TELE-satellite News - Number 36/2004 - 5 September
2004
A weekly roundup of global TV news sponsored by
TELE-satellite International
Editor: Branislav Pekic
E U R O P E
SES ASTRA AND
GLOBECAST SIGN
DIGITAL TV PARTNERSHIP
SES Astra, an SES Global company and GlobeCast, a
leading global satellite services provider and France
Telecom subsidiary, announced an agreement to offer
access to the Astra Satellite System at 19.2 degrees
East to multicultural TV channels, targeting Spain and
France. The GlobeCast satellite multiplex located in
Madrid and linked to Globecast's worldwide ATM
[Asynchronous Transfer Mode] fibre ring will ensure
secured access to the Astra platform. This agreement
will notably enable additional ethnic channels to join
the roster of digital free-to-air channels on Astra.
Astra currently broadcasts over 130 digital TV
channels plus another 100 digital radio stations. This
agreement provides a great opportunity for television
channels to be accessed by more than 10 million
European households receiving digital TV through
Astra, of which 1.34 million are in Spain, and 2.99
million in France.
AXN SIGNS UP 2 MILLION SUBSCRIBERS
Less than a year since its Central European launch,
Sony Pictures Television International's (SPTI) AXN
channel has doubled its distribution in the region to
2 million subscribers. The action-adventure channel
launched with one million subscribers on October 17,
2003, in Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic,
Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria.
DENMARK
4 SPORT ON THE AIR
EuroTrust and its media subsidiary, Europe-Visions, on
September 1 launched a new sports channel, 4 Sport,
for cable television subscribers in Denmark. 4 Sport
will be distributed through the cable network of Canal
Digital Danmark. Content of the new cable channel will
focus on sports that were closely followed by Danish
viewers in the recent Athens Olympics because of
strong performances by Danish athletes. This includes
such sports as badminton, rowing, track and field,
sailing and table tennis. Coverage on the daily sports
channel will also include basketball, volleyball and
Speedway racing. EuroTrust owns a cable/satellite
network in Denmark and is the largest provider of
mobile television production services in Scandinavia.
Internet -
http://www.eurotrust.dk/investors
FRANCE
TF1 EXPECTS HIGHER AD REVENUE
French commercial TV network TF1 said on September 1
that it expects 4%-6% growth in full-year advertising
revenue, slightly upgrading its earlier estimate of
3%-5%. Speaking at an analysts' meeting, chairman and
CEO Patrick Le Lay predicted 2%-3% growth in revenue
by year's end over 2003 figures, based on encouraging
first-half results. The company reported a 17.3% hike
to ?161.5 million in consolidated net profit for the
first half of the year, and total revenue of ?1.4
billion, up 5% from a year earlier. Le Lay said the
TF1 premium channel will increase spending on
programming by 4%-5% this year and next year. The
channel's programming costs increased 2.9% for the
first six months to ?439.9 million. Le Lay said he
expected TF1-backed DTH platform TPS to get close to
breakeven this year, a point expects to eventually
reach in 2005. The group also intends to continue to
develop its thematic channels, Le Lay confirmed.
Earlier this year TF1 bought factual channel Histoire
and is currently in final negotiations with AB Group
for the acquisition of film and drama channel TMC. The
latter will target the over-35 age group, Le Lay said.
Regarding talks with Lagardere Group concerning a
possible merger between TF1's TV Breizh and
Lagardere's Match TV, Le Lay said they are still
underway, with some possible developments to come
within the next few weeks.
CANAL SATELLITE TO ADD 10 NEW TV CHANNELS
DTH operator Canal Satellite is to add ten new
channels during the coming months, at a press
presentation. At the end of June the number of
subscribers stood at 2.8 million, and their number is
expected to reach 2.9 million during the autumn. It
gained 250,000 new subscribers between July 2003 and
June 2004. According to the president of Canal
Satellite, Isabelle Parize, churn is between 8 and 9
per cent. Sales in 2004 are expected to reach to be
around ?960 million, while operating profit should
increase by 20 per cent, to around ?145 million at the
end of 2004. The bad news for subscribers is that the
price of all pay-TV packages will increase by ?1 a
month starting October 1. New channels which will be
added include E! Entertainment, Telif, Pink TV, Star
Academy 4 and Montagne.
