Category: Technology

MUMBAI: With Conditional acces coming in next year and DTH taking hold in the country the time is right for television technology firms to take a serious look at India. One such firm is the News Corp owned NDS, which provides technology solutions for digital pay-TV.

It has opened a dedicated sales and support operation in Mumbai. NDS chairman and CEO Dr Abe Peled, said, “NDS has had a research and development facility in Bangalore for over five years. This has grown to nearly 600 employees. NDS Bangalore is pivotal in our ability to roll out state-of-the-art technologies, such as advanced middleware solutions, digital video recorders (DVR) and interactive TV applications, to
some of the world‘s largest broadcasters.

“The opening of the NDS Mumbai office, is in recognition that the Indian market itself is ready for the wide-scale deployment of digital pay-TV. NDS has been growing at a compound rate of 15 per cent. We have 66.6 million active Smart Cards using our VideoGuard for conditional access globally. Our middleware is present in 45 million set top boxes. 4.2 million of our Digital Video Recorder (DVR) software has been shipped. Our innovation in DVR shows that we are ken on merging technologies. DVR marks a fundamental change in how people watch television. This basically is a shift from a time viewing paradigm to a content viewing one. ”

As of now NDS has two clients in India – the Tata Sky
direct to home (DTH) service and MSO Hathway Cable Datacom. A point of note is that both companies are News Corp affiliates by virtue of the fact that Star has a 20 per cent equity in Tata Sky and a 26 per cent stake in Hathway.

Peled claims that NDS provides a competitive advantage because its services go beyond just securing content. “Our message to the cable fraternity is that you cannot afford not to have NDS. There is this notion that we are expensive. But when we have dialogues with them I think that they will be surprised at our edge. After all it is a long term investment for them and it is important to choose the right partner.”

30 per cent of NDS‘ revenue goes into research and development activities says Peled. NDS India VP, GM Vladimir Ruppo says that the Bangalore center is fully responsible for delivery and product ownership. “The focus is on the Mediahighway middleware which is a software glue within the set top box and can also act as an end to end solution. It is built on Modular Architecture and can work on any set top box. It has already been integrated with 60 set top box vendors. Right now the Bangalore center is working on
developing a new Elecvtroni9c programme Guide (EPG).

“This solution is aimed at allowing a broadcaster to make dynamic changes and also the user can have a richer experience. The subscriber will be allowed to choose his/ her EPG scheme. The Bangalore office is also working an a solution for enabling mobile TV and also on high definition. It can also offer an end to end IPTV solution which will offer IP connectivity.”

Coming back to its existing deals in India NDS end-to-end systems are deployed by Tata Sky to offer a range of digital and interactive TV services that give their subscribers greater choice, control and convenience. The NDS systems deployed include NDS VideoGuard conditional access solution (CAS),
MediaHighway middleware, and a bouquet of interactive
TV applications including the electronic programme guide (EPG) for viewer navigation. The PEG was customised to suit the broadcaster‘s requirements.

For example there is a favourite channels feature which offers a display of key channels. Then there is the parental control feature which allows for disabling of channels deemed inappropriate for children by their parents. The EPG also sports multi lingual capabilities. So a bradcaster can offer a feed
in multiple languages and the user can select accordingly. There is also fingerprinting to combat piracy.NDS points out that the main aim was to make the EPG simple use for anyone from 7-70 years of age. For Hathway NDS provided a customised EPG.

MUMBAI: The world‘s most valuable media firm Google has launched a new search interface, specifically created for the film, television and performing arts communities. It is currently under phase three beta development and is now available for use by the general public and entertainment-industry professionals.

The development team is also releasing the code for the search box so it can be added to related websites.

Currently titled ‘The Google Film, Theatre, Casting and Performing Arts Search‘ this new film and performing arts search engine is an optimised Google search for topics related to film, television and the dramatic and performing arts, including topics such as movies, multimedia, musicals, dancing, singing, and modelling, with a special emphasis on websites focusing on acting, casting, news/gossip, auditions, and jobs in the entertainment industry.

The Film and Performing Arts Search allows users to filter out irrelevant content and spam, concentrating on search results that are truly relevant to their needs and interests. Although the Google Film and Performing Arts Search will be improved and tweaked significantly over the next year, the site is now ready for use by all entertainment industry professionals and related websites, including actors, casting directors, producers, models, singers, dancers, writers, and directors.

