Satellite News Room

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Dutch launch for Comedy Central



Viacom’s Comedy Central will launch in The Netherlands on April 30th. The channel will broadcast evenings only in channel sharing with the Dutch version of Nickelodeon and will be available on cable, satellite, DTT and IPTV. Following Germany and Poland this is the third localised version of Comedy Central in Continental Europe.

The channel replaces interactive music channel The Box, which offered viewers to possibility to request music video clips via their phone. With most kids now turning to the web for their on demand music clips The Box will be closed. For the past few months the channel was already airing some comedy shows instead of clips.

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DTH players are homing in on more customers



Closer home, there's war raging in the direct-to-home (DTH) segment. Dish TV and Tata Sky are fighting another thriller to ensnare as many customers as possible from cable networks as the cricket fever reaches a crescendo. Their prayer is that India win, as a win could help them garner more customers while a loss could mar a great opportunity to grow the subscription numbers.

With no strings attached to it, literally, DTH segment is ready to reach for the stratosphere with the entry of new players like Sun TV, Bharti, ADAG Group coupled with aggressive roll out plans of Dish TV, market leader, and its closest competitor, Tata Sky.

For Dish TV, there's another major event round the corner. Promoted by Essel group, also a co-promoter of this newspaper, the DTH player will make its debut early next week at the stock bourses. Citigroup and ENAM India Research in a curtain raiser have indicated the fair value of the scrip at Rs 120.

ENAM gives an idea of the potential of the nascent DTH sector. It says that the segment will grow at 91% CAGR to reach 30.6 million homes, and will be a $ 3 billion industry in India by 2011. Dish TV is targeting 7.1 million subscription base with revenues over $ 696 million by 2011.

Post listing, the company will scout for a strategic partner to fund this ambitious roll out plan worth Rs 1,000 crore over the next two years. These are ambitious numbers as Dish TV now has a current subscriber base of 1.9 million with $ 18 million in revenues.

Tata Sky, its main rival in the sector, has managed to build up a subscriber base of half a million in six months and has hopped on to the world cup bandwagon to increase its market share further.

But the world cup is not the main trigger for the growth in the customer base of DTH service providers. Industry circles aver that the first phase implementation of CAS (Conditional Access System) in three cities has provided the much-needed impetus to this industry.

"Demand outstripped supply in the first week of January 2007," says Vikram Mehra, Head-Consumer marketing, Tata Sky, referring to December 31 deadline for CAS implementation. "We had to employ 1,500 engineers on temporary basis to meet the demand," says Mehra. He cited Tata brand's strong aspirational value and reliability image as one of the reasons for gaining ready acceptance in the market.

Also the government's initiative to convert at least two-thirds of TV homes into CAS before Commonwealth Games in 2010 seems to be working in DTH's favour.

So the multi-million dollar question is whether cable and satellite (C&S) are on the wane? ENAM Research thinks otherwise. The research of the premier stock brokerage puts C&S figure at 110 million for 2011 from 68 million currently, predicting an average growth of 10%.

Anjali Malhotra, V-P, marketing, Dish TV, says, "It is too early to compare. C&S and IPTV are also in growth stage. DTH scores over C&S as it doesn't need miles of cable for connectivity, it can be installed in hilly and inaccessible areas, repair and maintenance is low, there is an array of channel choices, and it comes with futuristic services such as gaming and interactive sessions. "

The message is not lost to other industry bigwigs who are fast covering the lost ground to share the spoil with the Dish TV and Tata Sky.

South India media conglomerate Sun TV is expected to launch its DTH operations in calendar year 2007. ADAG (Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group) and Bharti group have recentlyreceived their DTH licences and are expected to commence operation by 2008.

Industry watchers predict predatory pricing as competition hots up with entry of such players with a history of working on economies-of-scale model. Currently, the averagerevenue per user (ARPU) in India is $ 4 as compared with $ 65 in the US and £44 in UK. The installation and monthly subscription for the two existing players is Rs 3,990 and Rs 300 respectively. Vikram Mehra sounds defensive on predatorypricing.