MORE U.S. MOVIES ON TPS
Cinema, sports and entertainment will dominate new
programming on France's TPS Star, the premium channel
on the TPS digital satellite platform, owned 66% and
34%, respectively, by French commercial networks TF1
and M6. The satellite broadcaster, which kicked off
its new season September 2 with a special screening of
Michael Mann's "Collateral" ahead of its September 29
Paris opening, said it is unabashedly fond of American
cinema, "because that's what our audiences want."
GERMANY
KABEL DEUTSCHLAND TO LAUNCH DIGITAL TV PLATFORM
German cable giant Kabel Deutschland has announced it
will launch its digital TV platform September 27 with
a bouquet of channels that will include MTV2 Pop, MTV
Central, BBC World, Bloomberg TV and German cable
channel Tele 5. Kabel Deutschland VP digital TV Manuel
Cubero called the launch a "significant step toward
the digitalization of Germany cable television."
Cubero added that Kabel Deutschland is in negotiations
with other German and international broadcasters about
carrying their content on its digital platform.
Germany's largest cable TV operator, Kabel Deutschland
suffered a setback in its expansion plans last week
when German anticartel authorities blocked its planned
$3 billion takeover of cable competitor networks Ish,
Iesy and Kabel Baden-Wuerttemberg. Kabel Deutschland
said it is willing to make concessions in the takeover
deal in order to win regulatory approval. Kabel
Deutschland said it would increase spending on its
cable network to ?1.8 billion up to 2014, most of
which would go into making 21 million households
Internet-ready. KDG's free digital offer, available
free upon purchase of a digital decoder, is intended
to be at the forefront of Germany's strategy to
transfer TV consumers to digital, in anticipation of
analogue switch-off in 2010.
LUXEMBOURG
PROFITS UP AT RTL GROUP
Leading commercial broadcasting conglomerate RTL Group
on August 31 posted stronger first-half profits and
sales. RTL, controlled by Germany's Bertelsmann AG,
reported a net profit of ?195 million, compared with a
year-earlier ?25 million. Sales came in at ?2.5
billion in the first six months of the year, an 11%
jump from the same period last year. Despite what RTL
Group CEO Gerhard Zeiler called "mixed advertising
market conditions," all of RTL's flagship channels --
Germany's RTL Television, France's M6, Spain's Antena
3, the United Kingdom's Five -- performed well, but M6
was a standout. The French TV station had sales of
?579 million, almost double last year's figure, and
more than doubled operating profit in the first half,
booking ?127 million, compared with a year-earlier ?63
million.
THE NETHERLANDS
VIVENDI UNIVERSAL SELLS PAY-TV UNIT
Vivendi Universal sold the Dutch operations of the
pay-TV unit Canal Plus to the buyout firms Greenfield
Capital Partners and Airbridge Investments as
Greenfield seeks to increase its Dutch media industry
presence. Greenfield Capital Partners and Airbridge
will take over the satellite television platform
CanalDigitaal and the Canal Plus brand pay-TV
channels.
SPAIN
DIGITAL TV SWITCHOVER DELAYED
Spain's Industry Minister, Josep Montilla, has
announced that the digital TV legislation will be
changed to postpone for two years, until January 2008,
the analogue switchover for local TV stations,
initially scheduled for January 1 2006. This decision
meets the demands of TV operators and the whole
industry which had asked the Government for a
moratorium on what they regarded as "unrealistic"
initial deadlines. Regional Authorities now will have
until June 2005 to grant the digital TV licences
through public tenders, instead of the initial
deadline of December 2004.
SWEDEN
VIASAT TO DELIVER TV CHANNELS VIA BROADBAND
Modern Times Group's Viasat Broadcasting has signed a
deal to offer its various TV channels to broadband
users on the Swedish service Bredbandsbolaget. The
initial offering, via a set-top box plugged directly
into the broadband connection, will be a package of
linear channels. VOD will soon be added to the
service. Bredbandsbolaget has about 300,000 customers.
The agreement is part of Viasat's strategy to make its
TV channels available for viewers through all
available distribution channels. It will be
facilitated with a new set-top box which is plugged
directly into the broadband socket, making a broadband
subscription or PC unnecessary. Customers will at
first be offered a full multi-channel TV package and
thereafter new TV services via broadband such as VOD
where the viewer is able to rent movies via the TV
set.
SHOWTIME NETWORK TO LAUNCH ON SEPTEMBER 30
NonStop Television will launch a Showtime-branded
movie network across Scandinavia on September 30, as
part of a license agreement with Viacom's Showtime
Networks in the U.S. Showtime Scandinavia will be
offered on Canal Digital (DTH), Boxer (DTT Sweden) and
cable operators in the market. At launch, it will
reach 350,000 homes in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and
Finland.
