T S I C H A N N E L N E W S - Number 17/2003 27 April 2003 -
A weekly roundup of global TV news sponsored by TELE-satellite International
Editor: Branislav Pekic
* Issue 02-03/2004 of Tele Satellite International magazine is out now * More details at
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E U R O P E
FRANCE
BROADCASTERS INTERESTED IN ALL-NEWS CHANNEL
French media companies submitted bids on April 22 for the creation of an
international television news channel in response to President Jacques
Chirac's call for a French-flavored alternative to CNN, BBC World or
al-Jazeera. Chirac floated the idea during his election campaign a year
ago, and experts say he needs it more than ever to sell France's point of
view on the world stage since his stand against war in Iraq and subsequent
rift with leaders in Washington and London. The main French state-owned TV
and radio groups made a joint offer, saying their existing networks abroad
would allow them to target 36 million homes in the Middle East, Africa and
Europe, using English and
Arabic as well as French at an early stage. Two
offers came from big private sector companies, one from the LCI news and
current affairs channel owned by TF1 and the other from rival Canal Plus,
owner of news channel i)TELE. LCI said it wanted a 50:50 venture with the
state sector groups in the running, France Televisions and Radio France
Internationale, and that the state would have to foot the bill. The LCI
news channel was set up by parent company TF1 some 10 years ago and runs 24
hours a day but its audience is mostly limited to France and it has only a
handful of correspondents outside France. LCI's proposal was to provide a
French-language service to viewers beyond France, at most with subtitles in
English or Arabic, with about 30 per cent to 40 per cent of programme
content that would differ from the news and debates aired inside France.
Canal Plus said in a statement it had made an offer but remained
tight-lipped on the content, saying it had experience in the delivery of
digital TV and that it too was open to co-operation with the public sector.
Jean-Paul Cluzel, head of Radio France Internationale (RFI), said recently
the international news channel his state-owned group proposes to set up
with France Televisions could cost in the region of E35 million a year.
TF1 TO BID FOR KIRCH ASSETS
TF1 on April 23 confirmed it was still interested in acquiring a 10% stake
in a consortium bidding for Germany's biggest broadcaster, KirchMedia. The
French TV group had been part of an original $2.2 billion bid for
KirchMedia in conjunction with media billionaire Haim Saban, but pulled out
of signing the deal after failing to get board approval in time. TF1
chairman Patrick Le Lay told shareholders the group was planning to invest
between £69-104 million in the consortium bidding for the TV businesses of
failed German media tycoon Leo Kirch. "We will propose to the board that we
try to invest 100-150 million euros for around 10% of the group buying the
Kirch assets," Mr Le Lay told shareholders. He added that such a stake
would enable TF1 to gain exposure to the German TV market.
GERMANY
PROSIEBENSAT.1 TO REPORT FIRST QUARTER RESULTS
Germany's already suffering advertising industry has been dealt another
blow, this time by the war in Iraq, according to leading commercial
broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1, which on April 24 reported losses and a sharp
drop in revenue in the first three months of this year. The company's
official results will be published May 13. ProSiebenSat.1 chief executive
Urs Rohner did not provide details in advance but said the channel group
lost money in the first quarter and that sales dropped some 15% compared
with the first quarter of 2002. In that year-earlier period, the
Munich-based broadcaster booked pretax profits of E8 million on sales of
E489 million. But Rohner insisted the loss was expected and said
ProSiebenSat.1 will make up the deficit in the traditionally stronger
second half of the year.
