Satnews

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ZTE to release 3D STBs operating Android

Louise Duffy | 08-10-2012

China’s second-largest maker of telephone equipment, ZTE, plans to release 3D set-top boxes (STBs) that will run Google’s Android operating system.

The STBs will allow video-calling functions, and support the HTML5 language for displaying internet content. They will be sold in the near future, according to ZTE.

The announcement comes after ZTE reached an agreement allowing the company access to the digital-TV systems of Kudelski’s Nagra division. It enables ZTE to sell intelligent STBs to customers of Nagra, which has a 70% share of Europe’s market for cable-TV devices, and 18% globally, ZTE said.

Meanwhile, in the US, a House intelligence committee report says ZTE, along with China's Huawei Technologies, poses a security threat and “cannot be trusted to be free of foreign state influence".

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Fox Football Channel launches on HyppTV in Malaysia

Louise Duffy | 08-10-2012

ESPN STAR Sports has launched the Fox Football Channel in Malaysia through Telekom Malaysia's IPTV service HyppTV.

The channel features more than 500 league matches from a range of football leagues. The service broadcasts a mix of live matches, highlights, magazine shows and football news and updates.

Coverage includes matches from the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, Argentina’s Primera División, the Eredivisie Dutch League and the Russian Premier Liga.

Peter Hutton, MD of ESPN STAR Sports, said: “We’re very happy to be part of the first ever sports pack on HyppTV and are delighted to launch our first Fox-branded sports channel in Asia. Round the clock football content from the top international leagues is a great way to begin and we look forward to a long and fruitful partnership with HyppTV

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Syfy licences Chile's Opposite Worlds format for U.S.

Gabriel Miramar-Garcia | 09-10-2012

Cable net Syfy has announced it will bring the mega-sensation reality series Opposite Worlds â€" which transfixes half of Chile's television audience each week with its battle of the Past versus the Future â€" to the United States. Syfy acquired the exclusive U.S. format rights from Canal 13 and distributor Banijay International.

In Opposite Worlds, twenty people from all walks of life are mixed together in two opposing teams that live in two distinctly different worlds â€" the Past and the Future. The Future is a Utopia where every wish can be granted with a push of a button; the Past is a constant struggle for survival. Each week, players compete in a series of challenges to determine who lives in the Past and who lives in the Future.

"Opposite Worlds has become an absolute phenomenon," said Mark Stern, president of original content at Syfy, and co-head of original content at Universal Cable Productions. "This groundbreaking, edgy program is a remarkable television experiment transporting the audience and the contestants into starkly opposite worlds, simultaneously. This will be a terrific addition to our prime time schedule which will fascinate Syfy viewers and invite them to play a part in the action and outcome."

Opposite Worlds will consist of 12 episodes over six weeks, marking the first time Syfy has ever aired an original series twice a week.

The deal follows Syfy's success with international game show hit Total Blackout, which pits contestants against unknown, often disgusting and always dubious things in pitch blackness. Paradigm brokered the deal with Syfy on behalf of Banijay International and Canal 13. The acquisition comes just ahead of MIPCOM 2012, where Banijay International will officially launch the Opposite Worlds format to the global market.

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FOX to distribute DreamWorks globally

Michelle Clancy | 09-10-2012

20th Century Fox has signed a distribution deal DreamWorks Animation to begin in November 2012, giving it worldwide distribution rights for the studio across platforms. FOX will receive 8% of gross revenue per title for handling theatrical, physical and international television distribution, and 6% for licencing digital rightsâ€"the latter is a step down from the 8% it was paying Paramount, its previous global distributor.

FOX will not however handle domestic television distribution. DreamWorks has signed a deal with Netflix to debut new movies within the cable VOD window beginning in 2013, with library content to followâ€"and the studio has decided to keep other domestic cable, IPTV and satellite distribution in-house.

DreamWorks said that it will up its output, releasing three films per year between 2013 and 2016.

