Monday, March 31, 2014

Viettel TV rolls out in 15 cities with focus on education and healthcare

Vietnam’s new cable-TV service, Viettel, will roll out its services in 15 cities and provinces on April 1, 2014 and will later extend the service countrywide. The company piloted the cable TV services in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and some other province, recently.
As part of its television content plans, the company will focus on promoting education and healthcare to enhance intellectual standards and living conditions in rural and remote areas. It will offer e-learning courses on TV and will also create a specific TV channel for history.
As per market forecasts, pay-TV services in Vietnam will grow by 25-30% per year from 2012 to 2015, however, it is likely to drop to 10-15% between 2016 and 2020. According to the Ministry of Information and Communications’ National Institute of Information and Communications Strategy, pay TV revenue is expected to hit USD 800 million to USD 1 billion by 2020.

Merger approval for YES and Bezeq


Yes LogoThe Israeli competition authority has given is approval to the merger of satellite platform YES with fixed line provider Bezeq, but with conditions.
YES will be restricted on the amount of exclusive content it can acquire from overseas and there must be no immediate offer of a triple play package – arguably one of the drivers of a merger in the first place – a means to compete with the Patrick Drahi-owned cable net HOT.
Bezeq holds 49.8% in YES, the remainder is in the hands of Bezeq chairman Shaul Elovitch.
Plans for a 2009 merger were rejected by the competition authority amid fears it would be anti-competive. It was later allowed to go ahead, the High Court agreeing with the authority that a number of conditions should be imposed.
In a statement Bezeq said it was studying the decision and its terms.

TP Vision brings first Android smart TVs to Europe

Philips smart TV screenThe Philips 8000 models are the first Android based TVs coming to Europe and Russia from TP Vision.
They provide access to Google services and features including Google Chrome browser, YouTube, Google Movies, Google Music, and Google search. The first range of Philips TVs powered by Android consosts of the Full-HD 8100 and 8200 Philips TVs and the Ultra HD 8800, which will be available from the second quarter 2014 in Europe and Russia.
Philips TVs with Android combine the offerings of Google Play and Philips Smart TV including video on demand via Netflix, music streaming via Spotify and Cloud TV with hundreds of online TV channels. Cloud Explorer using Dropbox allows content stored in the cloud to be displayed on the large screen Android TVs.
The Android operating system and the quad-core (8100, 8200) or hexcore processing power (8800) will allow Philips TVs to offer consumers a new experience from gaming, video on demand services to local relevant apps.
Philips Android TV owners can leverage the broad selection of games in Google Play, which spans casual and high-end games. To ensure best possible gaming comfort games can be operated via pointer and cursor or via a separate controller.

Dutch digital TV subscribers grow to 6.66 million

The number of digital TV connections in the Netherlands grew by 1.0% during the fourth quarter of 2013 to 6.66 million on 31 December 2013, according to Telecompaper’s quarterly report about the Dutch TV market.
The total TV market (including analogue TV subscribers) increased to 7.74 million at the end of 2013 with digital TV being used by 86.1% of TV subscribers in the Netherlands. The digital TV subscribers include 3.69 million cable subscribers who also have analogue TV connections.
Cable accounted for over half (55.4%) of digital TV subscribers in Q4, despite losing market share due to the growing adoption of IPTV services over DSL and FTTH networks. DSL was the second most common way to receive TV, followed by satellite and terrestrial, which are both losing market share. FTTH, while growing its market share, remained in fifth place.
Cable operator Ziggo is the largest TV provider, both on the total market and digital market, followed by DSL/fibre network operator KPN, cable operator UPC and satellite TV provider CanalDigitaal.
Telecompaper expects the digital TV market to grow by around 5% during this year, although growth is slowing down. The consumer TV revenues (including pay-TV channels, VoD) amounted to EUR 395 million in the fourth quarter of 2013, slightly higher than in the preceding quarter. The revenues are expected to continue to grow at 0.5% CAGR until 2018.
Dutch TV platforms
(Chart courtesy of Telecompaper.com)

Conax and Anevia partner for OTT delivery

Anevia logoAnevia, a provider pf video streaming and infrastructure solutions for OTT, live TV and VoD has announced a new collaboration with Conax.
“Integrating Anevia’s ViaMotion Plus and CDN solutions with the Conax Contego Unite content protection platform, this collaboration simplifies the OTT equation for operators worldwide: they can now accelerate and monetise the deployment of OTT services over a wide range of devices and formats while ensuring optimal content, service and device protection,” according to Anevia.
“We are proud to partner with such a highly regarded security solutions provider”, says Damien Lucas, Anevia EVP and Co-Founder. “The Conax Contego feature set is extremely rich and therefore highly invaluable to customers looking to build and monetize advanced multiscreen services. And while this partnership clearly benefits the many customers we have in common, it also creates a natural opportunity for our joint partners to develop new business around OTT.”
“We are pleased to announce that Anevia is one of the newest partners leveraging the Conax Connect Partner Program to achieve fast integration and testing through the Conax Connect Integration Lab. The joint solution with Anevia offers hard to beat flexibility and cost efficiency”, Tom Jahr, EVP products and partners at Conax, explained.
“For operators, it doesn’t just mean complete freedom of choice when assembling ecosystem components; it also enables operators to monetize new services such as time-shift and nPVR through the rapid deployment of advanced OTT/IPTV ecosystems.”

