ITV

Category: IPTV

  • IBC2023 preview: LTN showcases intelligent IP-based video distribution to drive flexibility and scale

    IBC2023 preview: LTN showcases intelligent IP-based video distribution to drive flexibility and scale

    Mumbai: LTN, the industry leader in transformative media technology and video transport solutions, will showcase how its IP-based technologies empower media companies to create, version, and monetize content across multiple platforms and regions at IBC2023. Visitors to LTN’s stand (#5.A76) will discover why major media companies are migrating to IP-based video transport for a more reliable, scalable, and cost-efficient approach to managing and distributing high-quality content.  

    The company will spotlight LTN Wave, its award-winning, fully managed, multicast-enabled IP-based transmission solution that provides customers with an intelligent and reliable alternative to traditional satellite or fiber-based models. Underpinned by the ultra reliable LTN Network with extremely-low latency, LTN Wave delivers next-generation business intelligence and seamless interoperability to enable media companies to deliver multiple tailored versions of content across any region, device, or platform. Some of the industry’s leading media organizations, including German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle and US sports network MSG Networks, harness LTN Wave to future-proof their transmission strategies while driving operational efficiencies.

    “Shifting to IP-based video transport is going to be top of the agenda for many business leaders at IBC2023. Media companies are increasingly moving to an IP-first roadmap to drive greater flexibility and business intelligence while securing profitability,” said LTN executive vice president & chief revenue officer Chris Myers. “LTN Wave gives media companies a best-in-class, fully managed solution that enables a stress-free migration to IP, while laying the foundations for greater customization and monetization across all digital platforms.”

    LTN will also showcase LTN Arc, the fully managed, cloud-enabled production solution that handles every aspect of live event versioning at scale for rights holders and sports platforms. Through automated workflows and supported by the highly redundant video transport backbone of the LTN Network, Arc delivers the versioning, customization, and decoration capabilities that rights holders need to tailor and deliver their content for diverse worldwide audiences while enabling downstream monetization.

  • MX Player and DistroTV partner to build India’s largest Live TV streaming service

    MX Player and DistroTV partner to build India’s largest Live TV streaming service

    Mumbai: DistroTV, one of the largest independent, free, ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) app, has announced that it is expanding its distribution in partnership with MX Player, India’s leading OTT Platform via an app-in-app integration. Now millions of MX Player users in India can stream DistroTV’s impressive and diverse content line-up with hundreds of channels in India for free.

    DistroTV features more than 270 Channels globally and 180 channels in India and growing, with everything from news, sports, movies, music & entertainment, and lifestyle content. This includes original content and new channel offerings that cater to Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Marathi, English, Punjabi and adding more languages and channels.

    “We are excited to partner with MX Player which is amongst the largest streaming service in the world. We are bringing the best of Indian and International FAST content to the Indian audiences. This partnership will bring content across both mobile devices and Connected TV’s,” said DistroScale CEO & co-founder Navdeep Saini, parent company of DistroTV.

    “MX Player is the pioneer within AVOD content and offers one of the largest reach platforms within digital. This partnership will help content owners access this massive digital reach across devices. This partnership is extremely symbiotic as both organisations are strong AVOD proponents,” said DistroScale CEO (India, SEA and MENA) Vikas Khanchandani.

    MX Player spokesperson said, “We are constantly looking to give even more great entertainment and are committed to providing a best-in-class user experience for our viewers. Our partnership with DistroTV is fantastic news for our customers as it gives them a larger and diverse bouquet of entertainment.”

  • DistroTV expands distribution, now streaming free on VIZIO Smart TVs

    DistroTV expands distribution, now streaming free on VIZIO Smart TVs

    Mumbai: DistroTV, the nation’s largest, independent, free, ad-supported streaming TV (Fast) app on Friday announced that it is expanding its content offerings to Vizio. Now millions of Vizio users can stream DistroTV’s impressive and diverse content lineup — 270 channels and growing plus thousands of hours of VOD content — for free, anytime on the VIZIO Smart TV platform.

