Iranian police seize sat-dishes
Police in the town of Natanz in Esfahan Province, Iraq, have confiscated satellite dishes and equipment.
BBC Monitoring, in a report sourced from Iranian TV, said some 200 dishes and reception equipment were seized by police from Barzud Base in the town of Natanz. The BBC reports that video shown on state-run TV showed “hundreds of dishes” scattered on a pavement.
© Rapid TV News 2009
Bravia TV sets to take e-cash payments
Bravia TV sets to take e-cash payments
RFID readers embedded in remote control handsets
The new Bravias can suck e-money off a mobile phone
Using a TV for surfing the web has always been pretty much a bust, but the imminent rise of downloads direct to TV sets looks a sure bet for online media success in the living room.
The only problem might be how to pay for movies rented through that channel. Typing credit card numbers in through a remote just isn't going to appeal to folk, while subscription packages won't suit everyone.
RFID the key
Over in Japan, Sony already has a possible answer in the shape of a range of new Bravia TV sets with remote controllers that can process e-cash payments.
The KDL-series Bravias will go on sale in Japan in April complete with RFID FeliCa chip readers embedded in the remotes. Thanks to the popularity of RFID cash in Japan – whether in phones or in standalone cards – the Bravia models could prove tempting.
Next steps
So far, Sony has managed to get two e-cash providers onboard, but the rest are sure to follow.
Once that happens, selling and paying for just about anything through the TV will become as natural as flipping channels.
RTR-Planeta expected to resume broadcasting in Taj
RTR-Planeta expected to resume broadcasting in Tajikistan soon
The administration of the All-Russia State Television and Radio Company (VGTRK), which owns the RTR-Planeta Channel, has agreed to a 50 percent increase in the fee paid to Tajikistan’s open joint-stock company Teleradiocom for technical services, the Teleradiocom director general Suhrob Aliyev said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
According to him, they have received a letter from the VGTRK administration, in which they say that thy have considered Teleradiocom’s request for increasing the technical service fees by 50 percent and are ready to sign a broadcasting contract for 2009. “Today, we are sending a letter to them, asking to send the signed contract as soon as possible in order to resume broadcasting,” Aliyev said.
Teleradiocom terminated RTR-Planeta broadcasting in the country on 2 March because of lack of a broadcasting contract for this year. RTR-Planeta is an international 24-hour general channel in Russian available throughout the world via cable and satellite.
Swedish media giant announces merger of Bulgaria b
Swedish media company Modern Times Group will merge its broadcasting assets in Bulgaria into a single entity. In a press release, the company said it has reached agreement with Apace Media Plc to merge part-owned Balkan Media Group Limited into Modern Times Group subsidiary Nova Televizia. The Swedish company has owned 50% of Balkan Media, with Apace holding the remainder, since March 2007 and completed the 100% acquisition of Nova Televizia in October 2008.
“This change will substantially simplify the ownership structure of our operations in Bulgaria and is in line with our overall media house strategy,” Modern Times chief executive Hans-Holger Albrecht said.
Following the non-cash transaction, Modern Times will own 95% of the enlarged Nova Televizia group and will continue to fully consolidate the results of the combined operations, the company said, while Apace will own 5% of the merged entity.
The assets being transferred from Balkan Media include Diema, Diema Family, Diema 2 and MM channels in Bulgaria, as well as Albanian language channel ERA TV in Macedonia. Nova Televizia operates the Nova TV channel, which is Bulgaria’s second most watched television station.
France: GlobeCast launches African satellite TV se
Text of press release by Paris-based satellite network provider
GlobeCast has announced that its African DTH [direct-to-home] platform has successfully started transmissions on SES Astra’s Astra 4A (Sirius 4) satellite. African broadcaster VoxAfrica is one of the first channels to sign up for the new platform which provides sub-Saharan Africa’s widest and most powerful coverage.
VoxAfrica called on GlobeCast to provide capacity and distribution its programming to Africa. The new platform on Astra 4A, located at 5 East is the first Ku-band DTH platform with coverage over sub-Saharan Africa, providing broadcasters with the opportunity to reach households across the continent.
GlobeCast has contracted one transponder on the satellite that facilitates uplink from Europe and is compliant to distribute services to IPTV or terrestrial network head-ends.
The new platform, which is an alternative to the pay TV bouquets in sub-Saharan Africa, responds to a strong demand for free-to-air Ku-band coverage of this crucial region. Several African broadcasters are already in contact with GlobeCast to secure positions in this coveted space and extend their audience to 56 African countries.
