New Television Insider » HDTV

Sky to open HD/3D launch queue

Julian Clover — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 09:35:25 +0000

BSkyB is opening a new HD/3D launch queue designed to fast-track channels broadcasting in either of the formats onto its electronic programme guide.
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Jump-start for Dutch HD

Robert Briel — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:32:59 +0000

The Dutch Monitor Digital Television shows bright prospects for HD. Following a period of lukewarm consumer interest, HD is now set to take off in the country.
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More HD to come as Virgin delays ASO

Julian Clover — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:27:43 +0000

Virgin Media is looking to the Ofcom review of the UK pay-TV market to help increase the number of HD channels on the cablenet. It also says its relationship with its satellite rival and content supplier is better than it has ever been.
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European public broadcasters leading the HD way

Robert Briel — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:59:43 +0000

Europe-wide, public broadcasters are leading the way in the rollout of high definition channels. Just last week, the Dutch public broadcasters announced the simulcast of their three national nets, and in Germany ZDF said it would beef up its HD showcase channel. While in the UK Sky is pushing HD with a large number of channels and marketing to match the offer, in continental Europe it seems that public broadcasters are leading the way.
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German HD+ platform – more questions than answers

Robert Briel — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:12:48 +0000

Last week, SES Astra announced the launch of HD+, a new platform for broadcasters. Remarkably, the press release was very vague and contained few details, having all the signs of a hastily put together statement that would inevitably lead to rumours.
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Dutch look for HD business models

Robert Briel — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 15:06:33 +0000

Dutch cable operators and broadcasters are still looking for business models to create new services including HD and VOD.
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Canal Digital Cable HD success

Julian Clover — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:54:47 +0000

Canal Digital Norway has achieved a 30% penetration of HD receivers in cable households from a standing start 12 months ago. It follows the cable and satellite pay-TV operation’s move to include HD channels as part of its overall proposition, rather than charge an additional fee for an HD tier.
HD was less favourable in satellite households but still reached 12% of the 539,000 Norwegian DTH subscribers at December 31, 2008. Multiroom was in 24% of households, up from 11%.

Across the four countries of Denmark, Finland Norway and Sweden, where Canal Digital services are available, there was a 15% HD decoder penetration. This represents a shift of 11 percentage points between December 2007 and December 2008. Multiroom is also on the rise, with a 9% pp increase to 20% of subscribing households.

The move, combined with an increase in general monthly subscription fees, saw an increase in ARPU from NOK275 to NOK304 (€31.2 to €34.6) in DTH households and from NOK179 to NOK206 among cable TV households.

However, the competitive market where new entrant IPTV platforms are vying for attention with free and pay digital terrestrial television services have put overall subscriber numbers under pressure. Cable TV numbers climbed year-on-year by 41,000 to 746,000, but DTH fell back from 1,131,000 to 1,113,000. Increases in Norway compensated in part for falls in Denmark.
Another high spot has been the increase in the number of Norwegian cable subscribers taking broadband internet. The service represented 34% of the installed base at the end of 2008, as opposed to 25% one year earlier.

Overall, Telenor Broadcast reported a 14% increase in fourth quarter revenues achieving NOK2,160 million in revenue on EBITDA of NOK389 million.

Revenues in the Canal Digital Group came in at NOK1,690 million, where higher sales and marketing expenses put pressure on EBITDA, which fell to NOK121 million against NOK128 million in Q4 2007.

Transmission and Encryption increased its revenues from NOK530 million in Q4 2007 to NOK602 million in 2008 as the segment benefitted from the increased capacity on the Thor 5 satellite and the best ever quarter from the conditional access provider Conax.

Canal Digital pay-TV subscribers (’000s)
Denmark     Finland     Norway     Sweden
DTH    177    54    539    343
(198)    (57)    (522)    (353)
DTT    0    35    0    0
-    (52)    -    -
SMATV    684    49    121    267
(662)    (54)    (159)    (278)
CATV    35    0    476    235
(32)    -    (431)    (242)
IPTV    0    0    0    5
-    -    -    (3)

December 31, 2008
Source: Telenor

Canal Digital CATV internet subscribers (000s)
2006    2007    2008
Denmark    14    15    21
Norway    73    108    164
Sweden    4    4    3

December 31, 2008
Source: Telenor

Dutch HD subscriptions lag way behind hardware sales

Robert Briel — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 08:13:08 +0000

Does content drive hardware sales? Not necessarily, if we look at the rapid take-up of HD capable flat screens in a number of European countries. In Germany and The Netherlands, in particular, sales of HD ready and full HD screens are buoyant, but very few people subscribe to HD channels. At the same time, sales of Blu-ray players are not very impressive, and it remains anyone’s guess as to why this is happening.
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Satellite driving HD and digital

Robert Briel — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 09:19:57 +0000

Both Astra and Eutelsat agree that HD is finally taking off in Europe. “After a slow start, satellite HDTV streams have multiplied by a factor of four over the last two years,” said Matteo Altobelli, marketing manager Eutelsat, during an IBC press conference. “A relatively slow start is typical of markets that require several elements to be aligned to take off (e.g. content, TV sets, STBs, SD, production equipment, consumer awareness). In June 2006, there were 34 HD streams on satellite, a year later 51, now there are 135 channels in Europe in HD.”
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Super Hi-Vision attracts IBC crowds

Julian Clover — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 10:24:44 +0000

Super Hi-Vision received its first live transmission at IBC 2008 as delegates packed into the NHK Theatre. The 7680 x 4320 pixel system is the brainchild of The Broadcast Technology Futures Group, a collaboration between NHK, the BBC, RAI and the EBU. The demonstration involved an IP transmission over optical fibre from City Hall in London and a satellite transmission from Turin, Italy, thanks to the use of two transponders on Eutelsat’s Atlantic Bird satellite (5 degrees East).
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