Category: Technology

MUMBAI: UK pay TV operator BSkyB‘s net profit rose 12 per cent to ?1.5 billion in the year ended 30 June 2012 on the back of a successful football season coupled with increase in subscriber numbers.

The satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company partly owned by media baron Rupert Murdoch has seen its revenue go up by 3 per cent to ?6.7 billion. Operating profit before exceptional items rose 14 per cent to ?1.22 billion.

The company said it added 312,000 customers during the financial year taking the total number of subscribers to 10.6 million. Sky Broadband, the company‘s internet service provider, has a customer base of 4 million.

The company reported a 12 percent increase in the number of subscriptions to individual products, including line rental and high-definition television.

BSkyB revealed that it will return another ?500 million to shareholders via a share buyback.

The broadcaster said it had renewed several important media rights agreements during the year including Premier League, Spanish football, British and Irish Lions Club rights.

It had also launched an internet streaming service, Now TV, its second service to complement Sky Go and protect its turf from Netflix.

“I think it has been a quarter and a year again where we‘ve been strong across the board, so our operational performance has once again been very strong. We‘ve seen good growth right across our range of products and services, but I think we‘ve combined that well with further improvements in our customers‘ experience,” said BSkyB Chief Executive Jeremy Darroch.

He also reflects on the impact that BSkyB has on the UK economy, “As a company, we‘re contributing something like ?5.5bn to UK GDP. We work directly with over 4,000 suppliers. We probably account for something of the order of 120,000 jobs in the UK and contribute over ?2bn of tax revenue. So I think our contribution is very, very strong.”

NEW DELHI: India‘s first internet radio platform www.Radiowalla.in will broadcast all the speeches live from Jantar Mantar as a service to the global Indian audience who are interested in the Anna Hazare led agitation against corruption in India.

Radiowalla.in is a platform that streams indigenously created linear radio stations across music and talk genres, is now embarking on a full fledged news/talk radio station launch. This live broadcast is one such initiative towards the launch of “Newswalla – Be curious”. Newswalla, alligned to the people.

One of the key participants in this agitation, Kiran Bedi has already started a live call in talk show on Radiowalla.in‘s Newswalla every Saturday from 9 pm receiving an overwhelming number of phone calls from all parts of India and the world.

All one has to do is to go to www.radiowalla.in and login using either your Facebook, twitter or Gmail account and follow the links to the Kiran Bedi show for the live broadcast from Jantar Mantar

Radiowalla.in is available on all broadband connected devices and soon Radiowalla.in will soon be available via mobile applications across platforms like iPhone/iPad, Android and other Java enabled feature phones and Blackberry devices.

NEW Delhi: Following requests from stakeholders, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has extended till 10 August the date for receiving comments on its paper on “Standards of Quality of Service for Mobile Data Services Regulations 2012”.

Citing the importance of the issue as a reason for the extension, Trai said the date for counter comments would be 17 August. Earlier, the last date was 25 July for comments and 1 August for counter comments.

The draft regulations had been drawn up in the absence of any quality of service for mobile data services at a time when service providers are rolling out 3G services and these services are presently available in all the service areas.

With the roll out of 3G and Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) services, the growth rate in cellular mobile telephone service is poised for higher growth, compared to wire line internet users.

Trai feels it is necessary to benchmark and monitor the quality of service offered by the service providers of mobile data services with various options open to the implementing agencies so that the interests of consumers are protected.

Trai has, therefore, decided to benchmark the quality of service parameters for mobile data services, so that the interests of consumers are protected. Accordingly, the draft regulations have been prepared.

MUMBAI: Pogo, India’s leading kids’ channel, and Jump Games, Reliance Entertainment Digital‘s mobile and web games developer and publisher, have extended the Chhota Bheem mobile game franchise with the launch of ‘Chhota Bheem: Mice Mayhem’.

The mobile game, which has been developed for multiple mobile platforms like Java and Blackberry, will be available for download on the apps stores and WAP sites of all major telecom providers like Vodafone, Idea, Tata Docomo and Reliance for a charge of up to Rs 50 per download.

While elaborating on extending the Chhota Bheem mobile game franchise, Jump Games business head India Chaitanya Prabhu said: “Chhota Bheem is one of the most popular mobile game characters among kids in India. Each game in the series has witnessed high downloads on various platforms, which highlights the popularity of the game and the demand from mobile gamers to extend the Chhota Bheem storyline. The latest game – Mice Mayhem – will engage mobile gamers with its high quality visuals and game play. I am sure that this game will supersede the download records of the earlier versions.”

In the past, Pogo and Jump Games have created three Chhota Bheem based mobile games that have ranked amongst the highest played franchises among Indian themed mobile games.

Turner International India South Asia Sr. Director Network & Content Distribution Troy Lobo said, “Pogo’s strategy is to ensure kids can consume our content ‘Anytime, Anywhere’. Today, mobile gaming is an important medium to engage consumers for an immersive, interactive and fun experience with their favourite cartoon characters. The Chhota Bheem mobile games have a loyal fan base and we are sure the new ‘Mice Mayhem’ game will enjoy the same popularity and success.”

