ITV

Category: Technology

  • Netflix to make 3rd season of ‘The Killing’

    Netflix to make 3rd season of ‘The Killing’

    MUMBAI: OTT service provider Netflix and Fox Television Studios (FTVS) have announced that the third season of ‘The Killing‘, which premieres on US cable network AMC this year, will be available exclusively for streaming members of Netflix after its airing in the US.

    In the US and Canada, the deal brings the third season to Netflix members three months after the season finale airs on AMC. The deal makes Netflix the exclusive subscription television service for The Killing season three.

    In addition, the complete second season of ‘The Killing‘ is available for members in the US along with the first season, which launched on Netflix last year. Over the next few months, members in all 40 countries where Netflix is available will be able to enjoy the first two seasons prior to the third season.

    Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said, “We‘re excited to see The Killing back on TV and we‘re especially proud to bring Season three to our members so soon after it premieres on AMC. The Killing is a terrific serialized drama and we know our members love these high-quality shows.”

    Fox Television Studios president David Madden said, “Our agreement with Netflix played an extremely significant part in the studio‘s strategy that enabled us to bring ‘The Killing‘ back for a third season.”

  • Andy Forssell is Hulu acting CEO

    Andy Forssell is Hulu acting CEO

    MUMBAI: Jason Kilar who stepped down as Hulu CEO has announced that Andy Forssell will be stepping up to lead Hulu as acting CEO.

    Hulu is a site and an OTT subscription service offering ad-supported on-demand streaming video of TV shows, movies, webisodes and other new media, trailers, clips, and behind-the-scenes footage from NBC, Fox, ABC, TBS, and other networks and studios. It is co-owned by NBC, Fox and Disney.

    In a blog post Kilar wrote, “Andy has been a critical senior executive and has been here from the start of this great adventure. Andy exemplifies the Hulu culture and has been central to Hulu‘s journey, helping to grow this company from two content partners and no revenue to over 450 content partners and approximately $700 million revenue in 2012.

    “In his role, Andy has built strong relationships with many of our Board members. Andy has the Board‘s strong support in leading the team during this important time.”

    Kilar added that Disney and News Corp are currently finalising their forward-looking plans with Hulu, and the senior team has been working closely with them in that process. Once the plans are finalised, a permanent decision will be made regarding the CEO position.

    “As I mentioned to you all at the beginning of this year, Hulu‘s focus remains on delivering a fantastic 2013 for customers and shareholders. Hulu is well on its way, with new records being set in Q1 across both revenue and subscriber additions. The unwavering focus on delighting Hulu‘s customers is clearly showing up in the outputs of the business.”

  • Big Thrill expands into Mumbai and Delhi with new carriage deals

    Big Thrill expands into Mumbai and Delhi with new carriage deals

    MUMBAI: Big RTL Thrill, the action entertainment channel targeted at male audiences, has launched on digital distribution platforms in Mumbai and Delhi.

    In Mumbai and Delhi, the channel has signed deals with In Digital, Hathway, Digicable, 7 Star, JPR Spacevision, ABS, Siti Cable, Home Cable and Star Broadband enabling it to expand its coverage to reach out to over 6.5 million households across both cities.

    This move is in line with its business plan of reaching out to audiences across one million+ towns in the Hindi-speaking markets (HSMs) in a phased manner, Reliance Broadcast Network Limited (RBNL) said.

    Big RTL Thrill is already available on Reliance Digital TV and other local platforms in Uttar Pradesh including Den, Digicable, Siti Cable, InCable, Siti Cable, Moon Cable and Sea TV.

    The joint venture channel between Reliance Broadcast Network and Europe‘s RTL Group that goes with the tag line Action ka Baap showcases the best internationally acquired content dubbed in Hindi.

    Targeted at male audiences (15-44 years), Big RTL Thrill promises to offer edge of the seat entertainment with content that ranges reality shows, action series, wrestling, extreme sports, game shows and action movies.

