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NEWS Monday November 1st to Friday November 5th 2004
Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
| Tuesday | |||||
NTL's television and radio broadcasting business, which the cable group is in the process of selling, has been hit by a one-off £29.4 million (E44m) charge because of the underestimation of costs on an undisclosed contract. The cableco revealed the charge within its third-quarter results.
About six bidders are thought to be on the shortlist for the business, which provides TV and radio broadcast transmission services and tower site rental. The sale is expected to raise about £1.2 billion for the group.
Simon Duffy, chief executive, would not give further details of the contract in question, but stressed the charge was a one-off cost. "It's an isolated contract and doesn't reflect the value of the business," he said. "I'm not trying to pretend that I'm relaxed about a £29 million charge, I'm not. But equally it's important to put it in context."
NTL's Q3 revenues were up by five per cent. The company it would maintain its position in the broadband market by speeding up its products. It said it would maintain prices for its three existing broadband products next year while more than doubling speeds to 1Mb, 2Mb and 3Mb.
Third-quarter revenues in its residential division rose nine per cent to £405 million after 187,900 gross customers were added, the highest number of quarterly additions since 2000. In addition it added 83,600 broadband users, taking broadband penetration among its 2.98 million residential customers to 38.9 per cent.
Group revenues were £583.1 million in the three months to September 30 while combined segment profits - NTL's proxy for earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation - fell to £178.5 million because of the exceptional charge.
NTL's "triple-play penetration" level reached 23.1 per cent, up 3.5 percentage points over last time. However, the group also revealed that the failure by some of its operations to comply with new policies on when to disconnect non-paying customers has resulted in 23,800 customers being removed from its customer count.
Duffy also unveiled
that NTL was close to signing off a new carriage deal for BSkyB's premium
sports and movie channels, despite optimism that a new contract would have
been signed before the summer. The group claims it does not market its premium
pay-TV package to potential customers because the carriage contract puts too
tight a squeeze on margins.
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News Corp said first-quarter profit rose 27 per cent, in part thanks to advertising sales increases at its cable- television networks. Net income increased to $536 million from $422 million a year earlier. Sales in the quarter ended September 30 increased 12 per cent to $5.19 billion.
Operating profit at the cable unit jumped 47 per cent to $196 million from $133 million because of improved ad sales at Fox News Channel and FX, the unit also benefited from higher affiliate fees paid for its sports channels.
At News Corp's Fox studios filmed entertainment unit, operating profit fell 13 per cent to $285 million from $328 million, while operating profit rose 30 per cent to $233 million from $179 million at the broadcast television business on higher ad prices and lower costs for prime-time programmes.
The company reported a wider loss on its satellite-TV unit because of subscriber acquisition costs at Sky Italia, its Italian TV business. The loss for the quarter was $121 million, compared with $117 million a year earlier.
News Corp's US
shares began trading yesterday after the company got the Australian court's
approval to re-incorporation as a US company.
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Mediaset-controlled
Tele 5 has seen ad revenues grow by 26.2 per cent and has doubled its net
profit to E140 million in the first nine months of the year to September.
Total revenues amounted to E544 million, 28 per cent up against the same period
last year.
Its cost-cutting policy has also taken effect, producing an operating profit
of E212 million, 98 per cent up against the same period last year.
Tele 5 is also
gaining viewing share. To September, Tele 5 won an average share of 22.1 per
cent, ahead of the state-owned TVE and Antena 3 TV. Tele 5 continues to rely
on in-house production, 77 per cent against 68 per cent in 2003, to draw large
audiences.
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There was a sharp divide at this week's HD conference in Paris over the way ahead for High Definition TV.
On the one side was those who felt that HDTV should be launched via DTT, using the MPEG4 standard. This group was led by TF1, a longstanding opponent of DTT. The opposing camp, speaking from the floor as they had not been invited to be present on the panel, felt HDTV is better carried by cable, satellite and ADSL, but not be DTT.
The industry minister, Patrick Devedjian, came out strongly for the TF1 camp. He gave six arguments: (1) it can be introduced without affecting the channel selection made by the CSA, (2) MPEG 4 is now a mature format, (3) there is no legal reason preventing the use of a format (MPEG4) on DTT, (4) the State has invested in new applications using MPEG4 as part of its research support programme, (5) French and European industry has a lead in know-how on this format, while the USA is trying to impose its competing WM9 format. (6) the timetable to roll out DTT set by the CSA can be maintained. He said that cable and satellite only reached a small proportion of viewers and it was not fair to deprive the rest of access to HDTV.
The counter arguments included that any change would introduce additional new, unforeseen delays; new entrants had invested heavily on the strength of the existing timetable, it would degrade bandwidth available for standard definition programmes, and that people going to the expense of buying HDTV would be natural subscribers to cable, satellite or ADSL.
Many industry
observers see the position as government payback to TF1 for having supported
it in the past.
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NDS, a News Corp company, announced its results for the first quarter ended September 2004, reporting revenues of £86 million (E130m), up from £52 million on the same quarter the previous year. The company posted a £15 million operating profit, compared with the £11.6 million in Q1 2003.
Abe Peled, President
and CEO, commented that this has been a busy and fruitful period for the company
and it is particularly excited by the recent developments with the SVP initiative:
“This will provide the media industry with the security to ensure that
their content is protected when moved around the digital world. We've also
made some significant steps to penetrate the nascent IPTV market, which we
believe is now showing opportunities for growth.”
