Zinc Media Regulatory News (ZIN)

29 Aug 2006 11:20

Ten Alps PLC29 August 2006 Ten Alps Plc AGM Statement and operational update Ten Alps Plc ('Ten Alps') announces that at its Annual General Meeting (AGM),held at 11am today, 29th August 2006, all the resolutions were duly passed. After the resolutions were passed the Company issued the following statements: Trading Earlier guidance (made on June 13, 2006) of 50%-plus year-on-year revenue growthin the six-month financial period to the end of September 2006 remains ontarget. Operational update - Digital migration The period June to August 2006 has seen internal investment and consolidationactivities, which are gaining pace. Given the nature of the change (goingdigital) and its scale (Ten Alps now has 430 staff, more than double the levelof a year ago) a detailed update on the digital project was given at the AGM andis detailed below. The developments underway are designed to transform the group into a verticalplayer in the TV production market from high-end factual programming tobusiness-to-business internet TV and specialist media. The financial year 2006-7 is seeing internet development by Ten Alps on fivefronts, none of which is planned to show significant revenue growth during thefinancial year to March 2007, but several of which could offer revenue growth tothe group in the period beyond April 2007. Teachers' TV Teachers' TV already has a strong website and 1,200 programmes online. It isnow increasing the quality of its downloads, increasing the community dimensionof its website, and building video on demand and mobile phone viewingcapabilities. Ten Alps' wholly-owned subsidiary, Brook Lapping, owns 70% ofEDL, which together with EDML, operates the Teachers' TV channel The new school year kicks off with a new-look Teachers' TV schedule, with wholedays devoted to primary and secondary school focused programmes, and specialisedhours of programmes for key parts of the audience, including Governors, Headsand Managers and Beginning Teachers. Programme highlights include a new strand of comparative documentaries, Lessonsfrom Abroad, that includes four programmes looking at what it is about Finland'seducation system that makes it score so highly in international assessments.Meanwhile in a new three-part series, Cherie Booth QC advises teachers how tobroach the tricky subject of human rights with children at different key stages. The Teaching Challenge series continues, with David Blunkett attempting toteach an A-level poetry class for the first time in his life. This Autumn term Teachers' TV will be re-launching its website, creating arefreshed and updated look with new design across the whole site. This will beparticularly apparent on the new home page. A new navigation system enablesusers to find the videos they are looking for in the library of over 1,200programmes. To create a more personal experience the channel will be launching the MyTeachers TV area, where users will be able to bookmark areas, and see recentlyviewed pages and programmes. This could encourage a greater sense of communityand we hope will encourage our users to use the new ability to comment on andrate the programmes and share their thoughts with their colleagues. The quality of the downloads available will be improved and new format optionsadded. The site will continue to increase its use of video podcastingdelivering programmes right to the user's desktop. The site will continue tosyndicate its programmes across major websites such as the Guardian and theTeachernet. Technically the channel has nearly completed a new technologically advancedinfrastructure that will allow it to deliver via FTP files to the Video OnDemand platforms and make syndication more efficient. The channel will bestarting an on demand service with Telewest/NTL and is in negotiations withother platform owners to put channel content out on all digital mediumsincluding mobile. Ad sales will be one of the biggest changes for Teachers' TV and it will bestarting an extended pilot in the Autumn. Specialist media and online development McMillan-Scott, the publishing group owned by Ten Alps, has over 50 websitedevelopment contracts for third parties, and this number is growing. Meanwhilethe goal is to take the content of the 300 or so titles that McMillan-Scottproduces each year, and simultaneously publish it online, thereby offering thepotential for extra advertising revenue, as well as potentially future-proofingexisting revenues. A review has been made of the software options and a solution will soon beselected. Significant investment will be made during the next few months, andimplementation is expected to take the remainder of 2006 and all 2007. In 2007the majority of titles should be online the day they are published. The 210sales staff will convert a percentage of their time to online ad sales andretraining is being planned. The new sites will be integrated into the PublicTV database (see below). Meanwhile Ten Alps Digital is in discussions with a number of professionalassociations and McMillan-Scott publishing clients about the possibility oflaunching advertising-funded, internet-only video sites. Advertiser revenues have since acquisition been on target for McMillan-Scott'sexisting offline business, with growth in events and fee based contractpublishing offsetting industry-wide weaker offline recruitment advertising. McMillan-Scott has enjoyed a strong last few weeks of new contracts, with theaddition of new clients including The Association Of Optometrists, EmiratesAirlines (staff communication), The BBC Aerial Magazine and the RegisteredNursing Homes Association. In addition the business is rolling outSustainability Guides on behalf of its Local Authority Building Control contractand Trading Guides on behalf of its contract with the British Chamber OfCommerce. There have been no significant client losses through the period. The Ten Alps Live and McMillan-Scott events production operations have beenmerged, and the combined operations will launch 10 new event initiatives overthe coming twelve months. There will be further client event developments inthe commercial, not for profit and entertainment sectors. The principle, whichappears to be already bearing fruit, is that within the 300 highly specialisedtitles are considerable, untapped event opportunities. Events are also provingto have significant online and TV production opportunities, a recent conferenceproduction for BP being a good case in point. McMillan-Scott has launched sales campaigns on a range of new owned publicationsover recent weeks. These titles are consistent with the company's aim of drivingincremental revenue from niche sectors. Initiatives include two print titlescovering Property Conservation and Underground Construction with four onlinetitles covering Library Management, Education (IQ), Primary Care and BuildingServices (Home And Build). The launch of these initiatives brings the company'sown title portfolio to 26 publications. Public TV The Ten Alps-owned Public TV project ( www.public.tv ) remains on track. Theplan is that the system will be built over the next three months, soft-launchedin November, and launched with advertising in Spring 2007. Public TV aims to be the first Internet TV site to bring together pre-existingvideo from across the UK public sector - covering areas such as health,transport, the environment, and local and central government. Public TV does notaim to be a video producer or 'channel' itself. It is an aggregator. A design and detailed navigation plan for the site has been devised. It aims tobe an open access site, allowing for easy and immediate viewing of videomaterial. The current plan is that the video will play in both Flash and WindowsMedia formats. A detailed specification for the site's content management system was drawn up,and sent out in July. A preferred technical supplier should be announced in thenext two weeks, with a technical partner contract signed in early September. Users of the site would be able to search for videos via keywords or throughcategory lists - and then watch the videos live, download them for laterviewing, add them to a Public TV playlist, or send them to colleagues orfriends. The Public TV team have carried out a detailed review of the UK public sectorand have identified over 100 public sector websites that have videos.Discussions have started with these organisations about incorporating theirvideos onto the Public TV site. Organisations would be offered a wider audiencefor their videos, promotion for their website, and a share in the site'sadvertising revenue. Public TV aims to eventually be funded through a mixture of display advertising,video sponsorship, search pay per click revenues, links to public sectorbookshops and recruitment sites, and at a later stage, possible pay per view orsubscription revenue from the downloading of premium content. The monetisationoperation should involve a dedicated McMillan-Scott sales team, based inManchester. The site could be marketed through McMillan-Scott's public sector magazines andwebsites; through cross-promotional links with other public sector sites;through a Google AdWords campaign; and through high profile events andconferences. A major Public TV Launch event is being considered for early 2007. Broadcast television production Ten Alps will aim to produce an update on new broadcast television productionsduring the Autumn 2006. Contact www.tenalps.com Alex Connock - Chief Executive - 01625 667515Nitil Patel - Finance Director - 0207 878 2493 Parkgreen CommunicationsPaul McManus / Ben Knowles - 020 7493 3713ben.knowles@parkgreenmedia.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange