Category: Technology

MUMBAI: Revenues from online content will reach €8.3 billion by 2010 in Europe, a growth of over 400 per cent in five years, says a new study by media analyst Screen Digest for the European Commission’s Directorate General Information Society and Media.

The study entitled Interactive Content and Convergence: Implications for the information Society had two major objectives.

Firstly, to assess the potential growth of digital content including TV, movies, games, radio, music and publishing content across new distribution platforms and technologies, such as interactive TV, broadband and mobile. Secondly, and most importantly, to identify the current and potential economic, technical and legal obstacles that might hinder the exploitation of digital content in Europe.

The research found that the spread of broadband, the roll-out of advanced mobile networks, and the massive adoption of digital devices mean that online content is on the verge of becoming mass market, especially in the sector of music and games, where the proportion of revenues made online already represent a significant percentage of overall income. Although the European market is growing steadily, technological, economic and legal challenges were identified that need to be addressed to ensure European creative industries can maximise the potential economic and social benefits.

The research will be a contribution to the communication on ’Content Online in Europe’s Single Market’ which should be presented later this year by Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Information Society and Media.

The report highlights some of the key obstacles to developing online content and assesses their market impact up to 2010. These include:

Technology: Although broadband access is spreading in Europe there are still wide ranging differences between countries. The average broadband penetration per capita was 17 per cent at the end of 2006, with 30 per cent in Denmark, 21 per cent in the UK and only 2.5 per cent in Greece. For mobile services, the relatively slow uptake of 3G in Europe (11 per cent at end-2005), and the sometimes confusing pricing and structure of data tariffs are obstacles still to be overcome.

Copyright. Issues here include difficulties in accessing content due to the definitions of new media, exploitation rights, terms of trade and collective management of rights at international level all have the capacity to negatively impact access to content. However Screen Digest’s view is that many of the difficulties could be solved through business and legal practice in the medium to long term.

Digital piracy still significantly limits potential online revenue and dissuades rights-holders from making content available online. An answer to this is efficient Digital Rights Management systems (DRM) to manage and protect digital content.

As the market matures, evolving business practises will tackle many obstacles but some others may require national or EU legislation to provide legal certainty for consumers, content providers, service providers and technology providers.

Screen Digest senior analyst Vincent Letang says, “This was a fascinating consultancy brief for Screen Digest to be part of. The scope of the project was huge: over the nine months we interviewed 180 entities in Europe, including content and technology providers, network operators and regulators. In addition we carried out significant research and analysis across 25 European countries and many media sectors. We are very proud that the research we have done will contribute to the European Commission’s policy on digital content and help companies in the EU understanding the potential for revenue and jobs creation in the region.”

MUMBAI: BBC Trust has given the green signal to BBC management to provide broadband audio and video services-iPlayer. They have, however, incorporated changes made by the BBC Trust on the recommendations made by the communications regulator Ofcom following a market impact assessment.

The proposed BBC iPlayer would provide a seven-day catch-up service featuring a large proportion of programming available for download over broadband. It will also include simulcasting services over the internet and making selected radio programmes available as downloads without digital rights management restrictions.

The BBC iPlayer had a public value test, following a three-month period of industry consultation. Some of the recommendations by Ofcom included reducting the storage duration of downloaded programmes for up to 7 days from the original 13 weeks that BBC had asked for.

Ofcom observes that the demand for services delivered over broadband is developing rapidly. It suggests that over the next five years linear television viewing may fall by 20-30%, to be replaced largely by the increased use of on-demand services. A similar pattern is anticipated for audio programming.

However, it adds that it would not be in the wider public interest for the BBC‘s involvement to restrict competition, innovation or choice. It notes that “unchecked, the BBC‘s power in nascent markets could harm the stimulus of competition necessary to ensure quality content for the long-term”.

The BBC Trust said in a statement that the Ofcom market impact analysis forms only part of its public value test process, adding that “in reaching our eventual decision, we must also consider the potential public value created by the on-demand proposals”.

