TELE SATELLITE NEWS - Number 06/2004 8 February 2004

[Admin]

TELE SATELLITE NEWS - Number 06/2004 8 February 2004 - A weekly roundup of global TV news sponsored by TELE-satellite International
Editor: Branislav Pekic

* Issue 02-03/2004 of Tele Satellite International magazine is out now * More details at http://sadoun.com/Sat/Products/Acces...-Satellite.htm

E U R O P E


INTERACTIVE GAMING MARKET SET FOR BOOM
A report published by Screen Digest forecasts that the total interactive television betting, gaming and lottery market will generate €4.1 billion a year by 2007, providing operators with a gross margin of €709.1 million. As subscriber growth for Europe's largest pay-TV operators slows, increased average revenues per subscriber will become ever more important. Revenues from iTV BG&L, along with those from pay-per-view movies and sports, will be vital to the success of pay-TV operators. At the same time, iTV applications are viewed as an essential tool for reducing customer churn.
Among the barriers to growth are that gambling has been subject to strict regulatory control and Europe's gambling markets are dominated by a few key monopoly operators. The U.K. market, benefiting from regulatory reform, will be by far the largest single contributor to the European total, generating over €2.6 billion in turnover by 2007, with a gross margin for operators of €387.1 million. France will be the second largest single market, with the bulk of revenues coming from sports betting. Lottery revenues will catch up rapidly. Applications are at an early stage of development in Austria, Finland, Germany, Ireland and Norway. By 2007 operator gross margins will total €89.1 million in these five European markets. Betting via iTV on sports and horseracing events will be the largest contributing channel, with almost €1.6 billion annual turnover by 2007. Casino style applications will generate €1.4 billion in revenues by 2007.

BELGIUM

NEW SPORTS TV CHANNEL TO GO ON AIR THIS SUMMER This summer the Flemish public broadcaster VRT will launch a third TV channel. The channel will be dedicated to sports and is only intended as a temporary initiative. The VRT has convinced Flemish media Marino Keulen that given the wealth of sports events this summer VRT's two existing channels cannot accommodate all the coverage there. Next summer there are not only the Olympics, but also the European football championships and several tennis tournaments that will be avidly followed in Flanders. VRT's rivals are concerned that the temporary channel could become a permanent feature of the Flemish media landscape and pose a drain on their advertising revenue because fewer people will be watching their channels.
It has now emerged that there is a political consensus to examine whether the VRT's temporary initiative can be extended to include the commercial broadcasters and become a permanent operation. Flemish media minister Marino Keulen intends to hold talks with representatives of all stations soon. The opposition has already indicated that it is willing to back a change in the law to allow a private-public partnership to run the new sports dedicated channel. Experts are now examining whether the proposed joint initiative is not in violation of European law. VRT is launching its new sports dedicated channel on May 31 and the project is supposed to run until September 3.

CZECH REPUBLIC

ZELEZNY SETS NEW CLAIMS ON NOVA TV
Notorious ex-Nova TV boss Vladimir Zelezny, who last year cost the Czech government $500 million in reparation after he defrauded U.S.-backed Central European Media Enterprises of its investment in the network, is back in the news. According to Variety, Zelezny claims he is close to taking control of Nova again after a Czech judge ruled that the station's license transfer was invalid and gave him back a 60% stake. A CME spokesman said the company had no interest in the situation and that it did not affect payment of a court settlement. The new Nova management is denying Zelezny's claim and PPF, the huge Czech investment company that bought Nova, is appealing the judge's license ruling. It also disputes a claim by Zelezny that he has an option to buy a majority stake in Nova TV's lucrative service company.

FRANCE

FRANCE TO BAN ANTI-SEMITIC ARAB TV CHANNELS The government will take action to ban Arab satellite television stations from broadcasting anti-Semitic programs in France, Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has announced. Raffarin told France's Jewish leaders he was revolted by some of the anti-Jewish broadcasts he had seen on French television and that parliament would pass legislation to ban such programming from French airwaves. The announcement followed Israel’s announcement that it had asked France to block broadcasts by Al-Manar, a television station that belongs to Lebanese-based Hezbollah militants.
Raffarin said Culture Minister Jean-Jacques Aillagon was to prepare an amendment to electronic communications legislation being examined by the National Assembly on February 10. The amendment would allow the CSA, France's media watchdog authority, to bring action before a judicial administrator in order to have the program banned from French television.
Paris-based satellite operator Eutelsat said it would consider on how to deal with broadcasts in France of television channels from outside the European Union that have not been officially licensed by EU member states.

