TELE-satellite News - Number 43/2004 - 24 October 2004

[bobkat]

TELE-satellite News - Number 43/2004 - 24 October 2004
-
A weekly roundup of global TV news sponsored by
TELE-satellite International
Editor: Branislav Pekic



E U R O P E


CROATIA

RTL TELEVIZIJA CONFIRMS LEADERSHIP POSITION
RTL Televizija, RTL Group's TV channel in Croatia,
achieved the best audience results since it started
broadcasting at the end of April 2004 with a prime
time (19:00 - 23:00 hrs) market share of 49.2 per cent
and a total daytime market share of 39.5 per cent on
15 October 2004. Big Brother which is currently
broadcast on RTL Televizija was the most watched
programme on 15 October with an audience share of 56.4
per cent*. RTL Televizija, RTL Group's Croatian TV
channel based in Zagreb, started broadcasting on 30
April. It achieved the leading market position in its
first full month of operations. In June 2004, RTL
Group increased its shareholding in RTL Televizija to
58 %.

FRANCE

SIX DTT LICENSES CANCELLED
France's highest administrative appeal court ordered
on October 20 the cancellation of six digital
terrestrial television broadcasting licenses
controlled by French television group Canal Plus and
media group Lagardere. Analysts said the Conseil
d'Etat decision could further delay France's
long-awaited entry into the digital terrestrial TV
era, scheduled to begin in March with 15 free-access
channels and in September with pay-TV digital
broadcasting. The ruling follows a complaint by rival
commercial broadcaster TF1 that Canal Plus violated a
legal limit of five digital broadcasting licenses and
effectively held seven licenses because it jointly
owned the i-MCM and Canal J channels with the
Lagardere group. France's audiovisual watchdog, the
Conseil Superieur de l'Audiovisuel, said on October 21
that it will try to ensure the country launches its
digital terrestrial television broadcasting program in
March as scheduled. "We will do our best to maintain
the schedule we have announced, in the general
interest, and keeping in mind that France is two or
three years behind some of its European neighbors in
entering the digital terrestrial television era," CSA
head Dominique Baudis said at a news conference.

GLOBECAST DELIVERS PINK TV
Satellite services company GlobeCast is set to
broadcast Pink TV in France via its satellite
television distribution platform on Hot Bird, in
partnership with leading French television bouquet
TPS. Pink TV, a gay-themed television channel, will
gain access to a potential audience of 1.3 million TPS
subscribers. GlobeCast - a subsidiary of France
Telecom - manages proprietary Direct-to-Home satellite
television platforms in Europe, America, Australia,
Africa and Asia. In addition to distributing numerous
channels for TPS in France, GlobeCast's DTH capacity
on Hot Bird brings over 100 channels to a potential 98
million cable and DTH satellite television homes in
Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. GlobeCast is
providing Pink TV with an end-to-end satellite
delivery solution, including fibre connectivity from
the channel's headquarters in Lorient, France, to the
GlobeCast/TPS platform multiplex south of Paris.
GlobeCast manages encryption, uplink and space
capacity for the platform on the Hot Bird satellite at
13°E. Pink TV is included in the TPS (Electronic
Program Guide) EPG and is available through
subscription. Pink TV is a general programming channel
mainly targeted to the gay and lesbian community, as
well as to a wider audience. Pink TV's program grid
includes series, films, investigative reports, music
and personal ads.

GERMANY

MTV AND VIVA TO RELAUNCH CHANNELS
Germany's new music TV monopoly, the twin Viacom
subsidiaries MTV Networks and VIVA, announced on
October 22 that the profiles of their channels will be
altered in 2005 to appeal to different segments of the
German audience. The new joint strategy aims to enable
the companies to complement each other instead of
competing for the same viewer. MTV will reduce the
amount of music it plays and will concentrate on more
show formats to appeal to a target audience of 16-25
year-old males. Meanwhile, VIVA will develop its own
productions and focus on both home-grown and
international acts to cover the female 10-29 year-old
audience. Meanwhile, MTV parent Viacom, which in
summer initially acquired 76% in Viva from major
stakeholders, has been reported to now hold 95% in the
music web group. Viacom is now testing a squeeze-out
for the remaining shares.

HISTORY CHANNEL LAUNCHES GERMAN SERVICE
The History Channel will launch a 24-hour
German-language service on November 15 as part of a
new digital cable package on Kabel Deutschland. A
statement by A&E Television Networks added that the
company would sign a licensing agreement with public
broadcaster ZDF to acquire programming from ZDF's huge
library to broadcast on the new channel. The two
companies have worked together since 1995, producing
"a number of acclaimed contemporary history
documentaries and mini-series," said the AETN
statement.

PROSIEBENSAT1 CUTS FORECAST FOR TV AD GROWTH
Leading free-to-air broadcaster ProSiebenSAT1 has
scaled back its expectations for growth of the TV
advertising market this year, its chairman Guillaume
de Posch said in a newspaper interview on October 18.
ProSiebenSAT1 was currently planning growth for the TV
advertising market this year of zero to two per cent,
de Posch told the Financial Times Deutschland.
Previously, the broadcaster had been counting on
growth of about two per cent in 2004.

