Category: Technology

MUMBAI: CBS Research has revealed surprising new data showing that as the American public at large becomes more connected to digital media, the more engaged they become in primetime television programming.

Additionally, as more TV viewers become aware of the 2009 deadline for broadcasters to switch to full digital transmissions, the likelihood of them investing in new digital TV sets increases by 40 per cent.

Those are just two of the major findings revealed by a study CBS Research has conducted examining consumers‘ attitudes towards digital media, and the role television will play in the near future.

US broadcaster CBS chief research officer David F. Poltrack says, “This data clearly show a correlation between connectivity and primetime television viewing. Consumers who embrace the new media are the heaviest viewers of the top network primetime programs, and this sector of the audience is growing. By offering them new ways to connect to their favorite shows — whether it‘s websites, podcasts, ringtones or other mobile features — we‘ve been able to deepen the bond these fully connected viewers have with our programming.

“The research also illustrates that as viewers learn about the 2009 deadline for digital transmissions their attitudes towards investing in technology, like advanced home entertainment centers, to watch their favorite shows, changes radically. These findings really demonstrate the potential the broadcast networks have to further engage the public with our content as new technology expands our distribution options.”

The population is gradually moving up to higher levels of connectivity, This “fully connected” segment of the population, the segment with both a broadband and a digital television connection at home, has grown from 22 per cent in the fall of 2005 to over 30 per cent this fall. The ‘fully connected‘ segment of the population is the segment that is most likely to watch the top broadcast network programs.

In addition, this segment visits network television web sites and is increasingly likely to stream clips and full episodes of network television programs on the Internet. Members of this upscale, better-educated ‘fully connected‘ segment are today the most engaged with the popular network programs.

Although less than 30 per cent of the population is aware of the 2009 deadline for broadcasters to switch to full digital transmissions, approximately one-half of these people have already purchased a digital set and another 30% plan to before the changeover. Of those who are not aware, when told of the change, 40 per cent stated that they would upgrade to a digital set before 2009.

It is clear that, as people become aware of the upcoming digital changeover in 2009, the likelihood of them upgrading their home entertainment equipment increases. This is very encouraging since previous research has shown that people watch more television after obtaining a High Definition television set.

Just over one-half (56 per cent) of those surveyed were aware that you could watch network television programmes by streaming them over the Internet. Of those aware of this streaming option, 46 per cent have already streamed at least one programme. Of those not aware of this streaming option, whentold which programs were available for streaming, 62 per cent selected at leastone of the 33 available programmes that they probably would watch via streaming over the in the future.

It is clear that the potential for network programme distribution over the Internet is just beginning to be tapped.

MUMBAI: US film studio Paramount Pictures has launched a mobile phone portal to deliver content to mobile devices and act as a platform to promote theatrical and DVD releases.

Visitors to the mobile movie sites will be able to browse and purchase movie-related content from their mobile phones, and opt-in to receive alerts about Paramount Pictures. Crisp Wireless, a provider of mobile content management solutions, was selected as the content management software partner.

The company is delivering a movie destination site that will enable users to learn about new releases, find theatres, purchase content, buy tickets and participate in promotions.

Paramount Pictures will now have a direct-to-consumer relationship to deliver revenue generating content, mobile campaigns, tailored promotions, DVD/retail tie-ins and collaborative partnerships with technology and media partners.

Crisp Wireless CEO Boris Fridman says, “Paramount has developed a unique blueprint for promoting movies to a mobile audience, and we are thrilled to help them deliver this user experience. We are truly excited about Paramount’s innovative approach to the mobile medium. This is an ideal site for our mLogic Media platform as we are committed to providing our partners with the flexibility to continually enhance mobile strategies.”

These will enable companies to create brand awareness and advertise products and services directly to consumers using mobile TV and video.

The solutions range from the production of made-for-mobile adverts to global distribution and tracking of adverts via the Yamgo TV channel, viral downloads and video streaming over 2.5G and 3G networks.

