Satellite News Room

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Baby TV deal with Sky



Baby TV, the cabsat channel aimed at children under the age of three, will soon be available to Sky Digital viewers in the UK that subscribe to the Kids Mix package, adding to existing cable carriage on NTL and Telewest.

From February 5 the channel will be available on Sky, a move the channel's MD Liran Talit said was "another major achievement for BabyTV," and adds to the 50+ platforms worldwide that already carry Baby TV.

"We look forward to continuing our growth in 2007 and to building the BabyTV brand with licensing activities. We have also launched our interactive website today to serve our global community of parents," Talit added.

Launching in the UK on NTL in October 2005, Baby TV is a commercial-free offering intended to provide a safe and educational environment for infants and toddlers, as well as a service for parents. It is privately owned and airs in 40+ countries in 10 launguages.

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C a n a l+ Group Releases 2006 Results



C a n a l+ Group’s 2006 revenues amounted to €3,630 million. On a comparable basis2, revenues were up €257 million, or +7.7% compared to 2005.

Revenues from pay-TV operations in France were up €244 million, or +9% compared with 2005, mainly due to increased subscriptions of the Group’s attractive offers in a very competitive market, as well as increased revenue per subscriber.

The Group’s total portfolio as of December 31, 2006, included over 8,6 million subscriptions (individual and collective, in France and overseas) for its pay-TV offers. Net additions over the year equalled 350,000 subscriptions, with 1.155 million gross additions.

Total subscriptions to C a n a l+ at the end of the year reached 5,14 million, which represents a net increase of 76,000 compared with year-end 2005. The proportion of C a n a l+ Le Bouquet subscriptions reached 61% of complete C a n a l+ portfolio, up from 52% a year ago. C a n a l+ recruitments grew year on year, reaching 646,000 in total, even though subscriptions sales in 2005 were the best since 1987. The C a n a l+ churn rate stands at 11.95%, still among the lowest in Europe.

C a n a l Sat total subscriptions were 3.46 million by year-end, which represents a net increase of 272,000 compared with 2005. C a n a l Sat gross additions hit 510,000 subscriptions, up 6% compared with 2005. Churn rate was 10.6%.

Revenues from C a n a l+ Group’s other operations grew +2% compared to 2005. StudioC a n a l posted lower revenues (mainly due to decreased income from the Working Title deal) despite good performances in France, where the company ranked third best movie distributor thanks to the release of Indigène and Prête-moi ta main. This overall decrease was offset by higher advertising revenues from i>TELE and subscription portfolio growth in Poland.
2 Comparable basis mainly illustrates the effect of divestitures at C a n a l+ Group (mainly NC Numéricâble in 2005 and PSG in 2006), as if these transactions had occurred as of January 1, 2005.

Since January 4, 2007, C a n a l+ Group’s pay-TV operations include TPS, whose portfolio ended the year with 1.44 million subscriptions. The total subscriptions of C a n a l+ Group as of today stand at more than 10 million.

C a n a l+ Group’s revenues amount to €918 million. On a comparable basis2, revenues were up €43 million, or +4.9% compared with the fourth quarter of 2005.

Revenues from pay-TV operations in France were up +6% compared with 2005. This increase is mainly due to the growth of C a n a l+ and C a n a l Sat subscription bases. In December, C a n a l+ achieved its best month ever in terms of subscription sales.

Revenues from C a n a l+ Group’s other operations are stable compared to the fourth quarter of 2005.

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DISH Network(TM) Expands HD Programming Lineup to 31 Channels

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EchoStar Communications Corporation (Nasdaq: DISH) and its DISH Network(TM) satellite TV service today announced the launch of A&E HD, a high definition simulcast of the network's blockbuster lineup.

"The exciting addition of A&E HD helps further complement DISH Network's industryleading suite of high definition programming," said Eric Sahl, senior vice president of Programming for DISH Network. "We are pleased to be the first national provider of A&E HD, bringing our total national HD channel offering to 31 channels the most comprehensive in the payTV industry."