STORM OVER LICENSE FEE INCREASE
A storm was brewing on October 18 in Germany over the
latest TV license-fee increase, which for the first
time ever is likely to come out lower than recommended
by an independent commission. In January, the
commission recommended a raise of ?1.09 per month to
?17.24 per month per household for the next four
years. But last week it was the politicians' turn, and
the state premiers proposed only an ?0.88 raise. The
fee, which makes up the lion's share of budgets for
pubcasters ARD, ZDF and regional public channels, must
now be ratified by the state parliaments, generally a
formality. ARD and ZDF receive a combined $8 billion
from license fees, with ARD and its 17 affiliates
getting the lion's share. They also take in an
additional $350 million a year in advertising.

EUTELSAT SIGNS PRIMACOM DEAL
Eutelsat's German programming distribution arm
visAvision has agreed a strategic co-operation for the
distribution of German pay-per-view content for cable
networks. Under the terms of the deal, visAvision will
market the German Kabelvision services of cable
operator PrimaCom's Decimus subsidiary. In return,
PrimaCom will market visAvision's 22 foreign language
channels to its customers. Decimus will also install
and operate an uplink to Eutelsat's Telecom 2D
satellite in Leipzig. The deal marks a significant
advancement in visAvision's presence in German cable
markets. It is now able to market 12 German programmes
and pay-per-view services. As a result of the deal,
Decimus, a 100% subsidiary of PrimaCom has terminated
with immediate effect the Cooperation Agreement with
Spacecom., Ramat Gan, Israel concerning the use of the
Satellite Transmisison Capacities (Amos 1 and Amos 2)
by mutual consent.

ITALY

MEDIASET CHOOSES NAGRAVISION'S CONDITIONAL ACCESS
SYSTEM
Nagravision on October 19 announced a strategic
agreement with the Mediaset Group, Italy's most
important privately-owned communications and
broadcasting group. Under the terms of the agreement,
Nagravision, which is part of the Kudelski Group, will
secure pay-per-view (PPV) offerings over Mediaset's
digital terrestrial platform, the first commercial
digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) service in Italy
scheduled to launch in 2005. Nagravision's innovative
content security solution is based on smart cards
which can be recharged during a limited time period.
Italian customers will be able to buy them in stores
to watch the live broadcasting of football matches of
the Italian Premiere League. Mediaset has secured
digital terrestrial premium football TV rights for the
next three seasons from leading Serie A clubs Inter,
Juventus, Milan, Roma, Sampdoria, Atalanta, Livorno
and Messina. To offer Mediaset maximum commercial
flexibility, the smart cards provided by Nagravision
will be event-based and rechargeable. Nagravision will
download its conditional access technology on to the
DTT-enabled set-top boxes already deployed and work
with all digital set-top box manufacturers in the
Italian retail market to enable the timely launch of
this service.

GOVERNMENT TO PRIVATISE RAI
At a press conference on October 20 to launch RAI's
new digital channel RAI Utile, the Italian
communications minister, Maurizio Gasparri, told
reporters that the government will go ahead with plans
to privatize the country's state broadcaster. The
Italian Treasury Department is ready to launch a
search for investment banks and advisors to oversee
privatization, explained Gasparri. He expects the
privatization process to start next March or April.

MALTA

DIGITAL CABLE TV FROM 2005
Melita Cable will be launching Malta's first digital
cable television early next year, according to
Chairman Joe Gasan. Among other features, the new
service will include more than 15 new channels and
improved sound and picture quality. Football fans will
have six live-feeds from the Italian Serie A and the
British Premier league for which, Gasan explained,
Melita Cable has contracted exclusive rights. Asked
about the price and the exact date when digital TV
will be launched, Gasan said that the company had
still not fixed the prices as it was waiting for the
results of a survey it was conducting among a sample
of Maltese families. Those currently subscribing to
the family pack will not see a drastic increase,
despite being offered extra 15 channels. Regarding the
official launch date, he said that given the
complexity of the project, both from a technical and
financial aspect, the company felt that it could not
set a fixed date as yet. He added, however, that it
will certainly be in the first quarter of 2005. Asked
by The Malta Independent whether the system will be
interactive - by which viewers can participate in
polls or interactive marketing schemes - Gasan said
that that this technology will not be introduced
straightaway but will be included at later date.

RUSSIA

NO PLANS FOR PRIVATISATION OF STATE BROADCASTERS
The Russian government is not planning to privatize
mass media companies of strategic importance,
including the All-Russian State Television and Radio
Company (VGTRK), the state-owned Russian Television
and Radio Broadcasting Network (RTRS) and the Mosfilm
studios, Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Zhukov told a
government meeting on October 21. "We propose that a
number of mass media companies of strategic importance
should not be privatized, including VGTRK and RTRS, as
well as archives, libraries, museums, theatres and
philharmonics that are of federal importance," Zhukov
said. He also said that the government plans to keep
18 per cent of state companies currently operating in
the power, communications and industrial sectors as
federal property.

SPAIN

AD PROFITS UP FOR MEDIASET
Proceeds from advertising at ?528 million in the first
nine months of the current year for a 26% growth rate
with respect to the same period last year. This is one
of the results realized by Publiespana, a Telecinco
concessionary, communicated by the Mediaset Group. The
growth in advertising proceeds in the 2004 Q3 was
equal to 30.5% with respect to the 2003 Q3. The
television network also obtained an audience share of
22.1% over the 24 hour period, more than its direct
competitors Antena (20.5%) and Tve-1 (21.8%).

