STB CA clients to pass 1b next year

The global installed base of conditional access (CA) clients in set-top boxes is expected to exceed 1 billion units for the first time in 2014.

Growth is driven by expanding demand in the emerging regions of Latin America, India and China, according to IHS.

The installed base of CA STB clients will rise to 1.1 billion units in 2014, up from 14% in 2013, and more than doubling the 479 million seen just five years earlier in 2009, according to the latestConditional Access Market Monitor from IHS.

Conditional access is defined as any method or technology that prevents digital TV content from being viewed by those that have not been granted rights to view it. In STBs, CA clients come in a variety of implementations, including software that is either embedded into the STB or separate in the form of smartcards or subscriber identification modules.

“As television services continue to expand their reach into new regions, the installed base of STBs keeps rising,” said Daniel Simmons, senior principal STB analyst at IHS.

“In parallel with this the expansion of the STB business, there has been growing demand for CA technology in cable, satellite and Internet protocol television (IPTV). Because of this, emerging markets continue to increase their demand for STB CA clients, even as established markets see slowing and even declines in annual growth. This allowed the installed base of CA clients to more than double in five years and will enable it to break through the 1 billion-unit barrier for the first time ever in 2014.”

Regions with well-established TV markets including North America and Japan are set to experience declining demand for STB CA clients in 2013 and 2014. The decline is especially sharp in Japan in 2013, as demand slowed down following a surge in sales driven by government subsidies for digital terrestrial television (DTT) STBs.

In contrast, most of the expansion of the installed base in CA clients will be spurred by the emerging markets of China, Latin America, India and Eastern Europe.

Chinese cable set-top box shipments in particular have exploded, initiating the rise of a series of local specialist conditional access vendors, such a China Digital TV, Sumavision and Digital Video Networks. Growth is being further boosted by demand for free satellite, driven by the government’s TV project.

The Latin American region’s growth is primarily being stimulated by cable digitization and consumer uptake of pay satellite, particularly in Brazil and Mexico. Furthermore, Mexico’s encrypted DTT platform is also an important driver for CA growth in the region.

India’s growth, meanwhile, is propelled by the vigorous expansion of the country’s cable market.

And for the Eastern European markets of Romania, Russia and Ukraine, growth is a result of cable digitization, which is pushing overall CA expansion.

Another form of CA client that has enjoyed fast growth in recent years is CA modules (CAMs). CAMs are employed in televisions that have built-in DTT, satellite and cable tuners.

During the period from 2009 to 2012, the CAM market grew at a 51 percent annual rate. This year, some 5.4 million CAMs will be shipped in the collective Europe, Africa and Middle East (EMEA) region.

CAMs now are used across the DTT, cable, satellite platforms. This wider adoption across platforms is due to the increased availability of TV sets with tuners.

New digital landmark for Hungary

Two-thirds (66.8%) of pay-TV subscribers in Hungary were receiving digital services as of this September, according to data published by the regulator NMHH.

Based on data provided by suppliers covering 88% of the broadcast market, there were a total of 3,378,000 TV subscriptions in the country as of September.

Cable and IPTV claimed 1,965,460, with 965,473 of these digital, while the number of DTH and MMDS subscriptions amounted to 924,735.

Pay-DTT is now an established feature of the Hungarian market, with the MinDig TV Extra service operated by Antenna Hungária claiming 118,305 subscribers.

The total number of digital subscriptions in September stood at 2,008,513.

UPC remained the leading provider of pay-TV services irrespective of technology, with a market share of 26.3%.

It was closely followed by Magyar Telekom and Digi, with 23.6% and 22.8% respectively.

More channels for Iranian TV

The Iranian state broadcaster Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) has announced plans to launch eight new satellite TV channels.

Quoted by the Tasnim News Agency, Ali Darabi, the station’s deputy head, said that three of the channels would be dedicated to sport, with one focusing solely on football.

He added that the five remaining channels would cover science and technology, economy, pilgrimage, culture and arts and tourism.

Darabi also said that the channels, the names of which have not yet been decided, would make their debuts in the next few months.

In addition, he dismissed a question as to how the channels would compete with foreign satellite services.

IRIB already has a large portfolio of TV channels, eight of which are national.

It includes Press TV, which along with nine other IRIB channels had their broadcasts on Hot Bird satellites terminated by Eutelsat and Arqiva in October 2012.

Russian broadband battle intensifies

VimpelCom has lost its position as one of the top three providers of broadband services in Russia.

Quoting data produced by Telecomdaily,Vedomosti says the company now finds itself in fourth spot, claiming just over 2.3 million subscribers as of the end of Q3, or 48,000 fewer than three months earlier.

Third spot is now held by MTS, which gained 35,000 subscribers in the third quarter to end September with 2,330,000.

Rostelecom remains the market leader with over 9 million broadband subscriber at the end of Q3, followed by the cable operator ER Telecom with over 2,630,000 subscribers.

VimpelCom occupied second spot as recently as the end of 2012, before falling behind ER Telecom and now MTS.

The changes in position are due to growing competition in the regional broadband market and at the same time MTS sttengthening its position in Moscow.

However, VimpelCom is now selling broadband services in over 100 cities – and pay-TV in 36 – and could bounce back, especially if it restructures its business.

25% growth forecast for encoder market

Sales of professional encoders and transcoders, used to package TV channels for delivery are growing fast as more channels launch, and more channels drive complex delivery needs.

It’s good news for Top 5 players ARRIS, Cisco, Ericsson, Harmonic and Thomson Video Networks that between them account for 70% of the market.

IHS estimates shipments will grow by 25% between 2013 and 2017 with over 140,000 channels being shipped in 2013.

However, revenues will slow by 9% as chassis density increases and per-channel costs are pushed down for MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 encoders.

Much of this growth will come from emerging markets in China, India and South-East Asia, which will double in volumes between 2013 and 2017.

As cable digitisation in Europe and Asia is completed over 150,000 encoder channels will be needed between 2014 and 2017, accounting for a significant growth rate as existing channels are digitised, new channels added to digital packages, and cable headends are consolidated.

