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Category: News Headline

  • TVHead licenses Tetris for interactive TV

    TVHead licenses Tetris for interactive TV

    MUMBAI: Capitalising on a truly global game phenomenon, TVHead has secured the worldwide interactive TV rights for Tetris – including cable, satellite and IPTV – through 2010. The games-on-demand television network will provide the game to cable and IPTV subscribers as part of its premium offerings.

    With its user-friendly interface and addictive appeal, Tetris is believed to be the world’s best selling electronic game, due to its wide availability on almost every modern computer and game system available.

    “Tetris is more than just a game… it’s a phenomenon with a level of consumer loyalty and awareness equal to top TV programs. Not only is Tetris the number one downloaded wireless game by a large margin, but it has also been incredibly successful on every other platform on which it has been introduced. We are thrilled at the opportunity to provide Tetris to TV audiences because television is the perfect casual games platform. By offering such a consumer-demanded blockbuster, TVHead enables operators to keep their game playing subscribers happy and in front of the TV,” said TVHead CEO and founder Sangita Verma

    TVHead will offer two versions of Tetris: Tetris Classic and Tetris Battle. In the classic Tetris puzzle game, players must clear horizontal rows to score points by creatively rotating and aligning falling blocks while the action accelerates with every move.

    Additionally, Tetris Classic will include high scores, multiplayer and advance play modes. Tetris Battle, a new multiplayer version currently in development, begins when a player submits his or her ‘best of’ game as a challenge to others. Competitors can then select to play against this game—being dealt the same pattern and speed of falling blocks—to see if they can best the score. Highest scores continue to move up the ranks with postings on leader boards and prizes for obtaining high-score benchmarks. Rankings span first local, then regional, and finally national status.

    TVHead is also working with Blue Planet Software Inc., the exclusive worldwide licensing agent for The Tetris Company, to create a consistent multi-platform game experience in which players are able to compete against each other using television and PCs.

  • Discovery to launch mobile, broadband channels in US

    Discovery to launch mobile, broadband channels in US

    MUMBAI: Today television content providers are looking to take advantage of new media platforms like the internet and mobile.

    Discovery in the US will launch Discovery Mobile for mobile video. It will also launch two new broadband channels, Discovery Channel Beyond and Travel Channel Beyond, for Internet users.

    Discovery Mobile will be a 24-hour mobile programming network featuring original content from Discovery’s core program genres. It will debut in the third quarter of 2006. The network’s content will consist of segments ranging in length from 30 seconds to four minutes, categorized into 20-minute blocks. Material will include made-for-mobile series, abbreviated versions of Discovery programs, never-before-seen footage, and user-generated content. The service is targeted to users 15-39.

    The two Internet channels will short-form programmes, as well as user-generated documentaries, over the Internet. TLC, Animal Planet and Discovery Health Channel will also launch on broadband in the coming months.

  • Broadband growing rapidly worldwide, says study

    Broadband growing rapidly worldwide, says study

    Research agency In-Stat/MDR has forecast that the number of broadband subscribers worldwide will surpass 46 million by the end of 2002.

    The number of broadband subscribers is expected to grow rapidly over the next three years to surpass 120 million by 2005, according to the agency. The news comes on the heels of figures released by the Federal Communications Commission, The number of broadband connections in the US increased by 33 per cent during the second half of 2001, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

    In late 2001, DSL became the most widely used broadband access technology when the number of worldwide DSL subscribers exceeded 17 million. However, in the US, cable modem subscribers continue to outnumber DSL subscribers by a wide margin. According to In-Stat/MDR, other broadband access technologies such as satellite broadband, Fiber-to-the Home, and fixed wireless service account for only five percent of current worldwide broadband subscribers.

    The number of homes and businesses using high-speed lines to connect to the Internet increased from 9.6 million to 12.8 million lines in the US at the end of the year.

    This compares with a 36 percent rise in the first half of 2001 when the number of high-speed lines increased from nearly 7.1 million to 9.6 million. Of the 12.8 million high-speed lines in service at the end of 2001, 11 million served residential and small business subscribers, a 41 percent increase on the first half of 2001 when 7.8 million residential and small business subscribers could connect to the Net using high-speed lines.

    Around 7.4 million of the total number of high-speed lines in service at the end of last year were advanced service lines that provide services at speeds exceeding 200 kilobits per second (kbps) in both directions. This is an increase of 25 percent on the first six months of the year. About 5.8 million residential and small business subscribers had advanced service lines, according to the report.

