ITV

Category: Technology

  • Govt revenues from DTH licensing fees zoom

    Govt revenues from DTH licensing fees zoom

    New Delhi: The six private direct-to-home operators paid Rs 3.078 billion as licence fee to the government for the year 2011-12, compared to Rs 1.778 billion in 2010-11 and Rs 1.262 billion in 2009-10.

    The revenue in 2008-09 was Rs 893 million from four operators, since both Airtel Digital TV (Bharti Telemedia Ltd.) as well as Videocon d2h (Bharat Business Channel Ltd.) had not commenced services.

    The other DTH players are Dish TV, Tata Sky, Sun Direct TV, and Reliance Big TV.

    Under DTH licensing norms, the platforms pay a non-refundable entry fee of Rs 100 million and an annual fee equivalent to 10 per cent of gross revenue every financial year. Thus, the platforms have paid Rs 600 million as one-time entry fee.

    Interestingly, Tata Sky paid a licence fee of Rs 793 million in 2011-12 as against Airtel Digital’s Rs 618.7 million and Dish TV’s Rs 300 million. Sun Direct paid Rs 360 million, Reliance Big TV paid Rs 95 million, and Videocon d2h paid Rs 50 million.

    DTH services are governed by the DTH Guidelines and terms and conditions issued by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry on 15 March 2001 and amended from time to time.

    The seven DTH players in the country including Doordarshan’s free-to-air DD Direct Plus cover around 35 million TV homes.

  • Jharkand high court gives Manthan breathing space

    Jharkand high court gives Manthan breathing space

    New Delhi: The Jharkand high court has directed Media Pro not to take any coercive steps against Manthan Broadband Services if the latter has a valid digital access system licence.

    The court bench at Ranchi issued a notice to Media Pro on a petition filed by Manthan Broadband Services against the information & broadcasting ministry and Media Pro.

    The matter was listed by justice Appeaser Kumar Singh for further hearing on 10 May.

    The court took note of the fact that the statutory forum, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) is not in session at present and is likely to sit only from 10 May.

    The petitioner said he has obtained the DAS licence (as also listed in the Ministry’s website) and is also complying with the orders of TDSAT, but Media Pro has been taking coercive steps against it. These included stopping the transmission of television channels.

  • The future of television rests in apps: Netflix

    The future of television rests in apps: Netflix

    MUMBAI: OTT subscription service Netflix has published a report called Long Term View. The report says that the evolution to Internet TV apps is already starting. It notes that existing networks, such as ESPN and HBO that offer amazing apps will get more viewing than in the past, and be more valuable. Existing networks that fail to develop first-class apps will lose viewing and revenue.

    “Apps that provide on-demand viewing are critical because people don‘t love the linear TV experience where channels present programmes at particular times on non-portable screens with complicated remote controls. Finding good things to watch isn‘t easy or enjoyable. In addition to Netflix, most of the world‘s leading linear TV networks are moving into Internet TV,” Netflix says.

    It has given the examples of HBO and ESPN. ESPN, Netflix notes will keep improving their app to try to stay ahead of MLB.tv, which it says is another terrific Internet TV sports app.

    “The HBO Go app makes HBO‘s films and series much more accessible than on HBO‘s linear channel. The BBC iPlayer app in the UK provides a rich and popular on-demand interface for a wide range of BBC programming. The other major linear networks are not far behind,” according to Netflix.

    Netflix adds that while Internet TV is only a very small per cent of video viewing today, the expectation is that it will grow every year because:

    1. The Internet will get faster, more reliable and more available;
    2. Smart TV sales will increase and eventually every TV will have Wifi and apps;
    3. Smart TV adapters (Roku, AppleTV, etc.) will get less expensive and better;
    4. Tablet and smartphone viewing will increase;
    5. Tablets and smartphones will be used as touch interfaces for Internet TV;
    6. Internet TV apps will rapidly improve through competition and frequent updates;
    7. Streaming 4k video will happen long before linear TV supports 4k video;
    8. Internet video advertising will be personalized and relevant;
    9. TV Everywhere will provide a smooth economic transition for existing networks;
    10. New entrants like Netflix are innovating rapidly.

    Netflix goes on to note that eventually, as linear TV is viewed less, the spectrum it now uses on cable and fibre will be reallocated to expanding data transmission. Satellite TV subscribers will be fewer, and mostly be in places where high-speed Internet (cable or fibre) is not available. The importance of high-speed Internet will increase.
     
