Monday, 21st July 2008

DATA BOX

Mobile Users ‘Happy to Get Ads for Free Content’
Adlndex® for Mobile ad effectiveness research published on Netimperative.com, 18th Jul 2008

Nearly nine in ten (88%) of mobile phone users are happy to receive pre-roll mobile ads in return for free content, according to a new survey. The study comes from 4th Screen Advertising’s new Adlndex® for Mobile advertising effectiveness research, conducted by Dynamic Logic. The objective of the six week study, which ran from 31st March to 9th May, was to evaluate the effectiveness of pre-roll mobile ads on O2 Active, across a sample of 600 men and women aged 16 and older. Brands included Citroen and LG ran 15 second pre-roll adverts using age and gender targeting. Key Findings revealed:

* Overall response to pre-roll ads on mobile phones was very positive, particularly amongst a young male audience, considered to be ‘early adopters’
* The video content that accompanies the pre-roll ads is important in determining the effectiveness of the advertising, demonstrating that people who enjoyed the content are more likely to respond positively to the accompanying advertising.
* Respondents seem to be happy with the trade-off of watching a mobile pre-roll ad in exchange for free video content, especially males and the younger audience. Eighty-eight percent said they were happy to have video ads if it meant they could watch free video.

The research also shows that mobile pre-roll ads are “attention grabbing” and increased brand recognition:

* 59% said the mobile ads made them more interested in the advertised brand.
* 62% said it gave a good impression of the brands being advertised.

Online Video Continues to Gain Popularity, But Doesn’t Threaten Traditional TV
Nielsen Study results published on Teleclick, 20th Jul 2008

Internet video services won’t replace the traditional living room television set anytime soon, according to a recent study by Nielsen Co. and the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing, which found that 94% of adult pay-TV subscribers prefer to watch programming on TV, rather than online. The study found that, of the one third of respondents who watched television online, 87% had viewed one or more programs at a traditional broadcaster’s website. Far from replacing television, the primary motivation for using online video is catching up on missed episodes, with 82% of online viewers having done this at least once. Nevertheless, the percentage of users who watch online video continues to grow at an impressive rate, with 14% of survey respondents watching full TV programs on their desktop computers, and 9% doing so on laptops. An even larger number of viewers use the internet to watch shorter clips, such as movie trailers and user-generated content.

PC-TV tuners facing challenges
In-Stat research results published on Rapid TV News, 17th Jul 2008

Uptake of PC-TV tuners will grow but the technology faces challenges from a wide variety of other options, according to a new report. Research firm In-Stat is forecasting 30.8 million sales of PC-TV tuners annually by 2012, with a total retail value of US$1.7 billion. Western Europe and Japan lead the way, although China and India will also present strong growth opportunities. In-Stat is also expecting a surge in North America in 2009 when analogue TV is cut off and new mobile digital broadcast TV services are introduced by major US TV stations. Analogue PC-TV tuner sales are falling as a proportion of the total, down from 60.1% in 2005 to 48.3% in 2006 and then to 39.7% in 2007.


SPORTS SHORTS

* MP & Silva has been appointed the exclusive media advisor for the domestic market, and the exclusive international rights holder of the UAE Football League (UFL) - the United Arab Emirates' newly created top-tier professional league. The agreement is one of the first moves within the domestic football scene in the UAE after officials last month stated that they would seek to professionalise the administration of the game. Majority of the country's football supporters had long attended matches for free, enjoyed subsidised travel to away games and paid for cheering on their team throughout the entire 90 minutes. Clubs had been effectively run as charities through the substantial backing of wealthy investors, while television companies broadcast games for free and no merchandising or marketing platforms were in place. Football Insider, Sport Business, Sportcal, 18th Jul 2008

