Category: Applications

SINGAPORE: The second session at the Asian D-Cinema Summit, at the Broadcast Asia summit 2006, was all about taking stock of the Asian scenario in the digital age. In some ways, the conference did touch upon interactive possibilities, along with new ways of storytelling in the digital age.

However, the main focus was to critically take stock of Digital Cinema, in terms of investment, content and technology; apart from offering a brief update on the regional scenario.

Starting of the discussion on the Asian scenario, Mediacorp Technologies CEO Mock Pak said, “It looks like a rather positive scenario in the Asian region, with most of the countries racing ahead in the digital race. Korea, China and India, with its vibrant Bollywood industry, will definitely lead the way further. In percentage terms, more than 44 per cent of the digital films are from Asia.”

Quoting from her presentation on the Thailand Update, Golden Duck International Thailand‘s Yupayong Liewluck said, “Thailand has moved from 29 digital screens to more than 500 screens. In the future, the audience will have to pay more to enjoy the hi-end movie watching experience and from the exhibitors point of view it‘s going to be a more high investment proposition.”

Liewluck was of the opinion that though going digital is a high investment proposition, it‘s still not known what the business model will be like in the days to come. Also, what‘s the reliability of the final product and what will justify the cost of the digital cinema.

So, the moot question is how digital cinema will justify the high investment though in terms of distribution it provides an excellent platform to keep the films running.

Moving on to the Japan update, the presentation took off from the example of Narnia which featured 2k digital cinema projectors. Media Networking Laboratory executive manager Tetsuro Fujii said, “In Japan, more than 50 screens have gone digital and more than 30 screens are DCI complaint with 2K digital cinema.

The country is going at a very high speed to comply with Digital Cinema Initiative, while maintaining the highest standards of 4k digital cinema which has been a rule in the country. Now, the second phase has seen the likes of 4k cinema as the country is almost ready with its broadband network technologies.”

The Chinese film industry, on its part, continues to grow by leaps and bounds but steps are yet to be taken for a speedier development of digital cinema. Offering a slightly different perspective to the entire scenario, China Film Group chief engineer Chen Fei said the effort is really to maintain a cultural identity in the race to go digital. “After all, technology can sometimes destroy what culture has brought in.”

Shaw Organisation Singapore senior manager Mark Shaw said, “More than 26 screens here have digital screens.” What came across from the discussion was that Singapore is soon emerging as a hub in providing the support system for many Asian countries in going digital.” Said Shaw, “The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) are collaborating to develop the digital cinema industry in Singapore, riding on the combined strengths of both agencies. The IDA‘s efforts are also in the direction of helping out other countries to comply with the digital norms.”

SINGAPORE: Is the whole world soon going to be divided into the Digital and the Non Digital? Well, looks like. And not just that, but understanding the digital world seems like the only way to remain relevant in the rapidly converging media & entertainment industry.

Broadcast Asia 2006, aptly embodies a theme, titled Digital – The Journey Forward. And to go with the theme, the mega event which is made up of exhibitions, conferences and meetings, started off bang on with ‘The Asian D-Cinema Summit.‘

The summit focused on the rollout of digital cinema, which has revolutionised the cinematic experience for moviegoers around the world. Setting the agenda for a day-long discussion, Mike Connors, chairman Connors & Associates, Singapore, began the session by shedding light on the overall scenario.

He said, “The coming days are going to pose newer challenges for people in the movie business. Cause: digital cinema is more than just perfect images and sounds, but it impacts on how a movie is actually made (production), distribution and projection in the theatres. So, it‘s not just about digital capture but also about digital delivery and projection. So, going the digital way is all about setting up systems that ensures a uniform and high level of technical performance along with quality control.”

So, how does the movie industry flourish as well as move towards a smooth transition to a digital future? What came across was that one has to move towards one digital distribution and exhibition format. And that format is clearly complying with the Digital Cinema Specifications (DCI which came across in 2002).

Taking the discussion further, Thomas Lim, Director, Education, Learning, Digital Media & entertainment, IDA Singapore, said, “The film fraternity across the Asian region seems to grappling with issues of complying with the Digital Cinema initiatives, to ensure great quality control. In fact, Singapore is fast emerging a great hub by playing a strong support to the industry in terms of helping comply and convert content to the norms of DCI.”

