TV related

AJAX Alert: Opera Browser With AJAX To Sigma CE Chip Range
Web browser company Opera today announce they’re bring their Web browser with AJAX support to chips for use in Consumer Electronics (CE) applications.
It’s not long back that Opera made the decision to give their Web browser away after a long period of charging for it. A very brave and noble act many though – not a bad way to raise your profile we thought.
They’ve been putting their browsers on different platforms for a while, like the mini-browser for mobile phones they brought out back in August 05.
The reasoning behind the give-away move becomes clearer today as they announce that they’ve been working with US chip company Sigma Designs to bring their browser software to embedded hardware via Sigma’s SMP8630 family of chipsets.
Clearly looking to tread on Intel’s toes, Sigma say the SMP8630 family of chipsets can be used in digital media adapters, IPTV set-top boxes and networked DVD players that OEM’s may want to build.
To get to use the browser and the oh-so-desirable AJAX, OEM’s will need to get in touch with Opera to license their Software Development Kit (SDK). Once familiar with it they should be able to create some snazzy application.
So what’s so exciting about embedded Web browsing software? Their supports the darling of the hour buzzword – AJAX.
We’re sure you, dear reader, know what AJAX is, but just incase – it stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. This translates to being able to use a Web browser more like a computer-based application.
The most notable difference from a ‘normal’ Web app is information and updates can be carried out without needing reload the Web page each time. It’s an intergral part of the Web 2.0 landscape.
The most often cited example is Google’s Gmail.
We at Digital-Lifestyles see the rise of AJAX as the event that broke Microsoft’s domination of computers. So pretty significant really.
Expect this news to generate great excitement in the Blog-world.
Opera
Sigma
Opera-related stories on Digital-Lifestyles
5 January, 2006
Pressure Builds – No Christmas Cheer For BT
BT has been hit by two further blows, bringing into stark relief the height of the mountain it must climb to achieve its TV ambitions. Secondarily, drawing into sharp focus the changing landscape for domestic phone calling, as the competition begins to consolidate.
The bad news for the BT TV proposition, is that BSkyb has got its 8th millionth customer. These customers are, by and large, the sort of customer BT badly needs for its triple play TV offering to be a success. They’re high-delivering ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) viewers that will delight the beleaguered BT finances.
Sky’s achievement of the 8 million target is also likely to be a blow to the ambitious NTL. Expect little let up from Sky as it battles to reach the 10 million mark by 2010 and continues to push its Sky+ and multi-room offerings.
Separately, a consolidating Carphone Warehouse has been on the acquisition trail and agreed the purchase of Tele2’s UK and Ireland operations, and separately, Onetel.
The deal with Tele2, the Swedish telecoms company, at a price of £8.5 million plus the £2 million cost of a planned restructure, will add around 188,000 customers in the UK and a further 36,000 in Ireland to Carphone Warehouse.
The deal appears to makes sense for Carphone Warehouse, and they expect the transaction to add to their earnings in the current financial year. They intend to migrate the purchased companies customers onto its own network, under the TalkTalk brand.
The purchase of Onetel from Centrica for £132 million includes £37.1 million, while will be delivered if Centrica deliver a targeted number of customers in the next three years via its British Gas operations. The Carphone Warehouse will also pay Centrica an additional £22.2 million if higher sign-up targets are met.
Onetel’s residential customer portfolio is made up of 1.1 million Carrier Pre-Select (CPS), 250,000 indirect access, 60,000 broadband, 40,000 mobile. There are also 50,000 CPS business customers. Carphone Warehouse are upbeat about this purchase too, saying the acquisition will “increase current year pre-tax profits by approximately £4m, and next year’s pre-tax profits by approximately £20m.”
Here at Digital Lifestyles, we expect competition to be even fiercer in 2006 as both BSkyb and the Telcos battle to capture high spending subscribers.