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UK set-top-box vendor Fusion Digital Technology has launched its new Digifusion digital terrestrial receiver for Freeview with the addition of a card reader for the Top-Up TV service.
The FRT101T also
gives users access to the 10 additional Top-Up TV subscription channels available
to UK terrestrial viewers and includes 8 day onscreen TV listings for the
week ahead utilising the recently launched Freeview EPG.
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SES Astra and Go!nternet announce a new satellite Internet service for Poland via ASTRA 19.2° East. The return path for the one-way satellite service will be provided by PTK Centertel, the operator of Idea Centertel mobile telephony.
The service will be offered under the brand name of Go!nternet. The commercial launch is scheduled for this month. In a first phase the service will be available to customers in Mazovia region and later on in the whole of Poland. The satellite downlink will be provided via ASTRA 19.2° East and the return channel will be by GPRS provided by PTK Centertel. In addition to satellite Internet access, Go!nternet subscribers will be able to watch more than 250 international digital TV and radio channels.
The user requires
is a DVB PC card or a USB Box, a small fixed satellite dish with a universal
LNB and a computer equipped with a GPRS modem. The necessary equipment together
with its installation is provided by Go!nternet through its Partners network.
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Korea Digital Media Center (KDMC) has selected NDS to provide key technology for its digital and interactive cable TV network. KDMC currently broadcasts to over two million subscribers.
NDS VideoGuard will provide the integral network security for the pay-TV operations. In order to be OpenCable compliant, KDMC also uses the NDS VideoGuard CableCard module in the set-top box. The CableCard security module is a removable, renewable security system incorporating NDS smart card technology.
KDMC, owned by
the Taekwang Group, provides services to more than 30 system operators (SOs)
across South Korea. Subscribers are currently receiving an analogue service,
however KDMC plans to transition to digital and interactive broadcasting services
for all subscribers.
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The Finnish company, which controls more than 30 per cent of the global mobile phone handset market, claims Sagem's high-profile myX5-2 model is too similar to its own models in style and infringes upon its registered design.
It is the first
time Nokia has taken such an action and highlights the increasing importance
being placed on brand and style in the highly competitive mobile handset market.
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Harris Corporation has completed the previously announced acquisition of Encoda Systems Holding. Encoda is a global supplier of end-to-end broadcast enterprise software and services solutions including traffic and billing systems, program scheduling, master control play-to-air automation, and digital asset management.
The company serves
more than 600 customers in 34 countries and had revenue for the 12 months
ended June 30, 2004, of $124 million. Encoda had previously been owned by
an investment group that included Thomas H. Lee Partners, Blackstone Capital
Partners, Spire Capital Partners, and Evercore Capital Partners, among others.
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The Russian service
is the first bouquet of programming to be launched on the PanGlobal platform.
The service will be available Free to Air with the goal of being encrypted
by the end of the year. These four channels are designed to keep Russian immigrants
in touch with their homeland, as well as promote services of interest to them
in Australia.
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EuroNews is the
first international all-news channel to join Telefonica's ADSL pay-TV service.
EuroNews is available on Imagenio, channel number 24. Initially, subscribers
to Telefonica's ADSL pay-TV service will be able to select the Spanish version
of EuroNews, with plans to launch other language versions in the future. EuroNews
simultaneously broadcasts in seven languages: English, French, German, Italian,
Spanish, Russian and Portuguese.
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DirecTV posted $1bn+ quarterly loss as higher subscriber acquisition costs and exceptionals offset a 49 per cent rise in new subscribers.
Despite adding more than one million gross new subscribers, several exceptional items, including the $875m purchase of subscribers from a rural reseller Pegasus, shadowed the company's fundamental strengths, said analysts. A $903 million charge relates to the abandoned Spaceway project to offer Internet service over yet-to-be launched satellites, which will now be used to expand DirecTV's ability to offer high-definition video broadcasts. This resulted in a reported loss of $1.55 billion, compared to a profit of $8 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 20 per cent to $2.86 billion, from $2.57 billion a year earlier.
Since News Corp took control of DirecTV late last year, the company has ramped up marketing and promotions. In the third quarter, it added 484,000 net new subscribers, ending with 12.08 million subscribers. Monthly average revenue per user rose to $66.46 from $63.49 a year earlier. But customers churn rose to 1.67 per cent, from 1.6 per cent in the year earlier period.
Subscriber acquisition
costs rose by nearly 50 per cent to $723.1 million in the quarter, and the
cost to upgrade and retain customers more than doubled to $261.3 million.
Part of the rising costs come from a heavy push to get subscribers to also
purchase digital video recorders, which it began discounting in the third
quarter. "Competitive offers reached a new level of intensity,"
Mitch Stern, CEO of DirecTV US told analysts.
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French Industry Minister Patrick Devedjian, speaking at a conference on HDTV in Paris, announced the launch of a forum for mobile TV, along the lines of the HDTV forum he launched earlier this year.
Slated for a
23 November launch it will comprise “industrialists wanting to push mobile
TV” and will be open to channel suppliers, distributors and mobile telephone
operators.
Devedjian said the forum was intended to “better articulate the concurrent
launch of third generation mobile telephony and DTT”. He said that major
industrialists are in favour of using the still vacant DTT multiplex, called
R5, for mobile TV. The CSA is currently receiving public comments on the use
of R5 and should announce a decision in early December.
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The UK's new public service broadcaster proposed by Ofcom could start up in 2008 and will run until the next review of the BBC's royal charter in 2016, according to draft proposals from the media regulator.
