7 April 2004
Kabel Deutschland, Germany’s largest cable network operator launched its new digital TV service this week using set-top boxes from Pace Micro Technology. Kabel will use Pace’s DC220* set-top box to provide new digital pay-TV programmes, foreign channel packages and enhanced digital TV services for the first time.
,p>On 6 April it was announced that Kabel Deutschland Group has agreed to buy its three main rivals for a total of E2.7 billion in one of Europe’s largest leveraged buy-outs. KDG connects 10 million households in Germany and is acquiring regional operators in Baden Württemberg, Hessen, and NRW. The combined group will have a customer base of 17 million, the largest in Europe. The deal represents a key step in the consolidation of Germany’s fragmented cable industry. Kabel has been pushing for months to acquire its smaller rivals to gain the critical mass with which to roll out across Europe’s largest TV market. It plans to offer the type of digital television services and multimedia products that are already available in many other European markets. These acquisitions will reunite the cable assets owned until 1999 by Deutsche Telekom. It sold the businesses to meet cartel office objections to its near-monopoly position, and to lower its debt levels.
Roland Steindorf, Kabel’s CEO, said he expected to receive the approval of Germany’s cartel office, in spite of the fact that the office blocked US cable group Liberty Media’s efforts to acquire Deutsche Telekom cable assets in February 2002. The antitrust decision will take at least half a year again leaving the German cable industry’s future uncertain for the time being.
7 April 2004
The British Government announced on 2 April that Michael Grade has been appointed BBC Chairman for four years from 17 May 2004.
Welcoming the appointment Richard Ryder, Acting BBC Chairman, said: “The Board of Governors warmly welcomes the appointment of Michael Grade. We are delighted that he will be the BBC’s new Chairman and we look forward to working closely with him. He will find a united Board which is optimistic about the future. The Board is conscious of the importance of the tasks it will tackle under his leadership, including Charter Review, the appointment of the Director-General, the Graf Review of bbc.co.uk, the first stage of the Ofcom PSB review and the DCMS reviews of new services.
Mark Byford, Acting Director-General, said: “Michael Grade is one of the major world figures in broadcasting and the wider creative industry, with an outstanding record of achievement. He has a deep understanding of broadcasting, and firmly believes in the BBC and its place at the heart of national life. He is passionate about creativity, talent and ambition in programmes. That is why everyone in the BBC will warmly welcome this exciting appointment. It’s great that Michael is coming back to the BBC and he will enjoy the full support of the whole organisation.”
Michael Grade said: “This is quite a day for me. Apart from my obvious pride and delight, I also feel my experience has prepared me to step into the role at a difficult moment in the Corporation’s history. I would like to thank those who appointed me for having the courage to break the mould. I would also like to pay tribute to my predecessor, Gavyn Davies, who gave so much to support the ideals of the Corporation and who showed great courage and dignity in the manner of his departure. The editorial independence of the BBC is paramount in maintaining the support of the viewers and listeners. Without it, there is no point to the BBC. It is my job, and the job of the whole board, to ensure that the BBC can continue to earn public and parliamentary support so that the provision of universally available, value for money, public service broadcasting is neither jeopardised nor marginalised. Nothing must be allowed to deprive our children and our grandchildren of the rich experience we have come to expect and enjoy these past decades from the British Broadcasting Corporation.”
7 April 2004
Leading satellite services company GlobeCast announced on 2 April the delivery of Moroccan television channel 2M Maroc to Africa via its digital satellite television platform on NSS 7. GIobeCast – a subsidiary of France Telecom – operates a global network of satellite distribution platforms for broadcast and advanced content delivery. GIobeCast manages proprietary Direct-to-Home satellite television platforms in Europe, America, Australia and Africa.
Since 1 March GlobeCast has been providing 2M with end-to-end channel distribution including transmission, multiplexing and space capacity. GlobeCast receives the feed in Casablanca and delivers the signal via Telecom 2D to its Serte technical operations center in Paris. From the Serte, 2M Maroc is inserted into GlobeCasts channel multiplex and uplinked to NSS 7 at 22°W for C-band distribution over Africa. A powerful satellite for DTH and cable distribution, NSS 7 boasts an established international community of programmers including CNN, EuroNews and Canal France Internationals French-language bouquet LeSat.
