Rapid TV News

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• CES will look at 3D, big time

  On January 8 the doors open at the Las Vegas Convention Centre for the 2009 International CES, the largest show in the US. This year’s focus is expected to be 3D display.
  
  

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• French TV’s crucial week

  The French TV market will know today and over the next week whether viewers are changing their habits in consuming TV or not. Yesterday (Monday) was the first evening for the public service broadcasting partial ad ban, and prime-time programmes started at 8:35pm instead of 8:50pm on all public networks.
  
  

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• France: DTT channels boosted in 2008

  French free DTT channels almost doubled their audience shares in 2008, while the traditional networks fell back, with TF1 notably passing from 30.7% share in 2007 to 27.2%. The leading DTT trio is formed by TMC, W9 and Gulli.
  
  

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• German RTL joins iTunes

  Germany’s leading commercial television broadcaster RTL has commenced offering selected TV series on Apple’s media portal iTunes.
  
  

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• Mediacorp groups interactive businesses

  Singapore’s leading commercial broadcaster, MediaCorp, has decided to group all of its various onlilne and mobile properties under a new unit, Interactive Media Division (IMD).
  
  

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• M6 closes two music channels

  M6 Group has decided to close music channels Fun TV et M6 Music Rock called to be replaced by M6 Music Club.

   

  

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• China hits pirates hard

  Chinese authorities have jailed software pirates responsible for more than $2bn-worth of counterfeiting for terms of up to 6.5 years. The gang were described as the “world’s largest software counterfeiting” group, and were operating out of the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.
  
  

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• Indian DTH players demand fair play

  India’s DTH sector is saying that it faces extremely tough trading conditions in 2009 unless costs, including governmental licence fees are trimmed. Dish TV's CEO Jawahar Goel warned of rising losses.
  
  

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• Worldspace ‘potential bidders’ lining up

  Tomorrow, Jan 6, a hearing will take place in the US Bankruptcy Court in Delaware to decide the date when an auction of Worldspace’s assets might take place, and to grant Worldspace another slice of operational cash as ‘Debtor in Possession’. The Court was told on Dec 30 that a number of potential bidders are conducting due diligence in preparation of bids for Worldspace’s assets.

  

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• News guarantees €450m for Premiere

  News Corp is underwriting a €450m financing cash call for Premiere. Premiere already owns 25% of the German pay-TV broadcaster. However, if Premiere’s other shareholders don’t match the News Corp investment then their stakes could be significantly reduced.
  

  

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• Tiscali IPTV hits the buffers

  Broadband operator Tiscali was expected to close its Italian IPTV service by Dec 31 having failed to find a buyer for the system. The ISP will switch off its broadband service first, with the individual digital terrestrial service being abandoned by Jan 15.
  
  

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• Sirius-XM upsets Moody’s

  Cash-strapped sat-radio broadcaster Sirius-XM is issuing 108.1m new shares. The company’s shareholders have already authorised the creation of new stock in an attempt to improve its cash position.
  
  

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• Japan gets tough on piracy

  According to local reports Japan’s commercial broadcasters are stepping up their efforts to curb piracy of their programmes by Chinese users.
  
  

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• Nilesat signs for Ariane

  Arianespace has picked up the contract to launch Nilesat 201 (pictured, left) about 12-15 months from now during Q1/2010. The contract was formally signed on Dec 23 during a visit to Egypt by the French prime minister.
  
  

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• Harmonic buys Scopus

  Harmonic is paying $5.62 in cash for each share to acquire Israel-based Scopus Video Networks. The total being paid is about $51m.
  
  

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• Carrere goes Chapter 11

  French TV production house Carrere Group has applied for redressement judiciaire, the French equivalent of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
  
  

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• Star TV adding Farsi

  Hong Kong-based Star TV is to add a Farsi service for the Gulf region.
  
  

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• Qatar wants World Cup

  Soccer crazy Qatar, the fabulously-wealthy Gulf state, says it wants to host the 2018 or 2022 FIFA World Cup, and believes it has a “good chance”.
  
