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The
Morning Briefing INTELLIGENCE
FROM THE TMT SECTOR
From
PA Business
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TUESDAY,
OCTOBER 30, 2007
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HERE FOR OUR
SEARCHABLE ARCHIVE TODAY'S
HEADLINES:
+
Scottish borders get digital switchover date
(Broadcast) +
BSkyB broadband's 1m subscriber milestone
(Internet) +
BBC Worldwide 'planning 30 new channels'
(Broadcast) +
BBC Trust set to speed up complaints process?
(Policy) +
Verizon Q3 net income falls 34% to $1.27bn
(Telecoms) Good
morning! WHAT'S
BREAKING NOW... +
Internet gaming company 888 Holdings
announces Q3 net revenues up 37% on a year earlier to $52.5m,
adding that Q4 trading has so far been around 11% higher than in Q3, so
full-year results should be in line with
expectations. +
Edinburgh-based chipmaker Wolfson
Microelectronics announces third-quarter pre-tax profit of
$14.7m, up from $10.7m a year earlier, on revenues up 21% from $58m to
$70.4m. +
Online betting firm 32Red
reports interim first-half pre-tax profit of £791,278, down from £645,505
a year earlier, on revenues up 47.2% to
£9.1m. +
Media Corp announces
appointment of Nilesh Jagatia to its board as group finance director. I
N T E R N E T BSkyB said
its broadband service has passed the 1m subscriber mark just over a year
after launch, making it the sixth largest high-speed internet provider in
the UK. Sky said figures for the year to July also showed it was the
fastest-growing provider in the country, adding 259,000 customers over the
period. Source: Online video
service Hulu, which has
begun beta testing, has agreed content deals with Sony Pictures and MGM. B
R O A D C A S T November 6 next year will be
the next key date in the great digital switchover when the Scottish
borders becomes the second region to lose its analogue signal.
Whitehaven's switch began with the loss of analogue BBC Two on October 17. Digital UK has launched a marketing
campaign to highlight the change, with its national manager for Scotland,
Paul Hughes saying: "Around 80% of Scots already have some form of digital
television, but only around half of all TVs in the home are converted. So
it's a huge challenge to complete switchover in Scotland between 2008 and
2011. Some people will find the process easier than others, and there will
be special help for those who need it most." P R I N T Dennis
Publishing
reported full-year pre-tax profits of £2.06m, up from £361,000 a year
earlier, on turnover down from £61.7m to £60.2m, hailing the performance
of news digest magazine The
Week, whose cover price has been cut, further boosting sales,
continuing 18 quarters of circulation growth. Source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ece080b4-867a-11dc-b00e-0000779fd2ac.html The
Sun is rolling out a payment
scheme in the North West, which will allow 4,000 retailers to scan
discount vouchers via readers' mobile phones. Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/oct/29/sun.pressandpublishing
The Welsh Assembly is almost
certain to provide financial support to planned Welsh-language daily
Y Byd, due to launch next
March, with the annual running subsidy possibly exceeding
£1m. Source: http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=39225&c=1
G E N E R A L M E D I A Granada
Ventures'
ITV DVD division has teamed
up with online retailer Coolroom to offer downloadable movies
via Microsoft Media Center,
with prices starting at 99p. Publishing director Steve Gallant said: "This
deal marks the further development of our digital distribution plans, part
of our ongoing strategy to maximize distribution of our diverse range of
content." ITV DVD has more than 3,000 titles comprising both modern and
classic films. Source: Digital radio group UBC Media has signed a deal with Sony
BMG to include its catalogue in its Cliq downloads system, which launches
on December 3. Source: http://www.nma.co.uk/Articles/35504/Radio+giant+UBC+signs+Cliq+deal+with+Sony+BMG.html
M E D I A P O L I C Y Broadcast reported that the
BBC Trust will tomorrow
announce plans to speed up how editorial complaints are dealt with when it
publishes new proposals for how the Corporation handles complaints. The
aim, the article said, is for issues to be responded to as soon after
broadcast as possible, ending the current situation which can see
complaints over editorial matters taking more than a year before reaching
the Trust. Heralding the changes, Trust vice chair Chitra Bharucha said:
"The BBC is owned by the people who pay for it and the Trust wants to
ensure that complaints are received via a system which is open to
everyone, consistent in its fairness to all, and simple to follow. For any
complaints system to be effective, it must have the confidence of those
who might choose to use it and the Trust wants to hear from the public and
the rest of the industry about the changes we propose to speed up and
simplify the BBC's complaints systems." T E L E C O M S US
telco Verizon Communications
posted third-quarter net income of $1.27bn, down 34% on the same period 12
months ago due to a combination of charges and year-earlier earnings from
discontinued operations. The telco added 202,000 subscribers to its FiOS
fibre optic video, phone and internet service over the period to
717,000. Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119365734254474785.html?mod=us_business_whats_news
Source: http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlebusiness.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2007-10-29T085144Z_01_L29196328_RTRUKOC_0_UK-SKYPE-PHONE.xml
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/690a010e-8646-11dc-b00e-0000779fd2ac.html 3G
wireless network association GSM said mobile operators including
MTN look set to invest $50bn
in sub-Saharan Africa over the next five years in a bid to provide access
to 90% of the area's population, adding the industry has invested $35bn
since 2000. Source: Bahrain
Telecommunications has announced plans to expand
abroad, with CEO Peter Kaliaropoulos saying the group would use its $4bn
war chest to acquire operators rather than bid for
licences. T E C H N O L O G Y Satellite
operator SES reported Q3
Ebitda 12.6% down year-on-year at €283.2m on revenue 15.5% lower at
€406.9m. The figures beat forecasts, and the group raised its full-year
Ebitda target to €1.097bn. Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/technology-media-telco-SP/idUSL293298320071029?pageNumber=2
Japanese
electronics equipment maker Toshiba reported second-quarter net
profit of $218m, down 28% on
a year earlier, with operating profit up 38% to $534m, citing a reversal
of losses in its computer business and strong demand for chips from music
player and mobile phone makers. The firm raised its operating profit
forecast for the full year to $2.53bn. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=a0FTV86Zzd_k&refer=japan http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cc7bdc36-868b-11dc-b00e-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1 Figures
from the European Information
Technology Observatory show Britons are the EU's biggest
technology addicts, with the UK expected to spend €15.5bn on equipment
such as MP3 players and digital TV in 2007. Germany is second with a
predicted spend of €13.3bn. Source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/71cb770e-85b1-11dc-8170-0000779fd2ac.html Activist investor
Carl Icahn criticised the BEA
Systems board for its handling of Oracle's lapsed $6.7bn takeover bid,
claiming the issue should be decided by shareholders. (Monday's briefing
wrongly called the takeover target BAE Systems - we apologise for this
error.) Source: Computer-maker
Acer has forecast it will
ship 25% more PCs in 2008 - taking its global market share to 11%-12% -
with last week's acquisition of Gateway expected to allow it to
almost double its market share in the US. Source: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/0,1000000091,39290418,00.htm
Skinkers has
secured £8m in second-round funding to fund development of its LiveStation
P2P broadcasting system. Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/oct/29/mediabusiness.digitalmedia
Microsoft
is working on a version of its Windows XP operating system that can be run
on the XO machines being distributed in developing countries by the
One Laptop per Child
Foundation. Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN2514082920071026
Notebook
computer maker Quanta
reported third-quarter net profits of $161.6m, up 36% on a year earlier,
on revenues up from $3.39bn to $6.49bn, ahead of the company's
forecasts. Source: ©
2007 PA
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