2M is the second-largest television channel in Morocco, offering 24/7 programming in both French and Arabic. Its lineup includes news programs, documentary features, childrens entertainment and cultural programs as well as the latest sporting events.
7 April 2004
Eutelsat and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the world’s largest professional association of national broadcasters, today announced the signature of a contract for four wideband transponders that will be used by the EBU for television coverage of the upcoming Athens Olympic Games.
The contract is for the equivalent of 306 MHz of Ku-band capacity on three Eutelsat satellites: ATLANTIC BIRD* 3, e-BIRD* and W3A, the latest addition to the company’s fleet which is planned to enter into commercial service in May. For the duration of the Olympic Games this agreement will double the EBU’s capacity leased on a full-time basis to the EBU by Eutelsat.
This additional capacity will allow the EBU to provide private direct point-to-point circuits between Athens and the headquarters of television channels that will have their own TV crews and content aggregation facilities in Athens. In addition to these private circuits, the EBU will simultaneously deliver 800 hours of live coverage of the sports events with ambient sound to its 71 members.
The distribution and exchange of programmes relating to sports events is a major part of the EBU’s activities. In view of the exceptional worldwide coverage of the Olympic Games the EBU is setting up an infrastructure fully dedicated to the event, with the deployment at the Olympic site of a new teleport to deliver a total of 36 non-stop programme feeds, 32 of which will be carried by Eutelsat.
Services from the EBU teleport in Athens will start on 2 August with technical tests. On 11 and 12 August there will be coverage of the football matches scheduled as an avant-première to the Games schedule. These will be followed on 13 August by the Opening Ceremony and the start of the Olympic events, which will continue until 29 August. The EBU’s services in Athens will also be deployed to cover the Paralympic Games from 17 to 28 September.
1 April 2004
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26 March 2004
The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) today released the first aggregated data endorsed on an industry-wide basis covering the size and value of the Asia Pacific pay-TV market with newly calibrated estimates of advertising revenues. The CASBAA-validated data has been derived from a six-month consultation process by the CASBAA Advertising & Research Committee with the region’s leading pay-TV channels, system operators, agencies and data providers on both a regional and local basis. Participants in the process included representatives from Discovery Networks Asia, STAR Group, Turner International Asia Pacific, Nielsen Media Research, TAM India and Media Partners Asia.
“This robust consensus provides the firmest platform yet to argue in favor of the pay-TV industry’s maturity and attractiveness as an advertising vehicle,” said Marcel Fenez, the Chairman of CASBAA. “With this data the industry can look forward to the future in terms of forecasting development from a solid and assured base.”
The CASBAA data shows that the Asian cable and satellite industry in 2003 accounted for almost 190 million multi-channel homes, 95% of which are pay homes. Pay-TV advertising revenues for 2002 were US$2.6 billion in 2002 compared to an estimated US$14.8 billion in overall TV ad spend. Previous estimates showed 150 million cable subscribers in 2002.
In 2003, there were 48 million multi-channel subscribers in India, 12 million in Korea, 8 million in Japan, 7.7 million in Taiwan and 100 million multi-channel subscribers in China, according to the new CASBAA data.
This assessment of the market conditions of just over 12 months ago show total multi-channel adspend at US$2.592 million for the industry but with just US$205 million for pan regional advertising buys. China leads with US$752 million; followed closely by India at US$739 million; and Taiwan at US$586 million.
However, in terms of the percentage of the total TV adspend, the numbers demonstrate considerable room for growth, in all representing just 17.5% of the US$14.79 billion on TV advertising in the Asia Pacific outside of Japan. The multi-channel total TV viewing share is now over 50% in multi-channel homes in many markets.
“This highlights the challenge the industry face in promoting itself to clients, agencies and the media community as a whole,” said Mr Fenez. “We need to address these issues through further engaging on a regular basis with the agency and client communities to articulate the value that multi-channel television brings to the advertising community and initiatives such as the launch of the CASBAA Media College for sales and marketing executives in Singapore on April 22nd. The CASBAA Council of Governors recognizes this issue and gives it the highest importance.”
