ITV

Category: iWorld

  • Jio battles incumbents as Airtel launches Rs 1495 free data plan

    Jio battles incumbents as Airtel launches Rs 1495 free data plan

    MUMBAI: The fisticuffs continue in the 4G telecom marketplace. Even as Reliance Jio has been waging a war of press releases, highlighting how many of its subscribers’ calls are being refused by Idea, Airtel and Vodafone, the Sunil Mittal-led telco today too issued a press release through which it is taking a jab at the Mukesh Ambani-owned telco’s free call and data offer.

    Airtel says it has started offering a free data package for Rs 1495 only, and for prepaid customers only. If you are paying for it, then how is it free? Airtel explains that consumers can surf at wild speeds up to the 30GB data and 90-day limit, after which the accelerator needle will drop to 64kbps. And that’s when the free part of surfing will come in – but at super slow speed.

    At the price of Rs 1495 for 30 GB means the data is coming your way cheaper than the Reliance Jio offer of Rs 50 for a GB. The only difference is you are plonking down the money upfront.

    Will Reliance Jio react to this outrageous offer from a rival telco? No one knows, but it definitely has reacted to rival telco Idea on another front: that of call drops. It says that the Aditya Birla group-owned Idea is blocking out calls from Jio customers, refusing them connectivity. Says the Jio press release: “Adequate interconnection capacity so that call failure rate is less than 5 per 1,000 is a license obligation of all telecom operators. As against this, over 750 calls per 1,000 are failing per day between Idea and Jio networks, which translates to four crore calls failing per day. Over 12 crore calls fail daily between Jio and the networks of Airtel, Vodafone and Idea. This is a breach of licence conditions by the incumbent operators and severely impacts customer interests. This is against zero call failures on the Jio network.”

  • Jio battles incumbents as Airtel launches Rs 1495 free data plan

    Jio battles incumbents as Airtel launches Rs 1495 free data plan

    MUMBAI: The fisticuffs continue in the 4G telecom marketplace. Even as Reliance Jio has been waging a war of press releases, highlighting how many of its subscribers’ calls are being refused by Idea, Airtel and Vodafone, the Sunil Mittal-led telco today too issued a press release through which it is taking a jab at the Mukesh Ambani-owned telco’s free call and data offer.

    Airtel says it has started offering a free data package for Rs 1495 only, and for prepaid customers only. If you are paying for it, then how is it free? Airtel explains that consumers can surf at wild speeds up to the 30GB data and 90-day limit, after which the accelerator needle will drop to 64kbps. And that’s when the free part of surfing will come in – but at super slow speed.

    At the price of Rs 1495 for 30 GB means the data is coming your way cheaper than the Reliance Jio offer of Rs 50 for a GB. The only difference is you are plonking down the money upfront.

    Will Reliance Jio react to this outrageous offer from a rival telco? No one knows, but it definitely has reacted to rival telco Idea on another front: that of call drops. It says that the Aditya Birla group-owned Idea is blocking out calls from Jio customers, refusing them connectivity. Says the Jio press release: “Adequate interconnection capacity so that call failure rate is less than 5 per 1,000 is a license obligation of all telecom operators. As against this, over 750 calls per 1,000 are failing per day between Idea and Jio networks, which translates to four crore calls failing per day. Over 12 crore calls fail daily between Jio and the networks of Airtel, Vodafone and Idea. This is a breach of licence conditions by the incumbent operators and severely impacts customer interests. This is against zero call failures on the Jio network.”

  • ‘Don’t WhatsApp users’ data to FB’

    ‘Don’t WhatsApp users’ data to FB’

    MUMBAI: WhatsApp’s revised privacy policy has been rejected by the Delhi High Court on Friday. With a few safeguards, the online messaging platform’s modified policy was originally scheduled to come into effect on 25 September and proposed to share information of users with the parent company Facebook and affiliate entities.

    This order came in response to a public interest litigation filed by the Over-The-Top (OTT) platform users against changes in the messaging service’s policy that took effect on 25 August. The order was given by the division bench of justices G Rohini and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal. WhatsApp has been directed not to share with Facebook information of users who would deactivate their accounts as well as the existing users up to September 25 to protect their interest.

