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Our Latest Issues
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Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Tuesday
Friday 29th February
Virgin TV customer record
Web to TV show flops
BBC to plug C4 funding gap?
News and Liberty complete DirectTV deal
Fincham in at ITV
Pakistan lifts YouTube ban
Akimbo goes for B2B
Comstar-Direct HDTV service
Orange France, SFR roll out 3G
GekTV adds Star channels
Telekom Austria selects ADB
Scaberia, Secustream partnership
Virgin TV customer recordVirgin Media added 61,100 new cable TV customers in the final quarter claiming its best growth for seven years. It added a net figure of 24,400 new customers during the period. This was up from 13,000 in the previous quarter. The churn fell by 0.3 per cent to 1.4 per cent.
It also added 106,200 net new broadband Internet customers, bringing its total subscriber base to 3.7 million. The strong growth figures show that Virgin’s new strategy of focusing on signing-up customers for its broadband and basic TV packages, rather than competing with BSkyB for premium TV content may be working.
Despite the healthy growth in customer numbers, Virgin Media recorded an operating loss of £18m (E25m) because of increased costs.
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The highly touted web-based drama series "quarterlife" proved a network television flop in its NBC debut, drawing the network's worst ratings for its time slot in at least 20 years, Nielsen Media Research reported.
NBC had high hopes for the made-for-Internet series, a show about young adults designed to appeal to the very audience group - viewers aged 18 to 49 – desired most by television advertisers. But the show's dismal performance in its prime-time network launch on Tuesday threw its immediate future into doubt at the General Electric-owned network, where a source said the series could end up cancelled before its next airing.
"Quarterlife", dramatising the urban lives of six young artists, was originally created for the social-networking site MySpace.com by Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick, Emmy-winning producers of "thirtysomething" and "My So-Called Life".Consisting of 36 eight-minute "webisodes", the series began running on MySpace.TVcom and quarterlife.com in November, with two new segments appearing online each week.
NBC made headlines when it announced in the midst of the Hollywood writers strike it was picking up the series as a mid-season replacement show, and has heavily promoted the drama in the run-up to its prime-time launch.
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Channel 4 could be given a stake in the BBC's commercial arm and launch a series of joint ventures with public bodies under radical plans being considered to plug a £100 million (E139m) funding gap. The Guardian reported that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is examining a proposal for Channel 4 and the BBC to work more closely together.
Under the plan Channel 4 would receive a stake in the BBC's commercial arm, which sells its programmes and channels globally and is expanding aggressively around the world.
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News and Liberty complete DirectTV dealNews Corp has confirmed the completion of an approximate $11 billion deal that gives Liberty Media control of the DirecTV satellite television business. As part of the deal, Liberty has agreed to exchange the 16 per cent stake it had built up in News Corp for the company’s 41 per cent holding of DirecTV, three regional cable networks and $625 million in cash.
John Malone will become chairman of DirecTV.
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ITV has hired former BBC1 controller Peter Fincham to replace Simon Shaps as director of television. Fincham quit the BBC in the row over editing a programme trail in a misleading way. The company has also extended Michael Grade's reign as executive chairman by an extra year to the end of 2010.
Dawn Airey, the managing director of global content, and Rupert Howell, the managing director of brand and commercial, have been appointed to the company's board with immediate effect.
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Pakistan lifts YouTube banThe Pakistani government has lifted a national ban on visiting YouTube. Late last week, the country ordered Pakistani ISPs to block the video-sharing website because of content deemed offensive to Islam. But now the restrictions have been lifted after a national outcry.
The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority has told ISPs to allow access to the site; and Google, which owns YouTube, has since confirmed has been restored in Pakistan. The bar brought YouTube down in many other territories for several hours.
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Akimbo goes for B2BInternet video firm Akimbo, which initially positioned itself as a content aggregator, is now introducing a turnkey service aimed at content companies that want to deliver video-on-demand through their own web sites.
