T S I C H A N N E L N E W S - Number 19/2003 11 May 2003

[Sadoun]

T S I C H A N N E L N E W S - Number 19/2003 11 May 2003 -
A weekly roundup of global TV news sponsored by TELE-satellite International
Editor: Branislav Pekic


E U R O P E


MEDIAGUARD CELEBRATES ANTI-PIRACY SUCCESS
Thomson announced on May 8 that three of the digital pay-TV customers of
CANAL+ TECHNOLOGIES, its digital video software solutions business, have
experienced a sharp rise in subscriber numbers and pay-per-view revenues in
2002, following upgrades of its MEDIAGUARD conditional access system in
Italy, Poland and Spain. MEDIAGUARD customers, Telepiu, Sogecable and
Cyfra+, have all reported a huge jump in subscriber numbers and
pay-per-view buy rates since the new version of the conditional access
system was successfully deployed in their countries starting in April 2002.
The significant growth in new pay-TV subscriptions can be in large part
attributed to the successful eradication of piracy achieved by the smart
card swap operation. Cyfra+ in Poland has exceeded its initial new
subscriber expectations for 2002 by over 20%, whilst Spain's Sogecable
witnessed a staggering increase of 84% of its pay-per-view movie buy rates
and 95% of its football pay-per-view buy rates in 2002. Italy's Telepiu has
undergone the most significant growth in subscriptions in its history, with
550,000 new subscribers since the card swap was completed, bringing the
total number of subscribers to 1.8 million as of December 2002. This
represents a net increase of 20% in new subscribers compared to the
previous year at the same date. The increase in the number of subscriptions
has been massive during the second half of 2002 and has largely exceeded
the two-thirds of the overall generated revenues. Besides the constant
increase in the number of subscriptions, a considerable increase in the
number of service upgrades also took place: more than 300,000 subscribers
to the basic Telepiu package asked to subscribe to the higher-tier
packages. They were customers who, besides getting a basic subscription,
used a pirated card to access the programmes of other channels, thus
operating a sort of "self-discount" on the imposed price for the upper-tier
packages. As of today, close to 8 million new MEDIAGUARD smart cards have
been shipped to television operators.

FRANCE

GREEN LIGHT FOR MOBILE BACKED TV CHANNEL
The supervisory audiovisual body Conseil Supérieur De L'Audiovisual (CSA)
has approved the launch of a new channel directly linked to a commercial
outfit. Kiwee TV, an interactive youth-skewed network, is owned by mobile
phone operator K-Mobile and intends to tie in teen programming with its own
website. The channel will soon be available to cable and satellite
subscribers, notably via platform Canal Satellite. As France's first
interactive youth channel, programming will be accompanied by simultaneous
online activities. The schedule will also contain entertainment and
technology-themed shows.

CSA ANNOUNCES DTT CHANNEL LINEUP
French regulator Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel on May 6 revealed the
definitive DTT channel line-up by signing agreements with 23 nets including
TF1, M6 and Canal+. While the three major broadcasters renewed earlier
digital deals, the CSA struck new deals with 20 other stations. On the
free-to-air side, Direct 8, i-MCM, M6 Music, NRJ TV, NT1, TMC and eight
public channels signed on the dotted line. Meanwhile, the encrypted
channels include AB1, Canal J, Cinécinémas, Cuisine TV, Comédie, Eurosport,
i-Télévision, LCI, Match TV, Paris Première, Planète, Sport, TF6 and TPS
Star. The CSA agreements outline transmission regulations, general
characteristics of individual schedules and commitment to helping the film
sector. By the beginning of June, the CSA plans to will issue formal
authorisations to the selected channels.

M6 TO SUE TF1
M6 Metropole Television has begun legal proceedings against rival
broadcaster TF1 and Telefonica-owned production company Endemol. M6 alleges
that new Endemol reality show Nice People, which is being aired on TF1, is
too close in terms of concept to its own Loft Story series, also developed
in partnership with Endemol. Loft Story was M6's biggest ever audience
draw, lifting it above TF1 in the ratings.

