EMEA News

SES (Paris:SESG) (LuxX:SESG) has announced that TNTSAT, the French digital terrestrial offer on satellite broadcast via ASTRA, reached a total of 3.3 million receivers sold at the end of 2011. This represents an increase of 650,000 compared to the end of 2010. TNTSAT is the leading French digital terrestrial offer via satellite.

The TNTSAT offer was launched in March 2007 and supported the transition from analogue to digital reception which was completed in November 2011 with the switch off in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. With TNTSAT, viewers are able to receive the full French digital terrestrial offer: the 19 French free-to-air channels and the 24 regional channels of France 3 and TV8 Mont Blanc, as well as four channels in High Definition (HD).

In order to receive TNTSAT, households need a satellite dish pointed to the ASTRA orbital position 19.2 degrees East and a TNTSAT receiver with a smart card. Viewers can also receive in a free-to-air mode 10 additional French TV channels, 40 radio channels on the French FM band, and 460 international TV and radio channels.

More than 80 receiver models are currently available, many of them equipped for HD. TNTSAT does not require a subscription, nor a decoder rental fee. Most of the receivers are labeled “CANAL READY” which means that they are able to receive CANAL+ and CanalSat offers by replacing the receiver’s smart card.

Visit http://www.ses.com

Switchdigital has agreed a deal with VDL to provide transmission services for the London 2 DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) multiplex for a period of 12 years from June 2012.

London 2 is London’s largest DAB multiplex broadcasting a diverse range of digital radio services to more than 11 million people.  Included in the agreement with VDL is an extension of coverage, with the installation of a new transmitter at the BT Tower, which will provide improved indoor reception for DAB radio listeners in Central London.

The Switchdigital London decision to move to VDL’s transmission services provision for its second 12-year licence period introduces competition to the DAB transmission market at a time when a number of multiplex operators are considering licence renewals, the launch of new multiplexes and the expansion of coverage in preparation for analogue switch-off. Signing the agreement at the Institute of Engineering and Technology (The IET), Savoy Place, London, on 23rd January 2012, Piers Collins, Director, Switchdigital London, said, “We have been very impressed with VDL’s fresh approach, value for money and desire to work with Switchdigital as a strategic partner.”

Visit http://www.vdl.fr

The distributor and system integrator Qvest Media is expanding its portfolio. The Dubai-based company is now responsible for the exclusive distribution of IPTV solutions for Teracue AG in the Middle East.

The high-end IPTV solutions of the Germany-based manufacturer enable encoding, decoding, transcoding, DVB-to-IP and high quality SD/HD streaming across LAN and Internet networks. Software applications for technology administration and management complete the Teracue product range.

Mohamad Othman, Product Sales Specialist at Qvest Media, is very pleased about the new partnership, “Teracue represents the addition of another innovative solutions manufacturer to our portfolio and a chance to expand our range of offers even further.” Last year, Qvest Media put some of the Teracue solutions to use, “We have used some of Teracue’s products with various installations in the past, e.g. at the Al Jazeera Training Center in Doha, Qatar. They proved to work very well during operation, which made the decision to further this cooperation an easy one.”

Visit http://www.qvestmedia.ae

Technicolor (Euronext Paris: TCH) has announced the reinforcement of its European presence through the takeover of most of the activities of ADJ (Auditoriums de Joinville), SIS (Société Industrielle de Sonorisation) and ScanLab.
The company also announced the creation of a film and television language versioning facility in France.

“We are proud to enter the French market for digital post-production and distribution and to put our skills and expertise at the service of the French cinema industry,” said Frédéric Rose, CEO of Technicolor. “These moves align perfectly with our strategy in the Media & Entertainment domain and will enable us to further reinforce our worldwide leadership positions.”

Following the Jan. 20, 2012 ruling by the Tribunal de Commerce in Nanterre, France, Technicolor will acquire the following activities:

• ADJ  (Les Auditoriums de Joinville) and SIS (Société Industrielle de Sonorisation), which are audio businesses

• Scanlab, which provides digital conversion – coding, VOD and DCP (Digital Cinema Package) mastering – thereby enabling Technicolor to enter the French digital cinema distribution market.

These operations entail adding 34 employees to the Technicolor payroll, 70% of the total number of employees working for the acquired activities.