20 December, 2005
Doctor Who Interactive TV Christmas Special Planned
The BBC is hoping to get Dr Who fans reaching for their red buttons en masse with a video-rich interactive TV application scheduled to run straight after the airing of the Christmas Day special (7:00PM GMT).
Dubbed “Attack of the Graske,” the application hopes to get sofa-loafing viewers taking part in an interactive adventure with the aim of preventing an evil alien creature, called the Graske, from taking over the earth.
It looks that the BBC has invested muchos cash into the venture, employing live-action video and “state-of-the-art” special effects produced at the high end visual effects studio, The Mill.
Christmas-pud gorged viewers will be tasked with using the arrow keys on their remote controls to perform a series of challenges which will test observation, dexterity, memory and – according to the BBC – their bravery.
There’ll also be an opportunity to fly around in the Tardis with the Doctor “on hand to give advice, encouragement, and even step in when things go wrong.”
Produced in Cardiff by BBC New Media and BBC Wales, producer Sophie Fante commented, “Attack of the Graske gives the viewer the unique opportunity to immerse themselves fully in the world of Doctor Who.”
“We aimed to make the challenge with the same scope and feel of the main series and, in ‘Attack of The Graske,’ the viewer finds themselves not only flying the Tardis with the Doctor but fighting the Graske on the planet Griffoth and hunting him out in Victorian London,” she added.
Filming the program involved creating an authentic Dickensian Christmas scene, complete with snow, in Cardiff.
We can’t wait to watch this latest installment of the highly rated Dr Who series and are hoping to witness another kind of winter wonderland the day after when the mighty Cardiff City FC take on Plymouth.
Dr Who
19 December, 2005
BT’s IPTV Content Deals: Too Little Too Late?
In the week that BT and Sky both saw their triple play offerings potentially trumped by a possible NTL/Virgin ‘quadruple play’, BT chose to release details of its upcoming content deals with BBC Worldwide, Paramount and Warner Music Group.
Ian Livingston, chief executive of BT Retail, talked up the deals, “Whether you are a music fan, love films or hooked on drama you will get the best in entertainment when you want it. BT is defining next generation TV.”
Against a backdrop of whispered rumours of delays with Microsoft’s IPTV Edition, the BT service is slated for launch next year.
BT’s TV service will piggyback on-demand programming, delivered by a high speed Internet connection to a Philips terrestrial Freeview receiver, and the PVR component of the box will hold 80 hours of downloaded programming.
The service will not be a monthly subscription like that of NTL and Sky, instead it will follow a ‘pay-as-you-go’ model, where individual downloads and viewing can be charged.
An agreement with BBC Worldwide that covers on-demand rights for BBC programming and charges for viewing, will provoke controversy as the BBC is paid for by a universal levy on TV viewers in the UK.
Problems won’t be confined to BBC programmes if ITV programming is carried, advertisers are bound to be unhappy that time-shifting viewers will skip the paid for messages.
You might be able to tell that we’re not that excited about this deal. At least BT seems to recognise that viewers watch content rather than technology … or well negotiated deals.
With so many digital TV homes in the UK subscribed to Sky or cable, we’re just not sure if BT will be able to muscle into the Digital TV space.
A major question mark hanging over them is whether the content promised so far is enough to encourage current subscribers to switch or, even more difficult, if they can get the so called “digital refuseniks” to join BT’s TV.
13 December, 2005
65.9% of UK Households Watching Digital TV
Ofcom has published its Digital Television Update for the third quarter of 2005, revealing that two thirds of UK households now watch digital television.
The figures show that digital television was viewed in 65.9% of UK households (up from 63.0% in the previous quarter), with 2.6% of households receiving television services via analogue cable, bringing the total receiving some form of multi-channel television to around 68.5%.
By the end of September 2005, the total number of households viewing digital television swelled by more than 760,000 to around 16.5 million, with more than 6.3 million free-to-view digital households (Freeview/free-to-view satellite).