GERMANY

EM.TV, KARSTADTQUELLE PURCHASE OF DSF APPROVED
EM.TV & Merchandising and KarstadtQuelle's planned takeover of KirchMedia's
DSF sports television channel and Web site Sport 1 was cleared by the
German cartel office. The regulator granted the approval without any
conditions. The purchase still needs to be approved by KirchMedia's
creditors. EM.TV, owner of the merchandising rights to the next football
World Cup, German retailer KarstadtQuelle and Swiss investor Hans- Dieter
Cleven agreed to buy the channel last month for an undisclosed sum. The
partners are confident that they will win the bidding. The management of
EM.TV has pointed out that the relevant agreement has been attested by a
notary, and that the purchase price has already been transferred to a trust
account. The rival offer by US media entrepreneur Haim Saban is reported to
be only marginally higher than that offered by the EM.TV-KarstadtQuelle
consortium, and the latter stresses that its bid offers a security not
provided by the US investor.

SABAN APPLIES FOR EXEMPTION FROM TAKEOVER RULES
Haim Saban, the billionaire producer who plans to acquire a controlling
stake in leading German broadcasting group ProSiebenSat.1, has applied for
an exemption from German takeover rules that would force him to bid for
ProSieben's outstanding shares. The move, if successful, could cut some
€400-500 million from the up-to €1.3 billion Saban and investment partners
will have to spend to take over the ProSieben stake from bankrupt
television giant KirchMedia. The deal will give Saban 72% of ProSieben's
vote-wielding ordinary shares. KirchMedia's creditors are poised largely to
accept Saban's new terms for his takeover of its TV assets. Saban presented
a new business plan for KirchMedia's vast library of movie and TV
programming on May 8, earmarking faster payback schedules for the creditor
bank's loans, sources familiar with the talks said. The banks had
complained Saban was trying to change the terms of the deal, which also
includes Germany's largest TV station ProSiebenSat.1 Media, last month but
said he was now getting back to his original proposal.

TELEMALL TV TO LAUNCH SHOPPING CHANNEL
Telemall TV will launch a new home-shopping channel in Germany. The company
will not produce its own programming, but will instead provide mail order
companies, lottery operators, travel agencies and other interested parties
with a platform for the presentation and sale of their services and
products. The new service will launch in late-summer or autumn 2003, and
will be available via an Astra satellite on analogue and digital platforms.
The channel will also eventually be available via cable networks.

IRELAND

RTE SEEKS FOOTBALL TV RIGHTS
State-owned broadcaster RTE has stated its wants to avoid court action as
it seeks to acquire the rights to show the national football team’s home
matches. Legislation that came into effect this week essentially overrides
a €12.5 million deal struck between the FAI, Irish football’s governing
body, and UK-based pay-TV operator BSkyB. RTE says it is ready to take over
the rights in time for Ireland’s next match on June 7.

ITALY

OLISAT PREPARES LATIN AMERICAN PACKAGE
European viewers are now being offered a new Latin American bouquet by
Italian platform Olisat TV. Part of Network Teleport Italia services,
Olisat TV Hispana will eventually offer seven 24-hour diginets from Latin
America. So far TV Colombia and TV Chile have begun transmission, with
Telemundo Internacional (USA), Telefe Internacional (Argentina), Río de la
Plata TV (Argentina), Venevisión Continental (Venezuela) and Cubavisión
Internacional (Cuba) soon to follow. Thematic channels El Gourmet,
TeleMúsica and Canal (á) will also be added to the line-up. Until recently
Olisat concentrated on sports and music channels for the Italian market.

SLOVAKIA

TV NOVA ACCUSES CABLE OPERATOR
Slovakian commercial broadcaster TV Nova has requested that cable operator
UPC Slovensko stop transmitting its signals without consent. TV Nova claims
the UPC operation is currently in breach of copyright. UPC Slovakia began
transmitting TV Nova signals two weeks ago following a ruling by the Slovak
council allowing rival cable network SATRO to include TV Nova broadcasts in
its package. However, TV Nova says SATRO is also carrying its signals in
breach of copyright. A UPC Slovensko spokesman said only "certain
circumstances" would result in it removing the TV Nova programming from its
package.

