ITV

Category: DTH

  • Insat 4A services disrupted due to minor glitch

    Insat 4A services disrupted due to minor glitch

    MUMBAI: Insat 4A, the satellite which Tata Sky uses for its direct-to-home (DTH) operations, saw a minor disruption in services for about 30 minutes at around 4 pm due to solar disturbances.

    Insat 4A lost earth lock when one of the momentum wheels used for stabilizing the spacecraft got switched off, Indian Space Research Organisation said today in a release.

    Isro engineers at master control facility, Hassan, immediately took action to recover the earth lock and orient the satellite properly within about half an hour.

  • Shemaroo releases comedian Jaswinder Bhalla on VCD, DVDs

    Shemaroo releases comedian Jaswinder Bhalla on VCD, DVDs

    MUMBAI: Shemaroo Video has released comedian Jaswinder Bhalla’s Chhankata 2006 -Kadh’ Tiyan Kasraan on VCDs and DVDs.

    The Chhankata series stars the trio of Jaswinder Bhalla, Bal Mukand Sharma and Ms. Neelu, and is popular for its comedy on politics, social problems, corruption etc.

    Shemaroo says that the audio of Chhankata 2006, also released by Shemaroo has received a good response. Besides the regular thrill-full and meaningful comedy, non-stop satires, jokes and wits; the Silver Jubilee Edition has guest performances from Punjabi Singers like Sardool Sikander, Surinder Chinda,Balkar Sidhu, Sukhwinder Sukhi and Hardev Mahi Nangal who have sung to add special flavour to the album. Also issues like Rakhi Sawant – Mika controversy and molestation of girl students by Punjab Police are among the current topics covered in this comedy show.

    Shemaroo VP Hiren Gada said “Chhankata has become the common man’s entertainment source over the last so many years. We are extremely proud to release the Silver Jubilee edition of the Chhankata series which has entertained the audiences for two decades. We are sure that the edition will be a hit among Chhankata fans and emerge as the best in the series so far.”

    Bhalla says, “With the love and good wishes of my several fans I have been encouraged to provide them with wholesome entertainment year after year. This being the silver jubilee edition I am more than happy to be associated with a company like Shemaroo which has a national presence and is looking keenly to promote local artists and talent in the appropriate manner”.

    Shemaroo has also tied up with telecom operators for providing mobile downloads of the title.

  • Tata Sky, Zee Turner case: TDSAT asks for Trais’s position on DTH operations

    Tata Sky, Zee Turner case: TDSAT asks for Trais’s position on DTH operations

    NEW DELHI: The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (Tdsat) today asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to look into the issue of transponder capacity as raised by direct-to-home (DTH) service provider Tata Sky as a limiting factor.

    The Tdsat has also asked Trai whether it would like to regulate prices for channels on DTH operations, as it has done in the case of cable operations in the Cas regime, or let market forces operate as they are now, in terms of broadcasters fixing their own prices.

    Trai had been asked to state the time they would need to do so, and their counsel wanted two weeks. Trai has been asked to file an affidavit by 19 January.

    Tdsat was hearing the ongoing case between Tata Sky and Zee-Turner, regarding the fixing of channel offered by the latter, which Tata Sky found too high. Tata Sky had filed the case earlier also because according to it, Zee-Turner had not acceded to its request to stream signals over the issue of prices, violating Trai regulation.

    The matter came to head when Tata Sky alleged that Zee-Turner was indulging in cartelisation, since it was not only a MSO, but also part of a broadcaster on behalf of Turner.

    While the Tata Sky counsel was addressing the court, the Zee counsel intervened to say that though Tata Sky was challenging Zee’s contentions on the ground that it was an arm of broadcaster Turner, the same was the case with Tata Sky, which had an agreement with Star television, and could simply not seek to plead as just a DTH operator.

    Tata Sky had said during the arguments that it had to operate through various transponders, and the total capacity of these was limited; but Zee rebutted that over and above the channels Zee was giving Tata Sky, the latter was still able to beam local channels, so the issue of a limited capacity of transponders did not hold good.

    This is when the court decided to rise and discuss the issue between the brother judges.