    The bench said that, keeping in view that the issue relating to the existence of an individual’s right of privacy as a distinct basis of a cause of action is yet to be decided by a larger bench of the Supreme Court, it was considering it appropriate to issue the said directions. WhatsApp had earlier informed the court that, when a user account was deleted, the information of that person was no longer retained on its servers.

    The platform has been directed to erase all information, data and details of users who choose to delete their accounts. The bench has also prohibited the messaging service from sharing any data or information acquired from users who decide to remain post the date mentioned.

    The aggrieved users had also sought for directions to be issued to the Centre and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to consider the issues regarding the functioning of applications like WhatsApp and take an appropriate decision as to whether it is feasible to bring the same under the statutory regulatory framework.

  • ‘Don’t WhatsApp users’ data to FB’

    ‘Don’t WhatsApp users’ data to FB’

    MUMBAI: WhatsApp’s revised privacy policy has been rejected by the Delhi High Court on Friday. With a few safeguards, the online messaging platform’s modified policy was originally scheduled to come into effect on 25 September and proposed to share information of users with the parent company Facebook and affiliate entities.

    This order came in response to a public interest litigation filed by the Over-The-Top (OTT) platform users against changes in the messaging service’s policy that took effect on 25 August. The order was given by the division bench of justices G Rohini and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal. WhatsApp has been directed not to share with Facebook information of users who would deactivate their accounts as well as the existing users up to September 25 to protect their interest.

    The bench said that, keeping in view that the issue relating to the existence of an individual’s right of privacy as a distinct basis of a cause of action is yet to be decided by a larger bench of the Supreme Court, it was considering it appropriate to issue the said directions. WhatsApp had earlier informed the court that, when a user account was deleted, the information of that person was no longer retained on its servers.

    The platform has been directed to erase all information, data and details of users who choose to delete their accounts. The bench has also prohibited the messaging service from sharing any data or information acquired from users who decide to remain post the date mentioned.

    The aggrieved users had also sought for directions to be issued to the Centre and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to consider the issues regarding the functioning of applications like WhatsApp and take an appropriate decision as to whether it is feasible to bring the same under the statutory regulatory framework.

  • Eros International raises $30 million for Eros Now

    Eros International raises $30 million for Eros Now

    MUMBAI: Indian Bollywood major Eros International is getting hotter on OTT. It announced this morning that two of its existing top 10 institutional shareholders have increased their holdings in the company through a private placement and are pumping in approximately $30 million. The proceeds of the allotment will be primarily used to fund the further expansion of Eros Now, its OTT platform.

    Eros International group CEO & MD Jyoti Deshpande commented: “Our vision to transform Eros from a leading film studio to a leading digital company with a global footprint is well underway with Eros Now, our OTT platform crossing one million paid subscribers as of 30 June 2016. Our ownership of content and our strong balance sheet should provide tailwinds to grow the Eros Now subscriber base from one million to ten million and eventually hundred million within the next decade.”

    Eros Now is Eros International Plc’s leading on-demand Bollywood entertainment network accessible anytime, anywhere, on nearly any Internet-connected screen. Eros Now offers users across 135 countries a large library of films (Eros Now has rights to over 5,000 films), as well as premium television shows, music videos and audio tracks.

    Eros Now is also working on launching compelling original drama series for its viewers. It also has compelling product features such as offline viewing where premium subscribers can download the content and view it when not connected to the Internet make Eros Now a unique offering with focus on user experience.

    Available on Apple and Android platforms, Eros Now has integration deals with Airtel, Idea and Reliance Jio and several other operators internationally. A crucial deal was struck with Reliance Jio, the 4G player that has rolled out the most aggressive plan for digital India. In its platform-agnostic strategy, Eros has struck deals with OEMs and telecom operators such as Micromax, Airtel, Idea, LeEco, and Maxis.

    Through the Eros-Jio partnership, new and old movies including Bajirao Mastaani, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo and Tanu Weds Manu Returns, will be available on the JioOnDemand app. With 30 HD channels, Jio is offering live streaming of over 300 TV channels 10 genres and 15 languages.

    Available on Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and pre-installed in Android TV, Eros Now crossed over 50 million registered users worldwide across WAP, APP, and Web, as of 30 June 2016. It has already crossed over 1.1 million active unique paying subscribers who have paid for at least one month.