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Argentina's Pay TV subscribers up 7.3% in 2013

(Más hogares tienen TV Paga en Argentina)

Tuesday, March 25th, 2014 
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According to the Latin American Multichannel Advertising Council (LAMAC), the number of pay TV subscribers in Argentina grew by 7.3%, or 666,800, in 2013 to reach 9,830,700 households at the end of the year.
76% of households receive their pay TV service via cable, with the remaining 24% having access via satellite.
LAMAC is a non-profit association comprised and financed by 49 Pay TV channels, representing the 6 industry leaders in Latin America (A&E OLE, Chello, Discovery, FOX, Sony and Turner).

Thaicom gets ready for digital TV trial run

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Accommodating the Must Carry rule starting 1 April
NONTHABURI — Thaicom Public Company Limited, in cooperation with broadcasters and providers of set-top-boxes, will start broadcasting the Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT) system signals on a trial basis in accordance with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission’s Must Carry rule from the 1st of April.
Mr. Paiboon Panuwattanawong, Chief Technical Officer of Thaicom PLC stated that “Thaicom, as a satellite transponder service provider, is ready to broadcast the digital-TV channels trials via Thaicom’s satellite network. The trials are an important step in the transformation of Thailand’s television industry from analogue to digital broadcasts.”
With the implementation of the Must Carry rule issued by the NBTC, all terrestrial-based digital TV programs must be able to reach every Thai household equipped with compatible devices from the 1st of April, 2014. To ensure that this target is attained as quickly as possible, Thaicom has worked closely with TV platform and set-top-box providers to rearrange channel numbers to support improved viewing pleasure for the public and to support the satellite network signal transmissions for digital TV channels. As part of these improvements, the Company has also informed all set-top-box platform operators to update the latest channel numbers to existing set-top-boxes through over-the-air (OTA) upgrade signals.
The OTA process will be conducted in 2 phases, with the 1st phase aimed at viewers receiving broadcasts via the C-band frequency from Thaicom’s satellites, and the 2nd phase for those receiving signals from the Ku-band. More than 90% of viewers already use set-top-boxes with an OTA feature, and they are encouraged to unplug the set-top-box for a few moments before re-connecting in order to reset the new channel numbers properly. Viewers who do not have an OTA-enabled set-top-box are advised to contact their service provider or installer to refine the satellite tuning. Further arrangement on implementation of the 2nd phase for Ku-band will be made later on.
“Thaicom recognizes that this is an important step for Thailand’s broadcasting industry, and we are well-prepared for this new change. We are supporting growth of the broadcasting industry to ensure smooth transition from analogue to digital. Thaicom is committed to enhancing the audience’s viewing pleasure, and the technical trials commencing soon are aimed at ensuring viewers’ convenience and satisfaction,” Mr.Paiboon added.

Siti Cable raises INR 1.02 bil. towards cable digitisation

Indian multi system operator (MSO), Siti Cable, has received a cash injection of INR 1.02 billion (USD 17 million) from its promoters – led by Zee and Essel group chairman Subhash Chandra – to speed up its cable digitisation activities. The company earlier reported that it was aiming to digitise 6-7 million homes out of a total 90 million homes in Phases III and IV activities at a gross cost of INR 12 trillion (USD 199 million).
Siti told the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) that the cash injection was the second of four tranches to raise a total of INR 3.24 billion. Siti received the first tranche of INR 810 million (USD 13 million) in March 2013 and has until September this year to draw the remaining funds.
According to Dataxis, Siti Cable had over 3.7 million digital cable TV subs in India at the end of 2013.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

