Category: Video On Demand

Halfticket.tv brings MyFrenchFilmFestival 2015 for its Indian viewers

MUMBAI: HalfTicket.tv, a curated Video-on-Demand platform to limitless entertainment is bringing to India the 5th edition of world’s first online French Film Festival, MyFrenchFilmFestival 2015. The festival will be exclusively available for free viewing in India on all connected devices on the web, mobiles and tablets potentially reaching out to over 300 million internet users in the world’s second largest internet market.

Organized by UniFrance Films, this festival will be available to viewers in from January 16 through February 16, 2015. Indian users can also download the specialised app HALFTICKET TV from the Google Play stores for Android devices. Similarly, Apple device users can also get the app via iTunes from the date of the festival.

MyFrenchFilmFestival is an innovative concept, bringing the best of French cinema to Indian cinema enthusiasts, filmmakers and cinema lovers. The goal is to showcase the young generation of French filmmakers and enable Internet users to share their love of French cinema.

All the films selected for the 5th edition of the festival will be available with a free access online from 16 January to 16 February 2015.

The selection includes ten French feature films and ten French shorts presented at the festival.

Speaking on giving users from any country free access to the festival, Isabelle Giordano, General Director, Unifrance, said, “Between the 1st and 4th editions of the festival we have seen a fair amount of traffic on from Indian users accessing the festivals site, underlining the interest in French Films among Indian cinema lovers. This time, as we look forward to bringing another round of the best films from new French directors, we wanted to make the festival accessible to internet users across India, and hence tied up with HalfTicket.tv to stream the festival.”

Commenting on streaming MyFrenchFilmFestival in India, Mr. Jagdish Rajpurohit, Founder, HalfTicket.tv said, “The new-age Indian cinema lover wants to experience movies from across the globe. This viewer would love to see new content from French cinema but so far the movies never came to India. With our tie-up to get MyFrenchFilmFestival to India free for Indian users, we aim to begin offering them international movies at their convenience”.

December 8, 2014
Shankar’s ‘I’ trailer creates record on YouTube

NEW DELHI: The trailer of director Shankar’s much-awaited film I has clocked over two million views in 24 hours on Sony Music India’s YouTube channel, the fastest for any Indian film.

Shankar, known for path breaking movies like Gentleman, Kadhalan, Indian, Enthiran, Anniyan, Nanban and 16 December is casting Vikram and Amy Jackson for his latest flick.

Talking about the new record, Sony Music India’s south head Ashok Parwani said, “This is a first for us too, we have not witnessed such a huge pick up for any trailer. I will set new benchmarks across the film industry and we are proud to be associated with the magnum opus.”

Weta Workshop, the company behind Peter Jackson’s film trilogy The Lord of the Rings, has worked on the digital make-up and background arts for the film.

Produced by Aascar Films’ V Ravichandran, the music of the movie is by Grammy Award winner AR Rahman. Set to release in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam and in all major Indian languages on 24 October, I will be the first Indian film to be dubbed into Chinese.

The movie’s music launch in Chennai was the talk of the nation with Hollywood Star Arnold Schwarzenegger as the chief guest at the spectacle. The evening witnessed a bevy of stars from the film industry with AR Rahman‘s music mesmerizing the stadium of 5000 fans and actor Vikram’s performance leaving everyone spell bound.

September 30, 2014
Pritish Nandy’s Ogle to be India’s Netflix

MUMBAI: Backed by Pritish Nandy Communications’ digital arm, PNC Digital, Ogle, an upcoming digital platform, promises to bring an array of international and national content to Indian viewers.

From streaming international television shows, Hollywood to Bollywood movies, it also promises to bring international TV shows within 24 hours of them being aired.

According to media reports, Pritish Nandy hopes to give users in India a service similar to that provided overseas by Netflix Inc., Hulu.com and Amazon.com’s Instant Video. It will bring content to viewers irrespective of the device. It can be used on televisions, PCs, tablets and smartphones.

Consumers can access Ogle through any device through a browser or an app. If it’s a Smart TV, the app can be downloaded onto the TV. Otherwise, the company will provide a set-top box to display the content on a traditional TV.

