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Satellite news 25.08.04
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<blockquote data-quote="Satdude" data-source="post: 57115" data-attributes="member: 175600"><p>Satellite news 25.08.04 </p><p></p><p>News </p><p></p><p>UK</p><p></p><p>DD CHANNEL ON S*y DIGITAL</p><p>Despite reservations of the Finance Ministry, the</p><p>Information and Broadcasting ministry plans to put a</p><p>channel of Doordarshan on BS*yB DTH platform early</p><p>next year and to take it to the United States later.</p><p>Information and Broadcasting Secretary Navin B Chawla</p><p>who was in Britain earlier this month along with DD</p><p>Director-General to discuss various details with</p><p>regard to the channel, said on August 14 that the</p><p>national broadcaster was preparing a "whole new</p><p>channel with a mix of programming" in order to cater</p><p>to the wide mix of audience in Britain. He said</p><p>putting the channel on BS*yB's DTH platform is</p><p>expected to cost the public broadcaster Rs 9 crore.</p><p>"We plan to keep it free-to-air for one or two years,</p><p>going pay after it catches up with thee targeted</p><p>audience," he said. On the timing of the launch,</p><p>Chawla said, "BS*yB wants us to join its platform by</p><p>November this year but I would like to delay it by</p><p>another 2-3 months so that we get more time in</p><p>preparing the programming for it."</p><p></p><p>TECHNOLOGY TV ARRIVES IN OCTOBER</p><p>Dave Atherton, the Bolton entrepreneur behind the</p><p>online retailer dabs.com, is planning to launch</p><p>Technology TV in October. The output will be a balance</p><p>of editorial and interactive sales programming. And</p><p>backers are hoping that the educational and</p><p>entertainment value of the technology-themed</p><p>programmes will keep viewers coming back, whilst the</p><p>interactive shopping will generate the station's</p><p>revenue. </p><p></p><p>BS*yB CHANNELS ON HOMECHOICE</p><p>S*y Sports and S*y Movies channels will soon be</p><p>available on the HomeChoice broadband platform</p><p>following a deal between BS*yB and Video Networks.</p><p>Under the agreement, HomeChoice will be adding a S*y</p><p>premium package to its service, carrying channels S*y</p><p>Sports 1, 2, 3 and Xtra and S*y Movies (Screens</p><p>1,3,5,7,9). This brings the number of digital TV and</p><p>on-demand film, music and entertainment channels</p><p>available to HomeChoice's potential 1.25 million</p><p>households to over 80. The addition of S*y Movies will</p><p>take HomeChoice's on-demand film line-up well above</p><p>its current 1000+ titles. Video Networks launched its</p><p>first video-on-demand trial back in 1996 and followed</p><p>this up with HomeChoice in 2000. </p><p></p><p>BS*yB TAKES LEGAL ACTION AGAINST EDS</p><p>BS*yB said August 17 that it has filed a claim "for a</p><p>material amount" against U.S.-based technology company</p><p>Electronic Data Systems, relating to a customer call</p><p>center contract terminated in 2002. In a statement to</p><p>the London Stock Exchange, BS*yB said it hired EDS in</p><p>November 2000 to build an advanced customer service</p><p>call management system in a deal worth £61 million,</p><p>but the contract was terminated in 2002. </p><p></p><p>PROPERTY SHOPPING CHANNEL IN THE WORKS</p><p>The UK's first property teleshopping channel - The</p><p>Move Channel - is to launch on September 13 via the</p><p>S*y Digital platform. The bulk of the round-the-clock</p><p>programming schedule will be taken up by infomercials</p><p>showing properties from various different estate</p><p>agents and developers, with the geographical focus</p><p>being London and the South East. In addition there</p><p>will be slots available for financial services, new</p><p>developments and overseas homes, as well as commercial</p><p>spot advertising. The channel will launch with a 12</p><p>hour programme loop, which will run from 10:00 to</p><p>22:00 and then be repeated throughout the night.</p><p></p><p>CHANNEL 4 GETS EXTRA CASH</p><p>Channel 4 will invest an extra £20 million a year into</p><p>program spending on the back of increased revenue from</p><p>advertising, director of television Kevin Lygo said on</p><p>August 19. A record £469 million is now available for</p><p>calendar 2004, with the extra funds earmarked to boost</p><p>the channel's Christmas schedule and bring forward the</p><p>transmission of shows that would otherwise have aired</p><p>next year. The £20 million increase stems from a 5%</p><p>increase in ad revenue year-over-year and an increase</p><p>in viewers.