TechWire

Why today's ECJ decision spells trouble for the GAA, FAI and IRFU

Ouch.

The ECJ has just ruled that the English Premier League can not prevent pubs from showing English Premier League football matches streamed from abroad, even when they are paying no licensing fees to anyone.

The case raises serious questions for Irish sporting organisations such as the GAA, the IRFU and the FAI, all of which rely on licensing rights from broadcasters as a growing part of their income.

The case arose when a publican, Karen Murphy, used a satellite decoder to relay Premier League matches in her pub in Portsmouth. The match stream had been broadcast by a Greek television company.
The Premier League sued Murphy, who appealed the decision to Europe's highest court.
Only the opening video sequence, the Premier League anthem, and various graphics can be protected by copyright, according to the ECJ.
"By contrast, the matches themselves are not works enjoying such protection," said the ruling.
But the court went further.
"A system of licences for the broadcasting of football matches which grants broadcasters territorial exclusivity on a member state basis and which prohibits television viewers from watching the broadcasts with a decoder card in other member states is contrary to EU law," said the ECJ in its ruling.
The case in the ECJ also involves the suppliers of 'decoder cards' to pubs and other entities.
"National legislation which prohibits the import, sale or use of foreign decoder cards is contrary to the freedom to provide services and cannot be justified either in light of the objective of protecting intellectual property rights or by the objective of encouraging the public to attend football stadiums."

Facebook beats mobile for teens (and other bits)

Damien Mulley has conducted a survey among 101 teenagers on their mobile and digital habits. It throws up some interesting trends. For example, more teens use Facebook than phone calls to contact mates on their mobile. (The Irish Times takes a slightly different tone in its coverage of the survey here.) Also, Meteor is cited as having almost half the teen market, with Nokia being the most common handset (though iPhone is "most desired). Both of these statistics are probably as much to do with parents and budgets than individual preferences.

What happens to your digital accounts when you die? That's what iDeparted.com is for. Mainly Twitter and Facebook, but also blogs.

Related: the blog of David Stewart, a much-missed Irish journalistic colleague, is still up. The last entry was written two weeks before he died, in 2006. Bit macabre.

A well-argued piece on why slashing 'fair-use' data allowances (as mobile operators are currently doing) isn't 'fair'.

Argos has (for once) a decent clearance sale on TVs. 32-inch 1080p Samsung sets for €300. (In its Santry, Dublin, store anyway.)

Live long and prosper. And do you come here often? Trekkie dating site.

Hacker translates DUP websites into Irish.

A first glimpse of Rupert Murdoch's new iPad newspaper. Not so promising.

iTunes launches movie download service in Ireland

Apple and the film studios have finally come around to launching a movie-download service on iTunes' Irish store.

Here's how rentals and purchases will be priced (as per Apple press release):

iTunes movies start at €7.99 for catalogue title purchases, €9.99 for recent releases and €13.99 for new releases. iTunes Movie Rentals are €2.99 for library title rentals and €3.99 for new releases, and high definition versions are priced at just one euro more.

Overall, this is good news. It is worth making a few points, though.

1. The latest releases will be a few weeks behind Xtravision. For example, Avatar is available in-store now. It's not available on iTunes until June 7th. This may not concern too many people. But it's worth noting.

2. You'll need something else to watch your downloaded movies on a proper screen (a 17 inch or 21 inch computer monitor won't do it for most people). That'll cost anything from €100 up.

3. iTunes hasn't taken a huge slice of the movie rental or movie purchasing market in the US, where this service has been available for over two years. Hollywood has carefully noted how iTunes has helped demolish the record business. Rightly or wrongly, they're pretty determined not to let the same thing happen to them.

The movies will come from the following studios:

20th Century Fox, MGM, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Universal Studios, The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. Entertainment, as well as European studios including E1 Entertainment, Lionsgate UK and Optimum Releasing.

