News
YouTube considers TV channel launch
YouTube is considering creating its own linear TV channel, according to Kevin Donahue, the site's vice president.
In a speech at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Donahue said the company was thinking about creating its own TV shows and possibly its own channel, but had not made any firm decisions.
He said: "We've had a lot of conversations with networks that want us to do shows and companies that want us to do linear YouTube channels. At the moment we're looking at the options, but we're in more of a strategy mode right now."
Launched in February 2005, YouTube was bought by Google in October last year for £883 million.
History Channel expands into Europe
The History Channel has received a new Television Broadcast Licence from the UK regulator Ofcom for a new European service. It comes as the A&E-owned network develops new services in continental Europe and beyond. Local channels have recently been put in place with local partners in Africa, Greece and Malta. The channel is currently working on the development of its service in the Nordic market. Also receiving licences from Ofcom in December are Discovery Channel for the new Discovery 2 and Baltic Media Alliance for The First Baltic Channel and The First Baltic Music Channel. AXN Northern Europe is planning a new service known as Animax.
Swedish launch 6th DTT multiplex
A sixth DTT multiplex will shortly go live in the Swedish capital Stockholm and the areas surrounding Uppsala and Västeräs. The multiplex was initiated to carry the international service of the Finnish public broadcaster YLE and is scheduled to go on air in mid- March. Under a 40-year old agreement YLE is distributed in Sweden and in return SVT ****** is available terrestrially in Finland. However, when Sweden began its digital transition in August it was found there was no room for the Finnish broadcasts. About 25% of the Swedish population will be served by the new channel amid a debate within government between the culture and commerce ministries as to what to do with the remainder of the multiplex. With the ministry of culture favouring high definition or mobile TV and the commerce ministry looking towards fixed mobile networks such as Wimax.
Boxer passes 650,000 homes
Swedish DTT platform Boxer has reached 654,000 households. The pay-TV platform benefited from the digital switchover process by adding another 38,000 homes in the last three months of 2006. “Swedish households have for a long time been switching to digital TV via one of the platforms that are available and competition for those who are left is increasing,” said Henrik Skullman, Acting CEO Boxer. By developing programme packages, pricing and technology in the terrestrial network, we will continue to grow, even though the rate of increase will naturally decline.” Boxer recently added three new programming packages including Boxer Lilla, a starter package including TV4 Plus, Eurosport, Discovery Channel and the new channel from SBS, One, and priced at SKr79 (€8.73) per month.
OFT invites views on BSkyB's ITV deal
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has today issued a "formal invitation to comment" from "interested parties" over BskyB's 17.9% stake in ITV.
The OFT says any views will be looked at in considering whether the merger will "result in a substantial lessening of competition within any markets in the United Kingdom for goods or services that warrants reference to the Competition Commission."
A deadline of January 25 has been given by the OFT. ITV said it would respond to the OFT in due course.
Last month, Channel 4 chief executive Andy Duncan backed NTL shareholder Sir Richard Branson's request that the merger deal be investigated by Ofcom and the OFT. NTL was considering a takeover bid for ITV at the time.
De Mol’s Talpa signs Ondas agreement
Europe’s planned mobile satellite radio service Ondas has signed an agreement with John de Mol’s Talpa Radio. The two companies plan to jointly develop content for Ondas’ advertising free radio service when it commences in 2009. The Talpa agreement follows a similar deal with Club DAB Italia, the largest consortium of private radio broadcasters in Italy. As well as Radio 538 and Radio 10 Gold in Holland, Talpa also has radio interests in Denmark. In addition to content, Ondas will also be able to use Talpa’s L-band repeater network in the Netherlands to trial the support to Ondas’ satellite coverage in the region. Ondas is planning a Europe-wide service of 150 channels including programming in regional languages.
Norway’s Comvie to launch IPTV triple play
Oslo-based Comvie is to launch a triple play package over its IPTV network. The company has selected Latens’ FCAS conditional access system as well as the Belfast company’s VOD encryption engine to secure its live TV and video on demand services. FCAS is being promoted as a scalable system that can be progressively upgraded as the business develops. Comvie will run the CA on the Motorola-Kreatel 1820 set-top boxes, initially using an MPEG-2 transport stream, before moving to MPEG-4. The Comvie contract is the latest in a series of wins for Latens in Norway. The others include Lyse, Salten Bredband and iVisjon. Comvie is offering a triple play package comprising TV, broadband and fixed-line telephony for NKr399. The brand identity was created by This Way Design and Supernordic.
iTunes - 50 million TV episodes, 1.3 million movies
Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced at the MacWorld in San Francisco that 50 million television episodes have been sold in the iTunes Store, as well as 1.3 million movies and over 2 billion songs. Also, Paramount will join the store as a supplier of movies. “iTunes has crossed another major milestone by selling over two billion songs—with over a billion of them sold in the last year alone—making it by far the world’s most popular music store,” said Jobs. “And by selling 50 million TV shows and over 1.3 million movies to date, iTunes is already the largest online video store in the world as well.”
