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Skydigital Information | Ondigital Information

Ondigital and other digital Broadcasters

See also this site for Digital TV (in the UK) et al.

MediaUK - very exhaustive information site

VNUNET - interesting news server | ITC news | Technology - Digital TV

DIXONS leaflet Digital Television |

     CANAL+
     Paris:
     Jean-Louis Erneux (CANAL+)
     Tel 011-33-144-257-581 or mobile +011-32-7524-0076
     Los Angeles:
     K Media Relations
     Tara Kolla
     Tel 213-644-3700
     email: kmediapr@aol.com

     TV/COM International, Inc.
     Merritt Doyle, 619/618-4876
     mdoyle@tvcom.com
     or
     The Townsend Agency
     Sarah Thailing, 619/457-4888
     saraht@townsendagency.com

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Wednesday May 13, 12:08 pm Eastern Time

UK's BSkyB , BDB in digital TV box pact--ITC

``We are satisfied that they are working together to resolve the issues,'' said Peter Rogers, chief executive of the Independent Television Commission (ITC).

He told a news conference that BSkyB and BDB -- a venture between Granada Group Plc and Carlton Communications Plc -- had agreed that their different decoders should be technically compatible.

This ``interoperability'' means that viewers will be able to receive digital TV services, regardless of whether they are delivered via satellite or terrestrial platforms.

BSkyB and BDB have been locked in a dispute over the boxes since February, when BDB awarded a deal to supply the technology used in the decoders to Franco-German group SECA rather than News Datacom.

News Datacom, like BSkyB, is a unit of media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corp Ltd (NCP.AX).

BSkyB, which plans to start offering its digital TV service via satellite next month, issued a writ against BDB, arguing that the terrestrial broadcaster's boxes would not be compatible with its own.

But BDB argued that viewers would only need a simple plug-in adaptor to enable them to switch to BSkyB's service.

After meetings with both companies, the ITC said on Wednesday that BSkyB had accepted BDB's argument that the plug-in adaptor would work.

As a result, both companies' first-generation set-top boxes should be interoperable, although further work needs to be done to make more advanced pay-per-view technology compatible.

``Both sides are agreed, and they are working toward that,'' Rogers said at the conference, which launched the ITC's consultation document on the subject.

He added that BSkyB had also accepted that its complete electronic programme guide would not be available on BDB's initial batch of set-top boxes, although basic channel information will be provided.

The two companies were still working to reach a further agreement on the electronic programme guides, which will let viewers navigate their way through the multi-channel services.

In its consultation paper, the ITC also backed the principle of ``open access,'' meaning that set-top boxes should be able to tap all types of digital services without requiring embedded proprietary technology.

However, Rogers said BSkyB disagreed with the ITC's position, arguing that it needed to keep control over its proprietary technology as a means of fighting piracy.

A BSkyB spokesman was not immediately available for comment. The firms and other interested parties will have until July 10 to respond to the ITC's consultation paper.

Meanwhile, BDB said it and BSkyB were well on their way to making inter-operability a reality.

``We are pleased with the progress we are making on this issue. BDB has always wanted to ensure that viewers need buy only one box to receive channels from digital terrestrial or digital satellite services,'' a BDB spokesman said.

BSkyB's shares rose about six pence to 440 by 1230 GMT, while Granada slipped 6.5 pence to 1077.5, and Carlton rose some

Friday May 8, 7:03 am Eastern Time

Company Press Release

DiviCom Selected by British Digital Broadcasting for U.K. Terrestrial Television Project

BDB Contract Represents Half of All Licensed DTTV Broadcasters

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 8, 1998--DiviCom Inc., a leading international provider of compression systems for digital television, today announced that British Digital Broadcasting PLC (BDB) has selected DiviCom to supply headend compression and multiplexing equipment at its digital terrestrial television (DTTV) broadcast center located in central London.

BDB has announced that broadcasting from this center is currently scheduled to begin in the last quarter of 1998.