TWO NEW COMMERCIAL TV CHANNELS
The Government is considering opening up the
commercial TV market to two new entrants. The new TV
licences, with a nation wide coverage, are likely to
be awarded over the coming months. Spanish media group
Prisa, owner of pay-TV channel Canal Plus, is expected
to be one of the licensees, with Canal Plus set to
become a free-to-air channel. For the second licence,
there are several candidates: Media group Recoletos,
owner of financial newspaper Expansion; Unedisa, owner
of El Mundo; Vocento, shareholder in Tele 5; Group
Zeta or Godo. This licence might be awarded to one
single company or more likely to a consortium. The
Government is said to have plans to privatise the
second TVE channel La 2 to make this second new
station possible. The final decision is expected in
February next year, when a group of TV experts,
appointed by the Government, are due to release their
report about a new public TV model.

UNITED KINGDOM

CHANNEL 4 AND BSKYB FAVOURITES FOR CRICKET RIGHTS
Channel 4 is favourite to retain the broadcast rights
to England's home international cricket Test matches
following the personal intervention of new chief
executive Andy Duncan and the effective withdrawal of
the BBC from the race. The broadcaster has bid an
estimated £45 million for the three-year contract,
although that figure is poised to rise with the
England Cricket Board hoping to drive up the price
following a successful summer for the Test side.
Initial bids for the contract were due in last week
and sources close to the talks believe Channel 4 and
BSkyB are favourites to renew their shared deal, which
ends next year. Under the present contract Channel 4
shows the majority of Test matches, while the pay-TV
service shows home one-day internationals, with
highlights on the terrestrial channel. Channel 4
currently pays the ECB £19 million a year, with Sky
contributing about £21 million. In all, the ECB makes
about £50 million a year from TV rights and hopes to
raise that to £60 million for the next contract, which
runs from 2006 to 2008.

EXPRESS SHOPPING CHANNEL ON AIR
Northern & Shell owner Richard Desmond is calling his
new TV venture the Express Shopping Channel, hoping
readers of the newspaper will be tempted to buy
clothes, home ware and DIY goods. The Express
proprietor launches his first foray into the
competitive world of home shopping on October 20 as a
joint venture between Northern & Shell and mail order
shopping business the N Brown Group. Desmond's empire
also includes OK!, New and Star magazines as well as
adult channels including the Fantasy Channel. The
explosion in multichannel television has led to a rash
of shopping channels, but QVC remains the most
profitable by far. Desmond said he had invested "a
couple of million" in the joint venture, which is
expected to break even within two years. Northern &
Shell will provide all the studio space and
transmission for the channel, which will include six
hours of live broadcasting a day, producing it from
newly refurbished studios at the company's
headquarters in London's Docklands.

ITV NEWS CHANNEL LEAVES FREEVIEW
ITV News Channel has been pulled off Freeview outside
London for essential engineering work, loosing an
estimated 4 million TV homes. Viewers with Freeview
will get the ITV News Channel back in some regions
next month, but the network will not be available
nationally via digital terrestrial TV again until the
beginning of next year, when the engineering work is
completed. ITV News Channel is still available to
around 10 million digital satellite and cable
subscribers, but Freeview box owners outside London
switching to channel 41, where the ITV news service is
normally located, will find only an onscreen message
saying that the network is temporarily unavailable.
The engineering work that has taken ITV News Channel
off air is linked to a reorganisation of the
broadcaster's capacity on Freeview to make room for
the launch of ITV3. ITV3 is due to launch on Freeview
channel 34 on November 1 and promos for the digital
channel are due to begin running October 25.

GAVIN INTERESTED IN BBC COMMERCIAL ASSETS
According to the Guardian, Rupert Gavin, the former
chief executive of BBC Worldwide, has set up a company
to bid for any of the BBC's commercial assets that may
be put up for sale. The venture, Kingdom Media, will
reportedly look towards a wholesale acquisition of any
of the BBC's commercial assets, or a joint venture
with the organization. There has been much speculation
about the future of BBC Worldwide since
director-general Mark Thompson announced a wide-scale
review earlier this year.

RACING UK HALFWAY THERE
Racing UK has announced it has reached halfway in its
attempts to attract a target of 20,000 subscribers to
the new channel. The dedicated racing channel, owned
by 30 of Britain's courses, launched its subscription
service on October 1. It now reports the number of
subscribers to the channel has exceeded the 10,000
mark. Executive chairman Simon Bazalgette said: "This
is a remarkable figure to have attained within a week
of the launch and exceeds our expectations."We have
set ourselves a target of 20,000 subscribers within
the next 12 to 18 months, and to have reached the
halfway stage in week one is very encouraging.

ITV GOES INTERACTIVE
ITV is set to roll out its interactive brand, ITVi, as
a 24/7 service this week. ITVi originally launched
interactive TV services on =ITV1 and ITV2 in May 2003.
This week will see the introduction of a range of 24/7
interactive initiatives. The content includes
co-branded Littlewoods Game On, ITVi's which has been
re-branded and re-launched to coincide with the launch
of ITVi 24/7and the Bringin' Home The Bacon campaign.
GTV, ITVi's games service developed in conjunction
with Playjam, will also gain more exposure.

SKY PROMOTES FREE-TO-AIR SATELLITE
BSkyB's low-key launch of digital satellite platform
Freesat took place on October 21, offering viewers 150
free-to-air digital television and radio channels for
a one-off cost of £150. Concerned that the free
service might cannibalize its pay TV offering, BSkyB
executives have kept relatively silent about the
Freesat launch. BSkyB has not announced what channels
will be offered on Freesat, but it will not feature
Sky's most popular brands, such as Sky One, Paramount
Comedy, E4, Gold or Living because the channels
operate on a subscription only basis. According to
trade sources, the new system will be launched using
refurbished Sky Digital boxes and modified smart cards
that will give viewers access to encrypted channels
for up to two years. BSkyB is hoping to subsequently
convert as many viewers as possible to pay-TV. The
move comes after the apparent breakdown of talks
between BSkyB and the BBC about collaborating on a
Freesat service.

