Thread: Satellite News Aprail 2010

Yahoo secures Premier League highlights
By Julian Clover
April 29, 2010 11.23 UK

Yahoo has acquired the UK internet rights to the English Premier League from the start of the 2010/11 season. The three year deal for five minute highlights of every Premier League match emulates similar deals in the US that have been signed by Yahoo with sports rights holders that include the NBA, PGA and NHL.

However, the Premier League highlights will only be available from midnight Sunday after weekend games and midnight the same day for weekday matches. This gives time for viewers to other platforms, including live and recorded TV packages and mobile TV, to have already viewed the content.

The internet rights package had been held by Virgin Media since 2007.

The final package of rights for the 2010 – 2013 period, the long form Saturday evening highlights, have been retained by Sky for its Football First programme.

More HD for Cyfra+
By Chris Dziadul
April 29, 2010 10.34 UK

The Polish DTH platform Cyfra+ has confirmed that it will add five more channels, four of which will be in HD, to its offer next month.
From May 1, its channel line-up will include BBC HD, Cinemax HD, Fox Life HD, Nat Geo Wild HD and Nat Geo Wild. As a result, the number of HD channels provided by Cyfra+ will rise to 13. Cyfra+ will also introduce a new HD package next month. Replacing 5xHD, HD Mix will consist of eight channels in the format.

BBC Worldwide has meanwhile announced that BBC HD will also launch on the DTH platform n on May 1 and on UPC in Poland in the next few weeks.

Sky reaches 9.77m as ARPU grows 11%

Another strong set of figures sees Sky closing in on its 10 million target with 62,000 net additions in the third quarter bringing them to 9.77 million households. The company said its multi-product strategy with HD, DVR, broadband, multi-room etc, had seen 878,000 additional subscription product sales with an 11 per cent boost to ARPU over the nine months ended March 31st. Other subs highlights included 428,000 net HD additions, and 1.9 million triple pay customers.

Total revenue for the period grew 11 per cent to ?4.383 billion (E5.04bn) and operating profit grew 5 per cent to ?618 million.

Jeremy Darroch, Chief Executive, said: "The business has continued to perform very well in what remains a tough consumer environment. Customers are responding to our focus on quality, innovation and value, and success in our multi-product strategy has allowed us to deliver double-digit growth in each of revenue, free cash flow and earnings per share.

"We have seen a huge response to our decision to cut the upfront cost of high definition, with net additions of 428,000 - up 76 per cent on the prior year. The number of customers taking all three of TV, broadband and telephony is up 39 per cent year on year and, as customers reward us with more of their business, ARPU has surpassed ?500 for the first time.

"In support of this growth, we have created around 1,500 jobs over the last two years and, with the announced opening of a new contact centre ...we will be adding a further 550. At the same time, we continue to broaden our contribution to the communities in which we live and work. Our secondary schools programme ‘Sky Sports Living for Sport’ reached a key milestone this month signing up its 1,000th school."

"Our leading HD box is allowing us to bring more innovation to customers faster and at lower cost. The launch of Sky 3D, Europe’s first 3D TV channel, has got off to a good start, with more than 1,000 venues signed up so far. We’re on track to bring 3D to residential customers later this year along with our new video-on-demand service, Sky Anytime+. All of this will be available through our existing HD box.


Sky has also revealed that its planned full video-on-demand service, Sky Anytime Plus, which will be delivered over broadband to connected set-tops, will be launched later this year. Sky’s online TV service, Sky Player, will be accessible via a number of new devices including internet-connected LCD TVs and hybrid digital-terrestrial/IPTV set-top boxes, following recent agreements with Cello, 3View and Humax.

It also confirmed Sky News will launch on election night – May 6th.
Sky is currently awaiting the outcome of its applications to Competition Appeals Tribunal for a stay on Ofcom’s ruling that it must cut wholesale prices. Sky wants the decision frozen while it fights Ofcom through the courts.
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DTH accounts for the 85% of new Pay-TV accesses in Brazil

According to a report issued by the Brazilian National Telecommunications Agency, DTH services accounted for the 85% of new Pay-TV accesses upon March 2010 closing. Satellite TV added 166,355 new accesses and recorded three million subscribers.