BDB has ordered DiviCom's newest program encoder, the MediaView MV40. The MV40 received an ``Editor's Pick of Show'' award, given by Television Broadcast Magazine, at the recently concluded National Association of Broadcasters tradeshow in Las Vegas. In addition to the MV40, BDB will be using the MediaNode MN20 multiplexer and the DiviCom MPEG Media Toolkit (MMT).

Why DiviCom?

``BDB chose DiviCom for compression and multiplexing equipment because the MediaView MV40 encoder delivers exceptional quality,'' said John Egan, Director of Operations at British Digital Broadcasting PLC. ``The company also has a strong track record in integrating its products into fully working headends. It's imperative that we select the best equipment as we build the infrastructure that will change the way most people receive television in the U.K.''

As part of the project, BDB has hired DiviCom to integrate its headend equipment with the MediaGuard conditional access system provided by Canal+. This integration represents an important step forward by DiviCom in adding to its list of third-party vendors whose products work in concert with those from DiviCom.

``DiviCom is honored to have been selected by British Digital Broadcasting for its new DTTV multiplexes in the U.K.,'' said Tom Lookabaugh, president of DiviCom. ``Quality and interoperability are key issues for our customers, and we believe they are critical to making DTTV a reality.''

What is Digital Terrestrial Television in the U.K.?

Digital Terrestrial Television is the next step in television. It is a new, more efficient way of transmitting television broadcasts, offering viewers more channels, extra services and better quality pictures and sound.

In order to view DTTV broadcasts, all viewers need is a simple settop box that plugs into their existing television and aerial socket. Signals are received through an aerial antenna and decoded by the settop box. Viewers will be able to receive about 30 channels: the existing 5 free to air channels; new free channels from the BBC and ITV; and, by subscribing to BDB, they will be able to receive a basic package of 12 (digital) channels from Carlton Communications, Granada Group and BBC/Flextech -- and 3 premium channels of sports and movies from SKY.

How the Pieces Fit Together

The DiviCom MN20 multiplexer works in tandem with the MV40 digital encoder to maintain a multi-program stream that allocates the appropriate bandwidth to each channel according to the complexity of a program's content. This is a feature of the MV40 called DiviTrack, an advanced ``lookahead'' statistical multiplexing system that allocates data rates frame by frame.

Other key players in partnership with BDB are Canal+, which is providing conditional access, end-to-end systems integration and central system information (SI); Castle Transmission and British Telecom, who are providing the distribution and transmission system; settop box vendors Nokia, Toshiba, Sony, Pace Micro, Grundig and Philips; and British Telecom, who is providing customer management services.

British Digital Broadcasting

British Digital Broadcasting is a partnership between Carlton Communications and the Granada Group, which each own 50% of the company. BDB will be the U.K.'s largest commercial digital terrestrial broadcaster and will launch at least 15 channels from the U.K.'s leading television production and broadcasting companies -- Carlton, Granada, BBC/Flextech and Sky.

DiviCom Inc.

DiviCom develops and integrates products that make digital video networking possible. Products include audio/video encoding, data broadcast solutions, network management systems, consulting and integration services. Based on the MPEG-2, DVB and ATSC international standards, DiviCom's products enable digital video broadcasting over a variety of networks including satellite, wireless, fiber and cable.

DiviCom is a wholly owned subsidiary of C-Cube Microsystems Inc., and both companies are based in Milpitas, Calif. C-Cube is the leading provider of digital video silicon solutions for the communications, consumer electronics and computer markets. DiviCom can be reached at 408/944-6700 or on the World Wide Web at http://www.divi.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. The statements contained in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The completion of the BDB broadcasting center and the commencement of broadcasting discussed in this press release (including DiviCom's ability to integrate its products with those of Canal+) are subject to potential delay and other risks inherent in hardware/software development and integration. Also, there is no assurance that Digital Terrestrial Television will meet current specifications as to number of channels, services or picture or sound quality due to technological, economic or other constraints or that, even if these specifications are met, that it will achieve market acceptance, due to the rapidly changing market for such products, competition and other factors. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are based on information available to DiviCom on the date hereof, and DiviCom assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements.

