International News 5th December

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Murdoch eyes Croat TV?

Nova TV, Croatia's only private TV station with a national broadcasting concession is in partnership talks with several world-wide media conglomerates, its chief executive, Ivan Blazicko, said.

According to a Reuters report, Nova TV's shareholders are in talks with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, US businessman Ronald Lauder's Central European Media Enterprises and several other foreign media companies.

"Nova TV is not for sale," said Blazicko. "All interested parties we've talked to are potential strategic partners, not buyers" he added, but declined to name potential investors other than the two singled out by the local media.

Both News Corp and CME had run unsuccesfully in the race for the state television's third channel, which was sold to Germany's RTL in September. RTL plans to launch its programming under the name HRTL early next year.

Nova TV's ratings have significantly increased in the last few months, after it launched a music contest for local wannabe singers, which has since developed a devout following in the country of 4.4 million people.

According to local media speculation, the starting price for the station was put at between E20 and E25 million, but Blazicko said that was far too low. "We invest between E10 and E12 million per year in programming alone," he said.


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DoCoMo setback for Microsoft

DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile operator, said it favours software from Symbian and open-source Linux systems, rather than Microsoft's.

The mobile operator said it would promote the use of software from Symbian and Linux to help cut development costs for suppliers and ensure handsets were compatible with other operators using the same W-CDMA 3G Network standard.

The announcement strengthens Symbian's position in the Asian market and follows an earlier non-exclusive agreement with DoCoMo. That deal, signed in September, will result in the mobile operator commissioning 3G handsets running on Symbian's operating system. Analysts said the announcement signalled a further weakening of Microsoft's position in the Asian mobile markets.



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Carlton secures Rainbow HDTV deal


Carlton International Media Group has licensed a number of films from its film and TV libraries to Rainbow DBS's VOOM, the US satellite service which offers a range of high-definition (HD) programming. The multi-year deal will see VOOM air thirteen mini-series and feature film titles converted to HD by Carlton International on its dedicated HD channel, Epics. The agreement is an extension of existing arrangements between the companies.

Titles included in the deal include classic movies such as All Quiet On The Western Front, The Big Sleep and Great Expectations. Jeri Sacks, Carlton Internationa's VP of US sales, described HD broadcast as "an exciting new platform through which viewers can watch with stunning clarity of image and sound," adding that the company had elected to invest in the process of transferring titles to HD, not only to distribute them to outlets such as VOOM, "but also as an archiving system to save these wonderful films for future generations to enjoy."


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Brofman Sr and Jr exit Vivendi

Vivendi's CEO Jean-RenŽ Fourtou announced the resignation of Edgar Bronfman and Edgar Bronfman, Jr. from their terms of office as Directors of Vivendi Universal.

Edgar Bronfman, Jr. decided to resign from the Board and from his position within the company due to his participation in the acquisition of Warner Music. Bronfman Jr last month offered $2.55bn in cash for Warner Music.

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Nokia: share in Europe down

Strategy Analytics, a US-based research firm said that Nokia is loosing market share for the first time in two years in the Western Europe mobile handset market.

Nokia's share of shipments in the third quarter slipped to 42.1 per cent from 51.2 per cent in the year-ago period despite overall shipments in Western Europe rising 23 per cent year-on-year.

Nokia lost share at the high end to Samsung and SonyEricsson who overtook Motorola to take the third and fourth rankings on the European market respectively and to Siemens and Sagem in the low-end.

Samsung increased its stake to 8.6 per cent from 7.6 per cent and SonyEricsson rose to 6.6 pct from 4.0 pct. Motorola's stake fell to 6.3 per cent from 7.8 pct last year.

The UK market, one of Nokia's biggest markets, emerged as a particular weak spot for the company during the period. Nokia is making a major push into the US and emerging markets such as China, and despite the fall, has continued to grow its market share on an international basis.


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Maxis opts for Ericsson as its wireless partner


Malaysian teleco Maxis Communications has chosen Ericsson as its new wireless partner for 2G and 3G deployment.

Ericsson will upgrade Maxis' present 2G network, as well as prepare networks in high growth areas for future 3G deployment to ensure a fully integrated GSM/GPRS/EDGE/WCDMA solution.

In addition to infrastructure supply, Ericsson will provide a comprehensive portfolio of professional services including network design and systems integration. Ericsson will also set up a joint Application Development Environment with Maxis to commence the development of exclusive multimedia products and services, which includes streaming capabilities such as interactive TV, live concerts and sports and news-on-demand.


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BBC Prime: new deal in Germany

BBC Prime, the international British entertainment channel, has secured a deal that widens the channe's German digital distribution. Now, BBC Prime, is available on ish Plus TV Ð a new initiative from one of Germany's leading cable net operators, ish, to provide digital programming on a large scale to its existing cable network.

This deal brings BBC Prime to a potential 1.1 million new homes on the ish network, with plans to increase this by a further 3.9 million homes as digital capability is extended.


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BT extends SDSL reach

BT is to significantly expand the reach of its SDSL (symmetric digital subscriber line) broadband network in London and the West Midlands beginning in early January, giving small businesses a cheaper alternative to leased lines.

BT Wholesale will enable another 50 exchanges to handle SDSL over the course of next month, following its commercial launch of SDSL services in September. At that time, BT said it was planning to enable another 50 exchanges but has only now specified the locations, based on its analysis of the market, including feedback from service providers.


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Scientific-Atlanta Delivers Dual Tuner DVR/HD to T W Cable

The new Explorer 8000HD DVR will deliver two video services - a Digital Video Recorder and HDTV video with digital surround sound. Time Warner Cable is now initiating the deployment of HD/DVR set tops in its Green Bay Division, which serves over 150,000 customers in northeast Wisconsin .

"Our Explorer 8000HD high definition digital video recorder product offers a tremendous opportunity for cable operators to aggressively go after and win back satellite's best subscribers," said Michael Harney, corporate senior vice president and president of Subscriber Networks, Scientific-Atlanta speaking at the western Show.