TELE-satellite News - Number 40/2004 - 3 October 2004
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A weekly roundup of global TV news sponsored by
TELE-satellite International
Editor: Branislav Pekic
E U R O P E
ESPN SEEKS TO EXPAND IN EUROPE
The Walt Disney Company's ESPN sports television
network is in discussions with
European broadcasters
to launch its first live channel in the region after
securing a beachhead with the introduction of its
Classic Sports platform Russell Wolff, managing
director of ESPN International, told The Times that
"we have had discussions, and are in discussions, with
a variety of people" to launch a live 24-hour ESPN
channel in Europe. The talks come as ESPN launches
ESPN Classic Sports on Germany's Kabel Deutschland,
taking its total audience across the region to more
than 14 million households in 37 countries. ESPN is
also in talks with BSkyB to broadcast the channel,
which replays footage from past sporting events. The
global expansion of ESPN is part of a broader strategy
at Disney to leverage the strength of its television
assets outside the US. Since 1995 Disney has launched
25 TV channels in 68 countries. Wolff said that Europe
was the last major market around the world where ESPN
did not have a live channel.
DENMARK
TV2 CHARLIE ON AIR
Commercial broadcaster TV2's new channel Charlie
launched on October 1 with a slew of drama titles
acquired from BBC Worldwide. Aimed at the 40+ crowd,
the channel will be carrying a mix of recent and
classic BBC series, from Pride & Prejudice and
Ballykissangel to Cambridge Spies and all seasons of
Monarch of the Glen and Judge John Deed. Other titles
included in the deal are: The Cazelets, Daniel
Deronda, The Way We Live Now, When the Boat Comes,
Take a Girl Like You, Wives and Daughters and Madame
Bovary. The volume deal with BBCWW follows TV2
Charlie's earlier deal with Granada International for
titles including Hornblower, Kavanagh QC, The Vice,
Jeeves & Wooster, The Brief, Moll Flanders, Catherine
Cookson titles, Peak Practice, The Hunt and Brideshead
Revisited. The new channel sits alongside the recently
launched TV2 Zulu, which is targeted towards the youth
market.
FRANCE
FIRST GAY TV STATION PREPARES FOR LAUNCH
Calling it "a giant leap for television, a small step
in high heels," organisers on September 27 launched
France's first TV channel aimed at gay, lesbian and
transgender audiences. PinkTV was unveiled in Paris,
where organisers believe most of the channel's
audience will be located. France estimates its gay
population to be about 3.5 million people. Accessible
by subscription and available in France via cable and
satellite starting October 25, PinkTV follows in the
footsteps of Canada's PrideVision, and gay channels in
the U.K. and Italy. Offering a mix of currant affairs
shows, films, documentaries, music programming and TV
series like the Canadian-produced Queer as Folk, the
channel has no plans to be militant, organisers said.
Pink TV will offer a slew of shows imported from
Britain and the United States, where gay programming
has become firmly established in the past few years.
Programmes will include "Metrosexuality", "Queer as
Folk" and "French and Saunders" -- all in English with
French subtitles. Gay opera and ballet and
documentaries will also be screened, as will interview
shows, notably one hosted by one of France's leading
news presenters, Claire Chazal.
GERMANY
DISNEY TO LAUNCH TWO CHANNELS ON CABLE PLATFORM
Playhouse Disney Channel and Toon Disney Channel are
set to launch in Germany on Kabel Deutschland's new
digital program platform Kabel Digital Home on
November 10. Playhouse Disney will be the first
dedicated preschool channel for Germany, featuring
shows like New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Stanley
and Bear in the Big Blue House. It will broadcast
daily from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Toon Disney will operate
for 24 hours a day with a slate of animated titles
such Disney's Recess and Disney's Kim Possible. The
German launches follow the two channels' previous
debuts in the UK, France and Spain. Alongside the
Disney offerings, KDG's new rival to Premiere will
also carry E! Entertainment, BBC Prime, Fashion TV,
13th Street, AXN, Sci-Fi, Kinowelt, History Channel,
Nat Geo, Planet, Extreme Sports, ESPN Classic Sports,
Sailing Channel, NASN, Motors TV, MTV Hits, MTV Dance,
VH1 Classic, Trace TV and Playboy TV.
