Category: Technology

MUMBAI: Media Gateway, an international digital rights content aggregator for premium content has announced a deal with Fox Sports International.

Media Gateway will distribute sports programming on mobile phones and via the Internet in the UAE, Sweden, Norway, Luxembourg, Estonia and Latvia.

The programming provided by Fox Sports International includes motor sports programs Raceworld and Moto+ as well as action sports shows such as Sports Unlimited, a weekly magazine program featuring action sports from snowboarding and freeskiing to ironman and adventuring racing, and Watersports World, covering major watersports events and activities such as premier international sailing events, windsurfing, kite surfing, power boating and beach sports.

Media Gateway CEO Karri Zaremba says, “Through mobile phones and the Internet, we’re now able to offer your favourite sports events and programs, as seen on Fox Sports, right into the palm of your hand or desktop. This makes the experience more personal and up-close for the millions of sports fans across these regions.”

Fox Sports International sales manager Bruce Wolfowitz said, “We work hard to ensure that we remain at the cutting edge of new developments for how people can enjoy their favourite sports. We are delighted to be extending our stake by sealing this digital distribution deal with Media Gateway, which will ensure that sports fans have more ways to access programs aired on Fox Sports channels.”

Media Gateway is an international content clearing house for digital media license rights of regional and international TV, film, music, radio and games content. The company ensures these rights are fully exploited by securing alternative modes of distribution, with a focus on live signal streaming or server-based video on demand play-out via IPTV, PC Broadband, Video on Demand, Mobile Telephony, and PDAs

MUMBAI: Gas Station TV (GSTV), an IP-based digital television network, has announced the appointment of its executive management team. Yahoo!‘s David Leider will serve as CEO and manage client and partner relationships and business operations. WPP‘s Stephen Kuehn will oversee fiscal operations as chief financial officer. Adam Bleibtreu will provide design, execution and integration expertise as president of the company.

The team will lead the company in building a national digital media network offering entertainment and informational programming to consumers, while affording unique advertising opportunities to the gas retailer marketplace.

The GSTV digital network will air on 20″ high-definition, daylight viewable LCD monitors embedded into gas pumps. GSTV will feature national ABC content such as its popular “News You Can Use” segments, as well as local news, AccuWeather forecasts and traffic from ABC affiliates. Leider, Bleibtreu and Kuehn will leverage their experience in advertising, media and marketing to strategically position GSTV in the market.

GSTV CEO Leider carries more than 20 years of experience in the media, automotive, consumer packed goods, retail and technology sectors. Leider brings expertise in senior-level client relationship management, business operations and marketing integration to GSTV. Prior to joining GSTV he was a member of senior management at Yahoo! Inc.

Prior to his role as CFO of GSTV, Kuehn served at WPP Worldwide as CFO for the Ford Automotive business where he was responsible for all aspects of finance and operations. During his 15 years in advertising, Kuehn has held several senior financial management positions, servicing many automotive, fast food and retail industry clients.

GSTV president Adam Bleibtreu brings 25 years of advertising, media and marketing experience to his position at GSTV. An expert in narrowcasting and IPTV networks, Bleibtreu specialises in the design, implementation and integration of digital networks. Prior to GSTV, he was responsible for designing and executing the first digital networks in themed restaurants, shopping malls and convention centers in the US. Having served as the initial vice president of creative services for the WB Television Network, Bleibtreu has a rich experience in launching television networks.

“The strong leadership skills demonstrated by David, Adam and Stephen through their far-reaching expertise in advertising and digital media are what solidified GSTV as such an attractive investment opportunity. I am fully confident in each of their capabilities to develop GSTV into a dramatically successful venture,” said DHW Capital‘s David Wong

MUMBAI: Canada‘s private broadcaster CTV launches phase one of the CTV Broadband Network, an on-demand broadband service featuring four distinct broadband channels.

The CTV Broadband Network features a free, premium broadband video player that harnesses the latest in technology to deliver full length CTV programme ming in all forms from all genres at broadband speeds and enhanced resolution.

The ad-supported broadband network was launched at CTV‘s 2006 Fall Upfront in Toronto.

