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[2007/08/11]
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Humax first on Freeview Playback

Receiver manufacturer Humax has said it is the first such company to pass the Freeview Playback Group 2 standards. Freeview Playback is the digital video recorder standard being introduced for DTT in the UK. The Digital TV Group is overseeing the feature sets that have been divided into groups. Humax says that both its PVR-9200TB and PVR-9200TS meet the standard. Owners of the existing PVR-9200T receiver will also be able to upgrade their receivers over the air.

Sky plans Amstrad multi-tuner box

Amstrad is working with BSkyB on a new multi tuner satellite receiver that will allow viewers to watch separate programmes in different rooms of their house. It is the first fruits of the agreement between BSkyB and the electronics company it purchased this week for £125 million, although it is understood the device has been under development for several months. The device would be an extension of the existing Sky+ product, which allows two programmes to be recorded, though the lack of a second video output prevents more than one programme to be viewed at any one time. The new product would require additional video and audio decoders.

Pace wins Sky digibox supply contract

Pace Micro Technology has confirmed that it has secured additional business with BSkyB for the supply of the standard Sky digibox. The business, for the financial year 2007, follows last week’s news that BSkyB was to purchase Pace’s set-top rival Amstrad for £125 million (€170m). The Saltaire-based company already has contracts in place to supply the Sky HD box, shipments of which are expected to commence before the end of the year, and the Sky+ digital video recorder. Although not previously made public the contract wins have already been factored in by Pace to its expected financial performance in 2007 and 2008.

Sky Italia passes 4.2m subs

Sky Italia has reported a fourth quarter operating income of $71 million (€51.47m), the 85% increase almost double that of one year ago, and making a significant contribution towards the full year figure of £221m. The full year represents an improvement of $182m from the $39m one year ago. The past 12 months has seen a subscriber increase of 368,000, bringing the total to 4.2 million at the end of June 2007. The increased revenues from the enlarged subscriber base were offset in part by higher programming costs and the introduction of new channels.

Narrowstep completes $10.5 million equity financing

Narrowstep, the TV on the Internet company, has announced it has completed a private placement of its common stock and warrants resulting in gross proceeds to the company of $10,510,000. In this placement, the company issued 42,040,000 shares of common stock and five-year warrants purchasing an additional 21,020,000 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $0.50 per share. As part of this transaction, the company’s convertible note issued earlier this year, will also convert into shares of common stock. RENN Capital Group acted as lead investor in this transaction. Other investors included David C. McCourt, the company’s largest individual shareholder, and the company’s Chairman and CEO.

Virgin holds onto TV subs

Virgin Media managed to grow its TV net additions by 2,200 in the second quarter despite the continuing absence of Sky branded channels from its basic packages. However, the unavailability of Sky One, Sky News and Sky Sports News is thought to be the main reason for an overall net loss of 70,300 customers. The total number of digital subscribers now stands at 3,125.3 million Virgin, which yesterday delayed plans to auction the company, posted its eight consecutive loss of £119m (€177.02m) compared to £195.8m one year earlier. The V+ digital video recorder is now available in 167,000 from 53,000 in the first quarter while a rise of 51,000 to 3.5 million maintains Virgin’s position as the largest residential broadband provider. 44% of the cablenet’s digital TV subscribers now use VOD on a monthly basis, at 14 VOD monthly views per user, though there was no indication as to whether these were free or pay services.

OFT refers transmitter purchase

The Office of Fair Trading has said Macquarie UK Broadcast Ventures Limited’s purchase of the former BBC transmitter network, now controlled by National Grid Wireless Group, should be referred to the Competition Commission. The OFT has concluded that the merger of the two terrestrial broadcast transmission companies would result in a substantial lessening of competition in the sector. Macquarie already owns Arqiva, which is responsible for the transmission of ITV, Channel 4 and Five, and has already secured contracts for the three major UK digital multiplexes. The Competition Commission is expected to make its findings public by January 22, 2008.