FIRST
PERSIAN TV CHANNEL STARTS BROADCASTING
Germany's first Farsi-language television station
"Mohajer International TV" has begun broadcasting a
24-hour test programme of music, dance, movies and
news. A spokesman said the digital station is
currently free to air on the Hotbird 6 satellite
system in Germany and hopes to broadcast to other
countries in Europe and the Middle East and eventually
Iran itself. He added that the station, in which a 50
per cent stake is held by Iranian businessman Hassan
Arpanahi, would like initially to reach the estimated
6,000 people from the Islamic Republic living in
Europe. He said the goal is to ultimately finance the
channel through advertising. Mohajer was given the
green light by German authorities to begin
broadcasting in July mainly because of its cultural
content, including programmes about music, the media,
film, lifestyle and cooking. It also has a documentary
show and news bulletins.
ESPN CLASSIC SPORT SIGNS CABLE DEAL
ESPN Classic Sport's English-language channel is now
available on Kabel Deutschland (KDG) in Germany. ESPN
Classic Sport, which will be included in KDG's new
digital home package, will transmit 24-hours a day,
seven days a week, offering German viewers a sporting
mix from Europe and around the world. It will also
feature a nightly two-hour German-language programming
block from 10pm, featuring some of Germany's greatest
athletes and most famous sporting moments. ESPN
Classic Sport already has distribution among
multi-channel homes in France and Italy (88 per cent
and 100 per cent, respectively) via affiliates such as
CanalSatellite, TPS, NOOS, FTC, UPC and SKY Italia.
ESPN Classic Sport is also available as a three-hour
branded block to 5.9 million subscribers in an
additional 11 European countries. In total, ESPN
Classic Sport programming can be seen in more than 14
million households in 37 countries.
NO-GO FOR KIRCH SUIT AGAINST DEUTSCHE BANK AND LIBERTY
MEDIA
A US court has thrown out a suit by former German
media mogul Leo Kirch against US cable operator
Liberty Media and German bank Deutsche Bank for
allegedly conspiring to bring about the downfall of
Kirch's media empire in 2002, Deutsche Bank revealed.
Kirch had filed a 39-page complaint with a court in
New York in January, accusing Deutsche Bank and
Liberty Media and their chairmen of plotting the
destruction of the Kirch Group in a bid to rid Liberty
Media of an unwelcome rival in the German cable
television market and secure hefty commissions for
Deutsche Bank. The complaint alleged that Liberty
Media and its chairman John Malone and Deutsche Bank
and its former chairman Rolf Breuer "conspired to
undermine a deal Kirch was negotiating to bring his
privately-owned group public by 2004". But the court
found that Kirch had failed to prove his case and
"dismissed (the suit) for failure to state a claim,"
according to a copy of the ruling made available by
Deutsche Bank. The conflict dates back to comments
made by Deutsche Bank's then chairman Breuer made on
television in 2002, in which he publicly questioned
the creditworthiness of the Kirch group. Soon
afterwards, banks refused to lend Kirch any more money
and KirchMedia, the main pillar of the Kirch Group,
filed for insolvency in April 2002.
PLAYBOY SIGNS CARRIAGE DEAL
Playboy TV International has reached a deal to launch
on KDG's Kabel Digital Home platform. Playboy TV will
air nightly from 9 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. Initially
available in English, the channel will add
German-dubbed programming over the course of its
rollout. The new platform launched on September 27.
Germany's Federal Cartel Office last week vetoed KDG's
plans to merge with three regional cable operators.
Operating cable services in 13 German states, with a
reach of more than 10m households, Munich-based KDG is
already Europe's biggest cable operator.
Internet -
http://www.kabeldeutschland.de
NEW HOME SHOPPING CHANNEL ON ASTRA
SES ASTRA and 1-2-3.TV have announced the launch of a
new concept in home shopping. On 1-2-3.TV, it is the
customers who decide the price of each product by
making an offer for each item by telephone. If that
offer is one of the highest received for the items
being presented, the purchase then takes place. The
new channel is available throughout Europe via ASTRA
19.2° East (transponder 47; downlink frequency
11170.75 MHz; horizontal polarisation) and in digital
(frequency 12.46050 GHz; horizontal polarisation,
symbol rate 27.5; FEC 3/4). In addition to managing
directors Dr. Andreas Büchelhofer and Henning
Schnepper, the company's shareholders include the
venture capital companies Wellington Partners, 3i,
Target Partners and Cuneo AG. 1-2-3.TV GmbH is hoping
to break even in its third financial year, by which
time it expects to have achieved approximately half a
million registered customers.