Sony readies its 3D tellies for Irish market: games, movies "won't cost more"

While Samsung already has its 3D kit in Irish shops (DID, Power City, Harvey Norman among them), Sony is about to launch a few models of its own.

Last night, it showed the technology off with movies, sport and Playstation 3 games. The results were generally impressive and best for movies, in my view. (We were given a demo of Motorstorm Pacific on the PS3 and, although immersive, I felt a little sick afterwards.)

There are two models on their way. Both will be LED, wi-fi enabled and 1080p. The 40 inch set will cost €1,600 while the 46 inch set will cost €2,200. Both will be available by the end of May.

 

The system's 3D glasses will be costly, though: about €120 each (the dark grey ones pictured below). This is because they're not the crap cardboard or plastic ones that they give out in cinemas and bars. They're much higher spec, with their own batteries. In fairness to Sony, the difference in quality really does show. But how many will feel like forking out for five or six pairs?

As for the DVD players, all current PS3s will receive a firmware update in September enabling them to play 3D Blu-ray DVDs. In addition, almost all Sony Blu-ray players currently being sold will be able to get a patch to allow them play the discs.

Sony has promised that there will be no higher prices imposed for films or games in 3D.

Separately, some e-tailers are grumbling that Sony (and its 3DTV rivals, Samsung, LG et al) are keeping the hot new devices away from online distributors.

"In the channel, they're all blocking sales to ecommerce [sites] to keep the margins up for the retailer," said one Irish electronics e-tailer.

Sony has promised two interesting further developments: (i) its range of cameras will soon incorporate 3D photo and video capture and (ii) its Vaio computer range will have 3D capability by the end of the year.

List of pubs with Sky 3D for Man U v Chelsea, April 3rd

This Saturday, Sky launches its 3D channel with the first of a series of football matches broadcast in 3D. Apparently, there are almost 100 pubs throughout the country that are 3D-enabled and will show the match. I haven't been able to get the full list, but here's what I've gotten so far...

Cork
Reardens, Washington St
SoHo bar and Restaurant, Grand Parade

Dublin
Gilbert and Wright, Malahide
The Bank, College Green (D2)
The Oval, Abbey Street
The Goat Pub, Dublin 14
The Dropping Well, Milltown
The Lord Lucan, Lucan
The Old Orchard, Rathfarnham
The Pennyblack Tavern, Tallaght
The Old Mill, Phibsboro
Finches, Neilstown
Grand Central, O'Connell St
Palmerstown House, Palmerstown
Arlington Hotel, Bachelors Walk
The Woolshed, Parnell St
The Marble Arch, Drimnagh
Paddy Cullen's, Ballsbridge
Bloom's Hotel, Temple Bar
The Village, Wexford St

Galway
The Quays Bar

Kerry
The Exchange, Ballybunion

Louth
Tennantys, Ardee

Meath
Dublin House, Dunshaughlin
Kiely's Bar, Trim

Monaghan
The Squealing Pig

I'll post a more complete list as I get the info.

What Panasonic plans for Ireland

Walk into any big Irish electronics store: chances are it'll be dominated by Samsung, Sony, Canon or LG.

Panasonic doesn't seem to be on the radar with the punters of Power City. Perhaps this is because its stuff is pretty high-end.

Nevertheless, I've had a good root through the stuff Panasonic will be launching on the Irish market this year, thanks to a big tech conference I'm at in Munich. It's impressive.

What's on offer is three things: 3D HD televisions, 3D Blu-Ray players and some new camera equipment.

The 3D tellies aren't especially unique, with Sony, Toshiba, LG and Samsung all doing them too. Its Blu-Ray 3D players are interesting, though. Firstly, because there are 31 3D titles coming out in 2010, most of them blockbusters. Secondly, because Panasonic has gotten the start-up time of its Blu-Ray payers down to seven seconds. (My current Sony model -- which is two years old -- takes about 35 seconds to start up.)

The best of the rest is the HDV cam that will shoot in 3D and a couple of Lumix compact digital cameras.

