ITV

Category: iWorld

  • Balaji may formalise RIL stake purchase at 16 Aug EGM

    MUMBAI: Balaji Telefilms, in a communique to the BSE and the National Stock  Exchange, intimated about its extraordinary general meeting to be held on 16 August at “The Club”, 197, Juhu Versova Link Road, Opp.  D. N. Nagar  Police Station, Andheri (W), Mumbai- 400 053, Maharashtra.  The  cut-off   date   for   determining  the  shareholders  eligible   for   e-voting  is 9 August, 2017..

    The meeting proposes to conduct special business. Increase in authorised share capital: To consider and,  if thought fit, to pass, with or without modification, the following resolution as Ordinary Resolution: “Resolved that, in accordance with Sections 4, 13 and  61 and  other applicable provisions, if any, of the Companies Act, 2013 and  rules made thereunder, and  applicable provisions of the Articles of Association of the Company and  any other applicable law or laws,  rules  and  regulations (including  any  amendments thereto or re-enactment thereof  for the  time being in force),  the authorised share capital  of the Company be and  is hereby increased from Rs. 260 million divided  into 100 million equity  shares of Rs.  2  each and  30 million Preference Shares of Rs. 2 each to Rs. 360 million  divided into 150 million Equity Shares of Rs. 2 each and  Rs. 60 million divided  into 30 million Preference Shares of Rs. 2 each.

    Issue of 25.2 million equity shares on a preferential allotment / private placement basis: To consider and  if thought fit, to pass, with or without modification, the resolution as a Special Resolution: Balaji is seeking consent of the  members of the  company to create, issue, offer and  allot 2,52,00,000 equity  shares of the  Company of the  face  value  of Rs. 2/- each (“Equity Shares”) at a price  of Rs. 164/- which includes a premium of Rs. 162/- per Equity Share aggregating to Rs. 4.13 billion to Reliance Industries Limited in accordance with ICDR Regulations.

    ALSO READ :

    Reliance Industries buys Balaji Telefilms stake for Rs 4.13 bn

    ALTBalaji is essentially everything that Balaji on TV is not: Sameer Nair

     

  • $23 bn Voda-Idea merger approved, 407 mn combined subs

    MUMBAI: Consolidation in the telecom sector seems to be progressing well, especially in the backdrop of big leaps by the new entrant Reliance Jio.

    The Competition Commission of India reportedly approved US$23 billion Vodafone-Idea merger unconditionally, with no additional scrutiny. Idea and Vodafone had, in March 2017, decided to join hands to take on intense competition, eventually creating India’s largest telecoms operator.

    Vodafone India advisor Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, in a statement, said the regulator had approved the merger. Idea advisor Trilegal stated that the merger would create significant efficiencies and synergies.

    The combined entity would become the largest in terms of subscribers (over 407 million), revenue market share (41 per cent), subscriber market share (almost 34.50 per cent) and spectrum holdings (1850 Mhz). Market leader Bharti has over 278.60 million subscribers, around 35.6 per cent revenue market share (RMS), 23.59 per cent subscriber market share (SMS) and 1489 Mhz of spectrum holdings.

    The regulator has sent the letters of approval to Idea and Vodafone. NCLT is the agency which will ensure the merger is in accordance with DoT and M&A guidelines.

    Now, Idea and Vodafone will have to move to SEBI for required approvals.  Other regulatory approvals for the merger are reportedly anticipated in six months. Idea and Vodafone have assured the government they would return spectrum in whichever circle mandated.

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    Idea-Vodafone India merger creates leader with 42% market share

    Four telcos will emerge from India consolidation, predicts CCS Insight

     

  • Dekkho expands regional language content offering

    MUMBAI: Dekkho has partnered with some of the top online content creators in the country such as ScoopWhoop, Pinkvilla, 9X Media, Put Chutney, Being Indian and East India Comedy. In a bid to create an entirely alternate destination and divergence from YouTube and Facebook, and to increase its reach in tier II and III cities, Dekkho will expand its regional language content offerings through these collaborations in addition to mainstream content in English and Hindi.

    Through a long-term content strategy, Dekkho aims to reach 100 million users over the next five years, focussing on the vernacular segment of viewers who do not consume videos on Facebook or YouTube. It will also venture into content translation, dubbing, and voiceover of content for this segment, creating a new, non-overlapping market for creators. Additionally, Dekkho will localise its UI for different markets as well as the newsfeed for regional content.