SPAIN

MERGED PAY-TV PLATFORM ON TWO SATELLITES
Sogecable, company which will run the merged Canal Satelite and Via Digital
160-channel, pay-TV platform, will retain existing contracts with Astra and
Hispasat, their respective satellite carriers, until 2004. Sogecable plans
to launch joint programming in September 2003 in an effort to beat cablers
to the Christmas market. The company will keep the two set-top box systems,
while gradually introducing more memory capacity to deliver VoD, a key
service. Hispasat, operator backed by Telefonica and the Spanish
government, is expected to be the sole operator after the transition phase.

PLANETA TAKES OVER CONTROL OF ANTENA 3
Catalan publishing group Planeta has signed a deal with leading Spanish
bank SCH for an option to buy the 18.4 per cent stake that the bank holds
in Spanish commercial TV channel Antena 3, of which telecoms operator
Telefonica has just agreed to sell Planeta a 25.1 per cent stake. The
agreement effectively guarantees the publishing group control of the
channel, despite it only having paid €364 million for the stake. In return,
Planeta will guarantee the liquidity of the stake held by SCH for a
pre-determined amount of time. This agreement is similar to one signed
between the bank and Telefonica previously. The channel's third largest
shareholder, German media group RTL, would now have to launch a takeover
bid in order to gain a larger share than its Spanish rival.

EC CLOSES FOOTBALL PROBE
The European Commission announced on May 8 that it has closed its
investigation into the sale of football broadcasting rights in Spain, but
cautioned that it will "continue to follow carefully the behavior" of the
companies involved. The broadcasting rights to the Spanish league and cup
matches were bought in 1997 by Audiovisual Sport (AVS), a joint venture
between pay-TV channel Sogecable and Telefonica de Contenidos, a subsidiary
of telecommunications operator Telefonica. The venture originally covered
Spanish matches for 11 seasons, ending in 2009. But after the commission,
the EU's executive arm, threatened to fine the companies for tying up the
football rights for too long, Telefonica and Sogecable offered access to
new cable and digital terrestrial TV entrants on the market, who were free
to set their own pay-per-view prices.

TELEFONICA DENIES PURCHASE OF VIVENDI UNIVERSAL STAKE
Spanish telco Telefonica has denied rumors that it plans to buy Vivendi
Universal's stake in pay-TV operator Sogecable ahead of the latter's merger
with its own pay-TV unit, Via Digital. "This is a totally unfounded rumor,"
said a Telefonica spokesman. "Telefonica has made it clear that it wants to
reduce its presence in the media business and has just sold its stake in
[terrestrial broadcaster] Antena 3."

UNITED KINGDOM

CONSERVATIVES TO ABOLISH LICENSE FEE
The political consensus over BBC funding ends on May 6, as the Conservative
opposition unveils plans to consider ads for BBC channels or central
government funding as part of its next election manifesto. Under a
manifesto pledge, the Tories will maintain that the £116 annual colour TV
licence fee will go if they are elected in the next general election,
claiming that the public no longer supports the charge. In its place, the
Tries will consider forcing the BBC to take ads, subscription fees for BBC
digital channels, or a direct grant from the government. If elected, the
Tories will assemble a panel of experts from former BBC staff, indie
producers and even execs from the BBC's commercial rivals to address the
issue.

CBM TAKES FREEVIEW SLOT
A little known Midlands-based TV producer is launching a new entertainment
channel on digital television service Freeview, the BBC-backed replacement
for ITV Digital, disappointing viewers hoping for previously announced
channels from media giant Turner Broadcasting. The new channel is not the
combination of Turner Classic Movies, CNN and children's channel Boomerang
that many viewers were hoping for, but a curious mix of sport,
entertainment and personal finance shows from little known Midlands-based
producer CBM. The production company is working with Crown Castle, the
transmission company that launched Freeview in partnership with the BBC and
BSkyB, to develop the channel for one of the spare slots that it has on the
service. When Freeview was unveiled last autumn, Crown Castle said that
three channels from Turner - news service CNN, Turner Classic Movies and
children's channel Boomerang - would fill the capacity. But negotiations
over the terms of the deal have now broken down, forcing the company to
look elsewhere. Sources close to the negotiations said the new channel
would screen a mixture of general entertainment, sport and personal finance
shows.

