Most VOD services are done by TV Services

There were at least 696 video-on-demand services from 366 different providers operational in Europe at the end of December 2008, according to a new report from The European Audiovisual Observatory and the Direction du développement des médias (France).

The European Union criticized a tax case against Turkey’s biggest media group as posing a threat

For wsj, the tax payment for dogan media group seems a big thread for free press issues. I also absolutely think that as many Turkish independent authors do.
The European Union criticized a tax case against Turkey’s biggest media group as posing a threat to press freedom, but also praised the government’s foreign policies and its overtures to the country’s large Kurdish minority, in a progress report on the country’s EU membership talks.

The $4 billion in fines and penalties that Turkey’s tax authority is demanding from Dogan Yayin Holding AS in two cases, “potentially undermine the economic viability of the Group and therefore affect freedom of the press in practice,” the European Commission said in a mixed annual progress report on Turkey’s bid to join the 27-nation bloc.

Olli Rehn, the commissioner for enlargement, told reporters his team had analyzed the Dogan tax case. “I have asked the Turkish authorities to treat this matter very seriously,” he said. He added that with fines larger than the company’s annual turnover, the case “feels like a political sanction” as well as a fiscal one. Dogan controls about 50% of media outlets in Turkey and has been critical of the government.

Turkey’s government strongly denies that the Dogan case is politically motivated. Officials note the country has a large underground economy and say they are merely pursuing unpaid tax from Dogan and thousands of others.

Turkey’s chief EU negotiator Egemen Bagis welcomed the report, describing it as the most objective to date, in remarks to Turkish media.

The progress report on Turkey was one of three on EU candidate countries, along with Croatia and Macedonia, as well five on ex-Yugoslav nations, including Albania, Serbia and Bosnia Herzegovina, which the EU has agreed should eventually be allowed to join the bloc.

Talks with Croatia are nearing their final phase, the commission said, after the ex-Yugoslav republic resolved a border dispute with neighboring Slovenia. All member states countries have to approve a new member, and Slovenia joined in 2004.

Turkey faces a much tougher road. Eight so-called negotiating chapters have been blocked in a dispute with Cyprus over Turkey’s treatment of the divided island.

The commission praised Turkey’s recent signature of a deal with Armenia to reopen the border between the two countries and establish diplomatic relations. Turkey’s effort to improve relations with the Kurdish authorities in Iraq and with its own Kurdish minority also gained praise from the commission. So, too, did a law passed in June to demine Turkey’s border with Syria, and Turkey’s efforts to mediate in the Middle East.

But EU officials say Turkey’s EU bid isn’t helped by such high-profile cases as Dogan. Turkish authorities levied fines and penalties of 915 million Turkish lira ($633 million) on the Dogan group’s media unit in February, and a further 4.8 billion lira last month. The government on Tuesday put a lien on some of the company’s assets after rejecting collateral it offered to put up while fighting the tax charges.

Write to Marc Champion at marc.champion@wsj.com

Which of the social network is the most elegant one…

Neilsen Co. made profiling about the social networks that we use. In spite of being not on the list Turkish friendfeed users thinks that it is the most elegant one. But as seen on the research linkedin is the most professional and elegant one just before the facebook.

5 Traits of the New Creative Leader according to Harvard Business Review

Yesterday’s leadership skills will not work in today’s fast-moving and evolving world. Only creative leaders who are visionary and empathetic will succeed. Here are five things you can do to succeed as a creative leader:

1. Instead of commanding, coach your team and organization toward success.
2. Don’t manage people, empower them. The know-how, experience, and solutions are often out there; it’s a matter of helping people discover them.
3. Cultivate respect by giving it, instead of demanding it.
4. Know how to manage both success and failure.
5. Show graciousness in your management rather than greediness. Be humble about your successes and whenever possible, give someone else the opportunity to shine.

The Year of TV Everywhere

The future is coming into view. Soon, entertainment won’t be bound to the platform it came in on — the content you want to watch will finally be accessible wherever you want to watch it. One of the most important venues is of course the living room. Between gaming consoles, browser-enabled TVs, startup set-top boxes, network DVRs, simple cables — it’s a battle to see who can bring the flexibility and variety of online video delivery to the comfort of your couch. There are only about 10 million Americans accessing Internet-delivered content on their TVs today, so who will be the one to bring it mainstream?

US GOV SHORTENS THEIR URLS

a great article about the “revolutionary attitudes of goverments”. We need to think of that. Mostly we all say them to be a part of the developments and if they do have new ideas, we talk them to change their attitude since it is our money..