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Starz launches TV Everywhere service

Michelle Clancy | 09-10-2012

Starz Entertainment is getting on board the TV Everywhere bus, taking a cue from HBO GO and allowing authenticated pay-TV subscribers to access its content via dedicated, native apps for a range of connected devices. Its first deal with cable operator Cox Communications.

At the beginning of the year, Starz opted not to renew a content licencing deal with Netflix, opening the door for digital distribution arrangements with cable, satellite and IPTV operators. The company said it expects other deals to follow the Cox agreement, the terms of which were not revealed. The premium cable net's asking price for a renewal deal with Netflix was rumoured to have topped $300 million per yearâ€"up from the $30 million that Netflix had originally contracted for.

The two initial online and mobile services will be dubbed Starz Play and Encore Play, and will be followed by Movieplex Play eventually, the company said. Together, the three services offer around 1,500 movies, originals and other TV content every month: Starz Play offers approximately 400, Encore Play about 900, and Movieplex Play about 200 pieces of content every month. Starz Play for instance will launch with complete seasons of Starz original series Spartacus, Magic City and Boss, first-run movies from Disney and Sony, as well as library films from various studios.

The services are available for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, with Android and gaming console apps coming soon.

The strategy complements Starz' integrated access deals to be present in pay-TV partners' video on demand (VOD) and online stables, such as Comcast Xfinity. "Starz and Encore have long been pioneers in the deployment of advanced services, being the first premium networks to offer authenticated access to our programing through distributors' online platforms," said CEO Chris Albrecht, in a statement. "Now, from big screens to mobile devices, a deep collection of movies and original programming from Starz and Encore provides a winning combination for both our distributors and customers."

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DISH and Gannett settle dispute, but AutoHop questions remain

Michelle Clancy | 09-10-2012

DISH and Gannett Co. extended their retransmission negotiations past the blackout deadline in Sunday night and have managed to come to a deal over renewing content carriage for Gannett's 22 local TV affiliate stationsâ€"terms undisclosed. But that was not before a war of words brought AutoHop into the mix, DISH's commercial-skipping feature within its DVR that it is facing litigation over from broadcasters.

"Gannett's dema$$$ translate into more than a 300 percent rate increase, which would likely result in higher monthly fees for consumers," the satellite operator said in a statement. "Additionally, Gannett has demanded that DISH eliminate customer-enabled commercial-skipping technology found on its Hopper Whole-Home DVRs or pay a massive penalty."

DISH warmed well to its theme. "Viewers have been skipping commercials in the privacy of their own homes for generations," said Dave Shull, DISH senior vice president of programming, in a statement. "The TV industry should be ... delivering innovation and viewer control. Gannett is stifling innovation and crushing customer choice and control. That's insulting to our subscribers and we won't stand for it."

But a Gannett source with "direct knowledge of the negotiations" told SNL Kagan that Auto Hop was not an issue in the negotiations. "It's not about the Auto Hop," the source said.

TV station owner Hoak Media recently had a similar retrans dispute with DISH, during which the satellite broadcaster once again referred to AutoHop as a sticking point. Rich Adams, executive vice president and COO of Hoak Media, told SNL Kagan at the time that "there's been really no discussion about this technology in our negotiations."

He suggested the AutoHop spotlight may be a media stunt. "The customers of DISH who are our viewers don't know about it, no one's ever seen it," he told the research firm. "And so I think they've done a pretty smart marketing move in trying to shine a light on it by saying we have a problem with it."

But given the lawsuits that DISH faces from CBS, ABC, NBC and FOX, "Broadcasters are absolutely making an issue of it," said SNL Kagan analyst Robin Flynn. "Advertising is how they pay for programming, and the fact that DISH is providing customers with the means to skip commercials is a huge issue for TV station owners and networks."

AutoHop lets customers automatically skip commercials in programming that has been pre-recorded on the DISH DVRâ€"a feature that has sparked outrage at the national networks. Only time will tell AutoHop's fateâ€"there could be movement in the broadcaster's lawsuit against the feature as early as this week.