M6 EXPECTS GROWTH IN AD REVENUE
M6-Metropole Television on February 2 said it expects flat earnings in 2004, with a 5% growth in programming costs offsetting an expected jump in advertising revenue. M6 Chief Executive Nicolas de Tavernost has planned a 5% increase in investments in programming this year, down from 6.5% in 2003, but he stressed the television station is ready to up its spending if an "exceptional opportunity comes along." At the same time, de Tavernost said, he expects advertising revenue to jump 4%. De Tavernost was speaking after M6 released a preliminary figure for 2003 net profit of €131.6 million, up from €111.8 million in 2002. Advertising revenue was up 3.3% at
€575.2 million. De Tavernost also said Paris Premiere - a cable- television channel M6 is buying from French utility group Suez - would make a loss this year of around €3-4 million. He added that satellite and cable-television operations at Television Par Satellite, a loss-making broadcaster which M6 jointly owns with TF1, are on course to break even this year.

SUEZ PULLS OUT OF M6
French water and energy group Suez sold a €1 billion stake in M6, France's second largest commercial television company, as it continued its strategic withdrawal from the media industry. Suez, which was a founder shareholder in M6 some 17 years ago, said it had sold a 29.2% stake but was retaining a 5% holding and a seat on the supervisory board. The deal - which saw the bulk of the shares placed in the market but just over 3 million sold privately to Crédit Agricole, Aviva and Francarep - will allow Suez to book a €750 million capital gain. Suez was cleared to sell the shares after its fellow founder-shareholder RTL, part of Germany's Bertelsmann group, struck a deal with France's broadcasting regulator, the CSA. The deal recognises RTL as the principal shareholder in M6 but restricts the voting rights on its 48.4% holding to 34%. RTL's voting rights will be increased to almost 49% if France repeals its media ownership laws.

RATINGS AND AD REVENUES UP AT TF1
French TV group TF1 has published its revenue and viewing figures for 2003.
In 2003, the TF1 channel asserted itself as the leading station in France, while advertising revenue were up 2.4 per cent. TF1 channel's full year advertising market share increased by 0.7% at 54.7%. TF1 Channel advertising revenue in 2003 was €1,544 million, while diversification revenue was €1,199 million. Satellite platform TPS increased its revenue by
22 per cent at €353 million. TPS totalled 1,527,000 subscribers, of which 1,239,000 to its DTH offer. Meanwhile turnover at TF6 channel, which TF1 owns jointly with M6, grew by 35 per cent. Advertising represents 52 percent of the channel's revenue. Eurosport's distribution network continues to grow and reached 97.9 million households at the end of the year. Revenue from cable and satellite operators increased, but advertising revenue were down due to the lack of major sports events in 2003.

VIVENDI UNIVERSAL REPORTS Q4 FIGURES
Media and telecommunications group Vivendi Universal on February 5 reported revenue declines of more than 50% for its fourth quarter and full-year
2003 because of major asset sales, currency effects and weaker results at various divisions. Revenue was down slightly for both the quarter and full year. For the full year, the conglomerate posted a 56.1% plunge in revenue to €25.4 billion. The strongest performance within the media group came from Vivendi Universal Entertainment, with fourth-quarter revenue falling 4% to €1.76 billion. Full-year revenue was down 4% to €6 billion. Revenue for Vivendi Universal's Canal Plus pay-TV group fell 14% to €4.1 billion in
2003 and 26% to €974 million in the fourth quarter.

GERMANY

RECORD RATINGS FOR SUPER RTL
Kids broadcaster Super RTL has started the year on an all-time high, after capturing the biggest audience in its nine-year history. Super RTL drew in a 26.1% market share among the 3-13 demographic on January 11, bettering the channel's annual average for last year, which stands at 23.9% Shows responsible for these record ratings are Disney's Art Attack with a 47.2% share, Super RTL's copro WunderZunderFunkelZauber - Die Märchen von Hans Christian Andersen with 36.1%, and The Powerpuff Girls with 37.3%.

SUBSCRIBER NUMBERS UP AT PREMIERE
Pay-TV platform Premiere announced an increase in subscriptions of 311,000 to 2.908 million by the end of 2003 and also revealed a 16.6 per cent increase in gross revenues to €963 million. An operational breakeven is expected by the end of 2004 - in 2003 the losses shrank to €10.5 million from €339.2 million the previous year. By renegotiating expensive output deals with Hollywood studios, cracking down on piracy and by trimming fat off Premiere's operations, Premiere CEO Georg Kofler has brought the long-suffering pay-TV company to the brink of profitability. He predicted the pay-TV operator would book an operating profit (EBITDA) this year for the first time in its history and would generate sales of more than €1 billion ($1.24 billion). For the full year 2003, the pay-TV group added a half-million subscribers, bringing its total to 2.9 million.