    Eros released 14 films in Q1 FY17 of which three were high, two were medium and nine were low-budget films. Sardaar Gabbar Singh (Telugu),Housefull 3 (Hindi), 24 (Tamil), Marudhu (Tamil) and Ki and Ka (Hindi) were the main revenue earning films during the quarter. Eros Now is planning to acquire 10,000 additional films to add to its strong library.

    Eros Now, in October 2015, partnered with Ortel, an MSO (multi system operator) and ISP, to offer a subscription-based movie streaming service. Eros had, in August last year, also negotiated a partnership with Airtel to offer video and movie content on Wynk. Eros Now tied up with WeChat in June 2015 so as to allow users to watch videos, listen to music, and get Bollywood gossip and news. Eros Now, in the same month, inked a content acquisition deal with Hum TV of Pakistan.

    Eros Now has a five-year worldwide target of at least 15-20 million subscribers with a blended annual ARPU of $30 internationally and $5 from India. Trinity Pictures, owned by Eros International is building its franchises with two Sino-Indian co-productions, with a scheduled FY 2018 release.

    Eros Now hopes to achieve at least two million paying subscribers by the end of FY 2017 and five million paying subscribers by the end of FY-18.

  • Eros International raises $30 million for Eros Now

    Eros International raises $30 million for Eros Now

    MUMBAI: Indian Bollywood major Eros International is getting hotter on OTT. It announced this morning that two of its existing top 10 institutional shareholders have increased their holdings in the company through a private placement and are pumping in approximately $30 million. The proceeds of the allotment will be primarily used to fund the further expansion of Eros Now, its OTT platform.

    Eros International group CEO & MD Jyoti Deshpande commented: “Our vision to transform Eros from a leading film studio to a leading digital company with a global footprint is well underway with Eros Now, our OTT platform crossing one million paid subscribers as of 30 June 2016. Our ownership of content and our strong balance sheet should provide tailwinds to grow the Eros Now subscriber base from one million to ten million and eventually hundred million within the next decade.”

    Eros Now is Eros International Plc’s leading on-demand Bollywood entertainment network accessible anytime, anywhere, on nearly any Internet-connected screen. Eros Now offers users across 135 countries a large library of films (Eros Now has rights to over 5,000 films), as well as premium television shows, music videos and audio tracks.

    Eros Now is also working on launching compelling original drama series for its viewers. It also has compelling product features such as offline viewing where premium subscribers can download the content and view it when not connected to the Internet make Eros Now a unique offering with focus on user experience.

    Available on Apple and Android platforms, Eros Now has integration deals with Airtel, Idea and Reliance Jio and several other operators internationally. A crucial deal was struck with Reliance Jio, the 4G player that has rolled out the most aggressive plan for digital India. In its platform-agnostic strategy, Eros has struck deals with OEMs and telecom operators such as Micromax, Airtel, Idea, LeEco, and Maxis.

    Through the Eros-Jio partnership, new and old movies including Bajirao Mastaani, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo and Tanu Weds Manu Returns, will be available on the JioOnDemand app. With 30 HD channels, Jio is offering live streaming of over 300 TV channels 10 genres and 15 languages.

    Available on Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and pre-installed in Android TV, Eros Now crossed over 50 million registered users worldwide across WAP, APP, and Web, as of 30 June 2016. It has already crossed over 1.1 million active unique paying subscribers who have paid for at least one month.

    Eros released 14 films in Q1 FY17 of which three were high, two were medium and nine were low-budget films. Sardaar Gabbar Singh (Telugu),Housefull 3 (Hindi), 24 (Tamil), Marudhu (Tamil) and Ki and Ka (Hindi) were the main revenue earning films during the quarter. Eros Now is planning to acquire 10,000 additional films to add to its strong library.

    Eros Now, in October 2015, partnered with Ortel, an MSO (multi system operator) and ISP, to offer a subscription-based movie streaming service. Eros had, in August last year, also negotiated a partnership with Airtel to offer video and movie content on Wynk. Eros Now tied up with WeChat in June 2015 so as to allow users to watch videos, listen to music, and get Bollywood gossip and news. Eros Now, in the same month, inked a content acquisition deal with Hum TV of Pakistan.

    Eros Now has a five-year worldwide target of at least 15-20 million subscribers with a blended annual ARPU of $30 internationally and $5 from India. Trinity Pictures, owned by Eros International is building its franchises with two Sino-Indian co-productions, with a scheduled FY 2018 release.

