Distribution

The new digital ways content was becoming distributed

Pioneer Announce Fifth-generation Plasma HDTVs
They’re Japan-only products for the time being, but Pioneer have have announced a range of new PureVision high definition (HD) plasma televisions.
The models are: PDP-435HDL (43”, long speakers), PDP-435HDS (43”, short speakers), PDP-435SX (single body), PDP-505HDL (50”, long speakers) and the PDP-505HDS (50”, short speakers).
Plasma TVs are very popular in Japan, with an estimated market of about 450,000 units in 2004. HD broadcasting is well ahead of other countries, and is expected to grow still further as digital terrestrial broadcasting takes off.
The new TVs are capable of displaying 5.75 billion colours. This means, apart from I should keep my HP48 nearer my desk, that each of the 3.2 million RGB colours has a further 1,792 grayscale shades each. Pioneer call this, with no hint of hyperbole, the Advanced Super CLEAR Drive System C.
The TVs also incorporate the world’s first Direct Colour Filter, eliminating the need for a pane of glass across the front of the screen, resulting in improved contrast and focus. If you’ve ever had to lift a 50” plasma screen, you appreciate this the lack of glass panel also makes them considerably lighter – by about 5kg.
How long will they last? Plasma TVs generally are past their best after five years (bet they didn’t tell you that in the shop), but these screens are rated for 60,000 hours – so if you watch TV for five hours a day 365 days a year, expect them to last for 32 years.
Pioneer’s new displays
20 May, 2004
BT’s 90% Broadband Coverage
BT made a further 22 exchanges broadband-enabled yesterday, taking coverage in the UK to 90% of the population.
BT Wholesale chief executive Paul Reynolds said: “This is a stunning achievement. Nine out of 10 people are now connected up to a broadband exchange and we’ve announced plans to get us to near universal coverage by next summer – well ahead of earlier predictions.
“Our pioneering approach to broadband rollout has been widely recognised, most recently with the OECD rural broadband report putting Britain ahead of the pack for broadband availability compared to the other G7 nations.
“BT has put the UK at 90 per cent ADSL coverage today with our closest competitor countries in the G7 aiming for this level by the end of 2004. By that stage we’ll be past 95 percent and well on the way to topping 99 per cent by summer 2005.”
You can bet that the last 10% will be the hardest – some of of the remaining units are the oldest, remotest exchanges, not nice easy ones in the middle of cities. However, BT is aiming for 99.6% coverage by summer 2005. This represents an enormous amount of work still to be carried out, however: 2,652 exchanges are broadband-enabled, with 2,366 in the programme for next year.
BT’s Press Release
20 May, 2004
UK Government Gives Away Trial Set-top Boxes
350 households in Carmarthenshire, Wales will be given digital TV set-top boxes for three months, and their analogue signals will be switched off. The trial is scheduled for November, so if you live in Ferryside or Llansteffan, well now you know.
The towns were chosen because they are both served by the same transmitter and the trial would not affect anyone else. Attempting a trial like this in a more urban area would cause significant problems as transmitters overlap and serve far greater population densities.
In this trial, households will be given access to all BBC digital channels, ITV1 and 2, C4, S4C, S4C Digidol (that’s Welsh for “digital”) and Five.
Lord Macintosh, Broadcasting Minister told Broadcast Magazine: “This is an opportunity to test the technology. The important thing here is that we haven’t yet done that, except on a tiny scale.”
Ofcom’s Digital Switchover Report
20 May, 2004
Apple Takes iTunes to China
Apple have announced a deal with Founder PC – one the largest PC manufacturers in China. From the start of June, all Founder PCs will have iTunes preinstalled giving access to iTunes features, but without the music store. So, a bit like being an iPod owner in Europe then. Apple have not announced plans to take the iTunes Music Store to China yet.
“Digital music is becoming very important in the Chinese PC market, and Apple’s iTunes is the runaway market leader,” said Wei Xin, chairman of Founder Group and Founder Technology. “As the first Chinese company to bundle this innovative software with our PCs, we are excited to provide our customers with the world’s best digital music experience.”
