Media Business

Technicolor Sells D-Signage Business to Sony

philsandberg — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 03:42:41 +0000

Technicolor (formerly Thomson) has announced that it has entered into an agreement with Sony Electronics Inc. for the sale of Convergent Media Systems Corporation, specialised in digital signage and content distribution systems.
Convergent Media Systems, which, along with PRN, belonged to the Thomson Media Networks Division, lies outside the scope of Technicolor’s strategic focus on content creators.
The transaction, which closed January 27, affects 150 full-time employees in North America and covers 4K digital cinema system installation and content distribution, professional displays and digital signage, remote monitoring and system diagnostics.
The terms of this transaction are financially non-material to Technicolor. The divestiture process for Thomson’s Grass Valley, Screenvision and PRN units continues.

Orad Signs US$1.2 Million Chinese OEM Deal

philsandberg — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 10:26:18 +0000

Orad Hi-Tec Systems Ltd. (Frankfurt - Prime Standard; Symbol: OHT), a global developer, marketer and distributor of state-of-the-art, 3D real-time graphic solutions for the broadcasting markets, announced today that it completed the implementation of an OEM virtual studios deal for the entry level market in China. The deal valued is at USD1.2 million. The order is from Orad´s Chinese partner China’s Pacific Media Technologies (PMT), who will be reselling the solutions to local and provincial Chinese broadcasters.
According to a statement, “Orad’s virtual studios were chosen because of their technological superiority over all the other virtual studios in the international market and their seamless adaptability to the Chinese production workflow. Orad’s virtual studios will provide substantial economic benefits and an excellent return on investment by increasing sponsorship capabilities and by enabling many different types of shows, including sports, news, and entertainment, to be produced easily from the same studio.”
Mr. Avi Sharir, CEO and President of Orad commented: “Orad has already established itself as the leader in high end virtual studios in the Asian market, with sales to Shanghai Media Group, CCTV China, Phoenix TV Hong Kong, and more recently ESPN Star Sports. With this sale to PMT, entry level broadcasters will also be able to enjoy Orad’s virtual studio technology.”
Visit www.orad.tv

IDC Reconstitutes Board Committees

philsandberg — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 23:03:14 +0000

International Datacasting Corporation, (TSX:IDC) a global leader in providing advanced solutions for the distribution of broadband multimedia content via satellite, has realigned its Board committees as follows:

The Audit Committee will be chaired by Fred Godard and will include Del Lippert and Frank Ruffolo. Mr. Godard and Mr. Ruffolo are both Chartered Accountants.
The Executive Compensation Committee will be chaired by Kevin Rankin and will include Adam Adamou and Frank Ruffolo.
The Corporate Governance Committee will be chaired by Dr. Stuart Smith and will include Fred Godard and Del Lippert. This Committee will also take over the role of IDC’s previous Corporate Disclosure Committee.
In addition, a Strategic Planning Committee was established to be responsible for reviewing the long term strategic direction of the Company. This Committee will be chaired by Del Lippert and include Adam Adamou, Fred Godard and Kevin Rankin.

Dennis Colbourne, as Chairman of the Board, is an ex-officio member of all of the committees of the Board. With these changes, the Company has seven independent Directors on the Board along with Ron Clifton as President and Chief Executive Officer. Susan Robbins Parsons, Chief Financial Officer, retains her role as Corporate Secretary.
Dennis Colbourne, Chairman of the Board, said, “Our committee realignment is designed to balance workloads and ensure all Board members have an opportunity to contribute to the fullest extent as we integrate our operations, prepare for IFRS conversion and review our strategic direction moving forward.”
Visit www.datacast.com

