ITV

Category: Technology

  • Techzone partners with Sunburn, offers WAP page for international music

    Techzone partners with Sunburn, offers WAP page for international music

    MUMBAI: Techzone, the largest aggregators, developers, publishers and distributors of entertainment content, has become the official partner of Asia‘s premier Dance Music Festival "SUNBURN" for offering a single platform to users for accessing unlimited international music via PLAYGROUND, and valuable informative content on Sunburn via WAP, CRBT and SMS services.

    With this association, users will get to completely get into the groove of Sunburn as PLAYGROUND will open up the biggest library of international music in India for all the music lovers and offer them unlimited free access for 3 days. To add to it, the specially created WAP page allows an interactive platform that allows customers to browse and download more than 2,00,000 + International music tracks from the two labels Universal Music Group and Sony Music International, Videos, Artists‘ trivia, gossips, program schedule, festival guide, exclusive photo gallery, has voting options etc. All this, right through their mobile phones, while they are on the move without worrying about the long buffer time of downloads and the screen misfits for the web pages by simply sending SMS SUNBURN to 56060.

    It‘s the first time in the VAS industry that almost the entire catalogues of these two labels have been made available at a single portal for Indian mobile user to download.
    Commenting on the Official tie-up with Sunburn, Mr. Naveen Bhandari, Director of TechZone says, "We are glad to be associated with Sunburn and offer PLAYGROUND as their official technology partner. Sunburn is expanding year on year with thousands of followers and participants, and there is a need to engage all of them with superior services and an enhanced experience of the festival. Our WAP, CRBT and SMS services will make sure that all the users have a increased access to all the important information about the festival and PLAYGROUND will ensure that they have enough music to lose themselves into the Sunburn aura."

    He adds, "There is a great demand for international music in India, and with the biggest of audio labels on board, we want to make the entire library of international content more accessible to a larger base of users by offering it on mobile platform. Our expertise in monetization of content enables us to create a robust business model that enables us to participate with events such as Sunburn, creating opportunities for the consumer to experience the product offering and access the same experience at a later stage through the PLAYGROUND Store."
    Mr. Karan Singh, CEO of Sunburn, adds, "Sunburn is Asia‘s biggest music festival that garners great attention from music lovers across the world. During every sunburn festival we have been witnessing huge demand for content on sunburn and on international music. Thus, we decided to partner with Techzone to provide the music and sunburn enthusiasts what they want. Techzone‘s technological expertise and its PLAYGROUND store with its cast library of music is a great addition to the event."

    To ride on the SUNBURN wave, simply SMS SUNBURN to 56060 and get grooving with mind-blowing music

  • GECs, movies rule the roost on Ditto TV

    GECs, movies rule the roost on Ditto TV

    MUMBAI: The Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) genre is the most popular on over-the-top (OTT) platform Ditto TV with 43 per cent of the total time consumed being spent on these channels, as per findings of user-generated data by Ditto TV.

    GECs are followed by movies as the next preferred choice at 16 per cent. At 14 per cent of total time consumed, regional channels are the third most preferred genre followed by news which garnered 13 per cent.

    These findings are collected from over 4,25,000 Ditto users who have downloaded the Ditto TV application to their mobiles, tablets and computers. Ditto TV is the OTT platform from Zee New Media, the digital arm of Zeel.

    Every third Smartphone user in India uses an Android-based handset to access live entertainment content online while every fifth user prefers a Symbian platform. Blackberry users claim a close third spot, garnering over 17 per cent of the OTT viewership space.
    While Mumbai retains its front line position in terms of adoption of new technologies with 16 per cent of the user base, overall the metro circles, with 26 per cent of the total user base, look to be facing stiff competition from states like (rest of) Maharashtra (11 per cent) and even Rajasthan (7 per cent).

    The markets of Mumbai, Maharashtra and Gujarat together account for nearly 40 per cent of the total user base. Interestingly, the total time spent on the content in Mumbai is double that in Delhi.

    Not surprisingly, the maximum usage happens on PCs accounting for 30 per cent of the user base but over 50 per cent of total usage. Android is a close runner up accounting for 25 per cent of overall consumption. Symbian trails with 10 per cent just behind Apple (11 per cent).

    Zeel Business Head-New Media Vishal Malhotra elucidating the findings said, “OTT service providers such as Ditto TV are redefining the way consumers are viewing TV today. With people being always on the go, getting the right content to the public becomes even more important today. The findings of this data sifted from consumers’ mobile TV data usage have implication for stakeholders that go beyond only the content providers.

    "Handset manufacturers will need to take note of why and how their products are being assessed by their customers. Similarly, the service carriers will have to ensure that they have the capability and bandwidth to seamlessly support such services. The biggest beneficiary of this study remains the Consumer since his tastes and preferences will now have to be considered.”

