ITV

Category: DTH

  • MTV goes digital for ‘Aila Tendulkar’

    MTV goes digital for ‘Aila Tendulkar’

    NEW DELHI: MTV India has decided to go digital in its marketing initiative for its new show Aila Tendulkar. No print ads, billboards or spots for this show. Riding the internet wave, the channel has looked at online banners and mobile content. The idea has been to capture viral circulation.

    Aila Tendulkar is hosted by Suresh Menon aka VJ Tendulkar. The show has been launched with the cricket season in mind, especially with the approaching Cricket World Cup. The show launches on Saturday, 17 February, at 7 pm but will go on well past the World Cup until June.

    Says MTV India VP marketing Aditya Swamy, “While the show is definitely in sync with the Cricket World Cup, we would also look at the post World Cup spillover and all the analysis and gossip that happens then.”

    The show format for Aila Tendulkar looks at a 5 to 7 minutes duration vignette and each vignette will have 3 to 4 cricket based gags/sketches. VJ Tendulkar is joined by Gag Chappel (Ashwin Mushran), the men in blue, Bowel Dravid (Kunal Kumar) and Kaurav Ganguly (Gaurav Gera). All this madness is of course monitored by VJ Cyrus Sahukar who cameos as the umpire.

    A day before the telecast of the show, 30-45 second vignettes will be available on the mobile and net. The channel claims to be experimenting with the idea that a preview of the show will be made available before the actual telecast.

    “In fact keeping in mind, its reach via digital formats, the show has also been produced to suit the medium. So no long shots, etc.”

    “The idea is to reach across to our target audience, which is metro youth and they are increasingly available on mobile and internet rather than on television. So we decided to market Aila Tendulkar across multiple platforms to get that ‘constantly on the move viewer’.

    All episodes of Aila Tendulkar would first break on mtvindia.com. Mobile users can simultaneously log on to wap.mtvindia.com from their GPRS-enabled phsones for the preview of these videos. MTV has tied up with Reliance, Hutch and Aitel for this service. The channel has also roped in Rediff, Google and Yahoo amongst others to feature these vignettes. Reliance mobile users can view the same on the MTV Zone on RWorld.

    The post CAS situation has led to many channels reviewing their consumer performance and looking at different modes of media branding. MTV does have an international ‘I want my MTV’ campaign for subscription based channels. Commenting on this, Swamy said, “While there were plans to adapt this campaign in India as well, for now, we are just looking at how things are shaping up here.”

    The channel has also partnered with CNBC TV18 for a series of vignettes called MTV Budget Fundas to be aired on both the channels. Says Swamy, “MTV is not just about fun and humour but also everything relevant to the youth. So if the budget affects the pocket money of the youth and how they spend it, we will showcase it.”

  • Hungama Mobile, Adlabs showcase Marigold at 3GSM World Congress

    Hungama Mobile, Adlabs showcase Marigold at 3GSM World Congress

     MUMBAI: Hungama mobile and roamware in association with Adlabs Films premiered its soon-to-be-launched co-production Marigold on a mobile platform at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona.

    This event is a part of Hungama and Roamware’s Bollywood initiative at 3GSM, which will scale the Hungama digital network from 70 operators in 32 countries to more than 261 operators in over 100 countries.

    The 3GSM World Congress is one of the largest exhibitions for the mobile industry. The event attracted over 60,000 attendees from across the global mobile value chain.
    Marigold, a romantic comedy, is Bollywood superstar Salman Khan’s first Hollywood film .It is targeted for release in April 2007.

    Speaking about the tie up, Hungama managing director and CEO Neeraj Roy said, “With the success of providing Bollywood entertainment, the combination of Hollywood and Bollywood will give a new outlook and experience to the audience.

    From providing music, imagery, video and games we are now preparing to introduce full features and this project of Marigold is a step in the same direction.”

    “Marigold is a perfect example of how Hollywood and Bollywood can co-operate to produce international quality films from India” said co-producer Sidhartha M Jain.

    He further added “we used the best talent from Bollywood such as Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy for music, Anil Mehta as DOP, Nitin Desai for sets and a host of other Indian talent, who worked hand-in-hand with the US and UK crew. This event is ideally suited for such a film”.

  • Vodafone, Telefónica, Orange, 3UK report results from

    Vodafone, Telefónica, Orange, 3UK report results from

    MUMBAI: Vodafone, Telefónica, Orange, and 3UK have announced the results of their successful joint technical trial of TDtv in the US.

