MARKETS & TECHNOLOGY
MARKETS & TECHNOLOGY TRENDS SES ASTRA launches new digital platform Entavio at the IFA …”the beginning of a new generation of digital satellite television…” SES ASTRA has chosen IFA 2007 as the launch point for what it terms “a new generation of satellite television.” Entavio is a set top box providing a digital satellite service comprising about 500 digital TV and radio channels to households in Germany. The service will be distributed free and will include the option to access pay-TV for a monthly flat rate of 1.99 Euro. The first pay- TV operator to offer its packages via Entavio is Premiere, including its new Premiere programme Premiere Star. Further operators will follow. 15 models of Entavio compatible receivers by around 12 manufacturers will be available for households at the beginning of September. The smart cards required for accessing pay-TV will be offered and distributed by the Entavio company. HD-DVD Wins Major “Brownie Points” in Battle of Formats Paramount and Dreamworks Animation Each Declare Exclusive Support for HD-DVD Until recently, Blu-ray Disc had been boasting about having “exclusive” deals with major studios. However the HD DVD camp have now won major points by gaining support from some big names in Hollywood. Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation have each announced that they will exclusively support the nextgeneration HD DVD format on a world-wide basis. The exclusive HD DVD commitment will include all movies distributed by Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies and MTV Films, as well as movies from DreamWorks Animation, which are distributed exclusively by Paramount Home Entertainment. The companies each said that the decision to distribute exclusively in the HD DVD format resulted from an extensive evaluation of current market offerings, which, they said, confirmed the clear benefits of HD DVD, particularly its market-ready technology and lower manufacturing costs. Paramount Home Entertainment was due to launch its exclusive HD DVD program with the release of the blockbuster comedy hit “Blades of Glory” on August 28th following with two of the biggest grossing movies of the year “Transformers” and “Shrek the Third”. These three titles alone represent more than .5 billion in box office ticket sales worldwide. “The combination of Paramount and DreamWorks Animation brings a critical mass of current box office hits to consumers with a line-up of live action and animated films that are perfect for HD DVD,” stated Brad Grey, Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, which is currently the leading studio in domestic box office. “Part of our vision is to aggressively extend our movies beyond the theater, and deliver the quality and features that appeal to our audience. I believe HD DVD is not only the affordable high quality choice for consumers, but also the smart choice for Paramount.” As a neutral platform, Entavio offers satellite households a large range of current and future digital free and pay-TV programs through a single receiver. Furthermore, TV viewers will benefit from additional features and service functions such as the interactive mobile phone service Blucom. In pay-TV, Entavio will start to market the whole satellite offer of Premiere on 1 st September, with the access to the Premiere Flex offer already included in the monthly Entavio flat rate of Euro 1.99. In December, the first Entavio HD PVR (Personal Video Recorder) equipped with a hard disk will be launched. Entavio is a technical and service platform which does not itself acquire or bundle programs and is therefore open to all broadcasters. Manufacturers of satellite receivers are able to launch compatible devices with the Entavio label besides the manufacturer’s brand. According to company CEO, Wilfried Urner, “Entavio is the beginning of a new generation of digital satellite television. Entavio provides a very large programme choice, interactive applications, easy access to pay- TV as well as an excellent customer service. With Entavio, we have developed a concept that will be able to reflect all future technological innovations”. “The launch of Entavio further simplifies the reception of Premiere via satellite,” said Michael Boernicke, CEO of Premiere. “Premiere’s programmes will be an important driving force for Entavio. With Entavio, Premiere can further increase its reach and benefit from its partners’ marketing initiatives. Furthermore, the launch allows us to outsource technical services and further focus on our competence as a content and programme provider”. With Germany taking the lead in this exciting market, here’s hoping similar offers are quick to show their heads throughout the rest of the European Union. Sony Pictures Release Details of BD sales in Europe In their most recent release on Blu-ray Disc (BD) sales, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) claims total BD sales across Europe have topped 180,000. According to Matt Brown, Executive Vice President, International: “Our European Blu-ray sales increased more than 1,000 percent since the launch of the PS3 in March 2007, due to strong sales in the UK, France, Germany and Spain. This is extremely positive news not only for SPHE but for the European High Definition market as a whole, as it underscores the increasing consumer demand for High Definition content and the power of the PS3.” The launch of the PS3 in March is seen as a turning point for the Blu-ray Disc format across Europe, with weekly sales of Blu-ray Disc titles averaging between two- and five-times the amount of HD DVD sales week over week (Source - Gfk). According to the Sony release, Blu-ray Disc software accounts for 67% of the total High Definition market and SPHE titles account for more than 50% of the total Blu-ray Disc market share in the UK, France and Spain. In the UK, SPHE maintained 53% share of the total Blu-ray Disc market, holding six of the top 10 bestselling Blu-ray titles, including the Bond Blockbuster Casino Royale, the biggest selling Bluray title in the country. Independent Sector in UK Shows Major Growth The latest news from the independent sector in the UK saw four leading independent distributors announcing that they would release some of their bestselling titles on Bluray Disc from this summer onwards. Tartan Video, Entertainment in Video, Icon Home Entertainment and Metrodome Distribution have all expressed their support for the Blu-ray Disc format. The fact the discs offer a seamless menu-bar allows the viewer to enjoy a wide range of bonus material without leaving or interrupting the main movie. Icon Home Entertainment’s head, Ian Dawson, said the indie would be releasing as many High Definition films as makes sense over the coming 12 months following highly successful Blu-ray Disc sales of Apocalypto. 8 IFA International • Friday, 31 th August 2007
MARKETS & TECHNOLOGY TRENDS TomTom The Future of In-Car Navigation Interview / COO Alexander Ribbink In their IFA Press Conference, TomTom announced some major steps forward in the field of navigation. We spoke to TomTom’s COO, Alexander Ribbink, about where the navigation market is headed today… There are several major axes of growth for the industry. The first one is the increasing penetration, which means that all of us will have to make sure that our products become even friendlier to use, smarter in their interaction with the environment, have more connectivity and are also more reliable in terms of the quality of the data that they use. The safety features are also becoming increasingly important. There is only a 15% penetration of all cars in Europe, this means there is still 85% to come and that is a lot! There are two big things that consumers are looking for in a navigation product. The first is smart and reliable traffic information. We feel that with the technologies that we have created over the past couple of years, and starting now to implement these with Vodafone in Holland and the UK, we will be able to offer superior traffic information to more and more people. We are talking about real time and accurate data because coverage is much higher than what current systems can do. The other thing that we feel strongly about is making sure that maps are improved. We have launched a new feature on the GO range this year called “Map Share”, which allows consumers to correct things on the maps that they find to be wrong. This is part of a larger movement towards creating a community and allowing the community to interact with the device and the data on the device. Safety is also a key area of growth. It is like a sanity factor, but a very important one. We have a functionality that allows people to look for the nearest police station for example. This is an important feature for a navigation device to embrace. It also allows people to read out loud their location to an urgency service in different languages, and with the coordinates and so on… So there is definitely a lot happening and there is a lot of future. As the market evolves, this must have an effect on marketing and on channel policy… Yes it does. In terms of the messages, at the beginning of the industry it was very much for the spending category as a whole, “what can I do for you in your life?” And then the emphasis has switched to the efficiency and how much time you can save using navigation devices. As we move further in detail, there are more benefits for different groups to be revealed and to be addressed. One of the key ones was safety: there are new groups of people that have been attracted to the industry because of the safety features that are in there, whether it is entry calling or voice address input. All these are messages that address different groups and reflect the widening of the groups. IFA International • Friday, 31 th August 2007 9
