VTM idolises HDTV

The Flemish general interest channel VTM launched its HDTV broadcasts on Friday (March 31) with the season finale of the popular talent contest Idols, followed by the Celebrity improv show Godzijdank.

Later during the weekend the line-up featured De Foute Quiz and 101 Vragen Aan. The upcoming Schlager Festival will meanwhile be televised in HD in April, and VTM’s daily soap series Familie will be available in the format from May 28.

Initially, the shows are being distributed on the In.Di digital cable platform. The operator consortium Interkabel will meanwhile launch its HDTV service on April 10, so the first VTM HD-cast will only be available to a small number of participants in a HD trial and through instore demos.

The VTM HD channel will be available for free, while a bouquet composed of EXQI, HD1 and National Geographic will cost €4.95 a month. The two Kinepolis HD movies channels will meanwhile cost €19.95 a month.

The basic HD box will be available for €229, with a €99 discount for current In.Di subscribers. The HD PVR (250GB) available from mid-May will be priced at €369, with existing digital subscribers being offered a discount of €99.

UPC Netherlands confirms VOD launch

UPC Netherlands MD Diederik Karsten has told the Dutch national cable congress Kabel in de 21e Eeuw that the cablenet will launch its VOD service on April 16. It follows a limited test in 500 households.

Initially VOD will only be available to the 60,000 households in the Gelderland and Brabant regions, before being extended to the rest of the network.

At launch UPC will offer a selection of 35 recent films and 200 library titles. 250 hours of television series and 75 hours of childrens’ programmes will be offered as part of a subscription TV service. There will also be a free VOD offer.

UPC already offers a limited NVOD (near-video-on-demand) service. (JC)

Full report from Kabel in de 21e Eeuw in New Television Insider. Premium subscribers only

Gearing up. Chris Dziadul looks at digital rollout across CEE

No one can doubt the huge advances that have been made by Central and Eastern Europe’s TV industry in recent years, though especially since eight countries in the region joined the EU in May 2004. However, they have been far from uniform, and there is clearly much work that still needs to be done.
This is particularly true in the cable sector, where many operators have been slow to introduce digital TV services despite growing competition from both incumbent and alternative telcos. The news that UPC now plans to do so in Poland and Hungary in 2008 should therefore be welcomed, and given that the Liberty Global-owned company will also offer HDTV, VOD and PVR we can probably expect to see other operators speed up their own deployments.
The roll out of DTT across the region has also left much to be desired. Although some countries embarked on trials as far back as the late 1990s, to date only Estonia and Lithuania have launched (relatively) full platforms.
In the former case, the service is known as ZuumTV and a joint venture between STV, the country’s leading cable operator, and the transmission company Levira. The latter is meanwhile operated by the incumbent telco Teo LT and complements its recently launched IPTV platform Gala TV. In both instances, the services have opted for MPEG-4 compression technology, thereby allowing for the introduction of HD services at a future date.
The Czech Republic has also introduced DTT services, though they are still limited in terms of both channel line-up and coverage. Hungary meanwhile operates a trial service in Budapest and Kabhegy, while in Poland TVP offers limited DTT services in parts of the south and south east of the country.
The picture looks much brighter in the case of DTH, with most large countries in the region now served by at least one platform. IPTV services, too, are being launched uniformly throughout Central and Eastern Europe.
That uniformity should also become more apparent in the cable industry from next year, when UPC finally enters the digital fray.

Slow start for BT Vision

BT’s fledgling IPTV service BT Vision has attracted just 5,000 customers in its first few months of operation. Confirming the figures BT said the total was entirely in line with expectations. It is estimated by investment bank Morgan Stanley that 40% of subscribers are BT employees.

At its launch in December last year BT said that a full marketing campaign would not get underway until the spring. Its recent marketing activities make only the briefest of mentions of the TV service, however the telco is encouraging the take-up of the so-called BT Home Hub that provides access to broadband Internet. BT has set itself a target of 3 million customers by 2010.

