July 28, 2012 – When it comes to digital satellite, the U.S. will remain the strongest market financially, with revenue forecasted to grow a full $3.1 billion to reach $38 billion by 2017, led by homegrown DTH broadcasters DISH Network and DirecTV. Worldwide, the digital satellite pay-TV market will be worth $91 billion in the next five years, up from $76 billion in 2011–and it set to challenge cable’s dominance thanks to big subscription growth, led by emerging markets.

That’s according to a new study from Digital TV Research, which said that the U.S. share of the global market will actually fall from 46% last year to 42% by 2017, even while commanding a bigger share of the revenue.

Read more: http://rapidtvnews.com/index.php/satellite-set-for-big-growth-threatening-cable-dominance.html?utm_source=newsletter_746&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=rapid-tv-news-current-edition-2907

July 24, 2012: “The must-carry rule will be used to guarantee Thais’ basic right to watch free-TV programmes via any platform such as antennas and cable and satellite receivers,” said Natee Sukonrat, chairman of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission’s broadcasting committee.

The Department of Intellectual Property yesterday expressed concern that the rule would probably breach copyright laws.

Natee said cable and satellite TV receivers were considered as normal TV antennas for viewing free-to-air contents, namely international sports tournaments, movies, drama series and documentaries.

However, broadcasters must ensure that they can limit transmissions to within the country to avoid violating copyright restrictions.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Must-carry-rule-will-not-threaten-copyrights-NBTC-30186838.html

July 26, 2012: SARATOGA: Roku, manufacturer of devices that enable content to be streamed from the Internet to TV sets, has received $45 million in a new financing round from a group of investors that includes News Corporation and BSkyB.

The latest financing round also includes previous Roku investors Menlo Ventures and Globespan Capital Partners, plus an unnamed partner. The financing will be used for advertising, international expansion, the stepping up of production of Roku hardware and product development on the platform to include advertising, games, transactional and pay-per-view video as well as content packages. The Roku streaming players on the market, available in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Ireland, stream more than 500 entertainment channels. The company is gearing up to launch the Roku Streaming Stick, a wireless streaming device that integrates with newer TVs and consumer electronics devices.

http://www.worldscreen.com/articles/display/2012-07-26-Roku-News-Corp-Sky-Investment

2012/07/24 – At least six companies are expected to submit their business plans to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to bid for the rights to be the common integrated infrastructure provider (CIIP) for the rolling out of digital terrestrial television broadcasting (DTTB).

The entire cost of the project, including the cost of subsidising set-top boxes, is expected to be around RM900 million (RM600 million rollout and RM300 million set-top box).

http://advanced-television.com/index.php/2012/07/24/six-bidders-for-malaysia-digital-tv-broadcasting-deal/

2012/07/24 – A meeting of cable operators in the Southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, organised by the local TV Operators & Consumers’ Welfare Assoc, complained that there are many illegal cable re-distributors operating in the region. Additionally, it was alleged that some illegal cable operators had bribed officials.

The Association submitted a formal petition to government officials backing up their allegations.

http://advanced-television.com/index.php/2012/07/24/indian-msos-complain-of-illegal-distribution/

2012/07/26 – MGM Holdings, the successor owner to the original MGM studio’s assets, is considering a public offering of shares, according to a brief statement made by the studio. It has retained Goldman Sachs as an advisor.

MGM entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 2010. The company is now owned by a group of investment funds.

http://advanced-television.com/index.php/2012/07/26/mgm-now-clear-of-bankruptcy-seeks-ipo/

2012/07/26 – To coincide with the beginning of the school holidays, dozens of popular children’s shows including SpongeBob SquarePants, Ben10 and Regular Show are now available to watch on-demand on Sky Go on smartphones and mobile tablets.

On-demand content from eight children’s channels, including Cartoon Network, the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon, is now available through the app, which is available at no extra cost to Sky TV customers with the Entertainment Extra pack.

http://advanced-television.com/index.php/2012/07/26/disney-nickelodeon-cartoon-network-join-sky-go/

Jul 26, 2012 – Mark Lazarus is no stranger to big sports events but the 2012 Olympics trumps them all. Lazarus, the chairman of NBC Sports Group, joined NBC Universal as part of the Comcast merger, becoming chairman of the NBC Sports Group more quickly than anyone imagined when sports broadcast legend Dick Ebersol opted out just after the 2011 upfront. Ebersol is in London as an advisor but Lazarus is in charge of NBC’s Olympics. We caught up by phone Wednesday while he was at NBC Olympics headquarters in London. Here are a few highlights from our chat about digital strategy, the latest revenue numbers, authentication, metric goals, the heavy commitment to live streaming and more:

http://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/nbc-sports-chairman-lazarus-london-010203557.html

07/26/2012 – The National Communications Commission granted conditional approval July 25 for Want Want China Times group’s bid to purchase cable television services currently owned and operated by Taiwan-based China Network Systems.

NCC Minister Su Herng outlined three conditions for the takeover of nearly a dozen cable service providers by Want Want China Broadband—a subsidiary of the food and media group—following an eight-hour commission meeting reviewing the bid.

http://www.taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=194040&CtNode=416

July 26 2012 – Mark Lazarus is no stranger to big sports events but the 2012 Olympics trumps them all. Lazarus, the chairman of NBC Sports Group, joined NBC Universal as part of the Comcast merger,becoming chairman of the NBC Sports Group more quickly than anyone imagined when sports broadcast legend Dick Ebersol opted out just after the 2011 upfront. Ebersol is in London as an advisor but Lazarus is in charge of NBC’s Olympics. We caught up by phone Wednesday while he was at NBC Olympics headquarters in London. Here are a few highlights from our chat about digital strategy, the latest revenue numbers, authentication, metric goals, the heavy commitment to live streaming and more:

On digital revenue

paidContent was first to report NBCU’s $25 million in digital revenue for Beijing and that the network was more than doubling that revenue for 2012 to $55.5 million, based on $900 million in overall ad revenue. NBC announced Wednesday that it has passed the $1 billion mark in ad revenue and digital revenue rose with it. Lazarus told me six or seven percent of that is from digital. The new number is more than double that of Bejing, about $60 million, and if it winds up on the higher end, will be nearly triple. It’s small compared to the overall revenue number — but serious.
Lazarus calls it proof that advertisers not only want linear on broadcast and cable, but also online and mobile. The bulk of that is from desktop or laptop; mobile continues to be the least monetized, he added.

On streaming

In previous years, NBC has been both willing to experiment and uncomfortable giving full live access to the kind of events that would be in the prime-time spotlight. NBC offered 2,200 live hours from Beijing and only two events — curling and hockey for Vancouver, about 400 hours. The barrier to watching events that were being offered live in other countries drove Olympics fans crazy. For London 2012, NBC is going all in. I asked Lazarus if that was a decision he inherited or one he made.
“We made those decisions when I got into the role. They had a working plan that was not as ambitious as it sounded. We had a straw-man discussion about how people were consuming media and watching the games — and we made the decision to stream everything live.”

Read more: http://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/nbc-sports-chairman-lazarus-london-010203557.html