Category: Technology

MUMBAI: Archer Entertainment Media Communications Inc. will open its Beijing, China offices amid preparations to begin broadcasting of China‘s first television-over-the-Internet (IPTV) channels exclusively for the Chinese people both within China, and Chinese Living Abroad (CLA) of over 30 million Chinese living around the world.

As per an official release, Jun Chen, Archer VP of business development, China, will direct Archer‘s activities in China.

China Broadcast Live (CBL) and the PCO TV (People of Chinese Origin) channel targets a potential audience of a billion consumers and follows the inauguration of Archer Media and IndiaTVLive‘s PIO TV (People of Indian Origin) via IPTV protocol, in New Delhi, on 17 August, 2006.

India TV Live and PIO TV are the first Internet television channels exclusively for the Indian diaspora community. Archer‘s IPTV ventures in Asia heralds many more entertainment products to come from Archer Media, the release adds.

“Archer‘s pioneering success in Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) places Archer Media in the forefront of the burgeoning global revolution in content delivery via the Internet,” says Archer CEO Michael Selsman. Archer Media will partner with Bangkok-based Buzz Technologies Inc to provide a state of the art experience for IPTV viewers.

Buzz Technologies has recently formed an alliance with Nero www.nero.com and a number of China based Manufacturers of Mobile Handsets and Computer Hardware, details of the agreements are expected to be made public in the coming week. Buzz will deliver IPTV over a range of devices including Smart Phones and PDAs.

NEW DELHI: Star India looks like being the first major broadcaster to sign on to the CAS bandwagon.

In a clear statement of intent directed at its detractors who have been claiming that India‘s leading broadcast network is only paying lip service to the government mandated rollout of addressability, Star has signed up with one of South Delhi’s biggest independent cable TV networks, Home Cable, for CAS-enabled services.

This agreement between a broadcaster and a cable network also heralds that the “CAS dawn” is around the corner.

Says Star India president – advertising sales and distribution Paritosh Joshi, “We have sent out CAS agreements to all the cable networks operating in the CAS notified areas of Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. We expect to have signed contracts in place well within the government-stipulated deadlines.”

“Other than Home Cable, we expect to sign up the other networks in Delhi like SitiCable (now called WWIL), INCablenet and Hathway (26 per cent owned by Star) by tomorrow evening. In Kolkata there are seven or eight networks while in south Mumbai the main ones are Hatway and INCablenet,” Joshi pointed out.

Home Cable is owned by Vikki Chowdhry and services a sizable number of households in the posh Maharani Bagh and New Friends Colony areas of South Delhi where CAS is scheduled to be rolled out from 1 January 2007.

According to Chowdhry, “The court mandated CAS has to be rolled out and since my network was one of those that has registered with the government, it is better I finish signing up the various agreements with broadcasters as soon as possible.”

Those cable networks and MSOs who have applied for government clearance for CAS rollout in Delhi include WWIL, the Hindujas-controlled INCablenet, Hathway and few other independent operators who have big networks servicing a large area.

CAS is scheduled to be rolled out in south zones of Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi from the midnight of 31 December 2006 wherein all pay channels would have to pass through a set-top box on a mandatory basis.

MUMBAI: Sales of digital music in the first half of this year rose by 106 per cent to $945 million when compared with the first six months of last year.

Globally, digital sales now account for 11 per cent of the total recorded music market worldwide, up from 5.5 per cent in December 2005.

According to a report put out by the Ifpi the US is still leading the digital revolution, with 18 per cent of recorded music sales now being made through digital channels. Digital music sales in the US increased by 84 per cent to US$ 513 million in the first six months of 2006.

Digital music also accounts for a significant part of the overall market in South Korea (51 per cent), Japan (11 per cent), Italy (9 per cent) and the UK (8 per cent).

The explosion in digital music services, spurred by consumer demand and a widening array of delivery channels, has seen online and mobile music sales grow from $134 million in the first half of 2004 to $945 million in the first half of 2006.

In Japan, Italy and Spain mobile dominates the digital market, accounting for 85 per cent, 76 per cent and 78 per cent of the overall sales respectively. Online downloading is more prominent in markets such as the UK, Germany and the US, where online sales account for 70 per cent, 69 per cent and 64 per cent of digital sales respectively.