* Meanwhile, the UAE’s Pro League matches will be screened on free-to-air television for the next five years, following a deal that prevents rights being snapped up by pay-TV channels. Abu Dhabi Media Company (publisher of The National) and Dubai Media Inc will pay the Professional League Association Dh70 million (US$19m) a year for the rights to screen live games. Until now, the rights for league games have been free and matches shown on Abu Dhabi Sports and Dubai Sports. Under the rules of the Asian Football Confederation, football leagues must sell their television rights. Two days ago, it emerged Saudi subscription channel ART had offered Dh150m for the rights to the league’s games for three years. The National UAE, 17th Jul 2008

* Hong Kong has switched on two of six planned new digital-terrestrial TV transmitters which will extend reach of the platform to 75% of the territory. The additional transmitters were scheduled to be broadcasting before the start of the Beijing Olympic Games in early August, extending signals from just 50% of homes covered since the country’s DTT platform launched at the start of 2008. DTT uptake so far has been relatively good, with 218,000 homes, around 10% of the territory’s total, choosing the technology. Analogue switch off is scheduled for 2012. Rapid TV News, 17th Jul 2008

* PPLive signs a deal with China's CCTV.com for online live broadcast of the Beijing Olympic, including the opening and closing ceremoniesPPLive currently offers a broad range of premium domestic and international sports content online including matches from the CBA, NBA, English Premier League, European Champion League, and Germany's Bundesliga, etc. PPLive has obtained a PRC governmental license covering all video broadcasting, streaming and downloading services, which only a limited number of international venture capital-backed internet media companies has so far received in China. According to AC Nielsen, from January to April 2008, average monthly users of PPLive totaled nearly 35 million, and average monthly page-views of PPLive totaled over 450 million. TV Over Net, 14th Jul 2008

* The IPTV Industry Association has launched in Korea, following the green light from the country's Knowledge Economy Ministry. The organisation includes big name members such as KT, LG Dacom and KBS, as well as 40 small and medium sized solution developers. The founding members reportedly decided to open the organisation to other members to attract local companies to the IPTV industry and instigate growth. The association intends to host seminars on industry outlook and participate in public hearings for relevant laws, provide a large-scale industry exhibition and become involved in joint IPTV systems projects in other countries. Advanced-Television.com, IPTV-News.com, RapidTVnews.com, 18th July 2008

* Orbit E-Commerce and PureNet.TV Hong Kong, a wholly-owned OECI company, have announced the completion of a definitive Joint Venture Partnership Agreement bringing IPTV services to China. Previously, OECI announced the signing of an agreement with United Wireless to form a Joint Venture for the purpose of delivering Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) products and services to United Wireless' 15 million subscribers in major cities across the PRC. Digitalmediaasia.com, 10th July 2008

* Hong Kong taxis get with it as the cellular operator SmarTone–Vodafone introduces a free trial of HSDPA broadband services for the millions of passengers who take taxi trips in the SAR. The operator has hooked-up 100 cabs to its high-speed network, with access provided to passengers through a standard USB socket. They simply plug their laptops into the USB modem while they ride and SmarTone-Vodafone Mobile Broadband enables them to enjoy free web browsing, email access and downloads via Hong Kong’s first HSDPA network. Web20.Telecomtv.com, 18th July 2008

* The Chinese government expects to complete the earlier announced restructuring of the telecommunications industry within about six months. Xi Guohua, the vice minister for industry and information, made the announcement at a press conference covered by news agency XFN. The minister said the government will issue 3G licences after the restructuring is completed. All three 3G standards - WCDMA, CDMA2000 and China's home-grown TD-SCDMA - will be treated "fairly and equally" when it comes to issuing the licences, he added. Telecompaper.com, 17th July 2008

* India’s right to host hockey’s World Cup in 2010 appears to be safe, after a delegation from the FIH, the international governing body, visited the country and said that it was satisfied with plans for an overhaul of the sport. The overhaul includes provisional recognition by the Indian Olympic Association of the Indian Hockey Confederation as the sole governing body for hockey for both men and women in India. Previously the sport was run by the IHC, a federation for men and a federation for women. The FIH has decided in principle to award the hosting of the men’s Champions Trophy competition to India in 2011 or 2012, ‘subject to sponsorship and other arrangements being arranged,’ and also to stage a women’s tournament in India in the next few years. Sportcal, 18th Jul 2008

