Digital Lifescapes

Strategy Analytics released a market study which concludes that while end users find Sprint Music Store faster and easier to use than V CAST Music, very few are willing to pay the current price premiums associated with downloading music to their mobile devices. In this Strategy Analytics end-user evaluation of full track music download services, Sprint's Mobile Music Store out-scored Verizon Wireless's V CAST Music by a massive 21 percent. The Sprint service was preferred to V CAST Music for both 'perceived network performance' and 'ease-of-use.' "Strategy Analytics has identified significant levels of consumer interest in mobile music services, and the current services - especially Sprint Music Store - meet or exceed user expectations in terms of performance and convenience," according to Paul Brown, Wireless Analyst at Strategy Analytics. "However, price remains a considerable barrier to acceptance." Kevin Nolan, Director, Advanced Wireless...

Pyramid Research estimates there will be 2.6 billion mobile subscribers worldwide by year-end 2006, up from 2.3 billion in 2005. Between 2006 and 2010, it expects total mobile subscribers to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.7 percenet, topping 3.5 billion by year-end 2010. The number of mobile subscribers will top the 3 billion mark during late 2007, early 2008. "We believe there is considerable upside potential for our forecasts pending the introduction of new business models focusing on low-end users" says Leslie Arathoon, Director of Product Strategy for Pyramid Research. The latest forecasts indicate that Africa/Middle East will be the fastest growing region with a subscriber CAGR of 13.6 percent over the next five years. Asia Pacific and Latin America follow closely, posting CAGRs of 10.9 percent and 9.4 percent respectively. Western Europe will sustain an average growth of 2.8 percent per year, while North America is forecasted to post a 6.0 percent...

Screen Digest reports that the D-cinema rollout has begun, currently on a small scale but with a rapidly gathering momentum toward full-scale rollout. 2006 is likely to be a year for negotiations and signature of contracts with wide-scale rollout happening from 2007. Hollywood will drive the market forward and the key factors in the switch to digital cinema are cost savings to distributors, the economic imperative of controlling piracy and the need to maintain the experience gap with regard to home cinema and HDTV. On the back of the Hollywood studios releasing their technical specification for d-cinema in June 2005, there was explosive growth in the number of d-cinema screens globally during the second half of last year, with numbers doubling in a six month period. After 100 years of stability for the cinema industry, the prospect of reduced distribution costs, the threat of rampant piracy and competition to the cinema industry from new home entertainment technologies, is driving the ...

Multichannel News reports that parents should have the right to buy only those cable channels they deem appropriate for their families in an a la carte selection process that would promote consumer choice and competition among pay TV distributors, a Federal Communications Commission official said. �Why should you have to pay for channels that you are blocking?� FCC chief economist Leslie Marx said. "The FCC has looked into the issue of providing consumers with more choice and has found that a la carte and other means for increasing consumer choice could benefit consumers.� Marx said that the a la carte sale of cable networks is a market reality in several mature economies around the globe, and the results are proven. In Hong Kong, for example, she said, the introduction of a la carte in recent years by one cable company has forced the second cable company to respond competitively by slashing tier prices. Hong Kong consumers who go a la carte pay 50 percent less than those who buy ...

New York Times reports that Cablevision will announce a flat-rate plan for international calls, the latest example of how digital and Internet-based phone services from cable companies and start-ups like Vonage are challenging traditional phone carriers. Customers will be able to buy 500 minutes of calls to any country overseas for $19.95 a month. At 4 cents a minute, the service plan would cost far less than calls to most countries outside major cities in Western Europe and Asia. While many companies connect calls to places like London and Tokyo for as little as 3 cents a minute, calls to some countries in Asia and Africa can cost more than a dollar a minute. Cablevision's new service includes taxes and fees and must be ordered in addition to the company's standard unlimited local and long-distance calling plan, which costs $34.95 a month. Customers can buy additional time in 500-minute installments if they exceed their allotment before the billing period ends.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Time Warner Cable has submitted a "short form" with the FCC that allows it and its partners in a wireless joint venture to bid on wireless spectrum in a government auction scheduled for next month, CEO Glenn Britt said. The news came as part of a half-day investor event held by TWC top brass ahead of its planned completion of the takeover with Comcast Corp. of Adelphia Communications and TWC's spinoff from Time Warner, which are expected in the summer. Besides deals, regulatory issues and new products dubbed Quick Look and Look Back were among the issues in the spotlight Wednesday. TWC entered a joint venture agreement with Sprint, Comcast, Cox Communications and Advance/Newhouse Communications in November to work on joint video and wireless products.