BBC CONSIDER FILM CHANNEL
The BBC has responded to criticism that it spends £85
million a year on acquired Hollywood movies at the
expense of domestic production, by considering the
launch of a new channel dedicated to UK films.
Director general Mark Thompson told an all-party media
select committee that the BBC could explore the option
with another broadcaster to determine whether there is
enough room for such a channel in the UK. At present,
the BBC spends £10 million on British film product.
Thompson said that he would review the £85 million
American budget but added that TV audiences may want
the same quality of films as those who went to the
cinema.

BBC SIGNS OUTPUT DEAL
The BBC said on October 20 that it has snatched
exclusive U.K. TV rights to U.S. comedies "Arrested
Development" and "Family Guy" from Twentieth Century
Fox Television Distribution. Seasons 1 and 2 of
"Family Guy" previously aired on Channel 4. The BBC
also has bought the exclusive rights to the upcoming
Fox comedy "American Dad."




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


CANADA

ITALIANS LOBBY FOR TV CHANNEL
During his October 15 visit to Canada, Italy's foreign
minister Franco Frattini pushed the federal government
to allow an Italian television service to broadcast in
Canada. In a controversial decision in July, the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications
Commission barred the Italian television service from
Canada, saying it had to protect Canadian services
such as the Telelatino Network, a Canadian channel
owned by Corus Entertainment. RAI is owned by the
Italian state. The CRTC is reviewing its rules on
third-language services. More than 100,000
Italian-Canadians signed petitions favouring the
application by RAI to broadcast 24 hours a day in
Canada.

UNITED STATES

NO-GO FOR FAHRENHEIT 9/11
Cable pay-per-view company iN DEMAND has decided not
to broadcast a three-hour special on the eve of the
U.S. presidential campaign that was to have included
Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. It emerged last week
that Moore, the Fellowship Adventure Group-which is
distributing the controversial documentary-and iN
DEMAND were close to a deal for Fahrenheit 9/11 to air
on the PPV platform on November 1 as part of The
Michael Moore Pre-Election Special. It was to have
been available for $9.95. According to the Associated
Press, iN DEMAND has walked away from the deal, citing
"legitimate business and legal concerns." Moore is
said to be considering legal action, the report says,
claiming that the parties signed a contract in early
September.

VH-1 PREPARES NEW PROGRAMMING
Fresh from posting the highest ratings in its 19-year
history, cable channel VH1 has announced a new slate
of programming, including a spin-off series from the
third season of the successful reality show The
Surreal Life. Actress Brigitte Nielsen and former
Public Enemy member Flavor Flav, who found love in The
Surreal Life's third season, take their relationship
to the next level with Strange Love, a 10-episode
series scheduled to begin airing in January. Strange
Love follows the Flav as he visits Nielsen and her
family in Milan; Nielsen returns the favour and trades
her lifestyle with the European elite for a vacation
in the Bronx, where she attends church with Flav and
his family. The series concludes with a final trip to
Las Vegas, where the couple decides their love's fate.
VH1 has also announced a fourth season for The Surreal
Life, which situates six aging celebrities in a
Hollywood mansion. Season four, produced by Mindring
Entertainment, will consist of nine weekly episodes
and will begin airing in January. Also on VH1's new
line-up are the reality shows Kept, an in-house
production that documents Jerry Hall's search for a
new boy toy; Remaking, which documents the makeover
and reinvention of former A-listers such as Motley
Crüe front man Vince Neil; Celebrity Fit Club, which
profiles overweight stars on their quest for a
Hollywood body; My Coolest Years, a look at the social
survival strategies of high schoolers; and Motormouth,
a hidden-camera show that seeks to find the country's
worst vocalist by covertly documenting in-car
sing-alongs.

SPECIAL ELECTION COVERAGE FOR DISH NETWORK VIEWERS
EchoStar's DISH Network satellite TV service is
teaming with six networks to create unique coverage of
the upcoming U.S. elections. Viewers will be able to
watch national and state election coverage
simultaneously from the six networks on a single TV
screen. They also can easily select an individual
network and view its coverage in full-screen format.
The networks are CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, CSPAN, MTV:
Music Television and Comedy Central, providing a
variety of election coverage to meet the needs of a
diverse audience. The interactive television (ITV)
application, called DISH Network Election 2004
Coverage, is the first use of ITV multiple
picture-in-picture technology for election coverage in
the United States. From October 25, through November
5, DISH Network Election 2004 Coverage will be free to
more than 9 million DISH Network customers with access
to "dish home" ITV service.