The CTV Broadband Network is currently integrated into the CTV web site and can be found at www.ctv.ca. The network currently houses four channels. They are CTV Shows, a broadband channel featuring full length CTV prime time programme ming, CTV News and Docs, featuring comprehensive local, national, international and business news, all updated hourly, etalk on Broadband, Canada‘s first and only broadband channel devoted exclusively to covering the Canadian and international entertainment industry and the Discovery Channel on CTV delivering entertaining science, nature and travel programme ming, informs an official release.

Commenting on the launch of the new CTV broadband service, Bell Globemedia president and CEO and CTV CEO Ivan Fecan said: “Canadians are leaders in consuming media and the CTV Broadband Network is part one of CTV‘s answer to their appetite to tap programme ming on emerging platforms and to provide a solution to the advertisers who want to reach them.”

“CTV‘s broadband network is a powerful 4-channel platform that immediately provides Canadians with the ability to access a roster of some of the top television shows in Canada and the best of news and current affairs,” said CTV VP digital media Kris Faibish. “For CTV, this is an opportunity to deliver award-winning original programme ming on demand.”

Under phase one of the launch, the CTV Broadband Network will feature programme ming pulled from CTV‘s original stable of award-winning and popular programme mes . Over the next several weeks, more and more programme ming will be loaded onto the channels with a view to launching phase 2 in Fall 2006,
coinciding with the launch of CTV‘s Fall 2006 Fall Season.

CTV Shows will a first look at key CTV programme mes , before they make their television premieres. In July, CTV broadband will launch Season 2 of Instant Star one day ahead of its television premiere and run episodes all summer in a one-day broadband pre-release. Immediately available now are episodes of Corner Gas (Seasons 3) Degrassi: The Next
Generation (Seasons 5) including Degrassi Webisodes, Instant Star (Season 1), Canadian Idol (Season 4) and Whistler (Season 1) launching on 26 June.

CTV News and Documentaries will offer local, national and international news and other programme ming from the award winning CTV News Division.

While, etalk on Broadband, the broadband channel will focus
exclusively on the world of celebrity entertainment. This channel is an extension of Canada‘s favourite entertainment brand etalk. While you may catch one minute of an A-lister on TV, you can catch the whole interview on broadband. programme ming here is focused on delivering entire interviews with key Canadian and international stars. Daily entertainment packages and stories from etalk and E2 can be found here.

Discovery Channel on CTV will bring the best of Discovery programme ming from its acclaimed flagship programme Daily Planet, to the Extremely Wild and Ultimate series as well as the travel show, Valerie Pringle has Left the Building.

MUMBAI: A new report European mobile phone users in early 2006, ‘New Mobile Services – Europe 2006’, from Portio Research, gives a resounding ‘thumbs up’ for mobile TV. Significantly over 50 per cent of those interviewed were interested in mobile TV and were prepared to pay for it, at an average price of €10 Euro per month.

The key findings:

• As many as 50 per cent of mobile users are interested in mobile TV and are prepared to pay on average €10 for ‘all you can eat TV’ – the potential market is huge even when based on conservative uptake.

• Video calling is in its infancy with only 6 per cent of the survey sample having used it already, however over 60% of those interviewed expressed both an interest in using the service and a willingness to pay for it.

• Mobile advertising is a big turn off for most with over 65 per cent of survey respondents expressing a zero tolerance attitude to what many consider to be spam, or advertising that you have pay for when ‘snacking‘ on TV.

It is clear that mobile TV will create a market for more TV viewing in addition to that at home, delivering the notion of ‘TV snacking’ whilst on the move. News and weather for professionals commuting to work, celebrity gossip and game show updates for the young professional and music videos for teenage fans. Sports aficionados also appear to be keen to grab the latest action whenever they can. All the evidence suggests that even at conservative estimates the market potential is huge, states an official release.

Video calling whilst still in its infancy obviously holds an attraction for many users particularly the teen market 85 per cent of whom expressed a desire to use video calling in the future. Interestingly pre-paid subscribers were willing to pay more than post paid subscribers per call. Once again the research indicates a very attractive market with the potential for perhaps as many as 400 million Europeans using the service.

One of the most interesting findings of the survey is consumer attitudes to mobile advertising, with over 65 per cent of those questioned expressing zero tolerance to what many consider to be an unwelcome intrusion into their mobile world. As well as being likened to e-mail spam, advertising was considered particularly unacceptable if it intruded on paid for time watching mobile TV, the release adds.

