Sky attacks ITV over HD exclusivity
Sky’s chief operating officer Mike Darcey has criticised ITV for making its high definition channel available exclusively on Freesat.
“ITV want to have their cake and eat it,” Darcey said after Freesat’s launch yesterday.
“On the one hand, they are claiming to champion HD for all, while on the other, they are deliberately withholding free-to-air content from almost half a million Sky HD homes.”
The channel is expected to launch soon and will only be available via ITV’s red button interactive services on Freesat.
“This is neither in viewers’ interests nor in keeping with ITV’s ‘HD for all’ posturing,” said Darcey. “All in all, this is curious behaviour for a public service broadcaster.”
Sky also yesterday questioned why licence fee proceeds should have been spent on Freesat, when its own non-subscription service, FreesatFromSky, has been on the market since 2004.
The standard product costs £150 including installation, though this does not provide access to HD channels. A Sky HD box, which retailers at a greater cost, offers BBC HD and Channel 4 HD with no subscription.
ITV executive chairman Michael Grade and BBC director general Mark Thompson yesterday defended the need for Freesat.
Grade said: “If you go the Freesat (from Sky) route then you are not going to have people driving you mad selling you up to a subscription, encrypted service, because that is basically what happens today. And ITV HD will only be on Freesat.”
Thompson added: “Sky have got a very successful platform where the overwhelming majority of people want pay services. Freesat is not intended to compete with the Sky satellite proposition… although Sky does have a free offering, it is currently expensive and the manufacturers are indicating that it will be more possible to switch to Freesat than they could in the past.
“Sky have a complicated market and what they are trying to get people to do is to subscribe to pay television, so to date, their free proposition was not exactly front of mind when they talk about Sky to the public.”
Sky’s critical reaction to Freesat appears contrary to more positive noises it made during the early stages of the service’s development.
Specs, images of Freesat box, EPG leaked
The first specification and images of a Freesat HD set-top box have been leaked.
Pictures also show the full-colour electronic programme guide and interface used for the Humax Foxsat-HD product.
It is the first information to become public about a box ahead of the launch of the non-subscription satellite service backed by the BBC and ITV.
An image of a product brochure contains a feature list including compatibility with MPEG-4, MPEG-2 and AVC/H-264; simultaneous playing of video over HDMI, component outputs and SCART; and support for output resolutions of 1080i, 720p, 576p and 576i; an Ethernet connection.
The box is listed as measuring 280mm wide by 45mm high by 200mm deep, and weighing 1.5kg.
Humax declined to comment on the details.
C4 HD ‘not on Freesat at launch’
Channel 4 HD will not be part of Freesat until some time after the service launches, sources have indicated.
Subject to ongoing negotiations, the broadcaster hopes to make all its other channels available on the Freesat EPG at or close to the launch of the service.
Channel 4 is still covered by a conditional access deal with Sky for all its services except Film4, but is seeking to reach an agreement so they could be broadcast free to air for Freesat.
However, a source said the high definition channel was on different terms with Sky and, though it would go free to air at some point, this would not be at an early stage.
Channel 4 began broadcasting free to air on the Astra 2D satellite last week in preparation for Freesat.
Reports say the feed was visible from April 11 at 10.729GHz V, 22000 symbol rate, FEC 5/6, labelled as 8350.
First Freesat boxes appear ‘for sale’
Freesat set-top boxes from Alba brand Grundig have appeared “for sale” on a retailer’s website.
Comet listed a high definition box, the GRUNDIG GUFSATHD, for £149.99 and a standard definition model, GUFSAT01, for £49.99. No pictures and few specifications were given, though Comet said the dimensions of both were 25×15x4cm.
The models appeared available to order but an Alba spokeswoman said details should not have been published until the official launch of the subscription-free satellite service.
Comet is one of Freesat’s official launch retailers, along with DSG, Argos and John Lewis.
Switchover ’should have been greener’
The UK’s chief broadcasting regulator has said digital switchover could have been planned to be more environmentally friendly.
Ed Richards, chief executive of Ofcom, was speaking about the prospects for super-fast broadband last night after announcing moves to encourage investment.
Work should be carried out to make sure next generation networks - currently at an early stage of development - have as little impact on climate change as possible, he said. New equipment will be required in homes and throughout the networks, which could have relatively large power requirements.