Launching on 22 September Ogle will offer multiple plans to subscribers. The basic plan that offers unlimited access to Ogle’s services on five pre-registered devices, is priced at Rs 500 per month and an additional Rs 1,000 per month (taxes additional) will provide free unlimited access to stream content, as per the reports. Another plan offered is a Rs 1,500 per month plan that also offers a 2 Mbps broadband connection without any limit in addition to the benefits of the Rs 1,000 per month plan.

Ogle promises to carry over 150 international television shows (all seasons) as well as over 500 English movies. It has already lined up Indian content as well as a large library of music from India and across the world to add in the coming months after launch. The company plans to add more genres including concerts, sporting events and probably also become a distribution channel for content that regular distributors are not interested to distribute.

Ogle was acquired by PNC Digital in July from its developer Harshawardhan Sabale, who now leads the business as chief executive of PNC Digital.

September 3, 2014
MPDA launches platform for downloading legitimate content online

MUMBAI: With digital universe being the destination of the future, MPDA in association with Film & Television Producers Guild of India (FTPGI) has launched an initiative to thwart online pirates and encourage content owners to spot a legitimate platform to download content.

The duo has announced a new website ‘www.findanymovie.in’ that will direct the consumer to a legitimate site when they want to watch content online.

The Indian market is at a tipping point for online businesses to provide a multitude of options to consumers. During 2012-2013, the online video audience grew by an astounding 27 per cent dominated by Bollywood. Content owners and distributors are constantly looking for new options and technologies that caters to the growing demand of a young population (75 per cent under the age of 35).

The idea, with this platform is to build partners along the way. First, there is need to fill the missing gap of a website that leads consumers to legitimate sites. The idea is to educate and inform the consumer first and then partner with more and more content providers.

August 28, 2014
Vuclip and Rajshri Entertainment join hands to go mobile

MUMBAI: Popular on both big screens and TV sets, India’s leading entertainment company, Rajshri Entertainment will be now be available on mobile phones courtesy its new collaboration with the leading premium mobile video on demand service.

This tie-up will enable Vuclip viewers to enjoy family entertainment, including over 50 of Rajshri’s blockbuster full-length films such as ‘Hum Aapke Hain Koun’, ‘Maine Pyar Kiya’, ‘Vivah’, ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’ as well as hundreds of classic and popular music videos on their phones.

Vuclip COO Arun Parkash said, “Music and movies are deeply ingrained in the Indian way of life. It’s exciting to be able to bring high-quality blockbusters and classics to today’s youth on the platform that they are most engaged on – mobile. With this partnership, Vuclip adds to its expansive library of premium content, including full length movies, for consumers.”

To view premium content from Rajshri Entertainment, consumers can simply go to m.vuclip.com on any device and on any network or download the Vuclip App on Android or Vuclip App on Java.

Rajshri Entertainment, a part of the 67-year old Rajshri group, produces, aggregates and distributes entertainment content across multiple languages and genres to digitally connected audiences worldwide, making entertainment available anywhere, anytime and on any device.

Rajshri Entertainment’s general manager content alliances Inderpal Singh said, “We are delighted to scale up our partnership with Vuclip and make our full length films available to a global mobile audience on the go. We are seeing increasing consumption of long form content on mobile devices and we are confident that our films will delight and entertain an audience on a 3.5 inch screen, just like they did on a 35mm screen!”

This strategic partnership brings popular movies from one of the largest entertainment studios to the go-to mobile video destination for today’s generation.

August 13, 2014
Networkplay Unveils VideoPlay

MUMBAI: Networkplay, Indian subsidiary of Gruner+Jahr takes video advertising to a whole new level with the launch of VideoPlay, a revolutionary byproduct of its recent acquisition – Vxchange. Further enhanced with multiple features, added benefits, VideoPlay is a digital video ecosystem that offers an open marketplace platform for video content and ad inventory to content providers, publishers and advertisers.

An easy-to-use marketplace platform, VideoPlay enables trading of video content and advertisements. The platform provides syndication opportunities to content providers while enabling publishers to add value to their existing content by picking videos from the platform and hosting it on their websites. Advertisers will also be able to leverage this scheme by delivering ads on various genres of video content. The platform offers both custom flash-based video players as well as HTML5 compatible video player to deliver video through embed codes, thus ensuring that it supports all devices including mobiles and tablets.