* Chelsea have left for their tour of Asia without striker Didier Drogba., who has been linked with a transfer away from Stamford Bridge this summer although the Blues claim his absence from the trip is due to a knee injury. The omission raise further questions about his future, with a virtually full-strength squad traveling to play games in China and Malaysia. Another player rumoured to be on his way from the Londoners, Inter Milan target Frank Lampard, is included in the party. New boys Deco and Jose Bosingwa are in Luiz Felipe Scolari's squad, while Michael Ballack will link up with them in China after finishing a post-Euro 2008 holiday. Scolari will take charge of his first match as Chelsea manager on Wednesday against Guangzhou Pharmaceuticals. Yahoo! Sports, 21st Jul 2008

* Superleague Formula has lifted the lid on its new official website. Located at www.superleagueformula.com , the site update is the first of a three-stage process. Currently available in English, the site will also soon be available in French, Italian, Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese, while a third phase will expand the range of languages to 14. Motorsport and football fans will be able to register online to receive a wide range of additional content including wallpapers, screensavers, videos and pictures. Once the championship kicks off at Donington Park in August, the site will also feature live timing and registered fans will also be able to watch races live online. Football Insider, 18th Jul 2008

* The Ten Network is reportedly considering launching a sports-only channel from next year as part of its expanded multi-channel offering, a move that would allow it to compete with the Fox Sports. From the beginning of next year, the three Australian free-to-air networks, Ten, Nine and Seven will each be able to launch a new standard-definition channel. Ten has increased its sports coverage in recent weeks in what many view as a test run for a broader sports offering. MotoGP and Formula 1 grand prix events have appeared live on Ten's HD multi-channel, and the network pulled off a coup when it secured the live rights for Wladimir Klitschko's recent world heavyweight title fight against Tony Thompson. Sports Media, The Australian, 18th Jul 2008

* Germany’s federal cartel office has approved the centralised marketing of German football's Bundesliga TV rights by the German football association, the Deutsche Fußball Liga’s (DFL), in conjunction with Leo Kirch. The decision, however, is tied to one significant condition: the DFL must ensure that highlights from Saturday’s matches are shown on free-to-air television before 20:00 CET. The cartel office said that that the bundled marketing constitutes a cartel of the Bundesliga clubs, which is only acceptable if consumers are entitled to share the associated benefits. By ensuring that an “attractive alternative” remains on free-to-air TV, the watchdogs want to avoid a situation where pay-TV operators which acquire the live transmission rights use their predominant market position to charge “inflated subscription prices”. Sportsbusiness.com, RapidTVnews.com, 17th July 2008

* Spain may compete with England to stage the 2018 World Cup. The next World Cups are to take place in South Africa in 2010 and in Brazil in 2014. Only England has so far announced its candidature for 2018. But Belgium and The Netherlands have shown interest in a joint bid, and Russia, Australia and the United States have also been mentioned. World football's governing body, FIFA, is to announce its choice in 2011. Sports City, 18th Jul 2008


MORE NEWS

India/Rights: MSOs/LCOs Shall Sign Ten Sports Agreement

Zee Turner, the largest distribution house in the country, and which holds the rights to distribute Ten Sports, has decided to block the sports channel for all those cable operators, who do not sign up the 'Ten Sports Agreement' with the company before the India - Sri Lanka series, which begins on July 23. The Delhi High Court passed an order on July 18, 2008 granting injunction in favour of Zee Turner, thereby restraining all such MSOs/LCOs, who have not executed a subscription agreement with Zee Turner and who are resorting to unauthorized transmission of the sports channel.