    RBNL CEO Tarun Katial said, “Big RTL Thrill has performed excellently in the regional market of Uttar Pradesh, consistently delivering strong numbers. The Channel, with its distinctive international dubbed content has already outperformed other regional male targeted channels and now makes its entry into the metros of Mumbai and Delhi.”

    The channel is positioned to create a new genre of entertainment for male audiences across the Hindi speaking markets.

    Until now, male skewed entertainment has been sporadically available across channels but there is no channel that caters exclusively and comprehensively to male audiences and their entertainment needs.

  • DD’s DTH gets an additional transponder on INSAT 4B

    DD’s DTH gets an additional transponder on INSAT 4B

    NEW DELHI: The Prasar Bharati Board has been asked to take an expeditious decision on expanding the number of channels on Doordarshan‘s direct-to-home (DTH) platform DD Direct Plus to 97, following the decision of the Department of Space to give it an additional transponder of INSAT 4B.

    The Space Department had initially declined to give an additional transponder, forcing Prasar Bharati to lower its expansion plan for the country‘s only free-go-air DTH platform to 75 from the current 59.

    Prior to the latest decision of the Department of Space, Prasar Bharati had already received and processed the tenders for upgradation to 75 slots.

    Prasar Bharati‘s ultimate plan is to increase the number of channels on the platform to 150.

    Information and Broadcasting Ministry stated this when answering a query from indiantelevision.com relating to an observation by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology relating to delay in expansion of DD Direct Plus.

    The sources said that Prasar Bharati had earned revenue of Rs 920.5 million from the auction of 37 slots on the platform. The remaining 22 channels are those of Doordarshan itself.

  • Around 6.6 mn STBs still to be installed in 38 cities of Phase II of DAS

    Around 6.6 mn STBs still to be installed in 38 cities of Phase II of DAS

    NEW DELHI: A total of 6.59 million cable television homes in the 38 cities which are to be covered in Phase II of digitisation have still to receive set-top boxes, just three weeks ahead of the deadline of 31 March.

    The level of digitisation in the cities had reached 58.84 per cent including 25.85 per cent of direct-to-home homes as on 8 March.

    Information and Broadcasting Ministry sources claimed a total of 5.28 million cable homes had received set top boxes as on 8 March, apart from 4.14 homes on DTH.

    The sources said a total of 16.01 million total TV sets had to be digitised by making provision of 20 per cent for multiple TVs in houses and TVs in offices/shops. The total number of TV Households according to Ministry statistics is 13.34 million.

    Of the 38 cities, Bangalore leads with 7,50,181 STBs installed, followed by Hyderabad with 7,33,729, while Coimbatore, Visakhapatnam, and Srinagar were at the bottom of the list with no STB installation as on 8 March.

    The Ministry has set up a Task Force exclusively for Phase II cities to oversee and monitor the digitisation process. A public awareness Committee has also been constituted in the Ministry for spearheading awareness campaign and all TV channels have started to run a scroll informing consumers about the deadline for cable TV digitisation, as also an animated commercial.

    All India Radio has also started broadcasting of the radio jingles on its National and regional networks for creating public awareness. Several other initiatives like SMS campaign, video spots and print advertisements etc. are on the anvil. The State Governments/UTs have already nominated nodal officers in 38 cities of Phase II. The Ministry had recently conducted a workshop for them.

    It is planned to organise a second workshop shortly to take stock of preparedness in Phase II cities. A regional workshop was also held recently at Bangalore to sensitise local MSOs, cable operators and other stakeholders.

    The Ministry had set up a Control Room during Phase I, which has continued to function to address the queries of consumers, cable operators and others. The Control Room which also has a toll free number has been receiving a number of calls from consumers of Phase II cities.

    In order to facilitate cable TV digitisation in 38 cities of Phase II, the Ministry has already issued provisional registration to 30 Independent MSOs to operate in Phase II cities. This would enable these MSOs to operate in their respective cities to provide digital cable TV services.