     DiviCom Inc.
     Anne Hohenberger, 408/490-6688
     anneh@divi.com

Friday May 8, 6:34 am Eastern Time

UK's BDB says on track for Q4 digital TV launch

In their first formal presentation to analysts, BDB officials said the terrestrial TV venture would break even at just under two million subscribers.

``It will make profits of more than 100 million pounds ($165 million) with three million subscribers, and with five million subscribers, that figure rises to 250 million pounds,'' BDB chief executive Stephen Grabiner said in a statement.

The company said its marketing spend would be ``very significant'' ahead of the launch, backed by promotion on the free-to-air services of Britain's major broadcasters.

``This in itself is worth about 100 million pounds in advertising spend -- that's more than some of Britain's biggest brands spend on TV advertising in any given year,'' Grabiner said.

BDB also said it picked British Telecommunications Plc as the main supplier for its customer management centre, while it would use California-based Divicom to supply its encoder and multiplexer equipment.

BDB will offer at least 15 channels at its launch, consisting of 12 core channels and one to three premium channels from BSkyB, which plans to launch a rival digital satellite TV service next month.

Grabiner said BDB's initial capacity to offer up to 30 channels could rise by 50 percent ``in a short number of years'' due to technological advances.

``Our core package of 12 channels will be priced below the entry point of BSkyB's current 'big basic' package and, indeed, below the price points of many of the recently introduced cable mini-packages,'' he said.

With the launch of digital TV this year, British viewers will be able to receive digital channels on three platforms -- BDB's terrestrial offerings, BSkyB's satellite services, and via cable companies' channels.

Carlton's shares rose 11.5 pence to 519, while Granada slipped five pence to 1078 at 1025 GMT, while BSkyB shed five pence to trade at 415.

($ equals 0.607 British Pounds)

FOCUS-UK's BDB airs forecast for digital TV launch

By Jeff Daeschner

LONDON, May 8 (Reuters) - British TV firms Granada Group Plc and Carlton Communications Plc said on Friday they were on track to launch digital TV in the fourth quarter, forecasting strong profits from the venture.

Disclosing their first detailed forecasts, company officials highlighted the perceived advantages of their terrestrial TV venture, British Digital Broadcasting (BDB), over its satellite and cable rivals.

With the launch of digital TV this year, British viewers will be able to plug into a plethora of channels offering sharper images and CD-quality sound compared to the five standard channels that most consumers currently watch.

Three digital TV groups will be vying for viewers' subscription fees, with terrestrial broadcaster BDB and satellite company BSkyB seen as the biggest rivals in the race to dominate the pay-TV market.

In their first formal presentation to analysts, BDB officials said they expected their venture to break even at just under two million subscribers. A BDB statement gave no indication when the company might reach that level.

``It will make profits of more than 100 million pounds ($165 million) with three million subscribers, and with five million subscribers, that figure rises to 250 million pounds,'' BDB chief executive Stephen Grabiner said in his statement after the meeting.

Shares in the media companies were little changed after the news, with Carlton up 8.0 pence at 515, Granada down 11 pence at 1072, and BSkyB off 7.0 pence at 413 by 1130 GMT.

BDB's launch will offer at least 15 channels with a capacity of up to 30 compared to the 200-channel satellite service that BSkyB plans to begin rolling out next month.

However, BDB's terrestrial service will be available over viewers' existing TV sets and aerials, whereas consumers will have to buy a new satellite dish to receive BSkyB's channels.

Regardless of which service they choose, though, viewers will need to buy a set-top decoding box for about 200 pounds to get the new digital channels.

BDB said a recent poll by research firm NOP found that consumers most interested in taking up digital TV were five times more likely to subscribe to terrestrial rather than satellite services.

