Satellite News

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French pay TV operator Canal+ is to offer customers a weekend-only subscription for half the amount it charges for its usual package.

Canal+ chief executive Bertrand Méheut told Le Monde that to assess demand, "Canal+ week-end" would offer a Friday evening to late Sunday night service priced at €15 per month.

6.2m homes take Canal+ and CanalSat with churn standing at 10.6%.

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Canal Digital is planning to introduce a new seven-day programme guide for its satellite subscribers before the end of the year.

The new system will go live in the autumn and includes functionality such as Series Link.

Though the market leader with over one million subscribers, Canal Digital was in danger of falling behind rival platforms including Viasat and Get, but it is hoped the new look will bring the Nordic platform up to speed.

Separately, Canal Digital’s cable customers in Norway have already received an upgrade to their guide. The new channel list moves HD channels to the appropriate categories in line with the operator’s pricing policy.

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Setanta has been left on the brink of collapse after losing its rights to 46 Premier League matches in the 2009-10 season.

The sports broadcaster failed to make a £30m payment to the Premier League after a rescue package with Len Blavatnik's Access Industries - which already holds a 3% stake in Setanta and controls Top Up TV - fell through.

In a statement, the League said: "The Premier League has been working with Setanta for some time to help them continue as the broadcaster of 46 UK Live Matches for the 2009/10 Season.

"The Premier League, in agreement with Setanta, stipulated that certain contractual requirements had to be met on or before Friday 19 June 2009 to allow the preparations for the 2009/10 season to continue unaffected.

"It is with considerable regret that we announce that Setanta has been unable to meet their obligations. As such the existing licence agreement between us has been terminated with immediate effect."

The League is now readvertising the package of 46 matches. Sky would be able to bid for up to 23 matches, as European regulations prevent it from holding all 46. It is thought that ESPN is interested in acquiring the package.

In a short statement tonight, Setanta said: "The Board of Setanta notes the statement issued earlier today by the Premier League and will consider its options over the weekend. In the meantime, Setanta’s sports channels continue on air."

Setanta is, at the time of publication, continuing to accept new subscriptions on the web.

Access Industries added: "Access believed that this proposal could potentially have secured the future of the broadcaster for its customers, employees and for football, provided certain conditions required to put the business on a long-term viable footing were met.

"Regrettably, despite intensive efforts on all sides over the past few days, and despite significant progress in a number of areas, there remain a number of issues which we have been unable to resolve within the time available.

"We are disappointed not to have been able to make this deal happen. Access remains committed to sports programming and will continue to explore opportunities in this area."

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Revamped ESPN channel may show EPL

ESPN may launch a revamped version of its ESPN America channel to show the recently secured Premier League matches, DS has learned.

It was announced on Monday that the Disney-owned firm had acquired the Premier League rights previously owned by collapsed Irish broadcaster Setanta.

Damion Potter, ESPN communications director for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Pacific Rim, described the win as a "huge step for our business in the UK".

He added: "We said we were interested in building our business here; that is exactly what we will do with this acquisition.

"We look forward to working with the Premier League, football clubs and distributors to bring English sports fans high-quality coverage of their favourite teams."

A deal is already in place with Sky to distribute the matches to residential and commercial customers on an a la carte basis.

Meanwhile, the company is also talking to the other platform holders, including Virgin Media, about retail partnerships.

It has previously been suggested that ESPN plans to launch a new standalone channel for broadcasting the games.

However, DS has learned that this is just one possible solution, with the other being to host the matches on a revamped version of ESPN America.

Following the demise of Setanta, the channel will continue running on a standalone basis on Virgin Media, while Sky will offer it as part of the News and Events television pack.

Despite this, the arrangement is just an interim solution to ensure seamless access to the channel's US sports coverage for viewers.

"We have come to this interim solution to make sure that US sports fans and existing subscribers to ESPN America can continue to enjoy watching the channel whilst we make permanent arrangements," said Potter.

The company is currently discussing firmer plans for the future of ESPN America, with a vehicle for Premier League games believed to be among the options.

On the possibility of ESPN bidding for other sports rights, including Scottish Premier League games, Potter reiterated: "We're interested in rights where they are available and they make business sense."

He also said that the firm has "met with a number of production companies" about covering the Premier League matches ahead of the start of the new season in eight weeks.

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Christine Brand has been named as the new managing director of MGM Networks (Deutschland) GmbH. It follows the departure of Marcus Ammon to Sky Germany, where he will be vice president, film.

“I have worked with Christine for many years and she has developed and grown into a talented and incredibly skilful programmer and manager,” said Bruce Tuchman, President, MGM Networks. “She was the first employee I recruited to join the MGM Channel in Germany when we launched and has made great contributions in our efforts to expand the channel in Germany as well as other markets around the world. “ Tuchman went on to thank Ammon for his six years at MGM and said the company was looking forward to working with him at Sky.

