|
MUMBAI: Intel Corporation and NDS Group plc., have announced a trial system to demonstrate the TV and video services for fixed WiMax technology. |
|
Using the WiMax IEEE 802.16-2004 standard and the soon to be ratified IEEE 802.16e, Intel and NDS will also collaborate on industry and market development activities. The companies will engage in demonstrations to service providers and the industry to show how WiMax can offer more than broadband access with pay-TV services. |
|
The pre-WiMax implementation takes place at Intel’s Wireless Competence Center in Kista, Sweden and demonstrates the first system to show WiMax TV services including live TV, VOD and integrated electronic program guide (EPG) delivery to an Intel Centrino mobile technology based notebook over 802.16-2004 and 802.11.
The current demonstration uses fixed pre-WiMax equipment to deliver content to the customer premises equipment (CPE) and then WiFi to send content to the notebook. Companies intend to enhance the system to support 802.16e standard in the future and to make sure that security requirements protect the interests of content providers in an aim to demonstrate pay TV services delivery over mobile WiMax to Intel based PDA and notebook devices.
NDS VideoGuard conditional access protects the business and content of the service provider and:- >Prevents the valuable TV channel offering from being received by subscribers who have not paid for it. >Protects content delivery efficiently using content entitlements, authorizations and tier packaging. >Enables content purchasing scenarios (e.g. Pay-Per-View) >Supports Video-On-Demand by enabling secure content purchasing, protecting content delivery sessions, and enabling content business scenarios like DRM.
Intel Wireless Competence Center director Anders Huge said, “Demonstrating multicast TV to notebook computers articulates the way forward for mobile computing – extending the range of services offered by WiMAX to include broadband internet access, VOIP and video. Intel Centrino mobile technology based notebooks are great entertainment devices and offer consumers the ability to take their home entertainment experience on the go.”
NDS vice president product marketing Yossi Deutsch added, “We are happy to work with a major force behind WiMax technology and getting a clear message out that it is not only about broadband access but rather a full range of lucrative services, enhancing the very model behind WiMax future deployments.” |
Tag: pay TV
-
Intel and NDS to collaborate on protected WiMax-based TV multicast
-
Sky bags English Premier League rights
MUMBAI: The English Premier League (EPL) has awarded three live television rights packages to British pay television service BSkyB in the first sale of broadcasting contracts under new European Union rules.
BSkyB, which has had a monopoly on live league broadcasts since 1992, won three of the six packages that went on sale. Bidding for the remaining packages will begin shortly. EPL says, ‘The FA Premier League is in a position to announce that it has awarded three out of the six packages of live rights to BSkyB. We will be proceeding to a second round of bidding for the remaining three packages in due course.in due course”.
BSkyB has used soccer to help attract eight million subscribers, making it the U.K.’s biggest pay-TV company. Its 1.02 billion pound purchase of the sole rights to 138 live games for three seasons under the existing accord had prompted the European Commission to order the league to split the sale into six packages and award no more than five to any one company.
Media reports indicate that The Premier League has never revealed the mechanics of the auction process, but it understood that it reserved the right to re-open the bidding in the event that offers were either too low, or if there was little to choose between two competing bids.
The rules allow for third and subsequent rounds of bidding, with the provision that the auction concludes by the start of next season in mid-August.
-
Pay TV reveunes sees growth in Canada; CRTC report
MUMBAI: The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has released its annual report indicating that the revenues and profits for Canada’s specialty and pay TV services have climbed steadily over the last five years.
The reports signifies that on an average, from 2001 to 2005, revenues for these services increased by 10 per cent per year, and their earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), by 19.4 per cent.
EBIT for specialty, pay and pay-per view services rose even more significantly over the last year, posting an increase of 31.5 per cent. They climbed from $418.2 million in 2004 to $549.9 million in 2005. Also, revenues reached almost $2.2 billion in 2005, an increase of 6.3 per cent over the previous year, due in part to increases in the number of subscribers and reporting units.More specifically, in 2005, revenues from cable distribution services grew by 4.7 per cent over 2004 from $886.9 to $928.4 million. Those for direct-to-home satellite distribution services (DTH) increased by 6.2 per cent, reaching $460.7 million in 2005, compared with $433.9 million in 2004. National advertising revenues rose by 8.7%, increasing from $691.5 million to $751.3 million.
This year, the report includes a new component: it details programming and production spendings by type of program, as provided to the CRTC by most Canadian specialty services. It shows that, for Canadian programming, services spent $162.5 million on drama, $128.4 million on news, $206 million on other information programming, $116.9 million on sports, $38.3 million on musical and variety shows and $45 million on general interest programs.
This report was produced using the financial statements of Canadian specialty, pay and pay-per-view services. It is one of a series of reports that the CRTC publishes annually in order to inform those interested in the state of the Canadian broadcasting industry.The CRTC is an independent, public authority which was established to sustain and promote Canadian culture and achieve key social and economic objectives by regulating and supervising Canadian broadcasting and telecommunications in the public interest.
-
B4U acquires overseas movie telecast rights from Sahara for Rs 15 million
MUMBAI: B4U Group has acquired overseas TV telecast rights to around 35 movies from Sahara One Media and Entertainment Ltd. for Rs 15 million.
The movies include Page 3, Sarkar and Hanuman. B4U will also have telecast rights to some of Boney Kapoor’s films. Last year, Sahara had acquired satellite and pay TV broadcast rights worldwide and in perpetuity to the entire library of Kapoor’s films.
B4U Movies can show these films in all other markets except India. The channel has a presence in more than 100 countries including the US, UK, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Mauritius and Canada.
“We have taken rights to around 35 films from Sahara for our international channels. These include strong lineups like Sarkar, Hanuman and Page 3, but include some library products as well. The rights are non exclusive,” said a source in B4U.
