its affiliates Non Stop Entertainment, which are the representatives for E!TV and Style in Scandinavia. The group also has movie distribution, export and import, and new channel development on its agenda. Non Stop Entertainment recently won a licence for E!TV in Finland.
Swedish DTT began on April 1 1999, and now reaches some 90 per cent of Sweden's nine million population. To date, however, Boxer, the state-controlled DTT platform, has only managed to attract some 100,000 subscribers. Lack of attractive services has been a main reason for the slow uptake; however, several new services are waiting in the wings. Both public service broadcaster SVT and its main private rival, TV4, are preparing launches of new digital services, and other international operators have also shown interest.
Back to top
Astra
5.2 deg E offers occasional use
Occasional transponder access within Europe, suitable for news agencies,
broadcasters, and ISPs, is now being offered by SES Astra, an SES Global
company Astra's Benedicte Rigault told advanced-television during IBC.
Relocation of Astra 1A to 5.2 deg East and the satellite's shift into
inclined orbit, has resulted in the offering of low tariffs on a wide
range of professional applications. Full, part-time or occasional transponder
access is available for organisations needing to deliver data or programming
to regional, national or international users who are not direct-to-home
(DTH) customers.
Astra 1A offers connectivity for ISPs to Internet backbones and to corporate
networks communicating LAN to LAN. Customers can transmit data via a contribution
link to a multiplexing platform or an uplink station for re-transmission
to other satellites, such as the SES Global fleet, which covers 95 per
cent of the world's population.
Astra 1A currently provides contribution services to broadcasters GermanConnect
(formerly ChannelD) and AB Sat while NSAB has contracted one transponder
for occasional use services.
Occasional use allows broadcasters to send analogue or digital transmissions
from a remote studio or from permanent uplink stations via a contribution
link. The signal can then be delivered to a designated location or be
re-transmitted via other satellites.
An additional advantage is that occasional short SNG transmissions will
not require satellite tracking as Astra 1A has only recently entered inclined
orbit.
Registered and approved customers can reserve satellite time 24 hours
a day, in real time online using the Satellite Transponder Availability
Reservation System (Stars). A 24-hour Web-based booking service Stars
Online lets approved registered clients book transponder capacity directly.
SNG operators and uplink service providers register at SES Astra before
booking any capacity.
Astra's fleet of 13 operational satellites cite a proven reliability record
of 99.98 per cent. SES Astra's customer support offers technical consultation
services in configuring the customer's site network, assistance in establishing
uplink and downlink equipment and advice on equipment requirements and
satellite link budgeting.
Back to top
Two
Way TV's bid to boost penetration
A new 'Lovers' Guide' interactive game called Sex Games is being launched
on the UK Two Way TV interactive channel, available to NTL and Telewest
digital cable subscribers.
The launch follows a development deal between parent company Lifetime
Vision and Two Way TV. In the interactive game viewers are presented with
a series of scrambled images of a couple in a particular sexual position.
Players must reveal the picture and the accompanying sex tip using as
few moves and as little time as possible, scoring points as they go.
Sex Games is broadcast from 10 pm onwards on the Two Way TV games channel
and costs 50p to play with top scorers winning prizes such as books, DVDs
and sex toys from the Lovers' Guide.
Two Way TV Commercial Director Jean de Fougerolles said, "This is a departure
for Two Way TV which has traditionally created games for a family audience.
However, viewer feedback tells us that there is an untapped demand for
late night adult entertainment that's also a bit of fun and educational.
We are constantly looking for new and innovative formats to drive revenues
through our games channel."
Lifetime Vision CEO Robert Page comments, "Interactive television opens
up a whole new approach for adult content. With Lovers' Guide established
as the acceptable face of sex and relationships we were keen to find a
partner who would create a game that would be great fun to play. Even
more so if it inspires people to try out what is revealed during the game,
in real life."
Back to top
Shaw's
new VOD service
Alliance Atlantis Communications will provide movies to Shaw Communications'
new Video-on-Demand (VOD) service, set to launch this month in Calgary,
Canada.
Under the agreement Shaw will get a lineup of current releases as well
as older titles from Alliance's catalogue of films. To inaugurate the
service and to initiate the Alliance Atlantis/Shaw partnership, major
titles will be available on Shaw VOD throughout the autumn of 2002, including
John Q and Amelie, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and
Blade II and 40 Days and 40 Nights. Titles will be made available for
VOD in the traditional pay-per-view window.
Customers will also be able to select programmes through an online system
and have the programming delivered to their television screens.
Back to top
Kirch reviews bids
Germany's troubled media giant Kirch has received several binding offers
for its main businesses by last Friday's (13/9/02) deadline, though later
bids may also be considered said spokesman Hartmut Schulz. However, he
declined to identify the bidders or say how much they were offering.
It has not been said if the bidding has been for the whole of the main
KirchMedia division or whether it will be broken up.
