Category: Technology

MUMBAI: Leading direct broadcast satellite service provider Dish Network has said it will drop AMC Network channels due to the high cost of carrying the channels coupled with decline in viewership.

Dish said it will drop the four AMC channels including We TV and Sundance Channel once the contract ends in June since the low viewership of AMC channels do not justify the rate increase that it is seeking.

Furthermore, Dish is also unhappy about the fact that shows such as Mad Men and Breaking Bad are made available on other platforms such as Netflix and iTunes soon after the shows have aired on AMC.

However, AMC believes Dish Network‘s decision has more to it than meets the eye.

Dish recently lost a $2.5 billion breach of contract case against it relating to the now defunct Voom HD cable channels that was owned by AMC. This, AMC says, is the prime motive behind dropping the channels.

“It is unfortunate that, because of setbacks in an unrelated litigation, Dish even suggests that they might deny their customers access to some of their favourite networks and shows that are offered by every other major satellite and cable TV provider,” AMC said.

Dish responded by saying that AMC was distorting facts by incorrectly attempting to tie together two separate issues.

NEW DELHI: Multi-system operators taking up digitisation with addressability will be permitted 74 per cent foreign direct investment as part of a move to bring about uniformity in FDI in broadcasting, Parliament was informed today.

Even as the views of different Ministries are awaited on the proposal to increase FDI in the media, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting C M Jatua said his Ministry had worked out with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India certain terms and conditions to take care of security related concerns.

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion cleared the proposal for uniform Foreign Direct Investment in broadcast carriage services providers, including cable TV and direct-to-home (DTH) around October last year.

The DIPP, which functions under the Industry Ministry, then circulated a draft cabinet note which also includes raising overseas investments limits according to suggestions given by Trai.

The note has been sent to different ministries, including Home Affairs, Information and Broadcasting, Law, Finance, and Department of Telecommunications. The note will have to be approved by these Ministries before it can be sent to the cabinet.

It is learnt that services sector received FDI worth $2.88 billion between April and August 2011.

The draft note wants the FDI limits in the broadcast carriage services providers such as cable TV, DTH, Headend-In-The-Sky (HITS), IPTV, mobile TV and teleport services to be made uniform at 74 per cent. The proposal includes 49 per cent FDI for local cable operators and 26 per cent for news and current affairs channels.

Under the proposal, there is also provision for putting 49 per cent FDI (out of the proposed 74 per cent) on automatic route. But there is no automatic route for content services like uplinking, downlinking and FM radio, Jatua said.

At present, FM radio and uplinking of news TV channels are allowed 26 per cent; cable TV, DTH and teleports are permitted 49 per cent; while it is 74 per cent in case of HITS. Uplinking of non-news and downlinking are both allowed 100 per cent FDI. For private FM radio, the FDI limit was raised from 20 per cent to 26 per cent last year.

In June 2010, Trai had made suggestions to raise FDI for broadcast carriage services like DTH to 74 per cent.

The move is expected to help the media which has been clamouring for more foreign investment, and for several foreign investors including expatriate Indians.

MUMBAI: Spice, a mobile internet company, has launched FLO TV – M 5600. It is a uniquely designed touch-screen handset that adds an analog TV to the device to give a multimedia experience.

Spice has upgraded its FLO series from touch range to Live TV. Following the success of Cappuccino, its earlier FLO series touch phone, this feature packed multimedia phone boasts of a unique ‘Flo Touch’ technology and a seamless interface, the company said.

The feature is priced at Rs 3,099. It offers a pre-loaded social networking application like ‘Facebook’ and ‘S Planet Apps store’. The FLO TV sports an 8.12 cm QVGA touch screen powered by the ‘FLO’ technology. It also sports a 1.3mp camera. The other features include FM radio, T- flash support (up to 8 GB), FM with recording, and a long lasting battery which gives a talk time of up to 4 hours.

S Mobility global head – devices Kunal Ahooja said, “In this era of convergence, Mobile phones are the best medium of displaying the result of integration of technologies. With a revolutionary product like FLO TV – M 5600, we have redefined innovation and turned a new leaf in the mobile handsets industry.”

The handset is available across India through more than 50,000 retail points including the 750+ Spice HotSpot retail network.

MUMBAI: Discovery Communications has entered into an agreement to acquire San Francisco-based digital video provider Revision3.

The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, and the parties expect the closing to occur on or before 1 June.

Leveraging Revision3’s vast experience in creating engaging online video content in a cost-effective manner, the transaction helps fuel Discovery’s strategy of being the number one nonfiction media company on all screens.