MUMBAI: The Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (Casbaa) will stage the seventh annual Casbaa Satellite Industry Forum in Singapore on 18 June 2007.

The Casbaa Satellite Industry Forum traditionally acts as a curtain-raiser for the CommunicAsia and BroadcastAsia trade shows in Singapore.

Themed Converging on Satellite, issues to be addressed during the e meeting of global and regional industry leaders include the impact on satellite markets of proposed Wimax deployments, the real story behind the satellite-to-mobile TV opportunity and the demand drivers for HDTV services.

Invited satellite industry leaders include International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Secretary General Hamadoun Toure, Intelsat CEO David McGlade and Telesat CEO Dan Goldberg.

There will be a focus on satellite market development within Asia, with leading speakers drawn from some of the fastest growing markets in the world – India, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan and Malaysia – sharing their insights.

Meanwhile, the regulatory environment underpins our industry and a close examination of that environment will provide new insights on the future of the Asia-Pacific market.

Casbaa Satellite Industry Committee chairman David ball says, “Given the opportunities provided by the changing Asian landscape and the challenges from new technologies, we are seeing unprecedented development within Asia”.

Casbaa CEO Simon Twiston Davies says, “The Casbaa Satellite Industry Forum is the premier forum in Asia for satellite market strategy discussions. This year will be a banner year for Asia Pacific satellite services as their value as primary carriers for video and back up for data services is reinforced.”

MUMBAI: Wire & Wireless India Ltd (WWIL), Zee Group‘s demerged cable company, is likely to raise $100 million through qualified institutional placement (QIP) to fund its expansion programme including digitalisation and acquisition of cable operators.

“WWIL is likely to raise $100 million via QIP as part of its fund raising programme but will take a final decision on this soon. Everything will depend on the market conditions,” a source close to the company says.

When contacted, WWIL managing director Jagjit Singh Kohli said the exact amout and instrument has not yet been decided. “I will be able to comment after we have decided and taken the shareholders‘ approval,” he added.

WWIL is making a preferential issue of convertible warrants to Jayneer Capital, a promoter group company, up to Rs 1.31 billion as part of its fund raising programme. This will translate to around 5 per cent equity in WWIL. The conversion price of the warrants into equity shares will be at Rs 122. The company has convened an EGM (Extra Ordinary General Meeting) on 26 February for shareholders‘ approval on the issue of preferential warrants.

“The dilution, along with the warrants, will be around 20 per cent at the current prices if WWIL takes up the $100 million mopping up exercise through QIP,” the source says.

WWIL has aggressive plans to expand its digital cable business and had earlier projected a fund requirement of Rs 7.14 billion over two years.

The company recently announced that it would seek shareholders‘ approval for raising up to $250 million (approximately Rs 11.25 billion). The board which met on Monday considered all the fund raising options including issue of ADR (American depository receipt), GDR (global depository receipt), equity, debt, debentures, FCCB (foreign currency convertible bond), QIP (qualified institutional placement) and convertible warrants.

MUMBAI: Mait, the apex body representing India’s IT hardware, training and R&D services sectors, has announced the findings of its review for the first-half of financial year 2006-07.

The total PC sales between April and September 2006, with desktops computer and notebooks taken together, grossed were 2.96 million units, registering a growth of 19 per cent over the same period, last fiscal.

The buoyant mood in IT consumption was led by growth in the Nnotebook consumptionsales, that which grew by 180 per cent, while consumption of sales in of desktops grew by eight per cent. PC sales are projected to cross 6.5 million units in fiscal 2006-07, given With the strong sound macroeconomic conditions and buoyant buying sentiment in the market, led by demand from various industry verticals, PC sales are expected to cross 6.5 million units in fiscal 2006-07..

