Thread: Satellite News June 2010

Canal Plus Sport HD to launch on June 8






Canal Plus Sport HD to launch on June 8
04 Jun 10 -

Canal Plus is to launch its sports channel, Canal Plus Sport, in HD on June 8 ahead of the World Cup.

Canal Plus Sport HD will air a range of major sporting events, including Wimbledon tennis and Champions League football, in HD, as well as the World Cup. The channel will be available to the broadcaster’s HD subscribers, with distribution via IPTV to follow.

RCS & RDS launches HD service




RCS & RDS launches HD service
04 Jun 10 -

Romanian cable operator RCS & RDS has launched a HD service featuring four channels.

The channels, Digi Sport HD, TVR HD, National Geographic HD and Nat Geo Wild HD, are available to all TV subscribers at no additional cost. For RON24 (€2.38) per month, customers can access 82 standard definition channels along with the HD line-up. A HD receiver costs RON10 per month to hire or RON350 if bought outright. Nicolas Ple?a, vice-president commercial operations and marketing at RCS & RDS said the company would add more HD channels soon.

ADMC reveals EPL price structure





ADMC reveals EPL price structure


Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC) on Wednesday announced the cost of subscribing to watch all the English Premier League football action next season.

All subscriptions will be available starting in mid-July and prices to watch all 380 games live will depend on how fans choose to view them, the company said.

Users can buy a Humax HD decoder and smartcard to watch via satellite on ADTV's new pay-TV network. Satellite TV viewers will pay up to AED999 (US $272) for the HD decoder, which comes with a smartcard providing a year’s subscription to the AD Sports channels that will be broadcasting the league.

For users who currently have a compatible Humax HD decoder, smartcards can be bought alone for AED370 ($100) for a year’s subscription. They will also continue to get all the current free to air channels.

Users can also subscribe through their local IPTV (cable) provider. The recommended retail price for a basic package will be AED75 ($20) per month. Some cable providers may include AD Sports in bundles of channels or combine the package with other offers that could be sold at a higher price.

Fans can also sign up to stream the matches online. In the GCC, fans who subscribe to watch matches online will pay AED370 ($100) for the season. In non-GCC countries, the price for the online season package is AED220 ($60).

“No matter how you choose to watch the league from the start of next season – through satellite TV, cable TV or via the internet – you will be able to watch all 380 games live at a great price,” said Karim Sarkis, ADMC’s executive director for Broadcast.

When subscription starts in mid-July, viewers will be guided on how to subscribe at a dedicated website and via leaflets that describe the process step by step, the company added.

Ricky Ghai, ADMC’s executive director of Digital Media, said: “The online offering is groundbreaking. For the first time ever football fans will be able to watch Barclays Premier League matches live on their computer.

“In this day and age fans want to live and breathe football and through our three way offering we are giving them the chance to do just that.”
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Virgin secures new Sky carriage deal after VMtv sale




Virgin secures new Sky carriage deal after VMtv sale

By Julian Clover
June 4, 2010 11.39 UK

A ?160 million (€191.5m) agreement between BSkyB and Virgin Media over the sale of its Virgin Media Television (VMtv) channels has been topped by new agreements covering basic, HD and VOD channels.

Sky will pay an initial ?105 million for the portfolio of VMtv channels that includes the former Flextech brands of Living, Bravo and Challenge. The remainder will be paid following the regulatory process. Virgin 1, once known as FTN, is also a part of the deal, but will be rebranded or closed, as the Virgin name will not be licensed to Sky. The rebranding of the channel in February 2008 was much heralded, but Virgin 1 was never able to live up to expectations, and its most valuable asset remains its slot on the terrestrial platform Freeview.

Sky will take responsibility for selling advertising on the VMtv channels from January 2011. Sky will take responsibility for selling advertising on the VMtv channels from January 2011. The complete portfolio currently comprises Living, Living it, Challenge, Challenge Jackpot, Bravo, Bravo 2 and Virgin 1.

New carriage agreements have been reached for the wholesale distribution of Sky’s basic channels including Sky 1 and Sky Arts over the Virgin Media cable platform. For an additional fee Virgin will also be granted carriage to the HD versions of Sky’s basic HD channels, Sky Sports HD 1 and Sky Sports HD 2, and all Sky Movies HD channels.

Content from the Sky portfolio will also be made available through Virgin’s on demand service and to content carried by Sky on its Red Button service. For example the middle portion of Sky Sports’ coverage of the One Day International Cricket match between the West Indies and South Africa was moved to the Red Button so that a T20 county game could be shown on the linear channel. Virgin will also be able to distribute some content over the internet.

“VMtv is an attractive investment opportunity which complements our existing content business and delivers strategic and financial benefits. We are pleased that, through commercial negotiation, we have been able to ensure wide distribution of our channels to a growing pay TV universe,” said Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch.