Richards - whose organisation was involved in planning the switch-off of analogue television signals - said his only regret about its contribution was that climate change should have been given more consideration. One option would have been stricter regulations for the power consumption of set-top boxes.
“The one bit of policy which if I had my time again we would do slightly differently would be digital switchover - our contribution to to it,” said Richards. “The policy is 100% right and is working.
“But the whole time we did it there was never any environmental dimension, and actually there should have been, because there is a big power issue and a big obsolete box issue. In this day and age, when these decisions come up, we should think about that.”
Richards also supported a suggestion that new “eco town” developments, planned by the government, could be good testbeds for next generation networks.
“It would be a good fit, especially with the idea of home-working,” he said, answering questions at an event hosted by the Institute of Engineering and Technology.
Tiscali sets deadline for bids
Broadband provider Tiscali has set a deadline of May 5 for potential buyers to make non-binding bids for its assets.
Vodafone this week joined the list of those rumoured to be interested in the Caligari-based firm, lining up alongside Carphone Warehouse, Sky, BT, Orange and Italian firms Telecom Italia and Fastweb.
While most UK buyers would only be interested in Tiscali’s subscribers in Britain, Vodafone is also considering taking on the Italian division, according to The Financial Times. Tiscali is said to prefer remaining intact.
Vodafone recently acquired a broadband base in Italy but has none in the UK.
Analysts recently valued Tiscali at £425m-£510m though it has a market capitalisation of about £969m.
The firm signalled it was up for sale at the beginning of the month.
Comcast plans to lay down law on P2P
Comcast, America’s biggest cable operator, has announced plans for a “Peer to Peer Bill of Rights and Responsibilities”.
The company said it would lead an industry effort to put together a code on how peer to peer applications should work and how internet service providers could manage their use. P2P protocols are usually employed for file sharing or on-demand video services.
Comcast said the code would cover “what choices and controls consumers should have when using P2P applications as well as what processes and practices ISPs should use to manage P2P applications running on their networks”.
Alongside this, the company will carry out tests on P2P use with Pando, a network management firm which also distributes its own peer to peer application. The pair will “measure things like performance, speed, distance and geography as well as the bandwidth consumption impact to the ISP”.
They will publish the results “so other ISPs can benefit from understanding how P2P applications might be optimised”, they said yesterday.
In February the Federal Communications Commission investigated Comcast for delaying uploads of peer to peer traffic on the BitTorrent file sharing protocol. Growth in traffic has fuelled ISPs moves towards such “traffic shaping”. That in turn has sparked a debate about net neutrality - the principle that ISPs should not interfere with content delivery.
In the UK, the BBC’s outgoing technology director, Ashley Highfield, has warned ISPs off limiting access to its on-demand video, while Virgin Media CEO Neil Berkett has gone as far as suggesting content providers should pay for faster delivery to its customers.
Comcast chief technology officer Tony Werner, making the announcement yesterday, said creating the “Bill” was “in the best interest of everyone involved – ISPs, P2P companies and consumers”.
“We hope to get other industry experts, ISPs and P2P companies together this spring and publish the ‘P2P Bill of Rights and Responsibilities’ later this year,” he said. “By having this framework in place, we will help P2P companies, ISPs and content owners find common ground to support consumers who want to use P2P applications to deliver legal content.”
Princess Diana unlawfully killed: inquest jury
The inquest into the death of Princess Diana returned a verdict of unlawful killing Monday, blaming the driving of chauffeur Henri Paul and paparazzi photographers pursuing her car at high speed.
More than a decade after the 1997 Paris car crash which killed the then 36-year-old princess, her boyfriend Dodi Fayed and Paul, who had been drinking, jurors returned verdicts of unlawful killing through grossly negligent driving.
The 11-member jury added that the fact that Diana and Fayed were not wearing seatbelts contributed to their deaths.
During the six-month inquest at London’s High Court, Dodi’s father Mohamed Al Fayed alleged that the couple were killed in an establishment plot involving senior royals including Queen Elizabeth II’s husband Prince Philip, to prevent her marrying a Muslim.
Al Fayed, the Egyptian-born owner of London’s up-scale Harrods department store, claimed that his son and Diana — ex-wife of heir to the throne Prince Charles — were about to get married and that she was pregnant when she died.
He said he was “disappointed” by the verdict but insisted as he left court: “The most important thing is, it is murder.”
