Gegenwärtige Situation und Perspektiven des iTV in Großbritannien - 500 Beiträge pro Seite

[Silberstuermer]

Im Folgenden einige aktuelle Artikel aus der Media Week, die vor allem den englischen Markt (aber nicht ausschließlich) für Set-top-Boxen einschätzen helfen:


23Feb2001 UK: Interactive TV - Pass notes.
What is interactivity all about, anyway? Open Interactive head of adver-tising Helen McGarrigan, BMPtvi managing director Andrew Howells and Carlton Active chief executive Jane Marshall tell Alexander Hahn.

What is iTV?
HM: Simplistically, television you can interact with - it turns a passive experience into an active one.
JM: iTV on ITV offers viewers more information or services, accessed while watching a programme or commercial, using their digital remote control.
These services, in turn, offer new opportunities to advertisers, marketers and retailers.
AH: Interactive TV is one of a range of features available to digital TV subscribers. Other features include better quality picture and sound, on-demand services and personalisation. To be digital, you need a set-top box which is connected to your existing TV. There are four major platforms in the UK, five if we include ADSL technology.
Is interactivity just a gimmick?
AH: Right now, interactive services are embryonic, even described as crude or primitive, but they`re definitely not a gimmick. The best-used interactive feature is the Electronic Programme Guide. Although this already serves a useful purpose, it will change out of all recognition as the functionality of iTV develops. Trivial Pursuit took 1.1million phone calls in the first seven weeks of being broadcast on Open, each call charged at 50p. A revenue of more than #500,000 is clearly no gimmick.
JM: Just the opposite, we have real business objectives.
HM: No. With more than two-thirds of Sky Digital subscribers having used Open, I think iTV is proving to be enormously popular.
What do the different platforms offer and isn`t this choice confusing?
AH: The choice is definitely confusing, despite the fact that platform advertising has, for the most part, avoided the technology and focused on the benefits of exclusive content deals. It might even stretch as far as one of them requires an ugly satellite dish, the others don`t.
BSkyB and Open are certainly closer to the future of this industry in terms of TV design values. ONdigital, despite the convenience of plug and play from Tesco, has had to rely on a second ONnet box to provide the dubious pleasure of accessing web sites via the TV. That said, the enhanced TV applications that Carlton Active has developed, providing a layer of content alongside traditional programming, have been effective.
NTL and Telewest are still disappointing because technically they have the best solution. Currently, they are still serving web-like content with the rich media experiences being confined to a broadcast window.
Measurement-wise, however, they can supply the same sort of detail that we would expect from web-based campaigns.
Do consumers understand iTV and how do they tend to use it?
AH: Research shows that interactivity is not the reason for switching to a digital service. Once they become regular users, however, interactive content is being accessed. Open reports that 45 to 50% of Sky Digital households access the service at least three times a week. These users also tend to be younger, with over 55s not understanding or seeing no benefit engaging at the present moment. Functional applications will drive usage.
A typical day on NTL sees huge spikes of activity between early and late peak viewing. Interestingly, these spikes occur every 15 minutes.
Consumers have found that the choice of browsing the interactive content of the walled garden is less boring than watching the TV ads.
HM: Early adopter types have been quick to understand both the benefits they enjoy today and see the potential for how it can further enhance their daily lives. Already iTV is emerging as a far more powerful e-commerce tool than the internet.
Which types of programme or advertising are best suited to an interactive treatment?
AH: The most compelling interactive experiences will occur with enhanced TV programming, the ability to watch a TV programme and interact at the same time. This is already being demonstrated well on the Sky Digital platform with Sky Sports Extra and Premier League Football, although stronger calls to interact will come with games shows and quiz-style formats.
The jury is still out as to which advertisers will benefit most from additional interactivity. Because of a lack of information from the platform providers and because most advertisers are keeping their results to themselves (noticeable exceptions being Sony and Panasonic) the only way to find out is to do your own tests. We believe interactive ads will eventually provide more sophisticated brand experiences, not just a discount voucher, booking a test drive, or request for product sample.
JM: iTV adds value in many different ways: where there is a lot of information; where the programme-maker or advertiser wants to engage the viewer in a more active way; or where a direct response is required. Different services can be developed to meet different needs and audiences.
How much interactivity can be built into a programme/commercial?
HM: The level of interactivity depends on the purpose for which the application has been built. At its simplest level, it delivers the functionality for a red icon and pop-up to appear on a broadcast ad, which enables the viewer to jump to a more complex interactive environment. Once here, the opportunities are endless; consumers can watch extended video and audio footage, or they can play a game, shop, bet or do their banking. New interactive technology is constantly being adapted or developed.
AH: Yet to be discovered, although we can probably gain some learnings from the internet. We need to avoid the "camcorder syndrome", (someone using a camera for the first time uses the zoom function constantly. It`s only when they look at the results that they realise how naff it is).
What is the future of iTV in terms of its technological development, audience reach and impact on marketing budgets?
JM: According to a recent report, by 2003 the UK is expected to have more than 6.5 million homes taking advantage of iTV. As a percentage of the population, the UK has the highest number of iTV households in Europe. iTV is one of the largest growth areas in television.
AH: Let`s be realistic. In the next two years there are going to be some rapid changes in iTV that will impact on the consumer and advertiser.
Broadband on-demand services, currently in their infancy from the likes of Yes TV, Kingston Communications and Home Choice, will be joined by the cable operators and Sky as ADSL networks are rolled out. Personal video recorders, such as NDS XTV and Tivo, will continue to grow, acting almost as a bridging technology until broadband services reach much higher penetration levels.

For the full version of this feature, see www.mediaweek.co.uk.
(c) Copyright Quantum Publishing 2001.

Quellen:MEDIA WEEK 23/02/2001 P42





23Feb2001 UK: Interactive TV - iTV - Watch this space.
Interactive television is set to have an explosive impact on advertisers, with a growing section of the audience happy to buy goods and services via the TV set. Despite the dubious press, it would be foolhardy to write off iTV. Andy Fry reports.

The term interactive television (iTV) has been around so long that it is hard not to feel a degree of cynicism when the subject comes up.
Not only is iTV a wholly inadequate way of describing myriad different services, it remains an unexplored avenue for most television viewers.
Even allowing for SkyDigital`s rapid rollout, the number of UK TV homes which can access interactive services is still under 30%. Of these, the number that bother to do so is still relatively small.
Aside from the lack of user experience, iTV`s development has become tangled up with the issue of convergence. Most content providers now view it as just one way to deliver text, audio and/or video to the customer.
News provider ITN, for example, can deliver content in 11 different ways, including the four established iTV platforms as well as online, ADSL, Orange mobile phones and hand-held PDAs. For ITN marketing director David Robinson, this reflects the company`s goal to provide consumers with news, how and when they want it.
This multiplicity of platforms is important for two reasons. First, because they all use different technical standards, making re-authoring content expensive, says Granada Broadband`s John Lewis. iTV won`t reach its full potential until every platform has the same set-top boxes, but that presupposes huge investment by the media owners.
Second, the blur of choices means some content providers prefer to pursue a strategy of linear TV supported by interactive online content, rather than going to the expense of creating something primarily for an iTV platform.
At Channel 4, for example, one of the biggest digital successes is a web-based text and stills service called 4Car, which is cross-promoted with C4 motoring show, Driven.
Although 4Car might eventually end up on a digital TV platform with video footage of road tests, C4 head of broadband Peter Grimsdale is in no hurry to push it.
"The key for us is to deliver an information-rich service providing users with a comprehensive source of data about cars," he says.
Video looks good but can sometimes get in the way of a service which is working well. In this arena, you overlook basic ideas at your peril.
The success of TV/online projects such as C4`s Big Brother and ITV`s Popstars underlines the point.
Having said all this, it would be a grave mistake to write off iTV. Based on the limited knowledge we have, it is clear that changing viewing patterns will have an explosive impact on advertisers and that a growing section of the audience is happy to buy goods and services via the TV set.
The good news is that the UK is uniquely placed in being able to receive iTV via a number of digital platforms, according to mDigital`s Nigel Sheldon.
Currently, all four digital TV platforms offer some form of iTV. SkyDigital, which reaches five million homes, has enhanced content (Sky Sports Extra), an interactive games channel (PlayJam) and two retail networks (Open and QVC).
Open, which can be reached by pressing the interactive button on the remote control, is essentially a shopping mall where users can transact with high street brands such as Woolworths, Abbey National and WHSmith.
SkyDigital also has the capacity to offer inter-active ads in linear broadcasts. For example, Universal McCann recently designed an iTV campaign for Panasonic`s Icon vacuum cleaners, which ran on Sky 1 and on Sky`s movie channels.
By clicking a button, viewers could go to an advertising microsite or Open, where they could buy from Argos or Comet. A competition on the microsite acted as a data-capture mechanism.
The two main cable players are NTL, which is now in 530,000 digital homes, and TeleWest`s Active Digital, which is confident of hitting 500,000 by the end of this quarter. Like SkyDigital, they have signed up scores of iTV content partners, such as ITN, BA and Argos.
NTL Interactive commercial director Andy Crossley says games and e-mail are proving to be popular ways of pulling people into the interactive space. "People are also buying more products than we would have expected at this stage," he says.
Although NTL`s market consists entirely of early adopters, Crossley`s bombshell is that NTL users zap ad breaks to play in the interactive space.
If this becomes the norm, clients and agencies clearly need to address the issue.
Like SkyDigital, NTL can boast numerous iTV advertising campaigns. Lever Brothers has run campaigns for brands such as Persil Revive and Domestos and Sharwood used NTL to back the launch of four new stir-fry sauces.
TeleWest`s interactive advertising proposition is not as developed as those of SkyDigital and NTL, but the company`s Flextech division is rolling out interactive entertainment guide SceneOne across TV, online and mobile platforms.
SceneOne general manager Mark Bradford says the aim is to create versions of the service which contain sticky entertainment content, comprehensive listings and the option to buy products such as CDs, DVDs and tickets to events. At present, the only place where this exists in full is TeleWest`s Active Digital.
There are plans to develop a broadcast channel as well. Bradford says viewers will be able to jump from content such as review shows to the SceneOne transactional site. He adds that experience on Active Digital shows that more transactions are made where there is an editorial proposition attached to the service.
While cable and satellite offer return paths to subscribers, the digital terrestrial television platform ONdigital, which reaches one million UK homes, does not. It cannot offer real-time transactions unless users opt to rent an extra box called ONnet to provide direct access to the internet.
Nevertheless, ONdigital does offer an interactive proposition of reasonable sophistication.
The main driving force behind iTV in the digital terrestrial television space is Carlton Active, the raison d`etre of which is to offer iTV on ITV. Because of the family link between ITV and ONdigital, much of Carlton`s work so far has been in the DTT space.
ITV is not currently available on Sky - which prevents any development there - and NTL Digital cannot yet offer the technical specifications which would allow ITV to run an enhanced service on that platform.
Carlton Active managing director Jane Marshall says her company is seeking to achieve three goals. First, to provide new iTV services that keep people watching the channel, such as interactive enhancements to ONdigital`s Champion`s League and Brit Awards coverage. In crude terms, these will allow viewers to shrink the broadcast stream and access regularly updated text with still pictures.
The second goal is to enable advertisers to do more things. This ties into the third goal, which is to use new services to generate extra revenue.
To date, Carlton Active`s iTV advertising has been limited to a burst of activity last summer involving two Procter & Gamble brands (Bounce and Max Factor), AA Insurance and M&G.
The ads ran six times a day for two months, providing information behind the broadcast stream. If viewers wanted to transact, however, they had to use the phone. Carlton Active is now planning a large-scale experiment involving iTV.
So what do we make of all this activity? Chris Seth of online agency Traffic says the plus points include the ability to search for more information on a product and purchase it without moving a muscle. He also stresses iTV`s ability to capture data, providing the measurement and profiling abilities of the internet.
There are barriers to this marketing nirvana, though. Seth reiterates concerns about lack of standardisation and points to a tendency by marketers to see iTV as a bolt-on, rather than an integral part of their strategy.
BMPtvi`s Andrew Howells adds that there is also a dearth of reliable information coming out of the media owners. This, combined with patchy creativity and a finger-in-the-air approach to the trading of iTV, can make it hard for the interactive arms of agencies to argue their case both internally and to clients.
Carlton Active`s Marshall believes there is an onus on media owners to be as open as possible: "Advertisers and agencies need our help to understand iTV because it is a full-time job just keeping up with the pace of change."
iTV also raises deep-rooted issues about ad avoidance. Much has been made of intelligent personal video recorders (PVR), such as TiVo, which allow viewers to store 30 hours of programming and skip ads. Statistics from the US show 88% of TiVo users skip ads.
Sky is poised to roll out PVR technology created by its subsidiary NDS in partnership with NEC, Open TV and Pace. There are also video-on-demand services such as HomeChoice, which has 5,000 subscribers in London, and Yes TV, shifting control of content from the broadcast scheduler to the viewer.
One question this raises is whether we will witness the gradual replacement of the ad break by product placement and sponsorship. Although Marshall does not expect a seismic shift in the short term, it does seem likely that isolated ad spots will give way to commercial messages linked to content, such as NTL`s use of its EPG and SceneOne`s direct links between editorial and transaction. At ITN, Robinson believes even news is likely to open up strategic commercial relationships with clients as long as they don`t undermine the core service.
Games platforms are likely to be a pivotal part of this process, says Two Way TV UK managing director Matthew Tims, who believes 2001 could be the year when enhanced TV applications make their mark. Two Way TV runs interactive games channels on NTL and TeleWest, which allow four players to compete against each other and then see how they fared against others on the network. From spring, Two Way is launching a branded channel on ONdigital.
According to Tims, the market is moving towards entertainment concepts built from the ground up, with iTV in mind. He says it is working with a producer on a travel programme that doubles as a travel quiz.
Others seeking to stake a claim in this arena include NDS, which helped develop an interactive extreme betting show called Banzai for C4`s digital channel E4, airing on Sky Digital.
Tims stresses there is an opportunity for clients in this area. "We have done a deal with Domino`s Pizza which allows you to play a game, order a Hawaiian Pizza, then go back to the games," he says. The beauty of this is that enhanced TV draws bigger audiences and holds them. What we need is a Big Brother landmark programme to show what a true interactive programme can really do.
Part of the problem in assessing iTV`s potential is our inability to know how the market will develop. Issues such as analogue switch-off and the speed of standardisation among platforms will dictate the size of iTV universe and, therefore, levels of investment.
Other unknowns include: the timing of consolidation in the cable market; SkyDigital and ONdigital`s ability to thrive using their current technical capabilities; the willingness of ITV and C4 to put iTV ads in commercial breaks; ownership of retail data; and the likely impact of new players such as Energis, Yahoo!, AOL and BT.
NTL`s Crossley stresses that whatever the outcome, it is in no one`s interest for the advertising model to suffer. But, in order to take advantage of iTV, agencies must integrate their TV creativity with direct marketing and customer relationship marketing skills.