</p><p></p><p>FIVE TO OFFER INTERACTIVE ADS</p><p>Five will launch interactive TV ads on September 1,</p><p>and is to unveil a range of enhanced programming</p><p>applications later in the month. The interactive</p><p>services will be trialled throughout the remainder of</p><p>2004, and Five will unveil its complete interactive</p><p>strategy at the start of next year. Five said that its</p><p>priority was to get its interactive advertising</p><p>services 'up and running', and seek out relevant</p><p>commercial partners. The interactive services will</p><p>initially be available on the S*y platform only.</p><p></p><p>FIVE RENEWS MOVIE PACKAGE WITH SONY PICTURES</p><p>The Five channel has extended its ongoing movie</p><p>package deal with Sony Pictures Television</p><p>International, adding a slew of popular movies, some</p><p>of which will air on the network without having a U.K.</p><p>pay window. Five has secured pay and free rights to</p><p>"Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," "Tears of the</p><p>Sun," with Bruce Willis, and the Charlize Theron</p><p>starrer "Trapped." Five said it expects some of the</p><p>titles to air as early as November, 15 months after</p><p>their theatrical debut. These titles will not exploit</p><p>a U.K. pay window, but instead go straight to</p><p>terrestrial. The extended deal also covers such</p><p>terrestrial premieres as "Charlie's Angels: Full</p><p>Throttle," "Anger Management," "Bad Boys II," "Maid in</p><p>Manhattan" and "Daddy Day Care."</p><p></p><p>Europe</p><p></p><p>SBS SEEKS TO EXPAND DIGITAL TV SERVICES</p><p>European broadcaster SBS is in high-level management</p><p>meetings to finalize its plans to expand into Europe's</p><p>new digital TV market. An early step in SBS</p><p>Broadcasting's digital plan came August 15 with the</p><p>launch in Denmark of Voice TV, SBS' new digital video</p><p>music channel. According to SBS founder and executive</p><p>chairman Harry Sloan, Voice TV is just the tip of the</p><p>iceberg for the broadcasters' long-term digital plans</p><p>in Europe. "There's going to be more homes that are</p><p>digital in Europe than the U.S. We are certainly</p><p>jumping in," Sloan said. </p><p></p><p>France</p><p></p><p>PINKTV PREPARES FOR AUTUMN LAUNCH</p><p>France's upcoming mature content channel PinkTV will now go on</p><p>air via cable, satellite and ADSL on October 25.</p><p>PinkTV has been the subject of much industry</p><p>speculation in France, where many believed the channel</p><p>might not see the light of day. The launch has been</p><p>put back several times since the network's president</p><p>Pascal Houzelot was granted a broadcast licence back</p><p>in April 2003. However, issues concerning the</p><p>transmission of mature content have been settled by providing</p><p>double encryption.</p><p></p><p>PROFITS UP AT M6</p><p>Media group M6 has reported operating profits of ?143</p><p>million for the first half of 2004 on consolidated</p><p>turnover of ?626.5 million, an increase of 3.1 per</p><p>cent on the same period last year. Advertising sales</p><p>in the same period grew by 8.8 per cent to ?327.4</p><p>million. </p><p></p><p>Germany</p><p></p><p>PROSIEBENSAT.1 REPORTS INCREASED PROFITS</p><p>Net profits for the first half of the year at</p><p>ProSiebenSat.1 Group were up to ?72.7 million as at</p><p>June 30, compared with ?4.1 million at the same time</p><p>last year. Consolidated revenues were up 6 per cent to</p><p>?932.3 million, and, for the first time in its</p><p>history, the group posted first-half profits at all</p><p>four stations. Sat.1 emerged from a pre-tax loss of ?5</p><p>million to a profit of ?62.4 million. ProSieben's</p><p>pre-tax profit soared 56 per cent to ?97.9 million. At</p><p>Kabel 1 pre-tax profit almost doubled, to ?12.4</p><p>million, while N24 reported a ?200,000 pre-tax profit,</p><p>compared to its ?13.2 million loss last year.</p><p></p><p>KIRCH MAY HAVE TO PAY BACK TAXES</p><p>Former German media mogul Leo Kirch, whose KirchGroup</p><p>empire collapsed into bankruptcy two years ago, could</p><p>now have to pay back taxes totaling as much as ?300</p><p>million. The Munich tax office is demanding the taxes</p><p>from Kirch, claiming he kept reported profits at his</p><p>group of companies artificially low through dubious</p><p>writeoffs and other tax accounting tricks. </p><p></p><p>Greece</p><p></p><p>EUROSPORT LAUNCHES ITV OLYMPICS SERVICE</p><p>Viewers of Eurosport International on Greek satellite</p><p>platform Nova will now have access to an Olympic Games</p><p>iTV service, as part of a deal with interactive</p><p>television specialist Visiware. The service includes</p><p>constant live access to the Games, news headlines,</p><p>updated media rankings and a program guide. </p><p></p><p>INTELSAT BOOKS OVER 35,000 CHANNEL HOURS FOR OLYMPICS</p><p>Intelsat on August 19 confirmed that it pre-booked</p><p>over 35,000 hours