    DistroTV features over 270 multicultural channels and is growing, with everything from news, sports, movies, music & entertainment, and lifestyle content. This includes original content and new channel offerings that cater to English, Southeast Asian / Indian and Spanish-speaking audiences, as well as a recently released channel bundle that targets the African community. It is available to stream for free in over 60 markets through its apps on streaming devices and smart TVs, as well as worldwide on the web through Distro.tv, the platform truly features something for every viewer. No registration, sign-up, or fees are required.

    DistroTV’s comprehensive streaming library includes:

    -An impressive wave of new channels available to stream for free that appeal to DistroTV’s core US, UK, and Canadian audiences which includes a total of.

    -45 sports channels, with the most diverse collection of live & linear mainstream sports, combat sports, niche sports and outdoors channels, like stadium, beIN Sports Xtra, Swerve Sports, Impact Wrestling Channel, Fightnetwork, Wired2Fish, ACL Cornhole, MotoAmerica TV and FuelTV.

    -Broad array of diverse movies & entertainment channels including CineLife by Magnolia Pictures, Kweli TV, Watch It Scream, FrightFlix, Bowery Classics, Dark Matter, CinePride and many more.

    -13 documentary channels, including Goalcast, Magellan TV, Beautiful Planet & True History.
     
    -Notable new additions to the entertainment, lifestyle & food category, including AXS TV Now, Trace Urban, Bite, Planet Eat, and GustoTV.

    -A total of 21 spanish-language channels are available in North America, such as Estrella, beIN Sports XTRA Ñ, Top Cine, Canela.TV, Trace Latina, Casa Comedy and Spanglish and more spanish language entertainment, movie, documentaries, news and sports channels.

    -36 live streaming DistroTV Desi South Asian news, entertainment, and music channels featuring WION, TimesNow, Mastiii, Epic, MirrorNow, BritAsia and much more.

    -African channel bundle, DistroTV Africa, featuring 11 entertainment and music-oriented channels available to stream for free.

    -Providing audiences in the US and Canada with home screen access to must-have apps like Apple TV+, BET+, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, FuboTV, Netflix, Paramount+, Peacock, Prime Video and YouTube TV, VIZIO users now have round-the-clock access to DistroTV.

    -VIZIO and DistroTV are aligned in their missions to provide content and access for everyone; including movies and syndicated TV shows in the sports, kids and family, news, lifestyle, gaming, and music categories, and more.

    “We are thrilled to join the VIZIO family, particularly at a time when we are continuing to grow our viewership and channel content at a rapid pace,” said DistroScale co-founder & CEO Navdeep Saini. “By expanding our distribution via VIZIO Smart TVs, we can continue to provide audiences with the content they crave, and all while maintaining our FAST no-sign up, credit card or email required model.”

    DistroScale Country Head-India Vikas Khanchandani said, “US has over 87 per cent homes with at least one Connected TV and other western countries are seeing scale as well. Vizio is one of the largest CTV players in the US market and brings access to a large viewership base within Vizio for Indian content owners. It’s an opportunity to tap into the large advertising market in the US and other western countries and simultaneously combat piracy in those markets. FAST (Free Ad Supported Television) is bringing the lean-back linear experience for users on television and is solving for content discovery with sharper defined cohorts. Distro is focussed on building a very strong South Asian bouquet of content for the diaspora audiences across the world and bring in the ad monetisation through its vast global advertising footprint.”

    “VIZIO appreciates DistroTV’s dedication to building personalized experiences for today’s streaming audience,” said VIZIO’s senior director of business development Chris Tanquary. “VIZIO strives to be a place where viewers have endless entertainment options across all categories and genres so there is something for everyone,” Tanquary added.

     

  • Embracer Group acquires IP rights for LOTR, Hobbit literary works by JRR Tolkien

    Embracer Group acquires IP rights for LOTR, Hobbit literary works by JRR Tolkien

    Mumbai: Embracer Group through its wholly owned subsidiary Freemode, has entered into an agreement to acquire Middle-earth Enterprises. This is a division of The Saul Zaentz Company, which owns the intellectual property catalogue and worldwide rights to motion pictures, video games, board games, merchandising, theme parks and stage productions relating to the iconic fantasy literary works “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as matching rights to other Middle-earth-related literary works authorised by the Tolkien Estate and HarperCollins, which have yet to be explored.

