Category: Technology

SES renews deal with Pakistan’s Supernet

NEW DELHI: SES, a satellite operator with a fleet of 53geostationary satellites, has renewed a multi-year multi-million dollar contract with Pakistan‘s satellite network service provider Supernet.

Supernet will acquire C-band capacity on the SES NSS-12 satellite at the prime orbital location of 57 degrees east. The capacity of this satellite, combined with the strong system integration capabilities of Supernet will provide a high quality GSM backhaul services to mobile operators in Pakistan.

This will also expand network coverage in the remote mountainous areas in the northern region and hard to reach southern regions of the country.

Supernet COO Hamid Nawaz was present on the occasion at CommunicAsia2013 and said the company was quite satisfied with the performance of the NSS-12 satellite throughout Supernet‘s networks.

SES Asia-Pacific and the Middle East senior VP commercial Deepak Mathur expressed his satisfaction at working with Supernet since 2010 and delight at being able to support the company‘s growth.

June 25, 2013
A research by GfK reveals a rise in cord cutting in the US

MUMBAI: A research conducted by GfK Media & Entertainment shows that the estimated number of Americans relying exclusively on over-the-air (OTA) television broadcasting increased to 59.7 million, up from 54 million just a year ago. The percentage of TV households currently OTA reliant has grown from 14 per cent in 2010 to 19.3 per cent in the current survey, a 38 per cent increase in just four years. The survey also found that the demographics of broadcast-only households continue to skew toward younger adults, minorities and lower-income families.

The 2013 Ownership Survey and Trend Report, part of The Home Technology Monitor research series, found that 19.3 per cent of all US households with TVs rely solely on OTA signals to watch TV programming; this compares with 17.8 per cent of homes reported as broadcast-only last year. Overall, GfK estimates that 22.4 million households representing 59.7 million consumers receive television exclusively through broadcast signals and are not subscribing to a pay-TV service (i.e. a traditional pay-TV service such as cable, satellite, Verizon FIOS or AT&T U-Verse).

“Over-the-air households continue to grow, making up an increasingly sizeable portion of television viewers,” says GfK Media & Entertainment senior VP David Tice. And, the proportion of households that have never paid for cable or satellite service also continues to grow. “Our research reveals that over-the-air broadcasting remains an important distribution platform of TV programming; this year‘s results confirm the statistically significant growth in the number of broadcast-only TV households in the US, which we identified in 2012.”

According to the 2013 study, 5.9 per cent of TV households “cut the cord” in their current home at some point in the past. Among households that eliminated pay-TV service responding to the 2013 survey, most report overall cost-cutting or not enough value for cost as the reason for doing so (respondents could give more than one reason). These were also the top reasons given in the 2012 survey for eliminating pay-TV service.

Homes headed by younger adults are also more likely to access TV programming exclusively through broadcast signals. Twenty-eight percent of homes with a head of household age 18-34 (up from 18 per cent in 2010) are broadcast only, compared with 19 per cent of homes in which the head of household is 35-49, or 17 per cent of homes in which the head of household is 50 years of age or older. Two out of ten (21 per cent) younger over-the-air households have never purchased a pay TV service according to the current survey.

June 25, 2013

Demand for Tablets and Smartphones to exceed need for Desktop PCs or notebooks: Gartner

NEW DELHI: Even as the demand for desktop PCs and even notebooks will continue to decline, the number of tablets and smartphones will rise consistently in 2013 and 2014.

A survey by Gartner says that total shipment of devices will rise in 2013. A total 2.35 billion Units including (PCs, mobile phones, tablets) are expected to be shipped in the year 2013, a 5.9 per cent increase from 2012. But the major share will come from tablets and smartphones and the share of ultra-mobiles will be minimal.

The trend of fixed computers or rather desktop computers is declining and most of the new buyers prefer to have a smarter mobile unit. Some 305 million units will be shipped in the desk-based and notebook category in 2013, 10.6 per cent lower to what industry shipped in 2012 but on the other hand, tablets will rise by 67. 9 per cent with shipment reaching 202 million units against 120 million units shipped in 2012.

Devices Shipment by Segment (Thousands of Units): Gartner
Device Type	2012	2013	2014
PC (Desktops and Notebook	341,273	305,178	289,239
Ultramobile	9,787	20,301	39,824
Tablet	120,203	201,825	276,178
Mobile Phone	1,746,177	1,821,193	1,901,188
Total	2,217,440	2,348,497	2,506,429

Mobile phone market will see more competition as the consumer waits for better models and lower prices. The mobile market will grow by 4.3 per cent to 1.8 billion units during 2013. Decreasing smartphone prices and availability of latest OS version in the mobile phones have increased the life cycle of the device. It will impact the growth as it will be slower in 2013.

