Satellite News

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Chris Forrester 22-02-2009

According to local reports Russia’s anti-monopoly office has forbidden a plan which would have seen Disney link with Media-One Holdings to create a national, free-to-air, channel across the nation

Russian officials say the plan has been blocked because of “false” and inaccurate data from the companies backing the venture. "The documents, presented to the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service of Russia, included false information," the agency said. "The anti-monopoly body takes the decision to refuse applications if the relevant information they contain turns out to be false," the agency added in its statement.

In December Disney said the new network would have launched later this year and carried Disney and locally-produced content. Additionally Disney would have benefited from the licensing and merchandising of its products as well as a rise in brand awareness.

© Rapid TV News 2009

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Rose Major 22-02-2009

Four major one-off costs in its fiscal half-year, plus investment in a high definition service, have hit the bottom line of News Corp-backed Sky TV New Zealand. But the company claims it is otherwise buoyant.

Net profit after tax for the six months to Dec 31 2008 was NZ$42.6 million a decreased of 16.7% on the previous year. As well as the one-off operating costs, Sky NZ also conceded advertising revenues at its free-to-air channel Prime were down considerably, dropping 11.9% to NZ$12.6 million.

Operating costs increased by 14.6% to NZ$261.9 million. Contributing factors were the marketing costs associated with the launch of the high definition platform, MySkyHDi in July 2008; coverage of the Rugby League World Cup in November 2008; an expensive new talent show, the NZ$4 million New Zealand’s Got Talent on Sky’s free-to-air channel Prime which aired during the Olympics to try to shore up Prime’s viewership against TVNZ; and the All Black rugby team’s tour of the Northern Hemisphere.

But the extra costs seem to have helped, with the higher operating costs also partially attributable to increased subscriber numbers and promotional discounts given for new subscriber installs. Sky added 10,493 new subs in the half-year to reach 759,069, compared with a net gain of 9,708 for the comparable period. The period after the reporting date has been even more positive, the company said, with 11,703 additional subs as of Feb 12, compared with 6,798 over the same period last year.

The investment in the HD platform also seems to be paying off, with 51,482 new MySkyHDi subs at the end of 2008, with a “significant number” migrating from the standard-def platform.

Total revenue increased by NZ$17.6 million to NZ$346.3 million.
© Rapid TV News 2009

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Four major one-off costs in its fiscal half-year, plus investment in a high definition service, have hit the bottom line of News Corp-backed Sky TV New Zealand. But the company claims it is otherwise buoyant.


Net profit after tax for the six months to Dec 31 2008 was NZ$42.6 million a decreased of 16.7% on the previous year. As well as the one-off operating costs, Sky NZ also conceded advertising revenues at its free-to-air channel Prime were down considerably, dropping 11.9% to NZ$12.6 million.

Operating costs increased by 14.6% to NZ$261.9 million. Contributing factors were the marketing costs associated with the launch of the high definition platform, MySkyHDi in July 2008; coverage of the Rugby League World Cup in November 2008; an expensive new talent show, the NZ$4 million New Zealand’s Got Talent on Sky’s free-to-air channel Prime which aired during the Olympics to try to shore up Prime’s viewership against TVNZ; and the All Black rugby team’s tour of the Northern Hemisphere.

But the extra costs seem to have helped, with the higher operating costs also partially attributable to increased subscriber numbers and promotional discounts given for new subscriber installs. Sky added 10,493 new subs in the half-year to reach 759,069, compared with a net gain of 9,708 for the comparable period. The period after the reporting date has been even more positive, the company said, with 11,703 additional subs as of Feb 12, compared with 6,798 over the same period last year.

The investment in the HD platform also seems to be paying off, with 51,482 new MySkyHDi subs at the end of 2008, with a “significant number” migrating from the standard-def platform.

Total revenue increased by NZ$17.6 million to NZ$346.3 million.
© Rapid TV News 2009

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Spanish mobile TV platform ‘Digital+ móvil’ has added 5 channels from Chellomedia. Odisea, Canal Cocina, Decasa, Historia, and Bio are the new services.
Odisea broadcasts factual programming, Cocina handles cookery, Decasa looks after the home and well-being, while Historia and Bio are j-v channels with A&E Television Networks.

Eduardo Zulueta, MD at Chello Multicanal, said: “This deal is great news for Digital+ mobile viewers, who will now be able to access an even broader genre of TV channels via their mobile devices. The strategic utilization of new technologies to meet consumer needs is of importance to our growth. We are delighted by the confidence shown in our portfolio by Digital+móvil.”

Chello’s channels are also available on Spanish mobile phones services from Vodafone and Movistar.