    Key upcoming works set in Middle-earth, in which the enterprise has financial interests, include the much-anticipated Amazon series The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power, which will premiere on 2 September 2022, is set thousands of years before The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings; the animated film The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (Warner Bros), which will be released in 2024; and the mobile game “The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth” (Electronic Art).

    Other opportunities include exploring additional movies based on iconic characters such as Gandalf, Aragorn, Gollum, Galadriel, Eowyn, and other characters from the literary works of J.R.R. Tolkien, and continuing to provide new opportunities for fans to explore this fictive world through merchandising and other experiences.

    The acquisition of the rights is in line with Embracer’s IP-driven transmedia strategy. “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” are among the world’s largest and most enduring iconic entertainment franchises and have birthed the fantasy genre.

    Middle-earth Enterprises will be a part of the newly founded operative group, Embracer Freemode. The company will continue to operate independently under the existing Middle-earth Enterprises leadership team, working closely with Embracer Freemode management and other Embracer operative groups to foster opportunities, growth, and synergies within the group to continue to build and expand the great franchise.

    “I am truly excited to have “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit,” one of the world’s most epic fantasy franchises, join the Embracer family, opening up more transmedia opportunities, including synergies across our global group. I am thrilled to see what lies in the future for this IP with Freemode and Asmodee as a start within the group. Going forward, we also look forward to collaborating with both existing and new external licensees of our increasingly stronger IP portfolio,” said Embracer Group founder and Group CEO Lars Wingefors.

    “We at the Zaentz Company have had the honour over the past half century of stewarding the Tolkien rights so that The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit fans worldwide could enjoy award-winning epic films, challenging video games, first-rate theatre and merchandise of every variety. We could not be more thrilled that it is Embracer now taking up the responsibility, and we are confident their group will take it to new heights and dimensions while maintaining homage to the spirit of these great literary works,” said The Saul Zaentz Company COO Marty Glick.

  • Synamedia acquires live video streaming specialist Quortex to accelerate its SaaS offerings

    Synamedia acquires live video streaming specialist Quortex to accelerate its SaaS offerings

    Mumbai: An independent video software provider Synamedia on Tuesday announced the acquisition of the privately-held provider of a leading cloud video delivery platform Quortex, optimised for just-in-time processing of live video streaming.

    With this acquisition, Synamedia will enhance its cloud video network capabilities, complementing its vivid workflow as-a-service (WaaS) with a set of innovative solutions for OTT content processing, disaster recovery, long tail content processing for large service providers and live events.

    Using a patented,  pay-as-you-stream model, Quortex’s just-in-time technology provides exactly the resources required at any given time. If no one is watching a channel, it simply frees up those resources. This methodology provides time to market and considerable cost advantages over existing cloud approaches while ensuring that every deployed resource has a purpose. For example, for long tail content, Quortex’s technology reduces cloud costs up to 67 per cent.

    Quortex’s multi-tenant software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology builds video streams on-the-fly, based on the end users’ requirements and matched to viewers’ locations, devices and time zones. It adapts to unpredictable networks, infrastructure and audiences, and automatically scales cloud resources up and down, leveraging spot instances that take advantage of spare cloud capacity at a fraction of the typical cost, while maintaining the quality of experience. The service is designed for any live streaming provider including telcos, cable operators, direct-to-consumer (D2C) players, and broadcasters.

    As a founding member of Greening of Streaming, and as energy costs spiral and organisations commit to cutting CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions, Quortex is well positioned to play an important role in sustainability strategies.

    Synamedia EVP and general manager of video network Julien Signes said, “By pioneering just-in-time video streaming processing and delivery, Quortex has broken new ground with live services that dynamically spring to life when processing a user request. This radical change in the economics of cloud processing will accelerate the migration of live video services to the cloud. We see enormous potential as we expand Quortex’s reach globally – for the fast-growing D2C (direct-to-consumer) live streaming market as well as our traditional service provider customer base who want to reduce infrastructure costs and meet their CO2 reduction commitments.”

