Motorola to sell STB business

Motorola is to sell its Connected Home Division, including the world's biggest STB business, according to the New York Times. The newspapers says sources at Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, hired to advise on strategic options, are now recommending a 3 way split with networks being sold off and the remaining company separated between the mobile phone and 2 way radio businesses. It had previously been envisaged only the handset business would be spun off separately. The connected home division is already up for sale. Motorola's Connected Home Division produced $199 million profit last quarter (to September), could be valued at up to $5 billion. The unit's revenue fell 15%, to $2 billion last year. Motorola currently has $4 billion debt and its handset unit has slipped badly in market share and is now relying on its Droid smart phones to turn things around. Motorola got into the cable STB business in 2000 when it acquired General Instrument's Cable TV business for $17 billion.

Aljazeera buys 5 art channels

Arab & Radio & Television (ART), the largest pay-TV broadcaster in the Middle East, has sold 6 sports channels to Qatar-based Al Jazeera's sports division. The deal could see a billion-dollar cash payment made to ART. Ayman Jadah, Al Jazeera's General Manager, said: "Right now, we have about one million subscribers. We are looking at a figure of 3million subscribers in the next two years." Al Jazeera already has 8 sports channels on air.

Zee Turner plans 50 channels

Zee Turner Ltd, the joint venture distribution company between Zee and Turner, is targeting Rs 10 billion this fiscal with the support of DTH as well as pay-TV income from cable TV. Last year, Zee Turner had clocked Rs 7.5 billion after adding Ten Sports into the bouquet. With the addition of Zee Telugu and Zee Kannada, the contribution from the southern region is also set to improve. Adding channels in the bouquet, which has a strong mix of general entertainment, movies and kids content, would form a part of Zee Turner's growth strategy. The plan is to grow its bouquet to 50 channels within the next 2 years.

Warner TV to launch in 2010

Warner Brothers has confirmed its plan to launch WarnerTV, a new general entertainment television channel in English. The channel will launch in India and Asia in the first quarter of 2010. The distribution of the channel will be handled exclusively by HBO Asia. The announcement was made by Malcolm Dudley-Smith, Executive Vice President-Business Management, Warner Bros. International Branded Services; and Jonathan Spink, CEO, HBO Asia. "Our new service for Asia, WarnerTV, will feature an unprecedented mix of hit television series and theatrical motion pictures from the Studio," said Greg Drebin, Senior Vice President-Programming and Marketing, Warner Bros. International Branded Services. "WarnerTV is a fresh and exciting addition to our channel lineup. As a basic service featuring the very best of hit television series, it is the perfect complement to our premium bouquet," said Jonathan Spink.

mioTV launches new channels

SingTel has announced that Sundance Channel and WE TV will be available for the first time in Asia on its mio TV platform in Singapore on Channel 51 and 24 respectively. The channels will be available to mio TV customers from 7 December in both standard and high-definition with Mandarin subtitles with both 24/7 linear and SVOD offerings available. Says mio TV VP Tim Carmichael, “Sundance Channel is a valuable addition to mio TV’s suite of channels and will most certainly cause a buzz among lovers of independent films and the Sundance brand’s unique programming. We are very pleased and excited about being the first platform to carry this well-respected channel in Asia.”

New music channel for Poland

Poland has launched a new music channel. According to Wirtualne Media, the service, known as Rebel.tv, will be operated by 4fun Media and have a mostly rock music format. It will initially operate on a trial basis, ahead of what is expected to be the award of a satellite licence from the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) in the New Year. Distributed FTA via Hot Bird, Rebel.tv will be offered by all Poland’s DTH platforms, along with several cable operators.

4.56 million Dutch homes are digital

The number of digital TV homes in The Netherlands reached 4.56 million at the end of September, 2009. This was equivalent to 57.3% of all television households. According to research by Telecompaper, the percentage digital homes will surpass 60% by the end of the year. The majority of digital viewers(52.6%) is subscribing to cable. 22.1% watches digital DTH and 19.1% digital terrestrial.

