International News 9th December

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US House of Reps approves TV ownership cap


The US House of Representatives has approved legislation that would constrict the national TV ownership limits - a 39 per cent national audience cap, according to reports.

The new rule would regulate owners of interests in television networks, such as News Corp and Viacom (both already on the limit), from owning local stations that collectively reach more than 39 per cent of the national audience.

Earlier this summer, the FCC approved a rule that would allow local station ownership that collectively reached 45 per cent of the national audience, up from 35 per cent.

The FCC rule and other ownership rules are being challenged in federal court.


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TW Cable to offer telephony

Time Warner Cable, the second-largest US cable group, has joined forces with two long-distance telephone groups, Sprint and MCI, to roll out a national internet-based telephone service, that will offer telephony to the 18 million homes that have access to TW cable systems.

Sprint Communications and MCI will supply Time Warner Cable (TWC) with the necessary technology bridge so the cable company's Digital Phone subscribers can reach traditional telephone customers in a total of 27 markets, according to a TWC spokesman. The long-distance carriers also plan to provide Digital Phone subscribers with a location-based 911 service and local-number portability.


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Optus unveils Australia's first mobile video streaming service


Singapore Telecommunications Australian subsidiary, Optus has launched the country's first mobile phone video streaming service.

The service provides Optus videophone-equipped customers with live television broadcasts from Australian networks ABC and SBS and news network CNN.

Optus is currently Australia's second largest provider of pay television and mobile phone services, with the latter market providing the telco with more than five million customers.
While Optus currently charges users for premium services such as games and ringtone downloads, it is restricted from charging for the new mobile TV service under Australia's stringent broadcast services act.

Despite this, Optus' Head of Mobile Services Allen Lew said that the telco remained on target to further expand its business in 2004, having already recorded a 21 per cent increase in sales over the corresponding period in the previous financial year to E510 million.



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ONO tops Spain's cable ops


Spaincom-owned company ONO has become the largest cable operator in Spain following the acquisition of Retecal, the Castilla-Leon region-based cable network. The deal makes ONO Spain's leading cable network terms of subscribers.

ONO received acceptances from shareholders representing 56 per cent of Retecal's capital, with the offer being for up to 100 per cent of Retecal's shares in exchange for up to 13 per cent, on a pro rata basis, in ONO's holding company.

ONO will now add 90,000 (Retecal) clients to its 556,000 subscribes (as of September 03, reaching more than 700,000 clients with its residential and business customers). These figures move ONO ahead of Auna Cable which September 2003 reported 620,000 subscribers to its six cable networks (Madritel, Menta, Able, Canarias Telecom, Supercable and Med Telecom).

Moreover, with this acquisition, ONO has also increased its potential market adding 900,000 new homes with a total potential market of more than six million homes in Spain, around 35 per cent of all Spanish homes.

ONO's move reflects a trend towards consolidation in the Spanish cable market that is likely to become more pronounced in the near future. A possible merger between ONO and Auna Cable can not be ruled out in the future.


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Asymmetric data will dominate 3G networks

A new report from the UMTS Forum into the potential impact of real-world mobile multimedia applications on the use of 3G mobile radio spectrum has concluded that at least twice as much data traffic will flow to customers on radio downlinks as will be carried 'upstream' from users' mobile devices to 3G networks.

Traditionally, traffic studies for the purpose of spectrum requirement calculations have only considered the technical characteristics of a mobile service or application rather than any likely asymmetry in the traffic characteristics. Mobile multimedia services, therefore, introduce new challenges driven by the wide variety of multimedia-based activities available to the user.

Unlike two-way voice communications that are essentially "symmetric" in their use of radio up- and downlinks, many 3G mobile service categories - such as web browsing or streaming live video - place greater demands on the radio downlink than the uplink, with more traffic coming to the user (downlink) than from the user (uplink). Parameters assessed in the report that will have an impact on overall traffic flows include: file sizes for non-real time sessions; expected data rates over up- and down-links of the air interface; session frequency and duration; "busy hour" traffic characteristics; and mobile subscribers' adoption of individual 3G services.

