ITV

Category: People

  • Luxury technology brand Vu sets up shop in India

    Luxury technology brand Vu sets up shop in India

    MUMBAI: Vu, a luxury technology brand which researches, develops and manufactures high-end computers, LCD displays and digital homes has forayed into the Indian market. The company has set base in Mumbai by the promoters of Zenith Computers Ltd.

    Based in California, Vu has opened its flagship store in Mumbai at the CR2 Mall, Nariman Point. The store carries Vu branded systems and displays and has the world’s first ‘Gadget bar’ that sells the latest in luxury technology within a unique retail experience.

    Vu Technologies CEO Devita Saraf said, “We believe that the world of technology can be very exciting and purchasing high-end technology should be retail therapy for the guys. Our products are the outcome of our NPD (New product development) lab – cutting-edge innovation, sleek product design and unparallel customer service. Its an experience unlike any other that you have been previously exposed to – Vu will be a very uncommon offer.”

    On the other hand, Vu’s Digital Home will be a combination of computers, communication and consumer electronics that has been created with a simple user interface and design. This will be priced at Rs 100,000.

    Vu also retails LCD displays from 7″ to 47″, skype products, Bluetooth-based products and a range of Apple products. Vu will bring the latest in luxury technologies from across the world to the store, and plans to open 30 stores across India by the December 2007.

  • TNS appoints Mezzasalma as head of internet, television and radio audience measurement sector

    TNS appoints Mezzasalma as head of internet, television and radio audience measurement sector

    MUMBAI: TNS has appointed Andrea Mezzasalma as head of TNS’ Internet, Television and Radio Audience Measurement sector (iTram), responsible for managing the global business.

    Mezzasalma will take over from Mike Gorton who has been with TNS for five years and played a key role in developing the iTram sector and consolidating TNS as an industry leader in TV and radio audience measurement, informs an official release.

    Gorton will be retiring from TNS this year but will remain with the group as a consultant.

    Mezzasalma will be relocated from Milan to London and has a high profile in the global media measurement industry. He became the youngest partner in Eurisko, a leading Italian marketing information company, where he was pivotal in developing and marketing innovative technologies for audience measurement. Eurisko was acquired by NOP World in 2003, and more recently by GfK.

    TNS chief executive David Lowden said, “Andrea has an excellent track record as an innovator with a deep understanding of technology. With rapid changes in technology, media measurement is becoming more complex and TNS is responding to this challenge by developing more sophisticated models to enable data segmentation, digitisation and internet measurement. Andrea will provide valuable expertise in the technology and audience measurement fields to take the iTram team forward and deliver growth in this important sector.

    TNS has recently secured a number of high profile contracts across the globe including its appointment to the RAJAR/BARB London Portable Meter/Panel Development audience measurement programme and a pioneering TV audience measurement agreement in the US with Charter Communications. Andrea will oversee these projects and manage the teams involved in driving international plans forward, the release adds.

  • Disappearance of Arab channels as no permission sought: Indian govt

    Disappearance of Arab channels as no permission sought: Indian govt

    NEW DELHI: The Indian government today clarified that no channel has been banned, especially Arab TV channels.

    Disappearance of Arab TV channels from Indian cable networks has got more to do with them not conforming to new media norms like getting landing rights from New Delhi, the government stated today officially.

    “(The) government reiterates that Arab TV channels like Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabia (and) Q TV have not yet applied to be downlinked in India till date. Hence they cannot be transmitted/re-transmitted through cable networks/DTH in India, for public viewing,” information and broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said in a statement today.

    The information and broadcasting ministry statement added, “Arab channels are still free to apply afresh for registration under the downlinking guidelines, if they so desire and they will have similar opportunities like others.”

    Dasmunsi said in Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament) today, “In order to strengthen the mechanism of regulation over the content of television channels, which are being transmitted/re-transmitted through cable networks/DTH in India, for public viewing, the government has notified downlinking guidelines on 11 November, 2005.

    “All private TV channels, which are beamed into India and are being transmitted/re-transmitted through cable networks/DTH in India for public viewing, have to get themselves registered under the said guidelines. To facilitate smooth implementation, six months time (up to 10 May, 2006) was provided to all TV channels to comply with the provisions of the downlinking guidelines and get themselves registered.”

    The government has allowed TV channels, which were uplinked from abroad and had made an application for registration to the federal government up to 11 May, 2006, to be re-transmitted in India for a period of six months or till the time registration has been granted or refused, Dasmunsi said.