The research also indicated that up to one million people were prepared within the first year to pay 199 pounds for a set-top box.

He added that BDB's core package of 12 channels would be priced below BSkyB's current ``big basic'' package and the price points of many cable mini-packages.

Grabiner said BDB could offer some 45 channels ``in a short number of years,'' due in part to encoder and multiplexer equipment supplied by California-based Divicom.

BDB planned a ``very significant'' marketing spend ahead of the launch, backed by promotion on the free-to-air services of Britain's major broadcasters.

``This in itself is worth about 100 million pounds in advertising spend -- that's more than some of Britain's biggest brands spend on TV advertising in any given year,'' Grabiner said.

BDB also said it would develop a call centre with British Telecommunications Plc to manage customer service.

($ equals 0.607 British Pounds)

Wednesday June 3, 7:52 am Eastern Time

UK's BSkyB outlines digital TV launch plans

(Reuters) New media regulation will be needed to ensure that digital broadcasting and advertising offers choice and quality to consumers, UK Secretary of State Chris Smith said. Smith said regulation was needed to ensure that new media services were not burdened by overlapping regulation and multiple licensing. Current broadcast regulation must also be reassessed in the light of these new services. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport will work with the Department of Trade and Industry to consult on how new policy may need to adapt. Sustaining competition and streamlining existing regulators would be among the key aims of any new regulation, Smith said. New UK policy would also help shape the direction of European media policies, Smith said. The new regulation will promote competition among emerging new services, rather than consolidating existing dominant companies.

download the full story

08.05.

UK Premiere League as per per view?

Form the consumer's point of view, the brave new world of digital television can be characterised with just three words: PAY, PAY, PAY. In the UK, football [soccer] clubs now think of offering their matches by pay-per-view in case there's no deal on terrestrial distribution.

Chris Akers, chairman of Leeds United's holding company Leeds Sporting plc, said that BSkyB was currently in talks with the Premier League about pay-per-view being introduced for next season, although he said there was still no concrete deal.

Apart from that, pay-per-view could be introduced on UEFA Cup or Cup Winners' Cup matches. Akers, speaking on on BBC Radio Five Live's Inside Edge programme, predicted matches would cost around UKP8 to 10, depending on the opposing club.

Akers continued: "In terms of the costs of the game, as more and more investment is put into the playing squads and salaries associated with it, we've got to grow revenue at a faster rate.

"I think like any form of entertainment we have to do our best to secure the maximum sources of income."

Commentary

Did football matches actually get any better over the past ten or 20 years? Do these clubs deserve all that money because they deliver better entertainment than back then? I don't really think so. Something's fundamentally wrong with all that, I suppose, but anyway it's you who's got to pay the bill.

Let's hope that this kind of entertainment industry will be put into proportion sooner rather than later. Nobody denies them a decent income, but recent developments all over Europe can only be called insane and totally out of proportion simply because football clubs don't offer anything new. To my knowledge, none of them have so far re-invented the game.

Even protagonists of digital TV should now be prepared to admit what it's all about: exploiting broadcast rights to the hilt--first cashing in from the rich, then selling the same stuff to the middle class who can't afford pay-per-view but are prepared to spend some money on pay-TV. Those who are not interested in any kind of pay-TV at all may possibly allowed watch the matches on TV a few days later.

Back to top

Listen to your wife, don't subscribe to digital pay-TV

According to a new survey, digital TV has not only to overcome technical problems. Mothers and wives don't like those hundreds of TV channels available through digital broadcasting because they fear their husbands and children could become couch potatoes.

Western International Media's survey, which comprised 3,000 participants in Britain, says that 23 percent of women said cable and satellite did not interest them at all. A further 27 percent did not think they were good value for money.

Ivor Hussein, research director at Western International Media, was quoted as saying that "women are the gatekeepers. They will decide whether digital gets into their homes."

28.04.