    TDtv is the UMTS TD-CDMA-3GPP Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Services (MBMS) standard for mobile television solutions. The trial provided insights into the technology’s capability and successfully demonstrated how existing spectrum can be used to deliver mobile television and other multimedia services.

    The participants are now discussing next steps and exploring how the findings from the trial could be used to develop commercial models.

    Key Trial Results

    • Reliable delivery of mobile TV services using TDtv technically viable

    • Up to 11 to 14 high quality channels can be delivered in 5MHz of TDD spectrum

    • Coverage comparable to WCDMA but using fewer cell sites

    • Performance consistent when moving at speed

    • Dual mode handset viable

    The TDtv trial, announced in October 2006, aspired to test key performance and deployment aspects of the mobile TV technology. Covering a large area of Bristol in the UK using only 12 macro-cell sites, the trial proved that the technology has the ability to offer reliable television delivery at the data rates that are needed to provide high quality mobile TV services.

    The trial showed that eleven high quality channels could be delivered across the service area, with the potential to deliver up to fourteen channels with planned future technology developments. Significant coverage gains were demonstrated when using key TDtv performance enhancement technologies including macro site combining and receive diversity in the user device. The gains from these technologies demonstrated in the trial indicate that TDtv may be able to provide the same coverage as WCDMA when deployed on 35% of the WCDMA sites.

    TDtv also proved its ability to perform at motorway speeds during the trial, allowing it to address a wide range of use cases such as when travelling on a train.

    Initial coexistence testing to explore the simultaneous operation of 3G FDD and TDD also proved the theoretical viability of a dual mode WCDMA/TDtv handset.

    Finally, the TDtv network also proved very reliable with 99 per cent availability during the trial.

    Professor Michael Walker, who is the director of research and development at Vodafone said, “Trials are an extremely important part of our strategic product development and help us build a comprehensive understanding of how the technologies work and the customer experience they will offer. The outcome of this trial will help us evaluate the commercial potential of TDtv as part of the MBMS assessments we are undertaking.”

    Telefónica Móviles España MD Technology and Services Cayetano Lluch Mesquida says, “The TDtv trial in Bristol has proven the ability to effectively use our unused TDD spectrum for a wide variety of Mobile Broadcast Services and the potential of a SFN deployment to support impressive coverage gains.

    ” Nevertheless, we would like to see the next steps taken to ensure a wide variety of terminals and interoperable services are available for the platform.”

    Orange executive VP, IT Networks and product support Vivek Badrinath said, “We are committed to fuelling the growth of mobile TV by ensuring our customers are offered the best quality and content now and in the future. The TDtv trial forms an important part of our research into potential technology solutions for the future, equally important is the collaboration of other industry players, who are now working together to learn and build from our shared experiences.”

    3UK CTO David Cooper said, “3 is pleased to support this initiative. The results of this first trial demonstrate TDtv has the potential to deliver a mass market Mobile TV solution. As the first network to launch 3G services in Europe, we’re always looking at ways to develop the service we offer customers.”

  • Adobe Flash Lite to support video for mobile handsets

    Adobe Flash Lite to support video for mobile handsets

    MUMBAI: At the 3GSM World Congress in Spain Adobe Systems has announced that support for video will be integrated in the next generation of Adobe Flash Lite software, Adobe’s award-winning Flash Player runtime specifically designed for mobile phones.

    Flash Lite 3, expected to be available in the first half of this year, will bring the Adobe Flash Player video format from the desktop to mobile phones and devices, enabling operators, handset manufacturers and developers alike to deliver more experiences to mobile users.

    The firm says that the release will be an addition to its family of video technologies that includes Adobe Production Studio for professional video editing, Marcomedia Flash 8 from Adobe for video encoding, and Adobe Flash Media Server for video distribution. Adobe says that itsFlash technology is impacting the way video is distributed over the Internet.

    Today, television shows like Lost, Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy are being delivered online through FLV, the Adobe Flash Player video format, while the technology also powers the video capabilities of social networking sites such as YouTube and MySpace.

    The firm adds that video support in Flash Lite will change the way the way users engage with mobile content and open up new revenue opportunities for developers worldwide. This release will allow users to view vibrant video content from popular Internet sites like YouTube or MySpace and enable developers to create new applications across a variety of mobile and consumer electronics platforms.”

