ITV

Tag: Sky Italia

  • Gabriella Carriere climbs higher at Fremantle with expanded global strategy and new biz brief

    Gabriella Carriere climbs higher at Fremantle with expanded global strategy and new biz brief

    MUMBAI: Fremantle has handed group head of strategy Gabriella Carriere a power-packed promotion, expanding her remit to include new business in addition to her current strategic responsibilities. She now takes charge as group head of strategy and new business, reporting to group COO and CEO continental Europe Andrea Scrosati.

    With the new hat, Carriere will now command Fremantle’s most lucrative growth levers — including sports, branded content and licensing, music rights, live events, and its vast library of IP — all while continuing to lead the company’s global strategy agenda. Reporting into her are director of Fremantle Sport Owain Walbyoff and global head of branded content & sponsorships Gabriella Zamboni.

    Since joining Fremantle in 2022, Carriere has been at the forefront of major moves, from launching the documentaries division to shaping the Fremantle Sports unit, driving branded entertainment, and integrating global M&A footprints.
     

    Scrosati commented: “I am delighted to announce Gabriella’s promotion to Group Head of Strategy and New Business. I have been working with Gabriella for many years and highly admire her analytical and business skills and her innovative approach to define and drive strategy. I have no doubts that in this new expanded role Gabriella will drive even more value for Fremantle and her teams.”

    Carriere added: “I am deeply grateful to Fremantle’s leadership team for their trust in me and for this incredible opportunity. I strongly believe in the growth potential of these areas and in the outstanding team currently driving this forward. I’m excited to collaborate with the Fremantle labels and the talented Fremantle teams to unlock many opportunities across our global footprint. I am proud of our achievements over the last three years and now I look forward to what we can accomplish together going forward.”

    Before Fremantle, Carriere made waves at Sky Italia, where she spearheaded landmark deals for Serie A and the UEFA Champions League, inked game-changing partnerships with Netflix and Disney, and helped launch Sky’s broadband business. Her career roots lie in the energy sector, with senior stints at EDF and Edison across Milan and Paris.

    Now with the full force of Fremantle’s revenue-generating verticals under her belt, Carriere looks set to play a starring role in the company’s next act.

  • Cracking down on Indian TV & streaming piracy, Italian style

    Cracking down on Indian TV & streaming piracy, Italian style

    MUMAI: Piracy has been the bane of both broadcasters and streamers for some time now. Yes, both have anti-piracy crews who spend crores of rupees behind sophisticated tools which crawl the world wide web round the clock to track illegal streams and bring down the rogue sites with the help of ISPs. 

    Even the Indian government has stepped in at times with the department of telecommunications (DoT)  directing  ISPs to take down the crooks, but more often than not the takedowns relate to what the mandarins fear could be a threat to national security,  religious sentiment, is defamatory or points fingers at the powers-that-be wrongly. 

    Could it learn from what the Italian government is doing to protect broadcasters and streamers and bring down piracy? The authorities there are not using Mafia-like tactics; they are simply putting in place stricter regulation, policing and implementation. 

    Italy has more than five million or more citizens accessing scoundrel sites costing the pay TV ecosystem (more specifically sports) – Dazn, Sky Italia, Prime Video and Mediaset Infinity –  more than €400 million  annually.

    To get an insight into what’s happening in Italy a little bit of background in sequential order would help. In August 2023, the Italian government passed a strict anti-piracy law which brought in lay viewers  into the fold of those who would be penalised with fines going up  as high as  €5,000.  ISPs would be slapped with administrative fines of 20 million lira to 500 million lira, or in today’s currency – €10,00  to €265,000.  Those involved in the supply/distribution of infringing IPTV streams would  face up to three years in prison and a fine of up to €15,000.

    Then on 31 January 2024, Lega Serie A (the governing body of football  in Italy)  launched an anti-piracy platform Piracy Shield which is operated by the nation’s Communications Regulatory Authority, AgCom. Its purpose was to identify and penalise those who are watching –  mind you, those who are WATCHING –  pirated content, and even those who are streaming it. Piracy Shield was designed to block illegal streaming within 30 minutes of detection by targeting both IP addresses and domain names.