“Around the world, iTunes has revolutionised the way people manage and listen to their digital music,” said Rob Schoeben, Apple’s vice president of Applications Marketing. “We are teaming up with Founder to deliver an easy-to-use, seamless music experience to millions of Chinese customers.”
This isn’t Founder’s first licensing deal with western software/hardware manufacturers – they licensed Palm’s OS late last year with the aim of bringing Palm-powered devices to the Chinese market in the future.
Foundertech (Chinese language)
19 May, 2004
UK Cinemas To Get 250 Digital Screens
Around £13 million (€19 million) of National Lottery money will be spent on installing 250 digital projectors in UK cinemas.
Apart from some quality improvements, the main benefit here is that distribution costs for films plummet – there are no expensive reels of film to cart around, and the number of screens a film can be shown on is not limited to the number of prints in existence. At upwards of £1000 (€1472) a print, it can be very costly to get enough copies together to secure a decent cinema release.
Hopefully, this means we’ll be able to see Wings of Desire in the cinema a bit more often.
Anyone who has seen a digitally projected film knows that improved quality is not always the case – there can be digital artefacts and some colour washout, so it’s not a case of digital better than film yet.
To qualify for the money, cinemas will set aside a portion of screen time to niche films, so that customers will have more rewarding fare to watch than the usual brain-devouring noise.
This new move will put the UK well ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to digital projection – there are currently only 190 digital cinema projectors around the world, with about a dozen in the UK.
UK Film Council
18 May, 2004
Ofcom’s LLU Proposals
UK regulator Ofcom have published proposals intended to open up competition in broadband provision for data, content and voice services.
As predicted, Ofcom have announced a market review consultation of local loop unbundling (LLU) – it was the threat of this review that many believe prompted BT to make huge cuts in its charges for LLU. BT hopes to avoid regulatory intervention by improving access to the local loop and charging fairer rates.
To help with local loop unbundling Ofcom are also proposing the establishment of a Telecoms Adjudicator, who will be entirely independent of Ofcom and the industry.
Ofcom Chief Executive Stephen Carter said: “These proposals, combined with the recent proposals on migration charges, mark an opportunity to accelerate the prospects for sustainably competitive investment in Broaderband Britain. Furthermore, Ofcom particularly welcomes BT’s commitment to both price and process improvements in these key wholesale products.”
Ofcom’s release
17 May, 2004
RIAA’s Sales Claims “Suspect”
Neilsen Soundscan is reporting that CD sales are increasing, yet the Recording Industry Association of America claim that business is bad. So what’s actually going on?
As reported in Digital Lifestyles last month, Neilsen is celebrating a 10% increase in sales, whilst the RIAA is still telling us that CD sales have plummeted because of copying and downloading.
It turns out that the RIAA’s claims are based on the total number of CDs shipped to record shops – not the numbers sold to customers, so this has no reflection on sales at all. Record shops are ordering less stock, but selling the stock they have faster. Having lots of cash sitting in your storeroom doing nothing isn’t good business sense when economies are suffering. Additionally, the RIAA also has a measure of control over the number of CDs shipped to stores, so it can influence the figure in any way it likes.
Soundscan recorded 146 million CDs sold in Q1 2003, against 160 million in Q1 2004 – an increase of nearly 10%. Figures for Q2, released this summer are expected to show yet another increase. The RIAA, on the other hand, are claiming a 7% decrease in revenue – but that’s purely through managing shipments and returns.
RIAA Radar
17 May, 2004
New HomeChoice Service Launches
Video Networks have launched the latest iteration of their HomeChoice service, available in the UK from 1st June.
The basic package includes 1mb of broadband (capped at 1gb per day downloaded – about 20,000 light web pages or 200 mp3s), more than 60 TV channels and a video on demand service. Films available on the on-demand service cost between £0.99 and £3.50 (€1.47 to €5.19) for the standard 24 hour rental.
