Satnews

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MIPCOM 2012: teamWorx, EOS/Beta team on Hitler TV biopic

Pascale Paoli-Lebailly | 11-10-2012

Nico Hofmann and Jan Mojto, the managing directors of teamWorx Fernsehen & Film and EOS/Beta Film have announced an eight episode series based on the biography “Hitler’s First War” by the historian Thomas Weber.

The series begins with World War I in 1914 and e$$$ with Hitler’s death in 1945. Author and director is Niki Stein, whose latest film Rommel was also produced by teamWorx, with co-author Hark Bohm. As with the Rommel production, the entire project will analytically reproduce the latest state of historical research.

Both companies had already worked on almost 30 programs over twelve years including Dresden, Storm Tide!, Operation Valkyrie, Hindenburg and The Tower.

Nico Hofmann and Jan Mojto also announced two other historical serial projects: Berlin Kurfürstendamm that depicts the story of three young women in Berlin’s tumultuous 1950s and The Doctors. This latter project plays out in the late 19th century in the world-famous Charité Clinic in the centre of Berlin.

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iConcerts forges partnership with Universal for music video

Editor | 11-10-2012

Transmedia subsidiary iConcerts has struck a first time partnership deal with Universal Music France, to show the label’s music programmes on its HDTV channel.

This deal comes hot off the heels of a recently announced VOD partnership between Universal Music France and iConcerts, whereby iConcerts has gained access to the full Universal music VOD catalogue, for distribution across its audiovisual platforms exclusively in France.

As part of the new arrangement, iConcerts, which broadcasts out of France to more than 80 countries worldwide, now has the rights for 20 Universal shows that will include A-list artists such as Kanye West, Amy Winehouse, Nelly Furtado, Gwen Stefani, Mika, and Oasis, as well as legendary performers such as Bob Marley, and Jimi Hendrix, to mention just a few.

“Thus far, iConcerts has worked closely with artists and concert producers, but this deal marks the first time we have collaborated with a major music label - a logical and exciting step in the development of our brand,” said Natalia Tsarkova, iConcerts Founder and CEO.

“We are delighted by this partnership with iConcerts, which, in addition to providing more exposure of our artists, is also in line with our objective to further develop the audio-visual branch of Universal Music,” said Antoine Benichou, Head of Universal Music France, AudioVisual Department.

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Studio 100 Media signs up kids package

Jörn Krieger | 11-10-2012

Studio 100 Media, a German production and distribution company specialised in children's and family programmes, has brokered a distribution deal with Kiddinx Media, part of Berlin-based Good Time Holding, covering several animation shows.

The agreement of which financial details have not been disclosed comprises the exclusive distribution rights to TV, home entertainment and VOD platforms for pre-school series Benjamin the Elephant (52x26'), Benjamin Specials (4x45'), Bibi & Tina (39x26') and the new fourth season of Bibi Blocksberg (52x26').

Studio 100 Media has acquired the worldwide distribution rights excluding Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland. The license term covers a three-year period until 2015.

"It is a pleasure to be distributing Kiddinx shows and providing the international market with good quality, fun and exciting programming," Patrick Elmendorff, managing director of Studio 100 Media, said in Munich. "These great series are a perfect fit for our portfolio of entertaining and non-violent kids shows."

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MIPCOM 2012: myZen.tv introduces new coaching

Pascale Paoli-Lebailly | 11-10-2012

Wellbeing-focused channel myZen.tv is transitioning from voice-guided content to a new coaching approach to further extend wellness and relaxation inside the home.

From December, the channel’s subscribers will enjoy what is described as a “continuous tranquil experience” with the channel’s new instructor-led programming line-up.

The new program grid will offer content guided by multigenerational and multicultural live coaches including yoga, stretching, Pilates, Tai Chi, meditation and more, all filmed in HD and in natural la$$$capes worldwide.

