Category: Technology

MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) has expanded its mobile entertainment team to better serve its existing and new clients.

SPTI is adding executives to oversee its mobile teams in Asia-Pacific and Latin America, and providing additional support from SPTI‘s headquarters in Culver City, California.

SPTI senior VP, mobile entertainment, Jason Wells says, “Sony Pictures is firmly committed to growing its mobile entertainment business, and is dedicating significant resources to ensure its future growth. With the global team in place, SPTI‘s mobile entertainment group will provide not only content from blockbuster movies such as Casino Royale, but also be a single source for SPE‘s integrated mobile offerings ranging from TV series on mobile to interactive games.”

In the Asia-Pacific region, SPTI‘s mobile entertainment team has appointed Rosemary Tan as director, mobile entertainment, Asia-Pacific, reporting to Wells. Based at SPTI‘s Asia headquarters in Hong Kong, Tan joins SPTI from Universal Music Asia in Hong Kong where she was regional new media director and head of new media business development since 2003.

Andy Bishop, based in Los Angeles, has been promoted to VP, sales and business development, mobile entertainment. Reporting to Wells, he will be directly responsible for sales and distribution in Canada, Latin America and Brazil, and will work with all of SPTI‘s regional offices around the world, overseeing business development and sales strategy with mobile operators and other strategic wireless partners worldwide.

He was previously SPTI‘s director, business development and sales planning, mobile entertainment. Prior to joining Sony, he was manager, business development at Disney.

SPTI‘s mobile entertainment team has also expanded in Latin America with the appointment of Stephen Brough as director, mobile entertainment, Latin America, reporting to Bishop. Based at SPTI‘s Latin American headquarters in Miami, Brough heads the mobile entertainment team for the region. Brough and his team are responsible for business development and the sale of mobile TV/video, games and personalization products to mobile operators and customers throughout the region.

Brough previously held a number of executive positions at VSNL International (formerly Teleglobe) in Miami since 2003, most recently as mobile content sales specialist. Prior to that, he served in various executive posts at Sirius Telecom in Santa Barbara, CA, Vonova Communications in Austin, and at Ernst & Young Consulting in Buenos Aires and Lima. He began his career as a business consultant at Andersen Consulting working in Dallas, Kansas City, and New York.

SPTI‘s mobile entertainment team is charged with extending Sony‘s theatrical and TV assets, as well as its range of custom-made mobile content, into mobile distribution outside the US. With mobile product such as the James Bond franchise, the Ratchet and Clank Going Mobile game adaptation from the popular Sony PlayStation franchise, and Spider-Man 3 mobile content, SPTI is the international distribution and marketing arm for SPE‘s portfolio of mobile content, including mobile games, such as Wheel of Fortune, tones, images, video and text programmes.

MUMBAI: Parag Kamani has joined Cornershop Entertainment – An Essel Group Enterprise – as Business Head Wireless. Parag will be reporting to director Cornershop, Chirag Shah and will be handling the entire wireless entertainment and enterprise business, including the management of Short Code 7575 among various new initiatives that are in the pipeline, said an official release.

“7575” was the first to launch Voting and Polling for Reality television and mobile enables all Zee Network Channels and is a leading provider of wireless entertainment, its applications and services.

Parag’s vast experience in the entertainment space – initially in the record industry and, thereafter, in the home video business – has seen him execute various roles at Magnasound, BMG Crescendo, Virgin Records [now EMI India], Saregama India [formerly, popularly known as HMV], and the Dubai-based Vanilla Group [now known as Viva Entertainment].

Commenting on Parag’s appointment, director Cornershop, Chirag Shah says, “We are really happy to have Parag on board, his vast experience in the music and home video industry will shed a fresh perspective to our existing business and add value to new initiatives in the wireless space.”

Parag says, “Having worked for the music industry for 14 years, followed by four years in the home video business, I have always pursued a career providing me new challenges. For the immediate future and, without compromising on my passion for entertainment, I have found it in wireless entertainment and the enterprise business.” Parag is a music aficionado and used to write for various publications on aspects of the entertainment industry.