    At the end of 2001, the presence of high-speed service subscribers were reported in all fifty states, and in 79 percent of the nation’s zip codes.

    ADSL lines in service increased by 47 per cent during the second half of the year, from 5.2 million to 7.1 million lines, while cable modem service increased by 45 percent, from nearly 3.6 million to 5.2 million lines.

     

  • Cricket: BCCI debunks bidders’ objections

    Cricket: BCCI debunks bidders’ objections

    NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Cricket and controversy in India are synonymous now.

    The latest round of allegation and counter-elucidations relates to overseas cricket telecast rights for Indo-Pakistan cricket matches to be played in neutral venues with one set of bidders alleging “irregularities” in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
    The charge that the Indian cricket board is allegedly biased towards Sahara One Media & Entertainment, which is presently telecasting the ongoing India-England home cricket series on Sahara One channel, however, has been dismissed by the BCCI as “making a mountain of a molehill.”

    If that’s not enough, media reports from Pakistan hint that while the BCCI is going ahead full steam with the proposed cricket matches — 25 in number over a period of few years — actually no formal agreement exist between it and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), which is as much owners of the cricket matches as the Indian cricket board.

    On the last day of submission of financial bids for Indo-Pak cricket on neutral venues, some companies like Zee Telefilms, ESPN Star Sports and Nimbus today have alleged that tender documents criteria “seem to have been totally ignored by Sahara in the bid submission process.”

    Not only one of the bidders has written a letter to the BCCI president and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, after marking it to other officials like the marketing head chief Lalit Modi, but a sequence of happenings as it happened have been detailed.

    BCCI has fixed a reserve price of $ 5 million dollars a match and the total revenue generated could be in excess of $120 million.

    The basic thrust of the allegations listed in the letter, a copy of which is available with Indiantelevision.com, is not only the Sahara group submitted its bids after the deadline of 11 a.m. today, but also flouted a condition of bringing the bids in open envelopes.

    “…the Sahara financial bid was in unsealed condition and was actually taken out of the envelope for approximately 10 to 15 seconds,” the letter states, adding that all the other bidders present objected to it and lodged their formal protest on Sahara’s late arrival too.

    While Sahara One Media and Entertainment refused to make any comments when contacted by Indiantelevision.com, BCCI vice-president Modi dismissed the allegations by saying the other bidders were simply splitting hairs over a small issue.

    “There has been no irregularity,” Modi insisted, “If people feel that on a small technical issue, we would disqualify a newcomer (Sahara has never bagged telecast rights till the recent India-England series), then they have to think again.”

    According to Modi, the other companies were attempting to form a “cartel” in an effort to hammer down the prices.

    “It almost seems that some companies are ganging up against a newcomer’s entry. It also seems a cartel is being attempted so that the price (of the telecast rights) could be lowered,” Modi told Indiantelevision.com.

    Asked whether the BCCI has a formal deal with the PCB before going ahead with sale of telecast rights of Indo-Pak cricket, Modi criticized the Pakistani media for raising unimportant issues, which are of “no consequence.”

    “The very fact that we are going ahead with the bidding process shows that PCB and the BCCI have an understanding. Has the PCB said anything formally?” the businessman-turned-sports administrator countered

    Meanwhile, the protest letter concludes by stating, “We believe that the new BCCI administration has conducted the earlier tender processes with complete transparency and fairness. There have been instances in the past, where companies have been disqualified on technical grounds.

    “Keeping these facts in mind, we trust that in all fairness, the Sahara financial bid should not be considered. We are hopeful that the BCCI will take a fair decision on this occasion as well.”

    Whether the BCCI takes note of the protests lodged by the likes of Zee, ESS and Nimbus can only be gauged when the financial bids are opened on Thursday (6 April) and the successful candidate announced

  • Indiantelevision.com’s Media, Advertising, Marketing Special Report

    New emerging technologies are going to change the way we consume media. It is a dynamic and constantly morphing scenario that confronts media researchers and marketers. Indiantelevision.com introduces the first of a series of studies by Group M’s Maxus, which will cover a wide range of issues.

    Indiantelevision.com would welcome such similar studies that add to a better understanding of our media landscape.

    In this, the first such paper, Maxus dwells on Television and Generation Next.

    “Incredibly Young India”! This might well be an appropriate coinage given the current demographics of the Indian population. Over the next decade, marketers are looking at the most lucrative and influential youth market in Indian history.