SES Astra To Offer Astra2Connect In The Middle East

SES Astra reports that it will further expand its satellite-based broadband service Astra2Connect, and will offer the service in the Middle East as of next year. As a result, the company has signed a second service distribution agreement with Intersat Africa, a leading provider of satellite-based internet services based in Kenya, Africa, for broadband services on SES Astra's new satellite Astra 3B scheduled for launch in 2010. This agreement follows a recently signed contract with Intersat Africa for the distribution of Astra2Connect in ten countries in Eastern and Central Africa. Under the terms of the new contract, Intersat Africa will market Astra2Connect in Middle Eastern countries, and will offer four different download packages of up to 2 Mbit/s using a 100 cm satellite antenna. Astra 3B, built by Astrium, will be positioned at SES Astra's increasingly important orbital position 23.5 degrees East. The new satellite will carry 52 marketable transponders, with a maximum of 12 designated for the Middle East. The innovative Astra2Connect satellite service offers customers in regions without terrestrial broadband networks an easy solution to access high-speed internet. At the same time, they can benefit from highly reliable, always-on and interactive broadband connections for flat service fees. The customer premises equipment - a modem and a satellite dish - is low cost and easy to install.

Astro gears up for HD launch

Malaysia’s Astro TV will launch its high-definition offering, spending some RM200 million (US$59 million) over the coming year on the new service. When Astro originally announced the launch back in September, CEO Rohana Rozhan said that the package would “have significant impact on our current year margins as we expense cost ahead of revenues.” The operator has 2.875 million residential subscribers. There are no details available on the HDTV line-up – presumably to provide a consumer bang when the launch is publicised domestically on Friday. But Rohana has previously told media that sport is likely to be one of the key HD products, as well as movies and the usual round of international broadcasters such as National Geographic. Also planned is a new PVR product, set for launch in the first half of 2010, which will include “push” content. A previous PVR, Astro Max, has been discontinued.

‘Saddam’ channel back on air

Iranian-based but Arabic-language broadcaster Al-Alam is back on satellite. The channel was taken down amidst allegations that it was a pro-Saddam Hussein mouthpiece for the Baa’th Party, once headed by Saddam. BBC Monitoring says that the channel is back on Arabsat. Transmissions from Cairo-based Nilesat have not yet resumed. The channel went off the air, at least as far as satellite transmission were concerned.

India to limit TV channels

A report carried by the BBC Monitoring service says that India's TRAI media regulator is looking to limit the number of TV channels available. Quoting Indiantelevision.com, the BBC report says: "The Government has directed the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to examine the maximum number of channels that can be permitted in the country in the wake of spectrum constraints but has no plans to curb the growth of the broadcasting sector." Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni clarified that the study by the sector regulator must be seen within this context and there was no government motive to curb the growth of TV channels in the country. "Trai has been requested to examine the number of channels which can be permitted in the country keeping available spectrum and transponder capacities as well as technological developments and general practice internationally," Soni said.

Dish reaches 14m

Dish Network has recently passed the 14 million customer milestone. This achievement follows Dish Network's third quarter in which it added more net subscribers than any company in the multichannel video distribution business. "Surpassing 14 million subscribers is testimony to the strides we made over the past year in providing a best-in-class video experience," said Charlie Ergen, Chairman, President and CEO of Dish Network. "We have more high definition channels than any other TV provider, we feature award-winning DVR technology, and we do it all at the most economical prices in the business." Dish Network offers more than 150 national HD channels, local HD channels in 152 markets, and top-rated 1080p technology that provides the best picture available.

Humax unveils Freeview HD range

Humax has unveiled its Freeview HD set-top box, which is targeted for commercial release in the first quarter of 2010. The Humax HD-Fox T2 incorporates a DVB-T2 tuner, which will enable it to receive the recently launched Freeview HD offerings. Available after launch will be a Home Networking Solution – for content sharing through a home network - as well as single tuner PVR functionality via a USB. Humax Commercial Director Graham North described the box as "portal ready". He anticipated the box retailing at around £170. Scheduled for launch in the second quarter of 2010 is a DVR Freeview HD box "in time for the World Cup" noted North.