Cornershop is looking forward to having Parag on board and scaling new heights. The Cornershop team believes there will be a fresh strategic perspective for all with the synergies of Cornershop’s inherent strengths of being backed by the reputed and well-established Essel Group and Parag’s past experience obtained in the entertainment business, ensuring that it is only a matter of time before Cornershop takes on the wireless entertainment world

MUMBAI: CBS Television Stations, a division of CBS Corporation, and Yahoo! Inc. have announced an exclusive video syndication agreement in which local news video from 16 of CBS’s owned stations will be made available on Yahoo! to the Internet’s largest news audience.

The relationship, which begins tomorrow, marks the first video agreement between a network-owned television station group and an Internet news provider. CBS and Yahoo will share revenue from advertising sold adjacent to CBS Stations’ content on the site, informs an official release.

“Local news has become one of the most important pieces of a user’s online news experience, and this agreement brings some of the best local TV journalism to the millions of Yahoo! News users,” says Yahoo! Media Group head of news and information Scott Moore. “One of our key priorities is to offer our users relevant and high-quality local news in each market, and with CBS we’ve found a partner that deeply understands the issues most important to the communities they cover.”

“This is the first of its kind for a local TV station group — our local TV station video will now be available to millions of Yahoo! News‘ users everyday, providing them with our CBS Station‘s extraordinary local news coverage from every one of our markets,” said Jonathan Leess, President, CBS Television Stations Digital Media Group. “Finding new platforms to distribute and monetize our industry-leading content has always been a core strategic initiative of our company, and this deal accomplishes both.”

Yahoo! will highlight the local video to users who select a city or zip code within a CBS owned station market. The video will be station-branded and can be found on the Yahoo! homepage and throughout Yahoo! News. On Yahoo!’s local news pages, video will also include links to the station’s website where users can view additional local video and stories

MUMBAI: Virgin Comics and Tiger Hill Entertainment have announced that their new comic John Woo’s Seven Brothers is available online exclusively through Yahoo!’s Internet Time Capsule, an electronic anthropology archive.

Seven Brothers is the initial launch in Virgin Comic’s “Director’s Cut” imprint, which for the first time allows the world’s top filmmakers to incubate stories and characters in comic book form for further development into film and animation, informs an official release.

Developed by popular Hollywood director John Woo (Face Off, Mission Impossible 2) and Tiger Hill Entertainment in collaboration with Sir Richard Branson’s newly formed comic book media company, Virgin Comics, the inaugural issue of Seven Brothers takes place in contemporary Los Angeles and follows a global epic spanning seven centuries and seven continents featuring a cast of international characters, each with supernatural abilities.

While the debut issue of Seven Brothers will be released in the US on 18 October, an exclusive digital version of the comic book will be offered through the Yahoo! Internet Time Capsule, which will be featured on localised Yahoo! home pages around the world, including the most popular home page on the Internet, www.yahoo.com, the release adds.

“Graphic novels are an exciting new medium for me and I am excited to work with Yahoo! to bring this comic book series to audiences around the world and to preserve it for the future,” says series creator John Woo.

“John Woo is an international icon who stands at the forefront of creative innovation,” said Sharad Devarajan, CEO of Virgin Comics. “Yahoo! is an excellent partner to help us share this milestone entertainment event with a worldwide audience.”

In collaboration with John Woo, Seven Brothers is written by renowned comic book author, Garth Ennis. Ennis, whose work includes the action comic titles Punisher and Preacher, is regarded as one of the industry’s bestselling and most critically acclaimed writers

MUMBAI: US broadcaster MTV has announced a content and advertising alliance with Chinese search engine Baidu.com.

The new strategic partnership will give China’s 123 million Internet users easy access to 15,000 hours of MTV and Nickelodeon original video content and music videos licensed by five top Chinese and Asian music companies for online viewing or download through www.baidu.com.

As part of the agreement, MTV will provide the first-ever branded area featured on Baidu – MTV Zone, which will include advertising at launch by Motorola and P&G. This deal extends MTV China’s digital media position, where MTV claims to have 100 per cent reach of the country’s mobile subscribers through partnerships with China Mobile and China Unicom.