Arqiva adds ITV/C4 digital upgrade

Arqiva has added another digital TV upgrade with the decision by Digital 3 and 4 Ltd to contract it to design, build and operate a new high power national digital terrestrial TV network through until 2034. Digital 3 and 4 is the operating company of the public service multiplex run by ITV and Channel 4. The new high power network will carry ITV and Channel 4’s main digital services including ITV1, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, Channel 4, E4, and More4 and will broadcast to 98.5% of the UK population. The contract, thought to be worth in the region of £1 billion, follows last week’s decision by the ITV-owned SDN multiplex to use Arqiva for its high power digital service. National Grid Wireless, Arqiva’s principal competitor for the contract, is expected to merge with the transmission services company, once regulatory hurdles have been cleared.

Teleclub secures Bundesliga

Swiss pay TV operator Teleclub has secured the live rights to all games in the 1st and 2nd German Bundesliga season 2007/2008 through a deal with German Premiere. The channel announced it has also the live and exclusive rights to 130 Axpo Super League games and all games in the UEFA Champions League. Teleclub will make a selection of the live games available to Swiss cable customers, IPTV Bluewin TV customers will be able to see all games. The pay TV operator offers all games for a monthly subscription fee of SFr49.80. The games can also be ordered as pay-per-view for just SFr1 on Bluewin TV. Teleclub also owns the rights to the English Premiership and games from France, Portugal, Scotland, Holland and Austria.

Swiss pubcasters launch movie portal

SRG SSR idée Suisse is launching an on demand film service at the Locarno Film Festival this week. The public broadcaster is making the service available through three separate language websites: TSR, in French, SF, in German and RTSI in Italian.The project was led through SRG SSR idée Suisse’s technical arm Swiss TXT, which commissioned the UK’s Red Bee Media to design and build the on demand service. 35 films will be available at launch, priced at between SFr1 and SFr7, payable through the PayPal system. It is intended the number of movies will soon be increased to 600. The films have been digitised and transcoded through Red Bee Media’s Digital Hive at its Broadcast Centre in West London.

ADB enters Grundig supply agreement

ADB has entered into a partnership with Grundig for the supply of high definition set-top boxes, digital video recorders and modules for integrated digital televisions (IDTVs). ADB CEO Philippe Lambinet said he was delighted with the agreement: “We feel that the digital terrestrial market is growing strongly throughout Europe and are very happy to partner with Grundig who offer a very strong branding proposition as well as multiple routes to market”. It is anticipated that the full range of products will be deployed before the second half of 2007. The first units to launch will be the AD-3800T and the MHP compliant ADB-3810T.

Deutsche Kabelverband looks to CI2

The German cable TV association Deutsche Kabelverband is to study the possibility of switching to the upgraded Common Interface 2 standard that has been developed by the DVB project. The technology is designed to be more secure than the existing Common Interface that is used in conjunction with conditional access services. However, some CA providers, notably NDS, have refused to make their technology available through any other means than embedding the technology within the receiver itself. It is expected that Common Interface 2 will be available during 2008.

PT Multimedia buys three cablenets

PT Multimedia has acquired three smaller Portuguese cable TV operators from Parfitel at a cost of €60 million. The company said the cost of the three companies, which represent 164,000 subscribers, was at 12 times their 2007 EBITDA. The stakes purchased by PT Multimedia are 100% of Bragatel, 92% of Pluricanal Leiria and 98.7% of Pluricanal Santarem. In a statement PT Multimedia said the companies had posted joint revenues of €6 million for the first three months of the year and that the operations would generate ‘significant synergies’ in terms of both content and marketing. The purchase still requires regulatory approval.

Premium TV boost for Telenet

The Belgian MSO Telenet has posted revenues of €456.7 million for H1 2007, or 15% more than for the corresponding period in 2006. At the same time, its EBITDA was up by 19% to €217.9 million, while its net profit of €117.7 million compared to a loss of €1.1 million 12 months earlier. Telenet saw particularly strong growth in premium TV RGUs (‘revenue generating units’), which at 348,000 at the end of June were 64% higher than 12 months earlier. The number of broadband Internet and fixed telephony RGUs were also up significantly – 23% to 826,000 and 25% to 500,000 respectively – while the number of triple play customers rose 36% year-on-year to 271,000. Of Telenet’s 348,000 TV customers, 309,000 were iDTV (digital) subscribers, 33,000 received Prime (the former Canal+ affiliate) and 6,000 watched premium content on the former UPC Belgium network.

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