NO CHANGES OVER ANALOGUE SWITCH OFF DATE
The British government is sticking to its ambitious plans to start phasing
out analogue television in 2006 and scrap it altogether by 2010. At
present, about 60% of UK homes receive programmes by traditional
non-digital means. If the government plan goes ahead, these viewers will be
forced to buy a digital television, subscribe to a digital cable-satellite
platform or pay £100 for a BBC-backed Freeview digital terrestrial box.
Many experts believe this transition will not be possible within this
timeframe, yet the government has said it is encouraged by the over 600,000
subscribers to the Freeview DTT platform since its launch last October.

BBC WARNED OVER YOUTH CHANNEL
UK culture secretary Tessa Jowell has warned public broadcaster the BBC
that she will withdraw its license for digital youth channel BBC3 if it
fails to meet set standards. The ad-free channel's annual budget of £100
million is funded by the license fee, prompting complaints from commercial
rivals over BBC3's populist programming.

NEW GAMBLING SERVICE ON SKY DIGITAL
Fixed-odds betting service Play Monte Carlo launched on UK DTH platform Sky
Digital May 1. The service offers several games including dice, a virtual
slot machine, arcade horse racing and a soccer-themed keno game. Viewers
can play using their remote controls and stake either virtual money or real
cash. If the latter, players can win up to £20,000.




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


CANADA

CRAIG BUYS NFL RIGHTS
Craig Media is looking to launch its newest Canadian channel with a bang,
after having picked up exclusive simulcast rights to ABC's NFL Monday Night
Football broadcasts. Craig has signed a two-year deal with the National
Football League in the US, which gives it exclusive Canadian broadcast
rights to 16 NFL Monday Night Football telecasts this year, and 17
telecasts in 2004. The deal will give Craig a major boost for the launch of
Toronto One, its entrance into the lucrative Ontario broadcast market. The
local terrestrial Toronto channel, which will compete directly with CTV and
Global stations, as well as Chum’s City TV, is slated to be rolled out this
autumn. In addition to airing the games on Toronto One, Craig will also
simulcast Monday Night Football on its local stations in Western Canada,
including: A-Channel Edmonton, A-Channel Calgary, and A-Channel Manitoba.
Craig has local TV stations in five Canadian markets, and four national
digital speciality networks including: MTV Canada, MTV2, TV Land and
Stampede, a western-themed channel expected to launch later this year.

UNITED STATES

AZERBAIJANI TV CHANNEL TO LAUNCH
The press service of the Congress of Azerbaijanis of the World reports that
an Odlar Yurdu [Land of Fire] television channel, funded by our compatriots
in the USA, will start broadcasting soon. The channel will air programmes
about Azerbaijan's history, literature, art and current realities.

NEW MUSLIM TV CHANNEL TO DEBUT IN SUMMER 2004
Muslim businessmen who are trying to launch the first English-language
Muslim television channel in North America said on May 6 they hoped to have
it on air in 2004. Bridges TV will emphasize news, sports, sitcoms, advice
shows, children's programming and movies geared to American Muslims. Many
of the 7 million Muslims in the United States and 1 million in Canada pay
premiums for foreign television programming from networks such as
al-Jazeera, ART, PTV and Zee TV in the Arabic, Urdu and Hindi languages.
The project is expected to be running by summer 2004.

SPAIN’S RTVE SIGNS CABLE DEAL
Spanish broadcaster RTVE has expanded its presence in the US, following a
carriage deal with stateside cable operator Comcast. As of May 5, thematic
digital networks TVE Internacional, Canal 24 Horas-todo noticias (24 Hour
All News) and Grandes Documentales are being piped into 22 million Comcast
subscriber homes in cities such as Los Angeles, Denver, Miami, Chicago,
Seattle and Atlanta. Other Hispanic nets available in the Comcast package
are Cine Latino, CNN en Español, Discovery en Español, Fox Sports en
Español, HTV Música, MTV en Español, Toon Disney, Utilísima and VH Uno.
RTVE's North American expansion looks set to continue with a further deal
with an as yet unspecified Canadian operator.

TURNER SELLS AOL TIME WARNER STOCK
Ted Turner on May 5 sold the majority of his AOL Time Warner stock in a
$780 million-plus disposal that sent a clear signal that he isn't willing
to wait on a potential recovery in the share price of the world's largest
media conglomerate. The transactions mark the end of a selling spree by
Turner in recent months that has cut his stake in AOL TW from 3%-4% to an
estimated 1% within mere months. The outspoken executive -- who will resign
from his position as AOL TW vice chairman at the company's annual
shareholder meeting May 16 but will be retaining a seat on the company's
board -- sold 60 million AOL TW shares in a move to diversify his financial
holdings.