"Now DISH Network subscribers can see their favorite A&E programs such as Gene Simmons Family Jewels, The First 48, CSI: Miami and The Sopranos in the sharp, highresolution detail of HDTV," said David Zagin, Executive Vice President, Distribution, AETN. "As we continue our expansion in the digital marketplace, we are pleased to begin offering A&E programming in HD to DISH Network customers."

January 2007 was a recordsetting month for A&E, becoming the mos****ched month in network history across all key demos. Versus all adsupported cable networks, A&E ranked number four in adults 2554 and number five in adults 1849, for the month. This marks the sixth consecutive month in which A&E landed in the top 10 among both key demographics.

A&E HD is located on DISH Network Channel 9419 and is available to customers who subscribe to the DishHD programming package ($20 addon to the base programming package).

Also starting today, new DISH Network customers can profit from the revolutionary DishDVR Advantage package, an allinclusive TV package including over 200 channels, local channels where available, a stateoftheart DVR serving two TVs and free standard professional installation with no extra fees for one low price of $49.99 before promotions. For only $20 more a month customers can customize their DishDVR Advantage plan with DishHD. Additionally, DISH Network's highly acclaimed tworoom ViP622 HD DVR is now available for free to new customers.

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R. Murdoch's secret TiVo



* NDS Group, a digital TV technology company controlled by Murdoch's News Corp., may be the best kept secret in the media business.

Apple. TiVo. Cisco Systems.These companies are trying to establish a presence in your digital living room with cool, innovative technology to help link the computer and TV. And these companies are all widely recognized both on Wall Street and Main Street.

But one of the most innovative firms in the lucrative business of digital content is one you've never heard of, NDS Group.

And that puzzles some Wall Street ana*ysts, particularly since NDS is a majority-owned subsidiary of News Corp., the R. Murdoch-controlled media conglomerate that owns the Fox movie studio and TV network, various cable channels and popular social networking site MySpace. News Corp. owns about 74 percent of NDS.

"This is an undiscovered gem," said Daniel Meron, an ana*yst with RBC Capital Markets. "It's extremely well positioned in a growth market and has an excellent management team. But few people know of it."

Wall Street hits pause on TiVo

NDS, which has headquarters in the United Kingdom and New York, develops technology such as digital TV smart cards (which store consumer-viewing information), software for cable set-top boxes and digital video recorders for cable, satellite and phone companies across the globe.

The company reported earlier this week that profits for its fiscal second-quarter increased 17 percent from year ago to $30.3 million, and that sales were up 8 percent to $165 million. For the full fiscal year, which ends in June, ana*ysts are predicting that revenues will increase by 13 percent and that earnings will increase 26 percent.

Its biggest customer is DirecTV, the satellite TV firm that News Corp. currently owns 39 percent of. However, News Corp. has agreed to swap its stake in DirecTV to John Malone's Liberty Media.

NDS replaced TiVo as the exclusive supplier of digital video recorders for new DirecTV subscribers in 2005. David Richardson, director of new media and business development liaison to the content industry for NDS, said that the transaction with Liberty Media should not have an effect on NDS' contract with DirecTV.

Still, NDS's dependence on News Corp.-controlled businesses may be one reason why few investors have heard of the company. After DirecTV, NDS' next biggest customers are BSkyB, the British satellite TV firm that News Corp. owns 39 percent of and Sky Italia, a wholly-owned subsidiary of News Corp. These three companies accounted for nearly 70 percent of NDS' revenues in the six months ending this past December.

"The overhang for investors is that News Corp. owns so much and accounts for so much business," said Alan Bezoza, an ana*yst with Oppenheimer & Co.

News Corp. hopes to not 'screw up' MySpace

But the fact that NDS is not readily known in the U.S. should not be a problem for investors, Bezoza says. He argues that the battle for the DVR set-top box business in the U.S. is not worth fighting since the two leaders, Cisco Systems and Motorola, have turned DVRs into commodities. So NDS' focus on international markets is a smarter strategy, he thinks.