Advertisers will get to choose from ad formats such as pre-roll, post-roll, mid-roll and overlay image ads. Depending on the type of user (content provider, publisher, advertiser) VideoPlay provides customised user interfaces and functionality features.

Commenting on this launch, Mr. Kuldip Singh, CEO Gruner + Jahr, India says, “G+J’s strategy for Networkplay focuses on further growth of the existing business and expansion of the product portfolio. With India as Asia’s 3rd largest online video market after China and Japan, and online video consumption has grown to more than 3.7 bn videos as against 1.8 bn in 2011, the market is witnessing shifts in ad budgets inclined heavily towards video advertising. The launch of VideoPlay brings to fore, Networkplay’s focus on building strong technological competence in the video space, thus differentiating itself from other players and helping it pave the way for a long-term position in this segment.”

According to Ampreet Singh, CEO Networkplay, “The company is taking myriad initiatives to establish itself as a large media firm. The core continues to remain digital and due diligence by our team in the market with several content providers, publishers and advertisers, further reinforces our product offering as of immense value to all. Our successful campaigns delivered in a couple of months for clients like Visa, KFC, Mitsubishi Electric & Virgin Atlantic have made us very visible in the market. The performance on these campaigns has been above industry standards and we expect it to be even better in the coming months.”

The launch of VideoPlay, marks the beginning of a series of exciting novel schemes. Networkplay has already tied up with various content providers and publishers for this proposal and is expecting more traction in the coming months.

June 11, 2014
Shotformats launches Tiny TV for music video lovers on mobile

MUMBAI: Tiny TV is another media product from the house of Shotformats and as the name suggests is a data product which offers music video streaming and downloads.

The product is amplified with the huge library of 10,000 videos across 13 languages and covering genres like Bollywood/pop/devotional and regional. Tiny TV will support most of the media player irrespective of consumer handsets.

In the user-friendly platform, the layout is designed in a style that provides an optimal viewing experience, easy reading & navigation with minimal resizing, panning and scrolling, across a wide range of devices. A user can enjoy music of all genres, as per their interests and can share the same on social media platforms too. There is a subscription to this video streaming service. With one time purchase model available for listed price points, user can also subscribe to pre-set packs for streaming videos on Tiny TV and downloading the same on their mobile phones.

Shotformats MD & CEO Niyati Shah exclaims, “Shotformats has always been trendsetters in launching rich media products with high quality content for our consumers. Tiny TV is our initiative for the music video lovers; it offers 10,000 music videos across seven languages with Bollywood dominating the mix. It’s a unique service which offers both downloads and streaming, Shotformats has developed in-house compressing technology which allows us to compress videos keeping the quality intact and allowing the users quick downloads. “

Sony Music India director digital Hari Nair says, “This is a great digital product that allow users to download and stream the videos of their favorite songs. With this generation being on the move, we believe this is a great initiative.”

Aditya Music business head Aditya Gupta adds, “It is a brilliant platform provided for Indian music industry, especially having a full length music video in 2G and 3G format. This enables music aficionados to enjoy the audio and video on the go, in a seamless manner, hassle-free and in various languages. “

May 15, 2014
Eros International to offer top rated TV content on ErosNow

MUMBAI: Eros International plc (NYSE: EROS) (“Eros”), a leading global company in the Indian film entertainment industry, today announced that it is adding top Bollywood television content to its large selection of movies and music content on its online streaming platform, ErosNow (www.erosnow.com).

Beginning in May, 2014, ErosNow free as well as paying subscribers will have access to the highly popular television programming ranging from top rated current serials and soaps to reality shows such as Balika Vadhu, Uttaran, Sasural Simar Ka, Beintehaa, Rangrasiya, Sanskaar (Season 2), Madhubala, Comedy Nights with Kapil and Khatronke Khiladi (Season 5). These programs will be available on ErosNow within 36 hours of their television premiere in India with thousands of hours of catch up episodes.

