Category: Technology

NEW DELHI: Andheri ka Raja Ganesha prayer is to be streamed live on ZengaTV from 19 September and the channel dedicated to the world of Ganesha devotees will be available in India on mobiles, web and tablet devices.

Ganesh Utsav is a spectacular festival, honoring Lord Ganesha. The elephant-headed god is worshiped for 10 days from Bhadrapada Shudha Chaturthi to the Ananta Chaturdashi. It is celebrated all over India, but the maximum grandeur is witnessed in Mumbai and across Maharashtra.

Celebrating on the occasion, ZengaTV CEO Abhishek Joshi said, “Zenga TV goes one step ahead in ensuring that we continue showcasing content which is unique, topical and relevant for our users. The special live streaming will ensure that the viewers can now continue to watch the celebrations while on the move and also when they are in the comfort of their living rooms.”

“The entire city of Mumbai celebrates ganpati festival irrespective of caste creed and religion. Many bollywood celebrities also seek the blessings from Anhderi ka Raja Ganesha. This celebration brings out the splendour of street life, the spirit of sharing and giving and the strength of the city‘s artistic traditions,” said ZengaTV MD & CTO Shabir Momiin.

The entire festive season and the beautiful mandals will be broadcasted on the ZengaTV platform for the devotees all across, who can now watch their favourite Ganesh prayers and aartis live on their phones for free.

Any consumer with a GPRS/3G/WiFi enabled handset and connection can point their browser to Zengatv.com and access the Ganesh Aarti on HD version. ZengaTV services are accessible across all leading mobile networks such as Idea, Vodafone, Airtel, Aircel, BSNL, MTNL, Reliance, Docomo as well as on the web. All that the user has to do is go to m.zengatv.com from their mobile phones.

NEW DELHI: Times Internet Limited has launched BoxTV as a new technology which is something between IPTV and YouTube.

Based entirely on a library of content which can be accessed by the subscriber, BoxTV will have over 2000 television episodes of popular series. To make this content attractive, BoxTV has also build software around each of these films which can help the subscriber to choose and see only action sequences, songs, comedy scenes, and background of the filmmakers or actors.

BoxTV will be accessible via iPhone, iPad and Android devices and even popular TV-connected platforms such as Roku (which will allow users to view the content, whenever they travel).

Times Internet Ltd CEO Satyan Gajwani told indiantelevision.com that BoxTV is a product with a user-centric design approach, backed by a large content bank with anytime-anywhere access for subscribers.
While refusing to give exact figures, he said that anything between Rs 100 to 500 million had gone into investment to set up the system. Since the system is not dependent on internet service providers, there is no fee to be shared with them. This was not the case in IPTV which was computer-centric.

However, several million dollars had been spent to buy software from 30 to 40 partners such as Sony, Shemaroo, NTV, Zoom, Lehrein, Rajshri Pictures, Contentino and One Take Media.

Gajwani said that Zoom may create special software for BoxTV since it belonged to the Times Group.

General Manager (Marketing) Gurbir Singh said BoxTV is purely invitation-based. He said publicity will initially be word of mouth but he hoped it will go on all platforms soon.

General Manager (Digital Video Initiatives) Pandurang Nayak said the service will initially be free. However, subscribers who register could take on premium service which will provide more software by paying Rs 499 per month in India (initiative price Rs 199), $ 9.99 (invitation price $ 4.99) in the United States, and 9.99 pounds sterling (4.99 pounds sterling) in the United Kingdom.

Gajwani admitted that he expected the initial response to come from overseas, including non-resident Indians. The metadata about each film that includes background, sequence wise viewing and so on would prove very attractive. The system also had a parental control built in so that it could not be accessed by children without a password.

While there is no interactivity with the TIL, the site will also have features where a subscriber will know what his friends are watching and their comments.

Gajwani said that 90 per cent of the software will initially be free. Answering a question, he said the advertising will be relevant and not intrusive to the subscriber.

BoxTV.com has a ‘freemium model’, which means that a part of the content will be available on an ad-supported free-to-user basis, and the rest will be available on a monthly subscription basis. BoxTV had put up an invite-register page in February this year and in August they launched an invite-only alpha preview of the product. Since then it claims to have accrued more than 50,000 invite requests.

