ITV

Category: Software

  • Raj TV inks revenue share deal with Google

    Raj TV inks revenue share deal with Google

    MUMBAI: Chennai-based Raj Television Network has entered into content hosting services agreement with Google Ireland for content sharing in Google Internet platforms with various mobile, internet based and hand held devices.

    The company, which runs a clutch of channels across five languages, expects substantial revenue contribution from Google agreement from advertisement and viewership mode of revenue share.

    The agreement will ensure 100 per cent presence for Raj TV Network on Google‘s internet platforms. The company’s various channels content with different genre are available at youtube.corn/rajtv.

    The company has 50,000 hours of video contents and company proposes to start a separate exclusive Internet portal for content sharing in addition to the tie up with various platform providers including Google.

    The agreement with Google and proposed own portal for E-mode of content sharing will enable the viewers around the globe, to watch various genre of TV broadcasted contents on real time and archived mode with help of internet and will augment additional revenue source to the company’s business.

    Raj Television Network is engaged in broadcasting five channels namely Raj TV, Raj Digital Plus, Raj News 24×7, Raj Muzix and Vissa. It is one of the largest Tamil television and broadcasting companies in the southern region.

  • Contradictions in Cable Bill to ban illegal channels: Parliamentary Committee

    Contradictions in Cable Bill to ban illegal channels: Parliamentary Committee

    NEW DELHI: A Parliamentary Committee has strongly recommended that various inconsistencies and infirmities in the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) (Second Amendment) aimed at checking telecast of illegal channels should be given due attention before the legislation is presented to Parliament.

    The Committee also said issues relating to enforcement of the provisions made in the Cable Act should be given due attention in consultation with the Law and Justice Ministry and other concerned Departments/Agencies before the amending Bill is taken up for consideration by the Parliament.

    The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology which covers Information and Broadcasting in its ambit found it very interesting that while the Bill was to prohibit transmission or retransmission of illegal and unregistered channels, the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Bill referred to only ‘prohibition of re-transmission of unregistered channels’.

    The Ministry was not satisfied with the explanation of the then I&B Secretary that the legislation covers both transmission and re-transmission ‘and there may be some editorial corrections which are possible to make’. The representative of the Law and Justice (Legislative Department) during the course of deliberations acknowledged that little addition in the marginal heading may save a lot of litigation.

    The report also said while the Statement of Objects and Reasons talks about Uplinking and Downlinking, the proposed section 5A(a) mentions only downlinking of television channels. The representative of Law and Justice (Legislative Department) during the course of oral evidence clarified that there would be same interpretation.

    The extracts from the Statement of Objects and Reasons in this regard says ‘several complaints have been received by the Central Government against cable operators showing illegal channels which have neither been permitted to uplink from India nor permitted or registered to downlink into India, as per the Uplinking and Downlinking Guidelines’.

    The Committee said ‘although it may be a matter of technical interpretation, referring to both uplinking and downlinking in the Statements of Objects and Reasons whereby the Bill states only about downlinking has created confusion.’

    The Committee said it failed to understand how the amending legislation would address the issue and act as a deterrent when it had not been possible to take action against the cable operator although sufficient provisions exist in the Cable Act for not adhering to the provisions made under the Cable Act which include adherence to Programme Code.

    Referring to 25 illegal channels that the Ministry had referred to, the Committee said no action could be taken pursuant to Intelligence Bureau feedback about these channels which were found to be not conducive to the security environment of the country and posed a potential security hazard, although sufficient provisions are there under the extant Cable Act and Rules thereunder to take action in this regard.

    The Ministry could not categorically respond as to how and by whom the content being ‘anti-national’ is decided. The Ministry also could not respond categorically when asked about the parameters on which Intelligence Bureau decided that the contents shown by channels are not conducive to the security environment of the country and pose a potential security hazard. The Ministry further opined that the purpose of the amending legislation was to actually create a deterrent kind of act.

    The Committee said it was unable to understand how the proposed provisions would act as a deterrent without being able to enforce the provisions. In this connection, the Committee endorsed the views expressed by the then Chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India that the Authorized Officers have to do, what they are expected to do under the law and unless that is done the cable operator would never learn what he is not supposed to do.

  • CommunicAsia to address satellite connectivity across biz environments

    CommunicAsia to address satellite connectivity across biz environments

    MUMBAI: CommunicAsia and EnterpriseIT, the ICT industry event, will bring together hundreds of companies in 2013 as demand for greater connectivity increases, new technologies continue to be deployed and more players come into play.