HIT ENTERTAINMENT TO LAUNCH KIDS CHANNEL
HIT Entertainment, PBS and Sesame Workshop on October
20 announced plans to launch a 24-hour digital cable
television channel for preschool-aged children and
companion video-on-demand (VOD) service. The
groundbreaking channel will bring together some of the
best-known and well-respected shows in children's
programming - a blend of classic and contemporary
favorites - that celebrate the wonder of early
childhood, inviting families to experience the joy of
learning, playing and smiling together. The channel
represents an unprecedented partnership between
Comcast, the leading U.S. cable provider; PBS, the
renowned public service broadcaster; and HIT
Entertainment and Sesame Workshop, two of the leading
providers of quality entertainment for young children.
The channel will feature an extensive library selected
from more than 4,000 episodes from PBS, Sesame
Workshop and HIT - including a rich treasury of
children's favorites, such as Bob the Builder; Barney;
Thomas & Friends; Angelina Ballerina; and additional
PBS KIDS titles. Beginning in early 2005, the
companion VOD package will be available to cable
companies in the United States and will include more
than 50 hours of programming for preschoolers and
their families. The 24x7 digital cable channel is
expected to launch in fall 2005.

STARZ TO CHANGE LOOK AND LINEUP
Starz Encore Group is rebranding the company and its
premium cable channels next year. Starz will rename
itself the Starz Entertainment Group and change many
of its channel titles, including Starz Edge replacing
Starz Theater. The company's suite of Encore channels,
including Westerns, WAM! and Action, will now
incorporate the Encore brand in their titles. The
changes will be fully rolled out on March 31, 2005.
The announcement follows the second-quarter addition
of 950,000 new Starz subscribers, the largest
quarterly increase by any premium television network
since 1998.
Internet - http://www.starz.com

ESPN PLANS PPV SERVICE
ESPN will enter the pay-per-view ring with veteran
boxing promoter Main Events. In addition to staging
two PPV events next year, the companies will
collaborate on a new monthly boxing series to be
scheduled during ESPN2's "Friday Night Fights." ESPN
is already in the PPV business in sports including
collegiate football and basketball.



L A T I N A M E R I C A


CISNEROS AFFILIATE SUES NEWS CORP. AND DIRECTV
Darlene Investments, an affiliate of Venezuela's
Cisneros Group, has filed suit against News Corp. and
DIRECTV for fraud and violation of fiduciary and
contractual duties, claiming more than $1 billion in
damages. The suit follows News Corp.'s recent move to
consolidate its pay-TV platforms in Latin America
through a series of transactions with Grupo Televisa,
Globo and Liberty Media. Darlene Investments, which
holds a 14.1 per cent stake in DIRECTV Latin America,
released a statement today. It noted, "News Corp. and
DIRECTV agreed to these Sky [consolidation]
transactions in total disregard for the interests of
Darlene in order to be released from covenants not to
compete in Latin America that News Corp. had
previously signed with the Sky entities. News Corp.
had breached these covenants when it acquired its
controlling interest in DIRECTV in late 2003."
Darlene's statement continued, "The suit also charges
that the proposed transactions between DIRECTV and Sky
are designed primarily to deliver improper benefits to
News Corp. and its partners by grossly undervaluing
the assets of DIRECTV Latin America." The suit also
contends that the defendants misled the U.S.
Bankruptcy Court and Darlene Investments concerning
their commitment to the future success of DIRECTV
Latin America. A DIRECTV spokesman told the press that
the company had not seen the suit, however, "we are
confident that the transactions we entered into are
fair and equitable as well as in accordance with the
legal requirements and contractual provisions with our
Latin American partners."

ARGENTINA

HBO LATIN AMERICA BACK ON MULTICANAL
Argentina's antitrust department ordered HBO Latin
America to restore its 10 channels on Multicanal, the
nation's second-biggest cabler, nearly a week after
abruptly removing them in a dispute over fighting
rampant piracy. It came six days after HBO halted
distribution of three premium and seven basic channels
including HBO, Jetix and Warner Channel on Multicanal
on grounds that the cabler was insufficiently
combating piracy. Around 25% of the nation's 4 million
cable homes do not pay for their connections. HBO also
claimed that Multicanal started illegally transmitting
the channels only hours after losing them, a violation
of HBO's property rights. Multicanal, with 880,000
subscribers, fired back with claims that HBO pulled
the signals during negotiations to renew its license
with Multicanal -- which ended August 31 -- and other
cablers.

BRAZIL

PAY-TV CHANNELS ON NEW BROADBAND VENTURE
Broadband users in Brazil will have access to a range
of content from Fox Sports Latin America, Playboy TV
Latin America and Claxson's pay-TV channels via a new
video-on-demand service to be launched by Brasil
Telecom and Claxson. Turbo Video VOD on Claxson's El
Sitio Digital Channel broadband platform is being
showcased at the Futurecom trade show in
Florianopolis, Brazil. Content will include
programming from Fox Sports Latin America, including
the Copa Libertadores and daily sports news updates;
productions from Playboy TV Latin America & Iberia;
and backstage access to Playboy magazine photo shoots.
Also on offer will be programming from Claxson's
bouquet of pay-TV networks; among them MuchMusic
Argentina, Fashion TV, Infinito, Venus movies and a
selection of classic films featured in the Retro and
Space channels. It will also offer titles from
Utilisima, a channel that targets women in the rest of
Latin America and is now available in Brazil. Monthly
subscription packages will offered, or users will be
able to pay for solely what they want to watch.

MEXICO

PROFITS UP AT TV AZTECA
Mexico's No. 2 broadcaster, TV Azteca, on October 20
reported a 17% increase in third-quarter profit,
bolstered by a windfall in ad revenue from
transmissions of the Summer Olympics. The Mexico
City-based network earned 409 million pesos ($36
million), up from a year-earlier 351 million pesos.
Thanks mostly to ad revenue raked in from the
Olympics, net sales rose 23%, setting a third-quarter
record. The company posted 2.2 billion pesos ($194
million) in net sales, compared with 1.8 billion pesos
a year ago. The network's coverage of the Olympic
games, however, contributed in large part to a 25%
increase in total costs and expenses. Azteca reported
a 32% rise in programming, production and transmission
costs.