Ofcom has published its latest thinking on the venture, provisionally titled the public service publisher, in a tender document inviting companies to make "shadow" pitches for running the organisation. The 'hypothetical' pitches will be presented next month at a seminar that will contribute to the regulator's final proposals on the PSP.
The public service
broadcasting review proposed that the PSP will run on a budget of £300
million (E455m) per year and will broadcast around three hours of content
per day. Funding options are top-slicing or increasing the licence fee, taxpayer
funding, or a tax on broadcasters. However, the tender document does not ask
for proposals on funding the organisation and instead requests views "on
the appropriate quantity and use of funds".
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Giving evidence to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee inquiry into the renewal of the BBC's royal charter, Jowell also described the broadcaster's system of governance as "unsustainable". She made it clear that the BBC's board of governors will be overhauled when the corporation's charter is renewed at the end of 2006. The board came in for much criticism during the Hutton inquiry for acting as both cheerleaders and regulators.
Jowell welcomed
changes to the system of governance introduced by the new chairman Michael
Grade, including appointing governors with greater experience of broadcasting.
But she added: "We would not regard the status quo as an option that
would be acceptable or sustainable for the next charter review."
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Five companies have submitted bids for Hungary's 3G mobile license tender, national telecoms authority NHH President Daniel Pataki has said.
Three of the
bids were from the current mobile operators, T-Mobile, Pannon GSM and Vodafone
Hungary. The other two bids were from TDC A/S of Denmark and Tele2 of Sweden.
TDC is bidding through its subsidiary HTCC and Tele2 through its Hungarian
unit established this year. Hungary has invited bids for four 3G mobile licenses,
with concessions for 15 years. The result of the bidding is expected to be
announced on December 1.
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The unofficial
overnight figures made ITV3 the second most popular non-terrestrial channel
behind Living TV.
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Czech company Region Media has teamed up with SES Astra, for the free-to-air digital distribution of the new Czech Parliamentary Channel '24.cz' via ASTRA 19.2° East.
From 17th November
2004 onwards, exactly 15 years after the date that made the democratisation
process in the Czech Republic irrevocable, Channel '24.cz' will feature live
broadcasts from the Czech Parliament and
Senate as well as programmes on Czech politics. The channel's goal is to provide
the general public with regular and up-to-date information on governmental
activities and will broadcast 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.
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Belgacom, Belgium's
leading telecommunications company, will use Espial's browser, Espial Escape,
to provide HTML rendering capabilities to deliver Wall-Garden and Web content
for their IPTV Set-Top Boxes. Services that will be accessible with the Escape
browser include Media-on-demand, local news-weather-sports, chat, e-shopping
and the ability to surf Web content and manage your email. Espial is a leading
provider of set-top box and mobile handset software, specializing in IPTV
applications.
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Nokia announced the Nokia 7710 widescreen multimedia smartphone with pen input. The new smartphone includes a full Internet browser, an integrated music player with stereo audio, a set of video features such as playback, streaming and recording, a megapixel camera with 2-x digital zoom and FM radio with Visual Radio client.
The new smartphone
has support for push e-mail based on Smartner solution, VPN client, free user
memory of up to 90 MB plus 128 MB on the included MultiMediaCard (MMC), as
well as a full complement of personal information management features, an
on-screen keyboard and handwriting recognition. The Nokia 7710 runs on top
of Symbian OS.
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Pan-European media group SBS Broadcasting reported a 41 per cent decline in third-quarter operating income as rising station costs and higher administrative expenses offset robust advertising sales at its TV operations.
The company saw operating income fall from E2.3 million to E1.37 million even though sales rose 21 per cent to E139.2 million in the three months to September 30.
Operating income was hit by launch costs associated with autumn TV schedules and higher expenses at recently acquired operations, including radio stations in Norway and Denmark and new TV channels in Hungary.
The figures, however, were distorted by last year's sale of SBS's 30.4 per cent stake in TVN and TVN7 of Poland, along with a one-time investment gain on the acquisition of its Veronica print business in the Netherlands.
Before such items,
ebitda rose 23 per cent to E10 million.
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ITV plc has taken full control of the multi-channel operation Granada Sky Broadcasting (GSB) that operates digital services 'Plus' and 'Men & Motors'. ITV has agreed to buy Sky Ventures' 49.5 per cent share for £10 million (E15 million) net of liabilities, from any potential sale of Men & Motors.
Following the acquisition, Plus became ITV3. ITV3 launched on 1 November at 9pm on digital terrestrial television (DTT), digital cable and digital satellite and will be broadcast to around 13 million homes. The sudden deal, which GSB staff were unaware of as late as 16.30 GMT that afternoon, has also seen ITV2 move its slot on the Sky EPG.
Commenting on
the deal, Charles Allen, Chief Executive of ITV plc said that the broadcaster
was delighted that ITV3 would be available on all digital platforms from launch,
"reaching the widest possible multi-channel audience," adding that
incorporating recent popular drama from ITV1 and the best of Plus into ITV3
would create "the strongest possible proposition for viewers and advertisers.
This deal delivers on our strategic objective to build the ITV family of digital
channels and will enable ITV3 to maximise its potential."
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Pay-TV giant Sogecable, owner of Canal Plus and digital DTH platform Digital Plus, has received the blessing of the Spanish competition watchdog to enter into exclusive deals with US majors.
The regulator has shelved proceedings against the pay-TV group for lack of evidence of a breach of competition, thereby giving its go-ahead for such contracts.