    But crucial to profiting from this increasingly critical section of our society will also be a proper understanding of this fickle and extremely hard to please generation.

    The fact that India is getting ‘younger’ is also reflected in our advertising – in 2005, advertising directed at the youth comprised 20 per cent of total ad spends, up from 16 per cent a few years ago. (Maxus estimates)

    However, worryingly, youth engagement with TV is on the wane – time spent on TV is progressively declining.

    Time Spent on TV viewing per day Index to 2002
     
    (Source: TAM, 15-24 years, SEC A)

    A look at similar numbers for housewives confirms that this is a youth only trend – housewife viewing is at best flat with spikes in some years.

    Time Spent on TV viewing per day Index to 2002
     
    (TG: Housewives, 25-44, SEC A)

    So while more money is chasing the youth on TV year after year, the worry for marketers is the declining returns on their investment. TV channels aimed at the youth need to also contend with this problem. How do they get Gen Next to watch more TV?

    Why is this happening?

    The growing propensity to multi task also makes inroads into the TV preserve – not only is the youth much more on the move (college, tuition, evening job, partying…), they are also consuming multiple media simultaneously – SMS a friend, while on a chat site with FM blaring. The SMS shorthand has also shortened attention spans making the youth clamor for constant newness.

    But of course, the biggest change agent has been the Wiring of Gen Next’ – a phenomenon sweeping urban India – SMS, internet, gaming, iPods…

    Apart from the technology, these gadgets fulfill a very basic youth need of providing a network: their virtual, private world offers them the peer group belonging and security, exchange of information and a social cocoon that helps fight loneliness characteristic of nuclear families today.

    Most of the entertainment options that appeal to this whole new segment is actually done with others and not alone. Be it going to multiplexes, hanging out in coffee pubs, sweating it out at gaming parlours or chatting online – all are group acts.

    Hence the cult rise of IPods, chat rooms, networks, Google, iTunes and PodCasts, on line messengers…

    All the gadgets and entertainment options mentioned above are:

    Interactive and/or consumer created
    Warm and friendly inviting active participation
    Platforms where there are very few pre-set norms or content limitations
    So, is it doomsday for TV?

    Certainly not! TV has some inherent strengths – the challenge for TV is to amplify its strengths and leverage the new digital world to expand its youth catchment.

    The starting point of course has to be content. In the convergence era of information, communication and entertainment, the last remains a bastion for a (relatively) large screen, audio-visual medium like TV.

    This is the area that TV needs to build on and develop far greater depth in content. The question is how? For one, we really need to stop thinking of the youth as one amorphous mass of wired, accessorised, colloquialised beings.

    The content generators have to realize that there are at least four life stages that are spawned in the decade of 15-24 years – leaving school, college years, early work life and in some cases, matrimony – each with their own share of angst and joy. While some content has meaningfully focused on the first two, nothing has been done on the rest

    The possibilities are many:

    A soap completely scripted by the audience through emails and the winning contestant being sent on a creative writing course to a US university
    A news hour exclusively showcasing reports from “Citizen Journalists” (anyone with camera-mobile), who can SMS/email in their content
    A muti-contestant Gaming platform on TV completely enabled at the back-end to require just a mobile phone to participate
    A few ideas, like the ones above, have in fact been experimented with by various channels. However, these have been a smattering on the larger landscape of music countdown shows! One way to increase impact for these shows would be to package them in a ‘youth’ time slot. We have an afternoon band for the ladies at home, one early evening for kids, but no time band exists which invites youngsters into ‘their’ world.

    The second big focus area for TV needs to be on becoming a part of the digital youth network. In this regard, content providers need to augment their content through the digital world as well as sample it through the digital world.

    Snippets of programming converted into mobile/mail friendly formats like 3GP or MPEG and mailed/SMS’d out
    Creation of specific chatrooms on popular portals that help the prospective audience understand (and augment) the programming intent
    Previous episodes easily accessible online, but for the fresh episodes they have to tune in
    In the end, TV will be an integral part of the digital world – the challenge for TV will be to retain its glory as the defining point of entertainment – just like its content be it cricket or serials dominates the drawing room and kitchen conversations, will it also dominate the canteen, the SMS, the blogs and other ways in which the youth communicate?

     

  • Zee Sports can break even in 18 months time: channel head

    Zee Sports can break even in 18 months time: channel head

    NEW DELHI: Zee Sports, the youngest of the sports channel beaming into Indian cable homes, could breakeven within 12 to 18 months time, according to a senior channel executive.