The second quarter ending September 2006, witnessed PC consumption sales exceededing 1.75 million units, registering a growth rate of 46 per cent sequentially over the previous quarter and 19 per cent year-on-year.?? Desktop sales crossed 1.5 million units with 48 per cent sequential growth while notebooks sales grossed totalled 0.25 million units with 38 per cent sequential growth.

MUMBAI: Few vehicles are as effective at reaching large segments of the population as television, a fact that has established it as the favored medium for advertisers in many product categories. For as long as that has been the case, however, TV networks and advertisers have been fearful of emerging competitors and technologies that threaten their route into consumers’ minds.

From the remote control to the Digital Video Recorder (DVR), there have long been predictions that live TV and its embedded advertisements were going to be adversely affected by consumers’ ability to bypass commercials. More recently, a different kind of threat has emerged from social networking video site YouTube.

Recent research by Harris Interactive uggests that this fear may indeed be warranted. Over four in 10 (42 per cent) online US adults say they have watched a video at YouTube, and 14 per cent say they visit the site frequently. Almost one in three (32 per cent) of these frequent YouTube users say that they are watching less TV as a result of the time they spend there.

However, YouTube has its own set of challenges as it tries to monetise the viewer traffic it has amassed. If YouTube is considering airing ads before its videos, they may be advised to halt that thinking. 73 per cent of frequent YouTube users say that they would visit the site less if it started including short video ads before every clip.

These are just some of the results of a recent Harris Poll of 2,309 US adults (ages 18 and older), of whom 363 are frequent YouTube viewers, conducted online by Harris Interactive from 12-18 December 2006.

Of all frequent YouTube users, two-thirds (66 per cent) claim that they are sacrificing other activities when on YouTube. Although their visits to the site are most likely to have been at the expense of visiting other websites (36 per cent), time spent watching TV is next most likely to have taken a hit (32 per cent).

YouTube also cuts into email and other online social networking (20 per cent), work/homework (19 per cent), playing video games (15 per cent), watching DVDs (12 per cent) and even spending time with friends and family in person (12 per cent).

Further compounding the problem for the TV and advertising, YouTube usage is greatest among the group already hardest to reach through television advertising: young males. Over three-quarters (76 per cent) of 18 to 24 year old males say they have watched a video at YouTube, and 41 per cent visit YouTube frequently.

Harris Interactive’s Media & Entertainment Practice senior research manager Aongus Burke says, “We know from some of our other data on teens that YouTube is just as popular with them as it is with young adults. It has really emerged as a major force in, and problem for, the traditional entertainment industry. Not only is YouTube using a lot of their own content to steal the eyeballs they want the most, the site has provided a launching pad to wholly new forms of user-generated video entertainment that are gaining popularity quickly.”

However, YouTube faces challenges of its own as it tries to cash in on the house that it has built. When asked if the inclusion of short commercials before every clip would change how often they will visit YouTube, nearly three-quarters of adults who frequently visit the site say they would visit it a lot (31 per cent) or a little (42 per cent) less often as a result.

Burke adds, “To be fair as far as we know, YouTube has never publicly said that they are considering including short commercials before the clips on their site. However, we wanted to see how much resistance there would be at that extreme. Apparently, there is a lot.”

Indeed, in the last year, TV networks have successfully experimented with airing of TV episodes with commercials on their websites. Nearly as many online adults (41 per cent) say they have watched a video at a TV network website as they have at YouTube (42 per cent). It seems like TV networks can get away with advertising more easily.

Burke further says, “Indeed, we have seen in previous data that consumers as a rule are not averse to watching commercials online in order to catch an episode of a TV show they would otherwise miss. Yet those who are accustomed to finding and watching everything for free at YouTube may have developed a very different set of expectations for the site.”

MUMBAI: The Beijing Gehua CATV Network has formed an alliance with other companies to provide high-definition television (HDTV) service and accelerate the development of the service in China.

The parties are Dazhong Electronics as well as TV manufacturers like Changhong and Haier.