of programming for 50 channels for</p><p>this year's Olympic Games in Athens. This represents</p><p>one of the highest traffic events in the company's</p><p>history, and equates to what would be almost four</p><p>years of continual programming carried within a 20-day</p><p>period. Intelsat is providing all-digital transmission</p><p>of the Games for many of the event's rights holders,</p><p>using six satellites from its global fleet covering</p><p>every ocean region. The Intelsat system is carrying</p><p>Olympic footage from Athens to North America, Asia and</p><p>South America for a number of premier customers,</p><p>including CCTV in China and GlobeCast, a leading</p><p>international provider of satellite transmission and</p><p>production services for professional broadcast</p><p>customers. GlobeCast will utilize Intelsat capacity to</p><p>offer high-quality services to ATV Hong Kong, TV</p><p>Globo, Brazil, TVB Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei</p><p>Broadcast Pool. OTE, the national telecom provider of</p><p>Greece, will use the Intelsat system to provide</p><p>occasional use services to its customers in Europe.</p><p>Intelsat-carried Olympic images will be broadcast to a</p><p>potential viewing audience of over 3 billion people.</p><p></p><p>Poland</p><p></p><p>NEW CHANNELS BRING PROFIT TO TVN</p><p>The ITI-owned television network TVN posted a zl.80.63</p><p>million profit in the first half of the year, which is</p><p>a 93% increase compared to the same period in 2003.</p><p>The company, which is currently preparing for its IPO,</p><p>also increased its sales income by 19% to zl.361.51</p><p>million and its EBIDTA by 34% to zl.121.68 million. In</p><p>March the company finalized the purchase of TVN 24</p><p>from the ITI group for zl.168 million, by the end of</p><p>April it had launched a new channel ITVN aimed at</p><p>foreign viewers and August 1 saw the start of another</p><p>new channel TVN Style aimed at women. An IPO is</p><p>scheduled for October 2004, worth $100-150 million. In</p><p>the first half of the year the TVN group had a 28.9%</p><p>market share in prime time, 10% more than in 2002. </p><p></p><p>Russia</p><p></p><p>MTG INCREASES RUSSIAN TV STAKES</p><p>Sweden's Modern Times Group has increased its</p><p>interests in Russian television for the second time in</p><p>as many months, and now fully controls free-to-air</p><p>entertainment channel DTV. Local Russian companies</p><p>controlled by MTG have acquired the remaining 25% of</p><p>DTV, since overseas firms cannot own more than 49% of</p><p>Russian channels under current laws. Russian</p><p>authorities gave the green light this latest expansion</p><p>of MTG's interests in Europe's most populous</p><p>television market. DTV reaches more than 60 million</p><p>people in 400 Russian cities. MTG has also paid a</p><p>total of US$9.6 million for another share of</p><p>Moscow-based StoryFirst Communications, lifting its</p><p>stake by 1.9% to 39.9%. StoryFirst owns and operates</p><p>the CTC network along with 13 regional stations in</p><p>Russia. CTC boasts an audience of around 100 million. </p><p></p><p>Regards Satdude. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big Grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Satdude, post: 57115, member: 175600"] Satellite news 25.08.04 News UK DD CHANNEL ON S*y DIGITAL Despite reservations of the Finance Ministry, the Information and Broadcasting ministry plans to put a channel of Doordarshan on BS*yB DTH platform early next year and to take it to the United States later. Information and Broadcasting Secretary Navin B Chawla who was in Britain earlier this month along with DD Director-General to discuss various details with regard to the channel, said on August 14 that the national broadcaster was preparing a "whole new channel with a mix of programming" in order to cater to the wide mix of audience in Britain. He said putting the channel on BS*yB's DTH platform is expected to cost the public broadcaster Rs 9 crore. "We plan to keep it free-to-air for one or two years, going pay after it catches up with thee targeted audience," he said. On the timing of the launch, Chawla said, "BS*yB wants us to join its platform by November this year but I would like to delay it by another 2-3 months so that we get more time in preparing the programming for it." TECHNOLOGY TV ARRIVES IN OCTOBER Dave Atherton, the Bolton entrepreneur behind the online retailer dabs.com, is planning to launch Technology TV in October. The output will be a balance of editorial and interactive sales programming. And backers are hoping that the educational and entertainment value of the technology-themed programmes will keep viewers coming back, whilst the interactive shopping will