Satellite News

[otheitis]

Competition is ramping up in the French IPTV market, with two operators offering free access to Canal+ premium channels for short promotional periods.

IPTV penetration in France is world-leading, with some 5.6 million IPTV subscribers by October 2008. There are three major operators, Iliad’s Free, Neuf Cegetel and France Télécom’s Orange TV, the first two of whom plan the free Canal+ bouquet.

For two weeks, ending March 23, Free is letting all subscribers view the Canal+ bouquet of Canal+, Canal+ Sport, Canal+ Cinéma, Canal+ Décalé and Cinal+ family. From March 23 to April 2, Neuf Cegetel is mounting a similar offer.
© Rapid TV News 2009

[otheitis]

Satellite operator SES Astra’s Spanish market grew 14% last year for its digital services. This growth means that of 2.6 million Spanish homes using digital-satellite technology, 1.9 million got their signals from Astra.

The operator has a market share of 73% in Spain.

SES Astra is also a pioneer in the distribution of HD contents in Spain, through Sogecable's satellite pay TV operator Digital+. Also in Europe the company is leader in this market with nearly 70 HD channels on its fleet.

Finally SES Astra transports nearly 2,500 analogue, digital, radio stations and interactive services on its satellites.

© Rapid TV News 2009

[otheitis]

The Philippines will be adopting Europe’s digital transmission DVB standard for its future broadcasting needs. The decision, anticipated for some time, was confirmed by the nation’s second Technical Working Group (TWG), which further investigated the options available, and ratified the initial study which favoured DVB.

This latest investigation examined Japan’s ISDB standard as well as the USA’s Advanced Television Standard, but came down in favour of the DVB system with the primary reason being the low-cost availability of set-top converter boxes.

NTC Deputy Commissioner Jorge Sarmiento said the TWG also conducted a comparative analysis study on the adoption of either a “single standard” or an “open standard” policy, including the socio-economic aspects of such migration, comments from the broadcasting operators and the cost of the digital boxes.

But the recommendation has yet to be approved by the country’s NTC. “The commission is in the process of studying and deliberating on the different DTT standards that would be chosen for adoption in the country. When approved, the target date of the full implementation would be at the end of 2015,” said Sarmiento.

He added the NTC may move further the December 31, 2015, target date for the mandatory shifting of all analog broadcast to DTT technology. “The technical working group, which includes the NTC, is still not yet sure whether or not to implement on the scheduled date or postpone the 2015 deadline given the socio-economic impact of the implementation,” he said.

© Rapid TV News 2009

[otheitis]

The past few years have seen a number of bar owners prosecuted and fined for allegedly showing exclusive sports in their pubs and bars without paying royalties to the likes of BSkyB, Setanta and other rights-holders. A test case is now meandering towards the European Court of Justice (ECJ), and one expert says the case might make “uncomfortable reading” for Sky and other UK rights holders.

The case was transferred to the ECJ by the UK High Court. Trade publication BarKeeper says the case involves a number of British publicans demanding the right to use decoders and cards legitimately obtained and imported into the UK. The publicans argue that decoder cards legitimately purchased in Greece and imported by a distributor do not contravene European law that prevents pirated decoder cards being used to receive satellite TV signals illegally. They believe that under the EU’s free-trade laws, they should be allowed to import the decoders and cards from member states and the legal firm of Denton Wilde Sapte, representing a range of sporting bodies including the UK’s Premier League, believes that there’s a “strong possibility” that the outcome could destabilise BSkyB and Setanta’s right to demand payment for any coverage of Premier League matches in pubs in the UK.

This, say the lawyers, would have disastrous implications for the Premier League’s income from the satellite broadcasters. Any such ECJ and UK High Court finding in favour of the publicans would represent a direct challenge to the licensing of media rights on a territory-by-territory basis and to the willingness of pay-TV operators to pay handsomely for exclusive rights within their markets, commented Alex Haffner, a senior associate with Denton Wilde Sapte.