CONSORTIUM GETS FOOTBALL TV RIGHTS
A consortium including KarstadtQuelle New Media, a unit of German retailer
KarstadtQuelle, has acquired the rights to broadcast German football league
games on free-to-air television. The other consortium members are EM.TV &
Merchandising and Infront BuLi. The parties agreed to keep financial
details of the deal confidential. This marks another step toward reshaping
Germany's sports-broadcasting landscape following KarstadtQuelle's
acquisition of free broadcaster DSF earlier this month. The consortium's
agreement covers the exclusive right to broadcast on free-to- air
television one live second-division match a week on Mondays. It also
includes exclusive rights to broadcast highlights of other second-division
matches. The package also provides non-exclusive highlight rights to the
first division for the 2003/2004 season on Germany's DSF. The
broadcasting-rights deal is subject to the successful acquisition of DSF by
KarstadtQuelle New Media, sports investor Hans-Dieter Cleven and EM.TV. The
acquisition of DSF is yet to be approved by German antitrust authorities,
the Bundeskartellamt, and the insolvency administration of KirchMedia . Internet -
http://www.em-ag.de http://www.karstadtquelle.com
CARTEL GIVES GREEN LIGHT FOR SABAN BUYOUT OF KIRCHMEDIA UNIT Germany's anti-cartel office on April 24 approved Haim Saban's $2 billion
takeover bid for bankrupt TV giant KirchMedia. Germany's competition
watchdogs said they had no objection to Saban taking over Kirch's 52.5%
stake in the country's leading commercial broadcasting group ProSiebenSat.1
as well as Kirch's library of film and television rights. In a statement,
the anti-cartel office said that the takeover would not result in an
illegal monopoly in the German TV market because neither Saban nor his
Saban Capital Group currently holds any significant German TV assets. The
decision was the first major hurdle for the Saban deal. Saban must still
win approval from Germany's media competition authorities, the KEK, and
from Kirch's board of creditors. KEK approval is expected within the next
two months. Kirch's creditor banks are also expected to sign on to the
deal, although they recently threatened to torpedo the agreement, claiming
that Saban was trying to change the conditions of the deal at the last minute.
EU TO INVESTIGATE FUNDING OF PUBLIC TV CHANNELS
European regulators are investigating a complaint by AOL Time Warner, RTL
Group and Viacom and others that German public TV channels are misusing
funds to undercut advertising rates. ``Fees and subsidies received from the
government can only be used to fund public interest services,'' said Tilman
Lueder, a European Commission spokesman. ``They can't be used to offset low
advertising fees.'' The commission may open a full probe into the fees
received by German public broadcasters ZDF and ARD and could force some of
the money to be repaid, Lueder said. The commission could also take the
German government to court for failure to adopt European Union laws
requiring state-owned companies to publish separate accounts for their
commercial activities. The complaint was filed by VPRT, a German group of
private media companies including AOL Time Warner's AOL Deutschland, Viva
Media, Viacom's MTV, RTL Group and ProSiebenSat1 Media. The group said its
calls for an overhaul of ARD and ZDF financing had gone unanswered by the
German government. In January, the commission opened a formal investigation
into possible overcompensation by Denmark of its public broadcaster TV2.
That probe will cover the period 1995-2002 and was launched after the
commission came to the preliminary conclusion that the Danish state
overcompensated TV2 for extra costs for providing services of general
interest. TV2 used the excess public funds to cross-subsidize its
advertising business, the commission said at the time.
HUNGARY
LAUDER INTERESTED IN TV2
U.S. cosmetics magnate Ronald Lauder's Central European Media Enterprises
is reportedly negotiating with SBS's Hungarian network TV2 for an
undisclosed number of shares in the broadcaster. TV2 officials have denied
the reports. Earlier this year SBS said it was looking for a strategic
partner in the network, which is locked in stiff competition with its only
commercial terrestrial rival, the RTL Media-controlled network RTL Klub.
Although Lauder has made no formal announcement, his family originates in
Hungary and he is the former owner of the commercial cable television
network TV3. Lauder's aggressive bid to win the TV2 frequency six years ago
failed.
