ITV

Category: News Headline

  • MTNL selects Time Broadband for IPTV

    MTNL selects Time Broadband for IPTV

    MUMBAI: State-owned telecom major MTNL has selected Time Broadband Services Pvt Ltd, India (TBSPL) to develop and handle the content delivery network for its IPTV services.

    TBSPL has signed a seven-year deal which will have IT major HP as its systems integrator. The company will design and deploy the content delivery network, aggregate and repurpose content, and market and promote the services

    “We have signed with Time Broadband as our franchisee for setting up the content delivery network. The first launch of IPTV will be in Delhi and Mumbai will follow. We expect to launch the service commercially by June,” says MTNL executive director, Mumbai, MS Rana.

    Time Broadband will have Israel-based Infogate Online as its middleware vendor while Verimatrix Inc. will provide content protection solutions. The digital headend will be from Optibase. Amino and Softier Inc. set-top boxes are being tested.

    “We are extremely glad to participate with a telecom giant for the IPTV project. While MTNL is investing on the networking technology, we are pumping in money for the content delivery network. HP is our systems integrator and will also be responsible for risk mitigation of the technology. The scalability test is being done in their laboratory at Grenoble in the US,” says Time Broadband managing director Sujata Dev.

    MTNL has invested in deploying a networking platform developed by Ericsson. On this network, MTNL can run its triple play services – voice, data and video.

    The telecom company is employing ADSL 2+ technology that can safely take up to 24 mbps at the origination point, says MTNL general manager broadband Peeyush Agrawal. “For the video part, we are using MPEG-4 compression technology,” he adds.

  • British government asks BBC to adapt to digital era

    British government asks BBC to adapt to digital era

    MUMBAI: The British government has granted the BBC its license fee for the next 10 years, but also asked the broadcaster to adapt those principles to the digital era and that it needs to return to its roots of “informing, educating and entertaining”.

    Suggesting that the corporation should put entertainment at the heart of its mission, these recommendations came in the form of a White Paper on the future of the BBC.

    It also called for the BBC to avoid copycat programming and expensive foreign acquisitions, and confirmed new regulations designed to prevent the BBC from bullying commercial competitors.

    Both the charter renewal, valid until 2016, and the White Paper come just two years after the devastating Hutton Report, which found that the BBC had engaged in irresponsible journalism.

    The paper did lay out some new goals for the BBC. One of them is that the broadcaster should convert to full digital transmission by 2012. Another is that the BBC’s programs and websites should be of high quality and engaging.

    According to media reports, the report also commends the announced goal of BBC director general Mark Thompson to cut 4,000 jobs and re-invest the resulting £355 million a year in savings back into programming.

  • Shyam P S appointed as Buena Vista International (India) film production & acquisitions head

    Shyam P S appointed as Buena Vista International (India) film production & acquisitions head

    MUMBAI: The Walt Disney Company (India) and Buena Vista International have appointed Shyam P. S. as head of Film Production & Acquisitions, BVI (India). The announcement was made by The Walt Disney Company (India) MD Rajat Jain and BVI Asia VP Jeff Forman.

    Based in Mumbai, Shyam will spearhead the company’s feature films production and acquisitions in India as part of the studio entertainment business. He would be responsible for the company’s initiatives to create and acquire original Indian films which combine Disney’s classic storytelling abilities with the Indian sensibilities.

    Shyam would report jointly to Jain, Forman and BVI Asia VP sales Jo Yan, informs an official release.

    India is a priority market in Disney’s global expansion strategy and the company is reiterating its continued commitment to the potential of the market, especially Bollywood, through the launch of Studio operations, the release adds.

    “We are investing in the future of global entertainment in India through a continued thrust on building the depth and breadth of our presence in the country. Shyam’s outstanding knowledge of the Indian movie business will be an asset in the launch and future of our Studio operations. With this launch, I am happy to inform that three of our four lines of businesses have their presence in India now which creates a meaningful presence for Disney here. We are proud to expand our presence in the Indian movie business as Indian movie content prepares to take center stage on the global map” says Jain.

    “India has a great wealth of stories and a wonderful history of film making”, adds Forman. “We are very excited by the prospects of making Indian language films for the Indian audience with Indian sensitivities and a touch of the Disney magic. We look forward to making great films and are very pleased to have a production executive of Shyam’s experience and talent to lead us forward.”

