Related news roundup - 12 Dec

Posted by andrew pascoe on December 12, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

A few highlights from the world of IPTV, VoD, and more from the last few weeks:

  • Dec 7: BT - through their wholesle arm - are trialling an initiative called “Content Connect” whose aim is to improve video delivery by hosting popular video content at the actual ISP.  There’s a good Guardian article here (which says that the trails include BBC and 4oD content). There is also a presentation from BT Wholesale on Content Connect from 12 months ago, posted on Scribd here.
  • Dec 3: Five announced that it has bring its on-demand catalogue to YouTube, joining Channel 4. Broadband TV News article. PaidContent UK article.
  • Dec 2: Seesaw - the Arqiva-owned VoD initiative that was Project Kangaroo - has signed up its first content: some shows from BBC Worldwide.  DTG post.
  • Dec 2: Freeview HD was turned on. It was more a technical milestone than a c0mmercial one, but it gets a mainstream Freeview HD push closer. Broadband TV News article.  It was also announced on the same day that (regular) Freeview passed the mark of being in 10 million homes.
  • Also, at the Freeview HD launch, Freeview MD Ilse Howling also commented that they are looking at brining IPTV services to DTT. Digital Spy article.
  • Nov 28: Reportedly, BBC iPlayer won’t be coming to the Xbox 360 anytime soon, because of Microsoft’s policy of charging for content access (through Xbox Live) conflicting with the BBC’s public access remit . Telegraph article here.
  • Nov 27: Tivo has partnered with Virgin Media to return to the UK - they’ll be powering a new Virgin set top box (STB). Broadband TV News article.
  • Nov 27: The BBC released some detailed iPlayer usage statistics (likely in a bid to be seen to be more open, and also to demonstrate the appetitite for on-demand). The BBC Internet Blog post is here. The file itself is available here (PPT - 2.4mb). And CXO magazine have made some of the stats into an infographic here.

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Canvas & related news roundup - 22 Sep

Posted by andrew pascoe on September 22, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

Whew - it’s been a while since our last update - apologies!

In the world o’ Project Canvas news:

  • According to this interview in PC Pro with the BBC’s Canvas project director, Richard Halton, the BBC “hope to hear back from the BBC Trust”‘ by Oct 1. Could he mean the the Trust’s provisional conclusions on the Canvas consultation will be published by Oct 1? Halton in the same Q&A also suggests there’ll be something more to announce regarding Channel 4 soon (although surely they’re a little busy now replacing Andy Duncan?).
  • Project Canvas was actually covered in the New York Times two days ago - the article is here. The Euro-wide HbbT is also covered. Interestingly, Richard Halton on timing: he hopes that Canvas will be in use for the 2012 Olympic games. Is Canvas internally starting to pushout its  consumer start milestone timings?
  • At the Westminster eForum event (15 Sep), Richard Halton also announced an intention to have a software development kit (SDK) available for Project Canvas by summer 2010. Broadcast Now article here.
  • From the IBC (14 Sep) Microsoft announced they are considering incorporating Canvas as part of Mediaroom - its IPTV product offering - if it was truly open with no proprietary standards. There’s a ConnectedTV post here with more info.
  • Going all the way back to early this month  (3 Sep), Broadcast Now ran an article explaining how the DTG (Digital TV Group) is stepping up work on fleshing out the core technical specifications, and that related to that and other steps related to developing the standards, the BBC is continuing to hire personnel to work on Canvas.

In related VOD & IPTV news:

  • Ofcom published proposals (14 Sep) on how to regulate video on demand services. The Ofcom consultation page is here.
  • At the IBC, Erik Huggers formally announced plans to create Open iPlayer - this was the initiative that was until now known as Project Marquee, and is based around opening up the technology behind iPlayer to other public service broadcasters   Broadband TV news article here. It sounds though like the Open iPlayer - which as the BBTV News article highlights still needs approval from the BBC Trust - might be made available to broadcasters from other countries also.
  • After releasing an upgrade for the Sony PS3, the games console is now making up 10% of BBC iPlayer views. ITProPortal article here. The other big TV-based iPlayer implementation  is Virgin TV which historically accounts for approximately one third of iPlayer streams, and of course there is a Nintendo Wii implementation as well.

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Canvas & related news roundup - 25 Aug

Posted by andrew pascoe on August 25, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

In Project Canvas news roundup:

  • Digital Spy have a Q&A with BBC’s director of IPTV Richard Halton here. The resulting article is here (in which Halton restates the 2010 launch aim).
  • We mentioned it on Twitter when it happened, but early last week, Sky hit out again at the BBC Trust over its handling of the Project Canvas consultation - FT article here. Sky’s two main issues: that the Trust has not submitted Canvas to a full public value test, and that the 5 weeks between the release of the further detailed info and the close of the consultation period (Sep 1) was vastly insufficient.