The Premier League has argued that an ECJ result against this practice would destabilise the market and disadvantage consumers.

For the UK’s publicans, however, a positive result would save them £9,000 a year. “We are watching this case with great interest,” VFI Chief Executive Padraig Cribben, told the trade publication. “However I think a hearing date of this summer might be optimistic. Sky is currently a massive cost to publicans and the return becomes more questionable all the time. The cost has been escalating at a time when the offering is reducing and sterling is working significantly in Sky’s favour. Our discussions with Sky to date have been less than encouraging,” he added, “A successful case in Europe would be of significant benefit.”

The Licensed Victuallers Association (which represents publicans) in Ireland is also watching this case with great interest as it has clear implications for the Irish market also, according to LVA Chief Executive Donall O’Keeffe.

© Rapid TV News 2009

[otheitis]

India public broadcaster Doordarshan says it will carry the 2010 Commonwealth Games in HD. The Commonwealth Games broadcasting rules require that the host broadcaster produce an international broadcast feed in HD.

New Delhi, India’s capital city, is the host for the Games (Oct 3-14, 2010) and is reportedly upgrading and modernising its equipment and will be able to relay HD signals to its own citizens and the outside world. Doordarshan’s Chief Engineer R R Prasad said: “The existing technology at Prasar Bharati is being upgraded. DD is also trying to put at least one high-definition (HD) channel on its DTH (satellite) service to enable screening of the Games.”

But the public broadcaster is on a tight timetable. With barely 18 months to go before the event, Doordarshan is only now considering upgrading its analogue transmitters, and obtaining quotes for an upgrade. New HD studios in Delhi and Mumbai are planned along with improved facilities in Chennai and Kolkata.

© Rapid TV News 2009

[otheitis]

Italy’s Mediaset will continue to invest in pay-TV as part of a two-pronged strategy which has free TV as the “core” business but pay-TV as a strategic asset for the future.

Mediaset Premium, the company’s pay-DTT offering, saw revenues rise 79% in 2008, to reach €404 million. During the year, the number of active cards rose from 2.1 million to 2.8 million, rising further to reach 3.225 million by mid-March.

New deals have been signed for soccer rights, with the Europa League (formerly the UEFA Cup) due to join the platform as well as new motor racing, including Grand Prix, coverage. Mediaset also plans an expansion of Premium’s pay-per-view movie offering to help it compete against News Corp’s Sky Italia. To date, over €1.7 billion has been invested in Mediaset’s digital-terrestrial service.

Breakeven for the pay-TV platform is set for 2010, with average revenue per user (ARPU) forecast to rise to €100 by that year. ARPU was up in 2008 to €80 from 2007’s €60.

Overall, Mediaset saw group profit fall 9.4% to €459 million on revenues up a meagre 4.2% to €4.251 billion.

© Rapid TV News 2009

[otheitis]

Factual broadcaster Discovery Communications has accused Amazon of infringing patents Discovery holds on electronic book technology. The lawsuit claims that the original Kindle, as well as version 2 released in late February, infringes on technology developed by Discovery founder John S. Hendricks, who with two others, received a patent for the invention on November 20 2007.

The technology provides a "secure, encrypted system for the selection, transmission, and sale of electronic books," says Discovery. The company says it, and John Hendricks were significant players in the development of digital content and delivery services in the 1990s. Hendricks' work included inventions of a secure, encrypted system for the selection, transmission, and sale of electronic books. Fellow patent-holders are Michael Asmussen and John McCoskey.

Joseph A. LaSala, Jr., General Counsel of Discovery Communications, said: "The Kindle and Kindle 2 are important and popular content delivery systems. We believe they infringe our intellectual property rights, and that we are entitled to fair compensation. Legal action is not something Discovery takes lightly. Our tradition as an inventive company has produced considerable intellectual property assets for our shareholders, and today's infringement litigation is part of our effort to protect and defend those assets."