    An independent analyst and advisor Ben Keen commented, “True innovation often derives from a dismantling of legacy approaches to a problem and Quortex has brought some timely fresh thinking to video streaming technology. Reversing the traditional ‘push’ architecture, the Quortex team has come up with a potentially more efficient scalable ‘pull’ process that uses bandwidth only when it is required. The addition of this true SaaS proposition to the portfolio should allow Synamedia to offer live streaming services to a far broader range of increasingly cost-sensitive and environmentally-aware customers.”

    Quortex CEO and founder Marc Baillavoine said, “With our breakthrough just-in-time approach, we have turned the live streaming model on its head, ditching the need to wastefully provision streaming resources just-in-case. We believe that with Synamedia’s global reach and complementary product lines, we can accelerate our mission to transform the agility and cost of streaming and slash its carbon footprint.”

    Quortex was founded in Rennes (France) in 2018 by a team of video industry experts with more than 100 patents. Customers include beIN Group Media, M6 and Red Bee Media. The company’s employees in France and the UK will be joining Synamedia.  

    Quortex has been supported since its inception by Elaia, Go Capital, Unexo and business angels. Its technology will be part of Synamedia’s video network portfolio, and the company will continue to operate under its own brand while taking advantage of Synamedia’s customer base, financial strength and global presence.

  • Synamedia acquires Utelly to boost Synamedia Go’s content discovery capabilities

    Synamedia acquires Utelly to boost Synamedia Go’s content discovery capabilities

    Mumbai: World’s largest independent video software provider Synamedia has announced the acquisition of Utelly, a UK-based privately-owned content discovery platform provider.

    As a part of this deal, Synamedia has acquired the company with products targeted at the entertainment industry. Its offerings include metadata aggregation, search and recommendations, as well as content management and a content promotion engine.

    Utelly’s solution simplifies the complexity of users’ content discovery across TV channels, demand and multiple streaming services. Its SaaS-based technology is already pre-integrated with the Synamedia Go video platform and will now be embedded in the Go.

    Aggregate add-on pack to solve one of the major challenges that viewers face such as finding content across TV and apps on any screen. Utelly’s technology achieves this through metadata aggregation, intelligent asset linking, AI and machine learning.

    Utelly aggregates data in real-time from multiple metadata providers – pre-integrated with Gracenote, TiVo, IMDB, Netflix and fifty other platforms. By unifying data and using AI to enrich sparse data sets, Utelly provides customers with search and recommendations that enhance viewers’ content discovery experiences. The result is an increase in customers’ Net Promoter Score (NPS), subscriber retention, and ARPU.

    This acquisition strengthens the Synamedia Go offering and underlines a new phase of investment in Synamedia’s portfolio of SaaS streaming solutions which also includes Synamedia Clarissa, Synamedia Iris, VIVID Workflow as a Service, and Synamedia OTT ServiceGuard.

    Speaking of this development, Synamedia CEO Paul Segre said, “Every day we hear from customers that metadata aggregation is an obstacle that is negatively impacting viewer engagement. Utelly was ahead of the curve in recognizing this and developing a SaaS solution that enables end-users to find content across aggregated TV and video services. Its AI-powered solution eliminates the complexity of combining data from multiple metadata providers and is a great addition to our Synamedia Go streaming platform.”

    Utelly founder and CEO Romain Eude commented, “This acquisition is testament to the hard work and ingenuity of our tight-knit team of developers who have put Utelly on the map. We look forward to the next step in Utelly’s journey as we become part of the Synamedia family and embrace the new opportunities on a global scale.”

  • Conviva data shows 10% streaming growth worldwide in Q1

    Conviva data shows 10% streaming growth worldwide in Q1

    Mumbai: Global streaming grew 10 percent globally, including continued growth in mature markets like North America (5 percent) and Europe (9 percent), during the Q1 of 2022 as compared to 2021, according to the latest Conviva’s State of Streaming report, the continuous measurement analytics platform for streaming media.