Airtel Digital TV introduces LIVE Tweets on TV

Airtel Digital TV introduces yet another industry first; launches LIVE Tweets on TV

• Airtel Digital TV introduces a never before convergence enabling Tweeting & TV viewing parallely on one screen
• Available at no additional cost, it is a first in the DTH industry globally & offers customers a chance to see themselves on TV

NEW DELHI — Airtel Digital TV, the DTH service arm of leading telecom operator Bharti Airtel, today announced a first-of-its-kind integration with Twitter, the world’s leading real-time information network, to display LIVE Tweets on TV. A revolutionary convergence of tweeting and television viewing, the concept is an innovation in the DTH industry across the world that allows customers to experience Twitter on TV.

Starting tomorrow Airtel Digital TV customers will now be able see what the world is tweeting about popular TV programmes, celebrities, sports personalities etc. on their TV screen itself. Customers will also be able to tweet about their favourite TV shows, celebrities, sports/ sports personalities or any ongoing TV programme across channels while watching it. What’s more….your Tweet will be broadcasted LIVE and you can read your Tweets on the TV screen along with the Tweets of your favourite celebrities.

Announcing the launch of the service, Shashi Arora, CEO – Airtel Digital TV said, Twitter on Airtel Digital TV is an innovative product launched as part of our continuous efforts to enrich the lives of our customers. Given the ever increasing popularity of Twitter across the globe with over 500 million Tweets generated every day including breaking news and first reactions which trend within minutes of its occurrence, all our customers will now be a part of the convergence phenomenon along with the rest of the world.”

Jana Messerschmidt, Vice President, Business Development & Platform, Twitter added, “Twitter is public, real time and conversational, which makes it a perfect companion to television viewing. We are excited to see partners like Airtel innovating with our platform and helping their audience connect with the TV programs they love.”

The service is powered by Brizz TV and can be enjoyed by all Airtel Digital TV customers across the country on any set-top-box at no additional cost. Customers have to justpress the green key on their Airtel Digital TV remote to enable and access the service. Customers can easily close the Tweet window or resume back at any given time by pressing the same green key again. Customers can send their Tweets on any TV show with the specific hash-tags prompted on their TV screen and it shall be broadcasted LIVE by Airtel Digital TV. Even customers who either have no access to internet or are not active on Twitter currently can experience Twitter on their TV screen. Initially, the service will be available on select TV channels and will be extended to others in succession.

With the launch of the service, Airtel Digital TV continues to introduce innovative & life enriching service for customers bringing technology & convenience together to offer a superior service experience to customers. The service is an addition to the wide bouquet of industry first service experiences introduced by Airtel. It is a second consecutive innovative service launched within months of the success of the Freemium PPV which was a revolution in the PPV platform and the DTH industry.

Ukrainian VOD service takes off

The Ukrainian VOD service Megogo had two million unique visitors daily and more than 25 million in the month of September.

What was more, its viewers looked through over 100 million pages monthly.

According to the company, the majority of viewers (61%) accessed the service via the video website and 20% used mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets and book readers to watch films.

Smart TV app usage was also increasingly in evidence, accounting for 16%, with 3% using different set-top boxes.

Megogo’s audience is predominantly Ukrainian (38%), with other nationalities represented being Russian (35%), Belarusian (8%), Kazakh (7%) and other countries, include those in the EU and North America (12%).

Commenting on the figures, Ivan Shestakov, Megogo’s marketing director, said that usage of the service had grown due to increasing the size of its library and improving the quality of films watched through mobile apps, smart TVs and set-top boxes.

He also said that viewers watch news daily and increasingly also TV channels on Megogo.

MultiChoice SA CEO goes in management shakeup

MultiChoice SA CEO Collins Khumalo says he is going to take “time out” after 17 years with the South African pay-TV operator.

Khumalo’s departure has sparked a restructuring of the company in what is officially described as “the increasing complexity of the MultiChoice business”.

MultiChoice South Africa will now report directly to Imtiaz Patel, Group CEO, MultiChoice South Africa.

The DStv Mobile and DStv Online businesses are to be integrated into a combined business unit headed by John Kotsaftis, the current CEO of DStv Online.

Mark Rayner, the current head of DStv Mobile, is appointed to the position of Chief Operating Officer of MultiChoice South Africa and Calvo Mawela is appointed to the position of Stakeholder and Regulatory affairs: Multichoice South Africa Group. Both will report to Patel.

Pay TV penetration in Russia reaches 60%

According to industry analysts TelecomDaily, the number of pay-TV subscribers in Russia at the end of the third quarter of 2013 was 33.3 million up from 32.5 million at the end of the the second quarter. Pay TV penetration reached 60%, up from 56% in 2012. The share of the seven largest operators was almost 80% of the pay TV market.

Tricolor TV, the largest operator, gained the most new subscribers in the quarter at 250,000, with second-placed Rostelecom adding 124,000. MTS, in third place, lost 6,000 subscribers.

The largest pay-TV operators in Russia – number of subscribers:

                 2Q 2013    3Q 2013
               ---------  ---------
Tricolor TV    9,500,000  9,750,000
Rostelecom     6,900,000  7,024,000
MTS            2,990,000  2,984,000
ER-Telecom     2,470,000  2,540,000
Orion Express  1,360,000  1,610,000
Akado          1,102,000  1,112,000
Beeline          902,000    906,000

Donex enters into strategic partnership to make 1 million STBs

Donex Industries Limited has entered a strategic partnership with Exset, a Netherland based CAS, middleware and Digital Monetisation System (DMS) provider, for the manufacture of STBs for the Indian home cable market using Exset’s DMS.

Donex will manufacture around one million STBs per year which to help enable digitization even in remote areas. DMS helps make pay-TV self-financing without depending exclusively on subscriber fees for revenue.

“The close cooperation between Exset and Donex’s STB R&D team has enabled us to design a truly optimised software platform,” said Vinod Kinger, CEO & MD of Donex Industries Ltd said. “The DMS service combined with hardware conditional access provides an interactive pay-TV solution which will help the cable operators to drive ARPU’s to new levels.”