There's also a range of iPod/iPhone docks, which I didn't know Panasonic was into. Here are two of them that I had a short play with: the SC-HC3 (€200)

and the quite lovely SP100 (€140).

Three companies under threat: Philips, Nokia and Microsoft

The technology and electronics industry moves fast. One year you can be the toast of the market and the next shrink into oblivion. Take Motorola. Five years ago, when it had the slim Razr-phone, it was a top three market seller. Today, it has sunk without trace in the European market. (It is experiencing something of a revival in the US, thanks to its adoption of Android.) The same happened with Siemens Mobile.

In the online space, we've already seen MySpace -- once the king of social networking sites -- shrivel considerably. Bebo looks like it's losing a lot of users to Facebook, too.

Who else is under threat? And how can they avoid serious contraction?
I think that three companies, in particular, face huge challenges this year and next year. They are Philips, Nokia and Microsoft. Here's why.

1. Philips: In Ireland, Philips ruled television set sales. As recently as 2006, Philips had over 50 per cent of the entire market here. Today, that has shrunk considerably, mainly due to competition from Samsung, LG and lower-cost brands (Sony and Panasonic have remained steady, while JVC and Mitsubishi have tapered off). When you walk into a store to buy a television now, how many Philips sets do you see in front of you? Not nearly as many as you used to. Its marketing seems to have disappeared, too. In fairness, Philips is a fundamentally innovative company. But to compete with the Korean, Taiwanese and Japanese companies, it needs to cut its prices or re-invent its design (or both).

2. Nokia: there was a day, not so long ago, when 80 per cent of all the best new innovation in mobile phones came from Nokia. It pioneered usable web-browsers, mobile business applications, powerful cameras and 3G connectivity. Then, three years ago, the iPhone launched. All of a sudden, touchscreen was in, mobile apps became the innovative metric and the industry took a different turn. Although it kept an eye on all of this, Nokia continued on its own path, concentrating largely on updating versions of its existing products and services. At the same time, emerging markets became a very important segment for the Finnish company. Belatedly, Nokia has begun to turn its attention to mobile applications through its Ovi internet strategy. At the moment, it is losing vital ground in this area, which will be very hard to make up next year or the year after that. Nokia will remain a huge player in mobile phones for some time to come. But it would be a massive achievement were it able to retain its more than 50 per cent Irish market share in 18 months' time.

3. Microsoft: For all its diversification in recent years, Microsoft's major corporate achievement was to lodge itself as the default operating system for PC manufacturers. Windows has never been pretty, but the world has used it anyway, thanks to inertia and the lack of a talented, willing alternative (Apple still refuses to play on the same pitch as Windows). In its most recent quarterly figures, Microsoft shows again just how reliant it is on its computer operating system business. While the roll-out of Windows 7 licences has been very healthy, its online businesses -- the bits Microsoft associates its 'innovation' with -- make pretty horrible losses. It's not that Microsoft's online stuff doesn't work, it's just that none of it is quite as nice or compelling as rivals'. its other great crutch is Office 2010. This has been the default word-processing and 'productivity' software for business for years. Joe Officeworker has just gotten used to it.

The trouble for Microsoft is that both of these bulwarks are starting to look really, really vulnerable. The threat doesn't come from Apple -- a leisure-time mobile device company -- but from Google. When Chrome OS launches, there will be a completely compatible alternative ecosystem for companies and home users to choose. And it will cheaper (as in, free). Microsoft looks like it is adapting a little, especially with its plans to roll out a basic free version of Office 2010. But ultimately, to remain dominant, it will have to slash the prices of both Windows and Office. When it does that, its core revenue streams will shrink. So far, it hasn't come up with much else that makes money.

CES reviews: Samsung's 3D television masterpiece

There are a lot of competing 3D TVs at this year's CES. In my view, the best of them was Samsung's 55 inch LED9000. Not only does the device show full 3D (and is capable of upscaling 2D ordinary TV to 3D), but it is 0.3 inches thick. That's the width of a pencil. If you don't believe me, look at this picture:

It also has a smart remote control that -- wait for it -- lets you watch a live TV stream on it while you're telling the main TV to do something else. If this all sounds a little like overkill, fair enough. But it's damn impressive in the flesh.