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DramaFever expa$$$ its Latin America focus

Gabriel Miramar-Garcia | 09-10-2012

Content aggregator DramaFever, which offers a licenced collection of Spanish-language primetime TV and telenovelas available online for free for Americans and Canadians, said that is rolling out new Spanish-language shows, a new bilingual player with built-in social features and a new integrated site, dubbed En Espanol. It also said that it has signed deals with TV networks and producers in Argentina and Spain, as well as with iTunes and Netflix, for worldwide distribution.

DramaFever.com is perhaps best known for its Asian content, and offers TV dramas, action, comedies and music shows from Korea, China, Taiwan, Japan, Philippines and Singapore. Hulu, and now Netflix and iTunes customers also have access to DramaFever's curated selections of popular South Korean dramas. After one week in the U.S. iTunes store, two Korean romantic comedies, Boys Over Flowers and Heartstrings, broke the iTunes Top 200.

Now, it is adding yet more Spanish language fare. For instance, ABC recently announced it will remake Argentina's Mujeres Asesinas with Modern Family's Sofia Vergara, and DramaFever will be streaming the original series.

"We believe the shows from Argentina and Spain will authentically connect with surprisingly broad audiences, just as Korean dramas have, proving that we're creating new audiences and higher revenues for our partners and more meaningful marketing opportunities for advertisers," said co-founder Suk Park.

The new bilingual player and enhanced site automatically detects a viewer's region and has features to predict language preference, target ads and limit videos to only those outside of a content partner's existing market.

DramaFever reports more than 3 million monthly streaming users, who on average watch over three hours of videos each month. More than 85% of DramaFever's U.S. consumers watching Asian series are of non-Asian descent.

DramaFever is available for free on the web at

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www.dramafever.com and on Apple iOS devices, Android, Google TV and Roku. Premium subscribers can watch without ads and free registered subscribers experience less frequent advertisements than unregistered users, plus get additional features and controls.

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Telesat holds Hellas-Sat ace

By Chris Forrester



The Hellas-Sat on/off sale process has been taking place â€" or not taking place â€" for the best part of two years. Greece’s near-bankrupt position makes a sale ever-more urgent, and it has been widely reported that Greek telco OTE (itself controlled by Deutsche Telekom) is seeking around â,¬150 million from the sale of Hellas-Sat. Both SES and Eutelsat have publicly expressed an interest in acquiring Hellas-Sat.
However, there is a potential problem in the sale plans in the shape of Telesat of Canada. Telesat confirms it remains a “direct holder of a small minority stake” in Hellas-Sat, although declines to provide any background information on the status and influence that its modest stake might have.
OTE, in its latest financial statement, says it controls 99.1 per cent of Hellas-Sat SA. Ten years ago the position was a little different, and the then (Cyprus-based) Hellas Sat Consortium, which later morphed into Hellas-Sat itself, saw the Cyprus Development Bank/Avacom-Net owning 55 per cent between them, OTE with 25 per cent and Hellenic Aerospace (EAB) with 10 per cent. The remaining 10 per cent was held by Canada’s Telesat in return for participating in the funding. Telesat had “partnered” with Cyprus’ AvacomNet in the development of the concept. The Greek government, of course, still owns about 10 per cent of OTE itself, and is thus a key player in the overall strategy.
A 2008 study (‘Digital Television in Europe’, Edited by Wendy Van den Broek & Jo Pierson) talks of Telesat’s stake in Hellas-Sat being just 0.39 per cent. This minute stake is seen as a challenging obstacle to the sale, in that the terms of Telesat’s holding gives them â€" in terms â€" the right of first refusal over the any sale and how the sale is conducted.
The strategy seemed to have been that Hellas-Sat would be offered for sale at an auction, and that the price achieved could be matched by Telesat if the Canadians wanted the business. This simple process is, however, not quite so straightforward in terms of its execution. The terms of Telesat’s pre-emption rights do not permit this process. Inside Satellite TV understa$$$ that it is â€" in general terms â€" the reverse of this which is allowed, whereby Hellas-Sat has to propose a price and offer that price first to Telesat. Should Telesat accept the price then it gets the prize. If Telesat declines the offered terms, then the offer can be made to the other major operators. Should that offer be declined by the likes of SES, Eutelsat or anyone else, then another price has to be evaluated and the process started all over again. It is not an easy process to understand or contemplate for either the selling Hellas-Sat or any potential buyer.