B4U’s Indian operations, however, continue to be starved of funds. The company has stopped movie acquisitions in India for almost two years. Though B4U gave carriage fee to cable TV operators for beefing up distribution of its two channels (B4U Movies and B4U Music) across the country, very little investment has been made on content.
-
Star Movies gets the rights to air Star Wars, Bond films
MUMBAI: Star Movies has secured the exclusive pay-TV rights to the Star Wars and James Bond franchises for India, Taiwan and Southeast Asia.
The channel launched its Absolute Bond campaign this month, airing back-to-back features over the course of 11 weeks. This will be the first time that all 21 Bond films will air on the same channel in Asia. Star Movies is also set to showcase all six Star Wars movies, including the premiere of Star Wars: Episode III-Revenge of the Sith.
Star movies executive VP content Ross Crowley says, “2006 is going to be another banner year for Star Movies. Now the home of household names such as James Bond, Darth Vader, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker, Star Movies has reinforced its position as the destination of choice for fans of Hollywood movies.”
-
IPTV to face tough climate: research firms
MUMBAI: This is a piece of news that should put a word of caution on telecom firms like Reliance Infocomm and Bharti who are keen on IPTV. While the telcos are keen on leveraging the new media platform to augment revenues, two research reports indicate that they face severe challenges ahead.
One report from research firm Gartner says IPTV services will struggle for years against the established pay-TV and free-to-air (FTA) platforms. Subscribers for television services over the internet, which hit 1.7 million last year, is expected to grow at a 58.8 percent aggregate rate until 2010, when the service is expected to attract 16.7 million subscribers.
But despite this robust growth prediction, Gartner says IPTV will struggle over the next five years to become a mainstream revenue opportunity for carriers.
The other report from Multimedia Research Group (MRG) states that uncertainties in large carriers in the US and Asia holds the forecasts for these regions down. Europe should be the strongest IPTV market through 2009, with Asia catching up by the end of the forecast period. IP TV set-top boxes will dominate the capital spending for IPTV services and account for two-thirds of spending.
Europe is surging ahead with a large number of strong IPTV deployments that include France Telecom, Free, Neuf in France, Telefonica in Spain, FastWeb in Italy, and a number of strong competitive offerings in Scandinavia.
Gartner meanwhile notes that while the short- to medium-term profits from IPTV will be modest at best, carriers cannot afford to delay the deployment of the IPTV platform. Those who delay too long will risk undermining their ability to be long-term key players in the consumer ‘infotainment’ communications business.
There will be 3.3 million subscribers to IPTV services in Western Europe by the end of this year and 16.7 million within four years, according to the report.
The UK currently has one of the smallest numbers of IPTV subscribers in Western Europe with only 75,000 subscribers predicted in 2006.
Although this is set to increase fairly rapidly to reach 1.9 million by 2010 with the introduction of services such as BT Vision Gartner predicts that the UK will remain a weaker prospect for IPTV. This is mainly due to the existing pay TV landscape and dominance of Sky TV.
In contrast Gartner predicts that by the end of 2006, almost half of Western Europe’s IPTV subscribers will be based in France – a total of 1.7 million generating revenues of €141m.
-
SCM sells digital TV solutions business to Kudelski
MUMBAI: The California headquartered SCM Microsystems, which provides solutions that open the digital world has sold its digital TV solutions business to the Swiss based Kudelski Group. It has got $11 million in cash for the deal.
Kudelski Group chairman and CEO Andre Kudelski says, “SCM pioneered removable security for digital broadcasting and has helped build a market for open systems in the digital TV industry. Removable security modules will become a key enabler of digital pay-TV services as the retail market continues to grow and develop.”
SCM Microsystems CEO Robert Schneider says, “The sale of our Digital TV business furthers our strategy to consolidate and restructure our organisation around a more focused business model. With one headquarters and operational center in Germany, one development facility in India and a seasoned sales team in the U.S., we believe that we will be able to take advantage of market opportunities more efficiently and cost effectively.
“Going forward, we intend to put our entire attention on leveraging our smart card and media reader businesses by providing industry-leading solutions for emerging markets such as e-health, e-passport, secure physical access, electronic payment and digital photo printing.”
Under the terms of the agreement with Kudelski, SCM will sell substantially all of the assets that relate to its digital TV solutions business, including its office building in France, certain inventory, contracts, trademarks and intellectual property.
In addition 40 employees in Europe and Asia are expected to join Kudelski’s newly created business focussed on providing secure pay-TV modules compatible with consumer electronic products for the digital TV industry. The products that Kudelski is acquiring include SCM’s DVB and OpenCable compliant conditional access modules, used to securely decrypt digital television broadcasts, as well as
controller chips used in set-top boxes that interface with the decryption modules.The Kudelski Group works in the field of digital security. Its technologies are used in a wide range of applications requiring access control and rights management, whether for securing transfer of information (digital television, broadband Internet, video-on-demand, interactive applications, etc.) or to control and manage access of people or vehicles to sites and events.
-
Foxtel, Mark Burnett Productions sign deal
MUMBAI: Mark Burnett Productions (MBP) which specialises in reality shows has signed an output deal with Australian pay TV platform Foxtel.
Foxtel will be able to show shows like the second season of Rock Star.
The deal also covers seasons two and three of the boxing based reality show The Contender and season six of The Apprentice.
Foxtel will also assist MBP in the Australian audition process for contestants to participate in Rock Star 2. Foxtel executive director of television and marketing Brian Walsh says, “Mark Burnett is truly a giant of television and Foxtel will now be the home to his hit series Rock Star, The Contender and The Apprentice. This deal will continue Foxtel’s ongoing strategy to offer our subscribers an increasing choice of exclusive content that is only available on our platform.”