The number of households with Freeview as their only source of digital television viewing was estimated at 5,775,000 – up by 600,000 homes during the quarter.
Sales of Freeview (Digital Terrestrial Television or DTT) set-top boxes and televisions with integrated DTT tuners are booming, with more than one million sales registered during the quarter – a whopping 55% increase against the same quarter last year.
During the same period, BSkyB notched up another 48,000 subscribers, bringing its total number of UK subscribers to 7,472,000, with Ofcom estimating that there are also around 545,000 free-to-view digital satellite homes (this includes viewers who no longer fork out for a BSkyB subscription but still use the box for the freebie channels).
Digital cable subscribers now account for more than 2.6 million of the total cable television homes, increasing by more than 43,300 in the quarter, while subscriptions to analogue and digital cable television decreased slightly to just below 3.3 million in the quarter (due to a fall in analogue cable subscribers outweighing the increase in digital cable subscriptions).
This healthy take-up of digital television will be encouraging news for the government who are committed to a digital switchover between 2008 and 2012.
Ofcom Digital Television Update – 2005 Q3 [pdf]
12 December, 2005
SureWest And HDNet, 1st To Launch US HD Over IPTV Service
California based telecoms company, SureWest Communications, is set to become the first company in the USA to offer HDTV commercially over its Internet Protocol (IP)-based fibre-to-the-premise (FTTP) network.
The company have announced that it will be including high-definition networks HDNet and HDNet Movies in their high-definition television (HDTV) service set to launch this year.
“We are pleased to offer viewers in the Sacramento region the great variety of live and original news, entertainment and sports programming that can only be seen on HDNet and HDNet Movies,” said Peter Drozdoff, SureWest’s vice president of marketing.
“Through our HDTV channel lineup and launch of HDTV over IP, we are showcasing our dedication to providing customers with the highest-quality programming, sharpest picture available and a variety of emerging video products,” he added.
Quick to join the self-promoting, backslapping party, Mark Cuban, co-founder and president of HDNet, was quick to pipe in, “We are happy to be partnering with SureWest to deliver the HDNet networks to their customers in the Sacramento region and to be providing them with great original high-definition programming and exclusive day-and-date premieres of theatrically released movies.”
HDNet and HDNet Movies currently broadcast news, sports, music and entertainment programming in 1080i high-definition format, with a widescreen 16×9 aspect ratio.
On HDNet, SureWest viewers can, err, thrill to original series like “HDNet World Report,” “Face 2 Face with Roy Firestone” and “HDNet Concert Series,” and if that lot doesn’t set you packing your bags for Sacramento, there’ll also be showing Warner’s “Smallville” series and a load of live sports productions include Major League Soccer games.
HDNet Movies is the “exclusive home of day and date movie releases” presenting a wide selection of major studio’s theatrical releases which are broadcast uncut, unedited and in their original aspect ratio.
To view HDNet and HDNet Movies, SureWest customers will need an HDTV set, a SureWest HDTV cable box and a subscription to the SureWest HD service tier.
And quite probably a SureWest HDTV t-shirt too.
SureWest
HD
8 December, 2005
ITV Buy Friends Reunited: Why?
The Digital-Lifestyles office is in a state of total confusion over major UK broadcaster, ITV, buying the Web Site, Friends Reunited (FR).
Our reaction when we initially heard of the deal was – What? Why? How much!?
It’s been widely reported that ITV is paying £120m + £55m in bonuses for FR. The site that has been running for four years, currently has 12m members and is expected to make revenues of £12.4m this year.
It’s not that we don’t think that businesses should appear to diversify. We’ve been clear that we think eBay’s purchase of Skype was genius. The major difference, beyond the value to the transaction, is that Skype is still growing.
What?
We think that FR has done an amazing sales job on ITV. It’s a site that would appear to be in decline rather than its ascendancy. Their expansion into Genes Reunited, Dating and Jobs Reunited would appear to point to them thinking the same.
