February 2010


INTERNATIONAL NEWS

 

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. n