Ultra mobile and hybrid devices are creating new trends and according to the Gartner analysts, devices such as Chromebooks, Slates etc are attracting people more than other mobile devices but their cheaper versions are getting more popular among masses. For example, more than 60 per cent of iOS devices are iPad mini and so is the case with other platforms.

As more models are coming by the end of 2013 with Intel’s Bay Trail and Haswell along with Windows 8.1, the fourth quarter looks more promising.

In the operating system segment, Android continues to grow as table 2 shows. There will be 866 million Android units shipped in 2013 and in 2014 they will hit a 1.06 billion mark.

Devices Shipments by OS (Thousands of Units): Gartner
Operating System	2012	2013	2014
Android	505,509	866,781	1,061,270
Windows	346,464	339,545	378,142
iOS/Mac	212,878	296,356	354,849
RIM	34,584	25,224	22,291
Others	1,118,004	820,592	689,877
Total	2,217,439	2,348,498	2,506,429

June 25, 2013

Debunking plagiarism Rajkumar Gupta: “Gunchakkar script is co-written by Parvez Sheikh”

BENGALURU: Denying plagiarism, the soon to be released Hindi film Gunchakkar director Rajkumar Gupta said that the story belonged to a writer named Parvez Sheikh who had co-written the script. Gupta said that Sheikh had narrated the script to him way back in 2008.

According to reports, Dhirender Kumar who hails from Nepal, alleged that the story ofGhunchakkar was similar to the one for which he had penned a script in 2010-11. Kumar, who claims to have registered the script, filed a complaint with the Film Writers Association on May 20, has sent a legal notice to the production house UTV Motion Pictures, and requested a High Court stay for its slated release date of 28 June 2013.

Reacting strongly to queries, Gupta questioned Kumar’s silence for such a long time – the trailer of the film was released more than three months ago. He said “It’s strange that people always get up and claim that the story is theirs and file cases in the week before which a film is to be released. Collectively, as an industry we should be going against such people to court. This claim is absolutely false.”

Refusing to comment further on the counteraction measures, he said that the UTV team was looking into it. Gupta was at the Reliance Digital Store in Bengaluru for promoting the film along with the lead actors of Ghanchakkar – Vidya Balan and Emraan Hashmi.

June 24, 2013
MSOs say that cable TV customer response positive for CAFs

MUMBAI: Tomorrow is an important day for TRAI chief Rahul Khullar. Reason: the deadline for cable TV subscribers to send in their customer application forms (CFAs) ends then. And like in the past, it is quite likely that he will summon the heads of the major cable TV MSOs to his office and ask them for their latest update on the situation.

But before that many a cable TV subscriber who has been lax about submitting his CAF to the LCO or the MSO will find his or her analogue connection cut off. Because under cable TV DAS regulations that is the only way TV distribution will function in phase I metros (read Delhi and Mumbai), going forward.

Delhi, especially has been a worry for those in the digitisation value chain as LCOs and customers there (less than 50 per cent had sent in their CAFs as recently as two weeks ago) were taking the requests for CAFs lightly.

TRAI then cracked the whip on MSOs hoping to speed up customer response. Broadcasters – even GECs – were roped in to carry interesting promotional ads informing customers about the imperative for submitting CAFs. In fact, even as recently as four days ago, TRAI warned customers that there would be no change of date, so their CAFs would have to come in.

Indiantelevision.com spoke to some MSO heads to get its own update on how things have been progressing on this front. And most said things were looking up.

Says DEN Networks COO MG Azhar: “The process has been positive as we have already collected 75 per cent of applications.” Azhar supports the move by TRAI to disconnect customers. “At some point, pressure is good,” he points out. “We are positive that once we undertake all the activities including disconnection of non-complying customers, we will receive 100 per cent applications within a week.”

Hathway Cable MD & CEO Jagdish Kumar G. PiIlai reveals that the company has received around 80-90 per cent CAFs for subscribers in Mumbai and Delhi. “Tomorrow we have a meeting with TRAI and let’s see how it goes. We are really happy that the response from both LCOs and consumers has been so positive. We hope that by 1 July. we can bring in retail billing.”

Says InCablenet CEO Nagesh Chhabria: “The collections are still under process, we have managed to collect around 80 per cent in Mumbai and just about 65-70 per cent in Delhi.” Naresh did add that the connections of the non-complying customers will be cut from tomorrow. “The ads currently running across TV sets is spreading awareness about the CAFs and we are confident that the customers will soon comply with the submissions of the forms.”

