08-09 - TELE-satellite International Magazine
08-09 - TELE-satellite International Magazine
08-09 - TELE-satellite International Magazine
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MEDIA<br />
E U R O P E<br />
E U R O P E<br />
Satellite & Broadband News<br />
Edited by<br />
Branislav Pekic<br />
ASTRA 5A SATELLITE SWITCHED OFF<br />
Following a technical incident in January this year,<br />
SES Astra had to put Astra 5A out of service and<br />
end the spacecraft’s mission. A team of technical<br />
experts and engineers since then succeeded in<br />
removing the <strong>satellite</strong> from the geostationary orbit<br />
and move it into a higher, secure orbit outside the<br />
geostationary ring. SES Astra moved its Astra 2C<br />
<strong>satellite</strong> to 23.5 degrees East, the orbital position<br />
formerly occupied by Astra 5A, in order to resume<br />
the services for customers from that position.<br />
EUTELSAT W2A SATELLITE OPERATIONAL<br />
The Eutelsat W2A <strong>satellite</strong>, launched on April 3,<br />
became fully operational in mid-May. The Ku and<br />
C-band W2A <strong>satellite</strong> almost triples resources at<br />
Eutelsat’s 10 degrees East position, which is one<br />
of the most longstanding locations in Europe and<br />
Africa for professional video, data and Internet<br />
services. With W2A’s entry into service Eutelsat<br />
has also introduced a new mission comprising 10<br />
C-band transponders. Centred over the African<br />
continent, the C-band footprint takes in large<br />
parts of the Middle East and central Asia to the<br />
East and stretches across to Latin America in the<br />
West. Following this redeployment Eutelsat’s W1<br />
<strong>satellite</strong> has been repositioned to 4 degrees East<br />
where it operates under the name Eurobird 4A.<br />
AUSTRIA<br />
<strong>TELE</strong>KOM AUSTRIA TOPS<br />
75.000 IPTV CUSTOMERS<br />
Telekom Austria has celebrated reaching the<br />
75.000th customer for its IPTV service aonTV.<br />
The operator had 63.800 subscribers to the<br />
service by the end of last year, and reports that<br />
the platform’s footprint now covers 65% of all<br />
households in the country. The service offers<br />
63 linear channels on its basic tier, as well as<br />
over 300 on-demand movies, and the option to<br />
subscribe to a number of premium channels.<br />
BELGIUM<br />
BELGACOM INTRODUCES<br />
NEW IPTV PACKAGE<br />
Belgacom has introduced a new package called<br />
Belgacom TV Comfort, which replaces the<br />
‘Classic+’ package and includes the ‘Comfort<br />
View’ feature set (Pause TV, Rewind and Record).<br />
The new package costs EUR 12.50 per month,<br />
with 75 SD channels available in Wallonia, 82<br />
available in Flanders and 90 available in Brussels,<br />
plus five HD channels: eén HD, Canvas HD,<br />
vtm HD, TF1 HD and France 2 HD. Rental of<br />
the set-top box, offering HD reception plus PVR<br />
features, costs EUR 6 per month. Belgacom had<br />
506.000 IPTV subscribers at the end of 20<strong>08</strong>.<br />
CROATIA<br />
ISKON LAUNCHES IPTV SERVICE<br />
Iskon, a subsidiary of Croatian incumbent operator<br />
T-Hrvatski Telekom (T-HT), has launched an<br />
IPTV service called Iskon.TV, initially available<br />
in nine cities: Zagreb, Split, Rijeka, Pula,<br />
Osijek, Velika Gorica, Samobor, Opatija and<br />
Solin. The service features over 40 channels,<br />
whilst double- and triple-play packages bundling<br />
internet access and telephony are available, as<br />
well as a number of converged services such<br />
as telephone Caller ID on the TV screen.<br />
T-HT RECORDS HUGE INCREASE<br />
IN IPTV SUBSCRIBERS<br />
T-Hrvatski Telekom (T-HT) reached 150.953<br />
subscribers to its IPTV service MAXtv by the end of<br />
the first quarter of this year, up a whopping 167.9%<br />
from the 56.355 customers registered at the end of<br />
March 20<strong>08</strong>. The strong growth was supported by<br />
the new standalone MAXtv service, which does not<br />
require a broadband subscription. MAXtv features<br />
blockbuster films from studios including Warner<br />
Bros, Paramount Pictures, NBC Universal as well<br />
as numerous local and international TV channels.<br />
DREAMPARK TO DELIVER<br />
IPTV MIDDLEWARE<br />
IPTV middleware provider Dreampark has delivered<br />
its Dreamgallery middleware to Croatian system<br />
integrator CS Computer Systems. The system<br />
was deployed for OiV, a Croatian state-owned<br />
nationwide broadcasting and channel aggregation<br />
organization. CS Computer Systems, with a<br />
broad customer base in the broadcast industry, will<br />
offer Dreampark’s IPTV middleware and provide<br />
system integration services to its customers. The<br />
first operator contract is signed and the system<br />
was successfully delivered in February 20<strong>09</strong>.<br />
FRANCE<br />
FRENCH IPTV SUBSCRIBERS<br />
TOP 6.2 MILLION<br />
French telecoms regulator ARCEP has revealed<br />
that 6.2 million French homes now have IPTV<br />
subscriptions - an increase of 36.8%. Figures<br />
indicate that 37% of all DSL subscribers in the<br />
country took TV as part of their broadband connection<br />
at the end of last year. France Telecom was<br />
France’s largest IPTV provider, with its Orange TV<br />
brand boasting 2.2 million digital TV subscribers.<br />
TNT HD CHANNELS INTRODUCE<br />
