Raduga TV in liquidation

The Russian DTH platform Raduga TV is now in the process of being liquidated.

According toComnews, the board members of its operating company DalGeoKom agreed the process and there is no specific time for it to end.

Raduga TV, which was 50%-owned by Modern Times Group (MTG), was prior to its closure the fourth largest DTH platform in Russia.

It ceased operations in December last year.

Ukrainian sheds pay-TV subs

The pay-TV market in Ukraine lost at least 200,000-250,000 subscribers last year, according to Gyorgy Zsembery, the CEO of Volia, the country’s leading cable operator.

Speaking to Expert & Consulting and quoted by ProIT, he added that this had been due to events in Crimea and the east of the country.

In Zsembery’s view, players who do not develop new technologies or have opportunities to introduce new services will find it difficult to make a profit as they will have nothing to compensate for the loss of their businesses in Crimea and the Donbass.

Speaking specifically about Volia’s plans for this year, Zsembery said that its main focus would be on interactive TV and increasing the speed and reliability of its internet offer.

MTS grows pay-TV base

Russia’s MTS both gained pay-TV subscribers and reduced churn in 2014.

Quoting a report by TMT Consulting, Vedomosti reports that the former figure increased by 4% during the year to 2.7 million.

However, it does not provide a figure for churn, which the company’s president promised to end in its fixed network in 2014.

MTS stopped providing its pay-TV figures in Q1 2014 and the increase in last year’s is believed to be down to a change in the method of accounting.

The company launched a DTH service towards the end of 2014 and this is expected to increase its pay-TV subscriber total in the future.

Satellite dominates Sub-Saharan Africa pay TV revenues

Sub-Saharan Africa pay TV revenues to rocket to $6.2 billion

Pay TV revenues in Sub-Saharan Africa will reach $6.22 billion in 2020, up from $3.54 billion in 2014 and $1.92 billion in 2010, according to a new report from Digital TV Research. Excluding South Africa, pay TV revenues will climb from $0.83 billion in 2010 to $1.73 billion in 2014 and onto $4.12 billion in 2020.

Source: Digital TV Research

The fourth edition of the Digital TV Sub-Saharan Africa report forecasts that South Africa and Nigeria will contribute more than half of the region’s pay TV revenues by 2020 for the 34 countries covered. Second-placed Nigeria will more than double its revenues from $449 million in 2014 to $1,148 million in 2020.

Satellite TV accounted for 92% of the 2014 pay TV revenues, although pay DTT will make inroads (contributing $802 million in 2020 – quadruple the 2014 total). Competition and take-up of the cheaper DTT packages will force ARPU down in most countries.
Of the 12.92 million pay TV subscribers at end-2014, 9.65 million were pay satellite TV and 2.81 million pay DTT. The pay total will more than double to 27.95 million by 2020, with satellite TV contributing 16.21 million and pay DTT another 9.44 million.

Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “Three companies [Multichoice (DStv and GOtv), Canal Plus and StarTimes] accounted for more than 90% of pay TV subscribers in Sub-Saharan Africa by end-2014. However, we have outlined plans for at least 30 major platform launches in 2015 throughout this report – at least twice as many as in 2014.”

He continued: “Kenya has shown – and will continue to show – considerable digital TV growth, but it may be showing signs of overheating. Kenya now boasts two pay DTT platforms, a cable network and four satellite TV operators – too many for a country with only 2.87 million TV households?”

Amagi deploys Cloudport playout for Magic of Cinema

Amagi Media Labs, cloud-based broadcast infrastructure provider, has won a deal from Magic of Cinema (MOC), a free-to-air movie channel, to deploy Cloudport Edge Playout servers across 17 digital cable platforms.

The technology enables MOC to launch its channel at a fraction of traditional satellite/fiber infrastructure costs. The entire playout is managed at Amagi’s Data Operations Centre in Bengaluru.

“We evaluated several platforms and finally chose Amagi for its technology superiority and an attractive PaaS business model. It allowed us to avoid high capital expenditure and upfront investment without compromising on the broadcast quality. As our viewership expanded over time, Amagi helped us scale our business giving us the required flexibility and reliability. Amagi has been a true partner in our growth” said Sricharan Iyengar, CEO of MOC.

MOC has a wide array of over 1,500 Hindi cinemas. It is available on leading digital cable platforms including Hathway, Den, Siticable, UCN and Incable.

Belarus provides DTT update

Belarus is on track to complete its transition to digital broadcasting by May 15 this year. At the same time, its commercial DVB-T2 service is growing in popularity.

In a press conference held on Tuesday, January 13 and attended by representatives of several government ministries and Vadim Vladimorovich Shaybakov, the deputy DG of the incumbent telco Beltelecom, it was revealed that as of January 1 DVB-T coverage already amounted to 98.1% of the country.

However, it was also said that Belarus was one of the first countries in the world to introduce a commercial DVB-T2 service.

Operated by Beltelecom, it was launched in October 2013 and as of the beginning of this year reached over 40% of the country.

Twenty-five digital transmitters were installed in 2013 and their number increased to 95 in 2014.

Over 70 more will be installed this year.

The service, which employs the brand name Zala, offers a basic package of 26 channels, 18 of which are commercial, along with a number of packages.

In total, viewers are offered 44 channels, with the number set to increase in the future.

Zala had more than 46,000 subscribers as of the beginning of January and its reach is expected to increase to 80-90% of the country by the end of this year.

DigiTAG: UHDTV by 2023

A report prepared for DigiTAG has said UHDTV of up to 8K could be in place on Europe’s DTT platforms by 2023.

The report Roadmap for the Evolution of DTT, co-authored by DigiTAG and Analysys Mason, has been designed as a roadmap for the future development of DTT technologies in the main European markets.

Based on the technology profiles and on the country typologies the report predicts that consumer demand will see a transition to new standards taking between three and 12 years. Early adopter markets are likely to take between three and six years to move from present transmission capabilities through to a combination of DVB-T2, MPEG4/HEVC, SDTV/HDTV/UHDTV (4k).

A third profile, taking in HDTV/UHDTV (4k/8k) is expected to occur between 2023 and 2030.

It says the DTT platform is currently jeopardised by the scarcity of radio spectrum, and the plans for the reallocation of the 700MHz band, which will cut available capacity by an average 30%.