THE NETHERLANDS
CINENOVA SIGNS LICENSE DEALS
Amsterdam based movie channel CineNova has signed new film licensing
agreements with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and 20th Century Fox. CineNova
already sources movies from shareholders Sony Pictures Entertainment and
Buena Vista International Television, as well as movies from outfits such
as Indies Entertainment Group, RCV Entertainment Group, Three Lines
Pictures, Les Films De L’Elysee, Paradiso Filmed Entertainment and
Dreamworks SKG. The MGM deal covers films such as James Bond blockbuster
Die Another Day, Windtalkers with Nicolas Cage and the forthcoming comedy
sequel Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde starring Reese Witherspoon.
The titles from 20th Century Fox kick in from April 2003 onwards and
include X-Men and Me, Myself and Irene starring Jim Carrey and Renée
Zellweger. Reaching audiences in the Netherlands and Flemish speaking
Belgium, CineNova is available on the digital platforms of all major Dutch
cable operators such as UPC Digital, Casema Digitale Televisie, Essent
Kabelcom and Multikabel. It is a joint venture of Sony Pictures
Entertainment, Walt Disney Television International and UPC.
DIGITENNE STARTS BROADCASTING
Residents of several major Dutch towns and cities, including Amsterdam and
Hilversum, can now receive their favourite radio and television programmes
digitallyand without the use of cable or a
satellite dish. Service provider
Digitenne, a consortium that includes telecom giant KPN, the Dutch
broadcasting facility NOB, the Dutch transmission operator Norzema and
broadcasters, was awarded a DVB-T licence by the Dutch Government in
January 2002. Digitenne users require a digital receiver (five models from
Rebox, Panasonic and Strong en Hauppauge have already been certified)
costing at least E170, as well as a special 17cm high set-top antenna and
smartcard, both of which are currently supplied free of charge. Users pay a
one-off connection charge of E30 and a monthly subscription of E9, for
which they are granted access to 25 television and 16 radio channels. Cable
company UPC accuses Digitenne of unfair competition, citing government
subsidies that allow Digitenne to offer under-cost-price services.
Digitenne is focusing on the recreational sector (campsites, vacation homes
and boats) and dissatisfied cable subscribers. As an incentive, Digitenne
is offering subscribers a free adult-entertainment channel. Most Dutch
households 92 per cent a re currently connected to cable, 7 per cent have
a satellite dish and the remaining 1 per cent use a roof antenna. Although
Digitenne has not issued any firm subscriber numbers, a user base of
between 50,000 and 100,000 has been mentioned, giving Digitenne a several
percentage-point share of the Dutch market.
POLAND
MCM AND MEZZO SIGN CABLE DEALS
Music channels MCM and Mezzo, operated by Lagardere Networks International
(LNI), have secured carriage deals in Poland that expand their reach to
650,000 homes and 1.1 million homes respectively. The deals, signed with
UPC Telewizja Kablowa and Bresnan Group, triple MCM's distribution and
increase Mezzo's by 75 per cent. MCM targets teens and young adults, while
Mezzo reaches for an older demographic with a playlist that includes opera,
jazz and classical.
RUSSIA
EXILED TYCOON SEEKS COMPENSATION
Billionaire Russian businessman and former Kremlin insider Boris Berezovsky
has called for multimillion-dollar compensation after a Moscow court ruled
illegal the dissolution last year of Moscow's TV6. Berezovsky owns a
majority stake in MNVK, the TV6 license holder. The April 22 decision by
Moscow's arbitration court, which said the Press Ministry decision to pull
TV6 off the air in January 2002 was wrong, throws into doubt the future of
TVS, the station that took its place after an official frequency auction in
March 2002. Berezovsky, who lives in self-imposed exile in London and is
currently battling a Russian extradition attempt on unrelated
multimillion-dollar fraud charges, revealed his objectives to Russian
business newspaper Kommersant.
