ITV

Category: Technology

  • Mobile content service firm Motricity gets $50 mn investment from Carl Icahn















    MUMBAI: The US based Motricity, which provides mobile content services and solutions has announced the completion of $50 million in equity funding from Carl Icahn, through an affiliated company.


    It has also appointed Brett Icahn, an investment analyst with Icahn Associates and affiliated companies, to the Motricity board of directors.

     

    Motricity chairman and CEO Ryan Wuerch says, “Carl has proven himself as one of the leading investors of all time, with an incredible ability to identify top performing companies and drive shareholder value. This investment bolsters our balance sheet and positions us to continue to aggressively grow the business and consolidate the industry.”


    Over the past year, Motricity’s business has expanded substantially, quadrupling its customer base to include some of the leading wireless operators and media and entertainment companies, including Cingular, Alltel, Sprint, Tracfone, MTV, BET, NBC, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Turner and several others.

     

    icahn says, “Motricity has an excellent management team and leading technology. They are well positioned for dominance in mobile content, a sector for which we forecast strong growth in the coming years.”


    Motricity is provides mobile content services and solutions that enable consumers to receive the right content at the right time, every time. Its solutions create end user experiences and deliver mobile content offerings for partners such as MTV, BET, CBS, NBC, Turner, Cingular, Alltel, Sprint Nextel and Palm. Its mobile content delivery platform, Fuel, received the 2006 GSM Association Award for “Best Service Delivery Platform” and was also named 2005 Premium Mobile Content Platform of the Year by Frost and Sullivan.

     

  • Industry vents ire on ‘nothing budget’

    NEW DELHI: In the initial reactions to the 2007-08 budget proposals by Union Finance Minister, the media industry seemed distraught that none of the reliefs it has sought have been considered.

    “There is nothing we had hoped for,” a source in the Indian Broadcasting Foundation told indiantelevision.com. The source pointed out that the Sensex crash pointed to the sentiments of the corporate sector and the media industry could not feel otherwise.
    Both the major commerce and industry chambers, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, as well as the Confederation of Indian Industry have, meanwhile, said they were disappointed with the budget.

    There were, however, indications, that the industry, especially MSOs would perhaps try and activate the government to meet with their demands in the ensuing period of debate on the budget proposals

    One major news channels told this correspondent that the major thing they had proposed was reduction of customs duty on STBs and components for producing them indigenously, but hopes had been dashed.

    Said India TV CEO Chinatamani Rao, “What could one react to? The IBF had on behalf of the broadcasting industry given several suggestions and nothing has been done on those issues. There is nothing in the budget for the entartainment or broadcasting industry. At best, you can say it is a neutral budget.”

    However, Big 92.7 FM COO Tarun Katial, struck a less strident note when he said, “Reduction in the customs duty works in the favor of business houses. The service tax however needs to reduce… especially since the radio industry is at its infancy and has great employment and media opportunities in the semi-urban and rural markets.

    “Local retail advertisers are at the bottom of the pyramid and they should not be subject to service tax, especially if they have to be enabled to compete with other established / larger players. The benefits that the budget brings to the agricultural sector is very good and with our network spreading across the country and reaching out to 50,000 villages, it is sure to be good for business.

    “Extending FBT on ESOPs requires some analysis and the additional 1 per cent cess on all taxes is sure to burn a hole in some pockets.”

    Radio Mirchi CEO Prashant Pandey said, “There has been nothing specific for the radio industry in this budget. So while it is a growth budget and that is good news for advertising, that is the only thing which brings cheer. I dont think radio was looking at anything specific either. We had asked for a waiver of customs duty in our pre budget memorandum, so that was expected.”

    Arvind Mohan, senior executive vice president of WWIL told indiantelevision.com: “This is a dismal budget. There is nothing in it for us.”

    He opined that at best, the marginal reduction of tax burden on import of digital equipment could be seen as a s sort of a silver line.

    There has been no change in the customs duty for import of STBs, and the service tax, which had been sought to be done away with in this budget, has been slightly augmented, from 12.24 to 12.36 per cent, which is detrimental to the growth of the industry, Mohan felt.