At the same time, a proposal has been made to purchase the activity and post-production image/color/colorization skills of the Duboi company as well as some assets of Quinta Industries, Duran and LTC, which are part of the same corporation.
If accepted by the court, all of these operations would involve the hiring by Technicolor of 54 employees, including skills and experts highly-esteemed within the film industry. The financial details of these operations are not made public.

Visit http://www.technicolor.com

SterGen Hi Tech Ltd. and Saran Media—a premiere sports broadcast and entertainment rights distributor in Istanbul, Turkey—have signed an agreement to use SterGen’s patented real-time stereo 3D conversion platform to make 3D sports programming available to Turkish broadcasters and mobile carriers.

SterGen’s innovative technology enables real-time conversion of camera feeds and footage into true stereoscopic 3D. Its real-time 3D image processing gives producers a high quality, yet cost-effective alternative to expensive and logistically complex native 3D productions. SterGen’s software will be used for both live sports events as well as to add 3D visualization to previously recorded sports programming.

“Stereo 3DTV greatly enhances the viewing experience, especially for live sports telecasts. For this reason, we’re extremely pleased to be able to leverage SterGen’s powerful technology to provide high-profile 3DTV sports to broadcasters and other carriers in Turkey,” said Selim Usta, Saran Media’s Head of Sports. “We’re thrilled to partner with SterGen and bring this pioneering technology to our country in a way that will dramatically enhance our sports programming.”

SterGen’s real-time stereo 3D technology platform will also enable Saran Media to produce stereo 3D content with a dedicated 3D depth effect for optimized display on glasses-free 3D mobile phones and tablets—a rapidly expanding new market segment.

SterGen LIVE! offers both a complete 2D to 3D conversion as well as a Hybrid Production, which is ideal for those who desire to maximize the high cameras’ advantage of the conversion technology and use native 3D cameras for the lower cameras where the 3D camera is at its fullest potential, and thus provide superior quality for all camera feeds. Overall, SterGen enables producers to create stereo 3DTV sports for a fraction of the cost of conventional and complex 3D productions.

Visit http://www.stergen.tv

Danmon Systems Group announces the completion of a multi-studio recording, editing and presentation system for the new Danish broadcast channel, Radio24syv. A license-funded public service broadcast channel, Radio24syv is jointly owned by Berlingske Media and People Group. Based in Copenhagen, Radio24syv commenced round-the-clock transmission on 1 November 2011, broadcasting via FM, DAB, live Internet and mobile phone. As of 1 January 2012, all Radio24syv content will also be available as download podcasts files.

“The contract was secured by our sister company, Danmon Group with whom we worked on the project in partnership,” states Peter Thomson, Deputy Managing Director of Danmon Systems Group. “Design and construction timescales were extremely short, beginning with preliminary discussions in July and proceeding to completion on schedule for commencement of 24-hour transmission. This necessitated expeditious work during August and September followed by testing and on-site integration in October.”

“The cooperation with Danmon has been a great pleasure,” comments Radio24syv Managing Director and Chief Editor Jørgen Ramskov. “Conditions were extremely difficult with a short timeframe and limited resources but Danmon did the job perfectly with a great degree of flexibility and professionalism so Radio24syv today has a state-of-the-art radio production system.”

Visit http://www.radio24syv.dk and http://www.danmonsystems.com

SIS LIVE, operator of the largest satellite uplink fleet in Europe and the leading outside broadcast provider in the UK, is ramping up its access to permanent capacity on satellites operated by Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL). New contracts have been signed between both companies for significant capacity on the ATLANTIC BIRD 1 satellite and on W3C, Eutelsat’s newest satellite.

With multi-year leases guaranteeing access to 144 MHz of capacity on W3C and 36 MHz on ATLANTIC BIRD 1, SIS LIVE will benefit from an exceptional footprint covering the UK and Europe to serve the market for broadcast services.

The capacity will add flexibility to SIS LIVE’s pool of permanent resources, equipping it to meet broadcaster requirements for a stellar year of events in 2012 that will include the UK Diamond Jubilee and the London Olympic and Paralympic Games in addition to Formula One, Wimbledon Championships, European Tour Golf and the 2012 European football championship in Poland and the Ukraine. It will also support SIS LIVE’s expanding business operations in France.

