Nearly half the 60 million sets in the U.K.’s 25 million TV households received DTV last year, telecom regulator Ofcom said in its quarterly progress report. At the end of 2006, 48.5% of the sets were receiving the country’s standard definition TV either by terrestrial broadcast, satellite or cable, Ofcom said. That compares with 44.7% in the quarter ended Sept. 30 and 39% at year-end 2005. During 2006’s 4th quarter, 1 million U.K. homes acquired DTV for the first time. At year-end, 77.2% of homes had some form of DTV, up from 73.3% in the 3rd quarter and 69.5% at the end of 2005, Ofcom said. The last quarter also saw continued growth in the number of secondary sets converted to digital. More than 9 million 2nd sets are now connected to a DTV set-top, up from 7.9 million in the 3rd quarter and 6 million in 2005. Key trends for Q4 2006 included record quarterly sales of Freeview, the U.K.’s free terrestrial DTV service. Some 2.4 million Freeview devices were sold, up 24% compared with Q4 2005. The tally included a record one-million TVs with integrated DTV tuners. Freeview set-top boxes accounted for the balance. Some 700,000 analog terrestrial homes acquired Freeview for the first time during the period, accounting for 70% of the growth for DTV in the quarter. Freeview set tops are now in 10.6 million homes, up from 9.3 million in Q3 2006, and 7.7 million of the boxes are connected to the main set in the home, typically in the living room. More than 1/4, or 15 million, of the U.K.’s TVs are now connected to a Freeview set top, Ofcom said. Satellite remains the key conduit for DTV, with subscription BSkyB and free-to-view satellite accounting for service to 9 million homes. The satellite platform added 200,000 households in the 4th quarter. Of these, BSkyB gained around 160,000 new subscribers, increasing its presence to almost 8 million homes, Ofcom said. Satellite is on the main TV in 35% of homes, more than any other platform, and this compares to 34% at the end of 2005. BSkyB gained an additional 133,000 multiroom subscribers during the quarter -- a service that allows viewing on a 2nd set and has 1.2 million subscribers. Also, the number of subscribers using Sky’s hard-drive PVR service increased by 276,000 during the quarter to almost 2 million, equating to 25% of its total subscriber base. Cable providers gained around 38,500 additional TV households in the 4th quarter. There are now 3.3 million cable TV households, 90% of them receiving DTV, Ofcom said.
Ion plans to demo Samsung’s A-VSB broadcast technology in a distributed transmission system (DTS) at NAB and wants FCC permission for a temporary DTS network on Ch. 38 in Las Vegas. The test would cause “absolutely no interference” to other stations, it said. Ion also offered to test any specific aspects of A-VSB of interest to the Commission.
Worried about possible erosion of viewership and membership revenue from a bungled DTV transition, public TV stations, especially in rural areas, are seeking a direct role in retailing or distributing DTV converter boxes. Station executives estimate that public TV could lose 10%-15% of its membership if their “loyal” viewers switch to cable or DBS because of a mismanaged transition. That’s because viewers would have more channel choices and less disposable income to contribute, they said. To head off problems, stations are proposing to distribute converter boxes as gifts for pledge contributions or membership incentives, they said.
The Media Bureau fined broadcasters $38,500 for failing to renew licenses on time and for unauthorized operation. Fined $1,500: John Reynolds, Mark Hellinger, Manati Radio Corp., Perry Bcstg. Systems, Tri-County Bcstg., Communications Systems and Chapel of the Holy Spirit Church & Bible College. Faith Enterprises and Synewave Communications were fined $7,000 each. Landmark Baptist Church Inc. was fined $14,000.
