Category: Technology

MUMBAI: Mogae Digital has launched Star TV‘s popular comedy show ‘Laughter Challenge‘ on mobile in an animated “tony” version.

The new version of ‘Laughter Challenge‘ will be available to Indian mobile users in “easily accessible” form of two minutes fun-filled videos, created with original voice tracks of various artists. It is going live on various mobile networks this week.

Mogae Group executive director Tanya Goyal said, “Animated Laughter Challenge jokes refresh the magic created by the original show. The animated caricatures add a new comic dimension to the existing jokes and users would love watching them again and again, that too right on their mobile screens. Mogae has invested more than 12 months into creating the animated Laughter content, specifically for mobile devices.”

Mogae is in talks with various DTH operators to take the animated Laughter Challenge live to their audiences.

It had recently launched its Talking Comics on various DTH platforms. “Our momics were created for the mobile. Hence user interface and downloads are designed for good consumer experience. We will start a second round of creative development in Q1 2013 with another 2000 new stories to be created”, Goyal added.

Mogae Digital is part of the Mogae Group, co-owned by Sandeep and Tanya Goyal, erstwhile JV partners of Dentsu in India.

NEW DELHI: Digital signals are being received in the Kapashera and Samalka areas of Delhi and several houses have already installed digital set top boxes.

A team of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry had visited the areas on 20 October following complaints that no digital signals were received there.

The team interacted with the cable operators, local people and also visited headends run by Digicable Network. The team also went to some homes to do a spot verification.

The headend located in Samalka belonging to the Digicable Network is already providing digital feed to both the areas.
 
The team also found that one particular local cable operator (LCO) who is providing only FTA channels has not entered into any agreement with the multi-system operators and is thus not able to get the digital feed. However, several other LCOs are already providing digital feed.

MUMBAI: The Walt Disney Company has re-designed its website Disney.com for the third time in five years as it looks to turnaround its digital business.

The re-designed Disney.com comprises games, children’s books, TV, movies, music, Broadway and online worlds like Club Penguin in order to cater to a broad audience.

The new site comes at a time when TWDC CEO Robert A. Iger is hoping that the gaming, mobile and Internet division will turn profitable after 15 consecutive quarters of $977 million losses.

Iger has told Disney shareholders that Disney Interactive will turn into profits sometime next year. The company is also planning an ambitious gaming initiative code-named Toy Box.

Figuring out the Internet as being critical for all media companies, Disney’s future in particular depends on a winning strategy, says a New York Times report.

“The children it hopes to turn into lifelong consumers of its products are increasingly living online. Disney Channel used to be the company’s most important welcome mat. Now executives refer to Disney.com as the “front door.”,” the report added.

Guiding Disney on its digital business was none other than tech czar and former Apple CEO Steve Jobs who was on its board from 2006 until his death last year.

Disney Interactive is run by former Yahoo executive James Pitaro and John Pleasants, Playdom’s former chief executive. Its current board members include John S. Chen, chief executive of the software developer Sybase, and Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer.

MUMBAI: Television has come a long way since the grainy black and white sets of old. While there have been constant advances-from the introduction of colour to the remote control to connected TVs (IPTV)-the advent of High Definition TV (HDTV) could be considered one of the high water marks.

In fact, as HD continues to revolutionise the quality of the TV watching experience, more than three quarters of US households have an HDTV set-that‘s up 14 per cent from last year, according to a recent study by Nielsen.

What‘s more is that nearly 40 per cent of those homes have multiple HD sets. The figure is likely to continue to trend upwards as bulky standard definition sets are swapped out for sleeker and more technologically-sophisticated models.

Not all HD is equal: In May 2012, 61 per cent of all prime viewing was done on an HD set, but that does not necessarily denote actual HD viewing was happening. “True” HD, using an HD set top box or tuner in a home that receives HD channels and actually tuned to an HD signal, is the only way to experience legitimate HDTV bliss.

