Pole position in the run on Zapper
The private television company Cablecom has submitted a license application to Bakom to launch its own TV channel.
Private television provider Cablecom has submitted a license application to OFCOM for its own TV channel. On 14 July, Cablecom GmbH submitted a license application for a regional language TV channel. In a circular letter on the hearing of the new application, OFCOM writes that the new license is to be used for a "regional language information channel". Cablecom's concept states that the cable network operator will no longer be able to broadcast only cablecom-relevant information on its existing information channel as before, but also more in-depth topics on society, tourism, weather, leisure and sport. The hot subordinate clause reads: "It should be possible to broadcast sponsored and advertising-supported content."
In other words: Cablecom no longer just wants to distribute the programs of others, but wants to actively enter the TV market itself. What worries the competition is, of course, the network operator's pole position in the race to win the favor of zappers.
Channel 3 or 30
Until now, the info channel was programmed at the far end of the program. Will the newly upgraded channel now be moved to the front? Which of the smaller private channels will it displace? Dominik Kaiser, President of the Board of Directors of Elevator TV, for example, is concerned. This company has a license application pending with Bakom for the provision of a regional youth television channel. Cablecom has so far - as in other cases involving private broadcasters - refused to allow distribution via its cable network, claiming that it has no space for the analogue distribution of further television channels.
Paul Grau is also less than happy about Cablecom's license application. His Star TV has benefited from significantly better viewer ratings since it took over TV 3's previous position at the top of the Zapp scale. Will it stay that way?
The Bakom hearing is no easy task for Walter Bosch. The busy entrepreneur and media man is also a member of the Board of Directors and shareholder of Star TV and a member of the Board of Directors of Cablecom. According to the RTVA, the license for a TV channel can only be awarded to
applicants domiciled in Switzerland. The shareholder of Cablecom GmbH is Cablecom Luxembourg with its registered office in Luxembourg.
This company in turn has CCom Holdings in Gibraltar as a shareholder, which in turn is a subsidiary of Cablecom Holdings AG. The new licensee is therefore "Swiss-controlled", as Cablecom claims in its application. According to another view, U.S. investors have the say at Cablecom.
First program preview
The viewer potential of the new channel is estimated at 1.1 million viewers.
francs. The planned new content includes, for example, tourism information with paid presentations of excursion destinations, hotels and "special offers". Concert information can be placed via a "partnership with event organizers". Most interestingly - because the content is completely open - the application states that the new broadcaster can enter into partnerships with program providers and thus also wants to offer "new TV formats".
The program is broken down into 70 percent information, of which 60 percent is own work and 10 percent culture. They are to be covered with 30 percent in-house contribution. For entertainment, 20 percent of the program is planned with 10 percent in-house contribution.
The comments in the hearing on Cablecom's TV license application must be returned to Bakom by September 3, 2004.
Swisscom goes TVUnder the motto "What TV can be", Swisscom subsidiary Bluewin is also entering the television business and - like Cablecom - is thus becoming a player in the digital "triple play" (telephone, Internet and TV via the same channel and provider). However, this is not as an additional program provider, but purely as a "TV content aggregator" and "video service provider". In a market trial lasting from September to December 2004, "Bluewin TV" is the first Internet provider worldwide to test the potential of "Internet Protocol Television Technology" (IPTV) developed by Microsoft.
In this first step, "Bluewin TV" will bring video on demand into the homes of 630 representatively selected subscribers via telephone cable in addition to the 4 SRG channels, 21 other free TV stations and 5 pay TV providers. In addition to an Electronic Program Guide (EPG), the set-top box required for this also offers the option of skipping commercial breaks using the "Live Pause" button. According to project manager Michael Zumsteg, this function was "met with curiosity rather than rejection" by the broadcasters. Conversely, IPTV opens up completely new ways for "the interactive, precise and correspondingly efficient TV advertising of the future". (oc)
Cablecom no longer just wants to distribute the programs of others, but wants to actively make TV itself.
Bluewin also wants to get involved in the TV business.