    Private TV channels, which were uplinking from India, in accordance with the permission for uplinking granted before 2 December, 2005, were treated as “registered” television channels under the downlinking guidelines, the government said today.

    The government also clarified that no Arab TV channels have been banned, as reported in a section of the media, under pressure from Israel.

    “The government of India denies this vehemently as it is contrary to facts. No channel in particular has been `banned’ recently by the ministry of information and broadcasting. This is a malicious and baseless accusation against the government by interested quarters,” Dasmunsi said.

    Under the downlinking norms, 65 TV channels, uplinked from abroad, have applied for landing rights.

    In a bylined report from Mumbai a correspondent of Arab News blared: “In a country widely referred to as the world’s largest democracy, the Indian government has succumbed to mounting Israeli pressure and ordered a nationwide ban on the broadcast of Arab television channels.”

    The report further added that New Delhi’s ban on Arab television stations “is in complete contrast to the friendship that Arab countries imagine exists with their neighbor across the Arabian Sea.”

    It seems the ban is a move to ensure that Indians do not get to see the atrocities that are presently being committed by Israel in Lebanon and the occupied territories, the report said.

    The lopsided report quoted one Nabila Al-Bassam, a Saudi businesswoman on a trip to Mumbai, as saying she became exasperated at not being able to watch Arab channels at Mumbai’s leading five-star Oberoi Hotel. When she took up the issue with the hotel manager, she was told that Arab television channels had been banned across India.

    What the hotel management and many like them did not know was that the so-called disappearance of Arab TV channels like Al Arabiya was because those TV channels had failed to apply for landing rights in India.

  • TV18 to provide VC funding to convergence companies, earmarks Rs 500 million

    TV18 to provide VC funding to convergence companies, earmarks Rs 500 million

    MUMBAI: Raghav Bahl-promoted Television Eighteen is jumping into the convergence arena. The company plans to invest Rs 500 million in this space, identifying small-sized ventures which need funding support.

    TV18 will function more as a venture capitalist, making investments into these companies at an early stage. “We realise there are opportunities in the convergence area of internet, TV, and broadband. Small companies engaged in this field are springing up. We plan to support them and make judicious investments spread over a string of companies. We have taken an enabling resolution to make investments in this space up to a maximum of Rs 500 million,” says a senior company executive.

    TV18 is setting up a Media Venture Capital Trust (MVCT) through which it will make these investments. The MVCT shall be suitably structured as a tax efficient investment vehicle for undertaking these investments and will offer co-investment opportunities to the promoters of the company and other identified reputed investors.

    The investments will be primarily in high growth companies. “TV18 will seek to invest, directly or indirectly minority stakes in these companies through repayment guaranteed / collateralized instruments convertible into equity, with an option to increase up to majority stake at a later date, wherever possible, subject to necessary provisions and approvals,” the company informed the BSE.

    Outside these investments, TV18 will continue to acquire vertical portals. The company, which has internet ventures being consolidated into a wholly owned subsidiary, acquired in April a 50 per cent stake in the Indian arm of Jobstreet.com. Eariler in the year, it had invested in Yatra Online where other investors included Anil Ambani’s Reliance Capital and Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) – Promod Haque’s leading venture capital firm.

  • CNN-IBN and Channel 7 line up special shows for Independence day

    CNN-IBN and Channel 7 line up special shows for Independence day

    MUMBAI: CNN-IBN and Channel 7 has lined-up a special package to celebrate Independence Day with slew of programmes. The package includes shows In August Country, State of the Nation, India Rocks, Shahrukh Unplugged, August Kranti and Sorry Sir.

    Starting 14 August, CNN-IBN will showcase a half hour special In August Country at 8:30 pm and the same will air on 15 August. The viewers can also participate in an interactive quiz based on every story aired during In August Country.

    Channel 7 will feature August Kranti at 7:30 pm on 15 August, where the channels will revisit historic places like Chori Chora, Jalianwala Bagh, Dandi and many more where the Indian freedom struggle reached great heights and won the battle for independence.

    State of the Nation is another independence week special on the anvil, which will track the state of the nation, based on an exhaustive pan India poll conducted by CSDS, spanning across 20 states with over 24,000 touch points, according to an official release. The opinion will be presented in a four episode special India’s Best CM, Dietary Habits, Terrorism in India and Youth of the city from 12 to 15 August at 9:30 pm, 10:00 pm, 10:00 pm and 9:30 pm respectively on CNN-IBN.

