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Daily Satellite TV News

Sports content driving five-fold increase for Starzplay in MENA

The number of subscriptions to Starzplay in the Middle East and North Africa has increased by a massive 479% in just 12 months.

Average revenue per user also increased by 30% as subscribers picked up in more sports packages including Premier Sports League (live rugby) and ICC Men’s T20 World Cup cricket.

Maaz Sheikh, CEO STARZPLAY, said: “Live sports have the power to bring people together. We saw an untapped opportunity to invest in live sports, which has tremendously benefitted our business as well as helped transform the OTT landscape. We launched our first live sports channel in 2021 and our recent study shows that the sports category on our platform has witnessed stupendous growth, which is a testament to the growing demand for exclusive and live sports content.”

UAE continues to be the largest growth market for Starzplay, in terms of the percentage increase in sign-ups, followed by Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Starzplay’s MENA edition is available in 20 countries across the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan.

The broadcaster did not release precise numbers.
 
Portuguese regulator sanctions Meo

The Portuguese regulator ANACOM has fined the operator Meo a total of €329,000 for adopting unfair commercial practices in 2017.

In a statement, it says that the practices were employed following fires in central parts of the country that left consumers without services. It was found that, when the services were restored, Meo provided false information to consumers, namely that it was not possible to provide fixed telephony in isolation and required the contracting of a package of services. This was that was likely to lead consumers to entering into new contracts, which happened in some cases.

ANACOM adds that “the practices adopted by Meo are especially serious, taking into account the vulnerability of consumer subscribers, who were deprived of electronic communications services for months, following a catastrophe that culminated in the destruction of lives, material goods, forest and green areas, which were the livelihood of a large part of the population residing in the areas affected by the fires of October 2017. Some of the affected consumers are still particularly vulnerable due to their age and the fact that they live alone, in isolated places, which ended up being without communications during months”.

ANACOM says that a single fine it is allowed to legally impose (€24,000) “is not a sufficient deterrent to the adoption of such practices in the communications sector and limits the preventive effect that is intended to be achieved with the application of sanctions – which demonstrates the need to review this regime”.
 
M7 and Deutsche Glasfaser extend content partnership

M7 Deutschland is renewing and expanding its long-standing partnership with Deutsche Glasfaser.

The new agreement enables the German fibre-optic network operator to distribute M7’s entire TV portfolio as part of the IPTV service on its networks.

“We are proud of our long-standing, successful partnership with the Deutsche Glasfaser group, which we are further deepening through the extended contract. With the new agreement, Deutsche Glasfaser will immediately have an enhanced and more attractive TV offer both for existing customers and new customer aquisition,” said Marco Hellberg, Managing Director of Eviso Germany, the M7 business partner in Germany.

Ruben Queimano, CCO of Deutsche Glasfaser, added: “As a supplier of digital services across many regions, we always want to provide our customers with broad access to attractive TV content as we expand our fibre-optic network. We are therefore delighted to extend our long-standing partnership with M7. It allows us to further enhance the TV offer in our coverage areas.”
 
Tightknit tech collaboration launches Avatel TV

Spanish fibre operation Avatel’s recently launched OTT service is being run on a new joint solution that includes Viaccess-Orca’s Service Delivery Platform, Multi-DRM, and Secure Video Player; Ateme Encoding, Origin Packaging, Cloud DVR, and CDN; and Optiva Media Apps.

Avatel TV is offering 100 channels and boasts an on demand catalogue of more than 2,500 movies and TV series. Users can enjoy Avatel TV in their living room with a voice-controlled Android TV set-top box connected to the fibre network or watch their favourite program anywhere on their iOS/Android mobile device or laptop.

“Expanding to a triple-play offering with OTT gives us a significant competitive advantage in the marketplace, and we needed experienced technology providers by our side to ensure the success of our new service offering,” said Oriol Pedrals, Technology Director at Avatel. “Viaccess-Orca, Ateme, and Optiva Media provide us with a best-of-breed solution for video streaming, coupled with unparalleled expertise in the OTT environment. With VO’s lead on the integration, we enjoyed a smooth deployment and immediately began offering advanced features, such as personalization, to our subscribers.”