    Stressing that he felt that the dividends distribution tax and the tax on share options for employees would also dampen industry spirit as a whole, Mohan said, “We shall take it up with Trai and also with the Indian Media Group, and lobby with the finance ministry and we hope the government will heed our demands.

    Roop Sharma, president, Indian Cable Operator‘s Federation, said: “Chidambaram wants complete digitalisation of cable TV before the 2010 Commonwealth Games, but what has he done for that? Nothing. I think they want the small industries like cable operators to die out, because they have given no tax holiday for us at all.”

    Senior Trai officials said that they had sent their proposals to the finance ministry some 25 days ago, and “by then the budget procedure might have got a long way through,” indicating therefore, that they were not happy with what has been proposed for the sector.

    The official said that due to certain reasons, he had not been able to look at the exact budget proposals, and would be ready to comment later only.

    Most observers, however, felt that there was nothing in this budget for the media and entertainment industry, but sought more time for giving more considered opinion.

    Trai had strongly proposed that customs duty on import of STBs and their components be reduced to Zero, and service tax be waived. It had called for rationalisation of tax structure to provide for a level playing field for the newspaper and electronic media, but that has not been reflected in the proposals by the finance minister.

  • Greater Boost to e-governance, new scheme for software export industry

     

     

    NEW DELHI: The Government today announced its proposal to enhance the allocation for e-governance from Rs. 395 crore in the year 2006-07 to Rs. 719 crore in 2007-2008.

    Presenting the Budget proposals in the Lok Sabha today, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said the Government had launched an ambitious programme for e-governance with the objective of improving efficiency, convenience, accessibility and transparency in Government functions and take Government services to the common citizen. He said the Central Government supports e-governance action plan at State levels and therefore it was proposed to increase the allocation for such support from Rs. 300 crore in 2006-07 to Rs. 500 crore in 2007-08.

     

    The Minister also proposed to provide Rs. 33 crore for a new scheme of manpower development for the software export industry.

     

    Mr Chidambaram noted that e-filing of corporate returns introduced this financial year had been a resounding success and until January 31, 2007, 301,736 returns were electronically filed by corporates. The Ministry’s analysis showed that ‘the effective rate of tax paid by all corporates, thanks to numerous tax concessions and exemptions – several of them well-intended – was only 19.2 per cent’. He therefore decided to extend Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) to income in respect of which deduction is claimed under sections 10A and 10B of the Income Tax Act.

    MAT had been introduced in 1996-97 for companies with book profits, and its purpose was to bring about horizontal equity in taxation.

     

    Extending service tax to renting of immovable property for use in commerce or business, the Minister excluded residential properties and land for entertainment.

     

    While bidding goodbye to 200,000 assesses through service tax proposals, the Minister said he proposed to bring new assesses into the fold by extending service tax to fields like the Development and supply of content for use in telecom and advertising purposes; asset management services provided by individuals; and

    Design services.

     

    The Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers had agreed to work with the Central Government to prepare a roadmap for introducing a national level Goods and Services Tax (GST) with effect from April 1, 2010.

     

    Keeping in mind the special needs of several sectors and the interest of the consumers, the Minister mooted a proposal to raise the exemption limit for small scale industry (SSI) from Rs.1 crore to Rs. 1.5 crore. The exemption limit for small service providers was being increased from Rs. 400,000 to Rs. 800,000. While noting that this will mean 200,000 assesses out of a total of 400,000 assesses will go out of the service tax net, he said he was happy to give away the revenue loss of Rs. 800 crore in the interest of the small service provider and the consumer.

     

    The Minister said the telecommunications industry had repeatedly requested that the multifarious taxes, charges and fees applicable to the industry should be unified and a single levy on revenue should be collected. He had accepted this proposal and proposed to request the Department of Telecommunications to constitute a committee to study the present structure of levies and make suitable recommendations to Government.

     

    He proposed to exempt from service tax all services provided by technology business incubators to encourage innovation. Similarly, their incubatees whose annual business turnover does not exceed Rs. 50 lakhs will be exempt from service tax for the first three years.