"This sector is primarily driven by creative content and fee of these creative minds will only go north in future. This will have a cascading effect on service providers too.

I don't see the prices going down further. Having said that if competitors lower the price, we will have no choice but to follow suit." The industry ana*lysts say that funding may not be an issue as all the players have a pedigree in launching new ventures but companies will have to demonstrate execution and customer acquisition skills.

To eat into C&S pie will remain a major challenge for DTH. Emerging technologies like IPTV is also seen as a threat to DTH segment.

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BSkyB figures suffer after Virgin boycott



Pay-TV operator BSkyB has seen the audience share of its premier channels plummet since it withdrew them from the Virgin Media cable platform last month, new figures show.

Sky News has fallen by 23 per cent in the first two weeks of March compared with the same period last year. Sky One, which screens Lost and The Simpsons, has registered a more dramatic decline, dropping by 34 per cent so far this month, according to industry sources.

A significant decline was inevitable after Sky pulled the channels following a dispute over the amount Virgin pays for them. But the extent of the fall will horrify advertisers, who are likely to demand lower rates to compensate. Sky News now has a 0.36 per cent share and Sky One's stands at 1.22 per cent.

Last week, media regulator Ofcom announced a wide-ranging inquiry into the pay-TV sector that will examine whether Sky is abusing its market dominance, as its competitors claim.

Industry sources claim that will delay the launch of Sky's new Freeview service, which would give viewers the option of subscribing indefinitely to some of its pay-TV channels, including Sky News and Sky One, for a small monthly fee.

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TiVo and One True Media Offer Consumers Easy New Way to Share Home Movies



Beginning today, there is a revolutionary new way to instantly share memorable moments and milestones in your life with friends and family across the country: by sending them home movies or photo montages directly to their TV sets. No more mailing of DVDs or tapes, nor mass postings on the Web for the world to view, instead just automatic electronic delivery to the living rooms of friends and family. Going beyond the digital picture frame, TiVo (NASDAQ:TIVO) , the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), and One True Media, a web-based service for creating and sharing high-quality video montages, are offering consumers the ability to easily share personal video content -- incorporating their own digital videos and photos right to the TV.

Here's how it works: Consumers visit One True Media to create a digital video montage, complete with soundtrack, by uploading their videos and photos and taking advantage of the site's simple editing tools. To share the montage, One True Media customers create their own personal channel with TiVo, and then invite TiVo subscribers of their choosing to "subscribe" to the channel at no additional cost. TiVo users can then select a TiVo Season Pass(TM) recording that automatically adds the sender's latest videos to the viewer's "Now Playing" list -- the same location where they access all of their favorite television recordings.

These easy-to-create-and-share video montages are ideally suited to all kinds of occasions: sharing a baby's first steps or child's birthday party; creating a tribute to Mom, Dad or grandparents; graduation; sharing post-game sports highlights with the team; or chronicling your summer vacation. Whatever the subject matter, TiVo Home Movie Sharing transforms everyday moments and important events into a personal TV show to be shared and enjoyed just like your favorite shows.

"TiVo continues to put convenience and control into the hands of consumers and we are pleased to offer our subscribers yet another easy-to-use, exclusive feature that brings a very personal touch to their TiVo experience," said Katie Ho, Vice President of Consumer Marketing at TiVo. "Rather than posting on public sites or huddling around a computer screen, people can now enjoy these special and personal moments on the best screen in the house -- in the living room."

"One True Media has given people an exciting and fun way to make impressive video montages; now we're offering an ultra simple way for their friends and family to watch them on a big screen -- just like they would watch '24' or 'American Idol,'" said Mark Moore, CEO, One True Media. "We're thrilled that this relationship allows our users to benefit even more from this compelling new way to share life's greatest moments."