Brand joined MGM in 2003, and was most recently director of programming and on air promotion for the MGM Channel in Germany. She was previously director of programmes at Fox Kids Germany having begun her career with Nickelodeon Global Networks Ventures in London, Dusseldorf, Germany, and Singapore.

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Discovery Networks Central Europe, a division of Discovery Communications, has announced a number of promotions.

They include that of Barbara Bilinska, channel manager of Discovery Historia, who now becomes channel director and will from July 1 be responsible for all Discovery channels in Poland; and Magda Szczawinska, previously on-air creative director Discovery Networks CE and now channel manager Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia from July 1.

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Eurosport has the secured TV rights for the 2009 US PGA Tour season which were previously owned by collapsed broadcaster Setanta.

All action from the 2009 Tour will now be aired on British Eurosport and British Eurosport 2 on satellite and digital cable, while also being simulcast on the broadcaster's online subscription service Eurosport Player.
"We are delighted to welcome the US PGA Tour to the Eurosport platform in the UK," said Eurosport chairman Laurent Eric Le Lay.

"British golf fans can now see the world’s best players competing live as the 2009 season unfolds. We can give the US PGA Tour's iconic tournaments excellent coverage across our two UK TV channels, and fans can follow regular news and results at Eurosport’s leading sports website."
Dave Kerr, Eurosport UK's director of broadcast, added: "The US PGA Tour is a great sports series and we are delighted that we can bring the live coverage to a wider audience of golf fans than ever before.

"With the retention of Moto GP, the recent acquisition of British Superbikes and now the arrival of US PGA Golf, our channels are becoming more and more attractive and exciting to UK viewers and we look forward to welcoming golf fans to a channel that has long been a destination for passionate fans of our other major sports."

Coverage has already begun with the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut, which runs until June 28.

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NBC Universal is set to replace The Hallmark Channel UK with the Universal Channel in the next few months as part of an overall shake up of its pay-TV channels in the UK.

The Universal Channel currently airs across Latin America, Asia and in Europe and the move is expected to be officially announced at the end of July. It is also considering rebranding its Diva TV, Sci Fi and Movies 24 channels to bring them closer to the NBC Universal brand.

The Hollywood studio acquired Sparrowhawk Media last year.

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SES Astra said it had received “ongoing requests from major customers” for capacity which will shortly be vacated by UPC Direct, after UPC’s DTH operation over Europe shifted its from SES Astra and its 19.2 deg East cluster of satellites, to Telenor’s 1 deg West position.

UPC is taking a total of 7 transponders from Telenor, and the deal is a significant ‘win’ for the Oslo-based satellite operator. The UPC contract with Astra expires in 2010, and Astra insiders say they have been anticipating the move for some time, and that they are confident that demand will quickly mop up the – then – spare capacity.

Alexander Oudendijk, COO of SES Astra, said: “Our confidence is based on the considerable demand from Western European key markets and strong dynamics in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The dynamics of the CEE markets are demonstrated by the impressive growth of customers like CS Link and Skylink which gained nearly 1 million subscribers in a very short period of time.”

Oudendijk added that the 5 transponders vacated by UPC Direct would “help us to meet current demand and customer requests for capacity at our prime orbital position”, including for capacity for high definition TV channels.

While most see the UPC decision as a solid long-term business win for Telenor (which will use some of its Thor 6 capacity, due for launch later this year, to fulfil the contract) it is generally accepted that the terms must have been extremely attractive to UPC which must now re-align some 330,000 homes beginning in the late Spring on next year – and this is an expensive process.

Most of UPC Direct’s subscribers live in Hungary, the Czech Republic or Slovakia, and these areas are very much part of the neighbourhood that Telenor is keen to be serving. Telenor now serves some 2m homes in Central and Eastern Europe. Astra’s demand tends to come from Western Europe.

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MTV Networks is taking its high definition channel MTV Networks High Definition (MTVN HD) to Switzerland, where the channel will be available from July 15 on cable network group QuickLine.

“With MTVN HD’s razor sharp images and perfect sound quality we are taking viewers directly to the concert stage,” said Roger Elsener, managing director of MTV Networks Schweiz. “We are pleased that with the innovative cable group QuickLine we have found the first strong partner in Switzerland for the distribution of our high definition channel.”

MTVN HD screens concerts and events such as MTV Unplugged, MTV World Stage and VH1 Storytellers, awards ceremonies like the MTV Video Music Awards or the MTV Europe Music Awards as well as coverage of international music festivals such as the Roskilde Festival and the Oxegen Festival. On weekends a Nickelodeon window with cartoon series is shown, including SpongeBob SquarePants, Avatar and Jimmy Neutron.

