Thread: Satellite News march 2010.

English Premier League to launch new TV channel
March 1st, 2010 - 10:34 UTC
by Andy Sennitt.

The English Premier League will launch its own global television channel from next season, league officials told reporters on Friday. The new channel, to be available worldwide but not in Britain, will broadcast seven days a week, 24 hours a day from the start of the 2010/11 season. The channel will be produced by the Premier League’s own production company and will feature news, studio discussions, individual programmes and classic matches.

The Premier League also plans to implement new rules from next season to prevent managers shunning media rights holders and to force them to attend post-match news conferences. The new rule Q17 says: “With effect from season 2010/11, all managers are required to attend in person and participate in post-match interviews held by or for the benefit of a UK broadcaster or radio broadcaster and failure to do so without just cause shall be a breach of these rules.”

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has refused to speak to the BBC, a Premier League rights holder, since 2004 and the Premier League champions do not send a representative to news conferences after league games.
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Ericsson to boost TeliaSonera network

March 1, 2010

TeliaSonera is upgrading its fixed broadband access network to offer businesses and consumers media-rich services such as high-definition TV, live video streaming and online gaming, with Ericsson providing the broadband access network of one million lines based on VDSL2 technology.

Mikael B?ckstr?m, Head of Ericsson Nordic and Baltics, said in a statement: “Operators’ decision to move from ADSL to VDSL2 is in line with consumers’ need to get more bandwidth at home. Combining the strength of its fiber access with existing copper access is an effective and fast way to deliver nationwide high-speed broadband.”

Internet use in Sweden is widespread, and according to Swedish statistics, almost 90 percent of households have home access. The goal for Swedish authorities is to secure access to even higher broadband speeds of up to 100 Mbit/s, according to Ericsson.

Ove Alm, Senior Vice President of TeliaSonera Networks, added: “Enhancing our fixed broadband network will meet the booming demand for bandwidth. By boosting the speeds in both our fixed and mobile networks, our customers will be able to reach their personalized services irrespective of where they are and what device they are using.”

Under the agreement Ericsson will deliver EDA 1200 based on VDSL2 technology and related installation services. The contract includes Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Deployment starts in Sweden and will run over the next 12 months.

TeliaSonera selects Ericsson for broadband network upgrade
01.03.10



TeliaSonera has chosen Ericsson to upgrade its fixed-line broadband network across a number of countries in the Nordic region, enhancing the telco's ability to deliver media-rich services such as HDTV, live video streaming and online gaming.

The contract involves boosting the telco's copper-based broadband networks in Sweden, Denmark and Norway, with deployment to start in Sweden and run over the next 12 months. Ericsson has already provided TeliaSonera with 1mn VDSL2-based broadband access lines across the region.

"Enhancing our fixed broadband network will meet the booming demand for bandwidth," said Ove Alm, Senior Vice President of TeliaSonera Networks. "By boosting the speeds in both our fixed and mobile networks, our customers will be able to reach their personalised services irrespective of where they are and what device they are using."

BBC looks to slash spending on imported programming
01/03/10

The BBC is considering a drastic reduction in its spending on imported shows, according to a report on the direction of the UK public broadcaster leaked to British press.



The British public broadcaster is looking at cost-savings in key areas and acquired programming from the US is one of the places it wants to cut spending.



The strategic review, which has been presented to the BBC Trust, which oversees the activities of the broadcaster, proposes cutting spending on imports by a third.



Market watchers have interpreted the findings of the BBC's report as a premptive strike ahead of a UK general election this year. The opposition party the Conservatives is leading the polls and has publicly criticised the BBC's spending on foreign imported programmes, which it estimates at ?100 million a year.



In recent times the BBC has bought Lionsgate-distributed series Mad Men and Nurse Jackie, all five seasons HBO's The Wire, NBC Universal's Heroes, Sony's The Tudors and Fox's animated series Family Guy.

RDF hires Disney exec to head kids sales
01/03/10

RDF Rights has recruited Karen Vermeulen as the head of sales and coproduction for its Kids and Family division. She joins from Disney where she was director of programme distribution for the UK and Ireland.



At RDFR, the distribution arm of UK-based super indie RDF, Vermeulen will be in charge of sales of kids and family programming. RDF's kids catalogue includes Waybuloo, Big Barn Farm, Mister Maker and other shows. She will also look for kids coproduction opportunities for RDF.



Prior to Disney, Vermeulen was in charge of sales at Nat Geo Kids and she also worked at Entertainment Rights where she oversaw sales for the UK, Ireland and German-speaking Europe. She will start in her new position in March.



Matthew Frank, MD, RDFR said "Karen has a long and successful history in the kids' arena; she also brings with her a track record of securing co-production partners, something that is key to our sales division's business moving forward."
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Network delay for Croatian telco

By Chris Dziadul
March 1, 2010 11.11 UK

The Croatian incumbent telco T-HT will not be allowed to launch its new fibre optic network, worth some HRK1 billion (€137.1 million) and capable of serving up to 200,000 homes, before this summer.

Limun reports that the company has submitted a price list and conditions for the leasing of the new network to the telco regulator HAKOM. This is in accordance with the conditions for launching the network, though it may start to be used sooner by another operator if it accepts T-HT’s price list and conditions.

HAKOM has set a usage cap of 21,000 households on the network prior to its full launch in order to prevent a monopoly.

T-HT is one of the leading providers of IPTV in the CEE region, its MAXtv service ending 2009 with almost 236,000 subscribers.

Unions plan strikes over 'BBC cuts'


Monday, March 1 2010,

By Andrew Laughlin,


Union leaders have warned of possible strike action following speculation that the BBC intends to close two digital radio stations and half its website.

Last Friday, a report surfaced in The Times claiming that the BBC's strategy review will signal an end to digital stations 6 Music and Asian Network.

The approach would also see the closure of BBC Switch and Blast!, along with a 25% reduction in staff working on the BBC website as part of efforts to scale back the corporation's reach.

In response, the BBC claimed that recommendations of its strategy review have "yet to be agreed" and so the press speculation is "premature".

However, broadcasting union Bectu and the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) claimed to have met a senior BBC director who told them that details of the leaked report were "largely correct", reports BBC News.

Bectu and the NUJ therefore accused the corporation of bowing to political and commercial pressure in the plans.

Representatives from both unions will meet BBC director general Mark Thompson this week to discuss the situation, but strike action is very much on the cards.

Bectu general secretary Gerry Morrissey said that the BBC is "being bounced by its competitors and by the political climate ahead of the upcoming general election".

NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear also pledged that his union will "fight the cuts with all its might".

He added: "If true, these cuts will result not just in the loss of hundreds of jobs, but the loss of valuable, quality output aimed at young people and the Asian communities.

"We will do everything that's required, including taking industrial action, if necessary, to defend jobs at the BBC."

Endemol seals major Russian deal

March 1, 2010

Endemol has acquired a controlling stake in the Russian production company WeiT Media.

WeiT Media was founded in August 2009 by the leading Russian producer Tim Weinstein and consists of four divisions: WeiT Media, which focuses on drama, animation and entertainment; WeIT Ships films, which produces feature films; WeiT Island productions, specialising in documentaries and TV movies; and WeiT Falcon Content, dedicated to digital content.

WeiT Media will now become the producer of Endemol’s scripted and entertainment formats in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

Endemol Moscow will operate separately, focusing on expanding participation TV, astrology TV and other interactive businesses from Russia into CIS and Central and Eastern Europe.