“Discovery‘s mission to ignite viewers‘ curiosity and its history of pioneering new platforms – from cable to HD to 3D – make it the logical leader in this explosive new wave of digital video growth,” said Discovery Communications COO JB Perrette. With Revision3’s industry-leading management team and roster of great talent, we look forward to cultivating more original content and fresh personalities that resonate with passionate communities online and across all platforms, while enhancing our innovative marketing solutions for advertising partners.”

The leading independent Internet digital video production company, with more than 23 million monthly unique viewers across 27 digital channels, Revision3 has created a technology and distribution platform that powers the scalable production, monetisation and distribution of video content for passionate online communities.

With programs hosted by authentic online celebrities, including top bloggers, Twitter stars and YouTube sensations, the company’s content aligns with many of Discovery’s top linear program genres, such as tech, cooking and popular science.

Revision3 boasts of one of the 10 largest networks on YouTube and distribution with more than 40 other partners including iTunes, Google, AOL, Yahoo!, TiVo, Roku, Boxee, CNET and Zune.

“Revision3 has always focused on creating compelling programs featuring authentic hosts that sit at the center of engaged and targeted communities,” said Revision3 CEO Jim Louderback. “We’re huge fans of Discovery’s networks, and couldn’t imagine a more appropriate company to team up with to develop the future of original web-based video.”

Revision3 was founded in 2005 by Kevin Rose (Digg, TechTV), Jay Adelson (Digg, Equinix) and David Prager (TechTV).

Louderback, former editor-in-chief of PC Magazine and a veteran of TechTV, joined Revision3 as CEO in 2007. Louderback and team will continue their leadership of Revision3 under the new ownership structure.

For this transaction, Discovery Communications was advised by Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, and Revison3 was advised by RBC Capital Markets and Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian, LLP.

MUMBAI: China‘s e-commerce major Alibaba Group is in talks with Yahoo to buy back 15 to 25 per cent of its shares it had sold to the Internet media major in 2005.

Numerous discussions have been held in recent years for Alibaba to reclaim some or all of the 40 per cent stake in the company, according to Reuters.

The two companies have been in talks for a month. However, the final outcome is dicey as a $17 billion tax-free asset swap between the two companies fell apart in February.

The new deal, which is designed to eliminate complexities, would not be tax-free and would be much more straightforward, the report adds.

“The overall complexity of this deal is much simpler. There‘s no IRS risk, there‘s no complications with regards to the identification of assets,” the person said. In a best case scenario, a deal could be weeks away, the person said.

Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson had during first-quarter earnings conference call with analysts said that the two companies were working on a “simplified” transaction to “monetise” a portion of Yahoo‘s stake in Alibaba.

Alibaba would raise capital to fund the stock buy back.

In September, Alibaba was valued at $32 billion when Silver Lake and other firms invested in the company. At that valuation, Yahoo could make $4.8 billion to $8 billion by selling 15 to 25 per cent of Alibaba.

MUMBAI: Indian entrepreneurs are harvesting the Internet boom, selling their ventures to major players. The latest to cash in are Rashmi Sinha and her brother Amit Ranjan.

The professional networking site LinkedIn has agreed to acquire SlideShare, a leading professional content sharing community, for approximately $118.75 million, or Rs 6.40 billion.

The brainchild of the website and co-founder was Sinha‘s husband Jonathan Boutelle who is based in the San Francisco. Sinha, a PhD in cognitive cognitive neuropsychology from Brown University in the US, is the CEO of SlideShare. Ranjan, an alumnus of Delhi‘s Faculty of Management Studies, is in charge of the India office.

The transaction will be carried out in 45 per cent cash and 55 per cent stock deal. The company said that the acquisition is expected to close during the second quarter of 2012.

Founded in October 2006, SlideShare helps professionals discover people through content, and content through people. SlideShare users have uploaded more than nine million presentations, and according to comScore, in March SlideShare had nearly 29 million unique visitors.

SlideShare is also enabling the sharing of presentations across the Web; nearly 7.4 million presentations hosted by SlideShare are embedded across more than 1.4 million unique domains.

“Presentations are one of the main ways in which professionals capture and share their experiences and knowledge, which in turn helps shape their professional identity,” said LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner. “These presentations also enable professionals to discover new connections and gain the insights they need to become more productive and successful in their careers, aligning perfectly with LinkedIn’s mission and helping us deliver even more value for our members. We’re very excited to welcome the SlideShare team to LinkedIn.”

SlideShare CEO Rashmi Sinha commented, “We built SlideShare to help professionals share presentations and connect people through content. What we can build with LinkedIn, the largest professional network on the Internet, is the most natural extension of this vision. I am excited about what we can build together.”

There is a rich list of Indian entrepreneurs who made millions of dollars by selling their firms to dotcom giants. Recently, Facebook acquired Indian entrepreneur Abheek Anand‘s start-up Tagtile, in a cash and stock deal. Last year, Walmart bought Kosmix, a data analytics company floated by Venky Harinarayan and Anand Rajaraman, for around $300 million. In the past, they had sold comparison-shopping site Junglee to Amazon for $250 million. And let‘s not forget Sabeer Bhatia, the man who started it all. His free Web-based email service Hotmail was snapped up by Microsoft Corp.