Yamgo says that it has built a reputation for the production and publishing of extreme sports mobile video content and has invested in the technology and infrastructure to deliver video downloads and stream mobile TV directly to consumers. Yamgo CEO Ian Mullins says, “Advertiser-funded programming and video downloads with a 5-7 second pre-roll ad will enable consumers to watch free mobile TV and video on their mobile phones.

“While it is still too early to predict how consumers will react to adverts on their mobile phone, we are using a traditional TV business model applied to mobile entertainment and offering a unique high-quality free mobile TV experience. Mobile TV campaigns can be integrated with advertisers’ existing TV branding with interactive elements providing brand interaction and collection of valuable user data to personalise content and adverts.”

Mobile TV ads and mini series are produced from Yamgo’s stock footage or using HD cameras filming specifically for mobile devices. Working with the world’s top extreme sports athletes Yamgo produces made-for-mobile content in over 26 different extreme sports. This unique production capacity enables Yamgo to create exclusive stunts and inspiring action sequences to capture attention whilst stimulating interest and desire in the product or service being advertised.

Yamgo operations director Shaun Ellison says, “Capturing and retaining the interest of the highly coveted youth demographic and delivering adverts requires a unique approach to production. The content must deliver a short, sharp burst viewing experience on a small screen. Extreme sports work really well on mobile phones and the content genre has a mass market appeal.”

Mobile TV ads can be inserted in between programming on the Yamgo Mobile TV channel or packaged as a pre-roll advert before a mobile TV download or streaming session. Yamgo TV which is currently available in the UK, the US and China consists of mini films, crashes, equipment malfunctions and unique extreme sports stunts such as mountain biking off Beachy Head, Paragliding out of helicopters, River Surfing and Extreme Canopy Flying.

Yamgo offers four main options for mobile video delivery: Java Vidlets, Multimedia Messages (MMS), downloads and streaming links (3GP, MP4, RM). Java and MMS offer the widest compatibility and ease of use for viral marketing, but are limited to short videos, ideally less than 10 seconds. Downloads offer a high-quality user experience and are ideal for videos less than 90 seconds in length.

Streaming is suitable for longer programming, but currently suffers from low device and network compatibility. Interactive mobile TV elements such as voting and links for more information can be integrated to enhance brand interaction with device recognition and usage statistics providing measurable results.

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has warned all the MSOs that strict action would be taken against anyone beaming analogue signals in Cas (conditional access system) areas.

This was informed to the MSOs at a meeting at Trai office on Friday. Trai said that this would have to be stopped with immediate effect, as it went against the law. Trai advisor Rakesh Kakkar told indiantelevision.com that the the regulator would come down with a heavy hand on anyone beaming analogue signals, as has been happening in some cases.

Trai took stock of the ground situation regarding the availability of set-top boxes (STBs) and was reportedly convinced that there is no real shortage, but there is some delay in actual deployment due to the last minute placement of orders by subscribers.

The MSOs also stated their positions about how many STBs have been deployed and how many are being imported. Reportedly, most MSOs are going for airlifting of STBs next week.

Kakkar said that there was no shortage of STBs, but because of bunching of applications by consumers, there is problem with deployment. He added that there are some technical problems due to lack of stabilisation because of a sudden rush of orders for boxes in a short period.

There are reports that customers are not getting channels as per the rules, and though the streaming is digital, no bouquet or a ala carte choice is available at the moment. In fact, Kakkar asked: “You must be getting the same channels through the Cas boxes as you did without Cas isn‘t it?” That is because of the rush and customers not filling their forms in time, and also because the boxes given out in the initial rush were all preset, he explained. This will change soon, he added.

MSO sources said also that they assured that there are enough boxes. One representative said that his company‘s seeding is already 9,000 boxes a day. Incablenet representative Ashok Mansukhai said: “We have told Trai that our deployment would reach 10,000 boxes per day. We will be airlifting boxes from next week.”