    Both shows – held from 18 to 21 June 2013, will be housed at the Marina Bay Sands and have already witnessed strong exhibition space bookings by returning and new exhibitors, seven months ahead of the event.

    Satellite connectivity still reigns in today’s telecoms landscape. CommunicAsia and EnterpriseIT will debate and stage live demonstrations across the latest technology breakthroughs and applications, ranging from cloud, mobile, broadband, security, satellite, M2M and vertical solutions.

    2013 promises to parallel this year’s success with a host of satellite communications and technologies exhibitors already signed up, including Asia Broadcast Satellite, Asia Satellite, Advantech Wireless, APT Satellite, China Satellite Communications, Cobham, Comtech Telecommunications, iDirect, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Newtec, Measat Satellite Systems, Novelsat, Russian Satellite Communications Company, SES, Singapore Technologies Electronics, SkyPerfect JSAT, Thaicom Public Company and Work Microwave.

    These companies will form part of SatComm2013, which is incorporated with CommunicAsia2013 and EnterpriseIT2013. SatComm2013 is the choice business platform in Asia for the satellite communications industry, and exhibitors are leveraging this to provide turnkey solutions that address critical issues surrounding Asia’s telecoms ecosystem, whilst heightening their presence in the region’s robust marketplace.

    Many satellite exhibitors are also returning in 2013 to increase their presence at the show and have invested in expanding their exhibition booth space. Intelsat, which has exhibited at the event for the past ten years, will again be supporting 2013’s event.

    Intelsat RVP, Asia Pacific sales Terry Bleakley said, “CommunicAsia and EnterpriseIT are truly international shows in Asia where business professionals across a range of industries come together in one place. For the past decade, the events have been a focal point of our business and they will continue to play a key role in our operations to support our outreach both in the region and beyond.”

    Satellite communications specialist, Newtec has been involved with CommunicAsia for more than a decade, playing a major role in the company’s expansion. Newtec CEO Serge Van Herck said, “CommunicAsia represents a good investment for us as it explores the future of satellite communications while providing fantastic networking opportunities and enabling us to showcase our latest innovations to further support our customers.”

    Singapore Exhibition Services (SES) project director of communications events from show organiser Victor Wong said, “The evolving focus for 2013’s events will echo current changes taking place and give show participants invaluable insight into current and new industry trends, while providing them the opportunity to connect with peers and potential customers”.

    “The task of ensuring CommunicAsia and EnterpriseIT constant evolve to stay relevant and match the pace of the fast changing business and technology landscapes remains top priority,” Mr. Wong enthuses.

    The conference will address key business concerns surrounding satellite networks. The CommunicAsia2013 Summit will ride the next wave with the ICT community, providing a dedicated platform for industry leaders and professionals to share and discuss key issues, trends and challenges in the industry.

    The SatComm Evolution track, a part of CommunicAsia2013 Summit, will bring together Asian and global satellite operators as well as suppliers of satellite technology to discuss vital business issues that are driving the industry today, and transforming the business for tomorrow. This track already boasts several confirmed speaking companies, such as Gilat Satellite Networks CEO Erez Antebi; Hughes VP of sales Ramesh Ramaswarmy and Speedcast CEO Pierre-Jean Beylier.

    Key areas that will be addressed include the future of satellite businesses, determining which business models will be most suitable to monetise new technologies, and solutions to meet the demands of the vertical markets.

    In addition to SatComm, the Conference will also feature focused forums and workshops that will bring to light the most thought provoking issues as well as offer experts‘ insights on future business landscapes in relation to broadband evolution, M2M, SatComm Telecom CEM, Cloud Computing, enterprise mobility, and mobile marketing services and commerce.

    Three largest industry events of its kind in Asia at one venue BroadcastAsia2013, Asia’s largest integrated event for the pro-audio, film and TV industries, will showcase a global array of the newest, ground-breaking technologies for these industry verticals. In addition, the exhibition will also cast a spotlight on the myriad of applications, equipment and solutions developed for Multi Streaming, Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV), Playout Services, Over The Top (OTT), Cloud Broadcasting and Digital Radio.

    A host of industry luminaries already signed up to the BroadcastAsia2013 International Conference will address key issues surrounding OTT, the adoption of DVB-T2 and T2 lite, bandwidth restrictions within Asia, transmission quality, and how technology is converging in gaming and learning through Smart TV adoption.