    Shyam’s most recent assignment was with Flicks – The Motion Picture Company as executive producer of the just-released Rang De Basanti. Prior to that, he has worked with the Percept Picture Company, and a variety of music videos, docudramas and commercials.

  • SifyMax launches city-centric broadband portal

    SifyMax launches city-centric broadband portal

    BANGALORE: www.sifymax.in, the broadband portal from Sify Limited, has launched www.bangalorelive.in, the country’s first city-centric broadband website.

    Bangalorelive.in will showcase original Bangalore-centric video content, created exclusively for an online audience. The videos will focus on city news and events, entertainment, celebrities, lifestyle, commerce and politics, anchored by Net Jockeys (NJs), a new concept introduced by Bangalorelive in India. The Net Jockeys will also present daily news bulletins on video, covering the latest happenings in the city extensively.

    The broadband website also features, for the first time in India, live video feeds from traffic web-cams stationed at key junctions of the city including Brigade Road and Hosur Road, states an official release.

    A key aspect of Bangalorelive is the options for users to publish their views, participate in Bangalore-specific discussions and upload their own content in images and videos, the release adds. They can also message greetings through Short Message Service (SMS) to their friends who are using the site that will scroll across the home page on a ticker. The idea is to make Bangalorelive the online resource and home for Bangalore’s citizens, and the perfect way for Banglorian living elsewhere to stay in touch with what’s happening in their home city.

    Nikhil Chinapa, the popular MTV VJ from Bangalore, now based in Mumbai, says, “Considering that people from Bangalore have a really strong emotional bond to what they consider ‘their’ city, a site like Bangalorelive.in is a great way for them to stay in touch with all that’s happening in the city. No matter where they are now, Bombay, Delhi, Canada or the US, every Bangalorean can keep up to date on what’s happening in Bangalore-the clubs, the music, the buzz, news, hot topics, and in recent times, the latest traffic as well.”

    Sify Limited senior VP Surya Mantha says, “This is one of the most exciting web initiatives in recent times, and we believe that the people of Bangalore will embrace it and truly make it come alive! The site is India’s first city-centric broadband website designed to be the Bangalore citizens community media channel for airing their views, discussing hot local topics and building their own personal space online”.

    Mantha added, “With 24×7 live video coverage of the city’s traffic, news & events, reviews, news from around town presented by India’s first Net Jockeys, television-style newscasts and most importantly, video and image galleries for users, Bangalorelive is all set to change the online experience of people from Bangalore, whether they are in the city or elsewhere. The website also features Bangalore-specific classified advertisements for jobs, matrimony, real estate and automobiles which can be posted and viewed by the users free of cost”.

    Bangalore residents who log on to www.bangalorelive.in can take part in the four-week long contest, which ends on March 18th 2006, offering the all-new Scorpio as the mega prize! Users just have to watch three videos, and answer one question on each, to be eligible to win the Scorpio. Contestants also win iPods and World Space Receivers every week!

    The launch of Bangalorelive began with a four week-long event across the city billed the “Battle of the DJs”. Three of Bangalore’s best DJs are competing for the ‘Favourite DJ’ title. Bangaloreans can vote for their choice by sending an SMS to 4545, Sify’s short code for text messages. The DJ with the most popular votes wins! The grand finale starts at 7 pm on 18 March at Freeway 19, Palace Grounds.

  • Insat-3B lofted successfully

    Insat-3B lofted successfully

    Arianespace and the Indian Space Research Organisation successfuly lifted the first in the third generation of Insat satellites on 22 March at 04:58 Indian time. The Arianespace-505 launcher had an additional payload in the Asiastar satellite which was launched for digital radio service, WorldSpace.

    Asia Star was first injected into orbit 28 minutes after lift-off, and seven minutes later, INSAT-3B was injected (in a three-axis stabilised mode into a Geo-synchronous Transfer Orbit – GTO) with a perigee of 560 km and an apogee of 35,770 km and an inclination of 7 degree with respect to the equator.

    The satellite is at present orbiting around the earth with a period of 10.64 hours. The Insat Master Control Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka acquired the telemetry signal from Insat-3B at 5.30 (IST) three minutes prior to its separation from the launcher.

    On separation of the satellite from the composite adopter, satellite health checks were conducted and a series of commands issued from the MCF so as to orient its earth-viewing face towards earth. The outermost panel of the stowed solar array on the south side was also oriented towards the sun to start generating the electrical power required by the satellite during its transfer orbit phase.