     

     

    As a measure to encourage small and medium enterprises to invest and grow, the Minister said the surcharge on income tax will be removed on all firms and companies with a taxable income of Rs. One crore or less, benefiting about 1,200,000 firms and companies.

     

    Since VAT (Value Added Tax) had proved to be an unqualified success and VAT revenues of the implementing States increased by 13.8 per cent in 2005-06 and by 24.3 per cent in the first nine months of 2006-07, the next logical step was to phase out Central Sales Tax (CST) and the Central Government had reached an agreement with State Governments in this regard. Consequently, the CST rate will be reduced from 4 per cent to 3 per cent with effect from April 1, 2007 and Rs. 5,495 crore had been provided for compensation for losses, if any, on account of VAT and also on account of CST.

     

    Noting that venture capital funds were a useful source of risk capital for start-up ventures in the knowledge-intensive sectors, the Minister said it was necessary to limit the tax benefit to investments made in truly deserving sectors. He therefore announced that among other industries, information technology relating to hardware and software development would be given pass-through status to venture capital funds only in respect of investments in venture capital undertakings.

  • Ficci faults increase in indirect taxes as wrong signal to corporates

     
     

    NEW DELHI: The president of Ficci, H Khorakiwala, I congratulated the finance minister’s “terrific budget” on the social sector front, but said he has lost an opportunity due to the indirect taxes imposed, which has given a wrong signal to the corporate world.

    He specially lauded increased spendings on health, education and agriculture, and also the GDP spending that has been raised.

    He said however that the corporate sector is not happy with the indirect and direct tax burdens, especially various instances of multiple taxation, and it would have been better had he taken measures to ensure keeping the growth rate at 9.2 per cent.

    Responding to a question, he refused to term this as an anti-growth budget, stressing that not that there will be no growth, but it would have been better had he taken this opportunity.

    He also said that the inclusive economic development is sustainable in the long term.

    There will be somewhat retardation in the IT sector due to the taxes imposed and this is a disappointment for the sector.

    Ficci Secretary General Dr Amit Mitra further clarified the body’s stand, saying that it is not as if the 9 per cent growth rate will slow down, because that has happened due to the private sector and corporates, as well as public participation, but the industry had expected something in the budget that would perhaps push the growth rate beyond what is there now, to 10 per cent.

    “That is an opportunity that the finance minister has missed and this is disappointing,” he said.

    Specifically on the IT sector, Mitra held the imposition of MAT is “too premature. The government could have done this when the IT industry would turn more mature, when we started dealing with imbedded technologies, rather than the preliminary technology we are dealing with now.

    He also said that the tax on stock options for employees is also a deterrent for the industry.

    “The government could have lowered taxes and asked for better collection and that would have helped industry, since the minister admitted that tax collection has increased. Instead, he imposed taxes, which is not the right thing.

    However, he said that the reduction of the fiscal deficit, “for the first time in 25 years, will help curb inflation, added with the benefits that the farm sector has been given, which lies at the core of inflation.

  • Telecom sector ‘biggest success story’; Cisco, Alcatel for R&D investment: Economic Survey

















    NEW DELHI: Hailing the country‘s telecom sector as “one of the biggest success stories of market oriented reforms”, the Economic Survey of India, tabled in the Parliament today, has said that by the end of 2012, a total of 650 million telephone connections (including 66 million wired and 584 million wireless connections) are expected to be achieved.


    Interestingly, the report informs that a large number of foreign companies like Alcatel, Cisco etc. have also shown interest in setting up their research & development (R&D) centres in India.


    A proposal for setting up a Telecom Equipment and Services Export Promotion Council and Telecom Testing and Security Certification Centre (TETC) is in the pipeline. With the above initiatives, India is expected to become a manufacturing hub for telecom equipment, the report holds.

     

    It says that broadband connectivity would be made available on demand, without limiting the speed.


    “Each village would have at least one broadband enabled kiosk. Broadband connection would be provided to schools, health centres and panchayat offices,” it has envisaged.