If you look at why FR worked, we think it’s because there were generations of school leavers going their separate ways prior to the Internet, leading them a very limited means of contacting their previous peers.
The school leavers departing since the wide use of the Internet, will not have to resort to third-party services – the majority of them will have an online presence, allowing direct contact, if desired.
Why?
ITV are suffering. The business that, when it was launched fifty years ago, was described as a ‘license to print money’ has gradually slipped to a low grade, trashy set of channels. It’s widely thought of as a bit of a joke with appalling programming.
70% of ITV’s revenues come from Ad sales on its flagship channel, ITV1. The word in media circles is that ITV1 is now struggling to sell ads, as the audience generally drops off (the exception to this being their recent reality show, ‘I’m a celebrity, get me out of here’), and goes down market.
ITV do have a huge advertising sales department that has been merged across all of its regions. Bringing FR into this sales force will give better economies for ITV, letting them squeeze additional profits from FR. It will also give ITV the chance of selling adverts across TV and the Web – extracting additional cash from the advertiser.
Another benefit will be letting ITV have access to the 12m members of FR, allowing them to expose the online FR audience to promotion of ITV’s programming, if they’re UK based. Later this can be expanded to on-demand sales.
When we sat around at Digital-Lifestyles to come up with other reasons, one that came up was the possible creation of a programming strand or, heaven forbid, whole channel covering the now-various services of FR. eg reality programming following a group of FR subscribers going through the steps to ‘reunited’, with the trial, tribulations and toe-curingly moments that it would entail.
The question we keep on coming back to is, Is this this really worth £10-£14.50 per FR member?
Even after ITV boss Charles Allen has tried to explain the deals advantages, we’re still not convinced.
This deal brings to mind ITV’s disastrous, misguided huge, £788m investment into ITV Digital – their attempt to take on BSkyB in the UK. The service collapsed in 2002, later to reborn as Freeview.
7 December, 2005
Vodafone Launches Global Mobile TV
Vodafone has started to roll out its global Mobile TV channels, serving up a feast of “world-class TV brands, pan-European sports coverage and leading entertainment and documentary programmes”.
The global Mobile TV channels will be widely available across Vodafone markets from this month and will include big hitting series like HBO’s “Sex and the City”, “Six Feet Under” and special mobile editions of the old favourite, ’24’ from Fox.
Sports fans will be kept amused on the move with Eurosport, UEFA Champions League and, err, Chilli TV (who?) channels, with the Vodafone service also carrying popular channels like MTV and Discovery.
“With a wide range of ‘good for TV’ handsets, an intuitive, easy to use service and a portfolio of instantly recognisable television brands and programming, the launch of global Mobile TV is a compelling proposition for our customers”, purred Peter Bamford, Chief Marketing Officer at Vodafone.
“Attracting world class content providers, such as Twentieth Century Fox Television and HBO, ensures the premium quality of this product and underpins our confidence in its widespread adoption,” he continued.
Vodafone say that their research into the market revealed that Mobile TV complemented television viewing habits at home and thus demonstrated a hearty appetite for the product amongst consumers.
Their study found that consumers want well-known TV brands and channels and like to “dip” in and out of television as a way of filling up free time (or skiving from work).
Sourced globally, the TV content will work with any 3G enabled handset and will complement existing domestic Mobile TV offerings in eight of Vodafone’s operating countries (namely, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain and the UK) as well as associate and partner networks in Belgium, France, Switzerland and Austria.
Vodafone
6 December, 2005
NTL Bids For Virgin Mobile: 1st Mobile Quad Play?
NTL is currently in talks to merge with Virgin Mobile in a deal that would create a potential rival to the now broadband-enabled BSkyB.
Virgin Mobile’s official word?
The Board of Virgin Mobile Holdings plc confirms that it has received an approach from NTL Incorporated that may or may not lead to a formal offer being made for the Company.
Shares of Virgin Mobile immediately climbed to a record high after NTL/Telewest announced its £835m ($1.44 billion) takeover bid.
