Category: Technology

MUMBAI: US media research firm Nielsen is consolidating its initiatives involving digital television set top box data into a new service offering named Nielsen DigitalPlus.

Nielsen DigitalPlus will work with set top box (STB) data from cable system operators (MSOs) and satellite providers to create new insights and services for clients by integrating set top box data with other Nielsen information.

Nielsen DigitalPlus will draw upon the resources and information assets of numerous Nielsen businesses including: the television measurement services of Nielsen Media Research, commercial activity data from Nielsen Monitor Plus, retail and scanning information from A.C. Nielsen, as well as the modeling and forecasting capabilities of Claritas, Spectra and BASES.

Initially, Nielsen DigitalPlus will focus on several high-potential client initiatives:

– Exploring how set top box data can contribute to Nielsen‘s Anytime Anywhere Media Measurement (A2/M2) goal of bringing electronic measurement to all local television markets

– Providing measurement of advanced advertising applications such as interactive, targeted advertising

– Bringing insights on advertising effectiveness through granular reporting of commercial activity

– Providing analytics to support MSO Customer Relationship Management (CRM) by combining television viewing data with other data sets to provide new insights to MSOs and satellite providers about their subscribers‘ activity.

Nielsen DigitalPlus senhior VP Jed Meyer says, “With our wide array of media and marketing information services, expertise in advanced technology, and experience working with large volumes of data, Nielsen is uniquely positioned to help clients unlock the potential of set top box data.

“As the industry begins to analyze and use the vast amount of information available through these devices, Nielsen will work with clients to develop comprehensive solutions to this new frontier of measurement. We are intensely focused on using all our resources to succeed at this challenge.”

Nielsen DigitalPlus will build on Nielsen‘s long history of set top box data projects going back to Warner Amex‘s QUBE system in the 1980s. More recently Nielsen has worked with Comcast to process and develop insights from their Video On Demand server data. Nielsen also worked with Tivo to establish a joint panel of TiVo subscribers whose set top box data Nielsen processed on a daily basis. Nielsen is currently working on research projects with several MSOs and satellite providers to study set top box data for potential analytical and audience measurement purposes.

MUMBAI: Availability of set-top boxes (STBs) is one of the key concerns for the successful roll out of conditional access system, speakers at a workshop on “Cas and Digital CATV” said here today.

Cable operators should not only look at the price of the boxes but also the quality of features it offers as there is revenue to be earned from the consumers. “While what is being pushed now in India is basic boxes, there is need also to go in for middleware that enables enhanced facilities. The important question to be asked is what the boxes can do. Cable operators will be able to, after all, earn revenues from features like video-on-demand and gaming,” said Technosat managing director Irshad M Contractor.

The Dubai-based company is prepared to set up a manufacturing facility in India if the demand for STBs pick up. Technosat has boxes ranging from basic to premium features on MPEG-2 and is currently conducting trials on MPEG-4.

Though multi-system operators (MSOs) are currently importing boxes, several manufacturers in India are keen to come up with local production facilities. “We are introducing 4-5 flavours of STBs that are fully developed in India. The boxes will have personal video recorder (PVR) and digital video recorder (DVR). We are integrating the encryption system with Conax. We are also in talks with other Cas technology providers,” said Surbhi Broadband general manager sales P C Mishra.

The two-day workshop, which concluded today, was organised by Satellite & Cable TV (SCaT) magazine and attracted over 250 delegates. The focus was on facilitating cable operators to make the transition from analogue to digital cable. The issues covered ranged from digital headends to billing solutions for Cas.

Speaking on digital headends for simulcasting digital video broadcasting – cable (DVB-C), Peter Batt of Teleste said there was need to offer on demand TV and other value-added services. The third generation headends improved footprint and power consumption while offering unicast/multicast video services and triple play. But the fourth generation IP-centric headend for DVB-C and IPTV combined everything and offered “ultimate flexibility.”

Earlier SCaT editor and executive director Dinyar Contractor said Headend-In-The-Sky (HITS) would mean rapid digital and Cas roll out as it would reach out to the smallest and far flung last mile operators (LMOs). Even as Cas made it unviable for LMOs to set up a digital Cas headend and offer a large pay bouquet, HITS offered several advantages to them.

“The transmodulator cost is as low as Rs 2000 per channel and the LMOs can assemble their own, local basic tier. It is economically attractive if the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) permits nationwide Cas,” he said.

SCaT chairman Sudeep Malhotra spoke on uplink and downlink policies, elaborating on the regulatory framework prescribed for the different genres of channels such as news and sports. “There are 164 Indian channels licensed to be uplinked from India. The channels that are registered and allowed to be downlinked into India amount to a total of 54 channels,” he said.

