Satdude

Satellite news 08.05.06

News

sky to begin HD installations from May 22

sky will begin installing its high-definition television boxes in the UK and Ireland on 22 May, after receiving 40,000 advance orders since 13 April when it began taking bookings from the general public. The number of orders for the long-awaited service is higher than the total number of sales of the sky+ personal video recorder in its first year. The expectation surrounding sky HD has seen sales forecasts for this year rise from 1.4m units to 2m, with the cumulative total expected to be 2.7m at the end of 2006.

sky HD announces launch-day schedule

sky HD will formally start its HD programming line-up on 22 May. Highlights for the day and the rest of the month include live Test match cricket between England and Sri Lanka, and the Guinness Premiership rugby union final. There will also be US drama series 24 and Rescue Me, and a number of recent hit movies such as 2005's final Star Wars film, Revenge of the Sith, and the Oscar-winning Wallace & Gromit In The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. sky HD will cost £10 per month in addition to a sky digital subscription (currently priced between £15 and £42.50 per month). Subscribers will also pay £299 for set-top box.

New horse and country TV channel to launch

A new TV channel for equestrian and country enthusiasts called Home and Country TV will launch on sky digital later this year. Nick Ludlow, founder of the channel, said: "We have a great range of programming which will breathe fresh country air into digital TV and deliver a long-awaited platform for equestrian and country communities." He added that the channel had already exceeded its first year advertising sales targets with expressions of interest coming from many sources. The channel has also launched a Web site.

sky loses exclusive rights to Premiership soccer

sky's grip on TV coverage of the English Premiership has finally been broken after Irish broadcaster Setanta Sports won rights to two of the packages being auctioned by the FA Premier League. Ending 14 years of exclusively on sky Sports, a total of 46 Premiership fixtures will go out live on Setanta Sports from the 2007/8 season through to 2009/10, after the second round Premiership bids were revealed. sky also secured a fourth package of a further 23 games, having landed three packages – amounting to 69 games – in the first round. In total, sky will air 92 games per season. Backed by private equity firm Benchmark Capital, Setanta reportedly paid £392m for its live matches over the three-year duration. sky, backed by its own pay-TV subscription revenue, confirmed that it coughed up £1.314bn for its games over the same period.

New UKTV Drama channel launches on sky

A brand new time-shifted version of UKTV Drama has launched on sky digital. Called UKTV Drama +1, the channel shows programmes an hour later that its sister station. The new channel is on sky channel 134 and broadcasts between 3pm and 2am.

New TCM2 movie channel gets underway

Turner Classic Movies has launched a new second film channel called TCM2. It is available on sky digital channel 320 and offers an alternative schedule of classic films.

New ITV childrens channel launches on sky

ITV's new children’s channel CITV has launched on sky channel 624. CITV launched on March 11th earlier this year on Freeview, Homechoice and Telewest but a delay in obtaining an EPG number on sky led to its satellite launch be stalled.

BBC World is here to stay, vows BBC boss

The director general of the BBC, Mark Thompson, said the broadcaster will retain global news TV channel BBC World, despite calls from an independent auditor to close the money-losing venture. Speaking at a Broadcast Press Guild lunch, the BBC boss said that BBC World, which is a commercially funded channel, should be kept running, despite losing more than £16 million a year. "BBC World had its best year ever last year in advertising terms and is a very important part of our global networks strategy," he said.

Lacklustre financial results unveiled by sky

sky has unveiled what city analysts called 'lacklustre' third-quarter finanicial results, announcing 40,000 new subscribers overall for the three months ending March 31st. The broadcaster announced net profits that were up £11 million to £151 million for the quarter, on revenue up 9% to £1.1 billion. Year-to-date revenue totaled £3.1 billion for the nine months through the end of March, with net profits for the period totaling £609 million. Churn (the percentage of customers to quit the service over the period) rose 0.8% to 11.4% for the quarter, also worse than expected.

'Little Britain' star fronts digital TV ad campaign

Little Britain star Matt Lucas has been signed up to raise digital TV awareness in a £200 million campaign about the analogue TV switch-off. The campaign follows surveys showing 60 per cent of people do not fully understand Britain's move to digital, which is taking place between 2008 and 2012. A seven year public information campaign has kicked off which includes the setting up of a call centre to advise about the switch.

Cult TV series The Prisoner set for comeback

A modern remake of the cult 1960s British drama The Prisoner is set to reappear on TV screens later next year. sky One has asked ITV Productions to make a six-part series for transmission in spring 2007. The show is described by sky as its "biggest ever drama commission" and has been reworked from the original scripts by Bill Gallagher (of Conviction and Clocking Off). Christopher Eccleston, who quit as Doctor Who after one season, is being tipped to star. New director of programmes Richard Woolfe said: "If Doctor Who set the standard, The Prisoner raises the bar. This series is a sophisticated, high-concept drama to rival anything on the terrestrials and the best of the US. It's our biggest drama commission ever and every penny will be evident on screen."

Digital TV news in brief...

Jazz FM has suddenly disappeared from the sky EPG line-up. The station was on channel 0167... ITV and the BBC will fight it out for the lion’s share of gongs at this month’s Royal Television Society sports awards. The BBC is up for 18 awards at the event while ITV has 17 nominations... sky One director of original programming Jo Wallace has quit the channel just weeks after new director of programming Richard Woolfe arrived at the broadcaster... More than 30% of under 11-year-olds watch TV unsupervised and four out of 10 in the same age group have unrestricted access to the Internet, according to new research on children's media consumption published by media regulator Ofcom... ARY The Muzik on sky channel 823 is the UK's first 24 hour Pakistani music channel.

British cooking icons go under BBC4 spotlight

BBC4 has given the go-ahead to two new films about contrasting female icons of British cooking for its autumn schedule: The Diaries of Mrs Beeton and Fear of Fanny. The Diaries of Mrs Beeton centres on the ground-breaking founding editor of Harpers & Queen magazine and Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management, Isabella Beeton. In Fear of Fanny, Julia Davis takes the role of TV's first celebrity chef, Fanny Cradock, and is joined by her Nighty Night co-star Mark Gatiss, who plays her much-maligned husband, Johnnie. BBC4 controller Janice Hadlow said: "BBC Four shines the spotlight on the colourful and fascinating lives of two very different women who changed the face of British cooking forever."

BAFTA award for BBC4 political satire

BBC 4 political satire The Thick of It did well at the BAFTA on Sunday. Actor Chris Langham was winner of the Best Comedy Performance award, chosen ahead of Catherine Tate and Extras' star Ashley Jensen, with the show also picking up Best Sitcom.

Voice Of Africa radio station to launch on sky

Voice of Africa Radio has started test transmissions on sky digital ahead of its formal launch later in May. It is testing at 12.402GHz/V under the name '9562' and airs African music, news and information. The channel is scheduled to launch on sky channel 0192 on 15th May.

Regards Satdude.