Don't expect high prices in next month's auction of spectrum earmarked for mobile broadband, according to speakers during a Kagan Research audio conference. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will auction 90 MHz in the 1.7-2.1 GHz band called AWS � Advanced Wireless Services. The forecast is for disciplined pricing because large swathes of spectrum are available, the bellwether pre-auction trading of spectrum in private transactions is restrained and more spectrum auctions are coming. Bruce Falkenberg, founder of wireless financier Falkenberg Capital, expects only "the usual suspects" to be buyers � national cell phone carriers, regional carriers and some speculators. "Although many believe that AWS bidding will be disciplined, the prospect of acquiring a national footprint could be enticing to numerous non-traditional spectrum auction bidders � such as cable operators, media conglomerates and Internet players," noted John Mansell, Kagan senior anal...

The market for wireless handsets was $110 billion in 2005. In-Stat predicts that it will grow 23 percent, to exceed $136 billion in 2006. It will continue to grow but at a slower rate, exceeding $250 billion in 2011. To put this in perspective, if wireless handsets were a sovereign country, it would be the 53rd largest economy, right behind Ireland, but growing more than twice as fast as China. This growth is not preordained. According to the study, it depends upon phone manufacturers continuing to add features that consumers value and the rest of the industry can support. The greatest challenge is to just add the features different customers want without adding unneeded cost or complexity from unneeded or unwanted features. The report includes end-user survey results that explore current customer attitudes as well as how it corresponds to their past buying behavior. The goal for wireless phone manufacturers is to make customers forget they ever tolerated a phone without the new innova...

BROADBAND 2.0 is the first magazine dedicated to supporting broadband service providers through the successful delivery and management of next-generation services such as IPTV and home networking. BROADBAND 2.0 showcases best practices and insights from industry leaders�global service providers and their ecosystem partners�who are defining the Broadband 2.0 landscape. BROADBAND 2.0 is a quarterly magazine targeted to industry influencers including key executives and decision-makers responsible for developing, marketing and implementing innovative services that deliver value and convenience to customers. �As broadband access reaches market maturity, we are just beginning to see the emergence of new services that take full advantage of the medium,� said Colin Dixon, senior analyst at The Diffusion Group. �Broadband 2.0�s focus on the implementation of these new revenue generating services is an important tool for the operator in their battle for subscribers and revenue.� The premiere is...

According to TV Week, Bravo said it will launch BrilliantButCancelled.com, a site dedicated to short-lived TV series with devoted audiences, on May 23. BrilliantButCancelled.com will launch with a lineup of shows including "The Jake Effect," "EZ Streets," Johnny Staccato," "Delvecchio," Gideon Oliver" and "Touching Evil." Bravo will support the broadband channel by televising some of the shows on Bravo after they appear on the Web. For example, "The Jake Effect" will appear on cable May 25, two days after it premieres on broadband. The channel also will be promoted by NBCU's Sleuth channel, which will air an "EZ Streets" marathon May 28. Episodes of BrilliantButCancelled.com shows will also be available at Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store and on DVD collections released by Universal Studios Home Entertainment. Bravo said it is developing programs for its cable channels year-round. One show in the works is ...