SCANDINAVIA
BBC FOOD LAUNCHES ON CANAL DIGITAL
BBC Worldwide is launching its BBC Food channel in the Nordic region. The
channel, which has previously broadcast over Multichoice in Southern
Africa, will be available on the Canal Digital satellite platform with
separate launches planned in Oslo, Copenhagen and Stockholm prior to going
on-air on June 2. It is being offered to local cable operators in the
region, which have enjoyed BBC programmes through BBC Prime and local
acquisitions for several years. BBC Food will screen some of the many
cookery shows now seen on BBC Television in the UK, but there will also be
a limited amount of acquired programming.
SLOVENIA
TV PIKA TO LAUNCH ON SATELLITE
Local television station TV Pika, which can currently be viewed in and
around Ljubljana, is to start broadcasting its programme via the Hotbird
satellite in May. The satellite covers all of Europe, the Middle East and
North Africa, reaching 95 million households. Speaking on April 15,
editor-in-chief Stane Grah said the move is aimed at bringing TV Pika into
homes of Slovenians in Slovenia and those living in Europe, as well as to
the former Yugoslavia and Europe. The programme will be free and non-coded.
According to Grah, the programme will be entirely Slovenian, without
foreign shows, films or series. There will also be a news programme
focusing on business, as well as lifestyle shows. Grah also said that the
station is interested in providing live coverage of sessions of the
Slovenian parliament and, later, of the European Parliament.
UNITED KINGDOM
GRANADA AND CARLTON FACED WITH RESISTANCE OVER MERGER
The Office of Fair Trading said it is ``not persuaded'' Granada's proposed
$1.5 billion purchase of Carlton Communications won't affect competition in
advertising, the Financial Times reported, citing the OFT. The companies
argued that the only regional Independent Television Network market in
which they both advertise is London, and because Carlton's weekday London
ITV audience differs from Granada's London Weekend viewers they don't
compete for advertising, the newspaper said. The OFT is skeptical this is
the case and considers the merger may eliminate competition in the London
district, the newspaper said. A research paper issued by Lehman Brothers
Holdings Inc. suggested the companies may have to make concessions to the
regulators.
NHS DIRECT TO LAUNCH DIGITAL TV CHANNEL
The Department of Health has formally invited proposals to develop and run
a national digital television (DTV) channel for its NHS Direct healthcare
information service. The project forms a key part of a new strategy
announced last week for NHS Direct, which is to receive E262 million in
additional funding to enable it to double its capacity over the next three
years. The NHS Direct DTV service has been set the ambitious target of
being available throughout England from early 2004, providing 24/7 access
to viewers across all digital platforms, including satellite, cable,
terrestrial and DSL, by the end of next year. In addition, a number of
stretching 'Critical Success Factors' has been stipulated, such as an
objective to reach 60 per cent of the digital TV audience within six months
of the contract being awarded, extending to 95 per cent in the first year,
with one in 20 people using the service at least once a month. The contract
is expected to be awarded in December 2003 and will run for three years,
with options to extend for two additional two-year periods.
VISIONIK DELIVERS FIRST INTERACTIVE TV GAME TO MTV
Visionik, an NDS company, and a leading developer of interactive TV
services, announced the launch of MTV’s first interactive game; Mugshot
Mania. Mugshot Mania brings more interactive fun to MTV. Viewers are
enticed to explore celebrities backstage at concerts through an action
filled platform game. Free to play, the game, consisting of 25 levels,
brings the experience of being at a music concert through gameplay
involving taking pictures, escaping bouncers and trying to sneak backstage.
This is the first of a package of games being delivered to MTV by Visionik.
By introducing interactive games, MTV expects to enhance viewer loyalty and
increase viewing figures. The interactive games are accessible to viewers
by pressing the red button on the
remote control when watching any MTV
channel. The viewer is then taken to the MTV Core service menu. By
selecting “play”, the viewer enters the interactive TV games zone where all
games can be enjoyed free of charge. A new version of the MTV 24/7
interactive service developed by NDS, which allows applications to be
plugged and played, is being launched at the same time as Mugshot Mania. Internet -
www.visionik.com
N O R T H A M E R I C A
UNITED STATES
AOL-TIME WARNER SELLS COMEDY CENTRAL STAKE
Viacom announced on April 22 that it has reached an agreement with AOL Time
Warner to acquire AOL's 50% interest in Comedy Central, for a total of
$1.225 billion. Following the completion of the transaction, expected in
the second quarter of 2003, Comedy Central will be wholly owned by Viacom
and join MTV Networks' lineup of basic cable channels. Comedy Central, the
only all-comedy network, reaches 82 million U.S. households. Comedy
Central's schedule includes an eclectic mix of original programming,
stand-up comedy, sketch comedy and movies.