June 24, 2013
TRAI extends date for comments on consultation paper on monopoly/market dominance in Cable TV Services

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) today extended till 1 July the date for comments on its consultation paper on Monopoly/Market Dominance in Cable TV services issued on 3 June.

At the request of stakeholders, TRAI also announced that counter-comments would be received by 8 July.

The paper was aimed at wanting to know if stakeholders agree that the State should be the relevant market for measuring market power in the cable TV sector or suggest alternatives.

In the first place, TRAI which said it had issued the paper at the instance of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, wanted to know if stakeholders agree that there is a need to address the issue of monopoly/market dominance in cable TV distribution and how the ill effects of monopoly/market dominance can be addressed.

The paper contains a series of fifteen questions touching various aspects.

TRAI has sought to know whether, to curb market dominance and monopolistic trends, restrictions in the relevant cable TV market should be based on area of operation or based on market share.

Those who feel it should be based on area of operation will have to specify how the area of a relevant market ought to be divided amongst MSOs for providing cable TV service.

Those who feel it should be based on market share, what should be the threshold value of market share beyond which an MSO is not allowed to build market share on its own. Furthermore, how this can be achieved in markets where an MSO already possesses market share beyond the threshold value. Furthermore, TRAI wants comments on the suitability of the rules defined in the paper in this connection.

Stakeholders have to give their views about the threshold values increase indicated by the regulator, or suggest defining restrictions.

TRAI wants to know if ‘control’ of an entity over other MSOs/LCOs be decided according to the conditions mentioned in the paper or suggestion on alternatives.

Stakeholders wanting different restrictions to curb market dominance have been asked to suggest these.

TRAI has also sought to know whether the parameters listed by it in the paper are adequate with respect to mandatory disclosures for effective monitoring and compliance of restrictions on market dominance in Cable TV sector, and the periodicity of such disclosures.

The regulator wants to know of any amendments to be made in the statutory rules/executive orders for implementing the restrictions.

June 24, 2013
Splitsvilla 6 enagages its audience with new apps

MUMBAI: Love just got difficult to get. With 16 youngsters fighting with each other to not only win a show, but to also (ostensibly) find love, Splitsvilla 6 has got all the right ingredients to make the perfect youth sizzler. The latest season promises to be ‘Hotter than Hell‘ with lots of scintillating moments and breathtaking participants which are definitely pleasing to the eyes. Not to miss, are the trademark back-stabbing, hating and fighting elements adding the required spice to the tale. Splitsvilla Seaason 6 promises to have higher doses of all these and much more to sustain and increase its cult following among the young and restless.

The tagline very aptly says ‘Hotter than Hell‘ and to make the show as hot as hell, Viacom18 has launched an interesting campaign introducing newer elements, targeting both digital and Out of Home (OOH) media. The show has been created by an in-house creative team, headed by Bhavya Sharma.

The network has roped in Fiama De Wills, Karbonn Mobiles, Zinga and Kama Sutra as sponsors for this season. Revealing further details, MTV business head Aditya Swamy says: “We have integrated our sponsors in the show. We are giving exclusive coverage to them by having exclusive Fiama and Karbonn tasks. We also have their logo presence during the show.”

So what‘s new? The sexy siren Sherlyn Chopra will be the all new sizzling co-host. (We thought Nikhil Chinappa was sexy enough: editor chuckles). Also, the popular ‘Break up Diary‘ segment wherein the female contestants narrated their break-up stories to introduce themselves will now also feature the male contestants. Well, ofcourse, what is more interesting than a bunch of ‘hot‘, bare-chested men talk about how they faced and ‘survived‘ heartbreak, right?

The channel tells us that extensive research has gone into this season to better understand the pulse of the young generation. The research team, headed by Sumeli Chatterjee tried to spot the current trend. “Changes in Splitsvilla 6 have been created based on the opinion from our research group, whom we refer to as trend spotters,” says Swamy.

After research, it was time for the right kind of promotion and what better way than to target the buzzing college campuses. MTV reached out to around 200 college campuses across India, including Kolkata, Lucknow and Chandigarh, during its pre-launch. They also hired campus ambassadors for ‘word of mouth‘ marketing. “We have promoted the show in a big way, keeping 20-30 per cent of our total advertising budget only for social and digital platforms,” informs Bhattacharya.

It‘s the digital front where Splitsvilla aims to create the maximum buzz. “MTV Splitsvilla is the ideal product to proliferate on digital media,” says a media observer. “It‘s for young people who zoom in like bees on outlets such as Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and it‘s about relationships. Hence, it‘s good its building up itself on digital media.”