    It is also been envisaged that internet and broadband subscribers will increase to 40 million and 20 million, respectively, by 2010.

     

    “India is now amongst the fastest growing telecom markets in the world. Supportive government policies coupled with private sector participation have fuelled the unprecedented expansion of this sector,” the report asserted citing data.


    Looking back, it has said also that the announcement of the New Telecom Policy, 1999, was a watershed event for telecommunications in India. Other policy milestones include the opening of the long-distance market in 2002, the termination of VSNL‘s monopoly over international traffic in the same year, and the resolution of the wireless in local loop issue.


    “As a result, telecom tariffs which were among the highest in the world less than four years ago have now dipped to being among the lowest. Tele- density has also increased from 12.7 per cent in March 2006 to 16.8 per cent in December, 2006.


    The data given by the Survey shows that the number of CDMA were 0.61 million in 2003 and in 2006 stand at 44.17; similarly, for the same period, the users of GSM sprang from 12.69 mn to 105.43 mn, and the figures for wireless (CDMA and GSM) rose from 13.30 mn to 149.60 mn.


    The Survey has put the annual growth rate in 2006 stands at 45 per cent, as compared to 2003, when it was 40 per cent.


    The Survey has note that the total number of telephones has increased from 54.63 million on March 31, 2003 to 142.09 million on March 31, 2006 and 189.92 million on December 31, 2006.


    “While 43.72 million telephones were added during the 12 months of 2005-06, during the current year, about five million subscribers are being added every month.
    “With this growth, the number of telephones is expected to reach 250 million by the end of 2007,” says the report


    “The growth of wireless services has been phenomenal, with wireless subscribers growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of above 90 per cent per annum since 2003.


    “Today the wireless subscribers are not only much more than the fixed subscribers in the country, but also increasing at a much faster pace.


    “The share of wireless phones has increased from 24.3 per cent in March 2003 to 78.77 per cent in December, 2006. Improved affordability of wireless phone has made universal access objective more feasible,” says the report.


    “The number of internet subscribers grew at 25 per cent, while broadband subscribers grew from a meagre 0.18 million to 1.32 million, during 2005-06. It is necessary to increase the broadband connectivity for the knowledge-based society to grow quickly and for reaping the consequent economic opportunities.


    Foreign direct investment (FDI) is one of the important sources to meet the huge funds that are required for rapid network expansion, the report has noted, adding that the FDI policy provides an investor-friendly environment for the growth of the telecom sector.


    “The total FDI approved and the actual inflow up to July, 2006 were Rs 389.2 billion and Rs 11,801.46 billion, respectively,” says the report.


    It says also that of the more than 235.4 million public call offices (PCOs) functioning in the country, 200,000 are in the rural areas.


    “Apart from this, 560,000 village public telephones (VPTs) are also providing access to telecom facilities in the rural areas. The Mobile Grameen Sanchar Sewak Scheme providing telephone at the doorstep of villagers in about 12,000 villages is also in place.


    On the issue of manufacture of telecom equipment, the report notes that the Indian telecom industry manufactures a complete range of telecom equipment, using state of the art technologies designed specifically to match the diverse terrain and climate conditions.


    Production of telecom equipment has increased from Rs 160.9 billion in 2004-05 to Rs 178.33 billion in 2005-06, it has noted, adding that “Rising demand for a wide range of telecom equipment, particularly in the area of mobile telecommunication, has provided excellent opportunities to domestic and foreign investors in the manufacturing sector.”

     
     

  • Efforts on to make IT available to rural areas: economic survey

















    NEW DELHI: The Government has formulated a proposal to establish 100,000 Common service Centres (CSCs) in rural areas, which will serve not only as the front-end for most government services but also as a means to connect the citizens of rural India to the World Wide Web.


    According to the Economic Survey 2006-07 tabled in Parliament today by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, the scheme will be implemented through Public Private Partnership (PPP). An outlay of Rs. 57.42 billion has been approved of which the share of the Central Government and the State Governments would be Rs 8.56 billion croe and Rs 7.93 billion, respectively. The balance would be invested by the private sector.