KirchMedia owns Europe's largest film library and the media rights to
the 2006 World Cup soccer as well as a majority of German broadcaster
ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG.
Tomorrow (Wednesday 18/9/02) creditors are to meet to begin considering
the alternative bids.
"The offers made meet our expectations entirely," said Schulz. A decision
on the sale of KirchMedia's assets is expected early next month.
Groups that have shown interest in KirchMedia, include one composed of
Germany's Commerzbank and the Sony's Hollywood studio ColumbiaTristar.
Three other potential alliances are US media entrepreneur Haim Saban and
French broadcaster TF-1, Kirch shareholders led by investment bank Lehman
Brothers, and German publisher Axel Springer Verlag together with HVB
bank.
Back to top
MobilCom
wins government lifeline
The German government is to give E400 million aid to debt-laden mobile
phone operator Mobilcom after its partner and shareholder, France Telecom,
abandoned the firm last Thursday during a stormy week which saw the departure
of the state-controlled firm's Chief Executive Michel Bonn.
The money will come from two state banks from the company's home state
of Schleswig Holstein, and protects, for the moment, the jobs of 5,500
Mobilcom staff just a week before Germany's general election.
Back
to top
Musical
chairs continues at Canal Plus
IBC
Underway
New
studio deal for Premiere
PlayStation
2 gets PVR functionality
Vivendi's
publishing sale
ICable
on free-to-air?
Adult
swaps at Napster
1st
Profit for Thai UBC
Musical
chairs continues at Canal Plus
By Sortires Eleftheriou
Several key executives at Canal Plus are on the way out according to reports
in the French daily Liberation.
Xavier Couture, the recently appointed President du Directoire, could
be replaced by Robert de Metz, who became Executive Vice President of
Vivendi Universal on September 5. As for Dominique Farrugia, recently
appointed President CEO, the name of Jean Drucker, currently president
of the Conseil de Surveillance at M6, is cited as a possible replacement.
Another French daily, Le Monde, revealed that Alain de Greef, formerly
Director of Programmes at Canal Plus but moved to a cubby hole, is negotiating
terms for his departure, as is Catherin Lamour, Director of Documentaries.
These departures would come into effect before the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Martine Esquirou, who had been head of communication for the
Canal Plus group since mid-May, left on Friday (13/9/02), as part of the
restructuring initiated by Xavier Couture.
The situation is succinctly summarised in a quote of an unnamed member
of CanalPlus staff at the end of the Liberation article, "Canal? It's
simple: the bankers are looking for a replacement for Fourtou, who is
looking for a replacement for Couture, who is looking for a replacement
for Farrugia, who is looking for a replacement for Saracco, who is looking
for a replacement for Beigbeder," referring also to the recently appointed
presenter of the flagship FTA window which has proved to be flop.
Which goes to show that some people at Canal still have a sense of humour.
Back to top
IBC
Underway
By Tony Morbin
Advanced-television is publishing news from Europe's biggest broadcast
show on our 'ibc - latest' section, along with pre-announced launches
in our 'preview section', with first hand reports to follow once the show
is over.
However, initial reactions are:
The show is busy, but not much greater numbers than last year when they
were down due to the September 11 attacks.
Many companies are sending fewer people, who are staying for shorter periods,
ie not the whole show.
Nonetheless, financial cutbacks have made IBC - along with NAB - the two
shows that international players must attend - and the show content has
kept up with the widening scope of broadband activity.
There are few truly major announcements, as companies position themselves
or tighten their focus during the current economic downturn. For many,
that means deciding whether they are corporate or consumer focused. In
some of the more crowded markets, there is a little more consolidation
expected - not quite a game of 'last man standing' but there are only
so many competing technologies that can survive, and some smaller players
will be squeezed out of their small niches.
Buyers are looking for solutions that save money or make money today -
rather than in 18 months time. While the big cable companies - the UPC's,
DT, NTL, Telewest - are spending little, there is still a lot of activity
from the smaller players - so for example 100,000 set top orders are the
more likely than million unit orders. Eastern Europe continues to spend
in affluent pockets, and the cash rich are eyeing up acquisition targets
- but not planning to make their move until valuations fall even lower.
Back to top
New
studio deal for Premiere
By Dieter Brockmeyer
German Pay TV platform Premiere is about to ink another deal with a Hollywood
major studio.
"The papers are ready to sign, but I can't give the name yet," said Premiere
CEO Georg Kofler on a Berlin media convention last Friday (13/09/02).
However he states that in the future the company will extend beyond output
deals like the last three which included Universal studios.
"I aim to have access to about 80 per cent of the Hollywood major output.
So, sometimes it will be enough to sign a package deal," he said. For
the first time in a long period, in the last month, Premiere saw net growth
in subscriptions - up about 30,000 to some 4.028 million today.
The platform, which belongs to the insolvent Kirch Group, says it has
done well in cutting its costs. "When I started out earlier this year,
we would have needed five million subscribers to become profitable, now
we can do it with about 2.7 to 2.9 million," he said and added that he
would be aiming to reach this target by mid-2004.