Pakistan cable operators demand ban on illegal TV devices

The Cable Operators Association of Pakistan (COAP) has asked the government to put an immediate ban on the sale of illegal Indian DTH/Dish TV devices in Pakistan.

COAP leaders claim that over 2 million illegal DTH/Dish TV devices have been sold throughout Pakistan which enable Indian channels to be viewed.

The COAP also warned that the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) should withdraw the advance tax that has been imposed on cable operators from October 1 pointing out that the tax could ruin cable operators’ business.

Airtel Digital TV launches new STB

Airtel Digital TV, the DTH arm of India’s Bharti Airtel, has launched a USD 32.50 STB which enables customers to record by plugging-in an external storage device up to 2 terabytes and create an unlimited personal content library by using multiple storage devices for the recordings.

“With the new standard definition STB, customers can just plug-in their pen drive or other external storage device into the STB to start recording and can schedule the recordings even via mobile or the Internet,” a company statement informed.

The recorded programmes has DVD like control of TV viewing and has features such as pause, rewind, slow-motion viewing and fast-forward.

Major Russian cable deal back on

ER Telecom and the Renova Group have agreed to continue exclusive talks on the sale of Akado to the former until the end of the year.

In a joint statement, the two parties say they are looking to develop an “optimal model for the interaction”, without going into any specific details.

ER Telecom is one of the leading cable companies in Russia and acquiring Akado, which operates in Moscow, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, would allow it to enter the lucrative Moscow market.

Renova-owned Akado has been on the market for over three years and in that time attracted interest from a number of prospective buyers, including Svyazinvest and MTS.

A deal with ER Telecom was agreed earlier this year and exclusive negotiations got under way in the summer.

However, the deal looked close to collapse as recently as last week.

Orange grows TV base

Orange ended the third quarter 2013 with a total of 6,299,000 subscribers to its IPTV and DTH services.

This was 135,000 more than three months earlier and 594,000 more than in the same period last year.

Its broadband ADSL and FFTH customer totals were meanwhile 14,876,000 and 334,000 respectively.

While the former was little changed on the 14,519,000 posted in Q3 2012, the latter was 66.2% up on that a year earlier.

France accounted for the majority of Orange’s IPTV and DTH subscriber base in Q3 (5,463,000, compared to 4,882,000 a year earlier), while in Spain its IPTV subscriber total fell for the fourth consecutive quarter, to 62,000.

Its IPTV and DTH subscriber total in Poland in Q3 stood at 702,000, compared to 695,000 a year earlier.

The Orange Group had revenues of €30.765 billion in the first nine months of this year, or 4.3% less than in the same period last year.

Restated EBITDA was €9.783 billion, compared to €10.560 billion in 2012, and operating cash flow €6.034 billion (€6,907 billion).

Regional satellite operators outpace Big Four

Total revenues among all satellite operators increased by 2.2% in US dollar terms from 2011 to 2012, with the combined revenues of all reporting operators boosted to US$11.39 billion in 2012.

While the Big Four (Intelsat, SES, Eutelsat, Telesat) still remain dominant, capturing 65.6% of revenues, regional players are slowly catching up, increasing their total market share from 33.2% of revenues in 2011 to 34.4% in 2012, accroding to NSR’s Satellite Operator Financial Analysis (SOFA), 3rd Edition.

“Organically, regional satellite operators are growing at a much faster rate than the Big Four—in 2012 the figures were 6.8% growth for regional operators, and 0.3% growth for Big Four. Clashing head-on with this trend is the phenomenon of acquisition, which we saw with the announcement of Eutelsat acquiring Satmex in 2013. Moving forward, further acquisitions may be a key way for the Big Four to increase their market share compared to regional operators, as this trend of faster growth by smaller operators was by no means isolated to 2012,” stated Blaine Curcio, NSR analyst and report author.

Further, satellite operators collectively saw qualitative metrics improve, with metrics like Average Annual Revenues per Operational Satellite increasing by nearly US$1 million, to just over $44.5 million. Notably, for metrics like Revenues per Satellite and Revenues per Leased Transponder, the very top echelon of operators tended to be regional ones, able to capitalize on unique market tendencies or prime orbital slots in order to fight their way to the top of the rankings.

With regional operators also tending to focus more on raw capacity leasing, rather than the value-added services that complement the offerings of the Big Four, these smaller players also found themselves at the top of metrics such as EBITDA margin, with AsiaSat, Hispasat, and APT Satellite taking the top 3 spots, respectively, in this metric.

Presenting data from FSS operators relating to revenues, EBITDA, debt ratios, CAPEX, and more, SOFA3 provides a comprehensive snapshot of the FSS sector in 2012. Supplemented by annual data from 2007 to H1 2013, the report also allows the reader to understand the way that today’s trends have evolved in recent years, and the direction these trends will lead the FSS sector into the future.

Boost for Serbian digitisation

Serbia has taken another important step in its transition to digital broadcasting.

According to Balkans.com, this follows the signing of the Rule Book on the allocation of frequencies for analogue FM and TV broadcasting stations by Rasim Ljajic, the deputy prime minister and minister of foreign and internal trade and telecommunications.

The Rule Book frees up some of the frequencies that used to belong to the now defunct station TV Avala and these will now be allocated to the DTT network.

Independent regulatory bodies will meanwhile manage the remaining spectrum.

The Rule Book also creates the conditions for the use of DTT equipment valued at over €8 million and received by Serbia from the EU.

Serbia is expected to complete the transition to digital broadcasting in June 201

Primacom bids for Tele Columbus, Telekabel

Germany’s Primacom wants to buy Tele Columbus Berlin and Deutsche Telekabel.

The cabler’s managing director Wolf Waschkuhn told Reuters the company wants an active role in the market’s consolidation: “We are hunters not hunted. We are ready to be a consolidator”.

Tele Columbus is up for sale and recently attracted interest from private equity groups CVC and Cinven, which are offering to buy it in a potential deal valuing the company’s equity and debt at roughly EUR 600 million, according to people familiar with the negotiations.