The BoxTV player has been designed and built from scratch with unique features for a ‘lean back’ experience with three different modes – normal, wide and full screen for viewing content. Its most popular feature is the lights-off feature that gives users optimal viewing opportunity for high-quality videos. It also has an auto-bandwidth optimiser for working well on low or inconsistent bandwidths for optimal viewing while a user is on the move. What sets BoxTV apart from competitors is that it is the only site that focuses on getting international (Hollywood) content to Indian users and takes Indian content (both mainstream Bollywood and regional content) to Indians living worldwide and in India.

Mumbai: Reliance Home Video & Games, a player in the Toys and Games licensing and merchandising industry, has launched the F1 2012 game in India.

The game has been launched for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation3 computer entertainment system and Windows PC. The official game of Formula One will be available across leading stores in India at a price of Rs 2799 for Xbox 360 and PS3 and Rs 999 for PCs.

The game has been developed under Codemasters’ worldwide agreement with Formula One World Championship Limited. F1 will invite players to ‘Feel Formula One’s speed, passion, and glory.

“F1 2012 will deliver an experience that puts players into the heart of the sport. It will be the most accessible Formula One game yet with a new Young Driver Test, taking inspiration from the real world event, to introduce new players to the world of Formula One racing and explain how to handle motorsport’s exciting and responsive cars,” the company said.
Gamers can play the F1 2012 Demo and experience it before the full retail release. The demo will allow players to try out two of the game’s new features – Young Driver Test and Season Challenge.

Reliance Home Video and Games COO Sweta Agnihotri said, “Formula One game has a huge fan base across world and Codemasters’ Formula One games are a landmark release in the gaming calendar – this year is no different. Formula One is the pinnacle of motorsport and one of the most popular sports in the world, and I am sure gamers will enjoy the new modes and tracks in the game.”

Codemasters VP- distributor territories and emerging markets Hal Bame added, “India is a key growth market for us and Reliance Home Video & Games have one of the strongest distribution networks in India. With this association, and the love of Formula One in India, we feel this is the perfect formula for success in a market which will have growing importance to all gaming companies in the coming years. With F1 2012’s wealth of new and exciting features, such as Champion’s Mode, the new Austin F1 racing circuit in the USA, Young Driver Test and more, we feel there’s never been a better game to reach out to the millions of gamers and Formula One fans in India.”

Some of the key features of the Formula One game include Champions Mode, Season Challenge, Young Drivers Test and New USA Circuit for 2012.

“The series has set the standard for weather in racing games. This will provide Active Track Technology to produce localised rain showers on certain areas of the circuit When one part of the track is wet while other areas are dry this will make the race more unpredictable and dramatic as players make game-changing strategy calls,” the company said.

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has neither conducted any study nor been able to justify the share of multi-system operators (MSOs) and local cable operators (LCOs) under the digital addressable system, according to counsel for stakeholders challenging the sector regulator‘s Tariff order.

Counsel Rajan Bakshi on behalf of United Cable Operators Welfare Association, and C S Vaidyanathan on behalf of MSO Indusind Media & Communications Ltd (IMCL) told the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Arbitration Tribunal (Tdsat) that the decision of fixing the revenue shares of MSOs and LCOs appeared to be an ad hoc decision.

According to the Trai tariff order, charges collected from the subscription in the basic service tier of 100 free to air channels for Rs 100 will be in the ratio of 55:45 and that of paid channels or bouquet of paid channels will be a maximum of Rs 150 and shall be shared in the ratio of 65:35 between MSO and the local cable operator respectively.

Bakshi pointed out that the argument given by Trai in its reply was that LCOs could download channels under the conditional access system (CAS) but the entire work of downloading had gone to MSOs under the digital addressable system. But this was erroneous for two reasons: the LCOs never downloaded these channels even earlier, and the work of seeding set-top boxes (STBs), maintaining these boxes and the service to the subscribers, collecting bills etc. still remained with the LCO and therefore his share of work had not come down.