Some of the other questions which were raised during the opening session were what are the technical developments that will help enhance the conversion to digital screens? In the future, who will bear the technology cost? How will distributors and exhibitors work out their new equations? Will we have to create fresh content as the theatres go digital? Or will moviegoers have to pay more to enjoy digital cinema.

“Though, the answers to these queries will emerge in the time to come, it looks like we are getting there,” said Al Barton VP, Sony Pictures Entertainment, USA. He added, “Last year we were here speculating the specifications laid down to go digital but this time for people involved in the film business, we are here really to discuss how more countries have start adopting to digital screens. The systems which have worked in the US can also be applied in other parts of the world, in spite of the fact that the scenario does is differ from region to region. Like, France has independent producers and Germany is a country where most of the prints are used twice in the country. So, we‘ll have to come to a flexible solution for digital films being distributed across the world.”

The opening session also looked at the various technological challenges that the digital world will pose for the industry. Equipment manufacturers will have to invest in compatible equipment so as to help theatrical projectors to create a uniform and compatible digital cinema. But hopefully, as the market gets more competitive, the price of the equipment and its installation which were previously thought to be a major barrier to digital cinema will become increasingly affordable.

SINGAPORE: Radio as we know it, is soon going to be a thing of the past. With new and emerging technologies, radio is all set to get a face lift.

Radio in Asia, is the most accessible of the media and what‘s more… it‘s free. There are a few key factors behind the success of analogue radio. It‘s simple and user friendly, has a wide variety of content, it‘s portable and mobile and has a broad audience appeal. But the big question is – Will analogue radio survive in a digital world?

The answer to that is anyone‘s guess. The next generation of radio – Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) – is now vying for consumer attention.

While DAB radio defines the next generation of radio receivers, it must cross the cultural divide first and gain consumer acceptance. The hurdle it faces are that users don‘t want to move into new and unfamiliar technology and hence DAB Radio must offer much more than FM / AM. Also, incremental cost must be justified by content and new features and it has to change the way traditional radio is consumed. Perhaps, the most crucial thing is that DAB radio must offer more than just radio.

Highlighting the key strengths of DAB, Frontier Silicon UK VP sales and marketing Steve Evans said, “DAB has better quality audio, is easy to tune in, has more channels, provides data services, has future proof technology and value added features. However, it is not just about high quality radio. Compared to conventional analogue radios, DAB has to be much more. Moreover, broadcasters can capitalise on the potential of DAB technology to transmit more attractive data services.”

“On the other hand,” Evans said, “Receiver manufacturers can develop receivers that enable the consumption of the services. However, there has to be cooperation between broadcasters and receiver manufacturers.”

What‘s more, DAB also enables EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) and allows the iPod generation to get their music, where they want it and when they want it. “EPG allows listeners to see what‘s on now and for the next seven days, search programmes by genre, by time, and allows them to set advanced timer recordings. It also enables recording of programmes in real time or at a later date in the same way as a personal video recorder (PVR) apart from enhancing the user‘s radio listening experience,” Evans said.

Another important feature of DAB is that it gives the consumer the ability to pause, rewind, fast-forward, and record live radio to variety of storage mediums. “This is a growing feature that is becoming synonymous with DAB digital radios. It works both on audio data and DLS text messages, however, small incremental price due to additional RAM memory required for rewind buffers,” said Evans.

DAB‘s Dynamic Label Segment also allows broadcasters to send text information and control characters along with the audio service. The text can be used to provide more information about the station and also to increase advertising revenue for the broadcasters. Apart from this, a Slide Show feature in DAB allows broadcasters to send a sequence of images (JPG/BMP) associated with tracks being played. “Visual along with audio would greatly help radio advertisers to increase advertising revenue and is already being trialled by numerous broadcasters,” Evans said.

Additionally, content can also be repurposed for different delivery platforms. Evans said, “DAB is an ideal transport channel for web site content to be delivered to users using the DAB BWS user application. Broadcast Website (BWS) allows DAB multiplex operators to use the internet as source content and deliver an entire web site to a DAB receiver using only the broadcast channel of DAB. Content on the web site can be used to promote the broadcaster and provide interactivity to the consumer.”