    It cites examples of this transformation taking place in different nations. “In the UK, for example, the BBC is already starting to programme more for its iPlayer app than for its linear channels, given the large and growing viewing on the iPlayer. For most existing networks, this economic transition will occur through TV Everywhere. If a consumer continues to subscribe to linear TV from a multi-channel video programme distributor (MVPD), they get a password to use the Internet apps for the networks they subscribe to on linear.”

    The key to avoid cord cutting for networks, according to Netflix, is to keep their prime-time programming behind the authentication wall. It proposes that same consumer who today finds it worthwhile to pay for a linear TV package will likely pay for a ‘linear plus apps‘ package. Netflix further says that Internet TV apps will improve just like the mobile phone over the next 20 years.

    In addition to creating opportunity for linear networks, the emergence of Internet TV also enables new apps like Netflix, YouTube, MLB.tv, and iTunes to build large scale direct-to-consumer services that are independent of the traditional MVPD bundle. Netflix notes that while it competes for entertainment time with traditional networks, the scope of such time is quite large. Consumer time devoted to web browsing and video games, for instance, has expanded hugely over the last two decades without a corresponding diminution of TV viewing.

  • IBF petition to prevent delay in digitisation to be heard on 30 April

    IBF petition to prevent delay in digitisation to be heard on 30 April

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has listed a petition for 30 April by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) seeking to ensure that digitisation is implemented as scheduled and without hindrance.

    The case had been listed for the last two days but could not be heard because of pending business. On mention by counsel for the petitioner, the case was listed for hearing on the last day of the month.

    When the special leave petition had been mentioned before the Court on 16 April, it had declined the prayer to stay any of the proceedings in the various High Courts as it was informed that the Karnataka High Court judgment on the subject was due. The bench presided over by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir therefore felt it would await the judgment of the High Court before taking up the matter.

    The Karanataka, Gujarat and Allahabad High Courts have since dismissed as having no merit to the petitions seeking extension of the switch-off dates for Phase II of digitisation in Bengaluru, Mysore, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, Vadodara, Agra, Allahabad, Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Meerut and Varanasi.

    Petitions challenging digitisation are currently pending in the Madras, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh High Courts. These affect the cities of Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam Bhopal, Indore, and Jabalpur.

  • I&B minister Manish Tewari’s update on Phase II digitisation data

    I&B minister Manish Tewari’s update on Phase II digitisation data

    New Delhi: The level of cable television digitisation in 38 cities in 14 states and one union territory of Phase II has touched 89.8 per cent, including 28.33 per cent DTH homes as on 21 April, three weeks after analogue switch-off.

    Thus, a total of 14,379,454 digital set top boxes have been seeded out of a total demand of 16,013,059 total TV households. The houses where STBs have been installed include 4,536,676 DTH subscribers.

    According to a report presented to parliament by information & broadcasting minister Manish Tewari yesterday, the total number of TV households has been computed by making provision of twenty per cent for multiple TVs in offices/shops or homes.

    Pointing out that a toll free number receives complaints from subscribers and others, Tewari said these are normally forwarded to the multi-system operators in the area concerned.

    14 cities have already crossed the 100 per cent with Hyderabad at the top with 191.07 per cent followed by Ludhiana (175.91 per cent), Allahabad (160.46 per cent), Faridabad (142.69 per cent), Chandigarh (119.23 per cent), Meerut (112.24 per cent), Jaipur (111.84 per cent), Varanasi (111.78 per cent), Amritsar (111.03 per cent), Thane (109.33 per cent), Jodhpur (107.94 per cent), Aurangabad (103.37 per cent), Indore (102.29 per cent), and Nasik (101.75 per cent).

    By the government’s own claim, Ghaziabad, Pune and Kanpur have crossed the 90 per cent mark.

    Srinagar stands at the bottom with 22.28 per cent seeding of STBs, with Visakhapatnam at 29.61 per cent, Coimbatore at 29.74 per cent, and Jabalpur with a DAS reach of only 45.32 per cent. All the other 17 cities have crossed the 57 per cent mark.

    The ministry had announced earlier this month that analogue signals has been completely switched-off in the five states of Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Haryana, and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

    DAS continues to be stayed in the cities of Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Hyderabad, and Visakhapatnam. The Karnataka and Gujarat High Courts had learlier this month quashed petitions seeking extension of DAS thereby paving way for the analogue signals to be switched-off. In addition, stay continues in Chennai which was part of Phase I because of court case.

