Satnews

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YouSee gains sight of multiscreen OTT service
Editor | 28-08-2012

In the wake of recently launched competing subscription-based online TV services, YouSee A/S, said to be the leading cable operator in Denmark, has launched an over-the-top (OTT) service to any TV.

In addition to attempting to maintain its current market position, YouSee is using the new multiscreen offer to broaden its reach beyond the boundaries of its HFC network to target new audiences.

To facilitate access to its service and content, in particular make its video on demand (VOD) service available on the television for any customer with a fixed or mobile broadband connection, YouSee will deploy Netgem's latest N7700 hybrid set-top box (STB) and its complementary middleware.

Explaining the deployment decision, YouSee’s Executive Vice President, Innovation and IT Anders Blauenfeldt said: "The key consideration for us is to bring content to the big screen and be able to attract a broader mainstream audience to the Web-TV on demand services. Netgem was able to meet these requirements and offers proven experience in deploying hybrid OTT services for a range of customers, so we are looking forward to the relationship in the coming years."

Christophe Aulnette, Chief Executive Officer of Netgem, added: "This new project highlights a key market trend. With over the top technologies, cable operators can today dramatically increase their addressable market and compete outside their traditional boundaries."

Netgem’s solution makes use of adaptive bitrate streaming to ensure viewers are able to receive a selection of OTT-delivered content in high quality from YouSee's film and TV-series content. Furthermore the middleware is designed to give viewers a richer experience and faster navigation than can be achieved by the use of TV apps and is designed to drive consumption of VOD and other TV services. The middleware could also allow external PVR functions, home network media sharing and web browsing in the future.

Moreover, Netgem says that its STB is equipped with a cable tuner and its hybrid capabilities give YouSee the option to offer products whether off-net or on-net. This versatility will give YouSee a future option to deploy the same STB over its HFC network to extend its full cable channel line-up with all the OTT VOD and interactive apps from the Web-TV service.

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AT&T taps IPTV, mobile usage data for next-gen advertising
Michelle Clancy | 28-08-2012

AT&T is planning on leveraging multiscreen IPTV and mobile usage data to supercharge its advertising value proposition, giving bra$$$ more specific targeting capability. The platform, scheduled to launch in September, is based on technology from its AdWorks division.


The carrier and IPTV provider already has two anchor customers for the service, as yet undisclosed.
The platform divorces usage, demographic and geographic data from specific profiles in order to avoid privacy issues, and then aggregates that information into buckets of user types based on common attributes, which bra$$$ can use to more effectively target their messaging. It uses data generated by the top 100 TV shows initally, and looks across a swath of TV programme viewing, including what's been downloaded on apps, clicked through to from games or watched via mobile device. A full 10 million U-Verse set-top boxes and 69 million mobile subscribers are part of the demographic sample.
Eventually, the telco hopes to offer full multi-screen visibility for even narrower targeting and a better understanding of user behaviour.

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Online video users prefer ad-funded to subscription-based services
Editor | 28-08-2012

As the online video discourse moves from deployment to monetisation, users are already opting for ad-funded as their preferred business model new research from YuMe and Frank N. Magid Associates has found.

Basically, the research shows that online video represents what the multi-screen video brand advertising software and solution provider calls a “transformative advertising opportunity”.

In the survey, 30% of Internet-connected households were found to have some form of connected TV nearly 90% of users noticed ads on the YouMe ad platform, particularly pre-roll with the majority of those users choosing to interact with the ads. Nearly a fifth of those subsequently purchase the product. Moreover, for streamed short-form content and TV shows, connected TV consumers strongly prefer ad-supported content to paid, ad-free content.

The survey found that professionally-produced full-length and short-form videos not on TV and cable are surging in popularity, with two-thirds of respondents saying they watch these. This rapid rise of this final category, what the research firm called “mid-tail" content, will be one to watch in the coming months and years.

On a multiple times per week basis, users streamed more short-form content (26%) more frequently than they viewed TV shows on networks (24%), and nearly as often as viewing TV streamed from the Internet (29%) and streamed films (31%).

In terms of monetisation, short-form video (59%) and streaming TV show (44%) consumers on connected TVs were said to prefer 15-30 second ads over monthly subscription or the pay-per-view model. However, the survey also found that connected TV users do not want advertisements interfering with their viewing experience once it has begun.