BBC PRIME ADDS GERMAN SUBSCRIBERS
BBC Prime expands in Germany with KDGBBC Worldwide,
the commercial consumer arm of the BBC, and Kabel
Deutschland (KDG), Germany's leading cable network,
have announced an agreement to provide carriage for
British entertainment channel, BBC Prime, across
Germany. BBC Prime has been selected by KDG for
inclusion in its new Kabel Digital HOME package,
launched this week in Munich, which heralds a major
push to drive digital uptake in Germany. BBC Prime is
broadcast to over 20 million subscribers across
Europe, the Middle East and Africa on cable and
satellite. This flagship British cable channel shows
the best of the BBC's award-winning programmes from
drama, comedy, children's, documentary, film, music,
lifestyle series and celebrity talkshows.
ITALY
NEWS CORP BECOMES SOLE OWNER OF SKY ITALIA
News Corp. on September 28 said that it agreed to buy
the 20 per cent of Sky Italia, the
satellite-television broadcaster that it does not
already own from Telecom Italia for ?88 million. The
deal comes as News Corp., the media conglomerate
controlled by Rupert Murdoch and his family, seeks to
make Sky Italia break even next year. Telecom Italia
is selling non-core assets to meet its year-end target
of cutting its debt to below ?30 billion. News Corp.
formed Sky Italia, Italy's only satellite TV provider,
last year after buying rival Tele+ from Vivendi
Universal and merging it with Stream, as News Corp.'s
satellite channel was called. Sky Italia has 2.7
million subscribers. Telecom Italia, which runs two TV
stations in Italy, was prevented from exercising
management control over Sky Italia because of
antitrust
rules approving News Corp.'s purchase of
Tele+.
THE NETHERLANDS
DE MOL BUYS DUTCH FOOTBALL TEAM TV RIGHTS
Dutch billionaire and media mogul John de Mol, through
his investment company Talpa Capital, has bought up
the rights to broadcast all six away games for the
Dutch team in the qualification rounds for the World
Cup in 2006. Talpa outbid Dutch broadcasters RTL
Netherlands, SBS Broadcasting and the Dutch public
broadcasters for the rights to the qualification
matches which all three other contenders said were too
expensive for them to take on. First broadcast of the
away games will be seen October 9, well before De
Mol's new venture is set to kick off. The six away
games for the Dutch team were said to have cost as
much as ?900,000 per game. .
CASEMA TO OFFER FREE
DIGITAL TV CHANNELS
Cable operator Casema intends to add an additional 40
to 50 digital TV channels for free with the standard
analogue TV package as of January 1. With this offer,
Casema hopes to attract more customers to digital
television. At the moment, Casema has around 24,000
digital subscribers. In order to be able to watch the
free stations, customers will still need to buy a
digital receiver, which is available for between ?100
and ?200. Casema is aims for a penetration of digital
receivers of ten per cent by the end of 2005, and 80
per cent within five years. Casema is the third cable
operator in the Netherlands with 1.3 million
subscribers.
POLAND
TP PLANS DIGITAL PAY-TV SERVICE
In a few months TP will offer its customers digital TV
and thus will enter direct competition with cable
television operators. According to local press
reports, the company might offer its services 20-30%
cheaper than currently offered by the largest cable
operators. "We might pitch our offer in Q2 2005, with
a test phase probably beginning early next year," said
Mariusz Gaca, director of the multimedia division of
TP. A key advantage the phone company will have is its
range, as it will be able to enter the homes of
broadband Internet subscribers.
RUSSIA
MURDOCH SEEKS TO EXPAND INTO RUSSIA
Rupert Murdoch, owner of News Corporation, wants to
expand his operations into Russian television, where
he plans to create a pay-for-view platform and produce
TV programs, Britain's Sunday Telegraph quoted Marty
Pompadur, one of Murdoch's aides, who is currently on
a fact-finding mission in Russia. "We are looking for
other investments," Pompadur told the newspaper. "We
are looking to add to our radio and our outdoor
[advertising] holdings, and we are interested in
pay-TV and content." The company is considering
satellite, cable and broadband Internet as ways of
creating a pay-TV platform in Russia. As Russian
Internet news resource Newsru.com reported, in
November 2003 Murdoch was considering the possibility
of buying part of the shares in the Russian satellite
television company NTV Plus but the negotiations
brought no positive results.
UNITED KINGDOM
OFCOM PROPOSES NEW PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTER
Media regulator Ofcom is proposing the introduction of
a new TV channel to broadcast public service
programmes in the UK. The new network could cost
around £300 million a year to run, the watchdog said.
Ofcom's ideas are set out in its second interim report
on public service broadcasting (PSB), with a final
review to be published at the end of the year. Channel
4 will be a "critical second provider" of public
service broadcasting alongside the BBC, Ofcom says.