    In March 2024, Italians  received reminders that fines were on the way, even for those who download illegal sports streaming apps from legal marketplaces operated by Google, Apple, and Amazon.

    Reports are that the measures seem to be working so far. The multi-pronged exercise has succeeded in blocking over 1,000 online domains and more than 500 IP addresses associated with illegal streaming activities since the start of the new football season in Italy. However, no information was available about individuals being penalised for viewing pirated content at the time of writing.

    Recently, AgCom announced the extension of  Piracy Shield to cover cultural events, music and TV series. Additionally, it signed a memorandum of understanding between the prosecutor’s office and Guardia di Finanza (financial police) under which automatic information exchange between the parties will enable subscribers of pirate IPTV services to be automatically fined. Yes – AUTOMATICALLY fined.  

    Secondly, an amendment to the online copyright enforcement regulation approved by the Italian senate proposes prison sentences of up to a year for individuals who do not report – yes, those who DO NOT REPORT – piracy or related offences. The amendments also target service providers such as VPN and DNS companies. This includes VPN and DNS service providers such as Google and Cloudflare. These providers will face stricter obligations to cooperate with authorities in stopping the distribution of pirated material.

    The amendments and changes have  been welcomed by the Italian pay TV industry and streamers. The reason: under the new dispensation, authorities will soon have access to names, surnames, IP addresses, and other identifying details of those accessing criminal websites and hence penalties will be automatically imposed.

    We will have to wait and see how effective these measures will prove to be and how much they will deter the pirates in Italy.

    In the meantime, can the Indian pay TV ecosystem, DoT, and the government take a closer look at the Italian model of curbing piracy?  Can the cash-rich Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and industry come together to create an industry wide platform to curb sports broadcast leakages? Especially, since it is the main sports body that has been raking in billions of dollars by licensing the TV rights. Can the penalties for resorting to piracy be made tougher?

    A study in 2023 pointed out that Indian broadcasters and streamers are losing close to $3 billion (Rs 25,000 crore) annually on signal leakages related to sports and TV series telecasts through illegal cable TV and internet distribution. Indian anti-piracy laws also only finger and penalise the pirates – and that too infrequently as policing, and implementation is weak. Hence, piracy continues to be to be widespread and almost everyone in the ecosystem takes it lightly.  

    Harsher measures like making viewers and the likes of Google and Apple culpable through automatic  penalties could help alleviate the problem. The authorities will not have to penalise too many violators; just making a loud noise about a few could prove a deterrent to most.

    The times, they are a-changing. Can the anti-piracy efforts in India gain in strength and momentum through collaboration between the stakeholders? 
     

  • Harmonic Powers Sky Italia OTT Services

    Harmonic Powers Sky Italia OTT Services

    SAN JOSE, Calif: Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced that its cloud-native media processing software and content-aware encoding (CAE) technology is powering Sky Italia's OTT streaming services. The Harmonic solution is integrated into the Sky Italia hybrid cloud software-defined streaming platform. Leveraging the latest advancements in pure software architecture, the Harmonic solution provides Sky Italia with the agility, flexibility and scalability to speed up the launch of new premium services and enable delivery of superior video quality at low bitrates.

    Sky Italia's solution for its linear video streaming platform is based on Kubernetes and microservices to serve event-based and 24/7 channels on OTT platforms. Adhering to these requirements, Harmonic's VOS® Cluster software dynamically controls and optimizes Sky Italia's on-premises and cloud video-processing resources.

    "To ensure the success of our next-generation streaming services, delivery of exceptional video quality and the ability to quickly adapt to changes are critical factors," said Gabriele Ubertini, director of technology engineering and innovation at Sky Italia. "Harmonic's cloud-native media processing software aligns with our choice of moving resources to Sky's software-defined streaming infrastructure, while allowing us to be nimble. Using CAE, we can deliver stunning video to a larger group of subscribers, providing a better quality of experience to those in areas with challenging bandwidth availability."