This new search engine is being developed using customisation tools and options provided by Google, and the search results are presented using Google’s servers and Google-hosted pages. Although Google is not directly funding or legally responsible for the development of the Google Film and Performing Arts Search Engine or for the engine’s independent development team, the developers are enthusiastic about the possibilities of these new niche search tools and resources recently opened up to businesses, programmers, and the general public by Google Inc.

Entertainment-industry websites can add the Google Film, Theatre, Casting and Performing Arts Search to their websites either as a stand-alone search box or as an integrated part of their current search options. The technology is entirely free, with no options or obligations involved. All entertainment-industry professionals, webmasters, and enthusiasts are encouraged to submit feedback for continued improvements to this new search engine.

Users will be able to use the Google Performing Arts search box (on any website site that offers the search box, or from the Google Film, Theatre, Casting & Performing Arts Search homepage) to find content that’s uniquely relevant to the site’s readership. Google will bulk up the results using a worldwide search of all sites, with the results weighted by which sites have been added to the engine as “Preferred sites,” along with weights based upon specific tags/refinements/filters and keywords relevant to the entertainment industry. Full sites and/or specific pages of sites are added as “Preferred pages” for the search engine to weight in a positive or negative manner.

Users and webmasters can recommend what Refinements (aka, tags, filters, or labels) they’d like associated with any given website as a whole, or specific pages of the sites. That way, when users drill-down the search results using Google Refinements/Labels, they’ll be more likely to find relevant pages in the search results. Current Google Refinements under development for the site include the following category labels: Casting, Auditions, Entertainment Jobs, Acting, Dance, Singing, Comedians, Film, Theatre, Cabaret, Writing, Musicians, Models, Television, Entertainment Industry News, and Reviews and Gossip.

Webmasters that add the Google Performing Arts search-box to their site should contact the search-development team via email; the team will in turn add the site’s URL to the current rotation of websites that link directly from the main graphic that appears at the top of every search-results page. Currently the main graphic links to a Back Stage MySpace page where this Google Search is already being used (www.myspace.com/casting_calls_auditions), but the plan is to change the link once every few weeks to showcase other relevant websites.

The Google Film, Theatre, Casting & Performing Arts Search Development Team is led by award-winning writer and content-developer Luke Crowe, the co-founder of the now-defunct RoboFilms.com (a pioneer of offering short films and animation online in the 1990s) who is currently the New York editor of the Casting Departments of Back Stage Magazine and BackStage.com

MUMBAI: Intelsat today announced that China Central Television (CCTV), the national broadcaster of the People’s Republic of China, renewed a multi-year contract for the global distribution of its programming. CCTV is also utilizing Intelsat for its international backhaul transmission of the Asian Games from Doha, Qatar, back to Beijing, which start today and run through December 15.

A long-standing customer since the launch of PAS-2 in 1994, CCTV became the world’s first global Mandarin Chinese television service when it expanded its services internationally via the PAS-3 satellite in 1995.

Intelsat currently provides full-time program distribution services for CCTV via its PAS-1R Atlantic Ocean Region satellite, PAS-9 Atlantic Ocean Region satellite and PAS-10 Indian Ocean Region satellite. Intelsat also provides CCTV with capacity on its Galaxy 3C satellite for direct-to-home (DTH) services in the United States. This renewal contract also expands CCTV’s C- and Ku-band capacity agreement.

“With the increased demand for regional programming distribution, CCTV is pleased to continue growing its relationship with Intelsat,” said He Zongjiu, Vice President of CCTV. “Intelsat has long partnered with us in the expansion of our services, and we are confident that its network will continue to support us as we develop programming platforms.”

David Ball, Regional Vice President, Asia-Pacific Sales, said, “We are proud that CCTV has continued to entrust us with the global distribution of its programming, and the Asian Games. As Intelsat expands its global services, we are strategically situated to provide greater power and coverage for China’s preeminent national broadcaster. Likewise, Intelsat will be well positioned to offer broadcasters of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing a complete suite of global transmission services.”

MUMBAI: Yahoo! News has entered into an agreement with ABC News to offer the BBC News video on its site, whereby users will have access to approximately 30 video clips of BBC News video each day, including videos in the categories of top stories, breaking news, U.S. and world news, sports, business, politics, technology, health and entertainment.

The distribution agreement was made with ABC News, which maintains exclusive representation for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for distribution of BBC News on demand broadband and wireless content in North America, informs an official release.