Akimbo is billing its new B2B product -- which includes a consumer programme guide, download manager, content-publishing system and advertising- and program-rights-management capabilities -- as a "complete Internet VOD solution," and it signed up male-focused online network MavTV as its first customer.
Akimbo president and CEO Thomas Frank -- who joined the company last March and previously served as chief operating officer of RealNetworks said the new B2B solution will leverage the existing technical infrastructure Akimbo developed when it was pursuing its own VOD service, while giving content companies a great deal of flexibility in how they present video on their websites.
In doing so, it will compete with Internet-video solutions from firms like Brightcove and, in part, thePlatform.
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Comstar-Direct HDTV serviceComstar-Direct’s Stream service, the largest broadband operator in Moscow, has launched a high-definition TV offering. The soft-launch of Stream’s HDTV offering will run till June 1. It currently offers four channels—Discovery HD, MelodyZen, Luxe TV and Voom HD—and a package of ten movies via VOD.
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Orange France, SFR roll out 3GFrance’s telecoms regulator Arcep has authorised domestic mobile operators Orange France and Societe Francaise de Radiotelephonie (SFR) to roll out 3G mobile technology using 900MHz band frequencies previously reserved for GSM services.
The move will enable the two companies to up their national 3G coverage to include virtually the entire French population. France’s third, and smallest, cellco by subscribers, Bouygues Telecom, did not submit a request to re-use the 900MHz spectrum.
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Star and GekTV will launch three Mandarin language Star channels on the US-based GekTV IPTV platform on 15 March 2008. The three channels are Star Chinese Channel - an entertainment channel in Taiwan, Channel V Taiwan - a music channel and Star Chinese Movies - dedicated to Hong Kong films. Star, a wholly owned subsidiary of News Corporation, broadcasts over 60 channels in 10 languages to 53 countries in Asia.
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Telekom Austria selects ADBAdvanced Digital Broadcast (ADB), has been selected to supply HD, Advanced Video Coding (AVC) ADB-3800W IPTV set-top boxes to Telekom Austria, the fixed network segment of Telekom Austria Group, for their IPTV television services. In addition to 82 TV programmes the IPTV television service includes Video-on-Demand, an electronic programme guide and information services, incorporating news, traffic information, and radio channels.
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Scaberia, Secustream partnership
Scaberia, an Oslo based International Technology Consultancy and Secustream Technologies, a new player in software based content protection systems over IP, have signed a long term business contract. Scaberia will assist Secustream in Strategy, Content, Sales, Marketing and Business Development related issued.
"Secustream is a new challenger in the market with an exciting concept of content protection over IP. Their independent security audit was very positive and I am pretty sure they will be a leading player in the industry in some time from now", says Frank Schmull, CEO Scaberia.
"The Scaberia team belongs to the pioneers of IPTV. They are in this market since the beginning and know so many of the different aspects and players in the entire industry from an end-to-end perspective. Scaberia’s major target is the convergence of technology and content and this is exactly what Secustream is aiming at.", stated Gisle Østereng, CEO Secustream Technologies.
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Thursday 28th February
Mobile TV must be free
DISH slow Q4
Bidding for Champions League
Korean DTV set for 2012
E335m leftover from TV switchover?
Zon can bid for DTT pay-TV channels
Eutelsat W3B satellite
Cedar deploys in Germany
Mobile TV must be freeConsumer research firm Parks Associates and entertainment technology think tank Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) have released a new study suggesting that content owners should offer more free content on mobile devices in order to aggressively promote movies and programming on traditional media. They say free content is essential to prime the pump for future premium offerings.
Parks notes that less than 10 per cent of Internet users are willing to purchase a digital movie download at current price points. The white paper exhorts Hollywood to use Apple’s tactics of offering bargain content in order to sell higher margin products for its own benefit – in this case, to drive consumers to new theatrical releases, TV programming, and eventually made-for-mobile programming, or 'mobisodes'.