CANAL DIGITAL OFFERS DTT CHANNELS TO SUBSCRIBERS
Canal Digital is now providing equipment, free of
charge, to all its customers in Sweden, enabling them
to access the TV channels in the Swedish digital
terrestrial network. As of August 16, with the help of
the ComboBox, Swedish viewers were given access to all
the TV channels distributed via satellite from Canal
Digital, as well as all the channels distributed
through the Swedish digital terrestrial network. The
new ComboBox has two receivers, one for broadcasts
distributed via satellite, and one for broadcasts
distributed through the digital terrestrial network.
Canal Digital's customers in Sweden were thus given
access to such channels as MTG's TV3, ZTV and TV8.
>From the outset, Canal Digital's new ComboBox has been
prepared to provide access to encrypted broadcasts.
Since MTG encrypted all their channels on September 1,
in order to access TV3, TV8 and ZTV, viewers now have
to purchase a programme card from Boxer at a cost of
SEK 395. The SVT channels and TV4 are still broadcast
without any form of encryption and without any
charges.
MTG TO ENCRYPT DTT CHANNELS
Modern Times Group has encrypted the broadcasts of its
television channels on the DTT network in Sweden. The
encryption has been necessitated by Canal Digital's
move to offer Viasat's TV3, ZTV and TV8 channels in
its own package by including Viasat's unencrypted
signal, without seeking or reaching an agreement with
Viasat. Subscribers to the rival operator's platform
will now not be able to watch Viasat's entertainment
channels. Viewers will continue to be able to watch
TV3, ZTV and TV8 without paying a subscription fee but
they will need to acquire a card from Boxer, which
operates the DTT pay-TV service. Existing Boxer pay-TV
customers will not be affected by the encryption of
the signal. Viewers with a DTT set-top box receiver
with no card slot will be offered subscription to
Viasat's pay-TV services in the inexpensive way ever.
UNITED KINGDOM
CHANNEL 4 AND BBC DISCUSS ALLIANCE
Channel 4 is holding talks with the BBC which could
lead to an alliance or the sale of the corporation's
commercial assets to the publicly owned broadcaster.
According to a report in The Guardian, as well as an
acquisition of some of the BBC's assets by Channel 4,
the two sides are exploring greater cooperation in
distribution and programme sales overseas. The
discussions are still at an early stage. It is
unlikely that Channel 4 could or would take over all
of the disparate BBC Worldwide business - which
includes the Radio Times and a huge consumer
publishing arm, and is worth an estimated £1 billion.
It is understood to be most interested in the BBC's
share of UKTV, a joint venture with cable group
Telewest, as well as its programme sales and rights
distribution arm. An agreement could lead to a
distribution company set up to sell British public
service TV - largely provided by the BBC and Channel 4
- overseas.
ITV WANTS BBC'S DIGITAL TV CHANNELS
A report in The Mail on Sunday says ITV chief
executive Charles Allen is expected to open talks with
the BBC over acquiring the broadcaster's BBC Worldwide
digital channels. BBC Worldwide brought in £657
million last year from activities such as licensing
programme formats and selling shows abroad. It also
runs UKTV, a joint venture with cable television
company Telewest, that includes ten digital channels
such as UKTV Gold and UKTV History. Acquiring the
BBC's stake in UKTV would boost ITV's limited digital
channels - it has ITV2 and is preparing to launch ITV3
shortly. According to UK press reports, Allen is also
planning to launch up to five new digital channels to
rival the BBC. He refused to say what the new channels
would be but hinted that one could be a children's
service in conjunction with a US broadcaster. It is
also not clear if two of the five new channels - which
will be launched over the next five years - will be
rebranded versions of Granada's joint venture channels
with BSkyB, Men & Motors and golden oldie station
Granada Plus. Allen said that within five years ITV
would have a portfolio of digital channels to rival
the BBC's eight services. Allen also said that, as
well as launching more ITV branded channels, the
broadcaster would continue to run GSB, its joint
venture with BSkyB that broadcasts channels such as
Granada Plus and Men & Motors.