Meanwhile ITV1 will be allowed to phase out its
regional non-news programmes, with some of those
responsibilities passing to the BBC. The BBC should
continue to be paid for through the licence fee "as
long as it retains broad public support" and
contributes to society. Ofcom says advertising and
direct government funding should be ruled out for the
BBC but says the nature of the TV licence fee could
change in the future. It suggests three "realistic"
ways to fund the new public service channel, as public
service broadcasting in general. Licence fee payers
could be charged an "enhanced" fee, taxpayers could
pay through a government grant or UK broadcasters
could be taxed on their turnover.
EEEZEE TV PLANS HOME SHOPPING VENTURE
Kleeneze, the home shopping specialist, has announced
an investment of some £4 million over two years in a
joint venture TV shopping channel carried on Sky
Digital channel 664. The channel, which the group has
branded eezee TV, will broadcast as a pre-recorded
channel until March 2005. In March 2005 eezee TV will
be re-launched as a live channel with 16 hours live
programming and 8 hours pre-recorded programming
daily, giving a 24-hour a day service. Kleeneze said
that the expansion into television shopping presents
significant cross-promotional and cross-selling
opportunities for the group. The joint venture
partner, JML, is a well-established retail distributor
and producer of promotional videos and has broadcast
the pre-recorded shopping channel under the name JML
Direct since 2002.
ITV SIGNS WARNER BROS OUTPUT DEAL
ITV has inked a volume deal with Warner Bros
International Television Distribution. ITV has
acquired feature films from Warner Bros' 2003, 2004
and 2005 theatrical slates including titles like Harry
Potter sequels The Chamber of Secrets & The Prisoner
of Azkaban, plus Matrix spin-offs Reloaded and
Revolutions. Also in the mixed bag are Scooby Doo and
Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, The Last Samurai,
Troy, Ocean's 11 and the upcoming Ocean's 12, The
Polar Express and Alexander. The deal includes library
titles like Unforgiven, The Fugitive, The Matrix,
Maverick, Lethal Weapon and Wild, Wild West. ITV3,
aimed at the over-35s, is due to start transmission on
November 1, airing UK reruns like Prime Suspect and
Cold Feet and US crime drama and feature films. US
drama imports already acquired for the network include
Crossing
Jordan, LA Dragnet, Quincy and Karen Sisco.
BSKYB SEES DVR FUTURE
BSkyB is hoping digital video recorder technology
might help resolve the problem of the subscriber
growth stall. Figures out on September 28 suggest that
1 million U.K. households will be plugged into DVR
technology within the next year. Some 400,000 of
BSkyB's 7.4 million subscribers have Sky Plus boxes,
and Sky hopes to increase this number to 2.5 million
by 2010. Despite Sky's marketing push, however,
consumers are confused about the benefits of DVRs,
which allow viewers to record programs onto a hard
disc. According to Continental Research, less than
four in 10 people understand what DVRs are, with
awareness highest among young men in Sky Digital
homes. Meanwhile, Sky launched a new service enabling
Sky Plus boxes to record interactive programs.
BSKYB LAUNCHES BIGGEST ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN IN YEARS
BSkyB unveiled its biggest advertising campaign in six
years on September 30 as it seeks to reverse slowing
subscriber growth and wrest back the initiative from
Freeview. John Florsheim, managing director of sales
and marketing at BSkyB, admitted previous advertising
campaigns had not won over the 11 million terrestrial
viewers in Britain. Freeview watchers and families
with nursery-age children - a prime BSkyB customer -
will be among the groups targeted by a three-month
push. The advertising blitz follows a strategic shift
ordered by James Murdoch, the chief executive, which
included raising the annual marketing budget by 50% to
£75 million. BSkyB is chasing subscriber targets of 8
million by next year and 10 million by 2010 amid a
marked slowdown in the growth of customer numbers.
BSkyB dominates the pay-TV market with 7.4 million
subscribers, with 90% of new customers buying top-tier
deals costing £39 to £41 per month. The group is now
targeting potential customers with cheaper packages,
previously a low priority. BSkyB added 66,000
customers in the first three months of 2004, but
disappointed the market when it gained 81,000
subscribers in the second quarter against expectations
of 100,000 to 130,000.
