News > digest
Digital TV Europe
April 2010
Global Wrap
Astro All Asia Networks
(AAAN) has won a long-running legal dispute with Indonesia’s
Lippo Group. The disagreement
centered on a proposed pay-TV joint venture, that would have operated through Lippo-owned
PT Direct Vision, in Indonesia.
The Singapore International Arbitration Centre has ruled in AAAN’s favour and awarded it US$230m (€168m), for which PT Direct Vision is liable. US retail chain Walmart has bought on- demand digital content special- ist Vudu. Currently only avail- able in the US, Vudu has devel- oped a service that allows con- sumers with the relevant Blu-ray player or internet-ready TV to access a range of content from the major studios on demand. Mexican media powerhouse Televisa has commenced a US$600m bond exchange deal and will use the proceeds to pay, in part, for the stake it is acquir- ing in Mexican wireless operator Nextel. Venezuelan broadcaster RCTV has been prevented from launching two pay-TV stations. RCTV had planned to launch entertainment channel RCTV Mundo, which planned to air a mix of telenovelas from across Latin America, and relaunch RCTV International via cable and satellite platforms, but reg- ulator Conatel refused the application over “incomplete and inaccurate documents”. Factual broadcaster Discovery has launched high definition channel Discovery HD in India. Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific said the channel will be a premi- um service featuring content from across the Discovery bou- quet of channels. It will be broadcast, advertising-free, in English and be carried on the
Sun Direct DTH platform.
United Kingdom
DSL > MSN Video launch
Microsoft launched its MSN Video Player online video-on-demand service in the UK, following a pilot that has been running since August. MSN Video launched with a library of about 1,000 hours of content. Microsoft’s UK consumer business, headed by former BBC new media chief Ashley Highfield, has secured deals with BBC Worldwide, All3Media, Endemol and Shed Media. However, the service has not signed direct deals with UK broad- casters, unlike rival service SeeSaw, owned by Arqiva.
CAB > Overhead VM
Cable operator Virgin Media is to trial high-speed broadband deliv- ered overhead via telegraph poles. The operator will use the village of Woolhampton in Berkshire to trial a 50Mbps service for approximately six months. The trial is part of Virgin Media’s plans to bring high- speed services to households
beyond its fibre optic network. It has already identified one million homes that could benefit from overhead deployment. The operator said the government is currently considering a change to planning guidelines, which is needed to enable large-scale overhead deploy- ment. Separately, Virgin Media will further increase its HD channel line up when Film4 HD and E4 HD launch later this year. Movie chan- nel Film4 will launch exclusively in HD on Virgin Media’s platform this summer, offering UK films including
Slumdog Millionaire, Happy Go Luckyand Looking for Eric, as well
as US independent films and Hollywood blockbusters. Teen-ori- ented E4 HD will offer dramas
including Glee, Skinsand Hollyoaks
in HD as a simulcast of the E4 chan- nel. It is expected to launch in April. Both channels will join Virgin Media’s growing list of HD channels that includes C4HD, BBC HD, ESPN HD, FX HD, MTVN HD, National Geographic HD and Living HD. Discovery HD and Eurosport HD are set to launch soon.
CAB > Canvas “whitewash”
Virgin Media CEO Neil Berkett slammed the BBC Trust’s consulta- tion on the proposed Project Canvas on-demand TV service at March’s Cable Congress event in Brussels. Taking part in a panel ses- sion on “Cable, Content and Google”, Berkett said Canvas would be “a great concept if it was open”. However, he said, the proposals were currently “very confusing” and the BBC Trust’s consultation was far from satisfactory. “The Trust consultation is an absolute whitewash,” he said. “It’s not clear if [Canvas] will be open. In fact it’s quite clear it will be closed. We need to look at this as a whole. We need to embrace over-the-top but this is an exception that I feel quite strongly about.” Turning to the UK cable operator’s own plans for over- the-top TV services delivered to the TV, Berkett said Virgin Media would launch a service with Tivo technolo- gy inside its set-top boxes at the end of the year. “We believe Tivo will provide a gateway to the portal world,” he said.
Telenet to launch LTE trial, plans new investment
Sickinghe: big
By Stuart Thomson >
Flemish cable operator Telenet will launch an LTE next-genera- tion mobile trial in Mechelin in April or early May as the next phase in its strategy of adding mobile capability to its fixed-net- work triple-play. Telenet has also committed to investing an additional €30m annually in infrastructure from now until 2015 as part of its ‘Digital Wave’ programme. The company had previously com- mitted to an additional €15m. Announcing the LTE trial at this year’s Cable Congress in Brussels, CEO Duco Sickinghe said the trial would enable the operator to test the capabilities of
step for Telenet.
its own core mobile network. “It’s a big step.” Sickinghe revealed that
Telenet plans to invest about €30m a year annually in its IP
the network and consumer response ahead of the possible auction of new mobile spectrum by the Belgian government later this year. “We believe LTE has great value,” said Sickinghe. “We want to see what people do with it before we buy LTE spec- trum. For a cable company to make such a move we have to see what it does.” He said that Telenet’s decision to become a full MVNO meant it would have
network and hybrid applications over the next five years, which will involve taking fibre to with- in 600m of most homes in place of 1.5km today. The dou- bling of Telenet’s investment plans will primarily enable the deployment of video-rich appli- cations over broadband includ- ing the Flanders Interactive Platform (FLIP), a project involv- ing a number of partners, enabling video-rich applications including healthcare, mobility, media and consumer applica- tions and e-government.
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