MTV International president Bill Roedy commented, “This breakthrough relationship with Baidu delivers Chinese audiences a major digital platform for non-stop, 24-hour access to MTV and Nickelodeon programming content for the first time – from SpongeBob SquarePants, to Pimp My Ride, to MTV China’s local original programming like MTV Tian Lai Cun and MTV Music Wire. This alliance with China’s number one Internet search engine is also a key milestone in our digital media position in China and advances our long-term commitment to expanding our brands and local content in China.”

Baidu.com chairman and CEO Robin Li said, “We are excited to expand our powerful online entertainment platform at Baidu through this first-of-its-kind alliance with MTV Networks. With a diverse offering of original programming, animation and music, Chinese users will be able to experience high quality entertainment on MTV Zone. Content owners and artists will be compensated through this revenue share agreement, which also offers exciting new opportunities for advertisers to reach the online youth demographic in China. We look forward to working with MTV Networks to build on this partnership over the long-term.”

MTV China will provide four categories of content for MTV Zone on Baidu’s portal, including:

– MTV China’s locally produced shows such as Music Wire, Tian Lai Cun, MTV Chart Countdown, MTV English, MTV Mega Star and live music events.

– MTV hit reality shows including Pimp My Ride, Cribs and Laguna Beach.

– Nickelodeon’s shows, including SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer, as well as live action series Unfabulous and Drake and Josh.

– Music videos from four Chinese labels, as well as one Asian label.

Content will vary in length, from 10 minutes to 30 minutes. Internet users will be able to access the high-resolution video content via viewing online, as well as downloading using Baidu’s BaiduXsetup software that enables fast downloading. Some downloaded content will require payment, such as music videos, while most will be downloadable free of charge after viewing advertisements. MTVN, Baidu, and where applicable, the record labels, share the revenues.

MTV and Baidu will also share ad revenues. Motorola and Procter & Gamble’s Rejoice brand have signed on as the first advertisers of MTV Zone downloads. In addition, MTVN has signed licensing agreements with four of the top music companies in Mainland China, including EE Media, Modern Sky, Music Nation and Ocean Butterflies to enable MTVN to distribute music videos for emerging and established artists. These include Jeff Chang, JJ Lin, Aaron Kwok, Wang Rong, New Pants and others. Music video content will also be available from indie label Avex Group, which represents many artists with strong pan-Asian appeal, such as Japan’s Ayumi Hamasaki, Boa, and Namie Amuro; Mainland China’s He Jie; and Taiwan’s Cindy Wang and Show Lo. Additional agreements to offer videos from local and international artists will be announced soon.

MTV adds that it has many agreements around the world to make its content available on multiple platforms, including the Internet, mobile phones and portable devices. Internet partnerships include companies such as AOL, Google Video, iTunes and Amazon, among others, for MTV, Nickelodeon and the company’s other leading brands.

MUMBAI: The world‘s largest recording company, Universal Music Group is charging the operators of two video-sharing Web sites for illegal downloading.

The company has filed lawsuits against Grouper Networks which operates Grouper.com, and Bolt which runs Bolt.com.

Grouper.com was recently acquired by Sony Pictures Entertainment for $65 million. Media reports indicate that the suit charges that both grouper and Bolt.com had built traffic by encouraging users to share music videos from its artists without their permission. In one incident, it claimed a video for the Mariah Carey song “Shake it Off” was viewed more than 50,000 times on Grouper without the company’s permission.

Earlier Universal had threatened to sue YouTube. However later on the two parties signed a deal to distribute music videos. YouTube agreed to pay a small licensing fee for the material and to share associated advertising revenues. Universal says that prior to filing the suit had looked to reach licensing deals with both Grouper and Bolt.

MUMBAI: Cellebrum, a MCorpGlobal group company and an integrated telecom VAS solutions provider has announced its tie-up with BSNL and MTNL in North India to launch its Kaun Banega Lakhpati contest. The contest, developed by Cellebrum, aims to provide a rewarding experience for subscribers of the telecom operators.