DIGITAL PLAYERS BANK ON AN INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY
Invest TV and Sony Digital interactive Broadband Services broadcast an iTV version of consumer finance channel Simply Money on Sky Digital and ONdigital. Invest claims the project was the first interactive application developed and operated by an independent third party to go live on SkyDigital.
Sony provides round-the-clock support for the application.
The iTV element is activated by pressing a button on the remote, which shrinks the broadcast programme. A menu is then displayed which gives access to news items, features and banner ads. Ed Hall, of Invest TV, says: "This project gives viewers of Simply Money the ability to surf through pages of information on better financial management while still watching the TV programme." Phase two of the project (spring 2001) will include iTV ads that click through to dedicated microsites.
Phase three (summer 2001) will build in the return path for commercial transactions.
Advertising options include banner ads, sponsorship of segments, click throughs to microsites and the development of targeted direct marketing, costed on an acquisition basis. To take credit cards as an example, Simply Money would receive a percentage of the number of people applying for a credit card through the advertising placed on their platform.

PLAYJAM SETS OUT ITS INTERACTIVE GAME PLAN
Static 2358`s interactive games channel, PlayJam, is available on SkyDigital, TeleWest and NTL.
It allows viewers to play games, enter competitions and shop using the remote control. Audience profiles to date show that 52% of viewers are women. Brands can advertise on PlayJam by using banner ads, branded load screens or by branding complete games.
Colin Cardwell, head of ad sales at Static, says: "We decide the channel`s content and create the games - allowing clients maximum flexibility." Cardwell claims this close association with content is a powerful way for brands to advertise.
More consumers are switching off traditional television advertising and, for the cost of a few prime-time broadcast slots, brands can run a fully branded interactive game 24 hours a day for a month.
They can also use PlayJam to capture real-time data. On the TPS platform in France, PlayJam has already signed up Eurosport to brand its own game.
Cardwell says the brand awareness generated by such a package is huge because of the long playing times.
The viewer is also stimulated by the chance to win big prizes, in this case a Club Med holiday.
(c) Copyright Quantum Publishing 2001.

Quellen:MEDIA WEEK 23/02/2001 P36





23Feb2001 UK: Comment - Getting ready for the switch-off.
By Patrick Barrett, editor of Media Week.
According to a report published by interactive@Optimedia this week, 56.5% of UK households will be paying for their televisions by 2005. The vast majority of those, and quite possibly all, will be watching digital TV.
Most credit for the predicted growth in DTV uptake from the current 26% penetration goes to BSkyB. So impressive is Sky Digital`s subscription rate expected to be that the authors predict Sky`s analogue signal will be switched off this July.
The report comes as the Government begins to tackle the thorny issue of its own bigger analogue switch-off, now expected to happen between 2006 and 2010. But Government had better be careful not to pull the plug half-way through Corrie because there`s a very strong chance a large minority of viewers will see their analogue screens go blank.
Perhaps that`s pessimistic, but there are a number of factors that suggest caution is necessary. Remember that, even if interactive@Optimedia is right, in 2005 around 45% of households will still be non-digital - and they are likely to be the hardest 45% of the population to which to sell a pay-TV proposition.
Premier League and other sporting action have driven Sky`s subscriptions, but that simply doesn`t appeal to everyone and many valuable customers don`t care what`s on the box, full stop.
Secondly, digital churn rates are still high. For Sky it`s just under 10% annually, for ONdigital it`s closer to 20%. That`s a lot of consumers who have had a bad DTV experience. Much of that will be down to the shock of having to pay at the end of each month. What will happen when subscribers have to pay for the set-top box as well?
There is talk of the Government subsidising the cost of transition of consumers who have not yet signed up to DTV as the notional analogue switch-off date approaches, but this, as all the DTV platforms know, is costly.
Of course, the commercial imperatives of a switch-off date for all the companies involved are huge and they will lobby hard for an early off date. But, with political imperatives front of mind, Government may well keep the analogue plug connected firmly to the aerial. In 2010 Sky may still be the only way you won`t be able to watch analogue.
(c) Copyright Quantum Publishing 2001.

Quellen:MEDIA WEEK 23/02/2001 P16




Silberstuermer

[filigranGP]

Silberstuermer,was willst Du damit zum Ausdruck bringen?
Diese Sachen laufen doch längst an MBX vorbei!

[pechsuse]

Ja, mit iTV wird jetzt ein gigantischer Kuchen gebacken...
was einige hier interessiert, ist, ob MBX ein Schnittchen oder wenigstens einen Krümel davon abkriegt, verdammt noch mal!!!!
CU ps

[whoopigoldberg]

@Silbersturmer,

ja - viele Dinge womit MBX Geld verdienen kann.

Middleware Konzept von MBX

1. Sender und Content Provider sollen nicht in die Abhängigkeit landen (Open, OpenTV, MSTV, Liberate, Media Highway, PowerTV etc. sind alle "closed shop" systeme)

2. iTV Applikationen sollen mit bereits existiernden Werkzeuge entwickelt werden (offene systeme)

3. "Walled Garden" Systeme haben bereits bewiesen, daß T-Commerce Erfolg haben wird. "Open Garden" Systeme wie Phoenix werden bis zu 20 mal erfolgreicher werden, da man Auswahl bekommt.

4. Middleware ermöglicht Sender und andere Provider von Informationen eine einfache Zugang zur STB. In der Vergangenheit war es notwendig, da die Systeme keine Offene Standards unterstützten.

Das Middleware Konzept von MBX heißt = schreibe die Anwendungen wie für den PC. Dazu kommen ein paar neue ATVEF und ECMA Befehle um die Hardware features besser anzusprechen (alfa blending, video overlay, Tuner control, Media control etc.) Einfacher gehts es nicht.

5. MHP wird es noch schwieriger für die "Middleware" Fanatiker (siehe 1.) machen. Stell mal vor...die Phoenix kann sowohl als auch...




whoopi

[Kimba-1]

@ whoopi

Wann können denn die Möglichkeiten der Phoenix (Middleware usw.) umsatzwirksam werden bzw. zur Deckung der laufenden Kosten beitragen, zumal es nicht gelingt, die KE zügig & erfolgreich zu einem Preis zu plazieren, der den Umsatz- und Gewinnprognosen für 2001 entspricht ?

cu, K

[Kochtolany]

Kimba, hast du getrunken?

Frage an alle, mit der Bitte um sachdienliche Hinweise:
Hat sich eigentlich schon irgend wann einmal Bertelsmann und seine Broadband Group zu einer konkreten Set-Top-Box geäußert?

Metagruß
Kochtolany

[whoopigoldberg]

Yo,

Bertelsmann & RTL wollen keine STB im Sortiment. Allerdings werden sie ein oder mehrere STBs empfehlen.

Phoenix kann MPEG-II und MPEG-1 über DSL in Echtzeit und Vollbild darstellen. VoD ist dadurch kein Problem. In der Tat werden die Kunden gar nicht wissen, ob sie Broadcast Video anschauen oder VoD. Die Qualität ist identisch.

UPC, Callahan, Telecolumbus sowie viele andere suchen eine derartige Box. MBX hat gute Chancen bei dieser Unternehmen Boxen zu liefern, da sie Qualität und Zukunftssicherheit suchen.

MetaTV liefert bereits iTV Inhalt an Kabel deutschland.

Whoopi

[Kimba-1]

@ Kochtolany

Muss man erst trinken, bevor man nach dem Umsatz fragt ?

cu

[Kochtolany]

Danke Whoopi.
Aber konkrete Empfehlungen (für Set-Top-Boxen) wurden von BBG noch nicht ausgesprochen?
Hat BBG die Phönix getestet oder ist noch dabei?

Kochtolany

[Oliver H.]

whoopi - wie siehst du in diesem zusammenhang die cinema-on-demand Schnittstelle von MedianetCom. Wird die eine Rolle spielen ? Ist die Phoenix kompatibel ?

[Kochtolany]

Kimba, man muss natürlich nicht, man darf aber.
Ich bin nur verwundert über: "die KE zügig & erfolgreich zu einem Preis zu plazieren, der den Umsatz- und Gewinnprognosen für 2001 entspricht"

Das heißt:
Geld aus KE = Umsatz2001 + Gewinn2001 = 600 Mio. + 33 Mio. = 633 Mio.
Das kannst du doch nicht gemeint haben und da dachte ich ...

Schönen Abend noch
Kochtolany

[Kimba-1]

@ Kochtolany

Du hast völlig recht.
Sagen wir: ".... der sich von den Prognosen für 2001 nicht so masslos entfernt ..."
Besser ... ?

Ebenfalls schönen Sonntag, K

[109]

The Stockpickers
|
|
Pearls of wisdom
Hedge fund manager likes interactive TV, manufacturing


By Bambi Francisco, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 1:00 AM ET Feb 23, 2001

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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) - It takes a lot of bravado to believe in interactive TV or bet on the manufacturing sector.
Interactive TV has had stop-and-go starts, while the manufacturing industry has clearly slowed to a crawl.

Yet David Pearl, who manages $175 million in private client and hedged accounts for ING Asset Management, has found a few gems.

His hedge fund accounts, which he began managing in April, returned 11.3 percent through the end of 2000, compared to an 11 percent decline in the S&P 500 for the same period. Year to date, the hedge account is up 1.4 percent, vs. a 1.2 percent decline in the S&P 500.

One of Pearl`s top picks is Gemstar-TV Guide International Group (GMST: news, msgs) , a maker of interactive TV guides, known as IPGs, and other proprietary technology. Pearl said Gemstar is "a story stock," meaning shares tend to languish between milestones.

A milestone to watch for includes distribution deals that could expand penetration of Gemstar`s IPGs into every TV-viewing household as it`s embedded into TV sets, cable boxes or as part of cable systems. The company`s long-term prospects are promising as its platform to reach eyeballs is a unique proposition, Pearl said. Shares of Gemstar fell $1 to $49.18 on Thursday.

In the manufacturing space, Pearl likes Flextronics International (FLEX: news, msgs) and Sanmina (SANM: news, msgs) . Both companies provide contract electronics manufacturing services. "In a fast-growing environment, it takes enough resources in a company just to design innovate new products," Pearl said. "It often makes sense to outsource the manufacturing."

Despite the slowdown in the manufacturing sector, both companies continue to strike new deals, he added. Flextronics fell 50 cents to $30.75. Sanmina fell $1.62 percent to $31.81.

Another company to watch is THQ (THQI: news, msgs) , a developer, publisher and distributor of interactive gaming software. "We`re in the biggest product cycle for the video gaming industry," Pearl said.

"As next generation game consoles are launched this year, THQ as a video software maker stands to benefit as there will be greater demand for new games that can take advantage of higher technology." THQ rose $2.47 to $30.88.

[109]

Liberate and DemandVideo Strike Video-on-Demand Pact

Liberate Technologies (LBRT $10.19), which develops software for enhanced television, said this week that DemandVideo will deliver its Video-on-Demand services using Liberate’s TV Platform software. The incorporation of VOD into the Liberate platform will further broaden the range of services offered, which now include TV-based e-mail, Internet access and a “walled garden” of content -- content that is separate from the Internet and accessible only to subscribers of a broadband service. This range of offerings enhances Liberate’s position as the platform of choice for network operators, in our view. Furthermore, we believe that VOD could be the next “killer app” in entertainment. VOD enables consumers to choose from a library of thousands of movies and enjoy real-time viewing privileges for 24 hours with complete VCR functionality. DemandVideo currently offers its services in St. Cloud, Minn., and Concord, Calif., and has announced an expansion to Denver.

[Kochtolany]

Bertelsmann sieht oder sah das zwar ein bißchen anders -
"Auch bei den Inhalten setzt BBG auf Konvergenz. „Die Killer-Applikation ist nicht Video-on-Demand, sondern die Kombination von Information, Kommunikation, Unterhaltung, Bildung und E-Commerce im selben Medium“, glaubt Lauffer. Dies sei das „Fünfeck der Breitband-Welt“." http://www.wiwo.de/WirtschaftsWoche/Wiwo_CDA/0,1702,11847_41… -
ist aber auch egal. Eine Box braucht man immer.

[Silberstuermer]

Noch einige aktuelle Artikel, ohne dass ich damit etwas Bestimmtes zum Ausdruck bringen will, außer interessante Hintergrundinformationen zu dem Markt, in dem auch Metabox sich bewegt.