"There are a whole lot of opportunities outside the U.S. where Motorola's and Cisco's presence is nonexistent," he said. In other markets, NDS primarily competes with Swiss digital security firm Kudelski, which recently acquired a voting stake in interactive TV technology firm OpenTV.

And Richardson said that the company is steadily gaining new customers outside of the News Corp. family. He said one thing media companies like is that that NDS is happy to be behind the scenes and let its customers use their own brand name, not NDS', on set-top boxes, digital video recorders and other products.

"We're an infrastructure supplier. If there is one thing we are religious about, it's not to compete with our customers. TiVo failed with DirecTV because it didn't understand that," Richardson said.

To that end, Richardson said that NDS has been partnering with other media companies as well. It has developed interactive games based on cartoon characters from Viacom-owned Nickelodeon that are available on DirecTV and also supplied technology to a Walt Disney-branded mobile digital media player.

But Richardson conceded that having News Corp. as its top shareholder sometimes gets in the way of deals. "Attempts at partnerships sometimes run afoul," he said.

Murdoch may join battle for Tribune

And as more and more companies tout their own digital TV offerings, Richardson thinks that it will be easier for NDS to tout some of its technology to cable, satellite and phone companies, such as set-top boxes that allow people to watch videos from the Internet, or files stored on their computer, on their TV sets.

"Apple validates us," said Richardson of Apple's new Apple TV product, hardware that will wirelessly transmit videos, photos and other content from the iTunes library on a user's computer to their television set.

With all this in mind, both Bezoza and Meron said they think shares of NDS are a good bet. The one big caveat is that the stock is not actively traded. Since News Corp. owns such a large stake, the average daily volume is less than 100,000 shares over the past three months.

But the stock, which gained 17 percent in 2006, still looks attractively valued. Shares trade at 21 times fiscal 2007 earnings estimates and ana*ysts expect earnings to increase at a 24 percent clip annually, on average, for the next few years.

"NDS is not a brand name like Motorola or TiVo. It's working behind the scenes and doesn't want to get between the customer and the service. But this is not a bad thing," said Meron. "If you are a long-term investor, this is a really good stock to own."

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Viacom demands YouTube remove videos



Viacom Inc. on Friday demanded that Google Inc.'s online video service YouTube remove more than 100,000 video clips after they failed to reach a distribution agreement.

Viacom said it sent a notice to YouTube on Friday morning, asking the popular video-sharing site to remove clips from Viacom-owned properties including MTV Networks and BET.

The media company controlled by Sumner Redstone said its pirated programs on YouTube has generated about 1.2 billion video streams, based on a study from an outside consultant.

A YouTube representative could not immediately be reached for comment.

"Filtering tools promised repeatedly by YouTube and Google have not been put in place, and they continue to host and stream vast amounts of unauthorized video," Viacom said in a statement.

The company is taking a hard stance against the Internet's most popular video service, which is renowned for its quirky, viewer-contributed video clips as much as for being a repository for unauthorized television shows.

"This is a negotiating tactic," UBS ana*yst Ben Schachter said. "We think a deal gets done ... The terms have major implications for the value of content online."

Viacom's move also runs counter to the strategies employed by other media companies, such as the Warner Music Group, Vivendi-owned Universal Music Group, and General Electric controlled NBC Universal, which have all landed deals with YouTube to test the service.

CBS Corp, which spun off from Viacom, also has a deal with YouTube.

In fact, CBS held a contest, in which YouTube users submitted videos they created. The winners will have their videos aired on CBS television. Hours after Viacom made its announcement, CBS said it would show the first winning video on Sunday.

Universal Music, most notably, threatened to sue YouTube last year, but reached a partnership with them. Its deal included taking a small stake in the company, according to several published reports.

Even as some media companies have decided to experiment with YouTube, other companies including News Corp., NBC and Viacom have held discussions to create its own online video business, sources have said.

Viacom last October had requested YouTube take down some of its video clips including those from hit shows from cable network Comedy Central, whose on-air talent joked about the site's popularity during the shows.

But thousands of clips remained on the service.

"YouTube and Google retain all of the revenue generated from this practice, without extending fair compensation to the people who have expended all of the effort and cost to create it," said Viacom.

