Europe – Page 14 – Digital-Lifestyles

eContentplus €149m Digital Content Fund Get EU OK

EU IST eContentplus The European Parliament has voted in favour of a new programme to promote the European digital content market, setting it a budget of €149m (~$194m, ~£103m) for the next three years.

The eContentplus programme aims to tackle the fragmentation of the European digital content market by supporting the development of multi-lingual content for innovative, online services.

“The internet offers a unique opportunity for content companies to outgrow their so far mostly national markets”, said Viviane Reding, the Commissioner responsible for Information Society and Media.
“The eContentplus programme will facilitate the production and distribution of online European content, thus stimulating innovation and creativity. At the same time it will help to preserve and share Europe’s cultural and linguistic identities and give them a more prominent place on the Internet,” Reding added.

The European Parliament voted in favour of the programme with only one amendment, which sets the budget of the programme at €149m for the period 2005-2008. Reding said the new budget was a substantial increase in comparison to the previous programme.

The eContentplus programme will concentrate on the parts of the digital content market where there is clear fragmentation in Europe, and where market forces have not been enough to drive growth.

It targets three areas – spatial or geographical data, educational material and cultural content.

In the case of geographical data such as post codes, planning and land registration details, fragmentation occurs because different member states collect and store data in different ways.

If the programme can reduce this fragmentation, it can open the way for new EU-wide information services using this data in areas such as transportation, navigation, emergency response and environmental management.

The eContentplus programme is part of a set of measures to boost innovation and creativity in the converging content market, including the MEDIAplus programme, and the modernisation of the Television Without Frontiers Directive, due later this year.
eContentplus

Midem Mobile Music Forum Report

Few topics are as hot as mobile music right now, with the Midem Mobile Music Forum the place to be on the subject. Panelists touched upon several important areas, with all attempting to understand the future direction of explosive medium. Once again, Digital Music News was on the ground to capture the chatter.

Just who is buying all of those ringtones and downloads through their phones? A knee-jerk reaction seems to always point to the younger buyer, though many close to the space are seeing activity from the older buyer. During one of the mobile music panels, Martin Peronnet (Content Director, Mobile/i-mode division of French operator Bouygues Telecom) declared that 15% of his customers are in the 35 -40 age bracket. That is a total of one million customers, with many among the most active subscribers. Others revealed similar data, with Universal Mobile Chairman Cédric Ponsot announcing the launch of a series of oldies realtones, based on major hits from the 60s. Clearly, ringtones aren`t just for kids.

With the mobile music space expanding, where do things go from here? Many were convinced that 2005 will be the breakout year for the space, with new services like full song downloads on the horizon. But many attendees urged their peers to remain focused on ringtones, the most lucrative aspect so far. Meanwhile, projections were bandied about, with event chairman Ralph Simon forecasting a $11.2 billion space by 2008 .

But more money can sometimes bring more problems, with operators, publishers, and labels swimming in disagreement. Vodafone Global Marketing Director Guy Laurence gave a clear warning to the music industry when he declated that “the music industry needs to sort out the mess between publishers and labels and figure out who owns what during the next quarter. It is the consumers that matter. The bickering has to stop.” In another panel, Chrysalis Group Chief Executive Richard Huntingford expressed his concern about Vodafone exerting too much control. “What do they know about music?” he asked, calling for the music producers to unite their efforts. Orange Marketing Handset Services & Solutions Director Pascal Thomas called for mutual collaboration, reminding attendees that the CD has been around for 20 years with almost no innovation, while the mobile business is rapidly deploying new products.

Mobile Music Forum

China Develops its First Digital TV Chip

China Digital TV Chip Shanghai-based Fudan University has developed the country’s first home-made digital TV chip. Not only that, but the chip has passed appraisals by experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering, and it’s outperformed European and US standards in terms of sensitivity and anti-jamming capacities – at lower costs.

The ‘Zhongshi No.1’ chip, which is based on China’s DMB-T standard and is made by Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing and Semiconductor Manufacturing International, integrates more than 70 storages, 2 million logic gates and 20 million transistors. It’s expected that the mass production of the cost-effective chip will help to boost China’s digital TV industry as it will pave the way to a new generation of high-definition televisions (HDTV).

Apparently, dozens of electronics makers have integrated the new chip technology into their products, including Changhong, TCL, Skyworth and Haier. China’s Henan Province has applied the new technology to launch mobile TV programs, and other localities have reported success in trial operations. US-based Time Warner has also announced that it plans to offer subscription-based digital TV programs to China.