Subscribers of BSNL and MTNL will be able to win total cash prizes worth Rs 5,00,000 (Four prizes of 1,00,000 each, 20 prizes of Rs 4900 each) as part of the contest. The contest will be available for all GSM and landline subscribers of BSNL and MTNL from 15 October to 30 November, states an official release.

While playing the contest, the subscriber will have to correctly answer five simple questions. However, subscribers can participate in the contest as many times as they wish to. Winners of the contest will be chosen by Cellebrum after a lucky draw of the eligible subscribers who managed to correctly answer all questions in the contest, the release adds.

Speaking about the contest, Cellebrum COO Saket Agarwal said, “BSNL and MTNL are two of the largest telecom conglomerates in the country. We believe that our association with these operators will help us reach the virgin territories of this country, vis-?-vis the value added services market. Moreover, with the festive season of Diwali in the offing, we believe that a contest like Kaun Banega Lakhpati will definitely touch millions of aspiring individuals who want to make it big in a short span of time and we are sure that the contest will be received with great enthusiasm across all telecom circles where it is being launched.”

“At Cellebrum, we have always prioritised on providing new, innovative and rewarding services to our customers and keeping them at the forefront of the revolution,” Agarwal added.

How does the contest work?
BSNL/ MTNL Users

Through IVRS: Users in Haryana and Delhi will have to dial 126300 to access the service while subscribers in Punjab and UP (W) will have to dial 12630000 to participate in the contest.

Charges as follows:
BSNL Mobile/GSM subscribers: Rs 3.60 / minute
BSNL Landline subscribers: Rs 1.20 / 30 secs
MTNL Mobile/GSM subscribers: Rs 4 / minute
MTNL Landline subscribers: Re 1 / 30 secs
Through SMS [for Mobile subscribers in Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, UP (E) and UP(W)]: Users are required to register for the contest by sending SMS “KBL” to 6300 and follow the instructions thereafter.

Charges will be levied as follows:
Messages to 6300 for contest will be charged at Rs 2 per SMS.

MUMBAI: MTV Networks, a division of Viacom Inc has acquired Quizilla.com, an online, user-generated community of original teen authors, aged 14 and above, who create and share quizzes, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, polls, and other content.

The website was acquired from Gorilla Nation Media and will now become part of the Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group. Ranked as a top-five destination for female teens, Quizilla.com drew 3.1 million unique visitors globally last month, according an official release.

“Quizilla.com is a terrific destination and another interactive and creative online environment that we‘re adding to MTV Networks‘ portfolio of targeted digital brands,” said MTV Networks chairman and CEO Judy McGrath.

“This marks another great step forward with our strategy of continuing to transform MTVN into a global, multi-platform entertainment company that engages our diverse audiences wherever, whenever and however they want.”

The acquisition of Quizilla.com follows MTV Networks’ deals to buy Shockwave.com, AddictingGames.com and NeoPets.com. They joined a stable of online brands that includes The-N.com, Nick.com, ParentsConnect.com and TurboNick.

“The acquisition of Quizilla combined with The-N.com and NeoPets will further deepen our already strong connection with our audience and provide them with new ways to experience our content on The N as well as the ability to create and share their own creative ideas and passions through Quizilla,” said Nickelodeon and MTVN president Cyma Zarghami. “This is a great complement to our portfolio of brands that super serve preschoolers, kids, teens, parents and families overall.”

MUMBAI:The Optus Networks Pty Ltd has launched into orbit a satellite — Optus D1 that will provide fixed communication and direct television broadcast services to Australia and New Zealand.

Launched on 13 October into the orbit aboard an Ariane 5 rocket, had been builted by Orbital Sciences Corporation for Optus of Australia, was successfully launched into its targeted orbit aboard an Ariane 5 rocket on Friday, October 13.

The Optus D1 satellite is the first of the two satellites that Orbital is building for Optus. The second satellite, Optus D2, is scheduled for completion and launch in 2007.

Both of the Optus satellites are based on Orbital‘s Star 2.4 platform, which can generate nearly five kilowatts of payload power and can weigh over 5,000 pounds (2,500 kilograms) at launch, making them the largest and most powerful commercial communications spacecraft in Orbital‘s satellite product line.