generate the station's revenue. BS*yB CHANNELS ON HOMECHOICE S*y Sports and S*y Movies channels will soon be available on the HomeChoice broadband platform following a deal between BS*yB and Video Networks. Under the agreement, HomeChoice will be adding a S*y premium package to its service, carrying channels S*y Sports 1, 2, 3 and Xtra and S*y Movies (Screens 1,3,5,7,9). This brings the number of digital TV and on-demand film, music and entertainment channels available to HomeChoice's potential 1.25 million households to over 80. The addition of S*y Movies will take HomeChoice's on-demand film line-up well above its current 1000+ titles. Video Networks launched its first video-on-demand trial back in 1996 and followed this up with HomeChoice in 2000. BS*yB TAKES LEGAL ACTION AGAINST EDS BS*yB said August 17 that it has filed a claim "for a material amount" against U.S.-based technology company Electronic Data Systems, relating to a customer call center contract terminated in 2002. In a statement to the London Stock Exchange, BS*yB said it hired EDS in November 2000 to build an advanced customer service call management system in a deal worth £61 million, but the contract was terminated in 2002. PROPERTY SHOPPING CHANNEL IN THE WORKS The UK's first property teleshopping channel - The Move Channel - is to launch on September 13 via the S*y Digital platform. The bulk of the round-the-clock programming schedule will be taken up by infomercials showing properties from various different estate agents and developers, with the geographical focus being London and the South East. In addition there will be slots available for financial services, new developments and overseas homes, as well as commercial spot advertising. The channel will launch with a 12 hour programme loop, which will run from 10:00 to 22:00 and then be repeated throughout the night. CHANNEL 4 GETS EXTRA CASH Channel 4 will invest an extra £20 million a year into program spending on the back of increased revenue from advertising, director of television Kevin Lygo said on August 19. A record £469 million is now available for calendar 2004, with the extra funds earmarked to boost the channel's Christmas schedule and bring forward the transmission of shows that would otherwise have aired next year. The £20 million increase stems from a 5% increase in ad revenue year-over-year and an increase in viewers. FIVE TO OFFER INTERACTIVE ADS Five will launch interactive TV ads on September 1, and is to unveil a range of enhanced programming applications later in the month. The interactive services will be trialled throughout the remainder of 2004, and Five will unveil its complete interactive strategy at the start of next year. Five said that its priority was to get its interactive advertising services 'up and running', and seek out relevant commercial partners. The interactive services will initially be available on the S*y platform only. FIVE RENEWS MOVIE PACKAGE WITH SONY PICTURES The Five channel has extended its ongoing movie package deal with Sony Pictures Television International, adding a slew of popular movies, some of which will air on the network without having a U.K. pay window. Five has secured pay and free rights to "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," "Tears of the Sun," with Bruce Willis, and the Charlize Theron starrer "Trapped." Five said it expects some of the titles to air as early as November, 15 months after their theatrical debut. These titles will not exploit a U.K. pay window, but instead go straight to terrestrial. The extended deal also covers such terrestrial premieres as "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle," "Anger Management," "Bad Boys II," "Maid in Manhattan" and "Daddy Day Care." Europe SBS SEEKS TO EXPAND DIGITAL TV SERVICES European broadcaster SBS is in high-level management meetings to finalize its plans to expand into Europe's new digital TV market. An early step in SBS Broadcasting's digital plan came August 15 with the launch in Denmark of Voice TV, SBS' new digital video music channel. According to SBS founder and executive chairman Harry Sloan, Voice TV is just the tip of the iceberg for the broadcasters' long-term digital plans in Europe. "There's going to be more homes that are digital in Europe than the U.S. We are certainly jumping in," Sloan said. France PINKTV PREPARES FOR AUTUMN LAUNCH France's upcoming mature content channel PinkTV will now go on air via cable, satellite and ADSL on October 25. PinkTV has been the subject of much industry speculation in France, where many believed the channel might not see the light of day. The launch has been put back several times since the network's president Pascal Houzelot was granted a broadcast licence back in April 2003. However, issues