    “Despite recent news of Netflix’s subscriber contraction, streaming continues to grow worldwide, encompassing an ever-growing stable of platforms offering unique and original content. In mature markets like the US and Europe, viewers are upscreening from small devices to Smart TVs, setting the foundation for streaming to overtake linear TV on the big screen” said Conviva president, CEO Keith Zubchevich.

    Conviva’s Q1 2022 report found big screens (which includes connected TVs, smart TVs and gaming consoles) continue to be the streaming device of choice, responsible for 77 percent of all streamed minutes globally in Q1 2022. Within the big screen category, smart TV viewing time grew by 34 percent while desktops and gaming consoles declined by 15 percent versus Q1 2021. Connected TV device viewing slightly declined again this quarter, down 1 percent YOY. Within the connected TV category, Roku maintained the largest share of viewing time (31 percent) with Amazon Fire coming in second at 16 percent.

    When it came to actual minutes streamed, Android TV was the big leader in growth across all the top big screens—up 78 percent. In yet another win for smart TVs, LG TV, Samsung TV, and Vizio TV all also had double-digit growth, up about 20 percent.

    Quality Improves with One Exception: Globally, bitrate/picture quality (up 17.3 percent), buffering (down nearly 1 percent) and video start failures (down 17.6 percent) all improved significantly. Video start times were the one negative mark in terms of quality, as the wait for videos to start increased in every region, up 30 percent globally. Viewers in Africa waited the longest (8 seconds) while Europe had the fastest start time, waiting just four seconds on average.

    In Q4 2021, the streaming industry saw advertising delays and increased buffering, but streaming advertising bounced back nicely in Q1 2022. Ad impressions were up 18 percent and ad attempts were up 14 percent, thanks in part to big, live sporting events like the Super Bowl, March Madness and the Winter Olympics.

    TikTok Reigns for Sports Leagues: Streaming on social platforms continues to be a key way for sports leagues to engage fans, and according to Conviva, TikTok was the only platform to grow its streaming audience share for every sports league measured. Bundesliga, Serie A, and the Premier League increased their audience share for streaming videos on TikTok the most at 6 percent each with the NFL coming right behind them with 4 percent growth on TikTok YOY. In fact, both Superbowl teams – the Rams and the Bengals – gained over 100k TikTok followers in a single day (Feb 13-14).

    Methodology: Conviva’s data is primarily collected using proprietary sensor technology with a global footprint of more than 500 million unique viewers watching 200 billion streams per year across nearly four billion applications streaming on devices. Embedded directly within streaming video applications, the sensor measures across content and ads to analyze nearly three trillion real-time transactions per day for its customers. In the State of Streaming report, the year-over-year data from Q1 2022 as compared to Q1 2021 was normalized based on Conviva’s customer base. The social media data consists of data from over 2800 accounts, over 1.8 million posts, and over 10 billion engagements across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube in Q1 2022. Social data for professional sports leagues was collected from individual leaderboard lists for each sports league that totaled 262 individual team accounts and tallied over five billion cross-platform engagements in Q1 2022.

  • The 4K-HDR summit of Malaga celebrates its fifth edition with the best of technology and content

    The 4K-HDR summit of Malaga celebrates its fifth edition with the best of technology and content

    MUMBAI: The Delegate Councillor for Innovation and Urban Digitalization, Susana Carillo, and the CEO of Medina Media Events, Ricardo Medina, organizer of the 4K-HDR Summit, have presented this morning the program of the fifth edition of the main world summit on the 4K, to be held on November 6, 7 and 8 at the Digital Content Pole in Malaga.

    In total there will be 24 keynotes and 4 panels offering reports, proposals and visions on this new technology, which for three days in Malaga brings together the best speakers from other international forums such as NabShow in Las Vegas, IBC Amsterdam and MIPCOM Cannes. There are 16 countries participating in this edition, represented by speakers, sponsors and attendees from the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Colombia, India, Korea, Japan, Holland, Canada, Norway, Mexico, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Switzerland and Spain.

