Category: Technology

MUMBAI: Everyone likes to take a break at work every now and then, with YouTube videos, online games, Facebook, Blogs and so on. But what does one do, when your boss walks past your computer and catches you in the act? You may not see your boss coming, but your friends just might.

Hence, DDB Mudra‘s team came up with a downloadable app – ‘BossPatrol‘ which lets you save your friends from trouble. It lets you choose a secret phrase example What‘s the time? And then add your colleagues to the group. If you spot your boss nearby, while your friends are slacking off, all you need to do is speak out the secret phrase. BossPatrol picks up the sound through the microphone, sends a signal to your friend‘s computers and instantly opens safe windows on all their computers (eg: presentations, spreadsheets etc.), just in time and your boss will never get to know what they were up to.

Speaking on the new app, DDB Mudra Group chairman and CCO Sonal Dabral said “BossPatrol is an exciting app and a wonderful twist to McDowell No.1‘s positioning as the true spirit of friendship between close friends. The idea has social interest, community feeling, bonding and friendship at it‘s core all wrapped in a fun package. Not just perfectly relevant to the iconic McDowell No.1‘s positioning but also all the ingredients of going viral. So it‘s really heartening to see it become such a huge success in such a short time.”

The main objective behind the app is to make McDowell‘s No.1‘s long running campaign “The Spirit of Friendship” relevant to younger audiences.

The new app created by DDB Mudra for McDowell‘s is surely going to be everyone‘s best friend soon.

KOLKATA: With the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) strictly adhering to the 23 August deadline for collection of the customer application forms (CAFs) to help in the implementation of Digital Addressable Cable TV Systems (DAS), 50 per cent of the 30 lakh cable television consumers of the Kolkata metropolis area, might see their television sets going blank.

Till 3:00 pm on Friday, CAFs for around 45 per cent of the cable consumers had been completed, a TRAI official told indiantelevisioin.com. “By midnight we expect the details of around 50 per cent consumers,” the official added.

However top placed industry sources said that a 14 member team from the TRAI office is likely to come to Kolkata on 26 August (Monday), to decide the fate of the customers who have not yet filled the forms with required details. “This simply proves that MSOs will not be asked to disconnect the TV subscribers,” he said.

It should be noted that the broadcasting regulator had set a deadline of 23 August for cable TV viewers here for filling up the CAFs including choice of channels in the subscriber management system some 40 days ago and failing which services would be stopped, it notified not once but many a times, added the TRAI official. “In fact we had two meetings with MSOs in the last one month,” he further stated.

“In this weekend the MSOs and operators will work harder and try to feed in as much details as they can,” said people associated with the cable industry.

Manthan Broadband Services which has more than 6.5 lakh to seven lakh subscribers has managed to collect around 35 per cent of its CAFs. “We will abide by the law. South Kolkata has done well as compared to North and Central Kolkata in terms of form submission,” said Manthan Broadband Services director Sudip Ghosh.

“However, we expect to receive more such details on coming Saturday and Sunday,” added Ghosh.

While SitiCable which has set up around 11.5 lakh digital addressable systems here has achived 60 per cent collection of forms and is optimistic of reaching the 70 per cent mark by midnight.

SitiCable director (Kolkata) Suresh Sethia informed that the MSOs have received a new format from TRAI and the MSOs have been asked to send the details to the regulator on an everyday basis. “Details like number of boxes switched off, number of boxes reactivated and CAFs received,” should be filed everyday said Sethia.

While a Hathway Cable and Datacom official stated till 3:00 pm, they had received details of more than 57 per cent customers and will be looking at 80 per cent by tonight. “We will act as per the instruction of TRAI,” he said.

TRAI member R K Arnold who was in Kolkata recently said: “We are not going to extend the deadline beyond 23 August. In this if subscriber details including channel preference is not done, his connection is liable to be disconnected.”

Kolkata remains to be the last metro where DAS is yet to be implemented.

Will TRAI ask the MSOs in Kolkata to disconnect the non complying subscribers from 24 August, if the subscriber data is not updated?

If TRAI wanted the MSOs to switch off the TV connections, it would have informed the players by now but it seems that people will get some breathing space for some hours to complete the mandate, said an analyst.

Even if the TV screens go blank, it can be connected in two hours to three hours, after the customers send all the details via their cable operators, concluded a MSO.

MUMBAI: In this era of social engagement with audiences and fans alike Bollywood‘s King Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, takes one step ahead to reach out to his fans and become the first celeb to enable all his Indian fans to ‘Dial to follow him on Twitter‘.

Riding on the success of Chennai Express, in response to the love and affection shown by his fans worldwide SRK announced a groundbreaking global integration with Twitter India and ZipDial in which everyone living in India can follow and engage with him on Twitter via SMS.

Effective immediately, anyone with a mobile phone in India can follow @iamsrk on Twitter by dialing (or giving a missed call) at 09015500555. The experience works for 100 per cent of mobile users in India on any phone, any operator network and is completely free, irrespective of whether they have a Twitter account or data-enabled phone.

On calling the number this is the text message that is received – Thanks for dialing. Enjoy my Tweets by SMS. To reply to me or see my photos, just follow me on Twitter. Love, Shah Rukh Khan; followed by his latest tweet.