David Meynell, Managing Director, SIS LIVE says: “Having worked closely with Eutelsat for many years, we are pleased to be able to extend our joint operations. This will enable SIS LIVE to offer our existing and new customers enhanced services and provide them with wider and even more robust access to the global satellite network.”

Visit http://www.sislive.tv and http://www.eutelsat.com

LOVEFiLM, an Amazon company, has partnered with Disney UK in a deal that will give LOVEFiLM members access to full seasons of some of the most iconic American television series ever created. The branded subscription video on demand (SVOD) service, ABC TV On Demand, will offer LOVEFiLM members on-demand streaming access to ABC Studios’ library of hit network and cable series.

Popular series such as Castle, starring Nathan Fillion, as well as all six seasons of Lost, ranked by critics as one of the top US TV series of all time will be available to LOVEFiLM members with streaming packages. The Golden Globe and Emmy-winning Desperate Housewives, hit comedy Happy Endings, critically acclaimed medical drama Grey’s Anatomy, Ghost Whisperer – starring Jennifer Love Hewitt – and every episode of Brothers & Sisters, which earned actress Sally Field an Emmy, will also be available on-demand later in the year.

This is the latest TV content deal with a major US Studio to be announced by LOVEFiLM – Europe’s leading TV and movie subscription service. It follows a number of recent TV deals including BBC and ITV, which have added to the expanding collection of top TV content, together with thousands of movies, already available on LOVEFiLM Instant, from studios and distributors including Sony, Warner Bros., Entertainment One and STUDIOCANAL.

Subscription video-on-demand service LOVEFiLM Instant is available on a wide choice of internet-connected devices including the PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Apple iPad and web-enabled TV sets and Blu-ray players, giving members immediate access to content wherever, whenever.

Visit http://www.lovefilm.com

Pace plc has announced that it has signed a partnership deal with DBS Satellite Services (1998) Ltd, ‘Yes’, the Satellite Broadcasting company in Israel. Under the agreement, Pace will provide new platforms to enable Yes to deploy advanced high definition (HD) digital services, including HD Video on Demand, to its customers.

As part of the agreement, Pace, a leading developer of technologies, products and services for global broadband and broadcast markets, has already initiated roll-out of a HD set-top box to Yes customers. The HD set-top box will incorporate advanced services, allowing Yes to upgrade cost effectively in the field. In addition, the set-top box is capable of being interactive and means Yes subscribers can enjoy payTV applications such as HD Video on Demand over Ethernet connection.

Mark Loughran, Regional Pace President, commented: “This is an exciting time for Yes and Pace to be working together to develop and deploy HD services across Israel via devices which put end users’ needs for simplicity and user-friendliness at their core.”

Ron Eilon CEO of Yes added: “The Yes team is impressed by the professionalism and dedication of the experienced Pace engineering team and view this as the start of strong relationship. There is an increasing demand for VOD and HD television in Israel, and we selected Pace to support our project as Pace has a proven track record of delivering industry leading technology solutions and expertise, both essential to positioning ourselves at the forefront of innovation.”

Visit http://www.pace.com

SGO has announced that established Spanish post production company, Free Your Mind, has invested in a Mistika 2K System with a DI Module to replace their existing technology and enhance the current infrastructure to maximise their strengths. In order to meet the growing demand of commercials production, Free Your Mind has placed Mistika as their post production tool of choice as a complete system they can rely on.

Free Your Mind is a motion graphics and post production house with ten years of substantial experience behind them. The company has post produced over a dozen released films, along with several stunning commercials productions. The facility consists of many high-end suites that offer services across all genres, covering the entire post production process, from editing, compositing, colour grading through to sound and deliveries.

Commercials production is a highly pressurised environment and involves unforgiving and tight time schedules, which require immediate feedback, along with accurate and thorough image treatment, with a consistent workflow between the various departments. Mistika will play a vital role in this entire process and will be key in managing projects efficiently, resulting in stunning creative results.

The Partner of Free Your Mind, Eduardo Jiménez states, “SGO’s software solution is excellent for our projects, and ideal for film and commercials, which is the arena in which we are immersed. The compositing and colour correction tools that Mistika has and, overall, the workflow benefits, have been key to us arriving at the decision to purchase the system.”

Visit http://www.fym.tv and http://www.sgomistika.com