If the bid is successful, it will create the first media group to serve up mobile and fixed-line telephony, broadband Internet access and pay-TV.
(Ed: It has a similar resonance as the deal between 3 Italia and Canale 7)
We’ve found that getting straight numbers of subscribers for each separate business is difficult. The figures that the Guardian are quoting for the merged Virgin/NTL/Telewest uber-company are impressive too, accounting for 10m customers, 3.3m television customers, over 5m mobile phone users, 2.5m broadband Internet customers and 4.4m fixed-line telephone accounts.
NTL/Telewest do have to do something pretty radical as they feel the pressure from other previously unrelated business getting in on their main business areas.
The new company will go under the Virgin brand, and would become the biggest Virgin-branded business in the world, outstripping the music retail business which launched Branson’s career and the Virgin Atlantic airline business.
In a fiercely competitive market, cable companies on both sides of the Atlantic are looking to outflank their satellite and phone company rivals by adding mobile phone services to their portfolio of voice, Internet and TV services.
NTL is the UK’s number two pay-TV operator after BSkyB’s Sky and is also the second-largest residential telephony provider after BT Group.
Long seen as a juicy takeover candidate, Virgin Mobile is the fifth-largest UK mobile phone carrier. The company operates on rented capacity on T-Mobile’s UK network.
Virgin Mobile current 4 million users (source Virgin Mobile) in the UK, puts them at less than a third of the UK market leader, o2’s, who have 15 million users.
NTL and Telewest have notched up around 5 million subscribers combined, next to BSkyB’s 7.8 million digital television viewers.
If the deal goes through, it won’t be the first time the two companies have worked together – in 1996 they launched the Internet service provider Virgin Net, which had an original owner ship of NTL with 49% and Virgin, 51%. The enterprise was fully taken over by NTL in 2000 but still trades under the powerful Virgin brand name.
Virgin Mobile
NTL
5 December, 2005
Digital TV: Confusion Over European Support For Move
The words European and Commission, when used together rarely equate to clarity. This is holding true with the mixed signals on the financial support that will be permitted in the transition to Digital TV across Europe.
Last week the EU ministers of Transport, Energy and Telecommunications met. They agreed on the need to accelerate the switchover, and a 2012 deadline for the move from analogue to Digital TV. Currently ten member states are expected to complete the switchover by 2010.
But this push to digital comes somewhat bizarrely against the background of a recent European Commission ruling. It subsidies the commercial broadcasters in Germany use of the digital terrestrial television (DVB-T) network, violating EC Treaty state aid rules. Subsidies valued at close to €4 million were granted to the German Land of Berlin-Brandenburg, with beneficiaries that included German broadcasters RTL and ProSiebenSat.1. The commission says they are illegal and the sums already paid (around €2 million) should be returned.
The Commission made clear that it supports the transition to digital broadcasting, and that Member States have a variety of methods to assist the digital switchover, that fits in with EC Treaty state aid rules.
Neelie Kroes the Competition Commissioner said, “The Commission is firmly committed to encouraging the transition to digital TV, which has many advantages for consumers and innovation. However, state support must be based on objective criteria, address specific issues where the market does not provide solutions and avoid distortions of competition, particularly between terrestrial, cable and satellite platforms.”
The single market in Digital TV would facilitate the economies of scale for both ‘head-end equipment’ (the digital gizmos that transmit the TV services) and domestic set top box makers that include European giants, like Pace and Phillips.
Europe could benefit economically and socially, by a concerted approach across Europe to the ‘liberated’ spectrum. The EC wants to see trading in radio wavebands (much championed by the UK regulator OFCOM) and believes that this could assist European firms in launching innovative products and services. A study commissioned by the executive indicated that the move to Digital would have potential benefits of around EUR 9 billion for community members through greater efficiencies.
Let’s hope that European bureaucrats can get their act together on this one.
5 December, 2005