Just some short(meaning just a few words.) news items...............
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The Video Monitor
Hong Kong Mulls VOD Licenses
The Hong Kong government has received four license applications from companies looking to provide video-on-demand services. Only two licenses will be issued.
Elmsdale Ltd., Future TV Ltd., Hong Kong Telecom VOD Ltd. and Star Interactive Television Ltd. submitted applications by the August 20 deadline.
Noticeably missing from the list is Wharf TV, the dominant cable provider in the region. A spokesman for the company told Reuter's News Service that the company did not feel a video-on-demand service would be economically viable without other interactive services, such as home banking and shopping.
Another company, New World Telephone, was widely expected to put in a bid, but declined.
Of the four bidders, Hong Kong Telecom VOD is seen as the strongest competitor because it will be subsidized by its parent company, the dominant telephone provider in the region.
New Broadcast Service Company
Manufacturers of broadcast and cable equipment have a powerful new outsourcing company on the market now that International Post Ltd. [POST] and Video Services Corp. have merged into a $90 million company.
The new Video Services Corp. will provide a host of services to the broadcast and cable industries, including design and engineering of new facilities; commercial integration and distribution of content; creation of special video effects; technical and creative production services, studio facilities; standards conversion, playback and duplication; equipment rental; and design of intranet and Internet presences.
The company will trade on NASDAQ under VSCX. International Post has issued roughly 7 million shares of common stock to finance the merger. (201/767-1000)
DVB-T Market Gets a Boost
Digital broadcasting is moving ahead on all fronts in Europe and should become a commercial reality at roughly the same time the U.S. ramps up its digital market.
Several developments have earmarked Europe's keen interest in digital broadcasting. In Germany, public broadcasters ARD and ZDF have unveiled digital broadcast plans. ARD says it will provide 30 multiplex channels over satellite. ZDF is planning five channels in a pilot program beginning in December.
At the same time, SGS-Thomson Microelectronics [STM, Bourse de Paris] and Philips Semiconductors have agreed to develop a common front end for the DVB-T format.
Under the pact, SGS will provide three of the four chips in the set: the FFT processor, the channel estimator/corrector and the error corrector. Philips will provide the synchronization circuit.
The deal is a continuation of a technology agreement the two companies entered into in 1992. (SGS-Thomson, 33-4-50-40-25-58; Philips, 31-40/272-2456)
DVD Authoring War Heats Up
Minerva Systems is taking direct aim at Sonic Solution's [SNIC] lead in the DVD authoring market with the introduction of a full-featured DVD emulator. But regardless of who comes out ahead, Daiken Industries will be the clear winner because it provides underlying software to both companies.
Under a deal with Daiken, Minerva has gained worldwide distribution rights to Daiken's DV Informer debug emulator package that includes Daiken's Scenarist DVD Emulator software.
Minerva will deliver the Informer package as a module within its DVD-Professional production package or as a standalone package to existing users of Scenarist software.
Daiken provides at Scenarist2 software for Sonic Solutions' DVD Creator system.
Minerva has also incorporated Transoft Technology Corp.'s StudioBOSS network storage module into DVD-Professional. (Minerva, 408/487-2001; Daiken, 415/893-7800)
Japan DBS Firms Join Forces
Two of Japan's Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) firms have agreed to unite their systems under a common receiver architecture now that a new U.S.-backed rival is about to launch.
PerfecTV Corp. and JSkyB, which is backed by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. [NWS], will use common antennas, receivers and integrated circuit cards. The move gives customers of both service more than 200 channels.
DirecTV Japan, backed by Hughes Electronics Corp., is due to launch in December.
New Drive for QuVIS
QuVIS Inc. will use Exabyte Corp.'s [EXBT] Mammoth 8mm tape drive in its new QuBit digital video recorder for film and video applications, under a new OEM agreement signed by the two companies.
QuVIS bills QuBit is the first 12-bit motion image recording device. A standard device features 36GB of memory capable of keeping 27 minutes of uncompressed D-1 video or 3.3 hours of QuVIS-encoded video.
The addition of the Mammoth drive gives QuBit additional capabilities for archiving, concurrent tape/disk recording and real-time D-1 playback. The Mammoth drive provides up to 40 GB per data cartridge and more than 250,000 mean-time between failures. (Exabyte, 303/417-7872; QuVIS, 785/272-3656)
New Indonesian Bird
Indonesia may soon get its own satellite to rebroadcast signals from its five private TV networks. PT Media Citra Indostar, a consortium led by financier Peter Gontha, is planning to launch a satellite in October aboard an Ariane vehicle. |