Avatel has deployed the end-to-end solution in an on-premises architecture. VO’s SDP empowers Avatel TV to deliver personalized content and increase viewer engagement. Using VO’s Multi-DRM and Secure Video Player, the operator can deliver premium live and VOD content with the highest content protection on any device.

Ateme is bringing the best quality of experience with its complete end-to-end solution. Avatel TV ensures an outstanding user experience on every screen with Optiva Media’s multiscreen apps.

“The OTT environment can be complex for service providers, and we’re excited to team up with Ateme and Optiva Media to offer a solution for video streaming in a single package,” said Arnaud Alvarez, Executive Vice President, Global Sales at Viaccess-Orca. “Due to COVID restrictions, we worked remotely with Avatel and our partner teams throughout the entire deployment process ?— from the point of OTT service kickoff to delivery. Thanks to tightknit collaboration and the world-class, end-to-end OTT solution, this project was a resounding success.”

Avatel has grown rapidly since its launch in 2012 and has now made 110 acquisitions in two years, consolidating the market into 400,000 fibre optic customers.
 
CNN+ launch date confirmed

CNN has announced that the streaming service CNN+ will make its debut in the US on March 29.

It will be available for $5.99 a month or $59.99 a year, with early subscribers that sign up within the first four weeks after March 29 directly with CNN+ having access to the “Deal of a Lifetime,” or 50% off the monthly plan – for life – as long as they remain subscribers.

Commenting on the upcoming launch, Andrew Morse, CNN EVP, chief digital officer and head of CNN+, said: “March 29 will be an important day in the history of CNN and CNN+ will be a critical part of our future.

“I am so proud of the work our teams have done to ensure our world class journalism and storytelling comes to life on this new platform. We can’t wait for our subscribers to experience it”.

CNN+ was first announced in July 2021, with its debut being set for Q1 2022. It will offer subscribers three types of content, namely live, on-demand and interactive programming.

Alex MacCallum, CNN Worldwide head of product and general manager for CNN+, added: “We’re excited for everyone to experience CNN+ and see what we’ve been working on.

“We have a really compelling content offering with CNN’s world class journalists and are confident in the product offered at this compelling price”.

CNN will have a single CNN app that will offer access to both CNN+ and TVE experiences, with easy navigation between the two. In the single CNN app, CNN+ customers will be able to explore a range of new live, on-demand and interactive content through editorially-curated and personalised experiences that suit their interests.

Pay-TV customers will also enjoy the TVE experience, including access to CNN’s linear TV feeds of CNN, CNN International and HLN as well as a substantial on-demand offering, which will be available exclusively to pay-TV customers.
 
Amos to carry Ukrainian channels

Six Ukrainian regional TV channels are to be broadcast on the Amos-7 satellite.

According to the regulator National Council, Rivne 1 (Rivne), Vita TV (Vinnytsia), Vidikon (Sumy), TV 7+ (Khmelnytsky), Channel 7 (Odessa) are already available on the satellite, with Zet TV (Zaporizhia) due to follow shortly.

National Council says that initiative has been implemented with the assistance of Ukrkosmos, for which it is grateful “for its reliable support and assistance to Ukrainian TV and radio companies at this difficult time for the country”.
 
DAZN and Movistar Plus reach LaLiga distribution agreement

DAZN and Telefonica have reached a non-exclusive distribution agreement for LaLiga. DAZN said the deal to allow Movistar Plus customers access to the LaLiga package through their Movistar subscription was part of its “fan-first philosophy”.

DAZN, has been awarded exclusive broadcasting rights for 175 LaLiga matches from 2022/23 to 2026/27. DAZN will be in charge of the production of the five matches shown each week.

The distribution deal follows follows similar agreements with Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom and Swisscom in Germany, TIM in Italy and KDDI in Japan.

Jacopo Tonoli, Chief Commercial Officer, DAZN Group, said: “We are very pleased to announce this new distribution agreement with Movistar Plus+, expanding on our existing partnership. Our mission is to make premium sport more accessible to an ever-increasing number of fans in an easy, flexible and innovative way, and this deal allows us to do so by driving further growth in Spain.”