    Within the framework of this international summit, there will also be the award ceremony for the "Malaga 4K Fest" Short Film Festival, on Friday 8th November at the Albéniz Cinema from 7:00 p.m (free access until full capacity) and the presentation of the UHD Spain Association (a non-profit association of which companies and professionals interested in the development of Ultra High Definition in Spain can take part).

    THE PRESIDENTS OF THE TWO WORLDWIDE UHD ASSOCIATIONS AT THE 4K SUMMIT

    Thierry Fautier, President of the Ultra High Definition World Forum (UHDF) and Michael Zink, Chairman of the UHD Alliance, will participate in a panel session where they will discuss the challenges of both global partnerships. Fautier will share his vision on the 4K and 8K. For Fautier: "The 8K is not at the same level of maturity as the 4K, nor is it yet so deployed internationally. You have to keep advancing in the 8K and watching how it evolves". Michael Zink will talk about the creation of Filmmaker Mode, a solution created by the UHDA that preserves the creative intention of filmmakers from their own homes.

    For his part, Richard Moreton, representing the 8K Association (8KA), will talk about the maturation of the 8K ecosystem and its creative value within the current landscape of device manufacturing and Ultra High Definition content production.

    THE MOST SPECTACULAR 4K AND 8K IMAGES OF THE NASA, IN THE DEMONSTRATION AREA OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

    Carlos Fontanot, Imagery Manager of NASA's International Space Station (ISS) will again participate in the 4K-HDR Summit to discuss the use of 4K and 8K on board the ISS, the challenges of downloading files ashore, the impact of gamma rays on sensors, the training crew members receive, and working with commercial partners to distribute and widely use NASA material. It will also expose the challenges of replacing existing HD cameras aboard the ISS. The right camera set for Gateway and NASA's 2024 lunar mission, among other issues.

    For the first time in Spain, the 8K images recorded from the International Space Station by NASA will be available for viewing. It will be on Samsung's exclusive QLED 8K televisions in the 4K Summit demonstration area. Admission will be open to the public, who can register for free at this link. Attendees will also be able to enjoy the latest 4K, 8K and HDR devices and content.

    THE WORLD'S LEADING ANALYSTS WILL GIVE THEIR VIEWS ON THE 4K AND 8K

    In the fifth edition of the 4K-HDR Summit, the world's leading analysts in Ultra High Definition, the British multinational IHS Markit, Paul Gray and María Rua, will provide their reports on the audiovisual sector. María Rua will analyse the current situation of the 4K market on the first day and Paul Gray will close the summit with his conclusions on the presentations and panels of the event.
     
    Mohammed Hamza, another of the world's leading analysts at UHD, from the US multinational S&P Global, will also participate in the Malaga Summit, where he will present an exclusive report on 4K and smartphones, which have Ultra High Definition (UHD) cameras and screens, and whose quality is increasingly valued by manufacturers and by younger consumers.

    Michel Chabrol, Senior Vice President New TV Formats of Eutelsat (France) will offer an exclusive report on the capacity of satellites to transmit in 4K and 8K.

     THE BEST 4K AND 8K CONTENT IN THE WORLD

    Prashant Chothani, CEO of TravelXP of India, the world's leading 4K travel channel, will present his best productions at the 4K Summit. Pablo Alemán, Managing Director of the Spanish company Wild Stories, will show unique 4K HDR images of recordings made in the middle of nature, where man has no access. On the other hand, Amos Rozenberg, CEO of the French production company Paramax Films, will talk about retransmissions of Jazz festivals in 4K and 8K. Paramax Films is a production company specialized in the filming and distribution of concerts all over the world. They have over 100 hours of jazz, pop and rock concerts with prestigious artists (Macy Gray, Maroon 5, Sly & Robbie, Justin Bieber, Will I am, Black Eyed Peas, 50 Cents, etc.). Representing Movistar+ will be Nicolás Lecocq, Senior Manager Video Business, who will talk about the second season of one of the most acclaimed Spanish series in recent times: La Peste. The Colombian corporation Caracol TV, together with Eymard Cabrales, will also be speaking about their latest 4K productions for Netflix.