    The calibration of the gyros on board the satellite has also been carried out. The operations were completed in about (100 minutes). Insat-3B is being tracked, apart from MCF, Hassan, by INTELSAT Organisation’s ground stations at Perth (Australia), Fucino (Italy) and Lake Cowichan (Canada).

    The satellite will go out of the visibility of MCF, Hassan at about 03:36 pm (IST) this afternoon and will come within the radio visibility of MCF, Hassan at 02:36 am tomorrow.

    The satellite’s orbit is being precisely determined by continuous ranging from the participating TTC stations. The orbit raising operations on INSAT-3B will be carried out by firing the 440 Newton liquid apogee motor on board in stages till the satellite attains its final geostationary orbit, about 36,000 km above the equator.

    The first Apogee Motor Firing (AMF-1) is planned during the third transfer orbit tomorrow (March 23, 2000) at about 07:30 am IST. The satellite has about 1,100 kg of propellant (Mono-Methyl Hydrazine – MMH and Mixed Oxides of Nitrogen – MON-3) for orbit raising operations as well as for station keeping and in-orbit attitude control for the duration of its designed life of 10 years.

    When the satellite reaches near geo-stationary orbit, deployment of two solar panels and the two antennas will be carried out and the satellite put in its final three-axis stabilised mode. The payloads will be checked out before commissioning the satellite. The deployment of the solar array and the two antennas will be carried out after the satellite attains near geo-synchronous orbit.

    Insat-3B will be collocated with INSAT-2E at 83 deg East longitude. It may be noted that Insat satellites now occupy four slots — Insat-2B and Insat-2C are collocated at 93.5 deg (E) longitude, INSAT-1D and INSAT-2A are collocated at 74 E longitude and Insat-2DT is located at 55 E longitude besides Insat-2E at 83 deg East longitude.

    Insat-3B is primarily intended for business communication, developmental communication and mobile communication. The communication payload provides 12 extended C-band channels, each having a bandwidth of 36 MHz. The Ku-band payload provides three channels, having a bandwidth of 77/72 MHz. The Mobile Satellite Service transponders operate in C/S band frequencies. Compared to INSAT-2C/2D, the power of extended C-band transponders on board INSAT-3B has been increased from 10 W to 15 W and that of Ku-band from 20 W to 55 W.

    Once commissioned, INSAT-3B is expected to further boost the Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) services. The major VSAT users include banking and financial institutions, stock markets, white goods sector, fast moving consumer goods sector and medium to heavy engineering companies. Several public and private sector units have established dedicated closed-user group networks for their in-house applications. At present seven transponders from INSAT-2B and INSAT-2C are being used for these applications and INSAT-3B will almost double the transponder capacity for these services. For the first-time Ku-band frequencies will also be used for VSAT services, which enables use of smaller ground terminals.

    INSAT-3B will provide the first set of transponders for Swaran Jayanti Vidya Vikas Antariksh Upagraha Yojana (Vidya Vahini) which had been announced by the Prime Minister on 15 August 15 1998. These transponders will be used exclusively for interactive training and developmental communication and will be a further extension of the present Training and Developmental Communication Channel of Insat that is being used by several agencies.

    Tele-medicine is also expected to be introduced that will help in remote iagnostics and extension of super special hospital treatment to the rural population. INSAT-3B Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) has forward link channel in C X S band and return link in S X C band. MSS can support portable terminals and carry voice, fax or data. It also supports messaging service using reporting terminals.

  • Journalist to start news portal

    Journalist to start news portal

    Another print medium journalist bites the dot com bullet. Managing editor of Outlook newsmagazine, Tarun Tejpal, has quit to start tehelka.com, claimed to be India’s first independent news portal.

    Tehelka Communications Ltd, the company that will manage the affairs of tehelka.com, will have majority shareholding by the Tejpals (52.5 per cent), while 25 per cent will be held by adman Suhel Seth.

    “It’s an ambitious project and we are looking at a really comprehensive horizontal portal which will not only provide news, but also information on issues like literature, etc.,” Tehelka Communications’ chief executive Tarun Tejpal said, claiming it will be India’s first independent news portal.

    The board of this new dotcom company will include illustrious personalities like Khushwant Singh, R.K. Laxman, V.S. Naipaul and Russi Mody.

