A Freeview Playback Comedia

IBC 2007 (Stand 3.311)

French middleware developer IWEDIA will be demonstrating the first samples of ‘Freeview Playback’ compatible PVRs based on dedicated editions of its Comedia middleware which support PVR-related features on a variety of hardware platforms. The Freeview Playback specification issued by the UK’s Digital TV Group (DTG), and its associated brand, should extend the awareness and popularity of PVRs beyond the realm of pay-TV into the Free TV retail market.

Iwedia is also looking to transform set-top-boxes into genuine multimedia centres through a version of its Comedia middleware, which manages USB storage devices connected to the set-top box. When users connect a digital camera, audio player or a memory stick to their boxes the multimedia centre appears, enabling content available on the device to be browsed, and sorted in slideshows or playlists, allowing for playback of MPEG and DivX video, MP3 audio, and JPEG images on (HD)TV sets. The next step will be offering access to content over the home network.

The demonstrated Multimedia set-top box, based on the STMicroelectronics STi7710 chipset, will be distributed in the UK by a major wholesaler to serve the Christmas period sales.

Red Bees buzzing at Digital Hive

IBC 2007 (Stand 3.342)

Red Bee Media will show the broadband TV services it has been developing over the past year, including its involvement in the BBC iPlayer. The on demand P2P service which launched on July 27 allows UK TV licence fee players to catch up on BBC programming over the Internet. Red Bee enables the daily operation of the iPlayer and similar broadband services using the technology and workflows in its Digital Hive, where technical, creative and media planning teams work together to make sure audiences engage with the new services. Content ingest, transcoding and quality control are done through an automated workflow system, enabling broadcast programmes to be quickly re-purposed for broadband or IPTV, in this case the BBC’s iPlayer. Clients can use the full service or cherry pick what they need.

Red Bee has also been busy scouting opportunities across Europe and Asiaand is opening an office in Paris to help broadcasters meet targets set by the French Government to subtitle 100% of TV programmes by 2010. Winning subtitling contracts with the French national broadcaster, M6, and the French public broadcaster’s parliament channel, La Chaîne Parlementaire-Assemblée nationale.

Red Bee Media owns the Australian Caption Centre, one of the largest subtitling companies in the world, and is now building a multi-client Broadcast Centre in Sydney to complement its broadcast facilities.

O2 TV hits 40,000 mark

The incumbent Czech telco Telefónica O2 has announced that its IPTV service O2 TV has 40,000 subscribers. Launched in September 2006, O2 TV has until now been operating with little or no competition, though several companies including Czech on Line (Volny) and Radiokomunikace are expected to launch rival services in the near future. O2 TV offers subscribers 38 TV channels, 17 radio stations, a video library, 3D movies and the chance to watch HD transmissions of the national public broadcaster CT’s first channel.

RTL reaches for Premiere Star

RTL Television has confirmed its two thematic channels RTL Crime and RTL Living will be a part of Germany’s new basic tier Premiere Start. Passion, a joint venture with production house UFA, will also be a part of the line-up.

The new pay-TV package will launch this autumn. RTL Living is already slated for a September launch and RTL Crime will follow in October. Passion will launch in January. Both the RTL channels will be exclusive to Premiere subscribers, although a marketing agreement with Kabel Deutschland means the two will also be available in some cable areas.

RTL Living will screen programmes from the self-styled domestic goddess Nigella Lawson while RTL Crime will show the BBC conman caper Hustle.

OTE to challenge ADSL ruling

The incumbent Greek telco OTE has said that it will mount a challenge in court against a fine of €27.25 million imposed last week by the Hellenic Telecommunication and Post Commission (EETT). In the EETT’s view, OTE has been guilty of abusing its dominant position in the ADSL sector. As of the end of March OTE, which is majority (38.7%) owned by the state, had 593,300 subscribers, or 21.6% more than in the corresponding period in 2006.