    Sky Italia will use Harmonic's VOS software for OTT media processing in on-premises datacenters integrated with the Sky Italia architecture, which leverages Kubernetes and a SMPTE 2022 uncompressed multicast video network. By enabling Sky Italia to dynamically control and optimize its video processing resources, together with their blueprint for an open-source ecosystem, the VOS solution will dramatically accelerate time to market for new channels. EyeQ™ CAE will be used to significantly reduce Sky's bandwidth requirements, decrease CDN costs and improve QoE.

    "Sky Italia asked for a highly available and scalable streaming solution for outstanding video quality and state-of-the art ABR packaging. We went above and beyond in meeting these requirements," said Ian Graham, senior vice president of international sales and video services at Harmonic. "Having an elastic and always-up-to-date media workflow will give Sky Italia serious competitive advantages, enabling it to launch services faster and scale up seamlessly."

    Harmonic will showcase its latest video streaming innovations at IBC2019, Sept. 13-17 in Amsterdam at Stand 1.B20. Further information about Harmonic and the company's solutions is available at www.harmonicinc.com.

  • Gomorrah: Beta Film signs deals in Africa and India

    MUNICH: The hot-selling Italian mafia series Gomorrah continues its international roll-out. Beta Film has sold the Sky Italia mega-hit to M-Net, the biggest subscription TV network in Africa, where it will be screened from 1 April 2017 on the new foreign language TV series block on M-Net 101, M-Net’s flagship channel.

    The South Africa–based, MultiChoice Group-owned TV service has only recently opened up to European productions and will broadcast the show in its original version with English subtitles as well as subtitles in local languages throughout the continent. Gomorrah, sold to the US (Sundance TV) and numerous other territories worldwide, will also travel to India’s DTH television service Tata Sky for its Tata Sky World Series service.

    Tata Sky is a joint venture between Tata Sons and 21st Century Fox. The subcontinent is traditionally dominated by a strong local film- and TV industry with difficult conditions for non-English shows.

    Sky Italia, Cattleya, Fandango and Beta Film are working on Gomorrah’s third installment, which is currently in post-production.

    In addition, Beta Film closed a multi-hour deal with the African telecommunications group Econet for its recently launched Pay TV service Kwesé TV, containing 50 German and French movies and European feature films, among them the Emma Watson thriller Colonia, Berlinale Golden Bear-winning Child’s Pose and The White Masai. All shows will be broadcast in Sub-Saharan Africa in their original language with English subtitles as well as in local languages.

  • FY-2015: Cable and Filmed Entertainment boost Fox op income 3.1%

    FY-2015: Cable and Filmed Entertainment boost Fox op income 3.1%

    BENGALURU: Rupert Murdoch’s Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. (Fox) reported a 3.1 per cent increase in adjusted annual total segment operating income before depreciation and amortisation (OIBDA) of $6488 million for the year ended 30 June, 2015 (FY-2015) as compared to the $6291 million last year due to higher contributions from the company’s Cable Network Programming and Filmed Entertainment segments.

     

    The company reported total revenues in FY-2015 of $28.99 billion, a $2.88 billion decrease from prior year revenues of $31.87 billion. Excluding the net revenues from the Direct Broadcast Satellite Television (DBS) businesses, Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland AG, which were sold in November 2014 to Sky plc (Sky), in both years, adjusted revenues increased $890 million, or 3.4 per cent, over the $26.06 billion of adjusted revenues in the prior year. This increase was primarily driven by double-digit revenue growth at the Cable Network Programming segment.

     

    Fox reported annual total segment operating income before depreciation and amortization (OIBDA) of $6.72 billion, which is equal to the amount reported in the prior year. Excluding the OIBDA contributions from the DBS businesses in both years, OIBDA increased $197 million, or the above mentioned 3.1 per cent, over the $6.29 billion of adjusted OIBDA in the prior year.