Kabel Deutschland earlier this year walked away from buying Tele Columbus for about EUR618 million after the Bundeskartellambt blocked the deal.

The German cable market is going through a process of consolidation. Vodafone EUR7.7 billion takeover of Germany’s largest cable company Kabel Deutschland, while Liberty Global has merged Unitymedia and KabelBW.

HD takes off in Russian ER Telecom

The Russian cable operator ER Telecom is now providing subscribers to its Dom.ru service with 50 HD channels.

This follows the addition of five more channels in the format to its offer – Discovery Science HD, Travel Channel HD, MTVHD, LifeNews HD and TLC HD – and now makes it the most comprehensive in the country.

ER Telecom introduced HD to its offer in July 2012 and the number of channels in the format has since been increased from 20 to 50.

It will be increased still further, to between 70-80, by the end of 2015.

HD services are becoming increasingly popular in Russia and can be received on up to 90% of TV sets sold in the country.

Hungary set for ASO

Ninety five per cent of needy households in Hungary have digital reception equipment with only one week to go before ASO, according to the regulator NMHH.

The country is undertaking digital switchover in two steps, with the second due to take place on October 31.

The NMHH says that 90,000 homes have turned to it for help in the second stage of the process and help will be on hand to obtain reception equipment until November 30.

Following ASO, terrestrial viewers will be able to receive seven channels without a subscription fee rather than the current three.

Meanwhile, Antenna Hungária says that on November 1 it will start digital transmissions from 19 new low-power sites.

Its MinDig TV and MinDig TV Extra services, offering viewers a total of 31 TV channels, will then be transmitted from a total of 90 sites.

Antenna Hungária has invested HUF25 billion (€85.4 million) in the digitisation process and MinDig TV Extra is now the fourth largest pay-TV operation in the country, claiming almost 130,000 subscribers.

Philips to take legal action against Funai

Philips has terminated its agreement to transfer Audio, Video, Multimedia and Accessories business to Funai following breach of contract.

Philips will take legal action to recover damages caused by Funai. Philips will proceed to investigate other opportunities for the Audio, Video, Multimedia and Accessories business, while continuing to run this business within Philips operating with a significantly lower cost structure, as a standalone entity called WOOX Innovations.

“We regret that we have to take this action, but we do so to protect our business and the interests of all our stakeholders,” said Philips CEO Frans van Houten.

“Year to date, our carved-out Audio, Video, Multimedia, Accessories business shows a positive net income and has leading market positions in areas like home cinema sound, docking speakers and headphones. As WOOX Innovations, the business will continue to bring great new products to the market, while we investigate other opportunities to give this business a great future.”

Philips announced that it had signed an agreement regarding the transfer of its Audio, Video, Multimedia and Accessories business to Funai on January 29, 2013. Since signing, Philips said it “has been working hard to prepare the business for transfer in the second half of this year; this process has now been completed.

“In the final preparation phase, Funai has refused to take the necessary steps to enable completion of the transaction and the transfer of the business. As a result, Philips will start arbitration proceedings in the International Court of Arbitration (ICC) and will terminate the agreement signed in January.”

WOOX Innovations will be a standalone company within Philips, fully focused on delivering meaningful innovation in connected entertainment. Headquartered in Hong Kong and with over 2,000 employees worldwide, WOOX is a business with EUR 1.2 billion in sales.

Today’s announcement does not impact Philips’ existing agreements with Funai in North America and Mexico.

NationalChip targets STB chips at India market

NationalChip, a Chinese company that offers digital TV solutions and IC development, has launched new STB chips specifically targeted at the Indian market, where the ongoing digitisation drive launched by the Indian government has led to increased demand for HD entertainment.

The HD STB, based on GX3201, delivers over 1000MIPS CPU performance, 1080P HD decoding and security implementation, while the low-end SD STB, based on GX3001R or GX3012Q, offers a more cost effective solution. The exact price points have not yet been announced by the company.

NationalChip has shipped more than 150 million STB sets globally since its inception. The STB market is booming in Indian due to digitisation drive by the government. In fact even the government has stated that the country will need 77 million STBs to successfully complete digitisation through phases III and IV. The current deadline for the digitisation drive sits at December 2014 for whole of India.

Shandong Cable incorporates Ericsson for VOD rollout

China based Shandong Cable Network has deployed the latest Ericsson Multiscreen TV Solution that allows a variety of interactive TV experiences including time-shifted TV and VOD services across a wide range of mobile and fixed devices.

“Our customers have an unprecedented amount of choice over their device and content sources and with demand for round-the-clock video at an all-time high. It is crucial for us to have the most sophisticated solutions in place to deliver high quality, on-demand,” said Du Ji Pu, CTO of Shandong Cable Network.

The Ericsson Multiscreen TV solution’s core functionality includes content management, VOD back-office and digital rights management and delivers linear and on-demand content to subscribers over any network including broadcast, IP or satellite.

Dish TV India adds 164 thousand subscribers in 3Q 2013

164 thousand subscribers added in the quarter ended September 30, 2013 taking net subscriber base to 11 million at the end of the period

NOIDA, India — Dish TV India Limited (Dishtv) (BSE: 532839, NSE: DISHTV) today reported second quarter fiscal 2014 standalone operating revenues of Rs.5,926 million, recording 11% growth over the corresponding period last fiscal. Subscription revenues of Rs. 5,370 million recorded a growth of 13.6% over the corresponding quarter last fiscal. EBITDA returned to growth trajectory with a margin of 25%. Net Loss was down to Rs. 160 million compared to Rs. 304 million in the previous quarter.

Mr. Jawahar Goel, Managing Director, Dish TV, said, “We added 164 thousand net subscribers during the quarter and maintained our leadership share. Aided by quality additions, Dish TV’s churn remained at 0.6% p.m. while SAC was flattish. This was despite the fact that being seasonally weak, the quarter witnessed brief periods of desperate attempts to undercut prices by select DTH platforms.”