North America to add 5m pay TV subscribers

Despite all of the talk about cord-cutting, a new report from Digital TV Research forecasts that the number of pay TV subscribers in North America will continue to increase – despite a small decline in 2013.
The Digital TV North America report estimates that nearly 5 million more subscribers will be added between 2013 and 2020. However, pay TV penetration will drop from 87.0% in 2010 to 83.8% by 2020.
Most of the pay TV subscriber losses over the last few years have been analog cable subs. There were still 18.39 million analog cable subscribers by end-2010, a number that will fall to 3.75 million by end-2014.
North America: Share of TV households by platform (000)
North America - TV homes by platfromDigital TV penetration reached 94.2% at end-2013, and will increase to 100% by 2017 – the only remaining analog homes take cable. Of the 17 million digital homes to be added between 2013 and 2020, 5.5 million will come from cable, 5.9 million from IPTV, 4.6 million from DTT and 0.9 million from satellite TV.
Pay TV penetration has peaked in Canada and the US. Despite falling pay TV penetration, the number of pay TV subscribers will climb by nearly 5 million between 2013 and 2020 to 116.6 million. Subscriber numbers fell slightly in 2013.
North America pay TV revenues (US$ million)
North America - pay TV revenues
Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “Pay TV revenues [subscriptions and on-demand] in North America peaked in 2013 at $95.36 billion. We forecast that they will fall by $8.75 billion to $86.61 billion in 2020. As the analog cable networks switch off, all pay TV operators will try to outdo each other on promotions, with pricing becoming a more and more important tool.”
TV ARPU is being forced down as cable operators and telcos convert their subscribers to double-play or triple-play bundles, although blended [overall] ARPU is rising.
Satellite TV will overtake cable to become the largest pay TV platform revenue generator in 2015. However, satellite TV revenues will climb by only $1.2 billion between 2013 and 2020 – to $42.8 billion.
There will be 60.4 million cable homes (all digital) by 2020, down from 62.4 million in 2013 (of which 7.6 million were analog) and 68.2 million in 2010 (18.4 million analog). Cable penetration will be 43.4% by 2020, down from 48.1% at end-2013 and 53.1% in 2010.
Cable revenues will fall by nearly $13 billion between 2013 and 2020 – dropping by $2.5 billion in 2014 alone. Analogue cable revenues will be zero by 2017, down from $13 billion in 2010.
Although many analogue cable subs will convert to digital cable, other platforms, particularly IPTV, will also benefit. Most telcos have already conducted aggressive pricing promotions. Although there has been a recent slowdown in IPTV subscriber growth, the number of homes paying for IPTV will climb by 47% between 2013 and 2020 to reach 18.2 million – or 13.1% of TV households. IPTV revenues will increase at a similar rate to achieve $9.85 billion by 2020.
For more information on the Digital TV North America report, please see the Broadband TV News webshop.

Must-carry dispute heats up in Romania

Antena RomaniaRomania’s Antena TV Group has asked a court to annul an administrative act issued by the Competition Council recommending amendments to the principle of must carry.
According to Media Expres, the Council earlier this year recommended that must-carry should be applied irrespective of the technology used to distribute services, not as it is currently just to cable operators.
At present, Antena Group has five national channels – Antena 1, Antena 3, Antena Stars, Euforia Lifestyle TV and GSP – that have must-carry status.
However, the Council believes that such a status should only be granted to global broadcasters whose content is in the public interest (effectively public channels, along with TV stations whose retransmission is mandatory due to international agreements signed by Romania).
In the case of private broadcasters, must-carry should only be given to services where it is deemed strictly necessary to achieve the objective of general interest and where they have the appropriate audience share.

Russian VOD: a market update

The video streaming service ivu.ru is now the leading player in Russia’s VOD market in revenue terms, with a market share of 28%, according to a report published by iKS Consulting.
The report says that Russia as a whole is now the largest online video market in Europe, with around 60 million unique viewers.
The online advertising market grew by 27% y-o-y to approximately $2.2 billion, while the online video advertising market grew by 67% y-o-y to approximately $88.73 million.
The Russian VOD market more than doubled y-o-y to $50.5 million (a 105% y-o-y growth in revenues), and the top nine players control 97% of the Russian VOD market.
The ad-supported model accounts for 78% ($39.5 million) of the market (74% growth y-o-y); while the payment model has grown more than four-fold and accounts for 22% ($11 million).
Between 100-200 million video viewings are generated via each key player’s service monthly and a third (24 million users) of the Russian population use the internet to watch VOD services monthly.
Significantly, the Russian VOD market is expected to grow by 75% this year to $88.7million and to reach $290.5 million by 2018.
Looking specifically at ivi.ru, the report says that it doubled its revenues to $14.1 million (95% growth), while its unique user-base doubled to 30 million per month (114% increase y-o-y).
It also doubled video viewings to 200 million per month (135% increase y-o-y).
Ivi.ru users watch 33 million hours of video content per month and the service is the number one player by the total number of downloads of its mobile app on devices (smartphones and tablets) with 9 million downloads.
It is also the number one player by audience who watch video on smart TVs with 2 million users monthly.
Commenting on the reports findings, Oleg Tumanov, ivi.ru’s founder and CEO, said: “We are delighted to be acknowledged as the leader of the Russian licensed VOD market in a comprehensive independent industry study carried out for the first time. 2013 was the year of two-fold growth for ivi.ru. We doubled the number of unique visitors on all devices to 30 mln users while the number of video viewings has increased by 135% to 200 mln per month. These strong results are a testament to the success in the uptake of our streaming service as we strive to bring best-in-class user experience to our customers.
“We see strong potential in the Russian licensed VOD market boosted by the growing number of smart devices and new anti-piracy legislation which was introduced in 2013. Ivi.ru welcomes this law as we see it as a positive step towards curbing online video piracy. Russia boasts the largest and fastest growing online audience in Europe since 2012. We will continue to offer high quality licensed video content to our users, which can be easily accessed anywhere in Russia from any connected device”.