     

    Company Speak

     

    Fox executive chairman Rupert Murdoch said, “We made clear operational strides over the last year that will further position us to benefit from the strong and growing global demand for high quality video content. We delivered a solid financial performance, driven by sustained gains in affiliate fees, while we continued to invest in building our new channels Fox Sports 1, FXX and Star Sports. The appeal of our new sports rights resonated with consumers globally, whether it was Star Sports in India setting new records with hundreds of millions of viewers for the ICC Cricket World Cup, or the more than 25 million viewers who watched the Women’s World Cup Final on Fox. Our film studio achieved outstanding critical and box-office success with a truly diverse range of films and we are proud of the creative excellence that earned it the most Academy Awards in the industry. Our company is well positioned for this time of opportunity in our industry. We will balance the utilization of our strong balance sheet to drive growth. Today’s announcement of our new $5 billion buyback authorization reflects our ongoing program to provide direct shareholder returns.”

     

    Cable Network Programming

     

    Cable Network Programming annual segment OIBDA increased five per cent to $4.65 billion, driven by a 12 per cent revenue increase led by continued strong affiliate revenue growth and higher advertising revenues. The revenue improvement was partially offset by a 16 per cent increase in expenses, representing higher sports programming costs driven by the broadcasts of the ICC Cricket World Cup at Star Sports, increased Major League Baseball and NASCAR rights costs at Fox Sports 1 (FS1), and higher professional team rights costs at the regional sports networks (RSNs) as well as increased entertainment programming costs at FX Networks. The segment OIBDA growth was adversely impacted by five per cent from foreign exchange rate fluctuations, primarily in Latin America and Europe.

     

    Domestic affiliate revenue increased 17 per cent reflecting the combination of sustained growth at the regional sports networks (RSNs), Fox News Channel and FX Networks, increased contribution from FS1, and the consolidation of the Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network (the YES Network). International affiliate revenue increased three per cent driven by strong local currency growth at the Fox International Channels (FIC) and Star, partially offset by a 12 per cent adverse impact from the strengthened US dollar.

     

    Domestic advertising revenue grew four per cent over the prior year period led by double-digit growth at the sports channels, including the impact of the consolidation of the YES Network, as well as growth at Fox News and FX Networks. International advertising revenue increased 14 per cent due to strong local currency growth at Star and FIC, which was partially offset by a five per cent adverse impact from the strengthened US dollar.

     

    OIBDA from the domestic channels increased 12 per cent from the prior year, led by strong double-digit growth at the RSNs, which includes the impact of the consolidation of the YES Network, as well as higher contributions from Fox News Channel and National Geographic Channels. Annual OIBDA at the company’s international cable channels declined 16 per cent from the prior year as double digit local currency growth at the FIC channels and Star entertainment channels was more than offset by the impact of the ICC Cricket World Cup at Star Sports and the adverse impact from the strengthened US dollar, primarily in Latin America and Europe.

     

    Television

     

    Full year segment OIBDA of $718 million decreased $164 million or 19 per cent versus the prior year. The decline principally reflects the absence of advertising revenue and OIBDA generated from the broadcast of the Super Bowl in the prior year. Excluding the impact of the Super Bowl in the prior year, segment revenues were consistent with the year ago as strong retransmission consent revenue growth was counterbalanced by a 6 percent decline in advertising revenues reflecting overall lower general entertainment ratings at the Fox Broadcast Network.

     

    Filmed Entertainment

     

    Full year segment OIBDA of $1.45 billion increased $87 million, or six per cent, over prior year amounts reflecting higher film studio contributions partially offset by lower contributions from the television production businesses and the absence of full year contributions from Shine Group (Shine), which was contributed into the Endemol Shine Group joint venture in December 2014. The film studio’s growth was led by strong worldwide theatrical and home entertainment performance across a diverse set of releases, including Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Fault In Our Stars, Taken 3, Gone Girl, Kingsman: The Secret Service and The Maze Runner as well as the home entertainment performance of Rio 2. The film studio’s commercial and creative success was further highlighted by the all-time industry record it set of more than $5.5 billion in global box-office receipts for calendar 2014, as well as its industry leading eight Academy Awards for Fox Searchlight, including Best Picture for Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). Segment OIBDA growth was also adversely impacted by nine per cent from foreign exchange rate fluctuations.