He said under the Tariff order of 2006, the share of the LCO had been Rs 77 which had later been raised to Rs 82. Against this, the LCO will earn Rs 45 in the basic service tier (BST) and Rs 52.50 in the bouquet of paid and FTA channels.

In addition, he said that the MSO will also get to keep the carriage fee and that will not be shared with the LCO.

He said while he had no problem with the MSO keeping the carriage fee, his revenue could not be reduced to half or even less arbitrarily. He said this amounted to Trai trying to help the MSOs and the broadcasters.

During his arguments, Vaidyanathan said that a deep reading of the Tariff Order will show that while the “right hand has given the carriage fee to the MSO, the left hand has taken it away”. He said this showed “total lack of application of mind”.

While stressing that the MSOs were not for delaying DAS, he said tariff should have been fixed after proper research and study.

He said MSOs had been asked to initially give 200 television channels and later expand this to 500, without making a study of what the viewer wanted to see. Most viewers did not see more than ten channels. He described this as “micro-management without study”.

He also wanted to know why there was a regulation for 100 channels in the BST when no such stipulation had been placed on the direct-to-home (DTH) players.

Furthermore, there was no clarity on placement fee, and the revenue share between the broadcaster and the MSO.

Justifying the 65:35 share in the bouquet of FTA and paid channels, Trai had said that the extra ten per cent was meant to help the MSO pay the broadcaster.

Stressing that the regulator should be a facilitator, Vaidyanathan said at one stage in response to a remark from the bench that Trai appeared to be working to eliminate the LCOs.

Arguments on both the matters will continue tomorrow.

Tdsat will also hear petitions by MSOs Digicable Networks (India) Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, and Delhi Distribution Company, New Delhi.

Chaiperson Justice S B Sinha and member P K Rastogi had listed the matter for 24 August but it could not be taken up for pressure of work. However, Tdsat decided to hear the matter today when it was mentioned by counsel late last week.

Tdsat has permitted news broadcasters NDTV, Time Global (holding company of Times Now), India TV, TV Today, Total TV, News Broadcaster‘s Association (NBA), Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), and other broadcasters to be a party to it.

Meanwhile, the deadline for the first phase of digitisation in the four metros has been postponed by four months to 1 November.

MUMBAI: NDS, now part of Cisco, has announced at the television technology trade event IBC in Amsterdam, has deployed its solutions for Liberty Global‘s cable operation UPC in the Netherlands.

This is part of the deployment of NDS solutions for Liberty‘s Global Horizon platform, NDS said at the television technology trade event IBC in Amsterdam.

As the first deployment of its kind, Liberty Global‘s Horizon platform brings together leading partners from across the industry to enable a next-generation multimedia experience, providing innovative new functionality and services for its subscribers.

NDS said its technologies provide the core enabling framework for the newly launched platform. Managed by the NDS Unified Headend, the new platform enables delivery of content and services to multiple devices in and out of the home, all with a unified look and feel and leading functionality tailored to the device.

To enable advanced functionality within the home, NDS‘ MediaHighway middleware resides in both the multimedia gateway device and set-top boxes (STBs). As the primary software component, MediaHighway provides the underpinning for services such as recommendations, personalisation and an advanced, multiplatform user interface from NDS .

Liberty Global executive VP, CTO Balan Nair said, “We are delighted to be announcing the launch of the Horizon platform. Over the course of this project, we have worked with some outstanding partners to achieve an industry first, and through the provision of the key technologies and solutions for Horizon, NDS have been instrumental in enabling us to provide such an exceptional user experience for our subscribers.”

NDS VP, GM Europe, Middle East and Africa Yves Padrines said, “The Horizon platform has catalysed industry development of next generation technologies, and as the first deployment of its kind, we are extremely excited to be a part of this innovative. initiative. We look forward to continuing to support Liberty Global as it revolutionises the way millions of people enjoy content.”

MUMBAI: US pay TV service provider DirecTV‘s Audience Network has announced ‘Something to Talk About‘.

This is a series of socially and culturally relevant documentaries presented in association with Brainstorm Media, beginning in October on DirecTV.