“WorldFuture 2010: Sustainable Futures, Strategies, and Technologies”

— to be held July 8-10, 2010, in Boston, Massachusetts — will provide an opportunity for individuals and groups in many different fields to examine significant issues and address common problems that will affect our futures in as-yet unimagined ways. Approximately 150 experts will offer more than 75 sessions and events over the course of two and a half days. Speakers already confirmed include:

* Janna Quitney Anderson, director, Imagining the Internet Center, Elon University, Elon, North Carolina
* Kevin Fickenscher, executive vice president for strategic innovation, PerotSystems Corporation, Fairfax, Virginia; formerly chief medical officer at WebMD
* Raymond Kurzweil, inventor, author, and futurist. He has been a pioneer in the fields of optical character recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and electronic keyboard instruments.
* Michael R. Nelson, visiting professor, Communication, Culture & Technology program, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
* Michael Rogers, author, journalist, and futurist; formerly, Futurist-in- Residence, The New York Times, New York, New York
* Lee Rainie, director, Pew Internet and American Life Project, Washington, D.C.
* Stephen Thaler, president and CEO, Imagination Engines Inc., Saint Charles, Missouri
* Barry Wellman, director, NetLab, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

Sessions and keynotes will cover a wide range of topics including business and careers, technology and its impacts, futures methodologies and processes, governance and communities, resources and the environment, education and learning, consciousness and spirituality, health, and much more. WFS speakers come from many disciplines and professions. Many hold top management positions at Fortune 500 companies like IBM and institutions like NASA, the FBI, the U.S.
Army, and the United Nations. But at WorldFuture 2010, attendees of all ages from across the globe and from every walk of life will help shape a new vision for tomorrow.

Can saying “We are not banana republic” be a technical defence?

In WSJ Turkish finance prome minister defend for the tax issue of Dogan TV. He mention that Turkey is not banana republic. I want to ask him is it really a corporate defence since I couldn’t find any technical information on that defence. By the way is he the prime minister on banana republic

Turkish Finance Minister Plays Down Company Tax Case

Yahoo! Buzz

By MARC CHAMPION

ISTANBUL — Turkey’s finance minister gave a passionate defense of his country’s courts and tax system, insisting that a $3.2 billion back-tax case against the Dogan Yayin Group was “purely technical.”

“This country is not a banana republic,” said Mehmet Simsek, speaking to reporters at the close of the International Monetary Fund’s annual meeting. “There are strong institutions and those institutions are not new. There has been absolutely no attempt to politically influence this process.”

Mr. Simsek also said Turkey hasn’t set a date to restart talks on a loan facility with the IMF. He repeated Turkey’s position that while it would like to have a new standby agreement with the fund, it wants the loan to support the government’s own medium-term economic program, rather than a program set out by the IMF.

The former Merryll Lynch banker also said he didn’t believe Turkey would need to go to the markets for substantial new borrowing, arguing that having survived the worst of the economic crisis, it seemed unlikely the government would need to do so now.

The Dogan group is a conglomerate with media, petroleum and other assets that controls about 50% of Turkey’s media outlets. It says it is being targeted unfairly and that the case is baseless. The company was fined $2.5 billion last month, a figure that has since risen to $3.2 billion.

On Friday, Turkey’s revenue administration, which reports to Mr. Simsek, is due to decide on whether to reject an appeal by the Dogan group against a demand for collateral against the full amount of the fine, plus interest and penalties, while it is challenged in court. Turkey’s courts frequently rule against the tax authorities in such cases.

If the tax administration rejects the appeal, the Dogan group will have the right to request an injunction against imposition of the collateral in court. But the company has said it is concerned the collateral requirement could force it out of business. Collateral is typically required in tax cases to ensure that targets of a claim don’t dispose of assets to avoid payment.

The Dogan group has been increasingly at odds with the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in recent years. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal over the weekend, Mr. Erdogan also rejected the suggestion that the case was political, comparing it to tax-evasion charges that the U.S. brought against Al Capone in the 1930s.

The Dogan group settled one case of unpaid back taxes related to its petroleum business for $200 million last year. A further one for $500 million this year remains unresolved. The latest case brings the total claims against the company to $4 billion.

Mr. Simsek said he couldn’t discuss any details of the case, due to confidentiality rules. But his frustration at the way the case is being portrayed in the media was evident. The European Union has expressed concern over the implications of the case for press freedoms in Turkey.

“This is a purely technical case,” Mr. Simsek said. He added that it was only one of many the government has launched in order to crack down on widespread tax evasion. Turkey has one of the lowest corporate and income-tax receipts, as a percentage of gross domestic product, among members of the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation.

“The tax system is a very important one for investment,” said Mr. Simsek. “in cases like this, we are not going to allow them to … portray the investment climate as other than it is.”

The final charge against a company found to have evaded taxes is often for the lost tax alone, with interest — charged at 30% — and penalties forgiven.

Write to Marc Champion at marc.champion@wsj.com

 

Future of journalism by Google

Guardian has an article about Googles approach to future of journalism. The approach is quite interesting.. You can read from http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/oct/07/google-josh-cohen-interview

mobile application store event

Mobile Application StoresAs a partner seminar of Intenational CTIA WIRELESS I.T. and Entertainment, the Mobile Application Stores conference will focus on the tremendous opportunities in the mobile apps stores eco-system. The event is designed to give a complete understanding of how to capitalize on this exploding market. Participants will discuss strategy and deployment in application stores such as Apple (iPhone), Google (Android), RIM (Blackberry), Nokia (Ovi), Palm Pre, and Microsoft, as well as other emerging application stores. To learn more, visit www.mobileapplicationstores.com