Verimatrix provides revenue security for Thailand's TrueVision

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Verimatrix Provides Robust Revenue Security for TrueVision’s Multi-Network and Multi-Screen Service Offering
  • Leading Thai Operator Selects VCAS for Internet TV for Proven Ability to Provide Complete Protection of Premium Content Assets
SAN DIEGO, CA — Verimatrix, the specialist in securing and enhancing revenue for multi-network, multi-screen digital TV services around the globe, today announced that TrueVision Plc has selected the Verimatrix Video Content Authority System (VCAS™) architecture to provide revenue security for its premium content service offerings. TrueVision is Thailand’s largest cable television provider.
VCAS for Internet TV was deployed to protect the TrueVision Anywhere, True Movie, and H Movie service offerings. The services are delivered via a hybrid network comprised of both broadcast/linear and over-the-top (OTT) components using a single digital rights management (DRM) head-end. The head-end is shared by multiple TrueVision companies, each providing their own pay-TV services. Such an approach ensures a unified and consistent subscriber user experience (UX).
The services can be accessed through a multitude of devices, including iOS and Android tablets and phones, a USB/HDMI Android dongle, as well as Macs and PCs. The Goldenduck Group (GDG), a leading visual and audio cinema and broadcast system integrator in Southeast Asia, served as the systems integrator for the project, and NXP Software provided the player.
“The reputation of VCAS in the market was one of the leading reasons we chose to partner with Verimatrix on this project,” said Ms. Nantanee Wongumnitkul, director of business development, True Vision Cable Public Company Limited. “Collaborating with Verimatrix provided us with access to a studio-trusted revenue security solution that will support our quest to provide our subscribers with the content they crave within a seamless brand experience across platforms.”
“TrueVision’s unique deployment highlights the many advantages of taking a unified approach to revenue security,” said Steve Oetegenn, chief sales and marketing officer, Verimatrix.”We are delighted to have partnered with TrueVision on this important project, as it underscores the importance of having a robust multi-screen strategy to create a truly integrated consumer experience, which can be a critical competitive differentiator.”

VCAS for Internet TV provides a complete digital TV security solution for OTT services over multiple networks. Featuring enhanced HLS security, VCAS for Internet TV secures pay-OTT services to multiple screens and across multiple network types, including both broadcast (linear) and VoD delivery modes. Specifically, VCAS for Internet TV provides pay-TV security features otherwise only found in managed DVB and IPTV networks, thus enabling the use of premium content for OTT services.

Friday, March 21, 2014

Digiturk continues to attract interest

DigiturkTürk Telekom remains interested in acquiring the pay-TV platform Digiturk, according to Rami Aslan, the telco’s CEO.
Speaking to the Turkish media and quoted inHürriyet, he added that broadcasting content was very important for Türk Telekom and that Digiturk was one of the platforms offering the best content.
Asked whether Türk Telekom would participate in a tender for Digiturk, Aslan said it was too early to tell as the telco would have to examine the tender conditions.
Türk Telekom submitted a non-binding offer to buy a 53% stake in Türk Telekom last July. However, the Cukurova Group, whose assets were recently seized by Savings Deposit and Insurance Fund (TMSF), rejected it.

Tricolor TV eyes Siberian expansion

Tricolor-TV-MapThe leading Russian DTH platform Tricolor TV plans to significantly improve its offer in Siberia thanks to the recently launched Express-AT1 satellite, which will shortly be located at the 56 degrees East orbital position.
Tricolor TV currently has over a million subscribers in Siberia and expects the number to grow significantly.
There are a 7.1 million households in the region, of which around half (up to 3.5 million) are likely to take pay-TV services.
Tricolor TV has reserved 10 transponders on the new satellite, compared to the 2.5 it rented on Bonum-1 and five on DirecTV-1R.
As a result, it will now be able to offer subscribers in Siberia a package containing more than two-dozen HD channels and its offer as a whole will be comparable to that provided to residents of central Russia.
HD channels have been a strong driver for growth for Tricolor TV. Since their introduction in 2012, the number of subscribers to its Siberian service – Tricolor TV Sibir – has increased by more than 1.6 times.
Siberia is home to nearly 20 million people, or a seventh of Russia’s population.