FIVE AND CHANNEL 4 MERGER ON BACK BURNER
RTL, the German media group with a controlling stake
in Five, said on September 31 that it was in "no
hurry" to do a deal with Channel Four. The comments,
made by chief executive Gerhard Zeiler heightened the
sense that any talks involving Channel 4 had been put
on the back burner. Zeiler said Five was pursuing
several options in order to increase its share of a
fragmenting market. The options include alliances,
acquisitions and going it alone. "All those three
options are being evaluated and at this stage everyone
is talking to everyone," said Zeiler. "We are
evaluating our options. C4 is evaluating its options
and we will see what comes up. We are in no hurry to
decide in the next few months." The group is
aiming
for a decision within the next 12 months. Channel 4 is
understood to have cooled towards the idea of a tie-up
with Five. Instead, the publicly owned broadcaster is
pursuing an alliance with or acquisition of the BBC's
commercial assets.
SMG SEEKS TO BATTLE OF ITV BID
SMG, the Glasgow media giant, is braced to defend a
potential bid for its two television franchises
following interest from the chief executive of ITV,
Charles Allen. He admitted the firm is keen to buy the
parts of the TV channel it does not already own -
which include SMG's Grampian and STV operations.
Speaking at the Edinburgh International Television
Festival, Allen acknowledged that ITV would like to
complete the process of creating a united third TV
channel. He gave no indication of the timing of a
move, but added that the deal would have to be "at a
price which would create shareholder value". The
future of SMG's television interests have been under
scrutiny since ITV was formed from the controversial
£3 billion tie-up last summer. The merger included
every part of ITV except the SMG franchises and
Northern Ireland's Ulster TV, which might also be made
an offer by Allen. A sale of the TV assets would be a
serious blow to the Glasgow company, which generated
50 per cent of its 2003 turnover from the two
companies.
VIDEO NETWORKS NEEDS MORE CASH TO EXPAND
Video-on-demand service HomeChoice said September 2
that it plans to raise £60 million-£80 million in new
equity before year's end in a bid to rollout its
service outside London. Roger Lynch, CEO of the
privately held company, will begin making the case for
new cash to venture capitalist firms and banks next
month and hopes to have the funding before the end the
year, company representatives said. The company hopes
to extend the HomeChoice service to cities such as
Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow. HomeChoice is
available to 1.25 million London homes and already has
the funds in place to widen its coverage to 4 million
over the next year. The largest shareholder in Video
Networks (with 80% of the shares) is Chris Larson, one
of the founders of Microsoft, who rescued the company
from closure two years ago. The other shareholders in
Video Networks include Time Warner and Disney, which
control less than 10% of the company between them.
Video Networks offers over 5,000 Hollywood films on
demand and specially tailored channels, which include
US and UK drama. It also offers a "catch-up TV"
service which plays back popular programmes from
various channels, including EastEnders and Coronation
Street.
BBC TO RELOCATE CHANNELS TO REGIONS
The BBC is poised to move entire television and radio
channels out of London and up to the North in what it
promises will be the biggest relocation in its
history. Manchester and Glasgow are the favourites to
become home to the relocated stations, a senior BBC
source said. The BBC has already promised to move a
main channel to Manchester while its Glasgow operation
produces nearly 20 per cent of the children's
programmes. Although the BBC is only halfway through
its review, insiders say the main contenders to be
relocated are Radio 1, the youth channel BBC3, BBC
sports and children's television.
TV RACING PRICES ANNOUNCED
According to a report in The Guardian, UK racing fans
will have to pay up to £240 a year when Racing UK,
launched free-to-air in June, starts charging
subscribers from October 1. Racing UK has signed deals
with around half of all the courses in the UK,
including those that host many of the major meetings
in the racing calendar, while AttheRaces has re-signed
the other half. The two sides are also locked in a
bitter row over money that AttheRaces believes it is
still owed under the terms of the original deal.
AttheRaces, which relaunched earlier this year as a
joint venture between BSkyB and Arena Leisure, has
agreements with 30 courses and will remain free to
air.
COMMUNITY LAUNCHES INTERACTIVE DONATION SERVICE
Fundraising via interactive TV is now within most
charities' reach, with the Community Channel launching
the UK's first 24-hour interactive donation service,
funded by the Home Office. National charities
including Save The Children, as well as smaller
organisations such as Wildlife Aid, are taking part in
a pilot which involves the channel showing 10-second
slide adverts and still images with audio and text,
which then invite users to press the red button and
donate in between programmes.
ADVERT CHANNEL STARTS BROADCASTING
A pay-TV channel dedicated to advertising will begin
test broadcasts on September 6, screening commercials
from the past 40 years in programs that show humorous
ads and debate the best ads. The Advert Channel, owned
by former stock trader Vince Stanzione through a
private company, will also feature paid-for
commercials, which will be distinguished from ad
programs under
rules set by the U.K. communications
regulator. The Advert Channel is available to
subscribers of BSkyB and the company is talking with
cable operators. The channel plans to get most of its
revenue through premium- rate phone services, rather
than ad sales.