This new home movie sharing feature is accessible at no additional cost to the viewer. The ability to receive and view these videos on the television are available free to 1.5 million broadband-ready TiVo Series2(TM) and TiVo Series3(TM) subscribers. For those publishing video, One True Media is providing a free trial to its customers on a limited basis, allowing them to send up to five creations at no cost through April 30, 2007. A standard subscription to One True Media offers memberships starting as low as $3.99/month or $39.99/year.

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CoVi Technologies and Seagate Announce Industry's Highest-Capacity Media Managers



CoVi Technologies and Seagate Technology(R) (NYSE:STX) today announced the availability of the industry's highest capacity Distributed Media Managers (DMMs) for CoVi's flagship Crystal HD(TM) video surveillance system. Featuring new Seagate(R) SV35 Series(TM) 500 and 750 GB disk drives, which are optimized for digital video surveillance, the new CoVi DMMs provide the ultimate in management, storage and delivery of high-quality video surveillance over IP networks.

The CoVi DMM-2100 and DMM-1100 series Distributed Media Managers (DMMs) are intelligent video recorders, stream servers and video information managers. Each DMM operates at the edge of the surveillance network and provides dedicated processing and storage capacity to an individual Crystal HD or ana*log camera. With the addition of significantly higher storage capacities, CoVi's video surveillance system enables the recording and playback of higher-quality video at higher frame rates. These higher capacities also extend video recording durations, allowing users to better meet new and emerging regulations for video archiving. In addition, the new CoVi DMMs are uniquely positioned to address the exponential growth of IP- based video surveillance traffic.

"Over time, 24/7 IP-based HD video surveillance generated content will consume a huge portion of enterprise storage capacity," said Marc Jourlait, vice president of global B2B marketing for Seagate. "Seagate SV35 Series hard drives are engineered specifically for use in digital video surveillance systems. Working in conjunction with CoVi's advanced DMM systems, these drives can deliver the level of performance and reliability needed to help IT and security personnel get the most out of bandwidth-intensive IP video surveillance systems, while minimizing the impact on the enterprise IT network."

The CoVi Crystal HD system is the world's only High Definition, IP-based video surveillance system. Crystal HD's unique distributed architecture is a dramatic departure from the legacy centralized CCTV topology, and maximizes quality and functionality while minimizing network usage. Unlike standalone camera and DVR products, Crystal HD is designed from the ground-up as a complete system. Crystal HD integrates cameras, Digital Media Managers (DMMs), and monitoring and management software to provide unparalleled performance and reliability.

"Within five years, 100 percent of new video surveillance systems will be installed on an IP network," said Barry Walker, CEO of CoVi Technologies. "Effectively delivering and managing this dramatic growth in IP video surveillance traffic is not simply a matter of adding more, bigger pipes. An integrated, distributed video surveillance system approach that combines high- capacity storage with intelligent, video-specific management and streaming capabilities will be key to helping IT and security professionals deal with this huge influx of video without putting further stress on the already strained enterprise IT networks and storage."

"The high-capacity Seagate drives allow us to offer an astounding amount of storage. For example, a 100-camera system with 750 GB DMM's has 75 terabytes of storage," continued Walker. "Combined with CoVi's unique distributed architecture, this recording all takes place with zero network burden."

Key features of CoVi's new DMM-1100 and DMM-2100 products include:

* Two to three times more recording capacity -- Records up to 90 days of HD video on 500 GB DMM; up to 120 days of HD video on 750 GB DMM
* Higher quality, higher frame rate recording -- Delivers HD resolution at 5 and 7.5 frames per second
* Reduces capital costs -- Provides lowest industry cost per gigabyte storage
* Powerful functionality at the edge -- Camera and video session management performed by each DMM; customized streaming and recording configuration for each individual DMM
* Advanced video storage and delivery -- Pre- and post-event recording and streaming on demand
* Maximum image quality and storage capacity -- Utilizes Industry standard MPEG-4 and JPEG encoding
* Flexibility -- Multi-user access at different network bandwidths, from multiple LAN and WAN locations

The DMM-2100 series can record any combination of up to six video streams from a CoVi digital video camera. The DMM-1100 series can record two video inputs from ana*log cameras, while providing three individual streams per video input. The DMMs stream these outputs, live or recorded, to multiple users simultaneously using MultiStream(TM) technology developed by CoVi. Information about the video (video metadata) is also integrated, processed and recorded by the DMM.