During that same month, 29 percent of English-language broadcast prime viewing and 25 percent of cable prime viewing was “True HD.”

The gap between HD potential and true HD viewing leaves a wide berth for consumers to bridge. The study also noted that among cable networks, as expected, sports and entertainment genres are more likely to be viewed in HD as compared to news and kids programming.

MUMBAI: As US household TV screens continue to increase in size, so do the sales and rentals of digital movies. Subscription streaming, and video-on-demand (VoD) sales of movies are expected to increase tenfold in the 10-year period 2007-17.

Sales more than quadrupled from $1.3 billion to $5.5 billion during 2007-12, according to Mintel‘s latest research digital downloads.

Mintel senior technology analyst Billy Hulkower said, “We live in a time of instant gratification and the idea of waiting for a movie to arrive in the mail or actually driving to a store to get one is an idea of the past. Increased acceptance of all intangible media, including music, photos, books and games is a driver with consumers increasingly acclimated to the immediacy of all digital formats.”

Traditional DVD rentals are still the most popular way to rent movies, with 32 per cent of online consumers renting individual discs via this method in the past 30 days. However, online streaming services such as Netflix or Amazon Instant Video and pay TV (ie. pay-per-view or video-on-demand) are gaining on physical disc rental in popularity. A quarter of respondents say they have used online streaming in the past 30 days and 22 per cent have used a pay TV method.

Streaming movies is more popular than using physical discs among 18-24 year olds showing that Millennials are the key demographic in the digital movie marketplace. Just more than half (51 per cent) of 18-24 age group have rented a movie or TV show in the past 30 days via a monthly subscription method versus only 31 per cent of all age groups. In addition, 55 per cent of 18-24 age group rented via a streaming service compared to only 38 per cent of all age groups.

According to Mintel, those who buy any type of digital movie are also more likely to purchase any type of physical movie and vice versa. Considering this, the most common basis for selecting one or the other is based on price-approximately one-third of respondents say they will buy either format depending on which is cheaper.

In spite of aggressive expansion on the part of Amazon into digital media, and digital video in particular, Apple‘s iTunes is the clear leader in digital movie sales. Six in 10 respondents who purchased a digital-store movie in the past 30 days, did so through iTunes, more than twice the share that did so at Amazon (25 per cent) and three times as many as any other competitor.

MUMBAI: Digital media company Yahoo! has said it will close its South Korean operations at the end of this year to concentrate on its global business where it is pitted against powerful rivals like Google and Facebook.

South Korea is the first Asian country where Yahoo! is exiting as part of its global restructuring exercise.

“Yahoo has faced several challenges in the past couple of years and decided to pull out of the (Korean) business to put more resources on global business and become more powerful and successful,” Yahoo said in a statement.

Yahoo! Korea, a Yahoo! subsidiary, has not been able to beat local rivals such as NHN, Daum Communications Corp and SK Communications. Local companies have a strong brand loyalty which makes South Korea a difficult market for foreign cos to operate in.

Headquartered in Gangnam district of Seoul, Yahoo! Korea started business in 1997 with 200-250 employees on its roster currently. The company will terminate Korean online portal services in December. Its Korean website will be automatically linked to an English website from early next year.

“Since 1997, the Yahoo! Korean team has provided high-quality editorial content and services, and has built a successful search advertising network. But despite this, the operation has faced growing challenges over the past few years that now make scaling Yahoo‘s business very difficult,” the statement added.

On Monday, Yahoo had announced that Google executive Henrique de Castro was joining the company as its chief operating officer beginning next year. Last month, Yahoo had appointed Ken Goldman as its chief financial officer, effective 22 October. Goldman replaces Tim Morse, who will be leaving Yahoo during the fall.

NEW DELHI: The scepticism surrounding digitisation figures notwithstanding, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Friday claimed that the digital cable penetration has increased to 81 per cent up from 77 per cent that it had announced earlier this month.

