Number 249 | Year 6 | Week June 4 to 10 2008
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Weekly news service on the Latin American satellite industry. Only avaliable upon subscription. Convergencialatina’s service
IPTV has given out few life signals so far in Latin
America though those interested have not remained
quiet. Regulatory and technical issues have halted
them. There are also some potential fears from
operators about investing important figures in a
development still in the test stage in the region. In spite
of that, efforts persist. And, in this sense, a confirmation
comes from the fact that the via-satellite IPTV operation
would be launched in a few weeks by IPTV Americas,
partnered up with "main global satellite operators", as
stated by the integrator firm based in Miami. "The time
to announce the agreement has yet to come", the
President and CEO of IPTV Americas, Alvaro Gazzolo,
told LatSat.
The news has some important features, both for
pioneering in Latin American territory, and for the
technological features that make it attractive. For a year,
IPTV Americas has had technicians working in the
development of a technology that would enable cost
cuts for set-top boxes and enhance performance, both
for definition (SD) and high definition (HD). The
development has finally reached an end, and the results
have really pleased the integrator and the TV operators
who witnessed the trials and proved the quality and
efficiency of the new Set-Top-Box (STB) and MPEG-4
(H.264). The new decoders will reach the market in a
few days at a cost of around US$80 (SD) and US$ 90
(HD). To the lower STB cost and the quality upgrade,
the company now adds a confirmation on a satellite
launching to reach IPTV and cable TV operators
(decoders have been adjusted to fit both purposes);
therefore the transcendental news.
For Gazzolo, taking into account IPTV Americas
business plan is supported on the subscriber cost and
the expansion of the pay-TV market to C and D socio-
economic levels, the most important hindrance has come
from the set-top boxes already in the market, with prices
ranging from US$ 150 to 200. "There is a clear conflict
of interests between content and STB providers. STB
costs pose obstacles to trade content. Examples as the
EchoStar's are valid to highlight the said reality. This
company produces STBs and, in turn, controls STB
costs and posts further penetration and content sale
than a company that depends on a STB provider whose
aim is to sell STB as expensive as possible".
The importance of the said launching gains
importance given the possibility IPTV Americas offers
to other integrators as Siemens Nokia, Nortel, Cisco,
and Alcatel Lucent, as well as to different regional
operators, of directly downloading signals from the
satellite and integrate them to their own ecosystems.
The introduction of the satellite venture has no confirmed
date so far, but it may come before next July.
LATIN AMERICAN IPTV AND CABLE OPERATORS ON THE WATCH:
FIRST VIA-SATELLITE IPTV INITIATIVE ABOUT TO BE ANNOUNCED
!
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Weekly news service on the Latin American satellite industry. Only avaliable upon subscription. Convergencialatina’s service
THE WORLD
LAUNCHINGS
SATCOM LAUNCHES ZHONGXING-9 SATELLITE
TODAY
On a launch vehicle Long March -3B, the Zhongxing-
9 satellite will be launched today from the Satellite
Launching Center in Xichang, in the South West province
of Sicuani in China.The Satcom satellite, built by Thales
Alenia Space, would be used for live TV transmissions.
THE MEDIA
DIRECTV AND AZTECA AMERICA TO OFFER
AZTECA MEXICO CHANNEL
As from June 11th, DirecTV and Azteca America
will offer a new channel called Azteca Mexico to
broadcast content of channels 7, 13 and Proyecto 40
the Mexican company owns, in the United States. The
Executive Director of Azteca Networks, Adrian Steckel,
explained the signal aims at catching users willing to
have a daily contact with Mexican entertainment, news
and soap-operas.
OPEN TV FALLING FACING BROADBAND
ADVANCES
The Professor of the Columbia Business School,
Eli Noam, pointed that open TV is declining given a
sound broadband advance. During his participation in
Telebrasil Seminar, he pointed there was no way of
reverting the said trend, and assured some stations
would keep their importance as content producers, but
terrestrial transmission spaces were to be significantly
reduced.
Noam pointed out "TV future comes in hand with
selective and bi-directional video on demand". On that,
he pointed that, in fact, there were few programs
audiences felt the actual need of watching at the same
time as others. "There are few examples of people
needing to watch TV in real time".
He also pointed the example of the United States
where "radio broadcasters have tried for several years
to restrict pay-TV, but failed". "Today, only 15% of the
North American residences get air-TV", he added.
THE AMERICAS
LAUNCHINGS
ANDEAN COMMUNITY SATELLITE STARTS
OPERATIONS IN 2010
The Andean Community satellite will start operating
between late 2009 and early 2010. The unit will be
handled by SES New Skies. In a first stage, the Simon
Bolivar II will work based on the relocation of a satellite
of the fleet controlled by the Dutch operator. Later, along
the first half of 2011, there will be a satellite launching
for a unit to be manufactured, launched and operated
by SES New Skies.