"Many content owners have tried re-purposing TV and movie content on mobile and have largely been disappointed by the revenues on those platforms," said David Wertheimer, Executive Director of ETC. "While we believe wholeheartedly in 'Anytime/Anywhere' availability of content, we also know that these devices, when content is created specifically for them, can create opportunities for marketing and selling content elsewhere, especially now, while consumer habits are just taking shape."
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DISH slow Q4DISH Network said it added about 85,000 net new subscribers in the quarter, giving the company about 13.78 million subscribers at the close of December. In fourth quarter 2006, the company reported about 350,000 net new subscribers. CEO Charlie Ergen called fourth quarter results for the DBS service "disappointing," blaming sluggish economic conditions and intense competition for generating lackluster numbers during the three-month period.
DISH Network reported total revenue of $2.89 billion for the fourth quarter, a 12 percent increase compared to the $2.58 billion for the same period in 2006. Fourth quarter net income was $175 million, compared with $153 million for the same period in 2006.
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Bidding for Champions LeagueThe BBC is ready to challenge ITV and BSkyB for the right to broadcast Champions League football. Sports broadcaster Setanta is also expected to bid, but Virgin Media is thought unlikely to participate. Bids are due on March 12 and broadcasters predict that UEFA, European football’s governing body and the owner of the rights, will receive about £125 million (E168m) a year for the next three-year package, which begins in 2009. There may be several rounds of bidding and a final deadline has not been announced.
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Korean DTV set for 2012Korean broadcasters will stop transmitting analogue TV signals by December 31, 2012. A special committee on broadcasting and communication at the National Assembly approved a bill that confirmed the deadline. After the date, TV will only be transmitted via digital signals. The Ministry of Information and Communication and the Korean Broadcasting Commission first proposed the analogue transition in 2006.
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E335m leftover from TV switchover?UK MPs have warned that the government may have "massively overestimated" the number of people requiring financial help to make the switch to digital television, as a National Audit Office report claimed up to £250 million (E355m) in licence fee cash could be left over from the scheme.
The "targeted help" scheme is funded by the BBC through the licence fee, with £603 million ringfenced to help pay for elderly and disabled consumers to make the switch. Those over 75 or on disability allowance are eligible for practical and financial help in installing new equipment and upgrading their aerials, but only those in receipt of pension credit or income support escape a £40 fee.
The NAO said the charge may have contributed to a lower-than-expected number of consumers taking up the offer of help in Copeland, Cumbria, the first area in the UK to make the switch last year. While warning that it was too early to make definitive predictions, the NAO calculated that if this pattern was repeated on a national scale, £250 million would be left over from the £603 million ringfenced for the switchover scheme.
Zon can bid for DTT pay-TV channels
Zon Multimedia SGPS will be allowed to bid to operate pay-TV channels in Portugal's digital terrestrial television (DTT) tender if it does so as a minority stakeholder in a consortium, according to a director at telecoms regulator Anacom. According to the Anacom director, Zon has been excluded from bidding on its own for the pay-TV DTT tender as it has a dominant position in the market through its cable TV operation, but will be allowed to participate if it holds a minority stake in a bidding consortium.
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Eutelsat W3B satelliteEutelsat has confirmed that Thales Alenia Space has been commissioned to build the W3B satellite which will provide Eutelsat with significant new capacity for broadcasting, telecommunications and broadband services. These additional resources will enable Eutelsat to support the expansion of existing customers, notably broadcasters now launching their first HDTV channels, and will also bring fresh capacity to boost Eutelsat's resources in other regions.
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Cedar Point Communications, player in integrated Voice over IP (VoIP) switching technologies for service provider and enterprise telecommunications, has announced an expansion of its European footprint with an initial deployment in Germany with TKS Telepost Kabel-Service, a subsidiary of Kabel Deutschland. TKS Telepost Kabel-Service, a provider of English-language telecommunication services throughout Germany, has integrated Cedar Point’s Safari Multimedia Switching System at its cable headend at the US Airbase in Ramstein, for the delivery of voice services to the US Armed Forces in Ramstein and eleven other bases in Germany and Italy.