26Feb2001 UK: Chat with your television.
As the brave new world of interactive advertising gets nearer, Claire Cozens reports on the latest developments

Low-fat spreads and cook-in sauces may not seem like the stuff revolutions are made of. But that is exactly how a new advertising campaign from foods giant Unilever is being billed by its creators. The new campaign, for Olivio spread and Colman`s sauces, is to be the first interactive campaign to appear on ITV and it is being described as the coming-of-age of interactive advertising.
Interactive advertising has already spawned more first-to-market claims than even the most diligent industry observer can remember. We`ve had the first interactive car ad, the first interactive ad you can play games on and the first interactive ad for a charity. But most have been restricted to niche channels, so for Britain`s biggest commercial broadcaster to get in on the act is a milestone.
The campaign is the result of a deal between Unilever and Carlton. Jane Marshall, chief executive of Carlton`s interactive operation Carlton Active, helped put the deal together. `It`s about finding ways to add extra value to advertisers,` she says. `Our audience research shows that viewers have been interacting with services like Teletext for years so they`re comfortable with the idea.`
What does an interactive advertising campaign actually look like? The answer, initially, is much like a normal advert. Unilever is using its standard commercials for Olivio and Colmans, so anyone watching on a standard TV will not notice any difference. But anyone watching on interactive digital television or with an ONdigital box will see a strip appear on screen saying that the ad is interactive. By pressing a button on their remote control they can shrink the broadcast ad to a box that fills a quarter of the screen, with the rest of the space dedicated to interactive content. Advertisers will then entice the viewer with product promotions, recipe ideas, competitions anything to get them thinking of the product they are trying to sell. The idea is that the advertiser gets the viewer`s attention for several minutes rather than just for the 30-second slot they`ve paid for.
Unilever has been something of a pioneer of interactive advertising. The UK`s first interactive commercial, broadcast last March, was for its Chicken Tonight brand, and the company has set up its own portal, called the Creative Kitchen, on Sky`s Open service. Users can order recipes and money-off vouchers and take part in quizzes and prize competitions. Meanwhile, Unilever can gather information about the user`s habits and preferences.
Advocates of interactive ads insist they are much more effective than ordinary commercials. Ian Kenny, digital communications director at Ogilvy, the agency behind Unilever`s interactive advertising campaign, says, `Our research shows the Chicken Tonight campaign was 70% more effective than the average direct response TV campaign [with a phone number viewers can call] and the rate of redemption from the voucher was four times higher than average. That could be put down to novelty value, but further campaigns have achieved similar results.`
But even Kenny admits that advertising agencies will have to come up with something pretty entertaining if they are to continue to lure viewers away from the programmes they are watching. `At the moment it`s a direct marketing exercise but we will see much more sophisticated content coming through,` he says. `Companies could put together short films and viewers will soon be able to bookmark ads, so they can come back to it once the programme has finished.`
But not all advertisers are convinced that interactive TV is a good thing. The Abbey National last week said it would cut its TV advertising budget after research showed many digital viewers use the commercial break to do their banking or shopping, skipping the ads altogether.
With so much competition for consumers` attention, advertisers have to work pretty hard to keep people listening to their message.

Quellen:GUARDIAN 26/02/2001 P8





25Feb2001 UK: Murdoch bets on worldwide utility - News Corporation.
By Garth Alexander from New York.
News Corp is taking a #48bn gamble to build the first global satellite network.
FOR more than a decade, Rupert Murdoch has tried to build a global satellite television service. But attempts to acquire an operation in America to fill the last big gap in his network have repeatedly failed. Now he may be poised for success.
Negotiations to merge DirecTV, the American satellite broadcaster, with Sky Global Networks, News Corporation`s satellite holding company, have reached the final stages. A deal could be announced soon - if the current due-diligence process can be completed satisfactorily.
If the $70billion ( #48billion) merger is approved by the boards of News Corp and General Motors, the ultimate parent of DirecTV, it will be the realisation of what Murdoch has called a dream. It will add the largest American satellite-television network to operations in Asia, Europe and Latin America. The content and expertise of the vast new business can be deployed across the world.
"It`s simple: he`s trying to build the first global utility," says an industry source.
Murdoch is gambling that satellites will ultimately prove as good as cable or broadband telephone lines for delivering television images and accessing the internet. Even if due diligence is not completed satisfactorily, it is certain that News Corp, which owns The Sunday Times, will look at one of DirecTV`s American rivals.
John Malone and Bill Gates, two of the most powerful men in the cable and computer industries, support Murdoch`s view. Malone, the cable tycoon, owns 18% of News Corp`s stock through Liberty Media, which also owns a stake in Sky Global Networks. Gates is expected to invest between $4billion and $5billion of Microsoft`s money in the group.
Microsoft engineers are eager to join the venture because they believe the set-top boxes that decode signals from satellites and cables will eventually replace the personal computer as the digital gateway to the home. They envisage the boxes linking television, video, wireless, telephone and internet services. Murdoch, in building the first global television network, can also establish the industry standard for set-top boxes. The Financial Times says this will make him "the digital gatekeeper".
The big attraction of interactive television for investors is that it is expected to generate enormous revenues from home shopping. The sale of goods and services bought through interactive television, (t-commerce) is projected to exceed the size of all internet consumer business (e-commerce) within five years, according to the Carmel Group, a telecommunications-research firm based in California.
Sean Badding of Carmel says: "Satellite is taking subscribers away from cable and growing at 3.5m new subscribers a year. We expect the competition to get really tough in about 18 months as cable rolls out digital interactive services (to compete with satellite`s digital services) and begins bundling telephone, internet and wireless broadcasting services."
Some cable companies are offering $200 to satellite customers to switch to cable. Satellite operators have been offering similar incentives, including free dishes and installation. American satellite services, which started six years ago, claim to have more than 15m customers. They expect 24m by 2003 compared with 60m cable customers.
Armand Musey at Banc of America Securities believes a deal with News Corp will give DirecTV an advantage over its American rivals, Primestar and EchoStar. He says: "BSkyB is far further ahead in interactive services than anyone in America. This deal helps DirecTV jump-start its interactive services and, at the same time brings 2,500 engineers to Sky Global to help develop and roll out new interactive services."
By in effect doubling DirecTV`s reach from 10m homes to 20m, the deal will also give the new group much greater "power to negotiate with Disney, Viacom and other companies for content", says Musey. It will also help to justify the payment of big fees for exclusive coverage of sports events.
BSkyB`s success in Britain has been attributed to its aggressive pursuit of rights to show live football on the Sky Sports channels. DirecTV LA, the Latin American subsidiary that is 74% owned by DirecTV, recently paid $400m for the regional rights to the 2002 and 2006 World Cup finals.
DirecTV is owned by Hughes Electronics, once part of the empire of the legendary Howard Hughes and now a General Motors subsidiary.
GM bought the company, then called Hughes Aircraft, for $5.2billion in 1985 and over the years has sold off its aircraft, satellite-construction and defence-electronics units so that it could focus on three businesses - DirecTV, Hughes Network Systems, which provides business services and makes set-top boxes, and PanAmSat, which operates the world`s largest fleet of high-orbit satellites. GM announced it was considering spinning off Hughes last May.
The television comapny had revenues of $7.3billion and operating income of $594m last year but has a dizzying valuation. GM hoped to raise more than $50billion in cash from the sale. But News Corp has emerged as the only serious bidder and has made it clear that it will have to be a largely cashless transaction.
Working out the formula for the deal has been complicated by the fact that Hughes has its own publicly traded tracking stock and board of directors. A report in The New York Times claimed that, at one point last year, Murdoch became so frustrated with the complexity of the negotiations that he asked his advisers if it made sense to buy the whole of GM and then resell everything except DirecTV.
News Corp restructured last year and put its satellite interests into Sky Global Networks, which was to be floated for between $40billion and $50billion. The new shares could have provided a currency for buying DirecTV. But difficulties in valuing the company and setting a price on its shares led to the plan being postponed and, ultimately, shelved.
The deal worked out with GM calls for Hughes to be spun off as a separate company and then merged with Sky Global. This would leave Hughes shareholders with about 65% and News Corp with 35% of the merged company. As the largest single shareholder, News Corp would exercise effective management control. PanAmSat would probably be sold off, to raise as much as $7billion, which may then be used to buy back part of GM`s stake; GM executives say they will probably sell their stake in the new venture as soon as possible.
But news of an impending deal has not been viewed positively by the market. Hughes`s shares plunged 11% when the first reports of the terms appeared two weeks ago and shareholders realised they were being offered no premium. Some analysts say Hughes`s board may block the deal.
But Musey believes it is a fair deal for GM and Hughes. He says: "GM is getting Sky Global with a market value as large as $22billion, excluding the value of Star in Hong Kong. It is strategically good for Hughes. It`s a good deal all round."
News Corp will presumably have to sell its remaining 7% stake in EchoStar to satisfy regulators that it is not trying to create a monopoly.
News Corp has been building up its stake in Gemstar-TV Guide, which owns technology that is expected to play an important role in interactive television and broadband communications. After raising his stake from 22% to 43% last September, Murdoch told analysts: "In the converged broadband world, we believe the key player will be Gemstar-TV Guide. Its leadership in the area of interactive programming guides, the portal to the interactive television world and the strength of its patents, combined with its leadership in the exploding world of e-books, gives it enormous advantages as the broadband revolution takes hold."
But Gemstar has been meeting stiff opposition to its efforts to take control of the set-top-box market. Box manufacturers and satellite companies, as well as the four largest cable companies, are planning to launch a service to compete with Gemstar`s interactive guide, which they believe could siphon off important additional revenues from the next generation of television services.
As Murdoch prepares to realise the dream of a lifetime, he may be entering a battle as big as any he has fought in the past.
(c) Times Newspapers Ltd, 2001.
(c) Not Available for Re-dissemination.

Quellen:SUNDAY TIMES 25/02/2001





23Feb2001 UK: Sky looks set to rule digital roost.
By Ian Quinn.
Sky Digital`s dominance of the UK`s television screens is set to reach new heights in the next five years, with only cable looming on the horizon as a potential serious rival, according to a new report.
The study, from interactive@Optimedia, predicts that Sky Digital will reach more than one-quarter of UK homes by 2005.
The agency describes the growth of digital TV in general as "astronomic", but says it is Sky that has been most responsible for driving growth of uptake and it will remain well ahead against the cable companies and ONdigital.
The report says: "Driven by aggressive marketing, free hardware, high channel choice and interactive TV, the speed with which the UK population has adopted digital TV has exceeded most expectations."
Sky Digital`s success, led mainly by customers converting from its analogue service, is such that the report predicts the company will switch off its analogue signal as early as July this year.
It claims that Sky Digital was the chosen supplier in 4,525,000 of the UK`s 6,315,000 digital homes by the end of 2000.
And it predicts that the figure will jump to 5,475,000 homes by the end of this year and to 6,300,000 by 2005, only just over a million less than the number it expects to be tuned in to terrestrial analogue TV.
interactive@Optimedia paints a less rosy picture for Granada and Carlton`s ONdigital service, which the report estimates had reached 960,000 homes by the end of 2000. Although it suggests that figure will double in the next five years, ONdigital`s predicted penetration in 2005 is just 7.6%.
The report adds: "Undoubtedly, the further concentration of ITV ownership and the rumoured stockmarket flotation will add impetus.
"However, we feel that terrestrial digital will be the weakest of the three platforms."
Digital cable, on the other hand, will emerge as the chief challenge to Sky`s domination, according to interactive@Optimedia.
The report says: "The concentration of ownership within the cable operators is finally happening. We view cable as the biggest threat to Sky. However, the industry was held back during 2000 by availability problems with digital cable hardware.
"Assuming that the hardware issue is resolved, we predict that 2001 will be the year when digital cable finally takes off."
The report predicts that from an estimated penetration of 3.4% (830,000 homes) at the end of 2000, digital cable`s slice of the cake will grow massively to 23.6% (5,875,000 homes) by 2005.
Sky, which claims its share of digital homes was actually close to 4.7 million in 2000, admits its sees cable as the biggest threat. A spokesman for Sky dismissed ONdigital as a passing phase, however.
"ONdigital`s own prognosis was that it would get to two million subscribers by the end of 2002," he said. "If that`s the case and this study is true, then they are way short of that forecast."
ONdigital said it was confident of its own long-term progress, however.
"I don`t think anyone was suggesting that we were likely to overtake Sky in the short term," said a spokesman. "We`re looking at this as a long-term business. We believe that, in the long run, digital terrestrial television has the potential to be the dominant force.
"The figures we have achieved are pretty much bang on the rather ambitious targets we set ourselves when we launched. We`ve hit one million customers in two years, which is faster than Sky did it and faster than cable did it."
Commenting on the report, Optimedia partner Phil Nunn said: "All credit to Sky. They`re doing a great marketing job. They`re spending bucket-loads marketing digital on their own channels, which they need to do, and their growth targets are impressive."
Nunn said that, with a fragmented cable market, Sky would continue to dominate, but added that in the longer term cable, "by its very nature the fastest provider", would pose a serious threat.
He added: "ONdigital are really struggling. Just going on hearsay alone, the number of people leaving ONdigital is phenomenal."
The report also hails a boom in advertising on the internet. It estimates online adspend of #40 million in 1999, rising to #100 million by the end of 2000, a 150% increase.
- Comment, page 16


GOING DIGITAL: THE NEXT FOUR YEARS
Penetration estimates (%) 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
Terrestrial analogue 73.0 71.2 67.9 60.7 55.4


Pay digital terrestrial 0.0 0.2 2.2 4.0 5.1Free only digital terrestrial 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.8Total digital terrestrial 0.0 0.2 2.2 4.2 5.9Total terrestrial 73.0 71.4 70.1 64.9 61.4Analogue satellite 16.8 15.9 8.3 1.9 0.0Digital satellite 0.0 1.0 8.7 18.7 22.4Total satellite 16.8 16.9 17.0 20.6 22.4Analogue cable 10.1 11.7 12.2 11.1 7.6Digital cable 0.0 0.0 0.6 3.4 8.6Total cable 10.1 11.7 12.8 14.6 16.2Total pay multichannel 27.0 28.8 32.1 39.1 43.8Total pay digital 0.0 1.3 11.5 26.0 36.2Total digital 0.0 1.3 11.5 26.3 37.0Total analgue 100.0 98.7 88.5 73.7 63.0Total TV homes (000s) 23,739 23,920 24,102 24,247 24,392Penetration estimates (%) 2002 2003 2004 2005Terrestrial analogue 50.4 43.6 36.4 30.5Pay digital terrestrial 5.9 6.7 7.2 7.6Free only digital terrestrial 1.6 4.5 8.7 12.9Total digital terrestrial 7.5 11.2 15.9 20.5Total terrestrial 57.9 54.7 52.3 51.0Analogue satellite 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0Digital satellite 24.3 25.0 25.3 25.3Total satellite 24.3 25.0 25.3 25.3Analogue cable 3.7 0.0 0.0 0.0Digital cable 14.1 20.3 22.4 23.6Total cable 17.8 20.3 22.4 23.6Total pay multichannel 48.0 52.0 54.9 56.6Total pay digital 44.3 52.0 54.9 56.6Total digital 46.0 56.4 63.6 69.5Total analgue 54.0 43.6 36.4 30.5Total TV homes (000s) 24,470 24,605 24,740 24,864
Source: interactive.Optimedia.