Cable company ONO had appealed to the Competition Service and urged it to take measures to stop what it considered as a "unfair competition" in the pay-TV market as a result of those exclusive contracts signed by Sogecable.
Now the watchdog
has ruled that the deals do not restrict competition in the market. ONO has
challenged the decision and taken the case to the Competition Court, alleging
that "the lack of competition in the TV contents market prevents any
attempt to offer an attractive pay-TV service".
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The first satellite transmission of an OpenCable Applications Platform (OCAP) application was successfully completed from the US headquarters of Starz Encore. The broadcast was downlinked and verified by CableLabs.
OCAP is a middleware software layer specification developed by the cable industry consortium CableLabs. OCAP enables the development of interactive television services and applications that will run interoperable on any cable television system in North America, independent of set-top or television receiver hardware or operating system software choices.
The transmission of an OCAP-based application from the Starz uplink facility was the first use of OCAP outside the laboratory environment. It followed an August 2nd event at the CableLabs headquarters in Louisville, CO, in which some 24 companies demonstrated a wide range of interactive TV applications capable of running on the software.
The interactivity consists of making a branded 'mini-guide' part of transmission and letting viewers select information about 'What's On Tonight,' 'Saturday Premieres,' and 'Movie Extras' about new hit movies.
Starz used the
TSBroadcaster headend server provided by UniSoft Corporation to schedule and
integrate the one-way OCAP application into the transmission stream. ADB's
i-CAN3200 set-top box was used to decode the video. ADB's OCAP stack was supplied
by Osmosys.
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Germany's Discovery Channel has allied with Europe's largest ISP, T-Online International, to provide documentaries for the T-Online Vision broadband portal.
For the time being, Discovery will provide ten documentaries that can be watched in a video on demand stream by T-Online broadband subscribers.
Currently, Discovery runs its documentary channel on German digital pay TV platform Premiere that reaches more than three million subscribers and has teamed up with German public broadcaster ZDF which is airing Discovery branded programme blocks.
T-Online already
has contracts with the major US film studios to use their content for its
video on demand stream and promotes a special set-top-system provided by Siemens-Fijutsu
to bring Internet-streamed video programmes to the client's TV screens. Further
STB manufacturers are expected to enter the market by the end of the year
.
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Television licensing and distribution specialist Celador International and mobile games developer Macrospace are partnering to develop and publish the Java version of 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?' worldwide.
The deal represents the global launch of the 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?' brand on mobile phones. The first Java game is due for release in the UK and other key European territories in time for Christmas, growing to 40 countries in 15 languages by the end of March 2005.
Selma Turajlic, Head of Commercial Affairs, Celador Interactive Licensing, described Macrospace as "one of the pioneers of the growing market for mobile games, making it the perfect choice of partner for us to take 'Millionaire' to the next level. Mobile technology opens a whole new realm of enriched gaming possibilities for 'Millionaire', as well as opportunities to develop cross-platform content."
Kristian Segerstrale,
Head of Products and Services at Macrospace said that the development of a
Java version was a logical step for Celador International, following the success
of the existing SMS 'Millionaire' game. "The familiar game-play and broad
appeal of the title will provide a great opportunity to reach the mass market,"
he added.
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KPN, the dominant telecoms operator in the Netherlands, reported a doubling of net profit to E288 million in the three months to the end of September, as the most recent wave of cost-cutting initiatives started to take effect.
But it warned profit margins would be at the lower end of expectations for the full year as it continued to invest heavily in its mobile-user base.
During the third quarter, group revenues fell slightly to E2.95 billion, against more than E3 billion a year earlier. An eight per cent revenue decline at KPN's core fixed-line business was almost compensated for by a 6 per cent rise in revenues from its mobile business.
The company added 800,000 new mobile customers during the quarter compared with 400,000 for the same period last year, buoyed by an improved performance in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.
But this strong growth hit profitability at its mobile arm, knocking earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation margins down to 30.7 per cent from 31 per cent.
The company also
announced it was suspending its E1.5 billion share buy-back programme, pending
an internal probe into alleged improper discounts in the fixed-line market.
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Super Trio Italiano, a trio of new Italian digital TV channels in one package, is set for a mid-November launch by TLN Telelatino, Canada's No 1 ethnic speciality TV channel.
Currently being offered to all cable and satellite providers, Super Trio Italiano will feature three thematically-based, all-Italian digital TV channels from leading Italian pay-TV operators - bringing 'the best of Italy' to Canadian audiences, 24/7.
The new TV package will include an all-music channel featuring open-air concerts and popular videos; an all-lifestyle channel showcase of Italian arts and culture ranging from runway fashions and car designs to travel and cuisine; and an all-news channel. All three channels will include domestic Canadian programming provided by TLN Telelatino.
"These new
channels will complement the thousands of hours of general entertainment Italian
language programming now available on TLN," commented Aldo DiFelice,
TLN President. "Trio Italiano will meet viewers' demands for additional
premium quality television from Italy, and is part of TLN's overall Italian
expansion strategy which will also include new Video-on- Demand programming,
TLN's popular Viva Cinema theatrical releases bringing first-run Italian films
to the big screen, and the production of new Italian Canadian live events
in 2005."
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Conditional access specialist Conax has, through its Turkish partner Broadcast Engineering & Production, been selected by Turk Telecom to supply Conax CAS7 to its Cable TV division. Turk Telekom provides all kinds of national and international telecommunication services in Turkey, and is by far the largest cable operator in the region with 1.6 million subscribers.