    On resumption of hearing, the court, instead of allowing the parties to continue arguments, directly addressed the Trai counsel and said that there are “larger issues that are worrying us”, and asked Trai to come out with their position.

    While the counsel for Tata Sky referred to an earlier judgement of the same court (July 14, 2006), the court said certain issues may have been overlooked and hence, it was only Trai that would first need to state its position.

  • Dishtv announces special pricing for Cas

    Dishtv announces special pricing for Cas

    MUMBAI: With conditional access (Cas) coming in shortly in Dehli, Mumbai, Kolkatta, the war is on for the consumer. Direct-to-home (DTH) service provider Dishtv has announced pricing offers for the Cas cities.

    Dishtv has worked on a 2 pronged pricing strategy – both for the hardware as well as for the monthly subscriptions.

    For a dishtv connection, there is now an entry option and an overall value proposition.

    The new pricing options are as follows:

    Down Payment Offer: To deliver better value to its consumers, the existing scheme has been enhanced for all new incumbent subscribers in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata

    On the payment of monthly subscription of one month of any of the two packages, the consumer can enjoy six months viewing. This is applicable on the acquisition of hardware at Rs 2950 along with Rs 200 as installation charges.

    Easy Pay Offer: In order to enable an easy ‘getting started’, Dishtv offers the following scheme for Cas notified areas in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.

    A pay out of Rs 1300 (to take the entire equipment home, on right to use basis) + Rs 200 as installation charges. Thereafter, a monthly rental of Rs 35 for the hardware will apply for a period of five years. This will be charged along with the monthly subscription of any of the two packages that the consumer subscribes to.

    Multi TV households can now get started with dishtv at a special price. For instance, for four TVs in a typical south city home, one now needs to foot a bill of only Rs 6000 to get four dishtv connections. Further, the monthly subscriptions on the second, third and fourth connections would cost only Rs 100 + taxes each month.

    In addition its monthly subscription packages are also two tiered – one with 85 channels at Rs 210 +taxes per month and the other enhanced package with 125 channels at 240 + taxes per month, keeping in view the entertainment needs of varied users.

    Clearly, DTH service providers are taking the fight to the multi-system operators (MSOs). Tata Sky recently announced it would offer free subscription for six months to consumers who fall in the Cas area.

  • DTH services to launch shortly in Pakistan

    DTH services to launch shortly in Pakistan

    MUMBAI: Pakistan will soon open its doors to direct-to-home (DTH). Pakistan’s minister for information and broadcasting and senator Muhammad Ali Durrani says that the ministry would soon launch DTH in collaboration with the private sector.

    Media reports state that he was addressing the participants of a capacity building course of Information Group Officers here at the Information Service Academy (ISA). Director General ISA Ghulam Hazoor Bajwa was also present.

    The minister, during his lecture, said the government believed in development of an independent media which is the most effective accountability tool.

    The government he says, believes in the development of an independent media, which is the most effective accountability tool. If the government policies are free of corruption, nepotism and malpractices, the independent media helps its functioning by making it more efficient and vibrant.

    He says that the government will fully facilitate the capacity building of the private media and the ministry is taking steps to ensure transmission launching of private TV channels from Pakistan.

  • Bharti likely to enter DTH arena

    Bharti likely to enter DTH arena

    MUMBAI: The direct-to-home (DTH) space is set to get more crowded in India with the telecom majors planning to join the fray in addition to their IPTV gameplan.

    Bharti Group is the latest player to have shown interest to enter an arena which will be occupied by Kalanithi Maran’s Sun Direct and Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group next year along with the existing DTH operators Dish TV, Tata Sky and Doordarshan’s DD Direct Plus.

    “We are looking at DTH and are rolling out IPTV,” Bharti Enterprises Ltd chairman Sunil Mittal tells Indiantelevision.com.

    Bharti, it is reliably learnt, had preliminary discussions with Indian Space Research Orgainsation (ISRO) officials. With several players interested to kick off DTH operations, Isro is finding it a challenge to meet the growing demand for Ku-band transponders.