(c) Copyright Quantum Publishing 2001.
Quellen:MEDIA WEEK 23/02/2001 P8




Silberstuermer

[Silberstuermer]

Tuesday February 27, 7:15 am Eastern Time
Press Release
SOURCE: NTL
NTL to Speed Up UK Broadband Revolution
* NTL undertakes 5m pounds sterling broadband education campaign
* Company targets 100,000 broadband customers in the UK by the end of this year
* 1Mb residential service under evaluation to join existing high-speed (512kbps) and always-on service
* Trials taking place of digital set-top boxes with embedded cable modem, and `fibre-to-home` with additional speed and functionality
LONDON, Feb. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- NTL, the UK`s leading cable TV, telephony and internet company, is pioneering the UK`s move towards residential broadband internet access with a new 5 million pound advertising campaign to educate internet users about the benefits of the high-speed and always-on service.

A recent survey by NTL found that 69% of the population had not heard the term `broadband` and of the 31% that had, one third thought that it referred to radio. Over half of those who had heard of `broadband` were not aware of any of its benefits. Clearly there is an education job to be done that the new marketing campaign addresses.

NTL has invested over $11 billion since 1993 in building its network infrastructure, making it one of the UK`s major construction projects of the 1990s. Today, having installed this state-of-the-art network, the company can offer the broadband service, called NTL Broadband Internet, to millions of homes in England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

As of 31 December 2000, NTL had 40,000 Broadband Internet customers, with approximately 13,000 in the UK. NTL`s goal is to have 100,000 UK broadband customers by the end of the year.

With download speeds of up to 512kbps (compared with 56kbps for a normal dial-up modem) the service allows users to see the Internet as it was meant to be. Always-on access sees the end of the frustrating dial-up process and its attendant `world-wide wait`, while high speed access delivers richer content, faster. In short, NTL Broadband Internet provides true interactivity and will revolutionise the way the UK uses the Internet.

Another benefit of NTL Broadband Internet is that unlike a 56Kbps dial-up modem it doesn`t tie up your telephone line while you`re connected to the Internet. As the connection is via your cable all phone lines remain free for you to use as normal while using the net.

NTL Broadband Internet costs from just 19.99 pounds per month if you buy a cable modem for 149 pounds, or 24.99 pounds per month if you rent a cable modem from NTL, for unlimited, always-on Internet access. This compares with 40 pounds per month for BT Openworld which uses ADSL technology.

NTL is also trialing new broadband access services:


-- In Manchester the company is trialing a new way of combining digital TV
with broadband by embedding a cable modem into its digital set-top
boxes

-- In London, NTL is trialing a `fibre-to-home` service which brings
`Ethernet` speeds of up to 10Mbps to the home

-- With the current 512kbps service providing a high-quality internet
experience, NTL is also evaluating a 1Mbps service. It can do this as
the current cable modem technology is designed to handle speeds of up
2Mbps


Jerry Roest, NTL`s Group Managing Director, Broadband, comments: ``The widespread availability of broadband access is essential to the next phase of development of the internet. NTL is at the forefront of the UK`s Internet industry and we`re making it our responsibility to educate users about the benefits of broadband access via cable modem. In America, cable modem is already the technology of choice with over 4.2 million installations.

``We expect demand in the UK to be high and will therefore manage delivery of the service by introducing waiting lists in some of our cabled areas where necessary.``

By combining broadband Internet with digital and interactive TV services, NTL customers can enjoy among the most advanced bundle of home communications and entertainment technologies in the world.

More Details About NTL Broadband Internet

-- Available to millions of homes in NTL cabled areas across the UK today,
however due to demand, the company expects to operate a queuing system
in some areas

-- Provides users with a permanently-on Internet connection with access
speeds of up to 512 kbps (9 x faster than a 56kbps dial-up modem) via
cable modem

-- Service available for 19.99 pounds per month when customers buy a cable
modem for 149.99 pounds, or 24.99 pounds per month including cable
modem rental

-- NTL`s goal is to have 100,000 broadband Internet users in the UK by the
end of the year

-- NTL is one of the UK`s leading unmetered ISPs (www.ntlworld.com). In
total the company has over 2 million internet customers


``Safe Harbor`` Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: In addition to the historial information presented, this release also includes certain forward-looking statements concerning the future development of business, subscriber growth, customer penetration, churn and expectations for the deployment of digital TV and cable modems. Such statements represent the Company`s reasonable judgment on the future and are based on assumptions and factors that could cause actual results to differ materially. The Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect actual, changes in assumptions or changes in factors affecting such statements.

More on NTL:

* NTL offers a wide range of communications services to homes and business
customers throughout the UK and Ireland. 12 million homes are located
within its fibre-optic broadband network, which covers over 50% of the
UK including, Southampton, London, Manchester, Nottingham, Oxford,
Cambridge, Leicester, Belfast, Cardiff and Glasgow. NTL now serves over
4.6 million on-net residential, cable telephony and Internet customers
and approximately 1.3 million off-net Internet and telephony customers.

* NTL has over 70,000 UK business customers, including Royal Bank of
Scotland, Comet, AT&T and Orange. NTL offers a broad range of
technologies and resources to provide complete multi-service solutions
for businesses from large corporations to local companies.

* NTL has a 40-year history in Broadcast TV and radio transmission and
helped pioneer the technologies of the digital age. 22 million homes
watch ITV, C4 and C5 thanks to NTL`s broadcast transmitters.

SOURCE: NTL



Silberstuermer

[Silberstuermer]

28Feb2001 UK: UK Cable communications operator Telewest has chosen ...
l Telewest picks set-top supplier
UK Cable communications operator Telewest has chosen Scientific-Atlanta as another supplier of digital set-top boxes. The company will use the US firm`s Explorer 4000DVB digital set-tops to deliver digital cable and interactive TV services to its subscribers. Deployment is planned to begin by the end of the year and expected to continue for two years. Pace Micro Technology will continue to supply its set-top products to Telewest.
(c) Copyright Reed Business Information 2001
Not Available for Redissemination.

Quelle: ELECTRONICS WEEKLY 28/02/2001 P6







Silberstuermer

[Silberstuermer]

11Apr2001 UK: VITAL STATISTICS.
By NICK ROSEN.
This week Interactive TV should reach 71 million households in Europe by 2005, but the UK is expected to be the market leader.

It`s TV Jim, but not as most of us know it. At the recent MIPTV trade fair in Cannes, watching delegates trying to come to terms with iTV was like watching the Star Trek crew dealing with a new species of alien.
The number of digital homes will grow from 17 million at the end of 2000 to 71 million at the end of 2005, which is 48% of all homes with a TV set, according to a recent report from Informa Media Group. That`s impressive, but is 48% the real mass market? At least the UK should remain the market leader with 27.5% of all European TV homes, forecasts Informa.
Sky Digital`s Open is the most successful iTV brand in Europe, followed by Canal Plus. SBS, the second biggest TV operator in Europe with 140 million viewers, has one of the most aggressive new-media teams. Examples of SBS activity include a sports channel that allows viewers to bet live, the launch of Big Brother in Norway (capturing a 61% market share), and more sophisticated use of SMS and premium phone lines.
SBS reported that it was achieving 50,000 minutes a week from users dialling in to listen to the radio mikes carrying the individual audio feed of each contestant.
With the wisdom of the internet bubble behind them, the major players are working according to a combination of revenue-generating business models and serious brand support.
Pearson TV is focusing on online games, based on its major TV brands, that enable viewers to win prizes. Pearson thinks that the web will become more like the real world with a handful of major brands. It points to the 120 million page impressions a month on its Family Feud web site in the US. Channel 4 has been amazed at the success of its car sales web site, introduced to support the Driven show on its terrestrial channel. Once C4 is digital, it will be easy to buy a car while watching the programme.
Informa has named the phenomenon t-commerce to include all forms of transactional TV applications made possible with digital set-top boxes.
T-commerce enables two broad types of application. The first is internet or walled garden access, and the second is enhanced TV output, including (crucially) ordering products and services.
Expenditure on t-commerce by consumers, estimated at 245 million euros (#150m) in 2000, should increase to over 17 billion euros (#10.6bn) in 2005, predicts Informa.


EUROPEAN T-COMMERCE SPEND (MILLION EUROS)
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
UK 146 374 986 2,046 3,699 6,085
France 80 182 459 1,060 2,029 3,204
Germany - 5 214 810 1,768 3,174
Italy 9 42 140 270 518 882
Spain 8 189 350 544 810 1,227
Benelux - 2 39 188 613 1,155
Nordic 1 21 99 293 629 945
Other 1 18 71 153 370 610
Total 245 634 2,358 5,364 10,436 17,263
Source: Informa Media Group.

(c) Copyright Haymarket Business Publications Limited 2001
No part of this data may be reproduced without prior written permission of the copyright owner.
Quelle: REVOLUTION 04/2001 P9



15Apr2001 UK: PRESS DIGEST - British Business - April 15.


LABOUR PLANS END FOR ANALOGUE TV
The government is considering setting an earlier date than expected for the switch from analogue to digital TV, as it sees digital TV as the easiest way of getting the nation online. The biggest political obstacle at the moment is the cost of DTVs at up to 300 stg more expensive than analogue sets. The government may auction off the analogue spectrum freed up by the changeover to subsidise sets for the less well off. Analysts estimate that Granada and Carlton, the shareholders in digital TV broadcaster ONdigital, could end up spending 1.2 billion stg before the company breaks even in 2003.

Quelle: REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE 15/04/2001




Silberstuermer

[Silberstuermer]

04Mai2001 UK: Freedomland in UK launch with retail partners.
Internet TV provider Freedomland was launched in the UK on Monday, with 30 retail partners aboard.
The service allows browsers to access the Internet from their TV screens via a set-top box.
Although users have open access to all Internet sites, the 30 retailers - including WHSmith, Thorntons, Boots and Gadget Shop - have forged partnerships with Freedomland to provide specially-tailored TV Internet sites.
Italian-owned Freedomland was established in 1999 and floated on the Milan stock exchange last year.
It has approximately 130,000 subscribers in Italy, Germany and Spain, and aims to attract 100,000 UK subscribers by the end of the year.
RETAIL WEEK: THE LEADING INFORMATION SOURCE FOR RETAILERS.
SUBSCRIPTIONS: 0181 956 3017
OFFICE: 0181 277 5331
E-MAIL: [e-mail].

Quellen:RETAIL WEEK 04/05/2001 P6





04Mai2001 DENMARK: Flextronics concludes production deal with KiSS Technology.
The Danish arm of the contract electronics manufacturer Flextronics has secured a production contract which will lead to the creation of hundreds of jobs at the company`s plant in Pandrup, northern Jutland. The deal was unveiled just two weeks after the company said it would be cutting 474 jobs at the plant.
The contract, worth a nine-figure sum, has been placed by KiSS Technology A/S. It covers the production of third-generation DVD players and advanced set-top boxes with built-in HDD and DVD. Flextronics will also take over production of digital satellite receivers for PCs.
[Original article approx 250 words]


Quellen:BORSEN 04/05/2001 P4




Silberstuermer

[ZimtOchse]

Thanx.

[yok]

Leider hat weder die eine Meldung noch die andere etwas mit MBX zu tun....
Bei Freedomland wird eine voellig anders aussehende Box gezeigt, bei Kiss wird ausdruecklich betont, dass Sie eigene Technologie entwickelt haben. Box inclusive DVD.
Ich zweifle zusehends an der Ueberlegenheit der MBX1000. Warum sonst kaufen alle andere Boxen??

[silberesel]

zu Freedomland: Bis heute eine andere Box, O.K.
Was nicht ist, kann ja noch werden! Hat aber wohl z.Zt. nichts mit mbx zu tun.

zu Flextronics: Wo steht geschrieben, daß eine E I G E N E Technologie entwickelt wurde??
Ich kann nur lesen, daß DVD-Player und Set-Top-Boxen mit DVD und HDD produziert werden sollen. Und Flextronics fertigt für mbx!
Dies kann ( muß nicht ) bedeuten, die Produktion läuft an, wird ja auch langsam Zeit.

Noch etwas: Domi wird sicher nicht bekanntgeben, wann mit der Produktion begonnen wird. Er wird die Auslieferung bekanntgeben, undzwar vor der HV!
Denkt mal drüber nach: Für GB gibt es noch keine Verzögerung. Die ersten Boxen werden also bis Ende Q2 2001 geliefert.

[BlechPET]

Die ersten beiden...
Dann ist das Geld alle.

