Category: Technology

MUMBAI: Fresh from its acquisition of instant messaging firm Meebo for an estimated $100 million, internet giant Google has announced the acquisition of mobile office software company Quickoffice.

“We‘re happy to announce that we have acquired Quickoffice, a leader in office productivity solutions,” Google said in a statement.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“Quickoffice has an established track record of enabling seamless interoperability with popular file formats, and we‘ll be working on bringing their powerful technology to our Apps product suite,” the statement added.

Launched in 1997, Quickoffice is a leader in mobile office solutions which allows users to view, edit and create Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents for devices run on Android, iPhone, iPad, HP webOS and Symbian platforms.

MUMBAI: Neo Sports, which will air the Uefa Euro 2012 has tied-up with iStream.com, a video portal, to provide live streaming in India of its telecast of the event.

Neo Prime, the all sports channel, has the exclusive television broadcast rights across the Indian subcontinent.

The event on Neo Sports will be streamed live on a dedicated segment within istream.com, and the fans would also have access to the content on demand for a full month both through neosports.tv and the istream.com sites.

Fans would also have access and enjoy extensive support programming around the event, including pre-and after match highlights, team and player stats, profiles, trivia and other related clips from the mega football event, being jointly hosted by Poland and the Ukraine.

Neo Sports Broadcast COO Prasana Krishnan said, “Neo Sports is thrilled to provide fans of football the full Uefa Euro 2012 experience on the internet. We hope to provide fans with an unparalleled experience through this association with istream.com”.”

iStream Founder and CEO Radhakrishnan Ramachandran said, “We believe that football has a strong pull among the Internet audiences in the country and this is part of our overall strategy to build a strong sports vertical for istream.com. We plan to bring in more such exclusive partnerships in the online video space.”

The event kicks off on 8 June with co-host Poland playing Greece in Group A, which also includes Russia and the Czech Republic. Defending champions Spain, which won Euro 2008 and then the World Cup two years later, will not be fielding star striker David Villa of Barcelona, who broke his tibia during the Club World Cup in December.

This is the 14th and the last Euro Championship to have 16 nations in the playoffs for the final. Starting Euro 2016 Uefa Euro will have 24 teams.

The tournament is expected to attract a cumulative audience of 4.3 billion and a global live television audience of 1.1 billion, with an estimated 55,000 hours of TV coverage across 220 countries.

MUMBAI: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has partnered YouTube to live stream the London 2012 Olympic Games in 64 territories on the IOC’s channel on YouTube. The Olympics will be held from 27 July to 12 August.

During the Olympics Games, sports fans in these 64 territories across Asia and Africa will be able to enjoy live coverage of the events as well as highlight clips on this digital platform — free-of-charge.

Viewers from these territories will be able to watch the streams on the IOC’s YouTube channel, accessible online or Internet enabled devices like smart devices/mobile phones and other YouTube-enabled devices.

The live-streaming on the IOC’s YouTube channel will provide exclusive digital access to the London 2012 Olympic Games in territories where digital broadcast rights have not already been acquired by the IOC’s broadcast partners: India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brunei, Bhutan, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Iran, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

And in 44 Sub-Saharan African territories on a non-exclusive basis, including: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central Africa Republic , Chad, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of, Congo, Republic of, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Eriteria, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia , Madagascar , Malawi , Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria , Rwanda, S?o Tomé and Príncipe Senegal, Seychelles , Sierra Leone , Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The IOC’s live streaming on its YouTube channel will consist of 11 different simultaneous high-definition broadcasts, all with English language commentary. There will be ten live feeds from London 2012, running 9 am to 11pm (London time) (on some days, these will start early or finish later based on competition schedule), plus a 24-hour broadcast of the Olympic News Channel, which includes summaries of the latest results, general reports on different events, and interviews with athletes.

Fans will also be able to catch up on highlights and full events — all organised by the day, medal event, or the sport. The IOC channel will also continue to feature historic content from past Olympic Games. In total, the IOC’s YouTube channel will offer over 2,200 hours of sporting event coverage from London 2012, including all the medals finals.