Growing internet penetration, and with majority of it being used to watch video on mobile devices, is a clear indicator of things to come. Anticipating a massive shift in viewing habits where increasing number of viewers would want to watch TV on the go, or watch it on screens other than TV. Dish TV, in technical collaboration with ‘Ditto TV’, has launched an exclusive OTT (over-the-top) streaming application exclusively for its subscribers.

The application ‘DishOnline’ can be freely downloaded and would enable Dish TV subscribers to watch Live TV, Catch-up TV and Movies on the Go by paying an additional Rs. 129 or Rs. 49 per month for the fully loaded and basic pack respectively. As a special introductory offer, these are currently available at Rs. 69 and Rs. 29 per month. The ‘DishOnline’ service would have a following amongst the tech-savvy viewers in the country and would help increase subscriber stickiness on the platform.

Sky Cable signs RTL CBS

The largest cable TV operator, Sky Cable has inked an agreement with RTL CBS Asia Entertainment Network for a new carriage deal through which subscribers now will have access to RTL CBS Entertainment HD channel.

RTL CBS Asia Entertainment Network has been on a spree inking new deals with pay TV operators in Asia in the last few months. It has so far signed deals with Singapore’s Singtel, Malaysia’s IPTV player – HyppTV and even Thailand’s TrueVisions. CEO Jonas Engwall commented, “RTL CBS Entertainment HD has received an extremely enthusiastic reception from all operators across the region and initial audience feedback has been very encouraging. We are delighted to bring the channel to Filipino viewers through our partner Sky Cable. The Philippines is a significant market where viewers of all ages value high quality content.”

For its part, Sky Cable has also been including several channels to its bouquet. In October it announced that it will be launching two new sports channels and will be launching a third new sport channels in the coming months.

Vietnamese ministry could stop the broadcast of CNN

As CNN International, the English news and current affairs channel, owned by the Turner Broadcasting System has not gotten a licence that will allow its content to be edited by Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC), it might be soon discontinued by all cable operators in the country. Currently due to domestic demand, the channels are being broadcast by some pay TV operators but even that might be discontinued, claimed the ministry.The problem lies because the Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has come to the decision that the content presented by CNN would first be edited by the Vietnam National Television (VTV) before broadcast. However neither party has reached any consensus on how that could take place.As CNN follows a police where it does not allow outside interferences when it comes to the broadcast of its content, the Department of Broadcasting and Electronic Information has found itself in a dilemma. If it discontinues the channel, then the public would be dissatisfied but if CNN is broadcast, then it would be against state law. It was announced on March 15, 2013, that channels have to obtain an editing licence in order to continue broadcasting in the country.

Tricolor inks Warner deal

Russia’s leading DTH platform Tricolor TV has signed an agreement with Warner Bros.

Quoting Tricolor TV, local reports say that although no financial details of the deal have been disclosed, the platform plans to spend over $100 million (€73.1 million) on the acquisition of top content over the next few years.

In the case of that from Warner Bros, it will be included in a new premium movie package launched at the beginning of this month.

Named SuperKino HD, it already had 13,800 subscribers after two weeks and is projected to have 100,000 within a year.

Tricolor TV is also engaged in talks with MGM, Paramount and local distributors.

Ukraine looks to channel encryption

Four of Ukraine’s leading distributors have agreed to create a new package of encrypted DTH channels.

According to Satkurier and Telesat News, it will consist of 20 channels, formerly available FTA, and cost viewers UAH8 (€0.7) a month to receive.

The distributors in question and the channels they currently offer are Media Group Ukraine – Ukraina telekanal, Futboll, Futboll+, Donbass and NLO-TV; StarLightMedia – STB, ICTV, Nowyj kanal, M1, M2 and OTV; Inter Media Group – Inter, Inter+, NTN, Enter Film, Piksel, K1, K2, Mega and Zoom; and 1+1 Media – 1+1, 2+2, TET and Plus-Plus.

The last three have until distributed all their channels FTA, using Astra 4A at 4.8 degrees East and Amos 2/3 at 4 degrees West, with only Media Group Ukraine employing Viaccess to encrypt its channels on 4.8 degrees East.

The regulator appears to be in favour of the distributors creating such an encrypted package.

However, there is no indication of what channels will be included in it or on what satellite it will be distributed.

Indonesia's Orange TV launches OTT services with Irdeto Rights

Irdeto Rights provides Orange TV with studio-grade content security and license management structure for OTT services across vast network of consumer devices

SINGAPORE — Irdeto today announced that Orange TV, a pay TV service by Indonesia’s PT Mega Media, has selected Irdeto Rights to provide studio-grade security for over-the-top (OTT) services across a wide range of unmanaged consumer devices, including the implementation of Irdeto’s exclusive Secure Key Exchange (SKE). Irdeto Rights, part of the Irdeto Media Protection suite, is a pre-packaged, end-to-end, hosted solution that integrates seamlessly into an operator’s existing content distribution infrastructure and protects premium content in a multi-screen environment. Irdeto SKE also provides unique scaling and user experience capabilities, adeptly handling the challenges of both live streaming as well as video on-demand.

Orange TV was officially launched in March 2012 and is the first and only pay TV operator in Indonesia to offer a unique prepayment system, which enables customers to enjoy high-quality, premium content without being tied down by monthly charges or a contract. Orange TV has over 20,000 points of sale where customers may easily purchase prepaid vouchers including convenience stores, ATM machines and the post office. Orange TV also holds national broadcasting rights for the Barclays Premier League for the next three seasons, beginning 2013/2014.

With Irdeto Rights in place, Orange TV is able to easily manage licensing for its premium content delivered over-the-top (OTT) and offer customers the freedom to access content from their favorite on-the-go devices. Irdeto Rights provides both live streaming and ‘download & go’ viewing options as well as a full range of business models to provide additional revenue streams from licensed content. It also scales for future growth in Orange TV viewer numbers as demand for live sports increases with the new OTT offer.