With a humongous 2.7 million likes and 1.5 million active fans on Facebook, more than 3500 avid Twitter followers, MTVSplitsvilla 6 has managed to carve a decent online following for itself.

But, apart from the usually explored territories of Facebook and Twitter, Splitsvilla ventures into the space of mobile apps and also includes a fan mobilising concept.

“We have learnt a lot from MTV Roadies and have applied those lessons to Splitsvilla 6,” says MTV digital head Eklavya Bhattacharya. “What we have done within the digital space has helped us gain a lot of recognition worldwide as one of the best initiatives.”

What more?! Remember that sweet little angel of a daughter in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai? Yes, she is Sana Saeed who was recently seen in Karan Johar‘s college flick Student of the year as a co- lead (read hot bimbo), Splitvilla 6 gets you a web show featuring ‘Sexy Sana‘ who will be analysing (read: Bitching) about all that the contestants did in the televised episode each weekend.

Swamy adds: “Sexy Sana is an exclusively new property this season, which gives Sana‘s takes and reviews on extended videos, unedited parts and behind the scene clippings of the show.”

Entering in the app world, the channels has added ‘I Dubba‘, which allows its 50 million viewers to not only tweet to the show on air, but also chat with fellow fans. Another interesting app is ‘Tickr 2 fame‘, which helps viewers to tweet and chat on Facebook, these conversations are shown on the show.

The additions have helped Splitsvilla connect with its audience. “We have seen a 100 per cent rise in the response from the audience with the addition of new apps. On each show we get 300- 400 people chatting on I Dubba and 1,000 to 2,000 people tweeting on Tickr to Fame,” informs Bhattacharya.

With five episodes already aired, let‘s wait and watch how impressive these new additions prove to be for brands Splitsvilla.

Recap of previous seasons of Splitsvilla…

Splitsvilla Battleground – has been the highlight of all seasons. Being one of the medium to get selected for the show, by performing a task given ‘on the spot‘, this section of Splitsvilla still engages maximum audiences.

Audiosodes – an application though which one can listen to entire show in the voice of popular video jockey, J. Man.

Hottie of the Day – get likes and comments on facebook.

Urban Cupid – text articles about love relationship and break ups on facebook pages.

Splitsvilla Prediction App – It is a proper live prediction and live betting engine for making virtual money. This is available on Vas platforms and these have been distributed to mobile
operators across the country.

June 24, 2013

Retailers get creative; engage with consumers through digital media

MUMBAI: Changing consumer trends have got retailers on their toes. The fight for attracting consumers and keeping them hooked has just got fiercer. The short attention span of consumers and return on investment (ROI) are the two challenges that retailers are currently struggling with.

What is interesting is that changing consumer purchasing trend have just made the retailers go more creative. Especially on the digital media front.

Customers even today want to feel the fabric and try the clothes they purchase says Andrew Campbell – Reliance Industries chief brand and marketing officer

“Tomorrow starts today. Are you ready for it?” asks Reliance Industries chief brand and marketing officer Andrew Campbell. The retailers are going big on their social media campaigning. “Consumers even today want to feel the fabric and try the clothes they are buying. This isn’t possible online. But, they do check out the online collection to compare prices and designs,” he informs. Though the channels, scale and technology for reaching out to customers has changed; trust, value, service and growth in retail still remains the same.

“Consumers are energetic and want more out of life. They lead packed lives and are constantly looking for new experiences,” opines Madura Fashion and Lifestyle brand head-Allen Solly Sooraj Bhat Ullal. Allen Solly embraces digital in all its forms. “We recognise that the consumer lives in the offline and online world simultaneously and seamlessly. Hence, from seeing digital as a channel/medium that is peculiar and separate – we need to move to seeing it in an integrated manner with the online world,” he adds.

The marketing strategy for both online and offline customers is same for Allen Solly says Sooraj Bhat Ullal – Madura Fashion and Lifestyle brand head

Digital media has brought consumers worldwide on the same platform. Allen Solly has more than one million fans on its Facebook page. “We are actively evaluating our presence in other social media like Pinterest, Four Square and Instagram,” informs Ullal. The youngsters which Allen Solly targets are screenagers.

“They are all on various social networking sites, making it easy for us to target them,” he says.

Converting a facebook fan into a customer is a function of engagement and relevance. “Our ‘Hot Fridays’ social media initiative, launched in October last year, was a huge success. We had been successful in engaging with the customer,” informed Ullal.