In VOD & IPTV-related news for the last few weeks:

  • Channel 4 is to run a week of 3D programmes in autumn. 3D glasses will be available from Sainsbury’s. The programmes include unspecified movies, and footage of the Queen’s coronation.
  • Speculation continues around a UK launch for Hulu: The Tele yesterday on its site ran two different articles: one claiming ITV is signing up imminently including exclusive rights on a few of its programmes; the second saying no content partners have been signed (and also that Channel 4 is reportedly going to start showing full length episodes on YouTube); both saying a 2010 launch is the earliest possible. PaidContent points out that no one at Hulu itself (or any of the potential content providers) has ever come out and given timing objectives around the UK launch.
  • Blinkbox adds BBC Worldwide content. Some shows will be free/ad-supported while others will be paid (Broadband TV news article).
  • ITV will launch ITV1 HD on Freeview, starting with London by end of 2009 - Broadcast Now article.
  • A consumer survey by Deloitte & Yougov has found more than half of people wouldn’t watch more VOD even if they had a faster, more reliable broadband connection. 29% said they didn’t see the point in watching TV online. Media Guardian article here.
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Related news roundup - 2 August

Posted by andrew pascoe on August 2, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

Once more into the breach of VOD/IPTV/regulation/general video news from the last fortnight:

  • Arqiva, the broadcast & radio infrastructure provider, was confirmed to have purchased the assets of the Project Kangaroo VOD project. The Guardian (article - 24 July) has the purchase price at about £8million and covering the hardware, software technology, related IP, and the intended to be consumer-facing “See Saw” brand name.  PaidContentUK (article - 24 July) has more info from Arqiva’s strategy director, saying the purchase is a “natural progression” for them, that the offering will be one to consumers, and that they are currently busy actually doing content deals. NMA (article - 31 July) says that Arqiva has it rumoured to have appointed Pierre-Jean Sebert as CEO of the new Kangaroo. The article says that Sebert for the last 3 years has been director of the rights negotiation and multimedia channel development at Reel Enterprises.
  • Microsoft UK got a lot of coverage of its announcement that it will launch a free-to-view VOD service, showing archive content from BBC Worldwide. It’s launching with (just) 350 hours of programming - shows include Peep Show, Hustle & Hotel Babylon. (Independent article  here  - 30 July). Pre-roll ads will be used to monetise (with launch ads all being bought by GroupM agencies including MEC & Mediacom - TheRegister article).
  • ITV has closed its future technology department. The department, headed by Simon Fell, was involved in ITV’s launch of HD & mobile & online services (including those ads to be inserted into VOD clips layed over white/blank spaces)   (article from BrandRepublic).
  • BT Vision continues to struggle to acquire new customers in any sizeable numbers. From Broadband TV News (article here) after accounting for inactive customers[(I'm not sure what BT are defining as an "inactive"] they have added just 10,000  new customers for the quarter ending June 30.
  • Sky will launch a true pull VOD offering to its HD customers next year, according to Paid Content UK - article here. (HD customers because the HD set top boxes have the ethernet connection needed.) Still with Sky, its like-for-like profit rose by 4% year on year (the total profit rise was much larger for the year to July, due to much less of the ITV stake writedown occuring in the last financial year than the previous one). Sky added 124,000 new customers in the last quarter.  Telegraph article is here.
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4oD introduces recommendations…

Posted by andrew pascoe on July 20, 2009 · 1 Comment 

… of a sort.

We left this out of yesterday’s related news roundup, but wanted to cover it.

A week ago Channel 4 released a little service (in beta) that makes use of Facebook Connect (the service that lets users login to external sites using their Facebook credentials) and applies it to the 4oD video content. The site is called Test Tube Telly, and you can find the full C4 intro blog post here.

Part of the functionality of Facebook Connect is that actions on the Test Tube Telly site can be fed into your Facebook news feed, and you can also see what your Facebook friends have been watching (if they are in fact using Test Tube Telly).

Why is this important? Because content/video recommendations is something that is becoming increasingly important as more and more archive video content becomes accessible on demand. The BBC iPlayer team have repeatedly publicly said the next major version of iPlayer will have a heavy focus on recommendations, revolving around knowing what your (explicit or implicit) friends are watching.  Test Tube Telly from C4 is a (albeit arguably crasser, but more immediate, present) version of this same feature.