“This study confirms that connected TV represents a tremendous advertising opportunity for bra$$$ looking to generate consumer awareness and meaningful interactions," said Ed Haslam, senior vice president of marketing, YuMe. "In particular, the growth of short-form video content, and the willingness, even interest, of consumers to view advertising to view the content, speaks volumes about the opportunity here... For longer-form content, the study helps validate opportunities for ad units such as YuMe's First Impression, which enables bra$$$ to engage with their target audience before the user disappears into ad-free content, such as feature-length films from Netflix."

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Cablevison hits out as it reaches out to Tribune to resolve retrans row
Joseph O'Halloran | 28-08-2012

As the retrans row between the two companies seems further than ever away from resolution Cablevision has appealed to Tribune to restore its content to subscribers of the leading US cable operator.

On 21 August, Cablevision customers in the Hartford region found that they no longer had access to Tribune local news, traffic, weather, sports and entertainment programming provided by WTIC-TV. In addition, Tribune’s networks, WGN America and AntennaTV, will no longer be available to Cablevision subscribers who will also not gain access to programming such as New Girl, Glee, The Simpsons, and live sports like NFL Football, NASCAR and Major League Baseball.

Even though it says that the “bankrupt” Tribune Company “caused” it to black out WPIX and a number of smaller Tribune-owned stations, carried in a small portion of Connecticut, and alleging possible illegality in the action, Cablevision is appealing to the state’s FOX affiliate to solve the dispute.

In a statement it said: “After causing the blackout of WPIX on Cablevision a week ago, the Tribune Company has now pulled the plug on FOX CT in Hartford, even after Cablevision agreed to pay all the fees they demanded for this station. Tribune is illegally tying carriage of FOX CT to less-popular channels they also own, in an attempt to extract tens of millions in new fees from Cablevision customers. We call on Tribune to return FOX CT to our customers and work with us to reach a new agreement.”

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thePlatform unveils next-generation video commerce system
Editor | 28-08-2012

Sensing the emerging opportunity in online video monetisation, thePlatform, has unveiled its next-generation online video commerce system.

The white-label video publishing company said that its new platform is built to address the need for what it calls “increasingly sophisticated, transactional video business models,” maximising video monetisation windows with what it calls “advanced transactional capabilities.”

There is a pressing need for this says the company: it strongly believes that as content libraries grow, and windows of availability fluctuate, media and entertainment companies are seeking creative new approaches to monetise their premium video libraries complimenting pay walls, advertising, or authenticated subscriptions.

"The premium video marketplace is maturing beyond traditional monetisation vehicles," said Marty Roberts, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for thePlatform. "Companies are seeking a unified platform, like mpx, that brings together advertising, subscriptions, rentals, and purchases in one central place. Our new video commerce system will enable customers to differentiate and sell highly-customised video packages and promotions across screens."

The new video commerce system is designed to enable customers to create and apply pricing templates for transactional video business, including pay-per-view, season passes, download-to-own, and movie bundles for sequels and trilogies.it will allow operators to design custom content packages based on categories, such as action films, audience groups such as kids, and fan-favourites. It will also utilise advanced product tagging capabilities to connect media to the storefront, enforce pricing tiers, and allow deep search capability for consumers.

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RCS&RDS continues expansion
September 27, 2012 07.04 Europe/London By Chris Dziadul

Romania’s RCS&RDS has acquired the company Cobalt IT for a fee believed to be in the region â,¬2.3 million.

According to ZF, Cobalt IT operates iLink, which provides data services to over 23,000 subscribers.

Cobalt IT had a turnover of â,¬3.2 million and net loss of â,¬3.1 million last year, while its debts stood at â,¬25 million.

RCS&RDS, which is the leading cable and DTH operator in Romania, has reportedly taken on iLink’s network and customers, rather than the company itself.

Cobalt IT is the latest in a series of RCS&RDS acquisitions in recent months.

They include Telemach (Piatra-Neamt), Euro Cable (Timisoara) and Kabex Prodcom (Cluj).

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Numericable STB embedded in Loewe TVs

Pascale Paoli-Lebailly | 03-10-2012

The Mini-STB by Numericable will be embedded in German manufactured TV sets from Loewe as of the beginning of November.



This exclusive six-month partnership will allow Numericable’s subs to access, from all Loewe’s new TV sets, the same TV bouquet as with an at-home STB, including HD and 3DTVchannels, radio stations, and EPG.