“The demand for satellite communication services continues to grow strongly for direct-to-home subscription television, remote and rural communications and high speed broadband services,” Optus chief executive Paul O‘Sullivan said.

MUMBAI: The Synovate Pax survey 2006 has revealed insights into media consumption, product and service ownership, purchase intention, lifestyle and attitudes of affluent Asians.

Synovate global head of media Steve Garton said that the results were especially noteworthy because they represented the tenth consecutive year of data on this group of influential consumers.

“Pax now gives us a picture of Asia‘s elites over the past decade. And probably the strongest trend tracked over that time is the emergence of the digital generation. The survey shows how digital has taken off – and taken a firm hold – among the affluent population. Digital communication was still in its early stages when we started Synovate Pax and yet digital technology has changed lives – over the past five years in particular,” Garton said.

Top technologies

The growth of some technologies can be traced over a ten year period. Some findings include:

– Just ten years ago, a mere 11 per cent of affluent Asians owned laptops. In 2006, that figure has grown to 35.7 per cent, representing a 225 per cent increase. A further 11.3 per cent of respondents say they will purchase a laptop or notebook in the next twelve month period.

– In 1997, the first year of the Synovate Pax survey, ownership of desktop computers was 44.2 per cent. It‘s now 64.1 per cent, a rise of 45 per cent.

– The mobile phone has moved from 46.8 per cent to 86.3 per cent over ten years (a rise of 84 per cent), and is much higher in some of the markets surveyed. Singapore‘s mobile phone ownership is 95 per cent and Hong Kong, Sydney, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul and Taipei all have over 90 per cent ownership.

– Not surprisingly, the internet has enjoyed huge growth over the past ten years. It is now accessed by 71 per cent of Synovate Pax respondents, an increase of 132 per cent since 1997.

Other technologies have become prominent only within the last five years:

– MP3 players are now owned by 38.7 per cent of affluent Asians, a growth of 116 per cent since 2001 – with a further 7.3 per cent intending to buy one in the next twelve months. On the flipside, the mini-disc player has suffered somewhat at the hands of the MP3 with ownership declining 34 per cent since 2001 – 14.6 per cent of respondents now own one.

– Ownership of digital still cameras has increased 127 per cent over the past five years, from 23.6 per cent in 2001 to 53.6 per cent, meaning more than half of all affluent Asians now have one. There is a further 6.1 per cent who expect to purchase one in the next year. If you include people with digital camera functionality on their mobile phones, a hefty 72.4 per cent of
respondents now have the ability to take digital photographs.

– Digital video cameras are also on the up and up. In 2001, 22.1 per cent owned these items, rising 98 per cent to 43.7 per cent in 2006.

– The DVD player has become an everyday consumer durable in this time frame, with 67.4 per cent ownership in 2006, up 80 per cent from 37.5 per cent in 2001.

– Another growth area in terms of digital technology is flat screen and plasma / LCD TVs. Flat screen TV ownership has increased 136 per cent in a six year period (43.2 per cent now own one) and plasma / LCD TVs are now owned by 17.6per cent of respondents – a rise of 120 per cent over five years.

Synovate Asia Pacific director of Media Research Craig Harvey said the data throws up interesting challenges for technology marketers.

“Affluent Asians now do business on the go and accept this technology as a key part of their everyday life. Many people already have the products they need, meaning marketers should be looking at ways to communicate new features and functions to these elite consumers.

“If you look at the purchase intention data, some technology product categories have dropped over time. Many of these items may be reaching the mature end of their product lifecycle among the affluents, including mobiles without internet access, desktop computers and PDAs. However, other products – like mobiles with internet access and MP3 players – are growing.

“Laptops have maintained steady growth the entire time, probably because they are an essential business tool and need to be kept up-to-date,” he stated.

Garton added that Synovate Pax continually updates its information so that marketers can stay on top of trends. “The trends we‘ve discussed here are largely retrospective. But of course trends are all the more powerful when you can see them as they happen. The beauty of Synovate Pax is that media owners, planners and marketers are always across what‘s happening in the world of affluent Asians right now,” he said.