    In terms of sports content, Emili Planas, Mediapro's CTO Operations Manager, will talk about the company's two-and-a-half years of experience with top-level UHD-HDR sports productions and the keys to spectacular HDR images.

    Peer Seitz, production manager at Infront Productions (HBS) in Switzerland, will talk about HBS's experience at the Rugby World Cup 2019 and present at the 4K-HDR Summit in Malaga the successful 5G connected camera configuration tests that took place at the BMW Berlin Marathon 2019 last September. It is the first time that this configuration is implemented in continental Europe, in a live 5G public network.

    Rafael Porras, president of Canal Sur, will also participate in this fifth edition. For the last five years, Canal Sur has expanded its documentary archive with contents from Flamenco, Semana Santa, Carnaval de Cádiz and El Rocío, in others, produced for the first time in 4K. The channel has a 4K DTT pilot channel with Axión and a Hbbtv application from which you can enjoy its 4K contents. 

    TOKYO 2020: ASIAN MULTINATIONALS, THE MAIN PROTAGONISTS OF THE 4K-HDR SUMMIT

    The proposals of the main Asian technological multinationals from Korea and Japan, world leaders in Ultra High Definition (UHD), will be the main protagonists of this new edition of the 4K-HDR Summit. On the other hand, the Japanese multinational Panasonic will have an important role in the 4K-HDR Summit in Malaga with its sights set on 2020, year in which it will be one of the technological protagonists of the Tokyo Olympic Games, of which it is the sponsor and main supplier with the cameras that will generate the signal that in Ultra High Definition (UHD) will be transmitted all over the world. More than 300 Panasonic engineers have been working for years in the headquarters of the NHK, the Japanese public television in charge of producing the signal that will be offered to everyone through free-to-air channels, pay channels such as Eurosport, platforms such as Twitter or DAZN, etc. The German engineer Stefan Hoffman, responsible for the engineering of the camera systems, will be in charge of presenting Panasonic's great role in the broadcast of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

    Korean multinational Samsung, the main sponsor of the 4K HDR Summit, will present the world's first 8K HDR+ content. Nacho Monge, TV&AV Marketing Director Iberia Samsung, will be responsible for presenting the amazing features of the 8K HDR10+ on the first day of the 4K-HDR Summit, next November 6, at the National Pole of Digital Content in Malaga.

    Peter Sykes, Strategic Technology Development Manager of the Japanese multinational Sony, will be another speaker at the 4K-HDR Summit. In his presentation he will explain the innovations of the last year and the workflows they use in Sony for the creation and delivery of Ultra HD images with High Dynamic Range (HDR).

    Carlos Castán, Industrial Products Manager Broadcast and Cinema Dept. of Canon; and Salvador Luna, Manager Photo Imaging & Optical Devices of Fujinon (both Japanese multinationals), will share the success stories of both companies. Canon will talk about the live broadcast in 4K HDR of the relief guard at the Royal Palace in Madrid. For its part, Fujinon will highlight the collaboration with Dorna, which has allowed them to evolve technically since 1985 in the subject of on board cameras.

  • Copyright infringement and piracy: US court holds IPTV device retailer accountable

    Copyright infringement and piracy: US court holds IPTV device retailer accountable

    MUMBAI: A bankruptcy court in Florida (US) has ruled that Amit Bhalla, a retailer of IPTV streaming devices with unauthorised channels, cannot use a bankruptcy case to shield himself from monetary liability for copyright infringement.

    In 2016, the US District Court for the Central District of California issued a permanent injunction halting the unlawful distribution of television content from programmers CCTV and TVB on TVpad devices. DISH Network, which has the exclusive rights to distribute much of CCTV’s and TVB’s content in the United States (including through its Sling TV OTT service), and CICC, an affiliate of CCTV, were also plaintiffs in that underlying lawsuit, which began in 2015.

    Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) is a popular producer of Cantonese-language television programming. Originally aired in Hong Kong and Taiwan, the programmes are broadcast in the US on 10 channels. CCTV distributes seven international channels in the US. DISH provides around 13 million pay-TV subscribers over 200 national HD channels, international channels and award-winning HD and DVR technology.

