Category: Technology

MUMBAI: Discovery Networks EMEA has rolled out Discovery HD Showcase, a channel that features high-definition content from across the company‘s portfolio of services in Europe, excluding the UK, the Middle East and Africa.
 
The channel replaces Discovery HD across EMEA on 15 January and will subsequently launch in France on 26 January. The lineup will include Discovery Channel‘s Deadliest Catch, Discovery Science‘s Science of the Movies and Animal Planet‘s Austin Stevens Adventures, plus new content such as Globe Riders.

Said Discovery Networks EMEA COO David Rey, “Discovery, the pioneer in the HD space, is committed to providing consumers with content that enhances their viewing experience.  
 
Discovery HD Showcase draws on the best of our portfolio of channels, including Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and Discovery Science, to bring audiences programming with breathtaking imagery and content, produced solely in HD.”

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and the Japanese Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry are to cooperate in the field of convergence of telecom and broadcasting.
 
A Memorandum signed between the two would also allow mutual sharing of information on best practices between Trai and MIC. The Memorandum was signed by Trai Chairman J S Sarma and Japanese Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Haraguchi Kazuhiro.

Trai and MIC will establish a mechanism of technical and institutional cooperation in the field of telecommunications with the purpose of contributing to development in both the countries. Both are determined to strengthen the ties in the field of telecommunications, by means of the establishment of technical and technological cooperation. 
 
Trai and MIC intend to cooperate in the fields of technological developments and New Technologies; Regulatory Policy; Convergence of Telecom and Broadcasting; Spectrum issues; Green Telecom; and Telecom for development strategy.

The cooperation between both the sides will be carried out through exchange of official information and documentation; dissemination of best practices of regulatory and competitive policy in the field of telecommunications regulation; and bilateral consultations through deployment of experts.

MUMBAI: The Walt Disney Co has made public a technology called KeyChest that enables consumers to buy films or television shows from various distributors, store them on remote servers and play them on multiple platforms ranging from TVs to computers and phones.

The company will roll-out KeyChest in both the US and the international market. It will soon announce partners who will participate in the programme.
 
Disney said negotiations with content distributors, cable companies and telecommunications services have been ongoing for several months and hopes the technology will be deployed before the end of 2010.

The company also said that a third-party company will operate KeyChest and expects other studios to make their content available through the authenticating technology Disney has developed.
 
Company officials said the goal of KeyChest is to make it easy for viewers to see a movie accessed from various outlets and to address the issue of compatibility in maneuvering content from device to device as well as limited storage space on consumers‘ hard drives.

Disney officials said they hope to use KeyChest to build momentum for the long-stalled digital distribution of films.

MUMBAI: China‘s leading search engine, Baidu, is planning to launch a new independent company that will provide licensed online video to internet users.

Functioning much like Hulu, the new company will work closely with content providers to bring copyrighted premium video content like movies, TV series, sporting events, animation and other programming to internet users through an advertising-supported model.
 
In another development, Baidu has appointed Yu Gong, formerly the president and COO of China Mobile‘s 12580 business, as CEO of the new company.

“As China‘s Internet industry evolves, we have seen increasing demand for high-quality video content on our search platform,” Said Baidu VP of marketing and business development Xuyang Ren, “By establishing this new company, we will be able to better serve our users and customers with superior content and focused resources. ” 
 
Commented Gong, “Online video is a rapidly growing sector in China and I believe Baidu‘s search platform will provide a solid foundation for the new company to address the increasing demand for premium content.”

MUMBAI: Alleging that Comcast Cable Communications is violating programme carriage rules by favouring networks it owns and discriminates against unaffiliated services, Tennis Channel has filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) against the platform.

According to the channel‘s complaint, Comcast isolates Tennis Channel on a premium sports tier received by a small fraction of Comcast subscribers, while it carries Comcast-owned networks that compete with Tennis Channel on basic tiers available to a much wider base of subscribers at no additional charge.
 
Tennis Channel‘s ratings performance is comparable in its service area to that of Comcast‘s sports services, Golf Channel and Versus, according to the complaint.  
 
Said Tennis Channel CEO and chairman Ken Solomon, “We did not want to file this complaint, but Comcast has left us with no choice. We made offers with added incentives for it to move us to a competitive, broadly penetrated service tier, as it has done recently with the MLB, NHL and NBA channels, in which it has financial interests. But Comcast declined to do so.”

