ITV

Category: Cable TV

  • Jigalova-Ozkan appointed as Walt Disney Russia managing director

    Jigalova-Ozkan appointed as Walt Disney Russia managing director

    MUMBAI: Marina Jigalova-Ozkan has been named Managing Director for The Walt Disney Company (Russia). The announcement was made by Walt Disney International president Andy Bird.

    In this capacity, Jigalova-Ozkan will be responsible for driving the company’s growth strategy and coordinating all of Disney’s business efforts in Russia, which will include overseeing Disney’s global brands in the market; expanding existing businesses; and seeking out new business opportunities.

    With Jigalova-Ozkan’s appointment, Disney will now have its existing businesses in Russia managed locally, with all business segments reporting in to Jigalova-Ozkan, as well as their respective business units. Jigalova-Ozkan will be based in Moscow and will assume her new post on 1 April, 2006.

    “We are delighted to bring Marina’s knowledge of the Russian media sector and her expertise in building businesses in Russia to Disney as we increase our presence throughout the country. All economic and business indicators point to impressive growth potential for Disney in Russia and Marina’s experience will be invaluable as we continue to exploit new business opportunities and contribute to Disney’s long term growth,” said Bird.

    Jigalova-Ozkan joins Disney from Prof Media Moscow, where she served as first deputy general director. Prof Media Holding is the largest private diversified media holding in Russia and whilst there, Jigalova-Ozkan led the management of the group in their launch of new businesses and acquisitions of new media assets, the development and implementation of restructuring programs in both the publishing and radio segments, as well as day-to-day operations.

  • ‘Fifi & The Flower Tots’ to launch on Hungama TV on 20 March

    ‘Fifi & The Flower Tots’ to launch on Hungama TV on 20 March

    MUMBAI: Hungama TV will be launching a new pre-school show FiFi and The Flower Tots on 20 March at 12:30 pm. This show will feature from Monday to Friday.

    Fifi Forget-Me-Not is a little Flowertot who is a bundle of energy and creativity, always positive and enthusiastic about everything.

    Fifi lives in ‘Forget-Me-Not’ cottage. She has a love for life and a real nose for adventure. Fifi is always busy, whether looking out for her friends, tending to the garden, or thwarting Stingo and Slugsy’s latest madcap scheme and sometimes she simply forgets what she was supposed to be doing in the first place.

    Hungama TV programming head Zarina Mehta said, “Hungama TV plans to bring this adorable pre- school series to Indian television not just to entertain but also imbibe some positive virtues in the process. These series be it Dragon or FiFi portrays the simplicity and complexities of life in every toddlers life in some metaphorical form. Making it fun to watch and easy to relate.”

  • Animal Planet goes to the movies

    Animal Planet goes to the movies

    MUMBAI: From Free Willy to Benji, animals have always been a part of the movie industry whether as stars of the show or simply filling their role as “man’s best friend.” But few people think about the trainers who work with them and prepare them for their spot in the limelight.
    This month Animal Planet takes its viewers behind the scenes for exclusive access to the animals and their trainers who are rehearsing for their latest big picture roles. The series Animal Planet At The Movies airs every Sunday at 8 pm.

    Some movies featured in the series include The Hawk is Dying (featuring Paul Giamatti), the remake of The Shaggy Dog (starring Tim Allen and Kristin Davis) and Greyfriars Bobby (starring Christopher Lee).

    Following the filmmaking process from beginning to end, the series aims at providing viewers with an insight into the relationships that develop between director, trainer, actor and animal. Featuring scenes from the actual movies and personal interviews with animal trainers and the animals’ human co-stars, the series looks at the on-going care that animals receive, the problems that some species pose and favourite anecdotes from veteran trainers.

    Viewers learn how the animals get familiarised with equipment, different locations and actors, as well as how they are maintained, fed and handled.

  • BBC boosts coverage of MotoGP

    BBC boosts coverage of MotoGP

    MUMBAI: UK pubcaster the BBC has announced that its coverage of MotoGP will be the biggest yet, with more live races than ever before and extended interactive coverage of both qualifying and post race action. In India viewers can catch MotoGP action on Ten Sports and ESS.

    All 17 races will be shown live either on BBC Two. There’s also a new addition to the team with the arrival of former Dorna Sports MotoGP commentator, Matt Roberts.

    Matt will join presenter Suzi Perry and expert duo Charlie Cox and Steve Parrish in bringing viewers all the latest pit-lane action from all 17 races to be shown in 2006.

    For the first race of the season, coming live from Jerez, the BBC will also have extended qualifying coverage and post-race reaction on BBCi – the BBC’s interactive service available to digital viewers. Commenting on the 2006 season, the series producer Belinda Rogerson says, “This is our fourth year of broadcasting the MotoGP Championship, and we are delighted to be providing viewers with more live and interactive coverage than ever before.”

  • IN CableNet says it is no bully

    IN CableNet says it is no bully

    The Hinduja-run cable TV service IN CableNet today denied allegations about the pressure tactics used by them in the Sion-Matunga-King Circle area in Mumbai that made 32 of its operators shift loyalties to the rival SitiCable. Mr Hingorani, CEO of IndusInd Media and Communications said “The allegation is baseless and malicious. We don’t use any force or pressure tactics and would never do so.”