ITALY

TF1 LAUNCHES ITALIAN SPORTS CHANNEL
TF1’s Eurosport has joined forces with Holland Coordinator and Services BV to launch a new free-to-air nationwide sports channel on Europa TV in Italy. The new channel, which will be called Sportitalia, will launch later this month on terrestrial television, with a potential reach of 81% of the Italian population. In a separate agreement, TF1, Holland Coordinator and Services BV have joined forces to launch four new digital channels under the name D-Free.

THE NETHERLANDS

EU OPENS PROBE INTO GOVERNMENT AID TO STATE TV The European Union Commission on February 3 opened an investigation into €110 million in Dutch government aid to state-owned television and radio stations. The investigation centres on the Netherlands Broadcasting Corporation, or NOS, which is responsible for sharing out airtime among the operators across the country's three national television channels. Under E.U. rules, governments are allowed to pay broadcasters for carrying out public services - usually producing culture, education and entertainment programs - providing it covers the cost of making them. The Commission said a preliminary investigation had revealed that the Dutch state had provided broadcasters "with more money than necessary", giving them excess funds of €110 million since 1992. It suspects the broadcasters received illegal aid for SMS services, an activity the Commission doesn't consider to be a public service. It also is investigating whether the stations used the handouts to offset low advertising rates and to acquire sports rights.
Commercial broadcasters cheered the probe. They have long complained that their state-run rivals use subsidies to compete against them with low advertising rates or high bids on rights. The main commercial operators in the Netherlands are RTL Group, a unit of German media company Bertelsmann, and SBS Broadcasting.

UNITED KINGDOM

ITL PLC IS BORN
On February 2 ITV plc finally came into being, a £5.8 billion giant gearing up to take on the might of the BBC and BSkyB. Four months after the government cleared the merger between Granada and Carlton, creating a company that will control more than half of the TV advertising market, ITV launched its shares on the stock exchange. The integration process between the two merger partners is aimed at saving £100 million a year in costs and means the new ITV company has access to a large library of programmes and films. Meanwhile, ITV will launch a third channel before the end of this year, its new chief executive Charles Allen announced. He said that ITV3 will be targeted at an older audience with an appetite for drama.

UKTV TO LAUNCH NEW TV CHANNELS IN MARCH
UKTV, the joint venture between the BBC and Telewest, is set to spark a fresh row with its commercial rivals by launching two new channels and taking the total number in its stable to 10. The broadcaster, which was set up to exploit the corporation's back catalogue commercially, on February 4 said it planned to launch UKTV Documentary and UKTV People to replace existing documentary channel UK Horizons. Dick Emery, the chief executive of UKTV, said that all of the broadcaster's 10 channels would be re-branded UKTV to help them stand out in the electronic TV listings. The broadcaster is a 50-50 joint venture between the BBC and Telewest's content arm Flextech. UKTV Documentary will be based on established BBC documentary strands such as Horizon and Panorama, as well as popular wildlife and science series like The Human Body, The Blue Planet and Sahara. The other new launch, UKTV People, will be targeted at a mostly male audience and mix popular factual shows with entertainment. Shows featured heavily in the schedule include Top Gear, Ray Mears, Have I Got News for You, Louis Theroux and Billy Connolly. Like UK History, both channels will rely heavily on theme nights, weeks and months to draw attention to their schedules. UKTV Documentary will kick off with a Richard Attenborough season, while former SAS man Chris Ryan will host a night of themed programming on UKTV People when the new channels launch on March 8.

BSKYB SIGNS NEW RUGBY DEAL
Less than three weeks before the start of the season, and after more than a year of tortuous talks, the Rugby Football League confirmed a new five-year deal for the Super League and internationals which is understood to be worth £53 million - well down on the £87 million Sky paid when the British game originally switched to summer in 1996, but a £7 million increase on the previous five-year contract which was renegotiated in 1999. It means each of the 12 Super League clubs will receive more than £700,000 a year, compared with £650,000 under the present deal, and there will also be more money for the National League clubs. In a related development, the BBC is close to a new five-year deal for the Challenge Cup, which will involve moving the final to a later date in the season, and for the first national terrestrial coverage of the Super League - understood to involve 11 or 12 highlights programmes at Sunday teatime. That will include highlights of the grand final on October 16, and also the Tri-Nations series which follows in November between Great Britain, New Zealand and Australia - although Sky has retained live rights for the international game, with the exception of the 2008 World Cup in Australia which is the property of the International Federation.