“With our exclusive Premier League content and prepaid model, Orange TV is thriving and we expect to expand our customer base rapidly in the coming years,” said Supeno Lembang, President Commissary at Orange TV. “In order to achieve the next level of success, we needed a strong OTT solution partner to help us maximize our content’s potential. We found what we were looking for in Irdeto, who have worked with us since we first began operations two years ago. With this winning partnership, I am certain we can scale greater heights in the near future towards becoming one of the leading pay TV operators in Indonesia.”

According to research firm Venture Consulting, consumers in Indonesia desire two things: more local and regional content, and the ability to view it anytime, anywhere. Indonesia has a large population of 242 million people and a fairly low free-to-air (FTA) TV penetration rate of 56 percent. With its new services, Orange TV is reaching into rural areas in Indonesia such as the suburban villages and the many islands across the Indonesian archipelago.

“Today’s OTT platforms and business models are evolving to meet subscriber demand for premium content, including live sports and exclusive on-demand titles, which is why Orange TV is well-positioned for success,” said Bengt Jonsson, Vice President Sales, APAC. “We are happy that Orange TV has once again selected as its long-term partner for the future, and we look forward to helping them realize the wealth of opportunities in the Indonesia pay TV market.”

Irdeto Rights is also a key pillar of the Irdeto Multiscreen suite recently launched at IBC 2013. With Irdeto Rights, operators can achieve studio-grade protection for their OTT service in order to meet licensing requirements for top-rated premium content. They can choose to implement Irdeto’s exclusive end-to-end SKE as a cost-effective and effortlessly scalable content protection solution, or leverage Irdeto security on any of the well-known industry DRMs such as PlayReady, Adobe Access, Widevine and Marlin. Irdeto Rights also allows full range of viewing options such as: streaming, progressive download and ‘download & go’ and is designed for optimal scalability in order to support customer’s market and operational needs for multiple simultaneous users.

Russia not ready for Netflix

Russia is not currently a good prospect for Netflix and is unlikely to be so for at least the next 3-5 years, according to Egor Iakovlev, CEO and founder of Tvigle, the country’s leading legal online video company.

Speaking to Broadband TV News at a special media event in London, he said that there are currently a number of factors that would make Russia a difficult market for Netflix to operate in.

Firstly, there is no established habit for paying for channels like there is in the US, where the cable market is over 50 years old.

Secondly, there is a wide selection of FTA channels in Russia and the quality of the programming they show is high.

For instance, feature films often air on main channels only a couple of months after their theatrical release.

Thirdly, there is a high level of piracy in Russia, though this is being addressed by new legislation that is already having an effect.

Iakovlev said that idea of the scale of piracy in Russia can be gauged from the fact that of the 10 billion streams in Russia only 1 billion are from legal sources and two billion from semi-legal sources, the latter of which include YouTube, with the remainder from pirated sources.

Since its enactment in August, the new anti-piracy legislation has already led to the closure of over 50 pirate sites.

Tvigle was launched in 2007 and has a 20% share of unique monthly viewers. It has over 7,500 partner websites and a unique advertising network and had an audience of 10 million as of April this year.

Tvigle also has content partnership agreements with the BBC, Fox International Channels, Disney Channel, CTC Media and Central Partnership.

Digital TV broadcasting to begin in Myanmar this week

Digital TV broadcasting will begin in Myanmar this week in at least three cities in the country. The Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV) has also announced that in addition for upgrading its broadcast system to allow digital TV broadcasting, it was also building 77 digital TV broadcasting stations by 2015.

The three cities that will have digital TV broadcasts are – Rangoon, Naypyidaw and Mandalay. MRTV director general Tint Swe said, “We’re expecting such a digital system to provide coverage in the whole nation by 2020. Though we’re going to change the system from analogue to digital, the analogue users can continue to view as usual the next three years. Until 2016, it’s optional for them.”

The country is also planning on building 253 digital broadcasting stations by 2017. It’s also planning on using Asean-standard Digital Video Broadcasting Terrestrial-2 (DVBT-2) for the broadcasts. The country currently has only five public channels to its name. In order to gain revenues to support the upgrade, MRTV channels will be selling commercial advertisement time, said Swe.

Ziggo claims Cloud TV success

The cloud-based interactive TV services rolled out by Ziggo has been declared a resounding success with over 229,000 set-tops activated. The cabler is now testing cloud TV with CI+ 1.3 modules.

Earlier this year, the Dutch cable operator was the first in the world to roll out a fully cloud-based interactive DVB-C TV service. By combining the IP protocol with the DVB-C standard, even set-top boxes without built-in hardware functionality for interactivity are able to provide interactive services via cable.

By September 30, the number of activated decoders with this new streaming graphical user interface (SGUI) had grown to over 229,000 decoders, from 60,000 in Q1 and 150,000 at the end of Q2. Today, the SGUI account already for over 50% of the VOD activity. On September 30, Ziggo had over 542,000 customers with an interactive receiver or recorder, up from 480,000 as at the end of Q2 2013.

Building on this success, the operator started a field test with the first CI+ 1.3 modules in the second week of July. The new CI+ 1.3 standard provides optional access to interactive services. Ziggo said the new service will be available at the beginning of November, a worldwide first to offer interactive TV over a common interface.

This introduction will further increase the number of interactive receivers in Ziggo’s customer base and stimulate growth of its video-on-demand services and revenues. Currently, over 900,000 of its customers watch digital TV using a legacy version (1.2) of the common interface. Only those customers who have purchased a certified CI+ 1.3 TV will be able to use the interactive services associated with the new CI+ 1.3 module.

Today approximately 250 different TVs from Philips, LG and Samsung have been certified for interactive TV with the new CI+ 1.3 module and Ziggo is in the process of certifying more brands.

On September 15, Ziggo received an award from the International Broadcast Convention (IBC) in the Content Delivery category with the first fully cloud-based interactive DVB-C TV service in the world.

New landmark for Volia

VOLIA Smart HD, the next generation television service operated by Ukraine’s leading cable operator, now has over 7,000 subscribers.

Launched in March and initially offered to outside networks, it first became available to Volia’s own digital subscribers in Kharkov and the capital, Kiev.

VOLIA Smart HD was subsequently introduced in Lviv and Sevastopol, and by next month it will be available in a total of 16 cities.