Wire & Wireless Ltd is also getting in additional boxes. “We have deployed 1.5 lakh boxes across the three metros over the past five days. We are going for airlifting of new boxes. By next week we will have 50,000 more boxes brought in, and by 31 January, we shall have additional 1.5 lakh boxes in position for deployment. This is apart from the 34,000 boxes awaiting clearance at Mumbai airport and another 12,500 boxes at Kolkata airport,” said WWIL executive vice president Arvind Mohan.

MUMBAI: JumpTV Inc. (www.jumptv.com), broadcaster of ethnic television over the Internet, has announced that the company has ended the year 2006 with 254 channel partnerships, is consummating the previously announced acquisition of Sports International Group and made several management appointments for 2007.

JumpTV announced the signing of exclusive agreements with 12 new television channels before year-end bringing the total number of channels under license at 31 December 2006 to 254.

The 12 new channels will be individually priced at US$9.95 per month when launched commercially, and some will become part of country/region-specific channel bundles at later dates. Banglavision will soon be included in JumpTV‘s newly-launched Bangla Package of channels, which currently includes top Bangladeshi channels; Channel i, NTV Bangla and RTV Bangla. The addition of the 5 Pakistani and 2 Nigerian channels brings JumpTV‘s Pakistani and Nigerian channel lineup to 9 channels and 3 channels respectively, and bundles will be launched for each of these countries soon, informs an official release.

JumpTV International president and chief executive officer Kaleil Isaza Tuzman stated, “JumpTV is laser-focused on successfully executing against our three-phased strategy which began with (a) channel acquisition, followed by (b) building the best user experience for live video on the web and will be completed by (c) our subscriber acquisition efforts.

The company‘s board of directors has also announced that Kaleil Isaza Tuzman has been appointed of as president and chief operating officer of JumpTV Inc. He will however, continue to serve as president and chief executive officer of JumpTV International, the company‘s wholly owned subsidiary.

Alex Blum, who had previously held the position of president and chief operating officer of JumpTV Inc., will continue with the Company through the end of January to help facilitate the transition after which time he will serve on JumpTV‘s Advisory Board and assume his new role as chief executive officer of a social networking and user generated content application service provider based in New York, adds the release.

In addition, several other management appointments have been made to the team. JumpTV chairman and chief executive officer G. Scott Paterson said, “We have built an incredibly strong team of executives with global reach and experience. When I became CEO in May 2005, we had only seven exclusive channel partnerships and no third-party marketing/distribution relationships. Under Kaleil Isaza Tuzman‘s leadership and tireless efforts, we have become the single largest carrier of ethnic television in the world with more than 250 exclusive channel agreements today, top-notch sports content and world-leading marketing/distribution partners. The board of directors and I are confident that in Kaleil‘s expanded role he will provide the day-to-day leadership for our Company to achieve our objectives for 2007 and beyond.”

In addition, JumpTV has previously announced the acquisition of Sports International Group LLC (SIG), the owner of www.SportsYa.com. The company anticipates closing the transaction no later than 8 January 2007.

Former SIG CEO and majority shareholder Daniel Canel has become Chairman of JumpTV‘s Latin American business unit, and will contribute materially to the company‘s overall sports and corporate development initiatives.

Pursuant to the acquisition, the company has issued 521,345 of its Common Shares. Application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for these shares to be admitted to AIM, such shares are expected to be admitted to AIM on 9 January 2007, adds the release.

MUMBAI: The mobile video market in China will take off in 2008, driven by interest in the Beijing Olympics.

A new study from ABI Research published out of Singapore forecasts total mobile video users at more than 32 million in 2008. About 27 per cent of these consumers will use broadcasting technology, and 73 per cent will use unicast streaming technology, while a number of viewers are likely to use both.