BSkyB buys Amstrad

BSkyB is to directly enter the set-top box business by acquiring Sir Alan Sugar’s Amstrad in a £125 million (€171m) deal. Sir Alan will himself net a £42.4 million windfall.

BSkyB believes the purchase, made through the Sky Digital Supplies subsidiary, will help it to bring down costs and give it greater control over product design. “Sky and Amstrad have had a long and positive relationship,” said BSkyB chief executive James Murdoch. “The acquisition accelerates supply chain improvement and will help us to drive innovation and efficiency for the benefit of our customers.”

Amstrad currently supplies some 30% of the set-top boxes bought by BSkyB including the standard Digibox and Sky+ digital video recorder.

Around 75% of Amstrad’s revenues are derived from its business with Sky. Other customers include News Corp’s Sky Italia.

Established in 1968 in Brentwood, Essex, Amstrad became a major supplier of personal computers during the 1980s, and in recent years returned to the market with a telephone that also gave customers email and internet access.

Czech debut for HBO Digital

HBO’s new subscription video on demand (SVOD) service HBO Digital is expected to make its debut in the Czech Republic tomorrow (August 1). According to local reports, it will operate as a joint venture between HBO Czech Republic and Volny, which is owned by the alternative telco Czech-on-Line. Part of the Telekom Austria Group, its network covered around 40% of fixed lines in the Czech Republic as of this May.

Platform n steps up a gear

The Polish DTH platform n plans to introduce three more channels to its line-up in September. It also expects to have 300,000 subscribers by the end of the year and up to half a million 12 months later. Speaking to the local press, Maciej Sojka, the president of the platform’s operating company ITI Neovision, said that the new channels would be the entertainment-based n-talk and children’s Kids & Co and Da Vinci. A new religious channel and the recently announced TVN Biznes CNBC will also join n shortly, in the latter instance this autumn. The platform is also expected to introduce a wider VOD offer this autumn and start looking for new sources of revenue, one of which will probably be interactive advertising.

Mixed results for CTC Media

Russia’s CTC Media has posted total operating revenues of $112,147,000 (€82,134,906) for Q2, or 9.1% more than in the corresponding period last year. However, both its OIBDA of $51,422,000) and net income of $30,692,000 represented falls of 5.5% and 10% respectively. However, the H1 figures looked more healthy, with the total operating revenues of $216,268,000 (+18.8%), OIBDA of $95,710,000 (+4.9%) and net income of $58,815,000 (+3.6%) all higher than in H1 2006. Although CTC Media’s CTC Network remains the fourth most watched service in Russia, its audience share fell from 9.3% in Q1 to 8.9% in Q2 of this year. At its peak in Q2 2006 it commanded a figure of 11.7%. The Domashny Network, which is aimed at a mostly female audience, nevertheless continues to grow in popularity, claiming an audience share of 2% in Q2, as opposed to 1.9% in Q1 and 1.3% in Q2 2006. CTC Media lists Sweden’s MTG (40%) and the Russian Alfa Group (26%) as its principal shareholders.

Enensys caters for all things mobile

IBC 2007 (Stand 3.311, Pod M.393)

All bases have been covered by Enensys, which will be displaying mobile TV technologies not just for DVB-H, but for the competing MediaFLO, T-DMB, DVB-SH and CMMB technologies. The French manufacturer will be running a complete DVB-H delivery chain that includes DVB-H IP encapsulator, SFN adapters, SFN and MFN modulators, RF amplifiers, and a set of video over IP distribution products.

The MobiSlice DVB-H IP encapsulator is a hardware-based unit designed to avoid the failure points associated with hard drives.

Enensys is also involved in the transmission of broadcast digital TV and will be showcasing a modulator compliant with the new Chinese terrestrial standard. The company says the product is easy to integrate in broadcast networks and provides a high modulation performance.

Finally, the wonderfully named DiviCatch RF-T/H combines capture and analysis capabilities for both DVB-T and DVB-H signals.

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