Chris Barrie, Media Business Correspondent ITV firms declare digital war on Sky

BRITAIN’S ITV companies are declaring war on British Sky Broadcasting by refusing to allow the satellite broadcaster to broadcast their main channels in its digital TV package. ITV executives have decided not to allow Sky to broadcast Channel 3, the national ITV service available now in analogue form and due to be broadcast simultaneously in digital later this year. The result is that Sky customers who pay for its satellite digital services will only get the ITV channel in analogue form — with poorer pictures and sound than in digital — by switching out of Sky’s digital service and back into analogue TV. Nor will ITV allow Sky to transmit ITV2, the new digital-only channel which will be available free to customers receiving terrestrial television via digital TV sets or a set-top box supplied by British Digital Broadcasting — the joint venture owned by Carlton and Granada and licensed to transmit digital terrestrial TV. The move follows the BBC’s decision to pay Sky to transmit the corporation’s services on digital satellite. One senior ITV executive said: "We all need to limit the increase in digital satellite television, not encourage it." He added that Sky was keen to present itself as the one-stop shop of the TV industry, offering subscribers many channels and an inclusive service. ITV’s decision, he said, meant Sky would still be an "add-on" service. The decision, coupled with aggressive pricing plans revealed yesterday for their rival digital service, marks a sharp increase in the hostilities that already exist between Rupert Murdoch’s satellite TV empire and terrestrial commercial giants such as Michael Green’s Carlton Communications and Lord Hollick’s United News and Media. Channel 5, by contrast, has opted for digital satellite transmission to increase its patchy coverage. Channel 4 is putting only its pay TV services on to satellite. Ian West, Sky director of digital and business development, yesterday told the IBC conference on digital TV in London that there were difficulties in persuading ITV to broadcast via satellite, but they would be ironed out. The split became apparent as Nigel Walmsley, chairman of Carlton Television and a director of BDB, pledged to drive digital TV into middle England by offering a core package of 12 channels for under £10 a month. Mr Walmsley said BDB would aim to undercut Sky’s basic package and some of the cable packages introduced recently that offer a small numbers of channels at low cost, a marketing ploy that is revitalising cable subscriber numbers. The strategy follows the conviction held by Michael Green, Carlton chairman, that price will be vital in persuading more households to pay for television. BDB estimates that there are 17 million homes without multi-channel TV, and that 11 million of these "virgins" are prepared to pay providing the price is right — "middle England looking for value for money". Mr Walmsley said market research showed that 8 million homes do not want a satellite dish on the roof, while 7 million felt the current options were too expensive. Meanwhile 13 million homes are in streets that have yet to be cabled. BDB’s equipment would be simplest to install — "plug in and play" — and attractive to three-quarters of homes without multi-channel TV. The cost of the set-top box would also be critical. The box, needed to convert today’s TV set into one capable of receiving digital signals, will sell to 8 million homes if priced at £200, rising to 11 million and 14 million if the price tag falls to £150 and £100 respectively. 28 April 1998

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10.03.