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


CHINA - HONG KONG

NEC TO SUPPLY DIGITAL TV TRANSMITTERS
NEC Corporation announced on October 19 that it has
received orders for Digital TV transmitters from
Chinese broadcasting companies, through its affiliated
company NEC Solutions (China) Ltd. This is the first
time that NEC's Digital TV transmitter will be
installed and operated in China. The orders were
awarded by Shanghai Technology Development Co and
Shanghai Oriental Pearl Transmission Co. In Shanghai,
commercial digital TV broadcasting services such as
the delivery of PR and advertising information to
buses, taxis and ferries have begun, and NEC's digital
TV transmitters will be also utilized for the service.
In addition, NEC had agreed to cooperate in digital TV
broadcasting area with Shanghai Oriental Pearl
Transmission Co.,Ltd., to prepare for the future
business acceleration.

DIGITAL TV ON AIR IN BEIJING
Residents in Beijing will soon be able to enjoy
digital TV programs and receive free digital set-top
boxes. Officials from Beijing Broadcast and Media TV
Company made the announcement at a forum on digital
technologies at the 4th World Summit on Internet and
Multimedia held in Beijing. They said finance of the
Digital TV service in Beijing will be backed by the
local government and enterprises, reported China Radio
International. Chaoyang district in the city will be
the first place to broadcast the digital TV programs.

HBO SIGNS LOCAL DEAL
China Digital Television Production has signed a
contract with HBO Asia, in a move aimed at improving
the quality of Chinese cable TV. The company
previously signed an agreement with National
Geographic. China DTV is currently the country's sole
digital cable TV package supplier. Beginning January
1st next year, three HBO movies will be broadcast to
cable TV subscribers each day. HBO Asia will also
provide original programming, enjoying broadcast
rights for films made by Columbia/TriStar, Paramount
Pictures, Universal, Warner Bros, amongst others. HBO
currently offers more than 120 commercial-free movies
every month in Asia. CDP began commercial operation on
September 1 of this year. To date, more than 80
Chinese cable TV network operators have signed up to
air programming broadcast over CCTV's digital pay TV
platform, which currently covers more than 60 mln
analog cable TV subscribers and 500,000 digital TV
set-top-box users. CDP has also partnered with
National Geography for content provision.

PHOENIX IN CONTENT DEAL WITH GALAXY
Hong Kong-listed TV content provider Phoenix Satellite
Television will beam its InfoNews and Chinese channels
over pay-TV rookie Galaxy Satellite's network to
expand its coverage in Hong Kong. Phoenix currently
broadcasts its InfoNews and Chinese channels over the
cable networks of i-Cable Communications' Cable TV,
PCCW's NOW Broadband TV and Star TV under the basic
channel package, with coverage of about 900,000
households. Phoenix, 37.6 per cent owned by Rupert
Murdoch's News Corp, is expanding its reach in the
Chinese-speaking communities to Singapore on November
15 and Malaysia early next year. Phoenix's sources of
income come from the advertising income in the
mainland, where it broadcasts its flagship Chinese
Channel and fledging InfoNews Channel to selected
spots, ranging from three-star or higher-ranked
mainland hotels, to education-related organisations
and diplomatic compounds, reaching as many as 50
million households across the country, who hunger for
international news.

INDIA

STAR LAUNCHES NEW HINDI CHANNEL
Following the success of its top-rated Indian
entertainment channel Star Plus, STAR has announced
the launch of a new Hindi-language channel, Star One,
with a view to targeting "urban and upscale" viewers.
Set to launch November 1, Star One will offer a range
of entertainment programs, including original
made-for-TV movies, game show formats, dramas, youth
programming and lifestyle titles.

TV CHANNELS WANT ADULT FILMS
Channels such as Star TV, Sony TV, Zee TV, Udaya TV,
AXN and Surya have submitted a new plan to the Bombay
High Court that adult films be screened on television
between 9 pm and 6 am. The channels have submitted the
proposal following a public interest litigation filed
by Pratibha Naithani, a lecturer from St Xavier's
college. Naithani has opposed the screening of films
rated 'A' by the Central Board of Film Certification
(CBFC) on TV. The channels said that they were in the
business of entertainment and adult movies were also a
form of entertainment.

40 TV CHANNELS ON PRASAR BHARATI DTH SERVICE
State-run Prasar Bharati has got the Indian
government's nod to carry 23 private channels,
increasing the offering from 13, on its direct-to-home
platform DD (Doordarshan) Direct Plus. The private
channels which have signed up with Prasar Bharati are
Aaj Tak, Headlines Today, BBC, Zee Music, Zee News,
Smile, Surya TV, Star Utsav, ETC, Akash Bangla and
talks are on with others including CNN. In all, the
DTH service will offer 40 channels including 17
Doordarshan network channels. Prime Minister Dr
Manmohan Singh is expected to formally inaugurate the
service next month. In addition All India Radio (AIR),
will provide its programmes through TV with its DTH
satellite service benefiting linguistic groups
residing outside their home state. The spokesperson
said that with a ten channel service would commencing
in March next year.

