Inside Digital TV articles from September 2002

Inside Digital TV archives from September 2002

BBC At Odds With ITV And C4 Over DTT Standard.
September 4, 2002... With a new free-to-air (FTA) DTT offering due to launch in the UK within a matter of weeks, a major split has emerged between the major players over what transmission standard to adopt, writes Barry Flynn. On one side are the two...

Einstein Ready To Secure Key Financial Deal.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2002... Mark Holmes Senior Editor The Einstein Group's Einstein TV channel is set to resume its position on the BSkyB platform in the next 20 days, as well as announce a deal that will secure its long-term future. It has been a busy time for...

PrimaCom: Hoping To Cross Digital Divide.(Interview)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 4, 2002... PrimaCom is a cable provider in the Netherlands and Germany with around two million subscribers. The operator hopes to tap into the demand for new digital and broadband services, although in Germany, this task is far from easy due to the...

Belgium: Complex Cable Market Needing Consolidation.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)(Industry Overview)
September 4, 2002... Chris Dziadul Contributing Editor The unique nature of Belgium requires its television industry to serve two distinct regions split along largely linguistic and cultural lines. While this undoubtedly presents some problems, the country is...

Ex-Liberate Exec Speaks Out On iTV.(Peter Larsen)(Brief Article)(Interview)
September 4, 2002... As reported in Inside Digital TV two issues ago, interactive TV middleware provider Liberate Technologies recently lost one of its key executives, Peter Larsen. In his first interview since leaving, Larsen - now vice president of business...

Gateways To The Future.(set-top boxes or personal computers?)(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)(Statistical Data Included)
September 4, 2002... Barry Flynn asks which device is going to become the home hub - the digital settop box or the home PC? One thing I missed over the summer while away on a two-week break was BSkyB's press conference announcing improvements to its Sky+ PVR...

Briefly.(digital television broadcasting news)
September 4, 2002... * Swiss conditional access company Kudelski has slashed its 2002 sales and profit forecasts, changing its net profit guidance from SFr120-130 million (81.5-88.3 million euros) to SFr5-25 million [3.4-17.0 million euros]. Taking exceptional...

Windows Media 9: A New Trojan Horse For The Set-Top Box.
September 18, 2002... In a flurry of deals surrounding the announcement of its latest version of the Windows Media Player, Microsoft has made it clear that its attempt to embed the Windows operating system in the digital TV market will now focus on video encoding...

D-boxes Set For MHP Upgrade.(Premiere World)(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... Barry Flynn Editor If everything goes to plan, German digital pay-TV operator Premiere World will begin downloading MHP-compliant middleware to around two million secondgeneration 'd-boxes' in the first quarter of 2003. But it's a big...

NTL Emerges From Chapter 11.(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... Chris Dziadul Contributing Editor The news that NTL has finally secured the backing of a US court for arrangements to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this October is likely to have far-reaching effects on its future strategy in...

OpenTV Demos New HTML Solution.(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... Barry Flynn Editor IBC saw OpenTV coming to market with a number of new interactive TV solutions, including a new end-to-end broadband solution for cable operators wishing to offer a triple-play option, a new network enterprise solution,...

New IPTV Range Launched By Pace.(Pace Micro Technology)(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... Julian Clover Contributing Editor Pace has launched a new range of set-top boxes aimed at riding the wave surrounding IPTV. Launching the IP400 family at IBC 2002 chief executive Malcolm Miller said that IPTV was "a very important step...

TVGate Talks SMS.(iTV messaging telephony solutions)(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... Barry Flynn Editor Comverse's TVGate division is convinced that messaging of one kind or another is going to become a key part of the interactive TV experience, and demonstrated a variety of iTV messaging telephony solutions at IBC. ...

NDS Coupon Just The Ticket.(TVXreach)(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... Julian Clover Contributing Editor The question of how to deal with multi-channel households simply surfing through the commercials has been solved, at least in part, by developers at NDS. The new TVXreach provides a peripheral add on to the...

Berlin Switchover Targets Mobile.(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... Barry Flynn Editor Berlin's targeted switchover from analogue to digital terrestrial television will enable mobile DVB-T reception, according to the executive director of the DVB Project Office, Peter Macavock. "There are 20,000...

Liberate Snaps At Crocodile Hunter.(Liberate Technologies applications)(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... Julian Clover Contributing Editor On the Liberate stand there were enough new applications to nail the lie that UK cable does not offer any interactivity. There were demos for BBC Sport, Discovery and Eurosport, though not all of them had...

Switzerland: A Multichannel Paradox.(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... Chris Dziadul Contributing Editor Switzerland is one of the most complex and at the same time paradoxical markets in Europe. Serving three distinct communities, it includes a cable industry serving up to 93 per cent of the country's...

The One Megabit Mobile Future.(Windows Media 9)(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... Barry Flynn was treated to two demonstrations of mobile DTT in action at IBC - involving the use of Windows Media 9 technology. If there was one convincing vision of a role for Windows Media 9 (WM9) in the digital TV sector, it was...

Briefly.(industry news)(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... * 38 separate exhibitors at IBC were showing MHP solutions of one kind or another at IBC, according to DVB's MHP @ IBC Guide. Peter Macavock, executive director of the DVB Project Office, noted that the forthcoming launch of DTT in Berlin would...

MHP Receivers Ready For Roll Out.(Germany)(Brief Article)
September 18, 2002... Julian Clover Contributing Editor The launch of receivers in time for the rollout of MHP services into Germany is developing into something of a competition. Panasonic appears to be first out of the blocks with its long awaited model...