[yok]

Hi Silberesel!
Wenn Freedomland vor wenigen Tagen einen launch ihrer UK-Seite inclusive Verschenken der 1000er gestartet haetten, wuerden Sie wohl kaum auf der website das Modell einer anderen Firma abbilden - es sei denn natuerlich, dass die Box so heiss ist, dass man auch dann, wenn man sie schon vermarktet, noch nicht sagen darf, dass sie es ist....
Zu Kiss: Guck mal auf der Seite www.kissnordic.dk nach, linkes Icon klicken (Innovation), da werden die Produkte von Kiss beschrieben und gelobt. Flextronic produziert nur. So wie auch mal die MBX 1000 am Sankt Nimmerleinstag... Wuerde es dir gerne reinpasten, aber die Seite funktioniert leider nur selten und ich hab da gestern schon lange gebraucht reinzukommen.
Und bitte keine Spekulationen zu kissNORDIC, okay?
Sorry Leut, ich sitze auch auf meinen shares und wuerde mir sehr wuenschen, dass sie mal wieder was wert werden, aber so wie sich die Lage fuer mich darstellt, ist erst ein ganz grosser Misthaufen an Desinformationspolitik seitens MBX aufzuraeumen, bevor wir wirklich Bescheid wissen und die Aktie vielleicht mal wieder steigen kann.
MfG,
Yok

[yok]

Sobald der Startknopf fuer die Serienproduktion gedrueckt wird/wuerde, wuerde Domi sicher sofort eine Jubel-Adhoc rausbringen, waere ja auch durchaus kursrelevant. Eine Firma, die nur entwickelt vs. eine produzierende Firma.
Sag mal, glaubst du im Ernst daran, dass alle Zeitangaben, die nicht widerrufen wurden, noch gueltig sind??? Aufwachen, der Mai ist gekommen, England noch nicht! In der Adhoc stand Mai, nicht Q1.
Ausserdem, glaubst du Domi wuerde sich Gedanken machen, ob er eine Spende von 1 Mio. DM annimmt oder nicht, wenn er ab diesem Monat ca. 10 Mios monatlich einnehmen wuerde; glaubst du, er wuerde einen grossen Teil seiner Mitarbeiter auf die Strasse kicken?

Ha, wahrscheinlich habe ich mich gerade in den illustren Kreis der Basher geschrieben!

[BlechPET]

Hat sich eigentlich mal irgend jemand bei Flextronics erkundigt, ob diesen Monat "der Knopf" gedrückt wird?
Der Kurs wäre dann wohl rappzapp im Eimer, weil die für die Produktion eh nie Geld sehen.

[Silberstuermer]

Nicht allein zu UK, ebenso zu Skandinavien und andern Ländern. Die Verflechtungen innerhalb Europas sind jedoch ohnehin sehr dicht, insofern sind Meldungen zu anderen Ländern auch hier durchaus gerechtfertigt. Es geht im übrigen nicht darum, unmittelbar Verknüpfungen zu MBX herzustellen, sondern die Aktivitäten des Marktes zu beleuchten, in welchem MBX sich bewegt. Daher wäre es wünschenswert, wenn man Kommentare von einer Qualität wie etwa "...und was hat das jetzt mit MBX zu tun?" hier nicht wieder lesen muss. Wer auch nur einigermaßen aufmerksam die gegenwärtigen Vorgänge im europäischen Markt verfolgt, weiss sehr wohl, inwiefern - wie auch immer vermittelt - dies etwas mit MBX zu tun hat. Die Beobachtung dessen jedenfalls, was nicht zuletzt in den vorhergehenden und untenstehenden Artikeln mitgeteilt wird, ist zur Beurteilung auch der Möglichkeiten und Risiken, die ganz konkret Metabox betreffen, meines Erachtens unerläßlich.



04Mai2001 UK: Discovery starts enhanced TV service in UK.
Discovery Networks Europe (DNE) launched enhanced television programmes in the UK on Sky Digital, with DNE proclaiming it is "the first factual entertainment broadcaster in the UK to launch enhanced and interactive programming."
After an initial seven-week trial period on the twice weekly Discovery Today show (Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning), DNE is rolling out a range of services across Discovery Channel, Discovery Home & Leisure, Discovery Health and Animal Planet.
Pay-TV Today was shown that the enhanced service offers additional information on the subjects on the 30-minute show, as well as quick quiz options while remaining in the TV screen environment.
Tanya Field, DNE European director of new media, said that enhanced services are only available to Sky Digital`s 5.25 million subscribers because the cable sector can not offer interactive TV yet. Field noted that she hopes NTL will be able to do so by the first quarter of 2002, allowing cable viewers to have access to its new product.
The rollout kicks off with the macabre Tales From The Black Morgue II on Discovery Channel at 21:30 GMT today. In the latter half of 2001 further enhanced application will appear for shows such as The Ultimate Guide To Mummies (Discovery Channel), Croc Week (Animal Planet), and Fitness Files (Discovery Health Channel).
There are also plans to expand the service outside the UK, with Field saying, "It is most likely to be South Africa, Italy, Scandinavia or Australia." However, she pointed out that the merger of Tele+ and Stream in Italy could change these plans.
DNE launched the service with help from its partner NDS Group, using its Value@TV platform, that DNE says gives it "the flexibility to modify and expand" its enhanced TV programming. (SH)
* Bloomberg Television is to launch a new regional morning programme called Bloomberg Moneycast Asia on May 7, airing to both the US and Europe in the overlap period when the US markets have closed for the day and Asian stock exchanges begin trading, between 1am and 4am CET. The three-hour long show will be broadcast live from Tokyo with on-the-spot reports and market-moving stories from Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney, London and New York, as well as analysing the latest global financial developments and their impact on Asian markets. The financial news channel launched a similar local-language show for the German market earlier this week. (TM)
* The Scandinavian Channel, a Denver-based satellite operation targeting Americans with Scandinavian roots, was closed down April 30 after two and a half years on air. The station`s owners, Scandinavian Channel International (SCI), in which Nordic public service broadcasters NRK, SVT, and YLE have been minor shareholders, has previously ploughed in some NKr70 million (E8.66m), but the project has so far failed to reach profitability. SCIEs Norwegian director of programming Steinart Hybertsen claims that the closedown is only temporary: "We aim at a relaunch at a later date, with a better total solution. The money invested is not lost, but an important investment for the future". (GS).

CableFAX`s Pay-TV Today, Vol.2 Issue 86
Copyright 2001 Phillips Business Information, Inc. Federal copyright law prohibits unauthorized reproduction by any means and imposes fines of up to $25,000 for violations.
Quellen:PAY TV 04/05/2001





04Mai2001 FRANCE: Limelight For Canal Plus Chief Masks OffStage Workload.
By Mathilde Richter.
(This story was originally published Thursday)
PARIS -(Dow Jones)-Pierre Lescure must be a very busy man these days.
After all, the CEO of media giant Vivendi Universal`s (V) TV and film unit found time to grant an exhaustive 12-page interview splashed all over this week`s issue of prestigious French rock magazine Les Inrockuptibles.
Exhaustive, that is, on everything from the fortunes of the Canal Plus-owned Paris Saint Germain soccer club to his passion for 1960s film star Audrey Hepburn.
What he didn`t tell the enthused rock critics is that behind the scenes, he`s also rolling his sleeves up on a plan to fuse elements of Canal Plus`s Belgian and Dutch subsidiaries, according to a source at the company.
And that, observers say, is just the tip of the iceberg for Lescure.
Simultaneously, the broadcaster is putting the finishing touches to the merger of its loss-making Italian unit Telepiu with rival Stream. It`s leading similar talks with Dutch outfit UPC Communications NV (N.UPC) in Poland. And it`s "reviewing opportunities" about its digital joint venture with Norway`s Telenor ASA (TELN).
"We`ll see more and more partnerships with other players," said Eric Burkel, TMT-research team leader at Paris-based Global Equities. "They`ll now focus on their operations outside France, and restructure everywhere.
"They have the content now (after the merger with Vivendi and Seagram), so they have to fine-tune the distribution network," he added.
If a deal between AOL Time Warner (AOL) and cable group NTL Inc (NLI) went through, Vivendi Universal - which positions itself as the U.S. group`s main competitor in the media industry - would remain behind in terms of distribution channels, observers say.
Earlier this week AOL said it is talking to several companies including NTL
But before expansion, cost cutting is on the agenda after Canal Plus posted a EUR99 million negative earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in 2000.
Even Lescure, who was formerly chief executive at Canal Plus, acknowledges the need for financial discipline.
"It was about time we became vigilant about the economics of the company," he said in the interview with Les Inrockuptibles.
Rationalizing the structure of the assets in Belgium and the Netherlands will be a step in that direction.
"We are trying to build a common structure for the Benelux countries," the Canal Plus source said.
The move wouldn`t involve merging the channels, but bringing together production and broadcasting structures as well as the purchase of some rights.
In Belgium, Canal Plus owns 100% of Canal Plus Belgique, the French-speaking channel, and 100% of Canal Plus Flanders, aimed at Flemish -speakers. In the Netherlands, Canal Plus Nederland is a 100% subsidiary of the group as well. The three had around 745,000 subscribers at end 2000, 100,000 of whom were on its digital platforms Le Bouquet and Canal Digitaal.
In 2000, Canal Plus posted EUR6.3 million earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in Belgium, while Canal Plus in the Netherlands had a EUR8.0 million negative EBITDA.
That`s chickenfeed compared with Italian unit Telepiu`s EUR255 million negative EBITDA but Telepiu has been taken care of through a merger with News Corp`s (NWS) own Italian arm Stream.
In Poland, Canal Plus has initiated talks with UPC to merge the two companies` respective Polish units.
But despite Jean-Marie Messier, chairman and CEO of Vivendi Universal, stating last week that Italy and Poland were the group`s priorities, Canal Plus is clearly engaged in more negotiations.
Buying out Telenor`s 50% stake in common digital platform Canal Digital is also on the agenda, the group said Monday.
Other question marks will then include Spain, where the company has 25% in Sogecable (E.SOG), the local Canal Plus channel`s parent company. Messier has said however that no change is to be expected in Spain in the short-term.
At the same time, Canal Plus is in talks to merge its sports rights buying unit Sport Plus with French group Jean-Claude Darmon (F.GJC) and RTL Group`s (L.RTL) own rights purchase entity UFA Sports. It has also said it wants to buy ISMM Group, a Swiss sports marketing company that has filed for bankruptcy and owns the non-European television rights to the soccer World Cups 2002 and 2006, as well as the marketing contracts for the events.
In the past, the cost of rights have weighed heavily on the bottom line of the company whose audience success originated in its broadcasting of major sports events, mainly soccer.
-By Mathilde Richter, Dow Jones Newswires; 331-4017-1740 [e-mail]

-0- 04/05/01 06-07G



(This story was originally published Thursday)
PARIS (Dow Jones)-At end December 2000, in Europe Canal Plus had 15.6 million subscribers on its premium analog channels and 5.7 million digital subscribers. The group sees all its subscriber base moving to digital platforms by 2004 or 2005.

FRANCE: premium channel Canal Plus (100%) 4.9 Mln subscribers



satellite TV Canalsatellite (66% Canal Plus, 34% Lagardere) 179,000 subscribers
cable TV NC Numericable (28.75% Canal Plus, 28.75% Exante, 42.5% France Telecom) 696,000 subscribers

BELGIUM (FRENCH-SPEAKING):



premium channel Canal Plus Belgique (100%) 173,000 subscribers
digital Le Bouquet (100%) 39,000 subscribers

BELGIUM (FLEMISH)



premium channel Canal Plus Flanders (100%) 165,000 subscribers
digital Canal Digitaal (100%) 32,000 subscribers

NETHERLANDS



premium channel Canal Plus Nederland (100%) 306,000 subscribers
digital Canal Digitaal (100%) 30,000 subscribers

NORDIC COUNTRIES (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland)



premium channel Canal Plus Nordic (100%) 574,000 subscribers
Canal Digital (50% Canal Plus, 50% Telenor) 354,000 subscribers

POLAND Canal Plus owns 33% in TKP, other shareholders include Polkom
Invest, Heritage Film, media mogul Lev Rywin



premium channel Canal Plus Polska (100% TKP) 352,000 subscribers
digital Cyfra+ (100% TKP) 299,000 subscribers

ITALY



premium channel Telepiu (98% Canal Plus, 2% RAI) 1.23 Mln subscribers
digital D+ (98% Canal Plus, 2% RAI) 973,000 subscribers
soccer channel Plus Calcio (98% Canal Plus, 2% RAI) 380,000 subscribers

SPAIN Canal Plus owns 21.3% in Sogecable; other shareholders include
21.3% Prisa, 12.2% Grupo March, 6% BBVA.



premium channel Canal Plus (100% Sogecable) 1.76 Mln subscribers
Canal Satelite (100% Sogecable) 1.05 Mln subscribers

AFRICA (mainly North African countries)



Canal Plus Horizons (95.9% Canal Plus) 151,000 subscribers.
-By Mathilde Richter, Dow Jones Newswires; 331-4017-1740 [e-mail]

-0- 04/05/01 06-07G.