NEWS UPLINK GUIDELINES TO BE REVISED
The Indian government said on October 15 it would
revise the guidelines related to eligibility criteria
for uplinking of news and current affairs TV channels
from India, Business India has reported. The cabinet
said the deadline for adhering to the prescribed
guidelines/eligibility criteria would be extended to
October 31. "The extension of the deadline will give
time to the ministry to examine various issues related
to the revised eligibility criteria for uplinking of
news and current affairs TV channels from India,"
Finance Minister P Chidambaram said. The minister said
proposals to amend the existing guidelines were being
processed and would be submitted to the cabinet soon.


INDONESIA

PRIVATE TV STATIONS FLOUT STANDARDS
Almost all private sector broadcasters in the country
are failing to comply with the Indonesian Broadcasting
Commission (KPI)'s standards, which entered into
effect late in August, claims a report published in
The Jakarta Post. This failure was marked by "programs
that are unethical, not in line with professional
journalistic standards, and prejudicial to children,
teenagers and women", the commission said on October
20. "Based on our monitoring and input received from
the public, the commission has concluded that nearly
all national private sector broadcasters have yet to
show a commitment to implementing the standards.
Violations of the standards occur every day," KPI
member Ade Armando told a press conference. The KPI
standards ban television stations from airing footage
of the act of kissing based on sexual desire, sexual
intercourse and sensual acts, explicit violence and
complete crime reconstructions. It permits television
broadcasters to air programs for adults only after 10
p.m. There are 11 television broadcasters operating in
Indonesia, including state broadcaster TVRI.

IRAN

SATELLITE TV FROM THE U.S. PROVOKES A STORM
A combination of light entertainment, talk shows and
politics beamed into Iran by a dozen or so satellite
stations set up by Iranian exiles in the United States
is proving to be explosive in the Islamic country.
Iranian hardliners have denounced foreign satellite
broadcasts for trampling on Islamic values and say
they are used increasingly by exiled opposition
groups, especially those based in Los Angeles,
California, to stir anti-government unrest. According
to official estimates about three million households
have access to satellite television, while security
forces have in recent years only managed to seize
70,000 sets. A couple of these TV stations are also
the mouthpieces of new self-styled 'prophets',
including a man called Mostafa Makkei in his early
sixties who claims ''I am the reincarnation of
Mohammed, the holy prophet of Islam.''

IRAQ

ZAGROS TV TO LAUNCH NOVEMBER 1
Kurdistan Democratic Party is planning to launch
another satellite TV channel in Iraqi Kurdistan. The
new station, which preliminarily is called Zagros TV,
will start its broadcasting programs November 1 this
year. According to a memo issued by the KDP
Information Office, the new station will have three
separate studios in three different Kurdish cities,
Sulaimania, Dohuk and Irbil and its focus will be on
domestic issues of Iraqi Kurdistan. Kurdistan TV(KDP)
and Kurd Sat(PUK) are the two satellite channels based
in Iraqi Kurdistan that Kurdish TV viewers so far have
been able to enjoy.

ALHURRA ATTRACTS MILLIONS OF ARAB VIEWERS
After only six months on the air, Alhurra TV, the new
Arabic-language satellite channel, has quickly
attracted a large audience in the Middle East with a
diverse schedule of news, talk shows, debates,
documentaries and entertaining information programs on
a wide variety of subjects from sports to fashion to
technology. These are among the findings of a series
of just released surveys conducted across the Middle
East by ACNielsen in July and August of 2004. Alhurra
began broadcasting on February 14. Weekly viewing
rates among adults 15 and over residing in satellite
TV households were: Egypt 12 per cent, Jordan 29 per
cent, Kuwait 33 per cent, Lebanon 20 per
cent, Morocco 22 per cent, Saudi Arabia 24 per cent
and UAE 20 per cent. Alhurra has also proven itself to
be a credible source of news and information. In all
the countries surveyed, the majority of Alhurra's
regular viewers ranked Alhurra's news either "very
reliable" or "somewhat reliable." The 24-hour channel
broadcasts across the region in Arabic and can be seen
in 22 countries via Arabsat and Nilesat which reach
approximately 120 million satellite viewers.

ISRAEL

KAN TV TO BID FOR JEWISH HERITAGE CHANNEL
Techelet, the Jewish content cable television channel,
co-owner Shlomo Ben-Tzvi has announced his intention
of participating in the tender. Taya Communications
subsidiary Kan Television, which is participating in
the Channel 2 tender, is wasting no time. Taya
announced on October 17 that it would participate in
the Council for Cable and Satellite Broadcasting
tender for operating the Jewish Heritage Channel. The
tender is scheduled to be published shortly. Kat
Television chairman Oren Most said, "There is strong
synergy between the content aired by Channel 2 and the
Jewish heritage and history channel. There is a severe
shortage of Jewish identity and heritage content that
Kan Television will fill with the new heritage
channel. Kan Television will invest about NIS 2.5
million in the Jewish Heritage Channel tender.
Techelet, the Jewish content cable television channel,
co-owner Shlomo Ben-Tzvi has also announced his
intention of participating in the Jewish Heritage
Channel tender, which he would also operate under the
Techelet name. Techelet co-owners Ben-Tzvi and Ron
Lauder are also shareholders in Channel 10 franchisee
Israel 10. Techelet and Kan Television are the only
two groups that have so far announced their intention
of participating in the Jewish Heritage Channel
tender.