Pay-TV companies made some advances in customer service satisfaction in 2005 but are still lagging behind many other industries. The American Customer Satisfaction Index gave cable and satellite companies an overall satisfaction score of 63. Since being added to the index in 2001, cable and satellite have been one of the lowest scoring industries. This year was no exception. Their score is below telephone carriers - which got an overall score of 70 - as well as wireless carriers, which posted a score of 66. The pay-TV industry even scored below the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) Web site, which got a score of 73, and the 79 score of cigarette makers. The pay-TV industry's 2-point increase in customer service satisfaction marked its first increase ever. After scoring 64 in 2001, the industry's rating lingered at 61 during the intervening years. Among cable and satellite companies, DirecTV Group Inc., the country's largest satellite-TV provider, got the highest rating a...

Most Americans don�t know how to make the most of new digital video options, while many remain concerned about hidden costs and ease of use of devices making their way onto the market, suggests a new study from Ipsos, the global survey-based market research firm. Still, over half (61 percent) of online American adults are at least open to considering devices that connect PCs with consumer electronics for more convenient access to digital content. Based on this research and two key assumptions, Ipsos estimates that upwards of 900,000 consumers may purchase Digital Den-type devices in the next year if they can be offered at $100. Among the group who would consider these media hub devices, movies and TV are as much in demand as music, though music content is much more available in a digitally portable form at this point. Said Todd Board, Senior Vice President of the Ipsos Insight Technology & Communications practice: �This finding has been consistent over the past year and also fits w...

Sony is placing a serious bet that its inclusion of a Blu-ray drive in the PlayStation 3 will entice consumers to pay a premium price for the new console, despite lower cost alternatives from both Nintendo and Microsoft. However, according to ABI Research, Sony's console pricing strategy is fraught with risk, and may ultimately jeopardize its market leadership position. "Asking consumers to pay $500 to $600 for a game console, when most have yet to purchase an HDTV, will give many current PlayStation 2 owners reason to consider the competition," said Michael Wolf, principal analyst with ABI Research's broadband and multimedia research practice. "Sony has clearly hamstrung itself with a box that is expensive to manufacture, and these costs are driving a retail pricing strategy that places a high financial burden on the consumer." As the E3 show came to a close last week, Nintendo was the clear winner in the "buzz" stakes: the industry embraced the i...

According to IDC, the Western European mobile phone market (consisting of traditional mobile phones and converged devices) maintained double-digit growth in the opening quarter of 2006 as shipments increased by 11 percent year on year to reach 40.7 million units, compared to 36.8 million in the corresponding quarter of 2005. "Although mounting saturation in subscriber growth across Europe is increasingly inhibiting handset shipment growth, the market in 1Q06 matched the growth rate exhibited in the opening quarter of 2005 despite a lack of impetus commonly provided by new handset launches," said Geoff Blaber, senior research analyst, European Mobile Devices at IDC. "Mounting consumer migration towards WCDMA devices driven by competitive service pricing and ASP declines, combined with highly aggressive handset subsidies across operator portfolios, was a key market performance driver in 1Q06." However, despite relatively healthy unit volumes, intense vendor competitio...

New research shows that global PSTN voice revenues will decline over the next four years as incumbent telcos switch to voice over IP (VoIP). According to a new report from Informa Telecoms & Media, PSTN voice revenues will decline to $500 billion by 2011, representing a decrease of 16.7 percent or $100 billion from the total revenues at the end of 2005. Fixed line operators are still hanging onto their PSTN networks because traditional voice services remain the main revenue generator for them, but this gradual decrease in revenues will force operators to take action and deploy more efficient networks. In 2005 operators made almost $600 billion from PSTN voice services whilst broadband services accounted for only 25 percent of total revenues. These falling PSTN revenues are a key driver for IMS as operators benefit from deploying VoIP over broadband, over the same period, 2005-2011 total broadband revenues are expected to reach $410 billion from $202 billion. In developed regions l...