    Commenting on its strategy, Tanay Desai, co-founder, said, “Dekkho’s initial strategy, which focussed on young urban viewers, has helped us carve a niche in the online entertainment market. Our next phase of expansion is targetted at a much larger viewer base that resides in the smaller towns, highlighting our larger focus at becoming a default social video network for the masses. Unlike incumbent platforms like Facebook and YouTube, which are highly fragmented in terms of content, we want to position Dekkho as a hyper-local, curated video platform. This will be supplemented by an engaging social layer aiming to represent India’s first large-scale video network. To effect, the platform will have a unique, localised avatar for each region and leverage the rising digital penetration across tier II and III towns in India.”

    Around 65 per cent of users on Dekkho belong to tier II and III cities. Around 30 per cent of these users have been acquired through focused regional marketing and do not consume videos on YouTube. As part of its marketing strategy, Dekkho has tied up with leading telecom operators and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to offer greater exposure to content developed by independent creators. Users streaming videos through Jio Internet subscriptions constitute nearly 30% of the total video consumption on the platform, contributing significantly to the growth among this demographic.

    ALSO READ :

    Brightcove expands into India, counts Republic, SonyLiv, Dekkho & Hero among clients

    Dekkho to identify non-production house talent, plans four web series in Sept-Oct

  • 17 mn SVoD homes to generate $ 1.8 bn in West Asia & Africa by ’22

    MUMBAI: Middle East (West Asia) & North Africa OTT TV episodes and movies will generate revenues of US$1.75 billion by 2022; more than quadruple the US$428 million recorded in 2016.

    According to the Middle East and North Africa OTT TV & Video Forecasts report, SVoD’s dominance of the sector will grow. SVoD revenues will reach $1.23 billion by 2022 (or 70% of the OTT total); nearly $1 billion more than the 2016 total (56% of OTT revenues).

    Digital TV Research forecasts 17.27 million SVoD homes by 2022, up from 3.74 million recorded by end-2016. Turkey will remain the leader by some distance, having established a major local player as far back as 2011.

    The top six regional platforms (Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Icflix, Starz Play, Iflix and Shahid Plus) will account for 39% of the region’s SVoD subscribers by end-2022, up from 34% in 2016. Extracting Israel and Turkey, these six platforms will account for 78% of SVoD subscribers by 2022 – down from 88% in 2016.

    Netflix will be the largest pan-regional SVoD platform by 2022, with an expected 3.26 million paying subscribers. This is more than quintuple the 2016 total. Longer-established Icflix will cross 2 million subscribers by 2022 – quadruple its 2016 total. Starz Play will add a further 1.60 million. Our forecasts of 695,000 subs for Iflix by 2022 only cover six of its eight current countries in the region.

    Digital TV Research principal analyst Simon Murray said: “A handful of mobile operators such as Orange, Zain, Ooredoo, Etisalat and Vodafone have assets across several countries. SVOD platforms can gain considerable economies of scale by signing distribution deals with mobile operators. Deals between mobile operators and SVoD platforms are already prevalent in the Middle East and North Africa – offering an example for the rest of the world to follow.”

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    Just 11% video viewership is on OTT: Akamai’s Reddy

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  • ALT Balaji announces Dhimaner Dinkaal – its first Bengali original

    MUMBAI: The clear message that came out of Indiantelevision.com’s second VIDNET was that you have to have exclusive or original programming. And delivering it in India’s regional languages – well that is something OTT players will have to do if they want to get granularity in their traction.

    Almost as if taking it as a cue, The Balaji Telefilms promoted ALT Balaji has looked to the east of India while announcing the launch of its second regional show Dhimaner Dinkaal. The language you may have got it by now from the title is Bengali. The digital series has well known Bangla artistes like Saswata Chatterjee, Sreelekha Mitra, Khoraj Mukherjee and Sudipta Banerjee and has Saugata Nandi helming it.

    Dhimaner Dinkaal is the story of an ordinary man (Dhiman played by Chatterjee) who lives a life of simplicity away from the madness of technology and internet. The show will explore how his life takes an unexpected turn when he is forced into embracing the new world of technology.

    Dhiman is confined to his old habits; he still believes that internet and modern technology are just a farce in third world countries. Dhiman lives in a contrasting world where his wife’s and daughter’s lives are dominated by internet but he prefers to breathe in a space devoid of technology. What happens when he is forced into the digital world? When his life turns upside down because a stranger enters via social media, will he be able to maintain his sanity?

    “ALTBalaji is the No 1 repository of exclusive and original digital content in Indian languages today. After launching with 6 Hindi and a Tamil show, we continue our commitment to Indian languages. We are confident that this will be a favourite for Bengalis in and out of India,” says ALT Balaji CEO Nachiket Pantvaidya.