Meanwhile, the
company appointed Raza Ansari as Vice President Asia for this newly-established
position, with responsibility for co-ordinating the company's sales and marketing
activities in the region. Ansari has been with the company since 2001, building
Conax's market position in Asia.
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NEC Corp has announced its plans of selling a TV-enabled cellular handset next year in China. NEC expects the phone to be the first of its kind to be made available in China.
The N940 handset, which will work with GSM and GPRS networks, will allow cell-phone users watch up to 60 minutes of analogue television while making and receiving phone calls.
The handset,
with a 2.1-inch touch-screen LCD that can display 260,000 colours, will be
available in China before the end of March 2005. Pricing hasn't been finalised
but the N940 is expected to be available for around US$360.
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The BBC looks likely to abandon plans to sell its commercial arm, BBC Worldwide. Instead, it will set new targets to double profits at the commercial arm - valued at up to £1.5 billion (E2.25 billion).
According to reports, the BBC is set to rule out a sale when a committee looking at the commercial division's future meets on November 11.
John Smith, COO of the BBC, has been overseeing the review into the future of BBC Worldwide, with widespread reports that the corporation was considering a total sell-off of the unit.
Smith's committee has decided against selling parts of the business to media groups or financial buyers, partly because of the difficulty in valuing it. According to a report in the Independent on Sunday, the BBC now believes it can boost profits at BBC Worldwide.
BBC Worldwide
owns 10 channels including UKTV stations and BBC America, 26 magazines, and
the licensing rights to characters such as the Teletubbies. Last year, it
had revenues of £657 million and generated £141 million profit,
which was ploughed back into the corporation.
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Over 79 per cent of those with both cable TV and DSL would cancel their cable subscription if they could receive telephone, Internet and TV services from their telco, a 2Wire poll revealed. More than half (55 per cent) of the respondents would also choose their telco over the cable operator as the single provider of these services.
2Wire, a US provider of broadband service platforms, polled 2,000 DSL subscribers to identify the major factors driving consumer demand for converged services. The majority of respondents indicated that they would subscribe to Voice over IP (VoIP), or would consolidate their telephone, Internet and TV services to a single provider, with the strongest motivation being cost savings.
73 per cent said that the ability to save money with volume discounts is what would most drive them to switch to a single provider. The survey reveals that 91 per cent would switch their traditional phone service to VoIP if they found out their telco was now offering the service.
The poll also identified the main motivations for implementing multi-media home networks. More than a quarter (28 per cent) of consumers expressed the opinion that having shared access to music, movies and photos around the home would make family life or apartment-sharing easier. A further 40 per cent said the key benefit is that rooms would no longer have fixed functions. The most popular feature among respondents was the ability to watch a movie on a TV downstairs, pause it, then continue watching from the bedroom.
Being able to
remotely access a home network was also considered important, with 26 per
cent of respondents saying they would like to access media on the home network
from outside the home, and 18 per cent considering the ability to remotely
monitor their home by Webcam to be a top benefit of multi-media networking.
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Television Eighteen (TV18), which runs English business channel CNBC TV18, will shortly launch two channels 24-hour Hindi business news channel scheduled for telecast in December, followed by an international channel called South Asia World.
Raghav Bahl,
the company's MD, suggested that costs are unlikely to shoot up due to the
new channels. Bahl clarified that the international offering was actually
a content distribution deal. "We will be offering our current CNBC-TV18
content to an overseas channel that will really be a revenue deal. It's not
going to have too much of a cost implication at all. As for our Hindi language
operations, those are ready to go on viewers must have noticed on the existing
channel we have roughly 3-4 hours of programming, and that is literally dry
running the launch of our expanded Hindi language operations. That will go
on very soon, hopefully much before the end of this quarter."
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The pair aim to offer service providers a complete and secure video delivery solution. The fully integrated video solution will be marketed jointly by Widevine and Motorola to both existing and future customers.
Tony Zona, vice president of marketing, Motorola telecom access solutions said that the Agreement added another choice for the protection of video content. "By working with companies like Widevine, Motorola enables customers to have a fully-integrated, end-to-end video delivery solution."
"The rapid acceptance in the global marketplace of Widevine's content security solution has been a strong validation of the absolute need to protect content and revenue streams in this age of digital piracy," claimed Brian Baker, President and CEO of Widevine Technologies.
Company sources
suggested that Motorola chose Widevine after reviewing all of the available
content security solutions in the market, with Widevine's support by the major
content providers -motion picture studios and broadcasters - a crucial factor
in securing the deal.
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German digital Pay TV platform Premiere Media have sued German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF and Austrian's ORF accusing them of using illegal subsidies and cartel structures.
Premiere is ultimately targeting the European Broadcasting Union, in which most European pubcasters jointly bid for international sports rights such as the soccer world championships or the Olympic games. Premiere claims this alliance makes it impossible for commercial competitors to access these rights at an reasonable price, says CEO Georg Kofler.
Premiere says
it is attempting to enforce the previous decision of the European High Court
in September that said the EBU is hindering the open market for sports rights
in Europe.
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The UK's BT Group will next year launch a new mobile phone allowing callers to make cheap calls over the internet from special 'hotspots', including airports, railway stations and hotels.
BT is said to
be planning the sale of Wi-Fi-enabled phones allowing users to access the
internet from any one of up to 17,000 worldwide hotspots. From 2005, the users
of these phones will have their calls migrated by Wi-Fi over BT's
fixed line network, but when the mobile user calls from one of the allotted
hotspots, the call will be carried over the internet, letting BT undercut
roaming rate prices charged by other mobile operators.