    For the second phase, the 38 specific cities and areas which have been listed in the notification are Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune, Surat, Kanpur, Jaipur, Lucknow, Nagpur, Patna, Indore, Bhopal, Thane, Ludhiana, Agra, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nashik, Vadodara, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Rajkot, Meerut, Kalyan-Dombivali, Varanasi, Amritsar, Navi Mumbai, Aurangabad, Solapur, Allahabad, Jabalpur, Srinagar, Visakhapatnam, Ranchi, Howrah, Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Mysore and Jodhpur.

  • Cinegy expands in Latin America with Avcom

    Cinegy expands in Latin America with Avcom

    MUMBAI: Cinegy has announced further expansion into Latin America with Venezulan based Systems integrator and reseller Avcom.

    Avcom was chosen based on the work it has done in designing and implementing diverse newsrooms, audio and video studios, control rooms, play out centers, automation, outside broadcast vehicles, digital head ends, media asset management systems among others across Venezuela and Latin America.

    Avcom director Alberto L. Dillon said, “We chose to partner with Cinegy due to the fact that it offers a platform which is cost effective, scalable and with a very open architecture. This will permit us to offer our customers solutions that are tailored to their current needs but that can grow in time as their requirements expand”.

    Avcom can now take advantage of Cinegy´s products and solutions and further expand their presence to a whole new level of customers in the market. With Cinegy, Avcom’s customers can start with a specific solution and grow it into a fully integrated database driven production workflow.

    Following Cinegy’s global reputation in the market, the Avcom team believe that by offering Cinegy in their product range there are many key benefits which Cinegy can offer their customers.

    “We believe that Cinegy can offer our customers a reliable, scalable and affordable solution along with an integrated archive and Mam and production solution” added Dillon.

  • Plans for MipCube unveiled

    Plans for MipCube unveiled

    MUMBAI: Creative platform MipCube will have a line-up of events and conferences which includes speakers from Twitter, Warner Bros. and Machinima, a new Brands and Content Masterclass and the inaugural Women in Tech and Media networking breakfast.

    MipCube 2013 will feature innovators in the digital content space. An integral part of MipTV, the world‘s content market, MipCube takes place in Cannes, France from 8-11 April.

    As part of a series of case studies, Twitter UK head of broadcast partnerships Dan Biddle will explore how the future of the micro-blogging site is linked to TV, thanks to its ability to cultivate audiences. MipCube participants will also get an insight into what tomorrow‘s media business will look like in the hands of the new media moguls.

    Content producers Warner Bros. director/producer Kevin Tancharoen and Warner Bros. Digital Distribution head of digital programming and development Lance Sloane will explain how they produced ‘Mortal Kombat: Legacy‘, a split-screen blockbuster which was the most-viewed web series in 2011.

    Experts in the interactive content space will describe how to attract, build, and scale audiences, with contributions from video entertainment network Machinima president, co-founder Philip Debevoise, and 22-year-old entrepreneur Jamal Edwards who is SB.TV Global founder, CEO.

    Cisneros‘ AdsMovil company COO Jorge Rincón will also be on hand to provide a focus on the mobile Hispanic population. Meanwhile branding agency Huge chief strategy officer Gene Liebel, who developed the strategy and built the HBO Go digital platform, will discuss the importance of intuitive design and user interface in encouraging audiences to consume more content.

    In a session on reinventing distribution in the ‘anywhere‘ age, digital media company Base79 founder Ashley MacKenzie, which is YouTube‘s biggest content partner in Europe, will discuss which distribution models exist for professional content creators, and how best to leverage them.

    Underlining the networking opportunities which MipCube offers, a string of matchmaking sessions will involve broadcasters, including Canal + Head of Digital, Fabienne Fourquet; Canada‘s CBC executive director, studio and unscripted content Julie Bristow; brand representatives such as Paolo Bonsignore from Illy Café; and branded content experts such as Victor Knaap of Media Monk.