According to official statistics, China has more than 370 million TV sets and an average 40 million sets are being sold each year. China plans to broadcast the 2008 Beijing Olympics on digital TV and hopes to roll out the service nationwide by 2015.

Microsoft Media Player-free Windows in Europe from January

Microsoft has lost its appeal to block antitrust sanctions, originally imposed by the European Commission (EC) in March this year.

Back then, along with a record-breaking near 500m Euro fine, the EC insisted that Microsoft should release two version of their Windows operating system, one without the media player built in and one without. The EC see Windows as the dominant computer operating system and want to try to ensure a more level playing field with the playback of digitally held audio and video. Some networking communication protocols were also opened up to compulsory licensing.

The ruling won’t be a surprise to Microsoft but an unhappy result all the same. When we spoke to senior European Microsoft people back in September, they felt this action was likely, but were spinning a line saying that two version of the OS would confuse the public.

It’s possible that the impact on the consumer may be close to zero. Philip Carnelley, research director with Ovum pointed out an interesting possible problem, “The way that part of the ruling was phrased doesn’t prohibit Microsoft from supplying Windows with Media Player at the same price as the version without, so there’s very little room for competition in the market place. If you can get something for free, why would you not take it?” The pricing issue was confirmed in a teleconference held with Microsoft general counsel, Brad Smith.

Smith revealed that company lawyers wanted to look more closely at the 90-page decision before deciding whether to appeal. Smith confirmed that Microsoft would begin complying with the decision immediately, with a version of Windows that doesn’t include Media Player software being made available to European PC manufacturers in January and to resellers by February. Outside of Europe they have no plans to offer a version of Windows without Media Player.

One long term worry for Microsoft could be that this ruling leaves it open for Europe able to question which extra bundled software could or should be included with Windows.

We’ve got a couple of question about the impact of this ruling:-

The Media player part of the ruling appears to only cover “Client PC’s” versions of Windows, not PDA’s or mobile phone version. We think the EC missed a trick here. If anything, the PDA or mobile player would be of more value to change, given its relative high market demand, than the less-than-furiously fought “Client PC’s” space. This oversight could be due to the age of the original legal action, instigated four years ago, when having media play back on a portable device wasn’t at the forefront of peoples minds.

It is not immediately obvious which media player company will benefit from the removal of Microsoft media player. The only major PC maker to currently install Apple’s QuickTime player is HP, following their iPod deal. As far as we’re aware, Real player doesn’t have deals with major computer maker. Perhaps given this ruling they will accelerate their efforts and other entrants will be stimulated to enter.

A confusing thought for you over the holiday period – will there be version of Windows Media Center Edition available Europe without Windows Media player! FYI – When we contacted the Microsoft team in Brussels said they didn’t think so.

Microsoft ruling, Court of First Instance Order on Interim Measures – Court of Justice of the European

Cellular Phone Emissions Damage DNA, Study Finds

A new study, majority-funded by the European Union, has found that in laboratory conditions, radio waves from mobile phones harm body cells and damage DNA, reports Reuters.

When tested in a laboratory, the cells showed a significant increase in single and double-strand DNA breaks after being exposed to electromagnetic fields that mobile phones emit. Some of the damage couldn’t be repaired and “there was remaining damage for future generation of cells,” said project leader Franz Adlkofer.

Despite what appears to us as being quite worrying information, the researchers said the study did not prove any health risks and suggested it “require further studies.” He recommended using a landline if available and an earpiece if using a mobile.

The cellular phone companies have always asserted that there is “no conclusive evidence of harmful effects as a result of electromagnetic radiation.”

Perhaps there’s nothing to worry about. The stock market certainly doesn’t appear to be concerned by the news, if Nokia’s stock is anything to go by.

I wonder if the mobile phone companies have taken out insurance in the case that mobile phones are proven harmful to human health? If so, wouldn’t it be interesting to find out what the value of coverage was? [email protected]
Mobile Phone Radiation Harms DNA, New Study Finds – Reuters

LG opens European RandD Centre in Paris

The march of LG continues West with them setting up an R&D office in Paris (Reg.Req.), France. The advantages to them are plentiful; a stronger understanding of the needs of the European market; the forging of closer relationships with European network operators; having the cellular standards bodies on their door steps – ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) and 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) are both based in Paris.

This will be their fifth R&D centre, following San Diego, Beijing, Bangalore, and Moscow.