"In today's stressful society, myZen.tv's primary focus is to provide viewers with an escape. By evolving to instructor-led content, we continue our mission to find alternatives to fight anxiety and simply help people lead a happier and relaxing life,” CEO Bruno Lecluse commented.

A subsidiary of French independent media group Télé Melody, MyZen.tv is carried on cable, IPTV and DTH platforms. It is available on-demand in eight languages, and for broadcast linear in France on three major platforms and in three languages in 40 countries around the world.

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Canal+ to broadcast African football

Pascale Paoli-Lebailly | 11-10-2012

French pay-TV group Canal+ has struck a deal with The African Football Confederation over all the exclusive rights to African football senior men competitions.

Canal+ will then offer several meetings on affiliate channels Canal+, Canal+ Sport, Sport+ and Foot+ including the African Cup of Nations 2013 and 2015, and The African Nations Championship. Some opening and closing matches will be co-hosted with free TV affiliate channel D8.

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MIPCOM 2012: Telemundo signs volume deal with France Ã"

Pascale Paoli-Lebailly | 11-10-2012

Telemundo’s distribution arm, Telemundo Internacional, has signed a three-year volume deal with France Televisions by which a m

inimum of 900 hours of contents will go to channel France Ã", dedicated to French overseas territories.

Announcing the sale in Cannes, both partners said contents will be dubbed into French and the pair will cooperate to distribute the same shows to all French-speaking territories.

The deal also comprises a joint online strategy covering digital platforms in the same territories. France TV will additionally have the rights to option and locally adapt series from the Telemundo catalogue.

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Telcos strike back as European pay-TV to grow steadily to 2017

Joseph O'Halloran | 11-10-2012

The recession-busting pay-TV market will continue its impressive growth throughout Europe over the next five years, according to a new study from Rethink Technology Research.

The Telcos Strike Back report suggests that European pay-TV added 10 million new pay-TV homes in the last 12 months alone and will reach 152 million by 2017.

The report shows a renaissance among telcos which Rethink says are growing faster than any other segment of European pay-TV market and are set to become serious contenders holding their own in broadband and the quad play against cable companies. Drivers for this growth are operators embracing VDSL and vectoring.

Indeed the analyst calculates that the IPTV market grew from 20 million to 25 million pay-TV customers in the past year and is set to double over the next six years to reach 43.3 million customers.

Overall the report suggest that the pay-TV industry will move from a position where cable is just about dominant, ahead of DTH, to a point where DTH satellite delivered pay-TV will overtake cable as Europe’s favourite TV technology, as cable players continue to focus on triple play and broadband wins. At the same time IPTV will grow substantially from 6% to account for a quarter of the total pay-TV market, while pay DTT appears to be going backwards.

The largest pay-TV players will be DTH behemoth BSkyB, Liberty Global in cable and Vivendi with DTH and IPTV plays. These will be followed by Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom and Iliad’s Free. Rethink says that the latter will show growth both within IPTV and through the addition of DTH services to run alongside them.

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BSkyB to ‘tighten belt’ after EPL football rights deal

Editor | 11-10-2012

Paying £2.3 billion to keep its grip on the corporate crown jewels of English Premier League football will mean belt tightening in ‘other areas’ BSkyB MD Barney Francis has conceded.

Speaking at the second Leaders in Football conference at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge home, the executive conceded that the company would have to absorb the cost by saving costs in other parts of the business.

In June 2012, the English Premier League sold the rights for seven TV packages for the 2013/14 to 2015/16 football seasons for an overall value of £3.018 billion. The seven rights packagesâ€"comprising five of 26 matches and two of 12 matchesâ€"with BSkyB securing packages B, C, D, E and F totalling 116 matches and BT Vision grabbing packages A and G with 38 matches. The deal represents an incredible increase of £1.25 billion on the current broadcast settlement, which shares rights between BSkyB and ESPN.

