Satellite News

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The Polish DTH platform Cyfrowy Polsat is making its offer available free of charge for a period of up to six months.

Subscribers who sign a 29-month contract to receive its Mini Max package will be able to receive it free of charge for six months, while those who commit to 24 months will have the first three months free of charge.

The latter will also be available to those opting for a 29-month contract for the Family, HBO, Relax Mix, Relax Mix+HBO, Super Film and HD packages, while signing a 13-month contract for the Family and more comprehensive packages will guarantee one month free of charge.

Digital decoders are being made available to buy for PLN99 (€21.4) or PLN79 for the duration of the contract, while HD decoders cost PLN199 (PLN99) and those with a hard disk PLN499 (PLN199).

The news comes as alongside reports that Cyfrowy Polsat gained more subscribers in January than 12 months earlier. However, no exact figure has been made available.

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Fault hits 90,000 Sky+ HD boxes

Up to 90,000 Sky+ HD boxes are to be replaced after a manufacturing fault was identified in a batch of units manufactured by Pace, it has been confirmed.

The problem first came to light on Digital Spy on Wednesday, when some Sky customers reported being called by the pay TV operator and advised of a fault that could impact the long term performance of their Sky+ HD box.

When contacted by Digital Spy for comment, Sky's high definition team posted on the forum: "Pace has told us about a manufacturing fault that can affect around 90,000 of the first boxes supplied by Pace. The fault was resolved in Paceʼs subsequent supplies of boxes.

"To be 100% clear, itʼs nothing to with a faulty component; the problem relates to the way that some of the boxes were assembled. It doesnʼt raise a safety risk or prevent them from being used as normal until we exchange them, but in the longer term it could lead to the failure of the box.

"Weʼre proud of our Sky+HD product and weʼre not happy about customers having boxes that donʼt meet our quality standards. So we want to swap all of the boxes in this batch.

"We started calling the affected customers earlier this week to fix an appointment for one of our engineers to come and install a free replacement box. Because of the number of boxes, it will take us about three months to contact everyone, so there is no need to be concerned if we havenʼt called you already. The box can continue to be used as normal until we come to replace it.

"To make up for any inconvenience, we will give all affected customers three monthsʼ free subscription to our HD pack (worth £29.25) when we replace their box."

Further details about the precise nature of the fault have not been released.

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German commercial broadcaster RTL wants to transmit its channels via DTT in Stuttgart from mid-2009. As well as free-to-air channels RTL, RTL II, VOX and Super RTL, the package will include pay-TV services Passion and RTL Crime, marking the first time pay-TV channels will be available via DTT in Germany.

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Teletext is to cut up to 16 jobs after turning over some editorial and administrative functions to the Press Association.

The company said that the cuts will be made following a "review of editorial costs and efficiencies" as it prepares "for a digital-only future".

PA will produce Teletext's entertainment pages and handle viewer enquiries that are currently handled by duty editors.

"In the current economic climate we have to ensure that we are delivering editorial services in as efficient a way as possible and these changes will expand our existing relationship with the Press Association, while retaining other external specialists to keep the distinctive character of our various entertainment magazines," said Teletext editor-in-chief John Sage.

Last month, Ofcom questioned the need for a public service teletext licence beyond 2014, and permitted Teletext to dramatically cut the number of national and regional news pages it publishes

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Parent company Viacom sees 69% loss
Can Paramount's upcoming film slate push Viacom's profits up?
Viacom, the owners of MTV, Paramount Pictures and the Rock Band franchise, has announced a massive 69 per cent loss in profits.
The loss is being put down to redundancy payouts – 880 jobs were cut in December – and a write-down of assets.
The loss equates to a $387 million year-on-year, with profits down to $173 million (£120 million) from $560 million (£350 million) the same time in 2008.
Poor DVD sales
Viacom is putting the profit slump down to a decline in advertising and a slowing of DVD sales, with Viacom President Philippe Dauman saying the company's fourth-quarter results "reflect the realities of a challenging economy."
In 2008, the company had successful DVD releases of Iron Man, Kung Fu Panda, and Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull, but still saw a 6 per cent dip in the home entertainment market.
There was some good news regarding the cinema revenue. Paramount saw 28 per cent jump in revenues to $350 million (£240 million). The company is hoping that its 2009 film slate will also perk things up – with the likes of Star Trek, Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen and "GI Joe all coming out this year.

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TVN24 has plans to use a virtual studio in mid-March 2009 which would appear in some programmes, such as the "Political Scanner". This will allow to diversify the set. Next step for TVN24, also planned for March, is the introduction of 16/9 picture format.


TVN24 singnal in 16/9 format is already available on Hot Bird 7A (13E) satellite, it is encoded in Conax CAS7.


Technical parameters:

Hot Bird 7A (13°E)
tp. 10 (11,393 GHz, pol. V, SR: 27500, FEC: 3/4, DVB-S)

ID: Test
PID V: 522
PID A: 750
PID PCR: 146
SID: 4321

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Two channels should appear soon in Poland - Funspot and Mood Channel. Program company will distribute these channels. Program has recently signed a contract with Accedo Broadband, a provider of interactive content to approximately 4 million IPTV customers in 25 countries worldwide.


Funspot is a channel with interactive games, available in several categories: puzzle, quiz, arcade, logical games, strategy, cards - a total of more than 100 titles. Most of these games are offered in HD quality. Mood Channel is a library of live pictures in Full HD.