IRAN
BLOCKING HOT BIRD SIGNALS
The
British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) announced that Iran
has been blocking various Eutelsat Hot Bird satellite
signals since late December, following its reporting
of the death of reformist cleric Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn
Ali Montazeri.
BBC
Persia, along with Voice of America from the United
States, are among the services immediately affected.
'AVATAR'
CROSSES $1-BN MARK
News
Corp's Twentieth Century Fox 3-D adventure film "Avatar"
has crossed the $1 billion mark in domestic and international
receipts.
Avatar
became only the 5th film to cross the $1 billion mark.
"It's the fastest movie in history to break the
$1 billion mark," said Gitesh Pandya, editor
of Box Office Guru LLC. "We've never seen a movie
make so much money so fast," Pandya added.
PEMRA
CRACKS DOWN ON GAMBLING
The
Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA)
has launched a crackdown operation against the cable
TV networks in the country which "are propagating
immoral and unethical activities through their respective
networks."
These
cable TV networks were promoting gambling through
various illegal satellite TV channels such as Love
Music, Joo Music, Teletrack and Sur Sangeet, says
a press release.
Cable
networks found relaying these channels were shut down
and their equipment seized.
US
MSO-BROADCASTERS CLASH OVER PRICE INCREASE
Several
US satellite channels have tried to sharply hike their
prices w.e.f 1st Jan 2010. MSOs have reacted strongly.
Cablevision
( a US MSO) warned that aggressive demands for fee
increases by satellite channels could eventually result
in basic cable TV packages costing consumers more
than $100 a month. That is almost double of what they
cost in 2009. Cable networks all over the USA have
begun dropping channels from their basic tier package.
Broadcasters have also pushed for lower carriage fees,
as their ad revenues fell due to the recession.
MSOs
are reducing the number of channels from their basic
tier, which until last year consisted of 100 channels
for US $ 50 per month. National broadcasters like
CBS Corp, Fox, Walt Disney Co's ABC and General Electric
Co's NBC have started demanding a fee from cable operators
for their 'Free-To-Air' channels & most cable
networks plan to drop these channels and reduce the
size of their basic tier.
The
US seems to be rapidly moving to an individual channel
a-la-carte mode, though in the past, both Cable networks
and broadcasters have been opposed to it, as it will
substantially reduce consumer spends on monthly cable.
COLORS
LAUNCHED IN UK & USA
After
dominating Indian Television Rating Points (TRPs)
among Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs),
in January 2010, Colors was launched in the USA &
UK markets.
The
channel will be called 'Aapka Colors' in the USA and
'Colors' in the UK.
Amitabh
Bachchan is the channel brand ambassador for both
these markets. Bachchan's past association with the
channel was as the host of 'Bigg Boss Season 3'.
MARADONA'S
CABLE TV CHANNEL
Maradona,
now Argentina's coach at the World Cup, is launching
his own cable TV and Internet channel in Mexico City.
The channel will begin just before the start of the
World Cup in South Africa.
"It
will be what people want to know outside sports, not
the games themselves but what happens behind the games
and after the games," said Rodolfo Cavalcanti,
the president of On&Off Holding, the channel's
advertising and public relations agency.
FOXTEL
PROMISES 3D TV
Foxtel
intends to broadcast 3D television signals in 2011.
"Foxtel has been closely monitoring 3D developments
since January of 2009 and has an active program for
3D broadcasting in its Engineering Development Labs,"
according to a statement by Foxtel CEO Kim Williams.
"3D
is an exciting development in broadcasting, and Foxtel
HD set-top-units have already carried 3D signals in
our premises with terrific picture clarity. Foxtel
will continue to run laboratory trials on 3D transmissions
over the next year."
"I
expect that Foxtel will bring its first test broadcasts
in 3D to subscribers in 2011 when full product details
will be revealed," Williams said.
MICROSOFT
SUES TiVo
Microsoft
is suing TiVo for infringement of patent rights. TiVo
has 2.7 million DVR subscribers. Microsoft claims
that TiVo is using portions of 2 Microsoft patents
in its products or components, including set-top box
products, subscription services and software, without
a license.
Microsoft
has filed a complaint seeking a court order declaring
its patents are valid and blocking TiVo from infringing
them.
SUN
TV CHANNELS IN EUROPE
Sun
TV Network Europe, a wholly owned subsidiary company
of Sun TV, will broadcast and distribute Sun's channels
in UK and Europe.
"The
Sun TV channels are currently being distributed indirectly.
In UK and Europe Sun TV will directly deal with the
distribution platform providers," says a source.
Sun TV had announced the restructuring of its distribution
business earlier in order to expand its footprint
across the globe via all fixed networks including
cable, DTH and internet protocol television.
ORBIT
REBRANDED
Fromk
February, Orbit Showtime has been re-branded as Orbit
Showtime Network (OSN).
In
August 2009, Showtime Arabia and Orbit merged to create
the Orbit Showtime DTH, offering 75 channels.
DISH
USA RENEWS NAGRA PACT
US
DTH Platform - Dish TV has signed a 10 year contract
to use Nagravision conditional access systems.
The
agreement also includes the deployment of Nagravision's
next-generation security smart cards and signal protection
technology to counter piracy threats.
The
announcement came only days after a Florida federal
court issued a $51 million dollar judgment award to
Dish Network, EchoStar Technologies and NagraStar
in its anti-piracy lawsuit against Robert Ward, who
posted software on the Internet that allowed individuals
to illegally receive Dish Network programming using
free-to-air receivers.
The
court held that the posting of pirate software constitutes
a violation of the U.S. Federal Communications Act,
and that statutory damages should be calculated based
on how many individuals downloaded the pirate software.
MORE
EUROPEAN TV CHANNELS
Almost
250 new European TV channels were launched in 2009,
according to a research study created for the DG Communication
Division of the European Commission by the European
Audiovisual Observatory (EOA), released Jan. 13.
The
study, a part of the EOA's 2009 Data Yearbook, also
shows that about 220 channels ceased transmission
in 2009. European satellite TV offerings in increased
from 51 at the end of 2008 to 60 at the end of 2009.
The
EOA said the report indicates high levels of competition
particularly in Hungary, Poland and Romania, where
each country has five different satellite-TV operators.
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