Satellite News

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Conax in buoyant mood

By Chris Dziadul | March 5, 2009 | 11:19 UK

Conax secured 58 new customers in 2008, while its card deliveries were 40% up on the previous year.

All told, the content security company now delivers solutions to over 300 digital TV operators in 78 countries around the world.

Commenting on the results, Geir Bjørndal, the company’s EVP Sales & Marketing, said the company was well positioned to tap into a market that is likely to see the number of digital TV households double from today’s 350 million by 2013.

He added that Conax experienced 68% growth in India in just one year and is now the market leader in Latin America.

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Fashion TV extends coverage

By Chris Dziadul | March 5, 2009 | 11:06 UK

Fashion TV has finally made its debut in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, two months after its expected launch.

According to HN, the channel is on air for 24 hours daily and employing a single stream, reaching 680,000 homes in the Czech Republic and 350,000 in Slovakia.

As previously reported in Broadband TV News, the licence for Fashion TV in the two countries is held by a company named Carolinas Corporation.

The majority (70%) of the channel’s output is international, with the remainder produced in-house.

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Canal Digital cements new TV2 deal

By Julian Clover | March 5, 2009 | 10:43 UK

TV 2 DenmarkCanal Digital has made a new agreement with Denmark’s quasi-commercial channel TV 2. From April 1 TV 2 will be broadcast as a digital channel on Canal Digital’s satellite platform for the first time.

“Our new agreement with TV 2 makes it first and foremost easier for our customers, especially when switched off the analogue signal on 31 October. Next, the agreement strengthens our satellite platform, said Jens Arnesen, managing director, Canal Digital Danmark.

“The agreement with Canal Digital TV 2 is a natural extension of similar agreements in the satellite field,” added TV 2’s Financial Director Peter Norm “The expected EU approval of TV 2’s plan will enable us to collect subscription payments from 2012 and although the agreement with Canal Digital will run until 2016, it will in this situation be renegotiated.”

Although the majority of Danish Canal Digital subscribers could already access TV2 through the platform’s hybrid DTT receivers the platform wants to ensure easy access to the channel.

The agreement also means that all viewers will be able to tune into the eight regional TV channels, regardless of where they lived.

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TV5 gives up analogue in The Netherlands

By Robert Briel | March 5, 2009 | 08:27 UK

International French language broadcaster TV5 Monde has given up analogue distribution in The Netherlands. Ziggo, the country’s largest operator with 3.2 million homes connected announced it will stop analogue carriage of the channel and relocate it to basic digital.

The move is part of a scheme to bring down the number of basic analogue channels to 30 across the Ziggo network in order to make more room for digital television and other services. At the moment Ziggo has 1.1 million digital homes and the number is growing.

Last year, the number two operator in the country, UPC, removed TV5 Monde from both its analogue and digital tiers citing disagreement about the conditions of carriage of the channel. The channel remains freely available on satellite as an FTA channel on Astra and Eutelsat Hotbird.

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New Russian DTH platform launches

By Chris Dziadul | March 5, 2009 | 08:18 UK

Russia has yet another DTH platform following the official launch of Raduga TV.

According to Parabola, the service is distributed by ABS 1 at 75 degrees East and offers subscribers a wide variety of both Russian and international channels, including all the Viasat services.

As part of a promotional offer until the end of April, it is being offered for R250 a month for a payment of six months in advance.

Raduga TV is operated by GTSS in association with DalGeokom. It employs Irdeto conditional access.

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A year ago CTC Media, which specialises in broadcasting within Russia, was riding high with its share price at an impressive $31.75, benefiting from a booming Russian economy and strong advertising demand. That has now all changed.


CTC Media’s share price is now about $3.40 (but it has been even lower) although an investor note from Morgan Stanley gives some reasons for optimism. Nevertheless, the bank’s view is that the appetite for foreign investors to invest in Russian equities and companies has diminished.