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Kangaroo jump for June
iPlayer dominating downloads
Sirius narrows loss
NBC DVR ads recall test
Cablevision returns to Rainbow sale?
ABC offers VOD to affiliates
Sky Italia gets Olympics
Intelsat for RTVT
NDS upgrade for HD
Kangaroo jump for June
The planned video-on-demand joint venture service from the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, is set for a June launch. The news leaked after the BBC asked DoubleClick, the online advertising technology provider, to ask its aency clients to attend a briefing.
ITV or Channel 4 will sell the ads for the venture that will act as a single destination for over 10,000 hours of content provided by the partners. One advertiser was quoted as saying, “our view is that these guys have the content to make this (ad-supported VOD service) work and that advertisers would be keen to become involved.”
Five’s head of digital media Jonathan Lewis said the broadcaster was still in discussions with the BBC, Channel 4 and ITV about joining the platform.
The broadcasters’ own VoD offerings, such as the BBC’s iPlayer, will continue to run in parallel to Kangaroo, which will focus on paid-for and ad-funded archived and original content.
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BBC iPlayer is already looking dominant in the UK download market. Traffic for ITV's broadband TV service has remained flat over the past two months, while the BBC's rival iPlayer offering has seen massive growth following a major marketing push.
ITV.com's video traffic hit a peak in November but has dropped off slightly since then. The simulcast and catch-up TV service, which officially launched in August, attracted around 2m views of full-length TV shows and clips in January, according to ITV's own figures. This is a fall of around 200,000 video views from the November peak. Full-length TV shows accounted for only around 40% - or 1m - of the total number of video views last month.
This compares with the BBC's iPlayer service which recorded 11m programmes streamed or downloaded in January.
The figures for December put ITV ahead of Channel 4's 4oD, which recorded 7.45m videos viewed, but fell far behind the 37.9m video streams that comScore recorded across all of the BBC's websites for the same month.
The BBC launched a major marketing offensive, featuring big names and using the strapline "Making the unmissable unmissable". In addition, the BBC iPlayer has benefited hugely from the fact that bbc.co.uk is already a massively popular online destination. Prior to the launch of the media player it had around 15 million monthly unique users, while ITV.com claims around 6 million. The BBC also has a hefty five-year budget of £131m (E175m) to develop the iPlayer, while ITV has spent just £20m on its media player and other online video initiatives.
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Sirius Satellite Radio says a surge in subs helped it narrow losses in Q4 to $166m down from $245m a year ago. It ended the quarter with 8.3m subs, up 2.3m on a year ago. This pushed revenue higher to $249.8m.
The company is still waiting for a regulatory ruling on its bid to buy larger rival XM Satellite Holdings. Chief Executive Mel Karmazin says Sirius made a "strong case" to regulators and "looks forward to a fast positive ruling from the government."
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NBC DVR ads recall testNBC is running tests to see what viewers remember even when they watch ads speeded up on their DVR. The bottom line seems to be viewers still remember the spots -- or at least some elements of them -- even when they're watching at up to six times the speed of live TV.
Tracking biometric measurements such as eye movements, heart rate and sweat, the study found that the ads people concentrated on the most and recalled the most shared several traits. The most successful ads concentrated the action and the brand's logo in the middle of the screen, didn't rely on multiple scene changes, audio or text to tell the an ad in fast-forward mode if they had seen it once before live.
NBC Universal President of Research Alan Wurtzel says the network commissioned the study to better understand why TV zappers still recalled ads, which many in the industry found counterintuitive. Part of the reason, it turns out, is that viewers speeding through ads are often paying more attention to the screen than live TV viewers, who listen for clues to turn back to the TV programme.
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Cablevision returns to Rainbow sale?
