Latest SATELLITE NEWS/TV LISTING SECTION

[mike566]

Spain's Orange TV adds music channel

Spain's IPTV operator Orange TV is to introduce Chello Multicanal's Sol Música channel for music fans.

Sol Música will replace the existing music channel Pachá TVand claims to be different from the rest of Spanish music channels because it showcases national modern music from the most successful artists to the new bands. It does though also include international music.

The programming schedule of Sol Música mainly targets a younger audience with music videos, reports on the bands, interviews and live shows. But the channel also offers specialized programs such as 'Sol Rock', 'Sol Indie', 'Sol Techno' and 'Sol Latino'.

Concerts and events are also organised by the channel around Spain.

[mike566]

Carlyle trying again for Kbro sale

Private equity group Carlyle is again looking to offload its investment in Taiwanese cable operator Kbro after a deal agreed last year fell through.



The prospective buyer this time is the Tsai family, which also controls Taiwan Mobile – last year’s failed acquirer.

Back in September 2009, Taiwan Mobile agreed to buy Carlyle’s 1.1 million-subscriber cable operator in a deal worth TW$32.8 billion (then around US$1 billion). Carlyle would have received 15% of Taiwan Mobile in exchange.

But regulation got in the way of the deal, with the government’s indirect stake in Taiwan Mobile through a financial company the issue. Under Taiwanese law, the government is not allowed to own stakes in media companies.

This time, according to reports, Carlyle has agreed to sell Kbro to the Tsai family for TW$65-70 cash, with the family also taking on Kbro’s TW$20 billion in debt.

With Taiwan’s government considering amending the law to allow companies in which the government has a stake to own up to 10% of media companies, the Tsai family could roll Kbro into Taiwan Mobile at a later date.

Kbro, formerly Eastern Multimedia Company, is Taiwan's largest MSO with 12 cable TV systems numbering 1.1 million subscribers. The Tsai family already control a small Taiwanese operator, TFN, with around half a million subscribers.

[mike566]

Portugal's Sport TV hits US


Portuguese regulatory authorities Entidade Reguladora para la Comunicaçâo Social (ERC) has authorised the launch of Portuguese-language sports channel Sport TV in the US.

The American version of the channel will be called Sport TV Américas. In the first phase the channel will be addressed to the Portuguese American audiences based in the US and Canada, based principally in the New York and Toronto metropolitan areas respectively.

The channel will transmit via satellite and cable and will be broadcast both in SD and in HD.

In the first year Sport TV Américas foresees to offering a weekly programming schedule of about 86 hours.

Distribution of the American version will be handled by Seabra Portuguese Televisión (SPT).

[mike566]

First under sea cable for Africa

Africa has a new communications link with Europe bringing together Portugal and the African country of Nigeria via the Spanish island of Tenerife.

Infrastructure has been built by the company Main One which has been in charge of the deployment of the under-sea fibre optic cable between Portugal and the African country. It is hope that the project bridges, literally and metaphorically, the digital divide between the African continent and Europe.

The total project consists of 7,000 km of cable and has cost about US$400 million.At the presentation of the project, the first simultaneous video conference between Africa, Europe and India took place. Previously, something like this was not possible before due to scarce capacity. The cost of communications transmission between the continents will be lower.

The system will offer 1.92 Terabytes per second of broadband which is typically equivalent to about ten times the speed the region offers currently. After the first phase of implementation, connections will be completed to Casablanca, Tenerife, Dakar, Abidjan and Bonny. In the future cable will reach down to Libreville, Boma, Luanda and Cape Town.

Tenerife will be present in Main One's project through its future connection with the NAPWACI, which is a project by Tenerife's municipal authorities searching to develop a neutral data centre to concentrate and distribute international connectivity. Also planned is base infrastructure for local information technology companies interested in competing abroad. At the same time the centre will serve international companies wanting to operate in Western Africa from an EU territory.

[mike566]

Cedar Point inks Polish cable deal

The Polish cable operator Multimedia Polska is to deploy a VoIP solution supplied by Cedar Point Communications.

Under the terms of an agreement between the parties, it will use the Safari C3 Multimedia Switching System, with the goal being to simplify service delivery, optimize operational cost and provide more reliable IMS and PacketCable 2.0 based services for residential and business customers on a single infrastructure.

Multimedia Polska is the third largest cable operator in Poland in terms of subscriber numbers. Cedar Point meanwhile already has deployment relationships elsewhere in Europe with Germany’s Kabel Deutschland and NetCologne.

[mike566]

Surf’s up Virgin broadband poles

Virgin Media is to offer residents of a Welsh village access to broadband internet for the first time. The Cableco has signed an agreement with Surf Telecoms to run internet and television services over existing electricity poles to residents in Crumlin, Caerphilly.

Although Virgin has previously engaged in the delivery of services running above ground – a trial in Woolhampton, Berkshire begun in March using purpose built infrastructure – this is the first time in the UK that an existing commercial infrastructure has been used.

In addition to broadband speeds of up to 50 Mbps, subscribers will also be able to access Virgin’s TV service. The trial will get underway next month and is scheduled to run into 2011. The former railway town of Crumlin has a population of 5,724, though the numbers participating in the trial will be measured in tens.