A 38-point roadmap of best practice guidelines for migration of next generation networks (NGN) was defined at a Feb. 5-7 Dubai meeting of the Global Symposium for Regulators, officials said. The roadmap aims to encourage regulatory frameworks that foster innovation, investment and affordable access to NGN, an ITU press release said. Regulators should adopt and regularly assess regimes to eliminate undue barriers to competition and innovation, the ITU said, also urging: (1) Investment-friendly regulation and a level playing field are of paramount importance to NGN network deployment. (2) Flexible but accurate interconnection models will smooth the transition to NGNs. (3) Regulators should work to avoid undue competitive distortion. (4) Regulatory certainty is needed for both incumbent and competing providers. “NGN is seen as somewhere between the telecom and Internet worlds, creating a whole new range of issues to be tackled by regulators,” said Sami Al- Basheer Al-Morshid, dir. of ITU’s Development Bureau. The best practice guidelines, endorsed by over 100 CEOs and members of national regulatory authorities, go a long way in showing the way forward for regulators, he said. The best practices encourage policies for co-existence of legacy and IP networks, alternate voice services such as VoIP, or bundled services that can offer voice together with TV and Internet, documents said. The guidelines cover aspects of service provision including authorization, access, interconnection and interoperability, numbering and NGN identification systems, universal access, quality of service, consumer awareness, security and protection.
Integrating Adelphia and Comcast L.A. and Dallas systems drove off about 52,000 basic cable subscribers Q4, Time Warner Cable (TWC) said in an earnings release that reported otherwise solid results. The disaffection arose from channel lineup changes and disruption of broadband service, Pres. Jeff Bewkes said in a teleconference with investors: “We're in the middle of resolving it and we believe we'll be able to straighten out L.A. mostly during this year.” The problems prompted L.A.-area subscribers who stuck with the service to bring a class action suit. Separately, Chmn. Richard Parsons assured investors that Time Warner Cable will begin trading on public markets as soon as possible.
The Ia. Utilities Board (IUB) denied an Ia. Telecom residential local rate increase but allowed an increase for local business service. The decision means Ia. Telecom can increase its local business rate by $2.17, to $37.96 monthly, to account for inflation. Ia. Telecom unsuccessfully sought a residential increase of $1.60, to $19.99. The IUB said the state price-cap regulation law imposed a “hard” cap of $19 monthly for residential service. Ia. Telecom argued that inflation-based increases were exempt from the $19 cap, but the IUB said its reading of the law allows no residential increase above $19 for any reason prior to June 2008. The law also has a $38 hard cap on business rates, but since Iowa Telecom’s new business rate is below the cap, the IUB could approve it.
BSkyB is attempting to head off regulatory action against its shares in U.K. network ITV, the Financial Times reported Mon. Imminent govt. decisions over the satellite broadcaster’s stake in ITV are being fueled by debate over Rupert Murdoch’s influence on the British govt. Virgin Group’s Richard Branson has already levied accusations of excessive govt. influence by the media mogul. Virgin Group is competitor NTL’s biggest shareholder. Separately Mon., the Financial Mail reported that son James Murdoch is preparing to leave BSkyB this summer to take a management role at News Corp. The younger Murdoch is expected to be replaced at BSkyB by Sky Italia CEO Tom Mockridge, the report said. James Murdoch will stay at BSkyB until this summer to continue oversight of new broadband and HD services recently introduced in the U.K. Analysts said the younger Murdoch’s move isn’t a surprise, but that it did happen earlier than expected. The shift paints James Murdoch as the likely successor to his father at News Corp. Rupert Murdoch currently controls 31% of News Corp.’s voting shares, to expand to 38% following the DirecTV transaction with Liberty.
DirecTV added Spanish-language WBWT Azteca America (Ch. 38) to its local broadcast lineup for the Milwaukee market, it said. The channel launched Fri.
The FCC released rules for Auction 71, a sale of 38 miscellaneous broadband PCS licenses to start May 16. The licenses didn’t sell in previous auctions or were returned due to license cancellations and terminations. Bid minimums vary by license. The biggest is for Asheville- Hendersonville, N.C., at a minimum bid of $304,000.