Category: Technology

New York Times launches app for Blackberry 10

MUMBAI: The New York Times has launched a news application for BlackBerry 10 designed and formatted for optimal reading for BlackBerry 10 smartphones. The NYTimes app is available on BlackBerry World.

The new app introduces a refined interface that incorporates native BlackBerry 10 features, such as the intuitive BlackBerry flow as well as a compelling design and layout.

The New York Times app includes more than 25 sections news, information and opinion, videos, slide shows, graphics and blogs.

Notable features include offline reading, cross-platform article save, breaking news alerts and a full set of share options for articles and multimedia across social media, e-mail and the popular BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) app.

The app offers in-app authentication for subscribers for a streamlined reading experience. Non-subscribers can access the Top News section for free and can purchase digital subscriptions within the app for full access.

The New York Times Media Group SVP and Chief Advertising Officer & GM NYTimes.com Denise Warren said, “The native functionality of this new app makes it easy for BlackBerry 10 customers to uncover the layers of content available on NYTimes.com and share that content for a seamless and rich mobile experience.”

“We’re very excited to have The New York Times bring their news app to the BlackBerry 10 platform at launch. The New York Times news app takes advantage of the unique developer conventions and frameworks in BlackBerry 10 to deliver a great app for information-hungry customers with quick and easy navigation and the ability to instantly share with any of your contacts," said Research In Motion VP of Global Alliances and Business Development Martyn Mallick.

January 31, 2013
BBC launches 3 pay channels in Cambodia on One TV

MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide has inked a deal that will see the inaugural launch of three of BBC‘s pay TV channels in Cambodia– BBC World News, BBC Knowledge and BBC Lifestyle on Cambodia‘s newest digital pay TV platform, One TV.

BBC World News is the BBC‘s commercially-funded international 24-hour news and information channel. BBC Knowledge showcases high-quality factual entertainment from the world‘s foremost producers of non-fiction and documentary programming; while BBC Lifestyle offers inspiration for home, family and life with programmes on home and design, food, fashion and style, to entertain, engage and inspire viewers.

All three channels will officially launch on One TV, the first provider of digital TV services in Cambodia. With this launch, BBC World News, BBC Knowledge and BBC Lifestyle will now be potentially available to the 1.2 million households subscribing to the Cambodian DTT service.

“We ended last year with introducing BBC World News, BBC Lifestyle and CBeebies in Burma for the first time; and we have kicked off 2013 with entry in another new market – Cambodia – where we are proud to be delivering our wide range of highly rated and award-winning programming to viewers. We are confident that this year, we will deliver our great content to even more new viewers in Asia,” commented BBC Worldwide Channels Asia SVP and GM Mark Whitehead.

One TV CEO Samir Badzhadzh commented, “Viewers in Cambodia appreciate quality content. We are thus delighted to partner with inspirational broadcasting corporations like the BBC and BBC Worldwide to bring amazing viewing experiences to our subscribers.”

January 31, 2013
HD Playboy Asia Channel launches in APAC via AsiaSat 5

MUMBAI: Playboy Plus Entertainment, managed by Manwin Media, has launched encrypted HD Playboy Asia Channel on AsiaSat 5 in the Asia Pacific.

Manwin is the leading international provider of high-quality adult entertainment, delivered through online, mobile and television media platforms.

From AsiaSat Tai Po Earth Station in Hong Kong, the HD Playboy Asia Channel is uplinked to AsiaSat 5 (100.5 degrees East), through a C-band DVB-S2 MCPC platform for delivery to over 50 countries across Asia, the Middle East, Australasia and CIS.

AsiaSat also provides encryption service to the channel from its teleport.

AsiaSat President and CEO William Wade said, "We are pleased that Playboy Plus chose AsiaSat 5 for the launch of its first HD Playboy channel in the Asia Pacific. We are proud to meet the increased demand of international broadcasters who expect comprehensive and cost efficient transmission solutions while at the same time appreciate the benefit of AsiaSat 5‘s excellent access to Asian pay TV platforms."

The HD linear channel offers Playboy branded series including Playmates!, The Truth about Sex and The Man, as well as upscale movies from studios including world-renown Digital Playground.

Playboy Plus Entertainment GM-Asia Pacific Lanny Huang said, "We are proud to launch HD Playboy Asia, the first channel targeting the adult audience in Asia. The 24/7 linear HD channel will include a unique blend of content including Playboy originals and the addition of our highly-acclaimed Digital Playground movies, offering extreme cinematic experience to our viewers."