The Seagate SV35 Series hard drives are the industry's first and only hard drives designed and optimized specifically for video surveillance systems and applications. Designed to offer increased capacity, performance and reliability in intensive 24x7 video surveillance implementations, the SV35 drives are available in a variety of capacities up to 750GB.

CoVi's 500 GB DMM is currently available from CoVi and from its Certified Solution Provider (CSP) resellers. The 750 GB DMM will be available beginning in April 2007. Seagate SV35 Series hard drives are currently available through Seagate authorized distributors worldwide.

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Ocean Blue software for NXP STB hardware platforms



Ocean Blue Software, the specialist digital TV software developer, has released its DVB software products on NXP's entry-level Nexperia STB100 & STB200 platforms. The software provides an off-the-shelf solution for consumer electronics companies developing entry-level set-top boxes and digital TV products. Functionality that is enabled by this software includes the use of timers, Electronic Programme Guide, favourites list and DVB subtitles.

According to Ken Helps, Managing Director of Ocean Blue Software, "The combination of NXP chipsets and our DVB software products has created an excellent turnkey solution, which consumer electronics companies can now adopt for digital TV products. Teams of NXP and Ocean Blue engineers working in France, China and the UK proved the success of cross country working, utilising the WEB based collaborative project control system." Menno Kleingeld, Senior Marketing manager, Set Top Box, NXP Semiconductors said, "Our STB100 and 200 system solutions offer complete platforms for entry level set-top boxes, suited for Terrestrial, Cable and Satellite markets. Together with Ocean Blue's software we are able to offer our customers cost effective solutions with a lot of functionality as well as short time to market."

The Sunrise multi-mode software is one software product running on a single NXP chipset, this allows both ana*logue and digital TV broadcasts to be supported.

Ocean Blue has developed two versions of its Sunrise multi-mode software for the STB100. The UK version supports MHEG 1.06 (Freeview "red button" functionality) and requires 16Mb RAM + 2Mb flash memory. A rest of Europe version sacrifices MHEG but supports EBU Teletext and operates in just 8Mb RAM + 1Mb flash.

NXP offers reference designs for DVB-T, DVB-C and DVB-S reception. The STB100 & 200 are NXP's entry-level chipsets, with the accent firmly on reducing time-to-market and design costs. The chipset incorporates the Nexperia MPEG source decoder PNX8300, highly integrated silicon tuners and state-of-the-art channel decoders for terrestrial, satellite and cable reception.

Ideal for entry-level applications such as free-to-air or pay television, the PNX8300 supports all DVB / MPEG-2 compliant transmissions. It delivers excellent STB performance thanks to its 32-bit MIPS CPU. Furthermore, a dedicated transport RISC-based demultiplexer engine and DVB descrambler meet most DVB pay-TV specifications and leave the CPU free to handle other tasks.

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New launch of Dnepr rocket postponed for technical reasons


The first launch following last summer's crash of a Dnepr carrier rocket, scheduled for this month, has been postponed due to technical reasons, a spokesman for the Russian Space Agency said Tuesday.

A Dnepr rocket carrying a large payload of satellites crashed July 26, 2006 shortly after liftoff from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, which Russia rents from the Central Asian country, due to a first stage engine shutdown.

"There have been some technical claims to the head part of the carrier," Igor Panarin said. "The state commission decided to carry out additional work and to announce a date for the new launch by the evening March 27."

This time the new Dnepr carrier rocket is expected to put into orbit an Egyptian satellite, EgyptSat, six Saudi Arabian satellites - one SaudiSat-3 and five SaudiComSat - as well as P-Pod micro satellites and six university satellites CubeSat.