    “These are early days, but the channel can possibly breakeven in 12 to 18 months time as its revenues increase. Especially now that cricket will be aired,” Zee Sports business head Himanshu Mody told Indiantelevision.com today.

    Part of the Subhash Chandra-promoted Zee Telefilms, Zee Sports believes it has struck gold after bagging the telecast rights of one-day cricket that India will play against Pakistan, Australia, England and West Indies over the next five years on neutral venues.

    Zee has invested approximately Rs 300 million in its sports channel started over a year back.

    Zee Telefilms bagged the telecast rights for approximately $ 219 million, beating the likes of ESPN Star Sports, Sahara One Media & Entertainment and Nimbus.

    According to Mody, a cricket property like this is definitely going to drive up the subscription revenues and could be leveraged in different ways on various platforms over the five year contract period till 2011.

    “In the months to come by, Zee Sports will be a power to reckon with,” Mody said with glee after this victory, having failed twice earlier to bag big ticket cricket properties, which included the domestic Indian rights for four years that was snared by Nimbus for $ 612 million.

    Asked whether the investments could be recovered as there’s an overdose of cricket all round on television, Mody said the present rights for 25 one-day matches were different from other rights and had its advantages.

    “What we have bagged is one-day cricket, which has more value (in terms of viewership) than five-day Test cricket. Moreover, India-Pakistan clashes mostly go down very well with viewers and advertisers alike,” Mody explained.

    Zee Sports is also keen to share the terrestrial telecast with the Indian pubcaster Doordarshan and doesn’t think such simulcast would hit its revenues — advertising or subscription.

    “We are keen to share cricket with DD and will offer the best deal possible,” Mody said.

  • ESS to share with DD semis, final of soccer World Cup

    ESS to share with DD semis, final of soccer World Cup

    NEW DELHI: ESPN Star Sports has reached an in-principal agreement with the government to make available the semi-final and final matches of FIFA World Cup soccer to Indian pubcaster Doordarshan.

    Confirming the development, ESPN India MD RC Venkateish said as an icing on the cake and a goodwill gesture, DD may end up with having the opening ceremony of the soccer feast too.

    ESS, which holds the exclusive rights of the soccer World Cup for the India region, will share the feeds of the above mentioned matches with DD on a 75:25 revenue share basis.

    This sort of a pact is on the lines of concessions that private broadcasters, holding exclusive rights for events held outside India, are ready to make involving Grand Slam tennis tournaments and important cricket series.

    Asked whether DD will have to do without the soccer World Cup as the `listed sports’ have not been notified as mandated by the newly-formulated downlink norms, a senior government official gave a non-committal answer.

    “The list of sports of national importance is not yet ready to be notified. So nothing definite can be said on soccer at the moment,” I&B additional secretary P Singh said today on the sidelines of a press conference called by Prasar Bharati, which manages DD and All India Radio.

    The downlink norms state that irrespective of the rights holder, all sporting events of national importance will have to be shared with the national broadcaster, Prasar Bharati, on a mandatory basis. This also includes events taking place outside India.

    However, both Ten Sports and ESS have moved the courts appealing against this norm.

    The month-long soccer World Cup, which begins in June 2006, is a hot property for any broadcaster in the world and despite India never reaching even the qualifying stages of the tournament, the number of soccer fans here is legion.

    Being one of ESS’ biggest properties for the year, the channel has already announced a slew of initiatives that it is hoping will build excitement.

  • DD to demand carriage fee from broadcasters for DTH service

    DD to demand carriage fee from broadcasters for DTH service

    NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati has decided that it would demand an annual carriage fee of Rs.10 million from private broadcasters to be on its DTH platform, DD Direct+.

    “We have written to some broadcasters on this and are awaiting their response,” Prasar Bharati CEO KS Sarma said today during an annual Press meet.
    According to him, after DD Direct+ increases its capacity to 51 television channels from May, a fee would be taken for being aboard the world’s first subscription-free DTH service, which on last count had approximately 1.1 million subscribers.

    Over 40 broadcasters, including some Indian and foreign religious channels, German pubcaster DeutcheWelle and the proposed AlJazeera International English news channel, are waiting in the queue to hop on to DD Direct+ seeing its obvious advantages.