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UK-based broadband service provider Video Networks Limited (VNL) has added a residential phone service to its HomeChoice offering. HomeChoice customers can opt for either 'Free Evening & Weekend' calls at no additional cost or have the option to upgrade to the 'Anytime' talk plan from as little as £5 (E7.5) per month.
Both options offer the same rates to UK mobiles and overseas numbers and are claimed to offer better value than the equivalent plans from dominant telco BT, alternative service providers TalkTalk and One.Tel, and cable telcos NTL and Telewest:
VNL, which already
offers broadband Internet, digital TV and video-on-demand, believes the home
phone service will increase subscriber acquisition by making it a one stop
shop for home entertainment and
communications.
Roger Lynch, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, VNL, said the home phone service completed the company's bundled service offering adding that VNL aimed to become the home entertainment and communications provider of choice and would continue to enhance its services in the coming months."
The home phone
service will be delivered using Carrier Pre-Selection. Video Networks also
plans to offer line rental in 2005.
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M H Au, Hong
Kong's Director-General of Telecommunications, has suggested that the migration
to Œnext 'generation networks', carrying all types of services, means
that the business and regulatory models based on the
traditional networks may no longer be applicable in the era of 'triple play'
services.
"Operators
and regulators around the world are deliberating on how to create business
opportunities and to promote infrastructure investment in the open environment
of the next generation networks," he noted. "What we need is new
thinking. We cannot simply transplant the models in the traditional networks
to the next generation networks."
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The digital video recorder will play a central role in the on-demand strategies of most digital pay-TV operators, according to the Yankee Group.
It says DVRs
offers a wide range of value-added functions that will appeal to the needs
of most digital TV consumers--not only replacing the VCR as the preferred
means for recording broadcast TV, but also promising
a cost-effective alternative to true video-on-demand (VoD).
“The DVR's TV orientation makes it a clear contender as the home entertainment hub of the future,” says Yankee, "DVR services will be more widely and frequently used by digital TV subscribers than regular VoD offerings that are limited to the less ubiquitous cable and broadband platforms."
It added “Although
services such as Sky+ and PILOTIME have shown a strong initial appeal among
early adopters, many users will be deterred by high subscription fees. Price
cuts for STBs and services will be crucial in driving DVR services into the
mass market, particularly as the retail market for standalone devices
gains pace."
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Hong Kong's dominant free-to-air broadcaster Television Broadcasts (TVB), which is seeking an investor for the 51 per cent stake in pay-TV venture Galaxy Satellite Broadcasting given up by Intelsat, is expected to be given a 12-month waiver by the government for finding new partner.
TVB is looking for a new investor after the U. S.-based Intelsat said it will pull out by the end of December. Without the waiver, TVB would be forced to stop airing Galaxy because of media ownership laws. The Broadcasting Authority's chairman Daniel Fung that the government will make a decision in late November or early December.
Cable TV, the
pay-TV operator owned by i-Cable Communications, has reportedly objected to
the waiver saying that market forces alone should decide Galaxy's fate.
“The government should be keeping its `visible hand' from interfering
again with the `invisible hand' of a free market economy. Galaxy's performance
is apparently considered by some of its investors as a commercial failure
but
the government has no role to save commercial failures,” Stephen Ng,
chief executive and chairman of Cable TV, reportedly told the Broadcasting
Authority.
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New research
suggests portable video players may not be able to replicate the success of
the iPod and other music players. Just 13% of those polled by Jupiter Research
expressed an interest in video content on handheld devices
such as 3G phones and portable media players, and just 5% were interested
in both music and video on the same device. Some 27% of people expressed an
interest in portable music only, the study found.
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CHUM, one of
Canada's leading media companies and content providers, has an agreement with
UK based RadioScape to develop a digital radio receiver for its proposed CHUM
Subscription Radio Canada (CSRC). CHUM's application for a broadcasting licence
for a national multi-channel terrestrial subscription radio system,
CSRC, is currently before the CRTC.
Under the terms
of the agreement, they will work together to specify the digital radio receiver
and broadcast infrastructure solutions needed to deploy subscription radio
services. "RadioScape is a respected global DAB broadcast service and
receiver technology provider that supports the world's largest digital radio
networks," said Paul Ski, Executive Vice President Radio, CHUM Limited.
"We are
delighted to be given the opportunity to work with CHUM on the deployment
of CSRC in Canada," said John Hall, CEO of RadioScape. "Our expertise
in Software Defined Radio solutions for receivers and broadcast
infrastructure means that incorporating the enhancements for subscription
radio services is a straightforward exercise. The flexibility of our platforms
means that companies can easily add new capabilities that exploit
the power and success of radio's evolution into the digital domain."
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Jupiter Telecommunications (J-COM), the largest broadband and cable service provider in Japan, announced its participation in a cable coalition gathered to explore the feasibility of collectively providing primary Internet Protocol (IP) phone services.
In addition to J-COM, 11 other companies have joined to start feasibility studies of providing primary IP phone services as a group. J-COM Phone, the current telephone service offering available through J-COM, uses switched technologies to provide primary phone service. Within the Kansai area, 18 different cable operators have been offering secondary IP phone services. The coalition is also considering providing the primary IP phone services under a common brand.