     

    Total equity (losses) earnings of affiliates

     

    Annual equity earnings from affiliates were $904 million as compared with $622 million in the prior year. The increased contributions from affiliates reflects increased contributions from Sky primarily resulting from the Company’s share of Sky’s gains on the sale of its ownership stakes in National Geographic Channels International, Sky Betting & Gaming (Sky Bet) and its shares in ITV partially offset by purchase price amortization recorded by Sky related to its acquisition of the DBS businesses from the Company, as well as the absence of pre-tax gains related to the Company’s participation in Sky’s share repurchase program which ended last fiscal year. The higher Sky contributions were partially offset by the inclusion of equity losses of Endemol Shine Group, the absence of the YES Network contributions in the current year resulting from its consolidation in February 2014 and higher losses from Hulu.

  • Mediaset, Sky Italia negotiate pay-TV deal even as football rights deal probed

    Mediaset, Sky Italia negotiate pay-TV deal even as football rights deal probed

    NEW DELHI: Even as offices of Mediaset and Sky Italia were raided by police for possible rights cartel regarding the sale of Serie A football rights, the two broadcasters are negotiating a pay-TV alliance that could create a monopoly in the sector.

     

    According to Italian daily Corriere della Sera, the talks are underway and the first draft of a deal foresees a JV company, majority-owned by Sky Italia and with Mediaset below 50 per cent. The pay-TV activities of the two groups, which together have 7.2 million subscribers, would be transferred to the joint venture.

     

    Italy’s Antitrust Authority, which had initiated the raids, will have to rule on the alliance, but informal contacts have already started to evaluate the possible effects and conditions that could be imposed for approving the deal.

     

    In a statement, the Authority said it never authorised any agreement distorting competition on TV rights for the 2015-2018 seasons.

     

    The Authority was probing last year’s €1 billion sale of Serie A football rights.

     

    The investigation was launched in parallel with the arrest of 50 people, including footballers and club presidents, on charges of rigging 28 matches.

     

    Italy’s antitrust authority said it had opened an investigation into Mediaset and Sky Italia, to establish whether the parties violated competition laws through “sharing agreements” and excluded new entrants.

     

    The Authority said it was also investigating the Italian football league and Infront, a Swiss-based agency that managed the process. Infront is run by Philippe Blatter, the nephew of FIFA head Sepp Blatter.

  • ICC World Cup fees, Simpsons production costs, forex adversely impact Fox Q3-2015 OIBDA

    ICC World Cup fees, Simpsons production costs, forex adversely impact Fox Q3-2015 OIBDA

    BENGALURU: Rupert Murdoch’s Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. reported a 16.8 per cent drop in total revenue to $6840 million in the quarter ended 31 March, 2015 (Q3-2015, current quarter) as comparted to the $8219 million reported for the year ago quarter (quarter ended 31 March, 2014). Excluding net revenues for Q3-2014 from the Direct Broadcast Satellite Television (DBS) businesses, Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland AG, which were sold in November 2014 to Sky plc, adjusted revenues in Q3-2015 increased $84 million or one per cent over the $6.76 billion of adjusted revenue in Q3-2014.

     

    The company’s operating income before depreciation and amortisation fell by $110 million (6.2 per cent) to $1677 million in Q3-2015 from $1787 million in Q3-2014. The company’s Television segment reported a fall of OIBDA to $141 million, which was less than half (49 per cent) of the $288 million reported for Q3-2014. The company attributes the decline in OIBDA to the absence of revenues generated from the broadcast of Super Bowl XLVIII in the prior year and higher entertainment programming costs at the Fox Broadcasting Network from a higher volume of original series, including Glee and Empire, in the current year quarter as compared to more series repeats in Q3-2014.