NEW PAY-TV OPTION ON FREEVIEW
Freeview viewers could soon be offered a pay-TV upgrade, under plans to launch a new subscription service. Former Sky executives David Chance and Ian West are putting the finishing touches to Top-up TV, which will offer channels, already carried by satellite and cable, such as E4, the entertainment channel from Channel 4; Sky One; TCM, the classic movie channel; UK Gold; and Discovery. Chance and West were one of the applicants who tendered a bid to run the DTT service after the demise of ITV Digital in 2002 but lost out to the joint BBC/Sky/Crown Castle consortium, Freeview. Top-Up TV, which will cost around £8-10 per month, will be offered initially to Freeview viewers who use an old ITV Digital box.
Freeview is expected to reveal next week that it attracted one million new homes in the final quarter of last year. In December alone, 500,000 people bought the equipment to receive the 35-channel service. The consortium now believes that by the end of March three million homes in the UK will be equipped to receive the Freeview service. When it launched just over a year ago, the cheapest receiving equipment cost about £100, but now basic models are closer to £50.

EIGHT BIDDERS FOR BBC TECHNOLOGY
IBM, Hewlett Packard and Logica are among eight companies that have made it through to the second round of bidding for BBC Technology, the division which supports the entire corporation's technology infrastructure. BBC Technology is thought to be worth at least £100 million and could fetch up to £150 million. It comes with a 10-year contract to supply the BBC's technology needs, worth £2 billion. The BBC said that by outsourcing its technology requirements it could save at least £20 million although this could rise, depending on who wins the bidding. BBC Technology supplies the BBC with all its broadcast engineering, its satellite equipment and the corporation's desk top infrastructure. It is part of the BBC's Ventures Group, set up to commercially exploit the BBC's technological expertise.
The list of second round bidders for BBC Technology published by the corporation is: CSC, Fujitsu, EDS, Capita, Accenture, IBM, Logica and HP.




N O R T H A M E R I C A


CANADA

GOOD YEAR FOR CANADIAN BROADCASTERS
The Canadian broadcast watchdog, the CRTC has released its annual report on the Canadian television industry for the period between 1999 and 2003. The report shows that net profits posted by private television stations have doubled, rising from C$95.6m in 2002 to C$189.8m in 2003. Revenues also increased by 10.4%, climbing from C$1.9bn in 2002 to C$2.1bn in 2003. This growth is significantly higher than the 2.8% average overall growth over the last five years. Expenses by private stations increased by 4.5% over 2002, reaching C$1.7bn in 2003.

BCE REPORTS REVENUE DROP
On February 4, BCE Inc reported sharply lower fourth quarter earnings. The telecommunications giant - whose holdings include Bell Canada, ExpressVu, Sympatico and the CTV television network - saw its profits for the three months ending December 31 plummet to $386 million, compared with $1.7 billion during the year-earlier period. Revenue for the quarter slid to
$4.9 billion from $5 billion. For the whole year, revenue fell to $19.1 billion from $19.2 billion, while profits attributable to common shares slid to $1.7 billion, from $2.3 billion. A 6.4 per cent increase in subscribers led to a 14 per cent improvement in revenues for its satellite-TV services. Bell Globemedia - which includes CTV and the Globe and Mail newspaper, said revenues slipped 1.1 per cent in the fourth quarter. The company's new bundling service - which allows customers to combine telephone, Internet, satellite TV or wireless services - appealed to 70,000 customers in three months.

UNITED STATES

TTN READY TO START BROADCASTING
The Triangle Television Network (TTN), a wholly owned subsidiary of Triangle Multi-Media Limited has announced plans to create and develop a network devoted to providing both television programming for the gay and lesbian community. While TTN expects much of its subscriber base will be comprised of members of the gay and lesbian population, management also believes that quality programming about the gay and lesbian experience, will attract many other segments of the viewing public. TTN's programming will be provided on a subscription basis to those desiring its programming.
The Triangle Television Network will broadcast 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Providing distribution via satellite ensures availability of the Triangle Television Network across the United States, including Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.