    Flash Lite will support the same video formats supported by Adobe Flash Player and will directly support video streams delivered by the Adobe Flash Media Server, allowing users to view a broad spectrum of Flash Player compatible content. Videos can be viewed in different forms within the Flash environment, including downloadable video clips, streaming videos, applications with user interfaces based on Flash or personalized content such as wallpapers or screensavers.

    Flash Lite runs on multiple platforms, including Symbian S60 v2/v3, Qualcomm Brew 2.x/3.x and Microsoft Windows Mobile 5, in addition to embedded operating systems on a variety of OEM platforms. This allows consistent content delivery across device types, broader distribution of engaging mobile experiences and simpler publishing, testing and selling of Flash Lite content for developers.

    By leveraging the Flash ecosystem – which includes the Flash authoring tool, Flash Lite player runtime and an established community of more than one million designers and developers – Flash Lite reduces deployment costs up to five times faster than competing solutions. Today, more than 200 million Flash-enabled devices have shipped worldwide

  • HBO launches SVoD service in the UK

    HBO launches SVoD service in the UK

    MUMBAI: Home Box Office (HBO) has launched a subscription video on demand (SVoD) service in the UK.

    The launch marks HBO’s first entry into the UK marketplace bringing its renowned programs to audiences in the region under a stand alone HBO branded destination.

    HBO president, programming distribution and international Simon Sutton says, “HBO’s programming has always done very well in the UK and the arrival of an HBO service has been long desired and anticipated. We are very excited to offer HBO programming in a subscription video on demand format, where we can deliver our acclaimed series and specials to UK audiences on their schedule. This opportunity enables us to raise our profile in the region, while providing viewers with a distinct HBO environment.”

    With launch dates to be determined by each of the distributors, the HBO SVoD service will be made available on BT Vision, Tiscali TV and Virgin Media. The service will provide at least 50 hours of HBO’s acclaimed original programming upon its full rollout, including award-winning series, miniseries, documentaries and comedy specials.

    On 1 July, 2001, HBO first launched its SVoD service, HBO On Demand, in the US. HBO On Demand not only allows subscribers to watch HBO programming when they wish and as much as they like, they can also enjoy the benefits of pausing, rewinding and fast-forwarding their selections.

    The programming line-up on the UK HBO on demand service will be updated on a weekly basis and will provide consumers with the freedom to enjoy HBO programming whenever they want. Over time, the library on the service will build to include all episodes of the featured HBO series, starting with the first episode of season one and growing each consecutive week.

    Included among the programs available at launch will be the shows The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Entourage and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

    The service will also feature miniseries Band of Brothers, Angels in America and From the Earth to the Moon.

  • The History Channel’s ‘Great Battles of Rome’ to be adapted as a video game

    The History Channel’s ‘Great Battles of Rome’ to be adapted as a video game

    MUMBAI: US video game developers Slitherine Software and Black Bean Games have partnered with US broadcaster The History Channel to deliver a gaming experience, The Hustory Channel Great Battles of Rome.

    Combining gameplay, historical footage and battle simulation, the product allows players to fully immerse themselves into history as never before. The game will begin to roll out worldwide in the second quarter of this year.

    Merging action and strategy in a setting that replicates the atmosphere of the period, the game allows players to take control of a series of campaigns against Barbarian hordes, while carving out the Roman Empire.

    Over 100 battles are available for play including the Punic and Samnite Wars, and Julius Caesar’s conquest of Britain. Players can customize and control massive armies with an array of soldiers including legionaries, archers, cavalry and even mighty war-elephants. The game delivers battle realism in various environments, including steppe, forest, desert and coastline, with both day and night lighting.

    Players can also choose to either plan their own battle tactics by selecting an army to suit a gameplay situation, or they can leave strategy decisions to the AI, freeing them to be involved in nothing but action.

    The game also features 3D special effects and instant control response.

    In addition, 30 programme clips from the archives of The History Channel have been specially blended and narrated to match the game and guide the player through the greatest story of all time.

    Black Bean marketing head Marco Minoli says, “We are proud of this collaboration between The History Channel, Slitherine and Black Bean enabling us to publish a licensed video game with excellent graphics and realism. The endorsement of such a prestigious brand, reinforces and confirms Black Bean’s global credentials as one of the most innovative and respected publishing houses in the business.”