According to Volia, the service now offers viewers 130 digital channels, include some in HD, along with an online video library of 30,000 movies, shows and programmes, as well as access to YouTube.

It will soon also include a number of new interactive features.

Skylink targets Hungarian speakers

The DTH platform Skylink will start offering Hungarian channels in November, according to Jaromir Glisnik, a member of the board of the M7 Group.

Speaking to Parabola, he added that it is currently preparing a package of basic public and commercial Hungarian programmes for its subscribers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Although Glisnik could not specify the channels, as negotiations are still ongoing with broadcasters, he said there would be 7-10 and offered as a premium package, costing a maximum of CZK100 or €4 a month but free to some subscribers.

Separately, Parabola reports that Skylink, which is the leading DTH platform in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, secured 102,000 new customers in the last 12 months.

Russia provides DTT update

Over half (54%) of viewers in Russia will be able to receive services from the country’s first two DTT multiplexes by the end of the year.

The news was given by Alexei Volin, the deputy minister of communications and mass communications of the Russian Federation, quoted by RAI Novosti andAKTR..

However, speaking at the same conference as Volin, Kiril Filippov, the founder and CEO of SPB TV, said that regional channels are likely to have problems in securing a slot on the country’s third DTT multiplex.

This will be due to such factors as high fees and a requirement for 24-hour broadcasting, something that even RTR daughter services will have difficulties with.

On the other hand, regional channels are likely to remain popular because federal channels allocate very little time to regional news.

Elemental drives OTT in Mongolia

Elemental Technologies has announced that its video processing systems have been selected by Skymedia, a broadband service provider in Mongolia, to power OTT and advanced television services nationwide.

Skymedia is using Elemental Live systems to process content for delivery over the operator’s broadband and mobile networks. Skymedia services make live linear and on-demand content available to subscribers on iPhone, iPad and Android devices as well as PCs and IP set-top boxes. The Elemental deployment processes content for more than 80 channels broadcasting 24×7.

“The encoding density, rich feature set, and unmatched ability to output content in multiple formats make Elemental video processing systems vital to providing premium multiscreen services to our customers,” said Gantogoo Zundui, CTO of Skymedia.

“Easy system integration with Skymedia middleware and OTT workflows, flexible support for our IPTV headend migration, and strong local support from Elemental are all key to meeting rapidly changing viewer demands and growing our subscriber base.”

“We are thrilled to provide a fully optimized multiscreen video processing solution that directly and efficiently supports Skymedia’s advanced television services today – and a roadmap that assures their ability to effectively meet consumer demands in the future,” said David Godfrey, VP sales Asia Pacific, Elemental.

Cisco reaches over 100 million digital TV homes in Asia Pacific

Cisco Reaches over 100 Million Digital TV Homes and 340 Million Viewers in Asia Pacific

SINGAPORE — In the rapidly-growing digital television (TV) industry in Asia Pacific, Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the leading provider of conditional access (CA) and digital rights management (DRM) solutions, securing content that is delivered to more than 100 million digital homes in the region. This important milestone reinforces the company’s leadership in the digital TV industry in Asia Pacific.

Using an industry-estimated average of 3.3 people per household, Cisco’s market-leading VideoGuard conditional access and digital rights management technology is now providing the critical protection of premium content to over 340 million viewers.

Cisco is in prime position to address the changing needs of operators now and into the future with a Research and Development (R&D) center in Bangalore, India that is dedicated to the development of video technology. With its continued commitment to research and innovation, the company currently enjoys the largest market share of the estimated 257 million digital TV homes in Asia Pacific (Source: MPA Report, May 2013).

• Cisco® VideoGuard conditional access and digital rights management solutions make Cisco the leading CA provider in Asia Pacific with a market share of 31% (Source: Screen Digest Report 2013 and Cisco’s internal subscriber data).
• Cisco is a trusted pay-TV technology partner for over 150 Pay-TV operators as well as media and entertainment companies worldwide, including leading Direct-to-home (DTH) and cable operator customers in Asia Pacific like Airtel Digital TV, Astro, Foxtel, Hathway, Oriental Cable Network, Sichuan Cable TV and Tata Sky.
• Cisco recently announced the key milestone of over 30 million digital TV homes in India with an estimated 150 million viewers.
• Cisco is committed to delivering world-leading, affordable and innovative solutions and services to help its satellite and cable customers to differentiate their services in their respective markets in Asia.

Sue Taylor, Vice President Sales, Asia Pacific, Service Provider Video Software Solutions

“Achieving the milestone of over 100 million digital homes in this region is a testament to our commitment to Asia Pacific over the last 20 years, and our partnerships with some of the most successful cable TV and DTH satellite platforms in the region. This industry in Asia Pacific is one of the fastest growing and most dynamic in the world. We look forward to serving millions more households that can benefit from Cisco’s enhanced TV-viewing experiences, as the demand for advanced services and applications surges.”

Hong Kong grants TV licences

The Hong Kong government has given in principle approvals for free-TV broadcast licences to I-Cable’s Fantastic TV and Hong Kong Television Entertainment (HKTVE) backed by pay TV giant, PCCW. However the biggest surprise was in the fact City Telecom, which has been working hard to break into the broadcast industry was denied a licence with no explanation from the government.

Gregory So, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development said, “The decision introduces competition and increases program choice and diversity, but at the same time minimizes the risk of any possible adverse impact on the free TV market as a whole.” Once they get the formal approval both Fantastic TV and HKTVE will have one channel running within a span of one year.

However public outcry has followed City Telecom not being given a licence. CEO Ricky Wong said that it was the government who had played a crucial role in getting the company involved in the first place. He said, ”In 2009, the government called me to invite me. On December 31, 2009, we submitted the application. We are the most qualified among the three applicants. We focus on entertainment, which is what Hong Kong lacks.” Due to the decision taken by the government, City Telecom’s Hong Kong Television Network (HKTV) had to lay off 320 of its 500 staff.

Survey: Smart TV the most important device for operator revenue

Smart or connected TVs are the most important devices for an operator’s future content revenue, according to new research from Irdeto, conducted at IBC 2013.