Last summer the Dnepr's wreckage was discovered 150 kilometers (93 miles) from the space center on a steppe, far removed from any residential buildings. Kazakh officials said there were no casualties or environmental damage

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ComX Selects Widevine for National IPTV Deployment in Denmark


Widevine Technologies, the world’s leading provider of downloadable content protection, forensic watermarking and digital copy protection solutions, today announced that Denmark’s largest broadband services provider ComX is deploying IPTV services with Widevine Cypher® which has enabled them to license and deliver secure premium content faster, to meet aggressive market launch objectives.

ComX offers a complete lineup of broadcast television, video on demand (VOD) with more than 100 channels and several entertainment packages. In cooperation with established and new content providers, ComX further plans to expand into HDTV service delivery to utilize the advances that digital TV (IPTV) offers. Currently ComX reaches 35,000 broadband subscribers and sees a growing demand for additional services including content delivered to PCs.

“ComX chose Widevine because it is the proven solution globally for securing IPTV networks and to improve our time to market. Widevine is one of the most recognized suppliers delivering content protection and we have acquired premium content from major studios. Additionally, Widevine Cypher is updateable from the head-end, making it simple and fast to renew client security across the entire network in minutes,” said ComX CEO Finn Helmer.

“With broadband penetration rates at nearly 30 percent, Denmark is the world leader in broadband penetration and represents an excellent environment for the rapid growth of IPTV. Widevine is delighted to work with ComX, to quickly get its deployment operational based on our integrations with leading middleware, set top box and server vendors at more than 120 operators globally,” said Brian Baker, Widevine’s CEO.

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RRSat Chosen by Soundtrack Channel to Launch Services to Asia on Telstar 10 Satellite


RRSat Global Communications Network Ltd. (NASDAQ: RRST), a rapidly growing provider of comprehensive content management and global distribution services to the television and radio broadcasting industries, announced today that Soundtrack Channel will launch on the Telstar 10 satellite, using the RRSat Global Network for video content management and distribution services.

"The move to Telstar 10 allows us to continue supporting our large existing business in the Asia/Pacific region, while expanding into Central Asia, India, the Middle East and South Africa," said Denis Leverson, COO of Soundtrack Channel. "We plan to launch a European Soundtrack Channel later this year and the RRSat Global Network will be able to provide our satellite services for that feed as well. Co-locating satellite services for both feeds should save expense, as well as shorten the time required to launch the new European channel."

"Soundtrack Channel's choice of RRSat's end-to-end solution that includes playout, encryption and distribution, is additional significant recognition of the value of our Global Network," said David Rivel CEO and Founder of RRSat. "We are proud to offer services to such a high quality TV channel with content from Hollywood, and we look forward to continued cooperation in additional and diverse regions worldwide."

Soundtrack Channel is currently available in the United States, Canada and several Asia/Pacific markets including Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia.

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Irdeto integrates world’s most-deployed mobile TV content security with RRD


Irdeto, the proven expert in content security for digital TV, IPTV and mobile, together with RRD, a leading DVB-H solutions provider, today announced the successful integration of the Irdeto Mobile Broadcast conditional access (CA) solution with RRD’s DVB-H headend. The two companies have also demonstrated a full DVB Simulcrypt solution running over the same platform.

This combined solution enables mobile operators and other players in the rapidly growing mobile broadcast industry to quickly deploy a proven, secure and scalable solution for a cost-effective rollout of their services.

RRD is a media service company with a unique knowledge base in the field of mobile TV deployments. RRD developed and managed the launch of the world’s first and largest DVB-H service in Italy in June 2006 for Hutchison 3G and is actively involved in several other DVB-H trial deployments worldwide. RRD’s team of dedicated engineers have developed and produced their own ’DBH-3 Gap Filler’ and the Monza network remote management device to improve DVB-H reception. RRD and Irdeto worked together closely on the successful integration and testing of the combined platform.

