Category: Applications

MUMBAI: National Geographic has signed a deal with Open Media Network (OMN) and FilmClix. This will bring a variety of programming to online audiences.
 
Viewers can now rent National Geographic shows by downloading content online through the free OMN Viewer.

National Geographic shows are downloadable via OMN without any compromises of video quality. OMN uses higher encoding fidelity to make sharp DVD-quality video possible and is unmatched by other services online. Its peer to peer grid network also enables speedy downloads regardless of file size, making the download experience easy and fast.
 
Viewers can start watching National Geographic content now by going to www.omn.org. Each episode is $2.69 for four day rental with unlimited playbacks during that time. The downloads are made possible by a partnership between FilmClix, who is licensed by National Geographic to distribute titles and OMN. OMN delivers each National Geographic program using Microsoft Windows Media Player Digital Rights Management.

Open Media Network is a non-profit organization that utilises advanced video and audio delivery technology available to bring ‘media that matters‘ to the online public. It boasts of a library of educational programming — free and fee-based — including download to own content from the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and thought-provoking podcasts from leading National Public Radio (NPR) affiliates. With the addition of National Geographic‘s downloadable pay-per-view content, OMN‘s online collection gives viewers an even larger selection of high quality educational content in one location.

Open Media Network founder Mike Homer said, “National Geographic brings the world to us with its full-fidelity photography and examination of fascinating topics. Distributing amazing National Geographic documentaries over the Internet and making them available for viewing anywhere at anytime is an exciting opportunity and we‘re very pleased to work with FilmClix to make this possible.”

FilmClix founder Julia O‘Sullivan says, “FilmClix wants to go where the audience is located and the quality of content is high. Open Media Network is fulfilling our vision of meeting a variety of viewers. FilmClix is creating something new, aggregating a network programmed by the diversity of demand over a user generated medium. We are pleased to reach a new audience for our National Geographic content.

Select episodes of made available through OMN and FilmClix include Inside the Pentagon, Air Force One and Inside the Secret Service.

Science and Technology

— Destination Space

Arts and Culture

— Afghanistan Revealed

— China‘s Lost Girls

— Tibet‘s Hidden Kingdom

— Inside the Vatican

— Beyond the Movie: Lord of the Rings

Sports and Recreation

— Inside the NFL

— Basketball Diplomacy

Education and Learning

— Rainforest

— Through the Lens

— Secret Weapons

MUMBAI: China.com Inc., an online game, mobile value added services and internet services provider operating principally in China, and a 77 percent-owned subsidiary of CDC Corporation, has formed a strategic partnership with Google.

Under the agreement, Google will provide search engine technology for China.com to support searches of its English and traditional Chinese content by its users in China.
 
Leveraging on its unique and valuable URL and the attractive demographics of its core user base, China.com has launched a group of websites focused on various countries and regions to help global businesses access the increasing affluent consumers in China, one of the fastest growing consumer markets in the world. The proposed partnership will be one of the most comprehensive partnerships between Google and a China internet portal since Google entered the China market, states an official release.

The partnership with Google is expected to further enhance the user experience for China.com‘s expanding base of domestic and international users, and is another demonstration of the company‘s strategy to grow its user base by continuously upgrading its services and introducing new and compelling products. To maximize the benefits of the partnership, China.com and Google will cooperate across several areas including branding, content and advertising operations, adds the release.
 
“China.com firmly believes that this partnership between the world‘s premier search company and one of China‘s leading portals with over 5 million daily users is a perfect fit. By harnessing Google‘s innovative technology to China.com‘s deep understanding of the China market, we can rapidly expand the user base and generate new revenue opportunities for both companies,” says China.com executive director & CFO Dr. Xiaowei Chen.

“China is a key area of focus for Google and we are rapidly expanding our presence and operations in this important market. We are excited about our partnership with China.com and we expect our current partnership to bring significant strategic benefits. We are also looking forward to exploring with China.com further areas where our companies cooperate,” states Google president of Sales and Business Development for Greater China Johnny Chou.