“We are pleased to bring the renowned journalism of the BBC to Yahoo! News, a leading online news service that reaches millions across the world,” said BBC‘s Global News division director Richard Sambrook. “The demand for BBC content in the United States is growing all the time and we believe our expansion on new digital platforms is critically important to helping us meet that demand.”

“ABC News is committed to expanding the BBC‘s presence in broadband in the North American market,” said ABC News Digital Media Group senior vice president and general manager Bernard Gershon. “This is a strong first step that joins the esteemed journalism of the BBC with the innovation of Yahoo News in effort to reach consumers anytime and anywhere.”
BBC joins dozens of other news broadcasters and publishers on Yahoo! News, including ABC News. All of the video will be available for free to Yahoo! users, and will be advertising-supported, adds the release.

Yahoo! Media Group head of news and information Scott Moore said, “The BBC has established itself as an unparalleled global news-gathering organization, and its content will be a tremendous complement to the world class news already available on our site. The BBC has a cool factor with younger audiences, a natural fit for Yahoo! News users who are generally younger than audiences at other news organizations.”

In January 2006, ABC News announced an agreement to become the exclusive representative for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for distribution of BBC News on demand broadband and wireless content in North America. This marks the first time a U.S. news network has joined an international news organization to leverage content offerings, and expands an established relationship between ABC News and the BBC that began in 1994.

MUMBAI: Organisers for BroadcastAsia2007 have revealed that the show will increase its presence for Comgraphics&Animation2007. Over 80 per cent of exhibition space has already been booked, testament to the event’s relevance and growing importance of the Broadcasting and Animation industries in Asia.

“This is in keeping with market trends and especially across Asia, where the animation industry is set to grow to epic proportions,” said Stephen Tan, chief executive with organiser Singapore Exhibition Services.

For the first time in its 12-year history, BroadcastAsia2007, will dedicate extra floor space to accommodate this new focus area. In 2006, the event was housed in halls 7 & 8 at the Singapore Expo. In 2007, organisers will be utilising half of hall 9 which will incorporate the Comgraphics & Animation 2007 exhibition show floor.

In addition, the show floor at ComGraphics&Aimation2007 will be divided into 4 distinct physical areas.

At the Recruitment Zone, aspiring digital artists can speak to the recruiters looking to hire talented individuals for their company, and those wishing to embark on an education in this area can obtain information from various leading educational institutions. .

At the Interactive Zone, visitors can dive into hands-on demos and get up close with the latest technologies on offer, while at the Exhibitors’ Tech Talk Zone, visitors can listen in to exhibitors who will be sharing insights and knowledge on CGI and Interactive Digital Media techniques and trends in a 45 minute presentation.

As with previous years, the show will also include an Animation Screening & Digital Art Gallery, where visitors can sit back and be treated to a screening of selected animation entries and top-line award winning productions by other professional artists. A tour of the Digital Art Gallery is also offers a kaleidoscope of creative works set around various themes.

Conference & Artist Workshops will also be held alongside the exhibition. The event will also be the venue to host the annual Comgraph Competition, organised by ACM Siggraph Singapore.

Other improvements at BroadcastAsia2007 include gentler hall lighting and an enhanced registration process where visitors only need to register once to access both CommunicAsia 2007 and BroadcastAsia2007 halls.

“We’ve listened to feedback from exhibitors and visitors and have taken steps to improve their overall experience at BroadcastAsia. With less light coming into the halls, products that are receptive to glare can be demonstrated with improved clarity, this would be closer to the environment found in production studios or editing rooms, where lighting tends to be a lot milder. A one-time registration also allows faster and easier movement of people between halls”, added Tan.

BroadcastAsia2007 will be held from the 19 to 22 June and incorporates ProfessionalAudioTechnology2007. The event is held in conjunction with Com Graphics & Animation 2007, Interactive DME, CommunicAsia2007 and Enterprise IT 2007.

MUMBAI: Eros International Plc, the company that owns, creates and globally distributes Bollywood content, is in the process of investing up to ?2.1 million (Rs 178 million) for a minority stake in Singapore-based Anytime Pte Ltd.

As part of the deal, Eros-branded Bollywood video-on-demand (VoD) service showcasing its library of over 1300 titles will be launched in the 14 Asia Pacific countries where Anytime service has a license to operate. Anytime, one of Asia‘s leading supplier of VoD Hollywood entertainment, has shareholders which include CPE Holdings Inc. (Sony), Fox Media Services Inc, Intel Capital, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc, YTC Group (a Singapore based multinational conglomerate), the Macquarie Bank Group and Coote/Hayes Productions LLC (a U.S.-based TV and film production company).