January 31, 2013
Dainik Bhaskar exits cable biz, Hathway takes full ownership of JV

MUMBAI: Dainik Bhaskar Group has exited the cable TV business ahead of digitisation, selling its 49 per cent stake to joint venture partner Hathway Cable & Datacom.

Hathway has taken complete ownership of the JV company, Hathway Bhaskar Multinet, which has cable TV distribution networks in Bhopal, Indore and Jaipur.

"We have bought out Bhaskar‘s stake. Hathway Bhaskar Multinet now becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of our company," says Hathway Cable & Datacom managing director and chief executive Jagdish Kumar.

Dainik Bhaskar Group‘s exit comes at a time when cable companies are required to make massive investments in digital set-top boxes (STBs). The government has mandated cable TV digitisation across the country in four phases by 31 December 2014.
In 2008, the Bhaskar Group sold controlling stake in their cable TV company to Hathway.

"There has been a fall in valuation since then as Hathway Bhaskar Multinet lost ground to rival multi-system operators Den and Digicable. Though the acquisition amount is not disclosed, it is certain that it has dipped," a source familiar with the development said.

The enterprise value of Bhaskar Multinet in 2008 was around Rs 600 million, the source added.

After taking full charge of Bhaskar Multinet, Hathway is planning to fortify its presence in these three cities.

January 30, 2013
Ditto TV adds Big RTL Thrill and Big Magic to its offering

MUMBAI: Ditto TV, India‘s first Over-The-Top (OTT) TV distribution platform, has added Reliance Broadcast Network (RBNL) channels Big RTL Thrill and Big Magic to its offering.

This alliance, allows the channels to be able to engage viewers digitally on multiple platforms like mobile phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, entertainment boxes and connected TVs, in addition to the traditional television medium.

RBNL Business Head – Language TV Sunil Kumaran said, “The immense penetration of the internet and the growing number of smart televisions and internet enabled mobile devices are stimulating demand and we believe this will transform into a very significant viewing platform in the time to come. Ditto TV is a promising new distribution tool and we are pleased to launch our channels through the platform. We are confident that it will help expand our channel offerings and reach.”

Commenting on the alliance, Zeel Business Head – New Media Vishal Malhotra said, “This partnership with Reliance Broadcast Network spells a momentous occasion for Ditto TV ensuring that we continue to delight our customers across the world with rich, premium and quality content, anytime, anywhere.”

January 30, 2013
US marketers to spend more on social media ads: Nielsen

MUMBAI: Marketers in US are likely to ramp up their ad spends on social media as consumers increasingly spend more time online compared to traditional media, according to a recent survey commissioned by Vizu, a Nielsen company.

According to the study, consumers spend 20 per cent of their online time and 30 per cent of their smartphone time on social media-accounting for a whopping 121 billion minutes each month.

Around 89 per cent of the advertisers surveyed said they use free tools-such as pages, posts, likes and pins-75 percent say they currently invest in paid social media advertising, which includes tactics such as sponsored content, brand graphs and driving likes. In fact, 64 per cent plan to spend more on social in the future.

Social media ad budgets are small-but growing: Paid social media advertising is still relatively new. The majority of advertisers and agencies surveyed said they‘d been using paid social media advertising for less than three years. One-fifth (20 per cent) said they‘d only started in the past year. Plus, the majority (70 per cent) indicated that they dedicated 10 per cent or less of their overall 2012 online advertising budget to paid social media.

The ad mix will likely shift this year, however, as the majority of advertisers (64 per cent) plan to boost their paid social media advertising budgets. While the increases will likely be modest-primarily between 1 and 10 per cent-the growth is a positive sign for this young channel that hasn‘t traditionally had a dedicated budget. Currently, only 41 per cent of advertisers report having a dedicated paid social media ad budget. To fund the increase in paid social media advertising activity, the majority plan to pull budget from other channels-both on and offline.

January 30, 2013
Natpe looks to expand digital presence with advisory board

MUMBAI: The National Association of Television Program Executives (Natpe) in the US is establishing a digital advisory board to be led by Ross Levinsohn who is Guggenheim Digital Media CEO.

The advisory board will serve as a consultant to help expand the organisation‘s presence and direction in the digital world.