Sergio Oslé, President of Movistar Plus added: “At Movistar we will focus all our efforts on providing our customers with access to the widest range of content on the market. With this new agreement we guarantee access to all Movistar Plus customers to the main competition of our soccer for the next seasons. The agreements reached with LaLiga and DAZN strengthen the relationship with the best partners to continue promoting our `Infinite stadium´ with an unparalleled sports offer.”

Since its launch in Spain, DAZN has built a Spanish offering that includes Copa del Rey, Premier League, UEFA Women’s Champions League, Copa Libertadores, Copa Sudamericana, FA Cup, MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3, F1, Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and Matchroom boxing.
 
Calls for sanctions on Russian pay-TV satellite platforms Tricolor and NTV+

A petition calling for the European Union to sanction the transmission of NTV-Plus and Tricolor on Eutelsat has been signed by the entire National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine.

The petition, drawn up by the Denis Diderot Committee (named after the French philosopher, art critic, and writer), wants to prevent NTV-Plus and Tricolor from using European satellites. The two platforms are currently distributed from Eutelsat at 36 degrees East. It’s estimated the satellite represents up to 30% of their installed base.

Following reporting restrictions imposed by the Russian government at the beginning of March NTV-Plus (part of Gazprom-Media Holding) and Tricolor have excluded all international news channels from their offering including BBC World News, CNN, Deutsche Welle (DW), Euronews (in Russian), France 24, NHK World, RAI News 24 and TV5 Monde.

“The two Russian operators claim that the switch-off of the international news channels was at the initiative of the broadcasters, which is clearly untrue. The EU and Eutelsat IGO cannot accept this censorship using European satellite capacities and neither the continued transmission on Eutelsat transponders of RT News, the Kremlin war propaganda channel, banned by an EU decision one month ago,” said Denis Diderot Committee coordinator, Dr Andre Lange.
 
Eredivisie goes Ultra HD from next season

ESPN is promising Dutch football fans coverage of the Eredivisie in Ultra HD, HDR, from the start of the next season.

The broadcaster is currently in discussion with individual providers over the distribution of the enhanced service.

In the Netherlands, ESPN is operated by Eredivisie Media & Marketing (EMM). In a joint statement Marco de Ruiter and Frank Rutten if EMM said that while experiencing Eredivisie in the stadium remains a unique experience, ESPN wanted to provide the best alternative.

“The cooperation with our distribution partners is an extremely important building block for us. Dutch club football is more popular than ever and thanks to these multi-year partnerships, we can continue to grow that success together. The introduction of Ultra HD on ESPN is an excellent example of this.”

EMM has extended its distribution partnership with Delta/Caiway and T-Mobile, keeping the ESPN channels available to Delta/Caiway and T-Mobile customers for a minimum of another five years after the end of the current signal. In 2020, long-term agreements were also concluded with VodafoneZiggo, M7 (Canal Digitaal), Youfone and Joyne, among others.
 
Viaplay adds NHL and KSW rights to UK sports streaming offering

Viaplay has acquired the UK rights to the National Hockey League (NHL) up to the 2026-2027 season, extending an existing partnership to 10 European markets.

Up to 1,400 games from the ice hockey league will be shown on Viaplay every year until 2027. From late 2022 through the 2026-2027 season, NHL fans in the UK will be able to stream every regular season game live on Viaplay, including all NHL Saturday and NHL Sunday games, together with the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Stanley Cup Final and other marquee events, including the NHL Winter Classic, NHL All-Star Game, NHL Stadium Series, NHL Heritage Classic and NHL Global Series.

Peter Nørrelund, NENT Group Chief Sports Officer: “We’re already expanding Viaplay’s UK sports line-up with more long-term rights that put us firmly on the map. We have worked with the NHL for 19 years in our Nordic markets, which proves the quality of our coverage.”

Viaplay has also announced plans to cover the KSW mixed martial arts competitions.

Based in Poland, KSW enjoys a passionate following, and its live events feature top Polish and international MMA competitors. Viaplay and KSW are now working together in 11 countries, and the first KSW event shown on Viaplay in the UK will be in late 2022.