Going forward,
the operators involved in the alliance will be cooperating with the All Cable
Network Promotion Committee of the Japan Cable and Telecommunications Association
to coordinate with other cable operators
throughout the country to promote both the expansion of the cable operators'
primary IP phone service area as well as to increase overall customer satisfaction.
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The television divisions of both Astral Media Inc. and Corus Entertainment Inc., two of Canada's leading media companies, each recorded major growth in their television sectors in their fiscal years ending Aug. 31/04.
Montreal-based
Astral Media's specialty, pay and pay-per-view TV, radio and outdoor groups
together recorded the best year-end results ever. (The company was founded
in 1946 as Astral Communications Ltd..) Its pay-TV
subscribers grew 7 per cent to reach more than 1.4 million viewers, and advertising
revenues from Astral's specialty networks rose by 17 per cent as ad dollars
continued to migrate from conventional to specialty TV.
Twelve month
TV revenues reached £168.7 million (Cdn$377.4 million), up over £155.5
million (Cdn$347.9 million) in fiscal 2003. Television EBITDA was £55.4
million (Cdn$124.1 million), up from 2003 figures of £46.9 million
(Cdn$104.9 million).
For the entire
company, fiscal 2004 net earnings from continuing operations increased 28
per cent over 2003, rising to £40.9 million (Cdn$91.5 million; consolidated
revenues increased 9 per cent, totalling £231.9 million
(Cdn$518.7 million); and EBITDA for the year increased 19 per cent to £69
million (Cdn$154.5 million).
Toronto-based
Corus Entertainment is comprised of specialty TV, radio, publishing, TV broadcasting,
advertising services and Nelvana Ltd., a leading international producer and
distributor of children's programming and
products. Its Corus Television benefited from audience growth for its specialty
and pay-TV assets in fiscal/04. Movie Central, its western-based pay-TV service,
ended its year with 707,000 subscribers, a 7 per cent growth
over fiscal/03.
Advertising revenues
grew by 13 per cent, driven especially by significant audience growth for
W Network and CMT, and continued market leadership in children's TV services.
Overall, TV revenues for the year grew 8 per cent to
£148.6 million (Cdn$332.3 million), and TV segment profit grew 10 per
cent to £55.9 million (Cdn$125.1 million) from fiscal /03.
Overall, Corus
Entertainment fiscal/04 consolidated revenues were £298.1 million (Cdn$666.8
million), up 4 per cent from £287.9 million (Cdn$643.9 million) in the
previous year, reflecting revenue growth in the core
radio and television businesses. Consolidated segment profit for the year
was £40.5 million (Cdn$90.4 million). Excluding a non-cash write-down
of film investments recorded in the third quarter and the required expensing
of stock options, segment profit was £79.1 million (Cdn$176.7 million),
up 7 per cent over £74.2 million (Cdn$165.3 million) in the prior year.
Adjusted net income and adjusted basic EPS for the year, which excludes various
items
not indicative of the Company's core operating results, were £24.7 million
(Cdn$55 million) compared to £21.1 million (Cdn$47.1 million) last year.
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Sky is opening up the second smart card slot available in the set-top boxes in 7.4 million UK satellite homes, potentially enabling third parties to launch their own loyalty or credit card schemes.
Although the necessary software is in the OpenTV application interface, Sky until now has not allowed any third party cards. It isn't clear precisely what kind of services will be introduced and there are regulatory, security and data protection issues involved in reading from or writing to a conventional payment card in a set-top box. An alternative approach would be to develop a loyalty card scheme based on credits that could be accumulated by watching a particular programme, advert or channel.
MiCard.tv, a
joint venture between interactive television company Mindhouse and Emergent
Media Partnerships is aiming to gain first mover advantage to exploit the
potential of the second slot and claims it has already secured interest from
a number of broadcasters. MiCard is a hybrid of affinity marketing, sponsorship
and loyalty cards that uses smart card technology to reward viewing with value
redeemable in the high street or through virtual reward schemes.
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UK digital television is being watched by more people than either BBC One or ITV1 for the first time, according to the media regulator Ofcom.
It reports that over the second quarter overall viewing figures for digital exceeded that of the two main terrestrial broadcasters, although it concedes that ITV1 and BBC One still dominate in peak-time viewing. According to Ofcom BBC Two has been hardest hit, with more than half of multichannel homes in the UK only spending 15 minutes a week watching BBC Two in June this year.
The report says that digital television now reaches 55 per cent of homes in the UK, with 400,000 people taking up the Freeview service in the second quarter of the year.
It also disclosed the latest European broadband penetration rate: by the end of June 2004 the UK had 7.5 connections per hundred population compared to 6.1 in Spain, 6.3 in Italy, 6.4 in Portugal, 6.7 in Germany, 8.3 in France, 12.1 in Sweden, 15.8 in the Netherlands and 15.6 in Denmark.
The total number
of broadband subscribers in the UK passed the five million mark, reaching
5.3 million by the end of September 2004.
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Viacom said its quarterly profit from continuing operations rose 12 per cent on higher cable network advertising sales. It also announced a larger-than-expected stock repurchase and plans to buy back up to $8 billion worth. The company also and raised its dividend by 17% and increased its full-year financial targets.
The group posted a financial third-quarter loss of $487.6 million, compared with year-earlier profit of $699.6 million but the reverse was entirely due to a $1.5 billion non-cash write-down of the spin-off of Blockbuster. Profit before those charges rose to $723 million. Revenue increased four per cent to $5.5 billion.