    Eros Now hopes to achieve at least two million paying subscribers by the end of FY 2017 and five million paying subscribers by the end of FY-18.

  • Hotstar targets billion minutes watch time daily

    Hotstar targets billion minutes watch time daily

    MUMBAI: The new mantra at the Twenty First Century Fox-owned Star India subsidiary Novi Digital’s Hotstar is the figure of a billion. Yes, a billion. Not a billion subscribers, but a billion minutes. Speaking at a conference in China yesterday, its senior vice-president and head of product Varun Narang stated that the OTT service’s target is to get to a billion minutes of watch time daily.

    “Once you get to a billion minutes a day, you’re talking about a real, real business,” stated Narang at the conference.

    Narang was roped in to Hotstar from Whipclip last year and has had more than half a decade’s product experience with top-notch services such as Hulu and Amazon in the US. He was recruited to lead the team which is helping build mobile solutions for the app and help innovate content discovery, quality of video playbacks as well as build native advertising platforms for the app.

    Speaking at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media and entertainment conference earlier this month Twenty First Century Fox executive chairman Lachlan Murdoch had stated that Hotstar had gone from streaming 750 million minutes to 2.5 billion minutes between July and August 2016. That means it has some distance to travel before it gets to that billion minutes a day figure.

    Responding to a question from ace analyst Jessica Jean Reif Cohen on the media powerhouse’s plans for India, Lachlan had elaborated that Hotstar is expected “to grow significantly with the launch of Reliance Jio’s mobile 4G service, which Hotstar is the exclusive (sic) program provider for. So, on the Reliance Jio phones — the biggest launch of consumer product in many many years – Hotstar is the exclusive television provider on the platform. And so we think where every single single consumer will have access to Hotstar premium which is a $3 service. And, they’ll have it provided by Reliance for free. So, it’s a very exciting time in India for us. Just to have this in perspective, those streaming numbers for Hotstar is about, if you compare with Netflix in India, Netflix is about six per cent the size of Hotstar”.

    Among the initiatives, Hotstar is looking to scale up the product quickly is rolling it out globally in the near future, targeting the south Asian diaspora, Narang revealed at the conference. This was something that even Star India chairman Uday Shankar had stated at the Ficci Frames conference in Mumbai earlier this year.

    Narang admitted that what was helping Hotstar is the fact that “content rights are a lot easier for us in India than they are in the US.”

    Other things that could aid it get there is its catalogue of around 35,000 hours of entertainment content. At its investor call conference during the announcement of its annual results Twenty First Century Fox CFO John Nallen had pointed out that “in the beginning, we saw pretty severe sort of volatility and spike, largely around sports viewership on the Hotstar platform to when there was a big cricket tournament or something like that. But, gradually over the last year, what’s really built and gotten much more momentum is scripted programming, it’s Indian-scripted programming in multiple languages, and that’s really driving, that’s been the most gratifying and to see more consistent viewership of that and that’s really a big, big part of the volume now, and it’s the fastest way growing part of the volume on a consistent basis, local Indian-scripted programming at very high volumes.”

    Currently, Hotstar has an estimated 72 million downloads with around 50 million active users.

  • Hotstar targets billion minutes watch time daily

    Hotstar targets billion minutes watch time daily

    MUMBAI: The new mantra at the Twenty First Century Fox-owned Star India subsidiary Novi Digital’s Hotstar is the figure of a billion. Yes, a billion. Not a billion subscribers, but a billion minutes. Speaking at a conference in China yesterday, its senior vice-president and head of product Varun Narang stated that the OTT service’s target is to get to a billion minutes of watch time daily.

    “Once you get to a billion minutes a day, you’re talking about a real, real business,” stated Narang at the conference.

    Narang was roped in to Hotstar from Whipclip last year and has had more than half a decade’s product experience with top-notch services such as Hulu and Amazon in the US. He was recruited to lead the team which is helping build mobile solutions for the app and help innovate content discovery, quality of video playbacks as well as build native advertising platforms for the app.

    Speaking at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media and entertainment conference earlier this month Twenty First Century Fox executive chairman Lachlan Murdoch had stated that Hotstar had gone from streaming 750 million minutes to 2.5 billion minutes between July and August 2016. That means it has some distance to travel before it gets to that billion minutes a day figure.