MUMBAI: The US-based website marketing and internet market research firm Intralink has launched Search Engine Television, a weekly video stream of the latest on search engine news and website marketing tips, suggestions and processes.

The first episode is an overview of the current state of the search engine market with a focus on Google, Yahoo and MSN. The first episode also offers interim results of Intralink‘s next search engine relevance report due to be released on 2 October, as per an official release.

The next episode will be released on 18 August at 6 pm (Eastern time) and discusses the latest trends in new media marketing, website marketing and the integration of traditional marketing methods and website marketing, the release adds.

MUMBAI: US-based India Broadcast Live, a global entertainment and media company, has unveiled Pio TV, a television channel meant for the Indian diaspora. The channel will be available through the Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) platform.
 
Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi formally inaugurated the new channel yesterday at a function held in New Delhi.

IBL has begun streaming a variety of content from India, including news, sports and entertainment in several Indian languages to 40 million Indians living outside of India and 1.2 billion Indian subscribers in India via www.IndiaTVLive.com, states an official release.
 
“We look after the interest of the 20 million people of Indian origin (PIOs) and non-resident Indians (NRIs) who reside overseas. Hence I am delighted to launch this new platform that will connect the expatriates with instantaneous news and information from India,” Ravi has been quoted in media reports as saying.

PIO TV will offer specialized programming to the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) around the world. The channel distributed via the Internet on www.IndiaTVLive.com will offer daily news bulletins, business news & features, talk shows, sports coverage, segments on lifestyle, fashion, cuisines, culture, tradition, religion and an exhaustive coverage of Bollywood and Indian entertainment, the release adds.

MUMBAI: Worldspace, satellite-based digital radio services provider has announced the appointment of Harshad Jain as Chief Marketing Officer for its India operations. Jain will be responsible for extending the Worldspace service to markets across India, enhancing consumer experiences and building upon growing brand awareness levels in the country.
 
Jain joins Worldspace from Pepsico India where he had a productive 12-year plus stint, serving in various roles and building Pepsi brands including Lipton Ice Tea, Aquafina, Tropicana, Slice, Gatorade, and others. In his last role as Executive Vice President (Pepsi-Lipton Joint Venture), Jain headed up the strategic alliance between Pepsi and Unilever, laying the foundation for the merger of the successful Lipton Ice business with Pepsi as well as developing the marketing strategy and the long-term vision for the alliance, informs an official release.
 
Worldspace India MD Shishir Lall said, “We are delighted to have Harshad join us at Worldspace as we look to grow our business and undertake an extensive brand-building campaign. His appointment is part of a concerted effort to continue building a passionate management team as we share the joy of satellite radio with more and more music lovers across the country.”

With over 40 premium radio stations Worldspace India will leverage Jain‘s considerable brand building experience to further extend the reach of the satellite radio service and establish a connection with a larger base of music lovers across India, adds the release.

MUMBAI: Mobile TV will succeed if the content on offer is compelling. Also one or two channels will not suffice. An operator should give around 20 channels. It should also be easy for the consumer to switch from one channel to another. This was the message delivered by Qualcomm president India and SAARC Kanwalinder Singh. As an example, he noted that if certain geography requires about 30,000-40,000 base station for wireless coverage, the same region can be served by about 400 MediaFLO towers to deliver mobile TV service. If the bandwidth is not enough then the picture is jerky and consumers will be put off. The key to successful mobile television is to do interactivity with the broadcast. MediaFLO is an end to end system that allows this. Mobile television is one to one interaction unlike television which is one to many.

Qualcomm bought spectrum in the US and is now in a deal with Verizon to launch a mobile TV service next year in the US. He noted that MediaFLO has a Conditional Access System which allows only those phones who have paid for the content to access it. When desired, the operator can still have free to air content. The basic challenge is to have the maximum number of channels possible with relatively limited spectrum. Power consumption by the mobile phone should also be low. Mobile television also offers unique commerce opportunities. For instance secondary generation opportunities exist when a music video is playing. One can offer a ringtone, the music album of that artist to the user to buy on the spot. He added that Qualcomm is keen on doing a trial project with mobile operators in India.