    At launch, ALT Balaji had stated that it would be gradually be rolling out 32 originals on its digital OTT service over the next few months. And the introduction of Dhimaner Dinkaal at this time could be the first of many other shows that could be at the entry gate just waiting to be revealed to its four million odd audience that has downloaded the app, say sources. They further indicate that the 15 part Bengali series is quite likely to have a second season and has a budget of about Rs 600,000 per episode.

    Subscribers can only expect the slate of show launches to be spurred to a faster clip following the move by the Mukesh Ambani headed Reliance group to pick up a 24.92 per cent stake in Balaji Telefilms for Rs 413.28 crore.

    Clearly, the action in the Indian OTT space has only just begun.

  • Isobar specialists to power globally connected commerce offering

    MUMBAI: Isobar, part of Dentsu Aegis Network, has announced the launch of a global Isobar Commerce practice.

    The commerce practice will deliver commerce experiences for clients through globally integrated platforms and solutions that are informed by local insight. This will bolster Isobar’s strategic capability to deliver commerce solutions through the Isobar Commerce practice and will include 1,000+ commerce specialists across Isobar’s network in Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific.

    As part of the launch, centres of excellence have been established in Americas1, EMEA2 and Asia-Pacific3, and market-leading commerce company Bluecom will be rebranded as Isobar Commerce. The practice will include all Commerce centres of excellence, all e-Commerce, m-commerce, retail commerce experts and Commerce off-shore delivery centres within the Isobar network.

    Combined with the digital creative, design capability and omni-channel expertise within Isobar, the Isobar Commerce practice will bring brand inspiration and commercial interaction closer together. The practice will further improve the performance, efficiency, and ROI for a client’s digital transformation efforts and support Isobar’s position as a leading digital agency. Isobar is the only agency named as a Leader on Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Digital Marketing Agencies for the third consecutive time (2015, 2016, 2017) and as a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Digital Experience Service Providers, Q4 2015.

    The Practice will deliver commerce experiences using platforms and solutions with the biggest technology players, including Salesforce, Adobe, SAP Hybris and Magento –combining strategic, technology and operational support to multimarket and regional clients. It will also cover strategy and brand commerce in third-party market-places, such as Amazon and Tmall. The end-to-end offering includes commerce strategy and consulting, customer experience design, data and technology implementation and platform management to ensure rapid growth for our clients.

    Isobar global CEO Jean Lin explained: “The reinvention of last mile is a key part of business transformation today, and the commerce specialists from our global practice will help our clients to win in the digital economy. As part of Isobar’s Brand Commerce strategy, we utilise data, customer experience and technology expertise to create seamless experiences that deliver measurable commercial success. The creation of the Isobar Commerce practice will further strengthen our commerce capability and global consistency to bring brand inspiration and transaction closer.”

  • ACT to invest Rs 7 bn in wireline infra, Rs 1 bn for Delhi

    MUMBAI: Atria Convergence Technologies, India’s third largest wired broadband services firm after BSNL (9.80 million subscribers) and Bharti Airtel (2.09 million), plans to invest up to Rs 7 billion this year to expand its presence and infrastructure across India, which will be funded through internal accruals and debt.

    The Bengaluru-based company, which has a presence in 11 cities, has been seeking to enter 3-4 cities and also expand presence in regions such as Delhi-NCR, PTI reported.

    ACT CEO Bala Malladi said that it was not about just setting up base in a city…the investment would include establishing infrastructure and also maintenance. Malladi said they were looking at strengthening their presence in the Delhi market and would also be expanding to Gurugram as there were good opportunities in these geographies, adding that the average data consumption on its network in Delhi was already higher compared to other cities. He added that ACT will invest Rs 1 billion over the next 24 months to expand its presence in the Delhi region.

    ACT, which started operations in Delhi some few months ago, has a crucial scale in cities such as Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai. It had a turnover of Rs 13 billion at the end of March 2017. Of the 18 million wired broadband subscribers in India, ACT had 1.2 million subscribers in May 2017.

    The company had started its operations in the year 2000 as a cable TV service provider supported by investments from private equity firms TA Associates and True North.

    Malladi ruled out any impact on its business after the entry of players such as Reliance Jio, which offered affordable data plans. He said that wired broadband users typically had high consumption. The lowest speed ACT offered was 20 Mbps.

    Also Read: High-speed data services & on-demand bandwidth expectation prompt new telecom policy

    Broadband subs growth slows further, wireline broadband loses subs

    ACT still leads in wired sub addition, Idea & BSNL lose wireless subs

  • Wireless b’band data speed ideas date extended

    NEW DELHI: With stakeholders saying that various technical and network issues are involved, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has once again extended the last date for views on ensuring transparency and customer awareness regarding data speeds under wireless broadband plans.

    Stakeholders can now give their comments by 10 August and counter-comments by 24 August 2017.