In 2006, SARFT, the Chinese State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television, announced two handset-related standards. DAB is likely to be the first phase of mobile multimedia broadcasting standards development in China. DAB paves the way for upgrading to China’s proposed mobile multimedia broadcasting standard, T-DMB, a terrestrial implementation of SK Telecom’s mobile video format.

Because both standards are voluntary, there are questions surrounding their effect in the market. “It is likely that local media groups and TV stations will deploy DAB initially, and implement T-DMB at a later date,” 3g.co.uk quotes ABI research director Jake Saunders as saying. “The Chinese government will give preference to a standard that will be used in the 2008 Olympics, and DAB has been listed as one of the broadcast services that will be available at the Beijing Games.”

“Although lack of content is still deemed to be a bottleneck for mobile video in mainland China, the problem will be solved in the next two years,” adds Saunders. “The current content shortage is caused by the limited number of handset TV SP licenses. When more companies obtain licenses, competition will become the lubricant to drive up the market.”

Meanwhile in Hong Kong, mobile operators are active in mobile video streaming. Their international operations backgrounds allow them to provide diversified content to users.

PCCW’s experience in operating its IPTV business will boost its performance in the 3G market. ABI Research forecasts approximately 715,000 mobile video users in Hong Kong in 2008, of which 99 per cent will be streaming users. In Taiwan, ABI Research forecasts that there will be over 1.5 million mobile video users in 2008, with 97 per cent receiving content via streaming.

“Mobile Video in China” analyzes the mobile video market in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. It lists the streaming mobile services offered by mobile operators in the three areas, discusses the regulatory environment in mainland China, and charts the directions that will be taken by mobile video development based on different technologies.

MUMBAI: Electric Spin, creators of the Golf Launchpad series of golf simulators, and digital pay-TV technology solutions provider NDS have announced the Golf Launchpad/XTV Experience.

The new set-top box edition of the golf simulator allows users to play along with their favorite golfers during televised tournaments. The new gaming experience will be demonstrated at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show.Golf Launchpad/XTV Experience combines Electric Spin’s golf simulation technology with NDS’s interactive TV technology to create a virtual golf experience. While watching a PGA tour event on television, viewers can use the Golf Launchpad/XTV Experience to virtually play and compete with their own clubs, on the same course, in real time.

“There are millions of XTVReady set-top boxes in the market today,” said NDS Vice President of Interactive TV Jesper Knuttson. “This opens up a whole new market for interactive sports simulation on TV. Together with Electric~Spin, we are changing the way viewers can interact and experience digital television.”“If you have ever wanted to play side-by-side with your favorite tour player, this is your chance,” said Electric~Spin President Anees Munshi. “This product will profoundly change the way people interact with their television programming.”

Golf Launchpad/XTV Experience is expected to go on sale in the US in June 2007.

MUMBAI: NDS, the leading provider of technology solutions for digital pay-TV, and CyberLink, a world leader in digital home software solutions, have partnered to integrate NDS VideoGuard PC technology with CyberLink’s PowerCinema home entertainment solution for PCs.

PowerCinema supports full TV services including live broadcast channels, digital video recording (DVR) functions, Electronic Program Guides (EPGs), secure content downloads, on-demand services, and Video-on Demand (VOD). By integrating the NDS VideoGuard® technology, PowerCinema enables operators to expand their services to PC owners, and extend their market reach.

The VideoGuard PC solution uses hardware-based security and a USB VideoGuard Key™ to provide a secure way of extending content usage rights beyond the set-top box. The VideoGuard PC solution ensures that you can extend your existing services such as broadcast TV and VOD to PCs. It also maintains secure storage for the ultimate solution of content protection convergence.