    Responding to a question from ace analyst Jessica Jean Reif Cohen on the media powerhouse’s plans for India, Lachlan had elaborated that Hotstar is expected “to grow significantly with the launch of Reliance Jio’s mobile 4G service, which Hotstar is the exclusive (sic) program provider for. So, on the Reliance Jio phones — the biggest launch of consumer product in many many years – Hotstar is the exclusive television provider on the platform. And so we think where every single single consumer will have access to Hotstar premium which is a $3 service. And, they’ll have it provided by Reliance for free. So, it’s a very exciting time in India for us. Just to have this in perspective, those streaming numbers for Hotstar is about, if you compare with Netflix in India, Netflix is about six per cent the size of Hotstar”.

    Among the initiatives, Hotstar is looking to scale up the product quickly is rolling it out globally in the near future, targeting the south Asian diaspora, Narang revealed at the conference. This was something that even Star India chairman Uday Shankar had stated at the Ficci Frames conference in Mumbai earlier this year.

    Narang admitted that what was helping Hotstar is the fact that “content rights are a lot easier for us in India than they are in the US.”

    Other things that could aid it get there is its catalogue of around 35,000 hours of entertainment content. At its investor call conference during the announcement of its annual results Twenty First Century Fox CFO John Nallen had pointed out that “in the beginning, we saw pretty severe sort of volatility and spike, largely around sports viewership on the Hotstar platform to when there was a big cricket tournament or something like that. But, gradually over the last year, what’s really built and gotten much more momentum is scripted programming, it’s Indian-scripted programming in multiple languages, and that’s really driving, that’s been the most gratifying and to see more consistent viewership of that and that’s really a big, big part of the volume now, and it’s the fastest way growing part of the volume on a consistent basis, local Indian-scripted programming at very high volumes.”

    Currently, Hotstar has an estimated 72 million downloads with around 50 million active users.

  • BSNL offers cheaper data, free calls; Rs 1250 crore subsidy approved

    BSNL offers cheaper data, free calls; Rs 1250 crore subsidy approved

    NEW DELHI: State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) soon plans to reportedly bring a plan which will give neck and neck competition to Reliance Jio. BSNL chairman and managing director Anupam Shrivastava said that the was closely observing Jio’s performance and the market.

    Plans being considered by BSNL are — lifetime free-voice-tariff plans from January 2017 at Rs 2-4 cheaper than Jio’s offering. (Jio’s entry price is Rs 149) Free voice calls to all BSNL users including 3G and 2G. Mobile customers with broadband can also avail this offer. BSNL users can use home broadband to route outgoing mobile calls through the landline network.

    BSNL subsidy

    Meantime, the Indian cabinet has approved a compensation of Rs.1,250 crore for the deficit incurred in operating rural landline connections installed before April 1, 2002. The subsidy support to BSNL will be paid from the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF). The USOF, since inception in 2002, has provided subsidy to BSNL for the rural wireline connections installed prior to April 2002. A total of Rs.8,692 crore has been extended as USOF subsidy support till date.

  • BSNL offers cheaper data, free calls; Rs 1250 crore subsidy approved

    BSNL offers cheaper data, free calls; Rs 1250 crore subsidy approved

    NEW DELHI: State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) soon plans to reportedly bring a plan which will give neck and neck competition to Reliance Jio. BSNL chairman and managing director Anupam Shrivastava said that the was closely observing Jio’s performance and the market.

    Plans being considered by BSNL are — lifetime free-voice-tariff plans from January 2017 at Rs 2-4 cheaper than Jio’s offering. (Jio’s entry price is Rs 149) Free voice calls to all BSNL users including 3G and 2G. Mobile customers with broadband can also avail this offer. BSNL users can use home broadband to route outgoing mobile calls through the landline network.

    BSNL subsidy

    Meantime, the Indian cabinet has approved a compensation of Rs.1,250 crore for the deficit incurred in operating rural landline connections installed before April 1, 2002. The subsidy support to BSNL will be paid from the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF). The USOF, since inception in 2002, has provided subsidy to BSNL for the rural wireline connections installed prior to April 2002. A total of Rs.8,692 crore has been extended as USOF subsidy support till date.