    Company officials said that IN CableNet had set up a state-of-the-art control room in King’s Circle in Mumbai and six small time cable ops who were unable to match the level of service decided to part ways.The company claimed that the allegations of browbeating and bullying and were made by a couple of ops who had defrauded the company of Rs 5 million and that police cases had been filed against them.

    The cable war will spread in the country and such incidents will be frequent. Every MSO claims to be non-political and non-goon based. If that was the scenario why do the skirmishes keep popping up every now and then?

  • Three big MSOs work towards common pricing

    Three big MSOs work towards common pricing

    MUMBAI: The three big multi-system operators (MSOs) – Siticable, Hathway Cable & Datacom and Incablenet – are working on a common pricing on their digital cable TV service to make their offerings consumer friendly.

    On the digital set-top boxes (STBs), they are planning to offer a rental scheme of Re 1 a day at a refundable security deposit of Rs 999 once conditional access system (CAS) comes into place. Even without buying STBs, consumers can, thus, shift to digital cable by paying a nominal monthly rent.

    “The understanding among the three MSOs is to offer a common pricing to our subscribers so that there is no confusion in the market. We will be offering a rental plan of Re 1 a day. We also plan to extend this to our service packages as well,” says IndusInd Media & Communications Ltd (IMCL) director Ravi Mansukhani.

    Admits Hathway Cable & Datacom CEO K Jayaraman, “We have decided to work together. Unless we cooperate, the roll out of CAS won’t be smooth as there are forces working against it.”

    The three MSOs will focus on servicing their respective customers rather than be engaged in competition amongst themselves. Though Hathway and Siticable operators are in fight over certain territories in Delhi, these issues are expected to be sorted out.

    The MSOs will also try to unite their distributors and last mile operators (LMOs), but margins across the value chain will be decided only after broadcasters work out commercial agreements with them. They have already written to broadcasters and are awaiting their responses.

    The MSOs are making concerted efforts to clear out certain common perceptions on CAS like it not being consumer friendly. “The Bill was not enacted for the MSOs but for the consumers. The boxes will be available on rental schemes and the monthly subscription fees will fall as consumers can select the channels they want to pay for. Under the current system, the prices are artificially controlled and the consumer is subsidised,” Siticable CEO Jagjit Kohli said, while addressing a press conference today in Mumbai.

    Commenting on the competition from direct-to-home (DTH), Kohli said cable had the advantage of packaging channels according to local demand. “DTH has the constraint of transponder space while cable can offer more channels,” he said.

    Meanwhile, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has called for a meeting at Delhi on Monday with the MSOs and the distributors to discuss on issues over CAS.

  • Tandberg unveils next generation digital media solutions for IPTV market

    Tandberg unveils next generation digital media solutions for IPTV market

    MUMBAI: Visual communications major Tandberg Television has announced that it will showcase its end-to-end compression, on-demand and interactive solutions for IPTV at TelecomNEXT 2006.

    With this initiative, Tandberg seeks to drive the next generation of technologies that are making IPTV a reality for network operators. The combination of Tandberg Television’s compression technology with on-demand packaging, encoding and interactivity, is leading the industry into the next generation of IPTV, a company statement asserts.

    Also, Tandberg Television will showcase its advanced encoding platforms that manage bandwidth, deliver broadcast quality video over IP networks, and ensure quality of service. Tandberg Television claims to be the only company that can offer complete compression technology for SMPTE VC-1 and MPEG-4 AVC in broadcast quality for both standard definition (SD) and high definition (HD) formats.

    In addition, Tandberg Television will demonstrate how IPTV networks may be made more reliable and improve a service operator’s quality of service, with FEC (Forward Error Correction) that virtually guarantees the reliable reception of the data stream over an IP network and an auto redundancy control system solution that includes RIP (Routing Information Protocol), which reroutes programming to an alternative network path so service delivery disruptions are minimized.

    Tandberg Television will also be showcasing its solutions for multiple resolution and picture-in-picture (PiP), enabling technology for advanced video mosaics and next evolution video programming guides. By leveraging its middleware partnerships, Tandberg Television will show how real-time video plus PiP creates a complete user experience.

    Tandberg Television will also be showing for the first time its Xport technology designed for an IPTV network. Xport is a content creation and packaging tool for MPEG-4 AVC video-on-demand.

    For added scalability and open architecture, Tandberg Television will be showcasing its open back office on-demand system OpenStream Digital Services Platform. It brings scalability and open architecture to IPTV and is widely deployed worldwide. By choosing an open architecture, IPTV operators are able to set up new interactive features easily and quickly, and are not locked into proprietary hardware. OpenStream technology is extremely scalable and component-based, so the technology can gradually grow with the operator as it expands its footprint.

    Also being demonstrated is Tandberg Television’s asset management system, MediaPoint AMS, which manages the flow of content for on-demand systems.