    In a Consultation Paper on ‘Data Speed under Wireless Broadband Plans’ early last month, TRAI had also suggested various tools that may be deployed for measuring data speeds.

    At the outset, it had said the National Telecom Policy of 2012 (NTP-2012) has the vision of Broadband on Demand and envisages leveraging telecom infrastructure to enable all citizens and businesses, both in rural and urban areas, to participate in the Internet and web economy thereby ensuring equitable and inclusive development across the nation. It provides the enabling framework for enhancing India’s competitiveness in all spheres of the economy.

    The questions raised in the paper, which discusses the various initiatives that have been taken by the Authority in relation to broadband speeds in India and their current status and provides a summary of the international experience on similar issues, are:

    Q1: Is the information on wireless broadband speeds currently being made available to consumers is transparent enough for making informed choices?

    Q2: If it is difficult to commit a minimum download speed, then could average speed be specified by the service providers? What should be the parameters for calculating average speed?

    Q3: What changes can be brought about to the existing framework on wireless broadband tariff plans to encourage better transparency and comparison between plans offered by different service providers?

    Q4: Is there a need to include/delete any of the QoS parameters and/or revise any of the  benchmarks currently stipulated in the Regulations?

    Q5: Should disclosure of average network performance over a period of time or at peak times including through broadband facts/labels be made mandatory?

    Q6: Should standard application/ websites be identified for mandating comparable disclosures about network speeds?

    Q7: What are the products/technologies that can be used to measure actual end-user experience on mobile broadband networks? At what level should the measurements take place (e.g., on the 26 device, network node)?

    Q8: Are there any legal, security, privacy or data sensitivity issues with collecting device level data?

    a) If so, how can these issues be addressed? b) Do these issues create a challenge for the adoption of any measurement tools?

    Q9: What measures can be taken to increase awareness among consumers about wireless broadband speeds, availability of various technological tools to monitor them and any potential concerns that may arise in the process?

    Also read:

    Wireless b’band speed: TRAI invites transparency & customer awareness ideas

  • Mukesh Ambani offers JioPhone from 15 Aug

    MUMBAI: At the 40th AGM on Friday, Reliance Industries CMD Mukesh Ambani introduced ‘India Ka Smartphone’ – the JioPhone. It is said to be a 4G-enabled cost-efficient feature phone, which works on voice commands. Announcing the launch, Ambani’s daughter Esha said, “It is made in India by the young Indian.” 

    She said that Jio would provide that at an effective price of Rs 153 per month, that is, three per cent of the existing price. If these users were to consume a similar quantity of data on other operator’s network, they would spend Rs 4,000 – 5,000 per month.

    The launch is likely to further change the landscape of how people consume video content in India. The OTT space is likely to get a major push and RIL has already announced buying a stake in Balaji Telefilms.

    Mukesh Ambani also announced the following:

    JioPhone will be available for free.

    Dhan Dhana Dhan plan is available at Rs 153 per month 

    Rs 309 per month Jio phone TV cable: It comes preloaded with the Namo app and can play ‘Mann Ki Baat’ radio programme too. 

    Smart TV as well as CRT can be connected with the Jio phone TV cable 

    Jio will reinvent the conventional feature phone with a revolutionary device 

    RIL aims to sell five million JioPhones a week

    It will be available for user testing in beta from 15 August and for pre-booking from 24 August

    RIL plans to collect a fully refundable, one-time, security deposit of Rs 1,500 with every phone

    Also Read:

    Jio to raise Rs 200 bn for next phase of expansion

  • Jio to raise Rs 200 bn for next phase of expansion

    MUMBAI: Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio) is planning to raise Rs 200 billion through a rights issue of OCPS (optionally convertible preference shares). Jio will raise the amount through the rights issue of shares to shareholders as Reliance Industries’ wholly-owned subsidiary is reading for the next phase of expansion.

    RIL is now expected to reveal Jio’s next significant move – an inexpensive 4G feature phone supporting Voice over LTE (VoLTE) technology.

    The OCPS fund-raising would take the total raised by Jio through this route to around Rs 900 billion in the last two years. In the March quarter, Jio’s capital expenditure was Rs 180 billion, and this would stay the same in the subsequent three-month period, the company stated. Jio pocketed around 117 million users, or around nine per cent active subscriber market share as of May end, according to TRAI data.

    RIL has already invested around Rs 2000 billion in Jio, which started commercial operations in September 2016.

    To take on competition, incumbent operators have also ramped up investments. As in March 2017, Bharti Airtel, Idea and Vodafone India respectively invested Rs 2300 billion, Rs 1250 billion and Rs 1350 billion.