BBC COMPLETES SALE OF TECHNOLOGY UNIT TO SIEMENS
The BBC has completed the procurement for a 10-year
Technology Framework Contract (TFC) with Siemens
Business Services worth almost £2 billion. As part of
the landmark deal, Siemens Business Services has
acquired BBC Technology, a commercial subsidiary of
the BBC. BBC Technology will be renamed Siemens
Business Services Media Holdings. The BBC has received
approval for the sale from the Secretary of State for
Culture, Media and Sport and approval from the BBC
Governors for both the procurement and the sale. The
two-part deal covering both contract and acquisition -
the first of its kind in the media industry - means
Siemens Business Services will work closely with BBC
Technology Direction, the department responsible for
the BBC's technology strategy and development, to
deliver the BBC's technology services across the whole
corporation for the next 10 years. The BBC expects to
save around £30 million per annum over the life of the
contract.
BDA LAUNCHES PROPERTY CHANNEL
Production company BDA (Bruce Dunlop & Associates)
announced the launch of an entertainment-led property
channel on the Sky Platform. Real Estate TV will be
launched in October 2004 in the UK. Former Flextech
management board member Mark Dodd will be heading up
Real Estate TV in partnership with BDA. "In addition
to providing developers and agents with a new way to
market property not only in the UK, but across the
world, Real Estate TV differs from other dedicated
teleshopping channels by offering viewers a wide
selection of the latest editorial content, including
the channel's very own commissioned programmes, " the
company commented. Real Estate TV has also acquired
the programming rights for Property Rescue and the
exclusive rights to Location Location. Complementary
to the editorial content, Real Estate TV will also be
presenting a blend of teleshopping windows and spot
advertising. The interactive aspect of the channel
will be supported by Broadband and mobile telephone
services. The channel will air on Sky 18 hours a day,
from 6am to midnight, and negotiations to transmit the
channel over cable are underway with both NTL and
Telewest.
N O R T H A M E R I C A
CANADA
BELL EXPRESSVU RELAUNCHES SATELLITE TV SERVICE
Bell ExpressVu, Canada's No. 1 satellite TV provider,
said on September 28 it had overhauled the service to
simplify its programming and incorporate new
technology. The wholly owned unit of BCE Inc.,
Canada's biggest telecom company, said the changes
include an easier to navigate on-screen guide, more
flexible programming packages and pricing, and a
personal video recorder with "watch and record"
capabilities that can operate on two televisions.
Company officials said they expect the changes to spur
subscriber growth and help the service compete against
rival satellite and cable providers.
GOVERNMENT CONSIDERS FOREIGN CHANNEL LEVY
A government-appointed industry panel recommended on
September 29 that a levy be imposed on international,
foreign-language TV channels airing here to help fund
more home-grown foreign-language programming from
Canadian independent producers. The 30-page report on
international TV services in Canada was commissioned
last month by Heritage Minister Liz Frulla after the
country's broadcast regulator stirred controversy by
allowing Qatar-based
Arabic-language channel
Al-Jazeera to enter the Canadian market, while denying
a bid by Italian TV service RAI International to do
likewise. The panel members recommended more foreign
TV services be allowed into Canada "with the
understanding that they will make a contribution to
the Canadian system."
UNITED STATES
BBC WORLD SEEKS CABLE CARRIAGE
The BBC is in talks with several US cable companies to
distribute its BBC World news channel and expand its
North American reach. It has talked to leading players
such as Comcast, Cox Communications and Time Warner.
The BBC is working with partner Discovery Networks,
partially owned by Cox, to get cable distribution to
complement BBC America, which screens a mix of British
humour and is one of the fastest-growing cable
channels in the country. BBC World is commercially
funded and reaches 254 million homes in more than 200
countries. Available at least half-an-hour a day on
229 US public television stations, it is enjoying a
surge of popularity. Viewer figures have more than
doubled since 9/11, with 930,000 households tuning in
each evening, according to Nielsen ratings.
FCC TO VOTE ON DIGITAL TV PLAN
Michael Powell, chairman of the Federal Communications
Commission, plans to hold a vote this year on a
proposal to require U.S. television broadcasters such
as Viacom Inc.'s CBS to convert to digital signals by
January 2009, a Powell aide said. Powell, who supports
the plan, has decided to schedule a November or
December vote, even after a Senate committee rejected
a similar proposal last week, said Jonathan Cody, a
legal adviser to Powell on media regulation, in an
interview. The FCC staff proposal seeks to impose a
deadline after unsuccessful efforts by Congress and
regulators to prod TV stations and viewers to convert
to digital technology. Meanwhile, the Senate approved
legislation on September 29 designed to force some
broadcast stations to give up their current analogue
channels by 2008. Under the legislation, broadcast
stations on TV channels 63, 64, 68 and 69 will have to
give them up for public-safety uses by 2008. The bill
was adopted as an amendment to legislation reforming
the nation's intelligence services as recommended by
the 9/11 Commission. The commission's report included
a recommendation that the government provide more
radio frequencies for fire fighters, police and other
"first responders."