Chris Barrie reports Opening the magic box that will start a revolution

A CRUCIAL step in the digital broadcasting revolution took place yesterday when six electronics companies were awarded orders to make set-top boxes for British Digital Broadcasting. Behind the order lies a strategy that will shape the fortunes of BDB, the terrestrial digital broadcaster owned by ITV companies, Granada and Carlton. Without that box, digital TV will be little more than a conversation piece for industry executives. Smaller and more complicated than a video recorder, the box to be produced by Grundig, Pace, Philips, Nokia, Sony and Toshiba will transform your television set into a multi-media machine. It’s also going to cost a lot of money. Retailing at £200, it could cost three times more than that to make: some people in the TV and entertainment business want you to have one of these so badly that they are prepared to subsidise it to a degree almost unknown in the world of consumer electronics. The box will unscramble digital TV signals, bringing a huge array of channels into the home. It will contain the electronic programme guide that viewers need to navigate through 200 or more channels and prevent them watching what they have not paid for. For many people, it will provide their first access to the Internet. Executives see digital TV as a huge opportunity. Talk abounds of pay-per-view films, subscription channels, home-shopping services, vast demand for new programmes and repeats of those programmes driven by huge marketing budgets. Eventually, digital TVs will replace today’s analogue sets, making set-top boxes obsolete. But until then the only way to unscramble the signal is with one of these boxes. The precedent for digital technology to be little more than an obscure luxury for the rich is already there: digital radio is transmitted by the BBC now but, because of the cost of the receivers, is listened to by only a handful of people. Most of them work for the BBC. Nervousness about digital TV and its associated investments is already causing turbulence in share prices. City investors took fright earlier this year when one electronics company, Pace, admitted that it would not be able to deliver set-top boxes until June. Not only did Pace’s shares fall sharply, so also did those in British Sky Broadcasting, the satellite broadcaster that has ordered boxes from Pace, among others. Since then Sky, controlled by Rupert Murdoch, has brushed aside fears about delay to its digital service. The company is opting for a "soft launch", beginning its digital service in June but waiting until the autumn — and crucial pre-Christmas sales — before turning the marketing tap on full blast. Pace, along with three other manufacturers, has since had its Sky order confirmed. Pace shares have performed dismally since the company was floated on a wave of City enthusiasm for hot technology stocks. Malcolm Miller, formerly of Sega and Amstrad, and now chief executive of Pace, has been brought in to clean up the act. With his background in consumer electronics, Mr Miller is focusing on how to persuade the public to pay for these boxes. He says of digital TV: "People have not thought about how to sell this service yet." Graphics and seductive designs on screen will be crucial in persuading the consumer to pay up. The buyer has to see the transformation of his TV, and want it. To find extra impetus for the sales campaign, Mr Miller suggests digital TV and its benefits will have to be sold by many companies, not just the traditional retailers of consumer electronics. Companies such as Thomas Cook, HMV, Sainsbury, and Allied Domecq have expressed interest in selling their services on-line. Their staff, Mr Miller says, could be offered incentives to sell not just the online services but the boxes, too. These staff, Mr Miller says, could boost the take-up of digital TV enormously by persuading people of the benefits. These are what will matter, he adds, not the maze of services and channels that could confuse and even irritate people. To make the marketing even trickier, there will be several types of set-top box in the shops. Sky aims to be first with its digital service, followed closely by one or two of the cable companies and the rest coming on stream as the months go by. BDB’s terrestrial services are supposed to be running by the end of the year. Both BDB and Sky are likely to offer more than one type of box. A cheap and simple box will allow the viewer to see free and pay-TV channels in digital, while a more expensive version will give access to fully interactive services. Costs will also vary according to the graphics that the box puts on screen, and the speed of its processors and modem. The public may take to digital TV very quickly. Some households will get it for nothing, and Cable and Wireless Communications will give digital a kick-start by lending boxes to its subscribers. The company is hoping to make its return from the increased use that customers should make of its services as a result of what digital can offer in terms of more films, sport and entertainment. But, leaving aside the industry’s natural enthusiasm for digital TV, it may take many months of hard selling to convince householders that the box is worth paying for. Without them, enthusiasm for the technology is all there will be in most households. SPOILT FOR CHOICE How digital TV will greatly increase your choice of TV programmes Now The 5 free-to-air terrestrial channels of BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5. Teletext services providing information Pay TV via satellite or cable including: Sky News CNN (24 hour news) UK Gold (Best of BBC) Sky 1 (mostly US programmes) Granada Plus Carlton Select Paramount Film channels Sports channels (three from Sky plus Eurosport) Nickelodeon Cartoon Network MTV VH1 NBC Coming soon With ordinary TV plus set-top-box: ( Existing free-to-air services New channels from the BBC and ITV (reruns of favourite shows plus some new programming) Subscription channels from C4 (films and sport) and C5 Enhanced teletext services Through BDB, 30 channels including the above plus (available on subscription): ( Film and sports channels from Sky Carlton Films Carlton Public Eye Granada TV shopping Granada Sports Club UK FM, a visual Radio One ( Through Sky, 200 channels of television, of which 60 will be audio and many will be devoted to near video-on-demand. The Future Once cable services are fully running: ( Up to 600 channels, many showing films on a rolling-start basis Many niche programmes and channels, some dedicated to sports such as golf and angling ( Interactive services will be launched through Sky, BT and other companies using the internet, telephone lines and airwaves to provide entertainment, information and services. 10 March 1998