    In the initial phase the investment to be made in tehelka.com project is to the tune of approximately $ 2 million. The project, likely to be up by mid-May, is looking at attracting investments up to $ 10 million by second quarter of this year. According to Suhel Seth, involved in this venture in his personal capacity, tehelka.com will cater to both the high and low brow as it will have the zing necessary to attract hits. Though Seth was unwilling to divulge more financial details, IT industry sources said that venture capital funding will be tapped too. “In the initial phase about 10 per cent is likely to be offloaded to the venture capital fund which invests in the company,” a source close to Tehelka Communications said, adding, “Talks are already on with a Mumbai-based VCF.”

    A certain quantum of the equity stake in the company has been reserved for the employees stock option plan (ESOP), Tejpal said. This has been necessitated as some of the finest brains in journalism will be joining the project, including some from Outlook magazine.

    Tehelka.com is looking at having more than one model for generating revenue. One is the traditional one of making the site and detailed information susbcription-based. Another stream of revenue being looked at is facilitating downloading of magazines and excerpts from yet-to-be-published books for a price.

    But tehelka.com will have to face competition from existing news sites and portals like india-today.com and indiatimes.com and some like GO4i (go for India) which are in the offing and backed by big media houses.

    For example, in a two-pronged Internet strategy, The Hindustan Times Ltd, through an offshore company, based in the United States, has formed a joint venture with Chase Capital Partners with equal equity participation from both for development of a horizontal portal, tentatively called GO4i (go for India).

  • 7UP launches Mallika MMS campaign to promote new ‘Curvy’ packaging

    BANGALORE: Clear lime brand of PepsiCo India, 7UP, has unveiled its curvaceous new packaging Curvy. Promoting the new packaging is 7UP’s popular brand mascot Fido Dido in company with Bollywood siren Mallika Sherawat.
     
     
    Keeping in tune with the buzz surrounding the launch is the Mallika MMS campaign. This is the first time that the television commercial (TVC) will be featured first through MMS and then aired on television. The MMS campaign is supported by a contest that promises 50 lucky winners to meet Sherawat, states an official release.

    The TVC, created by ad agency JWT and directed by Prahlad Kakkar, will be unveiled on 15 of April. It features Sherawat playing the role of a princess who wishes to be more beautiful, curvy and the coolest of them all! To her amazement, her wishes are granted by none another than Fido Dido, who snaps his fingers and turns her into the 7UP ‘Curvy’ bottle.
     
     
    The new pack will be rolled out in all key metros and select markets. The launch is being supported by an aggressive 360 degree activation through innovative outdoor such as live hoardings, radio, television, web (www.7UP.in) & wireless as well as modern & traditional trade, the release adds.
    The launch will also introduce one-of-its kind teaser outdoors, which will lead to a dramatic reveal of the new look. Innovation seems to be the buzzword for 7UP as the outdoor advertising includes Lenticular signages that show Mallika morphing into the curvy bottle, states an official release.
     
     
    Says Pepsi Foods Pvt Ltd, India executive marketing director Punita Lal, “We are pleased to present the new 7UP ‘Curvy’ bottle which spells style, aesthetics & differentiation. A unique, packaging solution with stylish contours, 7UP Curvy is unlike anything we have seen so far in India. We are positive that the cool new 7UP ‘Curvy’ bottle will enhance consumer connect with the youth”.

    “It is a great honour for me to be 7UP’s brand ambassador and unveil the brand new – 7UP ‘Curvy’ bottle. I am positive that the new curvaceous look will be a rage with the youth. I am also certain the exciting new 7UP ‘Curvy’ TVC will be much appreciated; I, personally, had a wonderful experience shooting for the commercial and I hope all 7UP fans love it”, adds the brand ambassador Sherawat.
     

     

  • Aditya Shastri quits UTV as motion pictures COO

    Aditya Shastri quits UTV as motion pictures COO

    MUMBAI: Aditya Shastri, who had joined UTV as COO motion pictures production in late 2004, has quit the company. “We mutually agreed to part ways,” a source in UTV said.

    Shastri had moved to UTV from Twentieth Century Fox where he served as managing director. At Fox, he had handled and released several blockbusters such as Moulin Rouge, Die Another Day and The Day After Tomorrow.

    “I have left UTV. I am joining a new company on 15 April,” Shastri told indiantelevision.com.
    UTV has been enjoying major successes on the movie front this year with productions like the Aamir Khan superhit Rang De Basanti and Taxi No 9211 hitting the jackpot.

    The company has also distributed products in various territories including heavyweight titles such as Lagaan, Lakshya, Mission Kashmir, Parineeta and Viruddh.