The Court was further pleased to appoint local commissioners across the country and has also provided police assistance in case of unauthorized transmission leading to piracy of signals of Ten Sports, including coverage of the India - Sri Lanka series. Zee Turner, in addition has also deployed a Special Task Force (STF) to check piracy of the channel all over the country, which will take appropriate action against any operator found guilty of piracy. Televisionpoint.com, 18th July 2008

India/Broadcast: October Launch for More DTH

Another DTH platform is set to launch in India by the end of October, joining five pay-TV satellite services either already up and running or in the final planning stages. Manufacturer Videcon Group’s Bharat Business Channel will launch the platform, called D2H, using six Ku-band transponders on the SingTel ST1 satellite. The company is promising an investment of Rs10 billion in its first two years of operation. Videcon had been looking for a foreign investment partner but has yet to bring one on board.

D2H will use conditional access from Irdeto, MPEG-4 compression and is promising 200 channels at launch. Competition in the Indian DTH sector is already fierce, with three platforms jostling for subscribers. Dish TV leads with 3.3 million subs, TataSky has crossed the 2 million mark and southern India-focused Sun Direct has 1 million. Two further platforms, Reliance’s Big TV and a service backed by telco Bharti, are also set to launch this year, bringing the total, including Videocon’s D2H, to six. Rapid TV News, 20th Jul 2008

Singapore/Broadcast: StarHub Offers Olympics Coverage on 6 Channels

Subscribers to the Singaporean cable platform StarHub will be able to access coverage from this summer’s Olympic Games on six branded channels, as well as on HD5, the MediaCorp service that will deliver up to 19 hours a day from Beijing in high definition. StarHub will also offer HD coverage of the Olympics via MediaCorp’s HD5, which will be available at no extra cost to all cable TV customers with an HD-ready TV set and StarHub’s HD set-top box.

The Olympics 1 to 6 channels will run daily from as early as 8 a.m., with live and delayed programming till midnight. The channels are made available free to StarHub’s cable TV customers with a HubStation, digital or HD set-top box. Adit Harinasuta, StarHub's head of services and solutions, stated: “The Olympic Games is the world’s most compelling sporting event that inspires and unifies audiences worldwide. As Singapore’s leading sports content provider, StarHub shares our local viewers’ passion for sports. We want viewers to be able to truly experience the games and immerse themselves in it, even from the comfort of their homes. We are proud to set new standards of Olympics broadcasting with six free TV channels dedicated to the games—a first ever for StarHub and for Singapore.”

MediaCorp will also feature coverage of the games on its flagship Channel 5, offering an average of 18 hours of Olympics broadcast daily. TV Mobile will carry 13.5 hours of Olympics action daily, while Channel U will carry between 4 to 15.5 hours of Olympics coverage daily. Channel NewsAsia, meanwhile, will provide special news reports, Olympic moments photo montages and two documentaries: Bring It On Beijing and Asian Olympians. The MediaCorp website will provide free video content, and reports from the games will also be carried on ten MediaCorp radio stations.

Lucas Chow, the CEO of MediaCorp, noted: “We have really upped the ante this Olympics; not only have we doubled the hours of telecast from the previous Olympics, we are also making history with the first-ever True HD broadcast of a major sporting event on HD5, which will become a dedicated Olympics channel come August 8.” Worldscreen.com, 17th July 2008

Korea/Broadcast: IPTV Group Opens Up

South Korea’s IPTV rivals have formed an industry association to represent their interests, as growth in the sector looks to have slowed.
The IPTV Industry Association has been given the go-ahead by the Knowledge Economy Ministry and includes around 40 suppliers and developers as well as broadcasters such as KBS and IPTV platform operators including KT.

Among the association’s tasks will be seminars and exhibitions on and for the industry, lobbying the government and working with IPTV stakeholders in other countries. Initially formed as a working group in early 2008, founder members opened the association up in the hope of driving development of the sector.

Market leader Hana TV, owned by Hanarotelecom, has seen its growth halt in recent months. While the platform had around 850,000 subscribers at the start of 2008, by the end of June, that figure had dwindled to around 800,000. KT’s Mega TV is rapidly coming up behind Hana TV, growing from 480,000 at the start of the year to 700,000 at end-June. LG Dacom’s myLGtv only launched at the end of 2007 and has over 200,000 subs.

