ITV

Category: Over The Top Services

  • ShareChat lays off 101 employees

    ShareChat lays off 101 employees

    MUMBAI: Indian video-sharing social media platform ShareChat has laid off 101 employees in view of the unpredictable advertising market in 2020 due to the Covid2019 pandemic, reported Economic Times.

    According to the newspaper's report, the company emailed its employees on Wednesday regarding various cost-cutting measures. It was only in October last year the Bengaluru-based platform, which has been funded by Twitter, started monetizing through advertising. 

    CEO and co-founder Ankush Sachdeva was quoted by the newspaper as saying that the company needs to go back to the fundamentals.

    ShareChat competes with TikTok and Facebook and has 60 million monthly active users in India. In August 2019 ShareChat raised $100 million funding from Twitter, Shunwei Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, SAIF Capital, India Quotient and Morningside Venture Capital, and TrustBridge Partners.

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  • Eros Now’s original series ‘Metro Park’ releases a quarantine edition

    Eros Now’s original series ‘Metro Park’ releases a quarantine edition

    MUMBAI: OTT platform Eros Now has announced the release of a special quarantine edition of its original series titled ‘Metro Park’. Five episodes of three to five minutes each promises to take fans on an exciting joyride as it showcases a fascinating story that revolves around the members of a Gujarati family settled in New Jersey, USA.

    The first season of the original series had gained much applause in 2019.  

    Over the years, Indian culture has made its presence felt globally. Regardless of which part of the world we are in, our deep-rooted values have given birth to many Indian neighbourhoods. The distinctive and individual characteristics of Indians settled abroad not only capture everyone’s attention but often our desi community is seen as a catalyst for some quirkiness. Art imitates life, and that comes across in this captivating series starring Ranvir Shorey, Purbi Joshi, Omi Vaidya, Vega Tamotia and Pitobash Tripathy amongst others. The first season received several accolades and popularised the concept of e-pooja in many places, setting an all-new trend.

    A perfect blend of drama and comedy, ‘Metro Park – Quarantine’ Edition is here to leave us all entertained. This time around, the residents of Metro Park can be seen in quarantine mode; however Covid2019 fails to curb the spirit of its cheerful and chirpy residents even in such challenging times. In this quarantine special edition one can witness how despite staying indoors, Kalpesh and gang adapt to the new ways of living which has become the new normal and stay cautious, creative, and maybe even a little calm.

    This quarantine edition has had actors shoot their portions independently at their residences. Right from Payal taking online dance sessions to Kalpesh trying his hands at cooking – there is a lot that in the series that will keep you glued to the screen.

    Eros Group chief content officer says: "The amount of love Metro Park's first season garnered last year, it got all of us at Eros Now really excited to put together a special Quarantine Edition of the show. We are aiming to deliver exciting and unique content for our viewers world over, which they can binge watch and enjoy during the lockdown. With the characters and milieu both being relatable to the current circumstances worldwide, we are confident this special edition will be showered with tons of love by the audiences.”

    Ecstatic to be a part of Metro Park – Quarantine Edition, Ranvir Shorey said: “It is always a joy to work with Eros, and even more so to work on Metro Park. It is very special to me, as it was the first series that I shot for a digital platform. Shooting for Metro Park – Quarantine Edition has been truly exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time because it is entirely shot from home by the cast, which is turning into the new normal in the times of Covid – 19. I’m hopeful that Metro Park fans will enjoy watching these specials especially made for them.”

    Omi Vaidya also spoke about working on this special edition of the series and added: “People are struggling in lockdown and the stories we see on tv/online suddenly seem so irrelevant and don't speak to the challenges people are facing right now. Because of Metro Park season one's success and the immense appreciation it received from audiences, we made it a point to create a special Metro Park – Quarantine Edition to give people some relief and a comedic mirror of their own lives. We are just so lucky we have such a dynamic partner like Eros Now to bring out such interesting content. It's been a wonderful experience collaborating with them as they take chances and push the envelope of quality storytelling."

    Written by Ajayan Venugopalan and directed by Abi Varghese and Ajayan Venugopalan, Metro Park – Quarantine Edition will be premiering on ErosNow.com Saturday, 23 May onwards.