DISH NETWORK ADDS 17 CHINESE TV CHANNELS
EchoStar's DISH Network on September 30 added an
additional 14 Chinese television channels to its
Chinese programming line-up to create its new Great
Wall TV Package featuring 17 channels. DISH Network
subscribers can receive
installation and equipment at
no cost when signing up for the Great Wall TV Package
for the monthly fee of $29.99. The new channels
featured in the Great Wall TV Package are
CCTV-9,
CCTV-Spanish/French, CCTV-Opera, CCTV-Entertainment,
China Movie Channel, Beijing TV, Shanghai TV, Guandong
TV, Jiangsu TV, Fujian TV, Hunan TV, Shanxi TV,
Phoenix InfoNews and Pacvia TV. They join three other
channels previously offered by DISH Network -- ATV
Home Channel,
CCTV-4 and Phoenix North America Chinese
Channel -- for a complete television entertainment
package. The new package features 12 channels in the
Mandarin dialect, two channels in the Cantonese
dialect, one channel in the Fujianese dialect, one
English-language channel and one Spanish and
French-language channel.
ECUAVISA INTERNACIONAL JOINS DIRECTV
DirecTV and AlternaTV, an integral part of SatMex, the
leading satellite telecommunications provider in Latin
America, on September 29 announced that Ecuavisa
Internacional, the number one television station in
Ecuador, has made its exclusive debut in the United
States on the DirecTV Para Todos programming platform.
Designed to meet the programming needs of Ecuadorians
and other Latin Americans living in the United States,
Ecuavisa will offer a variety of programming including
comedies, debates, sports, news and crime series.
DirecTV will be the exclusive satellite TV provider of
the new network for three years and it will be
available to all DirecTV Para Todos customers at no
additional cost. AlternaTV, distributor of eight
carefully selected Spanish language signals originated
in Latin America, is designed to bring indigenous
Latin American programming to U.S. AlternaTVs
programming offer ranges from documentary/cultural,
arts, science, sports, news and political/social
debates to movies, soap operas, music, children's
programming and general entertainment. Ecuavisa
Internacional is the number one TV Station in Ecuador.
Internet -
http://www.ecuavisa.com
DOMINION SKY ANGEL WINS ECHOSTAR SUIT
EchoStar Communications Corp./DISH Network has been
ordered to pay monetary damages to Dominion Video
Satellite Inc., the owner-operator of Sky Angel, after
an arbitration panel unanimously voted that EchoStar
violated it contract with the direct broadcast
satellite licensee. The panel also order EchoStar to
come into compliance with its eight-year-old contract
with Dominion. Sky Angel is the nation's only
faith-based direct-to-home satellite television
service and the oldest DBS company. The arbitration
panel's order stems from a breach-of-contract lawsuit
filed in April 2003 by Dominion against EchoStar for
multiple contract violations by the Littleton,
Colorado-based DBS operator In a news release
announcing the panel's ruling Dominion noted that it
never filed any lawsuits against any Christian
ministries and only sought legal recourse the secular
EchoStar after other direct efforts to resolve the
matter failed. Dominion is one of only four companies
in the United States licensed to own and operate a
high-power DBS service.
DIRECTV JOINS NIELSEN
Nielsen Media Research said on September 28 that
satellite TV provider DirecTV has agreed to join the
panel of 10,000 TiVo homes that Nielsen is measuring
to gauge the impact of time shifting on viewing
behaviour. DirecTV customers who also have the TiVo
service will have the option to become a member of the
panel.
A S I A & P A C I F I C
AUSTRALIA
PAY-TV PRICES TO INCREASE
The country's 1.1 million pay-TV customers will be
stung by a price rise of up to 9 per cent on their
monthly bills by December. The move comes as Foxtel
attempts to accelerate the migration of pay-TV
customers to its new digital platform, launched
earlier this year. The price hikes are a result of a
comprehensive pricing review by loss-making Foxtel.
First to be hit will be the 195,000 customers who
receive their traditional analogue pay-TV service from
number two telecommunications company Optus. In a
letter to customers, Optus has outlined the price
rises from November that will see a total package rise
by $9 a month to $100.80. The basic package will jump
$5 a month to $46.95 The 900,000 Foxtel-managed
customers will be hit by a price rise in December.