Thomson Becomes Technicolor

philsandberg — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:26:38 +0000

An Ordinary and Extraordinary Shareholders’ Meeting of Thomson (Euronext 18453; NYSE: TMS), chaired by Frederic Rose, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, in the presence of the Board of Directors and of Thomson’s senior management, has seen shareholders of the Group approve a raft of resolutions, including those pertaining to the Restructuring Plan made public by Thomson on 9 December 2009, and already approved by all creditors’ committees (Suppliers, Lenders and Noteholders) on 21 & 22 December 2009.
In addition, the shareholders approved the change of name of the Group to “Technicolor”. As of Monday, February 1st, the Company will trade on NYSE Euronext Paris under the Technicolor symbol (TCH).
As proposed by Frederic Rose, the roles of Chairman and CEO will be separated under a new governance structure, following the conclusion of the sauvegarde proceeding expected in February. The position had been combined in 2009 in light of the crisis facing the company.
According to Frederic Rose, “We are delighted that Shareholders have given their full backing to our restructuring plan. This is a new start for our Group under the Technicolor brand”.
The results of the votes and Thomson’s Ordinary and Extraordinary Shareholders’ Meeting audiocast are available on the Company’s website: www.technicolor.com

Arqiva Announces VOD Chief as Kangaroo Sale Concludes

philsandberg — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 04:59:50 +0000

UK transmission service provider Arqiva has announced the completion of its acquisition of the platform assets of Project Kangaroo, the video-on-demand (VOD) platform developed by UKVOD LLP, a joint venture set up by BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4.
The hardware and software technology, and related intellectual property, provide the technical basis of a VOD platform designed for a content aggregation service. Arqiva plans to use the assets to launch a new video-on-demand service to UK consumers in the coming months. The platform will aim to host top-end, quality content from leading broadcasters and independent content providers with both free-to-air and pay-content propositions.
Arqiva has also confirmed the appointment of Pierre-Jean Sebert as CEO of the new VOD business. Pierre-Jean was Managing Director UK for Eurosport from 2001 to 2005 and had previously engineered the joint-venture with NTL for the launch of British Eurosport in 1999. He also oversaw the launch of EurosportNews. More recently Pierre-Jean has been working as a senior advisor to major media and entertainment companies including Virgin Media, ONO, UKTV, Rainbow Media, UEFA, and Broadcast Australia.
“I’m very much looking forward to leading the launch of this new platform and to establish it as a prominent proposition in the market,” said Pierre-Jean Sebert. “It’s an important new route for quality long-form content to reach an additional audience, and complements Arqiva’s traditional role in terrestrial broadcasting. We have rapidly established ourselves operationally and have already made significant progress with our consumer proposition, both in terms of user experience and content acquisition. We will share our vision and progress in due time.”
Steve Holebrook, managing director for Terrestrial Broadcast at Arqiva, said: “We are delighted to announce Pierre-Jean’s appointment. He brings a wealth of experience across the UK media industry and is ideally placed to lead the new venture. Our focus is now shifting to the business side of the venture and getting ready for the launch of this exciting service.”

Softel Cuts Loose Aston Graphics

philsandberg — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 04:44:00 +0000