     

    While its biggest segment in terms of revenues – Cable Network Programming reported an OIBDA improvement of $57 million (4.8 per cent increase) to $1233 million in Q3-2015. OIBDA increment by the segment would have been even higher, but for the impact of 19 per cent increase in segment expenses lead by the planned investments in new channels, primarily Star Sports and FXX, says the company.

     

    Increased Cable Network Programming segment expenses included increased rights fees related to the broadcast of the ICC Cricket World Cup at Star Sports and increased programming costs at FXX led by The Simpsons. International advertising revenue for the segment increased 24 per cent due to strong local currency growth at Star, driven by the broadcast of the ICC Cricket World Cup, and local currency growth at the FIC channels partially offset by the negative five per cent impact from foreign exchange rate fluctuations.

     

    For the nine month period ended 31 March, 2015 (9M-2015), Fox reported revenue of $22782 million as compared to the $23443 million in 9M-2014. Eliminating the revenue by its DBS business (without accounting for the impact of DBS on corporate eliminations) in the current nine month and 9M-2014 periods, 9M-2015 revenue was $ 20620 million and 9M-2014 revenue was $19006 million, reflecting an 8.5 per cent growth.

     

    Fox OIBDA for 9M-2015 was $5178 million as compared to the $4949 million in 9M-2014. Neglecting DBS OIBDA (without accounting for the impact of DBS on corporate eliminations), the company’s adjusted OIBDA for 9M-2015 was $4944 million, which was 5.8 per cent more than the $4671 million reported for 9M-2014.

     

    Segment Results

     

    Cable Network Programming

     

    This segment reported 12.5 per cent increase in revenue to $3590 million in the current quarter from $3152 million in Q3-2014. Over the nine month period (9M-2015), the segment reported 14.2 per cent increase in revenue to $10205 million from $8296 million in Q3-2015.

     

    The segment’s OIBDA for Q3-2015 has been mentioned above. For 9M-2015, segment OIBDA improved seven per cent to $3430 million from $3205 million in 9M-2014.

     

    Domestic (US) affiliate revenue grew 20 per cent in Q3-2015, reflecting the combination of sustained growth at the regional sports networks, Fox News Channel and FX Networks, increased contribution from Fox Sports 1, and the consolidation of the Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network (the Yes Network). International affiliate revenue increased 2 per cent driven by strong local currency growth at the Fox International Channels and Star channels which was partially offset by a 13 per cent adverse impact from the strengthened US dollar.

     

    Domestic advertising revenue was flat y-o-y due to lower ratings at FX Networks and National Geographic Channel.

     

    Television

     

    This segment reported a drop of 22 per cent in revenue in Q3-2015 to $1237 million from $1587 million in the corresponding year ago quarter. For 9M-2015, Television segment reported a revenue drop of 8.4 per cent to $3430 million in Q3-2015 from $4265 million in 9M-2014.

     

    Television segment OIBDA in 9M-2015 fell 17.9 per cent ($132 million) to $605 million from $737 million in 9M-2014.

     

    Filmed Entertainment

     

    This segment reported 4.8 per cent improvement in revenue to $2389 million in Q3-2015 as compared to the $2279 million in Q3-2014. For 9M-2015, Filmed Entertainment segment revenue rose 10.8 per cent to $7618 million from $6876 million in 9M-2014.

     

    Segment OIBDA for Q3-2015 improved 7.9 per cent to $382 million from $354 million in Q3-2014.Filmed Entertainment OIBDA improved 15.4 per cent in 9M-2015 to $1176 million from $1019 million in 9M-2014.

     

    The company says that the growth was driven by the successful theatrical releases Taken 3and Kingsman: The Secret Service in the current quarter, which have grossed over $320 million and $400 million in worldwide box office to date, respectively, and theatrical and home entertainment contributions from Penguins of Madagascar. This growth was partially offset by lower contributions from the television production business due to lower SVOD revenues resulting from the prior year sale of several series to Amazon, including 24 and The Americans, and from the adverse impact from the strengthened US dollar.