The Andean Community satellite will be placed in
the position 67º West, and its footing will reach all the
Americas. As for capacity, it will have between 30 and 50
transponders to be distributed on the Ku-band and the
extended C-band. The variation in the number of
transponders has to do with the fact that negotiations still
go on, and landing right issues have yet to be dealt with.
The agreement between the Andean Community
and SES New Skies offers free capacity to the States.
In turn, the United States promised not to re-sell the
said capacity, but to implement it to serve government
needs such as social, e-government and defense
projects, among others.
REGULATION
COLOMBIAN CNTV TOLD SMALL PRODUCERS
TELMEX CAN TRADE PROGRAMS
The National Television Commission (CNTV) told
independent producers that Telmex is able to trade its
THIS WEEK’S NEWS
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Weekly news service on the Latin American satellite industry. Only avaliable upon subscription. Convergencialatina’s service
productions as the channels are not owned by the cable
operator. When the CNTV authorized the integration of
Cable Pacifico, Satelcaribe and Cablecentro, it imposed
a condition on Telmex whereby the firm could not trade
own production channels for a year as from the integration,
or until the CNTV set specific rules on the matter.
BRAZIL POINTED SEVERAL COUNTRIES IN THE
REGION WERE TO ADOPT JAPANESE DIGITAL
TV STANDARD
The Communications Minister, Helio Costa, pointed
there were very good prospects for neighbouring countries
to finally decide for the Japanese ISDB for digital TV. Along
his participation in a Seminar organized by Telebrasil, in
Costa do Sauipe, Costa stated "Chile informed this week
on the possibility to make a decision, and there are good
chances that they adopt the same system as us".
He also indicated that the ministry he is responsible
for has committed to go to Venezuela, within the next
60 days "for another presentation of the Japanese-
Brazilian open digital TV system". He added there are
also plans to travel to Colombia to address the issue,
and added "Argentina is also considering this system".
When asked about the decision of Uruguayan
government of adopting the European DVB standard,
Costa pointed that the said decision was not official and
added it could be reconsidered".
PROGRAMMING LIMITS HINDER APPROVAL OF
NEW RULES FOR BRAZILIAN PAY-TV
The Communications Minister, Helio Costa, pointed
that the programming limits set to encourage national
content production and drive independent producers
were the main obstacle for the House to pass a hill on
Law No. 29. The said bill sets forth new rules for the
pay-TV market and authorizes telecom companies to
join the segment.
RADIO BROADCASTING ACT AMENDMENT IN
ARGENTINA TO BE BASED ON US RULES I
The representative of the Federal Radio Broadcasting
Committee (COMFER-acronym in Spanish), Gabriel
Mariotto, is to travel to the United States on June 19th
and 20th to gather information on the local radio
broadcasting act. According to a press release issued by
the Argentine Embassy in Washington, "The United States
does not allow the same company to own a newspaper
and a TV channel or radio station within the same market".
And added: "For several weeks, the embassy has held
meetings with Senators and US representatives, involved
in the recent approval, thus rejecting a wider concentration
in the media. Among the subscribers to the legislative
norm, there were the Senators Barack Obama and Hillary
Clinton, together with other 24 legislators."
MEDIA
MULTICANAL AND CABLEVISION ARGENTINA
ADDED AL JAZEERA, AL IRAN AND ANTENA 3
TO THEIR OFFER
The cable signals Multicanal and Cablevision, both
under the multimedia group Clarin, have enlarged their
digital grid by including new information signals such as
Al Jazeera, Al Iran, Antena 3, and entertainment
channels as Eurochannel (European film channel) and
NsatGeo. In addition, as from this month, audiences will
be able to listen to Mitre, Del Plata and FM 100 radio
transmissions.
IN BRAZIL, 1Q ADVERTISING INVESTMENT
EXCEEDED THAT OF PAY TV
Advertising investment on the Internet totaled US$
82.5 million along the first quarter, thus implying an
increase of 36% compared to same the period last year,
according to the so-called Proyecto Inter-Medios.
Therefore, for the first time, Internet advertising exceeded
that of pay-TV, since the former got a share of 3.24%
on total advertising numbers, and pay-TV, 2.84%.
DIRECTV LAUNCHED PRE-PAID SERVICES
FROM US$ 23 A MONTH IN COLOMBIA
DirecTV lunched a pre-paid service consisting in
THIS WEEK’S NEWS
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Weekly news service on the Latin American satellite industry. Only avaliable upon subscription. Convergencialatina’s service
an offer of 41 TV channels and 37 audio signals that
can be accessed upon the purchase of a kit including
a decoder, and antenna, and a month of service for US$
116 (VAT included).The plan can be recharged with US$
23 a month, and clients can also make partial payments
of US$ 8.7 to get an 11-day service.