Media reports state that the co-founders also include Huacheng Film and TV Digital Programme, Beijing BAMC Communication Digital TV Co Ltd, Dolby Laboratories and other TV manufacturers such as Hisense, Panasonic, TCL and Sharp.

According to the agreement, Huacheng Film and TV Digital Programme together with Shanghai Media Group will provide HD TV channels. Gehua CATV Network takes charge of communicating signal. The HD TV sets made by the above manufacturers should comply with the related national standards and the standards of Gehua CATV‘s network.

Huacheng says that its CHC high-definition film is the first of its kind in China and will work with others to provide this to the alliance, while Gehua is mainly responsible for signal transmission among alliance members. The six TV manufacturers promise that their TV sets sold at Dazhong retail outlets conform with the national high-definition standard.

MUMBAI: Sports, entertainment and media company IMG has acquired Nunet which provides mobile media solutions for
2.5G and 3G mobile network operators.

Nunet currently streams more than 200 channels for over 20 mobile network operators in Europe, Africa and the Americas.

Its clients include Vodafone Germany, Vodafone Global, A1 Mobilkom in Austria, Swisscom in Switzerland and Vodacom in South Africa.

In addition, Nunet provides both technology and editorial support to leading content owners to help them develop a wide range of mobile content products. From WAP sites, real-time tickers, to VoD services, to dynamic, linear channels with integrated advertising, Nunet has a diverse set of technical and editorial resources to support its clients ranging from HBO, Turner, Fujifilm and Sony BMG.

IMG Media‘s senior corporate VP Todd McCormack said, “I am delighted to announce the acquisition of Nunet, which represents an excellent strategic fit with IMG Media. Nunet‘s capabilities perfectly complement those of IMG Media, leading to further synergies and the enhancement of the service we can offer our clients.

Nunet will continue to operate its content aggregation, content enrichment and distribution services under its own brand, and be run as an independent business within the IMG Media Group. However, many in the Nunet team have already re-located to IMG offices as the company plans to ensure that its mobile solutions can be integrated into the broader set of digital media solutions offered by IMG Media to its clients.

MUMBAI: IPTV is being touted as the new growth frontier for both telecom and internet service providers with over 30 deployments globally to-date.

Most providers are offering triple-play services of video, data and voice to prevent churn and arrest falling revenues from traditional telephony.

Frost And Sullivan has come out with a report IPTV: Remote(ly) in Control. Frost and Sullivan principal consultant Jayesh Easwaramony says, “Despite the rapidly developing IPTV market, penetration remains low in most countries, leaving even the largest IPTV provider in the red.

“Decision makers are seized with doubts on the right service mix to entice consumers, the ideal business model and the payoff from sizeable investments in upgrading their networks,” adds Easwaramony.

Unfamiliarity with the unique appeal of relevant content adds a new dimension to IPTV services and the challenge of making it a viable venture.

MUMBAI: Channel [V] is set to expand its music offering in Singapore with the addition of two Chinese music services – Channel [V] Taiwan and Channel [V] Mainland China – on StarHub Digital Cable on 1 February.

With this, [V] will become Singapore‘s largest pay-TV music service provider with three music channels: Channel [V] Taiwan, Channel [V] Mainland China and Channel [V] International, which was launched on StarHub last November.

Catering to the increasing demand for quality Chinese music, youth and lifestyle programmes in the Singapore market, Channel [V] Taiwan and Channel [V] Mainland China will be available on StarHub Digital Cable‘s Chinese Plus II package.

“We are delighted to expand our partnership with StarHub by launching Channel [V] Taiwan and Channel [V] Mainland China on the platform,” said Star executive vice president content, Ross Crowley. “It underscores our commitment to bringing more exciting entertainment choice for viewers across the region. Starting from tomorrow, Singapore viewers will be able to tune in to the hottest Chinese music events and most talked-about youth and lifestyle programmes that have been thrilling audiences in Taiwan and mainland China.”