Natpe Content First president, CEO Rod Perth said, “We are incredibly fortunate to have Ross agree to lead this effort as we develop plans to bring together the linear and digital content businesses, which are increasingly interdependent.”

This new digital brain-trust will be made up of executives from all segments of digital content including creation and production, distribution, social media, advertising and technology. Its members will be announced over the next few weeks.

“Natpe is dedicated to acting as a bridge between content creation and monetisation across all platforms. We believe that by bringing scale and efficiency to the content marketplace, we can connect the linear and digital ecosystem of the Hollywood, international, digital and advertising communities,” Perth added.

January 30, 2013
Funai Electric acquires Philips lifestyle ent biz

MUMBAI: Royal Philips Electronics has sold its Lifestyle Entertainment business which includes audio, video, multimedia and accessories to Japanese consumer electronics company Funai Electric.

Under the terms, Funai will pay a cash consideration of 150 million euro and a brand license fee, relating to a license agreement for an initial period of five and a half years, with an optional renewal of five years.

The deal for the Audio, Multimedia and Accessories businesses is expected to close in the second half of 2013. The video business will transfer in 2017, related to existing intellectual property licensing arrangements. The gain on the transaction will be recorded at the closing date.

The agreement does not impact any of Funai‘s existing brand licensing agreements with Philips, the company said.

The transaction is subject to customary conditions, including regulatory filings and works council procedures. The remote control activities, which are predominantly business-to-business, are excluded.

Philips CEO Frans van Houten said. "With this transaction we are taking another step in reshaping the Consumer Lifestyle portfolio and transforming Philips into the leading technology company in Health and Well-being. I am confident that today‘s agreement with Funai, our partner for over 25 years, will create a promising future for Philips Audio, Video and Entertainment, and continuity for our customers. It will leverage Philips‘ strong brand, strength in innovation, and leadership position in these businesses, with Funai‘s strong presence in North and Central America – and Japan, and its supply and manufacturing expertise."

Funai president, CEO, Tomonori Hayashi said. "This is truly an exciting time for us at Funai. This transaction will allow us to continue moving forward and grow as a global company. We will benefit from Philips‘ legendary know-how and innovation, as well as the excellent talent they have in place around the world, allowing us to work as a team to leverage and grow the Philips brand in Audio, Video and Entertainment. Additionally, this will give Funai the opportunity to meet our goal of expanding our business into markets including Brazil, Russia, India and China."

Philips Audio, Video, Multimedia and Accessories make up the Lifestyle Entertainment business group within Philips Consumer Lifestyle. This business group is headquartered in Hong Kong and employs approximately 2,000 people worldwide.

January 30, 2013
C&S shows double-digit growth in 2012: IRS Q3

MUMBAI: Cable and satellite (C&S) television has posted double-digital growth in 2012, according to the latest figures by Indian Readership Survey (IRS).

The C&S sector‘s reach grew from 488.642 million in second quarter 2012 to 499.437 million in the third quarter. It saw a 10.5 per cent compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) from Q1 to Q3 in the calendar year of 2012, according to the findings of IRS Q3 2012, released by the Media Research Users Council (MRUC) and Hansa Research.

Media consumption for Internet continued to show the fastest growth at 27.5 per cent CAGR from 2012 Q1 to 2012 Q3. The users climbed from 39.94 million in Q2 to 42.32 million in Q3 of 2012.

The reach of television also showed positive growth from the second quarter’s 563.43 million to 571.426 million in the third quarter. The CAGR of the reach of television for the same time period is 6.1 per cent (Q1-Q3).

Radio saw a CAGR of 6.4 per cent, with increase in listenership from 158.165 million in Q2 to 159.820 million in Q3.

Meanwhile, cinemagoers grew at a CAGR of 17.2 per cent to 81.4 million in quarter three as compared to 79.25 million in the second quarter.

Newspaper readership grew by just 0.7 per cent CAGR with its reach increasing from 352.004 million in Q2 2012 to 353.33 million in Q3 2012.

January 30, 2013
TV18’s IndiaCast, Disney UTV form distribution JV company

MUMBAI: India is witnessing a consolidation in the distribution business for television channels. In the latest round, TV18 Group and The Walt Disney Company are floating a joint venture company to distribute their television channels across analogue and digital platforms, including cable TV and direct-to-home (DTH), in India.