MUMBAI: Zapak Digital Entertainment has created a special destination for the upcoming London Olympics to engage users in an Olympic like virtual competition.

The Zapak Gaming Olympiad will offer a digital experience of the quadrennial event on PCs and mobiles and is the first initiative coming from a gaming platform to integrate Olympics with virtual casual gaming. The Gaming Olympiad is all set to go live on the same day as the London 2012 Olympics i.e. 27th July.

Speaking on Zapak Gaming Olympiad, Reliance Entertainment digital head product Deepak Abbot said, “Year on year we see a surge of about 10 to 15% on the website traffic during any sport event. Zapak Gaming Olympiad is the result of the same discovery. The Olympiad zone is Zapak’s initiative to offer one stop destination to our users for everything related to this year‘s Olympic Games.”

He added, “We wanted to develop a platform where users could be engaged in an Olympic like virtual competition while simultaneously can also keep themselves updated about the on-going games, which tends to become a little difficult at times via traditional media.”

The zone will feature live updates on medal tallies, results and updated game schedules. The Gaming Olympiad Zone will also host four simultaneous online competitions across these 4 games – Field Hockey, Hurdles Run, King of the Ring and Table Tennis Pro – where participants can compete in a virtual global ‘Olympic’ styled competition.

As a part of the Olympic destination, Zapak has created a leader board for each competition which will showcase the current standing of the top performers in each sport-based online game. The winner of each game will be awarded a motorbike once the competition concludes on 12 August. You can visit the zone on Olympics.zapak.com.

Zapak also plans to promote the Gaming Olympiad on various digital platforms. The brand is planning to integrate the Gaming Olympiad with Facebook and Twitter to connect with its social communities.

MUMBAI: Movie-on-demand service BigFlix is going to launch its service in the UK, US and Canada this quarter.

BigFlix is looking to take advantage of the sizeable NRI diaspora there. “These are our primary markets as there is a sizeable NRI diaspora there. Later we will go to markets like Singapore, the Middle East, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia etc. The good news is that there are no connectivity issues in these three markets,” says Reliance Entertainment Digital CEO Manish Agarwal.

BigFlix will add content in Bengali and other languages. While half the content is Hindi, the focus is also on beefing up Tamil and Telugu content. Reliance has some Malayalam and Bhojpuri content as well.

“We have 2000 titles and plan to double it in the next three to four months,” says Agarwal.

The monthly fee is $4.99 and a subscriber can watch unlimited movies.

The business model agreement with producers takes different forms like revenue sharing and assured monthly revenue. It would depend on the size of the film, the timeline of the rights and the quantity of films in a deal with the producer.

How much many subscribers BigFlix is targeting from these overseas markets? “It is difficult to give a figure at this stage. We do not know what the cost of customer acquisition or churn rate will be. Piracy, though, is not an issue for us. We are talking to producers and our message is that this is a legitimate form of content distribution.”

BigFlix is learning from Netflix‘s model which relied on premium content. “They realised early on before anybody else that premium content offered on a subscription basis can be monetised unlike user generated content on a platform like Youtube which is difficult to monetise. Netflix transmigrated users from offline to online and changed the paradigm of the business. We have also focussed on premium content,” says Agarwal.

BigFix, for instance, stopped its ad supported model last year in India. The Anil Ambani-owned company also closed down its physical stores in the country as it realised that scale wouldn‘t be possible through this route.

“We work with companies like LG, Panasonic as well as with laptop companies like Lenovo and Dell. Our app is preloaded and one can watch films for Rs 249 a month. We have a partnership with Airtel for their movies service. Wherever net inflection is happening, we want to be there,” avers Agarwal.

NEW DELHI: The Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT) has admitted a petition challenging the Competition Commission of India‘s clearance to direct-to-home (DTH) operators including Tata Sky and Reliance Big TV of charges of market dominance abuse in the matter of set top boxes (STBs).

The CCI‘s 16-month-old order closing proceedings against the DTH operators over denial of interoperability to customers by changing Conditional Access Module (CAM) cards has been challenged by Consumer Online Foundation (COF).

After hearing counsel A N Haksar, the tribunal listed the matter for 5 September.

CCI had in March 2011 closed the case against DTH operators, saying they have not abused their dominant market position by not allowing interoperability.

In its complaint before the CCI, the COF had alleged that such a practice restricts choice of a DTH customer to enjoy the services of another DTH operator.

Under the present situation, they will have to buy a new STB from the new operator as a customer cannot change CAM cards in its STB.

According to COF, DTH services should be offered on the lines of mobile phone services where a consumer can use services of any telecom operator by changing the SIM card in his/her phone.

The CCI had said that there are techno-economic issues involved in making STBs interoperable. Moreover, the price of a CAM card, which is scarce in the market, is much higher than the price of a STB.