    Sun, for instance, has had to wait after the unfortunate failure of the GSLV-F02 launch rocket carrying the Insat-4C communication satellite in July this year. Maran had booked seven high-power Ku-band transponders in this satellite, out of which six would have been used for DTH and one for digital satellite news gathering.

    Bharati, however, has not yet applied for a DTH licence. “We are still evaluating. We haven’t yet applied for a licence,” says Mittal.

    Though telecom companies in India have chalked out ambitious triple play plans, they have not yet managed to sort out the technical issues. Last mile access to customer homes has also remained a big hurdle and private telcos, who have built a strong mobile phone business, have even looked at striking alliances with local cable operators. On the content front, there is no regulatory clarity yet for IPTV rights.

    Bharati, for instance, had conducted test trials with UTStarcom as the digital service provider for IPTV, but later made it open for other vendors as well. A leading mobile service provider, Bharti’s (like the other private telcos) progress on fixed telephone connections has been slow. With an eye to increase this base and raise ARPUs (average revenue per user) by delivering video content into consumer homes, the company has taken several steps for IPTV rollout including setting up a digital headend in Gurgaon on the outskirts of Delhi.

    “With IPTV still to kick off, some telcos feel DTH offers good opportunity and synergy,” says a trade analyst.

    Reliance, thus, is launching DTH under the Bluemagic brand and has roped in former Dish TV CEO Sunil Khanna to head the operations.

    The formula now being worked upon by the telcos is obviously to have a DTH footprint as well as IPTV which would give them access to homes for delivering video content.

  • DTH Television Group, Romania selects MagnaQuest for its digital services

    DTH Television Group, Romania selects MagnaQuest for its digital services

    MUMBAI: MagnaQuest is extending its subscriber billing solutions to Romania. The Hyderabad-based company has bagged a contract from DTH Television Group, Romania for providing its convergent customer management and billing solution, MQSubscribe.

    MQSubscribe will manage the subscriber billing, inventory, dealer and customer care operations. DTH Television Grup has launched digital TV services, which would include different packages of video channels, pay-per-view programmes (PPV) and interactive television.

    Says MagnaQuest CEO Vijay Debbad, “This is one of our important wins in Europe, which strengthens our position in the region. We look forward to supporting DTH Television Grup in their endeavors to offer pay TV, PPV and other value-added services on our convergent billing platform.”

    MQSubscribe is being deployed to support DTH Television Grup’s increasing subscriber growth and billing operations and will enable the company to quickly launch value added services. MQSubscribe will be integrated with NDS, a leading conditional access system.

  • Pan Asian Mobile TV consortium formed

    Pan Asian Mobile TV consortium formed

    MUMBAI: SK Telecom, TOSHIBA , Glocal Media, and International Mobile Broadcasting Pte. Ltd. have announced the formation of the Pan Asian Mobile TV consortium to enable digital multimedia broadcasting for mobile operators in the region.

    Trials are set to begin in early 2007 with leading mobile operators in Asia, asserts an official release.

    Masashi Suenaga TOSHIBA said, “The vision will bring a new era of Broadcasting in the Asia region. People can enjoy informative, educational and entertaining live contents from all over the world anytime and anywhere with cell phone most cost effectively by adopting S-DMB system that was commercially proven in Japan and Korea.”

    SK Telecom vice president J.H. Kah said, “The Pan Asian Mobile TV initiative will open a window of opportunity for the mass in the Asia Pacific region to enjoy a buffet of global contents ubiquitously through their mobile handset. This multilateral, cross-cultural initiative will exemplify the vision of a united Asia.”

    Project leader Tom Navasero added, “The Pan Asian Mobile TV consortium is the region’s first enabler for a regional mobileTV service. The initiative will contribute to the public by providing mobile learning, and disaster prevention media. Pan Asian Mobile TV will be able to contribute to the mutual understanding and the unification of this region through content reciprocity.”

    Glocal Media CEO Dennis Young said, “Glocal Media is very excited to be the content partner in this mobileTV consortium, we believe strongly that mobileTV is the next big thing and Asia is the place to do it. It offers us content owners a new distribution path to reach our customers and at the same time an opportunity to develop brand new forms of content that will be specific to mobileTV.”