IndiaCast, TV18 and Viacom18‘s multi-platform, global distribution company, will have 74 per cent stake in the JV while UGBL, a Disney UTV firm, will hold the remaining 26 per cent.

The new entity will distribute 35 channels from the TV18, Viacom18, Disney UTV and A+E Networks, making it the second largest distribution company in terms of bouquet of channels after Media Pro Enterprise India.

Anuj Gandhi (IndiaCast CEO) will be the chief executive officer of the joint venture company.

The yet-to-be-named company will be responsible only for distributing the channels in India while international operations will be handled independently by the two companies.

IndiaCast will move its domestic distribution business into this new venture, while continuing to manage its other content monetisation businesses which include international distribution, ad sales & content sales as well as the new media distribution for TV18, Viacom18, A+E Networks | TV18 and Eenadu channels.

Disney UTV will also move its domestic distribution activities for its bouquet of all nine channels (Disney, Hungama, Disney XD, UTV Stars, Bindass, UTV Movies, UTV Action and the newly launched preschool channel Disney Junior) to the new entity.

The joint venture will become operational post the necessary regulatory approvals and will provide the channels to cable, DTH and Headend-In-The-Sky (HITS) platforms in India.

Says Gandhi, “This partnership will build a strong distribution company that will offer a broader and more diversified range to platforms giving us a foothold across genres – including in general entertainment, general and business news, movies, youth and kids genres. We have had a great first year for IndiaCast and this JV will give our domestic distribution business scale and wider reach.”

Strength of the JV

The combined entity will particularly be strong in the youth (MTV, UTV Stars and Bindass) and kids genres (with the Disney and Nick channels). IndiaCast will also get a presence in the movie genre with UTV Movies and UTV Action.

Says MK Anand, managing director – Media Networks, Disney UTV, "There are some clear and unique synergies in this partnership. The new bouquet is a more comprehensive offering from the viewer’s perspective that gives the combined entity an edge in the marketplace."

In the news businesss, the JV will have the TV18 group of channels including CNBC TV18, CNN IBN, IBN7 and CNBC Awaaz. The Hindi general entertainment channel Colors will continue to remain as a big driver while the niche channels will give the bouquet a wider presence. It will also have regional-language channels with ETV a part of the pack.

"IndiaCast fills up the gap of a Hindi movie channel in its bouquet while Disney gets the support of a stronger platform. The Disney UTV movie channels, however, have to gather more steam to match the other two main distribution companies (Media Pro and TheOne Alliance) in this space. The strength of the new JV will be more obvious in the youth and kids space," says a media analyst.

Sports will be a gap in the bouquet. Only MSM Discovery (which operates through TheOne Alliance brand) has sports in its bouquet with Sony Six and the Neo channels. Media Pro, the JV between Star Den and Zee Turner, does not get to distribute Star‘s (Star Cricket, Star Sports, etc) and Zee‘s sports channels (Ten Sports, etc).

The fate of the Sun TV group of channels, which are distributed by IndiaCast in the Hindi Speaking Markets (HSM), is uncertain at this stage. If Sun TV agrees, then it will be the first set of external channels distributed by the JV.

TV18 to hold majority in the JV

TV18 will continue to hold majority economic interest in both IndiaCast and the new step-down joint venture through a combination of its direct holding through TV18 and the indirect holding through Viacom18. TV18’s effective economic interest in IndiaCast is 75 per cent and 56 per cent in the new venture.

Says Network18 managing director Raghav Bahl, “The Indian television industry in on the throes of a transformation on the back of digitisation. The distribution joint venture of TV18 and Viacom18 with DisneyUTV is a landmark deal and will help in shaping the future course of the domestic distribution landscape. At TV18, we have always believed that as industry leaders we should not only forge and nurture successful partnerships but also spearhead initiatives that accrue benefits to all stakeholders.”

Consolidation in the distribution business

The trend started years ago when Zee Turner and Set Discovery (now MSM Discovery) formed joint venture companies to add strength to their distribution businesses and ramp up subscription revenues. The biggest move in this direction came in mid-2011 when Zee Turner and Star Den merged their distribution businesses to create an elephant that marginalised the smaller players.

"With this new JV, there will almost be no space for individual players. Media Pro is at the top followed by TheOne Alliance and then the IndiaCast-Disney UTV JV so far as revenue figures go. We will see further consolidation in the industry," says a media analyst.

January 30, 2013