In certain US cities, the films will be screened in theaters starting later this month and, in select locations, will include live discussions following the screenings.

The 12-part series includes ‘Battle For Brooklny‘ on Saturday, 20 October at 9 pm ET/PT, which will be followed by ‘Big Boys Gone Bananas‘.Each documentary will include a special, hosted introduction and will conclude with a filmmaker interview that provides an update on the current state of the documentary issue.

The films will also be available on DirecTV on Demand, DirecTV Everywhere, on home video and via electronic sell-thru.

DirecTV VP Entertainment, GM of audience network, n3D Patty Ishimoto said, “At Audience Network, we have had success in providing our customers with critically acclaimed, award-winning dramas and comedies. With Something to Talk About, we are going even further with diverse and thought-provoking documentaries that will generate a spark among our viewers and engage them in a dialogue about the relevant, impactful events and topics these films address.”

Brainstorm Media president Meyer Shwarzstein said, “Our team has been perfecting this idea for the past few years and we are thrilled that DirecTV has come on board. With their commitment to documentaries, their sophisticated audience and their willingness to support the filmmakers and movies, we couldn‘t be happier.”

‘Battle For Brooklyn‘ is a look at the very public and passionate fight waged by owners and residents facing condemnation of their property to make way for the controversial Atlantic Yards project, a massive plan to build sixteen skyscrapers and a basketball arena for the New Jersey Nets in the heart of Brooklyn.

Shot over seven years and compiled from almost 500 hours of footage, it is a tale of how far people will go to fight for what they believe in. The film is a character-driven verite that also addresses the broader social, economic, and political ramifications of condemnation and urban planning through interactions with individuals from all sides of the issue.

The film is set to open theatrically on 25 September just before the arena, Barclay‘s Center, opens on 28 September. The film, which highlights speeches by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, architect Frank Gehry, Jay Z, Bruce Ratner, Steve Buscemi and others, is a primer on grassroots activism that will inspire people to look deeper into the stories that affect their lives.

In 2009, Swedish documentary filmmaker Fredrik Gertten‘s film ‘Banansi* – recounting the lawsuit that twelve Nicaraguan plantation workers successfully brought against the fruit giant Dole Food Company – was selected for competition by the Los Angeles Film Festival. Just before the world premiere of the film, Gertten received word that the festival had decided to remove Bananas!* from competition.

The resultant legal and public relations battle with Dole Food Company is the focus of ‘Big Boys Gone Bananas!*, a classic David vs Goliath story – but it is more about freedom of speech and what happens to a documentary filmmaker when he goes up against a large corporation such as Dole Foods and how far Dole will go to shift the focus off of them and onto the filmmaker. Media spin, PR scare tactics, dirty tricks, lawsuits, and corporate bullying come into play to try and destroy the filmmaker. But, it is the people who ultimately prevail, thus creating a cautionary tale and a real life-lesson learning experience.

MUMBAI: Digital media company Affle has announced its partnership with Yahoo! India for mobile advertising in India.

As part of this partnership Affle would sell Yahoo! India‘s mobile advertising inventory across feature phones, smart phones and tablets.

According to the company, Affle‘s “expertise” in digital domain on both, the platform side via ‘Ripple‘ and with Digital Advertising Solutions group will help advertisers in driving impactful ad campaigns on Yahoo! network in India.
 
Affle co-founder and CEO Anuj Kumar said, “Given Yahoo!‘s success in delivering deeply personal digital experiences to a huge global audience we believe that this partnership would be ideal for us to grow our mobile advertising propositions for top advertisers and agency partners. We strongly believe that such brands would truly value the audience quality and ad engagement opportunities available on Yahoo! Also given the significant growing base of mobile internet users and smartphones in India we are really bullish that rich ad engagement on premium destinations like Yahoo! would be the key catalysts to drive rapid growth of the mobile ad market”.

Yahoo! India senior director and head of sales Vishal Maheswari added, “Mobile is a key area of focus for Yahoo!, given the exponential growth of connected devices in India. Affle has built good equity in the mobile advertising space and brings to the table an extensive ad network with leading publishers. Yahoo!‘s premium content and wide reach will further enhance Affle‘s network, leading to superior value for advertisers.”