“We see no reason as to why the DTH operators should not give clear choice to subscribers to outright purchase, hire-purchase or rent the STB as mandated under the Direct to Home Broadcasting Services (Standards of Quality of Service and Redressal of Grievances) Regulations, 2007,” said CCI.

“The practice of supplying STB/CAMs by DTH service providers along with the subscription is not due to any tacit agreement or action in concert, but due to limitations of the existing technology and its cost,” the competition regulator added.

NEW DELHI: A bunch of writ petitions filed by leading direct-to-home services providers challenging the Uttar Pradesh government‘s decision to levy entertainment tax on sale of its equipments as well as on recharge coupons has been dismissed by the Allahabad High Court.

Justice Sunil Ambwani and Justice Aditya Nath Mittal turned down the petitions filed by the DTH service providers who had moved the court after receiving notices from the state government for payment of entertainment tax. The petitioners had contended that the state government had no power to impose the tax.

However, the court said: “the state legislature is not denuded by its powers to levy entertainment tax on entertainment provided by either cable TV network or DTH services or any other emerging technology”.

The court also rejected the demand to declare an impugned section of the UP Entertainment and Betting Tax Act as ultra vires of the Constitution, observing “the court would interfere only where a clear infraction of constitutional provision is established”.

Referring to a number of Supreme Court orders, the court said: “The Supreme Court has expressed a note of caution that the burden is all the more heavier when the legislation under attack is a taxing statute, since the powers of the legislature in classifying objects for the purpose of taxation are wide”.

The court also dismissed as a “feeble argument” the petitioners‘ contention that “the rate of entertainment tax on DTH services” was “discriminatory in comparison to the cable services”.

MUMBAI: Mobile handset manufacturer Nokia has partnered with RockeTalk, a mobile social networking application, and Maxus India to launch an audio game show – Nokia mobile Antakshari.

Nokia Antakshari show comes from the near life-like Antakshari experience where people can sing and answer musical questions from all over the country. Additionally, the mobile users would be playing for daily prizes, for a chance to be one of the shortlisted players to play and perform in the Gala round to an audience of more than 8.6 million users, the company said.

Nokia India director- marketing Viral Oza said, “Nokia has been synonymous with digital music in this country. We have pioneered many initiatives in this space starting with pre-installed music, launch of music albums on mobile phones, Nokia Music Unlimited and now Mix Radio for our Lumia smartphones. Mobile Antakshari is an interesting concept and provided us with the perfect fit to connect consumers with Nokia Asha smart phones. Nokia Mobile Antakshari will enable millions of music lovers across the country to engage with their favorite game.”

RockeTalk chief marketing officer Sameer Agarwal added, “These days when most social platforms are offering nothing significantly more than banners, likes and posts, RockeTalk differentiates itself by creating customised engagement solutions, branded social programming and multimedia activities. The Nokia Mobile Antakshari is just one such example – albeit something we believe will be a trendsetter. We are proving that for brands, now is the time to measure social engagement with new matrices.”

The application is supported on most phones that are GPRS enabled – both Nokia feature phones and Nokia smart phones included.

Maxus India national director – digital Unny Radhakrishnan said, “At a time when digital marketing is growing more aggressive on ‘social‘ presence of brands, this signals an interesting shift towards ‘social media engagement‘, where Maxus India, Nokia and RockeTalk are breaking new grounds with Nokia Mobile Antakshari.”

The Nokia-Maxus initiative is in line with the new drifts in the digital space. The RockeTalk app not only hosts the show but allows multiple promotional tools from its advertising repertoire to draw in the user, ranging from audio-enabled banners to multimedia broadcasts and free program subscriptions.

MUMBAI: Logicserve Group, an online marketing company, has announced the launch of its online price comparison website CompareRaja.com.

The company feels that as the eCommerce industry is growing, value-added services like CompareRaja.com empower online shoppers to make an informed buying decision.

The new website will allow online shoppers to evaluate the best online prices and provide other valuable information for electronics, perfumes, watches and books being sold by retailer websites.

Online shoppers can also ask for recommendations from friends/ family through their social network. CompareRaja also provides coupon codes which give access to discounts and deals for further convenience in savings.

Logicserve Group founder and CEO Rohit Chugh said, “eCommerce is here to stay in India, for it serves a real need. Consumers living in metros shop online because of the convenience factor and unavailability of certain products in the offline world. While consumers in tier II and III cities shop online due to unavailability and the aspirational value they long to achieve. Going forward value-added services like comparison websites will be responsible for organic growth in the Indian eCommerce story and provide benefits to both, consumers and retailers, alike. With CompareRaja, we aim to bring the consumers and retailers on the same platform for increased adoption of online shopping.”

Logicserve Group co-founder and CEO (India) Prasad Shejale added, “The differentiating factor with CompareRaja.com is our robust technology platform which is one of the most critical requirements of a successful price comparison website. Our complex algorithms help serve up the best prices to make online shopping convenient. The unique feature ‘CompareRaja Genie‘ has been developed keeping in mind the online buying cycle where comparison features at the early stages to help vendors increase their conversions from buying cart to actual buy.”