N O R T H A M E R I C A
CANADA
VISION TV GETS LICENSE RENEWED
Canada's broadcast regulator on September 1 approved a
plan by Canadian multifaith specialty channel Vision
TV to air more foreign programming in primetime in
return for more investment in Canadian TV production
and broadcast. Renewing Vision TV's license for
another seven years, the Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission also said the specialty
channel can reduce its Canadian program quota
commitment from 60% to 50% in primetime, or between 6
p.m. and midnight, while raising the network's overall
Canadian content requirement to 65% from 60%.
UNITED STATES
NBC SETS NEW OLYMPIC RECORD
NBC Universal pushed past the 200 million mark in
viewership with the 17-day Summer Olympics in Athens.
Nielsen Media Research said August 30 that 203 million
unique viewers watched at least some of NBC
Universal's coverage, making it the most-watched
non-U.S. Summer Olympics in history. NBC telecast
1,200 hours of Olympics programming over 17 days,
three times as much as it did in 2000 and across more
platforms: NBC Universal now owns Bravo and USA
Network, which it didn't when the Sydney games were on
the air. Those two cable channels, along with CNBC and
MSNBC, brought in 69 million viewers, up 60% from the
43 million it had for the comparable 17 days in July.
NBC won every half-hour in primetime for each of the
17 days and averaged a 15.0 household rating/26 share,
compared with Sydney's 13.8/24. An average 19.6
million viewers watched Sunday night's closing
ceremony, compared with 2000's 16.7 million viewers.
Q TELEVISION SIGNS MOVIE OUTPUT DEAL
The yet-to-be-launched Q Television Network, a cable
and satellite channel targeted to the gay and lesbian
population, has signed a licensing deal for a package
of movies from Warner Bros. Domestic Cable
Distribution. They include the Al Pacino
classic Dog
Day Afternoon, the musicals The Harvey Girls and
Sweeney Todd, and the mini-series A Century of Women
and Sins. In related news, the network is currently
working on An American Quest, a documentary about a
group of people venturing to a national rally in
support of same-sex marriages.
COMCAST ADDS CSTV AND PCN
On August 31, Comcast Cable launched CSTV: College
Sports Television, the first 24-hour college sports
network, to its Washington customers. The new network
provides college sports fans with the broadest and
deepest coverage of college sports. The channel is
part of a new sports tier of programming that includes
the NFL Network, Fox Sports Digital Atlantic, Fox
Sports Digital Central, Fox Sports Digital Pacific, TV
Games, Outdoor Channel and NBA TV. On September 1,
Comcast Cable also added Pennsylvania Cable Network
(PCN) programming on a full-time basis to digital
cable customers in Bucks, Chester and Montgomery
counties. PCN airs unedited coverage of state General
Assembly activities including floor proceedings,
committee hearings, press conferences, speeches, bill
signing ceremonies and other public forums where the
business of the state is debated, discussed and
decided.
Internet -
http://www.collegesports.com
http://www.pcntv.com
A S I A & P A C I F I C
ZONE VISION RENEWS ADD CARRIAGE DEAL
Zone Vision has renewed its carriage deal with the
Arab Digital Distribution DTH service for the Reality
TV channel for the next five years. ADD carries the
Reality TV channel on its Al Awael World, FirstNet and
Pehla bouquets, which reach some 6 million viewers in
the region.
AUSTRALIA
PROFITS UP AT SEVEN NETWORK
Seven Network said on August 31 higher TV advertising
revenues boosted its annual profit, but its costs
would rise about 15 per cent, inflated by Olympic
Games broadcasts. Seven said its headline full-year
profit rose 59.2 per cent to A$93.3 million ($65.3
million) for the year ended June 26 from A$58.6
million a year earlier. Excluding one-off items, Seven
reported an 11 per cent rise in net profit to A$83.3
million in fiscal 2004.
FTA BROADCASTERS CONFIRM INTERACTIVE STANDARD
Australian free-to-air broadcasters have reaffirmed
their commitment to a common platform for digital
terrestrial services based on open standards. They
will be authoring interactive applications in a mix of
HTML and MHP. The broadcasters have called on
manufacturers to support the common platform by
ensuring that interactive set-top boxes for the
Australian market are able to receive all interactive
applications from all free-to-air broadcasters. They
say set-top boxes should be manufactured to the MHP
1.0.2 standard including the ability to support a
browser. In the case of HTML, broadcasters have
indicated that they will be transmitting a browser
with the HTML application to ensure that MHP 1.0.2
boxes without a resident browser will be able to
receive and interpret the application. Broadcasters
also say that the first generation interactive boxes
should also be receivable on later versions.