VIACOM REPORTS FIRST QUARTER RESULTS
On April 22 Viacom reported a first-quarter profit of $443 million,
compared with a loss of $1.1 billion in the year-ago period. Revenue edged
up 7% to $6.05 billion, while cash flow increased 12% to $1.23 billion.
Advertising revenue grew 6% across Viacom's businesses despite continuing
economic malaise in the United States, the war in Iraq and only slight
revenue gains at its radio business. In line with historic trends,
advertising sales made up 44% of Viacom's first-quarter revenue.
AOL TIME WARNER REPORTS FIRST QUARTER RESULTS
AOL Time Warner reported first-quarter results on April 23 that exceeded
expectations on strength in its film and cable networks businesses. AOL TW
reported a first-quarter profit of $396 million, compared with a
year-earlier loss of $54.2 billion because of asset write-downs. Revenue
rose 6% to $10 billion, while cash flow grew 14% to $2 billion.
HDNET SIGNS DISTRIBUTION DEAL WITH SONY PICTURES
HDNet has reached a distribution agreement with Sony Pictures Television to
bring more than 250 feature films and several TV series to its growing
number of high-definition channels, sources said Thursday. The deal, terms
of which were not available, marks the third such distribution agreement
that HDNet has reached with a major Hollywood studio in the past four
months. All are intended to help HDNet expand from its original one channel
to four channels. HDNet offers two channels, HDNet and HDNet Movies,
through satellite service DirecTV and portions of Charter Communication's
cable networks. The films and TV series largely originated in 35mm, making
it relatively easy to transfer them to the HD format, which offers a
sharper picture and sound than standard television, company officials said.
Some of the Sony films and programs are already showing on HDNet's channels.
RTR COMING TO AMERICA
Russia's largest TV network, the state-run RTR, is coming to the United
States with a Russian-language TV channel. New York City, home of the
largest Russian immigrant community in the United States, will account for
a significant portion of the channel's audience. RTR, the largest
television company in the Russian Federation, teamed up with the U.S.-based
Russian Media Group to launch the new Russian channel, called "RTR
Planeta". Head of the Media Group, Mark Golub, says the channel will reach
at least a third of the three million Russian-speakers currently living in
the United States. With its 89 affiliated stations, RTR reaches audiences
across Russia.
FOX SHAREHOLDERS SUES OVER DIRECTV DEAL
A shareholder in Fox Entertainment Group has filed a lawsuit against the
company and its executives, alleging Fox is being misused as part of its
parent News Corp's acquisition of satellite broadcaster DirecTV. In a suit
filed April 25 in federal court in New York, shareholder Norman Levin
claimed that News Corp., which owns most of and controls Fox, is breaching
Fox's duties to its shareholders by structuring the DirecTV deal so as to
add $4.5 billion of debt to Fox's balance sheet. The complex cash-and-stock
deal, announced on April 9, is expected to pass muster with anti-trust
regulators. Financial analysts have criticized the structure of the $6.6
billion deal for News Corp. to buy DirecTV parent Hughes Electronics Corp.,
with some suggesting that Fox was being operated as little more than a
financing vehicle for News Corp., rather than as an operating entity. In
the suit, Levin asks for class-action status for Fox shareholders as of
April 9.