The vox-pop style survey confirmed that many in the industry see OTT entrants as the biggest threat to broadcasters and pay TV operators.

A significant 41% of respondents saw Smart TVs as being crucial to an operator’s future strategy – there is already development in this field through CI Plus – with 33% identifying tablets as the most important device for revenue growth.

“The trend research we conducted at IBC only underscores the increasing importance of compelling multi-screen services,” said Godert Burghard, VP Marketing, Irdeto. “Broadcasters and operators must move from the experimentation stage and focus on the multi-screen experience, as that’s what really drives revenue and loyalty. They must also not forget about the threat of piracy, which requires a blended approach encapsulating content windows, geographic availability and consumer education.”

A potential disconnect emerged amongst respondents regarding the multi-screen priorities of operators and what is desired by consumers. Live sports streaming and a consistent cross-device user experience are what respondents felt was most in demand by the consumer, with 24% of respondents choosing each of these options. While only 9% of respondents felt that consumers wanted personalized recommendations most.

26% indicated that personalization was most desired by operators from their multi-screen vendor.

Just 20% cited piracy as the biggest threat to broadcasters and pay-TV operators, whereas 53% were more worried about new OTT entrants.

A total of 93 responses were collected over the course of the event.

Major Russian cable deal doubt

The acquisition of Moscow-based Akado by ER Telecom now looks unlikely to take place.

According to Vedomosti, talks between the two parties have ground to a halt, with the major stumbling block appearing to be the stance being the negative stance to the proposed deal being taken by the Moscow city authorities.

This will be a major blow to ER Telecom, which is the country’ second largest provider of broadband internet, as well as one of its leading cable operators, with around 2.6 million and 2.5 million subscribers respectively.

It has been keen to enter the lucrative Moscow market, where Akado is a key player.

In total, the latter had 1.1 million TV and over 800,000 broadband internet subscribers in Moscow, St Petersburg and Yekaterinberg as of H1 this year.

Akado has now been on the market for over three years and in that time attracted interest from a host of Russian companies including Svyzinvest and MTS.

Unotel, Media Networks and NAGRA launch Pay TV in Brazil

Unotel to launch new offering in Brazil enabling hundreds of ISPs to offer state-of-the art triple play services

• Service will leverage latest technology from Media Networks Latin America and NAGRA

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — Unotel Telecom, Media Networks Latin America and NAGRA announced today the signature of an agreement for the launch of a new pay-TV offering in the first quarter of 2014. The new service will be initially offered at the four million broadband subscriber base of the shareholders and partners of Unotel, with an aggressive growth plan taking advantage of the main sport events that will be hosted in Brazil in the next few years – the FIFA World Soccer Cup in 2014 and the Summer Olympics in 2016.

“We are very glad to materialize the dream of many small and medium regional operators with this agreement,” says Orlando Ferreira Neto, President of Unotel. “Our partners will now be able to offer triple play – broadband, voice and video – to their existing broadband customers, allow us to be more competitive and rapidly grow our subscriber base thanks to a complete pay-TV solution.”

The new offering will feature a hybrid digital set-top box enabling the delivery of IP, satellite and digital terrestrial services with content secured by NAGRA’s content protection technology (NAGRA MediaAccess). It will also be the first commercial deployment of NAGRA’s OpenTV 5 middleware over the Media Networks platform in Brazil, with, in future, the possibility of supporting GINGA applications to enable broadcaster interactivity with Unotel subscribers through its free-to-air TV signals. What’s more, with the connection of an external hard disk, the device will automatically convert into a digital recorder. Additional services and products will also be offered through the Internet.

“We are excited to help Unotel transform the pay-TV market with unique and innovative products using our robust content protection solutions and latest generation of set-top box software,” says Thierry Martin, NAGRA’s Vice President for South America.

“The infrastructure of Media Networks is prepared to support the aggressive proposal for HD channels that Unotel is planning for its program packages. Moreover, this agreement consolidates the leadership of Media Networks as the principal white label wholesaler of Pay TV in Brazil and Latin America.” says Leandro Gaunszer, Commercial Director for Media Networks Latin America.

TVP assesses HbbTV progress

TVP now has 160,000 HbbTV users a month, according to Wieslaw Lodzikowski, the public broadcaster’s director of technology.

Speaking in a panel discussion entitledInteractive Television: How to reach and engage audiences, he added that this figure compared to 1,500 when it launched its first hybrid apps 15 months ago, initially for Euro 2012.

According to Lodzikowski, TVP’s strategy is one of educating viewers and making them interactive.

However, to do so requires it to find out as much as possible about them and this was not always welcome, with some believing they were being checked to see if they had paid their receiver licence fees.

Lodzikowski also spoke highly of the HbbTV service being developed by TVP’s Spanish counterpart RTVE and the fact that some of its elements have been developed specifically for kids.

OTT service Divan.tv launches worldwide

OTT service Divan.tv is making its multiscreen Russian-language service available for 300 million Russian-speaking audiences worldwide.

A subscription to the service costs $9.99 (EUR7.37) per month and includes 60 Live streaming TV-channels and VOD in one single package.

Divan.tv is the first and only Russian language service on smarts TV worldwide (LG, Samsung, Philips, Sony, Panasonic), Roku, and tablets (Android, Apple iOS).

“We are happy to introduce TV Everywhere concept (Smart TV, STB, tablets, laptop) for all our audience worldwide. We plan to serve up 2 million customers in upcoming 3-4 years,” said founder of divan.tv and managing partner of AVentures Capital Andrey Kolodyuk.

For winning on these 200 foreign markets, divan.tv will spend millions of dollars, however planned to reach breakeven point in 2.5 years according to Andrey Kolodyuk.

Due this changes Ukrainian Divan.tv will open head-offices in the US (California) and Russia (Moscow) with the R&D department and representative office remaining in Ukraine. Divan.tv was founded in 2009 and has developed own proprietary OTT middleware. Since its launch in Ukraine last year the company has attracted 125,000 users for their freemium and premium subscription paid services.