Young consumers prefer online video

Over 50% of US broadband households now use paid OTT video services, either subscription or transactional, according to research from Parks Associates.
The firm also notes 37% of consumers 18-24 say online video is their most important video source.
“Parks Associates research shows 45% of US broadband households subscribe to a paid online video service, with younger consumers such as Millennials more likely than older consumers to use OTT services,” said John Barrett, director, Consumer Analytics, Parks Associates.
“In our upcoming webcast, we will discuss the emerging role of over-the-top video and its relationship to pay-TV services.”
According to the market research firm, online video is one of the most important sources of video among all US broadband households. Over 40% of US broadband households selected online video as one of the top three important sources of video, versus 25% for rented DVDs or 13% for owned Blu-ray discs.
ParksAssociates_Most-Important-Video-Source-by-Age-PR_03

ER Telecom becomes profitable

ER-TelecomThe Russian cable operator ER Telecom generated a profit of R537 million (€10.75 million) in 2013.
Its revenues grew by 37% year-on-year to R19.02 billion, while EBITDA increased almost six-fold to R5.71 billion.
Revenues from TV services in 2013 amounted to R5.54 billion and ARPU for all segments was R323, including 18% VAT.
ER Telecom, which operates under the brand name Dom.ru, had 2.566 million cable TV subscribers at the end of 2013, up 9% on a year earlier.
Its broadband subscriber total meanwhile increased by 11% over the same period to 2.732 million.
ER Telecom’s total subscriber base stood at 3 million, with the number of RGUs at 5.742 million.
Triple play services were received by 14% of subscribers, one percentage more than a year earlier.
ER Telecom, by its own estimates, had a 12% share of the broadband market nationally in 2013 (up from 10% a year earlier) and a 13% (10%) share of the TV market.
In the 56 cities it has a presence, its broadband and pay-TV market shares were 28% and 38% respectively.
The Dom.ru TV service, one of the company’s main drivers for growth, was used by 400,000 subscribers, or one in six receiving cable and HD TV services.

Rostelecom grows TV business

RostelecomRussia’s Rostelecom ended 2013 with 7.5 million pay-TV subscribers, or 9% more than a year earlier.
At the same time, its IPTV subscriber total increased by 38% to 2.2 million.
The company’s broadband subscriber total at year’s end stood at 10.6 million (+8%), with B2C customers amounting to 9.8 million (+9%) and those connected by fibre-optic at 4 million.
The latter figure represented a 30% year-on-year increase and was equivalent to 38% of the subscriber base.
Rostelecom’s full-year revenues from pay-TV services in 2013 were 29% higher than a year earlier.
Rostelecom’s consolidated revenues in 2013 were R325.7 billion (€6.48 billion), 2% down on a year earlier. Its net income amounted to R24.1 billion.

Hungary set for DTT expansion

MinDig TV ExtraThe Hungarian national transmission company Antenna Hungária plans to deploy two national DTT multiplexes this summer, bringing the total it operates to five.
As a result, it expects to significantly expand the offers of both its FTA (MinDig TV) and pay-TV (MinDig TV Extra) offers.
According to Antenna Hungária, work on the expansion should be completed by the end of June.

Russia's MTS loses 325,000 pay TV subscribers in 2013

Tuesday, March 18th, 2014 
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MOSCOW — Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (“MTS” – NYSE: MBT), the leading telecommunications provider in Russia and the CIS, today announces its unaudited US GAAP financial results for the three months and full year ended December 31, 2013.
MTS finished 2013 with 2.613 million pay TV subscribers, down 65 thousand in the fourth quarter and down 325 thousand year-on-year. The decline in the company’s pay TV subscriber base reflects the migration of subscribers from analogue to digital, which it says has resulted in the defection of some of its “social package” subscribers.
Total Pay TV Subscribers (000s):
        2012                        2013
------------  --------------------------
   Q3     Q4     Q1     Q2     Q3     Q4
-----  -----  -----  -----  -----  -----
2,952  2,938  2,885  2,806  2,678  2,613

K-Vision to offer beIN Sports in Indonesia

Indonesia’s recently launched pay-DTH platform, K-Vision, has added Qatar-based sports channels beIN Sports 1 and beIN Sports 2 to its line-up. BeIN Sports chairman, Nasser Al Khelaifi, says the broadcaster has enjoyed rapid growth in Indonesia over the last eight months with both channels already carried on rival pay-TV operators – Orange TV and NexMedia. “We’re very pleased to expand our presence on one of the most exciting and ambitious new pay-television platforms in the country,” he added.
beIN Sports 1 will broadcast dual language coverage of the Barclays Premium League in Bahasa and English, and live studio shows presented by media celebrities in Donna Agnesia and Tio Nugroho. It will also air other football matches including from Italian Serie A, Bundesliga, French Ligue 1, Scottish Professional Football League, Major League Soccer and the Brazilian national league.
beIN Sport 2 will also feature live matches from the Barclays Premier League, Serie A, Bundesliga and French Ligue 1, in addition to events from the Olympic Council Asia, 17th Asian Games INCHEON 2014, ATP 250 tennis events, International Baseball Federations, rugby events and Spanish Basketball League.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Global TV market contracts for second straight year in 2013