    “We don’t anticipate any problems regarding drop-outs from the present lot as many channels are waiting with the requisite fee in hand for our nod,” Sarma said, adding some entertainment channels, including South Indian ones, too have evinced interest.
    However, charging a monthly subscription from the subscribers has been ruled out. “We want to remain free for some more time,” Sarma explained.

    To subscribe to DD Direct+ DTH service, a consumer has to buy the hardware for approximately Rs. 3,000, which can be considered as one time investment. No monthly subscription is charged from subscribers.

    Apart from DD Direct+, the other DTH player in the country is Subhash Chandra-controlled Dish TV. A Rupert Murdoch and Tata joint venture is proposing to launch Tata Sky DTH service later this year in market that might yield 15 per cent to DTH services over the next two-three years.

    Meanwhile, Prasar Bharati informed that a low-cost DTH set-top box has been launched in the market for radio channels.

    “We are quite excited by this and would strengthen our services to take advantage of this low-cost receiver,” All India Radio DG Brijeshwar Singh said.

  • KTK Kazakhstan, BVITV ink deal for ‘Desperate Housewives’

    KTK Kazakhstan, BVITV ink deal for ‘Desperate Housewives’

    MUMBAI: KTK and Buena Vista International Television (BVITV) have announced major multi-year agreements to bring a range of features, network series, kids series and TV movies to its channels KTK and Euroasia across Kazakhstan.

    This was announced by BVITV EMEA senior vice president sales and portfolio development Philippe Maigret and KTK general producer Igor Syrtsov.

    The agreements were prepared and made with participation of Intra Communications,Inc. (ICI) being an authorized agent of KTK.

    KTK and Euroasia have licensed the second season of the award-winning US network series Desperate Housewives, following the success of the first season on the channel.

    With these agreements, KTK has picked up a number of first run features from BVITV’s portfolio including Signs and Gone in 60 Seconds. Viewers will also be able to enjoy the international smash hits 10 Things I Hate About You, both Father of the Bride films and madcap comedy Spy Hard. The broadcaster has picked up first runs of hit features including Coyote Ugly, High Fidelity, Summer of Sam, and Good Morning Vietnam.

    For KTK’s younger viewers, the channel has also picked up a selection of Disney animated content for its successful weekly Disney branded block, Disney Club.

    In a separate agreement introduced by BVITV, KTK has also licensed action-packed Jetix Europe programming for the launch of its first Jetix branded block. Younger viewers will be able to enjoy a selection of popular animated series including Gadget and the Gadgetinis, Sonic X and The Secret Files of the Spydogs.

    Maigret said, “These agreements are our biggest to date in Kazakhstan, and are part of significant growth overall in our business across Central and Eastern Europe. We are pleased to be working closely with KTK in expanding our breath of content on air, from network series to kids programming blocks.”

    Syrtsov said, “We are excited to be licensing this broad range of hit series, movies, and kids entertainment, which we are sure will be very successful for our channels.”

  • BVITV-AP signs first ever deal with Metro TV Indonesia for ABC News Programming

    BVITV-AP signs first ever deal with Metro TV Indonesia for ABC News Programming

    MUMBAI: Buena Vista International Television-Asia Pacific (BVITV-AP) today announced its first ever deal with Indonesia’s only dedicated terrestrial news channel, Media Televisi Indonesia (Metro TV), for ABC News Programming. It is the first time that viewers in Indonesia will have access to exclusive ABC News Programming, which started last month.

    Under this new agreement, ABC News, where more Americans get their news than from any other source, will provide breaking news programming and reports including award winning and acclaimed news magazines 20/20 and Primetime as well in-depth ABC specials such as Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People.

    “We are thrilled to be bringing ABC’s enviable world-class news programming for the first time to Indonesia. The ABC News portfolio will offer Metro TV a constantly updated resource of premium in-depth, quality news and interviews for their distinguished viewers and we look forward to our new collaboration with them,” said BVITV-AP senior vice president and managing director Steve Macallister.

    “ABC News embraces this ground-breaking opportunity to offer our top-rated programs in Indonesia. We are dedicated to expanding our reach and making our quality content available across the globe,” said ABC News Digital Media Group senior vice president and general manager Bernard Gershon.

    “Metro TV is very happy to have this cooperation with ABC News, this will add quality content to our International News programs,” said Metro TV director of programming and development Zsa Zsa Yusharyahya.

    Metro TV is Indonesia’s exclusive free-to-air news channel offering local and international headline news and comprehensive news programming in all fields from politics to business to art and culture in a quick, credible and reliable way for local and international viewers.