Here's more on the Kirch Group. This is an article before they stoped selling boxes. More detailed. Cube lost 100K set top box sales this Q, right here..........................................................
PAY-TV ALLIANCE IGNORES HOSTILE EC MOVE
ijumpstart.com
The European Commission has informed German media companies Bertelsmann/CLT-UFA and Kirch-Group that their agreement to collaborate in marketing, selling and renting the d-box, - the set-top-box developed by Kirch-Group, contravenes EU competition law because their planned digital pay-TV alliance has not been cleared yet.
Despite the penalty fines of up to ten per cent of their expected pay-TV turnover EU commissioner Karel van Miert has threatened them with, Bertelsmann and Kirch have opted to continue their joint marketing of the d-box decoder. According to a report in the weekly news magazine Der Spiegel, Bertelsmann decided last week simply to ignore the EC's intervention. As the Guetersloh-based company has sought help from lawyers, the matter seems likely to go to court.
In a letter sent to the two former pay-TV competitors, van Miert demanded an immediate halt to their joint marketing, in which advertisments were placed in newspapers and magazines, saying that they have agreed to use the d-box as the standard for digital television in Germany.
According to van Miert, this gives the erroneous impression that the Kirch-developed decoder is the only system available on the market. The Commissioner also demanded that Bertelsmann and Kirch stop selling and renting the d-box to DTH and cable households wanting to subscribe to Premiere's digital bouquet until the European Commission has given the green light to the planned collaboration. In a statement, van Miert pointed out that with his action he wants to avoid a situation in which conditions are created now which can't be changed later. He fears that Bertelsmann and Kirch could have established the d-box system as the de facto standard for digital television in Germany before the Commission has made its decision (which might take up to five months).
Bertelsmann and Kirch, who confirmed that they have received van Miert's warning letter, said in a counter statement that they are surprised by the intervention, which they criticise as "groundless". According to the two companies, Premiere's decision to use the d-box for its digital package is independent from their planned pay-TV alliance and remains irreversible even if the EU Commission decides to block the alliance. Bertelsmann and Kirch argue that the media industry, media politicians, consumer groups and even the Commission itself had urged them for years to agree to use a common digital decoder which, with Premiere's decision to use the d-box and abandon the Mediabox, now has become reality. According to the statement, Premiere is the only pay-TV station in Europe not allowed to use a decoder, a fact that would clearly hinder Germany's competitiveness in the European digital television market.
Van Miert has countered those claims, saying that he doesn't intend to block the establishment of a common decoder standard in Germany, underlining that this would not infringe the competition law. He pointed out that, however, the EC has to find out whether open and discrimination-free access to the d-box platform is guaranteed. Van Miert revealed that there are several complaints outstanding against the collaboration between Bertelsmann, Kirch-Group and Deutsche Telekom that the Commission has to deal with.
Among these are complaints from ANGA, the German independent cable association, whose opposition to d-box elicited the comment from a CLT-UFA spokesman that "they oppose everything. A year ago they said d-box was best. As soon as we started using it they cursed the d-box.O
These latest revelations follow Deutsche Telekom's decision, under pressure from the EC, to reduce its interests in its cable business and allow other investors to participate in a newly created company. |