(Copyright (c) 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.).
QuellenOW JONES INTERNATIONAL NEWS 04/05/2001




07Mai2001 NETHERLANDS: KPN testing interactive TV over DSL.
By Jana Sanchez
AMSTERDAM, May 7 (Reuters) - Dutch group KPN Telecom NV said on Monday it was testing technology that would allow it to offer interactive TV, video on demand (VoD) and games to consumers along with its high-speed Internet service.
If the entertainment services get the go-ahead, they could bolster the company`s domestic fixed-line revenues and offer competition to similar services being launched by the Netherlands` largest cable company, United Pan-Europe Communications (UPC) .
"KPN is engaged in trials to see how the technology for interactive TV and VoD could be combined with their DSL (digital subscriber line) services... The stuff works. It`s just up to them when to roll it out," an industry source said.
Although KPN spokesman Michel Hueber confirmed the entertainment trials, for strategic reasons he said he was not prepared to release further details yet.
The former telecoms monopoly would need a commercial broadcast licence to offer the services, but there was no reason why such a licence would be withheld, said Leonard van der Meulen, a commissioner at the Dutch media regulator Commissariaat voor de Media.
The most optimistic voices - the vendors who stand to gain if telcoms companies roll out these services - say most telcos would have to compete quickly with the entertainment offerings from rival cable and satellite services, or risk losing even more of their domestic Internet and voice telephony revenues.
"We have been talking to every major telco in Europe... I think you will start to see all the major telcos offering these services as early as the end of the year," said Stephen Turnbull, regional general manager for the home networking group of Motorola , the largest maker of set-top digital TV devices.
TIMING, COSTS ARE ISSUES
European telcos are plagued with debt, and would have to dig deep to come up with the money needed to roll out the services, analysts and industry sources said.
"Most telcos are going through a difficult phase and trying now to figure out what can be done over DSL," said Stuart Collingwood, vice president of Liberate Technologies .
Cost estimates for KPN to roll out such services on its network run as high as almost one billion euros.
The set-top box costs about $500 - a high unit price due to the small number being produced. Network upgrades could require funds which KPN might have trouble finding.
KPN is burdened with 21.9 billion euros of debt after the acquisition of German mobile carrier E-Plus and the purchases or interests in four third-generation (3G) mobile phone licences.
One way to cut costs would be for KPN to ask consumers and vendors help foot the bill for the rollout, said Turnbull.
"They are going to have to look at creative ways to finance this... they need to deliver these services, and people will pay for these services," Motorola`s Turnbull said.
Even then, the challenge is to demonstrate that these services can be profitable.
"They cannot get the cost model to work in many instances. The boxes are expensive, the upgrades are expensive and most of them are paralysed by their 3G debt and collapsing share prices," said Liberate`s Collingwood.
KPN is unlikely to charge more for the services than UPC would do. Analysts estimate a typical Dutch family could spend between 50 and 120 euros per month on interactive TV and VoD.

THE TECHNOLOGY WORKS
The software and hardware to offer interactive TV via a set-top box or so-called home gateway is already in use in the U.S., Canada and Britain.
Motorola, Pace Micro , Philips Electronics and Nokia all produce a set-top box for delivering interactive TV via a telephone network.
Companies that make interactive TV software, mainly used on cable and satellite networks, say they can easily transfer their software to a telecoms network. Those companies include OpenTV , Liberate and Microsoft .
There are also smaller companies that make software exclusively for telco uses, including Canada`s iMagicTV , whose software is being used by Britain`s Kingston Telecommunication Group and being tested by Norway`s Telenor .
(C) Reuters Limited 2001.
Quellen:REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE - WESTERN EUROPE
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE 07/05/2001



05Mai2001 UK: Outlook - Sky closes Open.
THE CHESS GAME continues. BSkyB`s decision to fold Open, the interactive TV platform, into its own new media operations marks another key strategic move in this mid stage game. At stake is Britain`s broadband, digital future, only in this particular board game, there aren`t just two players shifting their pieces around, but four/five - BSkyB, the two big cable companies of Telewest and NTL, ONdigital, and British Telecom together with other telcos hoping to exploit DSL technology to deliver a broadband service. Only Sky, ONdigital and the cable companies compete head to head as things stand. DSL is aimed more at the business market. But the end game is largely the same - the ability to deliver high speed broadband interactivity and multichannel TV to home and office alike.
The writing has long been on the wall for Open as a standalone venture. Originally set up under Sam Chisholm`s watch as chief executive, it was seen by BSkyB as a way of getting others to pay for the cost of subsidising Sky`s digital set-top boxes. In return for the subsidy, the other partners in Open were meant to get a cut of the transaction fees. Unfortunately it hasn`t worked out that way.
There has been little appetite for Open`s quite limited, "walled garden" range of interactive shopping opportunities among Sky subscribers, and in the six months to the end of last December, the business lost #116m. The original purpose has also become largely redundant, since all the partners bar BSkyB and BT have now quit, and BSkyB is in any case forced to give away its set top boxes in the battle for digital subscribers.
Up until quite recently, the plan was to float Open. Some very exaggerated valuations were touted in the scramble for the business. That`s plainly now a non starter, and anyway deriving a reasonable stream of interactive revenue from subscribers has become a key part of Sky`s growth strategy more generally. In these circumstances, bringing the operation in-house makes obvious sense. It gives Sky hands on control over development of its interactive content.
Nearly all Sky`s new media adventures have to date ended badly. Last July it bought Sport Internet Group for more than #300m in shares. Today the business is thought to be pretty much worthless. Hundreds of millions more are said to have gone down the plug hole in fruitless new media initiatives. John Swingewood, Sky`s director of new media operations, is to be axed for his trouble. In a way it is surprising he lasted as long as he did. The Murdoch empire is generally more efficient and timely in its purges.
Yet this is a business that Sky has to get right in the long term if it is both to keep growing its subscribers and get more revenue out of them. Out of the four possible platforms, satellite is the most expensive means of delivery for a broadband service, so Sky starts with one hand tied behind its back. For the time being, it is able to offset this cost disadvantage through its dominance of pay-TV content. Other platforms believe they are being charged an unjustifiably high price for Sky`s pay TV content and are determined to prove it.
The Office of Fair Trading completes its investigation of the complaint shortly, though don`t expect a decision before the election. The Government doesn`t want to be accused of political bias one way or the other. If the result goes against Sky, it will be a serious setback - tantamount to the loss of two of your castles if not quite your queen. Despite Sky`s present lead in the digital race, the other players still have everything left to play for.
(c) Independent Newspapers (UK) Limited 2001. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, distributed or exploited in any way.
Quellen:INDEPENDENT 05/05/2001 P21




Silberstuermer

[salinger]

"...und was hat das jetzt mit MBX zu tun?"

der markt ist da, keine frage.. man sollte sich jetzt auf firmen konzentrieren, die dort WIRKLICH mitmischen können..

mbx hat kein geld, kein produkt, kein auftrag, keine testierte bilanz..

... die letzte kuh machts gatter zu...


-sali.

[Silberstuermer]

Das übliche Niveau, Salinger! Nichts anderes war von dir zu erwarten. Es könnte einem manchmal auch gut anstehen, sich vornehm zurückzuhalten, anstatt sich gleich mit seinen Ergüssen in der Öffentlichkeit auszubreiten. Aber da steht ja das Ego und die Eitelkeit im Weg. Schade!


Silberstuermer

[highlaender1]

Genau, was hat das mit mbx zu tun???????????


aber wer wie silberstuerzer hier alles mit englischen Müll vollpostet, der mit mbx nix zu tun hat..na ja
damit beweist du mir rein gar nichts

[filigranPG]

@ Salinger,
sehr treffend und ohne Schnörgel,gefällt mir sehr gut !

[salinger]

@blechstürmer,

mit der "vornehmen zurückhaltung" könntest du schon einmal anfangen, indem du dieses board nicht mit solchen substanzlosen postings zumüllst.

[boertropi]

@filigran

Entschuldige die dumme Frage:
Ich kann in meinem aktuellen Duden das Wort "Schnörgel" nicht finden.

Wenn ich mir Salingers Posting ansehe, kann "Schnörgel" eigentlich nur Substanz bedeuten!!!

Liege ich richtig???

boertropi

[BlechPET]

@salinger
Falsch geraten. Ansonsten Deiner Meinung.
MBX ist übrigens das Messegeld ausgegangen. Wegen Großkunden oder so.
Bald sitzt Domeier im Flugzeug und dreht eine Nase.

[salinger]

boertropi,

na das war jetzt aber ein reisser...


- sali.

[boertropi]

@filigran

Wo bleibt Deine Antwort???

boertropi

[Silberstuermer]

09Mai2001 UK: E-Commerce Outlets That Don`t Work.
By David Pringle.
Even High-Tech Fails To Make Sales Click Via Digital TV

`I`d Rather Watch Real Telly` Than Browse 50 E-Outlets

LONDON - Andrea Carr`s television set is hooked up to an electronic shopping service, but she never buys anything from its 50 or so retail outlets.

"I would rather watch real telly," says the marketing executive, as a big soccer match blares from the set.

That isn`t what European politicians and electronic-commerce promoters want to hear. Many of them have been counting on Europe`s lead in digital television and mobile telephony to propel the region ahead of the U.S. in e-commerce, even though far more Americans than Europeans own computers. "These developments could make Europe`s lower personal-computer penetration rates irrelevant," said Erkki Liikanen, the European Union commissioner responsible for information technology, in a January 2000 speech in Oslo.

It hasn`t happened, and many e-commerce experts say it won`t occur. After two years of technical setbacks and consumer apathy, few industry insiders expect digital TV or mobile phones to lead a shopping revolution in Europe soon - although a spokesman for Mr. Liikanen says he remains confident that Europe can catch up with the U.S.

"It was wishful thinking," says Johan Montelius, a Stockholm-based analyst with Jupiter Research, which expects e-commerce revenues in Western Europe to still be less than half those in the U.S. in 2003. According to Jupiter, electronic sales through both TV sets and mobile phones last year were less than 2% of those through PCs in Western Europe.

Consider the interactive shopping service known as Open, which British Sky Broadcasting PLC established in the summer of 1999 as a joint venture with British Telecommunications PLC and two other partners. Although companies ranging from Wal-Mart Stores Inc.`s Asda unit to clothing retailer Next PLC set up shop on the service, analysts say that sales have been sluggish.

Today, as part of its quarterly results, BSkyB is expected to announce that it will fold unprofitable Open into its own operations, say people familiar with the matter. These people say that BSkyB will focus in the short term on beefing up its interactive betting and game-playing services, rather than on adding new shopping sites. It is a far cry from early 2000, when executives at Open were calling on the British government to look to digital TV, rather than to PCs, to achieve its goal of making the U.K. the best place to trade electronically by 2002.

British books-and-music retailer WH Smith PLC has set up shop on all four main interactive TV services in the U.K., which include Open; cable TV systems operated by Telewest Communications PLC and NTL Inc., to which Ms. Carr subscribes; and one terrestrial system, OnDigital, which broadcasts over the airwaves. But WH Smith`s sales through TV are modest. Damien Keep, senior marketing executive, says TV accounted for 10% to 12% of sales for the company`s online division in December. The whole division, which includes its Internet site, racked up sales of GBP 5 million (8.1 million euros), or less than 1% of total retail revenue, in the six months to Feb. 28.

Ricardo Tejada, a spokesman for Open, says that sales through the service are "quite strong" compared with other e-commerce channels, although he declined to reveal revenue figures for Open`s interactive shopping service.

Neither NTL nor Telewest would give any figures relating to retail sales through their services. However, a spokesman for NTL says the company is "very optimistic - it is still early days."

Moreover, BSkyB and WH Smith remain optimistic regarding the longer term. "We are big enthusiasts," says Mr. Keep, who predicts that interactive TV will account for 45% of WH Smith`s online sales in the U.K. by 2005. He expects sales to take off once the technology improves to a point where consumers can easily purchase goods related to the actual programs they watch. "They might be watching a song on (music channel) MTV and they would be able to press a button to buy the album," he says. BSkyB, NTL and Telewest are all moving toward this kind of business model.

Today, shopping via TV is far from impulsive: Viewers who want to visit a retail site either need to abandon the program they are watching or shrink it down into a small corner of the screen.

In the second half of 2000, the 30 or so retailers on Open together received a total of 655,000 orders, but Mr. Tejada, the Open spokesman, declines to provide revenue figures or to say how the order numbers compare with internal forecasts. The number of subscribers to BSkyB`s digital service totaled 4.5 million at the end of last year.

It is difficult to make a direct comparison with the Web, as analysts don`t know how many online orders the U.K.`s 20 million Internet users placed in the last six months of 2000. But Amazon.com Inc.`s U.K. unit, which is the leading online retailer in Britain, says it sold more than 3.5 million items over the Internet between Nov. 2 and Dec. 17, although it declines to say how many orders that reflects.

The experience of retailers on Open "suggests that actually there isn`t much money to be made from retail over television," says Tim Grimsditch, a London-based analyst with Forrester Research. After investing in a suitable e-commerce system and paying money to rent space on the Open service, "without a shadow of a doubt almost all of them are losing money," he says. According to several retailers, who asked not to be identified, Open has substantially slashed the rate it initially charged to retailers. Open declined to comment.

Still, the service definitely has its fans. Daren Forsyth, who works for an Internet-development agency in London, says he orders home-delivered pizzas twice a week for him, his wife and three sons via Open`s TV service. "I am put off using the phone because as a family we are always changing our order at the last minute and they can get it wrong," he says. "I am really looking forward to the day when they get an Indian restaurant on there."

Fast food is the poster child for shopping via TV. Of the GBP 1 million of e-commerce sales that Domino`s Pizza posted in Britain and Ireland in the first four months of this year, 60% came through interactive-TV services. Domino`s says that simple transactions - such as its so-called meal deal, a single-price promotion - work best on TV.

Indeed, online-commerce agency Entranet Ltd. advises clients with more complex products or services not to even try to sell electronically via TV. In a mock-up living room in their London office, Entranet executives call up a TV site they designed for U.K. insurance group Eagle Star, which is part of Zurich Financial Services Group. Unlike its home page on the Web, which allows consumers to get a quote and buy insurance electronically, Eagle Star`s TV site is a spartan affair, with just a smattering of graphics and text asking whether the viewer is interested in car, house or some other kind of insurance. After a couple more simple questions, the site then asks whether the viewer would like a call from a sales executive.

Consumers don`t want to fill in lengthy forms on their TV to apply for insurance, explains Steve Scott, head of interactive channels at Entranet. "You have got other people in the room saying, `I want to watch EastEnders,"` he adds, referring to a popular British soap opera.

Eagle Star says it was wary about investing in a fancy site, given the limitations of current interactive-TV technology. "Let`s not jump in with both feet, because the potential to get burnt is so great," says John Packham, operations director at Eagle Star. He says Eagle Star, whose site is carried on Telewest`s cable service, is disappointed by the low number of consumers who are buying interactive keyboards. Telewest won`t say what proportion of its subscribers have paid GBP 20 for a keyboard.

E-commerce in Europe via mobile phones seems to be even more anemic than TV-based shopping services, despite a burst of enthusiasm less than two years ago.

