C'est tellement facile: - TELE-satellite International Magazine

NEWS
will be available to subscribers who take the most
expensive package, with no extra charges. A 3D
football channels has been available since April
and some 1500 pubs and clubs have signed for it.
BSKYB PROFITS UP ON HDTV
BskyB said annual operating profit rose 10% as
more clients signed up for HDTV service. Some
30% of subscribers have taken the HD service so
far. BSkyB, which has 9.86 million customers, is
aiming for 10 million by the end of 2010. The company
attracted viewers to HD services after cutting
installation prices for set-top boxes. It added 90.000
net new customers in the fiscal fourth quarter, and
a net 429.000 of its customers signed up for HDTV.
N O R T H A M E R I C A
CANADA
HDTV & 3D Programmes
CRTC APPROVES APPLICATIONS
FOR 4 NEW HDTV CHANNELS
Federal regulator CRTC approved four applications
for new national, English-language Category
2 specialty high definition television channels in
Canada. The new HD channels include “Velocity,”
“Adventure,” “KISS,” and “The Love Channel”.
Applications for all four channels came from
Jay Switzer, the former president of Chum TV.
Although the applications have been approved
by the federal regulator, there is no guaranteed
the stations will actually make it to air. All
four licences will expire 31 August 2016.
UNITED STATES
DIRECTV AND PANASONIC TO
LAUNCH 3D CHANNELS
DirectTV and its partner Panasonic, which provides
content, have made decisions to bring 3D viewing
on home on 3D-enabled HDTV. The two companies
announced that they will launch new DirecTV channels
to offer movies, sports and other 3D content
all through the day and night. Direct TV has already
launched ESPN in June. DirecTV and Panasonic
believe that the number of 3D HDTV’s in the US
will go up to two million by the end of this year.
DISH NETWORK’S HD
PENETRATION REACHES 55%
With a subscriber count of close to 14 million,
Dish Network has a vast customer base to leverage
and generate profits by offering additional
advanced services like HD programming. Dish’s
HD penetration has grown at a rapid pace in recent
years. This figure increased from about a mere
3% in 2006 to about 20% in 2009. The company
currently delivers more than 200 national HD
channels as well as HD locals in 156 markets.
RCN BOOSTS HDTV LINE-UP
RCN Corporation added seven new MTV Networks
and BET Networks High Definition (HD) channels
to its line-up in June. The channels include Comedy
Central, CMT, MTV, Nickelodeon, Spike, VH1 and
BET. Programming is also available free on RCN’s
VOD, which increased the HD content in RCN’s
VOD library to more than 100 viewing choices.
HDTV HOUSEHOLDS OPT FOR HD VOD
About 50% of households with HDTV will watch
VOD in HD and other premium channels, accord-
ing to Centris Research. The report found that 68
million U.S. households have at least one HDTV,
triple the number of homes since the first quarter of
2007. HDTV households had an average monthly
cable bill US$ 17 higher than comparative homes
without HDTV. Centris believes the higher bill is
likely due to HDTV households being more inclined
to subscribe to premium cable channels, pay for
DVR and access VOD, among other services.
The report also found that nearly 30% of HDTV
households do not actively watch HD content.
DIRECTV ADDS 15 HD CHANNELS
DirecTV added 14 new HD channels: Hallmark HD;
Lifetime HD; HBO2 HD East; HBO Zone HD; Showtime
Beyond HD; Showtime Next HD; Showtime
Women HD; TMC Xtra HD East; Starz Cinema HD
; • Starz in Black HD; Encore HD East; CSN Bay
Area HD (regional sports channel); CSN California
HD (regional sports channel); and FSN Florida HD
(regional sports channel.) and GolTV. DIRECTV
now claims to have more than 150 HD channels.
SONY PLANS HD MOVIE CHANNEL
Sony Pictures Television has plans to launch
two new movie channels later this year, one of
which, tentatively titled Sony Pictures Movies HD,
would be the company’s first wholly owned cable
channel in the U.S. devoted to movies. The channel,
tentatively scheduled to debut October 1, is
being designed to exploit Sony’s large film library
and offer cable and satellite television operators
another HD channel to market their packages.
COMCAST TO CARRY 16
STARZ HD NETWORKS
Comcast has agreed to carry Starz’s 16 premium
movie channels in both SD and HD, although it