MUMBAI: It is the ‘Big Fat Asian wedding‘ and if the British Telecommunications (BT) survey is anything to go by the wedding industry is just about to get richer.

British Telecommunications has launched its calling card packages in South Asian countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh recently.Many of its survey findings have helped understand the telecom giant‘s South Asian clientele better. For many young British Asians, large-scale weddings cost more than 30,000 pounds according to the biggest annual survey into British Asian relationships and weddings.

The survey results compiled by BT Together International have been released in conjunction with the Asian Wedding Exhibition 2007 from a poll of over 1,000 Hindu, Muslim and Sikh men and women. The survey shows that on an average over 300 guests are invited for 72 percent of the Asian weddings. Between 10 to 20 per cent of these invited guests live overseas. It is information of this nature that has helped BT Together International zero in on new cheap calls package to South Asia.

Some other findings by the survey revealed a contrast between the Asian community‘s more traditional values towards romance compared to the general British population. The nationwide average age for marriage is 31 years for men and 29 years for women yet not a single Asian respondent thought it was ideal for a woman to marry in her thirties.Only 56 per cent of Asians would cohabit with their partner before getting married and almost two-thirds (64 per cent) said they would live with their in-laws after tying the knot. Attitudes on living with a partner outside of marriage also differed significantly from the national average.

MUMBAI: Eros International, an integrated media and entertainment Company,announced that tracks from its recent Bollywood music albums- Omkara, I See You, Kudiyon Ka Hain Zamana and Namastey London will now be available for download on Apple‘s iTunes on a worldwide basis and on Real Network‘s Rhapsody for North America.

Eros International Plc chairman & CEO Kishore Lulla said, “This is a significant milestone as far as our new media distribution is concerned. We remain focused on identifying and securing strategic distribution partners to showcase our Bollywood content to a wider audience.”

He further added, “The Mauj Telecom deal for mobile content license announced this January and now the iTunes and Real Rhapsody deals make our recent move into music publishing all the more exciting. We remain positive about the opportunities presented by new media in this digital era.”The original sound tracks from Eros‘s forthcoming film Eklavya, a Vinod Chopra Films Production, releasing in cinemas on February 16 will also be available for download.Eros launched the Bollywood video on demand services with cable giants Comcast and Rogers cable and has online movie download services with Movielink and RTL.

MUMBAI: Thomson, through its Technicolor Content Services business, has announced it is expanding its entertainment services capabilities with a strategic investment in Bangalore based Paprikaas Animation Studios, an animation and game content provider.

This transaction further strengthens Thomson‘s commitment globally and in India to expand its service offerings in the feature film, television animation and video game industries.

The addition of Paprikaas‘ creative, technical and computer animation work will give Technicolor added capabilities and resources to capture the growing industry demand for high end 3-D digital animation for feature films, television animation, commercial advertising and video games and provide Thomson with a leading position in the rapidly expanding Indian entertainment industry, informs an official release.

“Technicolor Content Services has been looking to capture a larger share of the growing market trend toward outsourcing in theatrical, broadcast, commercial advertising, animation and video game segments,” said Technicolor Content Services president Ahmad Ouri. “Paprikaas has proven that their animation and game content creation work consistently meets our high standards, enabling us to further expand our capabilities and global reach, while also achieving cost efficiencies.”

MUMBAI: Rainbow Media has announced several new sales for its Women‘s Entertainment (WE tv) programming.

London-based iD Distribution will take WE tv content into Poland, Hungary, Ukraine, The Netherlands, Australia and Brazil. In 2006, WE tv series were sold to the UK, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Turkey, Finland, Korea, the Middle East and New Zealand.

Series planned around weddings like Platinum Weddings , Making Love Happen with Lou Paget, Katrina Weddings: A Second Chance, I Can‘t Believe I Wore That and Bride vs. Bride has the most takers with Wedding TV buying a number of these series.

New international sales were also announced for the ULTRA HD production Style Me With Rachel Hunter, which airs on Rainbow‘s WE tv. Style Me was sold to Club Channel (Poland/Hungary), Kino Channel (Ukraine), Living (New Zealand) and Globosat (Brazil). In this reality-based show, 12 contestants vie for $10,000 in cash and the chance to be the next top celebrity stylist for series host Rachel Hunter.

MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) feels Cas (conditional access system) should roll out voluntarily rather than be mandated in other parts of the country.

“We may think of mandatory Cas for the larger metros but in other parts of the country it may not be the best way forward. We haven‘t, though, made up our mind on this. We have constituted a small group representing all the stakeholders to suggest on how to take voluntary Cas forward. We realise that Cas has gained momentum and wouldn‘t like to miss on that opportunity,” said Trai advisor M C Chaube while speaking at a workshop on “Cas and Digital CATV,” organised by Satellite & Cable TV (SCaT) magazine in Mumbai.