PRESIDENT BUSH SEEKS TO INCREASE FCC FUNDING President Bush on February 2 told Congress that he wants to substantially increase the amount of federal money that the FCC and the National Endowment for the Arts receive. In his 2005 $2.4 trillion budget request, Bush recommended increasing the FCC's budget by $20 million, giving the agency a stipend of $293 million. The administration said it hopes the increase will help speed the deployment of high-speed Internet services, enhance homeland security, increase competition and revise media ownership regulations. In addition to the increase, Bush said he plans to push legislation that would slap a $500 million fee on broadcasters if they don't vacate their analogue spectrum by 2006. Broadcasters are supposed to switch to digital frequencies by 2006, or when 85% of the nation has digital TVs. They are then supposed to give back their analogue frequencies to the government for auction. Similar legislation has been introduced for the past several years but has failed to go anywhere in Congress.

FOX MOVES ALL PROGRAMMING TO PANAMSAT
PanAmSat Corporation on February 3 announced one of the largest deals in the Company's 20-year history with a multi-year, multi-satellite, multi-transponder agreement with Fox Entertainment Group, Inc. Under the terms of the agreement, Fox will consolidate its entire suite of U.S.
programming onto PanAmSat's global fleet for 15 years and move a significant portion of its international traffic onto the fleet for the next decade. Fox will now be one of PanAmSat's largest media customers and one of its top five global customers. Internationally, PanAmSat will carry Fox's news, sports and entertainment channels. PanAmSat will support Fox using 17 transponders located across seven satellites on its global fleet.
Specifically, the domestic agreement calls for a 15-year cable contract for 10 transponders and a 15-year broadcast agreement for four transponders.
Internationally, Fox has signed a 10-year agreement for three transponders.
In addition, PanAmSat is now the provider of choice for Fox's domestic and international satellite requirements. Fox's cable group currently has six channels on Galaxy 11 at 91 degrees West and will migrate four additional channels to the satellite in the second and third quarter of 2004. The 10-channel programming bouquet includes its regional sports networks, news, movies and general entertainment programming. Additionally, FOX Broadcasting will move in July to Galaxy 4R at 99 degrees West and Galaxy 3C at 95 degrees West, joining ABC, Buena Vista, NPR, Televisa and WB among others. Fox international channels will consolidate its programming on the
PAS-2 and PAS-8 Pacific Ocean Region satellites and the PAS-3R and PAS-9 Atlantic Ocean Region satellites.

PROBE INTO NDS GROUP COMPLETED
NDS Group said a federal investigation has been closed concerning competitors' accusations that the company aided in the piracy of satellite-television signals. The U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles told it completed the investigation and no further action is warranted, according to a company press release. NDS, a U.K. unit of News Corp., provides anti-piracy "smart cards" that satellite TV systems use to prevent their signals from being stolen. The investigation came after three satellite-TV companies - Vivendi Universal's Canal Plus Group, EchoStar Communications Corp. and Hughes Electronics Corp.'s DirecTV unit - filed civil actions against NDS. Canal Plus and EchoStar claimed that NDS cracked the code used in their own smart cards and gave it to an NDS employee, Christopher Tarnovsky. He then allegedly worked with known satellite-TV pirates to distribute the code, which the companies allege resulted in the proliferation of counterfeit smart cards and widespread theft of their services. An attorney for Tarnovsky has said he had no involvement in piracy against Canal Plus or EchoStar. The U.S. Attorney's office in October 2002 served NDS with subpoenas seeking documents concerning claims the company had caused the publication of computer code to enable third parties to compromise certain satellite pay-television systems. NDS called the claims baseless and filed its own lawsuit in October 2002, alleging DirecTV misappropriated its trade secrets. Vivendi later agreed to withdraw its suit as part of another deal with News Corp., which owns 80% of London-based NDS.

DISH NETWORK TO ADD TV COLOMBIA
EchoStar Communications Corporation announced that its DISH Network will add TV COLOMBIA to its Spanish-language, DISH Latino programming packages on February 11. TV COLOMBIA, an alliance between renowned Colombian TV channels RCN Television and CityTV from Casa Editorial El Tiempo, will be available on channel 841 nationwide in the DISH Latino, DISH Latino Dos and DISH Latino Max programming packages. TV COLOMBIA offers over 13 hours of live, originally produced Colombian programming each day with top rated series, up-to-the-minute news and live shows direct from Colombia. It also features one live soccer game every weekend from the Colombian National Soccer Tournament for sports fans.
Internet http://www.tvcolombia.com