Shoppers Stop has gone way ahead in building relationships with its customers. ‘Perfect for me,‘ ‘First Citizen’, ‘Gift Box’ are the apps Shoppers Stop has launched to engage with its customers. “Our facebook page is interactive. We also keep a tab of what our consumers are doing through their facebook page. We customise our services based on the facebook activity of our fans,” says Shoppers Stop customer case associate and VP, marketing and loyalty Vinay Bhatia.

Our digital strategy has helped us gain a huge fan following on facebook and twitter says Vinay Bhatia – Shoppers Stop customer case associate and VP, marketing and loyalty

Shoppers Stop has also made around 100 YouTube videos which have been widely viewed and its channel has recorded 1.06+ million YouTube viewers. It has increased its fan base from 200,000 in 2011 to 4.6 million+ today. “We have the ‘most fashionable profile picture contest’ which also helps us engage with our customers,” he adds. “We have consumers who visit our website, facebook page and follow us on twitter. But, we are still looking at ways to convert these fans and followers into our loyal customers,” reiterates Bhatia.

Retail brands have gone big in creating a buzz on digital media. How will they get their return on investment? Only time will tell.

June 24, 2013

Dish to redeem $2.6 bn debt sold in May as Sprint Bid fails

MUMBAI: Dish Network Corp (DISH), the satellite-TV company that abandoned its bid for Sprint Nextel Corp, will redeem $2.6 billion of bonds it issued last month to help fund the planned acquisition.

The company will redeem on 24 June its $1.25 billion of five per cent bonds due May 2017 at 100 cents on the dollar and its $1.35 billion of 6.25 per cent notes due May 2023 at 101 cents on the dollar, plus accrued and unpaid interest, the Englewood, Colorado-based company said today in a regulatory filing.

The company was required to redeem the securities if it failed in its bid for Sprint, based on terms of the bond sale completed on 15 May. Investors negotiated during the marketing period to increase the redemption price on the 10-year bonds to 101 cents from par during the first six months.

The 2017 bonds were quoted as high as 100.5 cents on the dollar to yield 4.87 percent on May 28 before falling to 100 cents, yielding 5 percent, yesterday, according to prices compiled by Bloomberg.

The 2023 securities were quoted as a low as 99.2 cents to yield 6.36 percent on June 6 before rising to a high of 100.8 cents, yielding 6.14 per cent, on June 19, Bloomberg prices show. They were quoted at 100.5 cents to yield 6.18 per cent yesterday.

June 22, 2013
YouTube to help ad makers create ads

MUMBAI: YouTube‘s latest venture – ‘holding the hands of advertisers‘. Even though viewership for online video streaming sites is constantly on the rise, advertisers have remained a little hesitant about massively increasing their spending for online video ad time, largely because they‘re not entirely clear on whether they should just repurpose television advertising or create a variant in order to take maximum advantage of this still-new medium.

Luckily for them, YouTube announced plans to help 100 major advertisers adapt to the possibilities and realities of online video advertising. During an appearance at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity on Thursday, Google‘s vice president and global head of content at YouTube, Robert Kyncl, said that “the type of creative experiences and what works well (on YouTube) just can‘t be done on television.”

He explained that YouTube can go beyond the 30-second spot, and that the advertisement can be an entire show. “On television, advertisements don‘t have the creative freedom, can‘t have the two-way conversation, and don‘t have the sharing or amplification effect content receives on YouTube,” he said.

Brands taking part in the program include American Express, General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, and PepsiCo. Kyncl said that, in the program, “Advertisers will receive the same white glove treatment as top content creators do.”

The intent of the program is to demonstrate the value of YouTube as a setting for advertising, but as Kyncl told the Guardian, it isn‘t to suggest that YouTube is simply a replacement for television in that sense. He explained that advertisers working with creative agencies are generally used to doing fewer TV ads at a higher cost.”We‘re talking about creating an ongoing conversation with audiences … Not just TV ads four times a year,” he said. “Advertisers need to rethink their cost structure; it is practical to produce many more ads through YouTube.” Kyncl stressed that this plan is about working like a content creator and not just an advertiser.

The program launched with a pilot this September, with four advertisers being invited to a week-long retreat and workshop in YouTube‘s headquarters in Los Angeles to discuss ways in which they could better take advantage of the Internet and YouTube.

This isn‘t the first time that YouTube has reached out to customers like this. In 2007, the company launched a partner program for content creators similar to this new scheme that‘s grown into a massively successful undertaking with millions of partners taking advantage. If the advertiser program is as successful, then YouTube and its business partners will likely be very happy.

June 22, 2013