María Elvira Restrepo, DirecTV Marketing Director
in the country asserted "this year we really want to make
our offer massive and tap our technology to reach the
whole of Colombia". In addition, she explained that with
the development of this service modality, the company
wants to reach people who have not acquired the service
given barriers such as prices and contracts.
TELEFONICA LAUNCHED NEW DIGITAL TV
SERVICES IN PERU L
The firm Telefonica has launched TV Player, an
additional service for Cablemagico users in Lima, to
allow them to control live programming and consuming
it as they please.The initiative coincides with the struggle
started by Telefonica and Telmex facing DirecTV
leadership.
Besides, Mauricio Escobedo, Telmex General
Manager, announced the company had plans to offer
satellite TV, in addition to cable. Meanwhile, as from this
announcement, DirecTV has presented additional
services for its product DirecTV Plus.
OPERATORS
TELMEX CHALLENGES TELEFONICA'S
DOMINANCE WITH US$ 200 MILLION
INVESTMENT IN TRIPLE PLAY IN PERU
In the official launching of its Triple Play pack, the
firm Telmex informed it had invested US$ 300 million in
Peru, in the last four year. Along the 2005-2008 period,
US$ 110 million were channeled to the digital cable,
fixed telephony and broadband Internet plans; US$ 90
million will go along the next months (thus adding up to
US$ 200 million); while another US$ 100 million
correspond to previous investments.
The General Manager of the company in Peru,
Mauricio Escobedo, explained Telmex offers 30% of
corporate services already, serves 9% of SMEs, and
4% of residential analog TV. With the new Triple Play
plan it expects to reach one million `home-passes´
(making reference to the homes to receive its cable
system), both in Lima and El Callao port, and the interior
of the country. With this goal in mind, Telmex would
capture 10% of the national market to late that year,
with 85,000 subscribers.
The company's goal is to cover 25% of the Peruvian
residential market by 2010 -some 300,000 clients -,
moving forward on the absolute dominance of Telefonica
(Spanish capital firm holding 87.4% of the fixed telephony
market share, and 91.7% of the Internet).
Besides, Escobedo stated the US$ 300 million were
devoted to domestic network deployment for long
distance and satellite services, to reach several cities
around Peru. In addition, they completed trials to launch
Telmex TV Satelital.
GLOBAL CROSSING TO OFFER SATELLITE
CONNECTIVITY IN ARGENTINE ANTARCTICA
The global IP solution provider Global Crossing has
completed deployment for a new SCPC (Single Channel
Per Carrier) technology antenna in the permanent
scientific base "Teniente Jubany" in the Argentine
Antarctica, in order to improve communications and ease
information exchanges. Luis Piccolo, Sales VP for the
South for Global Crossing Latin America, explained that
the combination of different Technologies, such as fiber-
optics undersea cables and satellites, allow the firm to
offer worldwide coverage.
WIND TELECOM INVESTED US$ 43.8 MILLION
TO OFFER TRIPLE PLAY IN DOMINICAN
REPUBLIC
The President of the Board in Wind Telecom, Jose
Clase, and the CEO of the firm, Manuel Bonilla, informed
that, with investments for US$ 43.8 million, the company
started to offer Triple Play. The pack includes cable TV,
Internet and wireless digital video signal at US$ 44 a
month.
THIS WEEK’S NEWS
Weekly news service on the Latin American satellite industry. Only avaliable upon subscription. Convergencialatina’s service
Wind Telecom operates in Santo Domingo. In
August, services will be available for Santiago and
Puerto and Plata, by late this year, coverage will reach
the center of the valley of Cibao. By 2009, Wind
Telecom is to extend coverage to La Romana and
Punta Cana.
TELMEX MAY GET DTH LICENSE IN INCOMING
MONTHS IN URUGUAY
Juan Piaggio, General Manager of the Regulatory
Unit for Communications Services (URSEC), told
Convergencialatina that in the "short term" they may
deliver two new licenses to operate DTH. "One of the
requests was filed by a telco from the North of the
continent operating in the country; the other is a satellite
firm with sound radio broadcasting capacity", he
asserted.
Claro, the company under the Mexican tycoon
Carlos Slim, operates mobile telephony in the country,
as well as Movistar (Telefónica) and ANCEL (State-run
operator). The DTH license won't necessarily remain in
Claro's hands, but Telmex's, as the company already
offers the service in other countries.
THIS WEEK’S NEWS
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Convergencialatina Staff: CEO: Lic. Germán H Rodríguez - Directora General: Mariana Rodríguez Zani, MBA - Editor: Mariano Carril -
Servicios informativos: Convergencialatina.
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