Another session looked at the business of retail and home entertainment. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment country manager N. Muthuram noted that there is a 60 per cent DVD penetration in TV homes in India. The DVD has features like subtitles, language options which has energised the market. “It is a catalogue driven business. Classic titles like Sholaty perform well contrary to perception in some quarters that one the new titles sell. In the US home videos earn thrice as much as theatrical releases. In fact Sony Pictures has a deal with Steven Seagal and Wesley snipes for direct to video films. It is also a positive sign that window of release for videos is falling.” He noted the importance of retail in the home video market in the US. Walmart contributes 50 per cent to the home video business. He noted that increasingly companies across the globe tie up for home video releases. An example is in Mexico. There Act II Popcorn did a deal for the home video release of Spiderman. The aim was to once again generate excitement for Spiderman when the sequel was being released theatrically. Act II found relevance with the product and 42,000 units were sold. In Italy a pizza company has an association with DVD releases. Basically a DVD comes with a pizza. They also do a DVD choice of the month initiative. The message is that the consumer can enjoy the pizza while watching a film. This gives the home entertainment firm an avenue that would have exited earlier. The retail firm meanwhile gets an extra hook for its product. In Germany a tie up was done for Terminator 3 between Sony, Sony Electronics and Hatari which had developed a game based on the game. The good thing was that it was a combined promotional effort. There was TVC pushing all the three firms. When consumers bought a product there would be leaflet inside telling them about the other two products. In India the key challenge is to educate brand marketers about the possibilities in this arena. Saregama VP and head – films Sweta Agnihotri gave more examples of how synergies work between DVDs and brands. Motrorola for instance made a phone on Spongebob. Samsung had done a tie up for the Matrix which was all about having information. Kelloggs regularly does stuff with Disney. Mitsubishi did a promotion for 2 Fast 2 Furious where they had kits distributed in their dealership outlets. All this allows a brand to be associated with famous stars for a relatively less cost. In India Saregama had done a Barbie called Hope has Wings for a brand. The song played on music channels. There was also a tie up with micro processor solution firm AMD for the DVD release of Madagascar

MUMBAI: The basic tier monthly rate of Rs 77 (excluding taxes) in conditional access system (CAS) areas is unrealistic and should not be below Rs 100, cable TV operators told the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Six stakeholders have posted their views to the broadcast and cable regulator. Trai had sought views from the industry on the draft tariff amendment order notification for fixing the basic tier rate.
 
The common argument laid down by the cable operators was that the price for the 30 FTA channels did not take into account the distribution cost through franchisee operators.

According to clause 3B in the Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable) Services (Second) Tariff Order, 2004 (6 of 2004), “The maximum amount, which a cable operator may demand from a subscriber for receiving the programmes transmitted in the ‘basic service tier‘ provided by such cable operator shall not exceed Rs 77 per month exclusive of taxes, for a minimum of 30 FTA channels. Free-to-air channels, over and above the basic service tier, would also be made available to the subscribers within the maximum amount mentioned above.”
 
The views posted by New Delhi-based Cable Operators Federation of India (COFI) said, “Only one multi-system operator (MSO) headend was considered and not the distribution cost through franchisee operators who maintain their own offices, technical maintenance staff, collection staff etc. Quality of service was not considered while calculating number of subscribers and the number of subscribers was based on extended network of the MSO prevailing at that time.”

“The cost of FTA channels has to be reworked. Even as per our calculations submitted to the Ministry in 2003 the cost was Rs.180. One option is to use the benchmark of Rs 125, which was the charge for 15 to 20 channels in 1994 when there were no pay channels.”

Pointing out the need for reworking the cost of FTA channels, the Federation said, “Even as per our calculations submitted to the Ministry in 2003 the cost was Rs.180. One option is to use the benchmark of Rs 125, which was the charge for 15 to 20 channels in 1994 when there were no pay channels.”

A minimum of Rs 150 should be charged for the basic tier considering the fact that TRAI does not want last mile operators to pay for the FTA package to the MSOs. An amount of Rs 30 to Rs 50 is being paid at present to MSOs, the Federation added..