    The two channel brings forth a musical special India Rocks, which present Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma, Rahul Sharma, Shabana Azmi, Sunidhi Chauhan, Shubha Mudgal, Salman Ahmad (Pakistani singer), Raghav Sachar, Mohit Chauhan and many more on 15 August at 1:30 pm on CNN-IBN and at 9:30 pm on Channel7. This show will also feature a song by a terminally ill child with “make a wish” composed and sung by Zubeen Garg.

    CNN-IBN will feature a live-on-air Independence day kids quiz on 15 August. This inter-school zonal (north, south, east and east) live quiz contest will hunt the best ‘kid quiz brain’ in the country. Anchored by Vidhya Shankar Aiyar, the morning segments will air the elimination rounds and the finals will be aired at 1:00 pm.

    The channel will also air Shahrukh Unplugged where Rajeev Masand catches up with the star to understand what ‘Independence’ means to him on the day at 2:30 pm.

    Sorry Sir on Channel 7 will be a satire on hamare neta, by the best poets and performers like Sagar Khayyami Adil Lucknowi, Popular Meeruthi, Rahat Indori, Jemini Haryanwi on 12 August at 9:30 pm and also Apne Apne Laloo, which is a mimicry show put up by the Great Indian Laughter Champions on the railway minister Laloo Prasad Yadav, which will air in short capsules throughout the Independence Day.

    Highlighting the special line-up on I-Day, CNN-IBN and Channel7 editor-in-chief Rajdeep Sardesai says, ” CNN-IBN is all set to give the discerning viewers an unforgettable family viewing experience this Independence Day. Our wide-range programming is especially designed for viewers of all age groups and we are in high spirits to celebrate the Independence Day with our viewers.”

    Channel 7 managing editor Ashutosh shares,”Channel 7 with its special programming aims to awaken the spirit of patriotism amongst the audience as India enters the 60th year of Independence. Along with the patriotic element we decided to give a fun filled and lighthearted dimension to Independence Day, with a variety of entertaining shows. We feel confident that viewers will appreciate the shows and we will be successful in truly making Independence Day a memorable one.”

  • Fox Interactive Media inks $900 million deal with Google

    Fox Interactive Media inks $900 million deal with Google

    MUMBAI: News Corporation’s Fox Interactive Media and Google Inc. have inked a multi-year search technology and services agreement whereby Google will be the exclusive search and keyword targeted advertising sales provider for Fox Interactive Media’s growing network of web properties including MySpace.com.

    Under the terms of the agreement, Google will be obligated to make guaranteed minimum revenue share payments to Fox Interactive Media of $900 million based on Fox achieving certain traffic and other commitments. These guaranteed minimum revenue share payments are expected to be made over the period beginning in the first quarter of 2007 and ending in the second quarter of 2010.

    The agreement calls for Google to power web, vertical and site specific search for MySpace.com and the majority of Fox Interactive Media properties. Google will be the exclusive provider of text-based advertising and keyword targeted ads through its AdSense program, for inventory on Fox Interactive Media’s network. Google will also have a right of first refusal on display advertising sold through third parties on Fox Interactive Media’s network.

    The integration of Google’s services including consistent search navigation across Fox Interactive Media’s network of properties is slated to begin in the fourth quarter 2006 and will provide users with access to Google’s industry leading search capabilities as well as text and display advertising from its global advertiser base.

    “Our partnership with Google underscores News Corp’s continued evolution to become a powerful force in the digital media marketplace. To have come this far and gained this much momentum in just over a year is truly remarkable. This is an exciting time in our history as a forward thinking media company and this is just the first of many steps we plan to take with Google. We look forward to expanding our relationship into many new areas over years to come,” said News Corporation president and COO Peter Chernin.

    “We believe that our innovative technologies will be of real benefit to Fox Interactive Media’s growing number of users. MySpace.com is a widely acknowledged leader in user-generated content and incorporating search and advertising furthers our mission of making the world’s information universally accessible and useful,” said Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

    “This deal is the next step in our evolution as a significant interactive player. Forming a strategic partnership with one of the most innovative companies in the world to expand our business together, monetize our platforms effectively and leverage our combined scale will provide substantial growth for our businesses,” said Fox Interactive Media president Ross Levinsohn.

    “This agreement demonstrates our commitment to bring the same innovation to monetizing user-generated content that we brought to search advertising. We look forward to other opportunities to partner with News Corp. to the benefit of its community,” said Google senior vice president, global sales and business development Omid Kordestani.