MUMBAI: Discovery Communications has joined forces with IMAX and Sony for a 3D network that is slated to launch in the US in the beginning of 2011.

All the three entities will be equal partners in the joint venture that will deliver 3D programming from the natural history, space, exploration, adventure, engineering, science and technology, movie and kids‘ genres, drawing from the libraries of its three owners, as well as from third-party providers. 
 
While Discovery would provide network services including affiliate sales and technical support functions as well as 3D television rights to Discovery content and cross-promotion across its portfolio of 13 US television networks, Sony will provide advertising/sponsorship sales support and will seek to license television rights to current and future 3D feature films, music-related 3D content and game-related 3D content.

IMAX will also license television rights of future 3D films, promote through its owned-and-operated movie theatres across the US and a suite of proprietary and patented image enhancement and 3D technologies. 
 
Day-to-day management will be handled by a separate staff-a search has begun for a general manager-reporting to a board of directors comprising members from each of the three companies.
 

MUMBAI: ESPN is all set to launch the industry‘s first 3D television network in June. This is in time with the World Cup opening match that will take place between South Africa and Mexico on 11 June.
 
ESPN 3D promises at least 85 live sporting events in the first year, including up to 25 World Cup matches, the Summer X Games, college basketball and college football. The sports broadcasting giant has been testing the technology for the last two years.  
 
Said executive VP of sales and marketing Sean Bratches, “This will be a meaningful step to drive adoption of 3D television sets and afford opportunities for our affiliates to create value through new product offerings, and our advertisers, who want fresh sponsorship opportunities.”

MUMBAI: Apple has acquired for $275 million Quattro Wireless, a Waltham mobile advertising company founded by Andrew Miller and Eswar Priyadarshan three years ago.
 
“We are thrilled to let you know that Apple has acquired Quattro. Together with Apple, we look forward to developing exciting new opportunities in the future that will benefit our customers,” says Apple VP mobile advertising Andy Miller.

However, the deal will not affect the offerings and services that customers receive from Quattro Wireless. 
 
In November 2009, Google paid close to $750 million for AdMob, a mobile advertising network that competes with Quattro.

With this deal in place, Apple will compete with the likes of Microsoft, Google and Yahoo in the mobile ad market. Last Year, Google paid close to $750 million for AdMob, a mobile advertising network.
 

MUMBAI: Network18 has announced a senior management re-alignment of its web, mobile and digital convergence businesses.

The company has moved Lakshmi Narasimhan, who was heading Infomedia18, to head Web18 as CEO. Narsimhan will replace Surya Mantha, who has been given the charge of convergence initiatives at Network18.
 
Mantha will be re-designated as executive director, Convergence, Network18. His mandate, the company said in a statement, will be to unlock value by “leveraging the digital and community building opportunities” across the group’s TV and print brands.

Straddling across TV18, IBN18 and Infomedia18 media assets, the role will further focus on new convergence initiatives for the group.

Web18 runs web portals including Moneycontrol.com, In.com, Ibnlive.com and a host of web based services and applications such as bookmyshow and markets on mobile.
 
Network18 group CEO Haresh Chawla said, “With this re-alignment, Network18 aims to establish independent focus on its fast-expanding web and mobile business and at the same time ensure that all its offline media assets are leveraged digitally.”

MUMBAI: The recession has brought back American audiences to the theatres. DVD sales has taken a dive while box-office collections have soared, according to Adams Media Research.

Disc sales, including DVDs and Blu-ray, dropped 13 per cent year-over-year to just $8.73 billion in 2009, down from $10.06 billion a year ago.
Box-office spending, however, rose 10 per cent to $9.87 billion in 2009 in the US.

Company president Tom Adams, however, clarified that the 2009 figures are preliminary as late December figures are being worked on. 
 
According to the report, disc rentals remained almost flat while video on demand rentals increased minimaly as did online purchases. Sales of DVDs have been undercut by the rise of low-cost rental.

Hollywood has traditionally relied on DVD sales to underwrite the cost of production and marketing films, but the market has diversified in recent years. 
 
The demand for on-demand television and online distribution has been steadily increasing. Companies such as kiosk chain Redbox, which rents DVDs for $1 a day, are proving to be popular with the public, where DVDs can be picked up and returned in fast-food restaurants, pharmacies and shops.

Online subscription services such as Netflix Inc have also been a success in the past decade as they offer a “watch instantly” service where some subscribers can watch films on a PC or TV at home.