ECHOSTAR POSTS FIRST QUARTER PROFIT
EchoStar Communications Corp., owner of the Dish Network satellite-TV
service, had first-quarter earnings of $58 million after subscriber growth
surged. Net income was 12 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $35
million, or 20 cents, a year earlier. Revenue rose 24 per cent to $1.36
billion. The satellite network added 350,000 subscribers in the latest
quarter. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization,
so-called Ebitda, rose to $277 million from $177 million.

DISH NETWORK AND UNIVISION ADD 3 NEW SPANISH CHANNELS EchoStar’s DISH Network and TuTv, a Univision Communications and Grupo
Televisa joint venture, announce an agreement that will add three TuTv
channels to Dish Network's Spanish-language programming packages. Movie
channels, De Pelicula and De Pelicula Clasico, and music and lifestyle
channel, Telehit, will make their U.S. debuts through inclusion in all
three DISH Latino packages on May 29 at no additional charge for new and
existing DISH Network customers. De Pelicula is the leading
Spanish-language movie channel in Latin America and Mexico, offering
24-hours-a-day, commercial-free drama, romance, comedy, action and family
movies. De Pelicula Clasico is a 24-hours-a-day classic movie channel,
incorporating movies from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s which represents the
"Golden Era" of Mexican film making. Telehit is a lifestyle and music
channel in Latin America and Europe serving young adults. This
24-hours-a-day channel features the most popular pop, rock and alternative
music videos in Spanish and English, as well as concerts, celebrity
interviews and music news.

MURDOCH SEEKS COST SHARING WITH ECHOSTAR
Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp. is seeking to buy satellite television
service DirecTV, said on May 8 he would approach rival EchoStar
Communications Corp. to discuss sharing costs for satellite capacity needed
to air local channels. DirecTV plans to offer local over-the-air broadcast
channels to 85 per cent of the United States by the end of the year and to
expand that to most, if not all, 210 markets, Murdoch said. 'There is only
a certain amount of spectrum which DirecTV has or which EchoStar has,' he
told the U.S. House Judiciary Committee. '(Satellite) capacity is a
problem, it is very costly.' Murdoch, the chairman of News Corp., said he
intends to approach EchoStar Chief Executive Charlie Ergen “and see if we
can't share some of the costs.” Earlier this week, Ergen said during the
company's conference call that at some point offering local channels in
more markets becomes uneconomical.

BSKYB TO PROVIDE DIRECTV MODEL
Rupert Murdoch has told a House of Representatives Committee that he would
undertake a series of written pro-competition obligations with the Federal
Communications Committee (FCC), if News Corp is allowed to acquire US
satellite giant DirecTV. The offer came after concerns that News Corp’s
possession of both a major US satellite distribution network and broadcast
networks, such as Fox, could lead to the company freezing out alternative
broadcasters by refusing to carry them on DirecTV. Mr Murdoch claimed,
however, that neither News Corp nor DirecTV were large enough to influence
the market in such a way. He contended it would not make commercial sense
to freeze out other commercial channels from DirecTV, or to deny News
Corp’s own networks to other distribution channels.




A S I A


AUSTRALIA

PACE GETS FOXTEL CONTRACT
OpenTV on May 8 announced that FOXTEL has selected a full suite of OpenTV
products and services, including OpenTV Middleware Solutions Core 1.1,
OpenTV PVR Extension, OpenTV Publisher, OpenTV H2O, OpenTV Account, OpenTV
Advertise, OpenTV Gateway as well as professional services including
project management, to enable interactive services on both FOXTEL's cable
and satellite platforms. The selection of OpenTV for both FOXTEL's
broadband cable and satellite platforms represents the broadest global
deployment by a single network operator to date of OpenTV technology.
FOXTEL has requested OpenTV to provide it with interactive applications
including multi-camera angle sports and enhanced news. FOXTEL is
Australia's leading subscription television provider and is connected to
more than one million homes on cable and satellite through retail and
wholesale distribution. FOXTEL is owned by Telstra Corporation (50%), The
News Corporation (25%), and Publishing and Broadcasting (25%). FOXTEL plans
to launch its digital service in early 2004. Pace Micro Technology on May 8
announced a new digital set-top box agreement to supply FOXTEL, Australia's
leading subscription television provider. FOXTEL will utilise Pace's latest
digital set-top box platform to launch its new digital cable service and
extend its existing digital satellite operation.
Internet - http://www.foxtel.tv