Cablevision has been working with Bear Stearns on ways to enhance shareholder value, including putting a value on its Rainbow Media unit ahead of a possible
sale. Talks to sell Rainbow were sidelined for months in the aftermath of the
Dolan family's failed attempt last year to take Cablevision private.
Rainbow Media, which includes cable networks AMC, IFC and We: Women's
Entertainment, has previously been valued at $2 billion to $4 billion. Suitors for the unit have included Liberty Media and News Corp.
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Disney-ABC Television Group announced a deal with its Affiliate Association that expands the network's ability to make content available on an on-demand basis through cable, DBS and Telco distributors. The agreement allows local affiliates to participate in the "fast-forwarding disabled" VOD offering through local advertising sales opportunities.
Additionally, this landmark agreement lifts ABC's re-purposing restrictions, allowing for expanded opportunities to re-purpose network programming at any time through this VOD arrangement, as well as through download services, including iTunes and Xbox, with whom ABC has current distribution deals.
"We remain focused on our consumers and finding innovative ways to make our
content more widely available to them; and we believe that this can be achieved by continuing to evolve the ways we work with our distribution and advertising partners," said Anne Sweeney, co-chair, Disney Media Networks, and president, Disney-ABC Television Group. "This new arrangement provides further proof of the dedication the network and our affiliates have to working together in unique and inventive ways to create new opportunities that build all of our businesses."
Under the new agreement, ABC will provide network programmes through a local
advertising- supported video-on-demand service in both owned and non-owned
station markets to cable, DBS, telco and landline operators who agree to disable the "fast-forwarding" capability. The number of commercials in the VOD episodes is still being determined, but will be less than the number featured during a live broadcast. Each broadcast affiliate will have the opportunity to insert one locally-sold, 30-second commercial spot within each half-hour of programming in those markets where ABC VOD is available.
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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced an agreement with
SKY Italia for the broadcast rights within Italy for the Vancouver 2010 and
London 2012 Olympic Games. SKY Italia acquired the rights across all broadcast platforms, including free-to-air television, subscription television, internet and mobile phone.
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Intelsat announced that Russian TV Times (RTVT) has signed a multi-year, multi-transponder agreement on the Intelsat system, expanding its programme offering into Europe. Through its contract on the Intelsat 12 satellite located at 45 degrees East, RTVT will provide up to 30 channels of Russian news, film and sports programming to the estimated six million strong Russian-speaking population of Europe. The channel line up of RTVT includes Feniks-Art, Bridge TV, Sarafan, Russkij Extreme, Travel Channel (UK), TV Centr International, ESPN Classic Europe and WorldMadeChannel.
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NDS upgrade for HD
NDS has announced the deployment of a new version of MediaHighway middleware that allows subscribers to upgrade standard HD boxes into digital video recorders. Subscribers to Canal+ and CanalSat in France can attach an external hard drive via USB on their existing HD set-top box to have a fully functional DVR facility. The MediaHighway middleware automatically detects the presence of an external hard drive.
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Tuesday 26th February
Virgin appeals Competition Commission report
FCC to OK DirecTV, Liberty deal
TNTSAT reaches 350,000 households
Japan launches Internet sat
Google ousts BBC for UK top brand spot
Pakistan bans YouTube
Motorola acquires Dahua Digital
SISLink and Intelsat to launch HD for SNG
SecureMedia for Vodafone Iceland IPTV
Virgin appeals Competition Commission report
Days after Sky appealed that the UK Competition Commission has gone too far in telling it to reduce its 18 per cent stake to below 7.5 per cent, Virgin has appealed on the grounds it doesn’t go far enough.
Virgin want Sky out of ITV altogether saying it believes Sky’s motivation in the deal was to stop Virgin’s takeover of ITV and to actively reduce competition, or the potential for competition, to itself.
Virgin says, in addition to competition issues, the deal reduced media plurality in particular in news, when taken in the context of Sky’s main shareholder News Corp, and its extensive newspaper interests.