The Softel Group has sold its video graphics systems company Aston Broadcast, Limited for an undisclosed fee to real-time graphics specialist Brainstorm Multimedia, SL.
This is the latest of a number of major changes initiated by Sam Pemberton since he took over as CEO of the Softel Group in July 2007. As part of a comprehensive restructure of the company, Pemberton is leading a fundamental strategic shift, refocusing the Softel Group on its core competencies around ancillary data solutions.
“We were approached by a number of potential purchasers,” says Pemberton. “But, we felt Brainstorm was by far the best choice for our customers going forward. Aston Broadcast has a long standing relationship with Brainstorm and they are intimately familiar with the product, and crucially Brainstorm has a history of providing exceptional service to their customers and delivering pioneering solutions.
“We are very proud to have provided blue-chip broadcasters and premier signage companies with the Aston 7 system over the past several years and it is clear that ‘A7′ has proven to be a sophisticated, yet intuitive and robust solution for broadcast and display graphics.” Pemberton adds. “We know that the nuances of the graphics market require true focus, and we are delighted that Brainstorm will add their in-depth market know-how to the Aston offering.”
Pemberton points out that the broadcast industry is going through exciting technical and business shifts at the moment and that the Softel Group is working with broadcasters to ensure that new business models and ecosystems can cope with the challenges of ancillary data throughout the transition to multiformat, multiplatform delivery.
“As the industry adapts to a decrease in traditional linear advertising, interactive TV (iTV) applications such as interactive advertisements (iADs) are becoming increasingly important as they allow broadcasters to pocket critical incremental revenues and differentiate their brands,” Pemberton says. “Moreover, modern subtitling systems open a wider audience for programming through language translation and by allowing hearing impaired viewers to engage with content.”
The Softel Group has more than 25 years of experience in providing ancillary data solutions — such as for iTV, opt cueing/ad insertion, subtitling and captioning — across the world to leading broadcasters and service providers. The divestment of Aston Broadcast will allow the Softel Group to deliver additional strategic focus to this quickly expanding market. The firm is launching a range of new and overhauled products to cater to major trends in the industry such as the moves toward automated and tapeless environments.
“Brainstorm is very proud to acquire such a prestigious brand in the world of video graphics,” says Ricardo Montesa, CEO of Brainstorm Multimedia. “Aston’s products are known in the market to be technically excellent as well as extremely user friendly. The Aston 7, which is already powered by Brainstorm’s powerful graphics engine eStudio, is an excellent addition to Brainstorm’s product range, providing us with a sophisticated solution for the character generation requirements of our current and future clients. We are very pleased that Aston Broadcast staff will join the Brainstorm Multimedia team to deliver a seamless transition for the incumbent customer base. We look forward to continuing and accelerating the roll-out of the Aston 7 and to continuing the development of the product so that it becomes a seamless part of the Brainstorm product range.”
Visit www.softel.co.uk and www.brainstorm.es

Pilat Media Business Management Conference at IBC

philsandberg — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 04:08:54 +0000

In conjunction with IBC2009, Pilat Media, the supplier of business management software solutions to the media industry, will be holding its yearly customer conference to help both existing and potential customers survive and thrive in today’s tough economic climate. Pilat Media Customer Conference (PMCC) 2009 is scheduled to take place on Thursday, Sept. 10, at the Hotel Okura in Amsterdam.
PMCC brings together practitioners from the world’s top media companies and broadcasters — including technologists and industry thought leaders — to address such challenges as workflow unification, cost-effective deployment of new services, and improving business performance in tough economic times.
Highlights of PMCC 2009 will include a thought leadership panel entitled “Business Management Strategies to Turn Tough Times Into Profitable Opportunities,” an interactive roundtable discussion, and the following breakout sessions:
• “Advanced Advertising,” which will review the end-to-end advanced advertising chain. From the business system side, Pilat Media will cover topics such as how to combine linear and on-demand campaigns and how to integrate audience profiles into broadcast campaigns. Delivery-side topics will review how campaigns can be executed all the way to the user’s set-top box.
• “Reporting and Business Analytics,” which will provide an overview of business system reporting capabilities, including report generators, business intelligence, and integration with third-party reporting systems, that create actionable intelligence across business processes from schedule analysis and regulatory compliance to campaign performance and advertising sales.
• “Integrated MAMs and Business Systems to Streamline Multi-service Operations,” which will address some of the great opportunities and pitfalls in deploying a truly integrated media asset management (MAM) solution within existing business operations. Covered issues will include integrating MAM into broadcast workflows, the user and business process touch points of an integrated file-based operation, and integrating MAM into business management and business systems.
PMCC 2009 will close with dinner and entertainment for all attendees at Amsterdam’s famous Supper Club.
“An unusual year for the broadcast industry, 2009 has brought formidable challenges from all directions. Therefore, we have created the opportunity to explore today’s most pressing business issues while giving participants maximum exposure to industry leaders, as well as their peers,” said Avi Engel, CEO, Pilat Media. “For the first time, we are opening the event not just to our customers, but also to other media companies, enabling business leaders and system users alike to learn how they can improve their business performance using new broadcast management software solutions. We encourage all interested parties to take advantage of this valuable opportunity and register ASAP.”
More information about PMCC 2009 and registration are available at www.pilatmedia.com/pmcc09 or by email to info@pilatmedia.com.