With some cable operators continuing to transmit unencrypted signals in the Cas areas, the broadcast and cable sector regulator intends to come down heavily on them.

“We are aware that there are still slippages and there are complaints that encryption have not taken place in some areas. We are going to take action against this as it is at the core of Cas,” said Chaube.

Reacting to a suggestion from the three multi-system operators (Wire & Wireless India Ltd, Hathway Cable & Datacom and Incablenet) that Cas should be opened up to the other areas of Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata by April, Chaube said the process needed a certain run-up time. “Cas is not just about three MSOs. The smaller MSOs should be given time to prepare for laying out the digital infrastructure. Consolidation is bound to happen as digitalisation requires deep pockets, but as a regulator we shouldn‘t have such a time frame in mind that makes it difficult for the smaller MSOs,” he added.

Trai would relook at such areas like pricing and a la carte issues in the middle of this year. “We are going to revisit at some of these decisions and take a call whether appropriate adjustments are needed. We would be examining such issues as similar pricing for all genres of channels, a la carte offerings and Rs 77 on free-to-air (FTA) channels,” Chaube said.

The seeding of set-top boxes (STBs) would touch 500000 in a week‘s time out of an estimated cable and satellite home of 1.2 million in the Cas belt. “The average penetration would be 40 per cent. Kolkata is seeing slow offtake because regional channels are popular and they are in FTA mode. Our aim is not to see that boxes are sold but to offer consumers choice through Cas,” Chaube clarified. The penetration percentage though will be clearer when figures are available on the number of homes that have more than one TV sets.

The next stage of progress would be when consumer forms return to the MSOs and they are fed into the subscriber management system (SMS).

In case of voluntary Cas, the crucial element was for the broadcasters and MSOs to enter into commercial agreements, he added.

In a panel discussion, WWIL MD Jagjit Kohli pointed out that Trai should come out with some regulatory framework to facilitate voluntary Cas and Headend-In-The-Sky (HITS). “Broadcasters may not support voluntary Cas. So it would be essential for Trai to define some rules as the momentum for digitalisation should not be lost,” he added.

Hathway Cable & Datacom MD and CEO K Jayaraman pointed out that cable operators in non Cas areas should be ready to adopt digitalisation which has grown much faster in India than what was being initially preicted.

Incablenet head Ravi Mansukhani said the seeding process has been successful and the next step for MSOs would be to stop free access of pay channels in phases.

MUMBAI: The world’s largest film industry joined forces with the global mobile communications world today in spectacular fashion – as Bollywood premiered its first feature films for mobile viewers at the 3GSM World Congress (February 12-15) in Barcelona.

The Congress marks the start of the adaptation of thousands of vibrant Bollywood productions for the mobile screen – a development that could have a huge impact on the global mobile entertainment market, already worth some $US23 billion.

The Bollywood Mobile Initiative is driven by Roamware, the global leader in roaming and mobile connectivity solutions; Hungama Mobile, the world’s largest aggregator, developer and publisher of Indian entertainment and Bollywood content; Sanjay Gupta, a leading Bollywood director; and the GSM Association (GSMA), the global trade association for mobile operators.

Roamware’s Media Call technology is providing the capability to integrate the cinematic content into the everyday mobile experience for film fans.

“Media Call redefines mobile communications from voice to visual media, enabling the sharing and promotion of film clips to accelerate the growth of the mobile movie market,” said Bobby Srinivasan, CEO of Roamware.

Two Bollywood short films “Zahir” & “Matriomony” were premiered in Barcelona today. These films are a part of the feature film ‘Dus Kahaniyaan‘ (10 Stories) produced by Sanjay Gupta of White Feather Films, starring more than 20 leading Bollywood stars including Dia Mirza, Suneil Shetty, Sanjay Dutt, Neha Mandira Bedi, Aftab Shivdasani and many others. Sanjay Gupta is one of Bollywood‘s leading filmmakers who has produced and directed many hugely popular movies such as Kaante, Musafir and Zinda.

The films demonstrate the viral potential for Bollywood movies on the ‘fourth screen’ –the mobile device. Set pieces with action and dialogue scenes interspersed with song and dance make the vibrant, fast moving movies a compelling entertainment experience for the mobile viewer.

“Bollywood today is the world’s largest movie industry, producing more than a thousand movies a year with an audience of more than two billion viewers across 127 countries. Formatting that content for the mobile audience and ensuring simplicity of delivery and accessibility provides staggering reach and revenue possibilities,” said Bobby Srinivasan, CEO and Chairman, Roamware.

