Opposition to Project Canvas

As Project Canvas moves closer to reality, those that have the most to lose are mounting their opposition to the initiative. The Wall Street Journal today writes that Six TV, the largest holder of local TV licenses in the UK, has requested an investigation of Project Canvas by Ofcom. Six is not one of the member companies involved in Canvas and fears that the initiative will reinforce the dominance of the UK's traditional broadcasters.

Virgin Media and IP Vision have also lodged protests with Ofcom in hopes of slowing or derailing Canvas. Virgin is the UK's leading cable firm, and IP Vision currently sells its own Internet TV set top box. Reportedly BSkyB, the major DTH provider in the UK, may file a protest of their own.

In a very competitive market, opposition to Project Canvas is not surprising and will likely increase as we draw closer to the 2011 launch of Canvas-based boxes and services.

BSkyB's Earnings Report: Glimmers of Hope?

If you're a fan of sweaters and haggis (and looking for work), BSkyB is hiring!

We resolved this week that we would do our best to report on some positive news coming from the digital lifestyles industry. Let's face it - this past week has been a beat-down, with news of more job shedding taking place. Certainly, 2009 is starting rough, but we think that there are some positive things to note.

BSkyB's latest earnings report contained some good news. The satellite service provider netted 170,000 new customers in Q4, and it is the U.K.'s fastest growing broadband and telephone service provider. The company credits its high-definition offerings (Sky+ HD) and its bundling opportunities as growth catalysts. Sky notes that seven million U.K. households have HD-ready TVs, and this is expected to double by the end of the decade. Sky also has room to significantly expand its bundled customers. Currently, only 13% of Sky customers are triple-play customers.

Here's an interesting statistic: average TV viewing in the U.K. grew 3% in 2008, to 3.7 hours per day.

Although we are all going to feel the pinch of the economic downturn, it will be interesting to track the results from service providers around the world and see how they're faring. As Jayant Dasari wrote earlier in the week, Verizon's fourth-quarter earnings report had some positive news, and both AT&T and Verizon are looking to their wireless business to boost their revenues. So far, that business appears healthy. On the cable side, Time Warner Cable will report on February 4, and Comcast will report on February 18. We'll be interested to see those results.

We had written back in December about the opportunities presented with service providers to deliver value-based bundles and to up their in-home entertainment offerings as consumers look to hunker down, reduce out-of-home expenditures, and take advantage of their high-definition TVs and home theater systems.

Sky, Virgin Media End Channel Dispute, Ink Carriage Deals

Following successful negotiations, Sky and Virgin Media reportedly have agreed two new channel carriage deals that will run concurrently until 12 June 2011

Under the first deal, Sky’s Basic channels will return to Virgin Media’s cable TV service on 13 November. These reportedly include Sky1, Sky2, Sky3, Sky News, Sky Sports News, Sky Arts 1, Sky Arts 2, Sky Real Lives and Sky Real Lives 2.

The second agreement, according to the officials, provides for the continued carriage of Virgin Media TV’s basic channels as part of Sky’s retailed channel line-up on satellite. These basic channels are: Living, Living 2, Bravo, Bravo 2, Trouble, Challenge and Virgin 1.

Both agreements include fixed annual carriage fees for the channels and will allow BSkyB (News - Alert) and Virgin Media to secure additional capped payments provided their channels meet certain performance-related targets, according to the companies.

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