Related news roundup - January

Some noteables from the IPTV/Vod/TV world for January 2010:

• 28 Jan - In Sky’s Dec quarter results call, it made no mention at all of a pull VoD service - something it had/has committed to launching sometieme in 2010. PaidContent:UK.
• 25/26 Jan - SeeSaw - the online VoD service that arose from Project Kangaroo :
  • began the move from alpha testing to wider beta testing , eventually opening to 10,000 users over the next month - news is everywhere
  • launched into the beta phase with content from 4oD and Five, in addition to the publicly announced BBC Worldwide content deal, leaving ITV as the only public service broadcaster it is not carrying. It has also announced deal with Digital Rights Group (DRG) and Perform
  • will have Cadbury, Nivea & Sainsbury’s as launch advertisers - BrandRepublic story
  • has appointed Video Initiatives as its sales hours - same BrandRepublic story / New Media Age says some of the ad inventory - Channel 4 and Five’s - will be sold by the broadcasters’ own sales teams. Seesaw was also, back in December, looking for a head of advertising
  • Update - 17 Feb - SeeSaw today came out of invite-only beta, allowing anyone to access the site.

• 25 Jan - The BBC’s online spin-off of soap East Enders - E20 - racked up 1.7 million views in its first 2.5 weeks. E20 is available on both the EastEnders website, and iPlayer (although the views figure is not split out). BroadbandTVNews.
• 25 Jan - The Guardian has a good look at what newly appointed Channel 4 chief executive can (and cannot) bring to the broadcaster.
• 25 Jan - Research from Informa suggests that global IPTV penetration will be a 70million households by 2014 - representing 5% of total households.  TechDigest.TV
• 21 Jan - BT has launched a new fibre network, with the aim of delivering 40Mbps connections to 10 million homes in the next two years - more info including price details & Virgin Media’s reactions over at The Guardian
• 20 Jan - YouTube is getting into live sport:  it will livestream the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament happening in March. For the UK, because the rights were with now-defunct Setanta, at the moment it means YouTube will be the only place to see the action. The deal includes everywhere but the US market, and gives Youtube exclusive online streaming rights. It’s not clear how much the deal is worth, or what the ad revenue split between the IPL and YouTube is. PaidContent:UK & Guardian articles.
• 15 Jan - The BBC Trust has launched a review of the BBC’s on-demand services. While the 4 services being reviewed are delivered via iPlayer - 7 day catchup via the internet, 7 day catchup via Virgin Media cable, live TV simulcasts, & podcasts - the review does not cover iPlayer itself.  BroadbandTVNews.Anyone wanting to respond to the review, including a survey, can do so here at the BBC Trust site (the review closes 12 March).
• 15 Jan - The iPlayer usage stats for December were released - the PDF from the BBC is here -  showing a continued steady big rise in usage. As TechRadar and NewTeeVee both point out, about 1 in 8 views of iPlayer content is now coming from non-PC based devices.
• 14 Jan - FreeSat have confirmed that the BBC iPlayer will come to Freesat HD general availability over the next few months. MediaWeek article.
• 4 Jan - The BBC continues to defend itself - this time with a report prepared by Deloitte that shows the corporation creates £7.6bn worth of value for the UK economy annually. The Guardian. On a related note, outgoing ITV chairman Michael Grade in a Guardian op-ed piece argues that the government needs to act to protect the British PSBs from overseas players.