    For the first time ever, BroadcastAsia will join CommunicAsia and EnterpriseIT at the Marina Bay Sands in 2013. Visitors attending BroadcastAsia, such as international broadcasters, will be further exposed to the world’s top satellite players such as MEASAT, which provide end-to-end solutions from content acquisition, uplink to content distribution, as well as their latest communication technologies at one single event.

  • Nearly 600 mn TV connections to Internet by 2017: Study

    MUMBAI: The number of TV connections to the Internet will reach 596 million by 2017, up from 105 million at end-2010 and the 212 million expected at end-2012.


    Published by Digital TV Research, these findings are part of the just-released Connected TV Forecasts report, which covers 40 countries.


    The US contributed 48 million to the 2010 total (or 45% of the global total), and will grow to 78 million in 2012 (37%) and 147 million by 2017 (only 25% of the global total). China will have 93 million connected TVs by 2017, up from a mere 2 million at end-2010. So Japan will drop from second place in 2010 (13 million) to third in 2017 (43 million).
    This global connected TV total translates to 21.4 per cent of global TV sets by 2017, up from only 4.7 per cent at end-2010 and 8.9 per cent by end-2012. The US will have the highest penetration of TV sets by 2017 – at 38.1 per cent, closely followed by Norway (37.7 per cent) and South Korea (37.2 per cent).


    Report author Simon Murray said, “There has been something of a backlash against smart TV sets over the last year as critics argue that similar – or even better – offers are available on tablets or even mobile smartphones. Critics complain that connected TV sets provide a clunky experience. Although this is a wake-up call for those involved in the sector, these deficiencies are likely to be addressed reasonably soon as connected TV becomes mainstream. Unsurprisingly, the bulk of online usage via connected TVs is TV-related.”

  • Den Q2 cons net up 28%; cable biz rev up 4%

    MUMBAI: Den Networks‘ consolidated net profit rose 28 per cent to Rs 155.9 million in the second quarter ended 30 September from Rs 114.3 million a quarter earlier.


    Den‘s cable business revenue saw a meager 3.96 per cent growth to Rs 2.02 billion from Rs 1.94 billion during the first quarter.


    The multi-system operator‘s (MSO) consolidated net revenues stood at Rs 2.1 billion, up 8 per cent from Rs 1.94 billion a quarter earlier.


    During the second quarter, Den‘s expenses rose 7 per cent to Rs 1.84 billion from Rs 1.71 billion quarter earlier as its content cost increased 12 per cent to Rs 765.9 million from Rs 675.1 million.


    Its consolidated Ebitda stood at Rs 495.6 million, up 10 per cent over the previous quarter. The company‘s consolidated Ebidta (before forex losses of Rs 23.7 million) was Rs 474.3 million.


    Den also said that its digital base has shot up to cross the two million mark fuelled by the first phase of digitisation in the four metro cities. Den has a presence in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.


    Media Pro Enterprise India (MediaPro), an equal joint venture of Star DEN and Zee Turner, has started reporting net revenues in its standalone financial results from 1 April. It used to be reported on a gross basis in the previous quarters & financial years.


    The regrouping has resulted in revenue and distribution cost being reflected by lesser amount of Rs 123.7 million in the quarter ended 30 September.

  • Extension for cable digitisation deadline in Chennai possible: I&B Ministry

    NEW DELHI: The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry On Friday told the Madras High Court that it was prepared to give an extension for implementation of digitisation in Chennai till 31 December provided the stakeholders gave affidavits that they will implement it by then and not seek further extension.


    The court extended the stay on digitisation in Chennai till 19 November when it will continue hearing of a petition by Chennai Metro Cable Operators Association (CMCOA) through its general secretary M R Srinivasan, which is seeking extension of digitisation deadline by three months. The court has also sought full details of the number of digital set top boxes available and seeded.


    The court had earlier stayed the implementation first on 31 October and then on 5 November.


    The commitment in the court on behalf of the Ministry was made by S Haja Mohideed Gisthi, senior central government standing counsel, when Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar said the ministry had itself admitted that only 60 per cent digitisation had been achieved in Chennai.


    The Judge reiterated that the concern of the court was not merely the petitioner, but the average consumer in Chennai and wanted the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and the ministry to specify whether the city had an adequate number of digital STBs and why they had not been installed if this was so.


    The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) through its counsel said the broadcasters had put all infrastructure in place for digitisation in the four metros covered under Phase I.


    A counsel representing two MSOs said local cable operators had not raised any demand for STBs. However, he said these boxes could be made available in 21 days after placement of an order.