“The GSMA is delighted to welcome the stars and directors from the Bollywood world to the world’s largest mobile event,” said Bill Gajda, Chief Marketing Officer of the GSMA. “We are excited by the tremendous potential for Bollywood entertainment on mobile phones, and delighted to support the efforts of Roamware and Hungama Mobile in their commitment to bringing a rich array of Indian film entertainment to the fourth screen for a global audience of millions.”

“India is the fastest growing market in the mobile world, and the world’s fourth largest market. It has the potential to be the largest market globally by 2010. It is the most logical market from which to launch the mobile movie industry and present a brand new avenue of cinematic entertainment for mobile users everywhere. The potential is truly amazing. Hungama Mobile has already launched a Bollywood channel directly on operator decks around the world in nearly 30 countries, with over 70 operators. This channel contains music, imagery, video and games from Bollywood. Showcasing Bollywood movies on mobile is a natural extension both as a tremendous new marketing opportunity as also revenue for all the stakeholders,” said Neeraj Roy, Managing Director & CEO, Hungama Mobile.

Hungama Mobile’s content assets and a two year foray in taking Bollywood to the mobile world, coupled with Roamware’s global reach, holds huge promise for the mobile market. The dramatic evolution of communications technology, from download speeds and battery life to compact form factors, screen sizes and resolution, as well as memory enhancements, means mobile devices are now capable of delivering a compelling, high quality and uniquely personal viewing experience.

Bollywood is one of the fastest growing entertainment industry segments and has an appeal not only for the 150 million mobile phone users in India but for markets across all continents. Indian cinema is now dubbed in over 35 languages and accounts for as much as 16.5% of theatrical business in markets such as UK. Indian films have made it into the top 10 charts in markets such as USA, UK, Germany, Australia, Singapore and South Africa. More than 3.6 billion admission tickets are sold each year, across the world and now Hungama Mobile and Roamware will take this to some 2.5 billion mobile screens.

MUMBAI: ETV Bangla, a free-to-air channel owned by Ushodaya Enterprises, is to be converted to an encrypted (pay) channel in the areas covered by Conditional Access System (Cas) in Kolkata from 1 March.

The Bengali entertainment channel had gone pay in other parts of the country from 1 February and has been priced at Rs 10 as reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com.The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India today issued an order to this effect, thus updating recent press releases placing the details of maximum retail prices fixed by the broadcasters in respect of CAS areas on the basis of the reporting done by them in terms of clause 7 (ii) of the Tariff Order of August 31 last.A press release said that the change had been made as the Authority had been informed when it issued its Tariff Order that the channel which was then encrypted would be made free-to-air in some of the notified areas.

Earlier last month, two channels for children – the Pogo channel distributed by Zee Turner Limited and Toon Disney in English and in Tamil distributed by Star India – were made free-to-air channels in the areas covered by CAS in Chennai.Trai has accordingly updated its list of channels with the charge per channel.Even as demand is yet to pick up for Cas set top boxes offered by various MSOs (multi-system operators) with the more affluent residents in South Delhi preferring the DTH (Direct to Home) option, cable operators have begun charging Rs 77 plus taxes to those who are receiving FTA channels through cable. Some operators have added additional cable channels which carry films from Bollywood.

The Zee Group had offered its Galaxee box and the Incablenet has offered its box for a special offer of Rs 1800 and Rs 1500 respectively, covering the box and around 100 channels for the whole of 2007, if consumers make up their minds within the month of January 2007. However, consumers preferred to take to the DTH systems offered by the Star-Tata owned Tata Sky or Zee-owned Dish TV both of which have also been offering attractive packages.

MUMBAI: WorldSpace Satellite Radio is using Valentine‘s Day 14 February 2007 with Radio Amore, its international love songs channel.

To avail of the WorldSpace Valentine Offer one can buy a WorldSpace receiver worth Rs. 1499 and get a pair of speakers free. This special offer is valid till 18 February 2007. Receivers and subscriptions can be collected from retails outlets across your city, WorldSpace lounges and special valentine kiosks set up in malls.

One can also participate in games and other offerings being organised at the malls during this period. Subscriptions start from Rs.1000 for six months to Rs.1800 for 12 months and Rs. 3250 for 24 months.

WorldSpace chief marketing officer Harshad Jain says, “Consumers across India have taken to WorldSpace with open arms. And, with our channel Radio Amore playing all-time favourite international love songs, WorldSpace makes an ideal Valentine gift”.

Radio Amore plays international love songs from across the world featuring artists such as Barbara Streisand, Foreigner, Air Supply, Lionel Ritchie, Luther Vandross and Journey.