DOLBY DIGITAL<br />
Dolby Digital Plus has become the sole audio<br />
stream for three leading high-definition terrestrial<br />
channels broadcast on France’s national Television<br />
Numerique Terrestre HD (TBT HD) platform.<br />
The TNT HD multiplex R5 carries channels TF1<br />
HD, France 2 HD and M6 HD and the introduction<br />
of Dolby Digital Plus allows broadcasters to<br />
release valuable bandwidth to further improve<br />
the quality of the HD video transmissions.<br />
ORANGE SPORT REMAINS EXCLUSIVE<br />
TO FRANCE <strong>TELE</strong>COM<br />
A French appeals court has told France Telecom<br />
it can keep exclusivity on its Orange Sport IPTV<br />
channel. After IPTV rivals SFR and Iliad brought<br />
a case in February, the Paris Commercial Court<br />
had ruled that Orange had an unfair competitive<br />
advantage because the service is only available<br />
to Orange’s ADSL internet subscribers. But<br />
in June it overturned that decision, meaning it<br />
gets to retain a package of exclusive live French<br />
league football, However, France’s anti-trust<br />
authority is set to make its own ruling on the sport<br />
channel as well as Orange’s cinema channel.<br />
GERMANY<br />
KIRCH GETS IPTV BUNDESLIGA RIGHTS<br />
Leo Kirch’s Constantin Medien Group has acquired<br />
IPTV and mobile rights to top league Bundesliga<br />
football for the next four seasons as part of a<br />
sub-licensing deal with Deutsche Telekom. The<br />
entertainment and sports conglomerate, previously<br />
known as EM.Sport, is launching its own<br />
1<strong>08</strong> <strong>TELE</strong>-<strong>satellite</strong> — Broadband & Fiber-Optic — <strong>08</strong>-<strong>09</strong>/20<strong>09</strong> — www.<strong>TELE</strong>-<strong>satellite</strong>.com<br />
channel to broadcast all 612 football matches of<br />
the Bundesliga’s first and second leagues and will<br />
distribute its own live program as part of a feed-in<br />
agreement via Entertain, Deutsche Telekom’s<br />
IPTV service, as well as other mobile platforms.<br />
DEUTSCHE <strong>TELE</strong>KOM WITH<br />
448.000 IPTV SUBSCRIBERS<br />
Deutsche Telekom sold 600.000 subscriptions<br />
to its German IPTV service T-Home Entertain by<br />
the end of the first quarter of this year, compared<br />
to 480.000 at the end of last year, with 448,000<br />
subscriptions being in operation by the end of<br />
March. Deutsche Telekom has also revealed that it<br />
is planning to expand the number of linear channels<br />
available to its German IPTV subscribers, and<br />
from this summer will enable them to read emails,<br />
listen to music, and view personal media including<br />
photos and video, all via the IPTV platform.<br />
SES ASTRA LAUNCHES NEW HD OFFER<br />
SES Astra launched a new TV offer in High<br />
Definition in Germany during June. The first<br />
programmes which will be part of the HD+ offer<br />
are the commercial channels RTL and VOX.<br />
Relevant agreements have been signed with the<br />
Media Group RTL Germany. RTL has contracted<br />
additional long-term transponder capacity for the<br />
transmission of the new HD programmes from<br />
Astra’s orbital position 19.2 degrees East. The<br />
launch of HD+ is foreseen for late autumn.<br />
ITALY<br />
<strong>TELE</strong>COM ITALIA REACHES<br />
365.000 IPTV SUBSCRIBERS<br />
Telecom Italia had reached 365.000 subscribers for<br />
its IPTV service Alice Home TV by the end of the<br />
first quarter of this year, adding 36.000 customers<br />
in the three-month period. The operator is set<br />
to become the biggest IPTV player in Italy this<br />
year, finally overtaking rival Fastweb, according<br />
to a new report from Pyramid Research. The<br />
report indicates that FastWeb had a 46 per cent<br />
share of the Italian IPTV market at the end of<br />
20<strong>08</strong>. With the number of Italian IPTV subscribers<br />
totaling 863.000 at the end of last year, that<br />
puts FastWeb’s customer base at almost 400.000.<br />
Telecom Italia, meanwhile, ended the year with<br />
329,000 IPTV customers, giving it a market share<br />
of 38 percent. The third main Italian IPTV player<br />
is Wind, which ended 20<strong>08</strong> with about 80.000 TV<br />
customers, giving it a 10 percent market share.<br />
LATVIA<br />
LATTELCOM INTRODUCES FTTP<br />
CONNECTIONS IN RIGA<br />
Lattelecom has started offering ultra-fast Internet<br />
connections to a limited number of homes<br />
in the capital city of Riga, delivered via its new<br />
fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) network. The new<br />
services are available to around 100 homes in<br />
the district of Zolitude, offering speeds of up to<br />
100 Mbps. The new ultra-fast connections also<br />
support Lattelecom’s IPTV service Lattelecom<br />
Interactive TV, including multi-room services<br />
and high-definition content. Lattelecom enjoyed<br />
a fourfold increase in the number of subscribers<br />
to its IPTV service during 20<strong>08</strong>, although<br />
the company did not divulge actual figures.<br />
NETHERLANDS<br />
KPN ARRIVES TO 835.000 PAY-<br />
TV SUBSCRIBERS<br />
KPN added 60.000 subscribers to its pay-TV<br />
services (delivered via IPTV, DTT and mobile)<br />
in the first quarter of this year to reach 835.000<br />
by the end of March, giving the company a 12%<br />
share of the Dutch TV market. ARPU for its TV