    A new feature this year is the Brands and Content Masterclass, sponsored by Ogilvy and Mather and in partnership with Hyper Island. The Masterclass will bring together more than 80 executives working in branded entertainment from brands, agencies, production companies, TV networks, digital platforms and social networks. The objectives of this Masterclass are to learn how to create engaging branded entertainment, meet potential partners in this field, and to share best practices from a selection of some of the most successful branded entertainment campaigns.

    The Masterclass will be introduced by Hyper Island CEO Johanna Frelin, and will feature contributions from ITV MD Commercial, Online and Interactive Fru Hazlitt; McLaren Group Brand Director John Allert, and Framestore executive producer Simon Whalley. Other participating brands include Renault and Swarovski, while the Newcast (Publicis), MEC and Havas agencies will also take part. In the following lunch, the 2013 Brand of the Year award will be delivered (succeeding 2012 Heineken and 2011 Amex).

    Another new feature is the Women In Tech and Media Breakfast, during which the challenges women face as they shoot for greater influence in the industry will be discussed. The talents of tomorrow will be showcased in the Content 360 Pitch Competition for transmedia producers and creative agencies, this year sponsored by Russian independent broadcaster CTC Media and telco MTS; the MipCube Lab, an international competition for startups innovating in the TV field; and the TV Hack Day, featuring 15 selected developers and designers who have 48 hours to come up with what might be the next big app. All of the winners plus Brand of the Year will be showcased in the Innovation show.

    MipCube also provides hands-on opportunities through workshops like the YouTube Creators Masterclass for Content Producers, run by Head of YouTube Next Lab EMEA at Google David Ripert or the Social TV Bootcamp, which will provide a live consulting session on strategies to build social TV projects.

    On 7 April, as a preamble to the main event, MipCube Plus will offer a one-day think-tank dedicated to unlocking fresh business opportunities for new content creation, user engagement and monetisation models.

  • StarHub launches IPTV on Fibre service

    StarHub launches IPTV on Fibre service

    MUMBAI: Singaporean pay TV operator StarHub TV commercial customers will get to enjoy a new TV viewing experience with the launch of StarHub TV on Fibre on 18 March.

    An Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) pay TV service, StarHub TV on Fibre offers businesses access to crystal clear high-definition content and over three times as many TV channels as the existing Digital Terrestrial Television (DTTV) platform. The service will be initially available only to commercial customers such as offices, restaurants and pubs.
     
    Delivered over the island-wide Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network (NGNBN), StarHub TV on Fibre will be able to reach current DTTV customers and beyond, effectively covering commercial customers all over Singapore. StarHub TV on Fibre customers will also enjoy prioritised, managed IPTV access as the service utilises discrete ports on the optical network terminal. With IPTV access independent of broadband activity, StarHub TV on Fibre promises a superior viewing experience in terms of picture quality, speed and navigation.

    StarHub VP of home solutions Lin Shu Fen said, “While DTTV has served our commercial customers well, we have capitalised on the NGNBN roll-out to provide an even better service to this segment of customers. StarHub TV on Fibre marks an important milestone in our pay TV business. Compared to DTTV, we can offer our commercial customers a significantly improved breadth and depth of content, delivered with the assurance of our trademark reliability.

    “We expect the new user interface to provide our customers with a smoother and seamless journey when interacting with the content. In addition, it will bring a new level of interactivity and personalisation to TV viewing with features such as Facebook profile integration and the ability to set unique user accounts. We will have over 100 TV channels at launch and we are constantly working with content providers to bring more channels to the service.”
     
    StarHub TV on Fibre commercial customers will have access to viewing options currently unavailable to DTTV customers. In addition to DTTV mainstays such as BBC World News, Bloomberg Television and CNN, new channels introduced include kids, entertainment, education and sports genres like Cartoon Network, Diva Universal, History and NBA TV; and high-definition options such as Fox HD, Sports HD, Discovery HD World, National Geographic Channel HD and Nat Geo Wild HD.