Chello Multicanal operates 8 channels in Spain and Portugal, and is part of the European content division of Liberty Global.

© Rapid TV News 2009

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Middle East pay-TV operator Showtime Arabia has added BBC Prime, the BBC’s main entertainment-based service, effective March 1. BBC Prime is also available on the Orbit platform.


Showtime Arabia will include the channel as part of its basic tier. The channel from BBC Worldwide provides audiences with a diverse mix of the very best programming from both the BBC and independent producers in the UK.

BBC Prime, a 24 hour channel, will be available free of charge to all Showtime Family, Movies, Premier and Platinum subscribers, presenting a mix of entertainment shows from award-winning comedies and dramas to ground-breaking documentaries and lifestyle series offering ideas on cooking, fashion, gardening and interior design.

The channel says it opens a window to a wider world with its wealth of BBC natural history and documentary programming and is the home of the UK's most talked-about dramas such as Eastenders, Spooks and Waking the Dead, plus perennial comedy favourites and offbeat smash hits, including Absolutely Fabulous and Little Britain.

Marc Antoine d'Halluin President and CEO of Showtime Arabia said, “We are very happy to extend our relationship with BBC Worldwide by offering BBC Prime to our subscribers. The new channel will complement the wide range of British must-see programming available on Showtime including Sky News, BBC Lifestyle, and the full and exclusive coverage of the English Premier League.”

© Rapid TV News 2009

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MTV Networks is launching a version of its children’s channel Nick (Nickelodeon in international markets) for viewers in German-speaking Switzerland.


Nick Schweiz (Nick Switzerland) will be available daily from April 1 between 05:00 and 20:15 CET on the broadcast slot of music channel VIVA Schweiz. With internationally successful series such as SpongeBob SquarePants, Avatar and Dora The Explorer along with Swiss in-house productions like NICKerbocker, the channel targets children aged between 3 and 14 years.

With the move, MTV Networks aims to establish the first children’s channel in Switzerland. Until now only the German version of Nick was available, screened each morning on MTV Deutschland’s broadcast slot on Swiss cable networks. By moving NICK from MTV to VIVA, MTV will again be available 24 hours per day in Switzerland. At the same time, MTV will be localised by adding programmes produced for the domestic Swiss audience. Until now, MTV and Nick only offered advertising windows in Switzerland, but no tailor-made content for Swiss viewers.

MTV Schweiz and Nick Schweiz/VIVA Schweiz are available in analogue and digital on the networks of the largest Swiss cable company Cablecom as well as on smaller cable networks. Advertising slots are marketed by IP Multimedia Schweiz.

© Rapid TV News 2009

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London’s Financial Times uses an old slogan from the (then) News Corp-owned conditional access supplier NDS: “Staying in is the new going out,” as the headline to a generally upbeat story about BSkyB. But there is some caution in the piece.


The FT says of Sky: “In spite of charging almost £50 a month for a full package of channels, the satellite broadcaster is still signing up new customers at a healthy rate.” And many of them are taking its high-definition service, which costs even more, says the FT. “Clearly, the public is willing to pay for distraction from the misery of the slump.”

Sky, says the FT, “must be confident that this trend will continue”, although cautions that BSkyB’s share price when compared to the rest of the market and media stocks in particular is now near a 5-year high. “That puts the uptrend since October - which saw the broadcaster surge two thirds from its low - in jeopardy. In fact, on a longer-term view, the shares' multi-year bear market remains intact. This suggests that we may be in for further aggressive downside before too long,” says the FT.

But there’s a contrary view, which implies that with the possible exception of its purchase of 17.9% of commercial network ITV (which stopped arch-rival Virgin Media from merging with ITV), BSkyB rarely puts a foot wrong. While some analysts argue that Sky has over-paid for its recent Premiership soccer rights, and that the credit crunch would damage its forward sales, and that there’s no longer any growth potential from British viewers….. and so forth, all the pointers suggest the opposite is true.

In other words, its customer numbers improve every quarter, it has diversified into broadband and telephony, and its award-winning Sky+ box is now in some 50% of its subscriber homes. Even Sky’s share of the struggling UK ad-market is increasing. “January and February saw advertising revenues contract and March will be difficult, right up to late Easter, but beyond that, things will improve. The first quarter will probably be the worst of the year. But in all honesty, TV ads are cheap. There aren't very many things you can buy for 1985 prices - aside from banking shares. And so we expect to outperform the market in terms of advertising revenue in 2009,” says finance director Andrew Griffith in Friday’s Investors Chronicle.

© Rapid TV News 2009