TVN TO START BROADCASTING IN DECEMBER
The new dedicated thoroughbred channel on pay-TV won't
start telecasting until after the Melbourne spring
carnival, according to The Daily Telegraph. All
indications are that the new racing channel was likely
to start on December 1.
CHINA - HONG KONG
DIGITAL PAY-TV LAUNCHES THIS MONTH
China's State Administration of Radio, Film and
Television (SARFT) has given the go-ahead to four
media groups to launch pay-TV packages on September 1,
according to Reuters. Among them is China Central
Digital Television, which has been offering a free
six-channel package since August 9. The pay package
will likely include up to 10 networks and will cost
about 58 yuan per month.
ATV PREPARES NEWS NETWORK
Hong Kong terrestrial ATV will create a 24-hour
Cantonese-language news network for PCCW's pay-TV
service now Broadband TV. ATV 24-Hour News is to be
launched at the end of November with round-the-clock
news updates as well as briefs on finance and sports.
Broadband TV has about 300,000 customers with 59
channels offered on a à la carte basis.
STARHUB AND ESPN STAR REACH PREMIER LEAGUE DEAL
StarHub CableTV and ESPN STAR Sports have struck a
deal guaranteeing 'live' coverage of English Premier
League football for the next three seasons. Now the
only concern for subscribers is higher cable
subscription fees. SCV has not ruled out the
possibility of raising fees, but says any increase
will be "reasonable."
OVER 80 MILLION HAVE NO TV ACCESS IN CHINA
More than 80 million Chinese - in more than 574,000
villages - have yet to gain access to radio or TV
broadcasts, according to the latest statistics of the
State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. In
1998, China launched a programme to bring all villages
under the coverage of radio and TV broadcasts. By the
end of 2003, governments of different levels had
invested 1.76bn yuan (about $212 million) in the
project and made 117, 000 villages accessible to radio
and TV broadcasts, according to the administration.
Thanks to the programme, more than 70 million more
rural residents are now able to listen to radio
broadcasts and watch TV programmes. In 2003, 93.6 per
cent and 94.8 per cent of Chinese were within the
reach of radio and TV broadcasts, respectively, as
against 88.3 per cent and 89 per cent in 1998.
INTERACTIVE CHANNEL ON AIR
Asia's first 24-hour interactive television network
The Interactive Channel (TIC) launched on September 1
on Hong Kong's Cable TV. TIC will have its trial run
on Channel 5 (Traffic Kowloon) daily between 20.00 and
06.00 and officially launch a 24-hour programming
schedule on December 1. "TIC utilises the convergence
of broadcast TV, radio, internet and mobile networking
technologies to create infotainment-based programming.
TIC employs mobile phones and the internet as a
critical component of its interactive platform," said
Robert Chua, chairman and founder of The Interactive
Channel Company Limited.
Internet -
http://www.tictv.com
TVB PROFITS UP BY 40%
Hong Kong's Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) has
reported a 40 per cent jump in profit despite losses
at its pay-TV start-up, the South China Morning Post
has reported. The company said it made a profit of
US$27.88 million for the six months to June, compared
with US$19.88 million in the same period last year.
The profit rebound would have been higher if it were
not for the loss of US$9.85 million on Galaxy
Satellite Broadcasting's exTV, in which TVB owns a 49
per cent stake. TVB has invested more than HK$257
million into Galaxy so far. In the first six months,
TVB recorded an 18.25 per cent increase in turnover to
US$216.7 million. Rebounding from an operating loss of
US$1.37 million, the firm reported an operating profit
of US$14.3 million for the period.
CASBAA WELCOMES NEW TV REGULATIONS
The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia
(CASBAA) has welcomed new regulations released by Hong
Kong's Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau (CITB)
that further open up the border between Hong Kong and
mainland China for television services. Television
programmes co-produced by Hong Kong and the mainland
will be permitted to be broadcast and distributed in
the same way as mainland-produced television
programmes after being examined by the relevant
mainland authorities. In addition, Hong Kong companies
engaging in the operation of cable television systems
will be permitted to provide professional technical
services related to cable television systems in
Guangdong as a pilot area after obtaining the approval
of the relevant mainland authorities.