NEW DELHI: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry will continue to pursue with the government for providing financial incentives to support digitisation despite it being rejected by the Committee of Secretaries, I&B Joint Secretary (Broadcasting) Supriya Sahu said.

Referring to the number of set-top boxes required for Phase One covering the four metros, Sahu said orders had been placed for more than the ten million that would be needed in the four metros and around 2.5 million of these had already been fitted.

It would be ensured that these boxes comply to BSI standards, she said, adding that the MSOs would suffer if the quality was bad. She said there were five major and 17 independent MSOs in the country and they were working to ensure digitisation did not suffer.

She denied charges that the rate of licensing for cable operators had been increased manifold, pointing out that the fee of Rs 100,000 stipulated was for a period of ten years. She also did not think that the share of the cable operator of Rs 45 out of the basic tier of Rs 100 for 100 free-to-air channels against the present Rs 77 basic tier fee was low and said transparency of the number of subscribers with each cable operator would reveal the revenue of the operator as this and the carriage fee will be in the public domain.

Sahu was speaking at a session on ‘India goes digital: challenges and the way forward’ at the 9th Annual Summit on Entertainment and Growth organised by Assocham, Focus 2012 on ‘Digitisation for Inclusive Growth’.

INX News CEO Jehangir Pocha said no news channel was making profit but it needed Rs 500 to 550 million to take a TV channel to the consumer.

There were caps on FDI, advertisement time and rate, and even on raising money, but not on carriage fee, and yet the government expected the channels to do well.

Sun Group CEO Anthony D’Silva said the situation is not conducive for a DTH operator to raise money when around 50 per cent goes to taxes. “Every DTH player is bleeding and there is no light at the end of the tunnel,” he added.

Videocon D2h COO Himanshu Patel said there was capacity constraint in bandwidth on the transponder side.

Star India VP Pulak Bagchi said cable industry took 22 years to reach 92 million households, while DTH had reached 40 million in just ten years and this indicated the direction in which the industry was headed.

Doordarshan News Director General said DD had its own digitisation programme which would be completed by 2017. He said DD today reached 92 per cent of the country. DD can help the digitisation movement by starting a public debate which will help clear doubts.

MUMBAI: Star TV has signed a 4-channel carriage deal with Time Warner Cable for Star Plus, Star Gold, Life OK, and Star News.

As part of the deal, the four channels will soon be available to Time Warner Cable customers in select markets.

“This collaboration between our two major companies, Star TV and Time Warner Cable, will offer an increased distribution to reach and entertain more viewers,” said Star TV EVP International Business Rajan Singh.

“Our existing viewers already appreciate Star TV‘s wholesome entertainment for the entire family. This beneficial artnership will complement and enhance the array of channels being offered on Time Warner Cable to a new group of viewers.”

NEW DELHI: Delhi-based local cable operators today showed black flags to Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni to mark their silent protest against the tariff order of Trai.

Soni, who had come to attend the FOCUS 2012 meet organised by ASSOCHAM on Digitisation, was told by LCOs that it was not possible to sustain their business of cable television with a revenue share of just Rs 45 out of Rs 100 that the subscriber will pay for the basic service tier of 100 free-to-air TV channels.

Soni promised the operators present that the ministry will look into these concerns.

Cable Operators Federation of India President Roop Sharma told the Minister that cable operators had set up this industry with their hard work and without any help from the government over the last 22 years and, therefore, the government should not hurt their business.

MUMBAI: Social networking site Facebook has said it will offer a total of 337.41 million shares as part of its first ever initial public offering with the price per share fixed between $28-35.

The company will be able to raise $11.8 billion at the top end and 9.45 billion at the lower end of the price band.

Even at $11 billion, the IPO would be fourth-largest in U.S. history after Visa Inc, General Motors, and AT&T Wireless.

The company, which had in February filed for a $5 billion IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission in United States, is expected to go public on 18 May. The stock will be listed on Nasdaq under the symbol ‘FB‘.

Launched in 2004, the social networking giant commands an active user base of over 800 million with revenues of $3.71 billion and a net profit of $1 billion last year.

Ahead of its IPO, Facebook has launched a 30-minute video about its ‘IPO roadshow‘ which features Zuckerberg talking about the company‘s growth and future prospects.

Facebook‘s executives like chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg and finance chief David Ebersman will do a roadshow of New York, Boston, and Chicago convincing potential investors about the company.

The company has appointed Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan as its lead underwriters. Other bookrunners who were appointed to manage the IPO included Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital and Allen & Co.