    Slitherine’s Iain McNeil says, “We have been working with The History Channel and our partner Black Bean to bring the highest quality and exciting historical video games to our audience. Our relationship with The History Channel has enabled us to use material from their archives that we could only dream about. This builds on our previous range of historical strategy games and brings a new dimension to the genre”

    The History Channel director licensing Carrie Trimmer says, “We are very pleased to be working with Slitherine and Black Bean on the development of The History Channel Great Battles of Rome, the first international console game to be released under our brand. The History Channel is always looking for ways to make history experiential for our viewers, and by giving them the power to build their own armies and plot battle strategy, this game truly allows players to be a part of the building of the Roman Empire.”

  • Nielsen’s new service to offer insights, services from TV STB data

    Nielsen’s new service to offer insights, services from TV STB data

    MUMBAI: US media research firm Nielsen is consolidating its initiatives involving digital television set top box data into a new service offering named Nielsen DigitalPlus.

    Nielsen DigitalPlus will work with set top box (STB) data from cable system operators (MSOs) and satellite providers to create new insights and services for clients by integrating set top box data with other Nielsen information.

    Nielsen DigitalPlus will draw upon the resources and information assets of numerous Nielsen businesses including: the television measurement services of Nielsen Media Research, commercial activity data from Nielsen Monitor Plus, retail and scanning information from A.C. Nielsen, as well as the modeling and forecasting capabilities of Claritas, Spectra and BASES.

    Initially, Nielsen DigitalPlus will focus on several high-potential client initiatives:

    – Exploring how set top box data can contribute to Nielsen’s Anytime Anywhere Media Measurement (A2/M2) goal of bringing electronic measurement to all local television markets

    – Providing measurement of advanced advertising applications such as interactive, targeted advertising

    – Bringing insights on advertising effectiveness through granular reporting of commercial activity

    – Providing analytics to support MSO Customer Relationship Management (CRM) by combining television viewing data with other data sets to provide new insights to MSOs and satellite providers about their subscribers’ activity.

    Nielsen DigitalPlus senhior VP Jed Meyer says, “With our wide array of media and marketing information services, expertise in advanced technology, and experience working with large volumes of data, Nielsen is uniquely positioned to help clients unlock the potential of set top box data.

    “As the industry begins to analyze and use the vast amount of information available through these devices, Nielsen will work with clients to develop comprehensive solutions to this new frontier of measurement. We are intensely focused on using all our resources to succeed at this challenge.”

    Nielsen DigitalPlus will build on Nielsen’s long history of set top box data projects going back to Warner Amex’s QUBE system in the 1980s. More recently Nielsen has worked with Comcast to process and develop insights from their Video On Demand server data. Nielsen also worked with Tivo to establish a joint panel of TiVo subscribers whose set top box data Nielsen processed on a daily basis. Nielsen is currently working on research projects with several MSOs and satellite providers to study set top box data for potential analytical and audience measurement purposes.

  • ABC to give ‘Lost’ fans a Valentine’s Day treat

    ABC to give ‘Lost’ fans a Valentine’s Day treat

     MUMBAI: Today 14 February 2007 US broadcaster ABC.com is giving Lost fans a Valentines Day surprise with the first installment of four video back stories (Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Locke).

    Created to provide new viewers insight into the lives of the series characters and to give fans an opportunity to see characters back stories in chronological order, each video combines scenes from previously aired episodes. Every Wednesday four back story segments will debut on ABC.com until the end of the season.

    Fans need to go to ABC.com for this seasons previously aired episodes on its broadband video player. ABC.com has also added several new features on its Lost site, including a new video podcast with executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, which offers a special sneak peek at extra content from the series Season Three DVD, to be released later this year.

    Additionally, visitors to ABC.com will find a new feature called Writers Rotation that showcases music and listening selections of members of the Lost production team, plus an updated version of Lost and Found. This highlights not-to-be-missed moments in upcoming episodes, as well as excerpts from the official Lost magazine, updated games, photos and video clips.
     

  • WorldSpace kicks off satellite awards initiative

    WorldSpace kicks off satellite awards initiative

    MUMBAI: WorldSpace Satellite Radio is looking to provide subscribers with a personalised listening experience throughout this month.

    It kicked off ‘Honors Week’ with its own inaugural satellite radio awards show, Worldspace Honours, on 12 February 2007 live from Studio 2 at Abbey Road, the legendary recording studio of The Beatles.