    Trailer:  bit.ly/MetroParkQE_OfficialTrailer …

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  • Coming on 27 May: WarnerMedia’s streaming platform HBO Max

    Coming on 27 May: WarnerMedia’s streaming platform HBO Max

    MUMBAI: WarnerMedia's new streaming platform HBO Max will go live next week on 27 May, seven months after the project was first announced. The company has already entered into distribution deals with many partners, which include leading gaming, smart-TV platforms, and cable operators, reported Deadline website.

    While using its own library of fan favourites, showing hit shows like Friends, Doctor Who, The Big Bang Theory, etc., the streaming platform will feature six originals from day one. They include Love Life, a scripted comedy with Anna Kendrick.

    The company is already in discussions with Roku for HBO Max on various aspects, reports Variety. They are: the kind of subscription fee cut Roku will take, WarnerMedia’s reported insistence that HBO Max be made available as an app, and how Roku markets HBO Max on the platform.

    A Roku statement said that it is “focused on entering into win-win distribution agreements with all new OTT services as part of their launch strategies. While we don’t typically comment on specific deal terms or negotiations, the fact is that in this instance while we believe that HBO Max would benefit greatly from distribution on Roku at launch, we do not currently have an agreement in place.”

    “The launch of HBO Max is an important milestone for our company, and we’re excited that these valued partners will be on board for the launch. Through our expansive distribution pipeline, millions of customers will have immediate access to a best-in-class streaming experience come May 27,” said WarnerMedia Distribution president Rich Warren.
    In the months to come, it will add more new originals and classics. Viewers can take a monthly subscription for $11.99, which is a discounted offer.

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  • ZEE5 India CEO Tarun Katial to chair IAMAIdigital entertainment committee

    ZEE5 India CEO Tarun Katial to chair IAMAIdigital entertainment committee

    MUMBAI: ZEE5 India CEO Tarun Katial has been appointed chairman of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) – digital entertainment committee. He takes over from Ajit Mohan, managing director, Facebook India. 

    Viacom 18 Digital Ventures COO Gourav Rakshit has been named the new vice chairman, succeeding Kurate Digital Consulting senior partner Uday Sodhi. The digital entertainment committee at IAMAI represents all prominent members of the video on demand and audio on-demand companies such as Netflix, Zee5, Prime Video, Hotstar, Sony Liv, Viacom18, RJio Studios, MX Player, Hungama, Discovery, Hoichoi, Arre, Hooq, Gaana, Saavn, Flickstree among others.

    IAMAI has been in communication with MEITY, MIB and MHA during the lockdown period as the liaison between the industry and government officials. The association has earlier communicated to the officials about the collective efforts taken by the sector to assuage the impact of lockdown, and suggested an industry SoP for the sector to resume operations post lockdown.

    ZEE5 India CEO Tarun Katial said, “The digital entertainment sector, similar to the rest of the economy, is going through challenging times due to Covid2019. At IAMAI, our immediate task at hand would be to seek support from the Government, policymakers, local authorities to resume production activities at the earliest. This would go a long way in supporting various supply chain linkages, citizen’s livelihood and contribution to the national exchequer.”

    IAMAI has also identified some larger issues which have emerged due to the current pandemic and the same will be raised with the MIB on priority. In addition to these, some long pending issues hindering the growth of the sector will also be discussed.

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  • Dailymotion announces return to normal for streaming quality

    Dailymotion announces return to normal for streaming quality

    MUMBAI: Earlier, Dailymotion made the decision to reduce the bandwidth required to broadcast videos on its platform to mitigate the risk of network saturation. The end of the confinement period in France marks a return to normal for the platform which will again broadcast its videos in UHD definition (4K), Full HD (1080p) and HD (720p).  

    "As network conditions continue to improve, we will remove the definition limitation introduced in March, country by country,” says Dailymotion COO Guillaume Clément. “The goal is to bring back the highest quality of viewing to our users worldwide by 20 May 2020.”