  • Entertainment industry to be valued at Rs 650 billion

    Entertainment industry to be valued at Rs 650 billion

    A comprehensive report on the entertainment industry, the first of its kind, has been compiled by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) along with Arthur Anderson. The report reveals very positive and optimistic figures projected for the entertainment industry’s growth. The media committee is headed by Lalit Modi and the members include Plus Channel’s CEO Amit Khanna, Sone Entertainment Television’s CEO Kunal Das Gupta and ESPN India Chairman Manu Sawhney along with representatives of film, music and entertaiment industry.

    The report says that the Indian entertainment industry’s turnover will touch Rs 650 billion in the year 2005 from the current Rs 150 billion. The television software industry is slated to grow to Rs 90 billion, music industry to Rs 22 billion from the current Rs 12.54 billion where as the live entertainment sector would be worth Rs 33.65 billion from the current Rs 2 billion.

    The survey suggests private or progressive participation in Doordarshan. Other suggestions are as follows:

    * Creating a special anti-piracy cell with the police department to combat the growing piracy menace.
    * Developing closer association with international cells guarding against piracy and streamlining anti-piracy laws with that of US, UK etc.
    * Bringing the industry in parity with the information technology sector with respect to overseas investment and stock listing norms.
    * Providing stable legislation for the issue of radio broadcasting licences.
    * Reviewing the functioning of the Censor Board in light of the changing scenario and citizens increasingly demanding the right to make their own decisions on entertainment.
    * Issuing board regulations/guidelines for banks and financial institutions to facilitate lending to this intellectual property related industry.
    * Reviewing archaic laws and onerous responsibilities cast on the industry particularly in the film exhibition and live entertainment sectors.

    The Ficci has organised a conference on 30 March and 31 March, 2000 in Mumbai to discuss the problems faced by the entertainment industry. Industry bigwigs and political bigwigs are slated to attend the seminar.

  • FremantleMedia to focus on fun with comedy & entertainment for MipTV

    FremantleMedia to focus on fun with comedy & entertainment for MipTV

    MUMBAI: FremantleMedia will be centre stage at MipTV 2006 as it presents a number of exciting new formats to buyers worldwide.

    From Australia’s Working Dog comes a spontaneous and often hilarious new format, Thank God You’re Here. The improvisation sketch show will premiere on Australia’s Network Ten as an 8 x 1 hour primetime series on 5 April. Thank God You’re Here brings together a group of celebrities whose improvisation skills are tested to the max when they are thrown into an unknown situation which they must ad-lib their way through.

    Each star walks, clueless, through a doorway and into a scene which might be an operating theatre, a Roman dungeon or a spaceship. Greeted by the catchphrase “Thank God Youre Here”, the celebrity must think on their feet and quickly figure out who they are and why they are there.

    Filmed in front of a live studio audience, the show supports the adage that there’s nothing funnier than seeing a great mind in panic. The programme showcases a celebrity’s versatility and sharpness of mind as well as their ability to lie and deceive.

    Straight From The Heart is this new format in which six ordinary people take to the stage to perform a song for an unsuspecting special someone in the audience. Having secretly rehearsed, it’s now their chance to belt out a ballad or raise the rafters with a rock song for their loved one. It could be friends singing in thanks for a unique friendship, a teenager apologising to his parents in song, or perhaps even a melodic proposal of marriage. The surprise element delivers some very real emotional reactions when the performers sing out their special message. There’s no record contract at stake, but the chance to send out a song Straight From The Heart, and be in the running to win a holiday, as awarded by the viewers.

    Variety is back and bigger than ever with Showtime! This vibrant entertainment format is a perfect fit for worldwide primetime schedules, combining talent and tantrums, humour and humility, not to mention its fair share of divas and drama queens.

    The programme features celebrities – news presenters, politicians, chefs as you’ve never seen them before. Each week four well-known personalities are transformed into ‘A list’ performers. With a manager and a budget behind them, they are dressed to impress and take to the stage to deliver their surprising, convincing and sometimes hilarious performances, while the viewers decide which team has made the grade.

    FremantleMedia Worldwide Entertainment executive vice president production Rob Clark said he was looking forward to the prospect of sharing this line-up of programming with MipTV buyers this April. “We are proud to present a diverse and exciting slate, with everything from inventive entrepreneurs to improvisation. With such a great mix of different styles of variety entertainment to suit the range of needs presented by broadcasters around the world, we believe they’ll find what they re looking for at FremantleMedia,” he said.