Plans for real-time broadcasting as well as on-demand IPTV offerings are well advanced from all operators and should give the technology a boost when services are introduced later in the year. However, reports say that the operators are encountering problems in signing up content for the platforms, with many domestic broadcasters and cable TV channels unhappy about seeing more competition in the television sector. Hanarotelecom’s recent takeover by SK Telecom will also lead to new “quad play” bundled packages of TV, fixed and mobile telephony services and internet access whicg the company hopes will restore growth. Rapid TV News, 18th Jul 2008

India/General: IPL TV Ad Revenue Set for 50% Hike

Television advertisement rates for the second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) are set to increase by 50 per cent, according to analysts. Research carried out by Mumbai-based firm, Alchemy Share and Stock Brokers, found that initial advertising spots for the inaugural edition of the IPL sold at Rs 2,00,000 for 10 seconds – although this was increased to Rs 3,00,000 for semi-finals and Rs 10,00,000 for finals . The company said that current negations for next season show that advertisers are willing to pay a 50 per cent premium on these prices.

The increase is attributed, in part, to the high female audience figures – of the 20 million viewers who watched the IPL, 8.2 million were women. Alchemy Share, however, say that it is unlikely that the type of advertisers will change to reflect this with retail chains, direct-to-home (DTH) service providers and infrastructure companies expected to remain the main sources of income for the channels. The IPL generated Rs 300 crore in television advertising revenue in its first season. Sport Business, 18th Jul 2008

Elsewhere/Rights: Conflict Lingers as La Sexta Claims Rights Ownership

La Sexta, the Spanish commercial television channel, has guaranteed that it will air one match per week from the Primera Liga, the Spanish top-tier league, throughout the 2008-09 season. The channel committed to airing matches free-to-air on Saturday nights, despite continuing uncertainty over the ownership of the league’s broadcasting rights.

Antonio Galeano, La Sexta’s sports director, said: ‘We guarantee the Liga game on Saturdays, on free-to-air, including Barcelona – Real Madrid, next season.’ He insisted that Mediapro, which owns La Sexta, holds Real Madrid’s broadcasting rights. Galeano said Real Madrid ‘has signed a contract with Mediapro for next season […] if Sogecable contradict this, we will go to court.’ The rival Sogecable media group said recently that it had extended its deal with Real Madrid for next season.

Mediapro and Sogecable have been embroiled in a bitter dispute since the start of last season, and a resolution is nowhere in sight. Mediapro told Sportcal.com last week that there has been no progress in resolving the conflict. The row dates back to November 2006 when Mediapro acquired the rights to Real Madrid’s matches up to the end of the 2012-2013 season for €1.1 billion.

Sogecable argued that the deal breached a contract agreed in July 2005 in which Mediapro acquired a 25-per-cent stake in Audiovisual Sport, the holder of the league's rights until the end of next season. Sogecable claims that Mediapro had agreed, as part of the deal, that it would refrain from exploiting the rights to the league independently of Audiovisual Sport, which is part-owned by Sogecable.

Mediapro, for its part, claimed that the deal is void because the ownership of Audiovisual Sport is unresolved. A court is set to review the situation on July 22 ahead of the new season, which kicks off on August 31. Sportcal, 18th Jul 2008

Elsewhere/Rights: Premiere's Bundesliga hopes thwarted

Germany’s federal cartel office has approved soccer association Deutsche Fußball Liga’s (DFL) centralised marketing of the Bundesliga TV rights in conjunction with Leo Kirch. The long-awaited decision is, however, tied to a significant condition: DFL must ensure that highlights from Saturday’s matches are shown on free-to-air television before 20:00 CET.

The Bonn-based authority explained that the bundled marketing constitutes a cartel of the Bundesliga clubs which is only acceptable if consumers are entitled to share the associated benefits. By ensuring that an “attractive alternative” remains on free-to-air TV, the watchdogs want to avoid a situation where pay-TV operators which acquire the live transmission rights use their predominant market position to charge “inflated subscription prices”.