SanDisk introduces USBTV
SanDisk has unveiled USBTV, a new, initiative that enables consumers to move digital content from their PCs to their televisions. The announcement was made during a press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). USBTV is a new platform that will enable consumers to transport downloaded digital content from a personal computer, by using a small flash memory-enabled media player, and play it on virtually any TV. On the computer side USBTV uses a USB port, on the other side a special TV cradle connects the device to a TV set. SanDisk said a number of companies back the initiative including LG Electronic, Mitsubishi Digital Electronic, Pioneer Electronics, Akimbo Systems and Guba. USBTV is just one of the many ways the PC can be connected to a TV set. At first sight this looks like a cumbersome way to transport video content because it involves recording it on a USB device first and taking that to the TV set. A solution such as Apple TV connects directly to a television, either wired or wireless. USBTV also does not offer a solution for moving streaming web TV to the television.
Pace replaces finance director
Pace Micro Technology has announced the appointment of Stuart Hall as the company’s new chief financial officer. He joins from the AIM-listed wafer foundry IQE plc in early April 2007. Hall will replace finance director David Brockstrom who leaves Pace on February 2. Damien Wilkinson, currently the technology company’s group financial controller, will lead the finance team in the intervening period. Prior to joining IQE, Hall was finance director of Energy Squared Limited and director of performance management at Energis Group. He was also a finance director at Race Electronics. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant at BDO Binder Hamlyn.
Inuk hires ahead of UK IPTV rollout
Inuk Networks has announced two new appointments ahead of the rollout of its Freewire IPTV service to the UK residential market later this year. Both engineering director David Evans and content manager Rebecca Dillion join from Blockbuster Entertainment International. Since November last year Inuk has delivered a digital TV service to students in their halls of residence. Evans has ten years experience in the development of interactive service and end-to-end content management. He was previously COO of Yes Television and was most recently Blockbuster International’s head of technology within the company’s new media division. Dillon spent four years at Blockbuster where she was acquisitions manager, new media. She previously worked for Yes Television, LWT and Granada Media Group. At Inuk, Dillon will co-ordinate the acquisition of content for Freewire’s free, pay and premium channels including the development of the VOD service.
YouTube considers TV channel launch
YouTube is considering creating its own linear TV channel, according to Kevin Donahue, the site's vice president.
In a speech at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Donahue said the company was thinking about creating its own TV shows and possibly its own channel, but had not made any firm decisions.
He said: "We've had a lot of conversations with networks that want us to do shows and companies that want us to do linear YouTube channels. At the moment we're looking at the options, but we're in more of a strategy mode right now."
Launched in February 2005, YouTube was bought by Google in October last year for £883 million.
History Channel expands into Europe
The History Channel has received a new Television Broadcast Licence from the UK regulator Ofcom for a new European service. It comes as the A&E-owned network develops new services in continental Europe and beyond. Local channels have recently been put in place with local partners in Africa, Greece and Malta. The channel is currently working on the development of its service in the Nordic market. Also receiving licences from Ofcom in December are Discovery Channel for the new Discovery 2 and Baltic Media Alliance for The First Baltic Channel and The First Baltic Music Channel. AXN Northern Europe is planning a new service known as Animax.
Swedish launch 6th DTT multiplex
A sixth DTT multiplex will shortly go live in the Swedish capital Stockholm and the areas surrounding Uppsala and Västeräs. The multiplex was initiated to carry the international service of the Finnish public broadcaster YLE and is scheduled to go on air in mid- March. Under a 40-year old agreement YLE is distributed in Sweden and in return SVT ****** is available terrestrially in Finland. However, when Sweden began its digital transition in August it was found there was no room for the Finnish broadcasts. About 25% of the Swedish population will be served by the new channel amid a debate within government between the culture and commerce ministries as to what to do with the remainder of the multiplex. With the ministry of culture favouring high definition or mobile TV and the commerce ministry looking towards fixed mobile networks such as Wimax.
Boxer passes 650,000 homes
Swedish DTT platform Boxer has reached 654,000 households. The pay-TV platform benefited from the digital switchover process by adding another 38,000 homes in the last three months of 2006. “Swedish households have for a long time been switching to digital TV via one of the platforms that are available and competition for those who are left is increasing,” said Henrik Skullman, Acting CEO Boxer. By developing programme packages, pricing and technology in the terrestrial network, we will continue to grow, even though the rate of increase will naturally decline.” Boxer recently added three new programming packages including Boxer Lilla, a starter package including TV4 Plus, Eurosport, Discovery Channel and the new channel from SBS, One, and priced at SKr79 (€8.73) per month.