Despite the partnership, further services such as VOD and catch-up TV will not be offered.

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Trendrr brings social TV on TF1’s format Danse avec les Stars

Pascale Paoli-Lebailly | 03-10-2012

French broadcaster TF1 has entered into a partnership with Trendrr to bring social TV to the new season of BBC Worldwide Productions France’s Danse avec les stars.



During the run, social data, both qualitative and quantitative, will be exploited in real time and included in the live programme as well as on MyTF1.



Every Saturday evening, viewers will be invited to comment the way celebrities are dancing and share impressions on social networks. The best messages will be screened live on screen while MyTF1 platform will offer exclusive and enriched contents.



After the show, the new La suite format Danse Avec Les Stars will offer a follow-up on social TV activity during the prime-time show.



“TF1 has already integrated since the last two years social talks about its programming. After the tweet replay, Trendrr’s solution goes further and help us strengthening the relation and engagement of our audience around TF1 brand and multi-screens programming,” said

Olivier Abecassis, Managing Director eTF1.

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ASA condemns Channel 4’s “irresponsible, offensive, prejudicial” and harmful to children ad campaign

Editor | 03-10-2012

For viewers a guilty pleasure and for the broadcaster a ratings smash, however Channel 4’s second series of Big Fat Gypsy Weddings has been slammed for endorsing negative prejudicial views and even “being harmful to children and depicting a child in a sexualised way.”



An adjudication by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority Council (ASA) has condemned thoroughly the advertising campaign that promoted the “Bigger, Fatter, Gypsier” series franchise, broadcast in February 2012, revealing the cultural aspects of the Irish traveller comity in the UK which regularly faces in-built prejudice.



David Enright, a partner with Howe & Co Solicitors, a UK law firm which acted for the Irish Travellers’ Movement in Britain (ITMB) and members of the Irish Traveller community in bringing formal complaints to the ASA about Channel 4’s advertising campaign, commented: “Sadly, racial discrimination against Travellers and Gypsies is seen as the last ‘socially acceptable’ form of racism in modern Britain. Appallingly, Channel 4’s advertising campaign promoted and endorsed negative prejudicial views. This is a stunning, landmark victory for Travellers and Gypsies, who are all too often portrayed negatively in the press and media. The billboard campaign was harmful to children and fell very short of the conduct required of any serious public broadcaster, especially when it depicted a Traveller child in a sexualised way. Senior executives within Channel 4 must consider their positions. The sponsors of the television programme, whose name appeared below these advertisements, should also consider whether it is happy to be associated with such irresponsible and harmful advertising, especially where children may have been harmed”.



Fellow partner Martin Howe called on those “involved in positively promoting such prejudicial views” to consider their suitability to be part of a mainstream public broadcaster.

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CAA Eleven nets UEFA national football commercial rights

Joseph O'Halloran | 03-10-2012

The executive committee of UEFA, European football’s governing body, has awarded the commercial rights management of its national team competitions to CAA Eleven who will be dedicated exclusively to managing the broadcasting, sponsorship and licensing rights.

What it means in practice is that CAA Eleven will manage the centralised commercial rights to the UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying and final tournaments competition as well as the European qualifying competition for the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the 24-team UEFA EURO 2016.



“Our strategic aim was to exploit the commercial rights for our national team competitions under one roof,” said UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino. “This would then allow us to offer a coherent approach in optimising overall revenue streams for our member associations going forward. A similar centralisation of commercial rights has helped to strengthen European club football over the past two decades, and we expect that the same will now happen for national team football on this continent.”



“We are honoured to have been selected by UEFA to represent the prestigious rights for UEFA’s national team competitions,” said David O’Connor, Managing Partner, CAA, which represents many of the most successful professionals working in film, television, music, video games, theatre, fashion and the Internet. “We look forward to working closely with our partners at UEFA, one of the world’s most respected governing bodies, and its 53 member associations, to create precedent-setting opportunities around the globe for these highly-coveted media assets.”

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Beeb stars with Zodiak rights

Joseph O'Halloran | 03-10-2012

German production company I&U TV Production has been commissioned by BBC One for Zodiak Rights to make The Brightest Briton for production company RDF Television.