    In addition to MySpace.com, Fox Interactive Media properties that will benefit from the Google integration include online videogame and entertainment site IGN, pro sports network Scout.com, site for movie lovers Rottentomatoes.com, men’s lifestyle site AskMen.com; as well as Gamespy.com, Gamespyarcade.com, Fileplanet.com, Direct2drive.com, Teamxbox.com, 3dgamers.com, Gamestat.com, Cheatscodesguides.com and Gamermetrics.com.

  • ABU delivers excellent results for Commonwealth Games

    ABU delivers excellent results for Commonwealth Games

    MUMBAI: The Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) has announced that over a billion people had access to free-to-air coverage of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games, stretching from Mongolia in Central Asia, down to the Republic of Timor Leste.

    ABU’s head of sport in Melbourne John Barton says, “We have built the biggest television platform in Asia and the Pacific for the Melbourne games and we will continue to see it grow over the years, especially with New Delhi hosting the next event in 2010.”

    Televising multi sport events such as the Olympics and Commonwealth Games on free-to-air television would have lasting economic benefits for a nation, says Barton.

    “We are not just investing in a sporting contest. It is much greater than that. We are showcasing the character of a host nation, its many cultural and commercial assets, and the character and values of the competing nations. That was why it is extremely important for the events to be seen on the free-to-air television markets around the world where their countrymen could share the highs and lows that come with the great sporting occasion.

    “Governments and broadcasters have a dual responsibility to make sure that their athletes and teams are given due recognition on television for their years of effort and training. So when they step out onto the international sporting stage they know that their nation is with them, right at that moment, sharing their joy or sadness” he adds.

    Governments in Asia are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on sporting infrastructure, facilities, coaches and new training methods. “Asia is thriving as a regional sporting powerhouse with the increasing numbers of Olympic champions. But without television, which has been the engine for growth for many years, that development could be arrested,” he added.

  • KTF Korea launches nationwide Ultra-High Speed Wireless Network with LG-Norte

    KTF Korea launches nationwide Ultra-High Speed Wireless Network with LG-Norte

    MUMBAI: KTF, one of South Korea’s prominent cellular providers, has launched a next-generation ultra-high speed 3.5G wireless network in Seoul and cities across South Korea using wireless broadband technology from LG-Nortel, a joint venture of LG Electronics and Nortel.

    The network supports advanced handset capabilities including high-definition (HD) video, video chatting, messaging and remote monitoring, claims an official release.

    The new 3.5G HSDPA, handset-based service is being launched with two handset models in the initial deployment – including the first HSDPA phone from LG Electronics, the LG-KH1000. A further four to five handsets are planned later in the year. KTF’s new service is branded ‘WorldPhone View’, a name representing ‘the world at your fingertips’ through access to video and collaborative multimedia applications.

    KTF’s HSDPA mobile communications will be rolled out in 50 cities across South Korea beginning 30 June. LG-Nortel is the primary network supplier and is the exclusive vendor for 34 cities including the vast Seoul metropolitan area which alone accounts for almost 50 percent of the total population of Korea. It is estimated that 80 per cent of the country’s population will be able to access the service by the end of August 2006. A further 34 cities will be added by year-end, raising that figure to over 90 percent of the population, according to KTF estimates, the release adds.

    “The launch of our ‘WorldPhone View’ HSDPA service is a key component of KTF’s portfolio of next-generation mobile services,” says KTF EVP Won-Jin Park. “We chose LG-Nortel as the primary supplier for our UMTS/HSDPA network based on its strong technology credentials and our existing relationship. LG-Nortel has successfully implemented a world-class network which allows us to implement groundbreaking services as we enhance the mobile communications experience for all our customers.”

    “LG Nortel, with the strong support of our parent companies Nortel and LGE, has implemented a secure, reliable, high-speed network to support the innovative range of services and applications KTF is launching to its customers,” says LG-Nortel chairman on the board Peter MacKinnon. “Korea leads the world in wireless broadband and LG-Nortel plays an integral role in ensuring the continuation of that success. We will work closely with KTF on the evolution of their network to support higher uplink speeds and ever-more sophisticated service requirements in the future.”

    A key differentiator of HSDPA compared to current technologies is its ability to support high-speed, real-time HD video content. ‘WorldPhone View’ users will be able to access a variety of new services, including video SMS, video ringtone services, video chatting, video ad messaging and video remote monitoring – as well as high-quality video telephony. High-speed broadband capabilities will also enhance music downloads and high-volume multimedia collaboration and set the foundation for more sophisticated online gaming applications.