  • Universal Music appoints Vinit Thakkar as head of digital

    Universal Music appoints Vinit Thakkar as head of digital

    MUMBAI: Universal Music has appointed Vinit Thakkar as the new head of digital for its business in India.

    Thakkar‘s role as Digital Head of Universal Music will entail consolidating and growing Universal’s Digital business in India and SAARC.

    Prior to joining Universal, Thakkar was with Sony Music as Sr. General Manager handling the P&L responsibility across Digital, Licensing & Publishing businesses.

    Universal Music India and SAARC MD Devraj Sanyal said, “The digital business for UMGI is one of the most critical parts of the music business and I am very pleased to welcome Vinit to the team. Vinit brings with him an exceptionally great & relevant background to the table with his years at Sony, Citi & Titan. I have no doubt in my mind that Vinit will take Universal Music and all its allied future businesses to the next level.”

    Thakkar has also worked with companies like Titan and Citibank in sales & marketing functions.

    Thakkar said, “At such a pivotal time for music, where the digital landscape is undergoing a sea change, it’s more important than ever to fully exploit the many opportunities that new digital services and products provide in reaching audiences around the world. I look forward to this new challenge and I am extremely confident of building a robust digital business at Universal Music."

  • Zee forms task force to tackle piracy in US

    Zee forms task force to tackle piracy in US

    MUMBAI: Asia TV USA, the exclusive distributor of Zee channels in the Americas, has initiated a technical task force, making sustained efforts to seek out those who are pirating programming and signals from the Zee suite of channels.

    Zee said it is taking all steps to prohibit piracy where streaming of content on services such as Live TV Box, Shava TV, Jadoo TV and Boom TV permit viewers to access Zee’s content illegally.

    Zee has been successful in shutting down Zee content on Live TV Box and Jadoo TV that was being streamed illegally.
    "We recognize that consumers are being led to believe that Zee content is legally available for free on these streaming boxes. However, Zee in the Americas is a premium subscription service that viewers pay a monthly fee to receive," a Zee spokesperson said.

    It also said that it will not hesitate to take action against illicit services such as those described above as well as South Asian retail stores that sell these boxes.

  • Airtel digital TV to drop ESPN and Star Cricket HD from 23 Dec

    Airtel digital TV to drop ESPN and Star Cricket HD from 23 Dec

    MUMBAI: Airtel digital TV has said that it will stop carrying ESPN HD and Star Cricket HD just ahead of the India-Pakistan series.

    The DTH operator cited high subscription fee as the reason for the removal of these two channels. It will stop carrying both the channels from 23 December.

    ESPN HD is priced at Rs 141.8 while Star Cricket HD is priced at Rs 119.9. The two channels are available at Rs 183.2 in a bouquet.
    "We will stop carrying ESPN HD and Star Cricket HD because the price is very high from a consumer point of view," Airtel digital TV CEO Shashi Arora said.

    Airtel will replace the two channels with Sony Six HD and Zee Studio HD.

    Other DTH operators like Dish TV and Sun Direct have not been carrying the two channels for quite some time. However, Tata Sky, Reliance Big TV and Videocon d2h are carrying them.

  • Zee Cinema, Zee Salaam and Zee Tamizh launch on Cogeco Cable in Ontario

    Zee Cinema, Zee Salaam and Zee Tamizh launch on Cogeco Cable in Ontario

    MUMBAI: Zee Americas in partnership with Ethnic Channels Group Limited (ECG), Canada’s largest distributor of third language television services, launched Zee Cinema, Zee Salaam and Zee Tamizh on Cogeco Cable on 12 December.

    Aimed at Ontario’s South Asian communities, these channels will serve to add great content to Cogeco’s third language services and help the Canadian multi-ethnic majority watch TV.

    Zee Americas CEO Suresh Bala said, “Canada is a dynamic market and we are happy to serve viewers in Ontario quality programming in the form of Zee Cinema, Zee Tamizh and Zee Salam. Ethnic Channels Group has been a pioneer in Canada bringing South Asians the kind of content that they most desire, this is a great partnership for us to offer Zee’s brand of top notch dramas, reality shows, news, Bollywood movies and music to our Canadian viewers.”
    Zee Cinema is a Bollywood channel in the US that includes a privately held Bollywood video library with more than 5000 hours of premium content.

    Zee Salaam is Zee’s first Islamic general entertainment channel targeting the Muslim community and the Urdu listening audiences, while Zee Tamizh is a general entertainment channel that offers a variety of programmes targeting the Tamil-Canadian audience.

    Cogeco Cable marketing and strategic planning VP Ron Perrotta said, “For Cogeco Cable, the second largest hybrid fibre coaxial cable system operator in Ontario, adding 23 services in 8 different languages distributed by Ethnic Channels Group allows Cogeco Cable to respond to a variety of customer tastes and needs and to enhance our already engaging multicultural TV offering.”