Another aspects of DAB is that it enables mobile digital TV by using T-DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcast). “DAB can act as a transport mechanism to deliver video to receivers and has the capability to deliver video up to 1.5Mbps. It also enables the long awaited mobile TV deployment using broadcast technology, rather than cellular based point-to-point service, which has traffic handling limitations,” Evans said.

T-DMB services have already commercially launched in Korea, China and very recently in Germany.

However, these data services are useless unless suitable receivers are introduced into the market. DAB receivers should:

• Present the data in a ‘usable‘ and ‘attractive‘ manner
• Low power consumption to ensure long battery life
• Low cost to promote mass market uptake
• Easy integration to enable more manufacturers
• Sufficient processing power to cope of datacast decoding
• Programmable to cope with changing standards

The key features of Next Generation radios include:

• Large display to show more contents
• Built-in memory for data caching applications (pause/rewind)
• Support for external memory plugin to read audio files (USB host/slave)
• Support for Firmware Upgrade (USB) to cope with changing standards
• Applications including DAB, FM, Audio decoders, Picture/Video decoders, PVR like capability

MUMBAI: Online content service provider MSN has announced an alliance with LivePlanet, a Los Angeles-based production company with the aim to bring a new generation of storytelling online.

The first show that will be launched under this recently announced MSN Originals initiative is LivePlanet‘s production Fan Club: Reality Baseball.

The upcoming show aims to move unscripted programming into the big leagues of new media with always-accessible content and interactivity that puts the MSN audience at the center of a unique entertainment experience.

Fan Club MSN says gives fans control of the Schaumburg Flyers, a real professional minor league baseball team based in a suburb of Chicago. Each day, new online content will tell the stories of the Flyers‘ players, giving the fans intimate knowledge of “their” ballclub, as well as the team‘s coaches, wives, girlfriends and personalities, revealing their dreams, demons, triumphs and difficulties, on and off the playing field.

MSN users will manage the team on a daily basis, voting to determine such key decisions as the batting lineup, fielding positions and pitching roster. Fantasy baseball meets reality TV in “Fan Club: Reality Baseball,” where the fans run the team and control the action.

MSN director of business development Joe Michaels says, “We are going to hit one out of the park with Fan Club: Reality Baseball. We were a bit stunned at first that a professional baseball team would allow our audience to manage it, but we quickly realized that ‘Fan Club‘ is a fabulous programming concept which is perfect for the Web.

“We are thrilled to be working with LivePlanet because they are great storytellers who can deliver the drama and excitement behind the scenes of this professional sports team. Fan Club is a great example of what we‘re doing with MSN Originals: providing our audience with new and engaging entertainment experiences and opening up significant opportunities for advertisers.”

LivePlanet CEO Larry Tanz says, “This is Bull Durham meets fantasy sports, and it‘s all real. We expect ‘Fan Club‘ to appeal to anyone who has ever yelled at their TV because they thought they could do a better job running the team — now the fans will have their chance.

“Fan Club will appeal to sports fans and non-sports fans alike with the type of behind-the-scenes, unscripted drama seen in shows like Project Greenlight. Because MSN reaches hundreds of millions of users, the show will have access to a vastly larger audience than television. And the interactive features of MSN are the key to allowing fans to control their ballclub, something television can‘t currently accomplish.”

The Northern League in which the Schaumburg Flyers play divides its season in half, with the winners of each half meeting in the playoffs.

Fan Club: Reality Baseball is slated to go live in mid-July in time for MSN users to manage the team day to day for the full second half of the 2006 season, determining whether or not the Flyers will make the playoffs.

MUMBAI: Indian mobile value added services provider Mauj Telecom has just served an ace. In partnership with the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Mauj Telecom has launched an exclusive Wimbledon Mobile portal. This partnership has been facilitated by IMG Media. The multi-modal portal is available on sms, voice and WAP/GPRS.

Tennis buffs can catch match schedules, score updates and Wimbledon news by sending ‘Wimbledon’ as a sms to 7007. The Mauj Talk Voice portal can be accessed by calling 5057007 on the mobile phone. Radio Wimbledon is another innovation that will be available live on this. Wallpapers, videos, video ringtones, themes, colour logos and other mobile content will be available on www.mauj.com on the net and on wap.mauj.com on GPRS / edge phones.