    The two HSDPA handsets being launched will also support universal integrated circuit (IC) cards, allowing access to secure transactions for transportation, membership, mobile banking and credit card services, informs the release.

  • Single network to ease dilemma faced by broadcasters

    Single network to ease dilemma faced by broadcasters

    SINGAPORE: Broadcasters – with their need to transport uncompressed studio-quality video – are the most demanding customers for video, voice and data networks. Broadcasters face an expensive and complicated future with the task of upgrading networks to enable digital terrestrial television, HDTV and Video on Demand (VOD) and upgrading data and telephony to meet today’s standards, unless they can implement a single network that can meet all of these needs.

    NetSight Sweden global director operations Thomas Wahlund threw light on how European broadcasters such as Eurovision and Broadcast Services Danmark have recently implemented unified Next Generation networks to provide video for contribution, distribution, and digital terrestrial television plus audio for radio, internet and even telephony.

    “Using Asynchronous Serial Interface (ASI), a very common interface used to transport MPEG compressed video to satellite uplinks, between studios and for distribution in for example CATV networks, PCR jitter has to stay under 500 nanoseconds in order for a correct decoding to be done. Since the format is compressed, if only one of these frames arrives out of spectrum it could make the decoder loose synchronisation and it could take several seconds before the service is restored. In the ad-driven world of broadcasting even a few seconds of black screen is obviously unacceptable,” Wahlund said.

    Delivery channels – terrestrial, cable and satellite, need to keep pace with the ever-increasing demands of the content to be streamed, the demands upon spectrum and the constant high and sometimes unreasonable expectations of the viewer.

    Each professional uncompressed standard video stream requires 270Mbps, which is more than 50 times the requirement for a cable -TV movie. Due to the demands of video, broadcasters deploy separate networks for voice and data.

    Broadcasters are now looking to upgrade their analogue TV networks with digital TV networks. Singapore, Japan, Australia and Taiwan have rolled out Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT), and most Asian countries will do so in the coming years. With DTT or DVB-T, digital TV signals are transmitted from terrestrial antennas to digital TV receivers in the households. The benefits of this are lower operational costs, a higher picture quality and the ability to transmit up to four times more TV channels on the same frequency range. 

    Wahlund further added, “The requirements on video transport will also soon increase, as broadcasters change from SDTV to large – scale deployment of HDTV. As a norm, an HD feed takes up roughly four times the bandwidth of a standard definition feed. Today’s delivery mechanisms will not be sufficient to handle the increased bandwidth. Broadcasters are now faced with a dilemma of upgrading their data and telephony networks to meet today’s standards.” 

    In Europe, several major broadcasters have actively acquired their own networks. The European Broadcast Union (EBU) and Broadcast Service Danmark (BSD), the provider of analog and digital distribution of TV and radio in Denmark, each built its own next generation networks to provide video for contribution and distribution plus audio for radio, internet and even telephony.

    “They are now using the networks to connect production studios with film banks, stadiums and other production sites. These optical networks handle a mix of video, audio, data and even telephony without massive over provisioning of bandwidth, delay, jitter and constant (and costly) traffic engineering. Broadcasters have been able to increase the services such as HD and VOD and they have also been able to improve workflow, and substantially save on operating and capital expenses,” Wahlund said. 

    “They are meeting the challenges of providing new services such as HDTV and digital television by building next generation multi-service fibre networks that can provide these services. They are achieving additional benefits by intelligently using the additional bandwidth these networks to provide state of the art contribution and distribution networks and upgraded data and telephony services. They are also benefiting from reduced operating expenses from a unified management system. This is proving to be a rare win-win proposition for all,” he concluded.

  • Alfred Haber to distribute 49th Grammy Awards globally

    Alfred Haber to distribute 49th Grammy Awards globally

    MUMBAI: Alfred Haber (AHI) has been appointed exclusive international distributor of the 49th Annual Grammy Awards in 2007 by The Recording Academy.

    This new deal marks the 18th consecutive year that AHI has served as international distributor for this awards show. In India, the show has been airing over the past few years on Star World.

    The Grammy Awards will take place on 11 February 2007. In the US, it will air on CBS.

    The Grammy Awards was the first awards show to air in high-definition TV/5.1 surround sound and will continue utilizing the latest technologies to provide a more immersive viewing and listening experience for the show’s global audience.

    Alfred Haber says, “The Grammy Awards mark music’s biggest night. This live, three and a half-hour extravaganza has been the world’s most popular annual music event for decades, and we are delighted to able to offer this magical evening to our buyers around the world once again.”