Viacom's operating
earnings were led by a jump in advertising sales at the MTV and Nickelodeon
cable networks, where revenue rose 14 per cent and operating profit rose 13
per cent. Revenue at broadcast television networks CBS and UPN rose five per
cent and operating income improved seven per cent. Some analysts were disappointed
over performance at the television stations group, where revenue edged up
three per cent.
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Antena
3 improves Q3 results
From David del Valle in Madrid
Spanish terrestrial
channel Antena 3 TV has managed to improve its financial results in the third
quarter of the year increasing its ad revenues by 31 per cent to E 128 million.
EBITDA grew by 145 per cent reaching E 146.3 million.
These "spectacular" results, said Director General Silvio Gonzalez,
have driven the whole Group Antena 3 (including radio station Onda Cero, Uniprex
and Movirecord) to return to profitability up from a loss of E105.2 million
last year to a profit of E 67.2 million in the nine months to Spetember. The
group recorded net revenues of E 563 million, 22.8 per cent up than the previous
year.
As for the audience, Antena 3 TV has improved its numbers with an average
share of 22.1 per cent in October 2004 against an average of 19.8 per cent
in the first quarter of last year.
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UK Mobile phone operator Orange unveiled a significant jump in churn rates. It also admitted that it will manage only a partial launch of third-generation phones by Christmas.
Rival operators' aggressive strategies seem to be denting the mobile operator. In the three months to September its churn rate was 26 per cent, up from 20.6 per cent in the same period last year. The problems overshadowed an otherwise better than expected set of results for France Télécom, Orange's parent company.
FT ebitda in the three months to September 30 were E4.86 billion. Sales rose 4.5 per cent on a like-for-like basis to E12.04 billion.
Sales in the
Orange division were up 10 per cent to E5.184 billion. The group also confirmed
targets that include 3 to 5 per cent underlying annual revenue growth until
the end of next year.
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Sony Corporation reported a 61 per cent net quarterly profit jump thanks to the company's movie division. "In the second quarter, our profit got a big boost from the pictures division thanks to 'Spider-Man 2' and DVD sales," Katsumi Ihara, CFO said.
Sony's net income rose to 53.2 billion yen ($500 million), for the second quarter ended September 30, from 32.9 billion yen in the same quarter a year earlier. Revenue, however, fell 5.3 per cent, to 1.70 trillion yen ($15.9 billion) in the quarter.
The company nudged
up its earnings forecast for the fiscal year ending next March to 110 billion
yen ($1.04 billion) from an earlier estimate of 100 billion yen. The new forecast
represents a 24 per cent increase from Sony's 88.5 billion yen profit last
year.
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Hughes Network Systems, a provider of two-way broadband satellite and a subsidiary of DirecTV, is introducing what it calls a comprehensive package of services via its DirecWAY offering for companies wanting to distribute digital content to employees and customers.
DirecWAY Multimedia
Services is available as a value-added option on the DirecWAY service delivery
platform. "The suite of services expands DirecWAY's broadband applications,
enabling organisations to capitalise on opportunities in the emerging world
of video-based solutions," HNS noted. Included in the offering are corporate
television services, video web conferencing, multimedia, real time distance
learning, digital advertising and digital signage.
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TV viewing card developer Hauppauge Digital has introduced a range of TV receivers certified for the new Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE) 2005. The range will be available to resellers and system builders creating platforms based on MCE 2005.
"MCE 2005
is going to be big news in the run up to Christmas, particularly for system
builders and resellers prepared to offer ready-made packages. The addition
of a Hauppauge TV card completes the MCE 2005 experience with TV and Recording
on the desktop," said Yehia Oweiss, Managing Director of Hauppauge Digital.
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ITV sells stake in Village Roadshow
ITV plc has sold
its 18 per cent investment in the Australian media company Village Roadshow
in the open market for a total consideration of £36 million (E54 million,
AUS 91 million). The interest in Village Roadshow was part of Granada's acquisition
of the media assets of United Business Media in 2000, and had a book value
of £15 million.
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Vivendi Universal and Viacom have sold the European operations of the UCI Cinemas group (UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Spain, Portugal and Italy) to Terra Firma for E270 million debt and cash free. Vivendi Universal and Viacom each owned 50 per cent of UCI Cinemas.
The UCI group's
50 per cent stake in UCI Japan was sold separately for an additional E45.6
million to Sumitomo Corporation.
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Netherlands-based
New Skies Satellites announced that the sale of the company to affiliates
of The Blackstone Group, a private investment firm, has been approved by the
United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The transaction is
expected to close on November 2, 2004.
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Cable & Wireless,
a British provider of voice, data and Internet services, announced on that
it is selling its Japanese business to Tokyo-based broadband services provider
Softbank Corp. for 12.3 billion yen ($115 million US). The deal also includes
additional debts of 1.9 billion yen ($18 million US).
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GlobeCast secures Voice of America delivery deal
GlobeCast has been selected by US Federal entity International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB), to provide full-time satellite services to deliver Voice of America (VOA) TV and radio programming to Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. GlobeCast will provide IBB full-time use of a transponder on the NSS-703 satellite at 57 degrees East and capacity on Intelsat's IS-907 satellite over the Atlantic region to complement IBB's global multimedia network.
"Global
Beam" capacity provided by GlobeCast on NSS-703 allows the IBB to beam
VOA and Alhurra TV channels, and radio channels including Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty, VOA News, and VOA Music Mix over the world's most populated landmasses.
The IS-907 satellite will beam WorldNet TV and radio channels over Africa
and Europe.
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