CHINA - HONG KONG

TIGHTER CONTROLS ON PAY-TV PIRATES
The Hong Kong government has approved the introduction of a bill to tighten
the control of unauthorised reception of licensed TV programme services in
the territory. The Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill allows civil action
against unauthorised reception of licensed subscription television
programme services without subscription payment, and both civil remedy and
criminal sanction against the possession of unauthorised decoders for
commercial purposes. People convicted of possessing an unauthorised decoder
for commercial purposes face a fine of HK$1 million and up to five years
imprisonment. The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia
(CASBAA), whose 120 members include the major pay-TV channels based in Hong
Kong, has welcomed the move. It described the proposed law as a sign that
the authorities were supporting the industry’s position on these issues.
The association also welcomed the planned strengthening of the law
regarding unauthorised reception for private use.

FIJI

GOVERNMENT DENIES EXCLUSIVE LICENSE TO FIJI TV
The Government has decided to support the recommendation not to grant Fiji
Television an exclusivity license. A senior government official who did not
wish to be named on May 8 confirmed that the 10-years exclusivity license
will not be granted. He said that government was going to respect the
decision by the Commerce Commission and is also encouraging the spirit of
competition. The Commerce Commission had earlier last month ruled that the
10-year exclusivity license sought by Fiji TV should not be granted because
it was not justified considering the submissions made by the public into
the contents of the programmes they aired. However, Prime Minister Laisenia
Qarase had later told a press conference the government had the last say on
the issue and they could over-turn the appointment of the Commerce
Commission. Fiji Television was given 14-days to appeal the decision
however the senior official said government has made its decision despite
waiting for these. In a related development, Fiji Media Council members are
against the government's plans to introduce a media bill, according to a
report by Pacific Media Watch. Media Council members and stakeholders told
the Information Minister, Simione Kaitani, that there was no need for a
media bill as the self-regulating Fiji Media Council was already in place.
Mr. Kaitani said the government firmly believed that a media bill was
needed to ensure that the media acted responsibly and also to protect
"reasonable and justifiable media freedom". Fiji’s government has cited the
recommendations of a 1996 Thomson Foundation consultancy report as a basis
for introducing the bill.

INDIA

RATAN TATA EXPLORES DTH OPTION
Tata group tops the list of potential partners identified by DSP Merrill
Lynch for Star TV's search for a potential partner for its direct-to-home
(DTH) broadcasting project in India. Executives in Tata group have already
completed a preliminary analysis of Star TV promoter Murdoch's DTH
operations in overseas markets. Ratan Tata (Tata group Chairman) is
considering the issue. Issues relating to management and proprietary
technology control are under consideration.

GOVERNMENT BANS BUNDLING OF TV CHANNELS
If Indian viewers want to watch a Hollywood blockbuster on Star Movies but
not a serial on Star Plus, they won’t have to pay for both after mid-July.
The government has decided to ask private television channels to declare
their rates, and have prohibited “bundling”, or clubbing channels together
and setting a price on them. Besides, the information and broadcasting
ministry is likely to issue another notification prohibiting
cable-operators from charging more than Rs 72 from households who don’t
want pay channels and would want only the minimum (and maximum of 80) free
channels. After some consultations, the government will ask each media
house to publicly declare the cost of each channel. For instance, if Star
has channels like Star Plus, Star World, Star News and others, it cannot
charge a flat rate for all the channels. Nor can it tell the viewer that he
or she has to take all channels or none at all.

ADVERTISERS TO WAIT FOR CAS
Advertisers in India are not committing money to TV slots beyond July 15
due to continued uncertainty over which distribution strategy channels will
choose once the county's conditional access system is introduced. It is
thought that only free-to-air channels will be able to reach critical mass
for advertisers. To allay fears, some broadcasters have told media planners
that their channels will be available in both pay-TV and free-to-air
format. Fashion TV, DD Sports, Star News, Zee News and Alpha channels have
already announced they will switch from pay-TV to free-to-air models when
CAS is launched in July.