IOC Television and Marketing MD Timo Lumme said, “We are delighted to be able to offer live online coverage of London 2012 to sports fans free of charge across these 64 markets. We first provided clips on our channel on YouTube during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games across the region, and since then have continued to provide footage of past Olympic Games across the world on our YouTube channel. Now we will also be able to offer live coverage during London 2012, complementing the excellent coverage provided by our broadcast partners across the world across all media platforms.”

YouTube Head of Sport Content Partnerships Claude Ruibal said, “From baseball to cricket to martial arts, YouTube has become a global hub for live sports. There is no sporting event, however, more exciting or iconic than the Summer Olympics, and we are thrilled to work with the IOC to bring live coverage of these truly international Games to even more people around the world. The IOC is making the most of our platform by offering fans 11 different live streams on their channel, which can be viewed on desktops, mobile phones, and Internet-connected devices. We hope sports fans enjoy finding the exact event they want to see as well as checking daily highlights whenever they want to see them.”

NEW DELHI: The News Broadcaster Association today urged the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to ensure that digital access systems are put in place by 1 July as announced earlier.

Endorsing the Ministry‘s move, it said there were certain rumors that seemed to suggest that there may be an extension of the implementation date of DAS.

‘The NBA, however, believes that the government would continue with its determination and assurance that the date will be adhered to.

The NBA Board, which met today, lauded the Government‘s move to usher in digitisation with effect from 1 July in the four metros.

“This puts India on the global map, provides for significant transparency and enables the Government to enhance its revenues by way of income tax, service tax and entertainment tax. Importantly from the news broadcasters‘ point of view there is a significant ray of hope with the potential reduction of carriage and ban on placement fees, both of which have crippled the industry,” the NBA said in a statement.

MUMBAI: Search engine giant Google Inc has acquired Meebo, the social media startup, reportedly at an estimated $100 million.

The move can be seen as a bid from Google towards bolstering its social networking media platform Google+, which was launched to rival popular platform Facebook.

Founded in 2005, Meebo is a consumer internet company focused on driving user engagement across the web. Its flagship product, the Meebo Bar, provides publishers and advertisers ways to leverage by weaving content engagement and brand experiences into the consumer‘s web experience.

“Together with Google, we‘re super jazzed to roll up our sleeves and get cracking on even bigger and better ways to help users and website owners alike,” Meebo‘s official blog stated.

“With the Meebo team‘s expertise in social publisher tools, we believe they will be a great fit with the Google+ team,” Google said in a statement.

Meebo has so far raised $70 million since launch. One round of funding in 2008 valued the company at around $200 million.

MUMBAI: ABP Group, the eastern India media conglomerate, has launched an application- ‘My Anandabazar‘ for iPad, iPods and iPhone in order to cater to the growing global Bengali mobile Internet consumers.

According to the company it is the first Bengali language iOS application of its kind with a diverse range of features. It offers live Bengali news, Bengali e-magazines, Bengali movies, cuisine videos, online radio, Bengali blogs by eminent writers and live TV streams of ABP Ananda and Sananda TV. Four Bengali magazines – Desh, Sananda, Ananandamela and Anandalok – are also available on the app.

ABP Group VP-digital and English magazines Kaushik Banerjee said, “We are excited to release this new universal app to address the booming iOS market for Bengali communities.”

The movie section will offer Bengali classics with new additions every fortnight and radio channel ‘Radio Ananda‘ will also air music of olden times. The video recipe section ‘Ponchobyanjon‘ will create authentic taste of Bengal and will new recipe videos will be added every fortnight.

While ABP Ananda provides all the updates on local events, politics, entertainment and sports, Sananda TV brings the wide spectrum of quality Bengali entertainment soaps, reality shows and more.

The app is for free.

MUMBAI: NDS has landed yet another contract with Classic Cable Networks (CCN) to deploy end-to-end solution from NDS to launch digital cable TV service in Eastern Delhi.

The software and interactive systems service provider for digital television, digital pay-TV, and set-top boxes will provide an end-to-end suite of technologies including MediaHighway set-top box software, VideoGuard conditional access, a customised electronic programme guide (EPG) and a host of interactive functionality such as games and TV applications, including regional content, to compliment the current CCN channel offering.

NDS will also enable additional revenue streams by providing regional advertising capabilities via the EPG home page and banner ads supported by NDS Dynamic Advanced Advertising technology.

