July 24, 2012, SAN JOSE, Calif. — The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of the UK-based NDS Group Limited, which provides technology and software to the pay-TV sector, by the internet company Cisco Systems, Inc. of the US. The Commission’s investigation confirmed that the merged entity would continue to face competition from a number of strong competitors and that customers, namely pay-TV providers, would continue to have alternative suppliers in all markets concerned.

http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=223220

July 25, 2012, LOS GATOS: Despite returning to profit in the second quarter on improved revenues of $889 million, Netflix saw its share price fall today as investors reacted to the company’s cautious outlook for subscriber growth this year.

The company reported a profit of $6 million, as compared with a $5 million loss in Q1. Subscriber growth has slowed for the platform in Q2, with a net subscriber addition of 530,000 streaming customers in the U.S. in the period, down from 1.74 million in Q1. The total number of streaming customers is 24 million, delivering revenues of $533 million and a profit of $83 million. In its outlook, Netflix cautioned that the Olympics will have a negative impact on usage and signups. It is forecasting 1 million to 1.8 million net adds in Q3 and noted that it may be “challenging” to reach its target of 7 million net adds this year.

http://www.worldscreen.com/articles/display/2012-07-25-Netflix-Q2-Revenues-Profit

24 July 2012, NEW DELHI: Rigid News Access Rules of the London Organizing Committee for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games prevent news channels from even giving live news breaks of achievements by Indians.

Thus, while a channel can make an announcement whenever any Indian wins a medal, it can get the footage only around three hours later as the rights lie with Doordarshan and ESPN Star Sports.

In fact, the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) sent the News Access Rules to all its members late last week, asking them to exercise caution while covering the Olympics.

http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k12/july/july207.php

July 25, 2012 – Luxembourg: SES (Paris:SESG)(LuxX:SESG) today confirmed its global leadership in High Definition (HD) broadcasting, with more than 1,300 HD channels on its satellite fleet worldwide. The recent SES channel count shows that more than a quarter of the over 5,200 TV channels distributed by SES are HD. SES broadcasts more HD channels than its two main competitors combined.

Out of the total of over 1,300 HD channels that SES distributes with its satellites, more than 920* are in North America, 297 in Europe and 105 are in the fast growing emerging markets including Asia, Latin America, Middle East and Africa.

http://www.andhranews.net/Intl/2012/SES-Confirms-Global-Leadership-HD-Broadcasting-8976.htm

July 25, 2012: A new success story is in the making in the media and entertainment industry. After changing of businesses in the radio and exhibition segments, it is time for the triumvirate: broadcast companies, multi-speciality operators and select cable companies to cheer about.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has brought about significant changes not only in the ways revenues would be recognized in the coming years, but also the visual experience of the viewers.

These proposals from the apex regulatory body of the telecommunication industry, which are aimed at comprehensive digitalisation of the cable industry, would be implemented in a phased manner. This would bring about transparency in the whole value chain of the cable industry. This time we explore the various proposals laid down by TRAI for comprehensive and measurable growth of the entire cable industry.

http://www.stockmarketsreview.com/extras/there_will_be_comprehensive_measurable_growth_in_entire_cable_industry_due_to_trai039s_proposals_319097/

24-07-2012: Peter Rice, who has served as chairman of entertainment for Fox Networks Group since 2010, has been elevated to chairman and CEO of FNG, where he will oversee all programming and operations for the group, which includes FOX, FOX Sports, FX, Fox International and the National Geographic Channels.

David Hill, who has served as chairman and CEO of FOX Sports since 1999, has been elevated to senior executive vice president of News Corp., where he will focus on programming, digital initiatives and other opportunities spanning the breadth of the company’s operating units across Latin America, Asia, Australia, Europe and the U.S.

http://www.rapidtvnews.com/index.php/2012072423190/news-corp-restructures-top-fox-leadership.html?utm_source=newsletter_741&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=rapid-tv-news-current-edition-2407

25th July, 2012 – The number of pay DTH (DBS) homes for 80 countries covered in a new report will be 220 million by end-2017, up from 154 million at end-2011 and 91 million at end-2007. India will lead the sector with 50.9 million pay DTH homes in 2017, followed by the US with 36.5 million. Russia (14.7 million) and Brazil (14.6 million) will take third and fourth places respectively.

The Global Satellite TV Forecasts report states that India will add 22.8 million subs, Brazil 7.6 million and Indonesia 6.7 million from the 66 million extra subscribers between 2011 and 2017.

Pay DTH penetration was at 11.1% of TV households at end-2011, and will reach 14.4% by 2017. Penetration in 2017 will be highest in South Africa (60%), Poland (45%) and Ireland (44%). Penetration in Indonesia will climb from 5% in 2011 to 18% by 2017. Conversely, penetration in Malaysia will fall from 47% in 2011 to 38% by 2017 as satellite homes are encouraged to convert to IPTV.

DTH revenues will overtake cable TV revenues in 2015. DTH revenues will reach US$91 billion in 2017, up from US$76 billion in 2011. The US will remain DTH market leader, though its share of the total will fall from 46% in 2011 to 42% in 2017. Brazil will add the most DTH revenues (US$3.86 billion) between 2011 and 2017 – nearly doubling its total in the process. The US will grow by US$3.1 billion, meaning that Brazil and the US will contribute nearly half of the extra revenues.

Report author Simon Murray said: “However, DTH revenues will decline for 17 countries between 2011 and 2017. Much of this is due to greater competition forcing down ARPUs. Furthermore, low-cost DTH packages are making a significant impact in several countries.”

Top 10 pay DTH countries at end-2017

Source: Digital TV Research Ltd

Top 10 countries by DTH revenues (US$ million)

Source: Digital TV Research Ltd

For more information about this report, please contact: Simon Murray, simon@digitaltvresearch.com, Tel: +44 20 8248 5051

July 24 2012 – Xfinity TV will offer NBCUniversal’s Olympic content live and on-demand, across multiple digital, mobile and tablet platforms, and for the first time ever, the Games will be available in 3D.

In total, coverage of the London 2012 Olympic Games will leverage NBCUniversal’s more than 5,535 hours of programming, which represents the largest number of total Olympics hours ever.

Read more: http://www.rapidtvnews.com/index.php/2012072423191/comcast-xfinity-leverages-nbcuniversal-to-bring-multiplatform-olympics-access-and-3d.html?utm_source=newsletter_741&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=rapid-tv-news-current-edition-2407

July 24 2012 – Peter Rice, who has served as chairman of entertainment for Fox Networks Group since 2010, has been elevated to chairman and CEO of FNG, where he will oversee all programming and operations for the group, which includes FOX, FOX Sports, FX, Fox International and the National Geographic Channels.

David Hill, who has served as chairman and CEO of FOX Sports since 1999, has been elevated to senior executive vice president of News Corp., where he will focus on programming, digital initiatives and other opportunities spanning the breadth of the company’s operating units across Latin America, Asia, Australia, Europe and the U.S.

Read more: http://www.rapidtvnews.com/index.php/2012072423190/news-corp-restructures-top-fox-leadership.html?utm_source=newsletter_741&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=rapid-tv-news-current-edition-2407

July 20 2012 – Californian-based ViaSat used Britain’s Farnborough Air Show to reveal that it had beaten off tough competition to win an Australian contract, worth about $286 million (AUS$280m), to provide the ground-based infrastructure for broadband-by-satellite across the nation. The scheme is designed to serve up to 200,000 subscribers.

Read more: http://advanced-television.com/index.php/2012/07/13/viasat-wins-giant-aussie-contract/