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Related news roundup - 19 July

Posted by andrew pascoe on July 19, 2009 · 1 Comment 

  • Broadcast Now: Rahul Chakkara, controller of TV platforms at the BBC, is understood to be leaving the corporation, after deciding not to move north to Manchester in 2011. The site reports that the R&D division is leading Canvas, along with the TV platforms group.
  • BrandRepublic: Carphone Warehouse is now not as keen as it once was to close the IPTV operations of Tiscali. CEO Charles Dunstone has said they’ll look at all options, including becoming a part of Project Canvas.
  • PaidContentUK: The Project Kangaroo shutdown cost BBC Worldwide £9.1million, it was revealed in their  annual report released this past week.
  • And finally, TechRadar has a great summary of Project Canvas to date. Read it here.
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Related news roundup - 05 July

Posted by andrew pascoe on July 5, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

After a period of quiet from us, below is some news from the world of VOD, PVRs, and more:

  • BrandRepublic: Ofcom released the latest stage of its report into the subscription TV mrket, with its recommendation being a load of sports should be added to an anti-syphoning list. Understandably, this has upset BSkyB, who are entertaining legal challenges.
  • The Guardian: Freeview confirmed its goal of getting 50% of households onto Freeview HD by next summer (in time for the football World Cup. The first regions for Freeview HD broadcasts will come online by the end of this year.
  • PaidContentUK: Joost’s CEO Mike Volpi is leaving his post (but remaining chairman), as the company admits its portal ambitions are going nowhere. It will become a “white label video provider”.
  • The Telegraph & BroadcastNow: ITV is funding some of the Digital Britain research into viability and success of micro-payments for content, and is considering introducing them in the future, both as a part of its VOD offering and a part of its Canvas offering.
  • PaidContentUK has a summary of Hulu-related news / non-news, including the possibility of UK broadcasters getting an equity stake in the venture.
  • LATimes: Cablevision in the US has had the legal obstacles to its offering of a cloud-based PVR removed. Users wouldn’t be limited to just the physical storage space available on the set top box in their home.
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Related news roundup - 15 June

Posted by andrew pascoe on June 15, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

In video & industry-related news from the last week:

  • BBC News: Setanta is still around, and is reported to be talking to Endemol about the producer taking a stake. There’s also a bid for 51%, for £20, from Access Industries.
  • FT.com: Dan Marks, CEO of BT Vision (and also deputy MD of BT consumer) has quit. He has cited Sky’s dominance in sport rights as a critical factor in such poor BT Vision uptake.
  • The Independent: Expands on the story of BT officially coming out and claiming that video-intensive content providers like the BBC should subsidise the cost to the ISP with an article that no other ISPs are prepared to make similarly public claims.
  • Ofcom: FIVE has officially been awarded the last (last for the next 3 years) HD Freeview slot.
  • ITProPortal: Ofcom’s latest report from their tech research programme suggests that the costs needed to upgrade ISP networks to handle video demands equates to an additional £1 - £3 per subscribing household per month. The full report is available here on the Ofcom site here (PDF). That particular section is on page 4.
  • Brand Republic: Blinkbox is to start offering paid streams (DTR) of films, after a change in their agreement with Warner Bros.
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Related news roundup - 8 June

Posted by andrew pascoe on June 8, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

Once again, it’s time for some links to some VOD-related news from the last few days.

  • The Guardian & PaidContent UK: Channel 4 is dropping its 4oD application, and making the archive of a lot of its own shows available on-demand via the website, for free. Will be available from July.
  • Broadband TV News: This week is looking grim for Setanta Sports, with the sportscaster likely to go into administration if it can’t find the cast for payments due this week.  If they do go bust, it’s likely all the rights they hold will go back to the original sports bodies, and it’s possible that all Setanta broadcasts will stop straight away.
  • Broadband TV News: Andy Burnham, Culture & Media  Minister until last Friday when he got moved to Health, was talking up the set top box as a means of achieving reasonable minimum broadband speeds.
  • Speaking of UK government reshuffle, as of Friday the new head of the Department of Culture Media & Sport will be Ben Bradshaw.

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Related news roundup - 03 June 2009

Posted by andrew pascoe on June 3, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

A few quick links from the worlds of online video / digital TV / the like from the last few days:

  • From CNET: YouTube has created a version of its video site - called YouTube XL - designed for lean-back viewing, for those who access their web browser via a TV screen (say, plugging in your laptop to the TV, or using Windows Media Center).
  • From BBC news: The discussion over who should bear the brunt of online video costs has risen again, with BBC News highlighting that the basic BT broadband package throttles its speed down to under 1mpbs in the evenings. BT (who let us not forget is partnering with the BBC on Project Canvas) has come out saying the BBC should have some responsbility for the video traffic it is causing. The BBC News takes BT to task on not having the speed throttling notice more promiment (on the main product page for example).
  • Not new, but from Ofcom: Their code on EPGs (electronic programme guides). While on EPGs,  this article in The Telegraph from Emma Barnett, on Bauer radio brands dropping off of the Sky platform, gives outsiders a rough idea of EPG costs - a yearly EPG slot costs c.£14,000 plus an additional fee of £7,000.
  • Another one from The Tele: It says Google and BBC are in talks to get an international version of  the iPlayer on Youtube.  Sounds very odd indeed.
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