  • Itimes relaunched as an interest networking site

    Itimes relaunched as an interest networking site

    MUMBAI: Times Internet has relaunched Itimes.com by shifting its focus from general social networking towards interest networking centered around relevant topics and content.

    The site in its new release is live with over 5000 interests. Individuals can use it as a platform to build a following, share knowledge and to disseminate information on topics or interests.

    With a live leader board that crowns users as “Interest Masters", it encourages active contributions in the form of discussions, photos, videos, blogs and polls.

    "Times Internet has over 32 million visitors every month who interact with our varied content offerings. Itimes.com is oriented around building communities around the topics people care to read about. It’s an interesting proposition and we hope that it will engage users and help create and curate relevant content” said Times Internet CEO Satyan Gajwani.

    The company said that Itimes.com is a network driven by content and is social only by its ability to viral and distribute the content.

  • ZengaTV app launched on Windows 8

    ZengaTV app launched on Windows 8

    MUMBAI: Mobile TV platform ZengaTV has launched its app for Windows 8 powered PCs and tablets.

    ZengaTV app is available on the Windows Store and can be downloaded free of cost. The app available globally features many live channels, video content, Bollywood movies, news and a lot more.

    Commenting on the launch of the next evolution in Digital TV, ZengaTV MD & CTO Shabir Momin said, "We have partnered closely with Microsoft to deliver a truly immersive experience for users that leverages on the promise of Windows 8 platform. The ZengaTV App for Windows 8 will move towards providing an enhanced second TV replacement for users. We are committed to investing in R&D efforts and content variation to continually improve user experience."
    Microsoft Corporation India Director – Windows Business Group Amrish Goyal said, “With the ZengaTV app on Windows 8, we are offering a world class video experience to our users. The app experience is enhanced by the unique User Interface on Windows 8 powered devices. We are excited about this addition to the array of exciting Windows 8 apps available on the platform.”

  • Time Warner invests in Maker Studios

    Time Warner invests in Maker Studios

    MUMBAI: Online content company, Maker Studios, has raised $36 million in the initial closing of its Series C financing led by Time Warner Investments.

    Additional participants include existing investors Greycroft Partners; GRP Partners; Downey Ventures, the investment company for Robert Downey Jr.; Elisabeth Murdoch; Fuel: M+C, the investment company for Jon Miller and Jimmy Yaffe; and Ynon Kreiz, Maker’s chairman; along with new investors which include Daher Capital and Academy Award-winning producer Jon Landau.

    Rachel Lam, who heads the Time Warner Investments group, will join the board. The funding will be used to further accelerate Maker’s rapid growth as a global platform for online programming while continuing to build brand and partner relationships.

    Maker was founded in 2009 to provide the best environment for artists to create, distribute, and monetize their original content on YouTube. The company recently expanded its multi-vertical approach, focusing on comedy, music, gaming, beauty/fashion and mom’s programming both domestically and internationally, especially in Europe.

    It is home to many of online video’s top digital stars and content including KassemG, Nice Peter’s “Epic Rap Battles of History,” the Shaytards, SnoopDogg’s WestFestTV, The Yogscast, The Gregory Brothers, Bad Lip Reading and Mike Tompkins, among many others.

    “We’re extremely excited and grateful to have the support of Time Warner and our other investment partners, who are some of the most respected names in media and entertainment, and are thrilled that we will be able to provide even more resources and opportunities to our valued network partners,” said Maker Studios co-founder and CEO Danny Zappin.

    “We founded Maker because, as YouTube content creators ourselves, we recognized there was a need for a new type of studio and network that could support artists on any platform. We remain committed to providing the best possible environment for creators and look forward to further expanding our offerings to our extremely talented partners around the globe.”

  • Jagdish Kumar new Hathway Cable CEO; Jayaraman made vice chairman

    Jagdish Kumar new Hathway Cable CEO; Jayaraman made vice chairman

    MUMBAI: In a major reshuffle, Hathway Cable & Datacom has appointed Jagdish Kumar as the new managing director and CEO of the company. He joins with immediate effect.

    K Jayaraman, who was occupying this chair, moves to the position of vice chairman.

    Kumar will report directly to the Hathway board, sources say.

    In his earlier stint, Kumar was the president of Reliance Industries Limited‘s (RIL) media and entertainment business.

    Before RIL, Kumar had a 16-year stint at Star India where he was involved in several key initiatives including the media company‘s direct-to-home (DTH) venture and acquisition of regional broadcasting company Asianet.

    Incidentally, Kumar was on the board of Hathway Cable & Datacom as a representative from Star. Earlier this year News Corp had exited Hathway by selling its 17.3 per cent stake in Hathway for Rs 3.58 billion.

    Kumar was also made Star India chief operating officer when Uday Shankar was made chief executive officer.

    In his last assignment at Star, Kumar was given the operational charge of Kannada general entertainment channel Suvarna. This was in addition to his earlier functions as Star India president – South.