concerning the transmission of mature content have been settled by providing double encryption. PROFITS UP AT M6 Media group M6 has reported operating profits of ?143 million for the first half of 2004 on consolidated turnover of ?626.5 million, an increase of 3.1 per cent on the same period last year. Advertising sales in the same period grew by 8.8 per cent to ?327.4 million. Germany PROSIEBENSAT.1 REPORTS INCREASED PROFITS Net profits for the first half of the year at ProSiebenSat.1 Group were up to ?72.7 million as at June 30, compared with ?4.1 million at the same time last year. Consolidated revenues were up 6 per cent to ?932.3 million, and, for the first time in its history, the group posted first-half profits at all four stations. Sat.1 emerged from a pre-tax loss of ?5 million to a profit of ?62.4 million. ProSieben's pre-tax profit soared 56 per cent to ?97.9 million. At Kabel 1 pre-tax profit almost doubled, to ?12.4 million, while N24 reported a ?200,000 pre-tax profit, compared to its ?13.2 million loss last year. KIRCH MAY HAVE TO PAY BACK TAXES Former German media mogul Leo Kirch, whose KirchGroup empire collapsed into bankruptcy two years ago, could now have to pay back taxes totaling as much as ?300 million. The Munich tax office is demanding the taxes from Kirch, claiming he kept reported profits at his group of companies artificially low through dubious writeoffs and other tax accounting tricks. Greece EUROSPORT LAUNCHES ITV OLYMPICS SERVICE Viewers of Eurosport International on Greek satellite platform Nova will now have access to an Olympic Games iTV service, as part of a deal with interactive television specialist Visiware. The service includes constant live access to the Games, news headlines, updated media rankings and a program guide. INTELSAT BOOKS OVER 35,000 CHANNEL HOURS FOR OLYMPICS Intelsat on August 19 confirmed that it pre-booked over 35,000 hours of programming for 50 channels for this year's Olympic Games in Athens. This represents one of the highest traffic events in the company's history, and equates to what would be almost four years of continual programming carried within a 20-day period. Intelsat is providing all-digital transmission of the Games for many of the event's rights holders, using six satellites from its global fleet covering every ocean region. The Intelsat system is carrying Olympic footage from Athens to North America, Asia and South America for a number of premier customers, including CCTV in China and GlobeCast, a leading international provider of satellite transmission and production services for professional broadcast customers. GlobeCast will utilize Intelsat capacity to offer high-quality services to ATV Hong Kong, TV Globo, Brazil, TVB Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei Broadcast Pool. OTE, the national telecom provider of Greece, will use the Intelsat system to provide occasional use services to its customers in Europe. Intelsat-carried Olympic images will be broadcast to a potential viewing audience of over 3 billion people. Poland NEW CHANNELS BRING PROFIT TO TVN The ITI-owned television network TVN posted a zl.80.63 million profit in the first half of the year, which is a 93% increase compared to the same period in 2003. The company, which is currently preparing for its IPO, also increased its sales income by 19% to zl.361.51 million and its EBIDTA by 34% to zl.121.68 million. In March the company finalized the purchase of TVN 24 from the ITI group for zl.168 million, by the end of April it had launched a new channel ITVN aimed at foreign viewers and August 1 saw the start of another new channel TVN Style aimed at women. An IPO is scheduled for October 2004, worth $100-150 million. In the first half of the year the TVN group had a 28.9% market share in prime time, 10% more than in 2002. Russia MTG INCREASES RUSSIAN TV STAKES Sweden's Modern Times Group has increased its interests in Russian television for the second time in as many months, and now fully controls free-to-air entertainment channel DTV. Local Russian companies controlled by MTG have acquired the remaining 25% of DTV, since overseas firms cannot own more than 49% of Russian channels under current laws. Russian authorities gave the green light this latest expansion of MTG's interests in Europe's most populous television market. DTV reaches more than 60 million people in 400 Russian cities. MTG has also paid a total of US$9.6 million for another share of Moscow-based StoryFirst Communications, lifting its stake by 1.9% to 39.9%. StoryFirst owns and operates the CTC network along with 13 regional stations in Russia. CTC boasts an audience of around 100 million. Regards Satdude. :D [/QUOTE]
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