The survey undertaken by Portio provides many different insights into mobile user attitudes and trends across all major European markets. Italy and Spain for example turn out to be the mobile content hotspots whilst users in Denmark, France and Russia prefer to use content and services pre-installed on their phones. Men continue to prefer buying online while women prefer to go shopping for real. There is plenty of good news in this report for mobile network operators.

MUMBAI: Ericsson has unveiled an end-to-end IPTV solution, which will make possible a complete range of IPTV services, such as broadcast TV, video on-demand, network personal video recording and electronic programming guides.

According to an official release, Ericsson‘s solution provides telecom-grade performance, meets scalability requirements and involves complete life-cycle management. It also includes guidelines for integration with IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) functions, such as charging and end-user authentication, which is unique on the market. It combines its portfolio with key products from world-leading partners.

Ericsson Multimedia Solutions VP Claes Ödman says, “IPTV is much more than traditional TV broadcast over the IP network – it is about integrating media with communications services to deliver personalized, interactive television no matter where the viewer is.”

The end-to-end solution is the first step in Ericsson‘s long-term evolution of TV services.

“Based on our broadband experience, our standardization efforts and our global IMS leadership, Ericsson has a long-term vision for TV and a migration path to help operators meet the challenge,” Ödman says.

Ericsson‘s vision of personalized IPTV services delivered over broadband is based on open standards, including the combination of Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) technologies, for digital entertainment, with the IMS standard for delivering enriched communications services. Ericsson is committed to working with appropriate standardization bodies to achieve economies of scale and inter¬operability in IPTV reference architecture and interfaces, the release adds.

MUMBAI: Broadbus Technologies, Inc., provider of technology solutions for television on demand (TOD), and NDS, provider of technology solutions for digital pay-TV has come together to announce that the later has selected the Broadbus B-1 video server as the first on-demand video platform for the NDS synamedia metro IPTV middleware.

Synamedia Metro is an integrated IPTV middleware solution that enables telecommunications providers and broadband operators to quickly and easily offer the power of IPTV to their subscribers.

The NDS solution will incorporate the Broadbus B-1 Video Server, a 100 per cent solid-state, carrier-class solution for the delivery of IPTV and on-demand video services.

“NDS developed synamedia metro to offer telecommunications providers a turnkey IPTV solution, including security, middleware and electronic program guide functions, that enables next generation experiences today,” said NDS Broadband Internet Group VP Nigel Smith. “NDS believe that Broadbus‘ open design, scalability and reliability are a good fit for telco customers.”

According to an official release, Synamedia Metro IPTV middleware allows IPTV operators to offer attractive Electronic Program Guides (EPG), interactive TV applications (iTV), Video on Demand (VOD), digital video recorder (DVR) or network DVR capabilities and interactive games, in either standard (SD) or high definition (HD), all of which are built using the NDS MediaHighway middleware application development tools (MHDK).

The solution also protects premium content and revenue streams through NDS VideoGuard, the most widely deployed, robust and secure encryption technology for content protection, revenue protection and rights management.

“We‘re very excited to be leveraging our extensive on-demand video experience to deliver a powerful IPTV offering with NDS,” said Broadbus Sr. director of marketing Tom Kennedy.

“By combining Broadbus‘ carrier-class architecture with NDS‘s market-leading middleware and security, service providers get a rock-solid foundation on which to build a reliable and scalable IPTV infrastructure.”

The release also adds that the Broadbus B-1 Video Server is the only 100 per cent solid-state, carrier-class solution for the delivery of on-demand video services. The platform‘s compact, switch-based architecture completely eliminates the use of mechanical hard drives for video streaming and ingest, instead leveraging the intelligent management of massive amounts of random-access memory. The result is unparalleled performance, reliability, scalability for VOD and advanced on-demand services at less than one-tenth the footprint and one-eighth the power requirements of traditional systems.

By integrating the Broadbus B-1 Video Server into a single solution, the NDS Synamedia Metro architecture enables telco operators to deploy a single integrated IPTV system and reduce the time-to-market for new services. The solution is also standards-based, allowing telcos to choose their system components according to their current infrastructure needs.