Physical music sales declined in the first half period, down by 10 per cent worldwide. This led to total music sales falling by four per cent in the period to $8.4 billion in trade values ($13.7 billion in retail values). Piracy and competition for consumer spending contributed to the first half fall.

There was growth in some markets, such as Japan (12 per cent), South Korea (5 per cent) and Australia (6 per cent), counter-balanced by declines in Germany (-4 per cent), the US (-7 per cent) and France (-9 per cent).

Ifpi promotes the interests of the international recording industry worldwide. Its membership comprises over 1400 major and independent companies in more than 70 countries. It also has affiliated industry national groups in 48 countries. Ifpi‘s mission is to fight music piracy; promote fair market access and good copyright laws; help develop the legal conditions and the technologies for the recording industry to prosper in the digital era; and to promote the value of music.

MUMBAI: Reliance Communications has selected Aicent MMS Gateway, developed by Aicent Inc. – the California-headquartered provider of mobile data network services and solutions – to offer domestic and international Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) to its mobile subscribers.

Reliance has launched its MMS service which offers a vibrant and personalised messaging experience to its subscribers. By utilising the Aicent MMS gateway service, Reliance mobile subscribers can stay in touch by sharing photos, audio and video messages with their friends and family across India and around the world, informs an official release.

“Reliance has been at the forefront to introduce innovative applications that have redefined the scope of mobile telephony for our many million customers. We are glad to offer domestic and international MMS services to cater to the fast growing popularity of data and video applications among Reliance Mobile customers. With the launch of this interconnectivity we invite all other operators to integrate and to connect with Reliance‘s subscriber base,” says Reliance Communications Application Services president Mahesh Prasad.

Liberty Media chief executive Greg Maffe has been quorted in media reports as saying, “We are saying in the marketplace that we may exchange our roughly $11bn (?5.8bn) stake in News Corp for a controlling stake in DirecTV.”

NEW DELHI: Zee Turner Limited has switched off 19 bouquet channels on a leading multi system operator in Jaipur due to non-signing of agreement with correct numbers of cable homes and non payment of outstanding cable subscription charges.

Interestingly, a day prior to deactivation the MSO had moved broadcast disputes tribunal TDSAT requesting a stay on deactivation of channels. The request was rejected.

Industry sources said that the Jaipur MSO switched off is Bhaskar TV, the television wing of regional media powerhouse Bhaskar Group, which has a joint venture with Zee promoter Subhash Chandra for DNA newspaper.

Zee Turner is a distribution joint venture between the Subhash Chandra-promoted Zee Telefilms Limited and Time Warner company Turner International India.

Latest NRS data confirms that Jaipur city has more than 2,25,000 C&S homes and the MSO controls almost 90 per cent households (2,02,500) in the city.

The households declared by the operator to Zee Turner were 38,782, which has been interpreted by the latter as under declaration.

The operator’s subscription agreement with Zee Turner expired in December
2005 and a fresh agreement had not been signed, Zee Turner said.

On expiry of a 21-day notice period on 11 October, the MSO moved TDSAT seeking a stay on deactivation of channels.

According to Zee Turner Ltd CEO Arun Poddar, “The (Jaipur) operator, taking advantage of its monopoly situation, has been avoiding signing subscription agreement and has also been under declaring subscriber households by 81 per cent. This is not acceptable to us by any means.”

Poddar added his company had been trying to resolve the issue in a “cordial manner” but “non cooperation on part of the operator” has forced them to take a harsh step and resort to deactivation.

“We are really concerned about our viewers and regret the inconvenience caused to them. We are in the process of making alternative arrangements and assure our viewers that Zee Turner channels will reach each and every household in Jaipur city very soon,” he said.

The 19 channels switched off include Zee TV, Zee Cinema, Zee Sports, Zee News, Zee Studio, HBO, Pogo, Awaaz, VH1, Zee Business Zee Bengali, Zee Gujarati, Zee Marathi, Zee Punjabi, Cartoon Network, Reality TV, CNBC, CNN, Zee Trendz and Zee Café

MUMBAI: New Medium Enterprises (NME) which developes high-definition platforms, processes and technologies, has announced the release of its first-generation HD VMD player.

The player, which will retail for $175 in the US will allow consumers for the first time to experience high definition at a low cost on a backwards-compatible player, capable of playing existing DVD formats.