    Listing the Policy Initiatives For Electronics and IT Sector, the Survey says that In order to ensure that the benefits of IT reach the common man, the Government has initiated a move to make available tools and fonts in various Indian languages freely to the general public. Tamil, Hindi and Telugu software tools and fonts have already been released. All Indian languages are expected to be covered in the next one year.

     

    A proposal for Electronics and IT Hardware Manufacturing Policy is also under consideration which aims to rationalize tariff structure on capital goods and inputs, unify manufacturing for domestic market and exports, facilitate registration of international patents, transfer state-of-the-art technology (TOT) and enhance Research and Development.


    The Information Technology Amendment Bill has been introduced in the Parliament on 15 December, 2006 to put in place technology applications, security practices and procedures relating to such applications. Furthermore, it addresses the issue of technological neutrality in IT laws as recommended by UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Signature.

     

    The Survey noted that the Indian IT-enabled Services and Business Process Outsourcing (ITES-BPO) have demonstrated their superiority, sustained cost advantage and fundamentally-powered value proposition in the international market. The software and ITES exports from India grew from $12.9 billion (Rs 582.4 billion) in 2003-04 to $17.7 billion (Rs 782.3 billion) in 2004-05. Software and ITES exports from India estimated at $23.4 billion during 2005-06 was up 32 per cent from the previous year.

    This sector is growing with Indian companies expanding their service offerings, enabling customers to deepen their offshore engagements and shifting from low-end business processes to high-value ones.

    While there have been no spectacular achievements in the hardware segment as in the case of the software segment of the IT sector, there has been a steady progress in production and exports of hardware.

    Contrary to some popular misperceptions, the growth of the IT and ITES sector has had a salutary effect on the employment scenario with total number of professionals employed in this sector growing from an estimated 284,000 in 1999-2000 to
    1,287,000 in 2005-06. The increase in the number of employed person in the sector wasas high as 230,000 in 2005-06 itself. In addition, Indian IT-ITES is estimated to have helped create an additional 3 million job oppurtunities through indirect and induced employment in telecom, power, construction, facility management, IT transportation, catering and other services. Government has taken several steps to further enhance this industry.

    With strong demand over the past few years placing India among the fastest growing IT markets in the Asia-Pacific region, the industry’s contribution to GDP rose from 1.2 per cent in 1999-2000 to an estimated 4.8 per cent in 2005-06. Indian companies are enhancing their global services delivery capabilities through a combination of greenfield initiatives, cross-border mergers & acquisitions, partnerships and alliances with local players. This is enabling them to execute end-to-end delivery of new services. Global software giants such as Microsoft, Oracle and SAP, have established their captive development centres in India.


    A majority of the companies in India have already aligned their internal processes and practices to international standards such as ISO, CMM, and Six Sigma. This has helped establish India as a credible sourcing destination. As of December, 2006, over 400 Indian companies have acquired quality certifications with 82 companies certified at SEI CMM Level 5 – higher than any other country in the world.

     
     

  • IP Video Test and Measurement market to witness high growth















    MUMBAI: From being a virtually non-existent market in 2003, the IP video test and measurement market saw significant growth in 2005.


    New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, World IP Video Test & Measurement Market, finds that this market earned revenues of $52.2 million in 2005 and is likely to reach $289 million in 2010.


    With telecom and cable TV companies aggressively offering triple play services, there is a rising trend among test equipment and solution vendors to offer IPTV test capability ‘within the same box‘. Telecom companies are increasingly launching VoIP and offering bundled video, data and voice services to meet the intense competition from cable TV providers and the growing migration of customers to VoIP-based telephony and wireless networks.

     

    IPTV enables telecom companies to leverage their DSL access networks, and thereby offer their customer base an additional video service to supplement existing voice and data offerings. By adopting such measures, they are able to contain losses while retaining valuable customers.