Concluding that data traffic on downlinks will exceed uplink traffic by a factor of 2.3, the report also observes that the possibility exists for mobile operators to control this asymmetry through their choice of pricing plans, traffic shaping and service definition.

"There is little historical experience of the varied multimedia, content, messaging and internet/intranet services that will be supported by UMTS", commented UMTS Forum Spectrum Aspects Group Chair Anne-Tuulia Leino. "This is the first cross-industry study that has examined the real-world factors shaping customers' demand for 3G services and the impact that this is likely to have on operators' technical, operational and marketing plans."


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Taiwan's TV broadcasting laws set for approval

Taiwan's Legislative Yuan is expected to ratify the three broadcasting and television laws this week after major lawmakers of major political parties have reached consensus on the contents, according to local media reports.

The rules will bar the government and political parties as well as the foundations set up by them from making investments in broadcasting and TV business. Those holding stakes in such firms must sell their shares within two years after the enactment of the new laws.

Major obstacles to the passage of the new rules were cleared after President Chen Shui-bian personally instructed people of his ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to relinquish their posts in the electronic media before September 5.

The Kuomintang (KMT), which has stakes in Broadcasting Corporation of China and China Television, will liquidate its shares in two years.

The government's shares in Taiwan Television and Chinese Television will be sold in six months.

Government employees, political party officials, and elected officials cannot take up positions such as board directors and supervisors of the companies. Those who holding such posts must give them up in six months. According to the draft rules, family members and close relatives of lawmakers also cannot control over one percent of any one broadcasting or TV company.

Also included in the new law is the restricting of broadcast TV channels for airing programs or commercials related to elections sponsored by candidates themselves or by the government.


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NC Numericable launches NC Web TV


NC Numericable, number three cable operator in France (780,000 TV subscribers), part of the Canal Plus group, has formally launched a web TV service.

The service, which will launch commercially on 15 December, has been on trial - free of charge - to 15,000 broadband subscribers in the Paris region since May, and will be available to all the operator's broadband subscribers, currently numbering 73,000.

Called NC Web TV, the service will be free until 15 January 2004. After that it will be charged E 5 a month. It provides access to 5 channels (i-Tele, L'Equipe TV, Canal-j, CNN, MCM Pop, and Trace TV with a video-streaming rate of 1024 kbit/s. An adult channel will be added as an optional extra in February, with an additional level of access control to comply with CSA's requirement to prevent children from accessing adult material.

Bernard Cottin, President of NC Numericable, pointed out that the channels chosen tend to be based on short programmes, which are better suited to being viewed on a personal computer. He estimates that 60 per cent of its subscribers have both TV and Internet, and that the service will be used to provide a second option to the main TV.


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Hong Kong to go ahead with digital terrestrial television plans


Following the recent decision by broadcasting legislators in the Peoples Republic of China, the Hong Kong government has decided to go ahead with its long-delayed plans to go digital, according to Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau (Communications and Technology) permanent secretary Francis Ho.

"We've been waiting for three years for China to finalise its decision on which digital TV standard to adopt. It had come to a point to decide whether we should keep waiting indefinitely or should we move," Ho has been quoted as saying by leading daily South China Morning Post.

The report further adds that the government is expected to roll out its digital terrestrial television service in 2006, and will free up four single-frequency network multiplexes to lure four new players to apply for the licences. The migration to digital television is scheduled to get over by 2008.

Ho said China was developing its own digital television standard and was targeting 2005 for its introduction. Therefore, Hong Kong's plan to migrate to digital television in 2006 would still match the mainland if it did not face further delays.

On their part, broadcasters ATV and TVB, stressed that China's digital terrestrial television system should be considered before coming to any conclusion on a system for Hong Kong.