NEW ASIAN-AMERICAN TV NETWORK PREPARES FOR LAUNCH ImaginAsian Entertainment, a newly formed multi-media entertainment from New York, has signed output deals with prominent Asian television companies, seven months ahead of its planned of launching ImaginAsian TV
(iaTV) channel. Scheduled for an August 2004 launch, iaTV is the first national, 24-hour Asian-American television network, targeting the more than 14 million Asian-Americans residing in the U.S. According to Michael Hong, CEO of ImaginAsian Entertainment, Inc., the company has signed deals with China movie channel CCTV 6, Japan's TV Asahi, Vietnamese films and television programs distributor Vietnam Media Corp., South Korea's Game TV, news agency Asian News International and Mumbai-based Balaji Telefilms Limited among others. The schedule will consist of feature films, drama series and sitcoms, news, variety and game shows, animation, children's programs, music videos, sports, documentaries and more.




A S I A & P A C I F I C


AUSTRALIA

E! EXPANDS TO AUSTRALIA
E! International Network expands its reach in the Australian market later this year, when it launches on the new digital platforms from FOXTEL and Austar. The E! International Network is carried to about 20 markets in Europe, the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, including the U.K., New Zealand and Indonesia. It features shows from E! Entertainment Television in the U.S., including Celebrities Uncensored and Love Chain.


CHINA - HONG KONG

GALAXY TO CHARGE $22 A MONTH
ExTV, the new pay-television venture between Televison Limited Broadcasts
(TVB) and its US partner Intelsat, will charge customers US$22 a month when the service launches on February 18, the South China Morning Post has reported. The newspaper said the basic tariff would include 23 channels, with five offered by TVB. Subscribers to exTV, also known as Galaxy Satellite Broadcasting, would also have to pay a one-off fee of US$19 to have the system installed and US$2 a month to rent the set-top box. People who want to watch the HBO film channel will have to pay an extra US$9 a month and Playboy TV will cost an extra US$6. ExTV plans to add up to 10 new channels by the end of the year. It may also introduce other services - including interactive services - in the next two years and raise the US$22 price tag. The pay-TV operator hopes to attract 70-80,000 subscribers in its first year and to break even in three to four years, with 300-400,000 customers. Meanwhile, Hong Kong pay-TV operator i-Cable Communications on February 3 said it has no plans to cut its monthly fees despite the lower rates being offered by new entrant exTV. Currently, i-Cable, the dominant player in Hong Kong's pay-TV market with about 600,000 users, is charging a basic monthly fee of HK$298.

LAUNCH OF DIGITAL TV STANDARD POSTPONED
China has postponed the launch of a national digital television (DTV) standard for an indefinite period, as officials have still not decided which standard is superior. According to Radio Netherlands, the government was supposed to announce a draft DTV standard by the end of last year, but is still undecided on whether to adopt US, European or home-grown standards, the Economic Observer reports. The adoption of existing foreign DTV standards means Chinese enterprises paying high royalties, while standards developed in China have technical defects, the newspaper says.
China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has already set an ambitious target of signing up 30 million digital TV subscribers by 2005 and launching nationwide digital programming by 2010. A pilot digital TV service is currently available in several major cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, but responses from subscribers have been lukewarm so far.

INDIA

DOORDARSHAN SET FOR DOUBLE INCOME
According to a report by the PTI news agency, the revenue through Doordarshan, now around 15,000 rupees crore ($3.3 billion), was likely to double in the next five years, Union minister of state for information and broadcasting Ravi Shankar Prasad said. Addressing the media, he said that the viewership of Doordarshan was growing at the rate of 31 per cent annually, adding that AIR will launch a 24-hour news channel from April this year and that DD programmes would soon be available in the USA and the UK.

ESPN STAR JOINS ASC DTH PLATFORM
The DTH service from ASC Enterprises has reportedly signed a carriage deal with sports broadcaster ESPN STAR Sports (ESS), which is a 50:50 joint venture between ESPN and STAR. The development is significant considering the fact that ESS is the first broadcasting network other than Zee Telefilms (sister concern of ASC) to join the platform. STAR India bouquet and Alliance One (Sony and Discovery distribution alliance) are yet to join ASC. Another sports broadcaster, TEN Sports, owned by Dubai-based Taj Television, is also yet to sign with ASC Enterprises.

DOORDARSHAN CHANNELS TO GO DIGITAL IN JUNE India’s Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Ravi Shankar Prasad, says all channels of the state television network, Doordarshan (DD) will be fully digitised by June this year, the Hindu newspaper has reported. Addressing the Broadcast Engineering Society’s 10th International Conference on Terrestrial and Satellite Broadcasting in New Delhi today, the minister said consumer satisfaction should be the driving force in broadcast technology development. On the issue of pay channels and free-to-air channels (FTA) in the country, he said the FTAs would continue to dominate and it was now time to deliberate on whether the pay channels should continue to drive the satellite television industry.