    SK Telecom is Korea based mobile communications company with more than 20 million subscribers. Toshiba deals in digital multimedia broadcasting and is the founder of MBCO (Mobile Broadcasting Company in Japan). Glocal Media is a content aggregator. International Mobile Broadcasting is the holder of Asian mobile TV licenses and spectrum.
     

  • Sierra Ent. unveils ‘Ice Age 2: The Meltdown’ on Wii video games in US

    Sierra Ent. unveils ‘Ice Age 2: The Meltdown’ on Wii video games in US

    MUMBAI: Sierra Entertainment, a division of Vivendi Games, has announced that the video game Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, based on the animated film Ice Age: The Meltdown from 20th Century Fox is available at retailers across the US on the Wii video game system.

    “Ice Age 2 The Meltdown showed its strength as a popular movie-based kids video game with retail sales of over 1.3 million units and in the box office with sales topping $646 million worldwide,” said Vivendi Games president global retail Pascal Brochier. “We are expecting Ice Age 2 The Meltdown for Wii to follow a similar course.”

    The Wii Remote and Nunchuk controllers allow players to guide their favourite Ice Age: The Meltdown pals through challenging puzzles and exciting mini-games.

    Fox Licensing and Merchandising executive vice president Elie Dekel added, “This game is the perfect complement to the film and a great way for fans to extend their experience with the story and its characters.”

    “Ice Age 2 The Meltdown and the Wii are a perfect combination for family fun this holiday season,” said Vivendi Games chief strategy and marketing officer Cindy Cook. “Fox has stepped up as a partner to offer an incredible amount of talent, assets, and effort to the game, which also takes full advantage of the Wii Remote’s motion sensors. The result is an action-packed adventure featuring non-stop entertainment that is sure to appeal to gamers of all ages.”
     

  • BT, Microsoft & Philips join hands to unveil BT Vision in UK

    BT, Microsoft & Philips join hands to unveil BT Vision in UK

     MUMBAI: BT has announced the commercial launch of BT Vision, its new television and entertainment service. BT Vision uses the Microsoft TV Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) Edition software platform and an advanced Philips set-top box to deliver a next-generation digital television service to BT Total Broadband customers across the UK.

    BT Vision combines more than 40 DTT (digital terrestrial television )-based freeview channels, digital recording capability and a library of video-on-demand content delivered over broadband. This gives viewers more choice without the need to commit to a compulsory monthly TV subscription.

    An official release stated that BT, Microsoft Corp and Philips worked closely together to bring the full experience of BT Vision to the home. The Philips-designed set-top box offers advanced technology, including 80 hours of hard disk recording capability, two tuners, smart card reader, high-definition TV and numerous extension capabilities. The set-top box enables viewers to “time shift” programmes at their convenience, pausing live shows or recording them to watch at a later date. In addition, a “catch-up TV” feature gives viewers the convenience of viewing TV programmes they may have missed from the previous week.

    “BT Vision is a ground-breaking television service, giving consumers choice and flexibility without requiring them to be tied to a monthly TV contract,” said BT Vision chief executive Dan Marks. “Microsoft TV has given BT the power to build a service that we feel addresses a real market opportunity, enabling our customers to switch on to better TV.”

    BT Vision offers a variety of content combined with advanced television services. Further highlights include the following:
    – Varied content from Disney, Sony BMG, Universal, DreamWorks, National Geographic, Viacom and the BBC as well as independent programmers.
    – “Near-live” on-demand Premiership football action, starting in summer 2007.
    — Interactive services such as games.
    — Access to the phone book via the television.

    “BT Vision is a revolution for TV services in the UK. BT’s pioneering approach and Microsoft’s next-generation IPTV technologies have enabled a unique TV service that lets consumers control their TV experience,” said Microsoft’s TV division corporate vice president Enrique Rodriguez. “BT’s trusted brand is well-placed to bring exciting connected and personal television experiences to a wide range of consumers in the UK.”

    The announcement is the latest in a wave of European IPTV deployments based on the Microsoft TV software platform and heralds a new era of more compelling personal and connected TV experiences available to consumers.