    However, counsel for CMCOA sought more time as he said enough time had not been given by TRAI for preparing the required infrastructure.


    Gisthi had in the last hearing opposed any extension of the deadline saying the petition had been filed at the eleventh hour. Ever since the policy was unveiled in January 2011, the deadline had been extended thrice, Gisthi said. He said the centre had already entered into an agreement with 11 MSOs in the city and it was their duty to provide sufficient number of STBs.


    The petitioner, noting that repeated requests for extension of the deadline was not acceded to by the government, claimed that only 1,64,000 homes had STBs in the southern metropolis and more than three million homes would go blank if the deadline was not extended.


    The petitioner also said the multi-system operators did not have enough STBs to be distributed to all households.


    Noting that the Tamil Nadu government‘s Arasu Cable Television has entered as the 11th multi-system operator (MSO) in the state, the association said Arasu has invited tenders for supply of one million STBs to meet 25 per cent of the city‘s requirement. Arasu is still in the process of finalising the tender, and even if the delivery of STBs commences now, it will take at least two years for the process to be completed, it claimed. It wanted the court to stay total implementation of the digital addressability system (DAS) in Chennai till the corresponding infrastructure is made available.


    Earlier, the ministry had admitted that ‘the pace of seeding has remained somewhat static‘, saying Cable TV digitisation in Chennai was 86 per cent, including 24 per cent coming by way of direct-to-home (DTH).

  • MEA ties up with YouTube for a global short film contest

    MUMBAI: The Public Diplomacy Division of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of India and video-sharing website YouTube have launched a short film contest titled “India Is…a visual Journey”, celebrating India and its diversity.


    The contest will be open to users across the globe for a period of three months, with the last day of submission on 9 February, 2013. All the entries will be featured on the channel youtube.com/indiais.


    The company says it has 33 million users in India.


    As part of the initiative, YouTube has partnered with renowned film director and script writer Anurag Kashyap and his directors to produce five short showcase films under the three themes of the contest ‘India is incredible,‘ ‘India is unforgettable,‘ and ‘India is wherever you are.‘


    The showcase films will be used to inspire filmmakers, students, and video enthusiasts to create their own five-minute films on any of the three themes. These five films will be produced in association with Viacom 18 Motion Pictures and Anurag Kashyap Films.


    All the entries will be judged by a panel of judges from the film industry and will be rated on storytelling, creativity, originality, screenplay, performances and technical execution. The jury will select a total of ten winners with three winners in each category and the first place winners will get EOS Canon Mark II Camera + Lens, along with weekend getaway across exotic locations in India courtesy Taj Holidays. There will also be a special prize for the most voted and watched film. MEA and YouTube will announce and celebrate the winners at a jointly-hosted gala event.


    “The aim of this initiative is to get young people to show India from their point of view. ‘India is‘ which we started last year was the first web based campaign initiative by the public Diplomacy division of MEA to connect and interact with people from all over the world and make them think about India. In the first year we received over 250 entries on India from 42 countries. Now we decided to tie up with Google and YouTube. Our partners are Google, Taj, Conde Nast Traveler and Incredible India,” said MEA‘s Public diplomacy Division joint secretary, head Riva Ganguly Das.


    Film market Kashyap noted that the Internet has reduced the amount of time that he spends on doing research for a film. “People are growing up watching films online.


    My daughter shows me stuff online which I did not know existed. Short films are growing in popularity. Today people have reduced attention spans. Earlier you could make a three hour movie. Today the viewer wants a two hour film. Their patience has reduced. The key to a short film is having the maximum impact within a short period of time,” Kashyap said.


    Google Asia Pacific director content partnerships Gautam Anand said that connected devices are creating opportunities for content creators. The first content deal done in India by YouTube was with Eros in 2007 which now boasts of partners like Sony, Star Plus, Zee, Colors, and T Series among others.


    “We have over 10,000 Indian movies, over 20,000 hours of Indian television content. We have showcased events like the IPL and Sunburn. About 60 per cent of Indian content is seen abroad. T series has worked with us for 18 months and they have 600,000 subscribers on YouTube. Similarly, Sony which has 475,000 subscribers keeps adding fresh content. They have digitised old shows like Boogie Woogie,” Anand said.


    YouTube Director of Product Management Asia Pacific Adam Smith said, “YouTube is the ultimate democratic platform. Every minute 72 hours of video is uploaded from amateurs to musicians. People get a share in ad revenue that their videos generate. Our aim is to make Indian culture more discoverable on YouTube. For instance IIT has a YouTube channel that has got 77 million views.”