Public broadcaster ARD’s chances of continuing to report on Bundesliga matches early on Saturday evening on its popular Sportschau programme have thereby been significantly increased, although fellow public broadcaster ZDF or commercial broadcasters such as RTL or Sat.1 could also bid for the free-to-air rights.

The decision comes as a severe blow for pay-TV operator Premiere, which had been hoping to offer its subscribers more exclusivity by having free-to-air coverage pushed into a later timeslot. The Munich-based broadcaster was prepared to pay considerably more for the rights in exchange for this scenario. The question now is whether Kirch’s strategy remains feasible. The media entrepreneur, whose agency Sirius will market the TV rights from the 2009/2010 season, has guaranteed the Bundesliga clubs a total income of €3 billion for the 2009-2015 period. Without significantly higher bids from the pay-TV sector, this goal will be difficult to attain. Rapid TV News, Sport Business, 17th Jul 2008


ARTICLES, COMMENTS, INTERVIEWS & OPINIONS

Broadcasting is Going Through Period of Change

The media industries in general, and broadcasting in particular, are going through an extraordinary period of change where the EU regulatory framework has served audiences well. But this is a timely moment to ask whether it remains appropriate for the new world of digital convergence and on-demand services, into which everyone is moving at an extreme speed. This point was rasied by BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons at the EU conference in Strasbourg. He emphasized upon the fact that the BBC is more than simply a broadcaster. "It is expected to fulfil public purposes that go well beyond the provision of high quality television and radio programmes and online content," Lyons said.

"These public purposes are set out in some detail in the new BBC Charter, in effect its constitution, which was put in place 18 months ago. The public purposes range from sustaining citizenship and civil society, through promoting education and learning and stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, to representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities, and bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK. The BBC is also tasked with delivering to audiences the benefits of emerging communications, technologies and services," he added. Lyons explained that the BBC can only deliver these high public purposes if it remains independent.

"The public purpose of 'sustaining citizenship', for example, implies the provision of high quality impartial coverage of news and current affairs. This is the essential fuel of an informed democracy; and impartiality in news provision cannot be sustained without full editorial independence. The independence of the BBC is guaranteed by the Charter and this includes independence from government. Of course government has a role, but that role is closely defined. It is to set the Charter (there is a new Charter every 10 years or so) and to set the formula that defines the licence fee for the Charter period," elaborated Lyons.

However, Lyons believes that oversight of the BBC is carried out not by government, or by Parliament, but by the BBC Trust and hence one of the key roles of the Trust would be to defend the independence of the BBC from undue pressure from any quarter.

In terms of the things that the BBC Trust has been doing, he said that it had challenged the BBC executive to do much more to ensure that BBC responds appropriately to the needs of all audiences in the UK. "We have supported plans to move very significant amounts of production and control of airtime out of London. Our aim is that by the end of the Charter period in 2016 around 50 per cent of BBC production should take place outside London."

"We have also prompted the Executive to make significant changes in BBC journalism to ensure that our news gives a truer and more accurate picture of life throughout the UK, and fully reflects the fact that powers have been devolved from Westminster to new legislative bodies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Taken together, these changes are taking the BBC in a new direction – a direction set by its audiences, and mediated by the Trust as the representative of those audiences," Lyon stated.

He added that a similar journey had begun in regard to the relationship between the BBC and other organisations active in the UK media market. He also conceded that this relationship would never be a completely easy one.

This is because there will always be areas of direct competition between what the BBC provides and what the market supplies. Convergence and market changes are bringing new areas of competition as both public and private providers seek to make the most of the opportunities created by the digital revolution.

"On this general issue, our fundamental position as trustees, representing the interest of audiences, is this: audiences clearly like wide choice in their media diet and deserve to get the benefits of competition and innovation, so the BBC must not use its market power in a way that restricts audience choice; and we have the power to ensure this happens... the power to approve new BBC services used to lie with government. But under the new charter, it rests with us. This is a significant strengthening of the independence of the BBC." Indiantelevision.com, 19th July 2008