Yahoo! has a reach in India to over 70 per cent of the Internet audience, and enjoys category leading positions across properties such as Yahoo! Cricket, OMG, Lifestyle, and Movies, the company said.

Affle is a Singapore headquartered ‘Smart Media‘ company. Affle Group has expertise- areas of the digital media ecosystem. Affle Group‘s businesses include Affle Rich Media Business, Affle Media Lab and ad2c (a JV between Affle and D2C Inc). Affle‘s investors include D2C Inc (JV between Dentsu and NTT DoCoMo), Microsoft Corporation, Itochu Corporation of Japan, Bennett Coleman Company Limited (BCCL) and Centurion Private Equity.

MUMBAI: Canada‘s pay-TV market is expected to reach the saturation point this year, compelling the country‘s cable, satellite and IPTV operators to seek new growth opportunities, according to an IHS Screen Digest Television Intelligence Monitor Market Report from information and analytics provider IHS.

After years of steady expansion, penetration of pay-TV subscriptions among Canadian television households is set to reach an all-time high of 92 per cent in 2012, as presented in the figure below. Subscription be marginalised due to some customers buying HSD from cable operators.

Shaw is continuing to bolster its satellite fleet with an upcoming satellite launch to add HD channel capacity.

Declines at Bell Satellite TV are to be expected, as the company transitions existing customers to its Fiber TV service. For Shaw Direct, however, its first recent quarterly decline comes as a surprise, especially since the company has not posted any declines since two consecutive quarters of decreases in the third and fourth quarters of 2004.

Overall, mixed quarterly results are to be expected, with satellite as a category expected to grow subscribers slowly through 2016.

IPTV plays to its strengths: IPTV players are in the best position in Canada‘s pay-TV market with several weapons in their arsenal, including capabilities to offer aggressive promotions, roll out fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) connections and expand the penetration of homes passed.

OTT not to kill cable ops: Despite the challenge posed by Netflix, IHS believes that Canadian pay-TV operators are better-positioned to fend off the threat from such OTT services. The majority of cable operators provide severe data caps that are easily reached with significant OTT video consumption.

By 2016, IHS expects Canadian pay-TV subscriptions to decline only slightly to 89.9 per cent of TV households.

MUMBAI: SingTel has unveiled a new and enhanced mio TV after a major acquisition deal with Fox International Channels (Fic) to offer 40 of its channels, most of which will be available from 1 October.

Fic is an international broadcasters of branded subscription
television channels. The suite of channels making their debut on mio TV cuts across a range of genres and includes channels such as National Geographic Channel, Star World HD, Fox Movies Premium HD, and Star Chinese Movies.

SingTel MD of television Goh Seow Eng said, “We are thrilled with this ground-breaking deal as the addition of these FIC channels really takes the entire mio TV experience to a whole new exciting level. Customers love our world-class sports and latest on-demand content, ordered from the comfort of their sofas, but they also want the relaxing option of channel surfing and discovering new shows.”

The deal brings the total number of channels on mio TV to 111. The new channels span an assortment of languages and genres from the latest lifestyle, music and entertainment content to popular documentaries, children‘s programming and news. In addition to sought-after English and Chinese programmes, mio TV customers can look forward to compelling content on tvN, the leading Asian channel for Korean drama, K-Pop culture, variety shows, and lifestyle programming; Bollywood blockbusters on Star Gold; the best of Tamil entertainment programming on Vijay and the latest news and views on Fox News Channel and Sky News HD.

To ensure that customers have the fullest enjoyment of entertainment, mio TV will be restructuring its channel numbering system with the launch of the new Fic channels.

Goh said, “We will ensure little or no disruption to customers.

Existing channels will be available at their new and old channel numbers until end October to give customers time to adjust. All channels have also been organised by genre so viewers can conveniently use their remote control to scan easily for the most immersive experience”. Another enhancement that will please fans of Korean drama series is the fact that KBS World is now available in HD, and ONE HD will be available with both English and Chinese subtitles from 17 September.