    To prevent network saturation during the Covid2019 pandemic, video portal Dailymotion had rolled out limits to video quality available for streaming on its platform in March. With millions of people under the shelter-at-home directive, the world's internet infrastructure was under stress. To reduce the pressure, major streaming services including Netflix, YouTube made video qualities to SD

  • Nokia achieves world-record 5G speeds

    Nokia achieves world-record 5G speeds

    MUMBAI: Nokia has announced it has achieved the world’s fastest 5G speeds in its Over-the-Air (OTA) network in Dallas, Texas. Utilizing 800 MHz of commercial millimeter wave 5G spectrum and Dual Connectivity (EN-DC) functionality, Nokia achieved 5G speeds of up to 4.7 Gbps in tests performed on base station equipment being deployed in major U.S. carriers' commercial networks. This solution will not only provide subscribers with unrivalled mobile broadband speeds, but also enable carriers to sell various latency-sensitive enterprise services, such as network slicing for mission-critical applications.

    The record speed was achieved by combining eight 100 MHz channels of millimeter wave spectrum on the 28 GHz and 39GHz bands, providing 800 MHz of bandwidth, and 40 MHz of LTE spectrum using the EN-DC functionality available on Nokia’s AirScale solution. EN-DC allows devices to connect simultaneously to 5G and LTE networks, transmitting and receiving data across both air-interface technologies. This means devices can achieve a higher throughput than when connecting to 5G or LTE alone. The speeds were achieved on both 5G cloud-based (vRAN) and classic baseband configurations.

    Nokia’s AirScale Radio Access is an industry-leading, commercial end-to-end 5G solution enabling operators globally to capitalize on their 5G spectrum assets. It offers huge capacity scaling and market-leading latency and connectivity by enabling all air-interface technologies on the same radio access equipment.

    Stéphane Téral, chief analyst at LightCounting Market Research, said: “This is a substantial achievement that reflects the careful workings of a brilliant and subtle team with the deepest appreciation for detail and circumstance. In other words, 8-component carrier aggregation in the millimeter wave domain shows the world that there is more than massive MIMO and open RAN to not only truly deliver the promise of commercial 5G, but also pave the way for future Terahertz system.”

    Tommi Uitto, president of Mobile Networks at Nokia, commented: “This is an important and significant milestone in the development of 5G services in the U.S, particularly at a time when connectivity and capacity is so crucial. It demonstrates the confidence operators have in our global end-to-end portfolio and the progress we have made to deliver the best possible 5G experiences to customers. We already supply our mmWave radios to all of the major US carriers and we look forward to continuing to work closely with them moving forward.”
     

  • Gameloft partners with ZEE5 to launch online gaming

    Gameloft partners with ZEE5 to launch online gaming

    MUMBAI: Gameloft Distribution Solutions, leader in the mobile entertainment gaming market, has been chosen by ZEE5, to power the games on to its platform as a part of its strategy to bring wholesome entertainment under one roof.

    Under the partnership, high-quality snackable hyper-casual online games will be curated to deeply engage audience by adding a dose of thrill and competitiveness for the users.

    The new PLAY5 games leverages Gameloft’s twenty years of expertise in developing gaming services for more than 300 carriers in the world. Thanks to Gameloft’s offer, entertainment service providers can launch their fully customizable branded game services with monetization and full transparency on their analytics.

    Rajneel Kumar, business head, expansion projects & head of products, ZEE5 India, said: “We want to be the country’s entertainment super-app and our partnership with Gameloft is yet another step in that direction. We are constantly evolving as a platform and now boast multiple offerings for a diverse set of audiences and taste clusters – from bespoke content library across originals, movies, catch-up shows to kids content and music. With PLAY5, it is yet another use case that we have added by staying true to our philosophy of being a super-app. We are committed to making ZEE5 reach out to consumers at every stage of their life and serve uninterrupted entertainment via various offerings anytime, anywhere.”