"BSkyB's stake in ITV is exactly the kind of scenario that the media plurality provisions of the Enterprise Act 2003 were designed to address. This is the first time that these rules have been tested and Virgin Media believes the Competition Commission has made significant errors in interpreting and applying these rules. If not corrected, this error will undermine the future efficacy and objectives of the public interest regime set out in the Act," said Virgin.
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FCC to OK DirecTV, Liberty deal
The Federal Communications Commission is set to finally OK Liberty Media's purchase of a controlling stake in DirecTV. The Justice Department is also reviewing the deal. The deal, which was announced in December of 2006, has Liberty taking a majority stake in the satellite TV provider through a $12 billion asset swap with News Corp. Once complete, Liberty will have a 41 per cent stake in the satellite TV provider. News Corp will get a 19 per cent stake in Liberty as part of the agreement.
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TNTSAT reaches 350,000 households
SES Astra and French pay-TV group CANAL+ have revealed that the digital terrestrial free-TV offer TNTSAT has sold 350,000 receivers to French households. TNTSAT is a service for French TV viewers offering the whole range of terrestrial digital free-TV channels over the Astra satellites, and allowing a 100 per cent-coverage of the French territory.
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Japan launches Internet sat
Japan's space agency has launched an experimental communications satellite designed to enable super high-speed data transmission in remote areas. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) said it hoped to enable data transmission of up to 1.2 gigabits per second at a low cost across Japan and in 19 different locations in South-East Asia through the satellite. About 100 experiments will be conducted via the satellite, including a test broadcast of the next generation of high-definition television.
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Google ousts BBC for UK top brand spot
Internet giant Google has been rated the number one brand in the UK, according to a survey. The firm came top of the UK's top 500 brands, in an annual survey conducted by research firm Superbrands and based on the views of 1,500 professionals. Google, which replaced the BBC in the top spot, is the only firm in the top 50 to have been established after 1990. Microsoft ranked second, followed by BP and the BBC. The list aims to establish which brands have the best reputation.
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Pakistan bans YouTube
Pakistan's government has banned access to the video-clip website YouTube because of anti-Islamic movies posted on the site. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority told the country's 70 Internet service providers that the popular website would be blocked until further notice. The banning temporarily brought the site down in some other areas.
Pakistan is not the only country to have blocked access to YouTube. In January, a Turkish court ordered the site to be blocked on account of video clips that allegedly broke the law by insulting the country's founding father, Kemal Ataturk.
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Motorola acquires Dahua Digital
Communications equipment maker Motorola has acquired the assets of two Chinese firms in the digital cable set-top sector, as it seeks to expand its product range in China. Motorola has bought Zhejiang Dahua Digital Technology and Hangzhou Image Silicon, known collectively as Dahua Digital. It did not disclose financial details.
Dahua Digital is a privately held, developer, manufacturer, and marketer of cable set-top boxes and related low-cost integrated circuits for the emerging Chinese cable business. Simon Leung, president of Motorola Asia Pacific, commented: "130 million Chinese households currently subscribe to cable, and as customers make the transition from traditional analogue solutions to digital cable, digital cable subscriptions in China are expected to grow from 10 million in 2006 to over 165 million by 2016."
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SISLink and Intelsat to Launch HD for SNG
Intelsat and SISLink, t provider of satellite uplink services in Europe, have formed a strategic alliance to launch an HD-ready automated video delivery service for satellite newsgathering (SNG) users in the United States.
The strategic alliance will offer Intelsat uPod, a fully integrated broadcasting solution that will allow U.S. SNG operators to execute real-time broadcasting services more efficiently. The new service will blend Intelsat’s space and ground infrastructure with SISLink’s uPod system to support web-based scheduling and transmission of live standard and high definition video, as well as voice and Internet communications, between wherever news or sports events are unfolding throughout the continental United States.