    The Supreme Court is expected to hear tomorrow a special leave petition by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation seeking to quash all pending cases in various high courts and also ensure there is no postponement of the date of digitisation.

  • Fred Amoroso resigns as Yahoo! chairman

    Fred Amoroso resigns as Yahoo! chairman

    MUMBAI: Internet major Yahoo! chairman Fred Amoroso has resigned effective immediately.

    Amoroso will be replaced in the chairman role by director Maynard Webb Jr. on an interim basis until the company‘s annual shareholder meeting on 25 June. Amoroso and Webb joined Yahoo‘s board 14 months ago when four longtime directors stepped down under shareholder pressure.

    Amoroso said that he had informed the Yahoo board when he became chairman in May 2012 that he intended to serve only one year in order to help Yahoo during a critical time of transformation.

    “I‘m very grateful and proud of the progress Yahoo has made. Yahoo hired a great new CEO, brought on a fantastic management team, revitalised the employee base, and has begun to release top-notch new products.” Amoroso concluded.

  • UK video rental market plunges

    UK video rental market plunges

    MUMBAI: The market for Blu-ray (BD) and DVD rental in the UK is expected to plunge by 22 per cent this year, as half the country‘s Blockbuster video stores shut down in a restructuring initiated by the company‘s new management.

    The UK market for physical-video rental will drop to GBP 202 million in 2013, down GBP 57 million, or 22 per cent from GBP 259 million in 2012, according to a newly updated forecast from IHS. While the market is generally on the decline, 2013 will bring the sharpest predicted annual decrease for the 11-year period from 2007 through 2017.

    By the end of 2013, only 264 Blockbuster stores will be open in the country, down 50 per cent from 530 in 2012. Blockbuster is the largest video rental chain in the country.

    IHS senior video analyst Tony Gunnarsson said, “The year 2013 is set to become a watershed for the UK video rental market as a result of the wholesale closure of Blockbuster UK stores. The massive downturn in the store-based video rental market represents a significant loss to the video market and will result in a major decline and radical transformation of the UK video market overall. From 2013 on, the UK physical-video rental business increasingly will be dominated by online rent-by-mail subscription services.”

    Both DVD and BD transactions are due to decrease across the store-based sector this year. DVD rentals will fall by a steep 53.2 per cent to 15.4 million. BD is set to drop by an even larger 61.3 per cent to 2.8 million respectively.

    Blockbuster gets busted up: After filing for administration in January 2013, Blockbuster‘s administrators Deloitte announced two separate rounds of store closures, including some 224 sites. In February 2013, supermarket chain Morrisons purchased 49 of these former Blockbuster stores in its drive to increase its store presence in southeast England.

    Out of the remaining Blockbuster stores, Gordon Brothers acquired a total of 264 locations, including a number of Blockbuster outlets earmarked for closure that will now remain open.

    Pay-TV killed the video store: In 2012, rental stores were responsible for 41.3 per cent of the video rental market based on consumer spending. In the latest forecast for 2013, however, the store-based sector is now projected to generate just 24.7 per cent of the overall market. This tilts the market toward the online sector, which will see its share of market increase massively from 58.7 per cent in 2012 to 75.3 per cent this year.

    At the same time, the lost rental business won‘t result in customers that used to rent at Blockbusters automatically signing up to become rent-by-mail customers with online providers, IHS believes. Rather, those customers are more likely to turn to a host of other video platforms, primarily pay-TV services.

    Video Rental Market Winds Down: In the longer view, the U.K. rental market will return to a normal trend of decline after 2013, with spending on renting physical video shrinking at an annual rate of under 5 per cent until 2017. By then, the retreat in spending is expected to be slightly more negative at seven per cent.

  • Comedy Central US teams up with Twitter to celebrate comedy

    Comedy Central US teams up with Twitter to celebrate comedy

    MUMBAI: US broadcaster Comedy Central and Twitter have announced the launch of #ComedyFest.

    This is a celebration of comedy and comedians to be programmed on Twitter. The five day festival, which runs from 29 April 29 to 3 May, kicks off with comedic icon Mel Brooks setting up a Twitter account at an event at LA‘s Paley Center featuring comedy legend Carl Reiner and moderator Judd Apatow.

    The event will be live-streamed in Brooks‘ first tweet, and can also be viewed on CC.com. #ComedyFest will feature an all-star roster of comedic talent including 16 programmed events with more than 50 comedians. The aim of #ComedyFest is to bring the channel‘s audience – closer to comedic talents across genres and generations.