TThe player utiliSes NME‘s HD VMD format, which the company says is a natural successor to the existing DVD platform. The launch of NME‘s new HD VMD player is the culmination of significant research and development efforts in Europe and China, which has resulted in the manufacture of an HD player that combines the latest electronics technologies to deliver a superior viewing experience.

Significantly, NME has already secured content deals in Europe, China and India and expects to be able to announce further contracts in the near future.

NME CEO Mahesh Jayanarayan said, “The release of our first HD VMD player is both a milestone for NME and a significant moment for the industry. NME has worked in close collaboration with our partners, who can justifiably lay claim to be leaders in HD electronics, to bring to the market a high-quality HD player at an affordable price in all regions.

“NME has the platform which will allow content developers to deliver high definition content to worldwide markets now, not at some future point. This is clearly generating significant interest in the market.”

Along with the HD VMD platform, NME also brings a one-stop solution to the HD market, incorporating optical disc solutions, file formats, encryption technology, authoring tools and compression technologies.

NME plans to announce additional products in the near future incorporating other codecs

BANGALORE: Using crawl search technology, two Indian technology aspirants Anurag Dod and Gaurav Mishra have launched an India specific search engine Guruji.com. The duo claims that their 40 US located servers have a data base of around 30 million India specific pages which he informs will double over the next few months.

During a press conference in Bangalore, Dod said, “What sets us apart is our focus on the Indian market and the Indian consumer. When an Indian consumer types in search a keyword like ‘newspaper’, the results would show him websites of the top Indian newspapers rather than site not relevant to him.” According to data available with Guruji.com, 90% of the internet queries are local in nature. Further, around 30% of the internet users on India spend 20 hours per week on the internet and after e-mail, search is the largest second use.

Guruji.com plans to create awareness about their search engine by events at colleges and through public relations. A budget of Rs 10 million has been earmarked for spends in 20 major Indian cities over the next five to six months.

MUMBAI: Flash Media Limited has associated with the premium retail giant Shoppers Stop for installing and managing Imedia (Dynamic Digital Signage) in all its stores across the country.

Flash Media‘s IMedia is a network of digital signage components like LCD/Plasma panels playing audio visual commercials. According to the agreement, Flash Media has installed over 350 wireless LCD/Plasma screens in the 19 stores of Shoppers stop across the country with an average of 20 screens in each store. The screens have been installed behind cash counters and major focal points in the store to ensure maximum consumer attention, informs an official release.

Commenting on the tie-up with Shoppers Stop, Flash Media Ltd co-founder & director Abhishek Kandoi said, “We are extremely pleased to be associated with Shoppers Stop, one of the most leading and trusted name in the retail space. We completed our installations during end of august and the In Stores TV at Shoppers Stop has been up and running from then, we already have some premium brands associated with us. Speaking about the large scale acceptance of this medium, he said “Dynamic Digital Signage has proved its mettle across the globe as the frequency building channel and mesmerizing audience through its ground breaking advancements. Media Experts predict that this global trend would pick up in India.”

MUMBAI: US pubcaster PBS has launched content on the iTunes Store.

Users can purchase and download documentary specials and episodes from PBS primetime and children‘s programming.

Episodes are priced from $1.99 each and immediately available for shows including Antiques Roadshow; Nova; Now and Arthur. PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger said, “Working with our member stations and producers, PBS is excited to deliver a variety of PBS‘ award-winning primetime and kids‘ television programs through iTunes.

” The remarkable success of PBS podcasts on iTunes over the past year indicates that PBS members and viewers of all ages are enjoying the new, expanded access to the content they want, when and where they choose.”

Apple VP iTunes Eddy Cue says, “The success of TV on iTunes continues and we now offer over 220 hit TV shows from more than 40 networks. We are thrilled to partner with PBS to bring such educational and entertaining programming to iTunes Store customers.”

Additional content attached to episodes will underscore the unique role consumers can play to ensure the continued creation and multi-platform delivery of PBS content by becoming a member of their local PBS station. The iTunes Store sells over one million videos per week. The iTunes Store began selling TV shows with five shows from ABC/Disney less than a year ago, in October 2005, and rapidly expanded its library to over 220 television shows from over 40 networks today.

The iTunes Store now features over 3.5 million songs, 65,000 podcasts, 20,000 audiobooks, over 5,000 music videos, more than 75 feature films and 220 television shows