It is generally thought that the astronomical figures paid for rights was driven by a major play by Al Jazeera which forced an unprecedented second round of bidding. Losing the rights to the Premier League would have put into question the whole future of Sky and new deal will cements the company’s place as the engine of UK pay-TV.

However, Francis conceded that accommodating such a huge payments meant making strategic priorities and to trim cots in other parts of the business to preserve the football coverage.

He told delegates at the conference: “We have flexibility to absorb the bulk of these costs but it is a challenge for the whole company and choices have to be made…That's not necessarily less money for other sports but we have to tighten our belts on some of those. We had to make some tough choices and one of those was around Premiership Rugby…Premiership Rugby made a decision to go with BT, it wasn't particularly working for us and we were the junior partners."

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Illegal TV network operating in Malaysia, arrests and raids made

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Police arrested 12 people and busted what is believed to be a first-of-its-kind illegal Internet Pay Television (IPTV) syndicate in the country, which even offered five pornography channels from Asia.

Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department deputy director II Senior Asst Comm Datuk Mohd Rodwan Mohd Yusuf said nine men and three women, aged between 28 and 40, were detained.

They were arrested in a joint operation with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and Cyber Security Malaysia, in five separate raids in Penang, Kedah and Perlis on Thursday.

Police seized an assortment of items like servers, computers and decoders worth about RM400,000 used in broadcasting movies from Hong Kong, China, Thailand and Indonesia.

“With the arrests and the seizure, police have crippled a syndicate that had been operating over the past year,” SAC Mohd Rodwan told reporters here yesterday.

Also present were Bukit Aman commercial crime senior operations officer Supt Teh Eng Hin and Putrajaya MCMC officer Mazlan Othman.

“During a one-month surveillance, we obtained information that the company was providing IPTV services illegally,” he said, adding that the three agencies then raided the Park View Tower condominium here at about 11pm.

“We found that the suspects were using the sixth floor as their operations centre to provide applications and content to customers nationwide,” he added.

Among those arrested were a couple the husband who is believed to be the administrator while his wife is said to be a secondary school teacher.

Seven of them had since been released on bail while the other five had been remanded till Monday for questioning.

The syndicate managed to sign up at least 2,000 customers in the space of a year.

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online video advertising continues to be an important monetization tool

Michelle Clancy | 12-10-2012

Last year saw a milestone for online video monetization: there were 693 billion ad-funded video streams in 2011, research from IMS Research has revealed.

And, going forward, advertising revenues are projected to reach $13.4 billion in 2017, while more than $20.6 billion in revenue will be created from transactional and subscription over-the-top (OTT) video services.

IMS Research Principal Analyst Anna Hunt said growth in OTT video advertising will be mainly driven by the growth of short-form content streaming via tablets and PCs.

"Companies such as Google and AOL will have a significant share of these revenues, as they implement tactics such as forming new strategic relationships to monetize original video assets, directly approaching ad buyers and offering guarantees for audience delivery," she said.

However, smaller streamers outside of the AOLs and Googles of the world will struggle to develop effective business models and boosts revenue potential, according to the report, and will need to consider a blend of models outside of pure advertising support.

"Although most companies are not large enough to sustain their business solely on OTT advertising revenues, aside for widely-popular portals such as YouTube, advertising is and will continue to be an effective method of monetizing OTT video," Hunt said.

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MIPCOM 2012: Orange expa$$$ social TV and transmedia products across Europe

Pascale Paoli-Lebailly | 12-10-2012

As part of its new content aggregator strategy, French operator Orange aims to expand on its Orange TV offering with new transmedia and social TV products.

"Our focus is currently to provide new services to subscribers and drive them towards new usages,” Orange Content Director Serge Laroye explained in Cannes to RapidTV News.

In partnership with Lexis Numérique, Orange’s new transmedia interactive game/series Alt-Mi$$$ will be launched on 5 November on the web, smartphones and tablets, and cross Europe in more than 37 countries. This 8-episode real-time adventure will be offered into four languages (English, French, Spanish and German), in Orange Euro territories and beyond. Viewers can play owing to various stages of engagement, or simply watch the 5 hours video, shot in English with US actors.