NDS India country head & GM Jayant Changrani, “As the cable TV industry in India transitions to digital, we are proud to be supporting operators such as CCN to enhance their platforms with added value functionality and services. The migration to digital poses fantastic opportunity for the industry, and NDS solutions enable operators to rapidly launch services and introduce roadmap features as subscriber demand dictates. CCN are taking important steps to ensure the future of their platform and the experience of their subscribers, and we look forward to supporting them throughout that process.”

Earlier, NDS was appointed by ADN Networks to provide the enabling technologies to support the launch of its digital cable TV service in central and Western Delhi.

MUMBAI: Strengthening its regional offering, Zenga TV has added Bangalore-based Raj Television‘s bouquet of channels.

Raj TV channels will now be available free to mobile phone and web users globally.

Raj TV Network‘s bouquet has channels in all south Indian languages in music, GEC, news and movies. The network also has a Hindi channel in the name of Raj Pariwar. The channels include Raj TV, Raj News Tamil, Raj Music Kannada, Raj Music Malayalam, Raj Music Telugu, Raj News Telugu and Raj NewsX Telugu.

With the addition of Raj TV bouquet on Zenga, mobile users will be able to enjoy a mixture of live contemporary Tollywood, Sandalwood and Mollywood content. Programmes that include celebrity interviews, artist profiles, movies, film premieres and parties will transport the mobile viewer into the centre of the glitz, glamour and glitterati of Tollywood.

Commenting on the partnership, ZengaTV CEO Shabir Momiin said, “Raj TV has a great channel bouquet and we are delighted to have them on the ZengaTV network. This tie-up will be especially useful for loyal fans of Raj TV outside the country.”

Raj TV Head Distribution S. Swaminathan said, “Since inception Raj TV has made an enormous impact on the hearts and minds of the Indian television audience, therefore launching on the ZengaTV network is an important and crucial step in reinforcing Raj TV as the most popular among south Indians in news, music and entertainment.”

Earlier, the mobile TV platform had partnered ETV network to offer 12 channels from the ETV stable to its subscribers for free.

MUMBAI: TV18 and Viacom18 have formed a strategic joint venture, IndiaCast, which will distribute all channels and content of the two companies in India and abroad.

IndiaCast will also distribute Eenadu channels, post completion of acquisition by the TV18 group.

The Sun TV group channels and Disney Channels will also be distributed by IndiaCast in the Hindi Speaking Markets (HSM).

In Tamil Nadu, Sun TV Network will continue to distribute the TV18 and Viacom18 channels, apart from Disney channels.

The new company will be headed by Anuj Gandhi as Group CEO, while Gaurav Gandhi is named COO.

TV18 and Viacom18 said that IndiaCast will create India’s first multi-platform ‘Content Asset Monetization’ entity. It is mandated to drive domestic and international channel distribution, placement services and content syndication for TV18, Viacom18, A+E Networks I TV18 and the Eenadu group, post completion of its acquisition by TV18.

“IndiaCast has been created with the aim to consolidate the distribution functions of both media houses to, reach newer markets and increase operational efficiencies,” the two companies said.

IndiaCast will distribute all the 26 channels across all platforms, including Cable, DTH, IPTV, HITS and MMDS, and will offer a range of channels, from entertainment, kids, news, infotainment and music, to regional genres.

Network18 group CEO Sai Kumar said, “The Indian distribution market is throwing up ample opportunities and we are uniquely poised to make the most of this proposed alliance in an increasingly digitized environment. We have entrusted this mandate with Anuj, who brings with him impeccable leadership and rich experience across various formats.”

He further added, “Distribution is one of the high-growth areas in this industry and we’re excited to have a presence in this part of the business as well.”

Viacom International Media Networks president and CEO Bob Bakish said, “As the Indian market continues to expand and evolve, the move to bring two media houses and proposed consolidation of Eenadu channels post acquisition into one distribution sales house presents an opportunity to accelerate our growth in the region, while increasing efficiencies of operation. We’re excited about the potential of IndiaCast and are looking forward to deepening our partnership with TV18 and Eenadu Group.”

