digiGO! The World of Digital Content & Broadcast Delivery

Espial Group, Inc., is a provider of IPTV middleware and apps and they are delighted that one of the largest providers of triple play services in Europe has placed an initial order of approximately $1.5M USD for the company’s Evo IPTV Service Platform. This is part of a larger, turnkey contract through a channel partner. Scheduled for deployment next year, the operator wishes to remain unidentified until the service launch for competitive reasons. However, we do know the operator has somewhere in the area of 1-1/2 million subscribers. One reason for this selection was the Evo platform’s close alignment with emerging ITU (International Telecommunications Union) and DVB (Digital Video Broadcast) standards, providing a true separation between the interactive platform and the presentation layer. Pus, HTML, JavaScript and Flash skill sets can be leveraged for service creation and module development and management between server-side and client-side apps and ecosystems is supported. Should a client wish to upgrade to SIP (Submission Information Package) and IMS standards in the future, the Evo IPTV Service Platform already has a defined communications protocol for such. The company has licensed more than 1.3 million units of its Evo IPTV software to operators around the globe—Ottawa, Canada







Sencore has made know the company today that it has forged a distribution partnership with Home Cinema Engineering, headquartered in the United Kingdom, to become the direct source for all of Sencore’s Custom AV products. These products include Audio and Acoustic Analyzers, Color and Light Meters, Video Generators and more. For the first time, Irish and UK customers can purchase Sencore products and receive in-country home theater setup and support locally by qualified and recognized industry leaders. Home Cinema Engineering’s main office, located in Shropshire, UK, means that customer needs can be addressed quickly and efficiently. Additionally, Home Theatre Engineering, HQ’d in Australia, is also a direct source for all of SencX2Oore’s Custom AV products, as well.







Southern Africa Direct, a new free-to-air lifestyle and culture television channel, will go on-air on the Sky digital broadcast platform on November 26th 2007. This new channel is the United Kingdom’s first ‘Destination TV’ channel and provides an authentic and engaging information source for anyone interested in visiting or building commercial links with Southern Africa. Southern Africa Direct’s pioneering programming focuses on lifestyle & culture, travel & tourism and commerce, providing a gateway for UK viewers, whatever their interest in the region. Programming is commissioned from 25 countries in sub-equatorial Southern Africa. The channel is a true Anglo/African collaboration, founded by individuals from the UK and Southern Africa—London, United Kingdom







Vignette [NASDAQ:VIGN] and weComm are now involved in a global partnership to extend interactive web experiences reliably to the mobile channel. Under the terms of the agreement, weComm will become a Vignette Digital Services Hub partner. The Vignette Digital Services Hub is a single unified framework that manages and delivers rich multimedia content to any web-enabled device. Together, Vignette’s Next-Generation Web solutions and weComm’s waveT On-Demand Mobile Application Platform enables the delivery of fast and reliable mobile solutions that are as rich and interactive as advanced web solutions found on the fixed Internet. weComm’s patented Quality of Service (QoS) capability detects each user’s wireless signal condition in real-time and then automatically adapts and manages data transmission accordingly to deliver a consistently fast, high quality mobile user experience. BSkyB (British Sky Broadcasting) is leveraging both Vignette’s Next-Generation Web solution and weComm’s wave platform with Sky Anytime that includes more than 30 live TV channels, in-video channel information and fast channel switching, interactive portals (sports, news and entertainment), live news and sports tickers, and an interactive tabular mobile TV Guide with one-click Remote Record of home-based Sky+ personal video recorders—London, United Kingdom












X2O Media today has announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted a patent for X2O Media’s approach to developing graphics for digital signage. Entitled "Method for Producing Graphics for Overlay on a Video Source," the patent covers the use of an existing application, such as Microsoft PowerPoint, to create a high-end video output featuring graphics, video, live data, and other elements. X2O employs this technology in its flagship product, the Xpresenter suite of digital signage tools. X2O Media’s Xpresenter solution provides an affordable, easy-to-use digital signage system that integrates directly with Microsoft PowerPoint. Digital signage operators can work directly within the PowerPoint interface to produce broadcast-quality graphics that incorporate video, animations, clip art galleries, and real-time data sources. Xpresenter includes a library of graphics templates, custom control panels, video clip previewing, and tools for quickly resizing presentations to fit various display screens and monitors. With minimal effort, Xpresenter users can produce compelling presentations containing live information for virtually any type of display. Company website: www.x2omedia.com—Montreal, Quebec




FISCALLY SPEAKING…







The DIRECTV Group Inc. [NYSE;DTV] has reported their Q3 revenues increased 18 percent to $4.33 billion. Operating profits before depreciation and amortization increased 12 percent to $1.00 billion, as compared to last year’s Q3. Their Q3 2007 operating profit of $566 million and net income of $319 million declined 10 percent and 14 percent, respectively, as compared with last year’s third quarter. Earnings per share were $0.27 compared with $0.30 in the same period last year. Highlights: DIRECTV U.S. revenues increase 14 percent to $3.9 billion…DIRECTV Latin America revenues up 67 percent to $442 million…Net subscriber additions nearly double to 401,000, with U.S. subs up 45 percent to 240,000 and a lower monthly churn of 1.61 percent. Company news website: https://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=127160&p=irol-news&nyo=0—El Segundo, California







News Corporation [NYSE:NWS, NWSA; AS:NWS, NWSLV] has reported the company’s Q1 consolidated operating income is $1.05 billion. That amount is up 23 percent, as compared to the $851 million reported a year ago. First quarter net income of $732 million, or $0.23 per share, decreased versus net income of $843 million ($0.27 per share on a diluted combined basis) reported in Q1 a year ago. Highlights: Filmed Entertainment delivers $362 million in operating income, up 51 percent on strong theatrical release state and TV home entertainment title success…Cable Network Programming operating income up 16 percent despite the launch costs for the Fox Business Network and the Big Ten Network…Sky Italia generated operating income of $48 million with 410,000 net subscriber additions over the past 12 months…TV operating income declines as ad strength at FOX broadcast network and STAR is more than offset by lower political advertising at the Television Stations and a full quarter of losses at MyNetworkTV…Magazines and Inserts operating income increased slightly while there was an operating income decline at Book Publishing…New color printing operations in the U.K., nearing completion, results in an operating income decline in Newspapers, with increased accelerated depreciation on the presses being replaced. Company report website: https://www.newscorp.com/news/index.html—New York, New York







Time Warner Inc. [NYSE:TWX] has reported their financial results for Q3 ended September 30, 2007. Revenues rose 9 percent over the same period in 2006 to $11.7 billion, led by growth at the Cable. In the Filmed Entertainment and Networks segments, adjusted Operating Income before Depreciation and Amortization climbed 15 percent to $3.2 billion, reflecting double-digit increases at the Cable, Filmed Entertainment and Publishing segments, as well as a gain at the Networks segment. This growth was offset partly by a decline at the AOL segment. Operating Income was up 29% to $2.1 billion. In regards to AOL, revenues declined 38 percent to $1.2 billion, resultant of a 56 percent decrease in subscription revenues. For the other division reports (Time Warner Cable, Filmed Entertainment, Networks, Publishing), see the company’s URL: https://ir.timewarner.com/releases.cfm?ptype=1—New York, New York