Industry observers suggest that at long last the Hellas-Sat sale could now get underway, and that Telesat is now ready for a sale. The lawyers are said to be involved, looking at how a sale can be constructed which satisfies all parties. The ‘sale’ having been bubbling under now for so long is said to be potentially having a destabilising influence on staff, and Hellas-Sat’s own â€" and necessary â€" plans to procure a replacement craft. Of course, Telesat itself could well be a buyer, either for its own longer-term use or to re-sell subsequently at a typical Dan Goldberg (president of Telesat) profit!


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Hellas-Sat 2 had a complicated history. In January 1997, Intelsat contracted with Matra Marconi Space to build Intelsat K-TV. The contract was transferred to New Skies Satellites in May 1998, when it was renamed NSS-6. In March 1999, it was shipped to Kourou for launch on an Ariane 4 vehicle but returned to the factory after a defect was found in its solar arrays. New Skies cancelled the contract when the Asia/Pacific market collapsed. Intelsat again bought the stored satellite, renaming it Intelsat APR-3 (or Sinosat-1B), in February 2001, but with the requirement of launching on a Chinese Long March 3B as part of an agreement involving Sino Satellite Communications Co. Finally bought by Hellas-Sat it was launched aboard an Atlas-5 rocket in May 2003.

Data: Jane’s Space Systems & History

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MIPCOM 2012: SmartJog runs out Cloud4Media for media management and distribution   

Editor    | 09-10-2012   

TDF Media Services subsidiary SmartJog, has launched a new solution for the end-to-end management and delivery of content to connected devices.
Cloud4Media will be a next generation platform for the management and distribution of entertainment industry media acting on a SaaS (Software as a Service) basis that centralises the management, storage and delivery of digital media content. Incorporated directly within customer environments, Cloud4Media is designed to streamline workflows and accelerate and simplify exchanges between players in the entertainment industry such as right holders, broadcasters, VOD platforms, IFE and IPTV players.

The new platform is claimed to offer unlimited storage capacity with mirrored data centres in Paris and Los Angeles with an express file delivery service (server to server) based on a high-performance network infrastructure. A Bolt Transfer Manager capability acts as a file exchange service designed to allow users to send content to all entertainment industry players, regardless of their technical background or physical location. Forthcoming features will include professional transcoding tools, metadata processing and an automatic quality check system.
"With the multiplication of media platformsâ€"computers, tablets, smartphones, connected TVsâ€"our customers are looking for increasingly flexible, efficient and secure global solutions to manage their content. For these reasons, we are proud to propose today, highly competitive offers to meet customer needs in terms of time constraints, file formats and geographical locations" commented Jean-Sébastien Petit, CEO of SmartJog.

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BBC heads content partners as YouTube goes global with original channels   

Joseph O'Halloran    | 09-10-2012   

Nearly a year since it originally announced that it would enter the world of original channels, YouTube has made a step change to such offerings from France, Germany, the UK and the US.
Hosted original content from the world’s leading broadcasters has proved very successful for the online video behemoth now averages over a million views every week, with 800 million users watching four billion hours every month. In terms of growth hours are up from three billion hours earlier in 2012 with the number of people subscribing doubling year-on-year. Google says that its YouTube partners are reaching the 100,000 subscriber mark five times faster than they were just two years ago.
Content to be offered by the new channels encompasses local cuisine, health and wellness and parenting to sports, music, comedy, animation and news and at the vanguard of the new offering is a slate from BBC Worldwide.