Viaplay will launch in the UK in the second half of 2022 with a broad streaming offering that combines live sports with premium original Nordic content and more.
 
Sky to drop Kinowelt TV and Stingray Classica

Sky Deutschland will remove movie channel Kinowelt TV and classical music channel Stingray Classica from its pay-TV platform in Germany and Austria on May 1, 2022.

A Sky spokesperson confirmed the move to Broadband TV News. “Our channel portfolio is strongly oriented towards the desires of our customers and is regularly adjusted accordingly,” the spokesperson said.

There won’t be any replacement channels for the time being. However, the spokesperson pointed out that Sky will integrate streaming service Paramount+ into its Cinema package before the end of the year: “This will again significantly expand the range of films we offer.”

Tom Adams, Managing Director of Stingray Germany, told Broadband TV News: “We regret that we will no longer be distributed by Sky Deutschland and would be happy to return at any time.” The website https://classica.stingray.com lists all other platforms on which viewers can continue to receive Stingray Classica, he added.

Daniele Grieco, Programme Director of Kinowelt TV, said: “We regret the termination of the distribution of our channel by Sky Deutschland, in particular in view of the long, constructive cooperation and the successful mutual complementation of the programmes offered by each other. In the future, our line-up of high-quality movies will continue to be shown throughout German-speaking Europe on all other major platforms.”
 
Euronews Bulgaria launches

A branded affiliate of Euronews has made its debut in Bulgaria.

Operated in partnership between the European media and local network TV Europa, it is the fourth branded affiliate channel to start airing, after Euronews Albania, Euronews Georgia and Euronews Serbia, with Euronews Romania set to follow suit at the end of the month.

Euronews Bulgaria will broadcast 24/7, offering news bulletins every half hour, and will be available on all the main operators in Bulgaria: A1, Vivacom, Bulsatcom. Exemplifying its European positioning, the channel will, in particular, send a team to Strasbourg each month to cover the European Parliament’s plenary session. For its launch, the channel has recorded exclusive interviews with influential figures from around the world.

Euronews notes that in order to guarantee the new channel’s independence, it has put in place various mechanisms that have proven to be efficient in the development of its branded affiliate network, including establishing an editorial board controlled by Euronews and appointing an editor-in-chief selected by Euronews and who is now a Euronews employee.

Marina Stoimenova, who has held several important positions in the Nova Broadcasting Group’s newsrooms, has been appointed to this role and will lead an editorial team of almost 50 people, out of a total of 80 employees. She will be responsible for ensuring that the channel’s editorial charter and values are complied with on a daily basis and will report to François Chignac, Euronews’ branded affiliates editorial manager, based at the media’s headquarters in Lyon, France.

Commenting on the new channel, Stoimenova said: “We are excited to join the Euronews family, and to benefit from the experience, expertise and reputation of this well-established European news channel. The whole team at Euronews Bulgaria adheres to Euronews’ mission, which is to enable people to form their own opinion, through offering a diversity of views. We are committed to independent, impartial and fact-based journalism and to the European DNA of our channel. We cannot wait for the Bulgarian audiences to discover all that we have put together for them”.

Chignac added: “We are proud of all that the Euronews Bulgaria teams have already achieved. They have worked hand in hand with the Euronews teams to build a quality media, which will be unique on the Bulgarian market. Bulgarian audiences can rely on Euronews Bulgaria to provide them with unbiased and accurate news, with a European perspective”.
 
BT Sport to make UEFA Champions League final free-to-view

BT Sport is to allow fans to watch the UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League finals free-of-charge.

The broadcaster has announced a number of routes to do so including the BT Sport App, YouTube Channel and on Virgin Media, as well as PlayStation, Xbox, Samsung smart TVs, Apple TV, Android TV and Amazon Fire.

Jamie Hindhaugh, Head of BT Sport, said “It has been another hugely entertaining season of football across all three UEFA club competitions, highlighted by British clubs making two of the finals once again. We’re delighted to round these European campaigns off by making the live action from all three finals available for anyone to watch for free on the BT Sport website, app or YouTube channel.”