Hendricks’ patent (No. 7,298,851) is owned by Discovery, and the broadcaster is asking the US District Court in Delaware for a jury trial.

The technology behind the 55-page patent seems comprehensive, right down to an EPG offering options such as “books you can order” and the supplying assorted themes (History, Romance, Business, etc) as well as listing “Books in your library” with “next shelf” and “previous shelf” options.

Discovery says it does not want Amazon to stop selling the Kindle, but is seeking damages, legal fees and an ongoing licensing deal.

© Rapid TV News 2009

[otheitis]

Cologne-based public broadcaster WDR has started test transmissions on the Eins Festival HD transponder on Astra at 19.2 degrees East.
The Westdeutscher Rundfunk had earlier said it would launch test transmissions in order to prepare for regular broadcasts. For the past year the Eins Festival HD transponder has been used for special HD showcase presentations first during the IFA exposition in Berlin and last Christmas.
At the moment, the German language HD offer on Astra is limited to the free-to-air channels Luxe.tv HD and Annixe HD and the two premium channels Discovery HD and Premiere HD. In the past few days there has been some speculation that ProSiebenSat.1 would resume HD broadcasts and that RTL is also contemplating launching HD; but so far there has been no official word from either of the broadcasters.

[otheitis]

The Czech and Slovak pre-pay DTH platform Sky Link is to boost its HD offer.
Digizone reports, quoting unconfirmed sources, that it will introduce Discovery HD, FilmBox HD and History Channel HD on April 1, with testing likely to start a few days earlier.
It already offers Brava HD and Eurosport HD in both countries, along with Nova HD in the Czech Republic.
Sky Link claims a combined total of more than 500,000 customers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

[otheitis]

Tough times for RCS/RDS


By Chris Dziadul | March 19, 2009 | 08:10 UK

Problems appear to be mounting at RCS/RDS, the operator of both Romania’s largest cable network and DTH platform.

ZF reports that a number of leading executives have left the company in recent months, some of them to work at rival companies such as UPC and Romtelecom.

These have recently restructured their businesses and now pose far greater threats to RCS/RDS than previously.

The latest person to leave RCS/RDS is Ovidiu Ghiman, one of the 15 most important people in the company, who has joined Romtelecom.

RCS/RDS has also just suffered a blow in neighbouring Hungary, where it was competing for the fourth mobile licence, the tender for which has been cancelled.

[otheitis]

Owing to the current judicial procedures launched by Canal+ Group and competing telcos, France Télécom’s commercial brand Orange announced that it could suspend the sale of its new channel Orange Sport.

This option follows the decision in February of the Paris Court of Commerce asking France Télécom to stop tying the subscription of Orange Sport to the sale of a triple-play offer before March 24. The action was initiated by competitors Free and SFR.
Orange has appealed the judgement but needs to make a choice before next Tuesday, March 24.

Two other options are being studied by Orange : to pay the €50,000 daily fee or broadcast Orange Sport via satellite.

Should the company decide to expand distribution, while Orange may lose out in terms of exclusivity, it could sign up more subs to the channel, which as with all sports channels, is expensive to run.

© Rapid TV News 2009

[otheitis]

Global satellite provider Intelsat reported an impressive set of revenue numbers for its Q4 and full-year (to Dec 31 2008) results.

Intelsat reported revenue of $608.8m ($575m in same period last year) and a net loss of $524.2m (loss of $2.57m) for its Q4 ended December 31, 2008. The net loss includes non-cash charges of $326.8m for orbital location impairments and $186.6m for a loss on undesignated interest rate swaps. The company’s EBITDA was a loss of $71.1m

Intelsat’s full-year revenues were $2,364.9m ($2,174m for 2008), which translated into a net loss of $1,198.2m (loss of $886m for 2008).

Making financial sense of Intelsat’s year-on-year position is not easy given that it has gone through a complex financial restructuring over the past two years, and also absorbed PanAmSat during the same period.