HOT OPTS FOR SEACHANGE FOR TV ON-DEMAND SERVICE
HOT, the Israeli cable consortium comprised of Golden
Channels, Matav and Tevel, is rolling out on-demand
television in November 2004 and has selected SeaChange
International to provide the platform and integration
services for this advanced new television service.
SeaChange's VOD Systems will enable the three cable
operators to provide over one million subscribers with
an array of television programming - such as movies,
time-shifted broadcast television, subscription
services and localized content - to view at their
convenience with fast-forward, rewind and pause
capabilities. The SeaChange VOD System supports a wide
array of third-party software and network components,
and will be deployed with HOT's settop boxes from ADB
(Advanced Digital Broadcast), Samsung, and Thomson;
middleware from OpenTV; and conditional access systems
from NDS and Nagra.

KUWAIT

NEW SATELLITE TV CHANNEL FOCUSES ON REAL ESTATE AND
TOURISM
The new satellite channel, Al-Mishkat, based in
Kuwait, is to be launched soon as a channel
specialized in real estate and tourism covering the
Arab world. Board Chairman of the channel, Khalid
Ashur, said on October 9, that in light of the
continued accusations against the Arab and Islamic
world, the channel aims to acquaint the world with
tourism in the region, as well as its history and
culture. He said that in this age, tourism has become
branched [as received] and this channel will
accommodate for all of this, adding that it will also
provide up-to-date information on real estate and
related laws for the different locations. For his
part, the Deputy Director and Managing Director of the
channel, Husayn Hamzah, said that the idea is to use
the channel to market Arabs and Muslims as those
possessing deep-rooted culture and history. Al-Mishkat
had commenced its trial broadcast on Nilesat and is
scheduled to officially start broadcasting in
December.

QATAR

MEGAHERTZ WINS AL JAZEERA SPORTS CHANNEL CONTRACT
Megahertz Broadcast Systems, in conjunction with its
partner company, Mideast Data Ltd, Doha, has won a
major contract to build three turnkey Master Control
areas and satellite upgrades for the Al Jazeera Sports
Channel in Doha, Qatar. Megahertz beat strong
international competition to win the Al Jazeera
contract, which was officially put out to tender
earlier this year. Each of the three Master Control
areas will be equipped with sophisticated systems that
incorporate a Thomson GVG Saturn, Pinnacle Thunder,
DecoCast and Miranda Imagestore. The outputs from each
area will be connected via fibre optic cables to an
encoding area, where they will be encoded using
Tandberg equipment. The Al Jazeera Sports Channel, a
division of Al Jazeera News, was launched last year
and has exclusive rights to a range of major
international events, including the French Open Tennis
Tournament. It also has broadcast rights to next
year's Australian Tennis Open.

SINGAPORE

STARHUB RAISES CALBE TV PRICES
StarHub, Singapore's monopoly cable-television
operator, said on October 21 it will raise prices from
next month, a week after investors panned the
loss-making company's initial public offering. StarHub
will from November 3 charge S$15.75 per month for
three sports channels, nearly double the current
S$8.40 price. Because of this, various StarHub
packages that include the sports channels will cost
more - some as much as 17%. StarHub offers some 50
channels. Satellite receivers, with which households
could access global channels cheaply, are banned in
Singapore for public use.

THAILAND

CHANNEL 5 SCRAPS LISTING PLANS
The Royal Thai Army has officially dropped all plans
to partially privatise and list its Channel 5, bowing
to an earlier cabinet decision that the broadcasting
agency, as a public medium, should not be exploited
primarily for profits. The Bangkok Post quoted
Director of Channel 5 Lt-Gen Lertrit Wechsawarn as
saying Channel 5 would from now focus on its primary
objective of promoting public services, arts,
entertainment and culture. The company plans to focus
more on family content and will officially announce
its annual programming revamp next month.



A F R I C A


NIGERIA

TREND TV EXTENDS FREE OFFER
Indigenous cable satellite television operator,
Communication Trends Limited (CTL), owners of TrendTv
has extended its free services till the end of this
month. Subscribers of TrendTV, offering more than 30
channels of news and entertainment and will compete
including BBC World, Fox News, MBC, Parliamentary Tre,
Court TV and MTV Base and Discovery Civilisation would
begin to pay by scratch card from the end of October.

SOUTH AFRICA

SABC TO INVEST IN NEW TV CHANNELS
The SABC says an amount of R200 million has been
budgeted for the two regional TV channels which the
broadcaster plans to launch next year. The channels,
to be called SABC 4 and SABC 5, will supplement the
existing channels in terms of the language spread.
SABC 5 will serve mostly Nguni languages, while SABC 4
will accommodate Sesotho language groups. The
application for the SABC 5 licence was also heard. The
two channels are part of the broadcaster's plan to
split its services into public and commercial.

SCHOOLS TO RECEIVE TV LEARNING CHANNEL
The country's primary school learners and educators
are set to benefit from a new satellite television
channel set to help improve their access to quality
education. Mindset Network will receive a R22 million
towards the designing of technology and content based
on the needs of young learners between ages of five
and 13. The United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) will make this donation over the
next three years, following an agreement signed with
Mindset Network this week. Mindset Network is a
non-profit organisation aimed at the personal, social
and economic upliftment of South Africans by
delivering free education materials via satellite
broadcasts with supporting multimedia materials in
print and Internet. The network has developed,
launched and managed a number of channels aimed at the
needs of different target markets such as Mindset
Learn and Health Channel launched in August. The
concept of the channel was tested in 50
underprivileged primary schools and programming could
possibly be expanded to other African countries,
starting in Kenya.