The sale and wide-ranging carriage agreements are a far cry from the bitter 18-month dispute that saw basic channels Sky 1 and Sky News removed from Virgin homes. It ran alongside the long-running pay-TV inquiry conducted by the regulator Ofcom that lead to the proposed wholesaling of Sky’s sports channels.

With the sale of its content division, Virgin Media has placed itself firmly in the pipe, rather than the entertainment business, but CEO Neil Berkett says the sale has generated substantial value. “Together with the new commercial agreements we’ve announced today, it will allow us to focus more closely on our strategy of exploiting Virgin Media’s super-fast connectivity to offer our customers a range of the very best content through a highly versatile next generation entertainment application.”

Completion of the agreements is conditional on obtaining merger control clearance in the Republic of Ireland.

For the time being Virgin Media is holding onto its share of the UKTV 50/50 joint venture with BBC Worldwide.
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Viasat agrees TV2 Premier League distribution






Viasat agrees TV2 Premier League distribution
By Julian Clover
June 4, 2010 11.34 UK

Viasat will carry the three Premier League channels being offered by TV2 following its acquisition of the rights to top-flight English football.
The paycaster says the agreement for the three channels – channels – TV 2 Premier League HD, TV 2 Premier League HD 2 and TV 2 Premier League HD 3 – is the first of its kind in Norway. However, the IPTV network Altibox also says it has secured the rights. It remains to be seen if Canal Digital is also able to secure distribution for the TV2 bouquet.

The three channels will be available from the start of the 2010/11 season in August. Viasat’s parent company MTG holds the exclusive rights to the Premier League in its own right in Sweden and Bulgaria.

Until the end of the 2009/10 season the rights for the whole of the Nordic region had been held by Canal+, which has an exclusive DTH distribution agreement with Canal Digital, whose owner Telenor recently bought a 35% share in operating company C More Entertainment from the Swedish commercial broadcaster TV4.

Viasat already holds an extensive portfolio of football rights in Norway, these include the FIFA World Cup – purchased from NRK as the public broadcaster looked for means to fund the Eurovision Song Contest, the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and the FA Cup.

New HD channel for Canal+






New HD channel for Canal+

By Chris Dziadul
June 4, 2010 11.10 UK

Canal+ has announced the launch of a new channel named Canal+ Sport HD.

It will officially make its debut on June 8 and shortly afterwards, along with Canal+ HD, offer subscribers coverage of the World Cup in the format.

Canal+ Sport HD will also show such major sporting events as Wimbledon and the Champions League.

Initially available to satellite subscribers, the channel will soon also become available on the broadband networks of Canal+’s partners.

Canal+ launched its first HD service in France in 2006 and now offers the most comprehensive line-up of HD channels in the French market.

German Maxdome adds Fox movies





German Maxdome adds Fox movies

By Robert Briel
June 4, 2010 11.11 UK

The ProSiebenSat.1 Group an agreement for its video-on-demand (VOD) service Maxdome by concluding a new transactional video-on-demand deal with Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. The first movie to be shown is Avatar; the long-term license agreement will grant the Group non-exclusive VOD rights to Fox?s new release blockbusters, as well as the studio?s catalogue portfolio.

Dr. Christoph Schneider, Managing Director Maxdome said in a statement, “I am very proud to be able to call Twentieth Century Fox our new partner. The agreement secures long-term access to some of Hollywood?s most attractive content – allowing us to offer high quality entertainment, such as `Avatar? to our Maxdome customers. Adding Fox to our portfolio allows us
to maintain maxdome?s market leadership in Germany.”

Jamie McCabe, Executive Vice President, Worldwide PPV/VOD and EST, Twentieth Century Fox added, “We are committed to responding to consumer needs by finding innovative distribution outlets for them to
experience celebrated Fox content. We?re therefore delighted to be working with ProSiebenSat.1 Group to provide its Maxdome customers access to a comprehensive selection of Fox movies.”

Maxdome has long-term contracts with every Major Hollywood Studio and many other important distributors and aggregators. In addition to Twentieth Century Fox, partners include CBS, Paramount, Disney, Warner, Sony Pictures Television International, NBC Universal, Constantin and Kinowelt.
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UPC Czech goes down DTT route




UPC Czech goes down DTT route
By Chris Dziadul
June 4, 2010 08.10 UK

UPC has opened up a new front with its competitors in the Czech Republic by starting a DTT trial in the capital, Prague.
According to E15, its aim is to eventually offer its subscribers the must-carry channels on the first and second multiplexes (CT services and TV Nova, Prima TV, Barrandov, Nova Cinema and Prima Cool respectively) for no additional fee.

UPC plans to cover the whole of Prague with DTT signals by next month, followed by several large cities including Brno, Liberec and Ostrava.

It is ultimately targeting the 60-70% of the Czech Republic’s 4 million TV homes that have a second set and would like to receive basic digital channels free of charge.