    Comedy Central president Michele Ganeless said, “Twitter has become an essential medium for comedy and comedians. #ComedyFest will exist in the twittersphere – creating comedy that lives on social media. It‘s a great extension for our brand; it‘s where our audience lives.”

    Twitter head of TV Fred Graver said, “Awesome to have @ComedyCentral on-air and on Twitter celebrating comedians and the rise of 140 character comedy. Please RT.”

    #ComedyFest events will be live on Twitter, and fans can follow at @ComedyCentral and #ComedyFest for up-to-the-minute event coverage. Additional information including festival lineup can be viewed at CC.com, CC Tumblr, and on the CC Facebook page.

  • Spuul to premier Shree online on day of theatrical release

    Spuul to premier Shree online on day of theatrical release

    MUMBAI: Online movie and television show streaming service Spuul is bringing to its users the chance to catch Hussain Kuwajerwala‘s Bollywood debut with Shree‘s premier on 26 April.

    Users world over would have the privilege to catch Shree on their laptops, desktops and mobile devices the same day for rates starting at $2.99 for 72 hours or $4.99 as a part of a monthly premium subscription plan with unlimited views; whereas movie goers in India will be able to view Shree on Spuul only after 5 June.

    Spuul co-founder S Mohan said, “Today‘s mutli-screen generation want their entertainment wherever they are and whenever they are in the mood. In this landscape, in today‘s rapidly evolving digital landscape, Spuul is well placed to meet the growing demands of movie watchers online and we are delighted to make top-quality movies easily accessible via Spuul on the web and on mobile.”

    Shree is a psychological thriller produced by Ciemme Entertainment and distributed worldwide to digital platforms by GoQuest Media Ventures. It stars Kuwajerwala (Kumkum, Indian Idol) in the title role and tells the story a common man who trades 12 hours of his life in a science experiment to earn quick money and gets entangled in a series of murders.

    Producer Vikram M Shah said, “The whole concept of having the same day and date releases online for Shree is to make sure audiences worldwide can get to consume the content in the format that fits those best at the time, especially for international audiences who have limited access movies other than big banner films. Movie makers need to understand how to better reach out to an audience through versatile platforms like Spuul.”

  • CASBAA & IBF request FM Chidambaram to roll back tax hike on tech services

    CASBAA & IBF request FM Chidambaram to roll back tax hike on tech services

    MUMBAI: The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) and The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) have requested the Indian government to roll back the increase in taxation on royalty and fees for technical services in the hands of a non-resident as proposed in The Financial Bill 2013.

    In a letter addressed to finance minister P. Chidambaram, the two associations have stated that Section 115A of The Income Tax Act, 1961, levies gross taxes of 10 per cent on royalty and technical services. The latest proposal by the finance ministry proposes to take this up to 25 per cent. Along with surcharge and an education cess, the effective rate comes to 27.037 per cent. When grossed up with other related levies, it will actually amount to 33 per cent, they say.

    Their letter to the finance minister points out that the proposed increased levy will have an impact on the Indian and international satellite and broadcasting sectors as the services they provide come under “royalty and fees for technical services.”

    India has constrained satellite capacity and it is highly dependent on foreign satellites. A recent study has shown that international satellites are providing roughly 60 per cent of the broadcasting capacity for India’s satellite DTH broadcasters.

    The associations have reiterated in the letter that international satellite operators will per force have to pass on the increased operational cost to their Indian broadcasting and other clients, as their margins are not fat enough to absorb the impact of higher taxation. DTH operators, broadcasters who deliver channels to India’s 90 million cable TV homes and cable TV operators will also in turn, then pass on the increased costs on to their subscribers. The cascading effect could be substantial, the two associations warn.

    “We believe that a good tax policy should aim at moderate rates, particularly in industries providing an engine for India’s growth. An increase to the levels proposed in the bill would be counter-productive; it would affect not only the operators providing satellite services, but a whole host of related sectors – including broadcasting, media, telecommunications and IT, which have been spearheading India’s growth story in recent years. Hence the increase should be rolled back,” the letter highlights.

    It concludes by saying that “any future increases that might be considered should be phased in, with a transition period of at least five years, to allow taxpayers time to plan ahead and to avoid any one-off uplift which could force the closure of some small operators.”

    Will the finance minister give a kind ear to Casbaa & IBF?