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China, Asia-Pacific and Eastern Europe Suffer Rare Decline
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — The global television market shrank last year for the second year in a row after total shipments declined by 6 percent from already soft 2012 levels, accompanied this time by a rare deceleration in the liquid-crystal display (LCD) TV space in China, Asia-Pacific and Eastern Europe, according to a new report from IHS Technology (NYSE: IHS).
Shipments worldwide of televisions in 2013 amounted to 225.1 million units, down sharply from 238.3 million in 2012. It was the second straight year of contraction after a 7 percent loss in 2012, contrasting with the market’s big 11 percent surge in 2010 and a more modest 1 percent uptick in 2011, as shown in the attached figure.
“The global TV market continues to be in transition following a golden period of tremendous growth from 2009 to 2011,” said Jusy Hong, principal analyst for consumer devices at IHS. “Television shipments were down again in 2013 just like in 2012, but an unusual development was the slow market last year in China, Asia-Pacific and Eastern Europe—until recently among the brighter spots for the industry.”
Adding to the market’s woes, Hong added, cash-strapped consumers in North America and Western Europe showed little appetite to buy new TVs, especially as these territories are nearly saturated from flat-panel sets during the last major upgrade of the growth years.
These findings can be found in the report, “Worldwide TV Tracker – Q1 2014,” from the Consumer Electronics service and Consumer Devices research area of IHS.
China and Asia-Pacific both slow down
China suffered a noteworthy reversal during the third and fourth quarters of 2013 as the country’s LCD TV market declined in those quarters compared to the same three-month periods a year before in 2012—the first time this has happened. New growth in the China TV market is increasingly hard to come by, and an expired subsidy program provided by Beijing for new appliances has removed a previously powerful incentive for consumers to make new TV purchases.
All told, LCD TV shipments in China during the third quarter of 2013 fell to 13.0 million units, down from 14.0 million a year earlier. Fourth-quarter LCD TV volume declined similarly to 14.4 million, compared to 14.5 million from a year earlier. Still, overall LCD TV shipments to China for last year rose from 2012, thanks mainly to a strong first half.
For Asia-Pacific, LCD TV shipments last year amounted to 23.8 million, down from 25.4 million in 2012, with choices for cheaper-priced sets fast disappearing from the region’s market. Not only have manufacturers ended production of Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) televisions that had been the most affordable for consumers in the area, but brands have also pulled back from older-generation LCD TVs and plasmas because of vanishing profit margins. With light-emitting-diode (LED) sets still beyond the reach of many, TV demand in Asia-Pacific plummeted last year and continues to remain on a holding pattern, even as consumers hope for prices to come down, Hong noted.
Markets remain soft in the West as well
For North America and Western Europe, once the most powerful engines of the global television industry, the weak state of the market renewed disappointment. Overall TV shipments in 2013 for North America fell 9 percent on the year, while Western Europe showed an annual loss of 4 percent.
The TV market for both regions now consists entirely of LCD TVs and plasma sets, absent the analog, tube-type televisions that can still be found in other territorial markets, including the Middle-East-Africa, Latin America and Asia-Pacific.
Meanwhile in Eastern Europe, LCD TV shipments were off last year by 14 percent, echoing financial troubles in the European continent. Also, TV vendors had been less enthusiastic with their promotions in the region after suffering lower profits, due in part to the high exchange rates between the euro and Asian currencies like the Japanese yen and the South Korean won.
Prospects improve; OLEDs will help growth
Despite the sobering numbers for last year, worldwide TV shipments are projected to improve. The developed markets of North America, Western Europe and Japan will stabilize in the coming years, and no large yearly decreases like those of last year are forecast for the time being, Hong said. At the same time, significant growth can be expected from China, the rest of Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East-Africa markets.
Latin America, in particular, will enjoy a surge for many reasons, including projected economic growth, the FIFA World Cup soccer championship later this year, the analog-to-digital changeover in 2015, and the Summer Olympics in 2016.
Worldwide television shipment totals will also start climbing this year because of the new active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) sets entering the market, making their appearance at retail in perceptible volume for the first time. Featuring thinner profiles and higher contrast ratios than the current crop of LED-backlit LCD TVs, OLED TVs will see shipments grow from an initial low starting base to some 8.1 million units by 2018.