With nearly 40 years of experience in pay TV technology solutions, Irdeto technology protects more mobile broadcast TV subscribers and revenue than any other solution. As the world leader in conditional access (CA) and DRM for the mobile market, Irdeto is the only company with live customers using Satellite Digital Multimedia Broadcast (S-DMB), Terrestrial Digital Media Broadcasting (T-DMB) and DVB-H technologies. In addition, the Irdeto Mobile Broadcast conditional access (CA) solution was the world’s first content security system deployed for mobile broadcast services.

Irdeto technology is currently integrated into more than 50 different devices from leading manufacturers including mobile phones, PDAs, PMPs and in-car devices, making it the most-integrated mobile TV security solution in the world. The solution uses patented technologies support scaling for the world’s largest mobile TV operations and has been tested to support at least 16 million subscribers.

“The combined experience of RRD and Irdeto gives mobile broadcasters the confidence that they are choosing for a proven, end-to-end solution for mobile TV,” said Doug Lowther, vice president of Marketing for Irdeto.

Franco Ferri, general manager for RRD, commented: “We are very pleased to be working with Irdeto, the world leader in security for Mobile TV. They have proven much easier to work with than their competitors in the space, and I am confident that this will provide our joint customers with the trusted solution they are looking for to make their pay TV deployments a success.”

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NASA Selects Telenor Satellite Services and Verso Technologies



Telenor Satellite Services, a subsidiary of Telenor of Norway (Oslo Stock Exchange:TEL and NASDAQ:TELN), and Verso Technologies (NASDAQ:VRSO) announced today that they have been selected by the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to provide digital voice and data satellite communications equipment and service to all of its Trans Atlantic Landing Sites.

The Trans Atlantic Landing Sites are used as emergency landing locations for the Space Shuttle during launch.

Telenor Satellite Services is partnering with Verso Technologies to provide mission critical voice communications between all ground stations during the launch process using Verso's NetPerformer SDM-9230 products. The project will leverage the NetPerformer's ability to support radio tone keying for communications between the ground stations and the space shuttle, low bit rate voice for communications between ground stations, and redundancy to ensure that communications are not lost during the launch process.

The selection of Telenor Satellite Services and Verso is part of NASA's program to upgrade the emergency satellite communications capabilities at its Trans Atlantic Landing Sites for communicating via satellite during Shuttle launches and provides Space Shuttle personnel at these sites the most reliable and cost-effective methods of communicating and sending data to and from locations in the U.S.

Under the terms of the two-year agreement, Telenor will supply Global Area Network satellite communications equipment for the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and all the remote sites, as well as installation assistance, system configuration, and operator training sessions. Verso will provide hardware, software and support services to Telenor in support of NASA.

The satellite communications are routed through Telenor's Southbury, Connecticut, teleport. The Southbury facility has served as the conduit for NASA's satellite communications to its Trans Atlantic Landing Sites since 1988 when the Space Shuttle returned to space following the Challenger accident.

"Telenor Satellite Services has a proven track record of reliability and dependability with NASA and we are delighted that they have again selected Telenor to participate in the modernization of satellite communications to the Trans Atlantic Landing Sites," said Morten Tengs, chief executive officer of Telenor Satellite Services. "Today our Southbury facility continues to provide a crucial role to the shuttle program providing communications supporting these emergency landing field sites."

"Our selection by NASA demonstrates the reliability and performance of our product," said Monty Bannerman, chief executive officer, Verso Technologies. "Increasingly, Verso is becoming a known provider of mission critical satellite communications throughout the world, with this project coming on the heels of supplying satellite communications on China's recent manned flight missions."

NASA has multiple Trans Atlantic Landing Sites for the Space Shuttle should the craft experience an emergency during or shortly after take-off and need to make an emergency landing on the east side of the Atlantic Ocean.

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Kabel Deuschland increases basic digital to 102 channels



German cable operator Kabel Deuschland KDG will introduce 26 new channels to its basic digital line-up bringing the total number of channels available to 102. The increased number is only available in upgraded network, about 8.6 million households across the country and including cities such as Berlin, Bremen and Hanover.