Civolution Acquires Thomson Watermarking Business

philsandberg — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 03:57:28 +0000

Civolution, a provider of technology and services for identifying, managing and monetizing media content, has acquired the Software & Technology Solutions (STS) watermarking business from Thomson (Euronext Paris: 18453; NYSE: TMS).
With this acquisition Civolution will be able to offer a broader and richer portfolio of content identification and tracking technologies to enhance its current technologies, products and services. The combination of the two businesses will generate a unique technology and service solutions provider that will benefit media content owners and distributors in the fast growing market for audio and video content tracking, management and monetization. As a result of this amalgamation, Thomson will become a shareholder in Civolution.
“As an independent company following the acquisition of Teletrax and Civolution’s successful spin-out from Philips Royal Electronics last year, this latest acquisition is a natural next step in the execution of our strategy,” says Civolution CEO Alex Terpstra. “In these volatile economic times, we aim to become the most secure and trusted player in the industry offering our customers unrivalled technical excellence and support. The combination of the Thomson STS team, with its rich heritage as an innovative developer of technologies, and the ground-breaking expertise of the Civolution team, creates a uniquely talented group.”
Thomson continues to be committed to the content identification market and has agreed to enter into a technology collaboration with Civolution to develop new solutions for monetizing content.
Civolution’s lead investor since its spin-off from Philips, Prime Technology Ventures (PTV), has committed to provide the necessary funding, endorsing the company’s strategy to build further on its position as a leader in content identification technology and services in the media industry.
“We are delighted to support Civolution with this next strategic step to industry leadership, in line with PTV’s investment strategy,” says Sake Bosch, founder and managing partner at PTV.
The integrated Civolution business will be exhibiting at the upcoming IBC 2009 conference in Amsterdam, The Netherlands (September 11-15), booth 5.B18.
Visit: www.civolution.com

Growth, Digital in PWC Media Outlook

philsandberg — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:36:18 +0000

Over the next five years, digital technologies will become increasingly widespread across all segments of entertainment & media (E&M) as the digital migration continues to expand according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2009-2013.
According to PWC, though the current economic downturn has impacted virtually every sector of the E&M marketplace it has also accelerated and intensified the digital migration among both providers and consumers of content.
PWC says the global entertainment & media market as a whole, including both consumer and advertising spending will grow by 2.7 per cent compounded annually for the entire forecast period to $1.6 trillion in 2013.
“Initially we expect to see a 3.9 per cent drop in 2009 and a mere 0.4 per cent advance in 2010, with a period of much faster growth during the remaining period to 7.1 per cent in 2013. What we are sure about is that this recession will last longer than previous ones due to a steeper downturn and that the impact on consumer spending will be much steeper than in the past. E&M is not immune to that trend - consumer spending in E&M will fall by a projected 1.2 per cent in 2009, remaining weak in 2010 and seeing only relatively low growth at 3.2 per cent in 2011.”
PWC says responses to the recession will vary from country to country and region to region with some territories showing little ill effects while others experience steep declines. Latin America and Asia Pacific remain the fastest growing regions increasing at an annual compound rate of 5.1 per cent and 4.5 per cent through to 2013 reaching $73 billion and $413 billion respectively.. Excluding Japan, the dominant country in the Asia Pacific region which accounted for 45 per cent of total spending in 2008, E&M spending in Asia Pacific will increase at a projected 7.1 per cent compound annual rate over the period of the Forecast.
PWC also asserts that the economic downturn does not change the underlying drivers for digital migration and will more likely influence their pace and power and hence the timing of industry change. In short, making it more difficult to hide from the digital migration.
“The switch to digital will drive divergences in revenue performance between different segments and geographies. Change will impact the managing of brands, characters, titles and talent across distribution platforms supported by new commercial models. The case for digital migration, however, will continue to vary across geographies depending on the availability of efficient and cost-effective broadband and mobile infrastructure.”
According to Marcel Fenez, Global Leader Entertainment & Media practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers, “In some ways this could be called ‘the perfect storm’. Inside every cloud is a silver lining and in this case, a digital one. Companies who grasp the opportunities which are appearing in this fast changing marketplace and are agile enough to adapt their business models will be able to take full advantage of the potential and new revenue models as they emerge.”