LG profile has grown tremendously in recent years, and their handsets have been doing well. They hope the opening of this R&D centre takes them one step closer to being a ‘global top 3’ in handsets by 2006. On past performance it looks highly achievable – rival companies must be getting worried.

European Networked and Electronic Media (NEM) initiative launches

How Europeans receive their digital entertainment in the future could change, following an event in Nice last week. At the launch of the bold and ambitious Networked and Electronic Media (NEM) initiative, the European Commission (EC) announced their intention to form an integrated, interoperable platform. Its broad scope stretches from the way media is created, through each of the stages of its distribution, to its playback.

The EC want its citizens to be able to locate the content they desire and have it delivered seamlessly, when on the move, at home or at work, no matter who supplies the devices, network, content, or content protection scheme.

With interconnectivity as its goal, it is fortunate that over 120 experts were there to share the vision and hear pledges of active support from companies such as Nokia, Intel, Philips, Alcatel, France Telecom, Thomson and Telefonica.

It might initially appear to be surprising that companies in direct competition are keen to work together, but again and again speakers stated they could not see incompatible, stand-alone solutions working. A long-term strategy for the evolution and convergence of technologies and services would be required.

The EC is being pragmatic in its approach. They have identified that many standards bodies have, and continue to, define standards in the areas that NEM encompasses, but recognise that some of these standards overlap. The NEM approach is to take a serious look at what’s available and what’s in the pipeline, pick out the best, integrate them together and identify where the gaps are. Where it finds holes, it will develop standards to fill them.

While the global access to content is not a unique idea, what is significant is that such a large and powerful organisation has stated its desire for it to be fully open and interoperable – not restricting the consumers choice at any stage in the process.

This is bound to please, if not surprise, many individuals and user organisations who feel that the wishes of the holder of rights to content are normally considered over and above those of the consumer. Following the keynote earlier in the week of EC Director João Da Silva, they now know they have a supporter within the higher echelons of the European Commission.

Many feel that the most difficult and challenging area for the EC will be to identify a solution for interoperating Digital Rights Management (DRM) schemes. Currently DRM solutions are incompatible – locking certain types of purchased content, making them unplayable on all platforms.

With the potential of having a percentage of every media transaction that takes place globally, the prize for being the supplier of the world’s dominant DRM scheme is huge. This leads the companies who feel they have a chance in controlling it to not be very open to sharing.

Although entertainment is an obvious first step, it will encompass the remote provisions of healthcare, energy efficiency and control of the Smart Home. The over-arching initiative amalgamates the work of many currently running research projects that the EC has been funding for a number of years.

The NEM is a ten-year project, which in the everything-immediately age we live in, might seem like a lifetime away, but it’s important to remember that the digital delivery of media stretches a long way into the future. Decisions made and solutions selected now will have far reaching consequences.

This piece was featured on the BBC Web site.

Jo

In his keynote presentation at the Net-atHome conference in Nice, France, João Da Silva gave an overview of where Europe is with digital media within the home, what the trends are and where Europe would like to be in the digital landscape.

Da Silva is Director of (deep breath) Communications Networks, Security and Software applications, at the European Commission. His opening slide stressed the European Commission’s desire to create equilibrium between three parties, the consumer; technical suppliers; and content owners. They want to create a balance where the rights of the content owner and the consumer are protected, to try and level the current imbalance, as “there has been a tendency to protect the rights of rights holder over the consumer.”

Moving on to bandwidth, he declared that since July 2002 broadband in Europe has grown over 248%. Despite this he feels there is a danger of a digital divide over Europe – not between no access and some access, but a split of where there is broadband of decent speeds and where there is insufficient for the next generation of entertainment.

He highlighted the huge variation in pricing of broadband services over Europe, giving the example of the contrast between Belgium and France; the first giving a 3Mbps connection and the latter 150Kbps – for the same charge. While some felt this example wasn’t quite as simple as the headline sounds, as it ignored the population density of the two countries, it does point to disparity. He illustrated this further, with examples of companies moving their offices to get bandwidth. The message was clear, member states, get your broadband up to scratch or you’ll start falling behind.

The inevitable comparison with Asian markets was covered. Japan now offers 100Mbps over Fibre To The Home (FTTH) for €22/month (~$29, ~£15) and Korea offers 50Mbps over VDSL.