Malaysian government ‘may pay most digital costs’
The Malaysian government has said it may be able to subsidise the bulk of the cost of switching to digital broadcasting, the New Straits Times reports.
Information Ministry Secretary-General Kamaruddin Siaraf said yesterday that viewers in Malaysia would not face the burden of paying more for digital transmissions if the government assumed responsibility for the system. “If the ministry is allowed to take the lead, we may subsidise the bulk of it, which would be the cost of replacing the transmitters.”
He was commenting on a statement by Abdul Rahman Ahmad, CEO of Malaysia’s biggest media company, Media Prima Berhad, that the industry cost of converting from analogue to digital could exceed US$270 million. Although Media Prima welcomed the proposal to switch to digital broadcasting, it expressed concern about the extra cost to the people and the industry.
Consumers are required only to purchase a set-up box to be fitted to television sets to receive digital signals once the digital system is in place in 2012. “We estimate that the set-up box will cost between RM300 (US$80) and RM500 (US$135) and that it would be a one-off purchase with no monthly charges,” Mr Kamaruddin said.
Next generation of Freeview unveiled
Next generation of Freeview unveiled
Monday, March 9 2009,
Specifications for the next generation of Freeview have been published by the Digital TV Group, the UK's industry association for digital TV.
The new book of specifications takes into account plans to launch HD services as part of a development plan that uses the new DVB-T2 transmission standard and MPEG-4 compression to increase the digital terrestrial platform's capacity. It specifies HD standards for subtitles and interactive services, adds an automatic rescan function so that consumers do not have to manually retune boxes to receive new services, and also introduces a broadband return path to enable two-way interactivity.
"The launch of HD services on Freeview is a landmark in UK broadcasting and I am intensely proud of the role the DTG and its membership are playing," said Richard Lindsay-Davies, director general of the DTG. "The DTG was established by the industry over a decade ago to protect consumers and safeguard the reputations of distribution platforms and receiver manufacturers.
“This has been achieved by defining the detailed interoperability specification for UK DTT, and by the development and implementation of test specifications and test regimes to measure product conformance against brand requirements. I am delighted that the expertise we have gained creating the robust open standards that have helped Freeview reach 65% of UK homes can now be applied to DVB-T2 services, which will offer four channels of free-to-air HD programming and firmly establishing the UK as a world leader in DTT services. "
Lindsay-Davies added that the new specification would "ensure that Freeview HD receivers will meet levels of compliance achieved previously only on vertical or lower volume proprietary tandard platforms".
Sky proposes to develop C4 pay channels
Sky proposes to develop C4 pay channels
Monday, March 9 2009,
Sky has issued a stinging rebuke to Channel 4's claims that its funding model is fundamentally broken and said it is disappointed that the Government has not considered the multichannel sector's contributions to public service broadcasting.
In a submission responding to communications minister Lord Carter's suggestion that a second public service broadcaster be formed around the core of Channel 4, Sky said that the channel's model is not broken because despite the advertising downturn, "Channel 4 has a strong balance sheet and has accumulated sufficient financial reserves to see it through the current recession".
Sky criticised Channel 4's decision to invest in "unprofitable non-core commercial activities", of which it said "most... have been poor any any reasonable standard, and would not have been allowed to proceed in an organisation with a more disciplined financial ethos". It said Channel 4 had accumulated losses of £270m over the last ten years from these investments, which include the now-axed plans to launch digital radio services.
It called on Channel 4 to come up with its own proposals for "self-help" and suggested that it spend some of its cash reserves, eliminate loss-making commercial ventures and rebalance its programme spend away from US imports and redirect the funds to UK production.
Sky also said that Channel 4 needed to diversify its revenue source out of a complete reliance on advertising.
"Channel 4's decision to exit from subscription channels in 2004, when it declined to renew carriage agreements with Sky and other pay TV retailers for its E4 and FilmFour channels, was a strategic mistake that has left it more exposed in the current downturn," it asserted. "Based on our experience of supporting third party channel partners, we would be prepared to work with Channel 4 to create a profitable suite of pay channels that will complement and provide financial support to its core free-to-air public service network."
Sky said that the government should take into account its £1bn investment in UK programme production across its channels and the £300m it pumps into joint-venture channels with A&E, Discovery, Nickelodeon and Disney.
"Given this track record, we are surprised that there has been very little consideration of the potential opportunities that pay television affords by Ofcom and Government in the wider policy debate about the future funding of public service content," Sky said