In November 1999, Gartner Group, a U.S. research firm, described Europe`s strength in mobile communications as a key asset. "This is where Europe will not only catch up, but also leapfrog the U.S. in embracing e-commerce," Gartner Group said in a news release issued at its annual symposium in Cannes, France. A few months later, mobile-phone makers began rolling out handsets with Internet browsers, while Visa International and other major financial institutions rushed to develop secure wireless-payment systems.

Also in November 1999, Barclays PLC completed the U.K.`s first Internet sale over a mobile phone and boasted that shopping in Britain had taken a "leap into the future." But that transaction was part of a small trial, and 18 months later Barclays`s Internet shopping site, Indigosquare, still isn`t open to business to mobile-phone users. "We didn`t progress the pilot into a commercial service," says Jon McClay, head of e-commerce development at Barclaycard, a unit of Barclays. "The tests showed there were some issues with the technology," he adds.

Slow connection times have hurt consumers` and merchants` enthusiasm for mobile commerce, limiting electronic sales via mobile phones last year to a few million euros in Europe. Gartner analyst Peter Richardson acknowledges that mobile commerce is off to a slow start and might take five to 10 years before it fulfills its potential.

Still, European companies have hardly given up on the wireless Internet. "Taking the long-term view, we retain the confidence that we had" in 1999, says Mr. McClay of Barclays. Network and handset technologies are improving, and mobile-phone users should be able to purchase goods from Indigosquare within the next 12 months, he adds.

But many experts now say that mobile phones` small screens mean they are only really suitable for buying simple products, such as flowers, travel packages or concert tickets. Jupiter says that by 2005 less than 5% of electronic sales in Western Europe will be through mobile phones.

Even in mobile-phone-crazy Finland, many of the fancy new wireless services have little to do with shopping. Mr. Richardson at Gartner says that one of his colleagues, traveling on a train in Finland, watched "a little old lady take a phone out of her handbag, press a couple of buttons, listen briefly and then turn it off." Intrigued, the analyst asked her what she had done. "I just turned on my sauna," came the reply.

(See related article: "Dial S for Shopping? Only 12% Will Buy On Their Mobiles - Number Is Down Dramatically From Last Year, Survey Finds" - WSJE May 9, 2001).
(Copyright (c) 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.).

Quellen:WALL STREET JOURNAL EUROPE 09/05/2001




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13Mai2001 USA: The ABCs of Modern TVs - Sorting the Options Is No Longer as Simple as 1, 2, 3.
By Harriet Winslow Washington Post Staff Writer.
A current TV ad campaign shows a man pausing a televised sporting event so he can rush to church and pray, then returning to resume watching without missing his hoped-for shot.

Is this possible? Yes, through a personal video recorder.

Is it affordable? Depends.

Will consumers pay for it?

That remains to be seen.

The personal video recorder, or PVR, is just one of many video devices and technologies that can make television-shopping an overwhelming adventure.

The flock of abbreviations and new brand names may put shoppers into a fog, but there are signs that the haze may be clearing - at least slightly.

In recent months, several reports have pointed to reluctance on the part of the TV-buying public to splurge on innovations such as digital (DTV) or high definition (HDTV) television. High prices and limited viewing fare, for starters, have kept new sets on the store shelves.
Some recent developments in TV technology land may convince people that now is the time to plunge into the next generation of video equipment.

But some major sticking points still remain. Such as price. And then there`s the question of what to watch after bringing home, say, a digital television.

Stephen Jacobs, who teaches information technology at Rochester Institute of Technology and reviews digital TV for Gadgetboy.com, summed up the TV-buyer`s quandary.

"The real problem is this chicken-and-egg thing of programmers` not producing content for it until there`s a big enough installed base, and there will not be one until the price comes down on the sets," he said. "And they won`t knock the sets down until there`s more programming but won`t make more programming until the sets come down.

"Somebody has to belly up to the bar and do something. To tell people they have to pony up $2,500 - $7,000 just to see a bigger screen, that`s a big chunk of money- - especially in the last seven months. You`ve got to really sell me."

Selling is where Gary Yacoubian comes in. He is a vice president at Myer-Emco, a high-end audio and video chain in the Washington area. He acknowledged the prevalence of confused, overwhelmed customers, but said the situation is changing.
Yacoubian said that customers tend to be puzzled when they approach his salespeople. But, he said, "It doesn`t take hours to unravel the confusion. We have done, every few weeks, a home-theater seminar. They`ve been modestly attended - until recently, when I`d say triple the number of people are coming."
Consumers are catching on to the notion that the display technology has become more stable, he said. "Not the set-top boxes" that feed signals to the TV, "but the device to display the image. So there`s future upgradability. People will be able to use the TV they`ve bought today down the road."

Another reason for the increased interest, he said, is that the sets "look absolutely awesome with conventional sources, such as DVD and DirectTV satellite. It`s obvious how much better they look."

And, said Yacoubian, "There`s a third, emerging reason: Finally, the set-top boxes have become reasonably affordable. They`re not cheap, at $300, but they`re no longer $3,000 as they once were."

Yacoubian`s biggest sellers are the new set-top boxes made by Sony, Mitsubishi and Panasonic that can receive both local channels and satellite HDTV signals and feed them into the set. "In my world," he said, "it`s a convergence product. These are always back-ordered."

Also fueling interest in things digital is a satellite TV industry encouraged by a ruling that permits satellite providers to carry local signals. In recent months, cable and satellite TV providers have waged vigorous marketing campaigns, each touting its system over the other.
New sets that carry all of this technically enriched programming should be around a while. But viewers who buy one may complain that there aren`t enough shows in high definition to make the purchase worthwhile.

That problem is being worked on.

The digital-TV audience is still too small to produce more shows in HDTV, Hollywood would argue; yet more TV studios may be taping their pilots for next year in high definition. Fox`s "Titus" is an odd example of the conflict: It`s produced in high definition, but many can`t see that.
Cable networks such as HBO, which has 24 hours of HDTV movies available by satellite, are a strong selling point for the new TVs.

"Now you can watch HBO in HDTV, you can watch the CBS fall schedule in HDTV, plus you have the added benefit that DVDs look so good" played through the new sets, said Yacoubian.

Locally, WETA has made several shows in high definition. Joe Widoff, a WETA vice president who has pushed his station to produce more of this programming, noted that the cost of making these shows has come down. "It used to be you had to budget 30 percent more to make shows in high-definition, but it`s really negligible now," he said.

WETA`s high-definition shows have been largely art and performance programs paid for by private funding. Widoff said the station is now waiting for others to join in.

"We`ve been on the front line for this for a long time and we`d like somebody else to take a turn," he said.

While the transition to digital programming continues to be sluggish, consumers may find themselves looking in the electronics department for another gadget: the personal video recorder (PVR).

Systems with names such as TiVo, ReplayTV and UltimateTV give viewers, variously, control and interactive options. Instead of taping material as a VCR does, the PVR stores footage on a hard drive. Viewers can pause, rewind, use instant replay or slow down live TV.

TiVo, backed by America Online, will even record shows it thinks a viewer wants to watch, based on previous habits. TiVo is built into Philips and Sony set-top boxes, and has a deal with satellite dish company DirectTV. It charges a monthly subscription fee of $10.

ReplayTV, owned by SONICblue, lets viewers search for shows by an actor`s name (or keyword). The company also allows a viewer to program a recorder from anywhere by using the Web. The software is built into boxes made by Panasonic. There is no monthly fee.

UltimateTV, made by Microsoft, really counts as interactive TV. It requires a lot of wiring, but has access to the Internet, allowing e-mail, chats and game-playing while a viewer watches a show on the set. It also records, requiring a DirectTV satellite dish and a monthly fee.

Yacoubian finds that PVRs can be confusing to customers.

"We`re still bringing them up to people, rather than people bringing them up to us," he said. "These are not a home run for us. It`s a neat tool, but we don`t do a great job of explaining them."
Because of the two-way traffic these systems foster, PVRs have enormous implications.

If PVRs do take off, advertisers will have to find another way to get people to sit through commercials. With these recorders, commercials can be fast-forwarded or even skipped, although that`s already possible with a VCR - and they haven`t sunk the networks.

If PVRs catch on, expect more product placement within shows, the way "Survivor" incorporates Doritos and Reebok. But TV ads won`t disappear; advertisers will simply find new ways to target an audience - with more and more precision.

There also are privacy issues. TiVo has been criticized for tracking what users watch. To perform that neat trick of predicting what a viewer wants recorded, TiVo relies on a database of prior tapings. What will they do with this information?

Early adopters of high-definition sets might argue that it`s only a matter of time before everyone is converted. And Congress agrees, evidenced by its eagerness to eliminate analog TV. But those same adopters have a right to complain about the lack of high-definition programming, despite high-profile shows such as "The Sopranos," "NYPD Blue" and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation."

And they have other frustrations. Local broadcast station technicians must manually switch to the HD format at the start of these shows. It`s not unheard of for a forgetful techie to get a phone call from an HD-eager viewer.
There also can be lip-sync problems, because encoding a digital picture takes longer than sound, so a viewer could hear a basketball hit the floor before seeing it bounce. (If you are one of these long-suffering HD fans, a place to commiserate and trade tips can be found at the Web site AVSforum.com.)

Some early adopters may have moved to installing tuner cards in their personal computers, allowing them to watch a show on a PC while doing other things, said Jacobs. But because a PC typically isn`t in the living room and might be needed for other tasks, such as bill paying or homework, the PC should not replace the TV yet.

Jacobs said that to make the transition to digital TV, consumers shouldn`t have to buy a separate add-on box - these should come with cable, he believes.

"You have to sell me more than being able to see it big and pretty or offer more channels for my money," he said.

"The interactivity option is the most compelling, picking your shows and having them sent along with additional interactive programming that`s informational, or lets me play a game better, or lets me do real-time calculations with my own portfolio during a financial show."
TechTrends Inc., a consulting firm, conducted a survey that found users of interactive TV are most interested in video-on-demand. They want to record the latest films, preferably commercial free, at their convenience.

Which leads to the subject of DVDs. DVD, which once stood for digital video disc or digital versatile disc, is basically a bigger, faster compact disc that can hold cinema-like video, better-than-CD audio, and computer data. It aims to replace the audio CD, videotape, laserdisc, CD-ROM and video game cartridge.

And if watching films at home - free of ads - is what people are willing to spend their money on, it is likely that they also will want to buy TVs with large screens, ideally flat ones. Prices for large, flat-screen computers already have dropped, said Jacobs, so they should drop for TV screens as well - if demand increases.

Pros and Cons of Some Video Technologies

Here are some general pros and cons of four advanced television technologies, provided by the Consumers Electronics Association, an Arlington-based industry trade group representing more than 600 high-tech companies.

Technology

Personal Video Recorders

Pros

+More flexible viewing of programs: `Pause` function

+Offers recommendations for similar programs

+Easy recording of upcoming shows through enhanced program guide

+Ability to watch shows when convenient

+Can fast-forward through commercials in recorded shows

+Better indexing of programs

+Instant replay

+Low start-up cost (for many)

Cons

- Some can`t simultaneously show and record two different shows

- Start-up cost

- Monthly subscription in addition to cable or satellite service fee

Interactive TV

Pros

+Combines Internet and TV

+Can surf Web sites over the TV

+Access to interactive program guide

+Interactive programs

+Chat function

+Lower cost than a PC if interested in just Internet access

+Provides a low-cost additional connection

+In-program links to sites with related information

Cons

- Connection speeds are slower than available PC options

- Limited interactive programs

- Another device to buy for already connected households

Digital Television

Pros

+Superior audio and visual quality compared with analog

Cons

- High initial cost

- Limited digital programming available

DVD

Pros

+Superior to VHS in audio, visual quality

+Higher durability of DVDs compared with tape

+Expanding library of titles

+Able to listen to audio CDs in most players

+Low initial cost

+Many players have special features, such as zoom or bookmarking

+Not necessary to rewind after viewing

Cons

- Consumer must upgrade existing video library

- Unable to record

- Fewer titles available on DVD than VHS for now

SOURCE: CEA Market Research

(/body).
Copyright 2001, The Washington Post Co. All Rights Reserved
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.