When discussing the explosion in content, Da Silva pointed to blogs as a major source of new entertainment – content created by the consumer, for the consumer. He quoted the growth of blogs running at rates of 20% per month and generating traffic of 8Gbit of traffic daily. The EC are generally excited about the growth in user-generated content, seeing it as a real option to, what is currently seen as entertainment.

Concluding his presentation, he reminded the audience that the European Commission’s Information Society Technologies (IST) programme has a four year research budget with a net worth of €4Bn (~$5.34Bn, ~£2.76Bn), equating to €1Bn year. He encouraged all with innovative ideas to apply.

European Information Society Technologies (IST) Net-atHome conference

NDS Threaten TiVo with DirecTV PVR

There won’t be much surprise to hear that the now Murdoch-controlled DirecTV is readying the launch it’s own PVR around Spring 2005, whose function mirrors TiVo. Added to this, NDS the creators of the rivals PVR, claim their unit will handle Pay Per View programming better – by charging for the content when it is watched, not recorded. This will give them the opportunity to speculatively tempt the viewer with lots of yummy content.

The divorce of DirecTV and TiVo has been long, protracted and painful to watch. Much like friends watching from the outside as a marriage crumbles, where everyone appears to know that it’s over, except the unhappy couple.

TiVo has already had experience of the Murdoch approach to their business, when the two ‘worked together’ to bring TiVo to the UK. It is sufficient to say that TiVo stopped selling their product in the UK after only selling 30,000 units. It’s likely that most of these, probably would’ve been brought directly from the US anyway.

The big problem for TiVo is that DirecTV is their largest single customer and it will seriously impact their business. We imagine that they’ve been expecting it since DirecTV sold its 55% stake in one lump and its vice chairman, Eddy Hartenstein, resigned from their board back in June this year.

When this news is combined with, in our view, the near suicidal idea that TiVo plan to ‘upgrade’ the software on their subscriber’s boxes to display popup banner ads when fast forwarding through the TV adverts, you have to think that TiVo is in serious trouble.

Times have changed, and what was once special about TiVo has now become commonplace, and sadly, they don’t appear to be able to add anything to their offering as magical as the original.

We’re dismayed to read in the news report that the new DirecTV device will not have the ability to skip through the adverts. While we’re not surprised that an integrated company like News Corporation want to stop their subscribers for skipping through a revenue stream, we’re saddened that a feature that was so much a selling point for the original PVR, is going to be withheld. We wonder what the reaction of the subscribers that currently have the TiVo box that will be ‘upgraded’ to the new system will be? Even if the reaction is bad and vocal, it’s highly lightly that this will be a mere blip in the media landscape stretching forward.

DirecTV
TiVo

Philips Sells Total Holding In Vivendi Universal

Royal Philips Electronics has sold its total holding of 32,265,561 shares in Paris-based conglomerate Vivendi Universal. The transaction, which closed yesterday, will provide Philips with proceeds of approximately 720 million euros, and will result in a non-taxable gain of approximately 300 million euros in the fourth quarter. Prior to this transaction, Philips’ holding represented approximately 3 per cent of Vivendi Universal’s outstanding shares. Philips’s share prise rose 1.1 per cent after the announcement, while Vivendi shares fell 0.7 per cent.

The initial combination of the companies was believed to lead to the strengthening of all parties involved, including Philips and its shareholders, by creating a global powerhouse in entertainment and services in the new economy. Philips was a set-top box provider for Vivendi, with whom it supplied to Vivendi’s Canal+ division. Philips has not commented further on why it has sold all of its holdings

Vivendi Universal which began as a French civil engineering enterprise, grew to absorb the Universal entertainment conglomerate in the US and then sold or spun off most of its media acquisitions after investors lost patience over rising debts. Restructuring since 2002 has reduced Vivendi to a much smaller, but significant French film, television and telecommunications operator. The company was expected to drop the ‘Universal’ part of its corporate name in 2003 after a deal that transferred its US film, theme park and cable television interests to a joint venture with NBC-owner General Electric.

In 2001, Vivendi Universal and Sony launched ‘Duet’, an alternative to Napster. The service sported monitoring of what’s downloaded and listened to, better sound quality, a subscription service, and pay-per-listen options. ‘We hope to license 50 per cent of the world’s music’, said a company representative. To kick-start the venture, Vivendi Universal purchased MP3.com for about $350 million, a move that followed Napster’s deal with media conglomerate Bertelsmann. Both deals marked a critical moment of détente and an admission that the labels needed the help of their one-time enemies, as they got serious about online distribution. Unfortunately, that dream failed too.

Philips
Vivendi Universal