BT Vision combines video-on-demand content with regular linear channels from the UK’s DTT service.

Lewis given Sky Movies director’s chair

BSkyB has promoted Ian Lewis to become director of Sky Movies and Sky Box Office. Lewis, who was previously director of broadcasting, will be responsible for Sky’s premium movie channels as well as pay-per-view service Sky Box Office. He reports to Sophie Turner Laing, who assumed the role of Managing Director, Entertainment, in February this year.

On April 4 Sky will again revamp its premium movie package. This time moving to a genre-based service covering Comedy, Drama, Family, Action/Thriller, Indie, Classic, Modern Greats and Sci-Fi/Horror, as well as dedicated HD channels.

In addition to its linear broadcast service, Sky has also made available its content over the PC and mobile phones, and this week launched the Sky Anytime VOD service to owners of Sky HD digital video recorders.

Sky signs 3-year Spyglass output deal

BSkyB has announced a three-year output deal with Spyglass Entertainment. The agreement covers the pay and pay-per-view windows and includes an option for SVOD rights. The titles will be made available in both standard and high definition. BSkyB this week extended its Sky Anytime VOD service to owners of Sky HD set-top boxes.

The agreement with the studio, agreed directly between Spyglass and Sky, will cover up to 15 titles starting in 2008. Recent hits for Spyglass have included Seabiscuit, Memoirs of a Geisha, Bruce Almighty, and The Sixth Sense.

Spyglass’s Chief Executive Officers, Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum, complimented Sky on its success in marketing and promoting movies in the new technological world. (JC)

Setanta and ITV snatch FA Cup rights

1320 UPDATE – The Football Association has confirmed that the BBC and Sky have lost the rights to screen live matches from the FA Cup. The two broadcasters have been trumped by a joint bid from Setanta Sports and ITV worth £425 million (€625m). The four-year deal, commencing August 2008, represents a 42% increase on the previous agreement.

Setanta will screen a total of 17 live matches from the competition, while ITV will take 12, with the first pick of games in each round.

Although the FA Cup has in recent years lost some of its magic, as teams field weakened sides in the earlier rounds, it is still English football’s leading cup competition. England internationals played at Wembley are also included in the deal.

Dublin-based Setanta has been gradually building its sports portfolio. It already has the rights to two out of the six English Premiership packages from the start of next season, the Scottish Premier League, and 40 golf tournaments. It is also the first major acquisition since former BBC chairman Michael Grade joined ITV as executive chairman.

It is also a potential blow for the BBC’s high definition sports coverage as it removes the majority of live football from both BBC HD and BBC One.

More film channels for Poland

The film channels Filmbox and Nonstop Kino will officially make their debuts in Poland this coming Tuesday (April 2). Both services have been available in neighbouring Slovakia and the Czech Republic for around one and a half years and are owned by SPI International, which earlier this month acquired the Polish film channel Kino Polska for a fee believed to be in the region of PLN12-16 million (€3.10-4.14 million). Although Filmbox and Nonstop Kino will initially only be accessible to those able to receive signals from the Amos satellite, SPI International expects them to have up to 3 million viewers in Poland by the end of the year. The company also plans to introduce VoD in Poland this September and launch two more channels later in the year.

Czech CT prepares for VOD

The Czech public broadcaster CT has said it is likely to launch a paid-for VOD service within the next six months. Such a service, operating under the name Kinomania, is already provided over the Internet by the national commercial station TV Nova, with movies costing viewers CZK46 (€1.64) a day to watch. CT is understood to be currently looking for technology partners for its VOD service.

Unity Media balks at EWT purchase

Unity Media and EWT have agreed to terminate Unity’s option to purchase part of EWT’s business in Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. The option was granted in November to Unity’s subsidiaries ish and isey. The decision not to acquire the businesses followed a period of due diligence.

Although Unity and EWT have agreed to potentially return to the negotiating table there could already be another buyer waiting in the wings. Earlier this week Orion Cable announced it had put in place a €365 million debt facility part of which would be used for new acquisitions.

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