Launch date is April 1st and the channels will be included in the basic digital tier at 16.90 euro a month. In addition, viewers can subscribe to additional channels. Interestingly, all the new channels are in various international languages, not one of them being German.

The new channels include the following. Arab: ANN - Arab News Network, Al Aqariyah Real Estate; Chinese: Phoenix CNE, Phoenix InfoNews; English: France 24, OBE TV, The Poker Channel, GOD Channel; French: France 24, EuroNews (in various languages); Dutch: BVN-TV; Kazakstan: CaspioNet; Latvia: LTV2; Iran: Iran Music; Brasil: Record TV; Romania: ProTV Int., TVR Int.; Russian: First Musical Channel, RTVi Info; Serbia/Croatia/Bosnia: Balkanmedia TV; Spanish: TV Canarias; Czech: 24 CZ; Tunesia: Tunis 7; Turkey:Samanyolu TV; Ukraine: Inter+.

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TeliaSonera offers live Swedish soccer on mobiles

Swedish customers of mobile operator TeliaSonera will from April be able to watch international football games and matches from the premier division of the Swedish football league on their mobile phones.

Telia has signed an exclusive rights deal to broadcast Swedish football matches on mobiles; the deal covers both live rights and post-match summaries.

"Football is without comparison our greatest public sport and many hearts will beat a little extra when the start of the premier division season is approaching, or when the Swedish national team will play qualification matches for the European Championship or World Cup," said Håkan Dahlström, head of mobility services Sweden at TeliaSonera.

"The new agreement will allow our customers to follow the Swedish team in international competition or monitor the progress of their favourite local team wherever and whenever they want.

"Now that Swedish football has taken a major leap into the largest mobile network in Sweden, with 4.6m users, we believe it will further increase the Swedish people's interest in football and mobile television broadcasting."

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Sky Anytime TV unveiled on HD boxes

Sky's new Anytime satellite-based download service has become available on high definition boxes today.

A red button link to the Anytime menu appeared on the main TV Guide page of Sky HD boxes early Tuesday morning. An option to turn the service off is also now available by pressing services and selecting option 6.

As revealed in our in-depth preview of the service, a portion of the disk drive in Sky+ and Sky HD boxes is used to store TV content to be viewed on demand.

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Discovery Channel,TLC,Animal Planet,BBC America Highlight New Programming at Upfront



Attendees at Discovery Networks’ upfront presentation here Thursday learned that the programmer’s ad-sales force will handle upfront negotiations for the 2007-08 TV season for Travel Channel, which is being sold to Cox Communications along with $1.275 million in cash for the cable operator’s 25% interest in Discovery Communications.

Liberty Media’s Discovery Holding Co. is upping its equity stake in Discovery to 66% from 50%.

After the presentation, Abruzzese said he’d “be surprised if we weren’t selling for Travel for many years.”

As for new programming, Discovery Channel will present green special-event series Ten Ways to Save the Planet during the third quarter of 2008.

Other highlighted shows include Josh Bernstein’s Adventure, in which the Digging for the Truth star Discovery hired away from The History Channel makes an expedition to at last determine the thickness of ice at the North Pole.

For TLC, spinoffs took center stage. Stacy London, the fashionista host of series What Not to Wear, will bring her sassy stylings to a primetime talk show, bowing in the fourth quarter, called Shut Up! It’s Stacy London. Her What Not to Wear co-host, Clinton Kelly, will lead Mind Your Manners in the first quarter of 2008.

At Animal Planet, viewers will find a movie franchise on Saturdays, premiering with Stuart Little May 19. The network is also buttressing its Tail-Evision Friday lineup by adding Leemur Kingdom and Orangutan Island to the third season of its top show, Meerkat Manor. Planet’s Best with Terri and Bindi will find the late Steve Irwin’s wife and daughter hosting top wildlife specials on Sunday nights.

BBC America -- for which Discovery handles ad-sales and distribution duties -- is finessing its primetime schedule into a themed approach under the leadership of new president Garth Ancier.