The agreement also provides for the formation of a joint venture that will be majority owned by Eros to distribute Hollywood movies on digital platforms throughout India. “The JV will provide fully programmed and customized premium Hollywood content services to local service providers as well as to consumers over the open internet,” Eros said in a statement.

The deal, which will give Eros a seat on Anytime‘s board, is, however, subject to final due diligence and agreement of full terms. Said Eros International CMD Kishore Lulla, “Anytime’s Hollywood digital entertainment services, world-class technical programming and marketing expertise complement Eros’ strategic vision for expanding choice for consumers in India. Working with Anytime will help us further expand the reach of our extensive Bollywood film library.”

Added Anytime president and CEO Craig Zimbulis, “We are excited about the tremendous value this partnership with Eros International will bring to our shareholders and consumers by expanding ANYTIME’s Hollywood on demand entertainment to a massive Indian market and taking Eros’ premium Bollywood content on VOD to the Asia Pacific region.”

Anytime is the leading VoD channel over IPTV, broadband and digital cable networks in Asia and the Pacific. With four of Hollywood‘s major studios and Intel as its shareholders, Anytime has an extensive content of current and library titles available on demand.

(1 British Pound = Rs 85)

MUMBAI: Wire & Wireless India Ltd (WWIL), the cable outfit of Zee Network, is on a drive to acquire last mile operators. The company is offering to cable operators a valuation of Rs 2,000-3,000 per subscriber. While WWIL will be a 51 per cent partner, the balance 49 per cent will be with the operators.

“We want to expand the size of our network. We are making proposals to operators with decent size where we become partners with 51 per cent,” says WWIL CEO Jagjit Kohli.

WWIL has acquired control over 5 Star which operates in Andheri, a western suburb of Mumbai, adds Kolhi. “We have also poached a few operators from Incablenet in Andheri East and others from multi-system operators (MSOs) are going to join us.”

WWIL, which doesn‘t have a presence in South Mumbai, is also targeting operators in that area. The MSO has linked up optic fibre and is keen to start operations in this lucrative part of the Mumbai market. The government has notified south Mumbai as the area where CAS (conditional access system) will kick off on 1 January.

WWIL is also planning to launch a headend-in-the-sky (HitS) platform and has expressed its intent to broadcasters. “We are going to do HITS. This will provide us a wider footprint and hasten the pace for digitisation in the country,” says Kohli.

The buzz in the market is that WWIL is booking seven transponders on Thaicom 5 for the HITS operations. When queried on this, Kohli declined to comment.

The problem with HITS, however, is that broadcasters are reluctant to get into agreement with MSOs for providing their channels due to fear of piracy.

Even as WWIL sweetens its proposals to rope in last mile operators, it remains to be seen how big the impact will be in the cable TV industry. If migration from rival networks take place, it will set the pace for a fresh bout of price and dirty wars on the ground. As Hathway Cable & Datacom managing director and CEO K Jayaraman had told Indiantelevision.com earlier in an interview: “As far as poaching of operators go, it is an open ground. Cable companies who focus on good service and have capital to create capacity will turn out winners. Competition is not a one-way street

MUMBAI: The Asia-Pacific VSAT (very small aperture terminal) market is firmly in its growth stage, and has come to represent the new battleground for global VSAT players who are faced with declining growth in other regional markets.

VSAT services are beginning to gain greater acceptance among the SME (small and medium enterprise) and SOHO (small office/home office) segments. The continuous expansion of corporate VSAT networks is also beckoning the next stage of growth for satellite services.

New analysis from global growth consulting company, Frost & Sullivan reveals that revenues of VSAT customer premise equipment (CPE) – covering 13 major Asia-Pacific economies – totaled US$73 million in 2005 and is forecasted to reach an estimated US$109 million by end-2012. The total installed base for VSAT applications is likely to grow to over 900,000 sites by end-2012, from the approximate 300,000 recorded in 2005.

“Future growth in the corporate and enterprise VSAT segment will result from the booming number of SMEs and the associated demand for easily deployable, reliable broadband connections in areas underserved by terrestrial services,” notes Frost & Sullivan research analyst James Lye.

Growth of the VSAT market is also likely to be driven by the increasing deployments of rural telecommunications, telemedicine and distance education programs across the region. Rural telecommunications, in particular, is expected to contribute significantly to growth in this segment as many rural communities in emerging markets of the region still lack modern telecommunication access. Most governments in the region have universal access programs that set aside funds and subsidies to tackle this issue. Such developmental subsidies help to partially offset the initial capital expenditure required to deploy wireless and satellite infrastructures.