IRAQ

FIRST PRIVATE TV CHANNEL TO LAUNCH
Preparations are under way in Baghdad to launch the first independent and
privately-owned satellite channel with Arab and Iraqi "political" capital.
The channel is expected to employ 200 Iraqi journalists and technicians in
addition to its correspondents abroad after the idea of launching it from
London as originally planned was dropped. Sa'd al-Bazzaz, the Iraqi
opposition figure who fled Iraq more than 11 years ago and launched
Al-Zaman newspaper in London, said the feasibility study for the project
was completed some time ago and the licence to establish the Al-Zaman
satellite TV channel was issued in London seven months ago. He added that
the "channel would be launched in Baghdad and transmit from Iraq and there
would be no subject it would not tackle, except the ones of religious
creed". The channel's capital is $10 million. Al-Bazzaz told Al-Hayat:
"There are five million dollars from private investors, both Arabs and
Iraqis living abroad, and another five million dollars that we will offer
for investors inside Iraq." He asserted that there are no foreign partners,
"therefore no one will think that there is an Israeli or American investor
or from some other nationality other than an Arab one."

JAPAN

CABLE OPERATORS DELAY DIGITAL TRANSMISSIONS
Many of the country's 300 cable TV operators are delaying retransmission of
digital terrestrial TV signals beyond the intended 1 December 2003 start
date as a result of concerns that not enough consumers are ready for the
technology. Jupiter Telecommunications, the largest cable operator, a yet
to make a decision on whether it will meet the 1 December 2003 deadline.
However, Its Communications from Tokyo has said that it will meet the
deadline as long as the terrestrial channels it carries agree to
retransmission of their signals.

MALAYSIA

GOVERNMENT CONSIDERS DIGITAL TERRESTRIAL
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has released
a discussion paper on a comprehensive policy to implement digital
terrestrial television in Malaysia. The paper takes a look at various
issues and challenges in coverage, spectrum, set-top boxes, migration and
adoption of digital television in Malaysia. “The paper proposes the phasing
out of analogue transmission from 2009 onwards. We expect the process to
complete by the end 2014, or when 90 per cent of population has switched to
digital television," said an MCMC spokesperson. The consumer's experience
of digital TV in Malaysia so far has been in the form of digital television
via satellite.

NEW ZEALAND

MAORI TV GETS LEGAL STATUS
The controversial Maori Television Service (MTS) was given legal status by
Parliament on May 6. National MP Murray McCully said it was ``absurd' MPs
were debating setting up a television service that had already spent
millions of dollars and been involved in endless controversy. Government
speakers said they were proud of finally getting MTS off the ground as it
would encourage Maori language and culture to spread. MTS has gone through
a series of delays and arguments over how it would be set up, how it would
transmit and who would run it. It has also been hit by scandals, most
notably hiring Canadian John Davy to be its chief executive and sacking him
when it was found he lied about his background. Previous Maori television
station, the independent Aotearoa Television Network which broadcast with
limited range from Auckland, collapsed in 1997. Both National and Labour
have tried to set up a Maori television service to comply with a Privy
Council ruling on meeting the terms of the Treaty of Waitangi.




A F R I C A


KENYA

ROLE OF STATE BROADCASTER TO BE REDEFINED
Tourism and information minister, Raphael Tuju, says future licensing of
radio and TV stations will be guided by a sound policy, and not whims of
individuals. Tuju says a bill will soon be tabled in parliament to ensure
total freedom of the press, besides establishing a stake holders regulatory
body. He says the government will redefine the role of the [state-owned]
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, KBC, to enable it to fit in the competitive
industry.

UGANDA

NEW TV STATIONS TO GET LICENSES
The Uganda Telecommunications Commission has provisionally agreed to grant
licences for new FM radio services in Jinja, Hoima and Mbale, as well as a
new television service in Kampala. That will bring to five the number of TV
stations operating in the Ugandan capital. The Commission will formally
issue the licences when the applicants have met all the requirements.
Before final permission is granted, applicants have to be approved by the
Broadcasting Council in the Ministry of Information. They also have to
provide an engineering brief of the company and the area of coverage.





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