The content also includes 2005 Championship Round-Up and 2006 Championship Preview. Throughout the Wimbledon fortnight, wallpapers and videos of daily preview, individual match highlights, player interviews and daily round-up will be updated approximately within two hours of the matches.

A separate zone is being built featuring 101 Golden Moments of Wimbledon History. This features videos and images of some of the most memorable moments at Wimbledon, including the historic tennis battles between Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf, John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg, Andre Agassi and Goran Ivanisevic, Pete Sampras and Goran Ivanisevic.

Sampras’ epic seven victories and the fierce battles of the Williams sisters will also be there.

IMG Media sdenior intl VP Andrew Wildblood said, “IMG Media is excited to partner with Mauj to bring Wimbledon mobile content to India. IMG is always trying to extend the reach of its premier sports properties like Wimbledon beyond the traditional broadcast viewing. Mauj is the best of class mobile partner and distributor in India and will help us extend the reach of Wimbledon among the fastest growing mobile markets in the world”

Mauj Telecom CEO Arun Gupta said, “Mobile phones are becoming the centre of the entertainment universe. In the past, too, we have been bringing quality mobile content to cell phone customers, be it entertainment, sports or Bollywood. Mauj Telecom is extremely glad to partner with Wimbledon and IMG Media to launch the content exclusively in India on 7007, 5057007 Mauj Talk and wap.mauj.com portals. With this, we bring the best tennis action to the 90 million mobile consumers in India.”

Mauj Telecom is part of the People Group, which also owns internet brands such as Shaadi.com, Astrolife.com and Fropper.com. Mauj‘s wap portal wap.mauj.com offers mobile gaming, mobile music, mobile video and GPRS/EDGE/WAP space facilities. Its shortcode is 7007

SINGAPORE: While the rain Gods are showering upon the city of Singapore, there is an onslaught of discussions on the new technologies for broadcasting at the Broadcast Asia Summit 2006 being held in Expo City.

With a full house on a Monday morning, professionals from various media companies from Asia and elsewhere are lapping up all that there is to.

What with the revenue expectations for mobile TV globally pegged at $ 682 million within the next five years, broadcasters in the space are raring to go! Its popularity in the markets where it has been rolled out, will definitely help broadcasters meet that mark if not more.

The two morning sessions saw discussions and presentations on Asian digital cinema and also an update on delivering mobile television to handheld devices. The latter provided an international review and update on mobile television and an overview of the technology and services being offered across various countries like Italy, Japan, Korea, the UK and the US.

Consumers have reacted favourably to mobile television in the markets where the services have been launched. Close to 76 per cent consumers in the UK are willing to pay for mobile TV. On the other hand, consumers in Finland and France are willing to shell out € 10 and € 7 respectively per month for mobile TV.

In turn, what consumers want is good picture and sound quality, value for money, right selection of channels, service availability, simplicity of use and a multimedia device.

The speakers for the session comprised Broadcast Australia broadcast services director Clive Morton, Kobeta Korea manager of planning team Hyun Ho, Qualcomm MediaFLO director of international business development Jeffrey Brown, TBS Japan development manager Hidefumi Yasuda, Nokia director of strategy Juha Lipiainen, TeamCast France executive director Gerard Faria and Enenys France president and CEO Regis Le Roux.

While the service is gaining popularity, there seems to be ambiguity in terms of the regulations required for the same. Should the broadcaster be the ultimate content regulator for mobile TV or should it be the telecommunications company? That is one area where not much progress has been made. Brown said, “The spectrum regulation for mobile television services is fragmented per country per industry. It isn‘t clear still whether the broadcasting authority or the telecommunications authority is responsible for regulating content. But the transition is slowly happening as the industry is understanding the value of mobile television.”

Interestingly, while the number one telecommunications company in Korea S K Telecom accepted and adopted this new technology easily, there was resistance from KTF and LG Telecom, who were reluctant to offer mobile television technology – T-DMB – on their mobile devices.