VSAT service providers in Asia-Pacific will however need to brace themselves for increasing competition from telecom service providers. Sensing the same opportunities in the underserved areas, terrestrial telecommunication providers have been rolling out infrastructure as fast as they can justify it. These telcos are furthermore emphasizing the managed services model among enterprise customers, which increases revenue per customer and builds very strong loyalty due to the provision of complete solutions.

“Telecom service providers often wait until the local market is sufficiently developed before moving in with lower pricing to oust the VSAT providers,” explains Lye. “The hardest hit segment is where VSAT is used solely to deliver broadband access.”

The overall Asia-Pacific VSAT market is expected to experience continued and steady growth over the next few years, offering considerable opportunities for both VSAT equipment vendors and satellite service providers. India and Indonesia are seen as markets with high growth potential. Indonesia‘s geography, combined with the lack of foreseeable terrestrial infrastructure build-out has already created a lucrative SME market in the corporate VSAT segment.

While growth in India‘s VSAT sector will come mainly from the myriad of small and medium businesses that are flourishing as the country opens-up its economy with the liberalization of regulatory barriers to foreign players.

MUMBAI: Nokia has announced its latest digital video broadcast-handheld (DVB-H) broadcast mobile TV pilot with national television broadcaster Doordarshan, using Nokia‘s open standards based DVB-H solution.

The Nokia Mobile Broadcast Solution will be delivered to Doordarshan via SHAF Broadcast in early 2007.

During this pilot, Doordarshan will test the reception quality of the broadcast coverage, and explore the options of supporting
different service schemes, such as advertising and interactive
services. The pilot will also enable Doordarshan to gauge
consumer expectations of the service going forward, informs an official release.

The pilot will use DVB-H technology, a broadcast technology now used to support several field pilots globally, chosen based
on its merit to support mobility, small screens, indoor coverage, optimised use of battery and in-built antenna that are specific to handheld devices such as mobile devices.

“India becomes one of the leading countries in Asia to deploy live broadcast mobile TV bringing Indian consumers a step closer to watching their favourite programmes on their mobile devices,” said Nokia Asia Pacific director multimedia Jawahar Kanjilal. “We are excited to collaborate with Doordarshan to enable their mobile TV services. This is a great opportunity for the vibrant content industry in India to take advantage of bringing television into the pockets of the Indian consumers.”

MUMBAI: Rajshri Media, the digital entertainment arm of the Rajshri Group, has appointed content delivery network Limelight as the exclusive provider of streaming content delivery services for Rajshri.com, the recently launched broadband entertainment destination.

Utilizing Limelight‘s worldwide network, Rajshri.com will be able to deliver its library of content globally.

As reported earlier, Rajshri.com, which aims to cater to the diaspora, was launched with the premiere of Vivah on the portal simultaneously with its theatrical release. Focusing on India centric video content, the site currently claims to serve more than 3,000 hours of full length Indian movies, music videos, TV shows, short films, documentaries and other video content and programming.

The content offering is being scaled up and Rajshri.com will soon introduce new channels featuring content on spirituality, yoga, recipes, astrology and numerology. In addition, the website is also looking at original video programming, conceived and produced for distribution via new media to digitally connected consumers worldwide. The scalability of the Limelight network will ensure that viewers are provided with a high-quality media experience at all times, informs an official release.

Rajshri Media managing director Rajjat A Barjatya said, “The non-resident Indian audience is estimated to be more than 25 million strong with an equally strong non-Indian audience. This audience is fragmented and difficult to reach through traditional media but connects very strongly with Indian entertainment, especially Bollywood. The penetration of broadband and 3G networks, especially in developed markets, gives us the ability to distribute rich content, including long form video, to consumers worldwide, including markets which traditional media has not been able to penetrate. We are proud to partner with Limelight and are happy to announce we have received a phenomenal response, having already crossed 4 million video streams within a fortnight of launch.”

“We are delighted that Rajshri Media has chosen us as their exclusive partner to deliver high quality video content to audiences across the globe,” said Limelight Networks vice president Asia-Pacific Matthew H. Sturgess. “To make Rajshri‘s vision a reality, our highly scalable next generation content delivery network enables them to simultaneously deliver huge video files–including feature films that are over three hours long–to audiences of any size, anywhere in the world.”