    “With such intense competition among service providers, subscriber experience and quality of service become key differentiators, compelling them to roll-out monitoring systems and protocol analyzers at the same time as they launch their IPTV services,” remarks Frost & Sullivan Industry Manager Jessy Cavazos. “This factor is considered to be a strong driver, particularly for the network monitoring systems market segment, and is expected to have a very high impact on market revenues throughout the forecast period.”


    Tolerance levels in IP video services are minimal compared to VoIP services, in which the conversation can be continued even if a couple of packets are lost. Thus, it becomes highly essential to have effective monitoring and troubleshooting tools when networks are deployed in the present market scenario, increasing the demand for suitable test equipment.

     

    Again, the emphasis on quality is higher in the IP video and TV market than in the VoIP market. This poses a significant challenge to test equipment providers catering to this market. The capital costs of the test equipment used for IPTV and video are very high, running into billions of dollars. Since these costs eventually get passed on to the users, it is hardly surprising that they demand the highest quality possible to get maximum value from the service.


    The challenge for test equipment providers is to keep pace with the latest technologies in IP video and TV and to be able to develop suitable solutions to test them.


    “With end users looking at channel change time issues before roll-out and measuring channel change infrastructure in networks after deployment, this presents a significant opportunity for test vendors,” says Cavazos. “Frost & Sullivan believes that channel changing performance test to assess the functioning of one or more devices under test (DUT) or systems under test (SUT) in IPTV deployment is the biggest opportunity, from a customer target application perspective, in the near future.”

     

  • Sharp launches new range of HDTVs















    MUMBAI: Sharp India has launched its latest range of AQUOS Full-Spec High Definition Televisions (HDTV).


    The firm says that the television sets employ LCD panels made from the eigth-generation mother glass substrate manufactured at Sharp’s second Kameyama Plant in Japan, which started operations in August 2006.

     

    The features the products have Sharp says include high dynamic contrast ratio and fast response time. The dynamic contrast ratio of 10000:1 enables reproduction of images with enhanced lighting and shadowing. Dynamic contrast detects the source video characteristics and smoothly adjusts the screen brightness accordingly to achieve deeper black level. The 4ms High Speed Response Time reduces the sense of visual lag as a result of high-speed moving images, thus reproducing clean, clear and “easy-on-eyes” pictures.

     

    Sharp notes that the reason for the excellent quality of high-definition signals is high-density information. Therefore, the AQUOS employs Full-Spec HD panel (1920 x 1080) to deliver high-resolution, high-definition picture in its entirety with same quality as the High-Definition signal format (1080i/p). This it says is in contrast to any other high-definition panel (1366 x 768) which delivers only about 50 per cent of the image information.


    In addition by applying Multi-Pixel Drive on the LCD panel, each RGB sub-pixel is further divided into two cells, thus having a greater control over color gradation. Viewers get to have a wide viewing angle of 176 degrees from top to bottom and from left to right, which results in greater freedom in viewing position. MPD takes care of light reflection and colour tone changes caused by angled viewing. Reproduction of people’s natural skin color can be enjoyed without white out.


    Sharp also states that its proprietary Four-Wavelength Backlight System adds crimson to the three conventional color wavelengths (blue, green and red) enabling the expression of deep red colours which were conventionally difficult to reproduce. It also enables reproduction of neutral colors such as translucent clear natural skin or healthy skin. The Four-Wavelength Backlight System reinforces overall color reproductivity.


    Sharp’s TVs are also equipped with Dual High-Definition Multimedia Interface inputs which are compatible with all current and future 1080p sources, such as Blue-ray player or next generation game consoles. With the DVI-I terminal, the LCD TV can also be turned into a marvelous computer monitor.

     

  • Sky TV, TNS & NDS team up to launch audience measurement service

    MUMBAI: Sky Television, New Zealand‘s pay television company, in conjunction with TNS, the global market information specialist, and NDS, provider of technology solutions for digital pay TV, have developed and launched an audience measurement research service.















    According to an official announcement, this measurement system is based on the establishment of a new viewing panel, recruited and managed by TNS, which will initially comprise 6,500 households equipped with digital satellite television. The digital set-top boxes (STB) in these households have been deployed with the NDS Audience Measurement System (AMS) software to collect and analyse viewing data.