    He cited example of PSY a South Korean star who became popular globally with his song ‘Gangnam Style‘ courtesy YouTube. It has become the second most watched video on video-sharing platform with many Indian Gangnam Style videos sprouting up.

  • 162 mn Americans watched online video in September: Nielsen

    MUMBAI: In September 2012, 162 million Americans watched online video.


    Nielsen says that they spent almost seven hours of the month viewing content, streaming nearly 26 billion videos.


    YouTube was the top online video destination, with more than three-quarters of total viewers streaming videos through their site during the month.
     
    In terms of time spent viewing online video, Netflix continues to top the list with viewers spending more than 11 hours each during September, followed by Hulu and YouTube averaging more than four hours per person on each site.

  • Govt to allow sharing of spectrum between telecom service providers

    NEW DELHI: The Government has decided to permit sharing of spectrum without any additional one-time spectrum charge between telecom service providers (TSPs) who have paid for spectrum beyond 4.4 MHz (GSM) as recommended above without any change in the terms and conditions of licence for use of spectrum including the carrier size indicated therein.


    Both TSPs would have to pay spectrum usage charge at the slab rate applicable on the entire combined spectrum holding.


    The Union Cabinet said after a meeting today that no one time charge be levied for spectrum holding up to 4.4 MHz (GSM). However, a onetime charge be levied prospectively upon the existing operators at 2012 auction determined price for all spectrum holdings beyond 4.4 MHz (GSM). The date of applicability of the charge shall be the date of commencement of the first quarter following the date of the Cabinet decision.


    Similarly for spectrum held above 6.2 (GSM), a one-time charge would be levied from July 2008 onwards. There will be two prices. The price, pro-rated for the period July 2008 up to the date of applicability of auction determined price, would be the 2001 entry fee divided by 6.2, duly indexed using State Bank of India Prime Lending Rate (SBI PLR). With effect from the date of commencement of the first quarter following the date of the Cabinet decision, the auction determined price would be levied.


    Decision regarding charging for CDMA spectrum holding beyond 2.5 MHz will be taken separately.


    Based on the recommendations of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM), the Cabinet considered spectrum pricing – charging of spectrum currently held by the incumbent Telecom Service Providers (TSPs), and charging in the event of spectrum sharing and intra service area merger.


    Licensees will be given the option to surrender spectrum beyond 4.4 MHz (GSM) if they do not wish to pay this charge;


    The licensees will be allowed equated annual installments for the balance number of years of license (such that the last installment is payable not later than 12 calendar months prior to expiry of the license) considering interest rate at the rate of 9.75 per cent as approved by the Finance Ministry in the case of new successful bidders for deferred payment. The licensees will also have the option of full upfront payment or pre-payment of one or more installments.


    Where a transferor (acquired) company holds spectrum against the entry fee paid, the transferee (acquiring) company (i.e. resultant merged entity), would be required to pay to the Government, the differential between the entry fee, and the current auction determined price, on a pro-rata basis for the remaining period of validity of the licenses;


    On the issue of allotment of initial spectrum to licensees who have paid the requisite fee but have not been allotted spectrum so far, the Cabinet decided that the claim of such company for allotment of 4.4 MHz of spectrum in such case will be considered after completion of the auction process, subject to availability of spectrum.


    The decisions are expected to result in further efficient utilisation of the scarce natural resource of spectrum facilitating proliferation of telecom services in the country.

  • Hathway Cable Q2 loss narrows on exchange gain

    MUMBAI: Leading multi-system operator (MSO) Hathway Cable & Datacom Ltd has substantially narrowed its net loss in the second quarter ended 30 September from a year earlier on foreign exchange gains and a fall in interest cost.


    Hathway‘s net loss in the second quarter was Rs 17.84 million against Rs 158.71 million in the previous quarter, as it had an exchange gain of Rs 44.78 million against an exchange loss of Rs 45.58 million a year earlier.


    In the second quarter, the company had an exchange gain of Rs 44.78 million against an exchange loss of Rs 45.58 million. Finance cost in the second quarter was Rs 72.99 million, 45 per cent lower than Rs 133.38 million in the first quarter.


    The company had an operational loss of Rs 54.88 million in the second quarter against operational profit of Rs 1.81 million in the first quarter, as its income fell 3 per cent to Rs 1.32 billion from Rs 1.36 billion in the first quarter and expenditure increased to Rs 1.37 billion from Rs 1.36 billion in the first quarter.