Based on feedback from customers, the mio TV channels have been repackaged to ensure that customers are getting the best possible value with a mix of great content and significant savings.

Goh said, “There is no change in pricing for existing customers unless they choose to upgrade their entertainment options with the new channels. When they explore our new packages, we are confident that they will be delighted by how well these value-for money packages serve the entire household.”

New Delhi: A parliamentary committee has expressed surprise at the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry‘s failure to check the sources that carry non-permitted television channels other than the cable operators.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology has said it cannot understand the reason behind the I&B Ministry‘s assertion that the cable operators were to be blamed for the carriage of illegal television channels.

The Parliamentary committee has said that a document prepared by the I&B Ministry had stated, while explaining how illegal channels reach subscribers‘ homes through cable networks, that the source can be broadband, internet, IPTV, mobile TV, video streaming, etc.

During its examination of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) (Second Amendment) Bill aimed at curbing telecast of illegal channels, the committee noted that even the Prime Minister‘s Office had asked the ministry to check carriage of non-permitted channels on the internet.

In the views furnished by the PMO to the ministry at the consultation stage, it was specifically mentioned that the problem of availability of non-permitted TV channels for viewing over the internet needs to be taken cognisance of and that the Ministry can take further action.

The committee, therefore, expressed surprise that the ministry has tried to ignore the important concern expressed by the PMO.

Instead of examining the issue, the Ministry has stated that the internet is, by and large, unregulated, except for certain restrictions under the Information Technology Act. The committee failed to understand how the issue of transmitting illegal/unregistered channels can be addressed in entirety without regulating a key source – the internet.

The committee during the course of deliberations tried to analyse the specific reasons for bringing the proposed amendments in the Cable Act that would be applicable to only cable operators in the context of showing illegal/unregistered channels.

The ministry justified the proposed amendments on the pretext that the DTH and IPTV services providers do not indulge in carriage of illegal channel as the channels carried on DTH service and IPTV service can be centrally monitored as these are addressable and leave a digital trail.

The other basis for the assertion of the ministry that DTH and IPTV service providers do not indulge in carriage of illegal channels is stringent licensing conditions for DTH and IPTV.

When the issue of licensing of cable operators to bring all the service providers on the level playing field was raised, the main constraint as expressed by the ministry in licensing cable operators was the infrastructure needed to provide licence to 60,000 cable operators.

The committee felt that the ministry needs to keep a constant watch on the new and emerging technologies and the international legislative framework in this regard to address the multiple challenges coming in the way.

Moreover, to provide the level playing field to various service providers, the extant legislation guidelines need a constant review in the light of the technological changes so as to avoid legal complications in managing the issue of illegal transmission.

The committee‘s attention was drawn during the course of examination to inequitable treatment to various service providers, viz. cable operators, DTH, IPTV, internet in the context of the amending provisions made in the proposed legislation. The cable associations were of the view that unregistered channels are carried through platforms other than cable like DTH, IPTV, mobile TV, video streaming, internet whereas the legislation has been brought only for the cable operators.

The committee during the course of deliberations with the cable industry stakeholders were given the impression that the cable operators are being over burdened with penalty, punishment and with so many regulations that small cable operators are unable to protect themselves.

The broadcaster associations on the other hand had given the impression to the committee that in their case stringent license conditions are applicable whereas in the case of a cable operator the requirement is only of registration.

The committee noted that the extant legislative framework/guidelines with regard to regulating unregistered/illegal channels has the commonality through the Cable Act and rules there-under, which prescribe the Programme Code and Advertisement Code. The common legislative framework is applicable to all the platforms as acknowledged by the ministry.

According to the FICCI- KPMG Indian Media Entertainment Industry Report 2012, the percentage of cable‘s share in last mile connectivity, which is 62 per cent at present, may come down to 47.3 per cent by the year 2015. During this period the DTH percentage may increase from 31 per cent to 46.7 per cent.

The committee observed that considering the emerging technologies, the scenario of TV watching may change drastically. With a multiple transformation taking place all over the world in the technologies available in the media and entertainment sector, the whole scenario of watching TV may change in future.