Viacom added, "The recent addition of YouTube-served content to Google Video Search simply compounds this issue."

It was not immediately clear what percentage of YouTube's estimated 100 million views per day Viacom clips represents.

Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt told ana*ysts on Wednesday YouTube was in "various stages" of introducing technology, such a digital "fingerprinting" to identify copyrighted material.

"That is an area of big research in the computer science community and also a significant investment here at Google," Schmidt said after Google's quarterly results.

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Premiere secures rights to English Premier League until 2010



• Increased coverage of English professional soccer.

• Michael Ballack and Jens Lehmann remain on Premiere.

• Premiere uses tender process to make joint bid with arena.

Starting next season, Premiere will be increasing its coverage of top English soccer. The new contract with the Premier League gives Premiere the rights to broadcast the league until the end of the 2009/10 season. Both German national players Michael Ballack (Chelsea London) and Jens Lehmann (Arsenal London) will therefore remain on Premiere.

In the bidding process for the Premier League, Premiere made a joint bid together with arena Sportrechte Marketing GmbH. The tender process set out by the Premier League had explicitly included this option. With their joint bid, Premiere and arena were able to top all other bids, especially from sports rights agencies. Dr. Georg Kofler, CEO of Premiere AG: “Compared with other countries, we have succeeded in acquiring the Premier League rights on economically acceptable terms. With this contract we have secured the most attractive and extensive live coverage for Premiere subscribers of what is probably the world’s best soccer league.” The Premier League, Premiere and arena have agreed to maintain confidentiality over the financial details.

The agreement allows Premiere to broadcast up to 320 of the total 380 matches from the Premier League each season, 280 of which exclusively. Premiere will carry on showing matches played in parallel in the popular live highlights show. Carsten Schmidt, Head of Sports and New Business at Premiere: “England’s soccer league is one of the most attractive in the world. We are delighted that, as a long-term partner of the Premier League, we will remain on the ball in the home of soccer for the next three years. We will be further increasing our coverage of the Premier League starting next season, showing even more live games than before. Premiere will therefore continue to be Germany’s Number 1 for international live soccer.”

Premiere has been showing the English Premier League since the 2001/2002 season. In the current season, the Munich-based pay-TV broadcaster will be presenting over 120 games live from the top English soccer league.

The top Premier League matches are shown on PREMIERE FUSSBALL. For EUR 9.99 per month* this package includes all games from the UEFA Champions League, all UEFA Cup matches from the quarter finals up and the best soccer from a further six top European leagues (including Italy, France and the Netherlands), making it the most extensive offering for all fans of international soccer.
*with a 24-month subscription.

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Update Globecast UK Mux - Intelsat 905 (24.5W)

new programms started.

Hier die Daten/here the data:

Satellite Intelsat 905 (24.5W)
Frequency 11674 MHz
Symbol Rate 27500 KSymbols/s
Polarisation Vertical
Inversion No
FEC 3/4
SNR 83%
AGC 56%

Service Name Sahara Filmy
Service Provider Globecast UK
VPID 0641h (1601d)
APID 064bh (1611d)
PCRPID 06a3h (1699d)
TPID None
TSID 0001h
ONID 013eh
SID 0006h
PMT 06a2h
Video Format 704x576 (4:3), 25 fps
Used Crypto Systems None


10/02/2007 13:14 (CET) Movie (FTA)



Service Name Sahara One
Service Provider Globecast UK
VPID 05ddh (1501d)
APID 05e7h (1511d)
PCRPID 063fh (1599d)
TPID None
TSID 0001h
ONID 013eh
SID 0005h
PMT 063eh
Video Format 704x576 (4:3), 25 fps
Used Crypto Systems None


10/02/2007 13:20 (CET) Programm (FTA)



Service Name SET Max UK
Service Provider Globecast UK
VPID 0579h (1401d)
APID 0583h (1411d)
PCRPID 05dbh (1499d)
TPID None
TSID 0001h
ONID 013eh
SID 0004h
PMT 05dah
Video Format 704x576 (4:3), 25 fps
Used Crypto Systems None