A S I A
AFGHANISTAN
CABLE TV RETURNS
Cable television has resumed broadcasting in the Afghan capital Kabul,
after it was banned months ago for being obscene and un-Islamic. Popular
Western and Indian music and movie and sports channels have begun
broadcasting again after President Hamid Karzai's cabinet passed a law
allowing them to go back on air. They were forbidden from broadcasting in
January by the country's Chief Justice Mawlavi Fazl Hadi Shinwari, who said
that there had been complaints about "half-naked singers and obscene scenes
from movies". Cable television operators sprang up in several parts of
Afghanistan last year, just a few months after the demise of the Taliban
regime, which outlawed television, music and cinema. The cable firms have
provided services to about 7,000 subscribers in Kabul, mostly among the
middle class, but many others also watch the programmes in small video saloons.
AUSTRALIA
UAP SELLS AUSTAR STAKE
Australia's second largest provider of pay-TV services, Austar United
Communications has been acquired by a private equity firm. Castle Harlan
Australian Mezzanine Partners, or Champ, has revealed it paid US$34.5
million to the bondholder creditor of United Australia Pacific Inc for its
80% interest in Austar. In early May, Champ plans to initiate an offer to
acquire all remaining publicity held Austar shares. The firm will offer 16
cents for each Austar share, which is half a cent higher than what Champ
paid for UAP's Austar shares. Austar is the only provider of satellite
pay-TV in non-urban eastern Australia and currently has more than 400,000
subscribers. The platform has exclusive pay-TV rights in all but the major
Australian cities such as Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane.
BROADCASTERS CONTINUE TO MAKE A PROFIT
Despite fierce competition for advertising dollars and for the attention of
audiences, Australia's commercial television broadcasters made a profit of
A$410.7 million in 2001/02, the Australian Broadcasting Authority has
revealed. The 48 television licensees - nearly all of which are owned by or
closely affiliated to the three national networks - generated A$3,233.1
million in revenues. This was about 3.4% down on the previous year but
expenses were also down 3.9%. The top-rating Nine Network and its
affiliates were responsible for 44% of revenues, and Seven accounted for
32%. Ten's 24% share was up 12.4% on the previous year while the other two
dipped. Seven and Nine both spent about A$288 million on a range of
Australian programming through the year - Seven cutting spending by 17% and
Nine increasing it by 11% - while Ten only spent A$12 million, a 41%
increase. The ABA collected A$188.6 million in licence fees based on the
revenues of these three free-to-air networks. SBS also earns money from
through advertising - although it is called sponsorship - but the other
national public broadcaster, ABC, is commercial free.
TELECOM NZ ENTERS PAY-TV BUSINESS
Telecom New Zealand chief executive Theresa Gattung has announced
negotiations with Foxtel towards a content-sharing agreement that is set to
make Telecom NZ the newest pay-TV company in Australia. The deal, which
would require approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer
Commission, will allow bundling of Telecom NZ's telephony offerings and
pay-TV services.
CHINA - HONG KONG
SATELLITE TV VIEWERS FACED WITH BLACKOUT
Thousands of homes and bars using satellite decoders to screen sports
programmes and movies face a blackout after six major pay channels scored a
decisive victory in their efforts to block sales of the equipment in Hong
Kong. Star TV, CNN, Turner Entertainment Network, ESPN Star Sports,
Discovery and NGC Network filed legal complaints against five local
companies last October for allegedly importing and trading in unlicensed
satellite signal decoders. The decoders allow sport and movie channels to
be watched through illegal satellite feeds from the mainland and Southeast
Asia. The pay channels said the practice had infringed their copyright and
lost them millions of dollars in revenue. The Cable & Satellite
Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA), representing the channels, on
April 24 announced that they had settled out of court with two defendants,
the company Alpha Communications Technology and Andy Yeung Chun Wah, who is
connected to the company. They admitted infringing the plaintiffs'
intellectual property rights and agreed to pay an undisclosed amount in
compensation.