  • Maharashtra government doubles cable TV tax rate

    Maharashtra government doubles cable TV tax rate

    The government in the western Indian state of Maharashtra has doubled the entertainment taxes that cable TV operators have to fork out to its coffers. Taxes were levied at the rate of Rs 5,10, and 15 per subscriber, depending on the subscriber’s location. These have been doubled. The purpose to enhance the state’s revenues. The government made these announcements in the state budget for 2000-2001 announced yesterday.

    Maharashtra is amongst the leading cable TV viewing states in India. And there is alarm that other state governments may also make similar moves in their budgets.

    Fears have also risen that the imposition will actually lead to a rise in subscriber fees because cable TV operators will not be interested in forking out the higher duty from their pockets. Currently, cable TV subscriber rates in Maharashtra range between Rs 75 and Rs 125 a month. These are expected to go up by about 25 per cent at least with the average cable TV fees rising to Rs 125, unlike Rs 100 that is the average currently.

    Says Siticable western region head D.K. Pandey: “We do not have to pay entertainment tax, it’s the cable TV operator who has to do so. We are not really impacted by the hike.”

    The other MSO in Maharashtra InCableNet is expected to voice a protest against the government’s impost later today. It has been lobbying with the government on this issue. But will the higher entertainment tax result in substantially higher revenues to the exchequer?

    Marginally, probably. Normally, cable TV operators tend to under-declare their subscriber base to the tune of 70 per cent to subscription channels and to government as they want to stem the outflow of money from their end. Since there are no audits or subscriber declaration compulsions to a cable TV authority, they fudge their numbers to reduce their burden. That will likely continue here too. If the tax authorities insist on tax payments based on last year’s entertainment tax disclosures, the cable operator can easily turn around and say that he has lost subscribers to rival or smaller operators or they have not renewed their subscription.

  • Jason Wells is SPTI senior VP, mobile entertainment

    Jason Wells is SPTI senior VP, mobile entertainment

    MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) has announced that Jason Wells has been appointed senior VP, mobile entertainment. Wells will relocate from Los Angeles to SPTI’s European headquarters in London and will lead the newly formed mobile entertainment group.

    He will report to both SPTI president Michael Grindon and SPTI Europe president, MD John McMahon.

    Grindon says, “Many new distribution venues are now available for Sony’s feature films and television content. Regarding the mobile marketplace, Jason Wells has a great deal of experience and expertise in the mobile entertainment market and we are very fortunate that he has agreed to manage our growing business in this sector.”

    McMahon says, “SPTI has established itself as a leader in the international television distribution, production and networks business over the past 10 years. The appointment of Jason Wells to head up our newly formed mobile entertainment group is indicative of our belief that the mobile business is poised for substantial growth in the coming years. He brings a wealth of experience in this sector and I look forward to working with him here in London.”

    In his new position, Wells, will lead an international group within SPTI dedicated to extending Sony Pictures Entertainment’s (SPE) theatrical and TV assets, as well as its range of custom-made mobile content, into mobile distribution outside the US. With products such as the Spider-Man II film, the Ratchet and Clank Going Mobile game adaptation from the popular Sony PlayStation franchise, and the Da Vinci Code mobile content, SPTI will be the international distribution and marketing arm for SPE’s portfolio of mobile content including mobile games, tones, images, video and text programs.

    As mobile TV adoption grows, SPTI’s mobile entertainment group will work alongside SPTI’s licensing, international networks and production business lines to roll out programming and new initiatives for mobile operators that draw upon the strengths of all of these businesses.

    Wells brings with him years of experience in business development, management consulting and business launch strategy. Most recently he was VP of business development for Handango, where he directed the content and distribution business units.

  • Dan Marks is keynote speaker at Banff World Television Festival

    Dan Marks is keynote speaker at Banff World Television Festival

    MUMBAI: In keeping with its tradition of delivering television’s greatest power players as keynote speakers, The Banff World Television Festival announced that its first speaker will be Dan Marks, CEO, Television Services, British Telecommunications (BT).

    Dan Marks joined BT from Universal Studios where he was president of Universal Studios Networks UK. He is responsible for developing BT’s next-generation television service, for launching it and for managing its marketing, programming, legal, commercial, operational and development activities. Television Services is the group within BT’s consumer business responsible for BT’s new consumer television offering launching in 2006. Dan brings a wealth of television knowledge to his keynote address with his experience in broadcast, on-demand services and production.

    Previously, Marks was senior vice-president, business development for Universal Studios’ worldwide TV channels business. Marks also held positions at Video Networks Limited and TV3 Russia and worked over 10 years in Los Angeles as a documentary film producer and director. Dan’s background in strategic development, content partnerships and development of new TV opportunities based on new technologies will be instrumental in enabling the launch of BT’s world-leading next-generation TV launch later this year.

    Banff World Television Festival, director of content Jennifer Harkness commented, “I am especially thrilled to announce Dan Marks as one of our 2006 keynote speakers. He has had a distinguished television career and delegates will greatly appreciate his particular knowledge of the industry. The 27th Banff World Television Festival is committed to bringing television industry leaders from around the world for our attendees to learn from and network with – and it does so year after year.”