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06.03.

Simon Beavis, Media Business Editor £11bn to switch to digital TV

THE switch to digital television, set to begin in earnest this autumn, could land consumers with a bill for an extra £1.9 billion if they want their video recorders to function fully in the new environment. That bill — calculated by consultants, National Economic Research Associates — is on top of the estimated £6 billion to £9 billion they will need to spend on new equipment to receive digital signals and benefit from the promise of better pictures and sound. News of the bill was brought to the fore by David Elstein, chief executive of Channel 5, in evidence to the Commons select committee on culture, media and sport yesterday. Mr Elstein told MPs: "Viewers will not only have to replace every single TV set but every single video will have to have a replacement or a digital box. The cost to the consumer will be enormous." Digital TV will place the same limitations on videos that are currently imposed by satellite and cable. Viewers will be able to video only the digital channel they are watching or one of the analogue channels. It will be impossible, for example, for viewers to watch a digital football match and video a film from another digital channel to watch later unless they buy two set-top box decoders — one for the TV and one for the video. Set-top boxes for both satellite and terrestrial digital will retail at about £200 for subscribers, or for more than £400 for those not taking up pay-TV services. Nigel Walmsley, a director of British Digital Broadcasting, forecast more than 3 million people would subscribe to the service within five years. BDB, a joint venture between Carlton and Granada, would be launching a competitively-priced service of up to 30 channels this autumn. 6 March 1998

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---

Waveguide Xtra Digital Line-up

Digital Line-Up

"Digital television " leaflet free at Dixons

    from: owner-sat-digital-uk@tags1.dn.net 
    Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 14:25:44 -0400 

Dixons, the UK consumer electronics, camera & brown goods chain now has a leaflet 
available in their stores called "Digital Television".

It seems to be factually correct & it's good to see that they're trying to educate a 
UK public who, in general, are clueless about what digital TV means.

It dispels some of the hype about Sky's "200 channels" in that it mentions 
50 channels plus 50 audio & goes on to say that this includes up to 10 movie 
channels and 50 Box Office channels for PPV movies and events.

It also points out that no dates have been confirmed, that digital satellite 
is expected in August & terrestrial in November (1998 - I hope!).

For cable it suggests contacting your cable company; I know that the 
cable companies themselves will have a variety of (differing) responses 
- depending on which cable company &, in some cases, which person at
the cable company happens to answer your call. (In other words many 
of these companies seem to lack "Corporate Identity").
  
Widescreen & Dolby Surround sound are specifically highlighted in the leaflet. 
They don't try to confuse the public with talk of Dolby AC3, Musicam or 
Dolby Digital  -probably a good policy.

The leaflet speculates that analogue TV transmissions will probably 
go on for another 10-12 years.

---

Sat-UK-News #256 26.05.98: W1 Info, Sky Digital Info

---

• from: owner-sat-uk@tags1.dn.net
• Date: Tue, 26 May 1998 21:10:01 +0100

Sat-UK-News Report #256:


---------- Information on Sky Digital
(source: Sat-Digital-UK- by Chris Muriel)
 Sky had an impressive-looking auditorium running a video to announce
the great   opportunities to the retailer with "Britain's first & best
digital tv service". It was exactly the same video & announcement that
Sky showed at another show one month previously! No specific timescales
were given.Details given (& also in their handouts) were :-
 - Sky Movie Multiplexing -5 movies starting every hour.
 - Sky Box Office -blockbuster movies,sport & entertainment events.
 - Sky Music Choice Channels -up to 50 channels of digital quality
music.
 - Existing New & Free-to-Air channels - existing analogue line-up,new
ones & up to 15 FTA.
 - Interactive Services -access to home-shopping, banking & information
services.
 - Electronic Programme Guide - "putting the viewer in control".
 Elsewhere it briefly mentions email & games. There's a mock up of the
new elliptically shaped black mesh dish - less than 40cm in height.I
also saw a Pace & a Grundig receiver -both marked "Sky digibox". The LNB
was from Cambridge. The Pace receiver has 2 card slots-1 for the dig
smartcard (NDC Videoguard) & one for a Mondex smart bank-card. There's a
description of the Pace receiver in the May 1998 Cable & Satellite
Europe magazine. This confirms that the video encoder includes
Macrovision 7.01 for all composite & RGB output signals. Symbol rates
covered are 20-30 Megasymbols/second.Also included is   16:9
(widescreen) aspect ratio support,an RS-232 interface,a V32 (with
V42bis) modem and 2 scart sockets -although Sky's own specification only
calls for one. 1 intended use of the RS-232 port is to download games to
a PC directly from BSkyB. AN IEEE 1394 (firewire) port could allow
connection to DVD players. There are 2 RF outputs & 4 MBytes each of
flash RAM & SDram.
 Subscription charges are said to be "broadly in line with analogue" &
dealers are supposed to have Sky digital equipment to sell "in good time
for the start of the peak sales season" when their "massive consumer
advertising & promotional campaign begins in early autumn". At 1 point
the English ex-cricketer Ian Botham appeared as a special guest on the
Sky stand. How boring! (for me at least); now if only they'd got Madonna
or even those nice ladies from the Playboy Channel!!! My own opinion is
that the whole pitch comes across as vague. I don't see that Sky have
much alternative until they sort out their differences with BDB (digital
terrestrial) over inter-operability of EPG & CA systems.

Subject:      Re: Sky digital receivers
From:         77cursonn@unl.ac.uk (NIGEL CURSON)
Date:         1998/04/14
Message-ID:   <353344b1.0@news.unl.ac.uk>
Newsgroups:   alt.satellite.tv.europe
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In article <B158D76096681E833@0.0.0.0>, 
gulpenstein@hotmail.com (Tom Jones) writes:
>In article <3533066c.0@news.unl.ac.uk>,
>77cursonn@unl.ac.uk (NIGEL CURSON) wrote:
>
>>Pick up a copy of this week's Broadcast magazine (dated 10 April), which
>>describes the Sky, BDB and cable digital boxes in as much detail as is
>>currently available.
>>
>
>Could you please give us more info on the receivers. Does Nokia also build
>for Sky?
>I could not find the mag anywhere.
>

OK here's a brief summary - excuse me if I don't understand ALL the techie 
stuff

Sky:

Transmission QPSK
API Open TV (for British Interactive Broadcasting services)
CAS Videoguard
EPG BSkyB
Common interface: No
28.8 modem in upmarket models
Initial suppliers Amstrad, Grundig, Pace, Matsushita

BDB (terrestrial)
Transmission COFDM
API Mediahighway +
CAS SECA
EPG MHEG five format
Common interface: Yes in integrated digital TVs, possibly in set-top boxes
Interactivity in second generation box
Initial suppliers Grundig, Nokia, Pace, Philips, Sony, Toshiba

Digital Cable TV
Transmission 64QAM
Set-top box spec, API, CAS and EPG will all be will be operator specific, 
although Cable and Wireless will have close links with Sky and digital
terrestrial broadcasters. It is laying a fibre-optic link between the Sky
digital playout centre and the CWC headend.

Talk about nightmare market fragmentation.

Hope this helps, N
n.curson@unl.ac.uk