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SecureMedia for Vodafone Iceland IPTV
SecureMedia, player in content protection software for secure video and multimedia delivery over IP networks, has confirmed that Vodafone Iceland has implemented and deployed the Encryptonite ONE System, protecting its next generation end-to-end IPTV offering. Vodafone Iceland offers mobile, fixed-line, FTTH and ADSL/ Internet services to individuals and companies throughout the country. Adding to this communication products suite, Vodafone Iceland's advanced IPTV service features an extensive video offering complete with customer personalization and interactivity.
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Monday 25th February
UK leans on ISPs over illegal downloads
Imagenio available to over 5m homes
News Corp raises stake in Premiere
Goldstone partners Synap for IPTV in Thailand
SkyLink launches mobile TV
CTV IPTV protected by SecureMedia
UK leans on ISPs over illegal downloadsThe UK government is to consult on legislation to punish Internet service providers if they fail to take action against the illegal downloading of music, films and TV programmes. The culture secretary, Andy Burnham, made the proposal as part of a strategy paper designed to support the UK's creative industries
The government has already said it wants to copy France’s ‘three strikes’ anti piracy rules and now wants to force ISPs to implement it. Illegal downloading legislation could be introduced by April next year. However, the government said it is still aiming to come to a voluntary agreement with ISPs on how to better protect the intellectual property of entertainment and media companies. Rights holders back the plan while ISPs point out it is impractical and, currently, illegal to investigate what customers are downloading.
Meantime the government is aiming to "make the UK a global leader in the arts, media and advertising" through initiatives including the creation of thousands of new apprenticeships and the launch of a Davos-style world creative business conference.
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Imagenio available to over 5m homes
From David Del Valle in Madrid
Telefonica's IPTV service Imagenio has been made available to a potential reach of more than 5 million homes in more than 565 cities throughout Spain with more than 10,000 inhabitants, according to the company. The service has surpassed the 500,000 subscriber mark and has plans to reach 1 million subs by the end of the year.Imagenio is currently marketing two packages: Imagenio Basico with 30 TV channels and Imagenio Familiar with 60 TV channels, along with 15 audio services, pay-per-view, VoD and some other interactive services. Under its Trio offer, the company is also offering the triple play.
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News Corp raises stake in PremiereNews Corp has increased its stake in German pay television operator Premiere to nearly 20 per cent. The company acquired an initial stake of 14.6 per cent in January from German cable operator Unity Media for $422.5 million in cash. Premiere has more than 4 million subscribers in Germany and Austria.
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Goldstone partners Synap for IPTV in ThailandSoftware services firm Goldstone has launched Internet protocol IPTV services in Thailand in partnership with Synap Media. The company has also signed IPTV distribution agreements for France, Belgium, Spain, Morocco and Malaysia. It offers IPTV services in India with state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.
"The focus for the IPTV services in Thailand would be on tourism and hospitality industry to leverage the growing travel by Indians to the South East Asian kingdom," Chairman Nandan Kundetkar said. It broadcasts 20 television channels along with movies in Hindi, English and several regional languages through the Internet and has its network operating centre in Thailand.
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SkyLink launches mobile TVThe Russian CDMA-450 operator SkyLink has launched a mobile TV service using content supplied by Sistema Mass Media (SMM). SkyLink confirmed five streaming channels are currently available: ‘Drive’, ‘Hunting and fishing’, ‘Retro TV’, ‘Healthy TV’ and ‘Usadba’.
SMM announced plans in June 2007 to invest $200 million to create its mobile TV network. The DVB-H network is expected to cover 16 cities with populations of over a million, plus the entire Moscow region. The firm expects to sign up 350,000 subscribers in the medium term.
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CTV IPTV protected by SecureMediaSecureMedia, provider of software for secure video and multimedia delivery over IP networks, has confirmed that that Panamanian telecommunications operator, CTV Telecom, has incorporated the Encryptonite ONE System to protect its IPTV offering, the first deployment in Central America. CTV has installed an advanced, optical fibre-based IPTV digital platform featuring triple play and more, first in Panama City and then expanding to additional regions in the future.
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