No word of a price yet for the Irish market. But expect something in the region of €2,500 to €3,000.

Chorus NTL launches HD in Ireland: €7.50 extra per month, free 360GB HD PVR

Today, Chorus NTL launched its high definition TV service. It comprises nine channels (see list below) for an additional monthly €7.50 (or €2.50 if you're a digital subscriber).

For that, you get a free high definition set-top box, which doubles as a 360GB personal video recorder (the same kind of device you use for Sky Plus). A 360GB box holds about 140 hours of ordinary digital TV and about 40 hours of HD telly.

The HD service is immediately available to "nearly 500,000 homes" in urban areas around Ireland. That means Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford. Sligo will come on stream by the end of the summer, said Simon Kelehan, head of TV in Chorus NTL.

After that, small cities and towns will be assessed on a "case by case basis", he said. But the company does aspire to a nationwide roll-out, said Kelehan. To this end, he said that Chorus NTL is investing €90 million in the network this year and another €100 million next year.

Here are a few other points/observations about the service:
-- The channels being launched are BBC HD, Discovery HD, The History Channel HD, National Geographic HD, National Geographic Wild HD, Crime & Investigation HD, Eurosport HD, Disney Cinemagic HD and Biography HD
-- The standards will be 1080i (as opposed to 1080p) because that's what the channels put out
-- Of a total customer base of 550,000, Chorus NTL has 328,000 digital TV subscribers
-- 70 per cent of all new Chorus NTL subscribers sign up for the digital PVR (which costs an additional €5 per month); this number totals 80,000 now
-- There won't be any Sky channels (sport, movies) on the service, or not yet, at least. Kelehan said that Chorus NTL is "in negotiations" with Sky about this

Kelehan said that new video-on-demand services were also being pencilled in for the second half of 2010. This will take the form of a catch-up service for 30 days and a premium movie download service, of the type already available to UPC's Dutch customers.

And the company has reiterated that it will launch "up to 120 megabits per second" broadband in 2010 over its new (Docsis 3, fibre) network.

For more on pricing and options, see the HD page on Chorus NTL's Irish website.

DCTV

Did people know that a new community TV station has been set up for Dublin? I've nothing to do with it, but am thinking of a tech TV programme for it. I pitched this idea to them and they emailed me back some points and criteria...

"The first step would be to look at taking out membership of the station. Once a member you can either pitch a proposal at one of our regular sessions to have a programme that the station woiuld support the production of. This support can be use of station filming equipment, post production or other resources or crew assigned to the project. Alternatively we can look at supporting funding applications if the proposal fit with our production objectives - generally through a commitment to broadcast letter.

Alternatively we broadcast programmes that members have made seperate to the station but fit with our objectives of Empowerment, Participation and Diversityand which they propose for broadcast.

Final point is we are in the process of putting together studio facilities which should be in place by Q4 this year. This will obviously make many programmes much more viable."

Apparently the station will be on channel 802 on UPC (NTL and Chorus), although for some reason it won't be on Sky...

What next?

What should I be doing on this blog?

To come: RTE on your mobile

RTE is currently trialling a DAB-IP (ie digital transmission) TV service on special mobile phones. It is broadcasting both RTE1 and RTE2 on a signal that can be picked up on HTC's Trilogy mobile phone handset. The idea is that one of the mobile phone operators will sign up to the technology and launch the service commercially, a product that Virgin Mobile is about to do in Britain. RTE's head of operations, JP Coakley, told me that he couldn't see a reason why the service wouldn't be taken up "by the end of the year". I got my hands on one of the HTC handsets the week before last and the reception and quality of the broadcast is excellent. It also has no problem playing in stereo, unlike Vodafone's 3G Sky TV service. The HTC handset also has Windows Mobile on it.