Anuj Gandhi added, “This is a momentous step forward and will create a paradigm shift in distribution and syndication. The new venture gives a clear impetus to digitalization. Also, it brings more channels and greater flexibility to consumers.”

According to him, “The Company will be the focal point not only for content and media distribution but also to drive the Content asset monetization business of TV18, Viacom18, A+E Networks I TV18 and Eenadu Group. The growth and way forward for media brands in the journey ahead is through Content Asset Monetization – taking content across geographies, platforms and mediums.”

MUMBAI: Riding a tidal wave of growth for subscription video on demand (SVOD), Netflix Inc. in 2011 surged past Apple Inc. to become the largest U.S. online movie service in revenue terms, according to a new IHS Screen Digest Broadband Media Market Insight Report from information and analytics provider IHS (NYSE: IHS).

Netflix’s share of U.S. online movie revenue soared to 44 per cent in 2011, up from less than one per cent in 2010.

Meanwhile, Apple’s share of total revenue declined to 32.3 per cent last year, down from a 60.8 per cent in 2010, despite enjoying strong revenue growth.

IHS research director for digital media Dan Cryan said, “2011 marked a sea change in the online movies business that saw the balance of consumer spending shift from a DVD-like transactional model to more TV-like subscription approach. The online movie business more than doubled in 2011 to reach $992 million and it is expected to double this year as well.”

Online, on the money: In the US, revenue from SVOD services—which give consumers access to movies in return for a regular, recurring fee—reached $454 million in 2011, growing by more than 10,000 per cent from $4.3 million in 2010.

As a result, SVOD became the largest segment of the U.S. online movie business in 2011, surpassing the other major parts of the market, transactional VOD and electronic sell-through. This change can be attributed to two factors: Netflix’s decision to start charging directly for online access, and the major growth in the number of people using online SVOD.

Meanwhile, transactional VOD expanded to $273 million in 2011, up 75 percent from $155 million during 2010. In contrast to SVOD, transactional VOD services like iTunes require consumers to pay a separate fee to rent each individual movie. EST grew by just 2.4 per cent to reach $236 million.

“We are in the midst of a significant change in the way people pay to consume movies online. All the significant growth in revenue in the U.S. online movie business in 2011 was generated by rental business models, which provide temporary access, not permanent ownership. Rental delivers unlimited consumption with a low monthly fee for older titles as well as cheap rentals of new releases, providing the kind of value that online consumers want. In contrast, EST, which is much more profitable for studios on a per-transaction basis, is stuck in the doldrums.” Cryan added.

Netflix and Apple leading two sides of the market: What Netflix and iTunes have in common is that both services are focused on the hardware side of the business.

Netflix is available on a range of connected devices, while iTunes can take advantage of Apple’s soaring device sales growth.

Nevertheless, comparisons between the two services have their limits. IHS research reveals that it’s not unusual for 70 to 80 per cent of titles consumed through a transactional service to be new releases. However, SVOD services are overwhelmingly used for older titles.

Cryan said, “Effectively the market has split. Netflix and Apple are competing for some of the same consumer time and money. However, the core value proposition of the two services is actually very different.”

To understand the relative positioning of Netflix and Apple, it’s revealing to compare each service to its closest competitor. While Netflix rules the SVOD market, its closest competitor—Hulu—is less than 10 per cent of its size.

Apple’s iTunes continues to dominate the transactional segment, accounting for 63 per cent of revenue in this area, which was only down slightly from 64.6 per cent in 2010. At the same time, the big growth story of 2011 was Walmart’s Vudu, which captured 8.2 per cent of the growing transactional market, up from 2.8 per cent last year. Most of this growth has been achieved by using a Netflix-like device strategy and has come at the expense of other providers, not Apple.

SVOD into the future: The stunning growth in SVOD revenue seen in 2011 is not likely to continue at the same rate in the future. Netflix‘s customer transition is now complete. And while its effect will be felt into 2012, which will be the first full year of paid streaming, Netflix‘s U.S. digital customer base is likely to expand at a slower rate, in keeping with premium pay-TV channels.

Consequently, IHS expects transactional VOD to experience stronger growth than SVOD after 2012 unless there is a significant market entry, such as a standalone HBO streaming subscription or a full-fledged pay-TV subscription service delivered over the open Internet.