    “We are committed to the true potential of gaming in India and therefore had been continuously working towards offering content in the manner which offers ease of consumption for the masses and our online games enables mass casual users to have a shot of adrenalin to pump up their energy levels. We shall continue to strive towards offering gaming in a manner which suits the larger section as they evolve. We are pretty convinced that with a partnership with Zee5, a leading entertainment player on digital space, we shall have rapid adaptation and transmission of gaming into the world of uninitiated” explained Florent Vallauri, managing director, south east Asia pacific (SEAP), at Gameloft.

    “Gameloft’s longstanding expertise in the mobile ecosystem allows us to create top performing platforms and services, adapted to the needs of each of our partners.”

  • Eros Now, Oppo partner to provide smartphone users with premium content

    Eros Now, Oppo partner to provide smartphone users with premium content

    Mumbai: Eros International Plc-owned Eros Now has partnered with Oppo mobile phones to give access to its massive content library consisting over 12,000+ movie titles, original shows, music videos and short-format content on Eros Now Quickie on the Oppo App store.

    At a time when mobile consumption is growing exponentially, OTT platforms have emerged as the biggest gainers. Consumers have spent three hours more on their mobile phones in the week ended 27 March, 2020, as per the recent Barc India-Nielsen report.

    The partnership between Eros Now and Oppo further accelerates this growth by offering users seamless access to premium content on their smartphones. As part of the deal, Oppo users can avail a one-month free subscription to Eros Now services.

    This alliance is a result of Eros Now's and Oppo’s shared vision to enhance consumers’ viewing experience. Eros Now’s robust content line-up delivered on Oppo handsets’ high-quality display caters to consumers’ demand for the superior binge-viewing experience. Also, with this deal, Eros Now further expands reach by offering a superior streaming experience for Oppo’s user base in India.

    Eros Now CEO Ali Hussein said: “Strategic partnership, robust content line-up and superior-tech backend has fast-tracked Eros Now’s growth story. The association with Oppo, a leader in the smartphone market, enables us to deliver enhanced viewing experience to our existing and potential consumers using Oppo handsets. The inclusion of Eros Now App adds value to the services offered on the Oppo App store by providing consumers with the best of online streaming.”

    Yajun, country manager – OPPO mobile internet business, said: "We are delighted to welcome Eros Now to team up with App Market. App Market is a safe, secure, and easy to use platform. We value such partnerships which strengthen our association with developers like Eros Now to provide rich content & services to our user base."

  • COSMOTE TV’s new streaming service uses Synamedia’s private CDN

    COSMOTE TV’s new streaming service uses Synamedia’s private CDN

    MUMBAI: OTE Group’s pay-TV platform COSMOTE TV, the market leader in Greece, has gone live with Synamedia’s Media Streamer CDN platform for its new streaming service.

    Synamedia’s virtualized Media Streamer platform is deployed on a distributed private cloud architecture, providing high-performance edge caching and streaming through a network of servers deployed locally across cities throughout Greece. The CDN is managed by OTE.

    Media Streamer is a cost-effective private CDN platform with the flexibility to start small yet scale massively to distribute terabits per second (Tbps) of live, on-demand, and time-shifted video without compromising bandwidth or latency. This was important as COSMOTE TV streams exclusive live sports events in 4K and needs to maintain a high-quality viewing experience even during peak periods.

    Media Streamer’s intuitive dashboards displaying real-time analytics on consumer data and network operations help COSMOTE TV react promptly to any customer service issues.

    The COSMOTE TV streaming service includes live and on-demand content and selected sports programming in 4K for the first time in Greece. Subscribers have access to multi-screen content across 70 digital channels, including 16 premium COSMOTE sport, cinema and history channels. The service features personalized recommendations based on viewing behaviour and preferences to ensure viewers can always find something to watch, helping to boost engagement.

    Synamedia Media Streamer is a private CDN platform that gives service providers far greater control over their service quality, costs and operations than is possible with a public CDN. Scaling smoothly to support high-demand, appointment-to-view programmes, it offers service providers a cost-effective, open platform for streaming live, VOD, time-shifted TV and Cloud DVR Adaptive Bit Rate (ABR) video. Media Streamer is available as a managed service or can be run and managed on-premise by the service provider. Building on more than 10 years of CDN expertise, Synamedia’s CDN solutions are trusted by over 30 service providers worldwide to deliver high-quality first-screen TV and Internet OTT video. 