Asia Pacific to add 501 million digital homes

The Asia Pacific region is undergoing a rapid digital TV conversion that will see penetration increase from 28.9% of TV households in 2010 to 51.7% in 2013 then 61.2% by end-2014 and on to 97.5% in 2020 – or up by 501 million homes between 2013 and 2020, according to a new report from Digital TV Research.
The Digital TV Asia Pacific Forecasts report reveals that China will provide 225 million of the extra digital TV homes, with India adding a further 118 million. However, 159.6 million homes in the region will not own a TV set by 2020, although this is down from 195.9 million in 2013 and 221.8 million in 2010.
China and India have a massive influence, with a combined 663 million TV households (or 70% of the region’s total) by 2020. China has as many TV households as Europe and North America combined.
Simon Murray, author of the report, said: “Despite the rapid conversion, digital TV will still have plenty of room for growth for some time to come. Only 12 of the 22 countries forecast in this report will have fully converted to digital by 2020.”
Of the 501 million digital homes to be added between 2013 and 2020, 172 million will come from DTT. However, the number of analogue terrestrial homes will fall by 220 million. Digital cable will contribute a further 200 million additional homes, with analogue cable losing 155 million. Pay satellite TV will supply an extra 47 million, with FTA satellite TV adding 14 million. Pay IPTV will record 69 million more subs.
So pay-TV penetration will rise from 58.5% in 2013 to 68.0% in 2020, adding 164 million subs to take the total to 648 million. Even more impressive is that digital pay-TV penetration will climb from 20.9% in 2010 on to 66.5% in 2020. Digital pay TV subscribers will quadruple from 163 million in 2010 to 636 million by 2020.
Pay-TV revenues in Asia Pacific will be $46 billion in 2020; nearly double the 2010 figure. Digital pay-TV revenues will triple from $15 billion in 2010 to $46 billion in 2020.
Murray added: “China overtook Japan to become the most lucrative pay-TV market in 2011. India will take second place from 2019. Together China, India and Japan will account for two-thirds of the region’s $46 billion pay-TV revenues by 2020.”
Pay-TV revenues will more than double in 10 countries (Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam) between 2013 and 2020. However, revenues will fall in Hong Kong, and will increase by less than 10% in New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea.

Russia launches DBS satellites

The Russian Satellite Communications Company (RSCC) has announced that the new Express-AT1 and Express-AT2 DBS satellites have been successfully orbited.
This follows the successful lift off of Proton M from Baikonur at 03.08 MSK on March 16. RSCC adds that AT1 will be deployed at 56 degrees East and begin commercial operations in April, with AT2, located at 140 degrees East, following a month later.
Both satellites, which were built by JSC Information Satellite Systems – Reshetnev Company in conjunction with Thales Alenia Space – France were ordered by RSCC as part of Russia’s Federal Space Program for 2006-2015 and will DBS service across the whole of Russia.
They have an active service life of 15 years.
Commenting on the development, Yuri Prokhorov, RSCC director general, said: “The launch of Express-AT1 and Express-AT2 DBS satellites is critical for the development of domestic DBS market. Users in Siberia and the Far East will gain access to new Russian and international TV channels. The networks currently operated by Bonum-1 will be switched by RSCC specialists over to the new satellites after their commissioning, paving the way for many fascinating projects in Russia.”

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Viettel to launch cable-TV service next month

Vietnam’s Viettel will launch its cable-TV service next month after successfully piloting the service in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and some other province. Viettel will initially price its basic cable package around VND 30,000 (USD 1.5) per month to attract customers from incumbent cable operators which currently charge around VND77,000-110,000 (USD 3.65 – 5.27) per month.
Viettel, a military-run telecom company, has approximately 200,000 km of cable nationwide and plans to cut the average cable coverage distance from its cable connecting points to local households from 350m down to 200m, and even to 100m by 2015.
Meanwhile, FPT Telecom hoped to launch its new cable-TV service before June. “We hope to launch our digital pay-TV services in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Can Tho, and some other provinces by the second quarter of this year,” said Nguyen Hoang Linh, FPT Telecom’s vice CEO. He said that analog pay-TV services will be made available to the remaining cities and provinces.

OTT: cable should be pragmatic

Netflix FamilyCable operators should adopt a future strategy of pragmatism towards OTT, according to Joel Leroux, MD, Accenture.
In his view, the cable industry currently has three advantages over OTT providers, namely superior broadband technology, superior financial performance and a strong legacy content distribution model.
This will nevertheless be challenged in the next few years.
Indeed, the number of cable TV subscribers will increase from only 541 million in 2013 to 567 million in 2017, with CAGR being only 1%.
At the same time, the number of online video users will increase from 507 million to 823 million over the same period, with CAGR at 13%.
Leroux said there are four approaches to the pragmatism he suggests.
The first, ‘Retreat’, involves investment in networks and B2B customer service, cutting costs elsewhere.
The second, ‘Embrace (Supermarket)’, sees investment in networks and integration of OTT ecosystems without consumer relationships.
The third, which he termed ‘Co-opete’, is the same as enabling champion, and in addition integrating consumer relationships.
The fourth, ‘Compete’. Involves investing heavily in network and product development.
Leroux added that in ‘Embrace’ and ‘Co-opete’ improving network perceived quality would be a key differentiator for cable operators.
Furthermore, cable operators could leverage their current strengths in a platform as a service model, with consumers and content providers benefiting.