Slotted for an early 2013 broadcast, the format sees a jury visit towns and cities across the UK to select performers who will act in front of a live studio audience, battling for the title and a large cash prize.



I&U Information und Unterhaltung TV Produktion GmbH & Co.KG produces primetime entertainment, weekly magazine shows, reports and docu-soaps. More than 120 brand new shows by I&U are broadcast each year on the major German TV stations. The company has around 136 employees.



This format acquisition deal from I&U TV Production followed Zodiak Rights’ acquisition of I&U’s format You’ve Got to be Kidding Me in 2011, which launched in Germany and resulted in two subsequent re commissions. Zodiak Rights owns worldwide rights (excluding Germany) to Nation’s Brightest.



Commenting on the deal, Paul Martin, Vice President of Entertainment, Zodiak Rights said:

“At a time when many broadcasters are looking beyond formulaic talent shows we feel Nation’s Brightest is a fantastic format that appeals across all age groups and to all walks of life. It is, at its heart, a show that anyone can participate in and anyone can enjoy as a viewer. We are sure that the BBC version will enjoy the same success as the original German show and we look forward to further international versions.”

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ThinkAnalytics takes recommendations engine to Microsoft Mediaroom

Editor | 03-10-2012

Multiplatform TV recommendations engine, ThinkAnalytics, has joined the Microsoft Mediaroom IPTV partner programme.



ThinkAnalytics’ Recommendations Engine has been deployed by more than 25 service providers, including Liberty Global, BSkyB, Virgin Media, ITV, and Telenet, and currently delivers Intelligent Navigation to more than 70 million licensed subscribers.



Under the terms of the new deal, the ThinkAnalytics Recommendations Engine will enable Mediaroom customers to deliver recommendations and intelligent viewing across IP-based video services to subscribers worldwide. Furthermore, ThinkAnalytics says that by enabling features that enrich the TV experience, such as viewer profiles or contextual applications, both on the main screen and devices, subscribers can experience more personalised TV through a unified user interface.



“With today’s announcement, we’re bringing the power and versatility of ThinkAnalytics to Mediaroom for the first time,” said Peter Docherty, Founder and CTO, ThinkAnalytics.

“Our ability to build multiple profiles per set-top box allows us to have unique recommendations for each person in a household. Bringing together live TV with set-top box viewing histories, combined with Mediaroom TV services, delivers very compelling and richer discovery and recommendations results for any video-enabled device.”

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China Telecom, China Unicom to purchase 6.2m IPTV terminals

Louise Duffy | 08-10-2012

China's two main fixed-line broadband carriers, China Telecom and China Unicom, are preparing to move into the television market, as both have put out tenders for the centralised procurement of IPTV terminals.

The two operators are expected to purchase a total of 6.2 million IPTV terminals as part of their drive to install their IPTV service in millions of Chinese homes.

According to the bidding invitation issued by China Unicom, there will be 1.34 million set top boxes (STB) to be procured, including 677,000 ones of standard definition and 659,000 of high definition.

In August, China Telecom launched the 2012 bidding for IPTV terminal devices in the hope of procuring about 4.86 million smart, high definition and standard definition STBs.

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CNN and Pakistan's Associate Group collaborate for Urdu news channel

Louise Duffy | 08-10-2012

Pakistan’s Associate Group (AG) and CNN International have signed a broadcast affiliate agreement to start an Urdu news channel, Dais.

The channel will be based in Lahore and will have bureaus in Islamabad and Karachi.

The agreement will give Dais access to a range of CNN video and news-gathering resources. It will also grant CNN reciprocal access to Dais's news coverage of Pakistan to complement its reporting from Islamabad.

This is AG’s second media venture, its first being Newsweek Pakistan, which is published under licence from The Newsweek/Daily Beast Company, LLC since 2010.

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Médecins Sans Frontières launches online news service

Louise Duffy | 08-10-2012

Médecins Sans Frontières Australia has launched an online news and documentary service.

Called MSF.TV, the service will report medical news across seven channels on matters such as protests against medical patents, giving care in conflict zones and the fall-out of Nigerian flooding.

The campaign is led by sustainability specialist Republic of Everyone, in collaboration with production company @radical.media, PR agency The Bravery and digital shop Heckler.

Production is guided by @radical.media, who has sent journalist crews to South Sudan and Papua New Guinea, as well as using Reuters and overnight Médecins Sans Frontières field reports to gather the news.