“Our partnership with such a ubiquitous PC technology as CyberLink PowerCinema presents a win-win situation for our pay-TV operator customers, PC vendors, and consumers”, said Joseph Deutsch, Vice President of Product Marketing, NDS. “Because VideoGuard combines CA and DRM to protect TV services as well as the licensing and content rights, operators can rely on secure content transfer between DVRs, PCs, and Portable Media Players (PMPs). Users can therefore enjoy their high-definition content on their PCs along with the flexibility to move it to PMP devices or CDs without compromising the content owner’s rights.”

Alice H. Chang, CEO of CyberLink added: “CyberLink PowerCinema offers a complete TV solution for enjoying high-definition digital TV from satellite, cable and IPTV service providers. By working with NDS to integrate VideoGuard PC, we now support the world’s leading conditional access technology for premium pay-TV content. This collaboration delivers an extremely valuable solution for PC companies and pay-TV operators who can now expand TV’s reach onto a new PC platform within the digital home.”

“We are delighted to integrate VideoGuard PC into PowerCinema” continued Chang. “We have decided to partner with NDS, a company that has the industry’s best track record for conditional access and digital rights management. This ensures that pay-TV operators will see our “Cyberlink inside” PCs as a natural extension to their network and provide subscribers the freedom to enjoy the best services and content beyond the living room”.

This solution for the PC market follows NDS‘s earlier integration of VideoGuard Mobile and Electronic Service Guide (ESG) with CyberLink‘s Mobile DTV player, enabling any pay-TV operator to provide a true end-to-end secure multi-platform, multi-network service.

MUMBAI: Multi-system operators (MSOs) have in store 200,000 set-top boxes (STBs) and orders have been placed for importing more to meet the growing demand from consumers, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman Nripendra Misra tells Indiantelevision.com.

The offtake of STBs has been slow in Kolkata while there seems to be a healthy demand in Mumbai and Delhi, he adds. MSOs have seeded 135,000 boxes in Mumbai, 105,000 in Delhi and only 24,000 in Kolkata.

“Kolkata is slow to take off and our feedback is that most of the consumers are opting for free-to-air (FTA) package at this stage. But overall Cas (conditional access system) is getting accepted by the consumers,” says Misra.

Mumbai with 130,000 has the maximum number of STBs in stock while Delhi has 55,000 and Kolkata 20,000. But the major MSOs like Incablenet, Hathway Cable & Datacom and Wire & Wireless India Ltd (WWIL), who are operating in multiple cities, have no problems in shifting the boxes according to the consumer requirement.

Misra admits, though, that there are “reports of shortages in some pockets.” Consumers falling under the Cas areas did not order for the boxes earlier and there is a rush only after Cas got implemented which has led to this current situation, he clarifies.

The cable & broadcast regulator has called for a meeting with the MSOs on Friday to take stock of the Cas situation. The Trai will be sending teams to Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata from Monday to make spot assessments, Misra says.

MUMBAI: Research and Markets has announced the addition of Wireless Broadband Services: The 4G Cellular Industry (part three of three) to their offering.

According to the study, the cellular industry invested over $13.7 billion (USD) in spectrum auctions. Today‘s cost for a cellular service with an average data communications service of 130 Kbps is about $80 a month.

To be competitive with the advances in WiMAX and Wi-Fi, the fee for 4G services will need to be lower than the cellular companies expect.

A better strategy for 4G operators would be to offer lower speeds with more capacity to handle more users as a bargain thereby fully loading the networks with subscribers.

Usage based offerings with specific services, offering niche services at moderate speeds, may turn out to be the most effective and profitable method to roll-out 4G.

Key findings of the study are

– The 4G services will need more MVNE‘s to support the OSS/BSS infrastructure.

– Revenues will reach $2.5 billion, $9.1 billion for cellular data and small business DSL respectively by 2011 Small business spending on internet access will grow to $8.2 billion by 2009, up from $4.4 billion in 2005, largely due to adoption of DSL and higher bandwidth services.

– Spending on wireless data services will outpace all other categories in the SOHO segment, growing to nearly $2.2 billion in 2009, up from $0.47 billion in 2005.