The reason behind this was that since mobile television was being offered free, consumers would watch more television on their handhelds and in turn use less of SMS and internet services, which in turn would mean a significant revenue loss for them. However, these two companies had to eventually succumb to the popularity of mobile television and started offering the technology on their devices late last year.

The requirements for a mobile TV device are:

*Watch up to four hours TV
*Large anti glare screen
*Simple to operate TV
*Recording capability
*Always up to date Electronic Service Guide
*Camera and camcorder to record own content
*Consumers use mobile television mostly to pass time, for example, while waiting for something. They also use it to stay updated with news, to relax or entertain oneself, as a background entertainment while doing other things, to create their own space ( e.g. in public transportation) or as a second TV while the household‘s TV is used by others.

The top three usage situations among active users of mobile TV are:

*When traveling using transportation
*When at home
*When at work

According to Brown, the potential mobile TV users globally in 2008 – 2010 will be in the range of 100 – 200 million. As per a research done by Nokia in major cities in 32 countries, it was found that by end 2005, there were two billion mobile phone subscribers globally and is expected to reach three billion by end 2009. While there were 735 million mobile phones sold in 2005, the projections for 2009 are 944 million.

So does mobile TV have future potential? Yes, but assuming that the pricing and content are in line with consumers‘ expectations and needs.

MUMBAI: Nokia Oyj and Siemens AG have announced that they intend to merge the Networks Business Group of Nokia and the carrier-related operations of Siemens into a new company, to be called Nokia Siemens Networks. The 50-50 joint venture will target strong positions in important growth segments of fixed and mobile network infrastructure and services.

Both Nokia and Siemens expect the impact of the partnership on their respective EPS, on a pro forma basis excluding the restructuring charges, to be accretive by the end of 2007, assuming a closing by 1 January. This is subject to customary regulatory approvals, the completion of standard closing conditions, and the agreement of a number of detailed implementation steps. After closing, the financial results of Nokia Siemens Networks will be consolidated by Nokia and accounted for at equity by Siemens.

Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo will serve as chairman of Nokia Siemens Networks, while Nokia Networks EVP and GM Simon Beresford-Wylie will assume the position of chief executive officer immediately upon the closing of the merger.

Nokia Siemens Networks will have its operational headquarters in the Helsinki, Finland metropolitan area, and have headquarters in Munich, Germany, where three of the future five divisions of the new company will be based.
Nokia Siemens Networks‘ portfolio will include Next Generation Network convergence products like IMS, 2G GSM/EDGE access, 3G WCDMA/HSDPA access, extensive mobile core, fixed broadband, transport, IPTV, LTE, WiMAX and low-cost mobile voice products tailored for emerging market operators.

“We believe the partnership with Siemens is the most effective way to build the scale and broad product portfolio necessary to compete globally and create value for shareholders,” says Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo. “The communications industry is converging, and a strong and independent Nokia Siemens Networks will be ideally positioned to help customers lower costs and grow revenue while managing the challenges of converging technology.” Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo will serve as chairman of Nokia Siemens Networks.

“This joint venture is an important step to strengthen our position in the market sustainably and to enable us to offer the best state of the art converged technologies and services to our customers,” says Siemens CEO Klaus Kleinfeld. “This combination creates a leading industry player with immediate strength, excellent potential for growth and well-positioned to improve future profitability.”

Based on the 2005 calendar year, the combined company had EUR 15.8 billion in pro forma annual revenues and is expected to start operations with 60,000 employees. Based on current market share data, it will be the second largest company in mobile infrastructure, second in services, third in fixed infrastructure, and the third largest in the overall telecommunications infrastructure market, adds the official release.

The estimated cost synergies of EUR 1.5 billion annually by 2010 are expected to come primarily from the elimination of overlapping functions, consolidation and better utilization of sales and marketing organizations, reduction of overhead costs, sourcing benefits, and greater efficiencies in R&D.

A substantial portion of these synergies is expected to be realized in the first two years, according to Nokia. These changes are expected to result in a headcount adjustment over the next four years in the range of ten to fifteen percent from the initial combined base of approximately 60,000. Detailed headcount reduction assessments will be made as part of the integration planning process and subject to required consultation with employee representatives, says the company release.