Commenting on the integration, Shah Rukh Khan said, “I have always believed in the power of technology and use it in various ways to further my connection with my audience. In recent years, Twitter has been a magical place for me to engage with my fans. I hope all my fans in India will avail this new service to connect with me. I thank ZipDial and Twitter India for helping me inaugurate this innovation and help bring together my entire national audience who don‘t access Twitter. Very soon I hope to also expand this to multiple countries, languages and platforms.”

Twitter‘s India market director Rishi Jaitly said, “Twitter is the world‘s leading real time information network where hundreds of millions of people follow the people and organisations that interest them. In India, Twitter among other things brings our users closer to their favourite stars and icons. We are pleased to see Shah Rukh Khan and ZipDial use the Twitter platform in this way.”

MUMBAI: According to recently released FCC data from their annual report on cable industry competition, the cable industry lost roughly 2.5 million video subscribers between 2010 and 2012. According to the FCC, cable operators laid claim to 57.3 million pay TV subscribers at the end of 2012, down from 59.8 million in 2010. 

Most of these customers flocked to telcoTV, with AT&T U-Verse increasing their subscriber total from three million to 4.1 million between 2010 and 2012, and Verizon FiOS‘s total subscriber total going from 3.5 million to 4.5 million during the same stretch. Verizon and AT&T recently announced they‘ve both passed the five million cable TV subscriber mark, giving them more TV customers than all but the nation‘s two largest traditional cable companies: Comcast and Time Warner Cable.

Cord cutters make up a very small but growing part of the equation as well, with even the industry‘s biggest cord cutting deniers now acknowledging the glacial but inevitable trend toward less expensive internet options for many users.

Meanwhile, the FCC report also pointed out that the soaring costs of programming is slowly but surely driving many of the nation‘s smaller cable operators out of business. “800 cable systems serving over 35,000 subscribers have closed mostly in small and rural communities, leaving those communities without any wireline MVPD (cable video) service,” claims the report.

KOLKATA: First it was Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari who appealed to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to delay implementation of ad cap for news channels till the completion of digitisation, and now it is the West Bengal Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim who has appealed to the regulator to extend the deadline for customer application forms (CAFs) submission.

Firhad Hakim has appealed to the regulator to extend the deadline for implementation of SMS rollout

The request has come after TRAI confirmed last week that it will strictly adhere to the 23 August cut-off-date. “If subscriber details including channel preference is not done within this deadline, the operator’s connection is liable to be disconnected,” informed TRAI member R K Arnold.

“After interacting with both the local cable operators (LCOs) and multi system operators (MSOs) at the ground level, we found that most of them are not aware about the registration work which they are mandated to do. TRAI before taking such decisions must spread awareness. I have spoken to the chief secretary to extend the deadline,” said Hakim exclusively to indiantelevision.com today.

Hakim also said that TRAI must have an elaborate publicity campaign to inform the operators on the procedures involved. “How can TRAI ask the operators to disconnect its services without updating the operators about the whole process of CAFs,” he questions.

Cable Operators Digitalisation Committee of the Association of Cable Operators convener Swapan Chowdhury informed, “So far only 30-35 per cent of cable consumers in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area have completed the form. It is not possible to meet the 23 August deadline.”

TRAI officials who were in Kolkata last week said, “If not done within the set deadline, we will take action according to law,” said Arnold.

Kolkata remains to be the last metro where DAS is yet to be implemented. Manthan Broadband Services director Sudip Ghosh when contacted said, “We will abide by the law and we are working towards meeting the deadline day and night.”

While Hathway Cable managing director and CEO Jagdish Kumar G Pillai said the company is focused towards meeting the deadline.

A MSO on the condition of anonymity said, “In the digitisation process, installation of set top boxes and offering of the channels account to more than 85-90 per cent of the work and remaining 10 per cent is clerical job which is letting the consumers to choose the channels. The LCOs have all the details of the customers, and now they just need to go and ask the customers to choose the package they want to go for. All this process will hardly take 10 minutes.”

Can the cable operators breathe a sigh of relief after the appeal made by Hakim for the extension of deadline? Doesn’t seem like it is too easy to please TRAI, but they can only hope.

KOLKATA: Multi System Operators (MSOs) and local cable operators (LCOs) in Kolkata are busy collecting the consumer application forms (CAF) and feeding in details for the complete implementation of the Digital Addressable System (DAS).

“There‘s a huge increase in workload, and everything has to be collected quicker and reported quicker,” says a Kolkata headquartered MSO. While a LOC says: “It‘s very tiring to go home and get called back in again, and go home and get called back in again for clarifications and further clarifications.”

With the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) confirming last week that it will strictly adhere to the 23 August deadline for implementation of subscriber management system (SMS) rollout in Kolkata, the MSOs and cable operators are collecting the know your client (KYC) form details and subscribers‘ choice of channels swiftly and are racing against time to feed the data into their systems day and night.

So far 30-35 per cent of the subscriber management system (SMS) data of cable consumers in Kolkata is completed as per the TRAI data.