PAY-TV SECTOR OPENED UP TO FOREIGN INVESTORS
China has opened its pay-TV and cartoon sectors to
foreign investment, according to local press reports,
in another sign the communist country is loosening the
locks on its tightly controlled media industry. But
foreign investors would not be able to work in the
country without a Chinese partner, the Beijing Youth
Daily said, quoting officials from the state
broadcasting regulator. Analysts said the statement
was a rare official endorsement of foreign investment
in the media sector, but was not expected to herald a
radical shift because policy had been moving in that
direction in recent years.
INDIA
ZEE AND TURNER COULD LAUNCH SPORTS CHANNEL
India's biggest listed media firm, Zee Telefilms, is
considering launching a sports channel with Time
Warner's Turner International to take on ESPN and Star
Sports, a Zee official confirmed September 4. While
targeting cricket-loving Indians at home and abroad,
the channel would combine Indian and international
sport events, and be distributed in Asia-Pacific,
Europe and the United States. But its future is
largely dependent on the outcome of a battle for the
broadcast rights for international matches organized
by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
ZEE LAUNCHES COMEDY CHANNEL
Subhash Chandra-backed Zee Telefilms launched a comedy
channel on its cable and satellite networks on
September 3. The new channel, Smile TV, has lined up
five variety shows as well as comedy films, serials
and gameshows. Smile TV has one competitor, SAB TV,
which has never made much of a mark in the ratings by
showing repeats of comedy shows.
ABC ASIA SIGNS DISTRIBUTION DEAL
ABC Asia Pacific, Australian Broadcasting
Corporation's free-to-air international satellite
television and online service is being launched in
India. Currently available in 6.5 million homes in
over 30 countries, ABC Asia Pacific will be available
in India exclusively through Dish TV , the
direct-to-home (DTH) entertainment service of Essel
Group. The channel will be screening programmes
specifically produced to cater the Asia-Pacific
audiences. It will draw from the inventory of
programming available with both, the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation and leading Australian
commercial television networks.
BT AND DISH TV TO BRING FOREIGN TV CHANNELS
The broadcast and media solutions arm of British
Telecom, BT Broadcast Services, has signed an
agreement with Dish TV, a direct-to-home (DTH)
platform of India. Dish TV was launched by Subhash
Chandra-promoted ASC Enterprises last September. The
agreement enables European and US broadcasters to tap
into India and other markets in the Asia-Pacific
region too. ASC Enterprises director Amitabh Kumar
said that the joint offering with BT Broadcast is a
good opportunity for global broadcasters "to transmit
their channels to a new potential audience of 1
billion people." At present, Dish TV, the only DTH
provider in India, offers 32 channels. Kumar added
that in the past, there have been significant barriers
to entry for European and US broadcasters to the
rapidly-growing Indian, Australian and Asian English
speaking markets. The new service make it easier and
cost-effective. Company officials said both BTBS and
ASC Enterprises would market end-to-end services,
including Conax encryption; signal quality monitoring;
contribution of signals from Europe and the US to
India, Australia and other markets in Asia-Pacific;
access to Dish TV subscriber community; and subscriber
management for premium channels.
ZOOM TV PREPARES FOR LAUNCH
Bennett, Coleman and Co, publishers of Times of India,
on September 3 announced the launch of the 24-hour TV
channel "Zoom". Claiming that it would redefine
entertainment viewing in the country, Arun Arora,
President of Bennett, Coleman, said the programs on
"Zoom" would span across various formats in
non-fiction--talk shows, chat shows, game shows,
magazine-based formats, interviews and music-based
shows. Apurva Purohit, COO, Times Television, said 50
per cent of the programming would be in-house and the
rest outsourced from production houses like Balaji
Telefilms and UTV.
AL-JAZEERA SIGNS DEAL WITH INDIA TV
A Hindi news and current affairs channel, India TV,
signed a deal on September 2 with Al-Jazeera to bring
the Arab satellite television station to
sub-continental viewers. The Qatar-based channel
hailed the accord to share news bulletins as an
important step in improving its coverage of India.
India TV, a round-the-clock Hindi news channel
launched in May, is now broadcasting a daily
Al-Jazeera bulletin dubbed into Hindi.
DOODARSHAN DTH SERVICE TO LAUNCH THIS MONTH
India's Information and Broadcasting Minister, S
Jaipal Reddy, has announced that the direct-to- home
(DTH) service of state-owned broadcaster Doordarshan
(DD) is to start this September. The minister said
subscribers would have to make a one-time payment of
US$65 for the DTH service of 40 free-to-air channels.