INTERACTIVE TV IN TAXI CABS
>From September 28, 100 Yellow Cabs in Brisbane are on
the roads with the TV screen built into the headrest
at the back of the front passenger seat and a printer
and telephone in the headrest behind the driver. The
screens will carry advertising while a scrolling bar
across the bottom would have news headlines, sports
scores and weather details, updated "on the road" via
the Optus mobile network. Yellow Cabs planned to have
the new technology, known as iTV (Interactive Taxi
Vision) fitted to its 1000 cabs in southeast
Queensland within about six months. Taxi passengers
could use buttons associated with the screens to
scroll through the information provided, print out
details they wanted to save or use the phone to make a
reverse charge call to any of the advertisers
featured, such as restaurants.
SEVEN NETWORK WINS LEGAL BATTLE AGAINST TELSTRA
Seven Network has won a victory in its battle to gain
access to Foxtel and Telstra's $600 million digital
pay-TV network. The Australian Competition Tribunal
upheld Seven's appeal against the exemption orders
that the Australian Competition and Consumer
Commission granted when it approved the
content-sharing deal between Foxtel and Optus, The
Australian Financial Review reported. The deal gave
Foxtel an effective monopoly on pay TV in capital city
markets. Neither Seven nor Foxtel would comment in
detail on the decision until they had seen the reasons
for the decision, which will be released in about two
weeks.
INDIA
SAHARA TV TO LAUNCH MOVIE CHANNEL
As part of its massive expansion drive, Sahara India
Pariwar' will launch an exclusive movie channel from
January 1 under its newly formed brand SaharaOne.
SaharaOne is the umbrella brand of the Sahara Group
under which four businesses of movies, television,
radio and special feature have been brought together.
SaharaOne Television -- the television arm -- will
enter into exclusive long-term tie-ups with leading
artistes, producers and technicians to develop
original entertainment content for television, a
company statement said. While the channel has already
made an entry into producing movies, it plans to
release 70 films in the coming one year and has
invested Rs 185 crore for the venture. The channel is
also launching a host of new programmes in its
entertainment and news channels.
ZEE AND ESPN SEEK AUSTRALIAN SERIES TV RIGHTS
Both Zee Telefilms and ESPN Software are trying to net
the TV rights of the Australian tour of India
commencing on October 6 and have made separate
proposals to the Board of Control for Cricket in India
(BCCI). Zee Telefilms, in a letter dated September 23,
said that besides agreeing to give signals to the
Third Umpire, the broadcaster would be fully ready to
cover and telecast the cricket matches. It said that
it has already tied up with international producers
who have experience in cricket. On September 27, Rik
Dovey, Managing Director, ESPN-Star Sports (ESS),
Asia, proposed to the BCCI that ESPN-Star Sports is
willing to produce and telecast the forthcoming
India-Australia series. It has further proposed that
it will pass the net advertising revenues earned on
ESPN and Star Sports, as well its net share of the DD
revenue, net of costs, to the BCCI.
NO PRICE REGULATION FOR PAY-TV CHANNELS
Telecom regulator Trai has said there would be no
price regulation on pay/premium channels except the
limited regulation of 20 per cent as the 'maximum
discount' on a bouquet of premium channels in the
conditional access system (CAS) areas. It has also
recommended an 8 per cent annual licence fee for
direct-to-home operations. In order to promote growth
of Internet and broadband in the country and to make
DTH services affordable, the authority said, "the
annual licence fee of 8 per cent should be applied on
adjusted gross revenue." According to draft
recommendations, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of
India has said that for CAS (conditional access
system), in areas like Chennai, the existing price
regulation would be withdrawn. For the non-CAS areas,
the authority has recommended ceiling rates prevailing
on December 26, 2003, plus 5 per cent.
FOREIGNERS MAY BE ALLOWED TV NEWS INVESTMENTS
India's Information and Broadcasting Ministry is
considering allowing foreign institutional investors
(FII) to invest in TV news channels within the overall
26 per cent limit set for foreign direct investment
(FDI), the Times of India newspaper has reported. The
ministry will seek cabinet approval before the October
31 deadline. Ministry officials said the proposal will
give flexibility to TV news channels, but the combined
FDI and FII share must not exceed 26 per cent. At
present, FII's are barred. Meanwhile, Zee Telefilms
(Zee) has received government approval to launch a
sports channel. Zee will launch test signals for the
channel in the next couple of days. Zee Chairman
Subhash Chandra told shareholders that the company had
received the necessary regulatory approval for
uplinking its sports channel.