Tough times ahead for Turkish Dogan

D-SmartThe Turkish pay-TV platform D-Smart saw a 19% growth in its take up in 2013, ending the year with over one million subscribers.
At the same time, according to owner Dogan Holding, its revenues increased by 32%.
Dogan also notes that its channel Kanal D was the most viewed daytime TV service in Turkey in 2013.
Although Dogan saw an 8% revenue and 23% increase in profit last year, its chairwoman Begümhan Dogan Faralyali warned of a difficult 2014.
“The challenging effects of 2014 will be felt by all developing countries, including Turkey. Furthermore, and specific to Turkey, our foreign exchange rate dropped considerably in early 2014, which added an additional burden to our economy — particularly in private sector debt. Looking ahead, fiscal discipline must be meticulously maintained and structural reforms must be accelerated. But despite these challenges, and in light of Turkey’s strong financial structure, dynamic private sector, rising employment opportunities and sound investment decisions, our country will be less affected by global imbalances and will maintain its economic stability.
“With consistent, profitable performance in our main fields of activity: media, energy and cultural-entertainment retail, Dogan Holding shall continue to create value for Turkey, as well as seize investment opportunities that we believe can bring additional value.”

Panasonic announces Freesat smart TV partnership

Freesat FreetimePanasonic is to integrate the Freesat Freetime service into new models of its VIERA smart TVs. It means the rollback TV guide and on demand services from the UK’s major broadcasters will be available across both satellite- and terrestrial-delivered channels.
Launched in September 2012, Freetime boxes now accounting for over 40% of all Freesat set-top box sales.
Craig Cunningham, Panasonic’s TV Product Manager, said: “We’ve had a long standing relationship with Freesat and I’m really excited that we are the first manufacturer to have the Freetime service on our TVs. Research tells us that when it comes to smart TVs consumers want three things: the best content available, ease of use and flexibility. The Freetime service delivers on all of these aspects and more and when combined with our heritage in picture quality it’s a great combination.”
Emma Scott, Freesat’s Managing Director, commented: “For such an important global brand as Panasonic to choose Freesat’s Freetime is proof positive of the clear consumer benefits of our service. This is a fantastic acknowledgement of a great British media technology success story and this deal opens up exciting new territories for us. We have enjoyed a strong working relationship with Panasonic over the past six years – Panasonic was the first manufacturer to launch IDTVs with Freesat built in, so the deal for Freetime is a natural and exciting evolution of our partnership.”
The Panasonic deal builds on Freesat’s strong start to 2014 following an excellent Q4 13 in which it added 31,000 new homes taking its base to over 1.8m.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Malaysia’s RTM to broadcast FIFA World Cup

Malaysian public broadcaster Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) has been granted exclusive terrestrial broadcasting rights for the 2014 FIFA World Cup taking place in Brazil from June 12 to July 14.
RTM Broadcasting Director-general, Norhyati Mohd Ismail said RTM will air 35 of the 64 World Cup matches in HD – of which 24 will be live and 11 will be aired as delayed telecasts. She said that matches to be telecast live include those of national teams favoured by Malaysian fans – especially Brazil, England, Argentina, Spain, France, Portugal, Italy, Argentina, South Korea and Japan.
Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Minister, Ahmad Shabery Cheek, said the cost of buying the rights would be funded through sponsorship from private companies – and not from government funds.

Ziggo plans deals with Netflix, YouTube

ziggo-hqDutch cable operator Ziggo plans to close deals with online video service such as Netflix and YouTube in the future.
Talking to the NRC Handelsblad newspaper CEO René Obermann said he is looking to work together with such services along the lines of the recent Comcast/Netflix agreement, where the OTT video platform will pay for high quality distribution on the cable network.
However, such an agreement would contravene net neutrality,which requires ISPs to indiscriminately distribute any signal to its broadband customers – even if such services would compete with the operator’s own TV offer.
Liberty Global, owner of UPC Nederland, is working to take over Ziggo and integrate its two Dutch cable operations into a single company under Ziggo branding.

Maharashtra needs 5.5mn STBs for 100% cable digitisation

The Indian state of Maharashtra will have to deploy 5.5 million set-top-boxes (STBs) to achieve 100% cable digitization in Phase III and IV rollout. The state accomplished 100% digitization in Phase I and II cities – with multiple STBs accounting for 19-21% of the total and HD-ready STBs just 2%. However, the Maharashtra Cable Operator Federation (MCOF) estimates that HD penetration will increase to 40-45% in next two years with HD-ready TV’s purchases increasing day-by-day.
“Seeding of STBs is on-going, however the objective of DAS to offer flexibility to end users in picking up and choosing channels still has a long way to go,” said Federation president Arvind Prabhoo. The Federation has also urged the Indian Government to reduce the level of entertainment tax in the state from INR 45 (USD 0.73) – the highest in India.