The total Pay-TV business added 194,137 new subscribers last March, thus accounting for a 2.5% growth if compared with the subscribers base recorded in February. DTH has recorded a 5.7% growth as compared with the previous month and cable services has grown a 0.7%. On the other hand, MMDS operators recorded a 1% base reduction. As for market share, cable business records a 56.5%; DTH records a 39.1% and MMDS services record a 4.4%.

In the country there are 7,919,380 homes fitted with Pay-TV, which, according to the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estat?stica (IBGE), accounts for 26 million Brazilians. The following are the states recording the highest growth rates over the last 12 months: Amap? (113,1%), Roraima (85,8%) y Piau? (50,5%). Los que menos crecieron en el ?ltimo a?o fueron: Bahia (34,7%), Acre (44,4%) and Alagoas (45%).

Pay-TV accounts for the 7% of Telef?nica Chile's incomes

Telef?nica Chile recorded earnings that amounted to USD 19,49 millions upon 1Q10 closing, which accounted for a 12.2% reduction if compared with the USD 22,20 millions recorded over the same period last year. According to a company's press release, DTH business recorded a 14.9% increase over the first quarter and increased its relative income weight from 6% to 7%.

Pay-TV users base reached 296,871 subscribers. As of December 2009, the Chilean base recorded 285,100 users; in other words, the Spanish affiliate recorded 11,771 new clients over the first quarter. Accrued operations incomes recorded from January to March amounted to USD 328,81 millions; whereas USD 342,99 millions were recorded over the same period in 2009.

"Telef?nica Chile managed to keep its performance level in such a relevant business as broadband, although a third of the period was marked by the adopted measures and extraordinary costs resulting from the earthquake", the company's General Manager, Oliver Flogel, assured. The executive made reference to the earthquake recorded in the country last February 27th.

Warner Bros. Signs Deal for IMAX Releases

April 29, 2010

A new agreement will see up to 20 Warner Bros. films released in IMAX format through 2013, including the upcoming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows parts 1 and 2.


ADVERTISEMENT Other Warner Bros. movies that will be released in IMAX include Legends of the Guardian: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, Happy Feet 2 and The Hobbit. Warner Bros. and IMAX also plan to release a further 15 films over the course of 2011, 2012 and 2013. These include Gravity, Fury Road, Batman 3 and Superman.

"Our track record with IMAX has been incredible, and incorporating 3-D into this collaborative effort will serve as the ultimate experience for our audiences," said Dan Fellman, the president of domestic distribution at Warner Bros. Pictures. "We are extraordinarily proud of our forthcoming slate and eager to offer these films to audiences in the most premium of movie-going experiences."

"We're thrilled to join with IMAX in bringing global audiences new and exciting experiences through the 3D IMAX format," commented Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, the president of international distribution at Warner Bros. Pictures. "We have a tremendously powerful slate of quality tentpole films, and as IMAX theaters continue to expand internationally, more and more audiences will have the opportunity to experience our films using this exciting format."

Richard L. Gelfond, the CEO of IMAX, added, "Warner Bros. is and has been an important strategic partner for IMAX. The success of our partnership to date is a result of our integrated approach to marketing and release strategies, and we believe this formula will lead to more box office success in the future. Our digital theatre system has accelerated the growth of our theatre network and provides us with significant flexibility in the release and programming schedule in our theatres. This important announcement provides increased visibility into our future film slate, enabling existing and potential exhibitors to better know what's 'coming soon' in their IMAX theaters."

Polish TVP end of 7E

Polish public television TVP (Telewizja Polska) has informed cable operators that the spread of PRP schemes on satellite Eutelsat W3A (7?E) will run only until 30 April 2010.

Everything is designed to end the experiment with programs to move the position of 7?E. Tests are conducted almost two months.

Multiplex TVP to the position 7E unexpectedly discovered 11 March 2010. From 16 to 24 April 2010 here in TVP broadcast packet. Allegedly for technical reasons.

Spread of PRP on 7E was due to reservation of satellite capacity for the new position.

So far there are no known plans for further continuation of the spread of PRP schemes on Astra 1KR (19.2 ? E) in MPEG-2. According to earlier reports, TVP wanted to switch to Astra to DVB-S2/MPEG-4.