"Both remain distributors "Triple Play media consultant Andreas Hürlimann* on the motivations and options of Swisscom and Cablecom.
WW Mr. Hürlimann, is the neck-and-neck race in the TV business between Cablecom and Swisscom a pure
Infrastructure competition?
Andreas Hürlimann That is the case. The fact that the public may currently have a different impression is due to the fact that Switzerland, with its very high broadband penetration rate of over 20%, is an ideal test market for triple players offering telephony, Internet and TV from a single source. The lowest price level for broadband Internet connections in Europe also has a favorable effect. Even if Cablecom is planning steps towards its own program and Swisscom has acquired its first broadcast rights with The 13th Street, SciFi and National Geographic: Both companies will ultimately remain distributors.
The existing Swiss TV market players therefore do not need to fear any new competition.
Every infrastructure operator dreams of one day earning money with their own content and programs. The reality, however, is determined by the rights holders in Hollywood, Munich and elsewhere. And they want to keep the transmission of their premium content under control. The small Swiss market allows for two or three niche approaches at best, nothing more.
If not profitability, what is triple play about for Swisscom and Cablecom? Prestige or customer loyalty? Both may play a certain role. What is more important, however, is that Swisscom could only make gains in its home market through such business expansions. And Cablecom's entry into the relatively high-priced telephony market in this country is certainly linked to the growth expectations of investors.
What expectations can the advertising industry have of the new players and their products? For clients and their agencies, digital innovations such as time-shifted television and personal video recording are an extremely double-edged sword. The new technology not only makes it possible to fade out interruption and hinge advertising blocks, but also interactive forms of advertising and precise target group communication. In purely technical terms, consumers could use IPTV to select not only their programs but also their product interests. It remains to be seen whether the Swiss advertising industry will therefore support these new services or whether cannibalization fears will gain the upper hand.
What seems certain, however, is that the pending revision of the RTVA is already lagging miles behind this development.
Quite right. In my opinion, instead of this patchwork, we need firstly a sober infrastructure law - in the sense of an extension of the Telecommunications Act to all relevant areas - and secondly a general media law with a separate SRG annex. Anything else would ignore technological developments and the market. Interview: Oliver Classen
*Andreas Hürlimann is Partner and Global Head of Telecommunications, IT and Media at Arthur D. Little in Zurich.
Andreas Panzeri
In other words: Cablecom no longer just wants to distribute the programs of others, but wants to actively enter the TV market itself. What worries the competition is, of course, the network operator's pole position in the race to win the favor of zappers.
Channel 3 or 30
Until now, the info channel was programmed at the far end of the program. Will the newly upgraded channel now be moved to the front? Which of the smaller private channels will it displace? Dominik Kaiser, President of the Board of Directors of Elevator TV, for example, is concerned. This company has a license application pending with Bakom for the provision of a regional youth television channel. Cablecom has so far - as in other cases involving private broadcasters - refused to allow distribution via its cable network, claiming that it has no space for the analogue distribution of further television channels.
Paul Grau is also less than happy about Cablecom's license application. His Star TV has benefited from significantly better viewer ratings since it took over TV 3's previous position at the top of the Zapp scale. Will it stay that way?
The Bakom hearing is no easy task for Walter Bosch. The busy entrepreneur and media man is also a member of the Board of Directors and shareholder of Star TV and a member of the Board of Directors of Cablecom. According to the RTVA, the license for a TV channel can only be awarded to
applicants domiciled in Switzerland. The shareholder of Cablecom GmbH is Cablecom Luxembourg with its registered office in Luxembourg.
This company in turn has CCom Holdings in Gibraltar as a shareholder, which in turn is a subsidiary of Cablecom Holdings AG. The new licensee is therefore "Swiss-controlled", as Cablecom claims in its application. According to another view, U.S. investors have the say at Cablecom.
First program preview
The viewer potential of the new channel is estimated at 1.1 million viewers.
francs. The planned new content includes, for example, tourism information with paid presentations of excursion destinations, hotels and "special offers". Concert information can be placed via a "partnership with event organizers". Most interestingly - because the content is completely open - the application states that the new broadcaster can enter into partnerships with program providers and thus also wants to offer "new TV formats".