Intelsat’s system average fill rate on its approximately 2,125 station-kept transponders remained at 83% at December 31, 2008, the same rate as at September 30, 2008. In Q4, 19 net new transponders were put into service.

Intelsat announced several new launch contracts and its intent to accelerate the build and launch of 3 satellites, increasing the current number of satellites in development to 10, including the New Dawn satellite announced in December 2008.

Included in the 2009 launch program is the Intelsat 14 satellite that will feature a government-related hosted payload known as the Internet Router in Space, or IRIS. The Intelsat 15 satellite is also expected to launch in 2009.

© Rapid TV News 2009

[otheitis]

Eutelsat is helping promote 3D at an upcoming Italian conference. The complete end-to-end 3D broadcasting chain will be showcased at the Sat Expo Europe show in Rome from March 19-21 using capacity on Eutelsat's Eurobird 3 satellite.

For the broadcast, a live 3D music performance is being filmed, transmitted and projected in stereo 3D-HD onto a cinema screen and prototype 3D-HD television sets.

Organised by Eutelsat, OpenSky and dBW, the demonstration is reproducing in full the conditions of a live 3D event. The three-dimensional shooting and production is managed by dBW, a Rome-based production company, while OpenSky, which specialises in transmitting digital content via satellite is managing the encoding, decoding and projection.

The three companies have also agreed to combine their resources and expertise in order to be able to provide end-to-end 3D services in Europe, from filming to playout.

The full-scale Rome 3D demo is, says Eutelsat, “a prelude to a radically new way of experiencing cinema and television content. In addition to enabling an audience to share the same level of sensation as in a theatre for a live performance, stereo 3D-HD has the potential to enrich the entertainment offer in cinemas and theatres and transform them into innovative multimedia entertainment centres delivering premium content.”

Eurobird 9A satellite has been transmitting a test 3D channel over the last three months as a test-bed to analyse the performance of screens, encoders and decoders, and to gather experience on the use of 3D content in the home and public locations.

Giuliano Berretta, Eutelsat CEO said: "This new step towards 3D broadcasting continues Eutelsat's longstanding commitment to innovation that opens satellites to a new generation of applications. Early and close collaboration between all actors in the broadcasting chain will be a key success factor for this new broadcasting revolution and we are very pleased to be taking part in the first tests and end-to-end demonstrations in Europe".

© Rapid TV News 2009

[otheitis]

US internet television platform Joost has launched a German-language offer. Thirteen media partners such as Suddeutsche Zeitung TV and Welt der Wunder will deliver several hundred hours of German-language content for the service’s debut.
Feature films such as Rush Hour, American History X, Blade and Mr Nice Guy will also be available free of charge in the dubbed German version at www.joost.com.

“We are speaking with all large media companies in the world. Germany is no exception,” Joost CEO Mike Volpi told German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. “We’re starting with smaller content providers and have to thereby prove to the big ones that we are a valuable partner. I hope that we can then also get their content.”

Joost plans to finance through advertising screened before the videos are played. The advertising revenue is shared between Joost and content providers. The web portal, which was launched in May 2007, is backed by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, the founders of internet telephony service Skype and peer-to-peer file sharing platform KaZaA.

© Rapid TV News 2009

[otheitis]

Strenghtening its presence in South East Asia, European news channel Euronews has launched in Indonesia and in the Philippines, where it is respectively carried on Telkomvision and digital cable network Skycable.

Available in English in both countries, Euronews was added to the Indonesian offer in Bali and Jakarta, before further development. Broadcast through the basic offer in the Philippines, the channel is now received into 170,000 new homes including Manila. This agreement with Skycable is the first in this country, which has a potential of more than 9 million TV homes.

In Oceania, Euronews is also broadcast now in Papua New Guinea through the Hitron network digital package.

With the new carriage agreements in the Philippines, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, Euronews now reaches nearly four million homes in Asia and Oceania.

© Rapid TV News 2009