    Julien Signes, (pictured), senior vice president and general manager, video network at Synamedia, said, “As the pay-TV market leader in Greece with ambitions to live stream a growing number of 4K sports content, OTE needed a CDN platform with terabit per second scalability. The virtualised Media Streamer deployment allows OTE to offer subscribers the ultimate appointment-to-view experience even during peak periods; and with detailed analytics on the state of the network, OTE can really boost operational efficiencies.”

    Synamedia’s video network portfolio powers premium quality broadcast and broadband video for more than 1,000 operators worldwide and 100 million daily viewers. Its video distribution, processing and delivery services and solutions create compelling live multi-screen experiences, enable software-defined video processing and unify operations. The award-winning portfolio also touts a cloud-ready, converged broadcast and broadband end-to-end ATSC 3.0 offering and low latency solutions for live video. Its virtualized Digital Content Manager (DCM) features live transcoding to multiple bit rates and formats, scalable video functions, and best-in-class video quality all aimed to deliver infinite entertainment. 

  • Celebrities share their special moments with friends through Amazon Prime Video’s #ShotsofFriendship campaign

    Celebrities share their special moments with friends through Amazon Prime Video’s #ShotsofFriendship campaign

    The recently launched Amazon Original Series Four More Shots Please! Season 2 continues to win hearts with their latest Twitter campaign #ShotsOfFriendship, an innovative opportunity for friends to immortalize their friendship with just a tweet. Inspired by the unapologetically flawsome girl gang, the special initiative aimed at bringing friends closer and cherish those everlasting memories, especially during the current times of social distancing.

    The campaign received an overwhelming response with over 750 tweets generating over 21.5 MM impressions within just a few days, with a star-studded response to the campaign from actors such as Soha Ali Khan, Neena Gupta, Mandira Bedi, Sanjeeda Shaikh, Shehnaaz Gill, Adah Sharma, Priya Malik, Kirti Kulhari, Bani J, Maanvi Gagroo, Gauhar Khan, ace standup comedian Sumukhi Suresh, popular Indian author Durjoy Datta, social media star Janice Sequeira and radio sensation RJ Malishka.

    The fond memories shared by audiences and viewers alike via tweets are now being published in a first of its kind virtual coffee-table book, available on www.shotsoffriendship.com.

    All episodes of Amazon Original Series Four More Shots Please Season 2 are now available on Amazon Prime Video.

    STAR-STUDDED #SHOTSOFFRIENDSHIP:

    Soha Ali Khan

    Neena Gupta

    Mandira Bedi

    Sanjeeda Shaikh

    Shehnaaz Gill

    Adah Sharma

    Janice Sequeira

    Priya Malik

    Kirti Kulhari

    Bani J

    Maanvi Gagroo

    https://twitter.com/IamKirtiKulhari/status/1252226082855505920

    RJ Malishka

    https://twitter.com/mymalishka/status/125292679523550822

    Gauhar Khan

    Durjoy Datta

    Sumukhi Suresh

    Four More Shots Please! Season 2 will join the thousands of TV shows and movies from Hollywood and Bollywood in the Prime Video catalogue, including Indian produced Amazon Original series such as The Family Man, Mirzapur, Four More Shots Please!(Season 1 and 2),Inside Edge and Made In Heaven, and award-winning and critically acclaimed global Amazon Original series including Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, The Boys, Hunters, Fleabag and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, all on Prime Video, which is available at no extra cost for Amazon Prime members. The service includes titles available in Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi and Bengali.

    Prime members will be able to watch all episodes Four More Shots Please! Season 2 anywhere and anytime on the Prime Video app for smart TVs, mobile devices, Fire TV, Fire TV stick, Fire tablets, Apple TV, Airtel, Vodafone, etc. In the Prime Video app, Prime members can download episodes on their mobile devices and tablets and watch anywhere offline at no additional cost. Prime Video is available in India  at no extra cost to a Prime membership for just ₹999 annually or ₹129 monthly, new customers can find out more at  www.amazon.in/prime and subscribe to a free 30-day trial.