JAPAN
NHK EXTENDS DTT BROADCASTS
Japan's national broadcaster, NHK, extended its
terrestrial digital broadcasts to two districts
outside the metropolitan areas of Tokyo, Osaka and
Nagoya, where the service was already available. The
broadcaster's Mito station began a digital service for
local viewers in Ibaraki prefecture, north of Tokyo,
and its Toyama station started serving Toyama
prefecture in central Honshu. NHK estimates that about
520,000 households will be able to receive the digital
service in Ibaraki prefecture, and 280,000 households
in Toyama prefecture. The two local NHK stations
intend to provide news and information specially
prepared for local audiences. In November, terrestrial
digital broadcasts will start in Gifu prefecture in
central Honshu. They will go into operation in Kobe in
Hyogo prefecture the following month. All areas of
Japan will be able to receive similar local digital
services by 2006.
JORDAN
EURONEWS SIGNS CABLE DEAL
EuroNews strengthens its presence in the Middle East
being broadcast this month for the first time in
Jordan. EuroNews will begin broadcasting in Jordan via
distribution on analogue cable in the capital city of
Amman. The subscribers of Jordan Cable will have
access to EuroNews in English. Jordan Cable already
broadcasts 30 channels in Arabic and 20 in English on
its basic offer. Jordan Cable will reach 30,000
subscribers at the end of 2004. Philippe Cayla,
President and CEO of EuroNews said: " The channel is
already present in 812,000 homes and we are sure
viewers in Jordan will be attracted by EuroNews'
editorial concept: 'World News from a European
Perspective'. " EuroNews in Middle East: distributed
by satellite on Arabsat 2D and Nilesat, by cable in
Lebanon and United Arab Emirates.
QATAR
NEW SATELLITE YOUTH TV CHANNEL ON THE CARDS
The Qatar Foundation, a government institution
primarily focused on education, is to launch the Pan
Arabian Youth Channel (PAYC) in March next year.
Targeted at 5-15-year olds, this Doha-based satellite
TV channel will reach audiences in the Middle East,
North Africa and Europe, and will hit America either
at the same time or later. It will offer a mix of
news, soaps, magazine shows and movies.
TAIWAN
ARIANESPACE SAYS BROADCASTERS MUST EXPAND IN ASIA
Taiwan's broadcasters should take advantage of
satellite technology in order to bolster the nation's
cultural influence in Asia where there is a market for
Mandarin-language programs, satellite launcher
Arianespace said on September 29. At a press
conference, Richard Bowles, Arianespace's
representative director for ASEAN countries, said that
Taiwan has potential to make significant headway into
the greater Mandarin-language television market. By
taking advantage of satellite broadcasting technology,
Southeast Asia should be a profitable region for
Taiwan's Mandarin-language programs development,
Bowles said. "We are free and happy to share our
launch service with any Taiwanese operator in the
future," Bowles added.
A F R I C A
SCOPUS SIGNS MULTICHOICE AFRICA DEAL
Scopus Network Technologies, a leading supplier of
digital compression technology to the broadcasting
industry, has announced that Multichoice Africa has
selected its digital broadcast platforms for digital
DTH services. Using Scopus' platforms, MultiChoice
transmits 54 digitally compressed TV channels on the
Eutelsat W4 platform to viewers throughout the African
continent. In 2001, Scopus provided MultiChoice with a
"one-stop-shop" solution including integration of
head-end architecture, engineering and the supply of
digital video compression equipment. This new contract
expands and upgrades the current systems with new
platforms as well technologies to push MultiChoice's
digital broadcast abilities into the future. In
addition, the upgraded system enables the pay-TV giant
to increase its market presence in a wide swath of
French and Portuguese speaking Africa.
NAMIBIA
NAMIBIA AND ZIMBABWE TO LAUNCH SATELLITE NEWS CHANNEL
According to a report by Radio Netherlands, Namibia
and Zimbabwe are planning to launch a 24-hour regional
TV news and current affairs satellite channel. A
memorandum of understanding between the two countries
"to share information" was signed in February. The
report quotes Gerry Munyama, Director General of the
Namibian Broadcasting Corporation, as saying that a
report on the viability of the project is yet to be
finalised. He said the report, coupled with
recommendations, will be tabled at the end of October.
At statement by Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH)
and NBC says the planned satellite channel "will tell
the African story in its proper context, from an
African perspective and by Africans to help counter
the negative and degrading perspective currently being
projected by the dominant Western and Euro-centric
media."
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