    The plaintiffs alleged that the manufacturers and distributors of the TVpad device set up a pirate broadcasting network designed to stream CCTV and TVB channels without authorisation.

    The court ordered manufacturers and distributors of TVpad to pay US$ 55 million in damages to DISH, TVB, CCTV and CICC, and the injunction prohibited retailers from distributing, advertising, marketing or promoting TVpad and comparable devices that deliver CCTV’s or TVB’s copyrighted content.

    Rather than accept responsibility for his actions, Bhalla chose to file for bankruptcy in an attempt to avoid being held financially accountable. Citing Bhalla’s willful and malicious conduct, the plaintiffs filed a motion for summary judgment in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida. The court granted the motion, and Bhalla must now pay plaintiffs US$ 4.4 million for copyright and trademark infringement.

    “This ruling sends an important message to retailers who think they can get away with profiting off pirated content: you will eventually be held accountable, and a bankruptcy filing will not protect you,” said TVB USA vice-president – operations Samuel Tsang. “Our hope is that, as a result of this ruling, retailers will stop selling content obtained through illegal means and instead serve their customers with legal, reliable content and devices,” Tsang added.

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  • India, China focus of report on ‘bundling interactive services with IPTV content delivery’ to accentuate market

    India, China focus of report on ‘bundling interactive services with IPTV content delivery’ to accentuate market

    MUMBAI: Interactive Services are being bundled with Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) content delivery to accentuate market. QYResearchReports.com has announced the addition of a new market intelligence report, titled “Global Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) Market Research Report 2021”.

    The research provides a granular analysis of major factors shaping the consumer demand and preference in various regions such as North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia, with a focus on India, Japan, and China.

    The intensifying demand for services to deliver standard or high-definition television signals over the internet in real time is a key factor driving the evolution of IPTV. The growing popularity of IPTV for streaming media to access TV channels is attributed to several distinct advantages it offers over traditional cable and satellite pay-TV services. Over the past few years, cable operators and satellite broadcasters in developing and developed channels are increasingly using IPTV to provide additional channels to their subscribers. This is a key factor accentuating the market.

    The rising demand for customizable TV content and the pressing need for improving quality of service (QoS) for content providers are key trends expected to stoke the demand for IPTV. The unique advantage of IPTV to subscribers to view programs that they want and at their convenient time is a key factor propelling the demand for IPTV in various parts of the world.

    The growing popularity of video-on-demand (VoD) and time-shifted TV is a prominent trend catalyzing the growth of the IPTV market. Recent advances made in broadband infrastructure in several developing and developed nations and the advent of robust video compression technology are key factors expected to accentuate the IPTV market.

    The ability to bundle a variety of hybrid services with IPTV services is a key factor bolstering their demand across various industries for creating targeted advertising-on-demand video (AVoD). The offering of interactive services has further boosted the IPTV market. In recent years, IPTV has offered exciting avenues for a number of telecommunication companies exploring new revenue streams to improve their profitability in developing and developed nations. The rising internet penetration in several developing economies and the rising adoption of wireless communication technologies are key trend expected to fortify the IPTV market in the foreseeable future.

    However, the lack of viable communication infrastructure in less developed regions is a key factor likely to hinder the growth of the IPTV market. Furthermore, the high cost of setting up dedicated network architecture and platforms for delivering high-quality TV over the internet is a vital factor likely to hamper the adoption in several countries.

    The need for high bandwidth requirement is also likely to hinder the demand in less developed regions. The growing popularity of OTT services in developed regions is also anticipated to negatively impact the market to an extent. Nevertheless, the prominence of wireless-based distribution networks in various developing and developed countries is a key trend expected to create lucrative avenues for market players in the coming years. In addition, the demand for premium content to be delivered over IPTV is gaining significance, thereby unlocking exciting opportunities in various regions.

    Prominent players operating in the OTT market, according to the report, include PCCW Limited, NTT Plala, Neuf Cegetel, Deutsche Telekom, BT Group plc., UTStarcom, Bharti Airtel, AT&T, Orange S.A., Verizon Communications, and China Telecommunications Corporation.