The MIB said that the digitisation penetration will be 87 per cent if the progress made by DTH is also taken into account. The DTH operators have informed MIB that 2.7 million set-top boxes (STBs) have been installed in the four metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.

As per the data provided by MSOs, currently about 45,000 STBs are being installed per day to meet the deadline for first phase of digitisation.

The MIB said that Mumbai has been completely digitised with the digital cable penetration standing at 100 per cent. Kolkata has achieved 78 per cent digitisation in cable alone. With DTH, the percentage of digitisation in Kolkata has gone up to 81 per cent.

In Delhi the digitisation percentage of digital cable penetration is 74 per cent and with DTH it has gone up to 81 per cent while Chennai has refused to show any major improvement with only 60 per cent cable digitisation which goes up to 85 per cent with DTH.

The MIB had launched an aggressive campaign in the Electronic and Print Media to take awareness to the door steps of people. The promotional steps include print advertisements in local newspapers, SMS messages, spots on all TV and radio channels started by the Ministry to inform people about the urgency to get STBs.

MUMBAI: HBO Latin America has announced that their new entertainment platform, HBO Go, will be available in Colombia for MiDirecTV clients.

Through the platform, HBO/Max subscribers will be able to log in and watch films, series, shows and special programs from HBO online on their computers.

HBO Latin America Group president Emilio Rubio said,”Following the success in Brazil where, only weeks after its launch, HBO Go reached record numbers for access and streaming, we now launch in Colombia, giving our subscribers the opportunity to enjoy their favorite programs anytime, anyplace. We are very proud to bring a product to Latin America that further enhances the HBO Premium entertainment experience in the region”.

HBO Go will have many features to personalise the available services, including the ability to receive alerts and notifications, through Series Pass, when new episodes are available. It will also be possible to create watchlists with favorite programs and to view them in HD, with or without subtitles. The platform has a simple and intuitive navigation, and the content is divided into Series, Movies, Documentaries, Specials, Children and Adults.

In Series, for example, subscribers can find the most recent episodes of the third season of Boardwalk Empire, as well as complete seasons of True Blood and Game of Thrones. In addition to the latest series, customers will be able to view all seasons of The Sopranos, Rome and series produced in Latin America such as Mandrake, Capadocia and Prófugos. Exclusive content distributed in the region by HBO such as Mad Men, Preamar and House of Lies will also be available on HBO GO.

In movies, there are HBO films such as Game Change, Hemingway & Gellhorn and Too Big to Fail, as well as blockbusters that fit right in with the programming found on HBO‘s channels.

HBO Go is currently available for all subscribers who have HBO/Max packages with MiDIRECTV. In the future, it will be available with other pay TV operators that are currently working to integrate the service, which works with an authentication system in conjunction with the operator.

HBO GO can be accessed throughout Colombia by computers with a broadband Internet connection. It will soon be available for tablets and mobile devices.

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has asked the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to take a decision on restoring the licence for digital addressable system to the multi-system operator Home Cable Network [P] Limited within three days.

The order by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Vipin Sanghi says that the order is subject to Home Cable filing ‘within 24 hours‘ all DAS related information sought by the Ministry.

The Court also permitted the MSO to negotiate and enter into the DAS Interconnect Agreements with the Pay TV broadcasters/ Channel aggregators.

The registration of Home Cable and Swami Cable Network had been revoked by the Ministry on 28 August on the ground that they had failed to submit necessary documents.

Both the MSOs were registered with the Ministry and had been asked to furnish information regarding preparations for implementation of DAS and their plans for infrastructure expansion as mandated in the DAS regime.

Senior Advocate Aman Lekhi and Gaurang Kanth, counsel for Home Cable, argued that the impugned order was mala fide and prejudiced against the Petitioner.

It was argued that there was no ground available with the MIB to take such a punitive action against the MSO, which already had already installed DAS and had been running it since 2007 and catering to more than 11,000 Digital subscribers since Conditional Access System was introduced in South Delhi with a capacity to carry 650 digital TV channels.