Separately, in a statement read by his spokeswoman, Al Fayed said: “I’m not the only person who says they were murdered. Diana predicted that she would be murdered and how it would happen.
“The verdicts will come as a blow to many millions of people around the world who supported my struggle, and I thank them…
“The jury have found that it wasn’t just the paparazzi who caused the crash, but unidentified following vehicles. Who they are and what they were doing in Paris is still a mystery.”
Al Fayed cannot appeal against the verdict but he can apply to the courts for it to be quashed and for a new inquest to be held. His spokesman Michael Cole said he was “keeping all our options open”.
Diana’s two sons, William and Harry, meanwhile said they “agree” with the inquest verdicts, and thanked the members of the jury, as well as the coroner and those who appeared as witnesses.
The coroner, Lord Justice Scott Baker, had said in his summing-up of the case there was “not a shred of evidence” to support Al Fayed’s theory, and after nearly 24 hours of deliberation spread over four days, the jury reached a majority verdict with nine of the 11 members agreeing on what happened.
Lord John Stevens, Britain’s former top policeman who headed the British investigation into the crash, said he hoped the verdict would put an end to conspiracy theories which have swirled around the case.
“I do hope everybody will take this verdict as being closure to this particular tragic incident and the people who have died will be allowed to rest in peace,” he said, urging Al Fayed to keep his promise to respect the jury’s decision.
The inquest heard from some 250 witnesses, while the jurors also travelled to Paris to see the scene of the accident, the Pont de l’Alma underpass, for themselves.
Diana’s former butler Paul Burrell was among the most high-profile witnesses to take the stand, but the coroner described him as a liar after he was caught on videotape by a newspaper confessing he had misled the inquest.
London’s Metropolitan Police said Monday that no decision had been made on whether to investigate Burrell for perjury.
Others whose testimony gripped the court included Pakistani surgeon Hasnat Khan, who had a two-year romance with the princess, Diana’s medium Rita Rogers, and a series of spies known only by codenames such as “X”.
Two previous police investigations — one French and one British — concluded that the deaths were a tragic accident and that Paul was over the drink-drive limit while speeding to get away from chasing photographers.
The latest probe cost around eight million pounds (10 million euros, 16 million dollars), according to a police estimate.
In the weeks before their death, photographs of Diana and Dodi enjoying a Mediterranean cruise were splashed across newspapers and magazines across the globe, prompting intense competition for shots of the couple together.
The death of Diana plunged Britain into days of mourning, with thousands of people leaving flowers outside her Kensington Palace residence in London.
Virgin puts up price of top TV package
Virgin Media is to increase the price of its top “XL” television package by £1.50 per month.
With effect from June 1 - which customers will see on bills received in May, because services are paid for in advance - the XL package will go up from £20.50 to £22.
In addition, “bundle” prices will all increase by £1 per month. If one of the services in the bundle is XL, the £1 increase will be added to the £1.50 XL increase - making a total price rise of £2.50 per month.
To negate a portion of the price rise, Virgin will double its current e-billing discount from 50p per month to £1 per month. However, those customers who subscribed at a promotional price will have to sign up for e-billing to avoid a price rise.
Humax: PVR to follow Freesat launch
Humax will release a Freesat video recorder after the subscription-free satellite service launches, its chief technologist has said.
The company is one of several manufacturers licensed to make set-top boxes for the ITV and BBC joint venture.
Bob Hannent, the company’s chief technologist, said Humax had concentrated its efforts on first developing a stable high definition receiver. A personal video recorder, or digital television recorder, will follow after Freesat has launched.
“The complexity of Freesat means that we have focused our efforts on developing our first product; the first product is what we refer to as the ‘zapper’ or a basic HD receiver,” he said. “This receiver is based on a common platform we have developed which is known to many of you as the iCord and is an evolution beyond.
“However, because of both the complex requirements for Freesat and the Freesat extensions to the DTR it has always been intended that the DTR will follow the basic receiver once that is stable.
“This means that the final stage of DTR software development will begin after launch of our receiver product and the DTR product will follow in a few months….
“We are now finalising the basic receiver firmware and the hardware is already being gathered into it’s kit form (for final European assembly). We have the DTR hardware nailed down for our software team to work on and the team are already planning their next move.”
Freesat is rumoured to be preparing for a launch late next month though it has only confirmed it will start during the spring.