    Making use of IPTV‘s two-way network, StarHub TV on Fibre‘s interactive features include Facebook profile integration, user account log-ins, an aggregated user rating system and informative apps such as the Singapore Exchange, Yahoo! News and Weather which are especially useful to corporate clients.

  • CBS launches streaming app for iPad, iPhone

    CBS launches streaming app for iPad, iPhone

    MUMBAI: US broadcaster CBS has announced the launch of the new CBS App for iPhone and iPad users, offering full-episode streaming of CBS programming from primetime, daytime and late night.

    The new app further extends the reach of the shows‘ audience, providing more flexibility and opportunity for catch-up viewing and opens yet another monetisation window for the company‘s industry-leading content.
     
    The CBS App is available for immediate download from the App Store, and offers original and second-screen features for CBS‘ shows such as ‘NCIS‘, ‘The Good Wife‘, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation‘, ‘How I Met Your Mother‘ and ‘The Young And The Restless‘.

    Daytime and late night programming will be available within 24 hours after initial airing, while most primetime programmes will be available on the eighth day after broadcast.CBS also announced it would introduce similar full-episode streaming apps for all major mobile and tablet platforms later this year, including Android and Windows 8.

    CBS president, CEO Leslie Moonves, said “We have been methodically and strategically finding new ways to satiate the appetite for our content on new platforms, while tapping into the tremendous revenue provided by doing so. Our announcement today achieves both of these objectives, while protecting our very healthy current ecosystem. In addition, by making our shows available on all the leading mobile devices out there, we are confident we will bring a whole new set of viewers to the CBS Television Network and build upon our standing as the #1 network in the business.”

    CBS Interactive president Jim Lanzone said, “Our online viewers not only want to watch their favourite shows on multiple devices, they want deeper engagement with the programs they love. The new CBS app gives them the best of both worlds, letting people watch CBS shows on the best screen available for them, with a host of extra features that give them a richer viewing experience whenever and wherever they tune in.”

    The new CBS App will integrate the existing CBS Connect App experience by the start of the Fall TV season. At that time, the CBS App will offer integrated social feeds; live events that allow fans to engage directly with talent; and second-screen experiences synched to the broadcast with additional content for select shows like ‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigation‘, ‘Criminal Minds‘ and ‘Hawaii Five-O‘.

    Buick is the official launch partner for the new CBS App, bringing users CBS programming with reduced commercial interruption for the first several weeks after launch.

  • Higher import duty on STBs will help local manufacturers: Manish Tewari

    Higher import duty on STBs will help local manufacturers: Manish Tewari

    NEW DELHI: Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari feels the higher import duty levied on set top boxes (STBs) announced in the Union Budget will give an opportunity for domestic manufacturers to benefit and not set back the digitisation process.

    “It is important that when such a huge exercise is undertaken, which involves a revenue of about $4 to $5 billion, essentially paid by the people of India and the multi-system operators, there should be certain tangible benefits which must accrue to Indian manufacturers.” he added while addressing the delegates of Ficci Frames in Mumbai via video-link from New Delhi.
     
    He has said digitisation is a major project that will ensure transparency and bring benefits to all in the long run. While the digitisation process has been set in motion following a legal remit, “there is also a social contract which calls upon all stakeholders in this, whether they are broadcasters, MSOs or cable operators to sort out the issues inter-se, because eventually, it needs to be a win-win situation for the broadcasters and the consumers.”

    He added that “If any section within this large family feels short changed, then obviously there‘s a cause of concern.”
     
    Tewari reiterated the firm backing of the government for the growth of the media and entertainment industry and said “this industry is not only a huge economic multiplier, but it also has the potential of absorbing creative intellect of young people. It is therefore incumbent upon government to put in place appropriate mechanisms which try and play the role of a facilitator and an enabler.”

    Digitisation was a dominant topic of discussion at the media and entertainment industry‘s mega event Ficci Frames 2013 held in Mumbai from 12 to 14 March, with policy makers, industry leaders and experts deliberating on various aspects of the process.