BBC Worldwide currently manages six channels on YouTube, with the most popular being BBC Worldwide, Top Gear and EastEnders. BBC Worldwide believes that this latest deal will support the ambition to drive subscribers and views through the combination of high quality originated content and unlocking more of the BBC’s archive. To date there are 1.7 million subscribers to these channels which have been re-branded.
The BBC’s commercial arm of the BBC will offer two brand new original content channels including a new nature channel, showcasing films created by the commercially funded BBC Earth Productions, based in Bristol, the home of the BBC's Natural History Unit. Another topical science channel, produced in partnership with 360 Productions, will launch in early 2013.
Commented Daniel Heaf, EVP & Managing Director Digital at BBC Worldwide says: “BBC Worldwide is very excited about expanding our successful relationship with YouTube. Not only is it a place to distribute the best British content around the world it will, through our original content, be a place where we can experiment with new forms of creativity. We couldn’t be more thrilled at the prospects this brings our company, indies and audiences alike.”
BBC Worldwide will also be launching a selection of long-form programming in the UK and Canada for the first time, including the first ever episodes of EastEnders, classic comedy The Likely Lads, a selection from the BBC’s Shakespeare Collection and The Trials of Life and other dramas such as Campion and The Onedin Line.
A third strand of the deal sees BBC Worldwide renew its commitment to continue to add to its existing selection of over 8,000 clips, across its six bespoke redesigned channel

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MIPCOM 2012: HBO Nordic inks licensing partnership with Starz Media

Joseph O'Halloran    | 09-10-2012   

Upping the ante in the growing OTT market in Scandinavia, HBO Nordic has signed a new premium content licensing agreement with Starz Media Worldwide Distribution.
The agreement will see STARZ Original series and other owned and licensed movie/TV programming launch on the new multi-platform video distribution venture, which will serve Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark.

Content will be available exclusively on a pay-TV and subscription VOD (SVOD) basics including Spartacus for SVOD services and the STARZ Original series, Magic City, exclusively for pay-TV and SVOD. Additional original programming for pay TV and SVOD comprises Party Down, Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis, Head Case as well as TV movies such as Jersey Shore Shark Attack, The 12 Wishes for Christmas and Painkiller Jane, Masters of Horror and Masters of Science Fiction. HBO Nordic will also exclusively air future STARZ Original series and additional movie content.
"HBO Nordic is very pleased to license a wide collection of original series and other TV and movie content from Starz,” commented Hervé Payan, CEO of HBO Nordic explaining the rationale behind the deal. “‘Magic City’ was one of the primary featured series aired exclusively at our upcoming launch. We are also very excited to have licensed Spartacus for SVOD, along with several future original series from Starz exclusively for our customers.”

“The licensing agreement with HBO Nordic brings a treasure trove of great movie and TV content that should play well to all audiences in Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark,” added Gene George, Executive Vice President of Worldwide Distribution for Starz Media. “We are thrilled to be continuing our ongoing relationship with HBO abroad, as they launch in Scandinavia and feel privileged that several key Starz properties will be instrumental in their launch. This deal really spotlights the compelling collection of STARZ Original series and other owned/acquired content that we sell to distributors worldwide.”

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MIPCOM 2012: Lagardère Active, Spacetoon strike cooperation agreement   

Pascale Paoli-Lebailly    | 09-10-2012   

Lagardère Active’s youth channels (TiJi, Canal j, Gulli) have forged a partnership agreement with Spacetoon Kids TV, a major media broadcasting group in Middle East and North Africa.
Signed up by Antoine Villeneuve, CEO TV channels of Lagardère Active and Fayez Weiss Alsabbagh, CEO of Spacetoon Kids TV, this cooperation agreement is intended to broaden the initial distribution platform offered to independent kids content providers. It proposes exclusive free and pay-TV broadcasting rights for acquisition as well as licensing, publishing and coproduction of new media properties.
The deal will cover France and Russia where Gulli and TiJi operate. Through the current deal with Switchover Media (K2 and FRISBEE), Italy will also be covered, and also the Middle East where free to air TV Channels Spacetoon TV Network is available.
With a viewership of 93 million people in 22 countries, Spacetoon TV Channels will consolidate with the existing French platform for a total more than 130 million viewers.