  • News Corp appoints Mark Williams as CFO Europe and Asia

    News Corp appoints Mark Williams as CFO Europe and Asia

    MUMBAI: Mark Williams is joining Newscorp as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Europe and Asia. He will be reporting directly to the company’s head of Asian and European operations James Murdoch.

    Coming in from Sky Italia, where he is the chief operating officer (COO), Williams will be based in London but will remain as a non-executive director on the board of Sky Italia.

    Williams replaces Stephen Daintith at News Corp. Daintith is moving to Dow Jones as CFO.

    Williams will take over Daintith’s duties as CFO of News International as well as acting as CFO across News Corp’s operations in Europe and Asia supporting Star TV, Sky Italia and News Corp Europe.

    Murdoch said, “I am delighted that Mark Williams will be joining us in London. He has been a key player in the team which has taken Sky Italia from strength to strength, and I look forward to working with him in this new wider role.”

    Williams said, “I’m extremely excited to be taking on this new position working for James across the breadth of News Corp activities throughout Europe and Asia, ranging from operations in Eastern Europe to the already very successful UK newspaper business. At the same time, I am very proud of the team at Sky Italia and look forward to remaining involved as a member of the board.”

    Mark Williams joined News Corp in 1996 as CFO of the Australian pay-TV operation Foxtel. In 2000, he assumed the responsibility of CFO for News Corp’s newspaper and other interests throughout Australia and New Zealand. In January 2003, he was appointed COO of Sky Italia, based in Milan.

  • Murdoch to leave BSkyB later this year

    Murdoch to leave BSkyB later this year

    MUMBAI: UK pay TV platform BSkyB CEO James Murdoch is believed to be leaving the firm later this year to take up a position at US media conglomerate News Corp.

    A report in the Mail on Sunday says that Murdoch will be replaced at Sky by the head of Sky Italia, Tom Mockridge. Reports add that News Corp chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch is understood to have wanted his son to return to America at the end of last year.

    However James wanted to remain at Sky at least until this summer to see through the introduction of both broadband and high definition television, both of which were projects he instigated.

  • Eutelsat reports marginal revenue growth

    Eutelsat reports marginal revenue growth

    MUMBAI: FGlobal Satellite operator Eutelsat has reported revenues for the year and fourth quarter ended 30 June, 2006. Revenues for the year stand at 791.1 million euros. This represents an increase of 5.4 per cent.

    Eutelsat CEO Giuliano Berretta said, “Thanks to the strong increase of our activities we have generated growth of 5.4 per cent, which exceeds our objective for 2005-2006. This performance highlights the quality of the execution of our strategy: to consolidate our leading position in European Union countries, and to optimise use of capacity through the creation and development of major new video positions, and the continued expansion of value added services.

    “In particular, our satellites today transmit more than 2,100 television channels, representing over 400 new channels compared to last year, of which more than half are from central and eastern Europe, Russia, the Middle East and Africa. In addition, our D-Star broadband service, for which the installed base of terminals grew over the year by nearly 30 per cent has benefitted from sustained demand from service providers in emerging markets and in regions in Europe not satisfactorily covered by terrestrial broadband networks.

    “Meanwhile, the 14.5 per cent growth in Multi-usage stresses the attractiveness of our satellites in this opportunistic segment. With a growing portfolio of activities across our markets, Eutelsat reaffirms its profile as one of the leading operators in the most profitable sectors of the industry, combining long-term visibility and growth.”

    In European Union countries served by the Hot Bird and Eurobird1 positions, the number of channels grew by 16.7 per cent year-over-year, from 1,051 channels to 1,227. Expansion was driven notably by the increased offer from blue chip pay-TV platforms, including Sky Italia, BSkyB and TPS.

    The launch of the Hot Bird 7A broadcast satellite increased capacity at the Hot Bird neighbourhood to 102 transponders and enabled replacement of Hot Bird. This event marked the last major phase in the switchover from analogue to digital at the Hot Bird position, with only four analogue channels broadcasting as of June