SitiCable which controls a substantial share of cable TV users in Kolkata said the call centers would update the details overnight. “We will work overnight and plan to achieve as much of the work before the deadline,” said SitiCable (Kolkata) director Suresh Sethia.

SitiCable has set up around 11.5 lakh digital addressable systems (DAS) here.

While for Manthan Broadband Services there are no holidays and Sundays. “We have 6.5 lakh to seven lakh subscribers. The CAF rate was around 25 per cent for us last week,” said Manthan Broadband Services director Sudip Ghosh.

“The operators connected with Manthan are working 10 times faster than before,” added Ghosh.

While Manthan Broadband Services director Gurmeet Singh, said: “With the regulation, we have to collect 100 per cent details. We have no other choice than asking the operators to work and achieve the target.”

DEN Networks CEO SN Sharma said the CAF collection rate for it‘s close to three lakh STBs in Kolkata is nearly 40 per cent-45 per cent.

“Before the deadline, we aim to achieve 85 per cent -90 per cent work,” said Sharma with assurance.

“The operators are so lethargic that the customers have not yet got the forms and we are getting calls from frantic TV viewers now,” said a MSO. “We have asked them to download the form from the website and fill it up, scan and mail it to us if possible so that their TV screens do not go blank,” he added.

With just five days in hand to meet the switch-off date, other MSOs and LCOs said that they have deployed more personnel on shift and temporary basis.

“Consumer Application Form (CAF) collection rate is expected to be around 70 per cent-75 per cent altogether in Kolkata by 23 August,” assumes Sethia.

“Achieving 100 per cent target by 23 August is next to impossible. Kolkata will miss the deadline,” said Association of Cable Operators, Cable Operators Digitalisation Committee convener Swapan Chowdhury. “But the cable TV industry people are toiling hard now,” he expounded.

On the other hand industry sources on the condition of anonymity said it is not possible to give authentic data in just five days. “Filling up more than 18 lakh CAFs is not a matter of joke. The LCO may tick mark the preference of the users themselves,” he said. “For not providing genuine information, the MSOs may face dreadful consequences,” he hinted.

If around 5,000 local cable operators and 14 MSOs, which provide service in DAS areas do not abide by the deadline of submitting the CAFs, TRAI may file a case against any MSO, concluded a source.

With the clock ticking and TRAI not willing to give any leeway, the MSOs and LCOs have their work cut out.

MUMBAI: Cable companies have been rolling out their own apps for years now.

But Cox Communications‘ new Contour experience, which incorporates a tablet app, aims to go beyond the usual offerings with a suggestion engine that learns what you like to watch, viewer profiles for up to eight people and the ability to watch different channels on the tablet and television.

Cox director product marketing Bruce Berkinshaw said the company didn‘t construct Contour to fit its own notions of how to surf cable channels. Instead, the app was designed around how customers want to use it.

Support for other tablets is expected by the end of the year.

Cox Communications unveiled Contour earlier this month nationwide, and the app was downloaded more than 10,000 times in the first week.

The app, which is designed to work on the same network as the DVR, works by overlaying a transparent menu over a live feed of a preview channel. 

The main menu offers access to on-demand content, links to channel-based apps like CNN or ESPN and a selection of suggested channels based on the preferences and viewing habits of the person using the Contour app.

Users can search for shows using a traditional program grid, a keyword search or a scrolling list of channels near the current preview channel. Tapping on a program will instantly bring up more information about it as well as the options to record it on the DVR or add it to a watch list.

The currently playing channel on the app can even be changed like a traditional remote control by swiping up or down. When the user is ready, the app can change the TV‘s channel to match the channel on the tablet.

The new DVRs can record up to six shows at once and have two terabytes of storage, or 1,000 hours of programming. Berkinshaw said the DVRs can be networked, allowing customers with two networked DVRs to record up to 12 channels at once.

NEW DELHI: The Cellular Operators Association of India has welcomed the advisory sent by the Department of Telecommunications to state governments on mobile tower guidelines, saying the norms clearly segregate emission aspects from structural requirements.

The DoT has asked the states to refrain from sealing mobile towers or disconnecting power supply to them without the permission of its unit, TERM cell, on account of radiation related issues.

COAI director general Rajan S Mathews said in a statement: “We are working closely with the DoT to ensure that all safety norms are made universal and fears of the public about the telecom towers are removed”.

He said the positive aspect of the guidelines is a clear distinction and segregation of emission (EMF) aspects from structural requirements. “The new guidelines have clearly stated that EMF aspects, compliance of RF exposure field emissions, issues related to SACFA, licence etc are to be handled solely by the DoT‘s TERM Cells,” it added.

COAI said the guidelines encourage a nominal one-time fee, single window clearance, and electricity connection on priority for mobile towers.

“These are welcome steps for the industry which has been contending with a complex system and procedural delays which are hindrance towards the much required development of telecom infrastructure in the country,” it added.

India has already implemented stricter radiation norms than are followed by other countries, DoT officials said.

Industry representatives maintain that due to the lack of awareness on radiation, people object to the installation or working of mobile towers.

Around 5,000 towers in Delhi and Mumbai were termed illegal by local authorities and shut down.