Jon James, executive director of broadband, Virgin Media, said: “Working in partnership with companies like Surf Telecoms, we can more rapidly and efficiently expand the reach of fibre optic networks to towns, villages and communities right across the UK.”

The trials are part of Virgin Media’s efforts to expand its network that currently only reaches half of the country. Analysis suggests that the approach taken in Crumlin and Woolhampton could accelerate delivery of next generation broadband, though the cableco called on “focused measures” from government to make it possible.

Richard Doble, design and policy manager, Surf Telecoms, said it was an innovative approach that could bring broadband to many of his 2.5 million customers across South West England and South and West Wales for the first time. “The possibilities of aerial deployment promise a valuable use of existing infrastructure and an interesting new commercial opportunity for utility companies. We’re pleased to be at the forefront of this innovation.”

It is not uncommon for electricity companies to be involved in broadband delivery, Scottish Power ran Thus, before selling out to Cable & Wireless in 2008. A more workable example is the Norwegian energy company Lyse, which runs a broadband and IPTV subsidiary.

[mike566]

ScandiTV coming to US and Canada

ScandiTV, a new service and the top provider of Scandinavian television channels and movies for adults and children in North America, officially launches on August 1st. ScandiTV, based in California, is dedicated to providing the very best entertainment and to increase media and cultural exchanges between Scandinavia and the Americas.

ScandiTV will deliver programming to consumers’ TV sets via IPTV and has secured strategic partnerships with major Scandinavian media companies and will be constantly expanding its line-up of live television channels and VOD programming. The company will further expand its service to Latin America in the future.

[mike566]

ZumoCast service launch

The makers of ZumoDrive have unveiled ZumoCast, a new service that allows the enjoyment of a consumer’s entire personal video collection at home or on-the-go through applications on the iPad and iPhone and a web browser on any computer.

"Video is the killer app on the next generation devices like the iPad and iPhone," said David Zhao, creator of ZumoCast. "Just as the streaming services from Netflix and Hulu are transforming the way you watch subscribed video, ZumoCast is changing the way you consume your own personal content."

While ZumoDrive makes it simple to upload and stream content from the always-on hosted ZumoDrive cloud, ZumoCast turns users' computers into personal clouds that serve content directly to their mobile devices.

By using people's computer storage in this way, ZumoCast avoids the time it takes to upload content to the hosted ZumoDrive cloud and the cost incurred once it's stored there.

ZumoCast is currently available on the iPad and the iPhone and will be available on a host of additional mobile platforms shortly. Additional features like video sharing and enhanced music and photo interfaces will add to the richness of the service in the upcoming months.

The entire ZumoCast service, including its premium features, will be available for free during a beta period.

[mike566]

"Future of TV will rest on stable global standards"

The telecommunications industry sent out a strong message of support for ITU standards for IPTV at recent event held at ITU headquarters. Gathered in Geneva for the first of a new series of ‘ITU Interop’ events, IPTV manufacturers took part in a set of tests to demonstrate seamless global interoperability between their various IPTV devices, which have been manufactured to comply with ITU-developed standards, known as Recommendations.

ITU has been busy pioneering a raft of new standards for the technology, which is set to transform global viewing habits in coming years. Experts agreed that stable global standards will be key to take-up of IPTV, avoiding costly and confusing ‘format wars’ and reduced choice for consumers.

Malcolm Johnson, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Standardisation Bureau said that proprietary solutions may offer fast deployment in the short term, but in the medium and longer term buyers would be subject to vendor lock-in, with the risk of costly upgrades and reduced content and hardware choice. "Industry consortia-based 'standards' are mostly region-specific with little or no implementation. This event proves that ITU global standards are ready to go, and in fact are already being implemented," he stated.

[mike566]

Wireless HD video-enabled product shipments to hit 13m by 2014

Although slow progress best describes the fate of wireless HD chip vendors in 2010, the five-year outlook is for a robust triple-digit growth rate of wireless HD video-enabled products through 2014 according to In-Stat. The number of shipments is projected to rise from the current levels of less than 1 million to nearly 13 million by 2014.

"The long term projection is for significant growth in wireless HD video-enabled product shipments. However, these technologies are likely several years away from hitting the sweet spot of the consumer electronics (CE) and PC markets," says Brian O’Rourke, Principal Analyst for In-Stat. "There are still significant price and performance issues that need to be overcome before device manufacturers fully adopt these technologies."

Some of the findings include:
- Alternative video transmission technologies, WHDI, WirelessHD, and WiGig Alliance, are vying for a dominant position. Among the differentiating factors are whole-home range, price, and performance issues, single source, and time-to-market issues.
- WHDI and WirelessHD chip ASPs will both fall over 25 per cent annually through 2014.
- WirelessHD, is championed by chipmaker SiBeam and backed by NEC, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, and LG.
- WHDI (backed by AMIMON) and WirelessHD (backed by SiBeam) device shipments will both grow at triple-digit annual percentage rates through 2014.
- WiGig Alliance members include: Broadcom, Dell, Intel, LG Electronics, Microsoft, NEC, Nokia, NXP, Panasonic, and Samsung.