Two of the three competitions feature British interest. The UEFA Europa League Final on Wednesday 18th May will see Scottish side Rangers take on Eintracht Frankfurt. A week later the Europa Conference League Final will see AS Roma meet Feyenoord.

Liverpool and Real Madrid meet in the Champions League final on Friday 27th May.
 
Sportdigital channels join CLIQ Digital

German TV broadcaster Sportdigital is expanding the reach of its three pay-TV channels via a cooperation with CLIQ Digital.

The channels Sportdigital Fußball, EDGEsport and ClipMyHorse.TV can now be received on the CLIQ Digital streaming platform in the German-speaking countries. The cooperation between the two companies is initially for a period of two years.

“We are very pleased about the cooperation with CLIQ and the extremely innovative and exciting approach of the platform. The fact that we are represented here right from the start with all three of our pay-TV channels is both an appreciation and an incentive for us and our offerings. We are convinced that CLIQ will open up a highly interesting market position in the DACH region and are pleased to be part of it with our channels,” Sportdigital managing director Gisbert Wundram said in Hamburg.
 
Ateme to run Champions League Final streaming in Spain

OTT television platform Tivify is to live stream Saturday’s UEFA Champions League Final using Ateme’s latest TITAN transcoding solutions.

Tivify, backed by Spain’s TVUP, first implemented TITAN transcoding solutions for its streaming services in 2020. The platform offers free access to more than 130 streaming channels, including some of the most popular channels in Spain. The UEFA Champions League Final marks the first time that Tivify will use the proven CMAF features within TITAN to live-stream a football match at a latency matching broadcast levels.

Latency continues to be a prime factor in the delivery of OTT services, particularly for sports coverage, where streams typically lag around 30 seconds behind the live broadcast.

Francisco Sáez, Executive Director of Technology & Founder, TVUP, explained, “We had two challenging imperatives for the Champions League Final: the first was to reduce latency to broadcast levels; the second was to maintain high-quality images. With the high profile of the event, we could not afford to take risks.”

“For several years now, reducing latency has been the holy grail when delivering sports events,” added Cédric Pesier Ateme’s sales manager in South Europe, said, “It’s exciting to see that this quest has finally succeeded, and we are proud to be part of that with TVUP, helping them deliver one of the biggest football matches on the planet to its subscribers. Finally, low-latency streaming is not just a proof of concept but a reality for viewers.”

The 2022 UEFA Champions League Final between Liverpool and Real Madrid takes place at the Stade de France, Paris, at 9pm CET on May 28th, 2022.
 
Canal+ Sport for Czech Republic and Slovakia

The Premier League will be broadcast exclusively by the soon-to-be-launched Canal+ Sport in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Backed by Canal+ Luxembourg, the channel will make its debut on August 1 and be distributed via Astra 23.5 degrees East. It will be offered by the Canal+-operated platforms Skylink and freeSAT and made available through the Skylink Live TV application, giving access to all simultaneously played matches and conference broadcasts.

Although the availability of Canal+ Sport to other operators is still unclear, Ladislav ?ehacek, Canal+ Luxembourg’s VP for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, said: “Our goal is to present a premium, but at the same time widely available sports channel, and that is why we negotiate with all major Czech and Slovak operators. If we manage to agree on the terms and conditions in individual cases, the end customer will be able to watch the English Premier League as part of their current service without having to change or buy anything. At the same time, however, we are also counting on a variant of direct offer to viewers whose television service will not have our channel on offer”.

Canal+ Sport will be included in the new Kombi + offer at Skylink and freeSAT, the monthly price of which will start at CZK349 – €14.1(for internet TV) from August 1. The same package also includes other sports channels such Sport1 and Sport2, which offer Formula 1 as well as football.

It will be possible to subscribe to Canal+ Sport separately for CZK189 per month, in both cases with the possibility of immediate cancellation and without any obligations.
 
Countdown to Canal+ Sport launch

Canal+ Sport will make its debut in the Czech Republic and Slovakia on August 4, a day before the start of the upcoming Premier League season, which will feature prominently in its schedule.

The channel will initially be available on Skylink and freeSAT in both countries, as well as Skylink for Orange TV in Slovakia.