It was also submitted that Home Cable had failed to get replies to various issues cited by it to the Ministry concerning the interest of millions of the Cable TV subscribers and may result in a situation of complete chaos, blackouts, exploitation of consumers and eventually deficiency in the service provided when DAS is implemented from 1 November in the four metros.

When revoking the licences, the Ministry had said the non submission of data by these MSOs “is indicative of their lack of seriousness to pursue their business as per the terms and conditions of their registration”, adding that in the overall context of implementation of DAS it had taken a serious view of the non compliance of directions of the Ministry by these two MSOs and revoked their registration after due notice.

When contacted, Home Cable founder-promoter Vikki Choudhry told indiantelevision.com that he had submitted all information according to the format of the Ministry and also sent a Consumers‘ Charter, in keeping with the Court order.

A perusal of the documents submitted shows that while there is demand for 40,000 digital set top boxes, Home Cable had installed 9869 as in 18 October and placed orders for another 30,000 since he has only 400 STBs in stock.

The document also states that he had placed the order on 9 August for the Chinese-made STBs, and he expected to seed all cable homes by 31 December this year.

MUMBAI: Internet subscription service for movies and TV shows Netflix has launched in Finland, culminating a week of events that also introduced Netflix to Sweden, Denmark and Norway.

Ten million broadband households in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden can now subscribe to Netflix and, for one low monthly price, instantly access a wide selection of Hollywood, local and global TV shows and movies via a range of Internet-connected devices, including Smart TVs, game consoles, Blu-ray players, home theater systems, tablets and smartphones.

Netflix co-founder, CEO Reed Hastings said,”We‘ve received a very warm welcome throughout the Nordics and are thrilled by the excitement we have seen for Netflix in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. Initial signups exceeded our expectations; the Nordic people have definitely shown that they are ready for the future of television.”

Netflix is priced at 79kr a month in Sweden, Denmark and Norway and EUR7.99 in Finland. A free, one-month trial of Netflix is available by visiting Netflix.com. An extended trial is available for a limited time to paying Spotify subscribers as part of a launch partnership with the music streaming company.

At launch, Netflix is offering movies and TV shows from many different providers, including Warner Bros, Twentieth Century Fox, Walt Disney Company, Sony Pictures Entertainment, BBC Worldwide, CBS Studios, ITV Studios Global Entertainment, Shine International, Nordisk Film Distribution, AB Svensk Filmindustri, Scanbox Entertainment and Norsk Filmdistribujon.

Among the thousands of hours of great movies and TV shows available at launch are recent big screen hits such as The Expendables and Happy Feet 2. Previous full seasons of American shows such as How I Met Your Mother, Breaking Bad, The Vampire Diaries, Arrested Development, Dexter, Spartacus and The Walking Dead will be available to Netflix members as well as full seasons of British TV including The Inbetweeners and Sherlock. Other titles include a wide-range of documentaries, art house movies and classics ranging from Being Elmo, A Clockwork Orange to There Will Be Blood. Kids titles available at launch include High School Musical 1 & 2, Shaun the Sheep and Babar.

 
In addition to the slate of international viewables, there are also local titles available on Netflix in the Nordic countries. These include:

• Danish movies such as Submarino, Flammen & Citronen, Pusher Trilogy and prizewinning Festen, previous full seasons of Danish favourites including Klovn.


• Finnish titles including Iron Sky and Kolme assaa


• Norwegian favourites including Lilyhammer, Julenatt I Blafjell and Tomme tonner.


• Swedish movies such as Flickan, I taket lyser stjarnorna and Maria Larssons eviga ogonblick as well as previous full seasons of Swedish TV favorites including Bron and 30 grader i februari

Netflix is fully localised, offering subtitles on foreign language movies and TV shows and dubbing for most kids titles. In the coming months, more great movies and TV shows will be added, building upon the great entertainment choices available today.

The company claims to have over 27 million streaming members throughout the Americas, the UK, Ireland and now the Nordic countries.