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MIPCOM 2012: Zodiak launches Fast, Furious and Funny channel on You Tube   

Pascale Paoli-Lebailly    | 09-10-2012   

Zodiak Active and Zodiak Media company Bullseye are to bring the new channel Fast, Furious and Funny on You Tube as part on the platform’s original channels initiative from the UK, France and Germany.
Due for release in 2013, and featuring the excesses of motoring, the new channel, will be managed by Zodiak Active with video content conceived and produced by Bullseye.
The Euro centric production and distribution indie group also revealed at the Cannes festival that French TV series Braquo (Capa Drama), whose international distribution is handled by Zodiak, will be available exclusively to US audiences on the over the top (OTT) Hulu and Hulu Plus subscription services. A remake of the series is also being pitched to US broadcasters.
The new platforms such as Hulu, Google and You Tube, along with emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia and Asia, are regarded as key opportunities for the company’s growth.
Posting $800 million revenues in 2012, two-thirds of which from Europe and with 45 companies set into 20 countries, Zodiak is investing $40 million in new intellectual property, development and acquisitions in all genres, ranging from kids, to scripted, entertainment and factual programming.
“Zodiak Media is also forecasting opportunity for growth in America, where the group has now offices in Los Angeles and New York,” commented CEO David Franck.
The geographical area represents less than 10% of group revenues at present but this is forecast to reach 20% within the next three years. Zodiak Media plans to invest around $50 million including acquisitions and will also seek opportunities in Latin America and Canada.

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MIPCOM 2012: Freemantle becomes Vuguru’s distribution partner

Pascale Paoli-Lebailly    | 09-10-2012   

FremantleMedia Enterprises and Michael Eisner’s Vuguru LLC have inked a first-look deal for international rights to the multiplatform studio’s original commission programming.
FME will distribute Vuguru original content across all digital, linear and home entertainment platforms outside North America from 2013.
“This deal builds on and augments FME’s burgeoning digital strategy,” Davide Ellender, FME Global CEO commented.
Fremantle, which is also adding two German channels to its line-up of YouTube originals, Urban Life and Crime Channel, explained at a press conference in Cannes “that it’s good to be in the business especially if you’re a global player…The question is not about TV shows anymore but to build show bra$$$ and make retail business around the bra$$$,” added Cécile Frot-Coutaz, CEO Fremantle Medi.
The group which has 90 channels on You Tube works with all digital platforms including Hulu, Netflix and Yahoo. Regarding global distribution, “digital has the third way after broadcast and cable” FME concluded.

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High definition sport tops TV table
October 9, 2012 11.29 Europe/London By Julian Clover

The number of HD channels available in Europe has reached 941, according to the European Audiovisual Observatory.

The UK (229), Germany (108) and France (95) are home to the highest number of channels.

According to the Observatory, the first three months of 2012 witnessed an important acceleration of the launching of new channels. From 274 at the end of 2009, the number of channels raised to 612 at the end of 2011 and 941 end of September 2012 (+54%).

Sport, film and general entertainment channels (the main private and public service channels) have consistently been the most important HD channels, followed by documentary, entertainment and television fiction channels (Graph 2).

However, the gap between sport and the other genres has increased dramatically in the last year.

Satellite and cable remain the most important platforms for HD delivery, but as of October 2012 there were a total of 116 channels available on various DTT networks across Europe.

The UK is home to many important families of channels including Discovery and National Geographic that target the rest of Europe, while Sky also offers a significant number of HD channels. France is home to a wide range of Eurosport channels targeting the rest of Europe and Sweden is the origin of the Viasat channels that target the Nordic states.

The HBO family of channels that provide HD channels to a range of countries in central and eastern Europe are based in the Czech Republic. The Sky satellite platform in Italy contributes to the HD market with 30 channels. More than half of the NSFW HD channels in Europe are based in the Netherla$$$.