Commenting on the channel, Ladislav ?ehacek, Canal + Luxembourg’s VP for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, said: “Behind the content of our new sports programme is an experienced team of Czech and Slovak professionals. Here you will find well-known names from the football world, but also young promising experts who, we believe, will enrich the broadcast with a new and unique look”.

He added: “We want to bring the best viewing experience and we are not afraid to deviate from established standards. This will correspond not only to the format, selection of guests and content of individual programmes, but also to the studio environments in which we will shoot”.
 
DAZN in talks to buy rival Eleven Sports

Sir Len Blavatnik’s DAZN is in talks to buy rival Eleven Sports.

The Financial Times reported the story Wednesday, citing people with knowledge of the details. DAZN and Eleven both declined to comment.

Eleven has acquired rights to show Formula One in Poland, the Uefa Champions League and Premier League in Portugal, and Ligue 1 in Belgium.

Eleven Sports was founded by Italian businessman Andrea Radrizzani, who also owns Leeds United. In addition to the streaming business, the Eleven portfolio also includes documentary maker Neo Studios and digital marketing company Team Whistle. Radrizzani previously owned the sports rights business MP & Silva.

In February, DAZN Group received a recapitalisation of $4.3 billion from its billionaire investor Sir Len Blavatnik. Prior to that Access Industries, Sir Len’s principal holding company, and leading shareholder in DAZN had lent $1.05 billion to the company during the year and a further $1.05 billion to cover operational activities.

DAZN was also wrong-footed in its bid to acquire BT Sport, by a last minute entrance from Discovery.
 
Canal+ Sport expands Czech and Slovak reach

Slovak Telekom, Digi Slovakia and T-Mobile Czech Republic reached a new strategic, three-year agreement with Canal+. As a result, the English Premier League will continue to be shown by the three companies via the new channel Canal+ Sport.

Commenting on the development, Marcel Šatanek, senior manager of the TV segment and terminals of Slovak Telekom, said: “Thanks to the joint efforts of all parties, we were able to successfully bring the negotiations to a successful conclusion. We are happy to announce that Slovakian and Czech spectators will have three years of attractive football from the Premier League. I will not lie when I say that every match of this competition makes for a real experience for football fans. And even if only from the comfort of home, it’s certainly worth watching. Perhaps even more so this season, as the Premier League celebrates its 30th anniversary this year since its first game in the 1992/1993 season”.

Berk Uziyel, CEO of SPI International, which is now a part of Canal+ Group, in charge of B2B distribution of Canal+ products within the territory, added: “The Canal+ brand will debut in the Czech and Slovak market with great strength. Our partnership with Slovak Telekom, Digi Slovakia and T-Mobile Czech Republic will allow more viewers to access great content from the English Premier League in addition to our existing viewers in Skylink and Freesat. Canal+ will continue to strengthen its content offering, as we will further enhance it with the additional products bundled from SPI and its distribution by partnerships, allowing viewers to enjoy great products. Ladislav ?ehacek and his team has done great work to create Canal+ Sport which has top quality productions that will elevate the viewership experience of the English Premier League. We thank all of our partners with whom we’ve collaborated for this agreement”.

Zdenek Spurny, manager of T-Mobile’s television services, continued: “By signing the broadcast rights agreement, we perceive this as a breakthrough success, thanks to which we can continue to bring premium content and a prestigious range of programmes to our customers. Our sports channels are among the most popular and sought-after content on T-Mobile TV, and thanks to the concluded agreement, viewers can now fully enjoy a wide range of quality football, including the top Premier League”.
 
Football postponed following Queen’s death

Premier League and other football league games due to take place this weekend in the UK have been postponed as a mark of respect to Queen Elizabeth II, who died on Thursday, September 8.

In a statement, Richard Masters, Premier League chief executive, said: “We and our clubs would like to pay tribute to Her Majesty’s long and unwavering service to our country.
“As our longest-serving monarch, she has been an inspiration and leaves behind an incredible legacy following a life of dedication.

“This is a tremendously sad time for not just the nation, but also for the millions of people around the world who admired her, and we join together with all those in mourning her passing”.

The Premier League said that this is aligned with the approach that The FA and EFL will take with their competitions this weekend.
 
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