Alt-Mi$$$ is based on a pay-model ranging from â,¬3 the week to 15-20 for the global experience. “This is an experimental version of what social TV could become. We’re targeting young adults in the 18-35 demo and fans of series,” added Orange’s gaming and transmedia head, Jean-François Rodriguez.

In the short term, Alt-Mi$$$ project could be exported and an interest from Latin America has already been shown for Orange’s technical platform.

Aiming at making the broadcast and internet worlds converging, Orange, which has a deal with video sharing platform Dailymotion, is also looking forwards expanding OTT and SVOD services in Europe and Africa. “We now offer a full universe of contents and associated services, in which cloud gaming is also a new key element, and want to exploit it across all digital platforms,” Laroye concludes.

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New online TV for opera fans

Jörn Krieger | 12-10-2012

Good news for lovers of classical music: Sonostream.tv, a new online platform from Austria, wants to provide national and international opera productions to a worldwide audience as live-streams through the internet.

The free-of-charge offering operated by Vienna-based agency Sono Artists Consulting will launch early next week. The line-up will comprise live transmissions from various concert venues in Vienna - both from large stages as well as small and less known locations. Support is provided by Vienna's tourism organisation Wien Tourismus.

The first highlight will be the debut of the rarely played Rossini opera "La cambiale di matrimonio" of Theater an der Wien in the Kammeroper on 21 Oktober 2012. The live transmission will commence at 19.30 CET.

"Many people see opera as an exclusive form of art restricted to a few people. Through Sonostream.tv,opera will become accessible to interested people around the world free-of-charge and I'm very happy about that," said Igor Bakan who performs the role of Tobia Mill in the play.

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Colombia accepts 18 new pay-TV licences

Iñaki Ferreras | 12-10-2012

Colombia’s National Television Authority (ANTV) has accepted 18 of the 22 licence applications submitted to the pay-TV competition authorities.

Out of this total, two were considered as not complying with the conditions and two were rejected outright.

At present, there are already 44 commercial licensees recognised by ANTV. Alexandra Falla, a Commissioner on ANTV's board said that this award 'will have a significant impact' and that 'users will have more options to choose from'.

Moreover, the regulator has extended the deadline until 6 November to apply for renewal of their licences. It says that ‘several operators' have expressed their 'intention not to renew' and 'return frequencies' that are assigned.

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Content the key to TV’s success

Iñaki Ferreras | 12-10-2012

TV, even in Spain, is defying the recession and is in no danger as long as content remains compelling, so argued Paul Lee, head of technology, media and telecommunications research at Deloitte Logics at the third Spanish AEDETI congress.

Paul Lee, who is responsible for â,¬1 million euros of investments in research on everything that happens in television stated that despite the crisis, more and more televisions are being bought." He cited the UK where between 8 and 10 million TVs are sold each year and which are generally replaced every three years. "Instead of buying cars, people buy televisions," he said.

"The future of TV is in no danger while still offering interesting content,” he added, stressing that TV will still flourish despite the proliferation of connected devices

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Telefónica looks to â,¬240 million savings in fibre share with Jazztel

Iñaki Ferreras | 12-10-2012

Spain’s leading telcoTelefónica believes that it can save up to â,¬240 million euros until the end of 2014, thanks to a fibre sharing and co-investment deal with Jazztel.

Telefónica and Jazztel have a combined reach of about three million property units, including homes and businesses, offering both groups a "competitive advantage" over the rest of its competitors in addition to furthering the deployment of fibre.

Mass rollout of fibre to the home, and this a competitive market, is not expected in Spain until 2013 giving Telefónica an edge against the likes of Vodafone and Orange.

However, dissenting vines are warning the Spanish Telecommunications Market Commission (CMT) than the move may hand Telefónica a de facto monopoly FTTH sector.