Quellen:WASHINGTON POST 13/05/2001





13Mai2001 UK: BSkyB gambles its future on interactive television.
WHEN a cable operator in Ohio tried out some interactive TV software from Liberate Technologies last year, it reported a 33% decline in the number of customers cancelling their subscriptions and a 5% rise in average revenue per customer. Not surprisingly, the experiment captured the interest of the pay-TV industry worldwide.
BSkyB is among those that have decided to take interactive TV beyond the realm of the experimental to become its vehicle for a return to profit by 2003. Tony Ball, the chief executive, said interactive TV services will raise average revenues per viewer to #400 by 2005 from #286 now.
Interactive betting is at the top of the list of these services. BSkyB`s internet betting operation has generated the lion`s share of interactive revenues so far. If the ability to place bets into Go Racing`s horseracing coverage on TV is included, then the satellite broadcaster, controlled by Rupert Murdoch`s News Corporation, could have the digital equivalent of its exclusive rights to Premier League football. BSkyB is one of three shareholders in Go Racing.
Certainly, that was the future outlined by Murdoch at a conference in New York earlier this year. "Analysts expect online betting to become a staple in nearly eight million UK homes in the next four years, creating a #10bn market," he said.
It is all about squeezing more money out of existing subscribers instead of trying to persuade more to sign up.
Interactive TV is coming out of the laboratory and on to the financial director`s radar screen. In many ways, Open, the clumsy first-generation interactive TV service than runs over BSkyB`s satellite network and in which it shared ownership with BT, Matsushita and HSBC, has been News Corporation`s laboratory.
Built on a limited "walled garden" of retailers, viewers are required to leave their regular TV viewing and navigate their way around an e-shopping universe. This is not the stuff of mass audiences or mass purchases but it has drawn intense interest outside the UK, since Open is considered the pinnacle of achievement in the field to date.
Now, BSkyB is investing in technology to bring interactive services into the regular broadcast stream so that viewers can revert to passive mode and click a single button on their remote control if they want to interact with their TV.
Last week, BSkyB outlined plans to fold its interactive operations into a single unit now that it has government approval to control 80.1% of Open.That will enable it to eliminate overlaps and enter the next generation of interactive services that should be more compelling and transferable across mobile phones and PCs as well.
There is already speculation that the European Commission may not agree with the UK government. But for the moment, Sky Interactive is the umbrella unit for all things interactive, which includes Sky Sports Active, the football channel, spread across several channels so viewers can choose to watch a game from different camera angles.
It may not sound like entertainment to everyone, but it is the third most popular reason for people to sign up to BSkyB. Already there are plans to apply it to the next series of Big Brother and a Sky Movies Active version that allows viewers to call up film trailers and book tickets.In reality, BSkyB`s interactive technology is very basic even in its second generation. Cable and phone lines can do much more than satellite broadcasting, according to Ricky Rand, chief executive of FutureTV, a company that makes interactive TV technology. Still, BSkyB is well placed to develop interactive TV as a mass market, armchair push-button experience, if anyone can. This is, after all, the company that turned a nation of doubters into a seven million-strong pay-TV subscriber base by buying exclusive rights to screen Premier League football.
But it has been a long time since those glory days. Since then, the company went into the red to upgrade its network to digital so that it can launch more channels and spawn interactive and e-commerce revenues.
That continues to take its toll on the company, which produced its eighth quarterly loss in a row last week. Its nine-month pre-tax loss, excluding an exceptional charge of #188.9m, nearly doubled to #176.4m, compared with #89.9m in the same period a year previously. Having paid dearly for its digital machine, BSkyB considers it is payback time.
Subscriber numbers used to be its obsession: the more people it could lock into its network, the higher its profit. But since it subsidises digital set-top boxes to drive demand, it must now wrestle with the same bad debt problem mobile-phone companies encountered a decade ago, when some customers took subsidised equipment and threw it away when they ran out of money or interest.
It is increasingly likely the period of giving away set-top boxes will come to an end soon, as the pay-TV companies turn from increasing their customer base to maximising their returns.
BSkyB`s published customer acquisition cost is #180 ($258), which is low compared with the pay-TV industry average, according to Fred Martinson, associate at Spectrum Strategy Consultants. BSkyB will lose money on each customer that decides not to sign up again a year later.
So interactive TV has become a way to reduce churn by making TV more compelling. BSkyB`s French counterpart, Canal Plus, has already used it to cut churn by 1 percentage point to 9%.
But not everyone is as convinced as BSkyB about its potential. Rob Fyfe, chief operating officer of BSkyB`s digital terrestrial TV competitor, Ondigital, believes it will be at least three years before interactive services contribute significantly.
Certainly becoming an interactive TV company holds a new set of challenges, as Petra Malenicka, interactive advertising manager at French satellite broadcaster TPS explains. "Perfect customer service is a must," she said. TPS should know. One of its early interactive advertising customers, Renault, was forced to withdraw an interactive advertising campaign, which offered free test drives to anyone who responded by pushing a button on their remote control. The network was inundated with replies and could not cope with demand.
What is clear is that digital networking is fast becoming a commodity: any company that can hook viewers and get them to spend more, will succeed in the long term. And BSkyB could be laying the groundwork for the other constituent parts of Sky Global Networks, News Corp`s global pay-TV empire.Dawn Hayes is bureau chiefof the451.com.
(c) Copyright Sunday Business Limited 2001.

Quellen:SUNDAY BUSINESS 13/05/2001




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News Headlines

16 May 2001


Vestel to unveil `next step on` from Tivo

Turkish manufacturer Vestel is to produce the world`s first TV with integrated PVR capabilities and claims it will add only £150 onto the price of a standard television, writes Ann-Marie Corvin.

Stepping up the pressure on Tivo - whose PVR retails for around £399 - the Vestel TV recorder is an all-in-one TV that enables viewers to easily record, pause, fast forward and replay TV, DVD and VCR programming without the need for a set-top box or additional remote control.

Vestel is working with UK digital TV software manufacturer Cabot - which it acquired last month - to produce the recorder, which includes a 40 Gigabytes hard disk which can hold up to 40 hours of programmes.

Cabot software managind director Ken Helps said that as television technology improves, more room was being made available in the back of the TV set for additional recording devices.

Vestel would then be able to provide the technology to its OEM partners to intergrate the technology into their badged TV sets.

Helps estimates that the intergrated televisions would retail for `about £150` more than a standard television set.

He added: `Tivo was a great achievement in technology and by intergrating PVR into television sets Vestel have produced the next step on from this.`

The recorder, which will be announced next week at the Cable &Satellite, Mediacast, ECC and e-CAST FACE show at the ExCeL exhibition conference, London, will also include an interactive European Programming Guide (EPG) which will be localised for each country.

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18Mai2001 UK: Television`s big match gamble - Media.
By Raymond Snoddy.
Tomorrow evening, the BBC`s Match of the Day will kick off as usual, as it has done on and off for the past 30 years. It will not be the most exciting of programmes. The FA Carling Premiership winners and losers have already been decided. The only flicker of life will come from Liverpool, fresh from their Uefa Cup triumph, trying to secure a place in the Champions League.
It will still be an historic programme - the last Premiership highlights slot on the BBC for the next three years, and possibly for much longer. There will be nothing to mark its passing. After all, Match of the Day will be back soon for the Greece-England match. The programme name will live on, with long gaps, providing coverage of FA Cup rounds and England games.
The rest of the action will have moved to ITV, and Des Lynam, who used to be the face of Match of the Day, will make his glorious return on commercial TV on Sundays as well as Saturdays.The end of BBC coverage of Premiership highlights is the harbinger of the most extraordinary outpouring of football there has ever been on our screens.
If they have the right equipment and channel subscriptions, football fans will, for at least part of next season, be able to indulge their passion seven days a week.
But will the enormous expansion of coverage lead to heightened interest in the game, or merely to growing football fatigue? More than #2 billion in rights alone and hundreds of millions in production costs are riding on the outcome. Some big bets are being placed on completely unproven charging mechanisms - pay-per-view matches.
At the moment the ratings evidence is mixed. The size of audience is, unsurprisingly, heavily influenced by which teams are playing and what is at stake.There`s no problem with games such as Liverpool`s heart-stopping 5-4 victory over Alaves on Wednesday night, which was watched by 14.2 million, the biggest TV sports audience since Euro 2000. Charlton vs Leicester on a wet Monday night is another matter.
The accountants in ITV and ONdigital, soon to become ITV Digital, will be praying that Manchester United don`t romp home with the Premiership again next season and that UK clubs do even better in Europe.
Champions League games pulled in an average male audience of about 4.3 million this season, but the total for individual games rose to 4.8 million as Leeds, Manchester United and Arsenal progressed to the later stages. There would have been another surge if a British team had got to the final.
Average viewing figures for BSkyB`s Super Sunday programme were around 720,000 this season, but as soon as it was clear that Manchester United could not be caught viewing figures fell to around 420,000.
The audience for the Arsenal-Liverpool FA Cup Final last Saturday was a disappointing 6.9 million, although there was the unusual distraction of sunshine and the growing tendency to watch big games on large screens in pubs. Such viewers are not captured by the ratings.
The new season will present the greatest challenge for ONdigital, the digital terrestrial service, which has one million subscribers. It will be hoping that its new sports channel to be launched in August, which will have the most comprehensive array of live football, will help it to make the necessary breakthrough.
There are problems for viewers. At the moment the 5.4 million BSkyB satellite viewers will not be able to see many Champions League matches. ONdigital saw these matches as a useful exclusive for its new channel.
Yet BSkyB, in which News International, owners of The Times, has a 37.5 per cent stake, is obliged by regulators to hand over its Premiership coverage on normal commercial terms.
It would surely be better for the development of digital TV in Britain, something the Government says is dear to its heart, if all the top games were available on all systems that have the capacity to show them.
Michael Green, chairman of Carlton, one of the ONdigital owners, insists that he is prepared to do a deal. It would be good if the transfer terms could be agreed before the August kick-off.
With ONdigital`s capital requirements already up to #1.1 billion from #700 million, it could certainly use the money. It would be a remarkable luxury for the ONdigital owners, Granada as well as Carlton, to foot such a bill alone with their share prices already under pressure.
It would be very unfortunate if a referee such as the Office of Fair Trading had to be called in to sort out the matter although a deal of some sort seems likely.
Football should be available seven days a week to everyone without having to buy a second set-top box.
This crazy football fan can hardly wait.
(c) Times Newspapers Ltd, 2001.
(c) Not Available for Re-dissemination.

Quellen:THE TIMES 18/05/2001





18Mai2001 NETHERLANDS: UPC SET-TOP BOXES TOO NOISY.
Cable operator UPC admitted yesterday at its annual shareholders meeting that customers had complained that its set-top boxes were too noisy. UPC Chairman Mark Schneider said the company was working on improvements and assured shareholders that boxes delivered from September would be less noisy. Currently, 33,000 UPC clients are using the boxes. UPC hopes to increase this to 250,000 by the end of this year. PAGE3.
(c) 2001 Het Financieele Dagblad
For more information about Het Financieele Dagblad, please visit our website at: http://www.fd.nl.

Quellen:HET FINANCIEELE DAGBLAD (IN BRIEF) 18/05/2001





18Mai2001 UK: City - Let the games begin at Sony and Telewest.
By Alex Jackson-Proes.
SONY PlayStation 2 fans may soon be able to take each other on at their favourite games, regardless of where they are in the country.
The entertainment giant has struck a deal with British cable company Telewest to combine its high-speed digital connections with Sony`s gaming technology.
The agreement will eventually let Telewest customers with PlayStation 2 consoles and digital set-top boxes to speed up the gameplay, download new characters and adventures, and play against others.
Trials are scheduled to begin at the end of this year. Telewest hopes that the service will eventually go to all its 1.7m customers.
(c) Telegraph Group Limited, London, 2001.

QuellenAILY TELEGRAPH 18/05/2001 P34





17Mai2001 SWEDEN: MTG Completes Switch to Digital TV.
STOCKHOLM, Sweden-(BUSINESS WIRE)-May 17, 2001-Modern Times Group MTG AB (NASDAQ:MTGNY)(SSE:MTGA.)(SSE:MTGB.), the international media group, today announced that it has now closed down the analogue satellite broadcasting signal for its `Pay` TV channels.
MTG`s Viasat Broadcasting business is the first satellite TV operator to close down its analogue signal and is now the largest digital TV operator in the Nordic territories with over 400,000 subscribers.
The switch from analogue to digital TV is expected to produce SEK 200 million in annual cost savings for the Group. Viasat has now closed down 7 analogue transponders, which have been replaced by digital transmission. This saving will enable MTG to pay back the cost of providing free TV set-top decoders to Viasat`s premium customers within 2 years.
MTG commenced the transition to digital TV in October 2000 and, in addition to the conversion of Viasat premium subscribers, over 125,000 new subscribers had signed up for digital TV services by the end of March 2001. 85% of these new subscribers have opted for the premium `Viasat Gold` package. New subscribers are offered a package of a TV set-top decoder, a satellite dish and a 12 or 24-month subscription at a fixed price.
Viasat had a total `Pay` TV subscriber base of 1,096,000 cardholders at the end of the first quarter of 2001 in the Nordic countries. The majority of the non-premium package subscribers received the basic package of two channels, which are also provided free-to-air. Analogue transmission of these channels will continue as before. MTG also provides its own-produced TV channels to cable and SMATV subscribers through 3rd party networks.
Hans Holger Albrecht, President and CEO, commented: "We were the last of the broadcasters to begin the digital transition and yet we are the first to be able to switch off analogue for our `Pay` TV customers. This is because we waited for the demand for digital services from our customers to rise, and for the technology costs associated with the switch to fall. This delay has been rewarded by rapid customer take-up and a pay back time on our investment of 2 years."
"As a vertically integrated media company, we have the ability to deliver a rich mix of own-produced and 3rd party content through a range of digital media including TV, wireless telephony, and the internet. We have pioneered a number of interactive services that are being rolled out to our subscribers. These new services will both drive revenue growth as well as providing new opportunities for advertisers."
Viasat`s interactive TV platform is called Everyday.TV and will enable subscribers to access email services, an electronic programme guide, information services, chat functions, 31 TV entertainment channels including multiplexed movies and sports coverage, `pay-per-view` events such as Swedish premier league football matches, and 13 radio channels.
Viasat broadcasting accounted for 64.3% of MTG`s net sales of SEK 1,508 million in the first quarter of 2001.

Modern Times Group MTG AB has seven business areas: Viasat Broadcasting (free-to-air and pay TV channels in nine countries), Radio (seven networks in five countries), New Media (the Everyday interactive TV portal, Internet portal, Mobile portal, and teletext services), Publishing (financial news and information services), Modern Interactive ( home shopping, e-commerce, and logistics), SDI Media (subtitling and dubbing services), and Modern Studios (content production and library).
Modern Times Group MTG AB`s class A and B shares are listed on the Stockholmsborsen O list ( symbols: MTGA and MTGB) and on the Nasdaq National Market in New York (symbol: MTGNY).
Modern Times Group MTG AB Skeppsbron 18, Box 2094, SE-103 13 Stockholm, Sweden Tel. [phone] Fax. [phone] (Publ) Registration No. 556309-9158 www.mtg.se
- This information was brought to you by BIT http://www.bit.se - The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/05/17/20010517BIT00940/bit0001.doc - http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/05/17/20010517BIT00940/bit0001.pdf -

CONTACT: Modern Times Group MTG AB Hans-Holger Albrecht, [phone] or [phone] Email: [e-mail] Website: www.mtg.se.

Quellen:BUSINESS WIRE 17/05/2001




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