GOVERNMENT OUTLINES DIGITAL TV GOALS
China's State Administration for Radio, Film and TV has outlined a
three-year plan to boost digital TV set-top box users to 30 million by
2005. Under the proposals, SARFT aims to increase the number of pay-TV
channels available in China to 80 during the same time frame. More than 10
pay-TV channels are expected to launch in China before the end of 2003,
with the number of digital set-tops in use set to reach about 1 million.
INDIA
ESPN-STAR CUTS FEED TO INCABLENET
INCablenet subscribers in Mumbai will miss out on TVS Cup and Summer Sports
Bonanza on ESPN and STAR Sports as Indus Ind Media and Communications Ltd
(IMC), a subsidiary of Hinduja TMT, failed to pay routine monthly dues to
ESPN Software. ESPN Software was forced to discontinue its signal for ESPN
and STAR Sports to INCablenet as the outstanding crossed the Rs 2 crore
mark for January-April, 2003.
NEW MUSIC CHANNELS TO LAUNCH
Following the footsteps of Southern Spice (SS) Music, music channels such
as Raj and Star are looking to tap this segment by wooing the youth. Raj,
which plans to roll out its free-to-air music channel on May 23, has
decided to dish out music in all South Indian languages, in addition to
English and Hindi. The Raj's Associate Vice-President (Sales & Marketing),
Mr R. Radhakrishnan, believes that the space for music channels has opened
up in the South, as viewers have accepted channels with a difference. He
says the launch of SS Music has changed the market's perception that the
Southern viewer would not accept MTV- and Channel V-type programming.
Two-year-old SS Music announced in February that it has higher viewership
than MTV and Channel V in Chennai, and is second to MTV in other Southern
States. Nearly 70 per cent of SS Music's content is in South Indian
languages, with Tamil taking the lion's share. English music, and to a
lesser extent Hindi, takes up the remaining slots. Raj is planning a
similar break-up. Star's Channel V is betting wholly on Tamil music. In a
recent press conference in Chennai, the Chief Operating Officer of Star
India Pvt, Mr Sameer Nair, said the group was toying with the idea of a
Tamil version of Channel V.
CAS TO BE INTRODUCED FROM JULY 15
Television viewers in all the four metros would have access to a bouquet of
a minimum of 30 channels for Rs 72 under the Conditional Access System
(CAS) which would be brought into force from 15 July, Mr Ravi Shankar
Prasad, Union information and broadcasting minister, said on April 19. “The
government is showing utmost commitment and seriousness to CAS,” Mr Prasad
told reporters. There will be no relaxation of the date of implementation
of CAS and all the MSOs, cable TV operators and broadcasters would have to
telecast the bouquet of free-to-air channels at Rs 72. While the bouquet
could have more than 30 channels, it should be priced not more than Rs 72.
Moreover, it will be “a good mix” of programmes on entertainment, music,
children, sports, news, etc.
SAHARA TV RENAMED
Sahara TV, a general entertainment Hindi channel from the stable of Sahara
Media and Entertainment Network, has taken on a new identity of Sahara
Manoranjan. This forms a part of the initiatives to differentiate itself
from the 30-odd channels in the country and position itself as an upmarket
channel against Star, Sony and Zee.
INDIAVISION STARTS TESTING
Indiavision, an Indian infotainment satellite news channel, has commenced
test transmissions in advance of a July 14 commercial launch. Indiavision,
which will be competing in the crowded Malayalam satellite channel market,
claims to be the first 24-hour news channel in India to uplink from its own
earth station and is being relayed via the Thaicom 3 satellite.
INDONESIA
SHAKE UP AT TVRI
State television channel, TVRI, has officially become a limited liability
company and the government has replaced all its directors. Its new status
will give it more commercial freedom, including the right to air
advertisements, and help it stay viable in competition with the country's
nine private stations. The channel has been struggling to stay afloat since
the government began reducing funding last year. TVRI's 23 regional
stations across the country have struggled recently, with those in North
Sumatra, Aceh and Lampung going off the air because of high operating costs
and mounting debts.