Consumer behaviours

Accoridng to teh PWC Outlook, the accelerated migration to digital technologies has reinforced and proliferated new consumption habits and “digital behaviours” as consumers seek more control over where, when and how they consume content while, more than ever, watching the pennies and seeking the best value from the choices they make.
“In previous years we have talked about the Net Generation and how their demands are driving the industry towards new business models,” says Marcel Fenez. “Interestingly, in this “income elastic” climate where spending power has to stretch even further than before, this younger generation is now exerting influence over older generations who are, in turn, taking a growing interest in new and emerging platforms. End-user spending through digital/ mobile platforms accounted for 23.4 per cent of the overall consumer/end-user/ access market in 2008 and we expect this to account for 78 per cent of total growth during the next five years.”
The PWC Outlook highlights the ways in which consumers are taking control. They are adopting “time-shifting”, using digital video recorders and video-on-demand to free them up from the TV schedule enabling them to watch what they want when they want. Increased broadband penetration is enabling them to get what they want from wherever they want while improvements in technology allow better downloading and streaming. Growth in mobile access is allowing consumers to access the Internet from any location and giving rise to the popularity of high-end devices such as smartphones, iPods, and the Kindle that combine mobility and access. The advances in digital music are also allowing consumers to purchase songs individually through digital channels (unavailable in physical format) and generating growth in sideloading, which allows consumers to buy music less expensively online, then transferring that music to mobile devices.
“Tapping into the massive collective buying-power of online communities is an increasingly central focus of consumer marketing campaigns globally. However, companies are still struggling to adapt their current business models to ensure that they are monetizing their digital content and capturing the revenues.”

The Changing Face of Advertising

Over the next five years, as consumers receive an increasing proportion of their E&M through digital/mobile platforms, advertisers will shift their resources to reflect the increasingly fragmented ad market, says PWC. In the mobile arena, opportunities across the advertising continuum will enable the growth between brands and consumers, ranging from click-through banner ads and pre-roll ads on video clips through coupons and online subscriptions. Video game ads are expected to outpace the rest of the advertising industry (albeit from a low base) at 13.8 per cent CAGR compared to an overall industry decline at a compound rate of 0.6 per cent during the forecast period. The growing proportion of Internet and mobile advertising in the overall global advertising mix will rise from around 12 per cent in 2008 to 19 per cent in 2013.
“The migration reinforces the need for greater transparency and accuracy over audience metrics which together with accountability for ad results, is becoming a ‘must have’ in this new media world. An ability and willingness to collaborate with partners on revenues to open up and exploit new areas, and ongoing cost-sharing to operationalise the shared benefits will also be vital. Going forward the successful models will be those that provide enough product differentiation from free or low-cost substitutes to generate revenue from either consumers, advertisers or, more likely, both.”