TelecomTV reports that PCCW is aiming to boost its credentials as the world's leading next-generation telco, by announcing that it intends to extend its IPTV service through its newly acquired Sunday mobile business to create the world's first "quadruple-play" service offering. Executive director and group CFO Alex Arena announced the strategy at the keynote speech of the International Engineering Consortium's annual Asia conference, which opened in Hong Kong. In an earlier interview with Communications Day, Arena said that he believed the extension of IPTV to a mobile access medium was a world first. PCCW is using the conference to showcase its position as the world's most successful IPTV provider, servicing 500,000 households after just two years of operation. It has signed on as the keynote sponsor, at a cost believed to be in excess of a quarter of million dollars, in order to promote its IPTV offering as a global reference for the application. Arena told ...

Informitv reports that Video Networks, which operates the HomeChoice broadband video service in London, is planning to offer white label services to other operators. Dean Hawkins, the chief operating officer of Video Networks Limited, told informitv that the company was considering offering selected services to other operators. The suggestion comes as a number of companies are planning to use local loop unbundling to provide a combination of broadband video, voice and data services, although they may have limited experience in managing video operations. Established in 1992, Video Networks is a pioneer in internet protocol television. The company has offered television over telephone lines since 1996, but despite a re-launch in 2004 it has only around 45,000 customers in the London area, although its network is potentially available to 2.4 million homes across the capital. Previously announced plans to roll out a national network, and the necessary funding, have yet to materialise. A nu...

Several formidable-looking barriers appear, at first glance, to pose serious obstacles to widespread commercial success for Ultrawideband (UWB). But closer examination reveals that few of them will drastically inhibit the market, which a new ABI Research study forecasts will see nearly 300 million UWB shipments in 2011. According to principal analyst Stuart Carlaw, some observers have pointed to the lack of standardization as a major barrier to growth in the UWB market. "The collapse of the UWB standards process was widely seen as a major faux pas," he notes, "but those inside the industry viewed it as the shackles being removed." Similarly, many people point to 802.11n as "the UWB-killer." The reality is that they are complementary. UWB's relationship to 802.11n may be compared to USB's relationship to Ethernet. Although that is an oversimplification, says Carlaw, "It is clear that UWB and 802.11n will co-exist and be powerful allies for each...

Roughly one-third of adult gamers spend 10 hours or more per week playing console or PC games compared to just 11 percent of teens, according to results from a new study released by the Consumer Electronics Association. The surprising results are part of CEA's 2006 Gaming Technology Study, which surveyed adults via online survey and teens (ages 12-17) via telephone interview. "The fact that adults are racking up more gaming hours than teens is startling, but there are several associated findings that shed light on this," said CEA's Senior Manager, Industry Analysis Steve Koenig. "Interestingly, a greater percentage of 12-14 year olds spend time gaming than older teens ages 15-17. Older teens simply may not have the free time for extra hours of gaming or they could be gaming on wireless handsets since 81 percent of teens own or use a wireless phone." Through the new study, CEA also investigated gaming platform ownership and behaviors and found the data reveal...

Lionsgate Entertainment led the nominations for The Hollywood Reporter's 35th annual Key Art Awards with 26 noms, while Dimension Films' "Sin City" scored more noms than any other movie and Art Machine led the field among agencies with 20 noms. "Sin City" topped the movie pack with nine noms, followed by "Crash," "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Saw II," which tied for second with six noms each, and "Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo," "Batman Begins" and "Chicken Little," which all placed third with five noms apiece. Among the studios, Universal came in second with 20 nominations, and Disney and its Buena Vista distribution arm placed third with 19. On the agency/vendor side, BLT & Associates Inc. and Trailer Park tied for second with 10 noms each, and Mark Woollen & Associates and the Ant Farm came in third with seven noms each. The winners will be announced June 16 at the Key Art Awards, hosted...