    WorldSpace Honours is the first satellite radio award show to recognise music and artistic contribution by artists from more than 20 musical genres represented on WorldSpace channels ranging from Up Country to Jhankaar and The System to Shruti. The honorees will be chosen by WorldSpace’s executive selection committee made up of programming staff from each of the 20 channels represented.

    WorldSpace Satellite Radio VP global programming William Sabatini says, “WorldSpace Honours presents a completely new format for satellite music awards and was created to reflect the diversity of our music programming, the expertise of our staff, and the broad range of preferences of our subscribers. We are also thrilled to be announcing our choices for the WorldSpace Honours, live from the prestigious Abbey Road Studios.”

    WorldSpace VP content marketing Ted Kelly, and WorldSpace india director of network programming Velu Shankar will host the awards show and will announce this year’s 23 honourees. Specialty programming is being created by the company to showcase each artist and will include interviews, career highlights, background information and their music.

    Subscribers can listen throughout the day for all honourees and can tune in to their favorite WorldSpace Satellite Radio channel from 16-19 February 2007, when each honouree’s works will be showcased throughout the weekend.

    “Honours Week” will also feature the second annual “UPop @ Abbey Road Sessions” which has officially kicked off with the Honours Award Show on 12 February 2007 and run through 15 February. The sessions feature four days of performances and recording sessions from some of yesterday’s and today’s stars, live from Abbey Road Studio 2. Additionally, WorldSpace will again host the global broadcast of Europe’s biggest music event—the Brit Awards—on Feb. 14. The live broadcast will feature backstage and red carpet interviews, celebrity appearances and performances by more than a dozen superstars.

    Channels that will air music of the honourees include including Maestro, Riff, Potion, Radio Voyeger, Spin, Surabhi, Ghandharv, Jhankaar, Spandana and Moksha.

  • STB availability key to Cas success

    STB availability key to Cas success

    MUMBAI: Availability of set-top boxes (STBs) is one of the key concerns for the successful roll out of conditional access system, speakers at a workshop on “Cas and Digital CATV” said here today.

    Cable operators should not only look at the price of the boxes but also the quality of features it offers as there is revenue to be earned from the consumers. “While what is being pushed now in India is basic boxes, there is need also to go in for middleware that enables enhanced facilities. The important question to be asked is what the boxes can do. Cable operators will be able to, after all, earn revenues from features like video-on-demand and gaming,” said Technosat managing director Irshad M Contractor.

    The Dubai-based company is prepared to set up a manufacturing facility in India if the demand for STBs pick up. Technosat has boxes ranging from basic to premium features on MPEG-2 and is currently conducting trials on MPEG-4.

    Though multi-system operators (MSOs) are currently importing boxes, several manufacturers in India are keen to come up with local production facilities. “We are introducing 4-5 flavours of STBs that are fully developed in India. The boxes will have personal video recorder (PVR) and digital video recorder (DVR). We are integrating the encryption system with Conax. We are also in talks with other Cas technology providers,” said Surbhi Broadband general manager sales P C Mishra.

    The two-day workshop, which concluded today, was organised by Satellite & Cable TV (SCaT) magazine and attracted over 250 delegates. The focus was on facilitating cable operators to make the transition from analogue to digital cable. The issues covered ranged from digital headends to billing solutions for Cas.

    Speaking on digital headends for simulcasting digital video broadcasting – cable (DVB-C), Peter Batt of Teleste said there was need to offer on demand TV and other value-added services. The third generation headends improved footprint and power consumption while offering unicast/multicast video services and triple play. But the fourth generation IP-centric headend for DVB-C and IPTV combined everything and offered “ultimate flexibility.”

    Earlier SCaT editor and executive director Dinyar Contractor said Headend-In-The-Sky (HITS) would mean rapid digital and Cas roll out as it would reach out to the smallest and far flung last mile operators (LMOs). Even as Cas made it unviable for LMOs to set up a digital Cas headend and offer a large pay bouquet, HITS offered several advantages to them.

    “The transmodulator cost is as low as Rs 2000 per channel and the LMOs can assemble their own, local basic tier. It is economically attractive if the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) permits nationwide Cas,” he said.

    SCaT chairman Sudeep Malhotra spoke on uplink and downlink policies, elaborating on the regulatory framework prescribed for the different genres of channels such as news and sports. “There are 164 Indian channels licensed to be uplinked from India. The channels that are registered and allowed to be downlinked into India amount to a total of 54 channels,” he said.