INDONESIA

NICKELODEON PROGRAMMING ON LATIVI
Indonesian terrestrial Lativi began carrying branded programming blocks from Nickelodeon, featuring signature shows like Blue's Clues, SpongeBob SquarePants and Rugrats. Reaching 17 million homes across Indonesia, Lativi will air one Nickelodeon block in the morning, from 5 a.m. to 7:30 a.m., featuring preschool series; and another from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., for slightly older children. The blocks will air Monday to Friday. Nickelodeon Asia reaches almost 110 million households in the region via programming blocks and 24-hour channels.

IRAQ

BAN ON AL-ARABIYA LIFTED
The Al-Arabiya satellite television channel outlawed by the Iraqi Governing Council has been allowed to reopen its Baghdad office, BBC News has reported. The company said the US-appointed body let it resume operations after it agreed to obey Iraqi laws. Al-Arabiya's office was shut down in November after coalition forces accused it of inciting violence. It had broadcast a message allegedly from Saddam Hussein urging resistance against US-led forces in the country. At the time the Dubai-based satellite station defended its decision to broadcast the tape, saying it was dedicated to impartiality.

ISRAEL

TV LICENSE FEE TO BE CUT
Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reports that the government has worked out a plan to cut the TV licence fee by half and raise the car radio fee by 75 percent, which would enable the treasury to cancel the cut in the budget of the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA). The newspaper says the plan has been worked out by Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Communications Minister Ehud Olmert, and is based on the very high collection rate - nearly 100 per cent - of the car radio fee, compared to the much lower 70 per cent collection rate for television licenses. Under the proposal, the current NIS 515 (US$115) a year for a TV licence would drop to NIS 265 (US$59), and the radio licence fee would be increased from NIS 151 (US$33) to NIS 265 (US$59). The changes would settle the row between the treasury and the IBA, which has refused to accept the treasury's budget.

BEZEQ SEEKS FOREIGN INVESTORS FOR YES PAY-TV PLATFORM The “Yediot Ahronot” daily reports that Bezeq and Eurocom Communications, the main shareholders in the YES satellite TV broadcasting company, are currently negotiating the entry of a strategic investor into YES. The new partner will inject capital into YES in return for shares, which will ease YES’s financial situation, and reduce its dependence on Bezeq. YES recruited 3,500 new subscribers in January 2004, and 48,000 in all of 2003.
The company recently predicted similar growth for 2004. YES has yet to publish its results for the fourth quarter of 2003, but the company had an operating loss of NIS 85 million and a net loss of NIS 132 million in the third quarter of 2003.YES owes NIS 1.2 billion to the banks and NIS 2.2 billion to Bezeq, which currently owns half of YES.

JAPAN

FOUR TV NETWORKS GET BASEBALL RIGHTS
Major league baseball games will be carried on four Japanese television networks this year. NHK (Japan Broadcasting), Sky PerfecTV!, TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting System), and Fuji TV acquired rights in a license from Dentsu, which owns television and radio rights in Japan. All have previously broadcast major league games. The major league season begins with a two-game series between the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Devil Rays in Tokyo on March 30-31. It will be the second time regular-season games will be played in Japan - the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs played two games in Tokyo to start the 2000 season. Sky Perfect said its main MLB coverage for this year will begin with preseason games in March and culminate in the World Series in October, featuring a total of 400 to 500 games involving all 30 teams. Sky Perfect launched Japan's first digital satellite broadcasting services in 1996 using a communications satellite. It has broadcast select MLB games over the last seven years. MLB has grown into a coveted sports program in Japan as an increasing number of Japanese players ply their trade in the world's toughest league.

TV ASAHI REPORTS PROFITS
TV Asahi Corporation said on February 6 that its group net profit for the nine months until 31 December came to Y1.96 billion ($18.5 million). The broadcaster, which changed its name from Asahi National Broadcasting Co. on October 1, did not release year-before figures for comparison as this is the first time for it to disclose nine-month earnings. TV Asahi's group pretax profit for the April-December period was Y5.36 billion while group revenues amounted to Y163.99 billion. For the 2002 business year to 31 March 2003, the broadcaster earlier reported a group net profit of Y1.91 billion and a group pre-tax profit of Y6.93 billion on group revenues of
Y209.04 billion.