IRAQ
TV BROADCASTS TO RESUME SOON
Informed sources in Baghdad have reported that the information adviser at
the US Defence Department, Robert Reily, has begun his responsibilities of
overseeing the resumption of Iraqi TV broadcasting. The sources added that
TV broadcasting was expected to begin in Baghdad within two to three weeks.
Meanwhile work is under way to get regular radio broadcasting started
within a week.
JAPAN
DIGITAL BROADCASTS TO START IN DECEMBER
The Japanese government has given the go-ahead to 16 commercial
broadcasters and the Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) to begin terrestrial
digital TV broadcasting in December. Toranosuke Katayama, head of the
Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications
(MPHPT) issued the licenses to broadcasters on April 18. Broadcasters will
start preliminarily digital broadcasting by next June and are scheduled to
begin regular broadcasts on December 1 in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. Digital
broadcasting is scheduled to be expanded to other Japanese cities in 2006.
A nation-wide system is expected to be operating by 2011, when analogue
terrestrial broadcasts will end. Japan's terrestrial broadcasting system,
called Integrated Services Digital BroadcastingTerrestrial (ISDB-T),
features SFN (Single Frequency Network) for more efficient use of spectrum,
HDTV services and mobile reception. The government urged broadcasters to
air HDTV programming during roughly half their broadcast day.
DISNEY CHANNEL TO LAUNCH ON SATELLITE AND CABLE
US media giant is to launch Disney Channel Japan on cable and satellite.
Satellite platform Sky PerfecTV will offer the 24/7 channel as an á la
carte option in winter 2003/4, with the channel also going into basic tier
on Japanese cable networks around the same time. The channel will also
feature a Playhouse Disney preschool block. The move brings Disney
Channel's international footprint to 100 million homes in 63 territories.
WOWOW REVENUES AND SUBSCRIBERS DOWN
Pay-TV operator WOWOW has estimated it sales fell by 4% in the year to
March 31 to Yen62.8 billion in line with earlier forecasts. Subscriptions
to the platform are expected to have fallen by 6% to 2.49 million, although
customers for its digital services increased by 56% to reach 104,000.
During the year, WOWOW says it reduced its operating costs by 10% due to
lower programming spend.
LEBANON
MURR TV REMAINS OFF AIR
In a controversial decision, a Lebanese judicial court has decided that
Murr TV (MTV) and its associated radio station Radio Mont Liban should
remain closed. The stations had been found guilty of carrying material in
favour of their owner, Gabriel Murr, while he was running for Parliament in
a by-election. According to veteran legal expert Hassan Rifaai, the panel
have wrongly interpreted Article 68 of the Election Law. That article bans
election propaganda during the election process, but according to Rifaai
the penalties are meant to be limited to the election period. One of MTV's
lawyers also said there were "major legal errors in the verdict" and
indicated that the legal team would continue the fight to get the stations
back on the air.
NEW ZEALAND
TV4 TO BECOME MUSIC CHANNEL
CanWest New Zealand will relaunch its struggling TV4 as a music channel in
October. It will feature music shows aimed at 15-29-year-olds and will
benefit from synergies with CanWest radio stations the Edge and Channel Z,
managing director Rick Friesen said on April 22. CanWest launched TV4 as a
sister channel to TV3 in 1997 but downgraded its programming soon after to
stop it from cannibalizing TV3's audience. Since then it has lost about
NZ$30 million. The channel will air a music selection from 16:00 to
midnight Monday through Thursday, extending the shows to 01:00 in the
weekends.
SAUDI ARABIA
GREEN LIGHT FOR NEW NEWS CHANNEL
According to the Middle Eastern daily newspaper Arab News, Saudi Arabian
authorities have greenlit a new television channel for the country. The
network, Saudi Arabia's fourth, would cover local, regional and
international events, and will reportedly be geared to correcting
misconceptions about Arabs and Islam.
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