Back to top
PlayStation
2 gets PVR functionality
Consumer electronics company Sony is to give its PlayStation 2 video game
console PVR type video functions with software to be announced today (16/9/02)
by two US companies.
BroadQ will supply Qcast Tuner software to connect the PS2 with a PC running
SnapStream Media's video recording software. In addition, the system will
use SnapStream Personal Video Station software which allows a PC connected
to a TV signal to record and play back programs using the PC's hard drive.
Previously playback of SnapStream programming was limited to monitors
and other devices connected to a PC. But the network adapter which Sony
has released for the PS2 last month allows access to television sets,
says SnapStream CEO Rakesh Agrawal.
Back to top
Vivendi's
publishing sale
French media giant Vivendi Universal has had bids of up to E3.47 billion
for its publishing assets from at least two groups of buyout firms.
A group led by French bank BNP Paribas includes Kohlberg Kravis Roberts,
Bain Capital, Apax Partners, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Blackstone Groupis
one of the bidders for the book division. Another offer for the publishing
units is by The Carlyle Group, joined with Wasserstein & Co. and French
investment firm Eurazeo.
The move would contribute to Vivindi's new CEO Jean-Rene Fourtou's plans
to sell up to E10 billion worth of assets over the next two years to reduce
the company's vast debt.
Back to top
ICable
on free-to-air?
By Owen Hughes
Hong Kong pay TV giant i-Cable has again claimed that it may enter the
local free to air TV market amid speculation it was one of the parties
in talks to take a stake in the Asia Television (ATV) network.
i-Cable Chairman and Managing Director Stephen Ng refused to confirm or
deny that his company was in talks over taking equity in ATV. Speculation
is rife about the identities of "interested parties" in talks with the
owners of a 32 percent stake in the network, Lai Sun Development.
Ng said that i-Cable would be interested in purchasing a portion of ATV
if the price was low enough, although no such opportunity had arisen yet.
It follows his comments in 2000 that the pay TV platform wished to become
a free to air player if Hong Kong's other terrestrial, Television Broadcasts
(TVB) was granted a subscription licence by the government for the domestic
market.
In August ATV was in talks with with Tom.com, a company owned by Hong
Kong's richest man, Li Ka-shing, about purchasing the 32 per cent stake,
but the discussions were inconclusive. If i-Cable decided to take a share
of ATV regulators would have to review the purchase and assess its impact
on the competitiveness of the local TV scene.
ATV is the poor relation of the Hong Kong domestic terrestrial industry
with TVB accounting for up to 80 per cent of viewers. However, in August
it was granted permission by Chinese authorities to be carried on cable
TV platforms in southern China which in theory allows the broadcaster
the chance to reach a population of 68 million people in Guangdong province,
compared to Hong Kong's seven million population.
Back to top
Adult
swaps at Napster
Spanish adult entertainment site Private Media Group Inc has offered some
E2.4 million of stock to buy some Napster assets.
Private Media offered to acquire the Napster trademark and napster.com
Internet address for a million shares of Private Media common stock.
Charles Prast, Private Media Chief Executive said that copyright infringement
was a major issue in the online adult entertainment industry as well as
for the mainstream music and movie industry. He was quoted by Reuters
as saying, "Acquiring Napster is our way of entering the peer-to-peer
marketplace for adult content in a closed environment"
Private Media would use the defunct Napster song swap technology and trademark
to offer Internet users the ability to swap adult-oriented content for
free and to gain access to premium content from its library of adult-oriented
content.
Back to top
1st
Profit for Thai UBC
By Owen Hughes
Thai pay TV operator United Broadcasting Corp (UBC) may report its first
full year profit in 2003 after posting a second-quarter profit of $260,000
following a first quarter loss of $664,000.
Deputy CFO Basil Sgourdos said that the pattern showed a steady move into
the black for UBC. The first half losses were $431,000, compared to $10.6
million in the same period the year before. The difference between the
12 months is that in that time the company engaged in a major cost-cutting
programme and hiked subscriptions up by 20 per cent.
By the end of March UBC had registered 413,028 pay TV subscribers, with
263,281 of these on digital satellite and 149,747 on analogue cable, a
net increase of 6,439 subscribers for the quarter. UBC is hoping that
Q3 will produce a breakeven point in terms of cash flow. This would allow
the company to reactivate its digitisation and interactive TV plans that
have been on hold since mid-2001.
UBC is the highest-profile pay TV provider in the country, but in provincial
Thailand it is estimated that one million subscribers obtain programming
from 200 operators, although less than half of them are registered officially.
In late 2001 Hong Kong-based regional programmer STAR reached an agreement
with a group of 15 provincial operators to supply them with selected channels
to augment the domestic terrestrials they carry on a 10 to 12 channel
system.
Back
to top
For
the very latest news go to
Home Page ............