  

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• Worldspace owes $2bn

  More than 200 creditors are directly affected by Worldspace’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. A preliminary hearing took place on Dec 16, with the Delaware bankruptcy court setting a deadline of Feb 5 2009 for all claims to be submitted.
  
  

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• Abertis raising Hispasat stake

  Spain's government has authorized major telco and transmission company Abertis Telecom to take 5% more in satellite operator Hispasat from Spanish space manufacturer EADS/CASA.
  

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• Telefónica wants minor stake in Digital+

  Telefónica's CEO Julio Linares said that the company only aspires to a minor stake in the Spanish pay-TV platform Digital+.
  
  

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• Eutelsat pair launched

  An Ariane rocket delivered the best-possible Christmas present for Paris-based Eutelsat on Saturday night. Hot Bird 9 and W2M were the dual passengers atop the giant Ariane 5 rocket, the 6th Ariane flight of the year.
  
  

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• France: Orange content threatened

  Following the loss last week of its exclusive rights to distribute the iPhone in France, following a competition ruling, Orange is facing a new threat. Included in the reform of the audiovisual sector, French Deputies have voted through an amendment that would forbid internet access suppliers like Orange from selling TV subscriptions exclusively to their customers.
  
  

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• Solaris Mobile passes Stage 1 by EU

  Dublin-based Solaris Mobile has been approved as an “admissible candidate” to provide Mobile TV services over Europe. Solaris Mobile is the Astra-Eutelsat j-v satellite due for launch early in 2009.
  

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• TerreStar also on EU ‘approved’ list

  TerreStar Europe is another EU-approved qualifier for Europe’s 2GHz MSS S-band frequencies. Additionally, Space Systems/Loral, TerreStar’s satellite builder, has also said it can meet the EC’s Critical Design Review (CDR) certification milestone requirement by February 7, 2009.
  
  

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• Spain: pay-TV subs fall

  Spain's pay-TV market is losing ground. For the first time since the arrival of IPTV at the beginning of the new century, the number of subscribers of pay-TV operators has been reduced.
  

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• TF1, Canal+ secure Champions League

  Following a call for tenders launched by Team Marketing, TF1 and Canal+ have secured the rights to broadcast football’s UEFA Champions League over the 2009-2012 period.
  
  

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• MTV UK trims 80 jobs

  The economic downturn is beginning to hit UK broadcasters. The latest to trim its staffing numbers is MTV Networks’ London HQ, which will cut 80 jobs, some 10% of its overall London workforce.
  
  

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• Ono not for sale

  Following the firing of Eugenio Galdón, until now the President of Spanish cable operator Ono, in favour of new President José María Castellano, the new President has denied rumours over possible sale of the company.
  
  

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• Premiere locks out pirates

  German pay-TV operator Premiere has finalised the change of its encryption system and the swap of all its subscribers’ smartcards. The encryption is now completely piracy-proof again, the Munich-based broadcaster announced.
  

   

  

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• Ten wins Commonwealth Games for One

  With a new sports-dedicated channel planned, Australia’s Ten Network is buying up sports rights, yesterday announcing it would be sole broadcaster of the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
  
  

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• Russia wants 15 new satellites

  According to a report from BBC Monitoring, Russia’s Space Communications enterprise (GPKS) is looking to build and launch 15 new satellites this side of 2015.
  
  

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• Apple to add movies to German iTunes

  US-based computer company Apple Inc is planning to offer movies on the German version of its online media portal iTunes. The service will launch in a few weeks, writes German weekly news magazine Wirtschaftswoche, quoting sources at the company.
  
  

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• Media Capital doubles profits

  Portuguese media group Media Capital, controlled by Spanish media group Prisa, nearly doubled its profits in 2007.

  

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• Kudelski holds onto Premiere for now

  There was widespread anticipation that Swiss-based Nagra Kudelski was about to lose a major European client. It hasn’t happened.

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• Portugal: no DTT subsidies

  Portugal has joined the countries which have decided against subsidies for digital-terrestrial TV equipment.

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