MALAYSIA

PROFITS UP AT MEDIA PRIMA
Malaysian media company Media Prima Berhad reported a net profit of US$43.6
million on revenue of US$ 94 million for the 15-month period ended Nov 30,
2003, the Business Times has reported. In a statement released on January
29, Media Prima attributed the strong performance to improved operational
results at its wholly-owned subsidiary Sistem Televisyen Malaysia (TV3),
arising from strong growth in advertising revenue and lower overhead costs
due to stringent cost-control measures. Last November, Media Prima
completed its acquisition of an 80 per cent stake in Merit Idea, which owns
99.5 per cent of Metropolitan TV, owner and operator of Malaysia’s newly
launched TV station, 8TV. Media Prima owns 100 percent of TV3, 80 per cent
interest in Metropolitan TV and a 43 per cent stake in NSTP, one of
Malaysia’s largest publishing groups.

PAKISTAN

AJK TV STARTS BROADCASTING
President General Perevz Musharraf on February 5 inaugurated the first
independent AJK TV channel and hoped it will play an important role in
creating solidarity among the Kashmiri people and would reflect their true
aspirations. The government has allocated and released Rs.430 million for
the project which consists of a TV center and seven transmitters.

SOUTH KOREA

STILL NO DECISION ON DIGITAL TV STANDARD
The long-awaited report on the digital TV standard was announced on
February 2. But instead of resolving the debate on the transmission method,
it is expected to generate more heat due to its dubious conclusion. The
Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) released the joint report
on the digital TV standard with the Korean Broadcasting Commission (KBC),
based on the field study, but leaves undecided whether to use the U.S. or
European standard. Late last year, a fact-finding team composed of
bureaucrats, technicians and professors went on a month-long tour of eight
advanced countries to compare the two systems. However, the team failed to
reach a conclusion even after wrapping up the task and have delayed the
release of the final report due to opposing viewpoints from both sides. The
much-hyped report confirmed that the world is moving fast toward adopting
high-definition (HD) digital TVs but didn't establish use of any specific
format. Experts said it reflected the MIC's favour for the U.S.-based
system and the KBC's for the European one. Korea opted for the U.S. format
in 1997 and pushed for the commercial launch of digital broadcasting four
years later in Seoul. The HD services were set to be offered in five
provincial cities by the end of last year under the government initiative.
Encouraged by MBC's field test in 2001, however, some broadcasters and
experts raised concerns over the U.S. standard's inability to supply
quality services to people or vehicles on the move and insisted the
government should switch to the European system.

THAILAND

ITV WINS CONCESSION PAYMENT BATTLE
Independent Television (iTV), in part owned by Shin Corp, has won a
six-year battle to reduce its 25.2-billion-baht concession fee to the
state. According to the Bangkok Post, an arbitration panel voted in favour
of iTV, to amend the 25-year contract it signed in 1995 with the Prime
Minister's Office to reduce the hefty fee. Government sources said the PM's
Office has one year to appeal against the resolution with the Civil Court
if it disagrees. iTV was awarded the contract after offering the highest
concession fee to the state. However, since 1998 it has sought to reduce
the fee, arguing it was too high compared to fees the state charged
Channels 3 and 7. TV Channels 3 and 7 each paid between 150-160 million
baht a year plus an annual 10% increase. The station also claimed in its
petition that its business had been hurt by a new cable TV channel, World
Star TV, which is carrying out operations under a concession awarded by the
Public Relations Department.




A F R I C A


SOUTH AFRICA

TELCAST LAUNCHES BE ON AIR CHANNEL
Germany's Telcast Media Group has begun rolling its Be On Air! channels, in
which programming is entirely based on audience interaction and
participation, with a deal in place in South Africa, and more to come
throughout the year. South Africa's M-Net is the first to launch a Be On
Air channel, which it has dubbed B on MNET. The channel utilizes mini
television studios set up in various locations. Participants can enter
these facilities and dial the number that appears on screen, thereby
becoming part of the programming. The channel is planning to feature a
search for swimsuit models, plus a dating show and a talent showcase, among
others. MNET cable affiliates in Greece and Thailand are also planning to
add Be On Air to their services later this year. Be On Air! was first used
in Germany to find contestants for Sat.1 talent show Star Search. Telcast's
CEO and Be On Air! inventor, Thomas Hohenacker, confirmed that talks are
also underway with pay-TV and free-TV broadcasters in Germany. In the UK
the BBC has already signed up to use the technology for live broadcasts
from Speakers Corner in London's Hyde Park, where members of the public
traditionally stand on a soap box and speak on any subject.