10/02/2007 13:22 (CET) Movie (FTA)



Stream Information
Service Name SET Europe
Service Provider Globecast UK
VPID 0515h (1301d)
APID 051fh (1311d)
PCRPID 0577h (1399d)
TPID None
TSID 0001h
ONID 013eh
SID 0003h
PMT 0576h
Video Format 704x576 (4:3), 25 fps
Used Crypto Systems None

10/02/2007 13:25 (CET) Programmvorschau (FTA)

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Nagra for YPSO/Numéricâble IPTV




The Kudelski Group’s Nagravision has been selected by France, Belgium and Luxembourg broadband operator, IPSO/Numéricâble, for the
national rollout of its Video-On-Demand (VOD) and interactive TV
services

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Video growth boosts Eutelsat


Eutelsat Communications has reported a 5.2 per cent increase in revenues. In the six months ending December 31, 2006, the Paris-based operator declared revenues of E415.3 million, compared to E394.9m in the same period in 2005. EBITDA was up 6 per cent at E329.6m.

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Bell Canada mobile movie service

Bell Canada has launched Mobile Movies, the first service in Canada that delivers full-length, pay-per-view movies directly to video-capable mobile phones. Mobile Movies are streamed directly to client phones using the Bell wireless high speed network. The interactive movie software application can be quickly downloaded directly from the phone's menu, and clients can use it to browse movie information, including trailers and plot summaries, before they choose a title.

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Portugal Telecom IPTV pilot

PT Comunicacoes, the fixed line unit of Portugal Telecom said that its IPTV pilot project will start in May or June. PTC said that the project will be launched in the urban areas of Lisbon, Porto and Castelo Branco to about 5,000 users.

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Brazil stimulates digital TV

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has launched an ambitious programme to stimulate the development of digital TV in the country.

Under "Support and Implementation of the Brazilian Terrestrial Digital TV System (ProTVD)", E365 million will be allocated for the opening of credit lines for TV companies.

State-owned National Bank of Economic and Social Development (BNDES), provider of the credit lines, said that ProTVD is aimed at supporting research and development, and the modernisation of the infra-structure and the production of software, equipment and new digital content.

BNDES also said that the program is expected to stimulate investment in local audiovisual projects and contribute to the development of companies specialising in providing solutions for the terrestrial digital TV system.

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Asia to lead DTH growth


New digital satellite TV subscribers in Asia will help the market generate more than $88bn (E67bn) in revenues worldwide by 2010, according to forecasts.

Subscriber growth in mature markets is slowing, say analysts from US-based research firm In-Stat. "As DTH pay-TV platforms in many American and European countries have been in operation for a number of years, subscriber growth has slowed," said In-Stat research analyst Michael Inouye. "Total net new subscribers are growing each year, but only by single digit percentages."

The satellite TV business is increasingly looking to Asia for growth, where newly-affluent consumers are expected to boost the number of paying digital satellite TV viewers to more than 117 million by 2010.

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Chelsea on YouTube

Chelsea have struck a deal to show archive footage and club news on YouTube, the first such deal by a Premiership football club. Content from the club's subscription channel Chelsea TV appear in a branded area of the video-sharing website titled. The site will feature daily news updates, archive footage of Chelsea games, and other features. Content is produced by Chelsea Digital Media, a joint venture with BSkyB.

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41% of Mobile TV viewers will accept ads


The US Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has unveiled the first authoritative metrics on audience acceptance of mobile advertising. Results from a survey of more than 11,000 US mobile subscribers indicate that more than 41 per cent of those who view or intend to view mobile video agreed they would watch advertisements in order to watch free mobile video. Additionally, 20 per cent agree they would watch ads in order to watch mobile TV or video for a reduced fee. The research was conducted by M:Metrics.

The report, commissioned by the MMA’s Mobile Video & Television Working Group committee, found that although only one per cent of mobile subscribers currently access TV or video from a mobile phone, 23% of non-video users express some interest in viewing video or television content on a mobile device within the next few months.