Speaking on the development, Rishika Lulla Singh, Chief Executive Officer of ErosNow said, “ErosNow is the only unique online streaming service in the world to offer both current and classic Bollywood blockbusters, music videos and popular television shows. The addition of even more premium television content offers our subscribers the instant access they crave to today’s most compelling and highly rated TV shows and series in India.”

ErosNow is available across multiple platforms and provides subscribers with thousands of hours of free content through their PC, smartphone or tablet just by signing up for an ErosNow account. Subscribers can also choose to purchase a premium ErosNow subscription that provides access to the latest online premieres, HD quality content, and offers downloading capabilities across multiple devices for quality entertainment on the go.

April 25, 2014
AT&T to launch video service with Chernin Group

NEW DELHI: American telecom service provider AT&T and The Chernin Group are acquiring, launching and investing in video services.

It is understood that this will be more than a $500 million venture. The massive investment is seen as a response to the ongoing merger talks between Comcast and Time Warner Cable (TWC) and fiber-led Internet ambition of Google.

AT&T announced its video investment plan hours after Comcast shared its Q1 2014 revenue that rose 13.7 per cent to $17.4 billion. Comcast Q1 income grew 16.3 per cent to $3.56 billion. Out of this, Cable Communications revenue increased 5.3 per cent.

AT&T, which has invested more than $119 billion in the United States over the last six years, said it wants to tap the online video and OTT video market.

Comcast, which is currently negotiating a $45 billion merger with TWC, said it added 124,000 cable customers in Q1 2014 and reached 26.8 million. It added 24,000 video customers in the first quarter of 2014. The company also added 383,000 high-speed internet customers. Internet revenue growth of 9 per cent is the strongest growth rate in two years.

AT&T chief strategy officer John Stankey said: “Combining our expertise in network infrastructure, mobile, broadband and video with The Chernin Group’s management and expertise in content, distribution, and monetization models in online video creates the opportunity for us to develop a compelling offering in the OTT space.”

One-day before the video announcement, AT&T said it would expand its high speed internet network to an additional 21 cities in the American internet network. It also suggested that the online video venture will make AT&T a leader in the American broadcasting industry. It seems internet search engine Google may not be the big rival for AT&T, but Comcast and others.

The Chernin Group, which invests in media businesses, brings assets and expertise to the venture, including contribution of its majority stake in Crunchyroll, a subscription video on demand service.

This alliance positions AT&T and The Chernin Group to take advantage of the rapid growth of online video and OTT video services. The strategic goal of this initiative will be to invest in advertising and subscription VOD channels as well as streaming services.

AT&T has over 110 million wireless subscribers and more than 16 million total broadband subscribers. Video makes difference to better customer experience. At present, Google and AT&T are competing in high speed internet network roll outs. AT&T will benefit from video as it will compensate possible revenue loss from voice services.

April 25, 2014
Sony’s Crackle inks exclusive content deal with NBCUniversal

MUMBAI: Crackle – the free video streaming platform – backed by Sony Pictures Entertainment is strengthening its content library. It has now signed a deal with NBCUniversal for the exclusive rights to more than 140 movies over the next three years.

The agreement will see movies such as Ray, Jarhead and the remake of King Kong that will be will be exclusively available on the service but won’t appear on other ad-supported distributors including television channels.

This certainly cements the fact that Sony is much focused on improving its video streaming service, even after Crackle shut shop in UK beginning 1 April. This also shows its willingness to go against the grain of other streaming sites like Netflix and Hulu, which work primarily on subscription models.

This move makes Crackle something of a hybrid, operating as a streaming service but making deals like a television channel. The acquisition of exclusive rights provides the service with what it hopes will be content that draws viewers.

Since it is entirely supported by ads, Crackle’s strategy is to appear on as many platforms as possible. The streaming channel is currently on 27 different devices including gaming consoles, streaming set-top boxes and connected televisions.

Crackle was formerly known as Grouper, which Sony bought in 2006 for $65 million. Its original iteration placed it in competition with YouTube more than streamers like Netflix. Sony decided to rebrand it as Crackle in 2007 as a streaming and movie TV library.

Sony has struggled more broadly, spinning off its TV business and selling its computer division.

April 5, 2014