     

    A key element of NDS‘ end-to-end digital broadcasting platform on which Sky Television relies to protect and enhance its pay-TV business, the AMS is capable of securely tracking and reporting many types of digital TV viewing activity.


    The data collected from the STB are processed and delivered by TNS to provide insights into how subscribers consume digital satellite television. The system will initially focus on providing robust viewing data for all satellite channels. The service will additionally be able to measure and provide an understanding of enhanced television viewing activity such as electronic program guide (EPG) usage and interactive advertising viewership, adds the release.


     
    Sky Television chief executive officer John Fellet said, “Sky Television broadcasts more than 80 channels, and we continually strive to improve the service to our subscribers. By working with NDS and TNS on the Audience Measurement System, we will be able to further understand our subscribers‘ viewing habits and therefore provide more of what they want. Furthermore, we will be able to provide our programming partners and advertisers with an understanding of how our subscribers use our service which will aid their strategic planning.”

    TNS will be responsible for design, recruitment and maintenance of the viewing panel, and processing of viewing data. Analysis of viewing data will be carried out via a bespoke version of InfoSys, TNS‘ television audience analysis system.


    TNS director of TV Audience Measurement Tony Taylor said, “We are delighted to be partnering with Sky in this service. It represents a key milestone in our audience measurement strategy which is leading the way in new digital measurement services and our involvement in the region. TNS is confident that the data will offer real value to Sky in understanding digital TV subscribers as well as providing greater insight on both the programming and advertising sales fronts.”


    NDS Australia and New Zealand GM Peter Iles said, “NDS Audience Measurement System resides in the subscribers‘ set-top boxes and enables Sky Television to directly capture viewing data from domestic set-top boxes, without truck rolls and without the cost of additional hardware in the home. Previously, it was not possible to capture viewing behaviour in such depth, but NDS AMS is a downloadable software extension which enables existing settop boxes to provide detailed tracking in selected households.”

     

  • NBA, YouTube challenge fans to post basketball moves















    MUMBAI: Video sharing site YouTube, Inc. and the National Basketball Association (NBA) have launched Post Up the NBA on the new NBA Channel on YouTube.


    The new channel will provide fans around the world and the entire YouTube community with the opportunity to submit video clips of their best basketball moves, and access original NBA content throughout the remainder of the 2006-07 NBA season.

     

    NBA fans are encouraged to upload their “best moves” to the site www.youtube.com/nba) and rate other videos posted by fans. The top Post Up the NBA videos submitted will be selected and compiled into a special weekly highlight reel “NBA Top 10 on YouTube” that will be featured on the “NBA Channel.


    YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley says, “By delivering a wide array of programming to YouTube, the NBA will be able to connect with its existing worldwide fan base and reach a vast new audience that is passionate about basketball”.

     

    Google CEO Eric Schmidt says, “The NBA consistently delivers some of the most exciting content in all of sports. We are thrilled to partner with the NBA to give them access to an amazing platform to further engage their fans around the world.”


    NBA commissioner David Stern says, “NBA fans will be able to interact and share their passion for the game by posting their ‘best moves,’. YouTube’s popularity and wide-reaching community of users provides the NBA with another unique way to reach our fans.”


    Along with providing fans an opportunity to post their best basketball moves, the NBA will post select plays and behind-the-scenes video highlights from NBA.com on the “NBA Channel” on YouTube.


    YouTube and the NBA have extended their partnership beyond video footage and community building. As part of the agreement, the NBA will join the growing number of content partners taking advantage of YouTube’s “Claim Your Content” program. This features a content identification and reporting system for user uploaded videos, allowing the league to identify its copyrighted content. The NBA will have the option to remove content from YouTube or share in the advertising revenue generated, if any.


    Google and the NBA are also currently conducting a test to syndicate NBA video content across Google’s AdSense network, adding to the growing list of content providers sharing engaging, relevant material with participating publishers. As part of this test publishers small and large, cutting across a variety of categories, will receive syndicated clips of NBA action.