In neighbouring Germany the channel is available on Deutsche Telekom’s IPTV platform T-Home Entertain. Distribution in Austria is also planned.

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Fox International’s BabyTV has announced that it will be launching on Ssky Italia, Italy’s largest pay-TV service, as of July 31st 2009, marking it’s entry into the country.

BabyTV is set to launch on Sky Italia’s Kids Pack with a localized Italian channel, adding 4.7 million new subscribers.

Diego Londono, Managing Director of Fox International Channels in Italy and GAS countries, said in a statement: “BabyTV will be joining our 11 channels in Italy and we will be introducing it to audiences via a cross channel campaign as well as on ground marketing activities.”

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National Geographic Channel is going free-to-air for the first time, following a deal with the Abu Dhabi Media Company. National Geographic Channel Abu Dhabi will be the first international factual entertainment channel to be launched in Arabic.

Available on Arabsat and Nilesat, the new channel means National Geographic Channel is now available in 305 million homes in 165 countries in 34 languages.

Abu Dhabi Media Company said that the region is currently “hugely underserved in the international factual entertainment genre, giving the channel a first mover advantage.” The channel is completely dubbed into Arabic.

As well as a straightforward channel, the partnership will also leverage a variety of multimedia channels, including a dedicated website with an internet TV facilitiy.

H.E. Mohamed Khalaf Al Mazrouei, Chairman of ADMC, said: “The launch of National Geographic Channel Abu Dhabi raises the bar of excellence in terms of viewer engagement in the region, both through the fact that the content will be in Arabic and that the channel will be free-to-air. It represents a very significant opportunity for us in Abu Dhabi to capture such a largely underserved market segment; and is the ideal launch for Abu Dhabi to attain its position as the Middle East’s centre for media.”

Ward Platt, President, Asia Pacific & Middle East, National Geographic Channels International said: “The launch of the channel in Arabic marks the first time in the Middle East that high quality National Geographic content will be delivered to the region’s viewers dubbed into their native language, and also the first time that a National Geographic Channel will be available free-to-air. Our work revolves around the protection of the natural world by bringing information and awareness about the planet to viewers - a philosophy and commitment to environmental sustainability shared by ADMC. We are very excited at this opportunity to together showcase unique perspectives on the world that we inhabit in the Arabic language, and play a part in Abu Dhabi’s sustainable growth and transformation into a global media hub.”?

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Sky Italia is now officially Italy’s richest commercial broadcaster, with the News Corp unit overtaking Silvio Berlusconi’s Mediaset in revenue terms for the first time in 2008.


Hit by the global financial slump and the accompanying fall in advertising take, Mediaset could only manage third place, with both behind public broadcaster RAI.

Agcom, Italy’s communications regulator, released figures showing Sky Italia had revenues of €2.64 billion in 2008, RAI €2.72 billion and Mediaset €2.53 billion.

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The director general of Irish public broadcaster RTÉ has publicly admitted that launching Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) in September is no longer a “reasonable” prospect. When the consortium originally charged with rolling out the commercial arm of DTT walked away from the project in April, sources close to Communications Minister Eamon Ryan insisted the development would have no impact on RTÉ’s plans to launch public service DTT in September.

But at a briefing last week, RTÉ boss Cathal Goan said that it was his view that RTÉ and the commercial operator should launch their services simultaneously, and that means RTÉ will have to wait.
At the same briefing, Mr Goan also confirmed that RTÉ’s continued €300,000 annual investment in DAB digital radio was a “live question” being considered as part of cost cuts designed to combat a predicted €68m shortfall in the national broadcaster’s 2009 revenue.

But he added that DAB’s support would be viewed in light of the expense of establishing the platform, and the benefit to the public of the four extra radio stations that are available through DAB in the Greater Dublin area, the North East Coast and Cork and Limerick cities, as well as online and on NTL and Chorus Digital.

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Sci Fi has secured the first-run pay-TV rights to Warehouse 13 from NBC Universal International Television Distribution, it has been announced.
The series, starring Eddie McClintock and Joanne Kelly, centres around two Secret Service agents who find themselves abruptly transferred to a top-secret storage facility.

"We’ve had a fantastic run of highly anticipated, much talked about premiere series on the channel this year - and Warehouse 13 is no exception," said NBCU Global Network’s head of channels James Newton.

"There was a tremendous buzz ahead of its launch in the US and the first night ratings are testament to what a fantastic show it is. The special effects and exciting plot twists make it a real gem for our autumn schedule."

The sci-fi series joins Knight Rider, Dollhouse and Legend Of The Seeker in landing a UK premiere on the channel.