The TV channels available are an extension of the standard Freeview fair, and include channels unavailable on Freeview such as E4, Discovery, CNBC Europe, UKTV Style and UKTV Gold. The are also some music offerings exclusive to Video Networks such as V:MX Hits and V:MX Dance. Interestingly, the service carries Club Zebra – a sort of exercise on demand (EOD – you heard it here first) channel where you can interact with keep fit and health programming.
The broadband component of the service can be upgraded to 2mb for an additional £15 (€22.26) per month – this takes the download cap to 45gb a month. The HomeChoice box comes with an Ethernet port in the back for connecting to your home network, but a rather smart wireless option is available for an extra £125 (€185.53). Including an Ethernet port makes the service a true competitor to existing broadband services. Beforehand, HomeChoice was really “VOD with broadband”, as the broadband connection from the box was USB: this iteration is more “broadband with VOD and content”, a much richer and flexible offering.The service is initially launching in West London to those with a BT phone line.
HomeChoice
VideoNetworks
14 May, 2004
BT Announce 70% Reduction in Local Loop Price
BT has been under considerable pressure for some time to reduce the cost access to the last mile of copper linking households to telephone exchanges, and it looks like they’ve finally done something about it.
The cost of Local Loop Unbundling has long been accused of preventing rival broadband providers from offering competitive products to BT. Ofcom are on the eve of announcement regarding BT’s treatment of the situation – hence BT’s timing, no doubt. BT hope to reduce the need for regulatory intervention – and this demonstrates that they would have been quite happy to sit there enjoying the status quo had Ofcom not accused them of overcharging.
BT chief executive Ben Verwaayen said in a statement: “Our announcement marks a major move towards the telecommunications market of the future. BT has always argued that a market needs to develop in which those who are willing to invest and innovate can reap the rewards. This is a significant step in that direction.
“We now have a far clearer idea of how Ofcom sees the market developing and we share their view that competition based at the infrastructure level will be good for everyone and for the UK in general.
“Their statements about regulatory certainty are crucial as we have enormously ambitious plans for the networks of the future and require that certainty for shareholders if we are going to invest the huge sums required.
“BT took a bold step forward two years ago when it cut the price of broadband and changed the shape of the broadband industry. This is an equally ambitious move and one we are confident will have long term benefits for both the UK and BT.”
The price cuts will take effect form 1 June – the monthly rental price for the existing LLU product will drop from £4.42 to £2.26 (€6.59 to €3.37), connection charges will now be £83.33 (€174.38), down from £117 (€124.20).
Ofcom
BT on the announcement
13 May, 2004
Napster Signs Distribution Deal With the Association of Independent Music
Napster will have just acquired another 50,000 tracks for their summer launch in the UK in a new deal with the Association of Independent Music (AIM). AIM is a UK body of 800 independent music companies, and Napster have licensed tracks from 50 of them. US Napster users will have access to the music too, once it has been uploaded.
“Napster creates the ultimate community experience for music fans and the variety, quality and originality of music from the independent UK sector is a vital to delivering this experience,” said Napster president Brad Duea. “The Association of Independent Music has shown great foresight in joining forces with Napster at this time and has underlined its reputation as an influential player on the international music scene.”
“Napster is going to make a big difference to music fans in the UK. At last we have a legitimate service from the world’s leading online brand, which offers flexibility in streaming and downloading to music fans. It also takes our music to fans around the world, confirming the promise that the internet can deliver a global business to independent artists and record companies,” said AIM chairman and chief executive Alison Wenham.
Artists made available through the deal include darlings of Hoxtonites such as Coldcut and Kruder & Dorfmeister. Billy Bragg will also be available.
Wippit, a subscription-based music service previously reported here has also just licensed tracks from Sony Music for distribution in the UK and Ireland. Sony Music’s artists include Bruce Springsteen and Beyonce.
It looks like the battle for legal music downloads is hotting up with Napster and iTunes launching almost simultaneously in the next few weeks.
Napster UK – get five free tracks when it launches
AIM
13 May, 2004