Hathway Cable and Datacom has suggested a basic tier price of Rs 100 per month (excluding taxes). This will work out to not less than Rs 150 a month.

“The cost of materials like cable, amplifier, and electronics have gone up significantly. And other components such as power and fuel in delivery of the services have also risen sharply in the last one to two years,” the MSO expressed to Trai.

According to cable TV industry observer Col V.C Khare, “The rate was arrived at for a network spectrum 47-550 MHz transporting 62 channels, with a customer base of 32000 and a radius of operation of 7.5 kms on coaxial cable.”

“Technically, head ends using 500 series trunk cable over 47-862 M Hz and transporting 90 channels cannot deliver signal quality per IS 13420 beyond 4.8 kms cable length, with a cascading limit of 16 amplifiers. The subscriber base of 32000 was high as independent head ends were having 18000 subscribers on an average. On the other hand, networks have consolidated with fiber, 120 digitally compressed signals, encryption and SMS hardware installed. If the upward and downward adjustment in cost for the above factors is taken into account the cost of Rs.72 as prorated would give at least a minimum cost of Rs.100 (exclusive of taxes),” he argued.

National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) president Vikki Choudhry has suggested a monthly subscription rate of Rs 180. “A price below this level will result in deficiency in quality of service for the consumers, non-conformity with the provisions of CAS and Standards of BIS, no investment in network upgradation or maintenance, loss of employment, incentives most broadcasters to keep (or convert) their channels into pay, loss of revenue to the Indian Government and encourage under declaration by the cable service providers of FTA subscribers.”

MUMBAI: AOL has acquired GameDaily, one of the Internet’s leading independent video game publications, from Gigex, Inc, but did not disclose the financial terms. As part of the agreement, AOL will acquire both the GameDaily consumer website (http://www.gamedaily.com) and the industry-leading newsletter, (http://Biz.GameDaily.com).

GameDaily will become the flagship video games brand within the AOL Games network, and will be united with content and community features currently found on the AOL Video Games website (http://www.aol.com/videogames), informs an official release. In addition, the AOL Video Games editorial team will be integrated into the GameDaily editorial staff to create the new GameDaily editorial team. The GameDaily Biz newsletter team will also operate under the newly combined AOL Video Games-GameDaily editorial team. Additionally, certain GameDaily content partnership agreements will be transitioned to AOL.

“Video game sites have become a valuable resource for advertisers wishing to reach the young male audience, and GameDaily is a brand that resonates with these highly sought after consumers,” said AOL Games VP and GM Ralph Rivera. “We look forward to continuing to serve this audience, maximizing GameDaily content with AOL’s community features, and further expanding the AOL Games community.” “Video games are now a vital piece of the entertainment landscape along with music, video and online communities,” said Gigex Inc CEO Mark Friedler. “We‘re thrilled to combine our experience delivering top-notch consumer content and leading business news with AOL’s tremendous reach to provide a new level of innovative entertainment content to online consumers everywhere.” According to the release, in addition to GameDaily.com, the AOL Games network also includes AOL Games (http://www.aol.com/games), destination for casual and downloadable games from leading publishers; AOL Video Games (http://www.aol.com/videogames), gamers’ leading online resource for video game news, previews, cheats and original programming such as the interactive Inside the Game feature; and the recently acquired Games.com, an extension of AOL Games’ best-of-breed casual games available at one of the most popular URLs among web users seeking games content. GameDaily is AOL’s fourth announced acquisition of 2006, following the acquisition of Userplane last week, Lightningcast, Inc. in May, and Truveo, Inc. in January. Other recent corporate acquisitions in 2005 by AOL include Music Now, LLC, Weblogs, Inc., Xdrive, Inc. and Wildseed, Ltd.

MUMBAI: Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Ltd (MTNL) has signed content delivery network affiliation contracts with Aksh Optifibre Ltd and IOL Broadband Ltd, which would allow the state-owned telecom major to offer IPTV services to its subscribers.