Embracing the Upturn

Accelerated digitization coupled with growing divergence between the revenue performance of different segments and markets will create an E&M landscape characterised by a myriad of business models and a far more tailored approach, says PWC. An approach which works with one particular type of consumer, form of content or national marketplace may not work in others. The current decline in revenues is not because of declining demand. In fact, demand for E&M appears to be increasing. The challenge is to identify ad models that are able to withstand the downward pressure on ad rates in the digital environment and on subscription models that capture the consumers’ preferences for premium content.
According to Marcel Fenez, “Though operating in challenging and fast-moving times, this has never been such an exciting time for the industry The accelerating digitization is why there is no place to hide from new models and dynamics across the industry. The winners will be those players who focus on driving and leading change that delivers real value for consumers. Segments will have to consolidate, the least loyal customers will have already left, higher quality products will be valued by both consumers and advertisers, and digital distribution will have become main stream, commanding fees more in line with its value. But for each of the industry’s diverse segments to participate fully in this growth, they will first need to embrace the digital future.”
Visit www.pwc.com/outlook
Watch video of Marcel Fenez, Global Leader Entertainment & Media practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers, on the PricewaterhouseCoopers Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2009-2013. Click Here

Management and VC Stage Buyout of The Foundry

philsandberg — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:40:41 +0000

Leading visual effects software developer, The Foundry (www.thefoundry.co.uk), has announced a management buyout for an undisclosed sum led by Advent Venture Partners.
Advent has backed The Foundry’s management team, led by CEO Dr Bill Collis and the original founders, in a transaction that sees the sale of the shareholdings of previous investors, Wyndcrest Holdings.
According to a statement issued by the company, “The Foundry is highly profitable and has more than doubled revenues in the last eighteen months to US$10m. Advent’s support will permit the company to continue expansion plans that have seen staff numbers more than double from 20 to over 50 in the past two years, necessitating the company’s expansion into two additional floors of its Wardour Street headquarters.”
For its part, Advent Venture Partners recently sold a significant stake in Snell & Wilcox Group, the UK-based provider of technology to the broadcasting market, as part of a merger with Pro-Bel Limited. Other investments held by the company include: Cartesis (a growth capital investment sold to Business Objects for $300 million); Ubiquisys (systems for residential in-building cellular coverage); Qype (Europe’s leading local search and review site); Dailymotion (world’s largest independent video sharing site); and Echovox (mobile micro-payment business).
Established in 1996, The Foundry is a world-leading innovator of visual effects and image-processing technologies that boost productivity in motion picture and video post production. The Foundry’s product portfolio includes two AMPAS (Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences) Sci-Tech Award winners: Nuke, a high end compositing system, and Furnace, a collection of problem solving tools based on advanced motion estimation technology.
The Foundry has a well-established client base that includes leading visual effects facilities worldwide, such as Weta Digital in Wellington, New Zealand, Framestore in London, and Sony Imageworks and Digital Domain in Los Angeles. The Foundry’s products have been used on a number of recent international blockbusters including: The Dark Knight, the Harry Potter franchise, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street; Speed Racer; Iron Man, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Star Trek, Australia, Watchmen, X-Men Origins, Wolverine and more.
Commenting on the completion of the transaction, Bill Collis, CEO of The Foundry said, “The Foundry is renowned for responding to user need and developing useful tools that boost productivity. With the backing of our previous investors, we enjoyed substantial growth and are now in a strong position to take the business forward with our new partners. We are ready to realise our further ambitions for Nuke and the rest of our product portfolio, ensuring the company goes from strength to strength whilst maintaining strong customer focus.”
Mike Chalfen, General Partner at Advent Venture Partners, remarked, “We are delighted to be backing an innovative and entrepreneurial management team with such a strong reputation and enviable market leading track record that together will generate interesting opportunities for this business. The Foundry’s products are ubiquitous in its field, its Ocula 3D stereoscopic technology is poised to dominate its market, and the company is a true European digital technology success story. Furthermore, our investment fits with Advent’s strategic focus of backing capital efficient, defensible and differentiated businesses that have a number of levers to make money for shareholders. We look forward to working with the team to realise the company’s enormous potential.”
Visit www.thefoundry.co.uk and www.adventventures.com.