The channels are made of 20 DD channels including all
the regional channels run by DD and other free-to- air
channels such as Aastha, Sun TV, Jaya TV, and
education channels aired by UGC, BBC, CNN and Ten
Sports.
NEW ZEALAND
JOHN FAIRFAX HOLDINGS EYES TV MARKET
Newspaper publisher John Fairfax Holdings is keen to
expand its sphere of interest into the New Zealand TV
market. The company has repeatedly called for cross
media restrictions to be relaxed in Australia where
newspaper, radio and TV companies in the same city are
limited to holding 15% in each other. Fairfax, which
bought INL's publishing group for $1.2 billion last
year, does not face such restrictions in New Zealand.
PAKISTAN
CNBC PAKISTAN ON AIR IN 2005
Pakistan's first internationally-branded business,
financial, economic news and information television
channel - CNBC Pakistan - is to be launched in the
first quarter of 2005, according to Shaikh Nahyan bin
Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and
Scientific Research, who is Chairman of CNBC Pakistan.
He said CNBC Pakistan will transmit live programming
in both Urdu and in English from Pakistan's
perspective 24-hours a day, seven days a week. CNBC
Pakistan is owned by VNTV, a Pakistani company which
would have access to the CNBC global network which
reaches 200 million households around the world and
the world-class resources of Dow Jones & Company. A
total of four transponders, two each at PAS-2 and
Pak-Sat have been booked to air the transmission for
the viewers across the globe.
THAILAND
SHIN SATELLITE OPTS FOR TANDBERG
Shin Satellite has selected Tandberg Television to
provide its 5000 compression system to carry Shin
Satellite's video distribution across the Asia Pacific
region. Shin Satellite was a very early adopter of
MPEG digital technology, pioneering Digital DTH using
the Ku-band frequency in 1993 and was the world's
first full scale user to adopt the MPEG-2/DVB standard
in May 1995. The new system will be used for both the
Direct-to-Home (DTH) and Global Digital TV
distribution activities of Shinsat. The DTH Ku-band
service allows Thailand's major pay-TV operator, The
United Broadcasting Corporation Group (UBC), to
provide up to 50 digital channels to its customers.
QATAR
AL-JAZEERA PREPARES ENGLISH LANGUAGE TV CHANNEL
Doha-based Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera has begun
recruiting staff for a channel in English that will
show news and documentaries. "The brief is
emphatically not to do an English translation of the
Arabic channel," said Nigel Parsons, the project
manager. "It will have international appeal and fill a
lot of gaps in existing output." The original Arabic
news channel, established in 1996 and funded by the
emir of Qatar, began to attract worldwide attention
during the Afghan war in 2001 as the only station with
a round-the-clock satellite link from Kabul to the
outside world. Al-Jazeera's English channel expects to
create about 200 jobs worldwide when it starts
broadcasting towards the end of next year. Despite
having the largest TV audience in the Middle East, the
Arabic channel still loses money. Just over a year
from now, if all goes to plan, what was once a single
channel will have turned into a five-channel network
covering the world. Besides the English channel, an
Arabic sports channel - which recently acquired Middle
East rights to the FA Cup - is already broadcasting. A
children's channel and a documentary channel are also
scheduled for next year.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CABLE TV SET TO EXPAND
Emirates Cable TV and Multimedia (e-Vision) plans to
invest Dh2.5 billion in cable television over the next
15 years. Launched in April 2000 with a target of just
20,000 homes, E-Vision reached 200,000 subscribers by
late 2003, according to sources. According to Humaid
Rashid Sahoo, chief executive officer of E-Vision,
'E-Vision is currently available in Abu Dhabi, Dubai,
Sharjah and Al Ain through digital cable and wireless
technologies. It provides all the premium packages
available in the UAE such as Showtime Cable, ART
Cable, e-Pehla, e-Firstnet, Orbit Vision, alongwith
e-Games channels.'' The UAE has numerous indigenous
satellite TV stations, which focus on Arab culture and
identity and others on business and sport as well as
education, transmitting lessons according to the UAE
schools curriculum. Apart from this, it also has a
number of terrestrial stations broadcasting in Arabic
and English including Abu Dhabi TV, Emirates channel,
Abu Dhabi Sports Channel, Dubai 33, Sharjah Channel 22
and Ajman Channel 4.
Linear Mode