With this, MTNL has selected three franchisees for developing the content delivery platform. Time Broadband Services Pvt Ltd, India (TBSPL) was the first to have won the contract for both Delhi and Mumbai and has a seven-year non exclusive deal with MTNL.
 
While MTNL has ensured a bank guarantee of Rs 5 million from Aksh Optifibre, IOL Broadband has guaranteed Rs 2.5 million. Aksh Optifibre has expressed intent to operate in Delhi and Mumbai while IOL‘s interest is restricted to Mumbai at this stage.

IOL Broadband plans to use US-based SeaChange for the IP video servers, storage and middleware, says a senior company executive. The digital set-top boxes (STBs) will be provided by UK-based Amino while the digital rights management solution will be from US-based Widevine.

“We plan to invest $25 million in the early phase of the project. We have also an eye on extending to Delhi,” says the executive.
 
Aksh Optifibre plans to use UTStarcom technology for its content delivery network, an MTNL official says. Bharti, which is conducting test runs in Gurgaon on the outskirts of Delhi with multiple vendors, had also used UTStarcom technology, including the headend and the digital STBs.

“The idea of having multiple franchisees is to provide content flexibility to our subscribers,” says the MTNL official.

Time Broadband, meanwhile, has tested 560 STBs and is ready for commercial launch. Says TBSPL managing director Sujata Dev, “We have already deployed 150 STBs in the subscriber homes. We are increasing the number of channels from 30 to 100 on the test run by the end of this month. Star and Zee have agreed to offer the pay channels for this as our content protection system in place.”

Time Broadband, which has US-based Kasenna as its middleware vendor, while Verimatrix Inc is providing content protection solutions, has so far invested $3 million in the project.

MTNL is employing ADSL 2+ technology for running its IPTV services. For the video part, the telecom giant will be using MPEG-4 compression technology.

MUMBAI: Fox Interactive Media (FIM) and Twentieth Century Fox have inked a multi-year agreement to provide feature films and television shows on a download-to-own basis across the FIM network. Fox Interactive Media‘s network of properties will have access to Fox Entertainment Group‘s catalogue of content including hit feature films such as X-Men The Last Stand and The Omen as well as episodes of television series like 24, and Prison Break.
 
IGN Entertainment will be the first FIM property to offer a selection of on its Direct2Drive site (www.direct2drive.com) in October 2006 with additional FIM properties including MySpace.com to come.
 
“Our drive to deliver Twentieth Century Fox content via the most powerful online platforms is advanced substantially by this agreement. Offering Fox content in conjunction with FIM properties enables viewers to access the best movies and TV shows from multiple platforms in the Fox family,” said Fox Entertainment Group president digital media Peter Levinsohn.

Initially, FIM will offer films from Twentieth Century Fox including new releases, made-for-TV movies, direct-to-video releases and select content from the Twentieth Century Fox film library on IGN‘s Direct2Drive site. The site will also offer current television series from various Fox entities such as Twentieth Century Fox, Fox Broadcasting Company, Fuel TV, Speed, and FX with a selection of shows available within 24 hours of initial broadcast.

In an industry first, purchased movies and television shows will be immediately transferable to Windows Media compatible portable devices providing users with a convenient way to take the video content with them on the go.

“Today marks an important step as we continue to build a bridge between the worlds of user-generated and top-quality, professional content, further enhancing our range of consumer offerings across both free, ad-supported and paid download business models. With more than 75 million monthly users and one of the largest entertainment communities on the web, we are thrilled to begin offering our users exciting content from Fox,” said FIM president Ross Levinsohn.

The agreement with Twentieth Century Fox will enable FIM, already a leader in downloadable games with Direct2Drive, to expand its offerings with premier TV and movie content. Direct2Drive will promote the new offering throughout the IGN Entertainment network, including IGN.com, Rotten Tomatoes; and Film Force, among other sites.

Direct2Drive‘s secure digital download service will enable users to transfer content to up to two PCs and one portable device per PC. Content will be available at approximately $19.99 for new feature film releases and $1.99 per TV series episode.