The program is broken down into 70 percent information, of which 60 percent is own work and 10 percent culture. They are to be covered with 30 percent in-house contribution. For entertainment, 20 percent of the program is planned with 10 percent in-house contribution.
The comments in the hearing on Cablecom's TV license application must be returned to Bakom by September 3, 2004.
Swisscom goes TVUnder the motto "What TV can be", Swisscom subsidiary Bluewin is also entering the television business and - like Cablecom - is thus becoming a player in the digital "triple play" (telephone, Internet and TV via the same channel and provider). However, this is not as an additional program provider, but purely as a "TV content aggregator" and "video service provider". In a market trial lasting from September to December 2004, "Bluewin TV" is the first Internet provider worldwide to test the potential of "Internet Protocol Television Technology" (IPTV) developed by Microsoft.
In this first step, "Bluewin TV" will bring video on demand into the homes of 630 representatively selected subscribers via telephone cable in addition to the 4 SRG channels, 21 other free TV stations and 5 pay TV providers. In addition to an Electronic Program Guide (EPG), the set-top box required for this also offers the option of skipping commercial breaks using the "Live Pause" button. According to project manager Michael Zumsteg, this function was "met with curiosity rather than rejection" by the broadcasters. Conversely, IPTV opens up completely new ways for "the interactive, precise and correspondingly efficient TV advertising of the future". (oc)
Cablecom no longer just wants to distribute the programs of others, but wants to actively make TV itself.
Bluewin also wants to get involved in the TV business.
"Both remain distributors "Triple Play media consultant Andreas Hürlimann* on the motivations and options of Swisscom and Cablecom.
WW Mr. Hürlimann, is the neck-and-neck race in the TV business between Cablecom and Swisscom a pure
Infrastructure competition?
Andreas Hürlimann That is the case. The fact that the public may currently have a different impression is due to the fact that Switzerland, with its very high broadband penetration rate of over 20%, is an ideal test market for triple players offering telephony, Internet and TV from a single source. The lowest price level for broadband Internet connections in Europe also has a favorable effect. Even if Cablecom is planning steps towards its own program and Swisscom has acquired its first broadcast rights with The 13th Street, SciFi and National Geographic: Both companies will ultimately remain distributors.
The existing Swiss TV market players therefore do not need to fear any new competition.
Every infrastructure operator dreams of one day earning money with their own content and programs. The reality, however, is determined by the rights holders in Hollywood, Munich and elsewhere. And they want to keep the transmission of their premium content under control. The small Swiss market allows for two or three niche approaches at best, nothing more.
If not profitability, what is triple play about for Swisscom and Cablecom? Prestige or customer loyalty? Both may play a certain role. What is more important, however, is that Swisscom could only make gains in its home market through such business expansions. And Cablecom's entry into the relatively high-priced telephony market in this country is certainly linked to the growth expectations of investors.
What expectations can the advertising industry have of the new players and their products? For clients and their agencies, digital innovations such as time-shifted television and personal video recording are an extremely double-edged sword. The new technology not only makes it possible to fade out interruption and hinge advertising blocks, but also interactive forms of advertising and precise target group communication. In purely technical terms, consumers could use IPTV to select not only their programs but also their product interests. It remains to be seen whether the Swiss advertising industry will therefore support these new services or whether cannibalization fears will gain the upper hand.
What seems certain, however, is that the pending revision of the RTVA is already lagging miles behind this development.
Quite right. In my opinion, instead of this patchwork, we need firstly a sober infrastructure law - in the sense of an extension of the Telecommunications Act to all relevant areas - and secondly a general media law with a separate SRG annex. Anything else would ignore technological developments and the market. Interview: Oliver Classen
*Andreas Hürlimann is Partner and Global Head of Telecommunications, IT and Media at Arthur D. Little in Zurich.
Andreas Panzeri