OFT invites views on BSkyB's ITV deal
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has today issued a "formal invitation to comment" from "interested parties" over BskyB's 17.9% stake in ITV.
The OFT says any views will be looked at in considering whether the merger will "result in a substantial lessening of competition within any markets in the United Kingdom for goods or services that warrants reference to the Competition Commission."
A deadline of January 25 has been given by the OFT. ITV said it would respond to the OFT in due course.
Last month, Channel 4 chief executive Andy Duncan backed NTL shareholder Sir Richard Branson's request that the merger deal be investigated by Ofcom and the OFT. NTL was considering a takeover bid for ITV at the time.
De Mol’s Talpa signs Ondas agreement
Europe’s planned mobile satellite radio service Ondas has signed an agreement with John de Mol’s Talpa Radio. The two companies plan to jointly develop content for Ondas’ advertising free radio service when it commences in 2009. The Talpa agreement follows a similar deal with Club DAB Italia, the largest consortium of private radio broadcasters in Italy. As well as Radio 538 and Radio 10 Gold in Holland, Talpa also has radio interests in Denmark. In addition to content, Ondas will also be able to use Talpa’s L-band repeater network in the Netherlands to trial the support to Ondas’ satellite coverage in the region. Ondas is planning a Europe-wide service of 150 channels including programming in regional languages.
Norway’s Comvie to launch IPTV triple play
Oslo-based Comvie is to launch a triple play package over its IPTV network. The company has selected Latens’ FCAS conditional access system as well as the Belfast company’s VOD encryption engine to secure its live TV and video on demand services. FCAS is being promoted as a scalable system that can be progressively upgraded as the business develops. Comvie will run the CA on the Motorola-Kreatel 1820 set-top boxes, initially using an MPEG-2 transport stream, before moving to MPEG-4. The Comvie contract is the latest in a series of wins for Latens in Norway. The others include Lyse, Salten Bredband and iVisjon. Comvie is offering a triple play package comprising TV, broadband and fixed-line telephony for NKr399. The brand identity was created by This Way Design and Supernordic.
iTunes - 50 million TV episodes, 1.3 million movies
Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced at the MacWorld in San Francisco that 50 million television episodes have been sold in the iTunes Store, as well as 1.3 million movies and over 2 billion songs. Also, Paramount will join the store as a supplier of movies. “iTunes has crossed another major milestone by selling over two billion songs—with over a billion of them sold in the last year alone—making it by far the world’s most popular music store,” said Jobs. “And by selling 50 million TV shows and over 1.3 million movies to date, iTunes is already the largest online video store in the world as well.”
SanDisk introduces USBTV
SanDisk has unveiled USBTV, a new, initiative that enables consumers to move digital content from their PCs to their televisions. The announcement was made during a press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). USBTV is a new platform that will enable consumers to transport downloaded digital content from a personal computer, by using a small flash memory-enabled media player, and play it on virtually any TV. On the computer side USBTV uses a USB port, on the other side a special TV cradle connects the device to a TV set. SanDisk said a number of companies back the initiative including LG Electronic, Mitsubishi Digital Electronic, Pioneer Electronics, Akimbo Systems and Guba. USBTV is just one of the many ways the PC can be connected to a TV set. At first sight this looks like a cumbersome way to transport video content because it involves recording it on a USB device first and taking that to the TV set. A solution such as Apple TV connects directly to a television, either wired or wireless. USBTV also does not offer a solution for moving streaming web TV to the television.
Pace replaces finance director
Pace Micro Technology has announced the appointment of Stuart Hall as the company’s new chief financial officer. He joins from the AIM-listed wafer foundry IQE plc in early April 2007. Hall will replace finance director David Brockstrom who leaves Pace on February 2. Damien Wilkinson, currently the technology company’s group financial controller, will lead the finance team in the intervening period. Prior to joining IQE, Hall was finance director of Energy Squared Limited and director of performance management at Energis Group. He was also a finance director at Race Electronics. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant at BDO Binder Hamlyn.
Inuk hires ahead of UK IPTV rollout
Inuk Networks has announced two new appointments ahead of the rollout of its Freewire IPTV service to the UK residential market later this year. Both engineering director David Evans and content manager Rebecca Dillion join from Blockbuster Entertainment International. Since November last year Inuk has delivered a digital TV service to students in their halls of residence. Evans has ten years experience in the development of interactive service and end-to-end content management. He was previously COO of Yes Television and was most recently Blockbuster International’s head of technology within the company’s new media division. Dillon spent four years at Blockbuster where she was acquisitions manager, new media. She previously worked for Yes Television, LWT and Granada Media Group. At Inuk, Dillon will co-ordinate the acquisition of content for Freewire’s free, pay and premium channels including the development of the VOD service.