CTC operates in a very competitive Russian market with 18 other TV channels. The two largest are effectively government-controlled which means that they may operate in a less cost conscious manner through a downturn. This could lead to a loss of market share for CTC, argues Morgan Stanley. CTC Media also reports its results (it is listed on the NASDAQ) in US Dollars.

That CTC Media has to make some cuts was inevitable. The Russian Rouble is down significantly against the Dollar (25%), and while only 20% of CTC’s operating expenses are in Dollars, there’s obviously a problem when 100% of income is generated in Roubles. The company has trimmed staff by 20%, and this, plus other belt-tightening, has helped bring the company back on an even keel.

But there are challenges ahead, says the bank’s note, with Russian advertising now suffering from the downturn, and likely to overall fall some 15% this year. However, the bank says: “Given its pricing advantages and national reach, we expect TV’s share of advertising will actually increase during this downturn from 55% to 60%, which we see as a long-term ceiling. In US dollar terms, we therefore look for a 61% and 3% contraction in the TV ad market in 2009 and 2010, respectively.”

Morgan Stanley is concerned by the acquisition of the DTV channel in Russia, and the C31 network in Kazakhstan, and in particular the amounts paid for the two stations, which with the benefit of hindsight were “extreme”.

“The $395m paid for DTV now represents 61% of CTC’s market capitalization. Through cost cutting we expect C31 to breakeven in EBITDA terms in 2009 and 2010 with modest profits by 2011. Assuming a 20% drop in content costs, we factor in a drop in EBITDA at DTV from $26m in 2008 to $20m in 2009 and $22m in 2010. This represents a margin of 39%,” says the bank’s note. Morgan Stanley also suggests that a write down of some $400m may be needed because of the high price paid for the recent acquisitions.

© Rapid TV News 2009

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Next week’s DVB World show in Berlin will see a demo from Microsoft of its new HDTV Windows Media functionality which is part of Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system.


Microsoft is partnering with Philips-founded semi-conductor company NXP to develop a new TV tuner that will operate within Windows, based on the DVB-T2 transmission standard.

“The prototype,” says a statement, “which comprises all major functionality of NXP’s upcoming DVB-T2 one chip solution and is designed for the Windows 7 release of the Microsoft operating system, paves the way for consumers to enjoy HD digital-terrestrial TV services on a Windows PC. With a TV tuner based on NXP’s technology, Windows Media Center users will be able to watch, pause, and record live HD TV wherever there is a HD DVB-T2 service.”

Commercial chipsets and software drivers based on the prototype are expected to be made available to PC OEMs and other tuner manufactures towards the end of this year.

DVB-T2 enables more channels, including HD services, to be broadcast. The UK is likely to be the first country to deploy DVB-T2 services with analogue switch-off already underway and the launch of Freeview HD in the autumn of this year.

“The PC is increasingly becoming a screen for watching television,” said Renaud Bordelet, Group Manager, Windows TV Europe, Microsoft. “Through this collaboration with NXP we ensure consumers will be able to use Windows Media Center to enjoy DVB-T2 services, such as Freeview HD, on the PC. DVB World is the first time we have demonstrated accessing a DVB-T2 broadcast in HD with Windows Media Center and we look forward to our OEM partners bringing the experience to consumers.”

Rolf-Dieter Gutsmann, Product Marketing Manager PC Video Systems, NXP Semiconductors, said: “Leaps in technology innovation are made possible when companies can combine their expertise, and we are particularly happy to have joined forces with Microsoft to support DVB-T2. NXP, building on its leadership in DVB silicon tuners and demodulators, is proud to show the first demonstrator of its DVB-T2 solution for the PC. DVB-T2 is an upcoming terrestrial transmission format which will start a new era of multimedia enjoyment, enabling superior quality of broadcast video on the Windows PC. OEMs will facilitate network operators to expand their range of coverage with cost effective hardware for PC tuner solutions.”

© Rapid TV News 2009